Enchantment
SS by Amanda
Part I – Wade’s POV
“Why are you so antsy?”
I look over at my girlfriend sitting beside me and shake my head.
“I’m not antsy,” I lie, hoping to avoid telling her the real reason I am.
“Yes you are. I’ve never seen you like this before. You look nervous. Anxious. . . . . . Antsy.”
I can feel her eyes on me as I keep my gaze on the road.
“No, Mayte, I’m not antsy. Or nervous. Or anxious. So, let’s drop it.”
She huffs and folds her arms in front of her as she turns her head to look out the window. She’s pissed because she knows that I’m not telling her the truth.
I am antsy, but the reason I am is one that she is definitely not going to like.
She stares out the window in silence for a few minutes as we make our way to the studio. As I look over at her, I can tell that she is deep in thought, her jaw clenched tightly as she thinks.
“Who are you working with today? Brian?” she asks, her voice showing a hint of anger.
“No,” I say softly, dreading speaking the next word out of my mouth, “Britney.”
She laughs sarcastically as I try to mumble Britney’s name in hopes that she wouldn’t hear me.
No luck.
“So that’s why you’re antsy. You’re working with the princess today.”
I shake my head and bite my tongue as she speaks. She wants me to retaliate against her calling Britney a princess, but I don’t want to fight with her at the moment. I don’t have the energy or the patience.
I say nothing, so she decides to push me farther.
“Of course, the princess probably isn’t feeling so wonderful these days since prince charming finally got a brain and kicked her to the curb.”
I clutch the steering wheel firmly as I hear her spiteful words. I know that she’s trying to pick a fight with me, she does this every time I work with Britney, but I refuse to let her get to me. I refuse to give her what she wants.
I pull into the parking lot and quickly jump out of the car without uttering a word, with Mayte following closely behind me.
As we make it to the doors to the main studio, I turn around and look at her.
“I thought you said you were going to work in the other studio,” I ask, hoping to avoid any altercations between her and Britney. Well, actually, just hoping to avoid her trying to cause altercations with Britney.
“I was, but I’ve decided that I’ll just work here. It’s a big studio and since it’s just you and Britney, I’m sure they’ll be room.”
I can feel my face getting hot as I look at her, her eyes gleaming with spite.
Don’t let her get to you.
I turn quickly and open the door, my eyes instantly landing on Britney in the center of the room rehearsing a ballerina sequence for her upcoming tour.
Her body moves gracefully as she rises and falls, imitating the moves of a ballerina in a music box. I can feel Mayte’s glare on me but I can’t pull my eyes away from the woman across from me.
She’s enchanting.
As the music ends, Britney stops and looks at herself in the mirror, shaking her head in disappointment at what she sees.
Instantly, Mayte starts to clap and a startled Britney turns to look at us.
“Bravo, bravo,” she chirps, “I see that you’ve been to a basic dance class recently there, princess.”
I watch as Britney’s face grows hard as she looks directly at Mayte. She’s hurt, that’s obvious, but she’s also mad.
I want to run over and hug her, erasing all of her fears, but Mayte’s presence keeps me from doing so.
“It was wonderful, Brit. Don’t worry about it,” I say as I begin to move closer to her, leaving Mayte behind.
“We’re gonna work over here and you can stay over there and do your thing,” I say as I turn back to her and point for her to stay where she is.
I don’t give her time to answer as I turn back to Britney and turn on the music.
“Now,” I say as I put my hand on her waist and she brings her eyes to mine, “Just go with the flow. Feel the music and let your body take over. Don’t think about it, just move.”
“Ok,” she says as she moves her hand into mine and we start to move to the music.
After a few seconds, I can feel her start to tense up and she looses her concentration, stepping on my foot and stopping in frustration.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers as she turns away from me and runs her hand through her hair.
“Here, let me show you how it’s done the right way.”
Before I have a chance to object, Mayte has stepped in front of me and grabbed my hand.
I look over at Britney for a moment and she nods her head.
Mayte presses her body to mine as we start to move to the music, all the time my mind on Britney standing a few feet away. I let my body flow with hers and as the music ends, she kisses me gently on the lips and turns to face Britney.
“See that, princess, that is how a real woman does it. Oh, but I forgot, you’re not yet a woman,” she laughs sarcastically, “No wonder Justin left you, he needs a woman, not a little girl.”
I can see tears start to form in Britney’s eyes, though I’m not sure if they’re tears of hurt or tears of anger. I know from experience that when Britney gets angry, she starts to cry.
I turn quickly and grab onto Mayte’s arm as she continues to smile spitefully at Britney.
I walk her to the other side of the room before I stop and pull her in front of me.
“Go back to the hotel, Mayte. I can’t work with you here doing this.”
She cocks her head to one side and looks at me.
“I have work to do here, Wade. You can’t make me leave. Don’t blame me if the goddess over there can’t hit her steps.”
“Mayte, go now,” I say sternly as I point to the door, “Take my car, I will take a cab.”
She looks back at Britney once more before she grabs her bag and heads for the door.
“Ok,” she announces as she’s leaving, “But you’ll have to make this up to me tonight.”
I watch her walk out the door and then turn to face Britney.
“I’m sorry, Brit. You just have to ignore her sometimes.”
Britney shakes her head and laughs softly.
“It’s ok. She’s right anyway. At least about Justin.”
I walk in front of her and put my hands on her arms as she looks down at the floor.
“Brit, please don’t think that.”
“You know, Wade,” she says as she raises her tear filled eyes to me, “I’m really not feeling that well. Can we do this tomorrow?”
I can feel the urgency in her voice as she desperately tries to control her emotions in front of me.
“Sure.”
She wastes no time in grabbing her stuff and heading for the door.
I shake my head as I watch her leave in a rush.
Justin Timberlake has no idea what he gave up.
I spend the next three hours rehearsing by myself at the studio, ultimately aware that returning to the hotel means returning to Mayte and I’m not sure if I want to do that at all.
Eventually, fatigue gets the best of me and I grudgingly make my way back to my suite.
As I walk through the door, I see Mayte sitting on the edge of the bed painting her toenails. She smiles mischievously as she sees me enter.
“Sent the princess to get her beauty sleep?”
I throw my t-shirt off as I turn to her.
“Stop that now. I don’t know what it is you have against Britney, but I’m getting fed up listening to you berate her all the time.”
She stands up quickly and moves closer to me.
“What’s wrong, Wade, can’t stand me telling the truth about your little princess?” she yells as her anger builds, “This is exactly why I don’t like her. Because everybody fucking treats her like she’s an angel. And she’s not.”
I clench my fists as I watch her, fighting every urge in my body to throw her out the door as she is.
“The truth is, she’s nothing. She can’t sing. She can’t dance. I seriously doubt she can act. And it pleases me to no end that Timberlake finally realized that there are women out there who can give him everything that she can’t. And you know that.”
I raise an eyebrow and look at her.
“Oh, I do,” I say harshly.
“Yeah,” she says as she smiles and starts to run her hand along my bare chest, “That’s why you’re with me. Just like Timberlake, you want a woman, not a little girl. I can do things that the princess could never dream about.”
She moves her head to the side of mine, her lips just inches away from my ear.
“And you love it. Last night you definitely loved it. And so did I.”
I pull her back from me slightly and look into her eyes.
“You liked it last night?” I ask softly.
She smiles and nods her head.
“Oh yeah. You were amazing.”
“Well,” I say as I run my the back of my hand along her face, “There was a reason I was amazing. I had a little motivation.”
She looks at me curiously as she cocks her head to one side.
“What was that?”
I lean forward and brush my lips against her ear.