Disharmony

Wishing For Rain

Sighing, she walked towards her closet to put on the dress she and her stylist had agreed on for the occasion. It was cute and form fitting with a navy blue top and white and navy zigzagged patterned skirt which flared slightly as it approached her lower thighs. The color combination perfectly contrasted with the bright pink stripe she'd asked her hair stylist to dye in a few days prior.

She slipped off her robe and stepped into the dress, tugging the skirt roughly to pull it over her hips and struggling slip her arms through the holes. Once the material was successfully covering her body, she groaned as she realized she'd have to perform a series of acrobatic tricks to zip up the back.

Soft chuckling in the doorway drew her attention and she looked into the mirror to find Xavier standing behind her, quite amused by her predicament. He'd put on a navy button up which somehow caused his eyes to look brighter than usual. The sleeves were rolled to just below the elbow and the shirt only buttoned halfway up, leaving a good portion of his tanned chest exposed, along with that damn necklace.

"You could make yourself useful, you know," she glared at him through the mirror. "Zip me up."

Laughing softly, he took a step forward and reached for her zipper. His bottom lip sucked between his teeth as their gazes met in the mirror and he closed the back of her dress at an excruciatingly slow pace. Despite the fact that there was no need to do so, he ran his fingers down her back afterwards, smoothing out the silky material and keeping his eyes locked on hers as he did so.

The entire situation caused an odd twisting in her stomach and for a moment she wondered if she'd misjudged Xavier. Maybe he wasn't as much of a goody two shoes as she'd originally thought.

"Thank you," she nodded at his reflection before turning towards the shoe rack on the side. He took a step back as he watched her dig through the unorganized pile before pulling out a pair of nude pumps.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Putting on my shoes? What am I, Cinderella?"

"You're definitely no princess," he remarked as she stepped into one shoe and then stepped into the other while maintaining a balance achieved through years of having to wear heels to red carpet events.

He probably meant his words to be insulting. Or perhaps he truly didn't see her as the princess type. Either way, she actually took his words as a compliment. For some reason, she'd always associated princesses with being weak, as needing saving. And she never wanted to be thought of as either of those things.

Smoothing down her skirt, she nodded towards the closet door. "Ready?"

Nodding once in reply, he turned and led the way to her sitting area, where cameras and lights were already set up. The interviewer, a popular celebrity news reporter, sat in a large chair, shuffling through a stack of notecards.

Kasia and Xavier took their seats on the large couch beside her, settling themselves comfortably back into the plush leather as they waved their hellos.

The camera man indicated they would be going live in a few seconds and the interviewer, Jenna, smiled widely as he held up his fingers and counted them down.

"Hello," Jenna beamed, "Welcome to Entertainment Extra. I'm Jenna Fisher and tonight we've got a very special interview. Kasia Stevens and Xavier Spiers join us on the couch to give us the dish on their upcoming tour and maybe even reveal some secrets. Let's get started."

She shifted slightly in her chair to face them, her lips widening into a friendly smile. "Hi, guys. Thanks for being here."

"Thank you for having us," Xavier piped up, polite as always.