First Encounter (A Perri Kiely story)

Chapter 20

Vanessa smiled at the production assistant. She'd spoken to her a few times and liked her friendly manner.

"Hi Laura, did you see it?" She asked excitedly.

"Yes, I saw, I just came to say well done." She said, her eyes firmly on Vanessa. "I'll let you get to wardrobe." She smiled at Vanessa and walked away, not even acknowledging Perri who was cringing behind her. Vanessa turned to Perri and put her arms out towards him.

"We've got to go." He said, stepping out of Vanessa's reach.

Vanessa stripped out of her lilac dress with a million thoughts swimming around her head. 'He kissed me back right?' She thought as she was helped into her skate off outfit. 'There was something there, I felt it.' She tipped her face up to allow the make up artist a better angle to work with. 'Why did he run away though?'

Perri was in the other room removing his costume, he was covered in a fine layer of sweat which two make-up artists were busy eliminating with wet wipes. He controlled his breathing to avoid panicking. He had no idea what just happened. 'Why did Vanessa kiss me? Why on earth did I kiss her back? I didn't hate it, does this mean I don't like Laura as much as I think I do? His mind was still in turmoil as staff pushed him out of the room. He was ready before Vanessa as usual. He patted down the trousers as if his phone would magically appear. He really wanted to message Laura to arrange to meet and explain. He hoped she still wanted to.

Laura braced herself against the toilet cubicle walls and breathed. Her insides boiled, her mind raced and she felt like a luxurious Persian rug has been pulled from under her. Of course other women would be interested. She was an idiot for ever thinking she would be enough for someone like him. She turned around put the seat lid down and dropped onto it. She wondered if she could get away with staying in there the rest of the night. She heard her phone trill. She looked at the notification. Her thumb hovered over the unlock button for a few seconds, before she steeled herself and opened the phone and the message.

[I'm so sorry you saw that. Please can we talk tonight? Px]

She scoffed at the 'x' Did he still think he could string her along? As much as she admitted she was falling for Perri she did not want to be in a harem of girls waiting for him to grace her with his time. She wanted to air his text, but she knew how persistent Perri could be. He would camp outside her apartment building until she saw him. She sent a reply instead.

[I don't want to talk tonight. Meet me tomorrow at work.] She did not put a kiss. She wanted him to know she was mad at him.

Perri got the message that Laura was mad. He understood why but had no time to dwell on it. The contestants were called out for the results. Perri put on his best performance with Vanessa, holding her for the results, celebrating with her when they got through to the final. They were all smiles and laughs until they were alone hours later.

"Why did you kiss me?" he suddenly asked. His face fell from smiles to a scowl as he ushered her into his green room.

"Why did you kiss me back?" she countered, hands on hips in defiance. He towered over her small form. Perri glared at her, he couldn't answer, he didn't know himself. He raised his hand to smooth back an imaginary stray hair. The sudden movement made Vanessa flinch.

Perri looked like he himself had been slapped. "Are you scared of me?" he asked, his voice cracking. "Do you think I'm some sort of monster?"

"No, of course not!" Vanessa replied. As she saw Perri move backwards until he hit the wall, she looked at his heartbroken face which smashed own her heart to pieces too. She ran over to him.

"I'm sorry, I got carried away. I shouldn't have kissed you. I don't want to make things weird between us." Vanessa gripped his body with all her strength, determined to not allow him to move away. Perri didn't have the strength anyway, he slumped onto Vanessa, not noticing her body shake from the strain.

"I need to tell you something." Perri began.

Vanessa led them to his chairs and they sat facing each other, she had a feeling she would need it. Perri looked at her and started wringing his hands. She hadn't noticed him do that before.

"I'm kind of seeing someone, it's early days but she works here so we are keeping it a secret." He watched her carefully for her reaction. Vanessa tried her best to be poker faced, but she couldn't completely hide her bitter disappointment. She thought for a few seconds.

"Is it Laura?" She asked, remembering Perri's panic when he saw her, and also she was sure it was her in the chairs when he dropped her the first time. Perri nodded. Vanessa's brain finally made the connection.

"She saw the kiss!" She said, her mouth wide open. Perri looked like he had been stabbed again.

"I've been trying to contact her, but she won't speak to me today. I have messed up with both of youse and I'm so sorry." He was fighting back tears as he put his head in his hands. Vanessa's emotions were all over the place, she was upset that he didn't want her, but she hated seeing him in pain. She wanted to comfort him and make it go away, but she also was now painfully aware that it was not her place to do so. So she slipped her hands under her thighs and stayed seated.

"Look, it's OK, I didn't give you much choice." She said smiling at the memory of jumping him. "You need to give her time." She eventually said from her seat opposite him. He nodded and looked up at her sadly.

"I'm so sorry." He repeated.

"I know." Vanessa replied. She stood up and headed to the door. "Good luck Perri, I hope you win her back." She said as she left the room.

Perri tossed and turned all night. All he could think about was the mess he had made. He felt genuine despair at the thought of losing Laura, he was beginning to fall hard for her. He especially realised he could be losing a gold standard potential life partner as he mulled over the way she reacted to catching him kissing another woman. No screaming, no hysterics or violence. She just looked like she was hurt. He caused her pain. Perri threw his covers off angrily, shot up out of bed and shuffled downstairs.

He poured himself a glass of water and sat in the darkness wondering how he could have done things differently. He didn't see V that way, well not anymore, not since he found out that she had a boyfriend. He thought he had put that in a box and buried it deep. But Vanessa found it. He's never been in this position before. He could count the number of girls he had ever kissed in his life on one hand. He checked the clock, 7 am. He had sat in the dark for almost two hours.

He heard his Dad descend the stairs. He continued to sit in silence as he switched on the light.

"God, you gave me a fright son!" he said holding his chest. He saw Perri's wet eyes staring straight ahead. "Are you alright?" Perri shook his head. His dad stood beside him and held him as Perri buried his face into his father's chest and sobbed.