"Someday, he is going to notice me, Monica. I know it. I feel a connection with him!" I replied and she laughed as she pulled open the glass door. The two guards looked at us as we flashed the plastic photo identification cards and walked around the bend. I looked to the elevator and motioned to the stairs.
"Really? He is a television star. He tapes in Toronto! Unless you plan on becoming a stalker and following him until he gets the police after you, you aren't going to meet him!" Monica said as she bounded up the stairs and pulled open the door. I smiled and stepped into the hallway.
"I mean it Monica. I think we have a connection." I admitted and Monica smiled as we started across the glassed in bridge that crossed the road, where the buses sat, to get to the Café. I shifted my bag as we ran against a ton of dancers and musical theater majors. They always thought they owned the one building, walking around in their damn tights all day like we wanted to see their anorexic bodies.
"Admit it, Michelle. If anyone meets this Roy you drool about all the time…. It would be one of these damn dancers." Monica remarked sharply as she pushed her backed book bag into two dancers who were pretending that the wall was their bar to practice at.
"You would drool too if you would ever watch Jen Suis!" I commented sharply as we opened the second door to the Café (the dancers never understood why there were TWO doors) and shoved our way to a table.
"Well, with the amount you write, you should at least be proud that you don't have carpal tunnel syndrome." Monica said as she pulled out her folder and passed me some of the information for our upcoming trip.
"I wish we could be in New Orleans today." I muttered as I looked at the schedule that the adviser gave Monica. Half of it would be rewritten with two words, BOURBON STREET!
"I know… but we do have the party here tonight." Monica said with a hint of sarcasm. I rolled my eyes. It was another one of the adviser's great plans. Since we were going to New Orleans in a month, to raise money, we should have a Mardi Gras party. I shook my head and pulled out my folder with my information for the night.
"I can't wait for this night to be over." I commented and Monica laughed.
"We can't even go to a real Mardi Gras party with REAL alcohol… we have to be at the "school" Mardi Gras party with fake specialty drinks." Monica commented as more dancers spun their way into the Café. I shook my head and looked at her.
"And we have to deal with them." I commented sharply and Monica started to squeal with laughter.
"And where did she come up with this mask idea? That everyone has to stay underneath his or her masks until midnight! Come on! I don't want to see any of the dancers' faces.. But I will still know that they are dancers!" I commented, knowing that the comment would bring more laughter from Monica.
"OH MY GOD!" dancers started to squeal out in shrieks of joy. I rolled my eyes and looked at Monica. I wondered which one of their little elite club has now made the cast in Disney World. That was the way they were acting. I watched as one flung their body into the air with some odd body contortion that looked like it hurt more than it looked pretty.
"Someone famous is going to be at the Mardi Gras party tonight!" Their department head said to them all, which caused more bodies to jerk around happily. The dancers always got anything they wanted and sadly, the news did not surprise me.
"That sucks. We do all the work, us academic minds for them to have a damn dance… and you know that some musical theater big wig will come in to be with them!" Monica cried out as the crowd grew with more dancers.
"I don't think they would get excited if they just announced that Bill Gates would be attending. They probably don't even know who he is!" I commented and Monica laughed happily.
"And the famous star will be wearing a mask all night… and will not disclose their identity till the end of the night!" the dance department head said and I shook my head. The night was beginning to look worse.
"Great…. Just great…." I mumbled as I grabbed my stuff to go set up the ballroom so that the dancers can grope their way across everyone in the ballroom that night for the Mardi Gras celebration. I just wanted to jump out the window. Then maybe the dancers would know what a real jump was.
=================
"Monica… we have a problem." I said as I stormed across the ballroom, tearing my body away from the dancers and musical theater majors who were seeking out the famous star. Monica looked up with her zebra stripped mask and shook her wig out. She was dressed as a zebra and hiding off to the corner that I had just braved my life by shifting through the star struck dancers to get too.
"I like your outfit, Michelle. Maybe tonight you won't say the words La Femme Nikita, Roy, or Jen Suis!" Monica commented as she looked at my outfit. I shook my head and looked towards the window. I wish I were online this night. I didn't want to be here, and I definitely didn't want to be in a dress, and I didn't want to spend another minute breathing the same air as the dancers. I would rather breathe bus exhaust fumes!
"It's a green dress Monica that I threw some black lace over." I commented and Monica smiled and touched my mask.
"And a ruby slippers are suppose to be on your feet and not on your face!" Monica laughed and I tilted my head to the side and laughed with her. Most of the dancers didn't even catch onto what the mask was shaped as, as they tried to find the famous star.
"Hello ladies. Am I the famous star?" a man walked over in a white suit with a white feather mask on. The thing that stood out and also identified who he was, was the blue molecule model on the back of the suit.
"Scott! I know it is you!" Monica called out and he laughed. Monica leaped into his arms and soon, Monica had actually found a way to have some fun. I rolled my head to the side and looked around. The room was really well decorated and I was happy with it.
"This place is crazy looking for that star." A man said as he walked over towards me. I looked up and smiled. He didn't look like anyone I knew, so I was sure that he was a dancer of sorts.
"Ruby slippers. Interesting." He said as he touched my mask. I smiled and finally looked at his body. He was just a bit taller than I was and I couldn't tell what his hair was like, as he had a wig on that looked like ELVIS. He had a nicely shaped body with very broad shoulders. I leaned back, and found the behind. I felt my heart quicken as I looked at the behind. It was probably the best one I had ever seen. I would even rank it up there with Roy's.
"Your outfit is interesting." I commented and he smiled.
"Yeah… my costume director picked it out." He commented and turned around. The outfit was a cross between John Travolta's white leisure suit from Saturday Night Fever and Superman's Cape with a lot of sequins. His mask was a blank black mask, which looked like it was hastily picked at.
"Last one to get the masks from the costume director?" I asked and he smiled broadly. The smile showed vivid teeth and I almost blushed with the view.
"Yeah…. And I guess you didn't get a chance to pick out shoes." He commented and I laughed. I had a bad ankle, so someone had to pay big bucks to get me into dress shoes for important events. I knew that there was a lot of work with this dance, and I had worn my blue suede tennis shoes to be comfortable in.
"Yeah.. Got to be comfortable." I commented and he laughed softly. I blinked my eyes and looked to the window. Something about this man reminded me of someone, but I wasn't sure. Maybe I did know him. Maybe he was a student in one of the core classes that got filled with dancers.
"Well… I told the costume director that I wanted to wear a kilt… she laughed and handed me this. She said I would give myself away if I wore a kilt." The man laughed and I thought back to Jen Suis.
"Nah…. Only a tutu would give away a man." I commented as I thought back to my favorite scene with Roy in it. I sighed softly as I felt a hand touch mine. He smiled at me and looked to the dance floor as Personal Jesus came on.
"This is one of my favorite groups. I can't get the production crew to use Depeche Mode enough." He said as he pulled me to the dance floor. Slowly I got into the groove the dance, and was in between the mystery dancer who probably thought I was the famous star or someone who knew who the famous star was and Monica. I hated to admit it, but I was having fun and not really thinking about Roy or La Femme Nikita. Maybe Mardi Gras was what I needed, even if the poor unknown dancer with the horrid outfit thought that he had found the star. I could stay like this all night and have some fun.
"My name is Michelle." I said firmly as we bounced forward, then back and then turned to the side to stretch our arms out in the routine dance.
"Call me Chris." The man said and I smiled. Normally I would have though… like in Chris Heyn, but I didn't. I just continued to dance and actually got to kick a dancer in the butt… in accident.. I SWEAR!
=========
Monica pulled on my arm as Scott and my mystery guy walked off to gather some kind of drink that Monica called the Tropical Storm. I looked around and looked at Monica.
"Who is he?" Monica questioned and I shrugged my shoulders and she tilted my head to the side and smiled.
"Ok, Monica.. You dragged it out of me.. He is ROY!" I joked and Monica playfully slapped at me as I moved back in my own laughter.
"Come on, Michelle. I have known you since middle school chorus class. You never have fun with guys you don't know. Who did you sneak in!" Monica accused and I lifted my hands as if I was under arrest. Monica lifted her hand as if shooting me and we both broke into giggles.
"Are you sure you didn't spike those Tropical Storms?" I questioned and Monica lifted a finger to her lips and 'shhhhh'ed me. I laughed and looked around.
"Ok… so spill it." Monica said and I looked to see where my mystery guy had gone off too. I looked across the room and stared. He looked vaguely familiar and I just hoped that when I found out who it was that I liked him!
"Look.. He told me his name is Chris…. I don't remember any Chris in my history." I commented and Monica stepped back with her hand over her mouth.
"What if it is Chris from chorus… who use to eat his own Kleenex!" Monica screamed and I rolled my eyes in disguise.
"I think he is still locked up. I think that happened after he thought he was Spiderman and scaled the walls?" I questioned and Monica nodded her head as the two men returned to our sides.
"Dance with me, please?" Chris asked as we finished our drinks and slow song come on. I blinked as I looked at the extended hand. I looked at it and touched it softly. The hand looked so familiar and then fear filled my body. I was afraid that I knew who this was and he thought the entire time that I knew who he was. I didn't want to find out that I do know this man.
"Sure." I whispered out as he led me to the dance floor. I turned my head and listened to the music and then pulled away lightly and stared at Monica.
"Did you give the DJ my CD by accident?" I whispered to her and Monica shrugged her shoulders. I felt a hand touch my shoulder lightly and looked up to the man in front of me. I looked into his eyes and saw something shimmer and I shivered.
"Don't you like this song?" Chris asked and I shook my head and looked around to see a few other couples out on the dance floor. I knew the group Rhea's Obsession and also knew that almost no one in the college had heard of them. Even Monica said that they were a required taste to enjoy.
"I love this song. It was used in one of my….. Sorry.. I said I wouldn't discuss that tonight." I said as I caught myself about to start talking about La Femme Nikita. I smiled and felt my pulse quicken as he tightened his grip on my right wrist and took it to his lips.
"Oh my… " I whispered out as his hand was placed low on my hip and guided me to his firm body. I felt like I was panting and I started to get scared. I had this feeling that I was being surrounded.
"Wait…." I said as I stepped back, but Chris moved clearly back to my body and I felt myself getting lost as he held my hand out and used his fingers lightly across my palm. I looked at the hand and then to the eyes. I shook the thought out of my head and looked away from the man. I was starting to get scared and was honestly counting the minutes to midnight.
"Has anyone told you how beautiful you are?" Chris whispered out and I blinked as I felt tears filling my eyes. No one had ever said that to me before. I pulled away and moved away as the music droned on. The words were like daggers into my soul. They touched me and they pained me. I wanted to run back home and sign on and be with the people I knew.
=================
"Michelle…" Chris called out as he approached the corner that I had hidden out in for the last five minutes. Midnight was only in a few minutes and I couldn't wait for this torture to be over. I wanted to strip myself out of the stupid costume, clean up, and curl up with my pillow and dream of Roy.
"Please…. I don't know if I can handle this." I commented as I turned and looked at the mystery man. I had almost fallen into a fantasy. I let my imagination plunge me into the dream of La Femme Nikita and Roy. Monica was right, the exposure to the internet was becoming dangerous to my health.
"Please… dance with me until Midnight?" Chris asked and I tilted my head in thought. I looked at Chris and looked at his fine behind. How could I pass this up? Maybe this was all a set up to make me look really stupid, but I didn't care. I reached my hand out and Chris led me back to the dance floor.
It was about a minute before midnight when the lights went out. Everyone started to scream.
"What the hell!" I muttered as I felt Chris move away from me. Then suddenly, loud music filled the room and I looked around. I knew that music. IT WAS THE LA FEMME NIKITA THEMESONG!
"CHRIS!" I screamed out, as some other people bumped to me in the dark. "I'm right here." He whispered out as he was close to my ear. I wanted to know what was going on and why it was going on. Someone had done something.
"Birkoff… we have location…." Nikita's voice piped in and I looked into the darkness to see flash lights from the hallways outside the ballroom.
"What the hell….. MONICA!" I called out but there was nothing.
"Nikita, Michael should be in that ballroom." Birkoff's voice said and I felt my heart sink. Some lucky god damn skinny dancer had spent the entire night with ROY!
"We don't want any hostages…" Madeline's voice piped in as the doors slammed open and the music stopped.
"OK PEOPLES!" Nikita's voiced echoed in the room. It wasn't a tape and it wasn't an actor trying to be Peta/Nikita. I swallowed as the dancers finally started to piece the parts together.
"Someone get the lights on… We need to find Michael, sugar." Walter's voice echoed from behind me somewhere. Slowly the lights began to turn on, and in the adjusting of everyone's eyes to the light, everyone was looking around.
"I'm here, Nikita!" Chris said from next to me and I spun around and stopped. Roy looked down and smiled as I stared almost ready to faint. Suddenly, people started to rush in around us, and Roy pushed his hands out to the side, which stopped everyone.
"Hope everyone had a great Mardi Gras." Roy said softly and he looked back at me and took my hand away from my throat and softly kissed it. I tried to move, but I was frozen.
"Peta, Don, Matt, and Alberta are staying. I will be leaving……" Roy said and I felt my heart sink. I was never going to get a chance to know this man as Roy.
"With my dear friend Michelle here." Roy announced and I felt that my eyes were going to explode. Suddenly there was school security surrounding us as Roy attempted to lead me out of the ballroom. The dancers were beside themselves that the famous star had spent the night with an academic student, and was leaving without many other words. They shouted questions out and Roy only smiled and looked at me as the security tried to keep us safe.
We moved into the hallways where Alberta and Don stood. Peta was already inside, trying to help tame the crowds that had tried to push after Roy.
"Chris Heyn said you were going to stay." Alberta said and Roy shrugged his shoulders and he held onto my hand. I looked up at Roy and shook my head still in shock.
"Do something Roy. The lady is in shock!" Don joked and Roy stopped and looked at me. He leaned down and kissed my lips.
"I didn't mean mouth to mouth!" Don laughed out and slapped Roy's shoulder as we slowly walked down the hallway. I looked at my clothing and stopped. Roy had been able to slip out of the costume he had worn, but I was still stuck in mine. The doors swung open as Alberta and Don joined the crowd in the ballroom and someone slipped out with a guard.
"Here is your stuff, Michelle." Monica said as she handed me my casual clothing and my purse.
"You did a great job, Monica." Roy said and I looked at Monica. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. I turned and looked at Roy as we walked.
"You know she never has seen Jen Suis." I commented and Roy laughed. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked across the bridge as the party continued in the ballroom. I was still in shock and I hurried to change out of the costume, afraid that Roy would just disappear, but he was still there when I exited.
"I was going to change into the tutu, but I thought that I could keep that for later." Roy said with a wink and I turned a bright shade of red. He had known exactly what I was thinking about when I made the comment early in the evening. I don't know why he even stayed by my side, but I sure knew I was the lucky one.
"So, where would you like to go?" Roy asked as we stepped out into the brisk night air and headed towards a limo. I saw a small truck with the LFN PRODUCTIONS painted on it and smiled. Down the street, three television stations sat nearby.
"A walk?" I asked softly and Roy nodded his head and looked to the limo. I knew that we couldn't walk anywhere near the school with the television crews around. I nodded my head and I knew exactly where to take Roy.
==========
"I may never be able to walk into that school again. Those dancers are going to hunt me down." I commented as my hand held Roy's softly as he walked on the pebbled road. How we got to the road was a different story, and very complicated.
The limo had not been able to escape the television crews, who diligently followed us. For a while, I felt like I was just a part of an episode of LFN. I had planned on going up to Mt. Washington and looking out over the sky line, but that was impossible, when the limo stopped and Roy stepped out. He looked at the cameras, smiled and ducked back into the limo.
In good old fashion spy method, I called my mother to take my car up to the shopping center. Carefully we snuck out of the limo and across the way to my car, and made plans to meet back up with the driver far away from my house. After an hour, we were back in the limo and Roy learned that I was a good driver.
"There wouldn't have been a dance at all tonight if it wasn't for you." Roy softly commented and I stopped walking. The limo's headlights provided the light for us to walk on, as we walked down a back country road, far from houses and any main roads.
"I mean it. Yes, it was all planned, so I could get to know you." Roy said in a steady whisper and I shook my head in disbelief. I even stopped walking as the words touched me.
"You are being thrown across the sky now. I saw you. I felt you. I needed to know you." Roy whispered as he leaned in and touched my cheek. I blinked and swallowed, as the statement sunk in.
"Rejean Ducharme, 'My soul holds me in its hand as if I were a spear that it's about to throw enormously far, enormously high. I'm holding myself in my hand until I'm strong enough to throw myself right across the sky.' From the Swallower Swallowed." I quoted with a tear running down my cheek. Roy smiled and then leaned down and kissed the tear away.
"But you have thrown yourself now. To me." Roy responded and I smiled and rubbed my bare arms. He took his arms and wrapped me up tightly against him as we started to walk again.
"You said you liked that author. I never knew his words would touch me so." I commented and Roy smiled and kissed my ear softly.
"You amaze me." Roy said and I drop my head and wonder how he knew all of this. Then, as if he could also read my mind, Roy started to speak again in that soft French accent that almost made my knees go weak.
"Your friend Monica wrote me a registered letter. I had read others, but she brought me back to the one that I found one day by accident. It had fallen out of the box, and was almost swept away when I found it. I was amazed that it was fan mail for me and not for Peta. Peta is always leaving her fan mail all over the set. And from that moment on, I knew I would meet you. I had to meet you." Roy said and I smiled and dropped my head.
"Chris told me to leave it be, but he was smiling when he said it. I know there are thousands of fans out there that would die just to be in the same room as me for one second, but you were everything Monica said you were when you didn't even know me." Roy said and I smiled and nodded my head.
"Would you like to go to Montreal with me this weekend?" Roy asked and I smiled broadly and dropped my head.
"I don't know much french." I responded and Roy lifted his head and smiled.
"What do you know in french?" Roy replied and I leaned up and took his face in my hands. I looked into the green-eyes and swallowed my fears back. I had made the move I was going to follow through. I leaned my lips into Roy's to find a delightful warm mouth responding to my mouth. Roy placed his hands around my waist and pulled me tightier to him and I almost pulled away in shock as I felt something I had not expected. Slowly I pulled away and smiled.
"French kiss." I responded with a bashful face that turned bright red even in the dark. Roy smiled and pulled me back into his arms, and we kissed again. "Do I have to wait for the weekend?" I whispered out softly and Roy moaned no as he moved back towards the limo. The door barely opened when we both feel into the plush backseat. Roy lifted his head and looked forward.
"You can put the screen up." Roy murmured with a smile that melted my heart all over again. Slowly I watched the screen go up before the lips came back down on mine.
"Sir, you may want to close the door." The driver said and Roy sat up and started to laugh. He pulled the door close as I sat up and looked at him.
"Maybe we should wait for the weekend. This isn't where I wanted too…" Roy said softly and I opened my eyes. Roy had plans.
"Yeah… maybe we should. I would like the chance to travel…" I said happily and Roy sighed as he sat beside me.
"If you were any other fan… you would have jumped my bones by now." Roy said and I laughed. I knew plenty of fans that wouldn't but, that still wasn't the point.
"So, I guess I have to see you on Friday evening then." I commented and Roy shook his head and took my chin in his hand.
"I'll be right here. We might have to hide, but I will be right here." Roy promised and I smiled and leaned my head down on Roy's shoulder and yawned.
*****
"A dangerous STEP-BALL-CHANGE makes LFN star run from Point Park College"
"Who says It's a Dancer's Life at Point Park College? Academic Students gets a famous date."
"DOWN WITH ACADEMIC STUDENTS!"
"First higher QPA, then THE LFN STAR CHOICES BRAINS OVER SOME TIGHTS!"
I looked away from the computer and looked at Roy as he stepped back into the kitchen as his farm house. I smiled and stood up.
"I'm not going back. They are ready to throw me parades and then roast me!" I commented and Roy laughed. I knew I would not be asked to leave and that Roy would allow me to stay. That decision could come much later.