I sped across town and ran into the studio where they were already rehearsing. I threw my bag down and joined in mid song.
“Alright guys take 5. Madison, let me talk to you” Marty said and I felt my heart beating in my throat, please don’t yell at me, please don’t yell at me.
“Hey, I’m so sorry”
“You’re 45 minutes late, you better have a damn good excuse”
“My alarm didn’t go off” I said honestly, it’s not a lie. The reason why I’m late is because I was busy fucking the superstar, “I’m really sorry Marty, I’ll stay late or do whatever you want”
He took a deep breath, “You knew today was the big day that Justin is coming, I told you this is the one day that you needed to be here on time”
“I know. I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to say. It was a mistake, it won’t happen again”
“You’re lucky he’s not here” Marty said seriously, “It better not happen again” he really doesn’t want to be mean but he’s trying, “Alright everyone, let’s go”
Justin walked in a minute later, of course he couldn’t have waited a little longer so I didn’t look as bad. I’m surprised he didn’t race me to the car so he would get here before me. He didn’t get yelled at. Marty didn’t even ask him why he was late and of course Justin didn’t offer a reason. We just went right into rehearsal mode, pretending like Justin was on time and everyone else wasn’t waiting for an hour.
We started running through the entire show, it’s pretty much the first time we’ve gone through the whole thing without stopping. And of course, it’s the first time with Justin. I don’t know why they think it’s ok that he only comes two days before the tour starts. I mean, it’s not like we’re just dancing and he’s up in front of us, there’s a lot of interaction. Jamie gives him a fucking lap dance.
“Alright, stop” Justin called out mid song, the music was quickly turned off and he wiped his sweaty face with his shirt, “What’s your name?”
“Chrissy” she answered softly, catching her own breath
“OK, Chrissy. What the fuck are you doing? You’re a half a fucking beat off the whole song. You can’t fix it and catch up at any point before the four minute song is over?” Everyone stood there, no one saying anything. Poor Chrissy just stood there, nodding her head, admitting that she fucked up. I couldn’t believe he was being such an asshole. She’s nervous, this is the first time she’s actually danced with Justin and let’s face it she is a little star struck, “Do you think you can fix that Chrissy? Do you think you can handle it or should I find another girl that can fucking count to eight at the same pace as the rest of us?”
“She’s nervous” I spoke up as Justin turned around. I immediately felt everyone’s gaze on me, I guess people are supposed to just sit back and let him be an asshole but it’s not fair, “She’s a good dancer, she’s just nervous. She always has it right, she just messed up once”
“And you are?” Justin asked as he turned around
“Madison Ward” I answered, pretend you don’t know my name Justin, go ahead
“Well, Madison Ward” he began, “This is your first tour?” I nodded my head, “So you need to learn how important it is to be a fucking half a beat off an entire song. And you also need to learn to mind your own fucking business” he turned back around
“I’m just saying that you don’t have to be so rude about it”
He laughed before turning back around and facing me once again, “This isn’t me being rude, you just wait”
“Alright, let’s take it from the beginning” Marty broke in, making sure to end the whole thing and of course give Justin the last word. He did not need to be such an asshole.
After running through the show a few times Marty actually let us leave. I grabbed my things and walked to my car when I heard Chrissy calling my name, “Hey” I smiled as I turned around
“Thank you for standing up for me”
“Oh, no problem, he was being an ass”
“Yeah, but I don’t want you to get in trouble. I mean, he was kind of right, I was off”
“So what he shouldn’t have yelled at you like that in front of everyone. He hasn’t been to any of the other rehearsals so he doesn’t know how good you are. Don’t worry about it”
“Ok, well thank you” she gave me a hug
“No problem sweetie, I’ll see you tomorrow”
“So what do you think?” Marty asked me once everyone cleared out
“I think they got it for the most part” I said as I took a sip of water
“Do you want me to get rid of her?”
“Who?”
“Madison”
I laughed, “Why would I want you to get rid of her?”
“Because of what she said”
“Nah, she’s feisty. She’s a good dancer”
“Yeah, but I can find twenty other good dancers that won’t run their mouth like her”
“It’s cool, I can take her” I chuckled as I grabbed my things
“She was late too”
“Was she?” I pretended I didn’t know. I was late too but I didn’t want to bring that up
“Yeah,”
“It’s cool dude, she probably overslept. She’s good. I have to get home for a fitting”
“Alright man, same time tomorrow” Yeah, maybe tomorrow I won’t be so damn late. All I want to do right now is go home, take a shower and pass out. Of course, since I’m leaving in two fucking days that’s impossible.
At nine o’clock I was done with an interview, finally ending my eleven hour workday. That’s actually a short day for me, surprisingly enough. I called Madison on my way home and her car was parked in my driveway by the time I got there.
“Hey” I said as I walked past her and unlocked the door
“I’m setting the alarm on my phone” she smiled as she followed me inside, dropping her bag at the door.
“Yeah, you do that” I said as I threw my keys on the counter and grabbed a bottle of Jack pouring some in a glass
“Tough day?” she asked with a smile
“Long day” I sat down on the couch and she sat on my lap, “You shouldn’t have talked back to me”
Madison giggled as she ran her hands under my shirt, “OK”
“No, I’m serious”
“You shouldn’t have been such an asshole”
“You don’t get it” I pushed her off me and stood up, “He wanted to fire you”
“Who?”
“Marty”
“What?” she laughed, “He wanted to fire me for standing up for Chrissy?”
“He wanted to fire you for fucking making a scene during rehearsal and talking to me like you did. You don’t get it Madison, I’m the fucking tour, you don’t talk to me like that, no one talks to me like that” I paced around the room, “You’re lucky. If it were anyone else your ass would have been fired”
“You seriously would have fired me because I called you out as being a jackass?”
“In front of everybody, yes. You need to show respect”
“YOU need to show respect. She was nervous. She’s your dancer, she’s there to make you look good”
“Exactly, to make me look good. If she can’t do the dance she makes me look bad”
“You could have told her nicely to watch her count, you just yelled at her out of nowhere in front of everyone”
“I’m the fucking tour Madison, what do you not get? It’s my show; I do things the way I want to do them. If I want to fucking call her out in front of everyone I can call her out in front of everyone”
“I’m just saying you could be nicer”
“I don’t give a fuck. People pay millions of dollars to see me, not to see her. They don’t buy her fucking records, her face isn’t on the cover of every fucking magazine, her album hasn’t been number one for the past eight weeks. She’s not the star, she can be replaced”
“That’s really cocky”
“It’s not cocky if it’s true”
“It’s not true if you’re the only one that thinks it’s true”
“You don’t think it’s true?”
“I don’t think you’re as good as you think you are” she shrugged, as if it were not a big deal that she just said that to my face. No one has ever said anything like that to me before. Everyone always tells me how great I am, what the fuck is her deal?
I laughed and shook my head, staring her down, “Good thing your opinion doesn’t matter”
“Yeah, good thing” she stood up and walked away
“What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving. You’re being a jackass”
I chuckled, “Alright, you can be replaced”
“I know I can, you’ve said that many times. Don’t think you’re so irreplaceable, you can easily be replaced too”
“Then replace me”
“I will” and with that she left…
Author's Chapter Notes:
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