"Yeah," Maddie smiled and placed her hand in his.
Twenty minutes
later, Maddie was seated with 98 Degrees (minus one) and Jessica in their limo
on the way to the after party. Or rather, they were sitting and Maddie was
hanging out the sunroof, completely not caring that the wind was ruining her
carefully styled hair.
"Madison," Jessica laughed, tugging on her skirt.
"Girl, you are crazy!"
Madison just laughed as she began to take the
pins out of her hair. "I hope of one you has a comb or a brush," she called down
to them.
"I got ya covered, girl," Jessica told her friend.
Nick
pulled his girlfriend back against his chest. "She always like this?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
Even though, Madison and Jessica were good
friends, Maddie had only met Nick and his band mates once before. With both
girls' careers taking off, they rarely had any time to see each other.
Maddie sat back in her seat with a sigh. "Whoo! Y'all should try that,
it's a rush!"
"Oh Lord, girl, please use this comb NOW!" Jessica
laughed, digging through her tiny handbag.
"Thanks," Maddie said. She
vigorously attacked her heavily hair-sprayed hair.
"Damn, girl, don't
kill yourself," Jeff teased as the limo coasted to a stop.
"Oh, man,"
Jessica moaned when she saw all the reporters lined up with their cameras and
microphones in hand. "Let's just sneak in through the back."
"I hear
ya," Maddie seconded. "Fans, I don't mind. Fans, I love. But Lord save me from
those busybodies."
"You shoulda thought about that earlier, it's too
late now," Nick said as the vehicle coasted to a stop in front of yet another
red carpet.
"Smile pretty for the cameras, ladies," Drew said,
straightening his tie as the driver got out and circled the car.
Jeff
was the first to step out and the fans roared. Drew was second. He turned to
help Jessica out of the car. Nick followed his girlfriend. He turned and held
out his hand to assist Maddie. The quintet paused briefly for the cameras then
began to make their way to the infamous club. Thankfully, this walkway was a lot
shorter than the one at the banquet hall.
They stopped as a group to
speak with Katie Wagner of the TV Guide Channel's Music News.
"Wow, you
all look terrific," Katie gushed as they exchanged the obligatory pecks on the
cheek. Except it wasn't obligatory for Jess or Maddie. They knew Katie from
way-back-when and were genuinely happy to see her.
"So, Maddie, I heard
you really stuck it to Britney earlier," Katie said. Maddie wasn't surprised
that the news had traveled so fast.
"Oh yeah! I heard about that. What'd
you say?" Jessica exclaimed, slapping her friend on the arm.
Maddie
motioned for the cameraman to start filming. She wanted to go on record about
what had happened. "Britney asked me a question and I gave her an honest answer
which is more than I think the people around her have been doing. She seems like
a cool girl. I got no beef with her. It's all good." She flashed the mega-watt
smile she was becoming famous for.
Behind her, out of camera range,
Jessica guffawed, knowing that there was a lot more to the story than Maddie was
telling.
Once the cameras were off, Katie turned to Maddie. "OK, now
tell me what REALLY happened."
"Don't you have a job to do," Maddie
grinned, knowing that Katie was dying for the scoop. She had asked Britney for
an interview once and the girl had snubbed her. "Isn't that Tyrese over there?"
"Damn you," the older woman called over her shoulder as she walked away.
Maddie and Jessica shared a smile. Maddie looked around and took a deep
breath.
There were clusters of celebrities surrounded by media people
spaced along the walkway. Screams and shrieks of excitement pierced the air. The
decibel level would rise whenever a celebrity dared to venture closer to the
barricade. Security guards in yellow shirts were valiantly trying to hold back
the fans, mostly teenagers, all rabid for glimpses of their favorite
celebrities. Maddie herself had to gawk when Oprah Winfrey walked past her.
"You tole Harpo to beat me," Maddie muttered under her breath.
"Hard to believe that two little girls from Texas made it this big,
huh?"
Maddie look over her shoulder at Jessica, "Ain't it, though?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Mami, oh my goodness, do you believe all
this? Oh, William would have loved this! It's crazy-making!" Romero said as he
joined Maddie and Jessica. They had sent the guys off to find something for them
to drink.
"My God, Romero, look at you! I didn't get a chance to really
see you before! You look great!"
The rest of Jessica and Romero's
conversation was lost on Maddie. Her eyes were centered on a guy across the
room. She could only see the bottom half of his face clearly; he was standing in
the shadows and haze from all the cigarette smoke wasn't helping. He was wearing
a light gray suit with a white shirt and a light blue tie. Most of the guys in
the room were wearing similar outfits but something about this guy made him
stand out. There was something about him….the way he held his head….the way he
stood….She didn't know exactly what it was but she was intrigued. He licked his
lips and her heart skipped a beat. She found herself fascinated by his lips. She
lost track of time, she was staring at him so intently. Someone stepped in front
of him, blocking her view. For the first time, she took note of his companions.
Her eyes widened slightly when she recognized them. 'No,' she thought, looking
from one face to another, 'not him, anyone but him.' She peered through the
darkness, trying to confirm or allay her suspicions. The lights came up suddenly
and she saw that he was looking directly at her. His eyes seemed to be boring
into her, right into her soul. She couldn't look away. She wanted to. She didn't
want to feel this attraction, this pull, for this guy, of all guys. He smiled
and her heart melted.Part of her wanted to smile back at him, while part of her
wanted to turn tail and run. She did neither. She couldn't move. She felt as if
she were made of stone. It took all of her effort just to concentrate on
breathing. Blinking was a chore. His eyes were on hers and time seemed to stop;
everything seemed to move in slow motion. They could have been that way, staring
at each other across a crowded room, for hours or for minutes, she couldn't
tell.
With a jerk, Madison pulled herself out of her trance. She turned
away from him. Blindly, she walked over to the side of the room. She sat down
with a thump and put her hand to her heart.
'What the hell just happened
here?' she thought.
"Maddie."
She looked up to see Romero
standing over her.
"I saw that," he pulled out the chair next to her and
sat down. "What's up with that, I thought you didn't like him."
"Yeah,
that's what I thought, too. I don't know, I look up, I see this guy, he's
looking hella fine, I'm staring all hard and shit and then the lights come up
and it's Justin fucking Timberlake and we do that whole 'guy and girl lock eyes
across a crowded room' thing. Geez, Romie, I don't need this, not now!"
"I know, but sweetie, we don't have any control over these types of
things. You just got to sit back and let what happens happen."
"Yeah,
and then come crying to you after he rips your heart out of your chest and
Riverdances on it."
Romero sighed. He opened his mouth to speak but was
interrupted by Jeff.
"Girl, what are you doing sitting down? This is a
party, let's go dance!"
She was about to refuse when, out of the corner
of her eye, she saw Justin making his way over to her. "Yeah, sure, let's go."
She practically yanked Jeff's arm out of its socket she moved so fast.
Romero looked over at Justin to see him watching Maddie walk away on the
arm of another guy. Romero's heart went out to the poor guy. Justin's crush on
Madison was painfully obvious. You'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see
it. Romero sighed again as he watched Justin, slump-shouldered, walk back to
join his friends.