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Chapter Thirty Eight

I walked out of the meeting with Tony and Anderson feeling really good about myself. While they went to talk to the guys; I met up with Andrea.

“How’d the meeting with the bosses go?” she whispered, looking around.

“Well, if I were getting a grade, I’d say I passed,” I said. I told her about being invited onto the cruise. Her eyes widened.

“No way! That’s awesome!”

She gave me a big hug. “I’m going to miss you.”

I pulled back, confused. “Where are you going?”

“Oh,” she said. “I’m not going on the Canadian leg; I’ve got another gig.”

“Well, in that case, I’m going to miss you,” I said. I truly meant it.

“Hey, you’re a techie. I’ll keep tabs on you on Facebook.” She winked. “I need all the dirt on Nick you can spill. Plus you can remind me how hot AJ is on a weekly basis by sending me pictures.”

I laughed and shook my head. She headed off towards the stage, then looked back at me over her shoulder.

“I’ve got to say a BIG goodbye to Paul,” she explained. I smiled; I hoped that her and her favorite crew guy would stay in contact after the tour.

While everyone was off doing other things; I took a moment for myself. It was like the good old days. I surfed onto Perez Hilton and got lost in all of the celebrity gossip.

I hit page six when I noticed the word “Carter.” Reading it more carefully, I realized I was reading about Aaron and Maile’s Las Vegas Wedding. Reportedly, the couple was honeymooning in Mexico. I sighed; Nick wouldn’t be happy.

“Such a big sigh for such a small lady.”

I looked up to see Nick hovering over me. I turned the laptop in his direction. He read the post, his eyes narrowing.

“You’re not going to run off to Mexico and kill him, right?” I asked. Nick smiled.

“No, I’m a little busy right now,” he said nonchalantly. “But don’t think that sparks won’t fly when I do meet up with my lil’ bro.”

I didn’t respond; instead I turned off my laptop.

“So how did your meeting go?” Nick asked. He sat down on the floor, leaning his back up against my legs. His head fell back onto my lap.

“Pretty good,” I said. I couldn’t suppress a wide smile. “They offered me another job.”

“And that would be?” Nick asked.

“Well this totally amazing group is going on a cruise in December,” I began, playing with his hair. Nick broke into a grin. “And Anderson and Tony thought I’d be up for the challenge of documenting the adventure.”

“I have to agree,” Nick said. “But, even if they didn’t offer you that I would have been bringing you along anyhow.”

I smiled. Leaning down, I gave him a kiss.

“Should I take that one off your tab?” he asked.

“Naw, that’s a freebie.” I said.

“You might change your mind when I tell you what Tony and Anderson met with us about,” Nick said with a laugh.

“What?” I said, frowning.

“Well, they love the Masquerade video,” Nick said. “They want us to premiere it here at the Warfield tonight and tomorrow.”

“That’s terrific!” I said with a smile.

“Yes, but,” Nick paused. “They thought while the video was playing that we could be performing it onstage.”

“By performing, you mean…?”

“I mean you girls in your dresses, waltzing around with us.”

“Oh no way,” I said, shaking my head. “On a closed set is one thing, but live in front of an audience? You saw those girls yesterday; they were ready to kill me!”

The corners of Nick’s mouth lifted up; he was trying his hardest not to smile.

“It’s not funny Nickolas!”

He held up his hands. “I’m just telling you what the bosses said,” he said innocently.

I sighed. Then I thought of something that really bothered me.

“How are we going to jump?” I asked. “We won’t have time to put on guide wires.”

Nick paused uncomfortably. “Well,” he rubbed his neck. “They’re going to put a lower platform that attaches to the stairs so you don’t have so far to jump.”

“I can easily break something with my feet on the ground! You expect me to jump with no safety net?”

“I will catch you,” Nick said.

“You have one hand!” I pointed to his cast. He looked surprised.

“Oh yeah.” He puckered his lips. “I better go talk to the guys.”

He walked off; I smiled. I knew my logic had won.

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“I can’t believe this,” I complained two hours later.

My initial triumph had quickly been doused. After a mutual decision that the guys didn’t want us jumping off a platform without support and that Nick couldn’t possibly do the lifts with his hand, they had devised an alternative choreography.

“You’ll be fine,” Nick said. “It’s so much easier than the steps for the video.”

We were still waltzing, but instead of lifting we were doing timed dips. Nick and I were the last “dippers.”

We had an hour to practice before sound check.

“You trust me, don’t you?” Nick said, his bulky cast resting on my side.

“Yes,” I admitted. He grinned.

“Famous last words.”

Before I could complain, the music started. We went through the routine four times. Each time we ended with the kiss.

“I’m paying off my tab quickly,” I teased. He laughed.

“I’ll just have to give you more roses,” he countered.

With only minutes to spare before sound check, we pretty much had the routine down. Leigh, Leighanne, Rochelle, and I darted backstage as the VIP holders came in. I changed quickly and grabbed my camera.

Time to get back to my day job.

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That night, I stood nervously backstage. Anderson and Tony were in the front row; their eyes seemed to be dissecting everything.

“So how many tomatoes are going to get thrown our way?” Rochelle said, sidling up to me. I looked at her horrified. She laughed.

“Just kidding,” she said.

“How we doin’ tonight San Francisco?” Nick called out loudly. I heard the place erupt in shrieks.

“We have something new for you guys tonight,” Howie added.

“You guys are the first people to see our new video for Masquerade.” AJ explained.

“And to celebrate, we’d like to call out our four lovely co-stars from the video,” Brian said. “First off, my beautiful wife, Leighanne.”

Leighanne smiled, bouncing out on stage.

“My lovely fiancée, Rochelle,” AJ said. Rochelle clicked her tongue ring, running out to him.

“Mi esposa, Leigh,” Howie said. The audience screamed even louder; he could have said “I like fish sticks” in Spanish and the girls would still go crazy.

“And, last, but not least,” Nick said. “my amazing girlfriend Olivia.”

I paused mid-step. He had said I was his girlfriend to an audience of 2,000 people. Nick made a ‘c’mere’ motion my way. Taking a deep breath I walked the length of the stage to him.

There were a few boo’s, but not nearly as many as I was prepared for. I stopped in front of him. He placed his hand on my waist. He pulled his microphone away from his face.

“Ready?” he whispered. I took a breath and nodded.

I’m happy to report that no one fell, no natural disaster occurred, and at the end of the song when Nick and I kissed, the audience didn’t come stampeding on the stage to kill me. I walked off the stage feeling much better than I had earlier in the day.

Besides a successful performance, more importantly I was officially a girlfriend. I had a feeling I’d be seeing my own face on Perez Hilton really soon.

I just hoped I’d be ready for it.