The Devil of DiRisio (20 page)

I was so angry with Damian that I let that emotion transfer into my movements.  All of my steps were sharp, clean, and precise.  It worked out perfectly because my character was a mechanical doll that was to come alive because of her love for the dashing soldier, Damian’s character.

I was planning on doing the entire performance this way.  I was going to be cold and distant with him onstage, but as soon as he touched me all of that changed.  My resolve wilted and I melted in his arms.  That chemistry, that unspeakable bond we had on stage appeared and transported us to another world.  We were so in tune with each other that we danced as if we were one soul united by the music.

After ten curtain calls, we stood hand in hand behind the curtain still breathless from the magical high of dance we had created. 

“Do you want to meet her?” Damian asked as we walked to our dressing rooms still holding hands.

“Who?”

“Natalia
Karleskaya
.”

“Of course, I want to meet her.  But I don’t think
… ”

“We’ll meet you in your dressing room in ten minutes.”

“Yeah, right.
You expect me to believe you know Natalia
Karleskaya
?  This is another one of your lines, isn’t it?”  Damian smiled at me with his devilish grin.

“How about this?” he began as we stood outside of my dressing room door.
“If I bring Natalia
Karleskaya
here in ten minutes, you have to go out to dinner with me tonight.  If not, I’ll never ask you out again.”

Ten minutes later, in walked Damian Karl and Natalia
Karleskaya
.  I was in complete shock.  How did Damian know her?  And how had he convinced her to meet me?  What was going on?  I wanted to ask all these questions but no words come out. My mouth just opened and closed like I was gasping for air.  As if her mere presence wasn’t enough to send my mind reeling, what Damian said next almost made me fall over.

“I’d like to introduce you to Natalia
Karleskaya
, my mother.”  I think I started hyperventilating again because Damian handed me the same bag that Anna Marie had given me earlier.  Then he sat me down on the couch and Natalia
Karleskaya
sat down next to me.  Natalia
Karleskaya
was sitting next to me! She was rubbing my back and smiling at Damian while speaking to him in Russian. I couldn’t believe he had never told me that Natalia
Karleskaya
was his mother.  Natalia
Karleskaya
!

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I said between puffs into the familiar paper bag.

“What? And miss that expression on your face?  That was priceless.”

“Really, Damian, you shouldn’t play games like this.  You are going to give the poor girl a heart attack,” Natalia
Karleskaya
said in near perfect English as she continued to rub my back. 

They muttered a few more phrases in Russian then Damian said, “Well, I’ll leave you two to get acquainted while I get ready for dinner.”  Then he kissed my hand and left.

“You have completely enchanted my son,” Natalia
Karleskaya
said once we were alone.  I turned and looked at her.  She was even more beautiful in person.  With her diminutive size, big blue eyes, and striking blond hair she looked just like a porcelain doll.  I knew she had to be around 45 years old or so, but she didn’t look a day over 30.  How did she do that?  I wonder if a lifetime of dance had given her that ethereal youthful look.

“What?” I asked.

“He’s in love with you.”

“What?”

“You two are like electricity on stage.  I’ve never seen him dance like that with anyone.”

“But that doesn’t mean
… ”

“Almost ten years ago, he gave up ballet and changed his name from
Karlesky
to Karl.  He didn’t want to live in my shadow.  He wanted to make it on his own.  He started his hip hop thing and as you probably know, he is very good.  But to see him dance with you it is like he never left the ballet.”

“But why do you think that means he’s in love with me?”

“It’s not only that,” she said as she wiped strands of hair away from my face in a motherly fashion.  “You are the first girl Damian has ever asked me to meet.  Just the way he talks about you and the way his eyes glow when he just says your name, I know he loves you.” 

I didn’t believe it.  I thought it was another plot of Damian.  Why did he insist on messing with my mind?  He had managed for me to meet Natalia
Karleskaya
, the legendary Natalia
Karleskaya
, but all we were talking about was him.  I wanted to talk about dance.  I wanted to ask her about her momentous thirty year dancing career.  I wanted her advice on my career.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Natalia said as she stood up and went to the warm up bar.  “I know my son can seem a bit … insincere.” She was trying to say it delicately, but then gave up and said, “Okay, he runs around with a lot of women.  When he was with the Russian Ballet he made it his mission to bed every female member of the company.”  Natalia began doing plies at the bar.  It was like she was possessed and had to dance whenever the opportunity presented itself.

“Is that supposed to … um
… ?”

“He hasn’t slept with you has he?”

“No, but it’s not from lack of trying.”

“If my Damian wanted you he could have you, no offense.  He has a way with the ladies.  I think that you scare him.”

“Scare him?  I thought you said he loved me.”

“He does love you and that scares him.  He’s never been in love before.”  I was dumbfounded.  But maybe that would explain how strange he’s been lately.

Tears welled in my eyes and I started sobbing uncontrollably. Natalia rushed to my side and put her arm around me. She thought I was crying because I loved Damian in return. While that was possible, it wasn’t why I was crying. Suddenly I remembered a day in the gym at Bridgeton. Will and I were making out and almost had sex. Will stopped, though, saying he was scared. And Damian was scared of me too? Why did I attract the same type of man? And how was it possible that I was in love with them both? What was wrong with me?

 “I remember you,” she said trying to change the subject.  “You did my solo as your audition piece for the Barcelona festival. 
Magnificent.
  You will have a glorious career.  I just hope my Damian is at your side.”  Then she stepped out and let me get ready to go out with her son.

“That is how I recognized you that first time we met at The Spanish Fly,” Damian said as we ate at his favorite little Brazilian restaurant. “I remembered the video of you dancing my mother’s solo.”

“And that’s why you dance ballet,” I said finally putting things together. I mean, he had told me that his mother was a ballerina, but he failed to mention his mother was Natalia
Karleskaya
. That just puts everything at a whole other level. He probably learned dance just by breathing the same air as her.  “You’ve had Natalia
Karleskaya
as a teacher your entire life.  What was it like?”

“It was actually kind of … stressful.  That is why I gave it up. It was like the only time I spent with her was dancing.”

“But when you were together did you have, like, class together or did you just learn from watching her? Or did you sit in on rehearsals for the Russian Ballet?”

“Are you going to talk about my mother all night?”

“Well, you didn’t really give me enough time with her.  It’s like you dangle this carrot in front of me then
snatch
it away.”

“Did you compare my mother to a carrot?”  He laughed.

“I just want to know what she’s like.  I mean I’ve idolized her for nine years.  I think I’ve seen every performance she’s ever done.” 

Damian grabbed my hand and said, “Do you samba?” I looked around the restaurant.  There was a dance floor but no one was dancing.

“I don’t samba.”

“I will show you,” he said as he pulled me on to the dance floor.  He shouted some words in Portuguese and suddenly the music grew louder.  Everyone was staring as Damian showed me the basic steps.  Before I knew it, we were whirling about the dance floor and captivating the audience once again. 

He was right.  Damian was right.  There was something between us that made us an entrancing pair on stage.   And offstage he wasn’t that bad either as long as he wasn’t trying to grope me.

“So, in the few minutes that I did get talk to your mother, she told me something pretty funny,” I said as we walked toward the dorms.

“Yeah, what?”

 “She actually thinks you’re in love with me,” I said giggling a little.  Damian grew quiet.  “That’s funny, right?”  I asked when he didn’t respond.  He cleared his throat and said,

“Why is that funny?”

“I mean, you’re Damian Karl.  Why would you be in love with
me
? You can have any woman you want.  You can have
every
woman you want.  You probably have.”

“What if I want to change?  What if I just want you?”

“So you mean all those lines you’ve been feeding me were for real?”  He grew quiet again and we walked in silence for a long time

“I admit at first it was just a game,” he said once we reached the dormitory.  He stopped and turned towards me. “I thought you were beautiful and talented.  I cannot resist a beautiful dancer.  But somewhere along the way I fell for you.  I’ve never felt this way before.  I’ve never danced this way.  I think about you constantly and I see your face in everyone and everything.  You’re in my blood.” Damian caressed my face and leaned in to kiss me when, out of nowhere, someone shoved him to the ground.

“Will, what are you doing?”  I yelled as Will jumped on top of Damian and started pounding him.  Once Damian realized what was going on, he started fighting back and it turned into an all out brawl.  They were grunting, kicking, and punching each other like crazy. Will even slammed Damian on to a car.  The alarm started going off bringing even more attention to the spectacle.  I thought I saw a camera flash.  There were probably still reporters lurking about.  Will was going to ruin our careers.

I tried to pull them apart but to no avail.  I thought they were going to kill each other.  A crowd was starting to form, but no one would help me break them up.  Finally, Anna Marie and
Raffaele
appeared. 
Raffaele
split them up and he and Anna Marie held Will back while I held Damian.

Raffaele
led Will inside the building while I tried to convince Damian to go to his hotel.

“I don’t want to leave you here with that … that animal,” he said as he spit a mouthful of blood onto the side walk.

“
Will would
never hurt me.”

“He already has.”

“What the hell was that?  What is the matter with you?”  I yelled at Will when we were in my dorm room. Once Will had calmed down, Anna Marie and
Raffaele
left to give us some privacy to talk.

“I’m sorry.  I just … when I saw him touch you I just lost it.”

“You’re bleeding,” I s
aid as I went to get some towels out of my dresser
.

“Sonya, I thought I could live without you.  I thought I didn’t need you.  I was wrong.  I’m going crazy without you.  Can’t we just pretend none of this happened and go back to the way things used to be before Damian and Veronica?”  Will held a towel to his nose while I used another one to get blood stains out of his clothes.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“I’ll raise the baby like it’s my own.  I don’t care who the father is. I just want to be with you.”

“Why would you need to raise
her
baby to be with
me,
especially if you’re not the father?”

 
“Her baby?
  Veronica’s not even pregnant.  The whole thing was a lie.”

“Then what baby are you talking about?”

“Yours.”

“Mine?  I’m not pregnant.”

“No more lies, okay. I want a new start.  I already know about the baby. Your doctor called with the results of your pregnancy test.”

“My doctor?
Pregnancy test?

“Yeah, I told him that I was your fiancé and that he could just tell me.”  I stared at him blankly still not completely registering what he was saying.  How could he think I was pregnant?  We hadn’t had sex.  “Is Damian the father?” 
he
asked. I continued to stare at him.  “I don’t care if he is. I love you and I want to marry you no matter what.  I thought I could live without you and I can’t.  Just say you still love me and we can move on.”

“What?”  I said utterly confused.  I still didn’t get it.  I felt like I had walked in on a movie already in progress that was in a strange language and being played backwards.  I had no idea what was going on.

“It’s too late.  You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”  Will started pacing the room and grabbing his head. “I’ve pushed you away.  What can I do to win you back?  I’ll do anything.”