Maddie's eyes widened as she took in the five women before her. Each wore a
very short tube dress in varying shades of neon. The colors ranged from neon
green to hot pink to electric yellow to dazzling blue to psychedelic orange.
They'd chosen accessories to match their dress. She turned back to Justin only
to find an empty seat where he'd been. "Oooookaaay, don't say goodbye or
anything. Loser. See, give a guy the chance and look what he does," she muttered
under her breath as she hopped off her stool, grabbed her drink and turned to
brave the crowds.
She was on the hunt for familiar faces. Well, all the
faces were familiar, there was nothing but celebrities in the room; she was
looking for someone she knew.
"Hey!" Someone jostled her arm, causing
her to spill her drink. She had to quickly jump back to avoid ruining her dress.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Madison looked up to find that the voice
belonged to MTV's very own sweetheart, Mandy Moore. "Did it get on your dress?"
Maddie relaxed. "No, it's cool. I'm Madison."
"I know who you
are," Mandy smiled as the two girls shook hands. "Anyone who has a television
set knows who you are by now!"
Madison just laughed at the comment.
"So, who are you here with?" Mandy asked as they made their way through
the crowd.
"Well, really, I'm here with my manager, Romero Saldano, but
I rode over here with Jessica and her boyfriend and them."
"Jessica
Simpson?"
"Yeah." Maddie smiled.
"I love her, she's so sweet!"
"Who's sweet?" a voice said from behind them.
"You are!" Mandy
said as she threw her arms around her coworker at MTV and all-around hottie,
Tyrese. "I didn't know you were here!"
"Yeah, you know I couldn't pass
up the chance to be around beautiful ladies like yourselves," Tyrese smiled,
pouring on the charm.
"Oh, Tyrese, this is Madison. Madison, this is the
sweetest guy you will meet in this business, Tyrese," Mandy said, squeezing his
cheeks.
"Oh, stop, stop, you're making me blush. So, Madison, when you
gone come on my show?"
Maddie was nonplussed. "You want me to be on MTV
Jams?"
"Yeah, you got that R&B flavor to you. You got some soul in
you. You should come do the show."
"Now, damn it, Tyrese, how come you
never invited me to be on your show?" Mandy pretended to be upset.
"Cause you a straight up white girl and ain't no changing that," Tyrese
joked.
"Damn," Mandy put a hand up and pretended to walk off. "You see
how he treats me? So mean."
Maddie was smiling at the rapport between
the two people she would have thought to have been polar opposites when someone
walked up behind her and slid their arms around her waist.
"Hey sexy
lady."
She immediately recognized the voice. She turned in his arms to
give him a hug. "Hey stud. How's it hanging?"
"Low and a little to the
left," he joked.
Her laughter was muffled in his shirt. "How come I'm
the only one who ever hears your foul mouth?"
"Cause you're the only one
I talk dirty to, baby," he muttered in his smooth baritone voice.
"Are
the other guys here?" she asked as she leaned back in his arms.
"Yeah,
they're around here somewhere."
"What the fuck?" Across the room, Justin
was fuming. "Damn, first I get chased by that psycho stalker bitch from hell in
her blue handkerchief that she was passing off as a dress. I finally lose her
and now this!"
"What?" Chris had yet to look up from the hand held
recorder he held. Joey had gotten some very interesting footage of a very
inebriated Sarah Michelle Gellar with her boyfriend.
"Damn! How many
guys she got? I feel like I should take a number!"
Chris looked up to
see what Justin saw. "Um, no, Justin…there's a difference. See, he actually has
a chance. They're hugging, laughing, talking…you can't even say two words to the
girl without forgetting your own name."
"Hey, leave the kid alone," Joey
had caught the last of Chris' comment as he walked up to them, a girl on each
arm.
"Thank you!" Justin saluted to Joey. "Besides, I talked to her
earlier but I had to burn out before psycho stalker bitch saw me."
Joey's eyes bugged out. "Finn is here?"
"Yeah, she's here,"
Justin scowled. "And what would Janine say if she saw this?"
"That I'm
just real friendly and that's how she likes me," Joey grinned.
"Hell no,
she'd beat your ass and you know it," Chris interjected.
"And I'd like
it, too," Joey wiggled his eyebrows at his band mates.
"Damn, that was
WAY more than I ever needed to know about you, man," Chris said as he shut the
camera down. "Hey, you know you could sell this to Hard Copy? You could make
some money off this."
"You mean like he could make money off that tape
he has of you when you pissed JC off and he put itching powder in your shorts?"
Justin grumbled.
"Ha ha! Bye, ladies." Joey was silent for a moment as
he watched the two girls walk away. "Yeah, I forgot about that tape and what the
fuck is she doing with him?" He finally noticed what had Justin in such a bad
mood.
"That's what I said!"
"I thought they broke up."
"Broke up? Broke up? As in, they were together?"
"Well, Justin,
you kind of have to be together in order to-"
"Shut up, Chris."
"Yeah, while y'all were farting around, I was doing some research. She's
single now but her and him used to go out. It wasn't for very long and they
broke it off but they're still friends. Man, if she hooks up with you, you'll be
like her 'boy band flavor of the month'."
"Looks like they're more than
friends to me."
"Chris, if you don't shut up, I'm gonna tape your nuts
to your forehead and use em as a punching bag!"
Chris, used to Justin's
graphic threats when he's pissed, calmly sipped at his drink. He knew he
shouldn't be baiting the poor guy but he was amused. He hadn't seen Justin this
riled up about a girl since…well, he'd never seen Justin this riled up about a
girl. Usually, it was the other way around. It was a nice change of pace to see
Justin have to be the chaser instead of the chased.
"Sup y'all?" JC,
sweaty from the dance floor, joined his friends. "Damn, who rained on your
parade?" he asked the frowning Justin.
"Well, first off, I get the
chance to talk to the girl of my dreams, only I have to leave her high and dry
because I have to run so the psycho stalker bitch doesn't see me--"
"Finn is here?" JC asked as he took a sip of Chris' drink.
"Yeah. I finally lose her, I turn around and I see this." He pointed to
the dance floor.
"See what?"
"Madison with--where'd they go?
Dammit!"