It was 2 pm and my flight would be leaving in less than 4 hours. Christian had asked Mark, Ste and the rest out our comparably small crew to stay at the new hotel with him. They’d all agreed. Turned out that both Asia and Pamela are models for the Urban Decay line of cosmetics and they were away at photo shoot in New York City at the moment so it wasn’t as though I could even hang out with them. “If only my life were as glamorous.” I said to myself as I stuffed the last magazine into my carry on. The cab was probably here by now. “Arrived in a limo, leaving in a cab.” I whispered to myself . “I’m sure the guys will get a laugh out of this one.”
I could hear them now, telling me I was nothing without Christian and how stupid I was to have fallen for this again. I opened the door and swung it until the knob hit the wall behind it. Turing around, I stuck my foot out behind me so the door wouldn’t close while I grabbed my stuff. I dropped my bags when I saw someone standing there when I faced forward again. “Jesus Joey!” I exclaimed. “You scared the hell out of me, what are you doing here?”
Truth was I didn’t really expect him to answer but he did. “I heard about your dad. I heard he took you off of BBMak and assigned you to Geri Haliwell.”
“Oh is she who I’ll be serving for the next few years? Figures, he thinks she’s so great but we hate each other. Once again, my life sucks.”
“It doesn’t have to,” he said and looked into my eyes. It was that look again. The same one he’d been giving me for the past month.
“What are you getting at?”
“Do you really want to go back to London?” he asked and moved closer to me.
This presence was overwhelming. It was almost as though every last feeling I’d once had came rushing back to me all at once, hitting me with a force that almost knocked me over. Instead of doing so I simply leaned closer to him and gave an answer. My voice was unusually shaky. “I want to stay with Christian. I mean, this is the first argument we’ve ever had and I know we can work through it.”
“He’s pretty cut up about it.”
“I know. It’s my fault but, the kiss...it didn’t mean anything.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Oh course I’m sure.”
“That’s not what Chris said.”
Chris? Hadn’t I told Chris not to mention it? “Well, it’s the truth,” I said and picked up my bags again. “If you don’t mind, I have plane to catch.”
“Wait,” Joey said and held my shoulders.
“ What?”
“You said you don’t want to leave right?”
“Yeah, so? No one cares about what I want.”
“That’s not true.”
“Whatever you’re thinking, I don’t want to hear-“
“Abby, we want you back.”
“What?”
“Just say the word and you’re hired. Full time.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Is this part of your newest joke or something?”
Joey shook his head. “No way. You say the word and you’re in. Same as before but this time there’s no bullying.”
“No pranks?”
“Not one,” he said and took my hands.
I promptly removed them. “Why should I listen to you?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me.”
“Me? Trust you?”
“I know it’s gonna be hard but if you want to be with Christian…”
“I won’t be with him anyway. If you hire me not only will I have to work with Regina, whom I’d despise-”
“Hey-“
“-but, I’d also be working on you guys again. I wouldn’t have any time to see BBMak. And I can’t take seeing someone else do my job.”
“Not a problem,” Joey said and smiled. “Hollywood Records asked us to hire an additional make-up artist since I guess they’re running low on employees this year.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“ They never specified who could and who couldn’t have the job.”
“So it’ll be like I never got removed to begin with?”
“Exactly.”
I know what you’re thinking. “Abigail, flashing red light. DON’T TRUST JOEY!” And I would listen to you but, even if this IS a prank, I’d much rather risk getting humiliated if it meant that I could have even the hint of another chance with Christian.
“So what’s it going to be? Will you do it?”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “You’ve got yourself a new make-up artist.”
Joey’s smile widened to twice it’s original size and he shook my hand. “Welcome back.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said and dragged my bags back into the room.
“This is gonna be great! Just like old times!”
I swirled around to face him again. “No!” I shouted, “NOT like old times. New times. Completely new times.”
He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, that’s what I meant. Our old team, Gina, Abby….I’m really happy you’re going to be here.”
“I’m not working for you guys remember? I’m BBMak’s artist. RIGHT?”
“Right.”
“I’d better be.”
“Well, there is one small thing.”
My shoulders dropped, “What small thing?”
“Well, since there are only two of you…as you may have heard we recently let your former replacement go..”
“I hadn’t.”
“We did. Since there are only two of you, and 8 of us…we were…we were planning on splitting us up. 4 for you, 4 for Gina.”
“And, Christian is one of mine.”
“Yup, and Chris.”
“No.”
“Hey, I thought you wanted this job.”
“I do but I can’t have Chris and Christian in the same room. I can’t just…I just can’t.”
“That’s part of the deal.”
“You never said that was part of the deal.”
“It is. Unless…you wanna hurry up and catch that plane.”
I was stuck. There was no way that all three of us would make it through this tour as long as we were together everyday but I needed to be with Christian. If I declined now I’d never forgive myself. Besides, what did I have to look forward to in London? Certainly not Geri.
I sighed and bit my bottom lip. “Can’t we just switch Chris for…JC?”
“Nope.”
“For Lance?”
“Nope.”
“…for Justin?”
Joey thought about that one for a while. “Nope.”
“Oh come on!”
“What, you don’t want to switch for me?”
“Why would you want me to do your face when you love Regina?”
“Why would Chris want Regina to do his face when he loves you?”
“He’s confused. He’s a confused little man. He does not love me, he just doesn’t know it yet.”
“I think you’re the one who doesn’t know it yet.” Joey patted me on the shoulder. “Just sit back and relax. I’ll call your dad and tell him you won’t be coming. Don’t worry about the room or anything I’ll take care of it. You just take care of yourself. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I nodded and threw myself onto my bed and Joey left the room. What had I gotten myself into this time?
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