Laying Low in Hollywood (25 page)

   After the warm up, my team joined me in our assigned seats, next to the ice.  As soon as the house lights dimmed, Ron took my hand, just like he always did.  He looked over and gave me a sly smile.  I squeezed his hand excitedly and smiled back.

   The spotlights came on and team Muramsatsu began their program.  They were skating to the song “Hey Ya” by Outkast.  Their program was energetic and fun and it had a little bit of a hip hop, type influence.  I enjoyed it and thought it had good entertainment value, but it was not nearly as technically difficult as our program and I found I was smiling to myself. 

   Team Muramsatsu had done a fine program, but it was not what I would consider finale caliber material.  They had gone the safe route, and they were going to loose because of it.  I hated to be overly confident, but if my team nailed all their elements, we would win by a landslide!

   Team Muramsatsu stood before the crowd taking their bows.  The crowd had enjoyed their program, it was fun and it had been  nearly flawless.  The crowd rewarded them with a standing ovation, I imagine to the general public, the program had seemed like a winner.  I did consider myself to be overly critical at times.

   The team headed to the “kiss and cry” area to await the judges comments and their final scores of the season.  I was still clinging desperately to Ron’s hand in anticipation of our own performance that would be coming up in only moments.

   The judges were very polite, they all liked the routine, except for Hal Luther, who was British and a very tough critic.  He deserved to be, of course, he was one of the greatest skaters of all time!  He said exactly what I had been thinking.  He told team Muramsatu that their performance had been fine, except for the fact that they hadn’t raised the bar for themselves in weeks.  This performance had been entertaining, but it didn’t stand out over their past performances and he felt like they had stagnated.

   I bit my lower lip hard, so I wouldn’t burst out laughing, at his comment.  That wouldn’t be professional at all.  It was quite a struggle to contain myself and not flash Emi a smug smile.  I was almost bursting with pride, I couldn’t wait for her to see our routine!

   The judges gave them two nines and a ten, then they returned to their seats beside the ice dejectedly.  In all those weeks they had given many good performances, but they had never attained a perfect score. 

   Elena, Ron and I headed for the ice.  I took their jackets and their skate guards from them as the stage crew was busily setting up our props on the ice. 

   I was excited to see my daughter Baylee and my son Ramsey sitting in the front row of guest seats.  They both waved to me excitedly.  Jorge gave me two thumbs up from where he was standing and I gave him an excited smile. 

   Elena and Ron had gone offstage to climb onto the elephant.  A hush had fallen over the darkened ice arena.  I was standing there beside the ice, shivering with excitement.  In moments, the stage assistant came out and gave the thumbs up to the sound manager, indicating that Elena and Ron were in position, on the elephant. 

   I knew that the crowd and the judges would be a little thrown off by my team’s entrance, the skaters almost always started near the center of the ice.  Instead, there were blue spotlights illuminating a group of palm trees arranged near the garage door that housed the Zamboni, the door slowly began to raise as the announcer introduced my team.  I giggled in anticipation, the entire crowd was awestruck, they had no idea what was going on.  Of course, the elephant wouldn’t fit through the regular gate, so we’d improvised.

   “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear it for team Jensen, skating to the song “Kashmir” in their final performance on Fire on Ice, Elena Denkova and Ron Brannon.”

   In seconds, the music cued up and the spotlights turned to white as they illuminated the palm palm trees at the Zamboni entrance of the ice as a man in Indian garb lead the huge elephant to the edge of the ice.

   The crowd gasped as the elephant lumbered slowly onto the ice carrying my team on it’s back.  Ron and Elena were all smiles as they waved to the crowd from their perch, high atop the elephant. 

   On his musical cue, Ron leapt down from the elephant’s back.  He then bowed to Elena and caught her above his head as she jumped from the elephant’s back.  Ron held Elena above his head in a platter lift, spun around twice and lowered Elena gently and gracefully to the ice.  The crowd roared appreciatively!  My heart was pounding anxiously as they began their routine, the entire arena was suddenly charged with a positive energy.

   Ron and Elena began skating their program with all the fire and charisma I had hoped for.  Elena had become especially good at interpreting the middle eastern mood of the music.  She had even went above and beyond and taken a few lessons from some Indian dancers so that she would be more convincing in her interpretation of the music.

   I watched as they nailed every single element, including the difficult ones they had essentially, just learned.  I was so proud of them, they had come such a long way. 

   When they finished, I had tears rolling down my cheeks.  The program was even more than I had hoped for and I was certain that Ron and Elena had won.

   They took their bows to a standing ovation, both looking completely elated.  Then they skated to me.  Elena threw her arms around me and hugged me.  I squeezed her hard.  Then Ron threw his arms around me and picked me up in his arms.  I was laughing elatedly as he squeezed me, then he pulled me tighter in his arms and kissed me.

    I was surprised, it was not a friendly kiss by any means, it was a passionate kiss.  I had wrapped my arms around him and was kissing him back urgently.  It was what I had been waiting for, for so long, I could barely help myself.  I figured the show was over now, what the heck?

   I’m not sure how long the kiss lasted, but when I finally returned to reality, the crowd was roaring and the show’s host, Zach Reid, had showed up at our side with his microphone.

   “Well Ron, that was quite a kiss.  Was that a congratulatory kiss, or what?” asked Zach.

   “That was a, I’ve been waiting a very long time to do this, kiss,” said Ron, he still had his arms around me and he was gazing down into my eyes.

   “So all the rumors are true, you and Lane have been a couple the whole time?” asked Zach.

   “I wouldn’t say that we’ve been a couple the whole time. Lane and I have had feelings for each other for a long time.  When you’re in Hollywood, especially on a reality TV show everyone is watching you, it’s hard to have any sort of a relationship without the whole world knowing about it.” 

   “Lane and I both decided it would be best to wait until my divorce was final, and I am happy to announce that I got the final papers yesterday morning...I am a free man!  Even Lane didn’t know until just now.  I wanted to surprise her tonight,” said Ron, smiling at me.

   Ron wrapped his arms around me and kissed me again, causing the entire audience to start screaming and clapping.  The host started laughing.

   “Okay, that was a spectacular end, to a spectacular performance.  How about that America, that is why this is called reality TV, did anyone expect that to happen?” cried Zach, as the crowd continued to scream and clap wildly.  “Well let’s head over to the “kiss and cry” and see what the judges had to say about your performance,” said the host.

   We headed to our seats in the Kiss and Cry area, I was clinging to both Ron and Elena’s hands as we waited for the verdict.  The first two judges told us they loved our performance, they thought the team did a great job going above and beyond all their previous performances.  Hal Luther was up next to comment, of course he was the harshest of the judges, I was almost holding my breath, I was so anxious.

   “This was one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen, amateur or professional.  If someone had told me weeks ago that Lane Jensen could make this big clumsy football player into a world class caliber skater, I would have thought they were daft,” he cried.

   “Like everyone else, I was completely blown away when the two of you came riding out on an elephant, but I have to say my favorite part was the end, when Ron kissed Lane.  I was moved to tears,” said Hal, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief.

   I was sitting there giving Hal an embarrassed smile.  Ron had his arm around me and he squeezed me and kissed the top of my head. 

   “As a team, you all have an unbelievable magic together.  I wish you the most happiness,” said Hal, giving two thumbs up.

   “Wow, can you believe it? Hal Luther can be a nice guy,” said the announcer.

   “Hey, I’ve gotten a bum wrap all these years.  When I have something nice to say, I say it.  Unfortunately I don’t often have something nice to say,” said Hal.

   “Okay ladies and gentleman, the moment you’ve been waiting for.  Elena Denkova and Ron Brannon get their scores, right after this,” said the announcer.

   I rolled my eyes, this was a taping, it wasn’t being filmed live.  I hated all this putzing around.  I knew they did it all for the drama, but I was sweating it, we weren’t filming live here!

   “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back.  Before we left, the judges were preparing to reveal their scores for team Jensen, retired professional football player Ron Brannon and his partner, professional skater Elena Denkova.  Judges, please reveal your scores.”

   I watched as each judge revealed their score, ten, ten and ten.  I was beside myself with joy, we had won!  Ron, Elena and I were all attempting to hug each other, but we were too excited so we were essentially bouncing off of each other’s chests.  I finally hugged and kissed Elena, then Ron caught me in a tight embrace and kissed me passionately while the audience howled in delight.

   Zach Reid came over and put his arm around me.  “Now that the show is officially over, America wants to know the truth.  For the past several months, everyone here has been under the impression that you and our producer Jorge Broussard were an item, but it is becoming evident to me now, that might be a false assumption,” said Zach, flashing me a sly smile.

   “I love Jorge so much, I love working with Jorge, but we are only friends,” I told him.

   Jorge smiled at me and waved at me from across the room. 

   “Well Lane Jensen, your team has scored a perfect thirty points, and you have blown the entire world away by bringing a 9,000 pound Indian elephant onto the ice.  I am pleased to announce that team Jensen is our winner!” said Zach, beaming proudly.

   With that, the immense crowd began surging toward us and suddenly everyone was crowding around us, hugging us and congratulating us.  The crowd was completely engulfing us and soon security showed up to try and usher all the excess people from the judging area.  The producers were trying to get the rest of the taping done, but it was almost impossible with the huge, surging crowd.

   Soon the area was mostly cleared and the announcer approached us again with his microphone.  He explained to us that they were merely going to do some closing comments on the show and a few other miscellaneous type things.

   Zach was approaching us and he had his arm around Jorge.

   “I have just been speaking with our executive producer Jorge Broussard and he has just told me that our show has been approved by the network to run for another season,” said Zach.

   The crowd erupted into a roar of shouts and applause.  I was straining to hear what was being said, the arena was so loud and echoing.

   “Unfortunately, when the next season airs, I will be quite busy working on a show I have already been contracted for, in New Zealand,” said Zach.  I was staring at him blankly, wondering where he was going with this.

   “Our executive producer Jorge Broussard, has come up with a fabulous idea.  He would like it very much if we had a team, a host and hostess next season.  One would be a professional athlete, of course, and the other would be a professional skater.  That way, the audience could get a perspective, from both sides.   

   The network already has two very popular personalities in mind already.  Jorge wanted me to ask this question on the air tonight.  Ron Brannon and Lane Jensen, will you host the next season of “Fire on Ice”? asked the host.