Chapter Eleven
Tristan
I was in the easy top twenty-four the night after round four. The emcee didn’t even try his stupid pretend routine with me. Everyone in that audience knew I’d blown it away. The girls in the audience had signs with my name on it and my picture and they said things like, “Marry Me” and “I love you!” I didn’t want to marry any of them, but I liked the attention. And speaking of attention, I was a little pissed at Elly. She’s the one who said she was a fan of mine and that she thought I was better at the softer stuff. I had even taken that into consideration when I picked out my song and changed up the score for this week’s song. I know she was as blown away as everyone else; she just didn’t have the balls to admit it. She was too afraid an ex-boyfriend who I still have never seen might see us talking. It didn’t make any fucking sense, but at the final twenty-four party tonight I was going to get her to tell me what was really going on.
The party was being held in the ballroom at the Millennium Biltmore hotel in downtown L.A. It was a fancy ass place and even I knew better than to show up in my t-shirt and jeans. I went shopping and had some cute chick at Macy’s help me pick out something nice that didn’t make me feel like I was wearing a business suit or a strait jacket. I ended up with a pair of black cotton dress slacks and a black long-sleeved shirt with red pin stripes and hot chick’s number. I played up the Fresh Voices finalist thing. She ate it up…I think I could definitely make this work for me.
I showered and put on my new clothes when I got home. I wore a red t-shirt underneath the long-sleeved black one and my black leather boots…I didn’t tuck the pants into them; I didn’t think that would be a good look for this crowd. I had stopped earlier and gotten my hair trimmed again and I shaved and when I looked into the mirror, I hardly recognized myself. I looked like a kid with the smooth face. I slipped my gold chain over my head and I touched it with my fingers when it came to rest on my chest. I was ready to go and if I do say so myself, I looked pretty damned good. Just let Emmy try to resist me tonight.
I felt out of place just walking into the fancy old hotel alone. When I got there, I found myself wishing that I had a date. I didn’t want to bring one though. For one thing, I don’t know anyone these days who would have come close to fitting in at this hotel. I also didn’t want to be straddled to another woman all night. I knew what I wanted, and it was Elly.
I used to feel right at home in places like this, when we were on tour we never stayed at less than a four star. Most of it was a blur though. I spent a lot of that time high as a kite or drunk off my ass. I’d been popping my mom’s Xanax since I was thirteen, and I’d talked her into taking me to the doctor and getting me put on Ritalin. When I wasn’t taking that one I had made a fortune selling it. Sometimes I’m not sure which memories are real and which are some drug-infused delusion. I do remember the way it felt to have audiences rising to their feet and girls screaming your name. I remember what it felt like to be deferred to like you were royalty at a restaurant or hotel…How it felt to pop in on Good Morning America while the teenage girls screamed and cried and begged you to sign their torso’s. Girls like Elly. Sweet, fresh, normal girls.
I swallowed my reluctance and followed the signs to the “Grand Ballroom.” I showed my ticket to the man at the door and I was asked to step to the side for a photograph. There were a ton of reporters there, snapping photos of their own as well. I was surprised at how many people were there. The party was only for contestants, staff and their dates, but there must have been over two hundred people there. I wondered again if I should have brought a date but then decided that I’m glad I didn’t as soon as I caught sight of Elly. My mouth went dry at the sight of her and I felt the blood from my head running quickly to other places.
She looked so hot I had no idea how I’d keep from walking up and putting my hands all over her. She was wearing a short little red dress that came to just above her knees. Her legs weren’t long, but they were really well-defined and the sight of them uncovered like that made me want to push my way between them. The dress wasn’t low cut but the tops of her breasts were showing and damn if I didn’t want to touch those too. She had her hair all curled pretty and it hung down across her shoulders and she had on more make-up than usual, but not too much. She was gorgeous and the funniest thing about it to me was that she didn’t seem to have a clue. I found that a lot sexier than a girl who was full of herself.
She was standing with the two other interns that work the contestant side of the show. I wondered if the guy was her ex that she told me about the first time I saw him, but I’d seen them together since and there didn’t seem to be any history or chemistry there.
The other girl intern saw me before Elly did. I’m sure she knew something about us by the way she elbowed Elly when I was on my way over. Elly looked up and I saw a flicker of panic cross her face. She turned around the other way and suddenly had a lot to say to and older guy in a suit. What the fuck? I didn’t want to look like a complete idiot so I kept on in the same direction, stopping at the food table and making myself a little appetizer plate.
“Hi Tristan.” I looked up and saw Elly’s friend, or co-worker, or whatever she was. I can’t ever remember her name.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“I just wanted to congratulate you and say that your last song the other night was amazing.”
“Thanks,” I told her. I looked up and saw Elly watching us and said, “Too bad everyone doesn’t feel that way.”
“I think most of us do,” she said, looking in Elly’s direction. “Some of us just can’t put it in worlds. All that matters are the millions of votes you got, right?”
She was right, that was all that really mattered. “Damn straight,” I told her. I looked back over at Elly and realized that for a woman who seemed to be trying to avoid me, she sure looked at me an awful lot. Molly wandered away then and I was forced to talk to a few of the other contestants and a couple of musicians. I spotted Elly again, this time she was sitting alone at a table. I started towards her and she saw me again and got up. What the hell was her problem? She started towards the back of the hall and I followed her. She turned the corner and darted into the ladies room.
I pushed open the door and followed her in. I was happy to see there was a padlock on the door. I flipped it over and looked back at her.
She was looking indignantly at me and she said, “No way, I’m not having sex with you in here.”
I laughed, “You think I followed you in here for a quickie?”
“Well, that’s what happened the first time we met.”
I took a step forward and she took one back. She acted like she was afraid of me almost and I didn’t understand it. I’d never hurt her.
“I didn’t follow you in here for sex. I just want to talk. Elly, why are you avoiding me?”
“I’m not avoiding you,” she said.
“Okay then why the fuck are you flat out ignoring me?”
“I’m not,” she said. “I told you, we just can’t be seen together.”
“Why? I see you talking to the other contestants here. Why the fuck am I any different?”
“Because…”
“Because what, Elly?”
“Because if anyone finds out that we’re having sex we could both be in a lot of trouble.” I don’t think she meant to blurt it out like that. She put her hand over her mouth and then looked underneath the two stalls, checking for feet.
“Why? What kind of trouble?” I asked her.
“Tristan, there are rules that say no one who works on this show can date or sleep with the contestants. They lay those rules out for us very clearly at the beginning of all of this. We even had to sign a copy of them so they know we fully understand. There’s no gray area there…If they catch us….I can lose my job and you will get disqualified. I don’t want to be responsible for that.”
“Let them kick me off. After the way I blew it away last week my agent’s phone has been ringing off the hook. Fuck ‘em.” I hadn’t really heard from Mitch but I had done show business long enough to know that if his phone hadn’t started ringing with offers for me yet, it would soon.
“Okay, maybe you don’t care, but I do,” she said. “This internship is really important to me. It’s important to my career…I need this. I can’t afford to get fired. All of the producers are here tonight, even the big wigs. I can talk to the other contestants and not feel nervous about it because I haven’t slept with any of them. I’m looking at a promotion if I don’t screw this internship up.”
“Good to know you’re only avoiding me because of the sex. Since you’ve already got it down pat, it shouldn’t be a problem to just keep sneaking around, right?” I told her with a grin as I took another step towards her.
“Stop it!” she said, taking another step back and coming into contact with the wall.
I wanted to fuck her right there. I fucking love sex and I don’t care who cares how I live my life. Mostly though, since I started having it with Elly, I remembered what it was like to do it with a warm body. The way she moves and the noises she makes…she’s not so out of her mind that she may or may not remember it. I know she remembers me…I took one more step to close the space between us. Her cheeks were flushed and I could hear her breaths quickening. I started sliding her little dress up then, dragging my fingers along her thighs as I did. I expected her to push me away, and when she didn’t, I got braver and I slipped my hand underneath and slid my fingers down into her panties. I put one finger against her slit and she moaned. Then I used two fingers to rub against her hard clit and she moaned louder. Then I slid those two fingers in her suddenly moist pussy and I moved them back and forth. She let out a groan and suddenly she was up on her toes and her lips were on mine. She slid her tongue inside my mouth and I felt my cock jerk. We kissed like that while I caressed her sweet pussy for a long time. We may have even gone further, but there was someone knocking at the door.
“I’ll be right out,” Elly called in a strangled voice. She pulled away from me and slipped into the stall. I washed my hands and she came out and washed hers. Then she pulled open the bathroom door a crack and said, “It’s clear, go!” I started to slip out and she said, “Tristan!”
I turned towards her and she said, “Your place after the party.” I grinned and slipped out and into the men’s room just before a stuffy looking old lady came around the corner. I had to stay out of sight for a few minutes until my cock was ready to rest again.