“I wonder what they’re gonna say,” Justin said.
“Ten bucks it’s about Roxie,” Lance scowled. “She wasn’t happy that I broke up with her and she probably made up some kind of story about me.”
“It’s not a story about anybody,” I said, reassuringly. “Alex wouldn’t do that, Star wouldn’t do that, and Mel wouldn’t do that.”
“Guys, don’t worry,” Claire said from her seat. “Everything’s gonna be fine. They just want to get a few things straight.”
“I hate conference rooms,” Joey complained, shifting uncomfortably. “I feel like we’re under surveillance or something.”
“Maybe that feeling has to do with the surveillance cameras,” AJ said, pointing to the top corner of the room. Joey scowled and slumped down in his chair.
“So, why are we here?” Brian asked Claire, who seemed to be the only one in the room who knew why all of them were there. Alex had left a message on all of their answering machines or cell-phones that they were to meet in the conference room in the Hilton at noon. She hadn’t said why, but she’d seemed urgent. Therefore, everyone – meaning all ten of them – had shown up. Claire had just walked in a few seconds ago, announcing that the others would be in soon.
“You’re here because I asked you to be.” The eleven of us looked up as Alex, Star, and Mel walked into the room. No one else followed.
“Where’s Elis?” Joey asked. Alex raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
“She didn’t tell you?” she asked. He shook his head. Nodding slowly, she cast a glance at the two behind her the turned back to us. She looked at me and I smiled reassuringly. She half-smiled back and turned to the others.
“There have been some changes made to Galaxy,” Alex began. “Some . . . dramatic changes. They don’t effect everyone, just certain people. I have everyone else here for another reason, but I’ll get to that in a moment.”
“What are these changes?” Justin asked, curiously. Alex swallowed hard before answering. She looked at Claire, who cast her a secretive smile. Something only the two of them could understand.
“We had an argument yesterday,” Alex explained, “Elis and I . . . actually it was more like a full-scale war. Things were said between the two of us that could never be taken back. I’m not even sure either of us would take them back if we got the chance. After she left the house, I talked to the others and found out that Roxie had had the same attitude and had left along with Elis.” Taking a deep breath, she continued. “We took a vote. I didn’t try to push them into choosing but I knew that if we didn’t, we would never get anywhere.”
“Choosing what?” Lance asked.
“Between me and Elis.” The room stood silent. The only thing I could hear was the hum of the heater. So, Alex continued. “I told them I would leave if they wanted. This fight was as much my fault as Elis’s and I was willing to take the consequences.” Alex took a backward glance at Mel and Star. Mel smiled at her, running a hand through her long blonde hair while Star put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Alex turned back towards us. “They’re out. We all knew that if Elis was gone, Roxie would follow. None of us are happy about this, but this is the way it has to be. There are no other options.
“We already talked to Jive and they agreed to postpone the recording for another two weeks so we had time, even if it is limited, to find a replacement or two.” Smiling weakly, Alex looked at Claire. “Claire here already told us that she’d gladly offer her services, but she has her horses that she has to get back to soon.” Alex looked across the room at Nick. “One of out candidates is my cousin Amanda. She’s a given.” Nick smiled through his rosy-pink cheeks.
The room was silent. I looked around at everyone. Half of them were staring at me while the other half were thinking hard. Joey looked like he was about to burst with confusion. Finally, Brian spoke.
“Is it alright if I ask what the fight was about?” he said. I nodded.
“Yeah, but first, let me clear something up.” I turned to face Joey and looked him square in the eye. “I’m not asking you to make a decision and neither is anyone else. I know you love her, Joey, and I respect that. Everyone knows that love comes before everything else for me. “ I smiled softly, glancing at my fiancé before looking back at Joey. “Whatever you decide to do, do it. We’re behind you 100%. We will be civil towards her if she comes to the Video Music Awards with you or even if you get married or whatever. If she starts anything, however, I’ll ignore it to my best ability, but that might only take us so far.” Joey nodded and smiled weakly, showing he appreciation. I nodded and looked back at Brian.
“The fight,” I said, “was over everything that’s happened in the past few months. I asked everyone if they wanted to go to Kentucky with me when I go and she flipped out. She started talking about how I always drag her everywhere. She thinks the only thing she’s done for me for the past few months is be supportive and she was getting sick of it. She also went into something about me making such a big deal over my father’s death. She thinks that just because she didn’t cry when her father died that I’m not allowed to.”
“That’s ludicrous!” Kevin burst. “How could she-“
“Kev, calm down,” I said, looking at him pleadingly. “I already went over this with her and look how it turned out. I know here morals are in the wrong place.”
“They’re shoved up her ass,” Star muttered. A few people, including me, snickered.
“We haven’t told her that she’s out and Roxie will leave because of her whether we tell her or not,” Mel said. “When we tell her, we also have to tell the media, of course.”
“Get it done within the next week,” Howie suggested. “that’s probably the best way to do it. Short and . . . bitter-sweet.” Nodding, I looked at the others.
“My other order of business has to do with our scheduling,” I said. “If you really aren’t interested in hearing this, then you can leave. Seriously, its not like I’m going to be insulted or anything.” When no one got up to leave, I smiled and continued. “Anyways, for the next two weeks, we’ll be holding auditions for new singers, which means we have to put up some kind of add. After that, we take a week to teach the new one or two people the songs and we take the two weeks after that to record.” I looked at Kevin regretfully. “Kev, I’m sorry, but I’m really going to have to push back meeting your mom a week or two.”
“No problem,” he said, “just as long as everything’s okay.” I nodded.
“Okay, so me and everyone else that wants to come to Kentucky with me are going in a month and a half.” Thinking for a moment, I shrugged. “I guess that’s it.” Nodding, everyone got up and started walking around the room, talking privately to one another. JC came up and wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling my neck.
“You gonna be okay, baby?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I said, half-truthfully. He looked up and smiled.
“Good.” Leaning down, he kissed me softly. I moaned and leaned into his kiss.
“Lex?” JC and I broke apart to see Brian and Nick standing next to us.
“Yeah?” I said.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Brian said, wiggling his eyebrows, “but we’re gonna go. We have some things to do back at the hotel.” I nodded.
“Of course, go ahead.” Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, I smiled. “Thanks for coming.”
“No prob,” he said.
“When are you going back to Orlando?” I asked. He shrugged.
“Sometime in the next week. I’ll call you before we do.” I smiled and leaned into JC. Smiling, Nick and Brian headed for the door. Just as Nick was about to step out of the room, I called to him.
“Yeah?” he said. I grinned evilly.
“Amanda says hi,” I sang. He blushed furiously and followed Brian out of the room.