Opposites attract - 20. Chapter 20

Despite the day to day business of college, training and spa, Kev and I always found time for a little romance. Small things, like eating in our room by candlelight or renting a boat to spent the day on the nearby lake, but the love behind them gave them gravity and significance. It was almost June now and even after six month of being a couple my attraction to Kev hadn’t waned. Quite the contrary.

Kev had just returned from his job at the spa and was holding a flyer.

“The Rocky Horror fan club does another show.”

He handed me the slip of paper.

“This time they do a costume contest.”

I looked up from the leaflet.

“They often do.”

“Wanna go?”

“Sure. Why not.”

“With costumes?”

Kev had surprised me with his proposal.

“You’re sure that you want to wear nothing but golden swimming trunks and boots?”

I realized what my costume would look like.

“And I’d be dressed in a corsage, nylons and suspenders.”

“You’ve got the legs for it.”

Kev smirked. I had to laugh. He had thrown my own words back at me.

“If you go, I’ll go.”

I extended my hand. Kev shook it.

“Then it’s a deal.”

I hadn’t considered how embarrassing the shopping for the costume would be. I had asked my mother, but her shop wasn’t specialized in this kind of underwear. A trip to the city was inevitable. The course of events was the same in every shop. A friendly salesgirl would approach me and ask what I was looking for. I would state my request and then the question for the size of my girlfriend would come up. The shy answer of ‘Approximately my size.’ would result in a short pause, a pitiful smile and then a nice selection of lingerie. The explanation of these clothes being part of a costume would invariably be answered with ‘Of course.’ accompanied by a wink. At last, I may have lost my dignity, but I had one hell of a dress. Kev and I had decided not to show each other’s costume in advance. He would be surprised.

On the Friday night of the show, the greatest of humiliations was still to come: I had to ask Rob to help me with the make-up.

“I knew it was only a matter of time before this would happen, little one.”

Rob had a little too much fun for my taste. I glowered at her.

“Do you know what you are doing?”

I hadn’t seen Rob wear any make-up so far.

“Each and every of my cousins is a cosmetician. I’ve learnt one or two tricks. Don’t bitch around, little bitch.”

I took her a full hour to complete it, but the result was breathtaking. In the mirror before me, Frank-N-Furter was staring back at me.

“Nice job.”

I whispered.

“Told you so, little one.”

I was already wearing the costume, but had dressed a sweatshirt and jeans over it. I sneaked back into our room, hoping not to meet anyone. It would be hard to explain the make-up without the costume. I had to evade two guys in the stair case, but made it back unnoticed. Kev had already left for the changing room in the showers. I had gotten rid of the normal clothes and had just finished some minor adjustments to my suspenders when Kev entered the room. He had straightened his curly hair somehow and was wearing a golden brief with matching golden boots.

“Wow.”

We said simultaneously and grinned at each other.

“This time there will be no need to wear a badge.”

“No, Rocky, definitely not.”

We were lucky that the day had been very warm and the night promised to be mild as well. I was weary when we left the room and we attracted some strange looks by the people in and around the dorm. But the closer we came to the cinema, the more persons in costumes crossed our path. There was a wild display of Brads, Janets, Riff-Raffs, Franks, Rockies, Magentas and Columbias. A few had dressed up as the narrator and one person in a wheelchair was disguised as Dr. von Scott.

“Are you here as a couple?”

The question of the student passing out the cards seemed a little too curious for my taste, but we answered it truthfully. We got name tags, but the role wasn’t written on it this time. Kev had to attach the tag to his briefs which made me grin. Inside, a party was already going on. The fan club had prepared a little buffet and offered drinks. Music from the movie was playing in the background. The decoration followed the theme of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and gave the room the charm of a haunted castle. My insecurity was gone, now that almost everyone was dressed up as someone else. Kev and I enjoyed ourselves. After an hour, one of the fan club members entered a little stage and addressed the party guests.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our jury is confronted with a very hard task this time. You have outdone yourselves.”

Applause roared through the room.

“We have decided on three duos from the movie, but the final decision is still to be made.”

Another round of cheers followed.

“The nominees are: Kathy and Warren as Janet and Brad.”

The couple joined the guy on the stage and was greeted with applause and catcalls.

“Next couple: Desiree and Carl as Magenta and Riff-Raff.”

Again the welcome was very noisy.

“And last but not least: Leon and Kev as Frank-N-Furter and Rocky.”

I realized it with a start: the funny question of the guy with the cards. He had asked us whether we would like to join the contest, though not using as many words. The crowd was already cheering, it was too late to back out. Kev and I looked at each other with encouraging smiles. I took Kev’s hand and we both entered the stage.

“So, ladies and gentlemen. The jury has decided. The envelope please.”

Another student joined us and handed the host the envelope he had asked for.

“And the winners are…”

He made a pause for drama. The crowd was silent.

“Frank and Rocky, Leon and Kev!”

The room roared of applause again. The two other couples congratulated us and left the stage. We were handed a small trophy with a plaque stating that we were the winners of the ‘Only Original Bergmont Rocky Horror Picture Show Costume Contest’.

“It is a cherished tradition that the winners of our contest do a little performance.”

The crowd started to chant ‘Playback! Playback!’. Kev and I looked at each other again, this time worry on our faces. We hadn’t prepared anything.

“I think ‘I can make you a man’ suits your costumes? What do you think?”

We nodded, not having much of a choice. The host warned us that the two parts of the song from the movie had been cut into one piece. Since our entire show would be played by ear, this wouldn’t make much difference.

Soon Kev and I were standing on the stage alone and the first notes of the song were playing. I had seen the movie often enough to rip off the performance of Tim Curry, rubbing myself up and down Kev’s body. But the further we came into the song the more I dared to enter a personal touch here and there. Kev was brilliant, first, playing shy and flinching at my touches, later flexing and posing with confidence. The song ended in a distorted version of the wedding march. I jumped into Kev’s arms and he carried me to the back of the stage, his back to the audience. We smirked at each other. For an improvisation, we had pulled off an amazing show. The party guests seemed to share my assessment, as they were clapping their hands and cheering ecstatically.

Kev and I kissed on the stage. For the fraction of a second, the entire room went silent. Then the roaring returned with a vengeance accompanied by catcalls.

It was time for the movie. During the Time Warp scene, everyone wanted to dance with Kev and me. These were our fifteen minutes of fame and we enjoyed them.

Later that evening, back in our room, we played out the scenes that were only hinted at in the movie...

The next morning, we did our running training as usual. Kev’s predictions had come true. I was already outperforming Kev and had to hold back to not leave him behind. He didn’t mind at all and was very proud of what we had achieved together. After showering, we went to the cafeteria for breakfast.

We hadn’t seen this coming. When we entered the dining hall, we were greeted by cheers and more catcalls. I was confused. Not all of these people could have probably been at the party. Nonetheless, Kev and I waved back at the crowd with a smile. The situation cleared up when a fellow student approached us with a hardcopy of today’s college blog entry and asked for autographs. We had made the campus media. We asked another student if he would show us the blog on his laptop. A small series of pictures had been posted, showing scenes of our performance and the kiss. Kev and I burst out laughing every time we looked at each other. It seemed as if our fifteen minutes of fame had been extended to a full half hour. A tangent thought entered my mind when I became aware of the full extent of the acceptance around us: the wound that Timothy had inflicted on my soul had healed. The fear had gone without me realizing it. I kissed a surprised Kev.