by Lexi Archer
“Forget that, she needs a real real man while we’re taking our pictures,” another one said. He was bigger than the rest and this time when I moved to push him away he didn’t move. He stood there with his arm around me and a goofy grin on his face.
“Um, excuse me, but you need to please keep your hands off the princess,” Tiffany said.
“What are you talking about?” the guy said. “This is probably the thrill of her life!”
“I’m sorry, but those are the rules,” Tiffany said.
I put a hand on his chest and tried to push him away again. His hand was starting to ride up and I did not like where this was going. Tiffany needed to call security and get them in here, but I wasn’t sure if they’d get here before this jerk got to cop a feel. He was close enough that I could smell the alcohol clear on his breath.
Either they were older than they looked or they’d managed to sneak something into the park.
“I’m going to call security!” Tiffany said.
They all laughed. “Call security! What are they going to do about it?”
“How about you let her go then?”
The voice was quiet, but somehow there seemed to be more menace precisely because it was so quiet. As though the owner of that voice knew that he was the baddest person in the room, and he didn’t have to be loud or boisterous to get attention.
He certainly got the attention of all the guys. They all turned to stare at Isaac. He stood there with a smile on his face that was a stark contrast to the threat in his voice.
“What was that little buddy?” the guy with his arm around me asked.
“First off you don’t call me little buddy. Second off you’re going to take your arm off the lady now,” he said.
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it? In case you didn’t notice you’re sort of outnumbered here.”
I think it was something about the methodical way Isaac took his camera off and set it to the side that made me think he meant business. Like he wanted to set the expensive piece of equipment to the side before he got down to business. Once he was satisfied that everything was good there he walked right into the middle of the crowd of guys and stared up at the one with his arm around me.
“I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t let her go. Are we clear?” he asked.
He never raised his voice. He just exuded the quiet confidence of a man who knew he might have to visit violence on someone and was fully prepared to do so.
“I’d like to see you try,” the big guy said.
Isaac moved so fast that I didn’t even see it. One moment he was standing there and the next his hand shot out. I thought he might be going for a punch and let out a cry because the last thing I wanted was to be in the middle of a fist fight, but his hand went down and to the side rather than up towards the guy’s face. Meanwhile the guy behind me let out a scream of his own that sounded like he was really in pain.
What the hell did Isaac do to him?
The guy’s hands disappeared from around me as though by magic. He took a step back and I quickly stepped out of the way to avoid being trapped between him and Isaac, though I had to admit that being close to Isaac suddenly seemed a hell of a lot nicer than it had a moment ago.
Now that I was a few feet away from them and safely next to Tiffany I could also see what was going on. Isaac was right up against the guy and I had to blink to double check that I was seeing things correctly. He had his hand between the guy’s pants and he was grabbing his dick! Only from the panicked expression on the dude’s face it didn’t look like it was a gentle or loving dick grab.
“What the fuck man,” he yelled.
“Tell your friends to back the fuck off or I’m twisting it off,” Isaac said, still calm as ever.
“You fucking faggoooooowshit!” the guy screamed again.
A couple of his buddies who’d been moving in to cause some trouble stopped as his massive arms frantically waved this way and that to get them to back off. I guess he decided Isaac was telling the truth.
“Now you’re all going to get the fuck out of here and you’re never going to come back in here and bother another one of these ladies again. How’s that sound?” Isaac asked.
“Fine! Whatever the fuck you want!”
“Tell your buddies to leave first,” Isaac said. “I’m not a fucking idiot.”
“Fine. All you guys get the hell out of here!”
The rest of this asshole’s crew filed out of the door. It slammed shut behind them and I heard the click that meant the door lock had reengaged. These places were designed to keep people moving in one direction, and once they were out they couldn’t get back in. Wouldn’t want someone turning around and ruining the magic for someone else by bursting through a door at the wrong moment.
“So are you going to come back here and cause any more trouble?” Isaac asked.
“No!”
Isaac must’ve been doing something to the guy to drive his point home, because the dude seemed like he was on the verge of tears. His face was bright red and his breathing was coming in gasps. I would’ve felt sorry for him if not for the fact that he’d been such a prick.
No, he deserved everything he was getting. The asshole.
“Good. Now get the fuck out of here,” he said.
Isaac marched the guy over to the door and threw it open. Pushed him through. The guy turned around as though he was about to start something, but Isaac slammed the door in his face and dusted his hands off.
“Stupid fucker,” he said.
I blinked. I couldn’t believe he did that.
“You just risked your job,” I said.
“Well maybe,” Isaac said. “But it’s not like security was going to get here fast enough to do anything. I did what had to be done.”
“Impressive,” Tiffany said. She gave him a once over that had me feeling more than a little jealous, but then she quickly glanced to her status screen and clapped her hands together.
“Okay, no time to process everything that just happened. We have another group coming through now. Places people!”
And that was that. We were back to the same old same old. Making magic happen for the families visiting the park. Only now whenever I glanced at Isaac I saw a hot guy and someone who was willing to step in and risk it all to pull me out of the fire.
I really wanted to get to know this guy better!
7: Date Night
Isaac:
At the end of the day I put my camera up in a little alcove in the room and did a little stretch. We’d been at it since early in the morning and it was amazing how something as simple as taking some pictures could take it out of you by the end of the day.
“So how’d you like your first day on the job young blood?” Tiffany asked.
I grinned. “Aside from those jerks a few hours ago it wasn’t that bad. I could see myself doing it again.”
“Yeah, well get used to it. That’s all the job is, day in and day out, until the summer’s over and you go back to whatever college you came from.”
“Looking forward to it!”
“So anyways, I was thinking and…” Tiffany started, but she was interrupted by someone coming up to us. I turned and was surprised to see Melody standing right there still looking absolutely gorgeous in that dress. It was like a day of having kids climbing all over her and that one incident of some asshole trying to grope her hadn’t done anything to her. Every hair was in place.
She still looked absolutely gorgeous.
“Something wrong?” Tiffany asked, a little bit of a challenge to her voice. Now what the hell was up with that? She’d been nothing but pleasant all day long and now she was getting defensive?
Melody smiled at her. If she heard the challenge in Tiffany’s voice then she wasn’t saying anything about it. Either she was oblivious or she’d decided to ignore it.
“Yeah, I was actually wondering if I could maybe talk with Isaac for a moment?”
Tiffany looked betwe
en the two of us and raised an eyebrow. If anything she seemed more irritated than she’d been a moment ago. I was starting to wonder if maybe she was interested in yours truly. I glanced over to Melody and wondered if her talking to me right now was going to ruin any chance I might have with Tiffany.
Jealous women could be weird. Really weird.
That would be just my luck. Not only was I stuck with a princess for the entire summer, but one conversation was going to interrupt me having a chance with a girl who was more attainable.
Of course I still thought it was bullshit that everybody was going on about how the actresses were somehow these goddesses that us mere mortals couldn’t approach, but at the same time I figured if everyone bought into it there’s not a chance in hell I was going to be able to buck the system. No, I was wondering what the hell I said or did to upset Melody. To make her want to talk to me. Maybe she was pissed off about what happened earlier with those guys.
That figured. I do something nice and now I’m getting raked over the coals for it.
Like she said before, I could lose my job for that. Hell, there was still a chance that some security puke would review the footage and decide they needed to kick me out because I was a liability risk even if that asshole had it coming.
Maybe she’d decided that my chivalrous act wasn’t worth her potentially getting her ass fired if she didn’t say something. This was not a conversation I wanted to have.
But I knew how the game was played. If I wanted to have a fun summer, assuming I didn’t get fired, then I needed to keep the talent happy. So I smiled and gave an apologetic shrug to Tiffany. What could I do? She gave me a shrug as well and waved me off. I moved over to the other side of the room with Melody, wondering what the hell was going on here.
Fearing the worst and not really hoping for the best.
“So how can I help you?” I asked. I tried to keep my tone neutral, but it was tough.
Melody looked down and bit her lip. A slight blush came to her face, though it was a little difficult to see considering she already had so much makeup on her face and cheeks. I could really see it standing up close to her. They really caked the stuff on to create that perfect image.
“I was thinking about earlier today…” she said.
I had to try really hard not to roll my eyes. Here we were. She was going to report me to somebody and that was that. I was done here for the summer. After what I saw from her sitting back and laughing while that asshole prince made fun of that poor guy on the first day I’m not sure why I was surprised or why I would think she was different.
I guess it’s true what they say: no good deed goes unpunished.
“Yeah, about that,” I said, trying my best to backtrack and explain. “I know I was probably violating some sort of Royal Realms policy or something, but the guy was getting up close to you and…”
Melody giggled. I blinked. Giggling wasn’t the sort of thing she’d be doing if I was really in trouble. Color me intrigued. I still had no idea what the hell was going on here, but I was more optimistic about my chances at least.
“Do you think I’m going to try and get you in trouble or something for saving me?” she asked.
Okay then. That sounded like she really wasn’t interested in getting me in trouble. Was I really going to make it out of this with my job intact?
“Um, I don’t know?” I said. “I mean given everything I’ve heard…”
The reaction was immediate and this time I thought I really had stuck my foot in it. She looked pissed off. Really pissed off.
“You mean after everything you’ve heard about the actresses here? That we’re a bunch of stuck up bitches who really think we’re princesses?”
Shit. Now I really was stuck in it. Why did I have to open my big mouth like that? Why did I have to say something that was obviously a hot button issue for her? Me and my stupid fucking big mouth!
“That’s not what I meant…”
She looked more disappointed than anything. Like you when your parents catch you doing something and you think they’re going to be furious but instead they’re just upset and somehow that shame hurts more than any trouble you might get into. Only now instead of my parents being disappointed in me it was an insanely hot girl that I was going to have to try and have a pleasant working relationship with for the rest of the summer.
An insanely hot girl who was statistically more likely to have a touch of the crazy because of the job she worked.
Great.
“It’s okay,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I know what you guys think of all of us. A bunch of stuck up bitches who think we run the place or something,” she said.
“Well I’ll admit I don’t really know you all that well,” I said. “But I did see you sitting at that table where they made fun of some poor guy and you didn’t say anything to stop them.”
Melody stared up at me and I got a real shock. It looked like there were tears threatening in her eyes. I had no idea that she would get this upset. I thought this was just the way the world worked here at the park. I thought the beautiful people liked the pecking order and the advantages they got. It never would have occurred to me that one of them would be upset about being at the top of the social food chain, but she certainly seemed upset.
I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. I worried for a moment that she might pull away and get even more upset. That was how I would expect one of the actresses to react given what I’d heard about them, but this conversation with Melody was making me wonder if I really knew as much as I thought I did.
“Hey,” I said. “Listen, I’m really sorry if I hurt your feelings. I just assumed…”
“We’ve already been over this,” she said. She reached up to wipe another tear from her eyes. “You think I’m just like the rest of them. Well I’m not! I always thought it was stupid the way they acted. I thought it was stupid last year, and I thought it was stupid this year. I even told off that William asshole, and yet it doesn’t seem like it did a damn bit of good because a here I am trying to ask you out and all you can see is the stupid tiara on my head.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “What was that last bit?”
She looked up and she was trembling now. Any moment now her makeup was going to start to run from those tears. The makeup jobs here weren’t designed to stand up to crying. After all, this was supposed to be a happy place. A place where everybody had a smile on their face whether they truly felt that way or not.
“You mean the part where I said you thought I was a stuck up bitch and it wasn’t fair?”
I smiled and moved my hand from her shoulder down to her arm. “I’m talking about the other part. The part about you asking me out?”
I was having a difficult time believing I’d actually heard her correctly. I guess even in the couple of days I’d been here that stupid “pecking order” thing had been so deeply ingrained in me that I couldn’t believe it wasn’t true. I couldn’t believe she would actually ask me out.
It’s not that I wasn’t an attractive guy. Far from it. Back at school I had no problem with the ladies. It’s just that here because of the way things worked this felt impossible and I figured I was dreaming the whole thing.
“You silly,” she said. “I said I was going to ask you out.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t I the one who’s supposed to be doing the asking out?”
I glanced over to Tiffany for the briefest of moments. I wondered what she’d think if she knew what we were talking about. She was over by the control panel paying attention to something there, but from the way she kept glancing over in our direction it made me wonder if she didn’t maybe suspect what was going on over here even if I had no idea that something like this was going to happen when Melody pulled me over here.
I also had a brief moment where I had a crisis of conscience. Tiffany was a pretty girl, but this was Melody. I’d noticed her the first day here. I’d been captivated by her beauty on day one a
nd I’d been pretty sure she was giving me the eye as well. And now that we were standing here and I was sure she was interested and asking me out, well let’s just say I felt like I had an obligation to see where the hell this was a going.
I suppose there was always the chance this would all end in tears. That I was trying to buck the natural order of things and I was going to get my ass handed to me, karmically speaking, for daring to do that. But I had to try. I had to see if there was anything here.
“Hey,” I said. “Going out on a date sounds like a great time. What were you thinking? Some other night? Maybe this weekend? I know I have it off. What’s your schedule look like?”
Melody looked up at me and smiled. It looked good on her, even when her makeup was starting to run. She gave a little sniffle that was decidedly not matching her princess look, but she was still so fucking hot.
“You’re serious? You really want to?”
I fixed her with a look that I hoped communicated the idea of “are you fucking kidding me?” She laughed and shook her head.
“Right,” she said. She rolled her eyes and said her next words in a singsong voice. “Any guy would kill to go on a date with a girl like me, right?”
I shrugged. “I know you’re joking around, but it’s true.”
“Well either way,” she said. “I was thinking that maybe we could go out tonight if you weren’t too tired?”
I blinked. “Tonight?”
Melody frowned. “If that’s okay with you. I mean… If you already have a date with someone else or something…”
She pointedly glanced over to where Tiffany was still working so hard at not looking at us but it was plain all of her attention was on our side of the room. I smiled and shook my head. I felt a little bad for Tiffany, but at the same time I’d just met her today. She was on about the same footing as Melody here, minus the model hotness. Minus that intense look we’d shared that first day.
“No, nothing like that,” I said. “I was just a little surprised you wanted to move that fast.”
Melody smiled and moved in closer. Her dress crinkled as she pressed against me.