Vicky West
As I had reached the Moulin Rouge, I could see a bunch of cars already in the parking lot. I spotted Red's car, and I was delighted she was already here. I made my way inside, heading straight for the dressing room. I smiled when I heard Red and Marcel bickering. I opened the door, seeing Red with tears streaming down her face and Marcel hunched over in laughter.
"Vicky! I was just telling Marcel about you slaying Harry at his party. I'm incredibly lucky to have witnessed it. Marcel wants it to be replayed so he can see it as well.''
"Did you really say everything that Red just told me?'' He asked me with big eyes – this guy was nosier than my mother sometimes.
"I have no idea what she told you, but I'm sure it was an accurate portrayal.'' I told him. I placed my stuff on my make-up table, and started to do my hair. I wanted to have it in a ponytail, just to piss Harry off and make it easier to dance. Life was reaching the point of enjoyment. "Where are the other dancers?'' I asked them both, confused about the other empty tables in the dressing room.
"They've already gone to costume,'' Marcel explained. "Harry has big ideas for Friday – I believe he wants everyone to wear red lace only. I don't know what has gotten into his head.'' He told us.
"He's such a dumbass. It isn't easy to dance in lace, it tears easily, there's gotta be another reason he's putting us in lace.'' She said, and she crossed her legs. Marcel was nodding in agreement. "Why are you staring at me like that?''
"I was just thinking about what could possibly be the reason to for wearing red lace,'' I spoke, and shifted closer to Marcel and Red. "But, he wants us covered in red lace completely?'' The thought of Harry putting us in red lace was confusing me as well. I knew he liked to reveal a lot of skin, but lace wasn't even a solid material – this was a new level of provocative.
"Most definitely,'' Marcel told me. "I hope he plans to cover up the goods though.''
"The audience wants the goods, Marcel. You're the only one who doesn't.'' Red remarked, and Marcel agreed after a few seconds. "We should go check them out?'' She suggested.
"Yeah, why not,'' I shrugged, and followed Red and Marcel to the area where everyone was putting on their costumes.
As we walked down the stairs, we could hear the other dancers talking loudly – some were saying how much they loved it, others less so. I spotted Carmen immediately, and rolled my eyes when I saw her standing in front of the mirror trying to make the right pose so that her ass would stick out.
We walked past Carmen and Jess – I wasn't surprised when Red made a remark.
"Stop pretending you have an ass, Carmen.'' She spoke.
I looked over at Carmen – watching her seductive expression fall into a scowl – and covered my mouth to stop the obnoxious laughter that threatened to come out.
"Excuse me, Winster. You don't have to be so rude, no wonder nobody likes you.''
"I've had it with you, Carmen.'' Red mentioned, and she walked closer to Carmen. Marcel and I looked over at each other, and decided to tag along before we were too far away to keep Red in place. "Do you not realize that Jess is your only friend here, and the rest of us hate you? You walk around here, acting like you own the place because you're Harry's latest fuck. Let me make something clear to you, bitch, almost every other girl in this room has been in your position. It won't last long, and when Harry comes to his senses he'll dump your ass quicker than you could imagine. Don't kid yourself, Harry wants nothing more from you than what you're good for – a good shag.''
"Red, I think it's a good moment to le–"
"You know what, Winster?'' Carmen asked her with a smug grin written on her face. "You're pretty boy isn't a saint either.'' She stated coldly with the most arrogant tone in her voice I've ever heard.
"What do you mean?'' Red questioned her with a frown.
"You haven't noticed, Red?'' She asked me. "Let's go somewhere private so I can explain.''
"No.'' She protested. "Talk.''
A chuckle left Carmen's mouth, and I knew that shit was about to go down. "I thought I would never really tell you this,'' Red didn't look at us with confusion, but kept her focus on Carmen. A cold expression was written on her face, completely serious. "I think we've been sharing the same bed buddy for quite a while.''
Marcel and I shot each other a shocked expression.
"Yeah, I'll give you a minute to let it sink in, Winster. Zayn Malik, sex-god CEO wasn't getting what he wanted from you, so he came looking for me – a real woman.'' Carmen stepped closer.
As I stared at Red, she didn't look like pissed off anymore; she had her jaw clenched, her eyes cold. She didn't want to lose control right now. Normally, Red wouldn't let anyone get to her, but this time she looked taken aback – almost...hurt.
"When you were at home, daydreaming about your lover, he was with me. I remember the moment I heard him talking about a girl with flamed red hair, and telling me how she told him that she loved him. I couldn't imagine that he had been talking about the Red Winster, but as he continued to tell me about your intolerable attitude it became pretty obvious.'' Carmen licked her lips slowly. "Quite tragic to know someone you're in love with, doesn't love you back.''
I placed my hand on Red's back, but Red just brushed me off as she turned to walk away.
My eyes were fixed on Carmen, angry tears flooding my vision because she had hurt my best friend. She had hurt Red, the funniest and most supportive person I had ever met, because she was jealous and she had the audacity to look proud of herself.
She was proud of what she had said. Why? – I didn't know. I couldn't live with the guilt of hurting someone the way she had with Red. Calling Carmen a slut when I didn't even know her was uncalled for, and I knew that, but now the truth was revealed. She had been fooling around with Harry, and Zayn – knowing full well that Zayn had been sleeping with someone else.
"Disgusting,'' I remarked when the door slammed shut behind Red. "Look, if you don't like her that's fine, but your attitude is downright nasty. How can you be proud of yourself when you act like that? I can't even look at you right now.''
I turned around and ran to my best friend, who I knew was crying her heart out. I knew she was; Red might be one of the strongest people I know, but everyone loses it.
I heard a door being slammed, and knew Red was in the room – which I didn't recognize. As I carefully opened the door, I saw Red sitting on a chair with her back faced to me.
She was hurt. The was the first time I had witnessed Red's pain, the first time she had been utterly crushed with me around. But was this really the first time? She loved Zayn, poured her heart out to someone who didn't love her back. And it crushed her.
I rested my hand on her shoulder, and she turned her head to look at me. She looked up, and I saw that her eyes were puffy. Her lips were trembling, and I almost wanted to cry too because I hated to see her like this.
"Red...'' I breathed out, and took a chair to sit in front of her. I took her hands, trying to stop her shaking. It was absolutely disturbing to see her like this. I moved with my thumbs over her knuckles, and I kept eye contact with her. "...Why didn't you tell me?''
She tried to speak, but she couldn't get anything out. I encouraged her to steady her breathing first before trying to explain. I got up to get her a bottle of water; she smiled at me slightly as she took a drink. I placed the bottle beside me when she was done, and nodded to make her clear she could open-up.
"I-I t-tried to tell you a-about my feelings for hi-m,'' She stuttered. Tears were still streaming down her face. "But you were going through shit with Harry, and I- I didn't want to...I just wanted to be there for you. I've always been th-the one who didn't g-give a shit. I-I wasn't aware that it could happen to me, but it did. It stresses me out, Vicky. I've n-never felt so, so, emotionally consumed by someone.''
"Listen up, love. We're all shit at dealing with our own feelings. We are all fools. Love, it's so beautiful, but it can be the worst thing ever. Like now, it seems like it's fucking hell. But when you were with him you felt like the best you, you could possibly be.''
She let my hand go, to wipe her last tear away from her cheek.
"What Carmen just did, is outstandingly vile. I'm so amazingly proud of you that you didn't fire back, but walked away with pride. You kept yourself together, even though you're crying now. We're all allowed to break once in a while, Red.'' I explained, and I noticed that Red was focusing on my words so perfectly.
"W-what can I do now? She knows I like him so much, and he knows it, and now everyone knows it. It was supposed to be a secret.''
"Love shouldn't be a secret,''
"I felt better when it was,''
"Red, chin up,'' I told her. She was biting on her lower lip, holding her tears back. "To witness this from my perspective, I'm glad I do know your feelings towards Zayn. It will make things easier between us, and before you assume that I'm mad at you for hiding this, I am not. Not even close.''
"I thought you would be pissed that I didn't tell you,''
"I would never be mad at you, Red! I wouldn't even be able to be mad at you.'' I assured her.
"God, I'm going to say something that I actually never say,'' Red said with a soft chuckle. "Can I get...something...like a hug?'' She asked me, and she looked up.
"Of course, silly!'' I said and stood up. Red got off her chair, and I wrapped my arms around her. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around me too, but I felt her loosen up the longer we stood there. "You know, you can always come to me, for anything. Whether it's about Zayn or any other person in particular, I'm always here.'' I mentioned. We separated, and I held Red by the shoulders – looking her in the eye so she understood the weight of my words. "I want you to be happy, Red. As happy you want me to be. I want you to think about this, really think about it. I know you love him, and that he's 'great in bed', but if he's messing around with other people when he knows how you feel about him, is he really worth it? You deserve someone who's worthy of your time, and effort. Don't waste your time, love.''
"Thank you, Vicks. I don't know what I did to deserve you.''
And I was so glad to see her starting to smile again.
...
I had arranged with Marcel for Red to get her costume fitting done in another room – safely away from Carmen and her pretentious, self-righteous attitude. I went back to the communal fitting room to try on my costume, trying my best to ignore Carmen's existence so I wouldn't kill the bitch on the spot. She was wary of me, not speaking much at all, as she ought to be.
"Girls!'' Our attention went to Judy, who was standing in the doorway. She had a sheet in her hand, a list of this week's choreography I presumed. "Since you're all in your costumes already, I want you on stage in five to practice the second routine. It's a dance with a lot of passion, so it's not just about the dancing, facial expression and body language needs to be top notch. Understood?''
I made my way to the stage, along with the rest of the girls. I had the urge to push Carmen off the stage – something Red had suggested I do a long time ago – but I knew she would be dramatic about it, and I didn't want to loose my job. I had to hypothetically bite my tongue, for now.
Judy had made sure everyone was in position to practice when Red came rushing onto the stage. I could hear Carmen laughing and whispering something rude about Red in Jess' ear, but Red just ignored it and smiled at me. I knew Red had a temper, and I also knew that Zayn was a testy subject for her – Carmen had struck a nerve when she brought up his infidelity – so I was proud of Red for being the bigger person. I was also proud of myself, for not slapping the bitch silly in the middle of the club.
After running through the routine countless times, trying to iron out the imperfections in the nearly flawless choreography, we were given a five minute water-break.
"Hey,'' Red sat down next to me, and handed me a bottle.
"Thanks,'' I said, taking the bottle from her outstretched hand.
"Hey lovelies,'' Marcel joined us, and he handed us two sandwiches. "I don't want you girls dying of hunger before the world has the privilege of seeing this routine. Judy's really outdone herself this time, it's spectacular.'' He informed us kindly.
"She really has, hasn't she? We've never done anything like this before.''
"I can't wait to see who they pick for the big solo, I've been told it'll make a star out of the lucky girl who gets it.'' He gossiped.
It stayed quiet for a while, before Marcel opened his mouth again.
"So what now?'' He asked Red, specifically.
"I'm going out tonight. I know you two will object to my emotional drinking tendencies, but you can't exactly stop me. I also plan to eat an unhealthy amount of ice cream, and watch heartbreaking romance movies until my life doesn't seem so bad. I'll cheer up soon guys; I'm just going through the standard 'my-heart-is-broken-and-nobody-else-will-probably-ever-like-me-in-the-way-I-like-them' phase.''
I had fifty percent of the sandwich Marcel had made in my mouth when a loud crash had me nearly choking on my food. We all looked around, thinking maybe someone on the crew knocked something down backstage, but that wasn't the case. No one could figure out what had caused the booming noise, so we just looked around in shock.
Marcel and Red looked at each other with a 'what-the-fuck?' expression, but I just resumed my eating. Again there was a loud crash, the girls looking around again in confusion; I looked up from my plate trying to decide why God couldn't just allow me to eat in peace.
"FUCK!'' We heard someone shouting loudly, it was Harry.
Everyone's head snapped up when they heard Harry's office door being smashed open full force. I closed my eyes, in shock, when the door slammed so loudly against the wall. After a few seconds Harry appeared through his door. He walked to his balcony, and his eyes roamed around the room. He focused on the stage.
I could see his chest heaving up and down, and his tie was loosened around his neck. He wasn't wearing his jacket – normally he would at work. He ran both his hands through his hair, tugging at the roots, and stepped closer to the corner of the balcony to stare down at us. I swallowed my food, and was wiping mayonnaise of the corner of my mouth when Harry looked straight at me.
"Vicky West, my office. Now.''
...
(Hi!!
Vote & comment (: ?
Idk if some of you have read the story Rooftop by me? The one with the massive plot twist at the end? Well, I decided to make a sequel called Garage and you can find it on my page.
Also, I've a new story called Desire | Harry Styles AU. And it's gonna be steamy sooooooo if you like that..have a look.
xo Lay)