"You've got it all wrong!" I hollared. "The strings are supposed to attach at the left hip in the front, not the back! And there's supposed to be a hole that cuts from 2 inches under the right arm to past the belly button. Did you sew it at the top? Weren't you listening when we told you what needed to be altered. I don't care if your aunts having a baby, did your water break? Well then fix it, she's on in 20 minutes."
Yes, I absolutely loved the sound of my own bitching when tour time came around. The foreign woman shook her head and went back to working on the outfit as the door opened and our little starlet walked in.
"What's wrong Tori?" she asked. At only 16, Deirdre was on her way to becoming the newest "pop sensation". All my faith was in her. She had the voice of a classic diva, the look of an ethnic model, wrote her own songs, played back-up on her record for most of them, and danced better than Britney Spears. All rolled up into a nice little package with an older charm and a younger naivity.
"Nothing sweetie. Just go sit down, Jaimie's waiting to finish your make-up. You've only got 20." She nodded and walked over to Jaimie where he immidiatly began talking about his new boyfriend dilema. Yes, HIS new boyfriend dilema.
Sighing, I left the chaotic room to check on the sound crew and make sure everything was set. In twenty minutes, once Dei was on, I could take refuge in the bus and possibly get the first ounce of sleep in the last 72 hours.
My reflection stared back at me from a mirror, casually thrown on one of the walls and I took notice that at only 22 I was falling apart. Too much responsibility, I should still be in college, becoming a doctor or something.
"Tori! Tori! Remember me?" A guy who looked vaguely familiar was flagging me down as I looked up from the control panel. I stood up from my squat position and watched my wide leg white pants flow down as he ran towards me.
"Hey Tori, how ya been? I never got your call back. Anyways, listen, I was supposed to get an interview with that guy, umm, the other opening act, but I just got a call from my editor and he said no one cares and they want a scoop of your girl. So I was wondering, since we're close and all, if you could squeeze in a few questions after Derdarian gets off stage?"
The man rambled on for a while and I was mesmerized by the small piece of spinach caught in his teeth. That was how I remembered I went on one date with him years back. I didn't think we were close considering...well it was years back.
"First of all, her name is pronounced Dee-Air-Dra. I suppose she could answer A FEW questions, but only that." No publicity is bad publicity, but having a conference with MTV tommarow, the Saturday afternoon Pheonix Times wasn't really a priority.
The man smiled and inched closer. "So what are you doing tonight?" he asked. The spinach still hadn't moved.
"Playing with my cats." I said and walked off to the opposite corner of the room to where the curtain was, the beginning of the stage.
I would be nervous for her, but it wasn't a necessary emotion.
An annoying ring came from my right pant leg and I bent down to retrive the shining silver phone. "Tori." I said sounding as professional as I possibly could.
"Sandy here. How's the weather hooker?" I smiled for the first time that day.
"Hey Sans...What up?"
"Eh...Not too much really. Just calling to make sure you were still moving."
"God, I'm so tired, you wouldn't believe it."
"Do you know, that that's exactly what you say everytime I call?" Sandy laughed.
Sandy was the only person in the world I could trust with all my heart. I wasn't very trusting towards anyone after being betrayed by some of the closest people to me the year before. And Sandy was there with me through that, which is why we're so close.
I ended our meaningless conversation moments later when the lights dimmed and the crowd began chanting.
"Wish me luck." Dei said running up next to me.
"You don't need it, so just have fun." I mumbled as I turned to straighten her top to show just a little bit more cleavage.
She ran on stage followed by three dancers and I made a mental note to fire the wardrobe woman.
Now that the show had started, I was pretty much useless, whatever happened happened.
So I walked away, but as I was leaving something caught my eye, and I guess I also caught that somethings eye too.
"Tori! How have you been?" he shouted to me over the starting music, so I moved closer.
"Pretty good, how have you been?" I asked back feeling a ridiculous grin come over me.
"I'm alright, I guess." He said back flashing me a heartmelting smile.
"Yeah, I think I heard something that you were gonne be on this tour but..." I nodded off at the end to show my sarcasm.
"That's why I'm here, to talk to them about getting off. But they said something about how it would just be N SYC without me, so I guess I'm stuck."
"Yeah, well this is my new job. I'm Deirdre's manager."
"Really? That's great. It's what you said you wanted to do. I'll stop by your bus sometime." He nodded his hand in my direction and I started back towards the exit, the ridiculous grin on my face wouldn't stop and I was glad no one could see me.
Dear Diary,
You wouldn't believe what happened today. Well I ran into Lance as I was leaving the venue, he's as gorgeous as he was last year. And he recognized me first. This shouldn't get me so bubbly, but it did make me smile. He's still adorable. I got my manicure today, and Deirdre's doing really good. I'm sure she's gonna be big. Let's just hope tommarow goes good. Things are looking up.
~Tori
