Steph and Gina were at the Beverly Centre in Beverly Hills, heading in and out of stores looking for the perfect dress/outfit for Gina to show up in at the awards. They had been shopping for a little over an hour and each had a shopping bag holding a few purchases they had already made.
”So, out of everything we have checked out so far, what did you like the best?” Steph asked as they walked out of Neiman Marcus.
Gina shrugged her shoulders and pulled her fisherman’s hat down further on her head, avoiding the group of teenagers that were passing them on the left. “I don’t know…that purple dress that I just tried on was half-way cool, except I felt like I was 30 wearing it. I just wasn’t feeling it, ya know?”
Steph nodded and sighed. There was always this pressure for Gina to show up in something classy, yet something that represented her age bracket. She could be flashy if she really wanted to, she had the figure to walk out on stage in a swimsuit and the confidence to go with it. Half the time Gina wanted to walk out in a leather miniskirt, long black boots and a bikini top, screaming out that she was twenty-one and wanted to act like it. However, she liked to show her confidence in a classier, yet hip way. What made it harder was that they had to find an outfit on such short notice, because that meant a mall trip, which meant security guards, disguises, and the off chance of running into lots of fans who would make the whole day more stressful.
”Anything else that kind of sticks out as decent?”
”Hmm, not really. There was that one black and white dress from BeBe that was pretty slammin’, but I think that it might be like, TOO formal for a teen awards show you know? Besides, I don’t want to be ‘decent’, I want to be a ‘supastahhh’!” Gina called out, raising her hands in the air similar to the Mary Catherine Gallagher character in the Saturday Night Live skit.
”Easy there Geen, like you need to call attention to yourself,” one of her bodyguards, Eric, called out from a few feet behind her.
She looked over her shoulder at him and proceeded to stick out her tongue. He shook his head and continued to follow her, muttering something about ‘respect’ under his breath.
”Love ya E, even though you are WAY grouchy today,” she added, winking at him. He just shook his head and rolled his eyes in a fatherly way.
”Why don’t we try Wet Seal?”
Gina stopped short for a moment and shot Steph a raised eyebrow before she continued her forward movement. Steph knew where she was about to go and before Gina could say anything, she continued with her thoughts.
”I know, I don’t shop there, why would I want to go there? You forget my wonderful employing friend, this is about YOUR outfit first, our shopping trip second. Still, they have cute clothes and you love that place. Maybe on this random stop we will be able to find something that you can wear at the awards…something fun and colorful and boasts that hey, the teens still like you even though you are twenty-one and a bit out of the whole ‘teen’ thing.”
Gina stopped, turned, looked at Steph and started laughing hysterically. “Oh my gosh girl, you crack me up. ‘Hey, the teens still like me?’ Hahahahaha! I swear you can turn anything you say into something beyond hilarious.”
Steph blushed and rolled her eyes, grabbing Gina’s arm and dragging her towards the store. “You better hush before I start to beat the crap out of you and your lovely security team has to pull me off of you.”
The girls entered Wet Seal and the security guards stopped at the entrance to give the girls their space and partially because they really didn’t want to draw any more attention to the two. As soon they were out of earshot, Gina leaned over and whispered to Steph.
”Two words girl: BRING IT.”
The two had made it out of the mall in less than an hour after getting into Wet Seal. Stephanie was right, she had found an amazing outfit for Gina and it was something that Gina was excited about wearing. By the time they managed to get out of mall after chatting with some fans, it was dinnertime. Gina treated her friend to dinner at a local restaurant that was near her house; a place where everyone knew her and she could eat and relax.
”So Geen, who are you presenting with?” Steph questioned.
”I don’t know. Mark wasn’t sure and he hasn’t called me back to let me know. It’s kind of odd, going into this thing not knowing. You know how I hate that,” she answered, sipping on her Pepsi.
”Interesting. Before I came to your house I was watching TV and saw the promo for the show. Do you even know who is going to be there and who is performing?”
”Nope. I do know that I’m not nominated for anything, which is totally fine with me. I tried watching some TV last night, and all I managed to catch was a bit of E.T. and some made-for-TV movie that was so dull I managed to space through the whole thing. Then I hit the sack because I was exhausted.”
”Ohhh, E.T. as in ‘Entertainment Tonight’? Anything good?”
Gina rolled her eyes and tossed a piece of ice at her. “Easy there gossip queen…you should know not to trust that stuff-“
“Oh whatever, news is news. I just know to take it with a grain of salt at times...at least, I try to. Besides, check out the Internet, they have the scoop before these TV shows do now anyway. So?” Steph prodded, wanting the information.
”All I can remember is something about Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake breaking up…”
”Are you SEEERIOUS?!”
Gina jumped, startled. “Could you please keep it down, my sanity is begging you. Please Steph, don't tell me you are caught up in this DRAMA.”
Steph waved her off as her eyes went wide. “Girl, you know its BIG news in the business when the pop couple of the year break up. HELLO, you are a pop singer yourself and you don’t know this?”
”Excuse for a moment. I am a musician. I sing over several different genres, and I am NOT just a ‘pop princess’. That term has somehow been attached to every single female musician lately. I’ll leave that crown to Ms. Brit herself; she wears it quite nicely. Besides, I’m sure HE caused their breakup, because she is one of the sweetest people I’ve met so far.”
”Don’t you read anything Gina?”
Gina rolled her eyes and shot Steph a bored look. “I LIVE it, why should I read it? Honestly, I cannot believe I’m sitting here talking to you about this like we’re some thirteen year old girls excited that the almighty Justin Timberlake is available and can once again marry us and father our children. Now all we need is a tabloid writer sneaking around here and BAM, we’re published in the paper for “seriously” discussing the life of Justin Timberlake, which OBVIOUSLY means that I’m attracted to him and MUST have stolen him from Britney, causing their breakup and creating a wicked love triangle amongst the three of us.”
”Where does this animosity towards Justin come from? More importantly, where do you GET these ideas?” Steph asked, totally flabbergasted.
”I get these ideas because like I said I’ve lived them. Remember that not so long ago story about my torrid love affair with A.J. of the Backstreet Boys? It was because I just so happened to be at that concert he was a part of for VH1’s ‘Save the Music’, and since I was sitting in the front row for the WHOLE SHOW, I had to be there just cheering HIM on secretly? I couldn’t believe it, and neither could my publicist. What a mess THAT was to clean up. As for Justin…actually, I don’t want to think about him now because that takes effort and is a waste of my time. So let’s talk about something else like what your plans are for the rest of the weekend.”
Steph knew that once Gina changed the subject, getting anything else out of her was hopeless. She gave up her quest for the time being and indulged Gina’s curiosity. “Nothing really, since it’s an off weekend, I think I might go to the beach, shop at the 3rd street promenade, I don’t really know. No big plans.”
”Do you wanna come with me to this Awards thing? It says I can bring a guest, it’s Monday night…you can probably catch a glimpse of your *NSYNC boys…”
”Really? Awesome! Of course I want to come, duh! Man, that gives me the rest of the weekend to find something to wear…wicked! Have I ever told you that you rock?”
Gina giggled and nodded her head. “Don’t worry about it, besides, we’ll have some fun together!”
Stephanie agreed, and the two chatted about what the show might be like as Steph filled Gina in on who was going to be at the show from what she could remember of the promotions on TV.
Gina showed up to the Shrine Auditorium with Eric and another member of her security team at 11:45am. She was dressed comfortably in a pair of flared dark denim jeans and a yellow halter top, her curls bouncing freely as a pair of yellow shades adorned her eyes. There were at least twenty other people already there, chatting in little cliques of people like long lost friends. Gina looked around for some familiar faces, but before she could find anyone, someone tapped her shoulder.
”Gina Corleone! Girl it has been way too long since I’ve seen you!”
Gina recognized the voice and turned around to see Britney Spears holding out her arms ready to embrace her. The two hugged quickly and Gina smiled politely. “Hi! I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
”Yea, I’m here. I’m actually up for a few awards and I’m performing my new single. I didn’t think you were coming to this, Johnny didn’t say anything about you being here.”
”It was kind of last minute. I’m actually on a two-week break, if you can believe it. I’m presenting, I just don’t know who with.”
Britney shrugged and smiled. “I believe that you’re on a break and you’re here, because that’s typical. Are you bringin’ anyone special to this thing tomorrow night?”
Gina knew not to really ask, but her curiosity got the best of her and now was the perfect opportunity. “I’m actually bringing my stylist, my friend Steph. What about you? Who are you arriving with? Anyone big?”
”Um…well I was supposed to, but plans have changed. I think I’m going to bring my mom with me, it’s been awhile since we’ve done a girl-type thing together.”
Gina looked at how Britney’s attitude had changed and she didn’t want to push the issue. “That’s cool, it’s good that you get along with your mom so well.”
Britney smiled at Gina’s obvious avoidance of the topic. “I was going to come with Justin, you might as well hear it from me now that the media has gotten a hold of it. We broke up, things weren’t really working out for us like we both thought they would. We are still friends I guess…it’s just hard right now. Anyway, I shouldn’t really talk about it here and now, considering the people that love to eavesdrop,” she explained, her eyes darting around towards several people who were with the media. More and more were subtly making their way over towards the two, but both girls were acutely aware of it.
“We should really switch numbers so we can chat some more-“ Britney continued to say but was interrupted.
”OK I would like to get this thing started. It looks like we are almost all here, so let’s get to it. I have several people walking around handing out a schedule sheet with the order of presenters and performers from the beginning of the show until the end, so make sure you get one and look it over. If you have any questions, concerns, or anything, just ask…”
The production manager had walked on stage and began giving instructions to the people surrounding him. Gina had been to many awards shows; she knew the drill and rolled her eyes, glancing over at Britney. Britney smiled and tried to hide it with her hand as she grabbed a sheet from one of the employees. She waved to Gina as she walked away, reading the paper.
Gina sighed and glanced down at the paper, leaning back against Eric without even looking. She knew he was there; she knew that he walked up right as Britney was walking away. After being with someone everyday for so long, you pick up on each other’s mannerisms and ways of working. She smiled as she felt him partially lose his breath from her sudden weight against his chest.
”I should have known that was coming. One of these days I am just going to let you fall you know,” he said in a half-whisper, placing his hands on her shoulder and attempting to move her off of him.
Gina turned her head slightly and smiled. “Yes you should have and no, you wouldn’t. Now stop trying to read over my shoulder,” she countered, leaning all of her weight back against him almost fighting against his hands.
”But it’s so easy, you being short and all. Except sometimes that fro gets in the way and makes me have to crane my neck.”
”Whatever I am SO not short, you are just the insanely tall big boned man with an attitude…wait a minute, what is this?” Gina said, moving her head a bit so Eric could lean down and see what she was pointing at.
”That would be who you are presenting with. Did you forget how to read a schedule in your what, three days off?”
”Oh what a smart ass we are today E. I’m serious. Am I reading this right?”
”Yes, unless you forgot how to do that too.”
Gina stared at the paper and furrowed her eyebrows. “Seriously though, I’m not delirious here, I see my name, and I see this name…”
Eric stared at her from over her shoulder with a curious look. She never seemed so disturbed about whom she was presenting with before and he was starting to get concerned. “Stop this, you are starting to scare me G. Yes, there is your name,” he said, moving his large hand over her shoulder towards the paper and pointing at her name.
”And right next to it, it says, ‘presenting with *NSYNC,’” he finished, speaking very slowly, moving his finger over towards the other name. “What’s not to get here girl? You are presenting the award for ‘Best New Female Artist’ with *NSYNC.”
