Chapter 389: Elena V—All the Fun Stuff
February, 2010
Midway through the final act, Elena saw him. Normally, she didn’t look into the audience during performances; she didn’t care who they were or what they appreciated until the standing ovation at the end. And she always got a standing ovation at the end. But this time, as she stood on one leg, feeling like an over-glorified flamingo, her arms held in the air, waiting for Alistair to pick her up and hold her aloft like a treasured flower, she saw a familiar pair of eyes in the front row.
She squinted, lost track of the music and looked into that face. Something so familiar, she remembered the smile, remembered a frown, but didn’t remember this man. He sat with a girl, a slim blond with long soft curls, and a girl completely unfamiliar in her commonness. But I know him, she thought and by this time she had forgotten her count completely and when she felt Alistair’s hands close around her waist she almost jumped, almost laughed, almost screamed in surprise but thankfully, she only bit the inside of her lip and as he lifted her into the air and she regained her count.
Okay so this performance would have a small flaw in it.
She could deal with that, right?
But as she stayed in the air she couldn’t take her eyes off that young man. He had an odd, almost comical face, as if he were used to making bad jokes and wearing bad clothes but nevertheless being adored for it. There would be no reason why his type of person would appear at a venue like this by choice, unless of course, he impressed the girl. Of course, he would impress the girl. She tilted her chin up, and closed her eyes as Alistair set her softly on the stage and her ankles screamed in protest as she went to her toes and spun away from him.
Ah yes, the
requisite standing ovation. Elena curtsied and then caught a bouquet of roses,
pressing her nose to them and inhaling, the crowd always loved when she did
that. Roses were out of favor nowadays, not politically correct because of the
rose workers in
The audience cheered that move, and that was the only bouquet of roses tossed onto the stage, the rest being vibrant orange tiger lilies, white Easter lilies, and sprays of Baby’s Breath and Gladiolas. She gathered the flowers by the armful and hugged them and blew kisses to the audience.
“You were very distant in the last act,” Alistair replied in his soft British accent, his dark Indian eyes soft and concerned. “Have you already become bored of this ballet?”
Elena grabbed onto his hand and held onto it as the curtain fell down and she continued to hold it as they walked off the stage, dancers laughing and congratulating her and each other on yet another magnificent performance. “Did I bother ya?” She asked and she let him kiss her on the cheek, she hugged him and then let him go. “I’m sorry.”
“No I wasn’t bothered,” Alistair replied emphasizing the last word in that stuffy, plummy way Englishman talked. “I was worried, I just didn’t sense that connection, the one we usually have.”
Elena yawned and leaned against a cement pillar, she lifted one foot to waist level, rotated her sore ankle and then held it up to Alistair who tugged the ribbon tying her toe shoe around her calf so that it fell loose. “Thank you,” she smiled and she took the shoe off, held up her other foot and let Alistair untie that one as well. “My feet are killing me.”
“Good,” Alistair replied calmly, “At least something doesn’t feel right on you, I was beginning to think after reading the reviews of you in this morning’s Times that you shit marble with rose scented farts.”
Elena scowled. “You know I don’t shit Alistair, I’m surprised at you.” She patted his arm and standing on his toes, she kissed his cheek. “Besides, we don’t like roses around here, do we?”
Alistair rolled his eyes. “Which explains why you decorate your dressing with them?”
“Hey!” Elena snapped and she began to walk to said dressing room, “I make sure those roses come from homegrown gardens, no Mexicans are dying on my account.”
“Oh,” Alistair replied, “And you make sure of this? This is official? You hand pick each bouquet…”
Where did those eyes come from, she thought. “Alistair, I’m not in the mood, okay, I’m not flipping “Saint Cecilia” so shoot me! What is with you all of a sudden, eh?”
Argh! She thought remembering the newspapers this morning had been abuzz with that anorexic Audrey Hepburn head case wannabe Saint blessing an entire crowd of people who went into a state of ecstasy before becoming healed of various life threatening ailments. Yeah, that tidbit had pushed the story of her ballet’s premiere to the fourth or fifth page, a blurb really. There was supposed to be a cover story on Alistair, and the company and that God-grubbing twit had taken all the attention as usual.
“Nothing,” Alistair replied in that unflappable, infuriating cool way of his. “I’m just talking, conversing; you’re the one who thinks that everyone has a issue with you. Now which brings me to the subject, darling what happened in that last act? I know you; you’re such a perfectionist you would never allow yourself to be so distant if something weren’t bothering you.”
Elena shrugged. “I thought I saw someone I knew in the audience.”
“Lots of people you know were in the audience, what name or persona distracted you so much? I don’t think Sister Cecilia was anywhere here?”
Elena frowned and leaned on the doorknob of her dressing room. “Don’t mention her in my presence, is that so hard?”
Alistair grinned. “Well that’s the only human being I can think of that would enrage you to distraction, you and your jealous vendetta with a living saint you’ve never met before.”
“Yah-huh!” Elena squealed and she shook her fist. “Look the bitch can’t go a day without burying us in the papers, okay, so what if I care about us getting the proper exposure we deserve, we sell out any venue we go to worldwide for Gawds sake, hey I danced for the Pope and she didn’t even show and THAT was the story I mean come on!”
Alistair laughed. “I know this story; now tell me who did you see?”
Elena shrugged. “I can’t remember his name, but I swear I saw him on the news recently or something.”
“That important?”
“Eh..” Elena replied. Before she could say anything, however, someone appeared at her elbow.
“Miss Ruiz, there is a guest who wants to talk to you.”
Elena raised her eyebrows and looked at the girl. “Eh, tell him to get lost, like usual.”
“No this one is different. I think.”
Elena exchanged looks with Alistair who raised his eyebrows. “Oh? How so?”
The girl nodded. “Yeah he says he knows you.”
Somehow, Elena knew exactly whom she was talking about and she crossed her arms. So those eyes were important after all. “Yeah from where?”
The girl frowned, looked as if she were about to say something she knew was completely stupid and would get her fired. “He told me to ask you if you had any…” she took a deep breath and Elena concluded that she must have accepted some money to be delivering this message, “… if you had any rabbit food he could eat.”
Elena and Alistair laughed and he shook his head. “Tell the git to get lost, that’s amazing you would even bring him up to us. Rabbit food? What a psychopath!”
But Elena felt warmth all throughout her body and her eyes even stung with tears momentarily. “No bring him over her, bring him. I just need to…” she looked at Alistair whose expression looked as if he’d just met her for the first time and didn’t particularly know how he felt about her. “Alistair I need to shower and everything, can you, just keep him company I’ll just be a few minutes, you guys can sit on the couch inside or something, I’ll be real quick, be a doll, please, pleeeease!”
And Elena knew that Alistair would always do everything at her bidding because he was madly in love with her and had been since the day they first met in the Academy. Yes, she felt guilty for stringing him along sometimes, for sleeping with him on occasion and then watching his quietly jealous eyes when she flirted with other guys, but hell, if he didn’t want that torture he could move to another company or get another girl. She knew ten girls in the company alone who would die to be in his bed for just a night.
“Alright,” Alistair said slowly. “You know I would darling.”
“Thanks!” Elena grinned and she ran into her dressing room, tearing at her costume as she dashed to her personal shower. Now she felt nervous and excited and remembered exactly where she had seen him last, and it had been on the news. Ah yes, everyone was supposed to be mad at him, just like they were supposed to hate roses and yet still bought them when they thought no one was looking.
Elena heard voices in the next room, her main dressing room, as she dried herself off and wrestled with which shirt to wear and which skirt and which boots. She heard Alistair, and then the other man, ah but she didn’t remember him as a man except so recently on the news, and… a woman? Elena scowled, oh yeah, she forgot, he sat in the front row with that blond thing. Pretty but common, oh so common. She rolled her eyes, the easiest type to get rid of.
Which meant… Elena leaned into the mirror, red lipstick, eyeliner, blush, all of it war paint. She even lined her eyes a little darker for that exotic effect, that girl would know she was a small guppy, something replaceable and meant to be fed to the bigger fish. Hair up or down? She glanced at her watch, gah, leave it down. Taking a deep breath she peeked through the door, there he sat, no longer a wiry, pale little boy, a man, muscled, big hands on big knees, thighs straining with muscle at his pants that needed to be tailored with sandy hair and pale eyes. He wore glasses too, the new style, no arms on them, they balanced on the nose with those pinching nose pads.
She didn’t even look at that blond as she pushed open the door and everyone looked at her and took her in and she grinned. “Hey there,” the man stood up and she hugged him. Ah he smelled great and his chest was so hard! Yeah, that blond had to go. “It’s been a lifetime…” God how cheesy did that sound?
“Wow I didn’t think you’d remember that,” Jonathan Roy laughed. “That was just a last resort; you got more security than a bank around ya.” He then broke the hug and turned to the blond, “See Allison, I told you I know her.”
Elena wanted to scowl and kick him out now. Being used as a party favor to impress a blond? What a jerk!
The blond smiled though, and she looked gorgeous as she smiled and Elena wanted to sock her one in her pretty face. “Wow!” she breathed. “Miss Ruiz, really I’m your biggest fan…” words which instantly doused Elena’s angry flames and she practically shoved Jonathan aside going to the woman and clasping her bony, cold fingered, eager little hand. “Really, I adore ballet and you just radiate out there, I can’t take my eyes off you, and you just make everything so magical and this morning…” uh oh her eyes were starting to water and her voice cracked, “And this morning Jonathan tells me that he knows you and could get me in to meet you and…” the tears fell and she fanned herself with one hand, “and you’re even more beautiful in person and you don’t know how special this is….”
“Oh wow,” Elena said and she patted the blond on her shoulder. “Hey, come on I ain’t Sister Cecilia,” as much as Elena couldn’t stand that the phrase was an increasingly common one in everyone’s vocabulary nowadays. “Calm down, honey.”
“Oh it’s just such an honor,” the blond, Allison, said.
“Well that means a lot to me, really,” Elena replied and she hugged Allison, and the woman practically melted and died in her arms. Ah yes, the heady feeling of being worshipped. Elena was used to people eating out of her hands.
“Well we don’t want to bother you…” Jonathan said slowly and Elena narrowed her eyes at him. He grinned, and Elena remembered that grin so acutely that it tugged at a part of her heart she didn’t remember could feel.
“You’re not bothering anyone, weirdo,” she replied. “Are you guys hungry? Let’s get something to eat.” She watched Jonathan’s grin turn into a large smile, and those eyes of his twinkled, they had his father’s twinkle. That brought Elena’s mind back to the job at hand, how to get rid of the blond.
“So what do you do now?” Elena asked Jonathan as they were seated at a table in a chic restaurant that would probably be closed within a month due to the “No Milk Crestfield” sign in the window.
“Don’t you know?” Jonathan asked, obviously, truly surprised his eyes wide.
Elena shrugged.
“You don’t know?” Allison repeated with the same expression on her face.
“Apparently it’s something of extreme import, hm?” Alistair said with a bright toothed grin and Elena noticed Allison look at him and smile, and she let that smile linger a little too long. The dark skin and his accent, girls melted in Alistair’s presence. And the prospect of nabbing a straight male ballet dancer, they went nuts over that.
“Oh I don’t know anything since we stopped writing,” Elena replied as casually as she could and then they ordered their drinks.
“He plays for the New York Rangers,” Allison said eagerly. “He’s been in the newspapers too, I seen his pictures on the front sports page, don’t you read the papers?”
“Well I’ve been drafted,” Jonathan corrected and Elena noticed his cheeks redden a little. “I won’t be playing for them just yet.”
Allison
frowned. “But you told me you played…” She let the words disappear and she
frowned. Elena raised her eyebrows and she saw the realization alight on Allison’s
face and she looked at Alistair. “So I love your accent where are you from,
what part of
And that
spelled the immediate end for Allison and Jonathan however long their
relationship had lasted. Elena watched it crumple as Allison drank increasingly
more wine, and laughed increasingly louder and louder at Alistair’s simple
jokes. Jonathan seemed to watch them a little but he was more interested in his
food, and in smiling and in answering Elena’s questions about his life after
he’d been taken from her. Prep school hockey, minor league hockey, being
drafted, how excited he was to be in
Elena also talked with Allison a little but she could tell the novelty of being with her idol had worn off along with her sobriety, and she hung on Alistair purring like a kitten. After the meal was done, Jonathan offered to take Allison home but she loudly insisted that Alistair do it. “Just be careful,” Elena grinned wickedly. Alistair rolled his eyes and mouthed out, “You owe me one” before leaving the restaurant with her.
“Am I taking you home?” Jonathan asked.
Elena hooked her arm with his, “If you’re a gentleman.”
Jonathan grinned, crooked and cocky, and Elena wanted to kiss him, funny how quickly an old feeling could return, but she didn’t. “Why didn’t you continue to lie about you and the Rangers to Allison at dinner?” She asked.
“I dunno I forgot I guess.”
“Forgot what?”
“Forgot I told her I played for them, I mean a technicality really, she shouldn’t get all bent about it, I mean I’ll be playing for them soon enough.” Jonathan replied. He kicked an empty beer can and it clattered down the sidewalk. “Want me to flag a cab?”
“I live a couple blocks down,” Elena replied, “It’s why I suggested this place.”
They were silent for a few moments before Jonathan cleared his throat. “Yeah, I guess I chased her away, didn’t I?”
“Yup,” Elena replied. “But I’m not gonna let you in pants tonight because of it.”
Jonathan laughed. “Hey that wasn’t on my mind at all you snob.”
Elena grinned. “Isn’t it?”
“You’re still a snob!” he exclaimed. “Heh, God I still remember you.”
“Mean,” Elena replied but she didn’t let go of him, instead she squeezed his arm tightly. “Come on; tell me what’s your nice brother up to, or Jana?”
“Oh they…” Jonathan said and he sighed. “You know.”
“Fine then,” Elena said, “You don’t need to talk about it.”
“Still remember the rabbit food, huh?” Jonathan grinned. “What else do you remember?”
“Oh,” Elena said and she looked up at the sky, stars, just a few poked through or were those planes. She remembered stars as a little girl, and mentally she often pasted them to the sky when there were none to see. “I remember you, and Jana’s temper tantrums or your Dad’s tantrums, and school and everything really,” should she? She couldn’t help it. “Even your Dad’s cock.”
“Aw shit!” Jonathan snapped and Elena couldn’t stop laughing. They were at the front door to her town home. “You still remember that?”
Elena grinned. “And you’re still insecure!” She giggled. “I thought what with you being all grown up and all you’d have a little more confidence. Course he had a lot to live up to hmmmm?”
“Aw you’re sick,” Jonathan snapped with that pouty, red cheeked, anger that he’d not outgrown. “Hey we can settle this once and for all, let me upstairs and I’ll….”
Elena giggled and kissed him on the cheek. “I said you weren’t getting in my pants tonight.”
Jonathan put his arms around her waist, almost holding a little too tightly. “Come on, you wouldn’t regret it. Hey, it’s not like we’re strangers.”
“No I think I’ll go it alone,” she whispered.
Jonathan sighed and stepped away in defeat. “Alone?”
Elena winked. “Hey, what can I say, you know all the fun stuff happens behind your back.”
Jonathan’s mouth opened. “HEY! You have been paying attention to me! You read that in the news!”
Elena laughed and unlocked her door. She looked at him, “Good night, and don’t leave me again, ever.”
Jonathan shoved his hands in his pockets and Elena blew him a kiss before she went inside and closed the door and locked it.