A/N: My dear readers, the new chapter...
A huge thanks goes to my betas Dragon166 and Astha22!
6.
Celeste walked slowly through the wide corridors of the dancing studio where she was invited to dance for the audition of the Hollywood movie. On that day, the producers wanted to find the male lead. To get a better idea of who to offer the job, they wanted Celeste to dance with every potential candidate to gauge their chemistry not only on the dance floor, but in front of the cameras as well.
Everywhere in the old Victorian building young men were gathered. Some of them sat on the floor, while others practiced some dancing steps in quiet corners. A group of young male dancers noticed the young woman trying to find her way to the main stage and whistled out in delight at her gracious prettiness. All the others also shifted their attention to the young ballet dancer. A blond man suddenly grabbed her arm and swirled her around so he could face her. As Celeste still hadn't fully recovered from her encounter with Lex Luthor a couple of days before, she snapped at him. "Keep your hands off me if you want to live to see tomorrow!"
He smiled and bent down to whisper in her ear. "I just wanted to make sure you will chose me as your dancing partner."
Celeste couldn't believe the nerve of the man. "And you seriously think that gesture will help you to get the part?" she asked, annoyed.
He just shrugged, and released her arm. Celeste walked at the side of the huge stage, shaking her head.
Gulping, she sat down on the floor and fished her pointe shoes out of her backpack, together with a water bottle. She was extremely nervous and on the edge of despair. Not only because of the audition, but also because she hadn't heard anything from Clark for more than twelve hours. He had been assigned to report about Prometheus at the gala the night before. Chewing her bottom lip, she smiled as she blushed a bit. He had looked extremely yummy in his tuxedo and she had shamelessly seduced him on the spot, resulting in him getting much too late to the gala. He usually contacted her somehow to let her know that he was all right when he was on his saves around the world. This time it was different and very concerning for her that she hadn't heared from him for that long. With the fact that Lex Luthor was out there in the possession of very dangerous Kryptonite, and on top of that, the delightful new Mrs Luthor knowing Superman's alter ego, Celeste felt her heartbeat accelerate dangerously out of fear for the well-being of her husband.
Sighing, she slipped into her favorite ballet shoes and took in the dancers around her to distract herself from the worry about her better half. She estimated most of them between twenty and thirty years old. Some of them were very skilled from what she could notice in the short amount of time she had watched them practicing dancing or just warming up.
After she had tied up the ribbons of her pointe shoes, she went up from the floor and stepped with her right foot on pointe. Stretching it outwards, she tested if the shoe was sitting comfortable. She repeated the same gesture with her left foot and started to do some warming-up exercises after she had adjusted the ribbons.
The burning glances of the men around her made her feel very uncomfortable. She was well aware that this was their stepping stone into a very promising career not only in dancing, but acting as well and there was much at stake for the men waiting to audition to land the lead role.
She had had a meeting a day before with Chung Hung and her lawyer to discuss about the contract and her involvement in the movie. Chung Hung had explained that his choreographer, who she would meet before the audition, and she would be the two main persons responsible to decide who would get cast.
When she was really honest with herself, she had to admit that she felt very uneasy to decide who would get the chance. She even didn't feel comfortable playing the female lead as she wasn't very convinced about her acting skills at all. It was a well known fact that a dancer also had to show acting skills during a performance, but this, this was beyond anything she had ever done before. And she wasn't really sure if Mr Hung's decision to hire her as the female lead was a good decision after all.
"Hey Phersy!" A voice ripped her out of her worries.
Looking up, she couldn't believe that it was Thomas, her dancing partner in the scandalous Australian Romeo and Juliet production from more than two years ago.
Running into his arms, she almost swept him from his feet.
"Thomas! What are you doing here?" she asked after she had covered him with million of kisses on his right cheek. The last time they both had seen each other had been at her and Clark's wedding day.
"I see you already know my choreographer," Chung Hung said, standing behind them, with a big smirk on his face.
Celeste turned around, still in Thomas' embrace, and looked disbelievingly at the Chinese movie producer.
"Thomas is our choreographer?" she asked just to make sure she could follow them both.
"Yes Phersy," Thomas confirmed as he automatically swept a blonde corkscrew curl out of her face like he had done a million times before when they had danced together. "He hired me and asked me if I knew who would be the best female dancer for the movie and I had to tell him that there is only one person in this world who would be able to dance the part," he continued.
Stemming her hands into her sides, she looked up at her friend and punched his left arm. "Why didn't you call me and tell me that you are also a part of the movie?" she asked accusingly.
He kissed her on her brow and smiled, "Then I would have missed your absolutely crazy reaction just now!"
They sat down in the auditorium a few rows away from the stage and chatted about what had happened during the last time they had seen each other. Thomas told Celeste that he had started to work as a choreographer almost a year ago. She put a hand on his cheek and looked at him. The main reason he hadn't been able to come with her to Metropolis to dance his part as Romeo had been an accident that had damaged his left knee to such an extent that he would never be able to work as a professional dancer. He had never been angry with her decision to go to the States without him, he had even encouraged her to meet up with Alexander Nilson. And he had often told her that she would had never met the love of her life if she had stayed in Australia just to be loyal towards him and their friendship. Celeste was extremely relieved that Thomas had found a way to work in a profession which was related to his biggest passion in life. She knew how he felt as dancing was also more than a passion for her. Working as a choreographer in a movie was Thomas' fist big job and he felt as nervous as his former dancing partner. They both smiled and promised each other to give their best.
When the first man finally stepped on the dance floor to demonstrate his dancing skills, they watched him intently. The plan was to let all the applicants dance solo and then to narrow them down to the candidates who would dance with Celeste in front of running cameras to test their on-screen chemistry.
The process was very lengthy and Thomas caught Celeste more than once looking at her cell phone instead watching the men dancing in front of her.
"You should really put that thing away," he recommended her determinedly.
She blew the lock of hair out of her face that had escaped her ponytail and looked sweetly at him. She knew him well enough to know that he would melt away by that look. "I haven't heard from Clark in more than sixteen hours, I'm just a bit concerned."
He glanced at her and nodded. "Fine, but try to concentrate please, I don't want to still sit there tomorrow morning only because you were more busy with your mobile phone, okay?"
She nodded. "Promise."
Two hours later, they had narrowed down from one hundred potentional lead men to ten. Now it was Celeste's turn to dance with them to Thomas' first choreography for the movie.
Standing on the stage, she and the young man named Bob listened to the instructions of Thomas and the director of the film, who got the cameras into the right position.
Everywhere people were busy to get the lighting right. When the music started to play, Celeste and Bob started to dance. Chung Hung watched them and stopped them even before Thomas could say a word.
"Okay, Bob. Thank you, but I have to tell you that we have to go with another applicant," he explained to the man sternly, bending over to Thomas he whispered. "Wow they didn't have any chemistry at all!"
The young choreographer just shrugged. "Don't worry, we still have nine to go."
While Celeste was waiting for the next man to come up the stage, she walked to her mobile phone which she had placed on the front of the stage, to check her messages.
"Phersy, could you please put that phone away? Now!" Thomas ordered, this time very annoyed.
Pushing the button to read the incoming messages, she said. "Just a minute," without even looking up at him.
- Sorry I was very busy… Good luck for your audition, I hope you will find your perfect dancing match :) - she finally read the long awaited message from her husband.
Inhaling deeply, she looked up and put the phone away. "I'm ready now," she let her friend know, as all the tension washed away from her.
"Well thats good to know Phersy! Meet the next candidate, Sam."
Unfortunately, Sam wasn't as good as Bob before him. He even managed to drop Celeste during one of the lifts. Standing up and rubbing her butt, she was more than annoyed and shooed him from the stage with the comment that he should better never ever come in her sight again.
But even after three more hours and the remaining candidates having finished their dance, they still hadn't found their perfect lead dancer. The candidates either were very skilled but had no chemistry with Celeste, or they had some kind of chemistry, but couldn't meet the high standards of performance, the movie producer and his choreographer had.
Sitting there and burying her head in her knees, Celeste just wanted to go home to Clark. She wanted to cuddle up in his arms until the end of time, and she was very tired as it was already ten in the evening and her woking day now exceeded the fourteen hours mark.
"What do we do now?" she asked the group of people staring at her.
"Well we have two options. Firstly, we put out another casting call, or we try out some of the better dancers out of the ten, early tomorrow," Thomas suggested after he had re-watched the recordings from the performances.
Blowing the lock of hair out of her face which had been annoying her for the whole day, Celeste just shook her head. "What's with Peter," she turned around and looked on a sheet of paper on the floor, "Candidate number five?"
"He is an excellent dancer, he really is, but he is at least half an inch shorter than you, and that looks really strange in a film, especially if you both have to dance to a piece where you my little princess are on pointe most of the time," Thomas explained.
Celeste couldn't contradict him in that case. He was right. They needed a dancer who was approximately her hight when she was on pointe.
Standing up, she sagged her spine and smiled. "Lets call it a day and come back tomorrow with fresh ideas, shall we?" she suggested.
Just when she wanted to free her aching feet from the ballet shoes, a young man walked on the stage. He had a very extravagant looking girl hanging at his right arm.
"Excuse me?" he asked, chewing nervously on his chewing gum. "Is this the location the audition for the movie Lovedance takes place?"
"Yes," Celeste confirmed, already opening the ribbons of her shoes. "But you are too late buddy. You can come back tomorrow."
The man looked at her. "Wow, bitchy, are you? Huh?"
Absolutely furious, she rose up and glared at him. If looks could kill, he would have dropped dead on the spot. "Who are you to come to an audition ten hours too late and call me bitchy on top of that?" she snapped.
The man just shrugged and his female companion began to speak.
"Oh sorry Miss…?" she asked sweetly.
"McPherson," Celeste let her know. During the meeting about the details of her contract, Celeste had made the decision to use her maiden name in the movie as pure protection of her private life. She knew that if somebody was nosy enough, they would find out, she was married to a reporter of the Daily Planet with the name Clark Kent, but that would cause them to put some effort in finding that out and give her at least some piece.
"Miss McPerson," the girl repeated. "We just saw the casting call on the internet and I said to Jules that he should go and audition. He is such a great dancer," she added and looked enamoured in the man's eyes.
"Can I have a second?" Thomas asked Celeste eyeing curiously the strange couple on the stage.
She nodded annoyed as they walked to the side of the stage.
"What do you think?" he asked her.
"I want to go home, have a looooong shower and something to eat," she told him bluntly.
He nodded. "I know, I feel the same. But if we don't let him dance and he is the one…," he thought out loud.
Sighing, Celeste turned around and took in the man. He actually had the right height and build. He was also very handsome in his white muscle shirt, the black loose trousers, his white runners, and his baseball cap with the shield on the back on his head. Gosh, he was even the best looking man they had seen for the whole day, which would be a big advantage with the female viewers.
"Okay, one more dance, but that's it, I'm not joking!" she agreed pointing with her index finger on Thomas' nose.
He just kissed her on the brow and walked up to the man. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Julian Tanaka," he replied, as his girlfriend let out a huge shriek out of excitement that her boyfriend would get a chance to dance.
"How old are you and what is your dancing experience?" Thomas continued to ask Julian.
As he shooed the girl from the stage, he stood up more straight and answered, "I'm twenty-six and my main area of dance is Hip-Hop."
Celeste rolled her eyes, "Great!" she exhaled. The last thing they needed for the movie was a hobby Hip-Hop dude. "What do we do now?" she asked, glancing at Thomas, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and tapping with her right foot on the floor.
"Gee, lady, can you actually be nice? You haven't seen me dance, so keep your judgmental attitude by yourself, will you?" Julian asked her directly.
The young woman jumped up on the stage. Walking up very close to him, she stemmed her arms on her sides.
"Do you have any idea what this audition is about?" she began to ask, looking very angrily into his big dark-brown eyes. "This is not some kind of a joke, nor is it a walk in a park. We are here to find a male dancer for the lead role in a H.O.L.L.Y.W.O.O.D blockbuster and not some kind of crappy street performance," she spat at him.
He lifted his hands to stop her for a minute. "I'm not a street dancer," he corrected her angryly and on the edge to lose his good manners.
"That we will see in a minute," turning around to face Thomas she asked. "Can we start now? I want to go home."
He turned around to face Chang Hung, who just sighed.
"Okay. Julian do you know your steps?"
The young man just shrugged. "No, I didn't even know there were some steps I had to practice,"
Lifting her hands up in the air and rolling her eyes, Celeste said, "Great. It's getting even better. If we don't start in five minutes, I'm out here."
Chung Hung and Thomas exchanged glimpses for the second time. Something was off with their female ballet dancer and they didn't know what it was. They had never seen her that bitchy before.
In order to not waste any more time, one of Thomas' assistants walked up to Julian to show and explain him the steps as Thomas had a conversation with the director of the movie.
"What do you think, should we try the original song for the movie?" he asked cheekily. He knew that Celeste would be very surprised, but he also knew her well enough that she would try to give her best, and that was, what he desperately needed at the moment.
When Julian confirmed that he had understood what they wanted from him, Celeste was asked to go to her position as the music started.
The enormous sound system spilled the first beats of David Guerta's song 'Little Bad Girl' on a earsplitting level. Both dancers were just standing on their starting spot, looking confused. Celeste looked at Thomas who gave her a sign to finally start to dance. At the same time Julian made the decision definately not to go with the choreographed steps. In his point of view, they didn't match the song at all.
Circling his hips, he hopped to Celeste, who looked at him with her eyes wide open. "You must be kidding!" she shouted against the tune. He shook his head vehemently and tried to get her to dance, but she just held her hands up in capitulation and tried to flee from the stage. Julian, who was not in the mood to lose the opportunity to show his dancing skills because of the bitch who was annoying the crap out of him, extended his hand and swirled her around. "We will dance together. Do you understand me?" he whispered sternly into her ear as he fixated her green eyes with a withering glance. Celeste wanted to tell him to get lost, but she finally understood that she had to work with him in order to eventually having the chance to get home before the new day began. Blowing a corkscrew curl out of her face, she nodded mutely and did what he wanted her to do.
Thomas and the crew watched them, astonished. They could not believe how easily they improvised and put together their own choreography in no more than a few seconds just by nodding at each other. Sighing, the choreographer turned around and winked smiling at his boss. Maybe there was some hope after all!
After the first chorus, Julian did a solo where Celeste just watched him. Then she joined him by getting closer and touching his chest and bending her body backwards with the beat. Shaking her butt from left to the right, she matched the lyrics of the song. They continued dancing as if there had never been any other dancing partners before them, they shocked the complete crew. Julian, put his hands up in the air and circled his hips again, at the same time jumping where he was standing. Celeste joined him in his Hip Hop moves and Julian was astonished how easy that seemed for her.
Starting to dance solo to show her and the crew his skills, he followed the tune. When the tune got slower, Celeste went on pointe and swirled around for more than thirty seconds. When the tune got faster again, Julian caught her and danced together with her as if they were one person until the music relapsed into silence and both looked, astonished, at each other while they tried to get some air into their lungs.
Thomas and all the others were still about to recover from what they had just witnessed when Julian gave Celeste a slap on her butt.
"Wow," he said. "I would have never thought that you have it in you, Dolly!"
Her eyes went even bigger as they had been before. Lifting her hand and slapping him in his face so it could possibly be heard at the other end of the town, she spat at him, "If you ever do that again, you won't survive it, idiot!"
He knew exactly how she meant it and let her go immediately. But not without grinning widely at her. He was fairly sure that they both would have a lot of fun with each other. Putting up his hand to shield his eyes from the bright stage light he asked the people responsible for the movie "How was that?"
"Mind blowing," Clark said keenly and stepped in front of the stage in the spotlight, looking up at the two dancers. "But if I was you, I wouldn't piss off my dancing partner before I even got the job!" he added, laughing guttural and absolutely adorable, while extending his hand to help his wife off the stage. His laughter melt away all her tension and worries that had build up during her very exhausting working day. She was even fascinated as she hadn't seen him laughing that playfully in weeks besides her surprise that he had watched the performance.
Sitting on the edge of the stage, she waited until he had lifted her down to the floor. Getting up on pointe, she kissed him passionately, totally relieved that he was back from where ever he had been. "Thanks for coming," she whispered.
"Do I have the job now or not?" Julian asked as he pushed a kiss on his girlfriend's lips who had come to hug him excitingly.
"No way!" Celeste shouted out stubbornly after she had released Clark's lips.
Thomas, who had been absolutely stunned for the whole time, finally snapped out of it and walked up to the two dancers and their partners. Extending his right hand, he greeted Clark and shifted his attention to his two dancers.
"Honestly, I don't care if you eat each other alive or not, but that was absolutely world class. There are still some things we need to change Julian to make you a even better dancer, but as far as I'm concerned, you've got the job!" he smiled and extended his hand to help his new lead dancer from the stage.
Julian's girlfriend hopped straight into his lap, screaming as he swiveled her around out of excitement.
"I want to see you back bright and early tomorrow at eight so we can get the contract done." Shifting to Celeste, Thomas continued. "That goes for you, too, princess! And now go home and have some rest we have a lot of work to be done," he announced as he walked out of the theatre. He was done for the day.
Celeste couldn't believe it, Thomas had made the decision to hire that scumbag without even asking her about her opinion. But she was just too exhausted to contradict her choreographer's decision right now. But she would certainly let him know the next day that he could sent that idiot to wherever he came from. She would so not dance with him in that movie.
Facing her husband, she rested her head on his chest and exhaled deeply. "Can we please go home?" she asked, already half asleep.
He kissed the top of her head and smiled cheekily. "Your wish is my command!" he said and walked with her in his arms out of the room. When he was sure that nobody could see them anymore, he picked her up in his arms, smiled and supersped back to their apartment.