Round N Around We Go (Has Cupid Gone Mad?) (4 page)

Amber expresses her frustration
on how Neyo seems to have
vanished since he walked out of
the photo shoot a week ago. She
cares about him as a friend and
as her cast but is not worried
about him at all.

Eagerly, Karina follows with the
news that she is now in charge
of
running
Theodore’s
art
gallery and elaborates on how
she successfully closed her
first deal with one of the most
affluent collectors in New York.

Unexpectedly,
Taylor
seems
unchallenged and has absolutely
nothing new and exciting to
share. Her book is still in
final editing phase and is not
ready to be published, work at
Ivan’s
office is stable and
routinely with nothing to brag
about. She has neither closed
any art deals nor has her photo
been blown up across the
billboards on highway I95.
Lightheartedly and humbly, she
humors everyone and stirs up
laughter.
“I unpacked twenty
boxes in one day! You can’t
possibly top that!” Not jealous
or envious by nature, she is
simply delighted to hear of her
best friends’ success.

Amber touches Taylor’s arm and
looks at her intently while
whispering, “Now that you have
found love, be careful, just be
careful and don’t forget about
yourself Taylor. I’ve been there
and I know how easy it is to
forget. Don’t become someone
else’s shadow and just remember
who you really are.” She
whispers with the kindest and
most genuine smile. “You are
Taylor
Gibbons,
a
witty,
independent, beautiful, stubborn
and talented writer with an
abundance
of ambition. Don’t
ever forget that and you know I
love you too.”

Taylor embraces Amber with the
warmest hug, raises her flute of
champagne and proposes a toast,
“To love and ambition.” She
devours the Brut Cordonnegro in
her flute, facing Amber she
whispers in return, “Thank you
Amber, I know and I love you
too.”

The sweetness of the moment
quickly dissipates as Samantha
Ruben enters the kitchen. Taylor
is well aware that Samantha, the
intern turned full time new age
writer for their magazine, has
went out with Ivan a few times
before their relationship turned
serious. Ivan insists that
nothing
has
ever
happened
between them and they only went
out casually as editor and
intern, and would be impolite to
exclude her from the invitation
list.
Samantha
has
always
appeared sweet and friendly but
there is just something about
her that Taylor simply dislikes.

Politely, Taylor greets and
offers her a glass of champagne.
She feels a certain tension in
the air but cannot explain why.

“Sorry I am late Taylor.”
Samantha apologizes for her
tardiness. “I took the liberty
of touring your home as I made
my way in here. Beautiful home,
congratulations.”

Taylor thanks her politely and
tries to remember if she closed
her bedroom door. The privacy of
their bedroom is certainly not
something that she’d like to
show off. Her thoughts are
interrupted
as
Samantha
continues, “I have to admit that
I am surprised though. Moving in
with someone is not something
I’d expect from you.”

Stunned by what she heard,
Taylor blinks and stares at
Samantha. “Excuse me?” She
replies defensively.

“Oh.” Samantha chuckles and
elaborates innocently. “You have
always been my role model. You
appear to be so independent and
powerful that I didn’t think you
would be the kind of woman who’d
settle to move in with a man.”

Taylor finds her statement
baffling. “And what do you think
the kind of woman like me would
do with her man?”
Not shy to speak bluntly,
Samantha smiles cunningly and
replies with ease, “I’d think
that you would make your man
move in with you instead.”

Taylor pretends to be unaffected
by her bluntness. “You see
Samantha,
there
is
no
difference. The most important
thing is that Ivan and I are
together now and this is our
home. It is just a matter of
what makes more sense. My lease
was up anyway.” She sees it
unnecessary to further explain
herself and walks away.

So what if she acts like an
impolite host, she is merely
reciprocating the rudeness of an
impolite guest.

Taylor is now downgrading her
opinion
of
Samantha.
From
disliking her now she despises
her and wonders if she should
even consider Samantha as a
friend.

Without analyzing the true
motivation
behind
Samantha’s
words, Taylor dismisses the
underlying intent and pays her
no further attention. She thinks
that
she is unaffected but
Samantha’s cleverly pre-scripted
words have already made its
impact on her subconscious mind
and are playing tricks on her
egoistic mechanism.

Flawlessly disguised under her
attractive and polished Barbie
doll
appearance,
malicious
and
inclinations are well hidden.
She finds it difficult to
tolerate
anyone’s
happiness
aside her own and definitely
does not consider Taylor as a
friend.

Discreetly she watches Taylor
walk away looking slightly
irritated
and defocused. She
identifies this as
sign of
weakness and decides to engage
herself in a challenge of
creating a fault line between
the pair.
Games excite her.
Nothing thrills her more than
being
the
mastermind
of
confusion.
Naturally
and
rightfully in her mind, nobody
she knows deserve to be happy.
************

“Bravo!” Amber raises her hands
on the stage and gestures to
pause the rehearsal as she sees
Neyo entering the hall with a
skinny brunette by his side.

He gestures the brunette to sit
and wait for him in one of the
seats behind Conrad Fallen, the
co-producer of the Broadway
musical and life long friend of
Amber Winters.

Amber crosses her arms and
glares at Neyo as he approaches
near. “Well, well, well. Look
who is here with us today. Mr.
Neyo decides to show up. How
lucky are we?”

From the corner of her eye, she
can see the cast gossiping
quietly and begins to feel even
angrier than before. She glances
at Conrad who sits unstirred and
rubbing his temples with an odd
expression as if he were
anticipating a war to commence.
She fires a sharp glance at the
brunette then fixates a piercing
stare at Neyo, who now stands in
front of the stage.

Looking up at Amber, he knows
that she is infuriated and asks
to speak with her alone. Staring
down at Neyo and glaring into
his bloodshot
eyes, Amber’s
patience seems to be spent, “I
do not wish to speak with you
alone. You walked out of the
photo shoot, missed the last
four
rehearsals,
and
then
completely disregarded all calls
from both Conrad and myself.
What makes you think I’d like to
speak with you after that? And
who is that brunette? You know
very well that this is a closed
rehearsal and we do not bring
spectators.”

“Amber, I just need to speak
with you for a few minutes to
set things straight.” He tries
her patience.

Amber laughs in a sarcastic
manner. “And he wants to set
things straight.” She laughs
again
and
walks
away
to
recommence the rehearsal.
Impatiently Neyo walks up the
side steps onto the stage and
heads over the Amber. He grabs
onto her arm and desperately
demands her attention.

“Hey!” yells Conrad as he rushes
up the stage to avoid a possible
fiasco. He will not tolerate
anyone laying a finger on Amber,
nonetheless grabbing her arm.
Deep inside yet no secret to
anyone, he loves her with all
his heart and will always be
there to protect her.

Seeing Conrad coming towards
them, Neyo quickly asks of
Amber, “Sweetheart, I owe my
sister some money and she needs
the funds repaid right now. I
need an advance.”

Amber tries to free her arm and
in distress she calls out, “Let
go of my arm, you’re hurting
me!”

Two of the men from the cast
step forward and attempt to pull
Neyo away from Amber, struggling
to free her from his overly
strong grip.
Neyo lets go and raises his
hands in the air then backs off
from Amber. “I was trying to ask
nicely!” He justifies and raises
his voice. “All I need is an
advance.”

Amber tilts her head and stares
at him in disbelieve. “Are you
high or just plain stupid? Some
nerve!” Slowly she distances
herself from him and backs away.
“You show up after missing for
days and create a scene to
disturb our rehearsal; I should
have security come escort you
and
your
sister
off
the
premises. By the way, your
‘sister’ looks nothing like you
and share no resemblance at all.
If she truly is your sister,
then you have just successfully
embarrassed yourself in front of
family.” She adds quickly, “And
no, you cannot have an advance
because you are FIRED!”

Aggressively he inches towards
her, “You can’t fire me! I’m
your lead man and nobody can do
what I can do!”
Conrad finally makes it onto the
stage and tries to remove him.
He grabs Neyo by the arm and
tries to pull him backward, but
instead, Neyo turns around and
swings a punch into Conrad’s
face. The punch is so forceful
it knocks Conrad off balance and
he falls onto the floor.

Seeing
the
commotion,
the
brunette expediently slips out
unnoticed and disappears before
the security guards arrive. The
two men from the cast hold Neyo
firmly and wait for the guards
to arrive onto the stage to
escort him out.

Fuming in desperation and as if
insanity has consumed him, Neyo
screams stridently on his way
out. “I’m not done with you yet
Amber. You hear me? I’m not done
with you!”

Amber pays no attention and
rushes over to Conrad. Helping
him up on his feet, she looks at
him intently and touches the
bruise on his face. “Are you
okay?” She touches him gently.
“Does it hurt? I’m so sorry. We
should put some ice on it.” She
hurries to the cooler on the
side of the stage and brings
back some ice cubes wrapped in a
napkin.

Conrad is hurting but does not
want to admit it. He wants to
appear a hero and is enjoying
the attention that she is
showering him with.

Softly she speaks as she places
the ice pack on his face. “I
simply don’t understand it. Do
you remember how sweet a person
Neyo appears to be when we first
cast him a year ago? He is quiet
and diligent. He does dance
better than anyone we’ve seen.
All of a sudden he turns
aggressive and violent. What the
hell happened?” She begins to
wonder. “What a waste of
talent!” She babbles on. “He
could have made it but now he’s
destroying himself. It’s almost
like he hit a wall and went
completely insane!”

Uninterested to hear of what she
has to say about Neyo; Conrad
takes the opportunity to hold
her hand. “Are you sympathizing
with
his
violent
and
unacceptable
behavior?”
He
pauses. “I don’t want to be out
of line but after this incident,
I don’t suppose you’d like to
sleep with him again, do you?”

Amber bites her lower lip and
looks
at
Conrad
with
a
bewildered expression on her
face. “Please retract that.”

“Sorry Amber, I know that’s out
of line.” Conrad apologizes and
holds the ice pack against his
face. “So now what? We just lost
our lead man and there are only
six weeks before we open the new
season.”

Amber decisively remedies the
situation. She turns around and
faces the cast. Confidently, she
announces that there will be an
open audition for Neyo’s part as
Turbulence and that cast member
will get priority audition.

“If there is anyone in the cast
who feels that he can dance just
like Neyo, if not better, step
forward now.” She moves across
the stage. “This is the chance
to step up and become the lead
man of the show. Anyone?”

“Very
well.”
Amber
struts
confidently back and forth in
front of them. “Take a fifteen
minutes break to familiarize
with the routine then impress us
with your best moves. You’ve
seen what Neyo can do, so now
show us that you can do even
better!” She smiles and walks
off the stage with Conrad.

Sitting next to Amber in the
director’s chairs, Conrad nudges
her playfully yet seriously,
“Amber, we need a huge favor
from you,” he begins, “do not
ever date a cast anymore okay.”

Amber chokes at his sarcastic
humor. “Who would have known
that he can
turn
into a
monster?” She chuckles and is
actually relieved that he is
gone. “Now let’s hope that we
can find a replacement quickly
enough.” She watches the cast
warm up on stage, “otherwise
we’ll have a huge problem.”