HES Part 2

"Oh my god!" Yvette's friend, and member of the corps, Christine whispered in Yvette's ear. "He's gorgeous!"

It was definitely undeniable. Like in the case of Baryshnikov many women, and a few men, who had no interest in ballet found Rothman extremely handsome.

"I have a fiancé." Yvette whispered back. Christine, just looked at her, and flashed a coy smile.

"Well I don't!" Christine whispered right back to her.

"Mr. Rothman!" Ariana exclaimed, as he walked towards the corps. "We are delighted to have you here!"

"It is delightful to be here Madam." He replied.

"Um, mmm hmm." She replied with a nervous laughter. "Mademoiselle."

"Of course, Mademoiselle." He said, as he bent down to kiss the back of Ariana's hand. Ariana was known for coming off as cold, and emotionless. But it was obvious, by her reaction, that even she was fan girling at the moment.

Even though Yvette dearly loved Fredrick, even she was entranced by the German Adonis that stood before them. Of course she was not alone. All the female members of the corps looked as though they were swooning over him as well. His thick German accent only made him come off as more exotic.

"May I address the corps?" Bartholomew asked Ariana.

"Of course!" She replied, as her face was still beaming. Definitely a sight to behold.

"I just want to say, that I am honored to be here!" He stated. "I had originally come to Boston, to check out your performance. However, when I arrived, I was saddened to hear about the tragic loss of Mr. Johnson. I'm not sure how many of you were made aware of this. But he had actually started, I guess you could say, a pen pal online type friendship with me. He had sent videos of some of your rehearsals, and I must admit, I was most impressed."

"He what?" Ariana asked as her eyes widened, with a look of annoyance upon her face.

"Oh I'm sorry." Bartholomew told her. "Did I reveal something that I shouldn't have?"

"No." Ariana sternly replied, as she folded her arms. "But it is policy not to tape the rehearsals. I didn't want anything getting out to the general public. I want opening night to be as surprising as possible. But under the circumstances, I have no choice but to forgive Mr. Johnson."

"That may be, and I am sorry if this information has upset you." Said Bartholomew. "But had I not seen the rehearsals, I wouldn't have been so interested in your company. Nor would I be offering to fill in after the untimely passing of Mr. Johnson."

I'm glad someone finally put that bitch in her place. Yvette thought as she knew Alex had to be looking down, and laughing right about now.

"Now then." Bartholomew added. "Which one of the lovely ladies, that I see before me, is the Prima Ballerina?"

"That would be Yvette Walsh!" Ariana told him, as her eyes were scanning the dancers. "Excuse me, Miss Walsh? Could you come here a second?"

"Um, sure." Yvette answered. As she stood up, and made her way to them, her heart began to flutter. She felt like a school girl that had a crush on one of her teachers. Yvette's face felt flushed, hopefully no one would notice that she was blushing.

"Miss Walsh." Said Ariana. "May I introduce you to Mr. Rothman?"

Yvette looked up at him, and stared into his hypnotic eyes. They were mesmerizing, almost as if they weren't human. She couldn't help but give him a shy smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rothman." She said, as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I am a huge fan of yours."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my dear." He replied. And just as he did with Ariana, he bent down to kiss her hand. As he did so, his eyes stared straight into hers. It was almost as if he was daring her to try, and look away.

"Now then, Miss Walsh." He continued. "Alexander, had told me all about you. And I had seen you dance in the apparently forbidden clips that he had sent me. You are an exquisite dancer."

"Thank you." Yvette replied, as she became elated by his compliment.

"You're welcome." He smiled. "However, even though most productions have the Prima Ballerina performing both the roles of Odette, as well as Odile, I prefer a production where Odile is played by another dancer. You of course, shall keep the role of Odette. However, if I am to perform the role of Van Rothbart, I must insist that my niece perform the role of Odile."

Yvette was taken back by what he had just said. Did he just say he was taking away one of the most memorable sequences, and giving it to his niece? Who did this guy think he was?

"But I don't understand!" Cried Yvette. "I could perform the duel role! Is that why you want to perform here in Boston? Are you hoping to replace me with a member of your family? You're being here, and dancing in this production had nothing to do with Alex. Did it!"

"Yvette, Please!" Ariana exclaimed, as her eyes widened, and stared Yvette down in anger. "You are embarrassing all of us! Including yourself! We should be honored to have a performer like Mr. Rothman in our production!"

"I thought you were the ballet director?" Yvette snapped. "Now some spoiled big wig gets to do whatever he wants! I had to work hard to get this role, years of practice and hard work. And just when I finally get the role I've always wanted, my best friend kills himself. And the niece of a famous ballet dancer just gets to waltz in here, and take part of my role away from me!"

"YVETTE!" Ariana exclaimed, as she sounded furious. "If Mr. Rothman wants his niece to perform as Odile, than that is what we shall do!"

"You can't be serious!" Yvette snapped back in anger.

"You know for someone who has only been a Prima Ballerina for a short time!" Mr. Rothman growled. "She already has the attitude of a Prima donna down pat. I was actually looking forward to working with you!"

He stared at her in anger, but she refused to let him intimidate her. She didn't care who the hell he was. It was at that moment when she probably said the dumbest thing in her life. "Well you won't have to worry about that, Bart! You can get your niece to play the duel role, because I quit!"

Except for a collective gasp, everything got quiet as she stormed out of the auditorium. As she made her way to the street, her body was still shaking because she was so angry.

After she left the building, Yvette hailed a taxi. Just like at Alex's funeral, her mind and body seemed to be existing on two completely different planes. The entire ride home, she just stared out into nothingness. The world around her was moving at the speed of light, yet her mind was moving at a snail's pace.

As she got to her apartment, she unlocked the door, as she just swung it open. Yvette then turned on the lights, and with no emotion, just dropped her purse on the floor. But as soon as she did that, she just burst into tears. If only Alex was there to comfort her.

She could almost hear Alex now. Are you insane? Do you realize who you just pissed off?

But Bartholomew had used his power to push her a side for a member of his family.

So what! You were still the star! And he would have brought a lot of clout, and publicity to the performance. People in the ballet industry from all over the world will be there! But they won't see you, because you let your pride get in the way!

But Alex was supposed to perform as Von Rothbart, not Bartholomew Rothman!

Don't blame this on me! You were the one who messed things up, and now you are the one who is paying the consequences! Not a lot of dancers get to be the Prima Ballerina, but you're just willing to throw all of that away! I was the one who got you an audition with Ariana in the first place, and this is how you thank me?

"Oh my god!" Yvette cried aloud. "My damn pride! What have I done?” It just hit her, she had single handedly destroyed her entire ballet career in just one night. What was she going to do? She decided to go over to Fred's. True, he wasn't going to be able to save her now self destroyed ballet career. But maybe they could just get drunk, and make love.

Sounds good to me! She thought, as a smile soon crept upon her face. As quickly as she could, she grabbed her purse off the floor, and dashed to the front door. But as she quickly pulled open the door, she couldn't believe her eyes. Standing there, with a shocked look on his face was Bartholomew Rothman.

With the look on his face, and his fist up in the air showing that he was just about to knock, he was just as surprised as she was.

"Wha-what are you doing here?" She asked.

"I'm afraid we might have gotten off on the wrong foot." He explained with a now serious look on his face. "May I come in, I think we need to talk."

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