Faking Smiles

"Rose, are you ever going to explain to me what happened last night?"

I don't look away from the mirror as I say, "Oliver, you shouldn't be in here. This is the girls' bathroom."

He walks up to me and hops up onto the counter and says, "I asked the lady that just left if there was anyone in here and she said it was just you, so I knew it was fine for me to come in."

I turn to face him, "What if I was changing?"

He smirks, "I wouldn't mind that."

I shake me head and try not to smile as I say, "You should really go finish getting ready for your show. You go on pretty soon, don't you?"

"You go on a few minutes before me, so really you should be the one hurrying."

I roll my eyes and reply, "I'm finished. All I have to do is go wait by the side of the stage."

He hops off the counter, takes my hand, and starts to pull me out of the bathroom, "Then I'm going to make it my duty to make sure you're there on time."

The show always starts with the dancers doing some elaborate stuff and while we're distracting the audience, Oliver will sneak onto the middle of the stage and the show will start. During Oliver's costume changes, we'll preform dances that actually follow the storyline of one his songs that would be playing in the backround (just instrumental). Then at other times, Oliver will be playing and there will be no dancing going on around him and we'll be doing a quick costume change. The point is that there is always something going on and never a boring point during the show.

There's only about 10 minutes left before I have to go on, so I'm standing on the side of the stage, but I'm still far back enough that none of the fans can see me. Oliver is still next to me and we're making random conversation for the benefit of the people around us.

Okay, now it's about time for our nightly routine of "good luck" and "I know you'll do great" and a kiss on the cheek.

Except tonight I feel like doing something a little different. When I lean up to give Oliver his kiss on the cheek, I take him by surprise and plant my lips on his. I wrap my arms around his neck and after a moment of shock, he wraps his around my waist and pulls me to him.

I know we've both been dying to do this again and I figured it'd probably be better to do it in a public place where we both know we can't go too far. I know both of us feel the electricity that flows through us whenever our lips meet. I know neither of us would like to disconnect from one another and stop the fire that's burning through us. I also know that I really need to get on stage like now.

My lips slowly remove themselves from Oliver's purely because I was about to die from not getting enough oxygen.

It was then I heard the music start. My eyes widen and I run out onto the stage to get to my spot. I hurry to catch up with the other dancers and luckily nobody noticed my momentary absence.

From that point on, the show is perfect. I hit all of my moves with no problems and as for Oliver-it's as if he's glowing. And the fans are loving it. Maybe we should kiss before all of the shows. . .

At the end, we all freeze and the lights go out. We all rush off the stage and when the lights come back on, Oliver goes back out to do an encore or two by himself, but my job for the night is over.

Like a lot of other artists, Oliver likes to answer the fans' questions after the show. He has a few of the guys walk around with mics and Oliver will sit on the stage and answer any questions the fans in the audience have for him. Some of the people in the way back don't stay for this part, but I think it's the best part of the show.

For the past few nights, I haven't watched Oliver answer the questions for the fear they might involve me, but tonight I want to see it.

I sit on the side of the stage where none the fans can see me and watch as a girl a year or two younger than me asks, "Are you working on a new album right now?"

I turn my attention to Oliver as he says, "I am currently writing some new songs, but we haven't started recording anything yet. I think we'll be starting that pretty soon after the tour ends."

An even youger girl asks, "Are any of the songs on your next album gonna be about your girlfriend?"

Oliver glances at me on the side of the stage and then answers, "Yeah, I'm sure a few of them will be about her."

Another girl (around my age) asks, "What do you like about your girlfriend? I mean, you have so many girls that would kill to be your girlfriend, what makes her so special?"

Excuse me, bitch?

Oliver looks over at me again and chuckles a little when he sees my expression. Then he turns to the jealous bitch who asked the question and says, "What makes her special? You know, I have no idea. There's just something about her that makes me feel whole and I know we haven't really been dating too long, but I can't picture being here without her."

The whole audience lets out an "aww" and I turn to see the jealous bitch's face has softened at Oliver's answer to her question.

My eyes look over to see Oliver has gotten off his stool and he's now moving towards me. Before I even know what's happening, Oliver has me sitting on the stool he was just on and he's now standing next to me, holding my hand.

While looking at me, he says into his mic, "Now Rose, I have a question for you. What do you like about your boyfriend? What makes him worthy enough to be with someone as amazing as yourself?"

I smile as I realize what he's doing and I answer, "First of all, I just love how modest he is." I think everyone in the room knew that was dripping with sarcasm.

Then I say, "But honestly, I like how he always knows how to brighten my mood, no matter what. And I like how he tries to act like a normal person even though he's anything but. And how he still has hopes and dreams and goals like anyone else. He loves his fans and would go to hell and back if it would mean getting to meet every single one of them. And he knows that he has flaws even though everyone is telling him he's perfect."

We stare into each other's eyes and try to read into the other's words to find out what's truth and what's just another part of the lie we're telling the world, because at the end of that day, that's all this is. Just one, huge lie.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Oliver lowers his mic and whispers to me, "The audience is chanting, we can't deny them."

I whisper back, "It has to be short this time."

He slightly nods and for the third time since we started this whole fake relationship thing, we set off fireworks.