BREAK A LEG
by Jacelynn

.script by Binha.

|story visited times|

[Challenge May/June 2009:

Lifer: Brian
Place: Award Show
Stuff: broom
Quote: "If it looks like I'm laughing, I'm really just asking you to leave"
Celebrity: Justin Timberlake]

She placed her hand on the handle just as she saw him out of the corner of her eye; blond hair begging to have her fingers ran through it, million watt smile, looking better in a leather jacket than any man should be allowed to look.
"Hey there, . Nice to meet you. Looks like we're going to be working together."
She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath until she tried to answer. Suddenly remembering to breath she inhaled his scent that that went straight to her head.
"Uh- huh, yeah."
Witty “”, she scolded herself.
"I have to go find my dressing room- catch you out front in a few minutes, yeah?"
All she could do was nod at the blond god; his smile made her knees turn into worthless jello.
"Later."
"Bye, Justin"

As he made his way down the dressing room lined hall, finally became capable of normal brain patterns and sufficient oxygen intake once again. With a large girlish sigh she fell against her green room door.
“There's is no way I will be able to form complete sentences when I'm standing next to him on stage if he smells that good.”
"Ah-ha there's my room; as long as there's food in it I'm good. Hey man, nice to see you. Ah John; long time, man."
's ears instantly perked up; she knew that voice. Her body made no mistake, it was him.
“What the hell is he doing here?”

Her lip involuntarily curled at the thought of the stupid, tall Irish man. She could hardly stand the fact that they shared the same air here in New York, there was no way she was going to have to look at his annoying face during the Tonys.
Quickly turning to her door she gave the handle a twist; it jiggled but didn't open, she could hear his voice coming closer.
“Geez- does he have to act like he knows everyone? C'mon, stupid door!”
In one last feeble attempt she rammed it hard with her shoulder; the door didn't budge as saw white light and felt blinding pain in her arm.
"Ow!" she let out a cry that echoed up and down the green room hall.

"What's wrong, princess, lock yourself out of your room again?"
She heard his infuriating voice behind her; making no attempt to hide the amusement at her situation.
"Get lost, McFadden! It's just stuck." she seethed at his teasing, couldn't he just move along; didn't he have something more important to do than torment her?
"Oh and the wee little girl thought she could bust it down with her bony shoulder."
gave him a sarcastic smile,
"If it looks like I'm laughing, I'm really just asking you to leave"
"Ow," she winced again as her hands balled up into fists; sending another white hot pain up through her arm.
"What are you even doing here?" she muttered under her breath, trying to ignore the fact that she felt his eyes rake up and down her body at least once.
How dare he!
"Presenting with the lovely Gina Gershon. At least they still have some taste with the women they put on Broadway."
He gave her a look that made her want to claw his eyes out; a pretty normal reaction for anytime she was within a hundred miles of this exasperating man.
"Later, "
He gave her one last look and a wink before walking off.

“The one thing in this world that could ruin this perfect experience and he's two doors down from me.”
With that she gave a last twist on the stubborn metal knob only to have it give way easily and her door to swing open with ease.
“Figures”, she huffed, slamming the door behind her.


Hiccup hiccup hiccup.
"Do you need some water or something?"
Justin studied the curiously.
"No- hic -"I'll be fine -hic -"
Which was a complete and utter lie. As soon as the producer had informed her that she and Justin would be performing a steamy, passionate kiss as introduction to the best love scene award the hiccups began; fast and fierce. It happened whenever she was nervous...or excited and right now she was both.
Hiccup
"Maybe water."
She admitted as Justin smiled and walked over to the cooler.
"Well I saw that you're up for best female performer, ; it must be for your composure or eloquent speech, maybe your grace."

The hiccups stopped instantly, she was worried that they might soon be replaced with flashes of angry fire.
"Go away."
"Aw c'mon, that's no way to treat an old friend."
He held out his arms which she sharply smacked away, flashing her one of his famously charming smiles- or at least it would have been charming if she didn't hate him.
"We both know I'm not your friend, Brian. I've disliked you intensely since the day I met you."
That wasn't exactly true and if Brian knew that blinked incessantly whenever she lied he would've known that. She hadn't always disliked him; in fact when she first met him on their off Broadway show she liked him; a lot. He was tall, funny, smooth, and handsome and had a voice that caused her knees to buckle; especially whenever he said her name in his Irish brogue. But that was before she knew what a jerk he really was.
Brian smirked to himself watching her lashes beat furiously against her soft pink cheeks knowing her telltale sign for lying. She truly was beautiful, he thought, “too bad she's such a pain in the ass”.
"Here you go."
Justin walked up behind them holding a bottle of water.
"Thanks" she smiled sweetly at him.
"Oh I see. Pretty boy here gets flirty smiles and little miss polite and I get the shrew."
"Don't you have someone else you can bug?"
spat at him; why wouldn't he just leave her alone?
"Hey there. I'm Justin, I'm presenting with . You're Brian McFadden, aren't you? I saw you in Blithe Spirit; you were great, man."
Brian beamed proudly at ; who just crossed her arms and pouted.
“He wasn't THAT good in it.”
Again her eyelids began to flutter which didn't miss Brian's attention; he gave her fast wink.
Actually he was fantastic in it; his short journey from singer to musical star was seamless; he earned rave reviews from the show and had directors beating down his door to star in their next production. She hated that.

"So you and know each other?"
"No!"
quickly exclaimed threading her arm through Justin's in an attempt to pull him away from the general vicinity of Brian.
But he quickly caught in step with them,
“He's torturing me like this on purpose.”
"Actually we met three years ago when we did Les Miserables together off Broadway."
"Really?"
“Great”, thought, blowing a piece of hair off her face, “he's going to tell him the whole story.”
"One night she had a tiny little accident and has been out for my blood ever since. I'm telling you-crazy man!"
Brian made a crazy gesture towards as she heard Justin laugh.
"That is so not what happened! He sabotaged me so that I wouldn't be able to go on opening night. He's such an attention hog; he couldn't handle sharing the spotlight."
"You crazy pre-Madonna, that's not even remotely true. It was an accident. I had nothing to do with the fact that you're a klutz."
"Klutz? You put the broom there on purpose."
By this time was on her tiptoes trying to get as much in his face as she possibly could. Her whole body burned with rage. How could he stand there and still flat out lie about that day? She noticed a smirk start to play up on Brian's mouth and realized in some sick way he was enjoying this; she hadn't realized her whole body was practically pressed up against his; heart pounding wildly against his chest. She quickly backed off now embarrassed for getting so carried away.
"Well then, what actually happened?"
Justin seemed to be enjoying the whole thing.

With a deep breath, began,
“It was one of the big final dress rehearsals and I was coming off stage from the first act. As soon as I stepped behind the curtain I tripped. Brian had left his stupid broom right in the shadows of the curtain so that I couldn't see it when I came off and I would slip on it and fall. I had to be rushed to the hospital."
"Were you o.k.?"
"Yeah, it was just a sprain but my understudy had to fill in for me on opening night. I didn't get the splint off for two weeks."
Brian listened and didn't miss the hurt in her big eyes as she replayed the memory out for Justin. He knew it had made her mad; this was her first big play and she was devastated not to be able to open with it. But not until that moment had he realized how much it had hurt her; she truly believed he had put the broom there on purpose. He would've never hurt her. In fact he was so mesmerized watching her sing on stage that he accidentally dropped his prop broom beside him when he sat down on the stool next beside the stage manager to watch her belt out her solo as Cosette. She had an incredible voice.
He could see Justin's face sympathizing with . The damn woman was a siren; she could make any man melt with a few carefully chose words; Justin was totally falling for her victim act.
"And then tell him what you did?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
began to fiddle with her jacket zipper, her dramatic face changing instantly into a sheepish scowl; she didn't want to bring it up in front of Justin; it wasn't one of her proudest moments.
"She was so sure that I had injured her on purpose that she sabotaged the whole play just to get revenge on me.”
Justin laughed looking at the blushing woman next to him; wondering how this innocent looking thing could ruin a whole play.
"On opening night she locked me inside of my dressing room by wedging the broom against my door handle, the woman knows physics and had it angled just right that I couldn't break it or anything. I missed my cue and they had to actually stop the play in front of a live audience to come and find me and let me out. The director was furious."
By this time Justin was on the floor laughing and Brian was joining in too; he had never truly been mad at her; in fact he had been impressed with her sinister side. shot them both a chagrin glare, unamused at their amusement.

"Well you two, that's quite a story. And all this time you've just continued hating each other?"
"I don't hate her."
Brian said it so fast; snapped her head up to look at him. She was sure he hated her for what she'd done. He ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair; avoiding her puzzled expression.
"She drives me crazy, but I don't hate her."
He knew he could've made truce right there, he had seen it in her eyes; for the first time in three years she looked ready to forgive. But it was the truth; she drove him crazy; sometimes she was all he could think about.
"Ugh!"
threw her hands in the air and stormed off.


Walking into Radio City music Hall the following night was like walking on a cloud; was in heaven. She had spent the whole entire day working; which consisted of being held tightly in Justin Timberlake's arms, having him look lovingly into her eyes and then letting him lustfully kiss her over and over until the producer told them it was perfect. And she couldn't agree more, his kiss was perfect. She couldn't wait for tonight; she was alive with nervous excitement; not only was she presenting an award but she could win one tonight too. It was overwhelming.
"Miss . I've been looking for you."
An extremely stressed out looking man with a headset and clipboard ran up to her.
"There's a problem. It seems Mr. Timberlake came down with a severe case of food poisoning last night and is not going to make it."
"What?"
felt her whole perfect fluffy cloud come crashing down in dark gray shards.
"No worries. We have a stand in. You need to get changed though; we go on live in one hour."
Before she could ask a question he was off in a frenzied hurry towards the costume rack.

“Stand in?”
grumbled to herself in the make up chair. Her makeup was been done to perfection; making her look like a Mardi Gras Queen- it was the theme of her segment; she was a carnival queen. And this queen didn't want a stand in; she wanted to kiss Justin.
As the five minute call echoed down the hall, she grabbed her mask and straightened her elaborate dress; it was exquisite with layer after layer of bold purple green and gold trimmed with intricate beading and shimmering ribbons. The dress was sleeveless but she wore black full length gloves all the way up her arms. She felt ready- if only her king was there.
"Ready, m'lady?"
Stepping out of the door an arm was held out to her; they matched; he wore a robe detailed with the same beadwork and colors as her dress. It was draped over a silky black shirt and Venetian breeches, topped off with elegant black leather boots. His mask was a vibrant mix of feathers and gold sequins just like hers. Even in her shimmering emerald heels he still stood a head above her.
"You?!?"
For a moment her body had utterly betrayed her. Her eyes had only seen a devastatingly handsome man, causing her breath to slam in her throat and her stomach came alive with butterflies, but she quickly gained control of her senses.

"You're the stand in? You've got to be kidding me?"
"I was presenting alone because the actress I was with bowed out at the last minute. Now I'm all yours."
"McFadden, you're on next."
Brain grabbed 's hand and pulled her to the right wing; she was numb; this couldn't be happening. She didn't know if she could actually kiss this man or not.
"Here we go."
He squeezed the small gloved hand in his own and pulled her out in front of the bright lights.
heard the music begin; the music she had been seduced by Justin with yesterday, but this wasn't Justin. She said her line robotically. And heard Brian say his; his accent was thick tonight.
His warm hands grabbed hold of her waist and he pulled her to him in one smooth move,
"Don't enjoy this, McFadden,"
She whispered as his blue eyes bore into hers making her lose all train of thought.
"No promises, ."
As his lips fell onto hers, 's heart began to race. His touch caused her knees buckle underneath her and she knew his strong arms were the only thing holding her up. She could feel his body pressed into every curve of her own and his hand tightly gripping her thigh. She couldn't think; he was making her mind spin and her blood burn with fire.
They crowd erupted as they broke apart; it had been the show they were supposed to put on. stared at him. Was this the man she hated so much? Her whole body disagreed entirely. He gently placed her leg back on the solid ground, making sure to keep his hand on her back for support. He loved how shaken she was; he would never admit that she had had the same affect on him. Before they announced the nominees he buried his head into her hair and huskily whispered,
"My dressing room. Five minutes."
Trying to regain her voice she leaned over to him and breathlessly whispered back,
“I'll be there."

THE END