Secret Love - The King & His Forgotten Queen (E.P)

Model Walk, Model Talk

One Month Later – Los Angeles, California

Elvis had never been to a fashion show, not even to amateur high school ones just to look at the pretty, popular girls who’d only reject him. But here he was, at a Chanel fashion show, where there was nothing to see but pretty girls. Pretty girls who were all looking at him. Elvis had been feeling sick from the moment he left the set that afternoon. His co-stars wished him luck and he received a charming phone call from Priscilla, assuring him that his meeting with his long lost friend would go smoothly. She was such a sweet kid. And he really did like her...

Elvis pulled the woman into a huge hug, engulfing her tiny frame. “Hi Dianna.” He whispered, standing back from the woman. Dianna De La Garza was a small woman of 50-something, with long dirty blonde hair and bright eyes. Her wide smile was never without her signature pink lipstick and she always smelt of Chanel No5. “My, my, my. Elvis Aaron Presley, how you’ve grown! How old are you now?” “I turned 25 this past January.” Elvis replied, smiling shyly. “My goodness, that can’t be right! That means my girls are all getting old too!” It was true; all three of Dianna daughter’s had grown since Elvis had last laid eyes on them. The oldest, Dallas, was now also 25 and engaged. The youngest, Madison, was now 13, and quite the little lady. Madison was the only biological daughter of Dianna and Eddie; Dallas and Demi were the result of Dianna’s first marriage, to a man who Elvis never met enough times to really remember before he ran off with another woman. Eddie patted Elvis on the back warmly. “It’s great to see you, son. You’re looking well. How did the army treat you?” “Good, sir. I made a lot of good friends there, a lot of whom I‘m still in contact with.” “Good. I actually met my best friend in the army. He was the best man at mine and Dianna’s wedding.” Elvis and Vernon chatted with the four present members of the De La Garza/Lovato family as the six of them walked to their VIP seats. They continued to chat until the overhead announcer asked for quiet as the show was about to begin.

Soon, the lights dimmed one by one, and the models began walking down the runway. Elvis had no idea what Demi looked like anymore; she would be 21 in a few months and surely didn’t resemble the 9-year-old he had last seen in 1948, waving him goodbye as he drove away to his new life in Memphis. Soon, the audience became excited and Elvis had no idea why. “What’re they getting excited about?” Elvis whispered to Dallas. “Demi’ll be on soon. She’s the hottest thing going for these fashion folk.” In a matter of seconds, the last model left the stage and the lights went off completely. Sat in complete darkness, Elvis wondered what he was about to see. Suddenly, a bright spotlight shot onto the bag of the stage, where a young woman stood, her small figure drowning in a cloak made of miles of material and her head covered by a hood. She stepped forward; her heeled shoes the only sound to be heard in the now silent theatre. Suddenly, she threw the cloak off and rock ‘n’ roll music suddenly blasted from the amps around the room. Elvis watched as Demi walked down the runway with such confidence and grace, he hardly believed it was her. But he knew her from the moment the spotlight hit her face. It was the same face, just a little older and covered in makeup. Despite the changes the years had brought, Demi’s big brown eyes - the eyes that Elvis had loved so much as a child - were exactly the same. He recognized the way they shone when the spotlight hit them; it was the look he saw in his own eyes when he looked at his tired reflection in the backstage bathroom mirror, post-concert. Soon, Elvis completely forgot where he was when he saw just how much older Demi really was. In her unusually tiny dress, she was the epitome of fashion-forwardness and beauty. But the clothes didn’t matter to Elvis; in fact, he didn’t really notice what she was wearing. In all honesty, Elvis was finding it very hard to look at anything else but what the years had done to Demi’s body…

And then he noticed. Her eyes were locked on his as she walked back down the catwalk. Those big brown eyes were filled with… nothing. Pure emptiness. Or was that confusion. Like Demi didn’t know what to think or how to feel about her long lost friend sitting inches away. The friend she had adored, who left her behind the face the brutal world alone. She looked away, walked right past and disappeared behind the catwalk wall.