Title: All that Glitters - Part 6
By: Miki
E-mail: aya_miki@hotmail.com
Rating: G
Genre: Romance
Standard Disclaimer Apply
Hello minna, I'm so glad to get a lot of positive feedback for
this fic. Thank you everyone for being so kind.
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On Friday night, I arrived at the TV station thirty minutes
early to dress and put on my makeup--Darien had told me there
was a lighted mirror in the restroom. While I was doing my
face, I tried to calm myself down.
	I stood in front of the big mirror and inspected myself
from various angles to see if I looked okay. I nervously gave
myself a pep talk to build up my self-confidence.
	"You're gorgeous. You're sophistication personified. You
are the kind of woman that men want to die for."
	I stopped and stared at myself in the mirror, sticking
out my tongue at my reflection. Then I flounced out of the
rest room in my flimsy, sexy dress and heels.
	"Hey, you look fantastic," Darien said when he saw me.
"Doesn't she, Alec?" he asked the bearded man standing next to
him in the hall outside of the rest room.
	"Good enough to chew on," Alec said, grinning.
	Alec must've watched the same soap opera I did.
	"Alec is the engineer tonight," Darien said. "He'll be
working with us on most of the Trent spot."
	"Hi, Alec," I said. "Thanks for the compliment."
	Then I realized that it was the first compliment I'd
received without blushing or getting tongue-tied. It wasn't
hard to accept the compliment, either. All I had to do was
simply say, "Thank you." I guess accepting compliments getseasier with practice.
	"Let's go down to the studio," Darien said to me. "Alec,we'll see you later."
	Alec left, and Darien and I walked to the studio down
the hall. Darien pulled open the double doors and we walkedinside.
	The studio wasn't as dark as it had been at the
audition. Two men dressed in dark suits were chatting with
their hands in their pockets. Darien led me over to them.
	"Well, this must be Serena Montgomery, our new Golden
Girl." One of the men extended his hand to me and smiled. "I'm
Pete Riley, Darien's father." He looked really distinguished--
tall, with graying hair at the temples, and Darien's clearblue eyes.
	I shook his hand. "And this," he said, gesturing to the
other man, "is Mr. Trent, owner of Trent's Department Store."
	Mr. Trent was also handsome, but older, with a head of
thick, white hair and steely gray eyes.
	"Hello, I'm glad to meet you," I said as I shook Mr.Trent's hand.
	Mr. Trent nodded crisply and said, "Hello, young lady.
Are you ready to go to work?"	"Yes, I am," I said.
	"Splendid, splendid." Mr. Trent stood with his arms
behind him, rocking very slightly back and forth. "And I'm
looking forward to having you MC our fashion show this year.
You'll be the first Golden Girl ever to have that honor." He
studied my face for my reaction.
	I felt the smile on my face fading and I glanced at
Darien. He frowned meaningfully and nodded.
	I forced a smile. "Th-thank you, Mr. Trent," I
stammered, my palms beginning to sweat. "I'll do my best."
	"I'm sure you will," he said. He looked at Mr. Riley.
"Ready to get to work? Studio time is expensive."
	Mr. Riley and Mr. Trent left to go up to the productionbooth.
	"Ready?" Darien asked me. "Did you practice your lines?"
	"Yes," I said. "I'm ready."
	I'd practiced my lines in front of the mirror a lot at
home. First, I tried delivering them in a very sexy voice;
then I did them in a bubbly-cheerleader voice, sort of hopping
from foot to foot and giggling; then, to top it off, I sang
the commercial like and opera singer, with big, grand
gestures. These mirror performances would have looked pretty
strange if someone had watched me, but I think they loosened
me up a little, and I certainly became familiar with thelines.
	"Great," Darien said. The blue screen was hanging down
on the floor as it had been during the auditions, and Darien
gestured to it. "Go and stand over there, Serena," he said.
The camera was already pointing at that spot.
	"Can you hear me, Serena?" Mr. Riley's voice boomed overthe sound system.
	"Loud and clear," I said.	"Good. We really liked your audition, so for this
commercial, we'd like to have you give us a similar reading.
Try to give us the same tone and enthusiasm, and the samebright expression."
	"Okay, sure," I said, feeling suddenly confident. I felt
as if I needed to warm up a little, though, so I looked into
the camera and planted a huge, clown-like smile on my face.
"This is my lucky day!" I called out happily.
	"What was that, Serena?" Mr. Riley asked over theintercom.
	"Oh," I said, startled. "Sorry, I was just warming up. I
didn't know you were listening--uh, I didn't know you couldhear me."
	"That's not the kind of smile we want form her, Pete,"Mr. Trent said.
	"No, I think she's just warming up," Mr. Riley answered.
	Darien winked at me and whispered, "They can see and
hear everything from up there."
	"Well, in that case, don't blow any kisses at me," Ijoked.
	Darien grinned. "Aw, shucks. That was my next move."	I laughed.
	"Can we get a voice reading, Serena?" Mr. Rileyinterrupted.	"A what?"
	"Just talk to me a minute so Alec can set the levels."
	"Uh, sure," I said, suddenly tongue-tied. What should I
say? "Hi, folk," I said, looking directly into the camera. "My
name is Whitney Houston and I'd like to sing a song for you."
Darien's face appeared around the side of the camera. He
rolled his eyes, smiled, and shook his head. I looked up at
the production booth. "Isn't that enough?"
	"I don't know about you guys, but I want to hear thesong," Alec said teasingly.
	"Let's move along," Mr. Trent said, sounding a little
nervous. "Studio time is expensive."
	"That will do, Serena," Darien's father said. "Now let's
have you read the copy into the camera."
	"Okay." I gazed into the lense and read from theTelePrompTer.
"Hi, I'm Serena, Trent's new Golden Girl. Trent's
has some exciting plans for this year, and I can't wait
to tell you about them. The first event is the annual
Golden Girl sale. Everything in the store will be
drastically reduced from January 26 to 28. I'll be there
to say hi, so stop in at Trent's and see me while you
shop for terrific bargains. Remember, January 26 to 28.
Come on out. I'll be looking for you!"
	"When I finished reading, Darien leaned around the
camera and gave me the A-OK signal with his thumb and index
finger. Then he spoke into his headset. "Did we pick the rightgirl, or what!"
	"We sure did!" Mr. Riley said over the sound system.
"That was very a very good reading, Serena. I can tell youpracticed your lines."
	"Thank you," I said, thrilled that my mirror practicehad paid off.
	Mr. Trent spoke up. "I'd like to see her use some
gestures during the commercial. For instance, when she says,
'Hi, I'm Serena,' she could wave into the camera. And then
when she says, 'I'll be there' and 'while you shop' she could
point to herself and then into the camera, at the audience."
	Those sounded like very corny, contrived gestures to me,
and I glanced at Darien. He was listening with a worried frown
on his face. He looked up at me and rolled his eyes, but
pressed a finger to his lips.	The intercom clicked off. I figured Mr. Riley was
discussing Mr. Trent's ridiculous suggestions with him.
	After a minute or two, the intercom clicked back on.
"Okay, Serena," Mr. Riley said. "We're going to try Mr.
Trent's suggestions. Did you hear them?"	"Uh, yes," I said.
	Darien looked at the floor and shook his head.
	This is going to be awful, I thought. I can't believe
the owner of the store is going to ruin his own commercial!
	"Okay, then, Serena," Darien's father said, sounding
rather tired. "Let's try again."
	The red light came on in the front of the camera, and I
began. I intentionally exaggerated the wave and gave me a
bigger than necessary grin, hoping that Mr. Trent would see
how ridiculous it looked. And when I pointed into the camera,
I pushed my hand up almost into the lense so that it blocked
out the rest of me in the picture.
	When I'd finished, I glanced up at Darien. He obviously
realized why I had overdone the gestures, and was grinning
from ear to ear and nodding his approval.	I grinned back.
	After a moment, Mr. Riley came over the intercom.
"Serena," he said, "let's drop the gestures. Just give us lots
of genuine enthusiasm."	Darien winked at me. Obviously my overdone performance
had worked.	"Okay," I called out. "I' ready."
	The red light winked on again and I started reading the
lines. I was looking into the camera lense, but I was aware
that Darien was not looking through the camera. His face was
just to the side of the camera, and in my peripheral vision, I
could see that he had his thumbs stuck in his ears and was
wiggling the rest of his fingers and making faces at me!
	I was so surprised that I sputtered and doubled over inlaughter.
	The intercom clicked on. "What happened there, Serena?"
Mr. Riley asked. "It was going really well until you started
laughing. Is something wrong?"
	I got control of myself and stood up straight again. I
looked into the camera. "I'm sorry," I said. "I'm ready to tryagain."
	I stepped out of camera range, made a face at Darien,
then steeped back into the camera spot.	"Okay," I said. "I'm ready."
	This time Darien remained behind the camera and I gavemy best reading ever.
	When I was finished, the intercom clicked on. "Great!"
Mr. Riley shouted over the speaker. "Let's play it back.
Serena, watch the monitor in the studio."
	It was the first time I'd ever seen myself on TV and I
closed my eyes through most of it. I thought I looked like a
chipmunk--the camera was focused so closely on me.
	"Help," I groaned, but Darien gently removed my handsfrom my face.
	"You're sensational!" Darien whispered when it was over.
	"Terrific, Serena!" Mr. Riley announced over the
speaker. "That's a take. You're a real pro. Excellent job."
	Darien turned to me, grinning. "They love you," he said.
	I was so ecstatic that I spoke without thinking. "Andwhat about you?" I said.
	"What--?" He looked at me quizzically.
	Then I realized how bold I'd sounded. "Oh, that came out
all wrong," I said, laughing nervously. "I, uh, just wondered
if you liked my reading." I made a joke to cover my
embarrassment. "Didn't you love my delivery? Did I move you to
tears or change your life in any significant way?"
	Darien laughed. "You're really something, Serena," he
said, "I've never met a girl like you."
	"Care to be specific?" I asked, feeling playful.
	Darien gazed at me intensely, as if to focus on the
inside part of me behind my eyes.
	"You're intelligent, funny, and just a little bit nuts."
He grinned and touched the tip of my nose with his finger."And somewhat cute."
	"Oh, rats, I was hoping you'd say ravishinglybeautiful."
	His smile widened. "That's what I mean. Just a littlebit nuts."
	I imitated the face he'd made at me earlier by putting
my thumbs in my ears and stick out my tongue. "Look who'stalking," I said.
	Darien laughed, put his arm around my shoulders, andgave me a squeeze.
	"Darien?" Mr. Riley's voice boomed over the soundsystem.	"Yes, Dad?" he said.
	"We're ready," Mr. Riley said. "You want to come up andwatch the mixing?"
	"Absolutely. Be right up." Darien turned back to me.
"Want to come up and see how it's done?"	"What are you mixing?" I asked.
	"We're going to add the Trent jingle to your video andadd some Chyrons."
	"What's a--"	"Come one. I'll show you."
	Darien grabbed my hand and we hurried out of the studio
and up to the production room.	Mr. Trent, Mr. Riley, and Alec sat behind a large
production panel filled with dials, levers, and lights. All
three were smiling when Darien and I walked in.
	Mr. Trent reached over and shook my hand. "Very nicely
done, Ms. Montgomery," he said.
	Darien, now standing just behind Mr. Trent, winked at
me. "Thank you," I said. I can't describe how it felt when
Darien winked at me. All I know is that it felt better than
anything else in the world.
	Mr. Riley rolled up a couple of chairs on wheels for usand we sat down.
	Alec was playing back the video of the commercial on one
of the screens over the production panel.
	"First, we need to see Trent's," Mr. Riley said, and
Alec punched a button that caused a picture of the store to
appear on the screen. "At the same time, we should hear theTrent's jingle."
	Alec threaded an audiotape through a machine in front of
him, and played it so we could hear.
	Darien leaned over. "See?" he whispered, his eyes
sparkling mischievously. "You aren't the star you though you
were. Trent's Department Store is the real star here."
	"Yes," I whispered back, "but you couldn't have done itwithout me."
	Darien grinned. "Right."
	Alec fast-forwarded the tape of my commercial to find a
particular spot. My voice sounded like a chipmunk chattering
away in an unintelligible garble, while my face appeared to be
a whir of funny facial expressions.
	"Gee, isn't it great how videotape can really capture a
person's essence!" Darien quipped.
	I playfully whacked him on the arm. The adults in the
room were too busy to notice.
	I learned that a Chyron is a line of letters thrown up
on the screen in front of the picture. Mr. Riley had Alec use
the store's name and the dates of the Golden Girl sale inChyrons.
	The commercial was mixed and ready to go in about forty-
five minutes. Mr. Trent, Mr. Riley, and Alec got up and
strolled into the hall, putting on their coats as they
discussed the basketball games they'd all seen on TV the nightbefore.
	Darien and I sat alone in the production booth.
	"You were pretty good Serena," Darien said, leaning back
in his chair, his hands behind his head. "I especially liked
the chipmunk imitation."	I grinned. "I know. A performance that fast takes
incredible talent and lots of hard work." I paused. "But you
know what they say about all work and no play…"
	"Your social life is important to you, I take it?"
Darien said, with mock seriousness.
	"The most important part of all," I said, playing along.
	There was a paused as Darien dropped the game. He gazed
into my eyes and smiled. "Well, we agree about how important
it is, how would you feel about--"
	"Darien?" Mr. Riley poked his head in the door.
	What a lousy timing! I wanted to throw something at him.
	"We're ready to go," Mr. Riley said. "Serena, do you
need a ride home?"
	"Uh, no thank you," I said. "My dad is coming to pick me
up. Thanks anyway."
	Mr. Riley nodded and ducked out the door.
	I looked into Darien's eyes. "You were saying?" I said,
but the spell was definitely broken.
	Darien smiled. "We'll have to finish up where we leftoff sometime."
	"Any particular time?" I hinted.
	"Soon," he said. He squeezed my hands. "See you later,
Serena. You were great today. But you have to promise me onething."
	"What's that?" I asked curiously.
	"That you'll remember me when you're a movies star."
	I swatted Darien playfully as he left the room--I was in
the mood for romance, not for jokes! But I guess it couldn't
hurt to have a boyfriend with a good sense of humor.
	Boy, was I getting ahead of myself!