CH28
I didn't see. Almost every actor I'd worked with suffers nerves before a performance. Their acting was more compelling for it.
Egos inflated post-performance, when they bathed in the adulation and attention after the fact. I didn't think Amelia understood.
"You're trending on Twitter. Peter called this morning to tell me. Your video has been watched almost a million times," I informed her, plating breakfast.
"Really?" she asked, eyes bright.
I slid a plate across the counter to her. Resting my hip against the island counter, I took a bite of egg and nodded. I didn't like the brightness in her eyes.
"Eat," I ordered.
"Boy, you're in a pissy mood," Amelia observed. "Drink some more coffee." She started eating.
My grumpiness followed me through the morning and into early afternoon; an unpleasant, prickly ghost haunting me.
I couldn't shake the feeling that everything was on the cusp of changing just as I was finding happiness and fulfillment with Amelia. Even her laughter and play with Rufus didn't bring my spirits up.
Just past three in the afternoon, as I puttered around in the kitchen - my day having been completely unproductive and unsatisfactory - Amelia emerged with her iPhone.
She smiled at me, her magnetic eyes twinkling. "I've got something that will make you feel better."
She dropped her iPhone into the dock on our music system and swiped the screen, tapping something.
She was dressed for early August heat; sky blue shorts, bare feet, and a matching sky blue and pale green short-sleeved cotton top.
She was a study in gorgeous, her dark, shorn hair feathery with soft spikes, frameless glasses adding to her elfin-like cuteness, and a slender, very attractive adolescent body. She was perfect. My mood darkened.
"Ready?" she asked brightly.
I nodded.
She tapped the iPhone and dance music started, a light electronic bop. Bright, electric keyboard notes joined in, and, when drums and bass added a deep, rhythmic beat, Amelia smiled at me and began to sing, accompanying the singer on the stereo.
Amelia's voice was more powerful, more radiant, and much more compelling.
Boy I see ya, looking at me
I feel your eyes on me, like you gotta have me
Watching every move, like it's for you
You can't help it, you're attracted like a magnet
My love ain't easy
You gonna have to put in some work
You can't buy me a drink, thinking I'mma fall for your flirt
You gotta make it right, if you wanna go spend some time
You gotta raise the bar tonight"
With a bright, bright grin, Amelia started dancing as she moved into the chorus; her nutty, wonky, loose-limbed dance that, with music, became mesmerizing, absorbing, and so damn cute. I laughed with delight. Her eyes twinkled with pleasure.
"Love me, baby treat me right
Make it eternity and not only one night
If you love me til the end of time
Then I will promise you the night of your life
So now love me, baby treat me right
And we'll be riding it from morning til midnight
If you love me til the end of time
Then I will promise you the night of your life
Night of your life, life, life
Night of your life, life, life"
Amelia smiled sneakily, stopped dancing, her hips now moving in time with the tempo. She pointed her finger at me. Damn, she was communicating with music again!
"I could have ya, if I wanted to
Down on one knee, in front of me, wedding bells ringing
I could claim ya, be your savior
Wrap your heart inside of these arms, and you'll never leave
I could have your hands tied, round my body, all up on me
Boy you'll be stuck to me, if I wanted with no release
I'll have you begging, wishing now I give a piece
Baby you'll never be the same"
I couldn't help laughing when she started dancing again at the chorus; her manic, loose-limbed, fascinating movement was riveting.
"Love me, baby treat me right
Make it eternity and not only one night
If you love me til the end of time
Then I will promise you the night of your life
So now love me, baby treat me right
And we'll be riding it from morning til midnight
If you love me til the end of time
Then I will promise you the night of your life
Night of your life, life, life
Night of your life, life, life
Taller than a mountain, deeper than the sea
You're boiling hot for me babe, one hundred degrees
I want you to love me, like your favorite dream
Let's make tonight a reality...
So now love me, baby treat me right
And we'll be riding it from morning til midnight
If you love me til the end of time
Then I will promise you the night of your life
Night of your life, life, life
Night of your life, life, life
Night of your life, life, life"
The song ended. My chest ached with love and adoration. I was grinning like a fool. Amelia was cute and sexy, and bursting with personality when she sang.
It hit me. All my objections to her being a public personality were driven by jealousy. I didn't want to share her.
In that moment, I realized Amelia was Amelia, unique and different and unstoppable. She'd always be Amelia no matter what happened.
"What was that song?" I asked. "I don't recognize it."
"David Guetta's Night of Your Life. Jennifer Hudson sings it. So? Did you get the message?" Amelia asked, smiling at me, eyes bright.
"Yeah. You'll always be you, no matter how famous you're going to be."
Amelia's eyes opened wide in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? You're so clueless, Mike!"
"What?"
Amelia grinned at me and sang a cappella; without music accompaniment.
"If you love me til the end of time
Then I will promise you the night of your life
Night of your life, life, life
the song ended.