Page 26 of The Fall

I’m going to be in so much trouble with this woman.

NINE

SAVANNAH

Costume fitting day is usually one of my favorites, but this year, I’m feeling so much pressure for everything to be absolutely perfect that nothing feels fun. I feel like I’m a tense ball of stress, which isn’t helping anything.

We’ll have two costumes to start with this season. One for our rhythm dance, the theme of which is decided on by U.S. Figure Skating, and one for our freestyle dance, where we can choose whatever we want.

Logan and Tati have been discussing costumes, so by the time Max and I got to see the options, they’d already been narrowed down to the best.

The room we’re in is small, made even smaller by the racks of costumes the designer, Evelyn, has in here. She’s fitting several different couples today, so it looks like a rainbow exploded in here.

Evelyn holds up a purple sparkly leotard. She’s a sweet older lady who has worked with us for years. I can tell by her smile that she really loves this option, so I feel terrible that I hate it.

“That’s… not my favorite,” I say with a wince.

She nods quickly, seemingly unaffected by my rejection, and turns away to put it back on the rack. Logan comes up behind me and whispers, “You could at least try to hide your disgust.”

I face him and realize he’s close. Really close. And he smells good. Why does he have to smell good? “I can’t help it.”

He laughs, and I feel his breath on my neck. It sends a chill down my body. What is wrong with me? Ever since he admitted to wanting to kiss me last week, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I’ve made myself avoid looking at him most of the time. Last night, my thoughts wandered toward an inappropriate place, so I forced myself to watch the video where he made me break my ankle to remind myself why I hate him. It was pathetic, but it worked. My anger came rushing back.

“Yeah, I know,” he whispers.

I swallow and force myself to look at the next costume. It’s emerald green.

“This color would look really good on you, Sav,” Max says.

“I agree,” Logan says. He’s taken a few steps back to give me room to breathe.

“It will bring out the green in your eyes, dear,” Evelyn adds.

I take the outfit from her. It is pretty. “This would be for freestyle?”

“Yeah,” Logan says. “The skirt on this one would look really good with the routine. Lots of spins.”

“Ok, I’ll try it on.”

Max grabs a green outfit for himself, which is just black pants and a black shirt with green rhinestone embellishments. There’s a curtain set up in the room that we change behind. Max and I have obviously seen each other naked, so we have no issues changing in front of each other.

“Can you zip me up?” I ask after pulling on the green dress.

“This looks so good on you, Sav,” he says as he pulls the zipper up.

“You think?”

“Oh yeah, I’d do you.”

I laugh and try to keep my voice down since I know everyone in the room can hear us. “Max, would it really matter what I was wearing for you to want to do me?”

“No, not really.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“But this outfit makes you look extra fuckable.”

“Noted.”