A Word of Praise

Sales conventions were one of Kiara's favorite kind of events. The organizers always had some sort of crazy briefing for her, that matched the company's goal for the year. She often found herself having to portrait 'double-digit growth' or 'increase market share' in a three-minute silks routine. In sum, she was paid exorbitant amounts of money to perform whatever the hell she liked.

It's not as if the people who hired her would be able to tell if she explored the theme they gave her anyway. Even so, she liked to try to pass on the message. It was an artistic challenge, and more often than not, she ended up with a fast as hell routine and a smile plastered on her face.

She particularly enjoyed performing to the half-drunk workforce. They cheered like few other crowds, mostly because they were celebrating making shitloads of money. It was like performing at a kids' party; not strong in the artistic department but it boosted her confidence.

That particular Saturday, they invited her to an all-day event in a hotel, where she would perform to three different groups. They were pretty adamant she prepared different performances for each of them because they had unique goals to achieve. She laughed so hard when Michael told her about it, that her agent hung up on her face to make her stop.

The only downside was that she had to cancel her weekly meeting with Chris... Batman. Weekly meeting with Batman. Oh hell, who was she kidding, she was way past the point of faking it was for Batman's sake. She began to look forward to Saturday mornings in ways she didn't expect to.

Sure, they were attracted to each other since the very first day, but now it was... different. She knew him now. The sound of his real laughter, the way his brows furrowed when she defied him, his annoying habit of walking faster than her - and then giving her an apologetic smile when he noticed.

As she got ready for her first performance of the day in that fancy hotel room, she wondered if he'd miss her. She tried to gauge his reaction by reading his text messages over and over, to no luck. When she read his same reply for the third time, she shook her head in annoyance and threw the phone on the bed.

She refused to keep acting like a clueless teenage girl, especially since she already knew the answer to her own question. Of course, he'd miss her. He was more than clear during their many encounters that he was working towards a goal there. And he was pretty close to getting it if she were being honest with herself. She was almost out of excuses to keep the walls up. Now she just needed to find the guts to open up.

When she was done getting ready and warming up, the staff led her to the conference room where she'd perform. An approachable woman was finishing a presentation on how to stay focused throughout the workday. Kiara stood in the back of the room, waiting for the short break that would precede her performance.

She took a moment to assess her audience. Almost a hundred people sat on big round tables spread across the room. Most of them could really learn a thing or two from the lecture. Not that they weren't focused, it just wasn't on the woman ahead. All eyes were undoubtedly fixated on the staff catering the snacks they'd eat in a couple of minutes.

She also spotted the big boss from a distance. A bit older than the rest of the workforce, a million-dollar suit, tight-lipped expression that made her wonder if he was constantly annoyed or just really had to sneeze. The poor girl furiously taking notes by his side was probably his secretary who, despite the large paycheck, was not paid nearly enough to endure that insufferable man.

Alright, maybe she shouldn't be so fast to judge. Perhaps he was a decent boss, who just happened to have the expression of a military totalitarian. Maybe he was even... There it was. The pig motioned something with his head, and the poor girl immediately got his fancy-ass stainless steel thermal and began to refill it with the water bottles on the table.

Kiara felt like opening one of them and pouring it into his suit. 'Oh, sorry sir, I thought that's what you wanted since you can't use fucking words to ask for things'.

She rolled her eyes and thought about Chris. He'd laugh his ass off if she did that impersonation for him, and maybe share one of his own office stories. Now that he took over the business his whole attitude towards it was way more relaxed, and she even began to admire how he chose to manage everything.

When the lecturer stopped talking, the crowd politely clapped. She laughed at the way they all took a minute to assess if it was ok to jump on the food already. Soon enough, the employees gathered around the small sandwiches and cupcakes with no concern for company hierarchy or corporative manners. She would love to keep watching from afar, but duty called, and she had to make sure her lyra was ready for her.

Moving past the tables and trying to stay out of the commotion, she found herself a stone's throw away from the faithful thermal bottle. She almost scoffed, noticing the leather details and the fucking digital display that probably showed the time, temperature, and several people the owner had yelled at.

There was little to no thought involved in her next move. In a sleight of hand, craftily developed through years of shoplifting, the thermal was in her bag. She wasn't planning on taking a prize for herself today, but this precious little thing deserved to be hers.

While she was helping the technical crew attach the lyra to the ceiling, she made sure to keep an eye on the big boss' table. She didn't want to get someone else in trouble for her little theft, which shouldn't even be considered a theft. It was more of a... karmic retribution.

When everyone got back to their sits, she noticed the man inattentively grabbed a generic water bottle from the table and drank it. Just as she expected, he forgot about the thermal as soon as it was out of sight and wouldn't remember it until much later. When it happened, he'd not be able to trace where he lost the damn thing. Worked every time.

With that out of the way, Kiara breathed in to concentrate on her performance. 'Finding and engaging early-adopters'. That was by far her favorite of the day. Or was it 'Sticking to our core competencies', that she'd perform in the afternoon? She was not sure which one was a worse theme for a circus performance, but she was loving it.

Of course, she had to make it theatrical and obvious. It was not as if a fierce expression would be enough for them to grasp the concept. So she went full power with that one, as straight forward as a lyra performance could be. She obviously chose Conquest of Paradise as her song and went for a marine customized outfit. She was truly feeling this naval explorer vibe after she researched whatever the hell 'early-adopters' meant.

As soon as the song began, the crowd cheered in recognition. She was already trying to hold herself from laughing at their reactions, and she knew for sure she'd have a few eager spectators humming along. She flourished the moves and falls as best she could and made sure to end with multiple spins and an exit worthy of the Olympics.

They cheered and applauded for a full minute until a perfectly dressed woman hopped on the stage and tuned down the crowd with a smile. Taking it as her cue, she got her bag and crossed the room to leave. She was barely out the door when she felt a presence behind her.

"Here I was, thinking I was special because you stole something from me."