Beautiful Monster 2 (Beautiful Monster #2)(2)
Author: Bella Forrest

“Sure! Congrats,” I said, and we exchanged our goodbyes.

I finished brushing my teeth and washing up, and then pulled my hair into a bun. My hair style on stage was an extensive up do and so the hair stylists demanded I wash it only every third day. As soon as my mouth was free of toothpaste, I picked up my phone again and hit the number 1, speed dialing Liam in his office. It was Friday, and Friday mornings he spent doing paperwork, so I knew he was there.

He picked up on the third ring.

“You hear some good news just now?” he asked, and I could hear his smile through the phone line.

“How did you know?” I protested, deflated that he guessed before I could tell him.

“I saw her name change to accepted on our list about an hour ago. I was waiting for you to call.”

“Liam,” I said, as I went back into the bedroom to change. “You didn’t just take her… because of me, did you? She was so set on getting in on her own.”

“I know,” he replied. I could hear papers shuffling. “And to answer your question, no. The audition video she sent in was her doing Waiting for Godot in 5 minutes—by herself. All the parts. How was I supposed to say no to that?”

I laughed.

“That’s Sarah for you. So, how’s your day going?”

“Mmm, it’d be better if you were here. Today is orientation day for any new students, so we’re about to get flooded. What are you doing?”

“Changing. I’m naked right now,” I said it in jest, to tease him, but he groaned all the same.

“Amy, don’t do that to me now. I have to go out and make a speech in front of 100 students.”

“It’s not really my fault you can’t control yourself.” I grinned, slipping on a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. One of the nice things about being on stage was that my appearance was not my responsibility. For once, it was somebody else’s job to care about my hair, my makeup, stuff my bra or powder my chest bones.

I was skinny, and I didn’t particularly like it. It came with the territory of carrying the HIV virus, which had not developed into AIDS yet. But it meant I hovered somewhere between skeletal and thin, the right light making my ribs show through my chest. Liam, however, had always worshipped my body and never indicated any sort of displeasure. Still, when I could, I made sure my clothing was baggy to hide it.

“It kind of is, if you continue to tease me like that,” he replied. “Are you ready for your last show?”

“I guess. How exactly does one end something they’ve been doing for 3 months? I am ready to come home, though. I miss you a lot.”

“I miss you too,” he said softly, his voice full of emotion which told me how much he meant it. “Have you booked your train ticket yet?”

“No, not yet,” I admitted. “But the trains run all day long, so I’ll just jump on the first one as soon as I wake up.”

“Ok, give me a call when you know. We’ll have a good meal and… evening…” he said provocatively, which made me laugh. All I wanted to do was be snuggled in his arms after months apart. True, we had our little visits here and there, but it wasn’t enough.

“Alright.” I told him I loved him and then hung up. It was just in time, because a knock came at my door.

“AMY!”

“Jesus,” I said, throwing the phone on the bed and checking myself to make sure I was decent. Throwing open the door, I found Drago standing there.

A transplant from Russia, Drago was our fight director. He had an explosive career, having worked with some of the top names. He was incredibly young and moving up the ranks. But a shattered leg from a car accident had left Drago unable to perform on demand anymore. Luckily, by then he already had quite a name for himself, and so people hired him as a stunt coordinator, ignoring his limp.

We had hit it off immediately when I told him my father was a chef and that was my backup career. A foodie himself, our game was to get each other to try the strangest food in town. Our bond became closer when he revealed he was also leaving the Gatsby Tour, two weeks after me, to work on a production that was staged not two miles from Leopard Academy. I was excited to find someone who shared my feelings of excitement, and sadness at leaving.

Today, he carried a brown bag, unmarked.

“What’s that?”

“Goat’s tongue wrapped in duck and fried in olive oil.”

“Oh,” I said, holding open the door to let him in. This was a normal conversation between us. “Ok.”

He burst in, heading straight to the table which contained small tea saucers. Deeming then good enough for his purpose, he opened the bag, pulled out a plastic knife and container, and divided up the food.

“Found it in a little back alley place. They were called ‘Waste not.’ They claimed to eat every part of the goat and not waste anything.”

“Uh…” I was adventurous when it came to food, but I could think of several parts of the goat that I did not want to eat. “Is that what you spent the night doing? Thinking up ways to give me food poisoning?”

“Well, now that your replacement is a day away, I thought we’d be safe.” He grinned at me, sitting on the bed, his injured leg extended out in front of him. I gingerly picked up the plate that he had left and bit in.

“Isn’t it weird?” he asked, changing the subject. “Going back to school after doing a professional show? It’s kind of… counterproductive…”

I shrugged. “I don’t know what weird is because I don’t have a normal life either. A year ago, I was a homeschooled sheltered kid whose acting experience consisted of performing for her stuffed animals that were probably bored out of their minds too. And then all of a sudden, I’m the scholarship winner, and I get this part, which most people can’t even dream of, and now I’m going into graduate studies at the school I spent my whole life drooling over.”

“And dating a Hollywood heartthrob,” Drago pointed out.

“There is that.” I grinned.

He smirked at me. “It’s so weird. You’re leaving today, but everyone is acting like it’s a normal day.”

“Well, it is a normal day for everyone else. No one is going to notice that the chorus girl is leaving, really.”

“I’ll notice,” he said.

I shrugged. “Yeah, but I’ll see you soon.”

“My only salvation…” He finished his food and put the plate on the table for the maid to clean up. “…in between then and now is that I have to redo the choreography.”