| Page 5 Suddenly there was a loud burst of applause signaling the end of Jayson and Andrea�s number and the start of Claire�s. Claire felt almost sick with nerves. Jayson and Andrea walked off the stage together and gave Claire a thumbs up to encourage her. Claire felt her lips part in something like a smile before she walked on shaky legs to center stage to wait for her music. There was a long pause and people in the audience shifted in their seats and coughed. Claire panicked wondering what to do. She glanced off stage hoping to locate Max but all she saw was Josh his dark eyes boring into her. Suddenly her music blared out. Claire tore her gaze away from Josh and began to dance. Timid at first Claire soon felt herself relax and begin to have fun. The end came too soon and Claire was shocked to see a standing ovation. She felt like she would burst with happiness. She saw Max grinning and applauding, Jayson and Andrea doing their own little victory dance and Michelle smiling but obviously worried about her performance and her spot in the show. Lastly, she saw Josh. He looked wounded as if he had just seen someone hurt a small little animal. Claire ran offstage to give the next dancer her turn and was immediately surrounded by admirers. Yet all she could see amongst those smiling faces was the only one who wasn�t smiling. The one who had looked through her and seen what Claire couldn�t see. Chapter 8 Josh had never felt more miserable in his entire life since his dad died. Considering he spent all his days with Max that was really saying something. Late that night after Claire had made her smashing debut in the show Josh was cleaning up by himself. Claire was a performer now, a star and she had better things to do. Josh sighed heavily for about the tenth time in five minutes. He was dead on his feet, his face throbbed from a bruise courtesy of Max and he kept pushing that damn mop back and forth across the stage. Loud voices interrupted his pity party. Claire and Michelle waltzed out of the show party held every night wearing identical fur coats and mega-watt smiles. Vaguely Josh remembered Claire saying something about ignoring him and promising to help him clean. Obviously that was a lie. After Josh finished the floor he was done. Josh rubbed his eyes and sighed yet again. He really needed to sleep if only to escape the cruel world he lived in. Suddenly Andrea popped out of nowhere and walked to the edge of the stage. �Claire,� she called out to Claire who was walking to a side door with Michelle. Claire stopped and turned looking at Andrea as if she didn�t know who she was. �You promised to help Josh,� Andrea said crossing her arms across her chest. Claire looked at Josh and for once he saw the country bumpkin who had showed up a stranger in New York City. Of course Michelle had to interfere. It was her job and she was really good at it. �Oh he�s almost done,� Michelle said dismissively with a wave of her hand. �Besides I�m taking Miss Claire here to the Insomniac.� �She�s underage,� Andrea said. �So am I,� Michelle said as if that made it right. Josh had considered heading down there for a scotch or two before he crashed but now he decided not to go. The way to tolerate Michelle was to avoid her at all costs. Andrea sighed and left giving Josh a look that said, �I tried.� As if this moment couldn�t get worse Max emerged and saw Josh staring at Claire mournfully in spite of himself. Max smirked. �Girlie got away?� he said his voice dripping with sarcasm. �Leave me alone,� Josh said hating how weak he sounded. �Maybe there�s something I could do,� Max said with false sympathy. Josh turned and glared at him. �You�ve done enough don�t you think? I�m poor, I�m miserable, I want to die! Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted? The only reason I work for you is so I can earn money to survive. You won�t let me go to college. You won�t let me find another place to live and another job. You�ve won! Now why don�t you go drown yourself in that Chianti and leave me alone!� Josh stepped back stunned at his own words. Michelle and Claire had stopped walking and were openly staring. Max glared at Josh his grey eyes flashing with malice. �I know you were your daddy�s little baby and probably always will be,� Max spat. �But it�s time to face reality. Your daddy is dead. Dead! You�re not in his house anymore you�re in mine and you follow my rules, understand? No one and I repeat no one speaks to me that way if they want any food for the next year.� Max gave Josh a sickening smile and purposefully dropped his wine glass on the stage floor. �Oops, you might want to clean that up,� Max said before leaving. Josh knelt down to clean it up. In his haste he cut his finger on a shard of glass. Josh blinked hard at the pain and sucked on his finger tears prickling his eyelids. Michelle turned and headed for the door leaving Claire staring at Josh as he picked up shards of glass and mumbled curses under his breath. Josh looked up and Claire looked away turning to follow Michelle and leaving Josh alone. Josh dropped the pieces of glass and his mop and turned to leave. He didn�t care if Max yelled at him. He didn�t have enough money for a cab so he walked back to the hotel half hoping he�d get hit by a car. Chapter 9 The next day Claire found Josh in one of the dressing rooms doing his best to scrub the dried makeup off the counters. He looked much more rested this morning but still sullen and moody. The bruise on his face had changed to a deep ugly purple that Josh kept partly obscured by a baseball cap pulled low over his face. Claire felt terrible about the way she had treated him the night before. It was hard for her to go through the motions and pretend to be having fun with Michelle. She had stayed up all night fretting about it. She didn�t know what it was that made her feel so guilty about being mean to him. Yet every time she had closed her eyes and tired to sleep the night before all she could see was Josh, offstage his gaze relentless and penetrating. Josh looked up as Claire entered the room. Claire wandered over and stood next to him watching him. Josh scrubbed furiously at the dried makeup on the counter, Claire�s gaze deep and haunting. �I�m sorry.� Claire said as if someone had demanded it of her. Josh said nothing. She obviously didn�t care enough to say it like she meant it so Josh wasn�t going to care either. �I said I was sorry.� Claire said quietly, pleading. �Won�t you at least look at me?� Josh looked at her. �I�m sorry too. Sorry it was such a hassle for you to apologize.� �It wasn�t a hassle,� Claire sounded hurt. �Then why did you make it sound like it was? Why are you even being this nice to me?� Josh said. �Josh you should always expect people to treat you with respect.� Claire said quietly. �What Hallmark card writer sent you that one?� Josh sneered. Claire smiled as if he were joking. �My mom. She also said that if you act like you�re important than other people will believe it and if you walk around like a dog waiting to be kicked sooner or later someone�s gonna kick you.� Claire paused here and looked at Josh in the mirror in a way so he had to turn around and look at her face to face. �You�re not a dog Josh,� Claire said quietly. �Don�t let anyone make you feel that way.� Claire turned and started to leave her mission accomplished and her jewels of wisdom dispersed. She didn�t know what she expected Josh�s reaction to be but she hoped she had gotten through to him. She certainly wasn�t expecting him to grab her arm, turn her around, puller her close to him and kiss her, hard, as if he meant it. Josh stepped back and looked at Claire who was just as surprised at his actions as he was. Claire drew a deep shuddering breath and made herself look Josh square in the eye. Andrea told her that eye contact worked on the two most lovable creatures that you were constantly cleaning up after: dogs and men. �Josh, I want you to come over to my room and hang out after the show. I want you to kiss me again, just like that. You�re going to buy me a drink from room service with my money because you�re broke and we�re both gonna get wicked drunk. And then, if we�re feeling lucky and immature we can prank call Michelle.� Claire smiled, winked and left the room feeling like a wannabe dominatrix. Josh was still standing in the dressing room as the events of the last five minutes registered in his mind. He had kissed Claire and she had verbally thrown herself at his feet thinking she was in control. Josh would come over that evening. For a moment Josh almost reconsidered. Beer and beautiful girls came hand in hand with guilt, bad early mornings and someone getting left behind. Josh was usually the one doing the leaving even though he hated to admit it. Page 6 |