Reality And Romance

Carefully, she undid the bow and pulled apart the wrapping paper to reveal a rectangle box. With bated breath, Libby lifted the lid. It was a pair of shoes. Really, really, really nice shoes. They were black leather, pointed, with a three inch heel and a strap that was decorated with intertwining flowers, that ran all the way up her feet when she put them on.

“They’re lovely,” Libby sighed, rotating her foot in admiration.

“They’re Valentino Rockstuds.” The stylist whistled. “Looks like Mr Thompson’s a keeper.” She added with a sly wink.

Libby smiled, “He certainly is.”

The final thing that needed to be done was makeup. Libby had been looking forward to this part most of all. She’d always done her makeup by herself, and while she was reasonably pleased with the results this had produced, she had watched enough television to know that a professional could work wonders.

Libby was sat in the chair for a while as they powdered her face and painted her eyes and lips. When the makeup artist was done, she spun Libby’s chair round and pointed her towards the mirror.

“Well, what do you think?”

Libby couldn’t find the words. She still looked like her, but everything seemed more defined, as if she had suddenly been switched into HD mode. Her lips looked fuller, with a dark red lipstick, rich and glossy. Her dark eyes looked as if they had been polished, the red tones within them more prominent, and the white’s fresher and cleaner. Finally, her skin had been covered so well that Libby could hardly believe she had ever had to deal with a single blemish, and it had a glow about it.

“I look amazing…” She responded breathlessly.

“Yea, you do,” The other woman said with a smile. “Now go on. Knock them dead!”

*****

“Okay sweetheart,” said a pretty blonde haired woman with a headpiece. “We’re going to film you outside the mansion, then this lovely lady,” she pointed to a tall redheaded woman, whom Libby recognized from viewing the show previously, as its presenter Olivia Reed, “Will ask you a couple of interview questions before you go in. I’m sure Vanessa briefed you on the rest?”

“Yea, she did,” Libby said, trying to force a smile. The fun of the makeover had worn off and now she was feeling incredibly nervous. The implications of having everything she did filmed had now occurred to her, and she was starting to remember all her bad habits, all the little things she did without thinking. For one, she was aware she had a mouth like a sailor and had been subtly told to curb that by Vanessa. They had a large teen audience, and would draw criticism for too much swearing. Then there was how she was supposed to behave around Andrew.

Vanessa had laid out some very specific criteria about the type of romance they were supposed to have blossom. Andrew had supposedly ‘rescued’ Libby from her boring and mundane working life by introducing her to ‘the wonderful world of reality television’, and Libby had ‘saved’ Andrew from the loneliness that ‘tortured his soul’. The gimmick being that they were not only heroes to that boy they rescued, but too each other.

Libby personally thought it was ridiculous. But she loved Andrew, and New York fashion week was dawning. This was Andrew’s big chance to make an impression on the world with his clothes and if going on this show and following Vanessa’s instructions would help that, then so be it.

After checking all the cameras were working, the blonde woman counted down from five and the interview began.

“Welcome to StarGazing, I’m your host Olivia Reed. On today’s show we explore the unlikely love between Andrew Thompson, and our new guest, his girlfriend Liberty Belle,” Libby forced a smile as the camera’s turned to face her.

For the next couple of minutes Olivia rambled on about the Superhero costumes, and how Andrew had been an unattainable heartthrob before finally turning the mic over to Libby.

“So, how does it feel being on the show for the first time?”

“Oh,” said Libby, trying to sound enthusiastic. “It’s just wonderful. I never thought I’d be given an opportunity like this.”
“Anyone you want to call out to?”

Libby smirked, pleased. It hadn’t occurred to her until now, but Chris and Diane were probably watching. She hadn’t been into work since the mugging, too busy dealing with the aftermath and trying to stay out of the way of the press.

“Yes! Diane, Chris, bet you weren’t expecting this.” She waved, baring her teeth in a grin, before she remembered that she was supposed to be a little more repressed and sophisticated. ‘Closed off, money focused and obsessed with work,’ Vanessa had specified. Libby wondered if she knew how much librarians actually got paid. “They are two of my friends – uh, I mean colleagues,” she corrected quickly, “from work. We sometimes used to discuss this show. By the coffee machine, because that’s where you talk about television at work…by the coffee machine.” Libby garbled awkwardly.

‘Sh*t.’ She thought as she saw the look of bewilderment that fell across Olivia’s face. She had no idea what to do.

“Well, that’s great, I guess,” said the host, trying to hide her obvious confusion and then quickly changing the subject. “My second question is, and it’s something I’m sure all our viewers want to know – how did you and Andrew meet?”

Libby scowled inwardly. She had received most of the credit for the rescue, having been the one to take the man down with her shoe. That, and the fact that they had been inexplicably in costumes, had to be explained to the press. Somehow, none of them had thought that. ‘We didn’t want the press getting involved, we really don’t like them’ wouldn’t go down well at all, so to reinforce Andrew’s image as a hero, and the entire family’s supposed love of the media, a different story had been created. Libby wasn’t at all happy with it.

“He rescued me.” She lied, cringing at her own words.

“Ooh! How romantic, please tell us more! Andrew has only revealed a little bit about why he wore the costume. He called it an unquenchable desire to make a difference.” The presenter pushed.

Libby replied through gritted teeth. “Yes, I er…nearly got hit by a car,” she began lamely, but he pushed me out of the way in the nick of time and carried me to safety. He is my hero. I wanted to repay him, so I got him to make me my own costume, so I could assist him in his…crime fighting.”

The reporter clapped her hands. “To be rescued by Andrew Thompson! You lucky girl, well isn’t that just every girls dream?”

‘No,’ Libby thought inwardly. The lies hurt more than they probably should have, but she had been so pleased to help that boy. To finally live up to the poem on the back of the costume. To feel that, in her own small way, she was the hero she had always dreamed about being. Libby knew she would never be Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter, but that didn’t mean she had to bas*ardize her own small, heroic, accomplishment.

Instead of vocalizing any of her anger she simply replied, in a slightly forced voice. “Yes. A dream come true.”

“Finally, we have the question that everybody wants to know. What is it like to be dating a super stud?”

Libby smiled. She could answer this one honestly. “What is it like to date Andrew? It’s wonderful, more than I ever hoped for…I feel very lucky.”

As the interview drew to a close, Libby once again began to feel incredibly nervous. It was time for her to enter the house. The others had warned her to relax beforehand, but she couldn’t. Every move she made was going to be judged by a crowd of millions and everyone who watched was going to form some type of an opinion of her. More than that, it was an opinion of a toned down her, a her that was cold, and shrewd and desperately thankful to Andrew for ‘saving her’. It was horrible, even if by and large the people liked her, they didn’t like the real her.

As the lights flared up, the show’s theme music began to play and the mansion gate opened for her so she could stride into the house. As she drew closer to the front door she noticed Andrew, his brothers and Vanessa were standing at the gate waiting for her. She sighed a breath of relief, please they were there to meet her.

“Welcome dear,” Vanessa raised her arms up dramatically. “To our humble home!”