I ran to one of my new best friends; Julie. She was playing Casey in the movie. After hugging her, I hugged Karen, who is playing Lucinda. We were at a cast/crew party in an abandoned warehouse. It was so cool! Steven hooked the place up with crazy lights and all amazing party stuff.
Julie was wearing a black tube top dress with black Stiletto heels. Karen wore a sparkly red, one-strap dress that cut off at mid-thigh. Her shoes styled off of Ruby Slippers from Wizard of Oz but they were taller without the toe bow.
My dress was WAY different- more sophisticated and- dare I say- sexy. It was a red lace corset dress. The chest and stomach was all a corset; it was black and the seams and threads were all blood red. It had lacey straps. The skirt of it was black. There was more than one layer. The top was sheer black and the bottom was deep red. There were fake, purposefully placed, tears in the sheer, fishnet-like black. The bottom of the skirt ended at my knees. My heels had laces that laced around my shins. At the bottom of the dress, it looked like it was ripped in a jagged-like style. I had curled my hair in perfect ringlets and used dark red lipstick. My eye shadow was silver/sheer, outlining my eyes. I had on very little blush that held some sparkles. On my hands, there were black fishnet gloves, my nails a deep blood red with a black dot in each bottom right hand corner. The gloves wrapped around my middle fingers to stay on and had black lace around the palm area and on the end were it stopped at my elbow. On my left upper arm, there was gold band that wrapped around and was shaped like a snake. I wore a red lace choker with a black cross dangling from it. I had on red feather earrings that had two red beads hanging with them. On the top of my right ear, there was a small silver stud.
People stared at me; not like I was insane but like they appreciated my style. I looked older than I really was.
Julie looked me up and down thoughtfully while Karen held her champagne glass- it was filled with sparkling water. "Allison, you look amazing! But…you're missing something." She looked at my hair and snapped her fingers, smiling. "That's it!"
She reached behind her and picked a rose from the vase sitting on the table. She took a barrette from her purse and slipped the rose on it carefully. She pinned the rose in my hair where I had had a pin earlier to keep my hair back.
"Perfect!" Karen squealed.
"I wish WE took that long to look that good. How long did it take you? Three hours? I mean, corsets take FOREVER to get into."
I chuckled. "Actually, it took twenty minutes. And I did this all by myself."
They looked at me skeptically.
I laughed. "No really! I'm a designer and as soon as I made this, I put it on and got ready." I paused. "I'm fast."
They nodded, laughing with me. Julie looked behind me and smiled.
"Chad! Come look at Ally!" She ran over to him. I faced forward. I heard her heels clicking and feet dragging.
"Who do you want me to look at?" I heard Chad's voice ring out in annoyance. He was still used to knowing me as Sonny Monroe, quirky girl from Wisconsin starring in So Random!
I grabbed a champagne glass from a waiter walking by with a tray and took a sip. Everyone on set thinks I'm at least twenty-one because of the way I look so why not take advantage?
"Ally," Julie called me softly- she was right behind me.
I turned and smiled, seeing if Chad would know it was me.
His eyes widened a bit and his tight jaw slackened. It fell open. I chuckled and pushed it closed with my hand, softly.
"Nice to see you too, Chad." I smiled, taking a sip of champagne.
**************************
"Whoa, look at the hottie with the body over by Julie and Karen." Devlin (who's playing Devlin) nudged my shoulder. (A/N: all the guys that are Luca's- Chad's character's- friends are named the same thing.)
I looked over to see a brunette with curly hair wearing a corset dress. Needless to say, she WAS a hottie with a body.
She was laughing and goofing around with Julie and Karen.
"Be careful, Chad, you wouldn't want Allison to see you drooling after another girl." Jason joked. Not Sonny's cousin Jason but the actor Jason.
I whipped my head around to glare at him. "Not funny, dude. And Sonny and I aren't dating- we're friends. She won't care."
"Maybe not but it'll kill the mood you two need for the scene we're shooting in two weeks." Mark commented.
"Chad!" Julie called, running over to us, keeping her dress together. I saw Charlie practically gaping at her. She grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward the girl. "Come look at Ally!"
Karen stepped away from the girl as she took a champagne glass from a waiter. From what I could see, it wasn't sparkling water, it was real champagne.
"Who do you want me to look at?" I asked, dragging my feet. I didn't know any Ally here.
"Ally," Julie called out softly to her, we were right behind her.
I felt myself get nervous- what if she looked different in the front than the back. The girl turned around and I felt my eyes widen and jaw drop.
It was Sonny. She smiled, seeming to be amused at my reaction. She chuckled and pushed my jaw closed with her hand gently. "Nice to see you too, Chad." She chuckled again, taking a sip of champagne.
I noticed that Julie had left a couple minutes ago with Karen to give us privacy…
To spy from afar.
**********************************
Chad sighed and took the glass from me as I was moving it away from my mouth. I groaned in protest, eyes widening in shock, mouth still shut because of the liquid inside.
I swallowed. "Why are you taking my champagne? You're too young to drink."
"So are you." He argued lightly back.
"Touché." I went to grab the glass but he moved it out of my reach. "Chad, give it."
"I'm not going to let you drink underage." He took a sip, nonchalantly.
"Hey!" I protested. Then I actually looked at him and laughed.
"What?" He asked.
"You have lipstick on your lips." I said in between a laugh.
"But…I didn't-"
"It's from the glass." I explained. I pointed to the spot where I had taken a sip to show that there was leftover lipstick on it.
"Oh." Chad wiped his mouth. It was still there.
I chuckled, smiling. "Let me help you." I took a step forward and wiped my finger over his lips- his SOFT lips- to wipe the make-up off. "There." I wiped the last of it off, removing my hand slowly. I dropped it to my side and took the champagne glass from his hand carefully, him not really paying attention. We seemed to be having a little staring contest. Once I had the glass in my hands completely, I licked my lips and smiled. "Later, Chad." I stepped away and walked across the dance floor, taking a sip of the alcoholic drink.
I could feel his gaze on my back as I left. Well, not really my back, more like my ass. I set the now empty glass on a table and walked up on the stage.
"Everyone, can I have your attention, please?" I said into the microphone in front of me. Everyone quieted down. "I just want to say thank you to everyone here for coming out to Wisconsin. I know that not many movies come out here to film but I'm glad that you all gave it a chance- even if there are a lot of cows." Many people chuckled at this comment. "Let's give a round of applause to the man who set up this party; Steven."
We all clapped and whistled to him. A spotlight was on him.
"Steven, you need to get your butt up here." I winked at him. People pushed him forward and he came up. "Tell everyone why you put this party together."
He cleared his throat. "Well, you told me to and you said that it was for a good reason." He smiled.
I smiled back. "And here's the good reason- everyone!" I called out. "Help me sing happy birthday to Steven!"
We all sang to him as he laughed at his own forgetfulness. I gave him a sided one-armed hug before he got off stage.
"How about we have the DJ play us some awesome music?" Everyone cheered as I jumped off the stage.
I went over to the snack table and put different kinds of chips on a plate. Chad came over to stand next to me, eating off my plate. I pulled it away from him.
"This is my food." I told him.
"Yeah, and when I stayed at your house, the next morning you ate my pancake. So, we're even." I chuckled. "How'd you know it was Steven's birthday?"
"I've worked with him for years. I know him from the inside-out." I smiled softly. "He's been like a father to me."
Chad put an arm around my shoulders. "Don't think about that tonight- tonight is for fun."
I licked my lips, suddenly nervous. "Speaking of fun, um, I'll be in and out of the house constantly this week."
He turned a wary eye at me. "Why?"
"Because I have to practice for the dance competition." I heard my phone ringing.
Chad looked around. "I hear your phone but I don't see it…" He was confused.
I lifted my skirt so I could reach my mid-thigh. I took my phone off it's holder and turned it on. "I have to go, Chad. See you later." I waved goodbye and left the warehouse.
___________________________________
"Sonny, it's fine. There's no need to be nervous." Mitchell soothed.
I nodded. "I know, I know. I just don't want Natalie to be a bitch tonight."
He laughed. "We'll be fine."
Tonight was the night of the dance competition. Natalie and Todd were going first. Normally, kids around the neighborhood go against us, but since they all heard it was Natalie vs. me, they all dropped out.
We had rented a place with a giant stage and backstage.
Nat and Todd got out and got in position. They did a tango. (Look up: Take The Lead Tango Scene HOT!! Posted by blazinbeaches on YouTube.)
They finished and ran off stage to change. Each couple had to dance to three songs.
Mitch and I were up. I could see Chad standing near Mom and my cast and crew mates. I rolled my eyes. (Look up: Lauren and Pasha posted by mckinleythueson1992 on YouTube.)
We did the peace out sign and left stage, getting ready. We finished early and got to see Nat's performance. (Look up: You Can Dance- Dennis and Sarah posted by gaycop28.)
We had gotten more applause than them in the first round but, just when they finished, they got a major round of applause. I took a deep breath. We went out. (Look up: S3 Top 6 Perform Sabra Neil Jazz High Quality posted by mingyanlin)
More applause- we were winning by a landslide. Nat and Todd went out. (Look up: Benji & Heidi Black Mambo posted by baht on YouTube- just as every other one is…)
I took a very, very deep breath. This was our last performance. (Look up: Hip hop dance, Lacey & Pasha, top 6 mannequin SYTYCD posted by ThEFreaKyG)
I hugged Mitchell and we left the stage, staying in our last outfits.
"We have two special performances this year- Terence and Joe and then Chris!" Believe it or not, there's only one Terence, one Joe, and one Chris in this town and they were my cousins.
Terence and Joe danced together being so goofy, I couldn't breathe. Oh, God! I hoped someone videotaped this! (Look up: Tranji posted by grobanluvr9109)
Chris danced by himself. I never knew he could clog! (Look up: Brandon Norris- SYTYCD posted by noobjr13)
"okay! Just a reminder, the prize to this competition is $400 to spend on whatever, wherever, and whenever you like! Let's let the judges deliberate!" The announcer said into the mic.
After about an hour or so, he came back up with an envelope. "And the winner is…" He opened the envelope. He looked so happy with that giant smile.