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November blurred into December as the New Year loomed ahead. Christmas had been, to say the least, shitty. Ellena spent three days watching cheezy black and white movies and ordering take out. She almost laughed at the memory of the pizza delivery guy on her doorstep. He looked at her as if she was crazy for ordering pizza on Christmas day.
She was no longer Ellena O’Ryan, single mother and waitress. She was Lenore Riland. And God! Did she hate her.

~*~

“I’m so nervous!” Ellena cried.
“You’re nervous! What about me? At least you get to stay behind the curtain!” Marci replied.
“Three minutes! Places people!” The stage manager yelled.
Ellena gave Marcie a quick hug and smiled. “Break a leg!”
Marci scurried to her place and Ellena watched as the curtain rose on the stage. The Aladdin set had been mostly her design. She had thrown herself into the entire production, spending every night at the theatre painting the sets and designing costumes.
When her boss, Ms. Carmen, had given them the news that they would be performing at Disney Land for a six week stint, Ellena should have been ecstatic. This is what she had dreamed of before the responsibility of Lacey was thrust upon her.
Ellena heard the music for ‘Genie in a Bottle’ and watched carefully as Marci executed her choreography perfectly.
“Congratulations Lenore Riland.” She whispered to herself. “You’re in the big time now.”

~*~

“Kevin? Kevin? Kevin!” AJ waved a hand in front of his face.
“What?” Kevin snapped, annoyed that AJ had interrupted his thoughts.
“Would you like to join the land of the living or are you just going to mope around the studio?”
“Whatever.” Kevin replied listlessly. “Isn’t it time for a break?”
“We just had a break twenty minutes ago!” Brian complained. “Maybe you could get your head out of your ass and –“
“Yeah, a break sounds like a good idea.” Howie interrupted. “How ‘bout lunch?”
“Lunch. Sure.” Kevin stated and opened the door to the hallway. Nick and AJ shoved past him, caught up in some silly quarrel they were having about Don Johnson and Miami Vice. They chased each other down the corridor, throwing insults and punches.
“You staying here?” Howie asked Brian, who hadn’t budged.
“Somebody’s gotta get some work done.” He said, exasperatedly.
Howie shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He walked briskly out the door and caught up with Kevin.
“Something on your mind today?” Howie asked, falling in to step with the taller man.
Kevin didn’t reply, only shrugged. “Still no luck in finding Ellena?”
Kevin winced at the mention of her name. “I’ve run out of places to look.” He sighed. “I’ve no choice but to give up. Cherry said that I wouldn’t find her if she didn’t want to be found. I guess she doesn’t want to be found.”
Howie put his arm around his friend. “Cheer up man. You’ll think of something. Where ya want to go for lunch?”
“I’m not real hungry. Let’s just get out of this building for a while.” Kevin suggested.
Ten minutes later, they were speeding down the freeway in Howie’s little blue sports car. Kevin sat in the passenger seat, looking out the window. Howie had not tried to engage in him a conversation. It would have been easier to carry on a discussion with a brick wall. He reached down and switched on the radio.

“Up next on KMAX, we’ll have the all request nooner but first traffic with the one, the only Jojo Jameson – just back from holidays. What’s happenin’ out there Jojo?”
“Well, we’ve got the usual volume delays tying up the downtown core. A three-car accident has taken place on the freeway by the airport exit ramp but has been pulled off to the side. The only thing holding up traffic there is your usual rubber- neckers. If you’re caught on the centre street bridge, sucks to be you – Construction has that reduced to four lanes for another four days. This traffic update brought to you by Pizza Pizza, where you can get two- four topping nine inch pan pizzas for only thirteen forty nine. Stop the hunger with Pizza Pizza. Now, back to the Rogue.”
“Thanks for that Jojo. Welcome Back! Do anything exciting for your holiday?”
“Actually, I did. I went to California to visit friends. They dragged me to a musical at Disney land.”
“Hahaha Jojo, why would you go to Disneyland in California when you live in Orlando.”
“My point exactly but I have very insistent friends.”
“Oh go on, I’m intrigued now.”
“Very funny Rogue. So anyway, my friends drag me to this musical and it turned out to be really great.”
“No dancing Mickey’s?”
“No, no sign of the mouse. It was actually a slightly warped production of ‘Aladdin’.”
Kevin closed his eyes as he listened to the radio. Aladdin was Lacey’s favourite movie. He remembered the first time he had watched it with her and Ellena at her apartment. Ellena had kept Lacey between her and him on the couch. Kevin realized now that Ellena had been afraid to let someone into her heart. And rightly so too. He had just broken her heart again, just like everyone else in her life.
“A dance troupe out of Bostono re-wrote the movie to incorporate classic rock songs to replace the Disney sound track.”
“Sounds interesting…”
“You know I really hate it when these DJ’s include us in their meaningless conversations.” Howie groaned. “Why can’t they just play some damn music.” He reached down to change the station as the Dj’s droned on.
“ The best part was when Aladdin took the princess on the magic carpet. Instead of ‘A Whole New World’ they danced to ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ by Steppenwolfe.”
“Are you serious? Oh I gotta go see this…”
“Stop!” Kevin yelled so loudly that Howie nearly jumped out of his seat.
“Kevin! What the hell is wrong with you? I-“
“Shh!” Kevin put his hand out to silence him as he turned the volume on the radio louder.
“Yeah, afterwards, I made a few phone calls and found out that they will be performing at Disney land for another month. So I talked with our promotions department…long story short – I’ve got two tickets to give away to the ninth caller through. Two nights accommodations, dinner, and tickets to the play by the Mixed Up Magical Kingdom dance troupe.”
“Sheesh! What’s up with you? You can go to Disney World whenever you want to.” Howie wrinkled his forehead and looked at Kevin as if he had cracked.
“It’s her.” Kevin replied, switching the radio off.
“Who?”
“Ellena.” He stated simply.
“Where?” Howie asked, still completely confused.
“The dance troupe in California. Ellena had a hand in that Aladdin production. I would bet any amount of money on it.”
Howie parked his car in front of Kevin’s house and turned to his friend. “Kevin, I really think you need to let this go. It’s been four months. She’s not coming back.” It bothered Howie to say those words to Kevin but he thought it was about time that Kevin heard them out loud.
“Do me a favour Howie?” Kevin asked as he opened the car door.
“Yes?”
“Keep you opinions to yourself?”
Howie was shocked for a moment, then nodded. “Sure thing, Kev.” He replied. He watched Kevin in his rear view mirror as he drove off. “Dude’s got issues, man.” He mumbled to himself.
Kevin rushed up the walk and unlocked his front door. He dialed his cell phone as he ran up the stairs. In less than half an hour, he backed his car out of the garage and drove to Mitch’s house. Mitch threw a bag in the trunk and got in the front seat grumbling.
“Where are we going? Need I remind you that this is supposed to be my week off?”
Kevin ignored his sarcasm. “L.A..” He replied, then turned his attention back to the traffic ahead. Three or four minutes of silence passed before Mitch spoke again.
“Are you going to tell me why we are going to L.A. or are you going to make me guess?”
“It’s your job to protect me wherever I choose to go. That’s why they pay you the big bucks.” Kevin looked over and smiled sweetly at the huge man seated next to him.
Mitch narrowed his eyes. “I get paid to protect you from the rest of the world. However, kicking your ass, I will happily do for free.” He muttered.