Fever
Disclaimer: That's right, I don't own 'em.
Chapter 2- Butterflies
Riza stood backstage nervously. Butterflies pressed against the walls of her stomach. For the first time in a week she was actually enjoying herself, even though she was a little nervous. She was terrified, but it felt good. Not only did she feel good, but she looked good. She looked at herself in the full length mirror backstage. Her long blonde hair fell over her shoulders; it was nice to finally get it out of that clip. She had been surprised the dress she was wearing still fit. She'd had it for years and she'd only worn it once. The dress was strapless and red. It was short and it barely reached mid thigh. The bottom of the dress had two frills at the bottom, making the bottom of the dress flounce out a bit. She remembered the first time she'd worn it, it was back during her last year of school. A boy she knew wanted to empress a girl he liked by learning the salsa, but he didn't have a partner to learn it with. After about two days of begging Riza, she finally gave in…though she almost pulled out of the deal when she found out she was going to have to wear a dress.. Eventually she'd given in to that too, but on the condition that he bought the dress. Ironically, he'd done a pretty good job at picking it out and Riza looked fabulous. 'It still looks good 10 years later.' She was jarred out of her reverie by a hand on her bare shoulder.
"Ma'am?" the stagehand said, "You're on in ten minutes."
She gave him a silent nod. She was pleased that she hadn't given the people her name-she didn't want any of this getting back to the base, she'd never live it down. At first the people wouldn't allow her to go on with out a name, but in the end they gave in to her demands…she wasn't the easiest person to argue with.
10:45, they were going to catch the end of amateur night. Hughes sighed inwardly, he hated amateur night. It was usually filled with karaoke singers and bad magic acts. Out of the whole night they usually only ended up with one decent singer.
"Oh look Maes! It's amateur night! Let's go watch!" Gracia said excitedly.
'Apparently she's never suffered through amateur night before!' he was about to tell her no, but when he looked into those big blue eyes he just didn't have the heart. He put on a brave face and a smile and said, "Why not?" 'Besides, it's only 15 minutes.'.
The couple walked inside and Gracia sat at a floor table close to the stage. Maes waved a waiter over and ordered two coffees. One act was just finishing. He had apparently been a magician. He wasn't very organized because as he was trying to go off stage several rabbits jumped out of his pants leg and started to hop toward the opposite side of the stage. Thankfully on of the stage hands caught the stray rabbits and helped the man off with the rest of his things. Finally the manager of the club came out. He was a short round man with a bald head and many rings on his left hand. He conducted the stage as if he was a circus ringleader. 'I suppose you'd have to be a ringleader to master a circus like amateur night!' Maes thought to himself.
"All right ladies and gents! Give this pretty little lady a hand; it's her first time coming out here on amateur night. I hear she's got a sweet little jazzy number she wants to sing to you, so give this little lady a hand!" The manager said. The audience clapped weakly and the lights went out. When they came back up a beautiful blonde in a short red dress stood on stage holding a microphone in her hands. Maes had to blink twice because he couldn't believe what he was seeing…Riza Hawkeye was standing on stage and she actually looked like she was going to sing!
Having trouble visualizing the dress? No prob. You can see what the dress looks like by copying and pasting this-
http/ www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 18600691/ into the address bar (don't forget to take out the spaces)