“Excuse me, have you seen Justin?”
Charlotte has been asking this question for the past twenty minutes or so and she’s starting to worry. It’s been nearly an hour and a half since the cake disaster and she had wanted to find him, ask him if he was okay but Amelia had insisted that she stand by and make sure the people cutting the cake didn’t make a royal mess of things.
Charlotte weaves her way around, searching for that tell-tale curly head but she finds him nowhere. Where could he have gotten off to? Her throat contracts as she remembers seeing Patti earlier, her little black dress almost as short as Amelia’s and she shakes her head. She hopes that Justin isn’t stupid enough to do something like that with Amelia so close by. But her thoughts are cut short when she catches sight of Trace slipping out of a backroom near the left side of the stage.
“Trace!” she calls and he looks up at her bewildered, like a deer caught in the headlights. “Have you seen Justin?” she asks as she weaves her way toward him. “It’s almost time for his speech.”
“Um…yeah,” Trace says, shifting his feet uncomfortably. “About that…I’m thinking we should cancel that.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrow at him as she takes in his hazy eyes and notices how stiff his body is, making a consorted effort to stay upright. His tie is missing and his jacket is rumpled.
“Trace are you…are you drunk?” Charlotte asks in heated whisper and Trace chuckles slightly.
“Well by comparison no,” he replies with chuckle and Charlotte looks at him confused. “Look, Justin is not fit for public speaking right now okay. Something happened and-”
“Dude!!! Where the fuck – Oh HEEEEEEEY CHARLIE!!!!”
Trace cringes and Charlotte’s jaw drops as she sees Justin stumble out the doors leading to the back room. His suit jacket is gone, his white dress shirt wrinkled beyond repair, the top two buttons open and his bowtie hangs undone and lopsided around his neck. His eyes are half lidded, a drunken grin pulling at his lips and he stumbles forward again, and it’s then that Charlotte notices the glass of amber liquid in his hand.
Charlotte rushes to his side as she watches him teeter slightly, not even wanting to know what kind of scene it would cause if he toppled over. She’s very aware of the eyes that are already on them. He grins at her, his arm curling around her shoulders as he leans heavily into her.
“Justin, oh my god,” Charlotte breathes at a loss for words and he just grins at her.
“You look ver’ pretty, Charlie,” he says grinning at her, his hand coming up to run his fingers roughly over her cheek. “Ver’ pretty…”
“Trace!” Charlotte hisses and he looks at her bewildered. “How could you let him do this! Amelia is going to kill him.”
“Hey!” Trace says, his voice slightly indignant. “If your best friend wants to get drunk on his birthday you don’t try and stop him!”
“Tha’s right,” Justin says nodding authoritatively, his arm slipping from around Charlotte’s neck to stand on his own, teetering perilously as he points at his friend. “An’ hey is’snot my birthday yet. I’m twe-ny-nine for two more days,” he slurs holding up two fingers and stumbling over his own feet.
“God what are we going to do!” Charlotte mutters, her mind working furiously.
“Charlotte calm down,” Trace says placing a hand on Justin’s shoulder, trying to steer him towards the backroom. “We’ll just put him back here for awhile.”
“He’s supposed to be giving a speech right now!” Charlotte exclaims heatedly, panic rolling through her. “Amelia is asking where he is!”
“You know I’m sick of hearing about her,” Trace says, his hand falling from Justin’s shoulder to point out into the crowd. “It’ll serve her right. Justin didn’t even want this stupid party.”
“Trace I know okay. I know but you don’t understand,” she pleads clasping her hands together. “This isn’t about Amelia this is about Justin. If she sees him like this there is no telling what kind of hell she’s gonna rain on him when he’s sober again.”
Trace blinks at her slowly, taking in the concern on her face, the desperation in her eyes. He grins. “You really are in love with him aren’t you?”
Charlotte sighs, her hands falling to her sides in exasperation. “That’s not important right now. What’s important is...” she trails as she looks to the side and doesn’t find Justin standing there. “Where’s Justin?”
“HEEEEEEEEEEEEY PARTY PEOPLE!!!!!”
Charlotte and Trace’s eyes both widen and Charlotte doesn’t want to turn around. She can’t bear to face it. A slight hush has gone over the crowd and she can hear Justin’s low throaty laugh amplified through the speakers.
“Oh this is not good,” Trace says and Charlotte finally gives in, turning and her eyes widen to find Justin standing on the stage, the band looking at him amusedly as he drags the mic stand to the middle.
“How’s e’erybody feelin’ tonight?” he asks, adjusting the mic stand for his height and crowd titters slightly a few people hollering and whistling amusedly. “Well as you know, it’s mah berfday. Sort of… I mean it’s really on Monday but you know…” he rambles and waves his hand dismissively.
“I am so screwed,” Charlotte says feebly, her voice small and defeated.
“Oh I dunno, he’s doing oka-” Trace begins but his words halt when he sees Amelia barreling toward them. “Erm…”
“Charlotte what is going on?” she asks in a heated whisper and Charlotte is struck dumb by the fire in Amelia’s eyes, her fists balled at her sides.
“Um…”
“You wanted him to give a speech, Roxie he’s givin it!” Trace says with a chuckle and Charlotte looks at him confused but Amelia seethes, looking as if she could punch him in the mouth.
“Don’t call me that!” she spits, the venom in her voice sending chills down Charlotte’s spine and she trembles as Amelia turns to her. “How could you let this happen?” Amelia exclaims and it amazes Charlotte that she can still give the effect of yelling in a whisper. Amelia’s gaze fall on Trace again and hatred smolders in her blue eyes. “This is all your fault.”
“An’ I jus’ wan’ed to thank everyone for comin’ out,” Justin slurs slowly, his eyes sweeping across the room as he fumbles with the cuffs of his shirt, rolling his sleeves back. “Bu’ I ‘specially wanted to thank my girl, ‘melia,” he says, his eyes falling on Amelia and she immediately straightens as everyone turns to look at her, plastering a serene smile on her face, “for putting this together for me even though all I really wanted was a keg and some Togas” The crowd chuckles nervously as he raises his drink to her. “Thanks baby,” he slurs before tossing back the rest of his drink and Charlotte can practically hear Amelia’s teeth grinding. “You know…” Justin trails and he looks back at the band, a smirk pulling at his lips as he sets his glass on the keyboard. “I don’t know if you all know this…but…Amelia…is’snot Amelia’s real name…”
“Oh. My. God.” Trace chuckles disbelievingly and Charlotte looks at him perplexed before looking at Amelia who is standing stock still, her blue eyes wide.
“Is it baby?” Justin asks, smirking at her from on stage.
Somewhere in the back of his drunken mind he knows this is a terrible idea but right now, in this moment, he doesn’t care. This is for every time she berated him in front of her friends, for every time she picked apart what he was wearing and then forced him to change his clothes, for every time she stomped out of a restaurant leaving him to apologize for her behavior. She deserves this.
“She was named after a song,” he continues, reaching back to tap the side of the keyboard and Antunes looks at him skeptically. Justin merely nods.
“Justin,” Amelia mutters through clenched teeth and Charlotte watches her chest heave, her knuckles turning white from how tightly she’s clenching her fists. “Don’t…you…dare…”
“ROOOOOOOOOOOOXANNE!!!!!!!!!!” Justin wails and the band kicks in behind him, the electric guitar plucking out the notes and Justin feels free as the crowd cheers.
He sings like he hasn’t sang in years, his voice soaring like he always remembered it did, shimmying across the stage. This is for every melody that came and went from his head without being written, this is for every beat of his heart that he wanted to make into a cadence, this is for all the mindless hours in the office when all he wanted to do was be on stage. This is his revolution and the hum of the crowd is enough to sustain him for a lifetime.
Charlotte watches him in awe, wondering how as drunk as he is he can still move like that. His body flows like water, his shoulders shimmying, his hips rolling and his voice, god his voice. He doesn’t miss a beat, doesn’t miss a single note and it seems that performing is so engrained in him that even drunk off his ass he can still dazzle a crowd, even a stuffy uptight one like those present.
But Charlotte’s elation soon turns to dread as she feels the billowing sleeves of Amelia’s dress brush her arm and she watches her stalk away from them, making her way to the back of the room and out the door, into the January night. Her eyes turn back to the stage where Justin is just finishing up the song and she applauds with the rest of the crowd as his performances ends, enjoying the elation on his face. Let him have tonight. Because she knows that tomorrow is going to be hell.
Story Tags: fiancej desksex affair love hottubsex
