His Secret Palace

Chapter 3 - Advertisement Offer

I find the music from the film soundtrack on my phone and press play. I then move closer to Dylan. He takes my hand as if we’re about to start the dance. I follow his steps and give him the line.

“One, two, three, cha-cha-cha…”

Dylan puts his hand on my butt and I move it and place it back around my waist. “Hands off!”

He moves towards me while leading the dance, but his movements are a little off. He starts touching me all over… a la Patrick Swayze! I put my hand on his chest to push him backwards… “This is my dance space… this is your dance space. Let’s cha-cha-cha… Don’t look down…”

“STOP!” Larry shouts from down the stage. We stop. I grab my phone to turn off the music, before turning my head towards Larry. “Where’s the sensuality? Where’s the chemistry between you? I can’t see anything. The essence of the scene is just not there!”

“It’s not for lack of trying! But Meridian isn’t exactly…”

I cut off Dylan and say “We’re gonna try and do better. I’ll try harder…”

“Perseverance is key, Mer. You mustn’t let go… Ever!” Larry advices me. deep down I know he is right. There’s no chemistry. It all feels wrong. I see it and I feel it…

Larry walks up to us, takes Dylan’s arms and puts them around me. “Hold her more sensually, Dylan. Take it from a few lines back…”

“One, two, three, cha-cha-cha…”

As Dylan puts his hand on my butt, Larry pulls a face. “This is all wrong! Do you really have to work that hard to find her attractive, Dylan?”

“I… no… but hey… This is awkward. I’m gay. There you have it.”

“You may be gay, but you’re an actor! Do you think James Deana and Marlon Brando would have used that as an excuse? I don’t know… imagine grabbing Patrick Swayze’s ass!”

We do the scene again but Dylan doesn’t seem to be getting into it… Larry seems a bit upset. “Dylan, go take a seat. I think you did your best for tonight.”

He does as he’s told. I’m about to go sit down too, but Larry puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me. “Don’t move, Mer. We’re going to redo the scene together.”

Once on stage, I look at Larry. I’m a bit scared of my teacher to be honest. I’ve seen him act plenty of times, and he’s unbelievably good. No matter how hard I try to look confident in front of him, I’m always a little intimidated…

“One last word of advice before we get started. Try to relieve an emotion you’ve actually experience in life. At this point in the story, Johnny and Baby really have the hots for each other even if they’ve not fully admitted it yet. Think of a couple of personal situations where you’ve been through this kind of thing… Find that feeling inside you.”

I try to think about what he just said before I play the scene again. I turn the music back on. Larry is facing me and I’m about to jump right in it when all of a sudden… I have a flash!

An image pops into my mind! I see the mysterious hotel guest from earlier. He’s standing in front of me… he’s not wearing a shirt… There’s no doubt about it! That guy was a charmer! I didn’t think he’d had this much of an effect on me… I’m not usually like this.

It’s as if we were performing the scene together. The mystery man takes my hand to start the dance. I follow his lead and give him the line. “One, two, three, cha-cha-cha…”

With both confidence and delicacy in equal measure, he places his hand on my butt. Iy’s just like a shock running through my body. But I snap back to reality. I can’t ignore the fact tat I am, in fact, with my teacher.

I mustn’t step out of my role. I have to stay focused. I move his hand back up to my hip. He comes closer to me and guides the dance. This guy is elegant… and masterful. “Don’t touch!”

But he presses himself into me, making this whole dance a whole lot sexier than I expected. I put my hand on his chest to try to get him to back off… “This is my dance space… this is your dance space. Let’s cha-cha!”

He’s so provocative. He keeps staring at my breasts. “Don’t look down… look right here!”

He lies down on the floor in rhythm with the music. It’s as of my words have crushed him. Finally he raises his head towards me in a natural and oddly casual way and starts miming to the song.

I look at him with a flirty smile as I wiggle my backside and wink at him. then I walk behind the curtain before reappearing back on stage.

And then I see him again… my mystery guy… with his dream body springing up like a cat. I get down on my knees and start making way toward him. I’m hypnotized.

We come closer to each other in perfect union. “Baby, my sweet baby.” I say playing my part.

He’s playing air guitar in sync to the music. Our faces are inches apart… as if we’re about to kiss.

“You’re the one.” I breathe. He lowers his head and presses his lips against my tummy before we both slowly get to our feet. I feel like we’re one.

I feel all hot and bothered as he plunges his face into my cleavage… I bend over, then come back to him and put my hands gently around his face.

It’s at this point that I come to my senses. Larry’s head is turned towards Dylan. He’s immediately resumed his role as a serious and focused teacher. “Did you get a good look at that Dylan? Got it now? Have you figured how to do it?”

My teacher then looks and gives me a tender smile as he gradually catches his breath. “Bravo! That was perfect. I have nothing to add at all. That was a very nice performance, Mer.”

I return the compliment. “I think it was you who did all the work! You were perfect! But… thank you.”

As I come back down to earth, I wonder what just happened to me. Apparently, I did some pretty good acting just now. But why did I think about that guy I met today?

Larry glances at me. “It’s weird… Sometimes it’s as if you’re completely out of it, Mer. But then… suddenly it’s as if you have the gift of the goddesses! What do you guys think?”

“It was ultra-hot! I loved it! I wanna go home and watch Dirty Dancing again!” Ray commented.

***

As everyone’s leaving the class, Larry asks me to stay back. “Can I talk to you for five minutes?”

“Yeah, sure! I mean, I was late earlier, so…”

“I’m not gonna beat around the bush. You’re one of the most talented students I have.”

“Thank you so much! That’s a real compliment coming from you. I really appreciate it. Acting isn’t just a hobby for me, you know?”

Larry nods. “You stand a real chance in this business and I want to see you succeed. But it’s going to require total investment on your part. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, I think so. I have to make sure I’m not late again. I get it.”

“Yes. This isn’t something you should take lightly. I’d appreciate it if you were here for my entire class.”

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Honestly, I didn’t mean to…”

“Good. I hope I can believe you, Mer. It would be super sad if you wasted your talent.” Larry is speaking to me in a serious tone. This is a warning. He’s not being scarily strict or anything though. In fact, his kindness is coming off him in waves and I really appreciate it.

“There will be a big scene in the end-of-year performance. Each student will have to present the journey of a character of their choice.”

“How do we do that exactly?” I ask.

“I’ll come back to that in class next week, but basically you’ll choose a character from play. It can be whoever you want. Then you’ll present that person’s journey through a series of scenes. For example, Horatio’s entire journey in Hamlet. Even a second character can become the main character. The whole exercise is that you’ll be making it interesting and personal to you. There will be prestigious producers and casting directors in the audience. I believe in you. This could be a good opportunity.”

This is my chance. This kind of opportunity is rare. It really could launch my career. And if Larry believes in me, I have to believe in me. “It’s been my dream since I was a child. I’ll do anything to make it happen. You can count on me. I just wanted to let you know how much I feel I’ve improved since taking your class.”

Larry flashes me a confident smile. I imagine he doesn’t doubt the quality of his classes, but I guess it’s always nice to hear. “That’s nice! I also wanted to talk to you about an ausition. Would you be interested in a coffee commercial?”

“Coffee… tea… even beer! Sure! I’ll do it!”

“I like your enthusiasm! It’s for ‘South’s Coffee’… and it’s… ‘as strong as it is refined’ apparently! The whole thing is on horseback though. If I remember correctly, you have good riding skills? It was on your resume.”

“Yes! Yes, of course! I’m an excellent rider!”

I SO am not! Everyone lies on their resume! Well, maybe me more than most! But everyone does it, right?

“It’s a national TV commercial and it’ll give you exposure. You should really try and give it a shot!”

“I’ll give it a go! I’ll give it my best shot! When’s it on?”

“Three days from now.”

Wow! That doesn’t give me much time to get ready… especially with my work at the hotel. What a mess I’ve gotten myself into again.

***

I’m sitting at the Secret Palace reception desk and I’m all alone. This hasn’t happened once since I started working here and I’ve been waiting for this moment. I start going through the computer files looking for the employee register. I click, click and click again…

After looking through several pretty useless files, I think I’ve got it. Maybe this is going to be easier than I thought… and I can quit this job. I type in ‘Kyros’ and run a search on the file.

“What are you doing junior?”

I look up. It’s Damian. I close the search tab. He’s twirling one of his gel covered locks around his fingertip and staring at me suspiciously. “Are you doing a tutorial on how to be a concierge, Junior?”

“Absolutely not! I was just working. It’s no biggie! I just…”

Damian shrugs his shoulders and comes over and stands beside me. The internal phone rings. I can see the Diamond Suite is flashing at regular intervals on the small screen that identifies the origin of the call.

“The Secret Palace reception, how can I help you? Um… Yes. That’s fine. I’ll send that straight up.” Damian turns to me as he hangs up the phone. “Mr. Devin wants us to bring him a bowl of Choco Royal cereal with milk.”

“Really? A bowl of cereal? Like breakfast cereal? At five in the afternoon?”

“We’re not here to judge. Hurry up and get it to him before I tell Margaret you’re a lazy-ass!”

“But you’re the one who answered the call! Logically, it should be you who deals with it!”

Damian raises an eyebrow. “Yes, but you’re the junior concierge, you see? The clock is ticking, Meridian! The clock is ticking… tick-tock… tick-tock…”

He’s actually being serious… I think he’s got to be one of the worst people to work with on the planet.

I head to the kitchen and fins what I need. As I pour the milk over the cereal, I notice a porter preparing the evening service. He looks at me strangely. I put the bowl on a trolley and place a dome cover over it. That’s the ill-timed breakfast done! I hurry to the service elevator.

As the elevator climbs, I look at the silver dome covering the cereal bowl. The Secret Palace is a prestigious place. But… it does seem weird to be putting cereal under a silver dome. Let’s just say it’s not how I do things. But for the people here, it’s probably pretty mundane.