Page 16 of Eat. Prey. Love.
When did we turn into an episode of ‘Dancing withthe Stars’?
“Fitzzzzzz,” Dolly yells as he tosses her in the air to catch her then dip her low enough for her long hair to drag over the wood. “You’ve been practicing without me!”
Chess looks over at me and winks, telling me she’s right.I’ll be damned.Shaking my head, I walk over to the Raj, joining him as he watches from the edge. “That girl might be a miracle worker.”
“You’re telling me,” he says fondly. “They’ll haveustaking dancing lessons next.”
I blink, tilting my head as I smirk at him. “Who says I can’t dance?”
His brow arches and he snorts. “Your entire personality?”
Prepare to eat your words, tiger.
Winking at him, I stride over to his twin and tap him on the shoulder. “May I?”
“Of course, Blistering Basilisk,” he replies as he scoops Dolly up from the slide she did under his legs. “By all means, show us what you got.”
The red faced bunny takes my hands with a bright smile before asking, “A waltz?”
I shake my head, yanking her close, then dipping her quickly. “Ready for a tango, lunchable?”
That gets her attention and her posture changes quickly, forming the necessary pose as we begin. It’s been a very long time, so I’m not quick, but she’s a skilled dancer. If I mis-step a bit, Dolly gets me back on track with small nudges as we dance around the stage. By the time she’s winded, she’s lost the somewhat jaded look in her eyes.
Maybe my mate had the right idea after all?
“Okay, okay. You’ve all had your fun,” Felix grumbles good-naturedly. He looks less ready to maim someone, which is good. “Let’s check out the studios and classrooms.”
Fitz blows a raspberry at him as he pauses his jaunty dance with Chess. “Such a spoilsport, bro. Just admit you can’t dance and be done with it.”
The elder tiger gives him a cagey grin. “I’ll do no such thing.”
Looks like the Raj is keeping more secrets than we thought.
I’msurprised to find the arts building is laid out in a much more functional manner. The lowest floor is underground two levels and it has the studios and workshops for all the majors. On the next floor, there’s an enormous gym and the costume/stylist department. Dolly coos at the large doors to the costume storage, remarking that her polar bear friend is going to be in heaven. We bypass the ground floor since it’s mostly occupied by the theater, dressing rooms, and a few offices. Floors two and three house the visual arts, architecture, and writing departments. Theater and dance take up the fourth floor and vocal/musical arts are on the fifth. Everything is brightly lit, clean, and looks state of the art—it’s clear where the money goes in this place.
“Damn,” Chess says as we finish touring and come down the main staircase. “Their shit is next level. I wonder if I can sit in on some of the art classes when I’m not stuck with the bitchy body snatcher? The 3D printer looks sick.”
Fitz snorts as he slings an arm around both the cheetah and our girl. “If they tell you ‘no,’ I’ll handle it, baby. If we have to spend the rest of the year here, I promise to make sure every single one of us has a chance to do shit that makes them happy.”
“Even me?” I smirk at him as we exit the front doors.
“Why, Lord Draconis, I’m wounded. If you need more books to hump, I’ll make it happen!”
Rennie has to cover his mouth to stifle the laugh threatening to escape and even Felix cracks a smile as he reaches over to whack his brother in the back of the head. The hyper tiger rubs the spot with a pout, no doubt hoping to gain sympathy from our girl. Too bad she’s giggling along with his other mate—he might have had a chance.
“Seriously, guys! I mean it,” Fitz grumbles. “There’s so much shit to deal with—Baby Girl has the Games and catching up with work, we have random lesson plans we’re not prepped for, there’s psychos running around… We gotta take the good when we can.”
“C’est vrai, mon ami,” Renard says with a sigh. “I’d hoped we could take time off campus to tour the wine region and Paris, but it appears we will have to wait until the spring or summer breaks.”
Dolly’s eyes widen and she lets go of the cats, running up to my mate with a look of pure adoration. “We can go tour theCatacombs??! Like inPhantom? Or see theMoulin Rouge?Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…”
The entire group stops halfway to the library as she has what appears to be a spazz attack in the middle of the fucking green. Ren, however, is smiling so broadly his face might crack; he knewexactlywhat he was doing keeping that plan to himself until the right time.
“Oui, ma chére.We can even see Notre Dame, though it’s not quite as majestic as—oof!”
A flash of rainbow nearly takes him off his feet as Dolly barrels towards him with a squeal of glee that might have called a herd of pigs. He catches her in his arms, lifting her to spin around again as she keeps making the ear-splitting girl noises. “I’m going tokillyou for hiding this, you big meanie!”
Fitz tilts his head, looking at the rest of with a shrug. “I probably would have hid it, too, if I knew she was gonna lose it like this. Holy nerds, BatBoy.”