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“Well, we might as well leave. It doesn’t look like he’s going to be here any time soon and he’s not answering his phone.” Four fifths of the Backstreet Boys had been sitting in the studio for three quarters of an hour waiting for Kevin to show up. Nick sighed and dialed Kevin’s number for the billionth time that hour.
AJ stood up and stretched. “You don’t have to tell me twice. See ya’ll tomorrow.”
“Kevin probably won’t be here tomorrow either.” Howie piped up. “We might as well not come back ‘til Monday.” He said as he shrugged his sweater on.
“Well, I’m outta here.” Nick waved and left the room, leaving Howie and Brian alone.
“You know something don’t you?” Brian looked accusingly at Howie.
“No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Howie replied and turned his head away from Brian’s inquisitive stare.
Brian grinned. Howie had never been very good at keeping a secret. All he had to do was turn on the Littrel charm and Howie would tell him anything he wanted to know. Brian was very clever. He knew how to get information out of anyone. It was a gift.

~*~

“Do you have any bags to check?” The ticket counter agent asked. Kevin shook his head. “Boarding is in twenty minutes, gate 3A. Have a nice flight.” She handed Kevin his boarding pass.
He walked beside Mitch silently as they cleared security and found a place to sit.
“This is about Ellena, isn’t it?” Mitch said, breaking the silence between them. Kevin didn’t respond so Mitch kept talking. “I know you miss her but Cherry said-“
Kevin stopped Mitch there. “I know what Cherry said. I have to find out for myself. Can you understand that?” Mitch nodded solemnly and turned his attention to the airplanes on the tarmac.
“You know, I’ve always liked Los Angeles.” A familiar voice made Kevin look up. Brian sat down beside Kevin and grinned. “Something about that city just –“ He shrugged. “I don’t know, invigorates me.”
“What are you doing here, Brian?” Kevin asked in surprise.
Brian smiled sincerely. “I thought you might need a little moral support.” He replied. Someone’s gotta be there to pick up the pieces when the bitch breaks your heart again. He thought to himself.
“Sure. And how did you know I was here?”
Brian smiled smugly. “I have my ways.”
Kevin made a mental note to seriously maim Howie when he returned to Orlando. His thoughts were interrupted by the boarding call. All three men stood and made their way towards the ramp.

~*~

The performance that night was perfect, as usual. Ellena’s dancers were highly skilled and trained. Still she was rather testy that evening and didn’t bother hiding it from her troupe.
“No partying tonight! Tomorrow’s show is sold out and I don’t want anyone dancing off a hangover!” Ellena shouted as dancers scurried about the dressing room after that evening’s performance.

~*~

Kevin studied the theatre program for the third time. There was no mention of an Ellena O’Ryan anywhere. And none of the dancer’s pictures even closely resembled her. He sighed. Maybe this was a wasted trip, he thought.
Mitch heard Kevin sigh and waited for the house lights to go up. The performance was over and Ellena had not shown up on the stage. Mitch grabbed the program from Kevin’s hands, flipped over three pages and set it back in Kevin’s lap.
Kevin looked at the program and then back at Mitch quizzically. “You know,” Mitch started. “Just because her name is not on the program, doesn’t mean that she didn’t have a hand in the play.”
Kevin narrowed his eyes. “I’m not following you here.”
Mitch rolled his eyes. “Look.” He ordered and pointed to a name in the book.
Kevin read the name out loud. “Lenore Riland, writer and choreographer. Yeah, so? I don’t know any Lenore Riland.”
“Frankly, neither do I but chances are, she knows Ellena. Maybe people are more connected than you realize.” Mitch grinned.
“Have you been watching ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’ again?” Kevin arched an eyebrow.
Mitch looked at the ceiling exasperatedly. “Just go and talk to her. You’ll never stop the ‘what-if’s’ if you don’t”
“Okay.” Kevin said skeptically, although he knew Mitch was right. By that time, the theatre was nearly empty. Kevin wanted to talk to this woman alone, especially if she could tell him something about the whereabouts of Ellena. “You two can go ahead and take the rental car back to the hotel. I’ll catch up later.” Mitch and Brian nodded.

~*~

“You on your way home, Len?” Marci asked hesitantly.
“No,” she replied. “I’m going to stick around and use the studio to work on a new routine. Can I borrow your boom box?”
“Sure, it’s in my locker.” Marci shrugged. “See you tomorrow night!”
After Marci left, Ellena changed her clothes and took the boom box out of Cherry’s locker.
“I wonder what’s with Lenny today.” One of the dancers mumbled to another.
“Yeah really! She’s being a real bitch!” Another dancer agreed.
Ellena pretended not to hear them as she and walked down the corridor to the practice studio and set up Marci’s boom box in the back.

~*~

Marci stepped into the alley behind the theatre and walked around to her car.
“Excuse me.” A deep male voice said from close behind her. Marci shrieked and turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw a tall man standing in the shadows by the building.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” The man laughed and stepped into the light. “I’m looking for Lenore Riland. Do you know where I could find her?”
Marci looked Kevin up and down before responding. He didn’t look like a serial rapist so she nodded.
“Yeah, go in that door, take your second left and follow the sound of the dance music.”
“Thank you.” Kevin replied and re-entered the theatre.

~*~

Ellena turned up the volume on the CD player and took her place in front of the mirrors in the studio. She glared at her own reflection. Yes, she was bitchy today – but she had good reason to be. Today was Lacey’s fourth birthday and she knew that Eric would forget. She had called the last phone number Eric had given her but all she got was a recording explaining that the number had been disconnected. So instead of being at a party with screaming kids and pink frosted cupcakes, she was here in the dance studio chasing down the dream that she wasn’t sure was hers anymore. “Hmmph” she narrowed her eyes at the mirrors as the music began to play. She concentrated on the dance steps, hoping they would distract her until she was too tired to think.
It had been six months. Six months since she had seen Lacey. Four months since she had seen Kevin and three months since she had been able to block thoughts of either of them from her mind.
Every idle moment, scenes from last summer seeped into her mind like black ink spilled across white paper. She would just close her eyes and the memories would replay like a VCR on continuous loop. Lacey flying her kite in the park and pestering Sammy. Lacey begging for another grilled cheese sandwich. Lacey dancing with Kevin in the corridor of her old apartment building.
The first song on the disc was something that Ellena didn’t recognize. She lost her self in her dancing, forgetting everything but the way her body moved to the melodies in the room.

~*~

Kevin did just as Marci had said and followed the sound of the music. It took him down a long hallway and around a corner to an open practice studio in the back corner of the building. An odd feeling crept over him, making the hair on his arms stand up. The faint scent of Lavender hung in the air. He peeked his head around the doorframe. Absolutely nothing could have prepared him for what he saw inside the room. There, dancing across the floor, was Ellena O’Ryan.