Rhiannon was hesitant as she rapped lightly upon Savannah’s hospital room door, wondering if she should even risk the chance of her best friend’s volatile temper. After all, Savannah had been so furious that Rhiannon had purposely invited Howie into her room for a tenderhearted chat and demanded that Rhiannon never look upon her again. Though, as much as it hurt Rhiannon, she understood that Savannah’s temper was displaced against her as a protective measure for Savannah’s gentle heart. It was obvious that something else was troubling Savannah more so than Rhiannon’s choice to invite Howie into her hospital room. Not to say that Savannah wasn’t displeased with Rhiannon’s choice of trusting Howie, but it had merely been a catalyst for the real cause of Savannah’s anguish and hysteria.
But, despite the knowledge of Savannah’s quirks, Rhiannon had followed Savannah’s wishes, deciding it was best to let her vent alone for the time being. And after a week of avoidance, Rhiannon was finally allowed to be discharged from the hospital. She was still considerably weak from the mending pneumonia and only walked a few feet before bracing herself against a wall to catch her breath and the headaches were tremendously unbearable at points. She had also actually considered just leaving the hospital without a word to Savannah, but quickly decided against it once she heard Savannah was due for yet another surgery the following evening. Rhiannon didn’t exactly understand the entire process of fixing Savannah’s mutilated leg, but knew it was terribly frightening for Savannah. So, she decided to visit in good faith, hoping that Savannah would be the bubbly ‘Savvy’ that Rhiannon cherished so.
“Savvy?” Rhiannon called finally when she received no answer from Savannah. Thinking that the girl must have dozed off from the high doses of pain medication, Rhiannon carefully slipped through the door as she made sure not to bump her burned arm that had been splinted with a special device that would protect her and prevent her skin from healing in such a way that would freeze her shoulder in a locked position for the rest of her life. But, Rhiannon hadn’t been prepared to see Savannah sobbing openly, her left arm resting neatly in the sling as her right hand covered her already mottled face with extreme depression. It was a hard shock to absorb against Rhiannon’s faithful heart, because Savannah was always careful to hide the most sensitive portions of her emotions. It was a defensive mask that she used to conceal herself even from Rhiannon when times were rough. She thought that it was a sign of weakness and hated to have people worrying about her. Only, this time, she was caught in the act. “Savvy—”
“What are you doing here?” Savannah sniffled sharply with surprise, fumbling to reach her remote control. She hurriedly clicked off the video tape her mother had sent, but Rhiannon had already seen what it was. Thinking that it would help, Mrs. Lorden had dropped off a recent video of Savannah’s professional dancing. The first video was Mariah Carey’s ‘It’s Like That’ video. Savannah had been the prized background dancer portrayed throughout the entire video, almost as if she were best friends with the popular singer. Mariah Carey had praised Savannah the entire shoot, demanding to send her out to all her friends currently working on various music videos. And, no one had ever thought to bad mouth Mariah Carey’s praise because Savannah had a rare talent that no one else could possibly exhibit. Despite all the hard work she folded into dancing, she made the act look easy with a beautiful flawlessness that couldn’t be matched by any dancer. But most important was that Mariah Carey’s video was what made Fatima decide without a doubt that Savannah was to be included in the Never Gone Tour without evening having to audition.
Only, to see the tape again was just a bitter reminder of what she had lost in such a brief moment of happiness. Everything she had worked so hard to accomplish in life was shattered along with her painful leg. It was a hard concept to absolve, because Savannah centered her entire identity on her ability to dance. When anyone spoke of her, she was known as the ‘beautiful dancer.’ Now, when they would refer to her, she would be considered the ‘crippled dancer that could have been something special.’ To see her life placed in past tense was terrifying, especially since she was only twenty with an entire future ahead of her. She was scared. And she couldn’t keep her composure any longer, just breaking down with heavy sniffles and painful sobs before Rhiannon had interrupted.
“I came to see you before I got discharged,” Rhiannon answered, quickly realizing that Savannah’s disability was plaguing her more than she had originally thought. Savannah had been so determined that she’d dance again when Rhiannon had first visited. Her confidence had led Rhiannon to believe that it wasn’t impossible, so she hadn’t worried about the injury. Though, now she was starting to realize that the mangled leg was more serious than Savannah had originally stated.
“Then you should be home. I don’t want you here—”
“You don’t want anyone here, but you need people here, Savvy.”
“Ann—”
“I know you’re going to be able to dance again, Savvy,” Rhiannon blurted, seating herself at the bedside again as dizziness attacked. Carefully, she gripped the side-rails of the bed, hoping that Savannah would take her words to heart. “Don’t let them tell you otherwise. You’re too special and too talented to believe these idiotic doctors. It’s going to take awhile just to get back to walking. I’m not dumb, I understand that much. But, that should just make you more determined to go back to what you were. To prove them wrong. To prove that—”
“Kevin was right when he said I was just a little cry baby upset that I might not be able to wear a miniskirt to show off my cute legs for awhile?” Savannah interrupted with a bitter tone of sarcasm.
“I wasn’t exactly thinking that, Savvy…”
“He sent me more flowers and junk.”
“Kevin?”
“No,” Savannah laughed, obviously amused with Rhiannon’s devastated face. She slowly motioned toward the gifts practically exploding from every corner of her lonely hospital room. “Howie sent me some more junk. He thinks if I start totaling up the bills that I might be able to forgive his sorry ass for what happened to me.”
“It’s not like that, Savvy.”
“Then what’s it like?”
“He honestly cares about what happened.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Savannah scoffed, obviously over her spat with Rhiannon. Instead, she focused on the music group that she had hoped would boost her career higher than ever. They would have been her first extended tour around the country, but they had robbed her blind of everything. It just seemed typical of a man. “He’s just working another angle. I don’t know why you’re starting to fall into his pathetic lies, Ann—”
“Because they’re not lies, Savvy. It’s his honest-to-God heart and I wish you’d believe me,” Rhiannon answered, plopping several heavy magazines onto Savannah’s tender lap for proof, finding it slightly astounding that she was defending a man that nearly killed her a few weeks ago.
Exhaling sharply, Howie eased himself down onto his king-sized bed as he stared at the small scrap of paper holding Rhiannon and Savannah’s home number. On a whim, Howie searched through the phone book after he learned of Rhiannon’s discharge from the hospital. Surprisingly, he had located both of the girls’ numbers, which ended up being identical. Though, Howie wasn’t surprised to find that the girls shared what he assumed was a beautiful home together. The magazines had indicated that they were the best of friends and did absolutely everything together. Rhiannon had even been known to get a lot of the make-up gigs with the music videos Savannah danced in. It just seemed natural that they would love to live together in what AJ might call a constant ‘sorority party.’ But, staring at the slip of paper that held what he thought of as a life-line, he became unsure of his purpose. He had hoped to have the courage to call her, knowing that Savannah was still furious with what she considered his missed intentions. He hoped that he could continue to make peace with Rhiannon, figuring that Savannah would hopefully follow suit. Though, now he began to wonder if he had made the right choice by finding the phone number. Maybe she just wanted to be left in peace.
“Hello?”
Howie squeaked in horror when a soft, feminine voice projected into his ear without the slightest bit of warning. He hurriedly glanced down to see the phone already off its base and attached between the crook of his neck and right ear. Howie then reached to give a hard pinch to his skin to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, only to elicit a sharp twinge of pain. He had dialed while weighing the possibilities, making him believe yet again in a higher power that wanted him to continue on this road. “Rhiannon?”
“Yes… May I ask whose calling?”
“Howie…uh… Howie Dorough?”
“Oh! Hi, Howie,” Rhiannon instantly replied, obviously smiling at the other end of the phone.
“I hope I’m not bothering you—”
“No, of course not! I just got home a few hours ago.”
“I heard.”
“Just checking up on me, then?”
“It’s not like that—”
“It wasn’t meant to be critical.”
“Oh…”
“Are you always this nervous on the phone?”
“Only when it comes to two certain women.”
“Yeah, but I already apologized—”
“I know and I was checking up on you. I wanted to know if you needed anything and if—”
“Savvy hasn’t had a change of heart yet.”
“Oh…” Howie trailed again, feeling his ego deflate heavily. He had hoped with the last batch of gifts that she’d understand his tenderhearted nature. Only, it seemed to escalate her furiousness against him and his fading friends. He had even stopped by a few times, but she either berated him with a series of hateful words or feigned a sleeping state. It was frustrating to say the least, but Howie continued pursuing the cause for forgiveness and another emotion that he hadn’t placed just yet.
“She’s having another surgery tomorrow. You could visit again and see if there was any change.”
“Why would there be any change?”
“Because she’s drugged?”
“Rhiannon…” Howie sighed, trying to fight back on a small laugh. He had found that in a week of peace that he had developed a kindred bond with Rhiannon. She reminded him of his sisters, only far younger version of a sister since all his sisters were older than him. She was kind and considerate with just the smallest hint of sarcasm that Howie found warm to his soul. It gave him hope that all had not been lost with the terrible accident.
“Okay, so maybe it’s because I gave her all the magazines that were trashing you mercilessly without even knowing the full story…”
“You gave her…” Howie couldn’t even tempt himself to finish the sentence, knowing exactly what had been spilled out into the press. Every day the headlines worsened as more dirt was dragged away from the previous headlines. It just seemed ridiculous at some points, even if it hurt his pride immensely. But, Howie continued to remind himself that he was taking the higher road in the situation and didn’t need the media’s approval. He only needed the approval of Rhiannon and Savannah. He couldn’t live with himself if he followed in the footsteps of his former friends.
“What happened? If they managed to sneak that many shots of the jerks, how come they could get one lousy shot of you?”
“Because I told them not to…”
“Why?”
“It wasn’t right to make publicity off something that was clearly our fault. It wasn’t fair to exploit you girls just to make ourselves look better to the fans. So, I asked that my pictures be excluded from the layout, no matter what the cost.”
“Oh, Howie…”
“What?”
“I can’t believe you…”
“I know… But, it doesn’t matter, honestly. I know what I did was right, despite what the other guys did,” Howie explained, hoping to take the conversation elsewhere. “And, I honestly wanted to call to make sure you had everything at home. I know you’re not feeling a hundred percent yet, so, I wanted to offer my services.”
Rhiannon was silent for the longest moment, obviously still awed by his princely behavior. But, finally, she spoke. “Is there any way that you can pick me up some cat food for my kitten and Savvy’s kitten along with a good pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream? That way you can visit me before you visit Savvy?”
“Sure, I can do that,” Howie agreed, knowing it was the absolute least that he could do for this woman.
“Miss Lorden?”
Savannah lazily glanced up from the local music magazine that had been bashing Howie so critically over the passing days, noticing a balding man standing just inside her doorway. Exhaling at the sharp pains that invaded her body daily, she folded the magazine closed and purposely tossed it against the floor with a hard slap. At first, Savannah considered Howie’s M.I.A. in the magazines as a plot to win her appreciation. But after she passed through the variety of magazines, she quickly began to understand that Howie hadn’t done this for his pride. Instead, he had sacrificed himself to the public as an apology to the girls. He honestly hadn’t wanted them to be used for manipulation of his popularity. Though, as much as she wanted to believe in the golden honesty that seemed to exude from Howie’s heart, Savannah refused to let his career be ruined like hers. She knew that no matter what her thoughts on his personality that he honestly loved performing for others. Music was his life just as much as music was a part of her life and she couldn’t let that be ruined for both of them. So, she had convinced herself to take a step in blind faith, calling the first magazine that published anything having to do with Howie’s so-called selfish behavior. “Are you the guy bashing Howie Dorough left and right all over the tabloids?”
“Mr. Joseph Wright, Miss Lorden,” the man answered, snickering nervously as he withdrew a tape recorder.
“Uh-huh…” Savannah trailed, wondering how the media could be so deceitful in the first place. The other Backstreet Boys had purposely doctored photographs to prove that they were still the mighty golden boys, but when Howie offered no proof of his whereabouts he was immediately condemned to Hell.
“You wanted to speak with me, correct? About the Mr. Dorough situation and how he’s been mistreating you?”
“He hasn’t mistreated me,” Savannah groaned, glancing around to all the lovely gifts Howie had been delivering daily with little notes and phone calls. “If anything, he’s probably one of the best in that damn group. He’s visited me every day in this hospital, no matter what is going on with his job, and he’s bought all of these flowers and gifts in this room. So, I want to make a deal with you, Mr. Wright. You give me a solid promise that you will print my story word for word, no matter what the content says, and I’ll give you the exclusive to what Howie Dorough’s really been doing for Rhiannon and me. And, I’ll even let you get some quotes from the letters and take pictures of the gifts.”
“Miss Lorden—”
“Do you want the story or not?”
“Of course!”
“Then do I have your word?”
“You promise this is one hundred percent accurate?”
“You can check the signatures on the letters if you’re that skeptical. But, do I have your word that my story will be told in my words and no one else’s?”
“Yes, Miss Lorden. Let me go get my photographer.”
