The Creator: UNKNOWN

XLV

Chanse

It's announcement time. Two weeks into February and I have no doubt that Eli is at least top five. Everytime I looked at the judge panel, they were all smiling.

Eli was in the seat next to me, and Laura the seat next to her. I was holding my girlfriend's hand as he knee shook and wiped her forehead every so often.

"Relax, babe. I'm sure you did amazing." I assure her.

"Maybe. If I don't even make it to top five I will bawl so hard. I would've disappointed Mama." she panicked.

"Eli, you have easily scored a top five place. No doubt." I reinforce.

"Let's hope so." she breathed.

The lights went dim and everyone cheered. There was a lot of anticipation in the air and Eli tensed. She was really hoping she did Christina proud. But she has regardless of the scores.

Unfortunately, not all of Eli's family could sit with her. She could only have one person to sit with her alongside her chorus members and coach. Tina and Kate essentially pushed me into the seat and ran away. And we weren't complaining.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for coming out here and supporting everyone who competed in this competition. All of the contestants are honoured to have such a big crowd." the announcer said. She was wearing a simppe red dress with heels and red lipstick. She was blonde with green eyes and was quite thin. She sort of reminded me of Gwyneth Paltro.

I look to Eli and she was adjusting her tie. She was in full Grammy mode. Dark blue shirt and a black tie, a black vest and black pants and then over the top, she had a blazer with ice crack patterns in silver, her tie had a matching pattern to match. She topped it off with polished black dress boots. She looked very handsome and I had a simple Together Black Lace Cold Shoulder Midi dress and black heels to match. We looked hot together.

"After long debates and careful consideration, the judges have compiled the results and ordered them meticulously. We will be reading out the top ten performing acts and the whole results list will we published at a later date." woman in red explained.

The audience clapped to encourage her to get on with it.

"I know that we have a lot of waiting contestants to learn of their scores, so we'll get right to it!"

"I'm so fucking nervous." Eli whispered.

"It will all be okay." I whisper back. She squeezed my hand and took deep breaths.

"At number ten, we have... " suspensful played and the screen switched on, easy to announce the tenth place, "Colorado!"

The crowed cheered and the contestant joined the woman on stage, they waited on stage and would have to be there until everyone was called out.

"In ninth place we have... Mississipi!"

That girl from Mississipi absolutely tiny but she got in well with Eli.

"In eighth place... Kansas!"

They were actually pretty good, I thought.

"In seventh place... It's Arizona!"

"Go Blaine!" both Eli and I shout. He struts onto the stage in his half suit half dress and gives us a wave and a wink.

"We have Georgia in sixth place!"

I don't remember their performances, I might have been catching up on sleep.

"And now we're into the golden leagues, the top five!" the woman beamed.

I slung my arm around my girl and squeeze her into me. I kiss her head too, even though she's all sweaty.

"At number five, it's Hawaii!"

The crowd cheered and clapped and from what I remember, the were really good. But I can feel Eli panicking beside me.

"Number four is Nevada!"

Theirs was funny. Lots of Area 51 jokes.

"Number three is Washington!"

I know Kate would be happy. I've been told that she spent the first part of her life in Seattle.

"Number two it's Illinois!"

I'm pretty sure that Bennie's wife is from Chicago.

The lights went dark and only a spotlight remains on the announcer. The air was tight with tension and so was Eliza. She had my hand in a death grip as she held her breath.

"And finally, the winner of the 2062 National Performing Arts Championship is..."

She opened the silver envelope and took her sweet fucking time reading it.

"California!" she bellowed.

The theatre erutped into cheers and sounded more like a stadium than it did a sophisticated competition. When I look back, all of Eliza's family were on their feet and hugging each other. It made me smile.

"You did it, Eliza!" Laura told her, "You won!"

"I did." Eli whispered. She stood up, gave Laura a hug and kissed my cheek before going up to the stage and receive and nice and expensive looking trophy.

"And now, a speech from this year's winner!" the announcer said.

Eli spoke about how great the audience was, how awesome it was to perform with her Chorus and thanked them, she acknowledged her family for supporting her, especially her Mama, and she thanked me for flying out here with her when in reality, I shouldn't have.

"I hope you enjoy the after party." she nodded before taking a big bow in the middle of the stage. We all cheered and clapped and whistled and hollered. Well, I tried not to do much in fear for the baby, but I did lots of clapping!

A teddy was thrown on stage, and judging by the fact it was a pink dragon, I'd say Raphael had launched the thing from her seat. Eli picked it up, took another bow and walked from the stage. The announcer shook her hand and whispered something to which Eli nodded and continued her walk of pride.

"You did it! I told you!" I tell when she came back.

"You did. You did tell me." she agreed.

"Yeah. And I'm so proud of you. So is little Macsen. You deserved this. I love you." I say, hugging her and kissing her face. I'm trying to keep it modest because otherwise I'd have my way with her in the theatre and we don't need that.

"I love you, too. Thank you so much for supporting me." she said, brushing maly hair back, "God, I love your hair. So soft and lush."

"Stop it. Your hair is better. You don't have these stupid baby curls."

"I love your baby hairs! They're adorable!" she argued, kissing my forehead.

"Whatever you say, babe."