Rock Idol (Reality With a Twist Series) Read Online Free

and
wink.
    “Now
I’ve been in this business a lot of years,” Mitch reminded everyone, “and I’m
just calling them the way I see them. Your performance this week probably
elevates you to the bottom level of talent in this competition, but in my
opinion you’re still relying on your smile and your baby blues. I mean, you
aren’t even dressing well. That’s a heavy load for a couple of eyes and a
dimple.”
    The
audience began booing again and Fawn took her turn at the microphone. “Mitch is
right in saying your performance is far better this week. You touched something
in yourself that let you touch something in all of us as well.”
    She
stopped talking and looked at Ember.
    Jonathan
King was caught flat-footed by the short speech. “Thank you, Fawn. What did our
final judge think?”
    Ember
smiled as the camera came in for a close up. “Fawn is right, Rick. This is a
whole new level of performance for you. The sort of singing that got you into
this competition. Last week you weren’t certain you wanted to be here. This
week you’ve begun to take ownership of the stage. You’re still hitting a few
notes off-key, but this was an encouraging step forward. If there’s one piece
of stagecraft you should keep in mind next week, I’d suggest that it’s
remembering to sing to the whole audience, not just the judges’ table.” She’d
save the observation about his terrible shirt until she could make it in
private. There was no need to embarrass him.
    The
audience cheered wildly at her comments.
    She’d
be very surprised if Rick went home this week.

 
    Week Three

 
    “Fawn?
Are you in here?” Ember asked as she opened the door to her friend’s dressing
room.
    A
confusion of sounds greeted her ear and what might be a chair falling over.
    “Fawn?”
Ember called out with greater volume and more urgency. She let the door swing
closed behind her as she hurried inside. Someone had pulled a rack of dresses
into the middle of the room so she couldn’t see Fawn’s dressing table.
    “Ember?”
Fawn sounded disoriented—confused. “I’m all right! Stay back!”
    But
it was too late for that. Ember had already hurried around the clothes rack to
find Fawn in her slip, trying desperately to pile makeup containers over
something on her dressing table. Her chair had tipped over and lay on the floor
behind her.
    “Fawn,
what’s wrong?”
    Frightened
as her namesake, Fawn looked up at Ember and unintentionally revealed the whole
story. White powder decorated her upper lip below her nose. Fawn was using
cocaine again.
    “Oh,
sweetie,” Ember said. Her disappointment was intense and underlined with a
trace of fear. Ember and her ex-husband had snorted away half her fortune. She
did not want to start down that path again!
    “It’s
not what it looks like,” Fawn told her.
    Ember
took charge, coming forward and picking up Fawn’s chair. “What it looks like is
a cry for help! You didn’t even lock your door, Fawn. You wanted someone to
catch you.”
    “I…thought
it was locked,” Fawn insisted.
    Ember
wondered if she knew how lame that protest sounded.
    “Let’s
clean this up and then you and I are going to talk.”
    She
grabbed some tissues and quickly wiped the powder off the table, then dumped
the mess in the toilet. She didn’t bother to search Fawn’s purse for more of
her stash. She wasn’t the woman’s mother and frankly, if Fawn wanted to buy
more coke she would.
    Fawn
watched her do all of this without moving, nor did she resist when Ember
cleaned the powder off her face and flushed that tissue as well. It wasn’t
until Ember sat her down in her chair and leaned against the dressing table
facing her that Fawn saw the need to try and regain control of the situation.
    “I’m
not hurting anyone, you know.”
    “Oh,
sweetie, I’m not here to judge you. I’ve been where you are. I know nothing I
say is going to make any difference to you. It’s like any other bad
relationship we can find