Chapter Fifty Five
Sometimes I think people confuse me with a trick pony who jumps on demand without hesitation or complaint. There's only so many corrections and someone yelling that you can handle in one day let alone a small period of time.
"Smile wider Sienna. You want to look happy," the stage director shouts out. My cheeks are already beginning to sting from over smiling. We run through the end dance sequence of the concert, and I try to smile wider. When the music ends and he walks off with a gigantic smile on his own face, I assume everything's fine again.
"Do you ever get tired of smiling?" Nathan asks as he comes to stand next to me.
"Only forced smiles," I reply. Nathan chuckles and nods his head.
"You're very good at dancing," he compliments.
"Thanks, but I'm not that good." I wink.
Nathan stretches his hands above his heads and shakes out his legs. When he's finished stretching, he starts busting out some dance moves. I see limbs shaking and flying in all different directions. His interpretive dancing makes me chuckle and take a couple of steps backwards just in case a limb accidently flies out in the wrong direction.
When Nathan stops dancing, he laughs and wraps his arm around my shoulder. "Now, you need to teach me dance movies, Master," he says.
"Well young grasshopper, I know some simple moves." Taking Nathan's hand, I drag him into the front centre of the stage. The bright lights shining down are slightly blinding, but they also keep you on your toes.
"Start with your legs slightly parted, and your right hand straight but behind your leg." Nathan follows my instructions and soon mirrors me, "As the first beat of the opening verse comes on, you want to fall back with your left leg and on count, walk to the right." On cue, the lights dim and the music starts playing.
When the beat starts to come, I count to three and start walking as I sing the lyrics. Nathan tries his best to follow me as I skip down the side of the stage. There are a few moments I have to stop myself from laughing at his facial expressions and centre my attention to singing. At the end of those few counts, I stop and the music slowly fades out.
"I'm already puffed out and I wasn't even singing," Nathan says.
"You get used to if after a while. After this tour, the next one is going to feature more dance numbers. It should be good, but I know it's going to be hard to juggle with school."
"It'll be amazing to watch," he agrees.
"Come on, I'll teach you some more." Nathan nods his head and we walk up on the platform on the stage, "here's where we open." I quickly run through some dance moves before going through a second time and really slowing down the movements and breaking them down.
Together, we practise a couple of moves. I find myself laughing and adding in a couple more spins and turns to the dance. For once, dance practise doesn't seem like a forced activity, but rather a fun time with a friend.
Out of nowhere, I feel a pair of hands land on my waist. I'm quick to jump and turn around, only to see Alex with a small smile on his face.
"I was going to help you with your posture in the last move," he explains.
"Okay." I smile nervously.
Standing in front of him, Alex puts one hand back on my hip and the other on my shoulder. He pushes my back up straight and presses himself up against me.
The feeling of him so close to me sends shivers up my spine and I have to try extra hard to follow what he's saying. His warm breath fanning down my neck, the delicate movements of his fingers trailing along my skin makes me shiver and my mind haze over.
"Much better," he whispers. Alex removes his hands from my body, "Ava also wants you to start getting ready. The VIP guest is going to be here soon," Alex explains.
"Okay. I'll be there soon," I say. He nods his head and walks off. Turning to Nathan, I engulf him in a hug.
"I'll see you later on. Keep practising those dance moves." I wink. Nathan winks back and agrees. As I head towards my dressing room, I see Nathan standing on the stage looking a little lost. This certainly isn't the world he belongs to.
My dressing room is one of the first rooms near the stage, so it takes me about two minutes to slide inside the comfort of my own space. I love how there's a gold star and my name smack bang in the centre of it.
Inside the change room is a large vanity and mirror with bright lights around the white frame. Already set up on the desk is pallets of make-up and brushes. Also in the room is my outfits and a couch Alex seems to be occupying. Suddenly, my escape room seems more like a prison.
"Hey," I say.
It's slightly easier now that Alex's knows about my secret. I don't always need to hide around him and I can feel comfortable in our joint living spaces in the pent house. Without hesitation, I rip off the mask and throw it on the dressing room table. I take a seat in the chair and begin prepping my face for my make-up.
"I thought you might want some friendly company," he says as he comes to stand behind me.
"It's nice to just have a friend around," I agree.
There's another chair beside me, so I move it out and pat the seat and welcome him to sit next to me. Alex grabs the chair and moves it further out and sits down on the seat and smiles at me.
"What make-up are you doing today?" he asks, a curious look spreads out onto his face.
"It looks like I'm wearing a purple dress first up. So I've decided on a light purple and cream colour," I say, pointing to the different colours on the eye shadow pallet.
"Sounds like a nice choice."
"It will be." Alex rests his arm against the vanity and watches me as I start brushing my foundation on. As I get further into my makeup, the door suddenly bursts open and Ava struts inside. Alex shoots her a glare and she slams it shut.
"I come baring gifts." She holds up a plastic bag filled with Asian food and a magazine.
"What's the magazine for?" Ava dumps the food in Alex's lap and pushes past him and plonks the magazine down in front of me and points to the pixelated graphic covering the front cover.
"You two are making headlines all over the place," she cheers excitedly, "people want to know if you're a couple," she explains. There's a picture of us holding hands and there's a bright pink headline with Secret Relationship?
Flicking open the magazine, I find the fourth page where there's a long article written about it followed by dozens of pictures of us together - some dating back to the time where we were on the beach back in Florida.
"People invest too much of their time seeking out this kind of news," I conclude as I read through the extensive information listed.
"I think it's interesting to read. They are always coming up with some wacky ideas," Alex says.
"Here you go then." I hand him the magazine and continue applying my makeup. Once I'm finished, I grab a container of food and start chomping it down. I can hear the clock ticking on the wall which is quickly becoming a constant reminder that I need to hurry up and get my dress on.
When I'm finished with my make-up, I move towards the food and quickly start eating my dinner. I better eat it before I get dressed because I wouldn't want to spill my dinner on my dress.
"Calm down, we have another five minutes," he says. With a mouth full of rice, I shake my head and continue to shovel the food down. Once I'm finished, I chuck the plastic container in the bin and walk over to my rack of clothing.
The first dress of the night is a simple light purple one. It's the same style, fitted around the top with mesh material that flows around my waist. The top has sparkly beads that make the dress pop.
There's a changing cubical in the corner of the room with a curtain. I go inside and strip out of my clothes and slide the dress on along with a pair of skin flesh stockings and matching purple heels.
Once I'm dressed, I stagger out and start playing around with my hair.
"You look beautiful," Alex whispers.
"Thanks." I smile.
Sitting back in my chair, I quickly run the hair straightener through my frizzy hair. My attempt turns out fruitful and within ten minutes I have silky sheets of warm blonde hair flowing around my shoulders.
"We need to leave."
"I'm coming." Putting the straightener down, I pick up my white mask and put it back on. Alex grabs my hand and we run out the doors. Alex leads me down a couple of long corridors until we come to a door that has a paper sign that reads VIP Lounge.
Alex squeezes my hand before he pushes the door open and we walk inside. The room is hard to see from the dim lighting and over use of black furniture. But the leather finishing's make the room seem sleek and cool despite the use of paper signage.
One wall is covered with a gigantic mirror while the rest of the walls have couches pressed up against them. In the centre of the room is a large coffee table with a plush red rug underneath it.
Sitting on the far couch is a mother and her daughter. The short brunette jumps up and bolts over to us. I'm nocked back a couple of steps by the sheer force of her hug.
"Hi," I squeak as the breath inside me disappears.
"Montana, the poor girl needs to breath," her mother says. On her mother's demand, she lets go of me and blushes a bright red.
"You're okay." I grin.
"I'm so excited to meet you. I love you and you're dress. You look so pretty! I wish I could be like you," the girl starts to rattle off.
"Thanks. I'm only wearing this dress for the first section of the concert, you're welcome to have it after - that's if you don't mind the fact it'll be a bit sweaty," I whisper. Her chocolate brown eyes light up in happiness. Montana is slightly smaller than me, but I'm sure if she really wanted to wear it, she'd grown into it or even has it altered to fit.
"That would be amazing," she screams.
"Awesome." I give her the thumbs up. "I'll make sure my manager gives it to you," I say. The girl runs up and gives me a tight hug, and this time I brace myself and manage not to fall, but instead hug her back just as tightly.
"So how old are you?" I ask.
"Fourteen," her mother replies and she nods her head.
"What song would you like to hear the most? I'll have to make sure I'm singing it tonight." I start getting the conversation flowing. Montana seems to just stand there with this star struck look on her face. I'm really not used to people getting this excited to talk to me.