Chapter Forty Six; Part One
Welcome To The MMVA's




It was nearly 7 am, and Brian had just finished stuffing his belongings in his suitcase. The buses wouldn't be departing for the next venue until at least noon, yet he was already packed and ready to go! He'd spent most of the night laying in bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling- just thinking. He reminisced on his life, and how drastically it had changed over the last few months. Needless to say, Eli was the epicenter of this massive revaluation. He found himself in constant limbo between his mind and heart; desperately struggling to favor either one of his condemnations. Either way, he was trapped in an inferno of his own making.
Sighing, he checked his watch.
"7:04!? Shit!"
He still had a couple of hours to kill, and the last thing he wanted was to spend them mopping around in his hotel room. Looking around, he spotted a towel "Screw this" he declared, grabbing it and flinging it under his arm. Rapidly, he slipped out of his clothes, pulled on his bathing trunks, and within seconds, was out the door and headed straight to the pool.


**~~**


"Mmmm, now this is the life" Kristy exhaled dreamily, her muscles easing and detaching themselves one at a time as she let her now limp body soak in the steaming water.
She too had had a restless evening, and had been kept up most of the night by her active mind whose thoughts just plain out refused to let her sleep.
Never being one to loll in her own misery, she chose instead to take an early morning trip to the hot tub.
Her attention drawn far from her surroundings, she failed to hear someone else coming in to the swimming area... That is, until she heard a splash-

Starttle by the sudden break in silence, Kristy's head spun around, only to be met by a placid pool with but a few defiant ripples curling at its surface. Puzzled, she stepped out of the tub and seated herself on the rim; letting her feet dangle in the well heated pool.
"Hello? Anyone here?" she called as her eyes nervously scanned the water.
Paranoia began to settle in as it became clear to her that who ever was there was not going to reveal his or herself any time soon. At least, that's what she suspected.

As she blinked, a pair of strong hands took hold of her delicate ankles, and she was pulled under, kicking and screaming. Panicking, she mercilessly fought back her attacker; desperately trying to resurface. The second she was freed, her head bobbed out, gasping for air.
"Help!!" she yelled, struggling to keep her head above water "Someone, help!"

"Kris! Kristy! Calm down!" her assailant pleaded, grabbing her from behind around the waist and helping her stay surfaced so that she could regain her breath. "It's me. It's Brian, Kristy. Calm down!"

All of a sudden, she quit squirming and her heart rate moderated. Releasing her, he cautiously moved back. He watched as she slowly turned around.
Her face was pale and her eyes beet red.

Brian gulped. "Look, I'm-"

"I'm gonna kill you Littrell!" She shrieked with her hands in a choking position as she lunged straight at him.

Brian yipped and sprinted for the ledge; Kristy quick on his tail.


**A Little Later**


After a long, hot shower, Lyss finally brought herself to turn off the water.
Comfortable hygiene was just not a luxury that pop stars could afford!...
Rapidly, she toweled herself off and threw on a bathrobe.
With her hair in a turban, she opened the bathroom door. She smiled when she saw A.J sitting on the edge of the bed; shirtless.

"Hey baby!" A.J sighed, shutting his cell and tossing it over his shoulder. He'd spent the last 20 minutes trying to reach Amanda. As much as he tried to erase her from his memory, she was still very much part of his life. He constantly worried about her. She never picked up the phone, or returned his calls... Something was wrong, and he could sense it.
Shaking his head, he forced a smile on his face and looked up at his girlfriend. "What's up?"

"Who were you talking to?" Alyssa queried, suspiciously crossing her arms over her chest.

"I was just trying to get in touch with my mom" A.J fibbed, knowing all too well that Alyssa would not be willing to sympathize with the truth.
Not wanting to continue this conversation, he quickly decided to change topics.
Placing his hands firmly on her hips, A.J pulled Alyssa between his legs as she stood infront of him.

"Think you're gonna get lucky just cause I'm wet and wrapped in a towel?" Alyssa teased, throwing her arms around his neck and planting sweet kisses down his jawline.

His hands slowly crept passed the openings of her robe, and gently began to massage her bare skin. "I'm already lucky" he said huskily, getting aroused by her smooth flesh underneath his touch "I have you"

"That was lame McLean" Lyss giggle, pushing him down to the bed and straddling him.

"So sue me. Love will do that to a man" he smirked, sliding the bathrobe off her shoulders and gently nibbling at her soft flesh.

Just as he was about to finally remove the entire cloth from her body, they were interrupted by a ringing sound.

"Leave it" she purred, as she started to grind longingly against him.

"Mmm, I can't baby" A.J grunted reaching out for the phone and covering the receiver with his palm "Just hold that thought".

"Hello?" he answered, still out of breath.

The phone was mute. "Listen" A.J grunted in to the receiver, getting upset that his pleasure had to be delayed for what could possibly well be a prank call. "I'm really not in the mood to play games, so you better speak up or-..."

"Is Lyss there?"

A.J frowned and looked down at the phone "It's for you" he said, suspiciously handing it to her.

Alyssa pressed the receiver to her ear; curious about the caller's identity.
"Hello?... Oh, um, hey J.C, what's up?" She swallowed hard. She could already see the smoke smoldering from A.J's ears.
Alyssa bit her lip. Another fight was just around the corner...

Bolting from the bed, A.J angrily picked his dismissed shirt off the floor and frustratedly wrenched it over his head.
Alyssa watched and knew that the sooner she hung up, the better.
"J, I'll call you back"

"Would you mind telling me what the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded, slamming down the phone.

"Take a wild guess?" he snorted as he rapidly tied his shoe laces.

"For the love of God A.J, would you stop acting so damn paranoid?" Alyssa yelled, standing up infront of him "J.C is my friend, A.J. My friend. What's so hard to understand about that?"

He didn't respond.

Her fists clenched as her eyes followed him storm around the room. "Damn it A.J, why can't you trust me?"

A.J's hand had just reached for the handle as her final interrogation left her mouth.
He looked over his shoulder, then down at his feet. "I trust you" he said, in an almost eerie calmness "It's him that I don't trust". And walked out the room.


**That Evening**


After an extensive day of store hopping and wardrobe shopping, the hour had finally arrived for us to make our long awaited entrance down the red carpet.
As our limo pulled up to the Chum city building, (Authors note: aka Much Music headquarters) I couldn't resist sneaking a peek at my boisterous surroundings.
Fans! Fans as far as the eye could see... Evidently, the crowd didn't solely consist of Angel enthusiasts. Quite the contrary, actually. There was a wide assortment of signs perched amidst the tumultuous sea of music lovers; each aiming at different artists in entirely opposing musical genres.
Eventually, the limo came to a halt, and the butterflies in my stomach transformed in to gigantic boulders. My clammy hand reached over and took a firm grip on the arm next to mine.

Inhaling sharply, I looked over at Rick's elated face "Ready?"

Just as he nodded, our driver opened our door. I was the first to step out from the vehicle, and was immediately bombarded by hundreds of flickering bulbs.
Instinctively, I shielded my eyes to keep from being blinded by the blazing lights. Raising my other arm, I waved enthusiastically at the chanting herd of people.

Rick just stood awestruck for a few moments. He could hardly believe it! Not even in his wildest dreams would he have ever imagined to one day find himself smack in the middle of such a grand ocean of glitz and glamour.
A mammoth of a grin spread across his face as he in turn saluted his adoring audience.

Feeling something tug at his shirt, he spun around and found himself face to face with some blonde wearing an alien-like silver dress. He looked nervously over at Eli, who herself shrugged unknowingly.

The woman brought a mic up and faced the camera.
"Rachel Perey reporting live outside Much... And Oh- look who I just bumped in to arriving on the red carpet?! It's Angel everyone!" Grinning, Rachel leaned into Eli and planted the mic right in her mouth "Welcome to Much Music, Angel"

I smiled timidly "Thanks! It's great to be here"

"Good. Good" Rachel nodded. Spotting Rick, she took hold of him and brought him in to the spotlight "Ooh, and look at who else I found. Rick McLaughlin"

"Wazzup?" Rick greeted.

Rachel laughed, then turned back to the camera man
"Listen folks, we've got a stellar line up for y'all tonight. This is gonna be one major, major kick butt show..."

Through the course of her speech, we were both whisked off in to the building, accompanied by at least a half a dozen body guards. This was gonna one heck of an evening...


**Earlier That Day**


"What ya doing?"

"Getting ready to watch a movie"

"What movie?"

"The one we're going to watch"

Huffing, Brian crossed his arms over his chest and childishly stuck his tongue out at Kristy. "Fine then".

Rolling her eyes at his goofy behavior, she knelt down infront of the T.V.
After she had finished whooping Brian's butt for the scare he had given her that morning, Kristy invited him back to her room so that he could join her for a film. Seeing as he still had plenty of time to spare, he graciously accepted her proposal.
She was about to slide the cassette in to the VCR when a hand came up to restrain her.

"Ewwww, 'Here On Earth'?! What you trying to do to me woman? Kill me?" Brian grimaced.

"Don't give me any ideas Littrell" Kristy mumbled, trying to snatch her video back..

Acting appalled, Brian pouted and bashfully looked away.
Taking advantage of his moment of weakness, Kristy seized her movie back from his possession.
She smiled victoriously, and once more attempted put it in the machine, when she was intercepted- again.
Only this time, she was tackled to the floor.

"Let me go" she squealed; squirming beneath him.

Brian shook his head, and straddle himself over her.
"Uh-uh. I don't think so missy" he scolded before mercilessly attacking her with his fingers.

In hysterics, Kristy desperately tried to free herself from his grasp. She attempted to use her hands to push him off, only to have him pin them down over her head.
"Ok-Ok. I give up. Just get off me" she giggle.

Smiling triumphantly, Brian gently eased his weight off her body; yet still remained mounted over her. Her heart beat still ragged, he instinctively looked in to her eyes to check if she was alright. As his gaze penetrated hers, he felt all rational thought leave his mind and soon found his lips being drawn closer and closer to hers.

Kristy's breath caught in her throat as she watched him descend over her mouth. Her lids fluttered closed and their lips finally met in a soft, fiery embrace. Their bodies shuddered as all the barrels of tension and desire that had been buried inside them released themselves. Their kiss intensified, and Kristy soon found herself paralyzed by his touch. Everything just felt right, and neither of the two could bring themselves to pull away.

Her arms wrapped around his neck as he lowered over her frame; both aching to get as close to each other as humanly possible. All either wanted was to free themselves from the anguish that had been plaguing their heart broken souls ever since the forlorn of their former lovers.
It took everything they had, but after a couple of minutes, they finally broke apart.
They stared a each other few seconds; waiting to regain their breath as they both tried to make sense of what just happened.

Finally, Brian gathered himself and stood up. Of course, being the perfect gentleman he was, offered his hand out to the coy girl and helped her to her feet.
The room was silent. Brian bent down; picked up the discarded film; popped it in the VCR and sat down on the couch. Kristy took a seat next to him, and started to watch the movie; the whole time, neither so much as uttering a word.


**At The Awards**


The awards had started approximately an hour, and yet Rick and I were still wandering around like Englishmen in New York. This was by far the oddest type of award show I had ever witnessed, and as far as I was concerned, we weren't doing a very good job at blending in. The whole event was in the form of some sort of New Year's eve party, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what our purpose there was!

"Didn't Dawn say somethin' about us having to present tonight?" Rick queried, stuffing the millionth crab puff in his mouth. After all, we hadn't anything better to do than gorge ourselves with food and liquor.

Just as I was about to open my mouth, a herd of people suddenly flocked towards me; trapping us in a circle of commotion and mayhem.
A small dark man with short curly hair approached me and gestured for Rick and I to step closer to the camera. He was wearing what appeared to be a sock puppet on his hand, and at that moment, I truly did begin to doubt the sanity of this place.

"...And 5, 4, 3...2, 1...."

"Ed the Sock here with pop's latest diva, Angel. Having a good time yet?"

"Umm, yeah, I'm having a blast!" I fibbed. A little white lie never hurt anyone.

The man with the sock, Ed, rotated his puppet so that it would be facing me.
"You know, for a new artist, you sure have been making headlines. What with that whole New York times article, revealing your, ahum, infidelities. I mean, no offense, but if you'd want to cheat on a Backstreet Boy, shouldn't you be smart enough to have the affair with someone who wasn't actually in the same band as your boyfriend?!" he commented bluntly.

My face flushed "Well, you see" I began awkwardly; crackling my voice "That whole thing was fraud! Nick and I are just good friends. Infact, Brian and I are still together, and very much in love"
I answered, keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that he would no longer question me about the topic.

Ed eyed me skeptically before diverting his attention to a thrilled looking Rick.
"For those of you who don't know" he began, turning his sock to the home viewers "This lofty young lad to my right over here is Rick McLaughlin, one of the new opening acts for the Backstreet Boys. So Rick, mind letting us in on what we can expect from you music wise?" he asked.

Rick grinned "For sure! Well, for starters, I write and produce all my own material. My songs are mainly pop with a rock'sh, r&b edge to it. I'm always writing music! Always! I have a pen and paper in my pocket as we speak... As a matter of fact, I just put the finishing touches on my most recent work. Hopefully the BSB's will let me use it for my up-coming album" he said, answering his query with the expertise of long time celebrity.

"Well I guess that answers my question about the rumors on you signing with Backstreet's still unnamed label. Anyways, you two ready to present the award for 'Favorite International Artist'?"

Ironicly enough, the award went to The Backstreet Boys. Rick and I accepted on their behalf, and both gave our word that we would personally deliver it to them.
And with that, our moment of glory was over, and the VJ's moved on to the next person on their list.

"I didn't know you wrote your own material?" I casually remarked to Rick as we walked through the packed building.

"Well now you do" he said with a wink "I wanted to show you my note book the other day, but you'd already fallen asleep."

"But didn't you say that you had one of the songs with you?"

Without so much as giving it a second thought, Rick reached in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "Knock yourself out!" he said, handing it to me.

Taking a seat on the nearest chair, I unfolded the sheet and read its contents.
As my eyes traveled down the lyrics, my jaw dropped. It was the single, most beautiful song I had ever known anyone to write. I could hardly bring myself to finish it without shedding any tears.

"It's a duet!" Rick pointed out.

Still in a daze, I looked up at him and somehow managed to mumble out the words "It's gorgeous!"

Rick gave me a toothy grin "Really?! You think so?"

Jumping to my feet, I took him by the shoulders and gave him a very serious look. "Rick, would you be willing to perform this?"

His brow arched "When?"

"Here! Tonight! With me!" I said in one quick breath; almost swallowing my words. "We tell the producer's here that we'd like to make a special appearance, and perform the world premiere of a song you wrote. They would never turn down an offer like that! Just imagine what this could do for ours careers?!"

Rick's eyes grew large with delight. Eli's idea was almost too good to be true, and just the prospect of it was enough to give him goosebumps! But he wasn't going to get his hopes up just yet.
"What if they don't let us? After all, we haven't even rehearsed and...."

"Come on!" I ordered, grabbing him by the wrist and leading him through the crowd.
I'd set my mind on this, and no matter what it took, I knew I had to make it happen.



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