WHAT UP!!!!! Yeah, I know . . . it's been awhile. But come on, I got madd shit goin on and I haven't had time to post! Can you forgive me? Please? THANK YOU!!! But seriously, thanks to all of you who emailed me encouraging me to get off my ass and post! So, without any further ado, ON WITH . . . OH WAIT! Before I forget! This chapter (and the one after this one) brings back my mystery writer. He actually sent me this (the part that's bein used) a LONG time ago, even before the whole Lance in the hospital chaps. So part of this chapter and the one after this, was co-written by my friend, the mystery writer! So let me know what you think, and what you think he wrote! Now . . . ON WITH THE SHOW!!!
Last time . . .
As soon as I shut down my laptop, I went downstairs to meet Stephanie, the winner of the contest. When I got out of the elevator, I saw her back, she was signing something over at the front desk. When she turned around, her hair was covering her face so I didn't see it at first. The security people brought her over to me along with Alexis.
"Rob this is Stephanie, the contest winner and your date for tonight!" Alexis said.
"Hey!" I said, "Long flight?"
She looked up at me and cleared the long dirty blonde hair away from her face and said,
"Don't you hey me Rob!" She said as I got a surprised expression on my face partly because of what she said, soon becoming from seeing her face.
"Oh my god!" I said realizing for the first time who she was. "STEPH!!" I said pulling her into a bear hug.
This time . . .
"HEY!!" She said excited to see me, "Surprise!"
"You're the winner?!?"
"Yup! Never expected that, did you?"
"Oh my god! I'm so glad to see you!"
"I know!"
"You two know each other?" Alexis asked.
"Yeah, we used to be neighbors!" I said.
"Oh, ok, then I'll leave you two to catch up then. Just remember that you gotta be at the venue by 6!"
"Ok, don't worry about it!"
"And if you wanna get some shopping done, you should get your stuff sent up to your room and get going now."
"I'll do that, thanks!" Stephanie said.
"How's your mom?" I asked.
"She's good! What about yours?"
"Good, good. I haven't talked to her in awhile, but I'm gonna go see her soon."
"Oh! Before I forget!" She said, immediately followed by a hit on my shoulder.
"OW! What was that for?!"
"FOR NOT CALLING ME AND TELLING ME ALL THIS!"
"I'm SOOOOOOOO sorry! I lost your phone number and u didn't have AOL anymore!"
"Well I just got it back like this month. BUT STILL!"
"You know I didn't do it on purpose!"
"I know . . . I just miss hitting you!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . no matter how famous I get, I'll never be able to escape a beating from you!"
"That's right!"
"Oh my god! I still can't believe this! And look at you! You look so different!"
"Yup, I've changed a lot!"
"You lost weight, you got taller, blonde streaks, damn girl. you went and got all sexy on me!"
"Shut up!"
"Oh . . . you're gonna die when I tell you who we're sitting next to!"
"Let me guess . . . N Sync?"
"Nope . . . even better . . . well, for you anyway . . ."
"Don't tell me . . ."
"Yup!"
"Oh my god!"
"Yup!"
"You're lying!"
"Nope!"
"The Backstreet Boys?!?"
"The one and only!"
"Oh my god!"
"So, you gotta make sure you pick out something EXTRA sexy to wear tonight, cause if you really want Nick to notice you, you're gonna have to look good!"
"So where're we goin?"
"Wherever you want!"
"Can we go to Rodeo Drive?!"
"Sure!"
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!"
"Don't thank me, thank Z100."
"I get to pick out anything I want?"
"Anything!"
"YES!"
"And thank you!"
"For what?"
"For making this easier! I'm glad that it was you who won! It gave me a chance to see you again, it made the whole contest less awkward, and I don't have to worry about pleasing a fan. You don't know how worried I was about that. I really wasn't looking forward to some teenie freakin out cause she was meeting me."
"Well in that case, you're very welcome!"
We started laughing and then started to catch up on our lives and talk about old times. Stephanie was my next door neighbor for 4 years, when I was living with my parents. She had moved to Florida, then moved back to New York, but to Long Island. We kept in touch for awhile, but then she moved again to somewhere else in Long Island and I eventually lost her phone number when I moved. I had always been meaning to ask somebody that would know, but just never got around to it. She was three years younger than I was and was turning 17 in October. She had gotten taller since the last time I had seen her. She was now around 5' 7'', she had brownish blonde hair, with blonde highlights, she was Italian, she had blue-green eyes and a few freckles on her cheeks. She had turned into a beautiful woman, and I was amazed at how she looked. After our little shopping spree, she wound up with a lot of clothes, not too expensive, but they cost a pretty penny. She picked out a great dress for the awards and we had a blast finding it. We just had a really good time, it was just like before we lost touch. And to tell you the truth, this was really the first time we'd hung out and actually did something. I made it a point to get her number and email addy before anything, before I forgot. We got back to our hotel around a quarter to 5. All I had to do was freshen up and get changed, AGAIN! She went up to her room, got settled in and showered, changed, and did her make up and hair. The venue wasn't that far from the hotel, so it wasn't a problem getting there. As I walked down the red carpet with my date, I waved hello to my fans, took pictures and got interviewed. After getting by everybody, we were inside the venue and on our way to our seats. I didn't see the guys, and I decided not to look for them yet. When we got to our seats, we saw that our neighbors weren't there yet. We took this time to talk about how she wanted Nick and that she hoped the he sat next to her so she could flirt with him.
"Well here's your chance, cause here they come!" I said.
"OH MY GOD!!! How do I look? Do you think he's gonna . . ." She started to say.
"Shut up, here they come!"
I waited for them to recognize me before I said anything, one because I didn't know if they wanted to be bothered by someone who was so closely tied to N Sync, and two cause I just got a phone call from Lance.
"Hey baby!" He said.
"Hey! Where are you?" I asked.
"I'm at my seat. I can see you!"
"Where are you? I don't see you!"
"Don't worry about it. Your neighbors just walked in and are on their way to their seats beside you."
"Cool . . . anything I should know before I meet them?"
"Um . . . if any of them tries anything, I'm gonna kick their ass!"
"Ok, I'll be sure to let them know."
"You look hot tonight by the way!"
"Thanks, I didn't see you though . . . Stand up so I can see you!"
"Ok. You can't miss me . . . I'm not that far away from you."
"WHOA! WHAT THE HELL! A gold jacket? Oooookay!! How very flamboyant!"
"Really?"
"Um . . . yeah not a very good way to convince everyone you're straight babe!"
"I don't care."
"Ok, but anyway, I gotta go, they're here, and I gotta stop Stephanie before she rapes Nick!"
"Stephanie?"
"Oh, yeah . . . My date. Turns out she's my old neighbor! I'll introduce you later! Bye!"
"Bye . . ." He said hearing the dial tone.
"Ok, time to put your tongue back IN your mouth now Steph!" I said turning to her as she was being all teenie like over Nick. "Sorry bout that, she's kind of a fan . . . More of a fan of yours than she is of mine!" I said nudging her on her shoulder.
"OW! Dumb ass! What'd you do that for!?"
"It's ok, really!" Nick said looking at me for the first time. "Hey, you're Rob right?"
"Yup, that is I!" I said getting up. "Good to meet you!"
"Yeah, I picked up your album recently, wanted to see who was giving us some competition!" AJ said laughing. "I like it! Something different!"
"Thanks! Your new album is phat too! Blows the first one out of the water!"
"Well, as you know, I'm Nick, this is AJ, that's Howie, that's Brian and that's Kevin. Good to meet you!" Nick said making introductions.
"Same here!" I decided not to mention anything about meeting them before in New York, especially since it had to do with me being with N Sync, wasn't too sure about the two group's history with each other but I didn't wanna pour salt on any old wounds.
We made more small talk with each other and just as the lights flashed, letting us know that the show was about to start, we got relaxed in out seats and focused on the stage.
I was excited, even though I wasn't up for anything, this was my first awards show. I was even more excited to be presenting an award that might be going to the guys. The time came for me to go backstage to get ready to present. I was presenting with some chick from a WB show whose name I can't remember, I think she was from Dawson's Creek or something. Anyways, I was excited being up there, and almost messed up in reading my lines, but didn't. As they went to the clips of the artists, they brought out five awards. It was then that I knew they won. I tried to hold my excitement in until I read the name, and surprisingly, it worked!
"And the winner is . . ." I said ripping open the envelope, "N SYNC!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As the crowed started to cheer, the guys got up and came on stage. I ran up to them and gave them all hugs and shared in their joy. After their acceptance speech (which I was mentioned in), we went back stage and again, I gave them all hugs and congratulated them.
"So, has any of them tried something on you?" Lance asked.
"No. We haven't really talked much since the start of the show. They're pretty cool though, from what I've noticed."
"That's cause..." Justin began.
"Never mind that." JC interrupted, "We gotta get back to our seats."
That left some tension on the subject of the Backstreet Boys. After returning to our separate seats, I got looks from each of the Boys when going back to sit down. I noticed Brian whisper something to Kevin and then saw him get a sudden look of knowledge. I figured that it was then that they remembered me from New York. Oh well, nobody mentioned anything, so I just went on my way with watching the show. When they guys came on and did "Sailing" and started to fly out over the crowd, the Boys each got a look of shock and anger on their faces. I didn't say anything to them, I just paid attention to my friends doing their thing up on stage.
After the show, I said goodbye to the Boys and met up with the guys. I introduced Stephanie to them and she was happy to meet them. I tried to convince her to come to the after party with us, but she didn't want to go. She said that she was gonna go back to her hotel and go to sleep. She had a flight early the next morning. I told her that if I didn't get to say goodbye to her, that I'd call her when I got back to New York. After saying goodbye, the guys and I went to one of many after parties that were going on. The subject of the Boys didn't come up once cause none of us wanted to talk about them. We had a good time and stayed out till like 4AM. We went back to our separate hotels, cause I had to pack. Lance insisted on going back with me, but I made him go back with the guys.
The meeting for the concert at Jay's graduation went well. I didn't go see Jay when I was in NY cause I didn't want him asking any questions. I informed the guys about the progress on the concert and we're all looking forward to it. Melissa finished school and is already on her way back to NY. Jay still has no idea. He's excited about graduation, and he wants to take Justin to the prom, but he's settling on some chick who he's been friends with for awhile. He said that he got me a birthday present, and that he'd give it to me next time he saw me. I told him that I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it to his graduation, but I'd try my hardest. He in turn said that I'd better be there or he'd kick my ass and keep my present. I saw my mom and dad, but only for a little while cause I had to get going. The funniest thing was that when I called Jay, I was on my way to the airport from my parent's house.
Atlanta went well and here we are, back on the road. The guys just finished shooting some thing for MTV, called "All Access" where they go behind the scenes of the show. That meant, that Lance and I couldn't be together, but that didn't matter cause I had a couple of interviews from some teenie magazine while they were shooting. This leg of the tour is different. I've been upgraded from an opening act, to co-headliner. We added some stuff that would involve me in their set, including a Jackson's number, sort of similar to the Jackson 5 number they did in the 60's skit, except without the hippy- gear. In it, we do a medley of two songs, "Can you feel it" and "Dancing Machine". That number is really fun, I love "Dancing machine" cause it's one of my all time favorite Jackson's songs, and also cause I love doin the robot. We also added "Come and get my love", the song that I sang with them that's on my album. That's the most fun cause I get to sing with my friends and do some kick ass dance moves.
I talked to Ricky online the other night. He's getting his life in order, finally! He broke up with his girlfriend and is now single. He moved to the city and got a studio apartment not too far from mine . . . Jay's. He got a better job and is now head of security for a law firm. He's getting paid more money and has better benefits. That all being how he was able to get a studio apartment in the city. My parents were telling me something about that, but didn't get full into detail. They're really proud of him, as am I! I was looking forward to seeing him when I was in NY, but he had to take care of some things and he couldn't make it to dinner.
Justin can't take holding back the secret from Jay. It's hilarious to see him on the phone with him, cause when Jay starts talkin about prom and wanting to go with Justin, Justin gets this really sad look on his face, a puppy-dog look sort of. I've had to stop him from saying anything a few times, so have the other guys. It's even funnier when that happens, cause when he gets off the phone, he starts bitchin about it all. We just laugh at him and piss him off more.
I've been spending most of my nights on my tour bus. We had to cut down my dancers from 10, to 6. There was just not enough room on the bus, and tour for them all. The dance roster was now like this:
Kim, 19
Julie, 20
Lauren, 22
Mike, 22
Dave, 19
Tommy, 21
It was for the best that we cut down the roster, cause there were some attitude problems with the others that didn't make the cut. The girl group that Kim was in had broken up and they were fighting. One of the male dancers, whose name I won't say, was badmouthing me saying that I spent more time with Lance and the guys than with them. Now, at first I wouldn't have kicked him off, cause he was right to a certain extent, but he was also harassing Kim and wasn't getting along with any of the others. I was really sad to let go of the other guy, cause he was really cool and was a kick ass dancer. I told him that once I got on my own tour, that I'd try and get him back, and he said that if I could, cool, but if I couldn't, not to worry about it, just as long as I kept in touch.
My back up singers are all still here, and all of us (dancers included) are becoming more of a family. I'm lucky, they don't mind when I spend time with Lance, as long as I don't neglect them, and Lance doesn't mind when I spend time with them, as long as I don't neglect him. The guys don't care cause they see me everyday and I make it a point to spend some time with each of them here and there.
Here it is, one more week until Jay's graduation. He still doesn't know! Damn I'm good! We've been working really hard on the tour, it's not as easy as it looks, but it's still cool. The plan for next week is that after the students get their diploma, the principal's going to introduce me and I'm going to make a speech. After that, I'm going to be doing a song with the chorus, they picked "The perfect fan" by BSB, I like the song, but the guys weren't too thrilled. I still haven't found out what the beef between them is, I've been meaning to, but haven't had the chance. After I sing that song with them, I'm gonna do some more songs of mine. The guys are gonna come out during one of my songs as supposed back up singers, then reveal themselves. It's gonna be cool!
This was it. It was finally here; the day Jay had worked for, for so long, graduation day. But where were the people that he cared most about, us?
"Where are they? Why hasn't he at least called?" Jay wondered aloud.
"You know Rob would be here if he could," Linda, his mom told him from the front passenger seat.
"What?" Jay asked, brought back to the present.
"Rob would be here if he could Jay." Linda repeated. "His parents said he and the others had a concert yesterday, but he'd try to get here if he could."
"Actually I meant Justin," Jay thought to himself then said, "Yeah, I know they're busy, but I figured he'd at least call."
"Maybe he can't get to a phone . . . " Linda suggested.
"He has a cell mom," Jay said, rolling his eyes, "Guess that wasn't fair, at least she's trying to cheer me up," he thought.
They finally reached the auditorium where the graduation was going to be held this year. At first Jay had thought that it was strange that they had moved it from the usual venue. Venue . . . there it was again, our influence coming out, it wasn't "the place" anymore, now it was "the venue." He had hoped, though, that the change of location and the later time would give me time to get there. Jay knew that the others would probably not be able to get away, but I had promised to be there, and I was not one to break a promise.
"You got everything?" Linda asked as he left the car to join the rest of his classmates.
"Yeah, I guess I'll see y'all later!" Jay said as he turned and ran to join a group of his friends.
The school staff had the students all lined up as they waited impatiently for the ceremony to begin. "Pomp and Circumstance" finally started to play and they began to file into the auditorium in columns of two. As Jay entered, he scanned the audience for any sign of his friends and family. He finally found them near the center of the right- hand section of seats. His parents and sister Lisa were there of course and he spotted my parents, Ricky, and Melissa, but still no sign of me.
"Oh, well," he thought, "I guess I knew it was too much to hope for. At least the plan's still on for Melissa and me to join them on the road next week . . . I hope anyway."
"Hey Jay! Pick up the pace man. You're throwin' off the line!" Angela said from behind him.
Jay snapped himself out of his thoughts and went to sit down with the rest of the graduates. As he started to sit down, he noticed the other group of people wearing robes in the front of the auditorium.
"That looks like the chorus," he thought to himself, "I wonder why they're here, they didn't mention anything about it at practice last week."
The ceremonies may have been unusually short since the planned speaker was forced to cancel his appearance, but they were still as boring as ever. Jay had wondered why they hadn't scheduled someone else to speak, but was glad in the end for the short ceremony. The only real highlight was when they finally got their diplomas. Jay couldn't help but laugh as Lisa, Melissa and Ricky, loudly cheered as he got his diploma. He had still kept looking into the audience, straining to see if I had been able to get there. He again found his parents and mine, but still no sign of me. When the diplomas were all given out, their tassels were flipped and they were officially graduated and everything, the principal once again stepped up to the podium; everyone figured that it was to dismiss them all, but instead he had a surprise for them.
"Graduates . . . parents . . . fellow alumni, and guests," the principal began, "as you're all aware our original speaker, Colonel David Cruz, was suddenly called to duty overseas and unfortunately could not be with us tonight. He sends his profound regrets and wishes the class of 1999 the best of luck. We were extremely fortunate, however, to manage to get another of our alumni to fill in for him."
"Aw fuck!" Jay thought to himself, "I just want to get home and see if Rob or Justin called. I know they're busy, but Rob promised he was going to come and I know that he would have at least called if he wasn't gonna make it, Justin too!"
"This young man is one of our more recent graduates who has moved on to an already growing popularity in the recording industry," the principal said.
"Huh?" Jay said more to himself than anyone.
"Oh my god!" Angela said, "Is it Rob?" she asked Jay with excitement.
Jay could only manage a shrug and say,
"I dunno."
"May I present Mr. Roberto Rodriguez!"
"Oh, shit! That little prick!" Jay said as he laughed.
He turned to look at his mom and found my parents grinning from ear to ear and Melissa and Ricky about to die laughing.
TBC . . .
Ok, ok, ok . . . DON'T HURT ME! I know a lot of you HATE the cliff hangers, but come on, would your imagination be as active if I didn't put them in? I'll try and have the next part out soon, maybe next weekend (if I get a lot of email ). So until then, BYE!!!