Rise To Stardom - Chapter 169

Chapter 169: Sit Still, Look Pretty
{Level Up 2 | 10th of September 2020 | Act 3 | Scene 1 | Take 1}

Glancing over to the waistcoat other waiters in the restaurant usually wore, Lance scowled and then, ignored it, opting to wear his black jean jacket which he hung by the door hook instead.

Casually tucking one hand into his jean pocket, he then strolled into the dining area, stopping at the very first table he laid his eyes on to receive their order.

“Welcome, to our shitty restaurant, where the only thing great about it, is that lovely little jukebox in the corner.” he said to the group of individuals who seemed to be in a gloomy mood, save for the lady in the corner whom was staring out the window.

A bit taken aback by his words, Luke, Rose and the rest of the guys, perked up, confused expressions on their visage as they glanced over to the corner where an antique, coin operated jukebox stood in all its glory.

Veronica too, tore her gaze away from the window, curious about said jukebox.

“The name’s Lance. How may I be of service?” Lance brought their attention back to him, his gaze inquiring.

“Not the food?” Rose was the first to speak in response, still mostly confused while Luke, simply brushed his words aside, picking up the menu to place an order.

Baby, Bones and B-box did the same, not particularly in the mood to engage with the weirdo.

As for Veronica, she couldn’t help but comment;

“Trying to give us the hard sell, huh?”

Cocking his head slightly, especially because he hadn’t seen the lady’s beautiful features until she faced him properly, Lance then grinned with a goofy smile;

“Apologies darling, I didn’t see you there. Would you care for an appetizer to start? On the house.”

This time, the guys were forced to stare at Lance, evidently taken aback by his 360° switch in pitch at the sight of a beautiful lady.

“We also have some of the finest premium beef in stock and some of the best, exotic wines. You know, something tantalizing, for someone tantalizing.” he winked at the lady, the goofy grin still plastered on his lips.

He was shamelessly flirting with Veronica.

Not even the least bit moved by his pick-up lines, the lady bluntly asked instead;

“Are you sure you’re alright? Everything screwed on properly?”

“I fell in love at first sight.” Lance immediately replied, his grin a mix of charming yet undoubtedly frivolous.

Staring at him like he was beyond help, Veronica glanced over to Maya who made a turning motion with her finger, pointed at her temple.

“Here’s my order.” Luke, having shaken off his need to understand if the waiter was sane, cut into the interaction between the two, ready to eat.

Just as Lance was about to respond to the guy though, a bunch of people, walked into the restaurant, their atmosphere slightly rowdy.

All heads turned in their direction, The Deviants, scowling in immediate annoyance as The Syndicates, soon locked eyes with them, their gazes condescending.

However, before both parties could even start another beef that would then evolve into a dance battle on the premises, Lance spoke with a welcoming grin, his tone mirthful;

“Welcome, to our shitty restaurant. How may I help you today?” he walked up to them, hand still tucked into his pocket.

It was The Syndicates turn to be taken aback this time, not entirely sure of how to respond to the weirdo who was grinning at them goofily.

And in all fairness, Lance already knew they’d more or less disrupt the ambience of the restaurant judging by their infamous track record of making everything into a dance battle.

This, exactly, was why he had approached them first, using himself as a stopgap before their shenanigans evolved any further.

However, in comparison to The Deviants whom were more receptive of his quirky persona, The Syndicates, were not.

A few seconds following their initial confusion, one of the fashionably dressed punks in the crew with an expensive designer face cap, tried to push past Lance to reach The Deviants, only for the young man to also, place a hand on his shoulder, holding the dancer in place.

Instantly, the rest of The Syndicates, locked their gazes onto him, ready to humiliate him for the disrespect.

Noticing the gaze in their eyes, watching as they made a semi-circular arc behind the guy whom Lance was holding back, the punk spoke;

“Trust me, you don’t want this.”

“No, I don’t. But if you won’t behave, I’m gonna have to put you in your place.” Lance casually responded, not the least bit perturbed by their joint threat.

No sooner had he said that, the crew began to let out mock chuckles while The Deviants, also stood up from their seats, ready to prevent Lance from being humiliated.

However, realizing where the entire thing was going, Lance made an offer they couldn’t resist;

“Best of one. Just you and me.”

In response to that, both sides halted in their steps, watching as Lance gestured to the guy whom was at the forefront of The Syndicates presently, his hands casually retracted from his shoulders.

As for the Deviants, they were almost about to interfere when, the punk, one whom they knew as T-pain and one of The Syndicates best dancers, responded with a condescending chuckle;

“What’s in it for us?”

“An all you can eat buffet, on the house. If you win, that is.” Lance said, after which he then added;

“If I win though, please sit still in the corner and look pretty, okay pumpkin?” he smiled, much to T-pain and The Syndicates annoyance as he instantaneously called out just after;

“You good with that, you old witch?!”

“Do whatever you want you little shit! Just stay out of my damn kitchen!” Hilda responded from the kitchen in annoyance, cursing even further in a quietly subdued, thick Russian accent.

Arching an eyebrow at T-pain, Lance then said;

“You heard the woman.”

“Also, there’s no cause for alarm folks. Please, enjoy your meals while we entertain you.” he gestured to everyone else in restaurant, including The Deviants whom were already off their seats.

Now considerably relaxed in comparison to when The Syndicates had just arrived, Lance turned around, tilting his head in the dance crew’s direction, seemingly questioning if they were up for his offer.

“Alright. Best of one it is.” T-pain replied with a condescending gaze as the rest of The Syndicates cheered for him while booing Lance.

As for The Deviants, they were mostly unable to do anything since Lance had efficiently devolved the entire thing into a battle between just him and T-pain.

All they could do now, was watch in resignation.

Taking center stage in the fairly wide restaurant, Lance and T-pain sized each other up as the other people in the restaurant, went with the flow.

As long as it didn’t disturb their actual meals and they were entertained, just as the weird waiter had assured, it was all good.

“Smoke him T-pain!”

“Show him how it’s done!”

Watching on in anticipation, a bit excited by the turn of events, one of the The Syndicate’s members, put a coin into the jukebox, instantly selecting an old-classic, pop song that was made by a popular male rapper in the early 90’s.

Flexing his leather jacket, T-pain walked circles around Lance, dusting the air around him like he was fresh meat before he then, broke into a pop and lock, his movements, skilled as he got up close and personal.

To that, The Syndicates let out audible ‘Ooohs!’, doing their best to make Lance feel outmatched as T-pain, seemed to grab the shape of Lance’s imaginary body with his hands and then wiped it off his ass, blowing the stench away.

This earned even more jests and derisions from The Syndicates, some of the people in the restaurant even joining in, much to the distaste of The Deviants, who could only standby and watch.

However, after a few more seconds of basically mocking him with said dance moves, T-pain finished his routine, his buddies, alongside the restaurant, cheering in his victory as they went with the flow.

Since most in the restaurant had at least heard of Final Jam and knew of The Syndicates being the top dogs in the competition, they didn’t expect much from the waiter with a big mouth.

Lance however, lightly smiled in response, slowly walking back and forth while clapping inaudibly as the music from the jukebox continued.

And then, much to the surprise of The Deviants, The Syndicates and everyone else in the restaurant, Lance’s body came to an immediate dimestop as the music halted for a brief pause… only for him to extend both arms in a jittery robotic strobing as it picked up again.

And at the tail end of his outstretched arm, were his hands, one slowly yet robotically turning like a lever and the other clenched, his middle finger, slowly rising up like the lid of a music box till it came out to make a statement.

Capital F you.

“Oh!!!” The Deviants and the people in the restaurant, let out excited shouts, watching as Lance instantly, switched to a cyborg in motion, extending his index finger out and then retracting it back with another statement.

Bring it on, bozo.

“Oh snap!” Luke, Bones and B-box audibly commented this time while someone in the restaurant commented as the rest of them cheered;

“T-pain’s in for some pain!”

Dancing to the song as he kept employing the same jittery movements, Lance danced around the punk by employing a circular sidewalk, continuously provoking him with strobing shoulder movements and gestured arms with his next statement.

Watchu gon’ do, bro.

At this point, everyone in the restaurant, knew T-pain was smoked, and The Deviants, especially were reveling in his inevitable loss.

Having more or less returned back to his initial spot from the cyborg sidewalk, Lance strobed towards T-pain, removed the designer cap from his head, placed it atop his, folded his arms, all in the same cyborg motion as he made his final statement.

Any passing remarks, punk?

And to that, the winner was determined in an instant, the rest of the restaurant seemingly agreeing as they let out even louder cheers of approval!

“Now sit still, look pretty, pumpkin.” Lance gestured with his head, politely telling T-pain and the other bozos to screw off to a corner in the restaurant with a victorious gloat, much to their shame.

“CUT!”

–

Checking the shot, ensuring that he came out exactly as he wanted it, and in one take nonetheless, Danny spoke;

“That was fantastic. Brilliant work guys.” he praised both the actors and the dancers on set, earning cheers from everyone!

No sooner had that happened though, the actor playing T-pain, alongside the rest of the dance crew, instantly began approaching Kyle with excited smiles, finally getting the chance to speak with him proper as they requested for autographs.

Considering they had all only just arrived on set a few hours before filming began, they hadn’t gotten the opportunity to actually converse with him due to the set being prepared and the Director, speaking to he and Rebecca about how he wanted the very first scene they had shot today to go.

As for Tyler, there was a frown on his features, one that he wasn’t even able to hide.

‘This…’ he could only mutter inwardly in an uncomfortable manner, realizing that he might end up, not being the star of the show as he had been so confident of.

However, as if to add even more to his discomfort, he overheard a conversation between the director and his assistant, both of whom were situated a few steps sideways from him.

“And to think, he perfected all that within a week and a half…” Sean shook his head in amazement.

“Yeah. It’s quite crazy, especially since he was quite the amateur when he started…” Danny responded with a thin smile.

‘A week and a half…’ Tyler inwardly repeated, genuinely taken aback by the info.

Yet, as the dance prodigy was struggling to really come to terms with that information, Sharon whom had switched back to normal, soon walked up to Kyle the moment he was done responding to the dance crew, her expression wanting;

“Kyle.” she called out to him, to which Kyle responded after turning around to face her.

“Sharon.”

“Call me tantalizing.” the lady shamelessly and audibly requested, instantly taking everyone around them aback.

Reggie face-palmed, Maya squealed, Melissa, Josh and Spencer shook heads, while everyone else within vicinity were mostly shocked, some frozen in disbelief.

Staring at her, finding her words more amusing than anything else, Kyle slightly tilted his head and spoke;

“You’re… tantalizing.”

“Ah~.” Sharon melted, the warmest smile spreading on her lips and her palms placed on her cheeks as she blushed like a maiden, her reaction for all to see.

As for everyone else in the restaurant, they couldn’t help but inwardly comment;

‘Crazy…’