Star-crossed double-cross 14

Chapter 14 - Showtime

Just when Lucian thought life couldn’t get any more surreal, here he was. All dressed up inside a lavishly decorated hall as some of the most famous people on the planet, casual sauntered by.

Finding it hard to move, stuffed inside a one-of-a-kind designer dress that clung to his silky, talcum powered body like a second skin, Lucian stood motionless on his skyscraper tall heels, feeling completely out of place.

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Looking around nervously, Lucian thought back to just a few hours earlier. Lounging around the apartment, tired after a session in the gym, he thought he was in for a quiet night.

He wasn’t exactly enjoying the Romcom that was playing on the TV when Mariana interrupted him, but after hearing what she had to say, he would have given anything to sit there and watch the inevitable soppy ending.

“Time to move, Lucita. We have a job tonight.” Mariana announced, causing Lucian’s head to shoot around.

“Tonight!” he gasped, getting a sinking feeling in his almost empty stomach. “But tonight's the American music awards!”

“And you get to go,” Mariana replied cheerfully. “Very few people get to experience a red-carpet event like this, you know? You’re one lucky girl.”

“Red carpet… what…? No way. Senorita Lopez, I can’t do that,” the stunned boy answered. The fear in his eyes clear to see as he stared up at Mariana, imagining himself tripping along in some ridiculous pair of shoes with the world watching on.

“You can, and you will,” Mariana replied calmly. “It’s your job. Bianca has an appointment she can’t miss. Don’t worry. No one will talk to you, and it won’t be for the whole event. You just need to walk in, pose for a few pictures, and then take your seat. When Bianca arrives, we’ll swap you two out. You’ll be back here by ten-thirty at the latest.”

Lucian gulped before breathing out heavily. “You promise I won’t have to talk to anyone?” He questioned, holding his bare knees as his legs bounced up and down uncontrollably.

“I already said that didn’t I,” Mariana shot back, shaking her head. “Why would we put you in a situation where you could mess up. You may look like Bianca, but you still have a long way to go before you can act like her.”

“Ha-ha, yeah. Hopefully, I’ll never have to do that,” Lucian said while laughing nervously.

Mariana didn’t laugh. Instead, she just curled her lip into a half-smile and nodded. “Come on then. Get up.” She called out. “It’s time to get you dressed and made up. With enough padding, your body is now an almost perfect copy of Bianca’s. But the dress still might need altering a little. After all, it was custom made to fit her.”

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As Lucian felt his incredibly long hair painfully tugging around his forehead, he forced his plump, glossy pink lips to smile. Gathered around his crown, his sweet-smelling locks had been braided into an extremely tight top knot that now reached all the way down to his PVC clad backside.

With his soaring stiletto heels sinking into the plush carpet below, the tightness and weight of his extended hair were not the only inconveniences the feminised boy had to contend with.

Weighing a tonne, his sparkly diamond hoops pulled downwards on his earlobes, causing them to ache.

Thick and sticky, long, fake, spider leg like lashes fanned out wildly obscuring part of his vision. Coated in layer upon layer of mascara, Lucian thought against gravity as the monstrosities pulled down on his beautifully painted eyelids.

At this point, His hands were practically useless, thanks to the claw-like attachments bonded to the end of each finger. Made all the worse by the tightness of his dress that made lifting his arms more than a few inches practically impossible.

Walking was also a struggle with his gait restricted by the tight clingy material of the dress. The skirt portion being particularly stiff, reaching down beyond his knees and refusing to stretch an inch.

Then there were the shoes! Bright pink and ludicrously high! Mariana had actually given him a painkilling injection in the bottom of each foot, so, in her words, he could get through the evening. Combined with the high neck of his outlandish dress, forcing him to hold his head up high. Lucian had minced around, unable to feel or even see the dangerous-looking pumps, shocked that he had managed to navigate the red carpet without tripping.

When he thought back to what he had just done, the PVC clad boy felt weak in the knees. But he had to admit that Mariana’s advice had somehow helped him get through the harrowing experience.

As he’d gracefully swung his beautiful legs out of the stretch limousine, he had emptied his mind and focussed on his breathing.

As he'd taken a suited man’s hand and carefully hoisted himself up onto his stilt-like shoes, he had purposely looked away from the screaming fans and crowds of photographers.

Even standing on a predetermined spot as a firing squad of cameras went off, half blinding him, Lucian managed to control himself. Breathing in and out in a rhythmic fashion, he had concentrated on what was important. His sick mother (recently admitted to hospital) And the thought of her getting better.

(See image 14.1)

“I’m just going to check if your seat is ready,” Mariana whispered, leaning in close to Lucian’s painful ear.

“You’re leaving me?” Lucian uttered back in a quiet, shaky voice.

“Just for a second. Look around you. You’re not alone!” Mariana answered, waving her arm to indicate the half a dozen people surrounding the crossdressed man. “Just smile, stay calm and don’t talk to anyone. I’ll be right back.”

Watching as Mariana strolled away, Lucian scanned the assortment of people gathered around him. Ranging from a snotty looking makeup artist to a burly bodyguard who glared at him as they made eye contact. Quickly turning away from the menacing man's gaze, Lucian's heart skipped a beat. Directly in front of him, a very recognisable and extremely familiar-looking person was waving and heading his way. As the attractive individual approached, Lucian felt a twinge of excitement but mostly fear. As this was not a person that the sexily dressed lookalike had ever met or spoken to.

With his pearly white teeth gritted behind his half-smiling bloated lips, Lucian held his breath as the distance between the pair decreased. The last thing he wanted at that moment was a conversation pretending to be Bianca Cabello. But stood there in her tight pink dress, done up and filling in for the flashy pop princess, he knew that he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter!