The Beautiful Ones

Cassandra stood in front of the mirror, combing out her hair. Overall, filming hadn’t really gone so bad. There had been the bloopers, the screw ups, but nothing really horrible. So far, the only bad thing she’d done is keep up her habit of staring off into space when she was day dreaming.

“You can’t do that on camera, babe. It’ll make you look weird.”

“Look weird how?” she’d demanded. Criss could only chuckle.

“You’ll just look like a space case. And I don’t want the whole world thinking I’m with a ditz.”

He was in bed now, waiting for her. It was nice to have someone waiting in bed for you. It was nice to have someone to come home to at the end of the day. That was a strange way of looking at it; they spent almost all their time together during the day anyway.

But when the cameras were off, when the crew left, things were different. It was almost like they could drop the masks that they wore during the day. They were free to be Criss and Cass, not Criss Angel and Cassandra.

“Are you ready for bed or what?” she jumped and turned, seeing her boyfriend leaning in the doorway of the bathroom. Blushing, she nodded, setting the comb down on the sink. Cassandra hadn’t realized that she had been sitting there so long, comb frozen in her hair, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“What’s wrong, Cass?” Criss frowned.

“Nothing, darling. I guess I’m just tired.” She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. Criss continued to frown.

“If you’re sure there’s nothing I can do…” he trailed off. She miserably shook her head.

“No, nothing. I just want to go to bed, okay?”

“Okay, babe.” He looped an arm around her shoulder and led her to the bed. They lay down on opposite sides of the bed, but instantly rolled towards the center. Arms wound around warm bodies, and legs tangled together. It seemed almost impossible that they had ever slept with space between them.

Cass pressed her face into Criss’s neck and inhaled the spicy, deep scent of him. She wished she could take that smell and drape it around herself. It made her feel so warm and comfortable.

All she wanted was to keep that comfort forever.

**

There was another performance that night. Cassandra was getting her face painted on. Leigh was chatting nicely about a date she’d had the previous week. Cassandra was smiling and laughing, feeling relaxed about the whole thing for once.

And then she heard it.

“Let me in! I have to see her! Cassandra, Cassandra!” it made her jump from her chair, a streak of eyeliner going from the corner of her hairline to her ear.

“Cass! Wait, let security deal with it.” Leigh snatched at her, but she was already gone, running as best she could in her ridiculous high heels.

There was a scuffle outside. With sweaty palms and a pounding heart, Cassandra wrenched open the door.

“Wait, get off of him!” she cried. The two men looked up at her in horror. “Get off of him, I know him. Get off!” she was feeling frantic. Reluctantly, they stood up.

There on the floor, clutching a bloody nose, was Michael.