"Donna, please tell me you're not serious. Tell me that Chris put you up to this, and it's just a really bad joke. There must be some other way. I'll get ready on the bus if I have to. Oh wait , the bus isn't here, damn it. Sharing a dressing room with her has got to be some sort of really bad omen. How can we be expected to perform at our best when we have to be in a small, enclosed space with that girl??'
"I'm sorry girls, that's just how things have to be. It won't be for every show, just tonight. It'll be over before you know it. Just please promise me no drama, at least not on the first night. I've got to run you two are on your own. Frank and Jimmy will be here with the dancers soon. Z will be here until then, but after that, he's going back to the hotel."
"I can't promise you no drama, but I'll try to keep it at mini-drama level. I'll just keep telling myself it's only for one day. A few hours really. Everyone says this job is about sacrifice. I guess we'll just be sacrificing any shot we had a remotely enjoying this night."
The girls decided to avoid the dressing room for as long as it was possible. Once Tasha and Kara arrived, they would eat dinner, do a sound check, and get their hair and make-up touched up. They were hoping for some time to walk around and get to know some of the fans. Dinner ran smoothly. The guys from O-town arrived, and sat talking with the four girls for a bit before heading off to meet up with Synchronicity. Coretta spent most of the time talking to Trevor and avoiding the looks Becca was giving her.
*****************
"All I'm sayin is that for being someone dating one of the most wanted guys in the country, you were sure giving Trevor a lot of attention. Attention that seemed more than friendly might I add." Becca stated while they walked around outside making their way to the front of the venue.
Coretta stopped walking and turned to face her friend. "You're joking, right? How can you even say that? All we did was talk, just like the other forty people in the room. It's not like I threw him on the table ready to work him like a rib."
"Thank the Lord for small favors." Becca replied rolling her eyes. "C'mon, let's go meet some people. I want to see what kind of people we'll be entertaining tonight."
The walk through was fairly uneventful. They took some pictures, answered lots of questions about the guys of NSYNC, and signed some autographs. Some of the girls had see O-town show up, and wanted to know if they're arrival had anything to do with Diversity.
"No," Coretta laughed, she could see the rumors getting ready to start. "We actually just met them yesterday. They're really nice guys though. They came to support their label mates."
Jimmy motioned that it was time for them to head back inside for sound check. They waved at the small crowd that had gathered, and turned to walk back inside, when a girl stopped them.
"What about Justin and Joey? Are they already inside too?"
Coretta and Becca exchanged confused looks. "As far as I know both of them are somewhere in New York. Why would you ask if they were inside?"
"A girl I met out here, said she talked to a girl whose friends said they saw Joey and Justin on the elevator at some hotel. Everyone has been looking for them, but no one has seen them yet. I thought maybe they tried to sneak in or something."
"If they did, then they snuck in without us knowing too. I can guarantee they weren't in any hotel elevator around here. Otherwise I'm sure someone would have told us."
"Well then, do you know anything about this girl Joey is supposedly seeing? I mean, you have to know, you're friends with him, right? You can tell me, I won't tell a soul, I swear. I just really want to know."
Coretta nearly laughed out loud at the though of telling the girl the truth right then and there but she held back. Instead she wanted to get some insight on what his fans thought about the idea. "We really don't talk about what the guys do in their own time. Just out of curiosity, what do you think about it?"
The girl wasted no time in answering. "Even though Joey is my favorite, I really don't think it is that big of a deal. He's a grown man, and at his age, I'd be more than a little worried if he wasn't dating."
This response was a relief to hear, even knowing a lot of fans would not feel the same. Back inside, they were nearly knocked over by Angela and the rest of her group as they were exiting the stage. They had just finished their sound check, and were heading to the dressing room.
"What the hell....?" Becca said trying to regain her balance. "You know you should really watch where you're going."
"Umm, hello? Didn't you notice this is the stage door? People do tend to come in and out of doors unexpectedly. Is it my fault you two have yet to learn the fundamentals of a door?"
"Oh, that's right, I forgot you were onstage doing your sound check. I guess that explains the unusual amount of stray dogs that were howling out back. They must have recognized your voice as some sort of homing device. Remind me to have you train my dog for that. I can just put on your CD, and he'll come right home."
"Rebecca, you are just so funny. Can it be any wonder why everyone likes you so much?"
"No wonder at all. My sense of humor is just one of my many redeeming qualities. After you help me with that dog-calling thing, maybe I can help you with your sense of humor. It will add to your already stellar personality. That way you can have one redeeming quality to overshadow everything else about you."
*****************
The sound check went quickly, and before they knew it, it was an hour to show time. The four girls were making their way to the dressing room. They had been trying to avoid it, but had run out of things to do, and places to explore. Becca gave Coretta a reassuring look before she turned the knob to open the door. Luckily there were several people in the small room, besides Synchronicity. They settled themselves in a corner away from everyone. The nerves were starting to set in for everyone. Coretta and Becca made a few calls, they both decided the last thirty minutes before they went on would be spent focusing. No radio, no phones, and no visitors, just them. After she ended her last call, in which she tried to reach Joey again, Coretta noticed Trevor on the other side of the room watching her. He gave her a bright smile, and walked over to sit next to her.
"You don't seem very excited for a person about to perform for a sold out crowd."
Coretta smiled a little. "I'm very excited. It's just that I was hoping to hear from someone special today. Knowing how important today was to me, I figured he would at least call."
"He?? As in a boyfriend type he?" Trevor asked
"Yeah, something like that. He's away taking care of some business, otherwise he would've been here."
"That's too bad. I'm more than willing to stand in for him. I mean in the support role, of course." Trevor grinned
"Right. Of course." she smiled. Next to her, Becca's phone was ringing.
"What's crackin'?" she said into the phone.
"What's crackin. I like that. I just might have to use that myself."
"How about you leave the ethnic terminology to the pros."
"So what are you tryin' to say?"
"Nothin Justin, nothin at all. So what's up? Coretta mentioned something about Joey's family."
"Um yeah, we were hanging with his family and some of his old friends and stuff." He wasn't totally lying, they had done that the day before. Becca got up and walked to another area of the room.
"So did Joey tell his family about Coretta?"
"Yeah, some of them were less thrilled, but for the most part, they were cool. Of course with them not talking or whatever, I guess it really doesn't really matter."
"She's so over that now, but he better come up with a good excuse for why he hasn't called or anything. He's the only one we haven't heard from."
"I know he sent her flowers. I heard him ordering them, maybe they just haven't gotten there yet."
"Well, duh Einstein. So your flight leaves tomorrow, huh? I can't believe you guys will miss almost the entire first half of our tour."
"Don't worry girl, we'll see y'all as often as we can, once we get back to the States."
Becca and Justin talked for a few minutes about Diversity's single being number one, the CD coming out and the other everyday things.
"Since we don't have to leave until late tomorrow, we're going out after the concert tonight." Becca explained.
"Oh yeah, and just where do you think you're going??"
"Well dad....If you must know, we'll be clubbing with the O-town guys, and maybe Jessica and Nick and some of her crew if they feel up to it."
"O-town?? I don't even want know what they are doing there, or what you are doing with them."
"Don't be playing that protective role, it doesn't suit you."
Becca saw what was probably going to send her friend over the edge, considering all that had happened in the last few days, it was a very short trip.
"Um Justin, exactly what kind of flowers did you hear Joey order?"
*****************
Coretta had been so into her conversation with Trevor, she hadn't noticed that nearly everyone had left the room. All that remained were three of the members of O-town including Trevor, Diversity, and their two dancers, and Synchronicity. She enjoyed talking to him. He had a great sense of humor, and was very easy to talk to. Talking to him reminded her a lot of the late night talks she often had with Joey. They both stopped talking when a stagehand entered the room with a bouquet of yellow, and white roses. He handed them to Angela, and left the room.
"Oh geez...looks like daddy sent his wonder child a little gift."
Trevor laughed. "I really don't see why you don't like her. You two are more alike than you realize."
"Okay, you were doing good up to that point. I am in no way like that girl. Believe me, I have my reasons for not liking her. My opinion isn't likely to change any time soon, or ever." Coretta stated.
Angela was as curious as everyone else in the room was. She knew her father was out of the country on business. Even if he hadn't been, she knew he wasn't likely to remember about tonight, much less send flowers. She figured his secretary must have done the ordering and he signed the card as always. She made a mental note to thank Isabelle the next time she saw her.
When she reached for the card, she was totally shocked at what she saw. It wasn't her father's handwriting, not Isabelle's that adorned the card. The sentiments were typewritten, and not from her father. The message read:
Of course it wasn't much, but it was something and more importantly it seemed to be more than what his little girlfriend got. The evening was really looking better and better. The was no way she could keep this to herself, but she had to go about it in just the right way.
"Well, well, well girls. Looks like I do have and admirer after all. It's so sweet of him to think of me. I'm glad our relationship still means that much to him. I wish he was here so I could give him a kiss, but I know he's busy recording with the other guys." Although she was talking to the people right next to here, she spoke loud enough for the whole room to hear.
*****************
"I can't remember what kind, roses I think. Why do you ask?"
"I'm sure it's nothing. Did it happen to be yellow and white roses?" Becca hoped the answer would be no.
"Yeah, that was it, six of each. How did you know?"
"They just showed up for Angela."
"You can't be serious." Justin said into the phone. "Sometimes I don't understand what goes through his head. Are you sure they're for her? Maybe she just brought them in and said they are for her."
Becca sighed loudly. "As much as I would love to believe that, it's not possible. Someone else brought them in. On the plus side, I think Coretta's been too busy to notice."
Justin picked up on that right away. "Too busy doing what and with whom?"
"I already told you the guys from O-town stopped by. Coretta's talking to Trevor."
"Correction, you told me O-town stopped by to see Synchronicity. You didn't tell mention either of you having in depth conversations with them."
"I didn't say it was in depth. Look, nevermind, just don't mention it to Joey. I want to avoid the fallout from their next free for all for as long as possible."
"Yeah, I see your point." Justin agreed
"I gotta go, we go on pretty soon and they're kicking everyone out. We gotta get focused."
"Right. I'll see you later."
Becca laughed at his mistake. "Not this time Justin, we're about to be on two different continents, remember?"
"Oh yeah, my bad. I guess I'm just use to seeing you all the time. Have a good show, break a leg and all that good stuff."
"Sure, and you know whose leg it would be. Anyway, gotta go." Coretta and Becca sat in the middle of the room with Tasha and Kara. Everyone else had left, O-town to their seats, and Synchronicity to the stage.
"You might as well look. We know you want to, you know you want to, and Angela knows you want to. That's why she made such a big deal about it. Just get it over with so we can all move on." Kara said exactly what the other two had been thinking.
Coretta shook her head. "No, I really don't want to. I mean, what business is it of mine? So he sent her flowers, and I didn't get so much as a phone call. Should I be jealous or upset? Not at all. So what if this is one of the biggest, most exciting times of my life. Why should I expect him to go out of his way to acknowledge it? Nevermind the fact that I probably won't be able to talk to him until they get back two weeks, four days and seven hours from now. Not that I'm counting or anything."
"Of course not." The others said in unison while watching Coretta now pace the room.
*****************
Joey emerged from the bathroom freshly shaven, and fully dressed. He sat on the edge of the bed to out his shoes on. He looked up and noticed Justin looking at him. "What?" he asked.
"You really have no clue do you?"
"In case, I guess not. You want to fill me in on what I could have possibly done between the time I left to take a shower and now?"
"Now I understand why JC always says we shouldn't become close with each other's girlfriends. Too many emotions. In this case, it's not like it could've been avoided, no one really thought you two would get together in the first place...." Justin trailed off
"What in holy hell are you talking about? If you thought I was clueless before, you should try me now. I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about."
"I'll give you a hint, Flowers..Angela, ring any bells?"
"Oh that. So what?" Joey shrugged
"Did it ever occur to you that Coretta might find out? Turns out Diversity and Synchronicity had to share a dressing room tonight. Any idea what that means, Joe?"
"Yeah, that I need to come up with a better plan than what I have now."
"That's right. Let's go, we've only got twenty minutes before the show starts." Justin locked the door while Joey stopped to talk with Z on the way to the elevator.
*****************
"Explain to me again, why are we watching them?? They are the last people that I want to be thinking about before we're set to perform."
"You guys don't have to watch, I promised Kathy I'd get her some audio for her radio show this week." Becca explained.
"Girl, don't act like that means you'll be doing anything. All you had to do was ask Tim to get you some audio. From the sounds of things, there's not going to be too much good material for Kathy to use. They sound awful."
Kara was right, for there being four girls on the stage singing, the sound was not very powerful, the notes they did manage to project were flat and were off key most times. Synchronicity tried to cover it by dancing more, or trying to get the crowd more involved. The crowd was not the least bit impressed, and was only interested in getting to the next act. Angela strained to keep the tears out of her voice. She introduced herself and the rest of the group one more time before thanking the audience and running off stage in tears.
"I guess that's what happens when you send a girl to do a woman's job. Feel free to say and take notes. Maybe that will help you during the rest of the tour." Coretta smirked before she ran out to join Becca.
"What's up Tampa?!?!!!" They screamed in unison as the music started and the lights flashed. Becca took center stage while Coretta stood back with the dancers.
"What up y'all? You ready to get down with Diversity?? I hope so, because we came to have a good time. Is that alright with you?" The place erupted in screams. Becca laughed, she was getting an amazing rush from that moment. "We're going to start with our first single. Actually, it's our only single at this point. How many of you saw the video debut on TRL the other day?" Again there was more cheering. "That was our first time seeing it, and I have to tell you, I was pretty proud of it. Well anyway, I guess it's time for us to do what we came here to do." Becca moved back into formation with Coretta and waited for the music.
Once the music started, it was as if they became completely different people. They forgot about everything, and let the music take over. Coretta felt as if it was the best performance yet. The last note hit and the crowd broke out in screams and applause. After grabbing a quick drink, Coretta adjusted her headset, and went to talk to the audience
"Hey, hey everyone. First, I'd like to thank you all for coming out tonight. I know you're here to see Jessica, but you have to sit through us, and we appreciate that so much. The next song we're about to do is a song we've never actually performed before. It's a song written by my girl Becca, and Mr. FuManSkeeto himself, Chris Kirkpatrick. We're trying to get this one as our next single, so if you like it let Chris and Donna Wright know. Email them constantly. The crowd seemed to love the song. As it ended, Tasha and Kara ran off stage and brought back two stools.
"We're gonna end our set with a song Coretta wrote a while back. Y'all listen to the radio and hear all those love songs, right? I'm sure some of you even have a certain someone those songs are meant for. This is another one of those silly love songs....."
The song was a big success, the girls were enjoying every bit of the crowd appreciation they were receiving. They were having so much fun, they never wanted to leave the stage. It wasn't long before it was time to end their set.
"Thanks again, and we want to thank Jessica Simpson for inviting us on her tour. I'm Coretta, that's Becca, our dancers Tasha, and Kara, and we're Diversity. We love you, goodnight, and enjoy the show."
The lights went out, and all four of the girls rushed off the stage. They were so exhilarated, they barely noticed cameras, and people congratulating them. They rushed back to the dressing room to shower and change. They wanted to catch some of Jessica's performance before heading out to the club. Coretta had done well to push the thought of Joey out of her head for the past hour. Upon entering the room, and seeing Angela and the flowers, anger seared through her. Quickly she grabbed her clothes and went in the changing room before she said something she shouldn't. In order to save time, Becca ran to the other dressing room. The two finished at the same time, and engaged in small talk with the guys of O-town while they waited for Eric to finish up a call.
"You didn't seem nervous at all." Jacob told them
"Yeah," Dan agreed. "You two were really something out there."
"Sure, if you like that kind of thing." Angela muttered
"Yeah right. Who would want to see great dancing, hear tight harmonies, and get and all around good show, when they could see something like Synchronicity instead." Coretta snapped
"I would." Came a voice from behind. Everyone turned to see Justin leaning against the door. Becca and Coretta raced to the door and tackled him in a hug. "Hey now." he said laughing. "I still have a tour of my own to do, so don't kill me."
After letting him up, and allowing him a moment to pull himself together, they began pummeling him with questions. "What are you doing here?"
"Where's everyone else?"
"How long can you stay?"
"Whoa, I see you're both still on an adrenaline rush. We're not leaving until late tomorrow, so I thought I'd go see a concert."
"Wait a minute, " Becca said after thinking for a minute. "That means you were here when I talked to you a little while ago." she hit him on the arm.
"Ow!! Okay, I guess I deserved that. I couldn't exactly tell you though, it would've ruined the element of surprise."
"Fair enough, I suppose I can forgive you."
"what about you, do you forgive me too?" Justin asked Coretta, who had drifted off into her own world. She was thinking about the girls that she and Becca had met outside whom had heard Justin and Joey were at their hotel.
"Justin, you never did mention whether or not you came down here by yourself."
He picked up on her meaning right away. "Sorry." He said sympathetically. He hated to lie to her, but he hoped it would cause the reaction Joey was counting on. He could barely contain himself, when he saw the plan was working.
"I don't feel like going out anymore. I think I'll just go back to the hotel, and chill." Coretta said suddenly.
"You have to go. Who knows when we'll have another free night." Becca tried to reason with her friend.
"I guess all the excitement just hit me. I'm really tired now. Y'all go on and have a good time. I'll be fine, I'll take a cab back to the hotel. Security is still there, so quite worrying."
"I'll go with her, just to be sure she gets there okay." Trevor offered. "Then I'll meet everyone at the club." He added quickly after catching the slight glare Justin was sending his way.
Coretta didn't say much during the ride back to the hotel. Trevor could tell she was really bothered by this guy not showing up. It angered him that someone was keeping him from getting close to this girl, yet the person didn't have the decency to show up and support her. By the time they reached the elevator, he'd had enough of her silence and felt he had to say something. The doors opened, and they stepped off the elevator. Coretta gave the guard a small wave, and ignored his questioning look.
"So this boyfriend of yours seems to have you pretty upset." Trevor observed.
"I wouldn't say upset, just a little disappointed. That's how it goes, I guess."
"Well, I know if my girl was opening on her first concert tour, there would be nothing to stop me from being there."
Coretta turned and opened the door slightly to the darkened room. "He's really busy, and I knew it would be near impossible for him to get away. I guess seeing Justin made me get my hopes up a bit. That was a stupid thing to do."
"I can see why. If a guy like Justin Timberlake can take time out of his busy schedule, just about any normal guy should be able to do the same."
"Well he's very busy, almost as busy as Justin. He's not exactly your average Joe." She laughed at her own little joke.
"The only people as bust as Justin are his four group mates. Anyway, this might seem a little out of place, but I just have to ask. Do you think your boyfriend would mind if I took you out? I mean nothing serious, I just want to get to know you better."
Before she could answer, the lights turned on and a voice behind her answered. "Yeah, I think he would mind quite a bit."
"Oh this is not happening." Coretta thought to herself. She turned to see Joey seated in a chair with his feet resting on the edge of the bed. She wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him, or kill him. At that point, all she could do is look at him, and wonder what on the hell he was doing in her room.
"Well, is that any way to treat someone you haven't seen for awhile?" Joey said calmly.
"You, um, surprised me. I wasn't expecting to see you." Coretta stammered.
"Not expecting to see me, huh? I kinda got that idea." Joey wasn't looking at her, but over her shoulder to where Trevor was standing just inside the doorway awkwardly looking around. "I'm sure if you were expecting me, your boyfriend, you would've had enough respect for me and what we have going on, not to have another guy coming to your room, knowing I would be here."
At the word boyfriend, Trevor looked up. He stared between the two and began to figure out what was going on. "Oh, I get it now, not you average Joe. No, he definitely isn't. Why didn't you just say that from the beginning? Although it is a little strange since Angela has practically everyone convinced Joey wants her."
Joey made his way to the door toward Trevor. Coretta noticed he had a slight look of jealousy on his face. He stood just in between Coretta and Trevor. "If I wanted Angela, that's where I would be. As you can see, I'm not with her, but instead I'm here in this hotel room."
"I can see that." Trevor refused to be intimidated.
"Here with my girlfriend." Joey emphasized the last word
"Right, she mentioned someone, but I never would have guessed it was you. Who would've thought you of all people, would not only settle down, but also enter a relationship like this one. From what I've heard, you are quite the partying one." He looked at Coretta before continuing "She's a good person, and deserves someone to treat her right."
Joey was not sure where all this was coming from, or how someone who as far as he knew, knew nothing of he relationship, could attack him in such a way. He struggled to keep his irritation in check. "She has that."
"Someone that's there for her always. Not just whenever he can fit her into his schedule." Trevor knew his was pushing, but he couldn't stop.
"I actually agree with that. I am that person, and intend to stay that person for a while."
"Sure, that's why she was coming back here, and was so upset, because you were there for her."
Coretta could see Joey getting upset. Since that was something that rarely happened, she thought it best for Trevor to leave. She grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him toward the door. The two men continued to stare each other down. Just as she got Trevor out the door, she turned back to face Joey. "You chill out a little, I'll be back in a minute." Joey rolled his eyes and looked at the wall.
Once the door closed behind her, she looked at Trevor. "I'm sorry, I didn't know he was going to be here. As far as I knew he was in New York, then off to Europe or somewhere for the next two and a half weeks."
"So you're saying things would've been different if he wasn't here?" Trevor asked hopefully.
"Yes….NO!!!" Coretta quickly caught on. "I just meant we would've been able to talk more, that's all. Joey and I are very much in…in a relationship of some sort. Sometimes we still have to get adjusted to that fact, but we are together despite whatever nonsense Angela may tried to fill you head with. She was probably hoping I'd bring you back here, and in my sadness or whatever, lose sight of my commitment and do something stupid."
"Being with me is stupid? Now that's a compliment if I ever heard one." Trevor said sarcastically.
"Being with you knowing I was with someone else, yeah I'd call that very stupid. I could never compromise my feelings like that, and I wouldn't ask that of you or Joe. Hell, if I'd met you that first night, I'd be out here having this conversation with him instead. You are definitely boyfriend material, just not for me."
Trevor hugged her. "If you change your mind, or something, you know where to find me. If not, just ask your girl Angela."
She shot him a look. "You're lucky you're my friend. Otherwise, I might have to beat you down for that little remark."
"Ooh, beat me please." Trevor wiggled his eyebrows
"You are such a dork." Coretta laughed before turning to go back inside.
Coretta came back into the room, closing the door behind her. She leaned against it, closed her eyes and took a deep breath to prepare herself for the scene that was about to unfold.
"I just got here, don't go wishing me away already." Joey tried to lighten the mood.
"I've spent the last few days wishing you were with me, now that you are, don't think I'd be so quick to rid of you. Do you mind telling me what you're doing here? Justin didn't give much of an explanation, and he straight up lied when I asked him if you were here too."
"I asked him to do that. I knew you would be upset and come back to your room, and here I am. Of course, I figured you'd be coming back here alone. I guess both of us were surprised."
"You think I was upset because you weren't here? Even though you really are, but I thought you weren't. Sure that bothered me, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual reason I was...I am upset."
Joey stared in confusion. "Why else would you be upset? We're together, I thought that was what you wanted."
"You know it is, but how is it that you couldn't call, send a note, pass a message, something? You managed to send Angela, your EX girlfriend, flowers, when I couldn't get so much as a good luck, but who's complaining?"
Joey crossed the room so he was standing directly in front of her. He grabbed both of her hands in his, and looked down at them without saying anything at first. Soon he cleared his throat. "I know this plan didn't come off quite as smooth as I wanted it to, but believe me it was always about us, not her. She has no support, and I felt bad that she has no one. You've got your family, friends, and the other guys, me...she has no one. Plus, I knew if I talked to you, I would blow the whole thing. Since I know you don't like that whole flower thing, I'm guessing this is more about Angela than anything else. I don't want to get all into that right now. I'm sure you don't want to spend what little time we do have, explaining to me why Trevor thought it would be okay to ask you out."
Coretta looked up to meet Joey's eyes. "No, I think we can skip both of those topics for a while, a long, long while. So what do you want to talk about now?"
Joey dropped her hands and slowly slid his hands to her hips. He licked his lips slowly and lowered his head. "Who said anything about talking?" He kissed her slowly. almost cautiously at first. It was as if he wanted to get to know the feel of her mouth against his. She moved her hands across his chest before finally wrapping her arms around his neck, allowing her fingers to run through his hair. They finally broke away breathless.
"Wow. If this is how it will be every time we're apart, I only want to see you every two weeks." Coretta joked.
"I don't like the sound of that, but I suppose that could be arranged." Joey said still holding her close. "I'd rather be able to do this every day."
"Good point, but I think locking the door would be a good idea. I don't trust Justin, of course knowing him he'll find a way in. Anyway, how is New York, how's recording?" Coretta asked while locking the connecting door between her and Becca's rooms.
Joey sat on the bed. "Recording was pretty much the same as always. You know, we spend fifteen hours on something that will only be about four minutes long when it's finished. It's a great song though. New York is great, got to spend a little time with some people I haven't seen in a while, and won't see again anytime soon, at least if I can help it."
Coretta looked at Joey confused. "What do you mean you won't see them again? You're in New York all the time, how can you not see them?"
Joey patted the spot next to him on the bed. "Sit down, we might as well get this out of the way now."
Coretta reluctantly sat down. "I already don't like the sound of this. Is this really something we really need to do now? I really don't want to ruin the mood."
"I've managed to push it to the back of my mind the last few days, but now that you brought up New York, I really want to talk about it. The other day my Uncle Anthony, you remember him, right? Well, he had a bunch of people over, most of them had seen TRL, so they started asking questions about who my mystery girl was."
"Okay, and judging by the tone of your voice, their reactions weren't the best."
"There were no parties being thrown, if that's what you mean. I have to admit they were a lot easier going than I thought they would be. My uncle must have told everyone what he thought about me."
"Is that supposed to be a good thing?" Coretta asked.
"Uncle Anthony has a lot of influence in my family. He really liked you, and it takes something special for him to like people right away. Hell, he still doesn't like Angela, even on a friendly basis."
Coretta laughed. "I knew I liked him for a reason. So some of your family likes me, and the rest hate me. All of that without ever meeting me? Great, no pressure there."
"Don't worry about it." Joey tried to reassure her. "The people that really matter to me are okay with this. Not that it would change things if they weren't."
"Well, whatever. Now we've got that out the way, let's talk about something else.
"Not so fast there girl. Since we're on the subject, what about your family? I know your sister is okay with it, and so are some of your friends that I've talked to, but what about everyone else?" Joey asked seriously.
Coretta turned to look at him. Staring into his soft, brown eyes, she was reminded of all the reasons that she wanted to be with him. None of the reasons had anything to do with what her friends or family thought. The reasons were all about her and what she felt when she saw him, or heard his voice. How it felt to have him miles away from where he was supposed to be, and with her right then. From that point, she wanted to believe no matter what, no one could influence what was happening between them. She kissed him almost desperately. She wanted to convey her every feeling and thought into that one moment. Joey was surprised by her sudden eagerness.
"What are you doing?" He asked before returning the kisses.
"If you have to ask, we definitely aren't spending enough time together." She continued to kiss him, now in a more playful way.
"I know I'll regret this later, but you have to stop. Obviously you don't want to tell me about how your family feels. That makes me ever more interested in what they had to say."
"Joe, I won't lie to you. Like with your family, mine wasn't exactly ready to embrace the situation. The younger ones in the family could care less. The older ones are a little more set in their ways. They honestly think nothing can come of this. Then there were others that didn't say anything one way or the other. Of course they are also the same ones that have barely spoken to me since Mike and I broke up two years ago. They thought he was the best thing that happened to me. The were always holding out for the chance we would get back together."
"I think we can put that on top of the list of things that will never happen, for obvious reasons."
"I know that, and I think on some level, they may even blame me for that."
Joey couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That's ridiculous, it's insane. Just like it's insane for them to blame me for being white and wanting to be with you. What kind of crap is that? I can't change that, and I shouldn't be held responsible for things they may have gone through a long time ago. Times have changed since then, it's not always about being black or white."
Coretta watched Joey pace back and forth. "I know Joe, I know. We can't change what anyone thinks about what we're doing. Does it really matter though? I think the fact that we are both here despite what some people think proves something in itself. Let's not think about that now, and figure out what to do with this time we have left."
"You're right. You know what I want you to do? I want you to sing for me."
"Sing for you?" Coretta laughed. "Not quite what I had in mind, but whatever."
"Yes, I want you to sing. You're half the reason Diversity has a number one single, I want to hear your voice."
Coretta rolled her eyes. "This is so corny. You've heard me sing before. I sound just like I always do."
"No, not tonight you didn't." Joey replied shaking his head. "Tonight you two were different. It was like you were finally in control. Your other performances have been good, but tonight you were in a totally new zone."
"You actually saw the show?"
"Do you think I'd travel all the way here, and not see it?"
"I didn't think you would be here at all, and definitely not without security. What's that about? Who knows what could've happened to you and Justin."
"Let's just say Dre doesn't fit in real well with the little fantasy I had going through my mind." Joey shuttered at the thought.
"Sounds interesting, but I thought all you had were Jell-O fantasies, and whipped cream dreams."
"Have you looked at the bathtub in there? Not really enough room for Jell-O. I can still call downstairs for that whipped cream. I'm sure they have some." Joey jokingly reached for the phone.
"Don't worry about it, that whole thing gets too messy after while. It's a bitch to clean up. Hardly worth the effort." Coretta replied casually. She only shrugged when Joey looked at her.
"I'm not sure I even want to know, so I'll just forget you mentioned it."
"No, you really don't want to know. Now that we've argued, and been serious, what's next?"
"I've got a couple of ideas." Joey moved to stand in front of Coretta.
"What was that?" Coretta asked turning toward the door.
"What was what?" Joey also turned, only to find himself smacked in the head with a pillow. The force of the blow caught him off guard and he fell, bouncing slightly on the other bed before landing on the floor in the small space between the bed and the wall. Coretta was trying so hard not to laugh, she thought she would burst. While trying to keep her composure, tears of laughter streamed down her face as she watched Joey struggle to get up from the crevice. When he finally succeeded, he grabbed another pillow and got ready to launch his attack.
"Oh, so you think that's funny, huh?"
Coretta slowly shook her head still fighting the incredible urge not to laugh.
"Yeah, I think you do, but that's okay. What goes around comes around." Joey made his way over to the bed and pinned her down as they both began laughing.
"Now this is a position I could get used to." Joey said.
"We can't exactly stay here forever, I think people might notice the fact that we're missing. Not to mention the people that will be staying in the room after us. It might get a little weird."
"What, like you've never heard of performance art?"
"That's so not what I had in mind."
"At any rate, we better make the most of the time we have left, otherwise I'll have nothing to tell the guys tomorrow on the plane." Joey joked.
"Right. I forgot, Chris told me guys gossip too. Well then, I guess we should make sure you've got something to talk about."
"It's an eighteen hour flight, and you know I talk a lot."
"This might work out a little better if you stopped talking so much right now."
