IF YOU'RE LUCKY (COMPLETE)

9. Jacob

VICTORIA POV

"Oh my God, V! He's amazing!", Faye shouts at me from the living room. Thank God Benji left early for work or else he'd have to hear this shit. He'd probably get a kick out of it. I roll my eyes and grab my coffee off the counter to sit with her. "He's sooooo charming and those eyes, they match yours. Ugh, it's a sign that you guys are meant to be together! Bentoria? Venji? Blah, you guys need knew names, I can't work with those".

I couldn't help but laugh at her excitement about my love life. It was probably because I actually had one now and we had something juicy to talk about besides her own struggles with the opposite sex. Faye was our biggest fans at this point and it was all she could talk about. I'd be lying if I didn't enjoy it just a little.

"Can we pleaseeee talk about something else?", I give her a look through my brows.

She sits up and crosses her legs in the couch. "Ugh, lets not discuss the train wreck that is my love life. Remember that Paul guy I told you about? He had a girlfriend! An entire girlfriend! Ugh, men suck! But not yourssss. He's so sweet to you and the way he looks at you, it's too cute!".

"Ugh, Faye give it a rest. Everything's still so new. Plus, you can't tell anybody about this, okay?" I plead. Benji and I both agreed to keep our relationship under wraps. The last thing I wanted after the tabloid incident was for my co workers to look at me like I was only there because I was sleeping with the boss. It was the furthest from the truth, people didn't like the truth. They liked gossip.

"Relaaaaaax. Who am I gonna tell?", she tries unsuccessfully reassure me.

I narrow my eyes at her. Faye was a hairstylist and she was notorious was having a big mouth at the salon. "Oh, I don't know. You're clients, coworkers, Paul when you decide to go running half underneath him." I try my hardest to keep my laugh from coming out which only causes Faye to laugh at me.

She chucks a pillow at me. "Shut up!"

***

It was my first rehearsal with Jacob and I was actually feeling excited about it because I finally had another person to share creative ideas with. It was my first time working a routine with a partner so it was all new to me. I was hoping Jacob had more experience with a two-person fire breathing routine because I was clueless.

"You're in luck!", was his reaction when I asked him about her experience. "I've never worked alone before, always had a partner so I'll be happy to teach you". Jacob's demeanor was always so cheerful and warm like he never had a bad day. It was infectious.

It took about three hours to come up with a rough draft of our performance. The first hour, Jacob and I were bouncing ideas off each other. We both knew it had to be sensuous, that's what the audience responded to best. I drew inspiration from my interactions with Benji and how they made me feel. We finally decided on a love story, about two people pushing and pulling only to end up together, unable to resist their feelings for one another.

"You're a genius, Victoria!", he shouts as he shoots up from the floor. "Whoever inspired you must be one hell of a guy". His words caused the corners of my mouth to turn up, Benji really was something.

We both grabbed our batons to practice a dry run of the beginning stages of our routine. Jacob and I start on the opposite sides of the stage, our eyes locked as we slowly approach one another. We sway and twirl our batons as we our bodies finally meet, each of our arms wrapping around the other's waist. We spin and pull, come together just to turn away. He twirls me into him only for me to push off his chest and extend my arm to leave him.