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Steph woke up early the next morning, around 5:30. She never slept well when she wasn’t at home, so her back hurt and her mind was clouded with the brief memories of nightmares. Getting out of bed, she briefly thought about changing out of her wife beater and red plaid boxers, sans bra, but decided that since she was the only one up, she would not bother. She went downstairs quietly, afraid of waking up Nick’s menagerie of dogs. She poured herself a cup of leftover coffee and crept outside to sit on one of Nick’s patio chairs, overlooking the ocean. Sipping slowly, she thought about the past day and the day ahead of her. It was true, music was her life. She had been taking singing lessons for as long as she could remember; she had been writing songs since the first learned to pluck out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on her cousin’s ratty old guitar. But fingering her shorn locks, she wondered about whether this was what she needed. Might as well give it a shot, she decided. If it sucks, I can just quit, right? Nick’s spent a ton of money on me so far; I guess I owe it to him to at least go to this audition…
Nick’s dogs were barking and woke him up from his cozy dream about Carmen Electra. "Damn it, Willy," he said to the pug, who was whining and scratching at the door. Wearing only his boxers, he got up and went downstairs to let his dogs out. He opened the back door and was about to head back upstairs when he heard a scream. "What the hell-" he muttered to himself as he scanned his backyard. Finally his eyes came to rest on Steph. The dogs were surrounding her and a coffee stain ran down the front of her shirt. He ran out to her to help her, but caught himself staring at her. The coffee made the shirt cling to her, and he could tell that she was not wearing a bra. After a few seconds, he shook himself out of it and moved his eyes upwards, to see Steph’s dark eyes glaring back at her. He began laughing.
"It’s not funny," she said furiously. He tried desperately to stop laughing, but didn’t succeed. Finally her face softened and she admitted, "Well, maybe it is. Just a little. Get these monsters away from me!"
"C’mon, guys, leave Steph alone. I think she’s a cat person," he said, heading back inside. Steph followed him, her early morning peace ruined. "What’re you doing up so early?" he yawned as he shut the screen door behind them.
"I don’t sleep well when I’m not at home. Why’re you up?" she countered.
"My dogs started barking," Nick replied, casting a suspicious glance in her direction.
"Sorry," said Steph sheepishly.
"I’m going to go back to bed. You can watch TV or use the computer or whatever, as long as you’re quiet. BJ’ll shoot you if wake her up," he warned her.
"What time’s the appointment?"
"8:00. We can leave here at 7:30, so I’m going to go sleep until 7:00. See you," he said, yawning. He was already upstairs before Steph could reply. She just shrugged in his general direction and decided to go to Nick’s studio in the basement. The guitar was sitting in a corner, next to the soundproof booth. She picked it up and strummed it slowly, tuning it. Her fingers automatically began to play a familiar song, one she had heard before but just could not remember. Her eyes closed as she let the music wash over her. This was exactly what she needed – a break from the teenybopper music. She fooled around for a little while, soothing herself by playing some of her favorite songs. Then she decided that she had to practice. Sighing, she headed upstairs to grab a bra and her discman so that she could listen to the tape of her music without having to wake everyone else up. Back downstairs, she slipped the CD in and clipped the discman to the elastic band of her shorts. When the music began, the bubblegum background giving her a headache, she began to go through the motions of her dance. It was surprising to realize that the movements were now almost natural. The girl in the mirror looked sure of herself and almost happy while doing the kick-turns, hip sways, and jumps – hell, she even remembered to keep the blank, sexy stare on her face that Andrea kept on stressing. Maybe this isn’t so bad, Steph decided.
After practicing for half an hour, she sat down again, her face red and sweat streaming down her face. It was a combination of the dancing – her body still was not used to the activity – and the early morning humid heat of Orlando. The wife beater was sticking to her like second skin and she decided to take a long, cool bath in the downstairs bathroom. That way, Nick and BJ wouldn’t hear the water running and she could relax. As much as she wanted to seem cool, she was still nervous about the meeting at Jive.
After the bath, she got ready for the meeting. She carefully did her make-up; Steph was not exactly practiced at it, but the night before BJ had shown her exactly how to do it. It was going to take her a while to get used to her new haircut, she decided, but she had to admit that it looked pretty cool. The bright blue contacts took almost 15 minutes to get into her eyes. Unlike the hair, she was pretty sure that she would never get used to seeing her dark brown eyes covered by the insipid blue. But if it would make Nick happy and get her a record deal, she was willing to wear yellow happy-face contact lenses.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nick tossed and turned for about an hour before giving up on sleep. Try as he might, he could not get the picture of Stephanie out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes to sleep, he saw her with the coffee spilled down her shirt, her skimpy pajamas clinging to her body. He had never realized before how truly good-looking she was. His sudden attraction to her scared him.
He headed downstairs, poured himself some Coco Puffs and began watching cartoons on the small TV in his kitchen. Halfway through an engrossing episode of Batman Beyond, Stephanie came down into the kitchen.
"Hey," she said, walking in. He had not been expecting anyone, and he promptly began choking on his coffee. "Jesus, I already spilled coffee all over myself today. The last thing I need is for you to spit it all over me, especially on this outfit."
Nick managed to swallow his coffee and sputtered out, "Don’t fucking do that! You scared me!"
"Sorry," she snickered back, then fell quiet. Nick took the opportunity to study her carefully. "What’re you looking at?" she asked nervously.
"Making sure you look good for today," he replied. "Did BJ do your make-up and hair for you?"
"No," Steph said, sitting down next to him. "I did it. She showed me how to do it last night. Does it look OK?"
"It looks great," he told her. "We’ll go in about 5 minutes. I just want to see the end of this."
"What is it, Batman Beyond?"
"Yeah, how’d you know?"
"I have a little brother. I’ve seen every one of these damn cartoons. I hate to admit it, but I kinda get involved in ‘em."
"Yeah, aren’t they great?"
"I don’t know if that’s how I’d describe them, but oh well. Don’t you need to get dressed before we go?"
"Probably, if you want to be picky about it. I’ll just throw something on after the show’s over. It won’t take long."
"Men. I have to spend almost an hour getting ready and Mr. Superstar takes thirty seconds."
"I’m established. You still need to make a good impression," Nick replied, hiding a smile. She rolled her eyes in response and watched the end of the cartoon with him. When it ended – happily ever after, of course – Nick quickly ran up to his room, changed, and grabbed his keys. He was wearing wrinkled baggy jeans, an old Tampa Buccaneers jersey, and a baseball cap slid over his greasy, unwashed hair. Stephanie swore under her breath, and Nick pretended to ignore her as they slid into his car. The ride was silent, slightly reminiscent of the previous day, but it was different. Stephanie was nervous, not upset, and Nick was letting his mind wander instead of thinking about how to make his charge into a superstar. He refrained from the desire to give her last-minute instructions. Eventually, Stephanie leaned over and turned the radio on.
When they got to the studio, they were fifteen minutes early. Nick parked the car badly and did his best to ignore Stephanie’s jabs at his driving skills. "Gimme a break. I barely ever have to drive, except when I’m at home."
"What if you get a ticket, superstar?"
"I’ll deal."
"Whatever." She got her guitar out of the backseat and Nick carried her demo tape in his sweaty hands. He was nervous; if she did badly, then Lou Pearlman would laugh him out of the office. In the waiting room, the demo tapes of Jive Record’s latest up-and-comers blasted from all corners. Nick grinned when he heard the first song.
"What’s so funny?" Steph asked, noticing the amused look on his face.
"That’s Phoenix Stone . . . at least I think that’s what he calls himself now. He was a Backstreet Boy before Bri and Kevin joined up. His name was just Sam back then," he laughed. "Now he’s trying to make his own solo career."
"Were you guys friends?" she asked, nervously trying to make conversation as she tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.
"I guess. He was nice enough. He was pretty close with Howie, I think." Silence fell again as the music changed to a new girl group named PYT. "They opened up for AJ – I mean, Johnny No-Name – once or twice during his solo tour. They’re pretty good."
"Yeah," Steph replied.
"May I help you?" the receptionist called over to them. Nick signaled to Stephanie to sit down, and then he went to talk to the secretary.
"My name’s Nick Carter and that’s my client, Stephanie Chalifour," he said, proud of himself for sounding so official. "We’ve got an appointment with Lou."
"Lou’s running late today, but the vice president is in the office. You guys can head in whenever you’re ready," she replied, turning back to her computer to type. Nick rolled his eyes and went back to Stephanie.
"You ready?"
"Now?" she squeaked out.
"Yes, now," he replied, making his voice high pitched to mock her. Stephanie stood up awkwardly, brushing imaginary dust off of her short skirt. She grabbed her guitar, putting the strap over her shoulder. "Ready?"
"I guess so," she said nervously. He beckoned to her to follow him. They proceeded through a maze of hallways that Nick was obviously familiar with. "How do you know this place so well?"
"It’s my record label. I’ve been here tons of times. I know half the people who work here," he replied easily. Indeed, he said hello to virtually everyone they passed, making sure to introduce them to Stephanie as, "the next big music star. Definitely bigger than Kirsten." Every time Stephanie heard Nick’s ex-girlfriend’s name, she flinched slightly. She wasn’t sure whether it was a little subconscious jealousy, or if she just hated comparisons between herself and the bubblegum pop queen. Finally they came to a heavy mahogany door much like the dozens of others they had passed, except Nick put his hand on this one’s doorknob and said, "Here we go." Stephanie took a deep breath, then followed him into the room.
Around a huge dark table sat nearly a dozen middle-aged, white men wearing matching dark, conservative suits with equally muted ties. They were talking in low voices when Nick and Stephanie walked through the door. "Hello, Nicholas," the man at the head of the table said. "How are you? And who’s this young lady?" Stephanie could have sworn she saw Nick flinch, but he simply smiled and answered politely.
"I’m fine, thanks, Mr. Matthews. Everyone, this is Stephanie Chalifour. I sent her demo tape in a few days ago and she’s here for her audition."
"Why don’t you sit down, Nicholas?" another man suggested. Nick complied silently. "Stephanie, it’s nice to meet you. Mr. Pearlman will be here shortly, but let’s get started. We’ll let you do your singing here, and then we can head on over to the dance studio so that we can see how you perform." Stephanie was so intimidated by her surroundings that she merely nodded. "Would you rather sit or stand while singing?" She just shrugged in response, and Matthews laughed. "You found us a quiet one. That’s nice, but we’ll fix that when it comes to media training." She raised an eyebrow at Nick, but he cut off her protests with a curt shake of his head. "Why don’t you go stand over there," he said, gesturing to position opposite his own position at the head of the table, "and sing for us. I hear you’ve got a lovely voice."
"Thanks," she managed to quiver out. She was shocked at herself. She had performed dozens of times in front of audiences much tougher than this. And yet she was so nervous that she felt like a high school student who had not prepared for a big speech. Hopefully, once she got going the music would take over and she would refocus.
Stephanie walked over to the end of the table and picked up her guitar. "This song’s one I wrote called First Kiss," she said. Her fingers began to strum out the familiar chords and she closed her eyes as the notes took over. Before she knew it, the song was over. Her eyelids popped back open to see the businessmen murmuring appreciatively to themselves. Nick gave her a discreet thumb’s-up.
"That was very nice," Matthews said. "Very different than most of the music on our label. But do you have anything more, ah, upbeat?" he asked. Stephanie glanced at Nick, who nodded at her.
"Uh, yeah," she replied. "I don’t have the music for it, but I have a song by Max Martin that Nick gave to me . . ."
"Why don’t you just sing it a cappella for us?" Matthews suggested. She had never tried that, but it was worth a shot. She sang the song "Behind the Mask," and it turned out fairly nice. The business people looked pleased. Halfway through the song, the door opened loudly and a man came bumbling in. Nick anxiously caught Steph’s eye and signaled for her to continue singing. She missed a note, but quickly got back on track and kept singing. Nick breathed a sigh of relief as Lou Pearlman sat down near him.
When the song was over, there was some polite applause from the business people. "Thank you very much," Matthews said. "Mr. Pearlman, this is Stephanie Chalifour, the young lady Nicholas recommended to us." Stephanie was near laughter; Matthews was so formal it was like someone had sprayed starch down his throat. "Stephanie, this is Mr. Pearlman."
Lou Pearlman stood up briefly and leaned towards her, sticking out his hand. "Nice to meet you. Call me Lou."
"Well, are you ready to head for the dance studio so that you can strut your stuff?" Matthews asked, amusing himself by talking "down with the kids." Stephanie nodded in response, and everyone stood up. Nick hurried over to his friend, trying to avoid the suits and give her some last-minute tips at the same time.
"You did really good so far," he whispered to her, and she gave him a tight smile by way of thanks. She had been fairly sure of herself with the singing, but the dancing scared her. Singing was second nature. Dancing was like – well, like "reading a big fat book in Hebrew," to quote the ever-insightful 2gether. "Just remember to have fun. If you nail the moves perfectly but don’t smile, they’re not gonna like it. Fib it a little bit, ya know? It’s a fun song-"
"You’re just saying that ‘cause you wrote it!"
"Yeah, well, screw you. Just have fun, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, okay," she grumbled. "I still don’t know how the hell I’m s’posed to dance in this thing."
"You’re wearing shorts under it, right?"
She stopped short in the hallway. "Oh my God, I never even thought of it!" Nick began snickering at her as he grabbed her arm and continued to pull her down the hallway. Stephanie groaned. "I’m gonna die. And all these creepy old men are gonna see my underwear." They reached the door and Nick was laughing at her.
"Break a leg, Steph," he said as he headed with the pack of suits towards the back. They had apparently interrupted a rehearsal of a boy band. The members were standing in the rear, and they glared at her for intruding on their practice. They looked familiar. . . and then she realized that they were the group from the TV show Making the Band. She began laughing again, but a quick, deadly look from Nick silenced her. She saw the boys from O-Town shooting looks at Nick; some were admiring, some jealous, some just plain mean. She had to bite her lip from laughing.
"Are you ready, Stephanie?" Matthews asked as she saw Pearlman whispering to the O-Town boys. Nick had told her that they were Lou’s pet project and he doted on them.
"Yeah," she replied, getting into position. Nick handed the tape to a technician and threw her a microphone. "This is, uh, gonna be kind of rough –" she started to apologize before Nick cut her off with a jerk of his head. She glared at him as the music started.
Over the past two days she had practiced the routine and song repeatedly and her body went through the motions automatically. She kept the microphone near her mouth, but was careful not to look like she was swallowing it. Her eyes stayed focused on her small audience of business executives, O-Town members, and Nick. Halfway through, she was shocked to realize that they seemed to be enjoying her performance. She saw a couple of the O-Towners nudging each other admiringly, and one of the suits was taping his foot to the song. Nick’s eyes were shining and he was singing along quietly with the words he had penned. She knew that he was proud of his little creation.
When the song was over, she was slightly out of breath and her face was a little red. There was some scattered, appreciative applause once again to her surprise. Someone motioned for her to join them and she walked over, wiping her forehead and accidentally smearing her make-up in response.
"Want some water?" one of the nameless boys asked her. She nodded gratefully and took a swig of his Aquafina.
"Thanks," she said to him, flashing a thankful look in his direction.
"No problem. That was great." Everyone else nodded their agreement.
"Thanks!" she said again.
"Well, boys, what do you think of the newest member of the Jive family?" Lou said to everyone. Her jaw dropped, and Nick’s eyes lit up. Though Stephanie was not a girly girl by any means, she could not suppress her squeal of delight.
"Are you kidding me?" she shrieked. Everyone laughed at her as she started saying, "Oh my God!" Nick reached out to her and gave her a big hug.
"Congratulations," he said into her hair. She squeaked again, then regained her composure.
"Okay, I’m done," she said, and everyone laughed once again. "Thank you so much!"
"You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you," Lou said, "but I think you’ve got great potential. Are you in school now?" She nodded in response. "What year?"
"Sophomore."
"If you get successful, will you be willing to put
college off a little while so focus on your career?"
Stephanie hesitated for a brief moment before saying, "Yeah, I will."
"Great. Now, Nick’s gonna have to take you on a tour of the studio. You’ll be here a lot. You’ve got your vocal coaches, choreographers-"
"I have a choreographer. Andrea Walker," she interrupted.
"Yes, I know Andrea. She’s good. Did she do that dance for you?" Stephanie nodded. "Well, if you want to work with her on your own, then that’s fine. But we have our own coaches here, and they’re great." Stephanie was a little disappointed. She had grown close to Andrea. "We’ve also got a recording studio here, so you can do that. You’ll need to get some publicity shots soon, and we’ll have to line up some gigs. This is a huge commitment, so if you want to back out, then go right ahead. I don’t have time or the resources if you’re not going to go all the way with this."
"I’ll go all the way for you," she said sincerely. She had not meant it to be like that, and she instantly started laughing at herself. She had been watching The Wedding Singer a few nights ago with one of her friends, and that was her favorite line from it. Everyone else glanced at each other for a little while before laughing too. "Not like that," she added quickly.
"Of course," he said, eyeing her warily. "Well, Nick, do you want to take her over to business so they can draw up her contract?"
"Sure, Lou."
"Okay. Welcome to the family, Stephanie," Lou said before waddling out of the room. The contingent of businessmen scurried after him, leaving Nick, the O-Towners, and Stephanie together.
"So that’s the fat man. Ain’t he great?" someone asked her. She smiled at him, and Nick glared at both of them. Stephanie looked at him in surprise.
"Ready to go, Steph?"
"Yeah. I’ll see you guys later. Nice meeting you," she said over her shoulder as she began following him. They all said good-bye to her before heading back to practice some more. Nick was walking quickly and she had to almost run to keep up with him.
"What was that about?" she asked him.
"What was what?"
"You glared at that guy for talking to me!"
"He was flirting with you."
"So what? He was hot!" she said, smiling to herself. He glared at her again.
"See, you’re already letting guys distract you," he said huffily.
"Gimme a break. You’ve had girlfriends. Brian and Kevin are both freakin’ engaged. That didn’t distract you."
"Well, we’ve already paid your dues. Lou meant what he said. At first, this is going to be completely your life. You’ll probably end up having all your meals here and spending up to twelve hours a day. You’ll barely see your home. And if you get involved with a guy, especially one at work, it’ll get messed up. Are you ready for this?"
"Yes, for the millionth time. Lay it on me!"
Nick looked at her skeptically as he led her into the business office. "Whatever you say."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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