Tease (38 page)

The gloved hand calmly passes over a passport to the heavily made-up brunette at the check-in desk. Tinny, muffled flight announcements echo through the vast hall against a backdrop of chatter and the odd squeak of trolley wheels as they are pushed with their stacked cargo. The brunette opens the passport to the photograph page with her pink plastic talons, studies the information for a second, then looks up from beneath long, spidery lashes thick with clumpy mascara.

‘Good morning, Mr Hunter. Are you travelling alone today?’

A smile creeps across her coral pink-painted trout pout, lips dripping in gloss as she takes in Mr Hunter’s handsome chiselled jaw and black velvety eyes.

‘Yes, just me,’ he replies in his deep voice.

As Rex Hunter waits in the departure lounge he yawns. He had no sleep last night. He had far too much on his mind, and far too many last minute preparations to make. ‘This is the last call for flight VG321 to Las Vegas. Please go to gate 43 immediately,’ crackles the tannoy. Rex folds his newspaper up, knowing that first class will be called any minute.

Tiger sat quietly in her vast, luxurious, dressing room as the world busied itself around her. Cherry and Brandy were hurriedly steaming and plumping a mountain of feathers in the corner. Mario was busy teasing Tiger’s curls to perfection while Blue paced up and down, bellowing orders to Hartley through his walkie-talkie. Gravy snored on the enormous cream leather couch in the centre of the dressing room as he curled up peacefully next to Ocean, who was gassing with her agent down her mobile whilst artistically decanting Tiger’s numerous bouquets of flowers into bronze vases and screening the well wishing cards. She particularly had her eye out for any pink letters, as Lewis had briefed her to do. Lewis had also installed a liberal sprinkling of hefty goons outside the dressing room to watch over Tiger. No one would be getting past them to that dressing room, or anywhere near Tiger backstage in fact. It gave everyone peace of mind knowing that she was safe from physical attack, and happily the air in the theatre tonight was electric.

The plasma screen relay up on the dressing-room wall was focused on the spectacular stage, all sparkling and ready to be filled with showgirls. Tiger could just make
out Lewis on the screen, prowling around behind the curtain, gesticulating wildly to the stage manager who was nodding sagely. Tiger wondered if this was what the eye of the storm felt like. Her opening night in Vegas and she was cool as a cucumber. Scarily in control. She had never felt so clear-headed as the madness unfolded around her. Nothing, but nothing could beat the anticipation and thrill of an opening night.

Tiger had felt at home in Vegas the moment she set foot on terra firma three months earlier. Lewis’ warm welcome, and seeing Blue and Pepper and the girls had confirmed in her heart she had made the right decision; she was in control again and turning her back on the drama and bad memories. These last three months of rehearsals had been gruelling, but Tiger had thrown herself into them with gusto, enjoying being back at work. She had pushed herself to exhaustion every day, so she could sleep her way through the demons that came into her room at night, taunting her with memories, and the pain of her daughter’s rejection. Despite nursing a broken heart underneath her smiles, Tiger clawed back her strength again bit by bit. The truth was, she was more determined than ever that she would one day be someone her daughter could be truly proud of. With that thought firmly in her mind, she was one hundred and ten per cent driven.

All the hard work of the last three months had certainly been worth it, as for tonight’s big opening she was on
peak form, as sleek as a racehorse, as focused as a jet fighter and as polished as the crown jewels.

‘Hey Tiger, are you in a world of your own, or what!’ drawled Ocean, with a dramatic flick of her wild blonde mane.

‘Oh, sorry. I was just going through that opening routine in my head again.’

‘Oh man, I’m sorry. Tell me if I’m annoying you and I’ll disappear. I know how important it is to have time to yourself in the dressing room.’

‘No! It’s fine, sweetheart, to be honest I’d rather have my friends near me tonight.’

‘Well, I just wanted to tell you there’s a bouquet here from that actress Libertina Belle! It says on the card she’s in the front row tonight and … ahem, perhaps you should read the message yourself, looks like she’s certainly thinking of you in a special way! Do you guys know each other or something?’

Libertina looked around her as the huge auditorium filled with a steady stream of excited guests, all dressed in their finest cocktail attire and clanking their jewels as they took their seats. She peered over the top of her shades at a group of men who had recognised her and were nudging each other excitedly. She winked lazily back at them and blew a kiss. Turning her attention to the glossy souvenir programme that had been left on each of the front row seats, Libertina flicked through the pages and swallowed
back the lump in her throat as she thought what a long way Tiger had come from nothing.

Settling back in her seat she let the rumbling hum of the audience wash over her along with the tangible excitement that wafted on the air with it. It wasn’t something she really experienced in the world of television or film. She liked the feeling of it. Taking a sudden sharp shove to her shoulder, she whipped her head round. ‘Pardon me, ma’am,’ apologised a smart gentleman profusely as he took his seat behind her, blushing as he recognised who he had just barged into. ‘These aisles are narrow. I’m so sorry, Ms Belle.’

‘That’s okay, no problem. Enjoy the show,’ she drawled loudly, waving her hand dismissively and smiling. As she turned back to her seat, someone caught her eye. She went in for a double take. Sienna? Libertina tensed immediately. She recalled meeting Sienna briefly at the Savoy show a year ago, except the once fresh faced, skinny streak of oatmeal Libertina remembered now looked tired, wan and nervous as she furtively made her way to her seat. Oh, Sienna was all designered up, alright, and had developed some killer curves but beneath the expensive glamour she looked pale and ill. What had Rex been doing to her the past year? Libertina was alarmed by Sienna’s presence. Knowing what had gone down between her and Tiger, Libertina guessed she wasn’t exactly here as a welcome party. The two women’s eyes met as Sienna struggled to take her fur coat off. A flicker of recognition lit up in her
eyes before she hurriedly looked away and resumed rearranging her outfit. Libertina was thoroughly unsettled.

‘Tiger Starr, the Starrlets and ladies of the chorus, this is your ten-minute call,’ blasted the audio relay, cutting through the idle chitchat. For a second a pin could be heard dropping in the dressing room as all eyes rested on Tiger, who was calmly sitting at her mirror, inspecting her make-up and sipping at her Martini. Blue bit his knuckles, waiting for her to speak. She took a deep breath.

‘Okay girls, tighten me up and tie me off!’ Tiger roared, rising from her chair to cling to the wall. Cherry and Brandy leapt for her corset strings, winking at each other as they pulled in opposite directions.

‘We made it, my darling,’ murmured Blue as he surveyed the proceedings and turned the music up. Once in her shimmering corset, he clipped Tiger’s huge spray of creamy tail feathers securely into the back, then stood to one side for Cherry and Brandy to spray her liberally with diamond powder. Job done, the girls bustled out of the room efficiently, heading for the wings laden down with Tiger’s quick changes for the first half and enough spare tit tape to sink the
Titanic
.

‘I’m going down with the girls to check the chorus line presets, darling, you do your breathing,’ said Blue.

‘Wait,’ said Tiger softly. ‘One last check?’ Blue hesitated, not because he didn’t want to look at Tiger, but because his eyes were welling up already. He pinched the
bridge of his nose and forced himself to look at her.

‘Fucking fantastic,’ he said, choking on the words. Tiger flung her arms around him.

‘Thank you for coming along for the ride with me,’ she whispered. ‘I’m sorry it’s been bumpy.’

‘Darling, it’s been worth it,’ he snivelled into her shoulder. ‘I’m just so grateful you forgave me.’

‘Oh sweetheart, we’ve been over that. It’s all settled.’

‘Oh get a room you two,’ laughed Ocean.

‘Mama mia, watch ze hair!’ squealed Mario, rushing over to tease Tiger’s curls again.

‘C’mon guys,’ said Ocean, clutching Gravy under her arm. ‘The leading lady needs her last couple of minutes for her prayers. Blue, get your butt down to that stage. Tiger baby, I’ll be outside the door to lead you down when you’re ready … Tiger? Are you okay?’ Tiger was discreetly dabbing a tear from her eye.

‘Oh Christ,’ said Blue, ‘Mario, tissues – now!’ He clicked his fingers. ‘Darling, are you okay? What’s wrong?’

‘Oh it’s … I’m okay, it’s just … I wish my daughter were here to see it that’s all.’ Tiger choked on her words as she tried to compose herself. ‘I just wish I could make her proud …’

‘Now stop right there,’ said Blue, grabbing a wad of tissues from Mario and shoving it under her nose. ‘Blow,’ he ordered. Tiger snivelled into the tissues. ‘Listen to me, darling. You have nothing to prove. You hear? You did what you had to do by telling your side of the story. It
was the right thing. Sienna just needs time. The truth is out there now, that’s the main thing. And my god, we are all so proud of you. But the most important thing for you right now is for
you
to be proud of you. You hear me?’ said Blue, rubbing Tiger’s arms firmly. Tiger let out a little sob.

‘Oh Jesus – Mario get some cotton buds – the make-up’s going to smudge any second,’ ordered Blue. ‘Don’t you dare cry, Tiger, you look perfect and you’re going to ruin your face if you start crying. Now come on.’ Tiger nodded her head and sniffed deeply. ‘Good girl. Do you want us to stay here with you until you go on?’

‘No, darling, I’m fine. I really need two minutes on my own. I’m okay.’

‘Okay, chop chop, guys, let’s leave the leading lady to it,’ squealed Blue, clapping his hands together. Mario, Blue and Ocean left the room to allow Tiger her last crucial moments of privacy.

Down in the spacious wings Blue went through his check-list with Hartley, and quickly scooted round the stage with the deputy stage manager to check all the giant powder puffs had been concealed in amongst the scenery in the right places. He saw Ocean up above leading Tiger into the flies to be strapped into her harness, just as the Starrlets poured into the wings from the dressing rooms having their last little warm up, flexing their ankles, stretching their thighs out, and wiggling their heads about in their
giant powder puff hats. Enormous racks of quick costume changes were suspended above them, upon which were hung myriad headdresses, backpacks and tails, and next to which was Tiger’s own rack of quick changes. Cherry and Brandy were hanging out next to the team of chorus line dressers and wiggies, at whom Hartley was now barking orders. Lewis was sitting intently by the backstage monitors with Pepper, biting his nails as Pepper hissed her ‘break a leg’ wishes to the dancers. The sixty-piece band were winding up their warm up in the pit.

Out in the audience Libertina gripped the arms of her seat nervously as the house lights lowered. Blinding search-lights flashed dramatically around the auditorium, and applause and gasps rippled as a delicate rain of glitter fell from the
trompe l’oeil
sky above their heads. The band blasted out their opening bars and an army of chorus girls in merkins, pasties and headdresses appeared upon long catwalks that rose in the aisles, parading elegantly in sequence between the audience to whoops and cheers. As they snaked their way towards the enormous semi-circular stage the vast shimmering festoon lifted, revealing a stage set straight out of 1950s Hollywood with mirrored staircases, golden filigree gazebos and twinkling stars. Even Libertina let a gasp escape as she was transported back in time to the golden age of glamour right there in her seat.

A glitter pyro exploded in a twinkling puff centre stage, and Tiger appeared, being flown down from the sky as she flapped huge fans of fluffy cream feathers, with star-shaped
swings being lowered down behind her upon which four of her leading Starrlets were perched. God, she looked incredible, thought Libertina, her heart fluttering a little. The lines of chorus girls and the remaining Starrlets were now fully assembled on stage, dressing the staircases and gazebos, posing like exquisite statues to receive Tiger centre stage. All around Libertina the audience were rising to their feet already. She shook her head in disbelief at the spectacle and wiped a tear from her eye.

‘Oh man that was fun,’ puffed Tiger in the interval, collapsing onto the couch and high-fiving Ocean who came in behind her clutching Gravy, followed by Cherry and Brandy trundling their trolleys full of discarded costume and feathers. The girls immediately started allocating everything back to its rightful hanger before laying out the next sets of costumes in order.

‘You okay, Blue?’ asked Tiger.

‘Oh yes! Come here, darling, I just can’t get over how fabulous you were! The whole thing looked like some unbelievable dream!’ said Blue, leaning over and squeezing Tiger hard.

‘Hey, you’ll never guess what, Lewis gave me a hug back there at the end of the first half!’ said Tiger, jumping up with elation. ‘Has that
ever
happened before?!’

‘Oooh, one of these bouquets is from Lewis, by the way,’ chimed Ocean, ‘I forgot to tell you. And he left a really sweet card. Here.’

‘Wow! He must be softening up.’ Tiger smiled, reaching out for the card. She stood for a moment reading it. Her eyebrows rose as she blushed deeply; she could barely keep the broad smile from her face. Lewis had always been her rock but in recent months he’d emerged as far more that that. He was her hero. ‘Right, who’s ready for round two?’ Tiger said happily as she settled at her dressing table and prepared for a change of make-up. Ocean smiled to herself as she watched Tiger stop to tuck Lewis’ card in pride of place in front of her mirror.
We’ve had a long journey. I’m here for you for ever. Congratulations for your opening night. You are magnificent. Lewis x