Love Never Felt So Good

Bailey was high on life. She had been working all morning with Beyoncé and her crew, choreographing, dancing, trying out different samples of music and even getting a sneak peek at costumes. They had originally taken a break for lunch, but then decided to call it a day and regroup tomorrow to hit the second half of the production.

She had a whole afternoon and evening off in Los Angeles and was excited to meet her friend for lunch at Urth Café. Beau Bennett lived within driving distance of the hotel she was staying in for the week, and was meeting her near the grove that day.

Stopping back at the Hilton, Bailey took a quick body shower, changing into a white sundress, fixing her hair up into her milkmaid braids, and reapplied her red lip before hailing a taxi to take her where she wanted to go.

Beau Bennett was excited to get a visitor in California, especially such a fun one.

“Beau!” Bailey cheered as she spotted the blonde near the back of the restaurant.

“Bails.” Beau returned the sentiment, getting up and giving her a big hug, almost lifting her from her feet before pulling her chair out for her.

“How are you? It’s been so long.” She said dramatically, making herself giggle, seeing as they had just been together three weeks ago in Nova Scotia.

“I’m good, how are you? How is Beyoncé? Is she as perfect in person as I bet she is? Can I meet her? When can I come with you to a practice?” He rattled off, making her grin wildly at his list of questions.

“I’m great, Sidney says hi, Beyoncé is awesome, and unfortunately, practices are private.” She answered his questions.

“Damn it.” He snapped his fingers, “I should have guessed.” He grinned as the server came by to take their drink order. “How is the captain these days? Still working out and skating every day like I suspect?” Beau asked.

“Sidney is good, he’s home taking care of the pups and catching up on Teen Wolf so we can talk about season four when I get home.” She grinned. “He’s very jealous you’re out here with me.” She added.

“Well in that case.” Beau grabbed his cell phone from his pocket. Bailey posed for a photo with a cute smile, holding her iced tea in her hand.

God you’re beautiful. Beau thought to himself as he sent the photo off to his captain and saving it to his own phone.

“Don’t get cocky now.” She warned, looking over the menu. “Where’s your cute little California girlfriend, huh?”

“What California girlfriend?” Beau asked, “I’m still waiting for you to leave Cap for me.” He replied, making her giggle.

“I should totally set you up with one of my dancers when you come back to Pittsburgh.” She said excitedly. “Lots of my students come back and teach in the summer when they’re home from college, totally cute girls.” She insisted.

“Uh oh, your boyfriend text me back.” Beau checked his cell phone. “He says ‘keep your hands where I can see them’.” He read, making Bailey smile and shake her head.

“He’s silly.” She declared, receiving a text from her own from the captain of the Penguins.

From: Sidney
No running away with the kid.

To: Sidney
Yes, Mr. Crosby

Little did Bailey know, Sidney was on a trip of his own that week.

“But really, Bails, has this… project been everything you wanted it to be? Everything you were expecting?” He asked.

“Everything and more. It’s so insane to be working with my idol. I have unlimited creativity – total artistic license and they even gave me a budget and I can contribute to costume ideas. This project is going to have my name all over it and is going to do crazy things for my career.” She said happily. “The only downside is being away from Sid. I feel guilty leaving him when he’s only got so much time left in the summer before hockey starts again in the fall.”

“He’ll be fine, he’s probably been playing video games with Nealer all week and eating all the food he’s not allowed before you get back.” Beau laughed. “You guys have been together for a while right? Coming up on a year?” He asked.

“It will be a year two weeks after his birthday.” She nodded. “And speaking of his birthday, I still have no idea what to get him.” She sighed, “I was going to do a little shopping tonight to see if I could find him anything out here, would you be interested in helping?” She asked.

“I have nothing else to do! And I live with my parents, I would love to kill some time with you.” Beau replied, after not too long, the two ate their lunch, talking about missing Pittsburgh and the few things Beau had been up to since he returned from Nova Scotia.

Crossing further into downtown LA, they found the shopping district and parked Beau’s card.

“Beau I literally have nothing I can think of to get Sidney. I wanted to do something pretty special. We started dating like right after his birthday last year.” She pointed out.

“How about instead of killing yourself trying to think of a good present, you just throw him an awesome party?” Beau suggested. “Like call up his friends from his old teams, get them out to Pittsburgh, make a cake he likes, do the whole thing.” Beau suggested,

“That’s a good idea, Beau!” She smiled, giving his bicep a squeeze as they walked arm in arm down the promenade.

“I do have good ideas once and a while.” He replied, making her giggle. They were both perfectly aware of photographers taking their picture, hearing the incessant clicking of the camera. Beau looked back at a man in a hat with a pony tail, seeing that he was snapping pictures of he and Bailey, sticking his tongue out at the man.

“I love what I’m doing here but I’m so ready to get out of L.A.” Bailey sighed.

“You and me both – the paparazzi love me.” Beau said seriously, making her laugh even harder.

“I’m sure they do, Beau.”

- - -

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!” Bailey counted in the dancers in. It had been a weird final day in LA. They had moved their practice area to a high-rise ballroom downtown. While the view was gorgeous, the room wasn’t as great to practice in and everyone had been late that morning.

Bailey had a four o’clock flight back home to Pittsburgh that afternoon and she had every intention on keeping it. She missed Sidney terribly and was excited to be home for a month straight.

That, and they had two camera crews in the room as well as a photographer, taking in part of the experience – also, a way for Bailey to claim more royalties as the footage ran on HBO and in DVDs from Beyoncé’s show.

Performing the routine a few times, Bailey was confident in the dancer’s abilities with the number. Beyoncé stood in, doing almost all of the moves except for when she was also working in time to sing and then catch up with the choreography.

“Perfect, perfect!” Bailey called. Beyoncé high-fived Bailey after the run-through.

“Are you about ready to get out of this crazy house?” She asked with a big smile.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.” Bailey replied, beaming from cheek to cheek. It would never feel normal to be having a casual conversation with the queen herself.

“Yeah, that’s because you have that cute boyfriend in Pittsburgh, huh?” Beyoncé teased. Her first night in LA, they went out for dinner, getting to know one another and afterwards, heading to a studio to listen to the single.

“Yes, I’m definitely ready to see him again.” She nodded.

“He seems like a good guy.” Beyoncé smiled warmly.

“He’s the best.” Bailey agreed.

They ran through the routine again from the top, this time, Bailey performing full-out with them instead of marking from the front of the room. All the cameras were rolling and the photographer was snapping photos like crazy – of Beyoncé, of her back up dancers, of Bailey – the view from the ballroom on the fortieth floor.

Beyoncé called a huddle with her back up dancers and afterwards, they slowly filtered out of the room as Bailey was distracted, speaking with the sound technician.

“Bailey! Can I get one time from the top, just you and me?” Bailey asked.

Anything for you, Beyoncé. Bailey thought to herself.

“Sure.” She nodded. She quick re-did the bun on top of her head, grabbing her ankle and stretching out her knee behind her, having felt the muscle tighten up a few times that morning.

Bailey took her place beside the performer, getting ready as the sound technician queued the music. When the song began, Bailey could feel the bass thumping in her chest. This was likely the best thing that had ever happened to her – here she was, in a gorgeous studio dancing beside Beyoncé in LA – and having the time of her life.

It was over all too quickly and her personal assistant ran up with a small towel for each girl and a water bottle. She dabbed at Bailey’s forehead, something Bailey found very odd, but she wasn’t going to say anything in front of her idol.

“So this amazing boyfriend, what does he look like?” Beyoncé asked, taking a drink of her water as they stood with Bailey’s back to the door.

“Tall, well, taller than me.” Bailey giggled, “dark curly hair, cute smile, super pale.” Bailey began. “The kindest eyes, a huge butt.” She sighed dreamily. She really missed Sidney.

“So, maybe a little like that guy?” Bailey’s head snapped towards the door where Sidney stood in a suit with a big smile on his face.

“Baby!” She practically leaned across the room, jumping up in Sidney’s arms, giving him all of a half a second to catch her. She could hear Beyoncé laughing behind her and the shutter of cameras. “What are you doing here?!” She asked, kissing all over his face, likely effectively embarrassing both he and herself.

“I missed you.” Sidney smiled, kissing her gently. “And I wanted to see what you were up to.” He grinned, “bring me to your leader.” He whispered in her ear, making her giggle like mad as she grabbed his hand, leading her over to Beyoncé.

“B, this is my boyfriend, Sidney, Sidney, this is Beyoncé.” She introduced the two.

“Nice to finally meet you.” Beyoncé smiled, shaking his hand. Bailey was so jazzed up, she didn’t even notice the way she worded her greeting. “I’m going to use the restroom quick and call my husband, is that okay?” She asked.

“Sure, go ahead.” Bailey nodded, “we won’t take long.” She insisted. Beyoncé left the room, doubling back to stand behind the two-way mirror that looked into the practice room. “I can’t believe you’re here!” She said, raising up on her toes, perfectly aware that the photographers in the room were still snapping an occasional photo. Sometimes she forgot that her boyfriend was famous, too, even though it didn’t seem as prevalent in LA as it did in Canada or Pittsburgh.

“I missed you, I didn’t want to wait until this afternoon to see you.” He smiled, clasping his hands behind her lower back and swaying slightly.

“And you look so handsome. You flew here in a suit?” She giggled, not missing the fact that he was wearing her favorite suit on him.

“Well, I wanted to look good today.” He shrugged as they walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city below. “And I wanted to look good when I did this.” He said, causing her to look back at him, finding him posed on one knee. That’s when Bailey’s heart stopped beating as he smiled up at her from the floor. She didn’t even notice Beyoncé standing in the doorway of the studio with a huge smiled on her face and her iPhone out.

“Sid.” She said, eyes immediately filling with tears. “What are you doing?” She giggled, worried that in a moment, she was going to start bawling.

“Bailey Bradford, you have made the last year with you the best year of my entire life.” He began. She wondered if he could see her pulse beating in her neck. He held her hand in his. “I know that we haven’t been perfect, but I’ve also known since the moment I saw you that you were going to change my life. Every day you inspire me with your passion, your kindness, your love for life and your gorgeous smile. I always thought I had everything I needed to be happy before I met you, and then I realized that I hadn’t been happy, but that I was waiting for you to really start my life. I know things won’t always be perfect, they rarely are, but there’s no one I’d rather share my life with than you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife, and letting me become your husband?” He asked, producing a little velvet box from his breast pocket, opening it to reveal a stunning, five-carat solitaire oval diamond on a delicate platinum band.

Bailey closed her eyes, wanting to always savor and remember this moment.

“Of course I will.” She managed to get out with out her voice breaking. Sidney stood from the ground, placing is hands on either side of her face before kissing her deeply. Bailey’s hands rest on his sides, tears streaming down her face before she broke the kiss from smiling so hard, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and hugging him tightly. “Of course I will.” She repeated.

Sidney’s hands were still shaking as he fumbled the ring out of its little box, the both of them teary-eyed as he slid the ring onto her finger. She was thrilled she had gotten a manicure shortly after arriving in LA.

“It’s gorgeous.” She gasped, looking up at him. He had spent weeks trying to pick out the perfect ring with Missy, and constantly sending Taylor photos for input. This was the one ring they finally both agreed upon. This time, she pressed up on her tip-toes, kissing him. When they broke apart, she giggled. “We’re engaged!” She squeaked.

“Congratulations!” Beyoncé shouted from the doorway.

“Oh my God, Beyoncé just watched me get engaged.” Bailey clutched her chest in all seriousness, causing her boyfriend – her fiancé and Beyoncé Knowles to laugh.

She hugged them both, asking a member of the sound team to take a photo of all three of them.

“I took like fifty photos of you on my phone, do you mind if I tweet one out?” She asked. Bailey looked at Sidney.

“Can you wait like half an hour? Just so we can tell our parents first.” She smiled, squeezing Sidney’s hand.

“Of course!” She insisted. “But only half an hour, I don’t think I can wait much longer.” She smiled, making Bailey swoon. She looked back at Sidney, whose eyes were wide and had a flushed looked to his face.

“You two get out of here.” Beyoncé insisted, “thirty minutes, and this thing goes out to fourteen million people.” She held up her phone. Beyoncé hugged Bailey tightly, shooing her out of the ballroom.

The moment the elevator doors closed, Bailey leapt on Sidney, arms and legs locking around him.

“You’re here!” She smiled into his neck. “You’re here and we’re engaged!”

“We are.” Sidney grinned wildly in response. “And guess what?” He asked.

“What?” She looked up from his neck to meet his gaze.

“Beyoncé saw us get engaged.”

Bailey didn’t waste another moment when she wasn’t kissing him.