Reality And Romance

“A disaster! An utter disaster!” Vanessa, shrieked.

Andrew took a step back and frowned. “Don’t say that mother, I thought it went very well!”

“Well? My dress tore! They’ll say I was too fat for my clothes, or that I did it purposefully! I know what they all think of me, they’ll say I sabotaged the performance to create drama for the show, they’ll say…”

“Mom calm down. Nobody noticed anything, it just looked like part of the show. They -” Andrew began, but much to his surprise, and the surprise of everyone else in the room, he was quickly interrupted. By McKenzie.

“If anything I thought it looked better than the original choreography.” He began cautiously. “Bursting through your seams like that, it looked like the part in a movie where the character finally breaks free of their confines, shedding their old self and becoming more powerful.”

“I don’t care what it made you think of!” Vanessa snapped. “It’s how it looked that matters!”

“It looked rather gothic, it gave you an almost punky look.” McKenzie took this opportunity to catch Aaron’s eye, a big, sh*t eating grin on his face. “I thought it was intentional…and if I was to maybe, oh I don’t know, pretend I went on stage with you guys as part of an undercover piece and write a review….well, I might even say it was one of the highlights of the performance.”

Vanessa turned her head slowly, her eyes narrowing, “What are you suggesting?”

“A write up…although naturally this would have to be accompanied by an exclusive interview at the mansion. I would want to hear you lament on the pressure of tearing the dress at just the right time, and naturally I would complement you on what an effective addition it was to the entire performance.”

Andrew held his breath as he watched his mother’s face. There was an unnerving stillness to it, which he knew meant she was planning something. “I suppose I could invite you on the show to perform an exclusive interview…who knows you might even find love…”

The room was now entirely silent, as everybody looked at McKenzie, waiting to see what his reaction would be.

“I think…” He began, as the entire room held its breath, “That would be a wonderful idea.”

The silence broke, and was instead filled with cheers, as McKenzie walked over to Vanessa and pulled her into a deep hug. She froze momentarily, before returning it.

“Welcome to the family, McKenzie,” Vanessa half-smiled, as he pulled away.

Upon hearing this, Aaron rushed over to McKenzie and kissed him deeply.
“I love you so much.” Libby heard him mumble against McKenzie’s lips, before turning back to his mother to say, “I told you he was great.”

Vanessa just rolled her eyes, but she seemed reasonably satisfied with the turn of events.

The joy in the room was not quick to die down. With Vanessa’s miniature breakdown out of the way, the true celebration began. Everybody ran up to Andrew to hug him and compliment him on what an excellent job he had done and how they were sure he would be a big hit in the fashion world. Vanessa in particular pulled him into a hug, before (for the first time Libby had ever seen) shyly apologizing to him for causing such a fuss afterwards.

Libby had simply squeezed his hand.

“I knew you could do it,” she said with a smile.

“Not without you.”

*****

The after party was a large affair. The models quickly changed into their evening wear, and strutted past the press, before entering the club, which had exclusively been booked out for the models and the staff members involved.

Andrew was in a state of delight. His designs had been received well by the other designers (or most of them, a couple had commented on what they called an ‘outlandish’ performance, but he was fairly certain they were speaking from jealousy). Furthermore, the press had been very interested in his artistic choices. No reviews were out yet, but the attention was already positive and congratulatory.

The press had also approached Libby and she had been answering questions, with her usual magnificent energy. Polite, and bright and sometimes a little strange, her answers reflected who she was, and that was all Andrew truly wanted.

They smiled at one another as they finally entered the club. It was a spacious room, decked out with soft leather sofas, and tables, that contained free drinks and food. Already the music was playing, and Libby smiled mischievously, as she instructed him to stay right where he was, and ran over to the DJ.

As he waited, Andrew took the time to observe the others that had participated in the show. The first person he noticed was Chris, whose striking red hair and erratic dancing was eye-catching to say the least. Andrew examined the scene closer and noticed that he was dancing with the blonde technician from the rehearsals. Andrew was surprised to find that Chris wasn’t that bad at dancing. However erratic he might have been, his thin frame moved rather wildly, but well in time with the music. The women opposite him, seemed to be having greater troubles, blushing at his exuberance, as he took her hands. With Chris accounted for, he scanned the room for Diane. He sighed, the brown haired man from earlier had clearly found her, or she him, and they appeared to be mid-argument. Briefly he wondered if he ought to intervene, but then he noticed the sparkle in the tall man’s blue eyes, and the intensity with which Diane returned the stare. There was something going on there, Andrew wasn’t quite sure what it was, but he felt like they wouldn’t want him to interrupt it. He then turned his attention to the sofa where Johnny was sitting, a dark haired model had her arm slung around his shoulders, and he was laughing at something she had just said. He didn’t bother looking for his mother, who would be outside talking to the press, doing her best to make sure the performance had been received positively. Vanessa had felt guilty for her outburst earlier that day, and seemed to have redoubled her efforts. She was schmoozing with the best of them, talking to all the right people, reminding them of the favors they owed her and calling up journalists who otherwise might be reluctant to cover a story about fashion. Finally, he looked for McKenzie and Aaron, and was pleased to find them on a sofa together. Aaron’s head was rested atop of McKenzie’s shoulder, his eyes tightly shut as McKenzie tenderly stroked his hair. Andrew smiled, he was happy for them.

He was just wondering where Libby had gotten too, when she bounded over to him. A mischievous smirk on her face.
“What have you done?” He asked curiously, smirking.

“Just wait and see!” She exclaimed with a smirk.

Andrew found that he didn’t have to wait long, for no sooner had she spoken, a familiar tune had started up on the speakers, and it wasn’t long before the ‘Ghostbusters’ theme song was ringing through the club at full volume.

“You little sh*t!” He said affectionately. “Mocking my workout music again?”

“Well…that was part of it I guess. But more than that, this was the first song that played on our first date. So I guess this could be considered ‘our song’ – all things considered.”

Andrew guffawed at her, “Are you trying to tell me that you want the ‘Ghostbusters’ theme song, to be our romantic song?”

Libby simply kissed him in response and Andrew felt his heart flutter and his stomach grow light.

“I love you so much,” he said, grabbing her hand and drawing her closer to him. “So, so much.”

“I know,” Libby replied with a smile. “I love you too.”

She reached up and kissed him, a gesture which he returned eagerly. They stayed like that for a minute or so, before Libby pulled away. Andrew sighed, he knew they were in public, but all he wanted to do was hold her, all of her, to put his arms around her, and feel her beneath him. It wasn’t enough to say it, he wanted to show her how much he loved her.

Andrew shook his head. He was being selfish. This was the first time Libby had been to this sort of party, she probably wanted to stay and dance. She probably wanted to –

“Hey, Andrew?”