Page 14 of Flirty Dancing

14

Things Fall Apart

The next day, Archer was making his way down to the cabin after lunch when he spotted Eileen Lamb waving at him from the expanse of grass by the beach, glowing in her yellow dress. He turned toward her, smiling and waving back.

“Hi, Ms. Lamb!” he called when he got closer. “How are you?”

“Hello, Archer,” she said. “I’m fine, thank you. But… what I want to know is, how are you ?”

Archer frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m a bit worried about you. The show has seemed a little… er… ragged the last week or so, hasn’t it? Is everything going okay?”

“Oh.” A stone dropped into Archer’s stomach. He didn’t think the audience would have been able to tell things were getting a touch sloppy. “I guess it has. But, you know, maybe we’re getting a bit too comfortable. We probably won’t ever look as sharp as we did the first week.”

“Hmm.” Her lower lip poked out. “For most of the guests, that will be the one and only show they’ll see, won’t it? It probably should look just as sharp.” She was being kind, but Archer felt terrible. Maybe they hadn’t just been disappointing guests—his Broadway career could hang in the balance. An amateurish resort show wasn’t going to impress any potential connections.

He was trying to muster up a response when she continued. “And is everything okay with Mateo?”

His cheeks flushed. “Er… I guess. We’re not exactly friends, but—”

She cleared her throat politely. “I meant for him… Is he alright? He seems distant. Or, I don’t know, unhappy in some way.”

Archer didn’t know what to say to that, either.

Eileen tilted her head and smiled. “I wonder if you might want to come for tea with Mateo again? Perhaps I can help.”

“Oh…”

“I don’t mean to stick my nose in, you understand.” She patted Archer’s arm. “But I’ve been around the block a few times. I know a thing or two.”

“Thank you for the invitation. Let me ask him,” Archer said, not expecting it to go well.

It went worse.

Archer arrived nice and early for warm-up. As he’d hoped, Mateo was the only one in the greenroom. He was at the barre stretching to soft classical piano music. Archer took a deep breath as he pulled his ballroom shoes out of his locker. “Eileen invited us for tea again,” he said, approaching like a wildlife photographer creeping up on a skittish fawn.

Mateo’s jaw clenched as he arched his back and extended an arm behind him. “Us?”

“Yes.”

Mateo snorted, straightening out again, leg and arm gliding to the side. “Why don’t you bring Caleb?”

Archer admired the long, powerful lines of Mateo’s muscled body. “She didn’t invite Caleb. She invited you.”

Mateo turned to face Archer. “Why?”

Archer studied his shoes, brushing off an invisible scuff mark. “She said the show was getting a little ragged.”

“That’s putting it mildly.” Mateo huffed, turning back and sinking into a demi-plié.

“And… she asked if you were okay. She said you seemed… unhappy, and she offered to help.”

Mateo froze for a second, then continued, sliding a foot out into fourth. “I’m the same as always. I don’t know what she thinks she could possibly do, besides get me to sign some more shit for her.”

Archer blinked. “You said you didn’t mind that.”

“Well, I mind.” Mateo turned to face him again, dark, flashing eyes a stark contrast to the lilting piano music. “I fucking mind, Archer. I don’t want to be reminded about that time in my life, and I can’t fucking escape it, even here, goddamnit.”

“You—” Archer started, but Mateo put a hand up.

“Don’t. Just… don’t.”

The back door swung open. They stared at each other, the sounds of laughing and chatting crescendoing around them.

“I’m sorry,” Archer said helplessly as Betty and a handful of others trooped in.

Mateo reached for his headphones and shook his head. “Go warm up,” was all he said.

Archer swallowed the lump in his throat and did just that.

Their tango was ice-cold that night. There was no heat in Mateo’s touch, no fire in his eyes. Stewart likely would have been horrified and brought the entire performance to a screeching halt if he had seen it. What made it even worse was knowing that the audience could see it too. He pictured Eileen out there in the crowd, pursing her lips and shaking her head. Archer slouched into the greenroom after the second show, more wretched than ever.

It was much the same on Wednesday, and Archer couldn’t shake the sense that everything was going horribly wrong.

“What’s up?” Caleb asked after the second show, dropping next to him on the bench. “You seem sad.” He leaned forward for a kiss.

“I’m fine. Just tired, I guess.”

“Listen, Ben had such a fun idea. He said we should go on a hike tomorrow, take a picnic with us. Something a little different.”

Archer smiled as best he could. “That does sound fun, but… I might take it easy tomorrow.”

“What? You have to come.”

“I don’t know… Maybe I’m coming down with something.”

“Oh no.” Caleb frowned. “I hope not.”

“But you go,” Archer said, squeezing Caleb’s knee. “Have fun.”

Archer woke early Thursday to the sound of his roommates getting up. Once they had cleared out, he fell back asleep and had the most bizarre dream. He was in the rowboat with Caleb again, drifting in a lake filled with flowering lily pads. Dragonflies droned over their heads, and the sun drenched everything in a hazy, golden light. Totally content, Archer leaned in to kiss Caleb, but when he pulled away, he found himself an inch away from the dark flame of Mateo’s eyes.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Archer yelped, pulling back so violently the boat began to tip.

Mateo gripped the sides as the boat swayed. “Why did you do that?” he asked, his tone sharp and accusatory. The boat continued to rock as he glared at Archer, until it dumped Mateo right over into the water without a sound.

“Mateo!” Archer screamed, scrambling to reach for him.

But Mateo popped back above the water, smiling, shining droplets dripping from his perfect locks. “Get in here,” he said. “The water is amazing.”

“What?” Archer blinked and looked down at his clothes. He was wearing his white Retro jumpsuit. “In this?”

“Take it off first, of course.” Mateo winked. “Take it all off.”

Archer woke up with a gasp, sweaty and tangled up in his sheet. “Fuck.” He rested a hand on his racing heart and rolled over to check the time. It was two o’clock. “Holy shit.” He rubbed his face. “Maybe I am getting sick.” He had even missed the lunch window.

He closed his eyes again, grasping at the threads of his dream before they drifted away. Mateo’s face, sparkling and smiling, floated behind his eyelids. But it quickly dissolved into the more familiar scowl when he remembered the way Mateo had shut down Eileen’s invitation and yelled at him about the autograph. Archer sighed and stretched until his growling stomach forced him to forage in his bag for an extra muffin he had stashed at lunch the day before.

He was sitting up in bed, trying not to leave crumbs, and scrolling his phone when Beau came in.

“Oh, hey. Back from the hike?” Archer asked.

“I didn’t go,” Beau said, hanging his beach towel on a hook. “Ben knows I hate hiking.” He flashed Archer a sympathetic look. “I see Caleb abandoned you, too.”

Archer swallowed the last bit of muffin. “He didn’t abandon me. I wasn’t feeling up for it today.”

“Ah. So he went anyway.”

“I told him to.”

Beau gave him a sure, Jan look. “Shouldn’t your partner want to be with you?”

Archer shrugged. “A lot of the time, yeah. But not all of the time.”

“Very well.” Beau’s smile was small and tight. “I’m glad it doesn’t bother you that your boyfriend is off alone in the forest all day with mine.”

“Alone? Didn’t a bunch of people go?”

“Did they? Who else went?”

“I don’t know.” Archer blinked, confused. “I was sleeping, but I assume…”

He trailed off when he saw the expression on Beau’s face. This time it was more oh, my sweet summer child .

“You know what they say about assuming, Archer. Don’t be an ass.”

Archer went for dinner as soon as the dining hall opened, still with no sign of Caleb, and he was early for warm-up again—some sad attempt to make Mateo like him, he supposed. But Mateo ignored him, headphones firmly embedded in his ears when Archer arrived. The greenroom slowly filled up, until Archer realized that, in fact, only Caleb and Ben were missing.

He sent Caleb another message— Hey, where are you? Everything okay? —but it joined the other unanswered texts.

“Have you heard from Ben at all?” he asked Beau.

“No. I’m a little worried, actually. It’s not like Ben to be late.”

Archer frowned and found Betty powdering her face at the makeup table. “Did you go on the hike?” he asked.

“What hike?” she replied, leaning forward to examine her work in the mirror.

“Never mind,” Archer mumbled. He eased over to Dominik at his costume rack. “Did you go on the hike today?”

“Nope,” Dominik replied. “I was gonna, but my hamstring has been bugging me. I think it ended up being only Ben and Caleb.”

“Oh.”

“Speaking of…” Dominik looked around. “… where are they?”

“I don’t know. It’s five forty-five, though. And they haven’t answered any texts.”

Dominik cringed. “Has Mateo noticed yet?”

They swiveled to look at him just as he strode over to Harley.

“Harley,” Mateo said, mildly annoyed.

“What?” Harley replied without looking up from his phone.

“It’s Thursday.”

Harley blinked up at him. “Yeah?”

Mateo rubbed his forehead. “Thursday is Around the World .”

“Oh.” Harley looked down at his Broadway costume. “Right.”

Mateo muttered something, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look,” he said, teeth clenched. “I need you to get it the fuck together.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it,” Harley muttered. “Geez.”

“I don’t think he’s noticed yet,” Archer whispered to Dominik.

Right then, Mateo’s head snapped over, staring right at Archer.

Archer widened his gaze, trying to look innocent.

Mateo’s eyes narrowed, and then he began looking around the room.

“Shit, he’s onto it,” Dominik muttered. “He’s gonna fucking lose it on Caleb.”

Then the door to the greenroom banged open. Archer breathed a sigh of relief and turned to grab Caleb’s costume for him.

But when Archer looked over, Caleb was not standing in the doorway.

The man who was in the doorway was wearing a turquoise suit, brandishing a cane, and carrying a small dog.

“Stewart!” Betty cried.

He threw his arms out. “I’m back, darlings!”

Betty and a few others rushed over for hugs.

“You didn’t tell us you were coming back tonight,” Mateo said, his stare slightly wild.

“I wanted it to be a surprise!” Stewart proclaimed, smoothing Judy’s fur. She yipped.

“Oh, it’s a surprise, alright,” Archer murmured. Fuck . Where was Caleb?

There was no more avoiding it. They would need some sort of plan if Caleb and Ben were going to miss the show. Archer sidled up to Mateo.

But Stewart saw him. “Archer, my boy!” he cried. “How lovely to see you.” He grabbed Archer and kissed both of his cheeks.

“Stewart!” Archer was, of course, genuinely happy to see Stewart, but there were more pressing matters at hand. “So great to see you too, of course, but I actually need to talk to—”

“How is your tango, young Archer? As sizzling as ever?”

“Er, well, I—”

“I meant to get back on Tuesday to see the Latin show, you see, but Judy needed to get her toenails clipped and her regular groomer was on holiday—”

“That’s great, Stewart, but I just—”

“—and would you believe that the first place I called couldn’t get her in for two weeks? Two weeks! Insanity.”

Archer tried to nod politely, eyes flicking to Mateo and back.

“So I started calling around and there was one place that had an opening before that…”

Mateo was surveying the faces in the room, then he looked at Archer, eyebrow raised.

Archer nodded meekly as Stewart rambled.

“Fuck!” Mateo said.

“Er…” Stewart trailed off. “Is everything alright, Mateo?”

“Not really,” Mateo said. “ Fuck .”

“It’s okay!” Archer said. “We can figure this out.”

“What’s wrong?” Stewart asked.

“Well, the show is in ten minutes, and Caleb and Ben are not here,” Mateo growled.

“What do you mean, they are not here?”

Archer laid a calming hand on Mateo’s arm before he could erupt all over Stewart. “Caleb and Ben went for a hike and they aren’t back yet, and they aren’t answering texts.”

“Oh my.” Judy whimpered and Stewart patted her head.

Beau sucked in a breath and sank onto a chair. “What if something happened to them?”

Betty perched next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. “I’m sure they’re fine! Those trails go for miles and there’s no cell reception past the resort. They probably went too far and couldn’t get back in time.”

Archer’s stomach twinged. It had never even occurred to him that something was wrong. He was sure it was just Caleb being Caleb and still mostly expected him to come running in breathless any minute.

“Alright,” Mateo barked. “Let’s make a plan.” He stalked over to the whiteboard and began writing down all the different Around the World numbers. “Okay, Western first. Line dance, then the two-step…”

Archer joined him. “The line dance is fine, no partner work, we can fill in the gaps.”

Mateo nodded. “Now, the two-step… Seta and Beau, can you dance together instead of with Caleb and Ben?”

Beau shrugged. “I suppose, but I’ll have to dance Ben’s part.”

“Right. Shit.” Mateo started scribbling down all the partners.

“It’s fine, I can do it.” Beau stood and began miming the choreo in place, brow furrowed in concentration.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay, next is Ukrainian…”

They went through the rest of the numbers and did their best to cover Caleb and Ben’s absence, re-pairing duos, or having some dance twice, or not at all. The clock ticked away until there was nothing to do but make a wish on Judy’s collar—which Stewart made them do because it contained rhinestones that allegedly once adorned a Liza Minnelli costume—and take their places in the wings.

“Get Stewart out of here,” Mateo murmured into Archer’s ear as the greenroom emptied. “I don’t want him to see the mess backstage.”

Archer paused. “You want him seeing what the audience sees, then?”

Mateo rubbed his forehead. “Fuck. Which is worse?”

Archer blew out a breath. “God. I don’t know.”

“Put him in the audience, I guess. I’m not sure what I’ll do when they roll in, and I don’t want Stewart to see that.”

“Something might have gone wrong, you know. They could be hurt,” Archer protested.

Mateo gave him a sardonic look. “Caleb’s fine.”

Archer bit his lip, then turned on a smile for Stewart. “Stewart! There’s a special seat out there for you. You don’t want to miss this show.”