Melody 5 - Rising Stars

9 (v) - Amy

--- AMY ---

Amy and the girls gathered round the Derren's Mac and waited. Derren clicked a few buttons, the screen went blank, then the words Introducing Melo♪y 5appeared.

Rhian gasped and the others giggled at her. The familiar opening beats of Melody Vibe kicked in, accompanied by a 3.50 minute video of the girls strutting their stuff around London. Amy smiled as the footage of her flirting with the stall-holder at Camden Market popped up.

"I can't believe you put that in!" she laughed.

"It's who are you!" said Derren. "The sexy flirty one!"

Amy looked over to see Molly's reaction to his comment, but she was engrossed in the video.

Derren had certainly captured the essence of each of the girls. Jadine came across as confident and sassy. Rhian was sweet, but with a naughty edge. Kat was ethereal and quirky. (Amy remembered thinking Kat's performance needed more 'oomph' - but it didn't. Kat was great just as she was.) Then there was Molly...

Amy knew that Molly was attractive, in a girl-next-door type way, but somehow Derren had captured a beautiful alluring quality to her - the kind which would make girls want to be her and guys want to be with her.

Was that how he saw Molly?

Amy was distracted by more fantastic footage of the girls together - splashing in the Serpentine, dancing in Hyde Park, rocking it on stage at The Granite Rooms. Derren had also included some grainy 'behind the scenes' footage, of Rhian holding the lighting reflector, Molly pressing play on the iPod, Kat carrying cups of tea, Jadine dressing the set.

"I thought that stuff was for a separate video?" asked Jadine.

"It was," said Derren. "But I added some in here too. It shows you looking out for each other."

Just then, another intimate 'behind the scenes' shot appeared - of Amy applying make-up to Molly. They were both laughing, neither of them realising Derren had been filming them.

Amy looked over at Derren, and caught him staring at her. He quickly turned back to the screen and Amy wondered what he'd been thinking.

As the video ended, all the girls let out a round of applause.

"Three cheers for Derren McKenzie," rallied Jadine.

"Hip hip hurray!" chanted the girls.

"Although I do have a couple of notes," said Jadine.

"Thought you might," smiled Derren.

"Let's break for lunch," said Lena. "Where's good to eat around here?"

They were at Derren's flat in Soho.

"There's a café on the corner called Puccini's," said Derren. "I'll meet you all there in five minutes."

As the girls grabbed their things and trooped out, Amy lingered behind. She had mixed emotions about being back in Derren's flat. It reminded her of those exhilarating weeks after Derren had told her she'd made it into the band and before he'd ended things so abruptly once they'd started working together.

"Amazing job on the video," said Amy.

"Thanks," said Derren. "Pulled a few all nighters, but I think you're all worth it!"

"You got some great footage of Molly," said Amy, testing how he'd react.

"Got great footage of you all," said Derren, ushering her out of the door.

Before they could head downstairs and join the others, Amy turned to face him. "Molly told me she came on to you at the showcase."

Derren hesitated before saying, "Well, who can blame her, eh?"

"I suppose," smiled Amy. "You weren't tempted then?"

Derren cleared his throat. "Course not. We were working together. It would have been unprofessional."

"Right," said Amy. She hadn't been alone with Derren since they'd been an item. Standing so close caused a familiar sensation to rise inside her. Yep, Derren McKenzie was still one hot guy.

"So I hear you scored a date with that stall-holder from Camden Market?" smiled Derren. "Lucky chap!"

"He owns some pop-up art galleries across the City. He was checking out Camden, seeing if it was worth branching out there."

"Seems like you know a lot about him," said Derren.

"Well, we've been on a date," said Amy.

"And?"

"He wants to see me again."

"Obviously," smiled Derren.

"But I'm not sure about him," mused Amy, biting her lip.

"Shall we join the others?" said Derren, breaking their lingering gaze and gesturing to the stairs. Amy pouted and started to walk down the stairs. She was wearing a skin-tight pencil skirt which emphasised her shapely figure to full effect.

"Molly said you knocked her back because you were hung up on someone else," murmured Amy, reigniting their previous conversation, as they headed down the dark stairwell.

"Did she indeed?" said Derren, following her.

"Well?" cooed Amy, stopping halfway down and turning to face him. "Were you?"

Derren looked at her full lips before drawing his gaze back to her eyes. "It's complicated," he smiled.

Amy raised her eyebrows and continued to swish down the stairs. As they were nearly at the bottom, she turned to him again.

"So if we weren't working together again...?" Amy let the question linger with possibility in the air.

"Yes?" smiled Derren.

"Would you and I...?"

"Amy," groaned Derren. "I called you like a million times after we stopped working together and you refused to take my calls and never rang me back."

"That was because I thought you were just after one thing!"

"And what would that have been?" teased Derren.

"I think you know," cooed Amy, before flouncing out into the bright, busy Soho street.

Amy smiled as she headed down the street to join the others. Maybe Molly had been right - maybe Derren was still hung up on her after all.