"Well well, look who remembered where her milk was coming from." Casica fumes from Carina's comment but plasters on the most apologetic look she can muster.
"C I'm so…"
"Car." Carina interrupts Cassie, stopping her in her tracks.
"What?"
"Call me Car." She says simply as two effeminate males slink from the salon blonde bombshell. They're all dressed in ostentatious dance gear that makes them look more ridiculous than fashion forward.
"Just before we left for Australia, you told me to call you C. Since when has it been Car?" The laughing bemusement in Cassie's voice mirrors a mother's when speaking to her six year old for doing something equally strange. Carina is insulted and looks to her counterparts before snapping back to Cassie.
"Since yesterday, not like it's any concern to you. A person should be called whatever they want! Besides, men usually care more about their cars than their girlfriends anyway. This way, men will be getting the same thing outta me when they fantasize about me." She ends it with a coquettish giggle. Cassie slightly shakes her head at the sad little girl. She walks off towards the side of the dance studio to put her stuff down. She sees now that it is going to be a long day if Carina has kicked the bitch level to orange already. Taking off the oversized sweatshirt, she can see them through the wall-to-wall mirror scrutinizing and whispering about her.
~*~*
Carina Brandon didn't really care much for Casica, then again anyone prettier than her she deems an enemy before the first handshake. One of the cons of working in the entertainment business is to adhere to "What's Hot" mentality. By present standards, Casica Daniels is what's hot. Her moves are the most sought after by every pop and R&B artist in the business so Carina's label is paying a pretty penny for Cassie. The fact that they almost see her as more of a commodity than Carina pisses her off. Her scowl deepens as Cassie begins to stretch on the bar. Leon and Cole, her closest gay confidants/backup dancers, giggle like girls stirring Carina from her seething.
"What's so funny?" She says with more baritones in her than she means to have.
Leon and Cole both stop abruptly in mid air of high-fiving each other. Leon clears his throat, "Nothing."
"We were just saying that Cassie's body is banging!" Cole pipes in, ignoring Leon's silent repeat of the words 'SHUT UP!'
"What?" Carina seethes.
"Not as banging as yours!" Leon quells
"Uh uh! Look at her tits…they're at least a cup size more. And her ass…Leon even you said that it was an onion."
"And what's that Leon?" Carina turns on both of them and Cole finally realizes that maybe he's said too much. They shrink down as she steps towards them, "Go ahead… What's an onion?"
Leon clears his throat once more, "An ass so perfect it makes you cry." His voice quivers. That's all Carina needs before launching a barrage of assaults on both the men. She knows that when a woman can turn a gay man straight, even for a millisecond, then the girl is a force to be reckoned with. At that moment all Carina could think of is how that girl isn't her and it pisses her off. She's come too far after losing everything to let it be in vain.
~*~*
Cassie watches the whole display in the mirror and continues her stretches with a secret smirk on her face. When she sees Carina hitting both of the boys over the head repeatedly, she finally thinks it's time to step in.
"If you guys are ready, I can show you some moves I've been working on."
"Actually," Carina punctuates the sound of each letter of the word as she turns on her heels. "I've been thinking that I should get a more hands on demeanor to my career." Cassie eyes Carina coolly while she slinks around her. It's amusing to Cassie to see this hack of silicone try to intimidate her.
"Please…continue." Cassie folds her arms over her chest.
"I've decided to co-choreograph this project." The shock is evident on Cassie's face as Carina talks through her drop jaw. "Don't worry about not getting paid your full rate or anything. The label already said they're okay with it." By calling it "rate" she demeans Cassie to a mere prostitute and Carina smiles in her mind at the subtle infraction.
This hasn't fallen to the wayside to Cassie. "It's not that C…I mean Car…It's just that this is all very new to me. My "rate" only changed with you because I had to take more time with basics. Last time we worked together you didn't…" She pauses for emphasis. "It's just you gave me the impression that…you didn't know much about dance and didn't care. It's just really sudden now… " Cassie's voice fades as Leon and Cole are snickering so loudly at this point it's hard to finish. Two can definitely play this game girly.
Carina holds up her hand to stop the hyenas, "Well could you at least take a
look