![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So Close Yet So Far : X-Factor USA fanfic
Title: So Close Yet So Far
Fandom: X-Factor USA 2012
Rating: G
Length: 2072 words
Author notes: Written for take_liberties, for Yuletide Madness 2012.
Summary: "Demi and Camila come down the steps, stopping in front of the judges’ table. This close, it’s even harder to stop watching her - he has no idea, really, what any of the others are doing - but she ignores him, performing to LA and Britney’s empty seats, or the audience seats behind them. Well, he can’t have that." Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato, and that performance with Fifth Harmony.
Long before he reaches the room, Simon can hear Fifth Harmony’ voices, at a higher pitch than usual. He smiles, knowing how much they’re looking forward to starting rehearsals with Demi. As he gets close enough to make out what they’re saying, he realises Demi has beaten him there, and the girls seem to be trying to outdo each other in thanking her for performing with them.
“All right, that’s enough of the Demi Lovato Appreciation Society you seem to have going on here, she’s quite swollen-headed enough as it is,” he says, walking into the room.
“Ooh, is someone jealous?” Demi flashes back, grinning.
The girls burst into giggles, hiding them behind their hands as Simon pretends to glare at them.
“Let’s not start, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he replies, and is pleased when Demi agrees with him and sets to work at once. Usually, there’s few things he enjoys more than bantering with her, but this performance is really important, and he’s glad to see she’s taking it seriously.
With the help of the vocal coaches, it doesn’t take long to settle who’ll sing which parts. The girls have already performed the song before, which is helpful, but of course Demi’s taking parts now, and the coaches want to mix it up a little. Simon has been fairly quiet during the discussion, being aware that they generally know best. Just because he hasn’t been speaking much, though, doesn’t mean he hasn’t been listening. He’s already pleased with how good they sound together, and even more pleased at how well they’re all working together.
At midday they break for a quick lunch. During the meal, the girls chatter away, each and every member of his group apparently possessed of an inexhaustible well of questions for Demi. They try to bring him into the conversation every now and again, but Simon knows perfectly well that it wouldn’t make a difference if he wasn’t here - well, there may be questions they don’t want to ask in his hearing, but that’s about it. Unbidden, Demi’s earlier “is someone jealous?” drifts through his mind. To his surprise, he realises he is feeling a bit jealous - and even more surprising, he’s not entirely sure of who. Is he jealous of Demi for having Fifth Harmony’s undivided attention, or is he jealous of Fifth Harmony for having Demi’s? Well, the second one is just plain stupid, he thinks, so it’s obviously the first. Ah, quit being an idiot and let them have their fun. He pointedly ignores the voice at the back of his head suggesting that maybe the second option is in fact the right one.
They soon finish their meal, and head back to start working on choreography. As the choreographers start blocking out the moves for the first verse, Demi walks over to stand next to his chair.
“Well, you’re not being completely annoying today - touch wood - so it’s just about bearable,” he retorts, and they both laugh. Actually he’s enjoying himself, and she knows it, but it wouldn’t be them without an ‘annoying’ or ‘asshole’ thrown in every now and again.
Soon, the choreographers are ready to start on Demi’s entrance. The girls already appear to have picked Camila to introduce her (Simon wonders just how much bribing and begging that entailed), and the planning moves quickly along.Which is all for the best - all the acts have three performances in the final, and balancing preparation for them all is complicated to say the least.
The third chorus gives some difficulty, until Demi suggests that she and Camila walk down to the judges’ table and sing part of it there. Simon thinks he sees a mischievous gleam in her eyes when she looks at him for his opinion, but he dismisses the notion. It’s a good idea and she wants this performance to be good as much as he does, she’s not going to mess it up.
*******
The days seem to fly by, and all too soon it’s time for the studio rehearsal. Simon nods, pleased with how it’s going, as Fifth Harmony perform the first verse. Then Demi steps out. She’s good. Perhaps a little too good, he worries. He’s supposed to be watching the girls, directing them, but he can’t stop watching her instead as she strides around the stage, looking as confident as if she’d performed on it a hundred times before.
Demi and Camila come down the steps, stopping in front of the judges’ table. This close, it’s even harder to stop watching her - he has no idea, really, what any of the others are doing - but she ignores him, performing to LA and Britney’s empty seats, or the audience seats behind them. Well, he can’t have that.
“I am going to be sitting right here, you know,” he remarks.
“So?”
“So why are you ignoring me?”
“I think it does you good, being ignored sometimes,” she retorts. “We are performing to the entire audience, after all. What do you want me to do, steal your mic and sing right in your face?” She’s suited actions to words, twisting his microphone around and asking the question into it.
He rolls his eyes and pulls it back. “No, but don’t act as if I’m an empty seat!”
She seems to listen; on the second run through she’s looking at him for the final part. Not that he’d know, since he’s deliberately watching Camila instead. Not to annoy Demi, he patiently explains to her when she complains; as Fifth Harmony’s mentor, he has to pay special attention to their rehearsals so he can help them improve. Her raised eyebrows say she isn’t buying it, but there’s no time for extended arguing, and they start from the top again.
Third time does prove a charm, and they lock eyes for the end of the chorus. As she turns away to walk back up the stairs, though, Simon’s sure he catches the beginning of a smirk forming on her lips. There’s no time to question it, they need to keep going, but it sticks in the back of his mind, nagging at him.
Before the last run through, he calls Fifth Harmony to him to give them notes. Demi stands aside while he talks to them, as if not wanting to interfere. When the girls return to their starting position for the final rehearsal, however, she moves over, looking down at him from the stage.
“Any notes for me, Simon?” she asks, the question a strange mixture of joking and serious.
“You’re the celebrity, I wouldn’t dare to give you notes,” he replies, and she laughs.
“Liar.”
“I haven’t much to say, really... you’re not bad,” he begins with pretended indifference, knowing how much it’ll annoy her.
“Not bad?!” She takes the bait, her eyes widening and her head snapping back in only half-feigned offense.
“Pretty good, if you insist,” he answers in a show of magnanimousness. Then, with her still glaring at him, he adds provocatively, “If you want more praise, you’re just going to have to do better, sweetheart.”
She narrows her eyes at him. “Oh, I will, you wait and see,” she says, the words a threat and a promise at the same time. “It’s on.”
He merely gives her a smug smile, and she strides away. He wonders, as he often has before in this not-quite-a-game they play, just how serious she is, just how serious he is.
Later, he remembers her smirk as she walked away from him, up the stairs, and the tone of her voice as she told him she’d get praise from him. Suddenly, he wonders if that was the whole point of asking for notes from him, to get him to challenge her. He’d thought he was baiting her, but maybe she was baiting him? Whichever it is, he’s sure she’s got something up her sleeve.
He has no idea how right he is.
******
Simon smiles as he’s asked to introduce his act. This should be good. "Oh, I have really been looking forward to this one. I’m gonna welcome back Fifth Harmony, with a very, very good friend of mine as a special surprise. Fifth Harmony.”
The music begins, and lights shine down on the girls. Simon nods slightly, satisfied, as Camila sings the first two lines, followed by Normani, then Ally and Lauren.
He can’t help smiling as Camila introduces Demi; there are several additions to the little speech that weren’t there when she practiced it, but it’s certainly heartfelt.
Then the back of the stage slides open, and it’s like rehearsals but a million times worse. He couldn’t look away from her if you paid him. It’s all right, he reasons, the girls aren’t performing in these verses anyway. You don’t need to watch them. To hell with that, he’s forced to admit to himself, he couldn’t watch them even if they were. Demi was good, she was great, in rehearsals, but now she’s simply fantastic, commanding the stage - and his undivided attention.
She joins the girls in the center for the second chorus, and it’s a little better because now at least he’s watching them all, though she’s still in the center of his vision. She stands out visually, too, her black shirt and trousers against Fifth Harmony’s white and grey dresses. He knows that’s the point, he was there while they discussed costumes, but now it’s one more thing keeping his eyes fixed on her.
A few more lines - good, the still functioning part of his brain notes, Dinah’s nailing the high note - and then Demi and Camila are walking towards the judges table. Except walking is so not the word for what Demi’s doing, she’s strutting down the steps, singing straight at him. That definitely wasn’t the way they practiced it, and he definitely doesn’t give a damn.
Demi reaches out, and for a split second Simon thinks she’s actually going to steal his mic like she had while rehearsing. Nothing so predictable, though, not for her - she taps him lightly on the nose, still singing at him. Then she moves towards the middle of the table, and he turns his chair to follow her, grateful for the long experience in tv that means he has - just - sufficient control of his expressions that his mouth isn’t actually hanging open. He’s just about managed to regain coherent thought, when she turns back, leaning towards him as she sings “let me give your heart a break” before striding back up the steps, and it vanishes again.
He’s on his feet applauding almost before the last note ends. She deserves it, no question about that. No, they deserve it... hell, about all he knows is that the girls didn’t sing completely flat or fall on their faces, he wasn’t watching anyone else. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Britney and LA stand up too, much to his satisfaction - and relief; they thought it deserved a standing ovation too, his brain hasn’t completely turned to mush.
Even as he claps, he’s wracking that same brain for good commentary on the performance - he knows he’ll have to say something, and he’s grateful for the extra few seconds he gets to think while first they show Fifth Harmony’s supporters at Ally’s home town, then Mario and Khloe chat with the girls.
By the time Khloe calls on him, he’s ready. The first words that came to mind - ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’ most prominently - he knows are entirely unsuitable for him to say, at least in public. He stores away the notion of saying them later, though; just for the fun of seeing how flustered she’ll get, of course.
Demi’s looking at him intently, challenging him. She must know she’s won; she’s just waiting for him to admit it, and it’ll be over.
"Oh God, it pains me to say this,” he begins, “but Demi Lovato, you were sensational.”
“Thank you, Simon Cowell.” Perfectly apt, ordinary words, but it’s all in the way she says them. The smile that’s almost a smirk on her lips, the little toss of her head, and did she actually bat her eyelashes at him? It all says that she knows exactly how much her performance affected him, and this isn’t over at all, is it? It’s only the beginning.
no subject
knowing how much they’re looking forwards
I think you mean "forward". :)
no subject
*Googles "looking forwards"* *stares in astonishment at the results* I could have sworn it was forwards, or at least that both were correct... Learn something every day ;) Thank you for pointing it out! I'll fix it now :)