***
"And the winner for Best New Pop Duo or Group is..." Kid Rock said before stepping aside to let the petite blond announce the contents of the envelope.
Christina Aguilera looked down at the envelope and smiled before announcing, "Eternity!"
The five women sat, shocked after their name was called before quickly standing up and hugging each other in excitement and happiness. Jordan stood and embraced her sister before covering her mouth, which was open in utter disbelief, with her hand. As the five girls made their way into the aisle, they passed a very excited Johnny and the guys of N Sync, who were smiling and clapping with happiness for their friends.
Leigh led the way up the stage, and the rest of Eternity followed her, accepting hugs and words of congratulations from Kid Rock and Christina as they received their award.
Rachel stepped up to the microphone first, "Wow! This is such a surprise, I can't believe it!" She said with exuberance. "Well I guess we'll try to make this as short as possible...first we'd like to thank our family and friends for their support...Johnny and the rest of our management team..." she trailed off, gesturing for someone else to jump in, not wanting to hog the spotlight.
"We'd like to thank Dave, Rich, Mike, Renee, Kate, Suz, Tom...thank you guys so much! We love you all!" Tressa said, her voice brimming with excitment.
Leigh was next, "Thanks to everyone who helped us out in the beginning...we'd like to thank the guys of N Sync for inviting us to tour with them, God for blessing us.."
Ashlee smiled as she continued the thank yous, "We'd like to thank our new record company, Jive Records, for making us feel so at home..."
"...and last but certainly not least, we'd like to say thank you so much to all the fans...without you this wouldn't be possible. We love you guys!" Jordan smiled brightly, waving up into the upper levels where all the fans sat as the music that was their cue to exit the stage began playing.
****
"Congratulations on your win tonight ladies!" Brian McFadden greeted the five women as they began making their way into one of the prestigious afterparties.
"Thank you so much! We were so surprised...it was such an honor to win." Tressa said brightly, smiling into the MTV cameras.
"I'm still in shock! Did that all really happen?!" Jordan laughed, still giddy with excitement from the award show that had just taken place.
"It sure did! So what was your favorite performance tonight?" Brian asked.
The five girls looked at each other before saying in unison, "2gether".
Laughing, Ashlee continued. "I just loved their medley of 'Say It Don't Spray It' and 'U+Me=Us'! Honestly, going into the award show, we thought they had us beat when it came down to it...as the favorites and all. Then they blew everyone away with their performance and we thought they would get the Grammy for sure."
"Aggghh! Congratulations!!!!!"
Five heads swiveled around to see the boys of N Sync standing behind them, jubiliant smiles on their tan faces.
"Well girls, I'll let you celebrate your win, have fun tonight at the party...and congratulations again!" Brian said before wandering off to interview Christina Aguilera about her win for Best New Artist.
"Girls, you best get your Grammy award winnin bootay's over here for some hugs before I make Justin smother you with his afro puff!" Chris said brightly.
"No!" Rachel rolled her eyes before gasping in mock horror. "Don't threaten us with the poof. Please Chris, could you possibly be a little more creative?" she said dryly before busting into a wide smile and practically skipping over to Chris' open arms.
As soon as the girls got their hugs and kisses from each of the N Sync guys, MTV was waiting patiently to interview them before they disappeared into the wild party crowd. Gesturing to the boys to go ahead and that they would see them in a bit, the girls headed over to the bar where they saw Johnny talking to another high profile manager.
As Eternity approached Johnny, he finished up his conversation with the well dressed man before turning to his 'girls'. Smiling brightly, he held his arms up as if signaling a touchdown at a football game. Jordan smiled as she remembered the first time he had ever done that, back when they were in the studios first recording their debut album. Since then it had become almost a code for "YES! We did it!" without really saying anything. After seeing this meaningful gesture, the girls all rushed forward into a large group hug with their manager and friend.
"I'm so proud of ya'll, ya did good. I knew that you had it in you from the first day I decided to make you girls part of the 'family'." Johnny smiled down at them before continuing, "Congratulations on the award, you all looked so good up there holding that Grammy. Like I said, I'm as proud of you as if you were my own daughters." Johnny stated, his voice brimming with absolute happiness for the five women he embraced.
"Excuse me."
The six people, still entangled in their large hug, looked up with embarassment, ready to apologize for being in the way.
"Can I join, or am I excluded from the circle of life here?" the dark haired beauty spoke up once again, this time a wry smile sliding across her features.
"MO!!" Five female voices chimed in unison as Johnny chuckled and pulled her into the mass of tanned arms and smiling faces.
"It's about time! I've been standing here poking you in the ass for about 5 minutes now, trying to get in here dammit." Mo laughed, squeezing the girls she could reach as tightly as she could.
Jordan scrunched her face up as Mo blew a raspberry on her cheek, something she was known for doing randomly to her girls, or guys for that matter. Sticking her tongue out at Mo in protest, Jordan briefly remembered the day that Mo had joined their little 'family'...
****
..."Goddammit. If that woman cancels one more time on us..." Johnny trailed off, steam practically coming out of his ears. Jordan and Leigh stopped in mid-stride as the pair made their way down the hallway to where the afternoon's meet and greet was to be held. Backtracking a few steps, they saw Johnny sitting with Ibriham, their tour manager.
"Johnny?" Leigh ventured quietly, not wanting to upset him any further.
"Yes Leigh?" he sighed, obviously frustrated with Melinda, who usually handled all of the meet and greets, among other things.
Leigh glanced at him warily before asking the question that not only she, but Jordan also wondered. "Is the meet and greet still on?"
Adjusting his baseball cap, Johnny shook his head. "No, unfortunately we aren't going to be able to have a MG today girls. Randy and Tiny went out to inform the people waiting that it's been cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control."
Jordan nodded, but her dark eyes showed disappointment more than anything else. She loved meeting the fans, and seeing the joy she could bring someone by doing something as little as saying hi and signing her name, really made her day. "Is it Melinda again?" she dared to ask her manager.
"Yep." Johnny said, trying to remain professional by not bad-mouthing his employee in front of the girls, but his face displayed his anger perfectly.
"I can't believe her! This is the third MG she's messed up for us! It's bad PR and it makes us look horrible. Is there any way we could still have the signing today?" Jordan asked, her eyes pleading with Johnny.
Johnny grimaced, "Well I could get some of the stuff organized, but as of right now, it's way out of control...she usually gets all this stuff ready way in advance. There's no way we could be ready by 3:00. It's 2:45 right now."
Looking dejected, the girls nodded in understanding before they headed back to their hotel so they could inform the other girls.
"I wish he would have gotten rid of that wench Melinda a long time ago! I can't believe she ruined another meet and greet for you guys!" Jordan's friend Mo spoke up as Eternity sat in their Seattle hotel room. Val nodded in agreement at Mo's comment.
"Ya know Mo...you should go for Melinda's position if they offer it up. I mean, that way you'd get to be with us more often, you'd get to travel, AND you'd get to organize large groups of people." Ashlee suggested, looking up from filing her nails.
Jordan's eyes lit up as she thought of the possiblity. "And look on the bright side girl, you'd still get to boss people around." she said dryly, pretending to be bitter about the confrontation Mo had forced between Justin, JC, and herself, but her smile revealed her true feelings.
"Ya know, I just might have to go talk to Johnny later on..." Mo said thoughtfully as she made up her mind to convince Johnny that she was just what he needed instead of that hoebag Melinda...
****
"Aight, enough of the group hug. I'm claustrophobic and too much people touching makes me nervous." Jordan said loudly, backing away from the group.
"JORDAN, DON'T RUN AWAY FROM OUR LOVE!!" Mo said loudly, breaking away from the group as Jordan gazed at her with a deer in the headlights look on her face.
Laughing, Jordan scampered away from Mo, thanking God right then that she was no longer wearing her Versace dress from the show because of the lack of movement it would have provided her. Mo grinned devilishly before wiggling her eyebrows and disappearing into the crowd after Jordan.