Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
She had always been in the shadows. Lurking, remaining anonymous. It was what she was good at and a year or so into this whirlwind of a relationship, she has remained stealthily so.
No one paid any attention to her during premieres or panels but she would always be there. Proudly watching her man sweep humanity of its feet with his charm, wit and undying zest for life. Kind of like what he did with her. But she was different.
She liked getting lost in the crowd but she always knew where to find her.
This wasn’t going to last but what she had know makes her happy. She’s not going to let that go.
At least, not yet.
It was a gloomy Sunday morning. She had just moved into London a week ago, particularly in a humble apartment, or should she call it “flat”, along Stamford Street. She never pictured herself living in London, no matter how many times she wanted to visit. It was so different from Los Angeles and definitely not as sunny but the moment she got a call/offer to be one of the dancers in the West End’s re-staging of Dirty Dancing, she immediately said yes.
She had said goodbye to everyone and everything in LA in a month. It hurt to leave her dance company but her fellow company members said they would hate her if she didn’t take this opportunity. It was even harder to say goodbye to the children she taught. She remembered when she announced her departure during her last class. All the kids ran up to her and hugged her like they never wanted to let go. Class started 15 minutes late that day. It ended in tears.
Leaving home was an even more difficult feat. She had never moved out in her entire life and yet there she was about to live alone, even more so in a different country. Her parents were very supportive, encouraging her and assuring her that everything will be okay. A part of her wished her parents would ask her to stay.
“We’ll visit you, don’t worry.” They said. She knew this wasn’t going to happen anytime soon given their financial situation. “I’m doing this for you”, she said. “We know”, her dad said, “but we also want you to do this for yourself”.
She had always been doing things for her family, helping them out in every way. Most of her salary from teaching dance went to the household. She rarely splurged for herself. Her family’s happiness was her happiness.
“It’s okay to be selfish sometimes. Don’t worry about me and your dad. We’ll be fine” said her mother. “You have already done so much for us. It’s time to do something to make yourself happy”.
So there she was, a 27-year old dancer exploring London by foot, checking to see how far her feet could take her. It also seemed like a good day to go out for a run. So run, she did.
Minutes later, she found herself in the famous Hyde Park and decided to slow things down a bit and just take a walk, and also a breather. How long had she been running anyway? Maybe running along to a compilation of Hans Zimmer’s musical scores wasn’t a very good idea. Or maybe it was. She could be such a dork sometimes.
“What’s a good song to listen to?” she thought to herself. “A steady song. I need a steady song”, she whispered to herself she scanned her iPod.
“Some Bob Dylan wouldn’t hurt” and so Bob Dylan it is.
“They sat together in a park
As the evening sky grew dark…”
“Quite appropriate”, she thought, as she continued strolling along Hyde Park.
“She looked at him and felt a spark tingle to his bones…”
She looked around. “Like that’s going to happen tonight”, she murmured.
It was when he felt alone and wish that he’d gone straight
And...”
“WATCH OUT!”, a man screamed. A crash followed.
“…for a simple twist of fate”