Ali gapped all the celebrities that passed her way. “Oh my God, there’s the Goo Goo Dolls…and Sugar Ray”.

“I’m sorry, but Mark McGrath is fine”, Ali gushed.

“You said it, girl”, Rose replied.

“Oh really?” Lance said, with a funny pout.

“Oh don’t even start with me cause I caught the drool hanging’ off your lip when Shania Twain walked by.”

Lance blushed and everyone laughed.

But Ali had her own fun when she turned and saw Keith Sweat walking into the auditorium. “Holy Christmas!” she exclaimed. “Keith Sweat! I can’t believe it!”

“You a fan of his?” JC asked, just to see what she would say. He knew she was because she played one of his songs on their first night together.

“Babe, you know I love that man’s music! Oh my God, I’ve been dying to see him in person. I have to meet him!”

JC had met Keith Sweat at a past award show, and the group had talked about possibly collaborating with him for their next album. “No problem”. They walked over to where Keith Sweat was seated, next to Dru Hill and Marc Nelson. “Hey Keith. Long time no see.” JC went and shook his hand, with Ali still on his other arm.

“Nice to see you again, man.” Keith replied. He glanced over at Ali and smiled at the look of awe on her face. “This must be your lady. Its just like you to bring her out and show her off on awards night, even though you’re not allowed to have a girlfriend.” Everyone laughed. He went and kissed her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss”.

“My name’s Ali.” Ali finally managed to say. Ali had nearly every one of Keith Sweat’s CDs. He was one of her all-time favorite artists.

“I’m sure you’ve met Marc here. This is his first time at our awards show.”

Ali shook Marc's hand. He was formerly with the group, Az Yet, but had just gone solo that year. His new song "15 Minutes" has been a smash on every R&B and contemporary station. “I love "15 Minutes". It’s a definite jam and the dance moves are killer. I’ve got them almost memorized.”

“Well, thank you. Do you have the new album?”

“Not yet,” Ali said with a smile. “But I plan on getting it. It looks like a real winner.” She went back over to Keith and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m so happy to be able to finally meet you, Keith.”

JC looked back at him. “I had a feeling you’d be here tonight. Ali’s a huge fan of yours. She even played one of your songs on one of our nights together”.

“I played ‘I’ll Give All My Love To You’ ”, Ali replied.

Keith smiled. “Oh really…looks like someone’s into setting a good mood”.

“Exactly. You have no idea how long I’ve been a fan of yours. I have nearly all your CDs, even ‘Make It Last Forever’. ‘Get Up On It’ and ‘Still In The Game’ are the only ones I’m missing, but those are next on my list.”

Keith smiled. “Pretty impressive. It makes me feel good to know when someone follows my work like that. You know I got Snoop to help me out on ‘Come and Get With Me’ tonight.”

She smiled and snuggled up to JC. “Alright! That’s what I like! Looks like my baby here might see me get up and grind.” She cracked up laughing, but then her tone mellowed. “I must tell you that it’s people like you that make r&b what it is today. But you always have to remember: you’ll never know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.”

“Well thank you. And you’re exactly right. I’ve always looked up the people before me for inspiration. People like Smokey and Marvin and even Isaac helped me get where I am today.”

Ali was a huge fan of Marvin Gaye and awed at the mention of his name. “Marvin Gaye…what a legend. It’s a shame we lost him so soon. If he were still alive, imagine what he’d be doing to the music scene.” She looked over and saw the usher motioning the gang to their seats. “Well, we need to get to our seats.” She nodded to Marc and went and shook the men’s hands. “Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. It’s been a honor.”

Keith looked at JC. “Your girl should be in the music business with you, man. Sounds to me like she’s got the know-how to make it big.”

“She’s working on it. Keep your eyes out.” JC replied with a smile. They patted each other on the back for good luck and the gang went on to their seats.

Ali laid her head on JC’s shoulder. “Babe, that was so cool. Thank you so much!” She lifted her head up and kissed him. “I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you”.

“I knew you’d get a kick out of that,” he said, smiling.

“Alright, you two lovebirds. They’re about to start. Let’s keep our fingers crossed”, Chris said. “Maybe having the gals here will give us good luck.”

“Oh definitely”, Lance replied, hugging Rose.

* * * * *

Everyone sat back as the awards went on. Limp Bizkit won for Best Rock/Heavy Metal Album for “Significant Other” and Sugar Ray won for Best Rock/Heavy Metal single for their new song “Falls Apart”. When they went up to accept their award, Ali and Rose stood up and cheered their heads off. Besides the fact that they both drooled over Mark McGrath, they had the new Sugar Ray CD back home and “Falls Apart” was one of their favorite songs. Backstreet Boys won for Best Pop Album for “Millenium”. Rose and Ali rolled their eyes as they went up to accept their award, looking at the crowd like they were waiting for them to bow before them.

The guys groaned, but they weren’t surprised. “Don’t worry, when the new CD comes out, everything will change…you’ll see”, Chris said.

“We know, Chris”, Ali said reassuringly.

Ali kept her fingers crossed for Marc and Keith when the awards in the R&B category were being announced. Marc snagged the Best New R&B Artist award and Keith won for Best New R&B Album. They both saw her on their way onstage and hugged her and JC before heading up. Keith’s performance with Snoop Dogg had Ali on the edge of her seat. But with this being a black-tie affair, Ali had to keep from jumping out and dancing. Instead, she just sort of grooved in her seat.

“Don’t worry, you can dance for me later”, JC whispered. An evil smile spread across Ali’s face.

After the performance, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Mark McGrath entered the auditorium to present the next award, which was Best Pop Duo/Group. This was the one they had been waiting for, and everyone was nervous. Rose swooned as she saw Mark walk onto the stage. Lance just rolled his eyes and grinned. Rose grabbed Ali’s hand and Ali grabbed JC’s as they announced the nominees.

“The Backstreet Boys…98 Degrees…N Sync…Savage Garden”

A slight hush went over the crowd as Jennifer worked on opening the envelope. “And the winner is…N Sync!”

“Woo hoo!” The gang jumped out of their seats and hugged each other. Ali gave JC a kiss, but as she went sit back down, he grabbed her hand. “No way, you two are coming onstage with us.”

Rose and Ali smiled ear-to-ear as they went down the aisle, with the guys giving hi-fives to people as they walked by. Ali caught a glimpse of Keith and Marc as she headed up the steps to the stage, and they gave each other thumbs-up.

Suddenly, Ali heard a faint “boo” coming from the top of the arena when she made her way onto the stage. She knew it was the teenyboppers, making a scene over her and JC. She didn’t care. She moved closer and put her arm around JC’s waist.

The guys got up to the podium and held the award up for in jubilation. “Man, this is what it’s all about!” Justin said to the crowd. “Thanks to God, as always, thanks to our families, THANKS TO THE FANS!” He looked over at JC and Lance and smiled as he handed them the mike.

JC heard the crowd from above and showed no reaction. He only nodded to Lance, who then joined him at the podium, with his arm slung around Rose’s shoulder. “I think Lance and I have another reason to be happy tonight. We got to share this great moment with some great people.” JC looked at Ali and put his arm around her. “Forget four-leaf clovers because we got our own good-luck charms here!” He held the award up one more time. “Thanks to everyone who made this possible, especially the fans. We love you!” With that, they exited the stage.

As the guys got backstage, Justin’s cell phone rang. It was Johnny. “Where’s JC, Justin? I need to talk to him NOW”.

Uh oh, Justin thought. JC’s done it now. He handed the phone to JC. “Man, its Johnny.”

With shaky hands, JC took the phone. “Hey Johnny”.

Johnny got straight to the point. “Look, I’m not going to start yelling at you or Lance for bringing your girlfriends with you to the show because I told you that you could, but did you really have to bring them onstage and throw them out there like that?”

JC had seen this coming. “Johnny, I wasn’t going to hide them. They deserved just as much credit for helping us out as anyone else, especially Ali. I don’t think I would’ve been able to keep my cool sometimes if it weren’t for her.”

“That’s nice, but…”

“And besides, why should I hide them? The media knew about them before anybody even said anything.”

“That’s not the point. You really went out on the limb and now the media is going to have a field day.” “Hey, I can handle it. I tell you what…I rather the media talk about my real girlfriend instead of someone that everyone else thinks I’m going out with. I’m tired of hiding from everyone. I know the business is going to get nasty now, but we’ve dealt with this before and we’ll deal with it again.”

Johnny started to shake his head, but he could see where JC was coming from. Either way, things were going to get crazy, regardless of whether or not he was actually seeing someone. “I see your point. Just be prepared, because I have a feeling its not going to be pretty for a while. The same goes for Lance. I’m still remembering everything that happened with Danielle…”

“Johnny, chill. There's a difference here. Danielle was famous. Rose and Ali aren’t.”

“Hey, I’m just looking out for you guys. Don’t bite my head off, ok? Any way, we have a show in two days so I want you guys to head back as soon as you can. The girls can still stay here since they were expected to stay another three days and I wouldn’t want to cut your visit short. When we finish up with this next show I’ll consider giving you guys a mini vacation. Fair enough?”

JC nodded. “That works. Thanks Johnny.” With that, JC hung up and filled the guys in on the conversation.

“I knew Johnny would have something to say about that…go figure”, Lance said.

“Hey well, at least we’re may be getting some time off out of the deal so we can go and have some fun before the girls leave,” Chris said. “You’re going back on Thursday right?” He asked Ali.

“Well, let’s see. We flew in on Saturday and I told my boss I’d be gone a week, so I guess that means I’m here until Saturday,” she replied with a grin.

JC smacked his forehead. “Duh…that’s right. Oh well, I’ll fill Johnny in on everything when we go to rehearsal tomorrow. Its probably going to be an all day thing, but we should be able to get together in the evening. You think you’ll be able to fend for yourselves?”

“Oh yeah. I’ll probably be sleeping half the day. This has been one crazy night.”

“You said it”, Rose replied.

“Well, anyway…let’s get going. I think we could all use some sleep.” The group headed out to a waiting limousine but didn’t make it without answering questions from anxious reporters. After finally making their way through the crowds, they got in and headed back to the hotel.