The Devil of DiRisio

by Leslie DuBois

  Here at DiRisio, that wasn’t weird, it was expected. So, suddenly, with Will out of the picture, I was the ‘It’ girl. But, I was so depressed the week after Will left me that I couldn’t enjoy the attention. I walked around in a fog. I tried to block out the world around me and just hoped and prayed that people, especially the tabloids, would forget about me.

  I guess I was getting what I deserved. I never appreciated Will enough. Ultimately, he went and found what he was looking for in the arms of another woman. Could I really blame him? He proposed 28 times before I said yes. And then every time he turns around he finds me in the arms of Damian, a man he hates. I was surprised Will stuck around for as long as he did.

  Anna Marie tried her best to lift my spirits during the few free moments she had from Raffaele, but nothing really worked. As soon as I was done dancing, I would go back to my room, collapse into my bed and cry.

  “There’s something I need to tell you,” Anna Marie said nervously as she sat in my dressing room before my performance with Damian. I actually had my own dressing room for this show. I should have been ecstatic that I didn’t have to share with fourteen other girls. I was the star. I had arrived, but I didn’t care. Without Will, I didn’t care. “There’s someone in the audience that means a lot to you. But I don’t want it to freak you out.”

  “Is it Will? It better not be Sasha.”

  “No, no, nothing like that.” She sat me down and held my hand like she was about to let me know my beloved pet was hit by a car. “Natalia Karleskaya.”

  “What?”

  “Natalia Karleskaya is in the audience. She was in town and I think Alejandro’s publicity paid off because she heard about you and she wanted to see you perform.”

  At this point, I think I must have started to hyperventilate because Anna Marie found me a paper bag and made me breathe into it. When I got control of myself again she also handed me a glass of water.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Am I okay? Am I okay? No, I’m not okay. Natalia Karleskaya is in the audience. She’s possibly the greatest living ballerina in the world and she’s in the audience. I can’t dance in front of her. I’ll look ridiculous. I’m not good enough. I’m nothing. I’m a loser.”

  “Yes, you are good enough. You are spectacular. It doesn’t matter what Will does or what your sister does. They don’t reflect you. You are the best dancer in this company and before the end of the night even Natalia Karleskaya is going to be jealous of your talent.”

  Anna Marie left me to warm up only after I promised that I wouldn’t think about Will or Sasha while I was on stage. Five minutes before curtain, I heard a knock on my door. I thought it was Anna Marie coming to check on me but it wasn’t.

  Damian Karl entered my dressing room closing the door gently behind him. He stood against the door and just stared at me with his haunting eyes. His light brown locks had been straightened into a flowing mane that hung just below his shoulders blades. He looked like a wild lion that had been strangely subdued by some inner demon. Silently he approached me. He was being so bizarre I probably should have been afraid, but I wasn’t.

  He stood so close to me I could see the thirty shades of blue that clouded his eyes. He reached out and started to undo the bun I had just put into my hair. Then he ran his fingers through my hair while he continued to stare into my eyes wistfully. Then he kissed me. Not a normal Damian kiss in which he forcefully crammed his tongue down my throat, but a kiss that was almost … sweet. He kissed me the way he did while we were on stage.

  It was slow and sensual. I didn’t know why I let him do it. Was I still trying to get even with Will? My mind was so hazy. I couldn’t think straight. Suddenly, I wanted Damian, but I didn’t know if I just wanted him because of Will. I returned his kiss and his embrace, but just to gauge my own emotions. Before I could make up my mind, he pulled away from me. He left just as suddenly, strangely, and silently as he had entered, leaving me confused and breathless.

  As if Natalia Karleskaya’s presence and Damian Karl’s kiss wasn’t enough to make me crazy, Will showed up backstage.

  “What are you doing here?” I snapped in a hushed whisper.

  “We have to talk,” he pleaded as he trailed after me while I made my way through the backstage corridors. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. It was a familiar appearance. I saw it every time I looked in the mirror. For the past week, I’d barely slept at all even though I was completely exhausted. Every free moment I had I watched Will on TV or I read those stupid tabloid magazines trying to find out the latest information on him and Veronica.

  “I don’t want to talk to you. I have to be on stage in like 60 seconds,” I said quickening my pace trying to lose him. “How did you get in here anyway?” Will grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. My squirming out of his grasp caught the attention of two security guards who immediately came to my aid. When he wouldn’t leave willingly the police were called. The show had to be delayed twenty minutes as Will was arrested and escorted off the premises.

  It turned into a completely horrific and embarrassing ordeal as Will yelled at the top of his lungs that he wasn’t leaving until he talked to me. I spent the entire time locked in my dressing room crying my eyes out. Finally, the show was able to start, but my nerves were shot. I was literally shaking as I tried to tie my hair back into a bun while I stood in the wings. Damian came behind me and touched my hands.

  “Leave it down,” he said softly.

  “Why?”

  “Because you are beautiful.” I spun around.

  “What is the matter with you? Why are you being so weird?” Suddenly he changed. His signature sinister look returned in his eyes. He smiled and said,

  “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

  “Yes!”

  “Maybe that’s because you want me. We should just have sex and get it over with.” He was just trying to hit on me again. I was convinced this guy was a psycho. I rolled my eyes and got into position.

  For some reason, Damian’s inappropriate comments got my mind off of the fact that my boyfriend, well, former boyfriend, was a lying cheat and that Natalia Karleskaya, my idol, was in the audience watching me. As I started my solo, all I could think about was what a jerk Damian was and how much I wanted to show him up on stage. How could he reject me one second then try to seduce me the next? Was he some sort of schizophrenic?

  I was so angry with Damian that I let that emotion transfer into my movements. All of my steps were sharp, clean, and precise. It worked out perfectly because my character was a mechanical doll that was to come alive because of her love for the dashing soldier, Damian’s character.

  I was planning on doing the entire performance this way. I was going to be cold and distant with him onstage, but as soon as he touched me all of that changed. My resolve wilted and I melted in his arms. That chemistry, that unspeakable bond we had on stage appeared and transported us to another world. We were so in tune with each other that we danced as if we were one soul united by the music.

  After ten curtain calls, we stood hand in hand behind the curtain still breathless from the magical high of dance we had created.

  “Do you want to meet her?” Damian asked as we walked to our dressing rooms still holding hands.

  “Who?”

  “Natalia Karleskaya.”

  “Of course, I want to meet her. But I don’t think … ”

  “We’ll meet you in your dressing room in ten minutes.”

  “Yeah, right. You expect me to believe you know Natalia Karleskaya? This is another one of your lines, isn’t it?” Damian smiled at me with his devilish grin.

  “How about this?” he began as we stood outside of my dressing room door. “If I bring Natalia Karleskaya here in ten minutes, you have to go out to dinner with me tonight. If not, I’ll never ask you out again.”

  Ten minutes later, in walked Damian Karl and Natalia Karleskaya. I was in complete shock. How did Damian know her? And how had he convinced her
to meet me? What was going on? I wanted to ask all these questions but no words come out. My mouth just opened and closed like I was gasping for air. As if her mere presence wasn’t enough to send my mind reeling, what Damian said next almost made me fall over.

  “I’d like to introduce you to Natalia Karleskaya, my mother.” I think I started hyperventilating again because Damian handed me the same bag that Anna Marie had given me earlier. Then he sat me down on the couch and Natalia Karleskaya sat down next to me. Natalia Karleskaya was sitting next to me! She was rubbing my back and smiling at Damian while speaking to him in Russian. I couldn’t believe he had never told me that Natalia Karleskaya was his mother. Natalia Karleskaya!

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I said between puffs into the familiar paper bag.

  “What? And miss that expression on your face? That was priceless.”

  “Really, Damian, you shouldn’t play games like this. You are going to give the poor girl a heart attack,” Natalia Karleskaya said in near perfect English as she continued to rub my back.

  They muttered a few more phrases in Russian then Damian said, “Well, I’ll leave you two to get acquainted while I get ready for dinner.” Then he kissed my hand and left.

  “You have completely enchanted my son,” Natalia Karleskaya said once we were alone. I turned and looked at her. She was even more beautiful in person. With her diminutive size, big blue eyes, and striking blond hair she looked just like a porcelain doll. I knew she had to be around 45 years old or so, but she didn’t look a day over 30. How did she do that? I wonder if a lifetime of dance had given her that ethereal youthful look.

  “What?” I asked.

  “He’s in love with you.”

  “What?”

  “You two are like electricity on stage. I’ve never seen him dance like that with anyone.”

  “But that doesn’t mean … ”

  “Almost ten years ago, he gave up ballet and changed his name from Karlesky to Karl. He didn’t want to live in my shadow. He wanted to make it on his own. He started his hip hop thing and as you probably know, he is very good. But to see him dance with you it is like he never left the ballet.”

  “But why do you think that means he’s in love with me?”

  “It’s not only that,” she said as she wiped strands of hair away from my face in a motherly fashion. “You are the first girl Damian has ever asked me to meet. Just the way he talks about you and the way his eyes glow when he just says your name, I know he loves you.”

  I didn’t believe it. I thought it was another plot of Damian. Why did he insist on messing with my mind? He had managed for me to meet Natalia Karleskaya, the legendary Natalia Karleskaya, but all we were talking about was him. I wanted to talk about dance. I wanted to ask her about her momentous thirty year dancing career. I wanted her advice on my career.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” Natalia said as she stood up and went to the warm up bar. “I know my son can seem a bit … insincere.” She was trying to say it delicately, but then gave up and said, “Okay, he runs around with a lot of women. When he was with the Russian Ballet he made it his mission to bed every female member of the company.” Natalia began doing plies at the bar. It was like she was possessed and had to dance whenever the opportunity presented itself.

  “Is that supposed to … um … ?”

  “He hasn’t slept with you has he?”

  “No, but it’s not from lack of trying.”

  “If my Damian wanted you he could have you, no offense. He has a way with the ladies. I think that you scare him.”

  “Scare him? I thought you said he loved me.”

  “He does love you and that scares him. He’s never been in love before.” I was dumbfounded. But maybe that would explain how strange he’s been lately.

  Tears welled in my eyes and I started sobbing uncontrollably. Natalia rushed to my side and put her arm around me. She thought I was crying because I loved Damian in return. While that was possible, it wasn’t why I was crying. Suddenly I remembered a day in the gym at Bridgeton. Will and I were making out and almost had sex. Will stopped, though, saying he was scared. And Damian was scared of me too? Why did I attract the same type of man? And how was it possible that I was in love with them both? What was wrong with me?

  “I remember you,” she said trying to change the subject. “You did my solo as your audition piece for the Barcelona festival. Magnificent. You will have a glorious career. I just hope my Damian is at your side.” Then she stepped out and let me get ready to go out with her son.

  “That is how I recognized you that first time we met at The Spanish Fly,” Damian said as we ate at his favorite little Brazilian restaurant. “I remembered the video of you dancing my mother’s solo.”

  “And that’s why you dance ballet,” I said finally putting things together. I mean, he had told me that his mother was a ballerina, but he failed to mention his mother was Natalia Karleskaya. That just puts everything at a whole other level. He probably learned dance just by breathing the same air as her. “You’ve had Natalia Karleskaya as a teacher your entire life. What was it like?”

  “It was actually kind of … stressful. That is why I gave it up. It was like the only time I spent with her was dancing.”

  “But when you were together did you have, like, class together or did you just learn from watching her? Or did you sit in on rehearsals for the Russian Ballet?”

  “Are you going to talk about my mother all night?”

  “Well, you didn’t really give me enough time with her. It’s like you dangle this carrot in front of me then snatch it away.”

  “Did you compare my mother to a carrot?” He laughed.

  “I just want to know what she’s like. I mean I’ve idolized her for nine years. I think I’ve seen every performance she’s ever done.”

  Damian grabbed my hand and said, “Do you samba?” I looked around the restaurant. There was a dance floor but no one was dancing.

  “I don’t samba.”

  “I will show you,” he said as he pulled me on to the dance floor. He shouted some words in Portuguese and suddenly the music grew louder. Everyone was staring as Damian showed me the basic steps. Before I knew it, we were whirling about the dance floor and captivating the audience once again.

  He was right. Damian was right. There was something between us that made us an entrancing pair on stage. And offstage he wasn’t that bad either as long as he wasn’t trying to grope me.

  “So, in the few minutes that I did get talk to your mother, she told me something pretty funny,” I said as we walked toward the dorms.

  “Yeah, what?”

  “She actually thinks you’re in love with me,” I said giggling a little. Damian grew quiet. “That’s funny, right?” I asked when he didn’t respond. He cleared his throat and said,

  “Why is that funny?”

  “I mean, you’re Damian Karl. Why would you be in love with me? You can have any woman you want. You can have every woman you want. You probably have.”

  “What if I want to change? What if I just want you?”

  “So you mean all those lines you’ve been feeding me were for real?” He grew quiet again and we walked in silence for a long time

  “I admit at first it was just a game,” he said once we reached the dormitory. He stopped and turned towards me. “I thought you were beautiful and talented. I cannot resist a beautiful dancer. But somewhere along the way I fell for you. I’ve never felt this way before. I’ve never danced this way. I think about you constantly and I see your face in everyone and everything. You’re in my blood.” Damian caressed my face and leaned in to kiss me when, out of nowhere, someone shoved him to the ground.

  “Will, what are you doing?” I yelled as Will jumped on top of Damian and started pounding him. Once Damian realized what was going on, he started fighting back and it turned into an all out brawl. They were grunting, kicking, and punching each other like crazy. Will even slammed Damian on to a car. The ala
rm started going off bringing even more attention to the spectacle. I thought I saw a camera flash. There were probably still reporters lurking about. Will was going to ruin our careers.

  I tried to pull them apart but to no avail. I thought they were going to kill each other. A crowd was starting to form, but no one would help me break them up. Finally, Anna Marie and Raffaele appeared. Raffaele split them up and he and Anna Marie held Will back while I held Damian.

  Raffaele led Will inside the building while I tried to convince Damian to go to his hotel.

  “I don’t want to leave you here with that … that animal,” he said as he spit a mouthful of blood onto the side walk.

  “Will would never hurt me.”

  “He already has.”

  Chapter 26

  Mistaken Identity

  “What the hell was that? What is the matter with you?” I yelled at Will when we were in my dorm room. Once Will had calmed down, Anna Marie and Raffaele left to give us some privacy to talk.

  “I’m sorry. I just … when I saw him touch you I just lost it.”

  “You’re bleeding,” I said as I went to get some towels out of my dresser.

  “Sonya, I thought I could live without you. I thought I didn’t need you. I was wrong. I’m going crazy without you. Can’t we just pretend none of this happened and go back to the way things used to be before Damian and Veronica?” Will held a towel to his nose while I used another one to get blood stains out of his clothes.

  “I don’t know if I can.”

  “I’ll raise the baby like it’s my own. I don’t care who the father is. I just want to be with you.”

  “Why would you need to raise her baby to be with me, especially if you’re not the father?”

  “Her baby? Veronica’s not even pregnant. The whole thing was a lie.”

  “Then what baby are you talking about?”