Star-crossed double-cross 15

Chapter 15 – Surprises

“Bee,” a feminine voice called out, causing Lucian to peek upwards. In desperation he had momentarily looked away from the woman in the sparkly red dress, hoping that she was waving at someone else. But now only a few feet away and staring right at him, Lucian knew that this woman was expecting to speak to Bianca Cabello.

(See image 15.1)

“Hey, I was hoping to see you here tonight,” the beautiful woman announced as she leaned in to air kiss Lucian on each cheek. “How have you been? It’s been far too long.”

“Oh... yeah... far too long,” Lucian stuttered, wondering what to say to the gorgeous creature, standing in front of him. After all, it wasn’t every day that the starstruck young man got to experience being in such close proximity to an International megastar like Melena Gomez!

Lucian pursed his lips, stepping back a little as he gazed into Melena's beautiful, deep brown eyes. Melena gave him a look in return that made him feel as though he needed to say something, but his mind was blank. Quickly glancing left and then right, Lucian tried to gauge the reaction of the group of people who were supposedly keeping him from interacting with anyone. All the while, the subtle yet powerful scent of Melena's flowery, sweet-smelling perfume lingered in his airways.

“Am I disturbing you?” asked Melena, in a somewhat firmer tone. "I can leave if it's still too soon?"

Turning back to face the sexily dressed pop star, Lucian noticed the smile on her face had changed to a frown. “Err… no,” Lucian stammered. “Sorry, I just feel a bit faint. It’s so hot in here. And this dress is so tight, I can hardly breathe,” he added, rambling on to the horrified looks of his entourage.

Melena stared him in the eyes, making him sweat for a second before starting to chuckle. “Well, uncomfortable or not, you’re slaying it tonight, girl. That dress is fire paired with those Loubs. Who’s it by?”

“Looking down at the sleek, bright pink material wrapped around his padded and shaped body, Lucian let out a nervous giggle. “Uhm… It’s a custom,” he replied, remembering Mariana’s words from earlier.

Melena seemed confused by the answer, squinting her eyes as a quizzical look appeared across her strikingly beautiful face. “Loving your dress, by the way,” Lucian quickly added, improvising to try and rescue the situation. “It’s so fierce and... so…so... on fleek. Next to you, I feel like I’m dressed in an old garbage sack.”

Nervously curling the edges of his plump lips to form a half-smile, Lucian gazed into Melena’s mesmerising eyes, feeling relieved as her smile returned. The words he'd used, surprised Lucian. He wasn't entirely sure where they'd come from or how they'd found their way into his vocabulary. But it wasn't worth dwelling on, he was just happy to have said something Melena liked.

Suddenly, Melena burst out laughing. Leaning in, she gave the cross-dressed boy a hug. “You know, I like this new side of you, Bee,” she remarked while continuing to laugh. “I never realised you were so funny! Hey, let’s hang out sometime this week? It’s been so long since we did anything together. I know I hurt you, but that’s ancient history now, right?”

“Err… sure, that would be great,” Lucian replied with a huge grin on his painted face. Forgetting for a moment where he was and how he was dressed, as the idea of spending time alone with Melena Gomez, who was gripping him tightly, dominated his thoughts.

“Fabulous,” Melena squealed, squeezing Lucian even tighter. “My people will message your people tomorrow. We’ll set up something fun. I'm so happy you've finally chosen to forgive me. I'll make things up to you, I promise.”

There was one final round of air kisses before Melena turned on her heels and tottered away.

“Ok, we're all set,” Mariana announced as she returned to the group. Pausing, she looked around, noticing the nervous smiles on the surrounding faces. “What's wrong? Has something happened? Why does everyone look so guilty?”

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Amongst the rich and famous of the music industry, Lucian sat bolt upright in the packed-out theatre, failing to find a comfortable position as he rolled his pantied buttocks from side to side.

With his padded chest heaving up and down, the tense young man watched on through thick eyelashes as legendary artists and world-renowned celebrities graced the stage before him. One after another, they would appear to tell a few bad jokes before announcing a name. Everyone would then clap as the winner ascended to the stage to thank God, their family cat, and anyone else they could think of! This was the pattern of the night, only broken up by a few singing performances scattered amongst the announcements.

Lucian wanted to enjoy the show and take it all in. After all, being a musician himself, walking onto the stage of the American music awards to accept the best new artist award had always been a dream of his. The problem was that he was far too distracted to focus.

Dressed up and forced to behave like a pampered pop princess, Lucian was afraid to look around in case he made eye contact with anyone. With Mariana still angry about the conversation he’d had with Melena earlier that evening, he didn't want to make the situation worse. Even if he had tried to explain to her that it wasn't his fault.

Forcing himself to look straight ahead, Lucian found it virtually impossible to ignore the excruciating pain darting up and down his legs and lower back. The fact he was sitting so close to VIPs and world megastars, some of which he idolised, only compounded the issue, making him feel even more uncomfortable. Unable to cross his legs due to the restrictive nature of his clingy dress, Lucian was forced to hold them firmly together. And after almost two hours of sitting in this position, with his six-inch stilettos pushing his knees upwards and his numb toes downwards, his quivering legs were beginning to cramp up. With his made-up face showing signs of discomfort, barely a moment passed where he wasn’t thinking about the pain. But Just as it was reaching the point of being unbearable, a saviour arrived. “Take my hand and come with me,” announced Mariana, standing to his right.

Lucian gladly obliged, placing his long red nails inside her palm before allowing her to help him to his severely arched feet. Finally able to stretch out his aching muscles, Lucian let out little moans of pleasure as he was led out along a row of celebrity faces. Mariana turned to give him a disapproving look, but by this point, the feminised boy was beyond caring what anyone else thought of him. His humiliating night of suffering was finally over. He was going home, or so he thought!

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“Lucita, are you listening to me?” Mariana barked as Lucian stared blankly into space. He nodded in response, but, in reality, her words washed right over him. He was still in a state of shock. Or was he asleep? Surely, what was happening to him only happened in nightmares, right?

When it was explained that Bianca had been delayed and couldn’t make it to the award show that evening, his heart had skipped a beat.

When he was taken to her dressing room backstage for an outfit change and to have his makeup redone, he almost vomited.

“It’s only one song. You know the routine. We’ve practised it a thousand times,” Mariana said softly, trying to comfort the petrified boy.

Lucian nodded again. "Only one song! Is that all," he thought as the room span. Stumbling forward on his towering heels, Mariana quickly darted forward to catch him.

“Here, sit down for a minute,” She demanded, dragging the delirious boy over to an empty chair.

“Here, take these,” she added, opening a bottle before pouring a handful of pills into Lucian’s palm.

Shaking, Lucian looked down at the colourful tablets and hesitated. “What are they?” he asked in a trembling voice.

“Nothing special. They will just help you calm down,” she replied while grabbing a bottle of water from a nearby countertop. “Now, like it or not. You’re about to go out and shake your booty as you lip-sync along to Bianca’s new single, 'Dirty girl'. So, trust me and swallow them. It'll make the whole experience easier for everyone.”

Looking passed the masses of dark curls sprouting out around his heavily made-up face. Lucian peered down at his feminine-looking hand, resting gently atop his dark pantyhosed thigh.

One thought crossed his mind. "How could things possibly get any worse?"

Lifting his hand, he placed its contents between his bloated lips and washed them down with a swig of cold water.

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From his seat, high up in the auditorium, Simon Powell, English entrepreneur, recording executive, television producer and personality, looked down at the stage and smiled.

Stood centre stage on what appeared to be a floating platform, gyrating her body in a sexy formfitting, black outfit was Bianca Cabello. Or so everyone believed! Simon, of course, knew the truth. Being a stickler for details, he hadn’t gotten to where he was in life by chance.

When he was informed earlier that evening that Bianca was going to be absent, he didn’t raise his voice or show any sign of anger. Calmly, he had given the go-ahead for Lucian to take her place. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time or last time that one of his lookalikes was required for a situation like this one.

Examining Lucian’s movements as he performed the complicated dance routine, made all the more difficult by the killer heels strapped to his feet, Simon allowed himself to smile. When reviewing the options for Bianca’s double earlier in the year, selecting the boy had been a risk. But the facial resemblance was there and when you were as rich and famous as Simon Powell, at times, life could get a bit boring. And for this reason, he'd sometimes try somewhat unorthodox methods, just to witness the outcome.

The grin on Simon's heavily Botoxed face grew larger as the smile plastered across Lucian’s suddenly vanished. Chuckling slightly, he found it entertaining that nobody had informed the boy that when the second chorus kicked in, he'd be losing his skirt! Having been only attached with Velcro straps around his tiny waist, the glittery piece of material had just been whipped clean off by an invisible wire before flying across the stage and disappearing out of sight.

(See image 15.2)