“Right, so.” Chris leaned forward, suddenly movie-star-intense.
Vicki snorted. “Cut that out. You don’t get to go being charismatic and intense around me. I remember when you nearly lobotomized yourself by sticking pencils up your nose and then tripping.”
Marguerite burst out laughing. “Did he really?”
“He did. He was twelve and trying to impress a girl, which, spoiler alert, sticking pencils up his nosedid not do, and actually it was terrifying, I think Mom almost had a heart attack from the stress of it all. Anyway, stop it, Chris.”
Her brother hmphed. “What good is being a movie star if I can’t turn on the charisma at home? But no, listen, look, I was thinking. Sanjay, my costar, the kid? He always had an on-set tutor, because he’s got to get an education, right? If you wanted to keep teaching but also be working out of LA, you could do that, Vic. Between Zane and me, we’ve got all the connections you’d need, and it would give you a more flexible schedule than the traditional school year.”
Zane’s hand tightened around Vicki’s and he cast her a brief, hopeful look that she returned with an anticipatory smile. “Oh. Oh, that might be great. I’m going to have to think about it—I’ve got this year’s contract to finish, at least, and I don’t know if I can, or should, get out of next year’s, but…Chris, that could bewonderful.”
“Yes, well. I’m Benton Sinclair, you know. Iamwonderful.”
Marguerite elbowed him. Heoofed obligingly, pleased with himself, then looked at the two women in their dresses. “So, ah, shall we get you two changed back into your own gowns, and get this show on the road?”
It was much moredifficult to climb out of a limo gracefully with millions of people watching than Vicki hadeverimagined.
Chris and Zane, who were used to this kind of thing, went first, ducking out of the door with quick waves and smiles, then turning back to help the women in their complicated dresses exit without falling on their faces. Marguerite, who had also done this before, murmured, “Just keep your hem up so you don’t step on it, and you’ll be fine,” just before she took Chris’s hand and stepped out with a wave and a smile of her own.
Vicki seriously considered hiding under the seat and never coming out at all, but Zane’s encouraging smile appeared, and she put her hand into his trustingly.
Somehow, almost magically, it worked. She stepped clear without tripping over her hem, and the gorgeous, glimmering skirt swished around her as an actual roar of excitement went up. Camera flashes exploded light everywhere, blinding her, and in a near-panic, she remembered how Zane had said not to blink too much, and Chris’s advice to look slightly above the crowd, which he said helped a little with the bright lights.
Vicki had watched footage of her brother getting out of a limo and having millions of cameras on him dozens of times in her life. She had never imagined experiencing it for herself, and she had never one realized there was alineto stand on the red carpet and have pictures taken. They were moved to the front of it, mostly because Vicki wasn’t very important in the whole Hollywood hierarchy thing, but she was also an It Girl for tonight.
If she hadn’t felt so absolutely beautiful and completely happy, she would have decided she never, ever wanted to be an It Girl again, but for one night, it was rather wonderful. She and Marguerite had spent part of the afternoon practicing how to stand in the most flattering angles, which was not something Vicki had ever considered before but was suddenly glad of aspeople called her name and had her turn this way and that to show off her gown.
She also hadn’t anticipated that there would be screens everywhere that she couldseeherself on.Thatwas a combination of terrifying and wonderful, too, because really, she would have been happy to stand in front of a mirror gawping at herself all night instead of actually going to the ball. It did help her have somewhere else to look other than the flashing lights, and she felt vain and self-centered watching herself on the cameras, but also…
…she looked beautiful. She really did, with her hair swept up like Cinderella, tendrils of curls at her nape and temples, and a pale blue diamond collar necklace that glittered like fire at her throat. That had been a gift—temporary, he emphasized—from Chris, who’d borrowed it from a huge name jeweler that Vicki would have never dreamed of wearing. It had matching earrings that dripped from her lobes, and a shining tiara that sat lightly in her hair.
In the end, the gown had no traditional neckline at all. Instead, transparent blue gauze clung to her chest and upper arms, providing a bit of structure to a beaded bodice that created a neckline like water on the shore. The beads spilled downward to another waves-on-the-shore dropped waistline that met the shimmering, pleated sea-colored fabric of the skirt, which swirled and spun and shifted against her skin with incredible sensation. She was bare-legged beneath it,notwearing stockings, because the skirt had a thigh-high split and the idea of one of her students catching a glimpse of their teacher in stockings was way more than Vicki could handle, but the slit skirt did mean that with each step, her wonderful ‘glass’ slippers could be seen.
For tonight—just for tonight—she was a genuine fairy tale princess, and it filled her with joy.
“Ms. Hawthorne—Vicki—can I call you Vicki?” Grace Chen stepped out of the crowd, a welcoming smile on her face blossoming even wider as Vicki chuckled and nodded. “Vicki, then. First, may I say:wow.”
Vicki laughed. “You may!” She gathered the skirt and spun, feeling the light, flowing fabric whirl beautifully around her legs and then settle, while the reporter beamed at her.
“How does it feel to be on the red carpet for the first time? And in such prestigious company?” Grace nodded toward Chris, and Vicki threw a careless glance his way to see him striking a pose for other cameras. “Am I right in understanding Benton Sinclair is yourbrother? And you’ve been hiding away as an elementary school teacher all this time, instead of wowing us all on the red carpet?”
“Ben likes the spotlight. I can do without it. But this is fun,” Vicki admitted. “I don’t know if it’s ‘I could get used to this’ fun, but it’s fun.”
“You and designer Zane Bellamy seem to be hitting it off. Can I ask what the story is there, especially after yesterday’s PDA between Mr. Bellamy and Nora Brusch?”
“Well, it’s early days yet, but I think Zane and I may have found kindred spirits in each other,” Vicki said happily. She was sure of it, but the entire entertainment industry didn’t need to know that right now. “As for yesterday, I guess if I was Ms. Brusch, I would have taken my shot at Zane, too, if I thought my chances were slipping away. But, you know, we all do stupid things when we’re twenty-four, and I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, personally.”
“Wonderful.” Grace really sounded like she meant it. “Now, can you tell me about the dress? What was it like, being an almost-ordinary person working closely with a top designer?”
“Iamordinary. I can’t help it if my brother is famous, butI’mordinary. And it was really exciting,” Vicki admitted. “I can sewsmall felt animals for first graders, but that’s about it. Watching Zane at work was like watching magic happening. He saw things I didn’t even know how to suggest. I feel incredibly lucky. This was the chance of a lifetime for me, and I’m so grateful to have won.”
“Especially since it seems you may have won at love, too. Tell me, will you be wearing this dress when you get married, or will you have Zane design you another one?”
“Oh my God!” Vicki burst out laughing. “Talk about putting the cart in front of the horse!”
“Besides.” Zane swooped in to save her, a smile on his face, too. “I’m already booked for an entire wedding trousseau, so I can’t possibly commit to another one right now.”
“Oh really!” Grace almost physically pounced, as if she was being given the scoop of a lifetime. “Whose trousseau are you designing?”
