by Cynthia Dane
Olivia was content with an acoustic performance of her boyfriend’s big song. Who knew what the crowd wanted… probably dancing. That was Rick’s bread and butter. Hot songs and a lot of dancing. He was proving that host wrong about the pelvic thrusts. Not that Olivia didn’t want to see some of that… but she had a feeling her appreciation of the way Rick moved his hips was completely different from everyone watching at home.
A man dressed in all black sneaked onto stage. Olivia knew those types. He was meant to not be seen, to hang to the side of the camera as he assisted with stage movements. What was he doing? All there was on stage was a single man and his guitar.
Okay, so maybe not a guitar anymore. The stagehand yanked the guitar out of Rick’s hand at the end of the bridge, scuttling backstage with it as the original backing track to the song erupted on stage and Rick leaped back to do what he did best.
Olivia should have seen it coming. Rick was the kind of guy always full of surprises, especially when it came to entertaining audiences. Plus, these award shows loved their bait and switches. Who would actually believe that a total showoff like Rick Rodriguez would be content standing on stage with nothing but a guitar for more than five minutes? Olivia was the last one to believe that!
She rarely had the opportunity to watch Rick like this. She was used to waiting in the wings for her cue to go onstage, or dancing alongside one of the biggest names in the industry. Few were the times Olivia had to simply relax and watch her boyfriend dance like his mother and all those colorful characters coming through the studio taught him.
The one thing she could have never expected, however, was the part during the break where Rick rushed to the side of the stage and grabbed her hand.
What was this? Where did he think they were? He couldn’t haul any woman he wanted onto the stage! Even if she had a guest pass and was standing right there off to the side! What makes this guy so unpredictable? Not that Olivia had much time to contemplate that… her brain was too focused on the cheering audience and the cameras turning in their direction, multiple stage hands having heart attacks while the suits upstairs started crossing Rick off their list of approved guests in the future.
“What are you doing?’ Olivia asked, which was luckily not picked up by his mic. Rick hauled her to the middle of the stage, his hand wrapped around hers, and his face mouthing that she should be ready for her cue.
Cue? What freakin’ cue!
Olivia needed to go home and thank the stars that she knew Rick so well by now. On stage, at least. When he put his hand on her upper arm and wrapped the other around her torso, she knew what kind of mischief was afoot. He wants me to dance with him? José’s choreography for “Midnight Tango” was still fresh in Olivia’s mind. Weeks of practices, performances, and watching playback videos meant that routine was stuck in her mind for the rest of her life. So when Rick embraced her like he always did during the song’s break, Olivia followed through with embracing him back, letting the passion of the tango that swept them away so many months ago claim her again now.
The crowd clapped to the beat, going along with the change in plans even if people dressed in black amassed on either side of the stage. Olivia’s guest pass smacked her in the face when Rick unexpectedly dipped her over his knee. This time Olivia’s laughter was caught on his mic.
They only had a minute to enjoy on stage, but the hot lights, the privacy of the empty stage, and the blinking cameras felt like a great exhibition of their blooming young love. Olivia clutched Rick’s shoulders and leaped into the lift at the end of the song, her adrenaline pounding so hard that she thought she would burst.
She did. She burst when the final chords disappeared into the air, Rick’s lips landing on hers.
Somewhere, Olivia’s little sister was probably shouting at their TV so hard that the nearest camera couldn’t help but break.
9
Olivia’s mother was at her wit’s end, to the point that the matriarch was on the verge of restarting her smoking habit after having quit ten years ago. When Mrs. Owens emerged from the kitchen and found a gaggle of teenage girls doing their nails in the dining room, the stench of colorful polish making her nose wither, she cried, “Where the hell is your sister?”
Said sister was currently coming down the stairs with a box balanced on her shoulder. “I’m right here,” she said, dropping the box on a table before leaning in the dining room archway. Seven teenagers. Bethany’s best friends from school… not that Olivia recalled having so many friends when she was in school. “Didn’t realize a bunch of half-grown girls needed a babysitter.”
The way Bethany looked at her said a babysitter was the last thing she needed at her birthday party. Nevertheless, Mrs. Owens said, “Your packing can wait another day. I need help wrangling these kids and putting dinner together.”
“Just let me put this to the side, then.” Olivia picked up her box of books and carried it to the small cart by the front door where she was storing things for her move the following week. Finally growing up and getting out of here. She wouldn’t say she was moving up in the world yet. Sure, she was moving in with her boyfriend in his hip apartment, but they had a “cleaning date” that weekend to make sure the damned place was presentable and fit for another human being to live in. And then they were going to have a nice, long talk about splitting the upkeep. Or, you know, hiring someone to do it for us. Rick needed to learn when not to be so stingy with his money, and hiring a maid to come in every other day was a good start.
Olivia went into the kitchen to help her mother decorate the birthday cake. She barely had a cup of frosting and a knife in her hand when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” she called, dropping the cake stuff before zooming into the dining room. Bethany was already halfway out of her chair, holding her nails in the air to keep them from smearing on tablecloth or skirt. Her sister barely beat her to the front hallway, and Olivia barked at Bethany to go back and play with her friends.
“It’s not for you,” Olivia said with a hand in her sister’s face. “All your friends are here anyway.”
“You don’t know! It could be a boy!”
Oh, it is. And Olivia would make sure that Bethany was in the other room when the door was answered.
She waited until the birthday party was contained in the dining room again before racing to the front door and opening it wide enough to see the only man she had yet to love.
“You gonna leave me out here like this?” Rick asked, lowering his sunglasses as he looked around the suburban neighborhood. Paparazzi? Out there? “You’re lucky I’m doing this for you because I love you. Never, ever would I otherwise…”
“Shut up and get in here.” Olivia opened the door another smidge and yanked Rick into the house, latching everything behind him. “I’ll try to make this quick… but you know how girls….”
She was cut short by the piercing, blood-curdling screams of seven teenage girls coming face to face with their favorite celebrity.
Olivia had to jump between her boyfriend and the birthday party before one or the other could start running in the same direction. “Happy birthday!” she shouted over the fracas, although it did not help that half the girls were already the same size as her. Ten years younger and already athletes! It wasn’t fair.
“Olivia!” Bethany slammed into her, but made sure to hang off her sister’s hips so she could get a clear look of Rick in his scruffy facial hair and tight denim jeans. “You didn’t!”
“Yeah, yeah, I did, and if you think for two seconds that you get to play jungle gym on my boyfriend then you’ve got another think coming.”
By the power of Mrs. Owens and Olivia’s fortitude, the girls were herded into the living room while Rick inhaled a deep breath before following. Olivia could practically hear the sighing in the kitchen where she rendezvoused with her mother.
“He’s a lot paler than he looks on TV,” she said, pulling the cake toward her so she could resume decorating. “Hopefully your s
ister and her friends won’t make him even paler.”
“That’s mostly makeup to keep him from looking too pale. They put the same stuff on me, and I’m way whiter than him.”
Mrs. Owens ignored her. Olivia thought her mother might have a chore for her to do, but when nothing came about it, she walked out of the kitchen and back into the living room where she could supervise the talent at the birthday party. Never know when a crazy fan might stab him with her sharp, nicely done nails. Death by teen. How many rock stars had gone down that way?
“I have a special treat for you, Bethany,” Rick said, somebody’s guitar in his lap. He had to take a few minutes to tune it since somebody never played it. “You want to hear one of my new songs before anyone else?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, but you guys have to promise not to share this.”
“Duh!” was the chorus.
Olivia rolled her eyes, if only because Bethany and company were far from the first people to hear the song. Everyone at the label heard the song. Olivia had heard the song. Probably half the DJs in town were aware of the demo. The girls didn’t know that, and the idea that they might be the first to hear Rick’s new song about gave them all heart attacks.
“It’s called ‘Twilight Rumba.’ It’s about a girl whose name also happens to be Owens.”
That got Olivia some angry looks. Great. Teenage angst and jealousy. Good thing she was moving out soon. So Bethany can call me up at all weird hours asking to talk to Rick… She couldn’t wait.
The song was a ballad, and Olivia had to escort herself out of the living room before she became too embarrassed. She only knew the song ended a few minutes later when the reverberation of the guitar subsided and the girls were told by Mrs. Owens to go outside so everyone could finish setting up. Naturally, nobody wanted to leave the rock star’s presence, but they also did not want to make fools of themselves in front of him… so they left.
Rick found Olivia sitting on the staircase and joined her at the top of it, his sigh as he sat down by the railing almost enough to make her laugh. “Enjoy your babysitting? Just think, you could’ve had one of those if things worked out differently.” Olivia wouldn’t say she was disappointed that Rick wasn’t going to be a father… yet. We can talk about that later. Now that they were together, at least, she didn’t have to worry about other girls popping up out of the woodworks and claiming to have his kid. Well, unless said kids were already born…
“One day. Not right now, thank God.” He leaned back on the stairs, arms crossed beneath his head. “You about all packed?”
“Hardly! They had me helping the teenage horde not get Darwined. I’m pretty sure one of them was going to drink the nail polish on a dare.”
“Is that what I smell?
“Yup.”
Rick wrapped his arm around Olivia’s shoulders and leaned in toward her head. “I’d much rather be smelling you.”
“Ew!”
“Also, I’m deaf now thanks to them. Hope they have the money to pay up the damages.”
“I’m sure the ten bucks my grandmother sent her will cover it.”
The worst part was when her sister and friends caught them kissing five minutes later. Olivia couldn’t wait to move out and finally start her own life with Rick – dancing definitely included.
THE END
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