Reality And Romance

Chapter 8

Diana and Chris couldn’t believe their luck and were going completely against the pre-practice guidelines given to them by Vanessa, telling them not to speak to the camera and were now taking it in turns to give ‘exclusive interviews’ to the reporters.

“How long have you wanted to be a model?” One of them asked Chris.

“Since before I can remember. While all the others boys were playing football, I was walking up and down the playground, working on my strut.”

Another one of the reporters turned to Diane, “And as for you Miss, is there anything you’d like to tell the viewers at home?”

“I’m single.” She replied, giving an over dramatized wink.

Libby and Andrew laughed, as Vanessa shot them both a dirty look, before marching over to end the interview.

“Aw man,” said Chris, laughing. “I was just about to tell them about my beauty regime.”

Diane joined him shortly but not before striking one last pose for the camera. “Yo Andrew, where’s your brother? I want to get him to sign some more sh*t.” Diane asked, as she approached them.

“By ‘some sh*t’ do you mean your tits?”

“Yes, Libby. Yes I do.”

Andrew smirked. “He should be in his dressing room, although I’d recommend knocking first. McKenzie and Aaron are, er, a rather virile pair.”

Diane shrugged, before walking in the direction of the dressing room. “Sounds hot.”

Libby and Andrew just smiled at each other, while Chris grinned. At this moment, they were approached by Vanessa and Johnny.

“Sorry about those two,” Libby began, raising an eyebrow at Chris.

“Don’t worry about,” Vanessa said, flipping back her hair. “I thought they were rather endearing personally. I was worried about them saying something about the show actually…but I just spoke to the reporters and they seem quite delighted. I suppose that level of enthusiasm cannot be a bad thing.”

Johnny laughed. “Yea, it can only do us good. The enthusiasm is good publicity, especially because they’re both long term fans of the show.”

Vanessa smiled. “If this goes well we might even have them on as guest stars. If you wouldn’t object of course, Libby?”

“Yea and then maybe McKenzie can -” Andrew began, but he was cut off with a glare from Vanessa.

“I agree.” Said Johnny resolutely. “About McKenzie coming on the show. And your friends,” he added to Libby, with a smile.

Vanessa was about to reply, when they were given the sign by the stage manager, and told to go into their dressing rooms and get changed.

Libby grabbed hold of Andrew and gave his arm a comforting squeeze and shot him a smile. He grinned in response, and pulled her into a kiss.

“You ready Libby?” He asked with a wide smile.

“You bet!” She responded, a little flushed.

Nothing more was said, but they held hands as they walked to their dressing rooms. The show was about to start and Libby was determined to do her best.

*****

Finally, they were all dressed in costume, and waited in trepidation at the back of the stage, as the lights dimmed, and the music started. The first few acts were good, although perhaps not as flashy as Andrew’s. The other designers had stuck to the traditional model of just walking down and back up the stage. But what they lacked in finesse, they had in style. The dresses and costumes were truly beautiful and Libby watched their clothes like a child in a candy store, envious of the lovely clothes. This continued for about an hour, until they were given the signal by the stage manager. Now it was their turn.

Diane and Chris were up first. They had finally perfected the strut that Aaron had taught them, and managed to walk along the catwalk with relative grace, pulling some dramatic superhero poses at the end. Diane had named herself Underdog, donning a dog’s collar around her neck, to go with her dark blue, two piece lira skirt and crop top. Her hair had been done up in two long plaits, and she wore a red mask. Chris, who had a black uniform had simply named himself ‘Flameo’ and got Andrew to print upon his costume flickering tails of fire, that twisted like barbed wire up over his chest and torso. Following these two were McKenzie and Aaron, who were introduced as ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Arachnophobia’. When they reached the front of the stage, McKenzie, shook a little so that the eight jagged legs attached to his black costume moved threateningly, and Aaron simply looked into the crowd, pretending to survey his subjects.

Following this, Johnny walked down as ‘The Lifeguard’ in a white top and red shorts, wearing a mask that extended at the front and held glass over his eyes, intended to look like goggles. Next to him, Vanessa was dressed as ‘Madam Butterfly’, and she strutted down coolly, holding a long, white cigarette holder. Johnny flexed his muscles, while Vanessa threw back her hair.

That was when it happened. Andrew had been worried about making a mistake, although he never would have guessed that it would be his mother who would mess up.

The motion of her head going back caused Vanessa to stumble a little, and instead of catching her footing, she stood on her dress. As the sleeves had been attached straight to the dress from the waist up (in what was meant to look like wings) the stitching had been much looser. Because of this, the sharp movement had caused the material around her arms to tear. Vanessa paused and for a moment, time seemed to slow down. Thankfully she was a quick thinker and simply shimmied out of the loose material before giving a sultry wink, taking Johnny’s arm, and walking back off stage. It ended up looking completely intentional.

“You were right,” Andrew muttered to Libby, as they waited for the music change to begin. “Something went wrong, and she pulled it off.”

“Plus now all your bad luck’s all out the way,” Libby added with a smile.

Andrew was about to reply, but the stage manager gestured for them to come forward before the words could leave his mouth. It was finally their turn to go on stage.

They walked on proudly in their costumes, samurai swords in hand. Libby made a concerted effort not to look down at the people watching her and instead she tried to stay focused on the front of the stage, and listen out for the vital change of music she knew was coming. Once they reached the front they posed for several seconds in different fighting stances, then as the heavy drum beat of the previous music dimmed to silence, they froze.

…3…2…1…

That was when it began. Simultaneously they pulled their swords, and began their routine. It began with a quick sweeping slice from Libby that Andrew blocked before spinning around and lunging his spear forward. Libby parried it, her model pout momentarily breaking out into a pleased grin, before she retained her composure. All the training they had done was finally paying off. They had practiced this routine for hours at the mansion and it was going perfectly.

After a few more smooth swings of their swords, jabbing, lunging and swinging, the music got to its most intense point and they looked each other dead in the eyes, walking back three steps before leaping forward and with a final slick move, crossing their swords in front of each other. In that position they froze, before pulling apart and bowing.

As soon as Libby and Andrew made it back stage, they embraced passionately, delighted at how the show had gone. There had been one mistake, but Vanessa had played it off as part of the show, and their sword fight had gone just as choreographed. Andrew still wasn’t sure how the press would react, but it had gone better than he could have hoped for and he had given it his all. If they didn’t like it at this point, he wouldn’t be disappointed, he had put on the best show he could.

The two of them linked arms, and headed off the back of the stage, to a room in the back where drinks and the rest of the team should have been waiting for them. Libby pushed the door open confidently, and watched Andrew hold his breath, smiling, as he waited for their delighted response.