The Nothing of the Everything

Jimmy wondered how he got himself into this situation. He knew absolutely nothing about ballet. Katie, his younger sister, did ballet for a while when she was little but he never attended one of her shows, much to their mother’s annoyance. Yet there he was, standing outside one of the best theatres of the world, wearing a brand new suit he bought for the occasion. He was even wearing a tie. A tie! Obviously, he wasn’t wearing it well – his father once tried to teach him how to tie a necktie, but Joe Sullivan gave up after five minutes, Jimmy wasn’t interested in that and he made sure to let his father know. He wasn’t the only one, though. His friends had to get themselves new suits and they all looked like a fish out water. The only one who looked good and, oddly enough, seemed to perfectly fit the situation was Valary, with her pretty navy dress and high heels.

He felt Johnny’s eyes on him and Jimmy noticed how he was looking at his tie. “Don’t you fucking dare, you shitface. This is your fault.” He said, “And yours.” He added, pointing his finger towards Valary.

“You’ll like it and if you don’t, you can sleep, as long as you don’t snore, or you’ll get yourself and possibly even us kicked out.” Val said.

Jimmy rolled his eyes and looked over at Brian, who wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“I know you’re taken, but I’m sure there’ll be pretty girls, so help me pick one.” He smirked and the two guys followed their friends inside.

“As if you need my help.” Jimmy commented, glancing at his friend for a moment before paying attention to the theatre.

The place was beautiful. There was no doubt about it. Jimmy knew nothing about architecture, but he could tell that theatre was great, although it was mostly filled with old women, who looked at them with a disgusted look on their face, and young children, who were either kind of scared or even curious about them. This amused him more than anything.
When they found their seats, he was surprised to see that Elaine gave them tickets for seats so close to the stage, Valary, instead, was incredibly excited. Who knew she had such a thing for ballet? Definitely not Matt, who looked at his girlfriend with the loving eyes of a man completely in love with his woman, but at the same time he looked a bit confused of her behavior.

The show had started for less than fifteen minutes and immediately Zacky spoke, causing people to tell him to shut up.

“What? They’re just dancing and making faces. They don’t even speak! It’s not normal.” He said, shaking his head.

“Zachary, shut the fuck up.” Valary whispered and Jimmy leaned over, agreeing with Zacky.

“He’s right. The fuck is this shit? Wake me up when this shit is over.”

When he was about to close his eyes, though, he noticed Elaine on the stage. Her hair was up like the day before, but now she was wearing a white dress and she was dancing like she owned it. He remembered her mentioning the fact that she was playing the main character of the ballet, Clara, so this made sense.

“There she is!” Johnny exclaimed and Jimmy hit his side with his elbow.

“Shut up, little shit.” He said, his eyes glued to the stage. He adjusted his glasses on his nose and stared at Elaine.

That dress and the way she was dancing made her look like an angel and he was simply mesmerized. He really found it difficult to look away from Elaine and when she wasn’t on stage, he kept looking for her with his eyes.

He couldn’t understand how she could be Johnny’s sister. She was absolutely perfect.

When the first act was over, Jimmy frowned, confused.

“This is it? The show’s already over? What the fuck?”

“It’s just the first act.” Val answered, showing him the program of the ballet. “See? That was the first part, this is the next one.” She added, pointing a finger to the summary of the next act.

“I don’t care.” Jimmy shrugged, “As long as the show starts quickly again.”

He didn’t have to wait much, only 15 minutes, and then he saw Elaine again.

Brian caught him smiling, so he moved closer to him. “Why are you smiling?”

Jimmy groaned and simply ignored his best friend’s question, deciding to focus his attention to the ballet and that angel that somehow happened to be Johnny’s sister.

Ø

They were all waiting outside for Elaine to come out so they could go celebrate and Jimmy kept moving and walking, he couldn’t stay still.

“Jimmy, stop. You’re making me sick.” Johnny said, trying not to look at his friend.

“Guess what? I don’t care.” Jimmy said and kept looking around, hoping to see Elaine appear out of nowhere.

When she appeared, some little girls stopped her to take a photo with her and when she finally noticed them, giving them one of her biggest smiles, he almost ran towards her. She wasn’t wearing the white dress anymore, obviously, instead she was wearing something really casual but for some reasons, he kept seeing her as the angel that was dancing a few minutes before.

“You!” Jimmy exclaimed and stood in front of her. “That thing in there was… Shit, you were amazing!” He said and laughed, “Never thought I’d say something like this, but really. It was so great and you were amazing.”

Elaine smiled at him, glad that he liked the show. “I’m glad you didn’t get annoyed.” She said before turning her look to the band and Valary, who were giving curious looks at Jimmy. “What did you think?”

“I agree with what Rev said. You were amazing.” Johnny said and hugged his sister. Soon, the guys told her how much they enjoyed the show and Valary gave her a quick hug.

“You were fantastic.”

“Thank you guys, I really appreciate it.”

Elaine looked around and noticed her best friend walking towards them. “Guys, this is Olivia, my best friend. Liv, these are the guys I told you about and that little guy is my brother.”

Olivia smiled at them and introduced herself to the guys, “It’s nice to meet you, Johnny. Elaine told me a few stories about you.”

Jimmy laughed and looked at Olivia, “If they’re bad stories, then they’re probably true. Otherwise, don’t believe what she told you.”

Johnny rolled his eyes and looked at his sister’s friend, “Anyway, are you joining us tonight?”
Olivia looked at Elaine, who nodded, “Actually, that was my place if you guys don’t mind. We usually celebrate together after the last show but since you’re here, I thought we could celebrate together.”

“Of course we don’t mind, as long as you two are getting wasted with us.” Jimmy said with a smirk.

Olivia looked at Elaine with a worried look, but she reassured her that nothing bad would happen.

Ø

Everybody was staring at her with eyes wide open; some were shocked, others were amused. The only one who seemed not to be bothered by the scene was Olivia, who took a sip of her own drink as her best friend drank a whole glass of beer. Elaine licked her lips as she was done drinking, then looked around, surprised to see so many eyes on her.

“This is the real Elaine Seward, everybody.” Olivia said and chuckled, Elaine, instead, simply shrugged it off.

"You're beautiful." Jimmy whispered, but no one really heard him.

It was something he said without thinking and the moment the words came out of his mouth, he immediately regretted it. He was glad all his friends' eyes were on the two girls and their ears were listening to them, instead of paying attention to him.

“I may be a ballerina, but it’s not like I can’t enjoy a good drink once in a while.” She explained. She was usually very careful with what she ate and drink, mostly because her teacher was always after her, making sure she wouldn’t gain an ounce.

The guys laughed, Zacky and Jimmy giving her a pat on her back. The one who was still shocked was Johnny. He simply stared at her sister, unable to say anything.

Elaine noticed this and laughed. “Oh, c’mon. I’m still a Seward, right?”

“Hell yeah! Don’t know about your parents, but your brothers are good drinkers, so I’m not surprised you are one good drinker, too.” Jimmy said.

“I think I can speak for everybody when I say that you look super hot despite drinking so much.” Zacky said, but he quickly received a slap on the arm from Valary.

“Hey! I look hot, too!”

The blonde chuckled and ordered another beer before turning her attention to Zacky. “First of all, Val’s right. She’s hot, too. Second of all, I don’t drink that much. It only happens when I’m over with shows and I’m free for a couple of days.”

Olivia nodded and said, “Yeah, otherwise Miss Harrison would kick her ass.” When she noticed the question look on Val’s face, she quickly explained. “She’s our choreographer and let’s just say she’s very strict on what we can or cannot eat or drink.”

“For example, this after party is costing me tomorrow’s lunch and possibly dinner.” Elaine added and shrugged before laughing at Johnny’s reaction.

“What do you mean? That’s insane! She can’t do that. She’s an actual bitch–”

“She is, but she can do that and I’m used to it so it’s not big deal. Plus, it’s nice spending one nice night out with my brother and his friends.”

“What? We’re your friends, too. Actually, brothers. See this?” Jimmy asked, moving his finger around to show all the people sitting at the table. “This is family and whether you like it or not, you are part of this, especially ‘cause you’re our favorite Seward sibling.”

Ø

It was already 2 AM and they were all completely drunk. The only one who managed to stay kind of sober was Olivia, but she wasn’t sober enough to make sure that everybody got home safely.

“I’m taking you home.” Johnny said as he tried to get up and then to take a few steps.

Obviously, he failed. Seeing him fall on the ground made everybody laugh, and they kept laughing as they all tried to leave the bar. Matt was holding Val, Zacky and Brian were holding each other, Olivia and Elaine walked next to each other, ready to grab the other if they were about to stumble, and Jimmy kept laughing at Johnny who somehow managed to get up.

“So…” Elaine said and shook her head, trying to articulate at least a few words, but it wasn’t easy. Not when you had your mind completely blurred from the alcohol.

“You sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Jimmy asked and she shook her head firmly.

“No, it’s fine. We’ll… We’ll be fine. I don’t want passed out guys in my hotel room.”

“Screw them ‘cause they’re not hot, but I am. Seeing me in the morning would be a great view.”

Elaine laughed and held onto his arm. “I’m sure it would be, but I’m not interested, sorry.”

“Your loss, doll.”

“Guys! This is our cab!” Matt yelled while Val laughed and shushed him.

“Come visit us in London whenever!” Elaine said before glancing over at his brother, who was already getting in the cab. She sighed softly and told herself she would call him the next day, but she was pretty sure she would forget it.

“Bye, girls!” Val yelled from the window of the cab as the guys (except Johnny who was already asleep) waved at them.

The two girls waved back at them and then smiled at each other. For the first time in long time they didn’t worry about their job, instead they simply enjoyed the company and had fun.

Notes

Hello! We finally got to see more of Elaine's life, we met Olivia and saw the whole situation from Jimmy's POV. What did you think of it?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

Thank you very much to all the people who subscribed, voted and commented on my story. I definitely didn't think people would show interest in my story, so this is encouraging me to write more, so expect more chapters soon!