”Are you SURE Sharlene? Because you know I can get out there by like, tomorrow if you need me to,” Gina said into her cell phone, concerned for her friend.
”No no Gina, I’m fine I promise,” her friend answered back.
”Shar…I can get to New York in a-“
”Geen, you’re in L.A. I’m OK, its just school stress. Besides, you’re on a break and you need to just chill in that huge house of yours. You don’t see it enough, and you spent all that money on it. Hearing you on the phone is enough to calm me down anyway,” Sharlene reasoned and seemingly ended the conversation.
”I am not quite to the house yet. As soon as I got off the plane I had a meeting at Arista. I JUST got out of that and now I’m on my way to pick up some lovely fast food dinner, then straight to my non-lived in home.”
”Do they not understand that you are a human being and need to have some time to actually BREATHE? What did those big wigs have to say at the good ole’ label anyway?” Sharlene asked, trying to focus Gina’s attention on a different subject.
”Same old. We talked about all the newer artists and what their numbers are like compared to mine…I wonder why I even go to these anymore, I just sat there half asleep and counting the minutes until it was over. Anyway, even though I’m on a break and I just finished up that record, they want me to stay in the public eye because people like Britney and Christina are new and all over the place. Basically, I’m presenting an award or performing at some show in the somewhat near future. Which of COURSE means I have rehearsals for it, and I have to get a new dress, new shoes, jewelry to match; you know the deal. I’m never really on break am I Sharshy?”
”Such is the life Gina Corleone, Arista artist extraordinaire.”
”Bite it girl. I hate when you say stuff like that. I’m normal. I am a normal, twenty-one year old girl,” Gina whined as she continued driving on the highway in her yellow two-seater Mercedes Benz convertible. Two girls driving next to her recognized her and honked their horn, waving frantically and smiling widely. Gina smiled and waved back, then sighed heavily.
”Gina honey, you were NEVER just a ‘normal girl’. Besides, I’m only giving you a hard time because it’s so easy to rile you up, and well, because I love ya. Anyway, my roommate just walked in and we’re heading out to dinner. Nothing like a good meal after a stressful day…week…semester. Hell, it just started and I’m already freaking. Thanks for talking to me, sorry I spazzed on you like that. Have a great time sleeping in your own bed for consecutive nights, and call me ok?”
”I’m always here for you, never forget it OK? That’s what best friends are for. Whoa, that was just way too cheesy, I’m seriously losing it. It has to be the jet lag, I swear. I’ll talk to you soon, and don’t stress over school, like you said, it has just started and it’ll all work out. Just remember, everything happens for a reason.”
”Yes oh wise one, I knew the catch phrase would be coming soon.”
”I am not going to EVEN acknowledge it Sharshy. I’m outta here, ciao!”
Sharlene called out her goodbye and Gina pushed the ‘end’ button on her yellow cell phone. She tossed it into her passenger seat and flipped on the radio, turning it up loudly. She made a quick stop at the local McDonalds and picked up dinner, also tossing it in her passenger seat. Her short brown curly hair flew wildly in the breeze as she accelerated down the road and she smiled, enjoying the fact that she was back home and on familiar turf. The song she was listening to ended and the DJ hit the airwaves.
”…this next song is a new single from Gina Corleone, who has been all over the television lately, and has a new album coming out in the following months. Here she is-“
Gina reached over and switched the radio hastily. It wasn’t that she couldn’t listen to her own music; in fact, she liked listening to her CD’s randomly. She was just in the mood for something different. She was finally satisfied when the sounds of Jay-Z began bumping throughout her car.
”I’m a hustler baby, I just want you to know…it ain’t where I been, but where I’m about to go…” she began singing out loud, laughing at herself as she turned down her street.
”…So give it to me…”
Momentarily she was at the gates of her house. She punched in her security code and the gates opened slowly, revealing the long driveway lined on both sides with palm trees; they were her fetish. The driveway ended and wrapped around a fountain, which was a few feet in front of an elaborate white mansion. Gina parked her car in front of the double doors and grabbed her things, then made her way to the door and unlocked it. She quickly shut off the alarm and just stood in her foyer, looking around for a few minutes.
The house was dead silent and she cringed. It never felt lived in when she got home. Hell, she was rarely there as it was, but in a strange way it still felt like she was ‘home’. She walked into the spotless kitchen and dropped the brown paper bag onto the table, taking the contents out of it.
”Nothing’ like greasy McDonalds food as a welcome home dinner…nothing like welcoming YOURSELF home,” she said aloud to herself.
Gina looked down at her food and sighed. She wasn’t going to have a pity party for herself; she refused. She had just gotten home from traveling and doing a slew of appearances and on her first night back she was going to savor her alone time, not cry about it. Her life had always been busy in this way; she gave herself to the entertainment business when she was six years old…well, her parents had. She loved the spotlight and fed off the attention she received. She started off acting and blossomed into an amazing singing career, becoming a staple in the music industry.
Her thoughts drifted back to her meeting earlier with her manager and PR team at Arista, her record label. They called her in to tell her that her standings in the pop and R&B charts were still at the top. Earlier on in the year, they had been worried about the new solo female artists such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, because they were fresh, and had catchy hooks and new CD’s coming out. However, the numbers showed that no matter how strong the other women came on, Gina topped them in every category, scoring points in both R&B sales and pop sales. She had been doing this long before these other women had, and wasn’t categorized with them. She was always a plateau that the others were reaching for.
That didn’t stop the team of people that was working behind Gina though. She was on top, the best, and they were planning on keeping her there. She was scheduled for a two-week break, but she knew it wouldn’t last. They had already planned on her going to some awards show at the end of the week to either perform or present an award. She pushed for presenting, because she hadn’t “acted” in a long time and wanted to get back to her roots, even if it was for a ten second time slot.
She quickly finished her meal and made her way to the living room. It was done in browns and oranges, earthy type colors that complimented the hardwood floors and brick fireplace. She didn’t really NEED a fireplace in Los Angeles, but she liked the feeling it gave the room. Gina made her way to it and lit it up, enjoying the smell of the wood and the crackling noises it made; it relieved stress.
She flopped onto the couch and grabbed the remote, turning on the television. Her large brown eyes locked onto it and she practically begged it to distract her for awhile.
”Another breaking story here on ET; Justin Timberlake’s love life has taken a turn for the worse. Sources say he has officially broken up with his long-time girlfriend, Britney Spears. They wont say what caused the breakup, but they are stating that it is over indefinitely. Teenagers everywhere must be sighing in relief, the teen dream is now on the market once again…”
Gina rolled her eyes and glanced out the window for a few seconds, tuning out the television. She had heard many stories about *NSYNC, but many more on Justin Timberlake himself. She had never met them, which was odd because they had attended many of the same awards shows and functions. Everything she had heard about Justin had been negative; from the way he talked to his ego being the size of Texas. At first she had been a bit skeptical about it, he had seemed a bit stuck on himself but so were most entertainers. Her opinion started to shift when she kept hearing the same things from several different people. She had no real desire to meet “Mr. Smooth” himself, but the others seemed to be extremely nice. She wondered why and how so many girls could look at him and throw themselves at his feet without knowing a THING about him.
Her thoughts moved to and lingered on the new information she had just heard. Gina knew not to trust the words of an almost-tabloid television show, but her nosey-ness got the best of her and she indulged in the gossip. She actually knew Britney; over the past year JIVE always managed to seat the two close enough to talk. Britney seemed to be genuinely nice, but always managed to have bad press. She had also heard the rumors about Britney and Justin’s crazy relationship, but had not had the chance to ask Britney what really was going on. Reporters were always crawling around when a bunch of celebrities gathered together, and the two talked about exchanging cell numbers but always managed to be pulled away from each other before actually doing it. The papers tended to print a ‘rivalry’ between herself and the blossoming ‘pop princess’, but they were wrong.
Gina rarely disliked anyone; but if someone rubbed her the wrong way or was rude or condescending, she would push back as much as they did. Just because she liked most of the people she associated with didn’t mean that she couldn’t get just as nasty as the rest when she was standing up for herself or her friends. She was known for her stubbornness and perfectionist attitudes.
She changed the channel and settled into the couch watching a made-for-TV movie. She tried to lose herself in the cheesy movie, but her mind was wandering to several different things. She thought about Sharlene, hoping that she was OK and surviving at school. Gina quickly picked up her cell phone and left herself a message to call Sharlene and make sure everything had settled down. Her thoughts then moved to where they always did: work, and how it was almost getting too repetitive for her. She needed a change of some sort; hopefully this awards show she was doing would spark something in her. She was looking forward to meeting up with several other artists she had formed bonds with; that was the best part of these shows.
The movie was over before she really had the chance to get into it, which was typical. She turned off the television and decided to call it a night; she needed to sleep and she felt like she could sleep for days. Gina put out the fire and trudged up her winding staircase into her bedroom, then quickly changed into her pajamas, placing her phone on her nightstand. She hopped into bed and was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
The sun beat down on Gina’s face and finally woke her up. She groaned and rolled over to glance at her alarm clock. 9am. She rolled back onto her stomach and pushed her face into her pillow. It was the latest she had been able to sleep in weeks, but her previous plan to sleep the whole day away didn’t seem to want to work for her. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, trying to fall back asleep, she huffed exasperated and kicked the covers off annoyed.
She wasn’t that much of a morning person; her hair stood out every which way in one of the biggest fros she had ever seen, and she always seemed to have a grumpy look on her face. Her pajamas spelled it all out. Sharlene had given her a tank top with ‘Crabass’ spelled across the front in red letters, custom made. They were accompanied by a pair of shorts that had a crab in the left corner on the front. Gina stretched her long body once she stood and headed for her drawer. If there was one thing she missed doing when she was away from home, it was taking a morning swim. It was a great way to loosen up her muscles and get a workout before hitting the dance studio or whatever else it was she had to do for the day. She also was able to think about what she had to do that particular day, and get a mental plan ready for herself.
Gina changed into her orange one piece, grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand, and picked up a towel on her way to the pool in the back yard. She made it outside and just stood still as the sun soaked into her already tanned skin. She forced herself out of her daze and dropped her towel onto the lawn chair and placed her phone on the table next to it, grabbing her goggles and sliding them over her head. In one quick and fluid moment she dove into her pool, the sudden coolness of the pool refreshing her slightly warmed body as she quickly found a rhythm in her stroke. The steady breathing pattern also helped her singing, but that was just an added bonus.
After a good 15 minutes of free style and breaststroke, Gina stopped when she reached the end of the pool, pulling up her goggles and resting the back of her head on the pool gutter again taking in the sun.
”Today will be such a good day to lounge by the pool and do absolutely nothing…” she began to say before being interrupted by her cell phone.
”Of course. I had to jinx myself. Ten to one that’s Mark.”
Gina reluctantly hoisted herself out of the pool and jogged to where her phone was resting, already knowing it was her agent, Mark, on the phone.
”Hi Mark,” she answered.
”Gina, how do you always know its me?” he asked, laughing a bit.
”Well, because I was just thinking to myself as I was swimming that today would be a great day to relax. Therefore, you had to call and tell me that I had SOMETHING to do today, tomorrow, in the near future even though I’m on a BREAK,” she replied, giving him a hard time.
”Gina, come on now don’t be that girl. I thought you would be up and swimming already, that’s why I called. You know you love what you do…”
”Don’t feed me the line cool guy. I know the drill. What’s up?” she questioned, cutting him off playfully. Gina stretched her towel out on the lawn chair and laid down on it, getting comfortable.
”OK here’s what I’ve got; you are presenting at the Teen Choice Awards, which are on Monday. They need you at the Shrine Auditorium on Sunday at noon so they can run through the show. What this means is that you need to take Steph out and find a dress to wear-“
”Nice, Steph and I get to go on a shoppin’ spree, courtesy of Arista…”
”Gina that’s not what I meant-“
”Mark who am I presenting this award with? What award is it?” Gina interrupted yet again, already planning out a major shopping trip with her stylist, who just so happened to be one of her partners in crime when they were on tour, getting ready for awards shows, and just about every other event.
”I am not sure, they haven’t told me. Basically, I already called Stephanie and she is going to be by your place around noon, so you’ll have the rest of the day to find some sort of outfit. GINA, I’m being serious here, take it easy on the Arista charge; get an outfit for the show and that’s it, OK?”
”Yes, DAD.”
Mark laughed; he could picture her making a face at him through the phone. “Alright. Well, I better get going, I have some other things to schedule-“
”MARK! One word for you: BREAK.”
”Gina, trust me I know. I know no one works harder than you and no one deserves a break more-“
”I sense a ‘but’ coming…”
”But you are being chased pretty closely by-“
”I know. Whatever, I’m totally sick of hearing the same line over and over again, but I do understand. A girl is allowed to whine every once in awhile, right? Please, just let it be something that I enjoy doing though, OK?”
”I got you. I’ll check in with you later to see how you’re doing. Have fun today.”
”I’ll try. Talk to you later Mark,” Gina said, finishing up the conversation and tossing the phone down by her feet. She glanced out at the pool and the rest of her backyard, letting out a heavy sigh.
”So much for relaxing. On the other hand, I get to shop…” she trailed off, talking to herself and grinning evilly. If Mark wanted to send her out on the town with Steph, she was going to do some serious damage to that charge card. She deserved it. On that thought, she sprang up from her chair, grabbed her things and made her way inside, already planning out all the stores she wanted to hit on her quest for the perfect Teen Choice Awards outfit.
