That morning Tina Landon and Lexi’s dancers: Coley Cairo, Tristen Woodward, Andrew (Drew) McPherson, and Baxter Youngst flew into Orlando. They went directly from Orlando International Airport to the dance studio where Lexi was already waiting wearing black dance pants and a red tank top.
“Hey! How are you guys doin’?” Lexi greeted.
“Great!” Tina answered giving Lexi a hug. Lexi was relatively close to the four dancers that would be touring with her since they were four of the main dancers that were in her video. Out of all of them, she had grown the closest to Coley (short for Nichole) probably because she was the closest to her age. She was 19. Coley stood an inch taller than Lexi at 5’9” and pushed her shoulder length auburn hair out of her face as she hugged Lexi.
“What’s up, Girl!?” she said as her hazel eyes sparkled.
“I’m doing good. How was the flight?”
“It would’ve been better if Tristen hadn’t been snoring the whole time…” Coley said flashing Tristen a sarcastic look.
“Oh, whatever!” Tristen said looking up to Coley. She was definitely the shortest of the bunch at 5’6” even though she was 21 years old. Her Latin roots also gave her a certain presence that always drew people to her. “Besides,” she said tightening her long dark brown hair in its ponytail, “Drew was the one that was doing most of the snoring.”
“And damn proud of it!” Andrew answered back. Drew had extremely strong model-like features and was the maturest at 23. His shaved head, height of 6’1”, and dark skin almost made him intimidating. But no one could deny that he was very attractive. He had actually asked Lexi out while she was in LA, but after he found out that she was dating someone he backed off. Now they were just close friends.
Lastly there was Baxter. He was the typical 22-year-old hottie from the mid-west with blonde hair and bright green eyes. He stood next to Drew laughing. “Now y’all know that all of you guys were snoring.”
“Ok, guys, enough chatting. We’ve gotta get to work if I’m going to teach you these dances in a week,” Tina said putting a tape with a few of Lexi’s songs into the stereo. Once they were done warming up, Tina said, “Thankfully you guys already know the majority of ‘Slight Obsession’. That makes it a lot easier on me. So this is my plan for the next few days. There are two other dances besides ‘Slight Obsession’ that I need to teach you, so tomorrow’s going to be devoted to ‘Change Your Ways’, and the day after is going to be ‘Even in my Dreams’.”
“What about the fourth song?” Coley asked.
“That’s a ballad, so we won’t need any choreography. You guys probably won’t even be on stage.”
“Wow, that makes us feel special,” Drew said jokingly.
“Oh, is that gonna be that duet you told us about, Lex?” Baxter asked as he adjusted his Nike hat over his blonde tresses.
“Yep. Hey, you guys do listen when I talk!”
They danced, and danced, and danced a lot more. They finally wrapped up rehearsal by 6 PM. Tina and the dancers went to their hotel. Although Tina would be leaving with a week Coley, Tristen, Baxter, and Drew would be staying there until they left for the tour.
Lexi wanted to take Tristen, Coley, Drew, and Baxter out somewhere since it was their first night in Orlando, but they agreed that they should stay in since they had rehearsal the next morning at ten. So as a compromise, Lexi decided to have a little get together at her place.
Lexi wanted to invite JC to come over as well. She knew that he would be in rehearsal and planned to leave a message on his cell phone. She was surprised when he answered it.
“Hello?”
“Oh, hey. I didn’t expect you to pick up.”
“Yeah we just got a fifteen minute break. What’s up?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to know what time you think you might be done.”
“Hm…” JC looked at his watch. “We should be done in a couple hours. Why what’s up?”
“I’m having a little gathering because my dancers just flew in today, and I wanted to know if you wanted to stop by.”
“Yeah sure. I’ll come by when I’m done here.”
“Ok, I’ll see you later.”
“I love you,” JC smiled.
“I love you, too. Bye.”
“I love you…” Chris said mimicking JC.
“Whatever, man,” he said playfully pushing him.
Lance laughed. “So how’s the wife?”
“Fine. Her dancers flew in today, so she’s having a little party or something.”
“Party?” Justin said sitting up (he was laying on the floor). “I know my girl Lexi ain’t having a party and didn’t invite me…Gimme your phone, JC.”
“Ok…”
Justin took the phone and pushed the memory # for Lexi’s condo.
“Hello?”
“Yeah, Lexi?”
“Justin?”
“Yeah. I heard through the grapevine that you’re having a p-a-r-t-y tonight.”
“Not really. Just a few people…”
“And why wasn’t I invited?” he asked sarcastically.
Lexi laughed. “Justin, would you like to come over tonight?”
“Why, Lexi, I’d love to come over. Thank you!”
“Hey, what about me?” Chris yelled in the background.
“All you guys are welcome to come,” Lexi said still laughing.
“Party at Lexi’s house!” Justin yelled. “Want us to bring anything?”
“No, a couple of my dancers are picking up some stuff.”
“Aiight, girl. We’ll see you later. Bye!’
“Bye.”