~~~~~~~~~~» Bri «~~~~~~~~~~

"So you know that Liz is going to New York tomorrow right?" I asked Meg and Arti after they’d come and sat down next to me.

We’d made a quick stop for food and unlike most stops, some of us actually decided to go in and relax for a little while before another long and exhausting bus ride. For some reason, the two girls were riding on my bus, though I don’t exactly know why.

"Yeah, we talked to her a little earlier on the phone," Meg replied with a shrug.

"And you heard about the photo too right?" I asked.

They both nodded a little before exchanging looks. I watched the two of them as they stared at each other for a few seconds, having their own silent conversation like only females could do.

"Sooo...um, what did you girls need anyway?" I asked, sort of getting uncomfortable with the lack of conversation, at least on my part.

Meg was the first to break away and look over at me.

"Oh. Yeah, I uh needed to let you in on some of the details about the bridal party and stuff," she said with a smile. "And since I never see you anymore between press and media junk, I’ve been reduced to riding with you in your bus. I just drug her along with me..."

I smiled at the sarcasm in her voice before she laughed a little.

"You’re not going to make us wear like baby-blue 70’s tuxes or anything are ya?!"

Both girls laughed at the funny face I made at them.

"No, but if you really want to wear one, I think I can arrange that," she replied with a grin. "Naw...you’ll all be wearing black tuxes with light purple vests to match the bridesmaids dresses."

"Ok. Who exactly is in the bridal party anyway?"

"Me!" Arti exclaimed happily with a huge grin.

"Yup! My sister Jenn is going to be my maid of honor with Arti, Angie, Polly, and Liz as my bridesmaids," she replied. "Mind if I?"

She pointed to an orange that was sitting in a bowl of fruit on the table. I shook my head and watched her take it and begin to peel it.

"Since the wedding is taking place during a ‘break’ in our tour, won’t Liz be on her tour at the same time?" I asked.

When I said ‘break’, I meant a two-day time period where we were ‘suppose’ to be traveling from one venue to another as our American leg of the tour came to a close.

"Well, yeah, she will be on tour," she replied with a shrug. "But she promised me she’d be there...and besides, I know she wouldn’t miss it for anything."

I nodded a little.

"Anyway, John (AN – for those of you who are having a brain-fart, John is Howie’s brother...lol) is going to be the best-man and you, Kevin, AJ, and Nick will be the ushers," she continued to explain. "Now I just need to pair everyone up..."

"Everyone ’cept me...I’m with Kev," Arti added with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"Yup. Following tradition, John will be with Jenn, so that leaves AJ, Nick, you, Polly, Angie, and Liz," she said.

"Don’t you think AJ and Liz should be together?"

Arti and Meg both looked up at me simultaneously before they once again exchanged glances.

"It’s not that simple," Arti said with a small shrug.

"Oh..." I looked out the window for a split-second before looking back up. "Well, I think Polly would be good with AJ then. They know each other pretty well so it should work out."

"Actually, I like that idea. ‘Cept she won’t be able to wear heels, but that won’t be a problem," Meg said happily.

"I don’t think Nick and Liz would be a good idea," Arti said. "It wouldn’t be good for the whole situation with AJ considering what’s happened between the three of them in the past."

"I see where you’re coming from," Meg replied with a nod. "Guess that leaves one lucky man to watch over and protect my bestest friend."

I gave her a puzzled look and laughed when she smacked my arm.

"You, dork!" she said, laughing at me.

"I know," I replied with a silly grin. "I’ll take good care of her."

"Good."

~~~~~~~~~~» The Next Day «~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~» Liz «~~~~~~~~~~

"Liz, this is Morgan. She’s an actress friend of mine that I thought would be the perfect girl to play the part opposite of you," Chantal told me with a grin as she introduced the girl who was now standing at her side.

"Hi Morgan," I said as I shook her hand with a smile. "Any friend of Chantal’s is a friend of mine."

"This is the coolest thing I’ve ever been given the chance to do," Morgan said in her cute ‘country/southern’ accent as she beamed a bright smile. "Thank you so much!"

"You’re welcome," I replied with a laugh before Chantal gestured to the two trailers that were sitting just outside the door of the huge warehouse that we were shooting part of the video in. "Let’s go get purtied up!"

I smiled as I watched Morgan walk out the door before me. She was a few inches taller than me with long auburn colored hair that fell down her back in curls. She wore a pair of flare legged Gap jeans with a blue Gap button-up shirt. When she spoke, her hazel eyes danced happily with the excitement that she tried to contain, but just couldn’t.

"See ya in a little while," I called to her before we both disappeared into our separate trailers.

Chantal followed me into the trailer that was designated for me and sat down in the other of two chairs after I’d sat down. Frederick, my stylist, was buzzing around the back of the trailer talking to my make-up artist, Marleena (we call her Oz ‘cause her last name’s Oswald), about the color scheme of everything. Chantal pulled some sketches out of a folder she was carrying and held them up for me to see.

"You’re gonna have the whole hip-hop/rocker look for the club scene, while Morgan’s gonna be Ms. Conservative," she explained as I looked at the sketches of the two of us in our ‘outfits’ on the storyboard.

"So which scenes are we filming first?" I asked, handing the papers back to her as Freddie came up front with Oz to do their magic on me.

"First we’re going to get the bedroom scenes and that small stuff taken care of so we can shoot the club-scene tomorrow," she explained.

I made a face and stuck out my tongue as Freddie started to brush my hair as he stood behind me. He smiled after he saw my reflection in the mirror and continued on with what he was doing.

"No skimpy little Britney Queers outfits right?" I asked with a sly smile.

"You’re not gonna look like a slut if that’s what you’re asking," Chantal replied with a laugh.

"Ja Rule knows the itinerary right?"

"Yes, he does...he’ll be here tomorrow afternoon for filming," she replied. "Wanna know who the cheater boyfriend is? Huh huh huh?!"

I laughed a little and turned my head to look at her face.

"Liz!"

"Sorry Freddie," I replied as I turned my head back so he could work. "Is it someone hotter than hott?"

"Maybe," she replied, followed by laughter. "I know that you don’t like Jive, but they hooked me up with someone that I know you’ll be happy about."

"Oh goll," I said with a groan. "It better NOT be who I’m thinking it is."

She laughed. "It’s not anyone that I believe you’ve met, though I know you listen to his music."

"And he’s signed to Jive?" I asked, beginning to wonder who she’d managed to get to be in my music video without me having met them before. "I’ve met almost all of the people signed to Jive..."

"Not this one...yet," she replied before she slyly stood up and headed for the door.

"Wait!" I called to her as I turned to see her standing with the door open, ready to walk out.

"Liz!"

"Sorry Freddie," I told him for a second time before I looked at Chantal.

She made a gesture like she was zipping her lips, followed by locking them, and swallowing the key. She gave me a cute grin before she walked down the steps and shut the door behind her.

"What a brat!" I exclaimed as I turned around and once again let Freddie continue.

It only took Freddie and Oz two hours to get me ready for the camera (LOL!!!). Chantal had made sure that Rainbow Entertainment hooked me up with awesome clothes stores, so my outfit was kickin’. I would be wearing a pair of tight hip-hugger black shiny leather pants that were essentially pieces of leather held together with leather ties. The leather ‘pieces’ or sections were about 5-inch sections all the way down to the bottom seam that went all the way around the leg so it looked like I was wearing shorts with laced-on extensions...sort of (AN – LOL! Not like you understood that...haha). The top that they had me put on was a silver glittery tank top belly shirt that matched the silver clips, glitter, and things that Freddie put in my hair. He’d put my hair into different little twists and braids with some of them pulled up onto the top of my head with clips while the rest of them hung down with the remainder of my hair. The make-up that Oz had done was very into the glam-rocker look, almost identical to the look that I had at the VMA’s when I’d preformed this song. To complete the look, Freddie and Oz had me put these funky looking black leather fingerless gloves on. I had to say I was pretty impressed with the outfit (even if I wouldn’t have picked it out myself).

"Foxy mama!" Freddie said with a low whistle when I came out of the back of the trailer, where the clothes were, all dressed and ready to go.

"Shut up Freddie!!!" I said, blushing at his comment as I walked to the door, smacking him on the shoulder in the process. "You’re so mean to me!"

I could hear him laughing as I climbed out of the trailer and instantly became self-conscious when everything became quiet and it seemed like gazillions of eyes were on me.

"And here she is," Chantal announced happily while walking over to me.

She grabbed my arm and walked to the door of the warehouse, followed by a group of about ten, both guys and girls. She led me to the make-shift set that was built the day before and told me that they’d just begun shooting Morgan’s bedroom scene, so they’d be ready for me in a few minutes.

"Who are those people standing behind me?" I whispered to her.

"They..." she turned and pointed to the group. "...are the group of fans you provided passes with."

"Oh," I replied with a nod before I turned around and waved with a timid smile.

One of the girls was totally freaking out and I had to turn back around before I started laughing. The girl’s friend was trying to keep her under control, but she wasn’t exactly succeeding. I turned around once again and smiled.

"Umm...can I have your attention," I called out loud enough for them to hear, but not too loud to disrupt filming. "Hi! As you can see, we’re starting to shoot scenes for my video...and I’m glad you could all come."

I was actually surprised that none of them had come up to me and attacked me. ‘Guess security scared them out of doing anything like that’ I thought to myself as I watched them watching me.

"Maybe after my scenes are done today, I can sign stuff for you all if you’d like that," I told them.

Pretty much all of them liked that idea, so I smiled.

"Tell you what...how would you all like to be IN the video?"

The chick that was freaking out before started having a spazz attack, so I walked over to her and touched her shoulder.

"You ok?" I asked her.

"YES!" she screamed back, even though I was standing right next to her.

I wasn’t expecting her to reach out and hug me, but she did, almost causing me to fall over, she hugged me so hard. Chantal just stood there and laughed at the girl as she just held me, not letting go. After what seemed like five minutes, Izzie finally came and gently pried me from her arms so I could go do my scenes.

"I’ve got to go shoot now...I’ll see you later," I called to the small group as Chantal led me to the set.

The scene that we were filming first wasn’t going to be the first in the video, but it was in the first few scenes and started the story off, so it was important. The camera would record me ‘getting ready’...so in the video, I was alone in my bedroom getting ready to hit the clubs on a Friday night. They shot similar scenes with Morgan, so they’d be spliced together as a split-screen. I’d leave a note to my ‘boyfriend’ telling him to meet me somewhere later...Morgan’s character does the same. The story of the video is that this guy is playing both of us at the same time and we find out about each other throughout the night, but he doesn’t know that. From the bedroom scenes, we’d move to the street scenes, where various ‘coincidental’ things would happen to bring Morgan’s character and mine together. Then tomorrow, we’d shoot the club scenes in an old renovated dance club filled with extras. The ‘boyfriend’ gets confronted by the two of us at the club and that’s where Ja Rule comes up and starts with his rap part, telling us that he’ll treat us right and all that stuff. Things go from there and in the end, both girls dump the ‘boyfriend’, and now the girls are friends instead.

"Cut!!!" Chantal called after the fourth take. "Take five."

I felt a sharp pain in my side, causing me to wince a little in pain. She must have seen it as she walked over to where I was sitting at the vanity that was on the set where we’d been recording.

"You ok?" she asked as she stopped in front of the desk, since it was up against a fake half-wall.

"Yeah...I’ll be ok," I said, shrugging it off so she wouldn’t get worried.

Truth was, it still hurt a little, but the pain eventually went away. I stood up and walked off the set and into a quiet corner where I looked down at my stomach, making sure something wasn’t poking me in the side. I was pretty sure that the pain came from inside, but I couldn’t be sure. The last few days were rough on me, so I wasn’t exactly feeling my best anyway, so this was definitely not a good sign. I quickly went out to the trailer and found my pills before Chantal called me back to the set for more shooting. No one was in the trailer when I went in, so I hurriedly took a pill before someone did come in. The pills that Dr. Robertson had prescribed for me helped a lot with the stress so far, even though I’d only had them for a few days. The pharmacists told me how many I could or should take, so I didn’t have a problem with that. I didn’t have to worry about the pharmacist leaking to the press either since Rainbow’s lawyers (AN – Rainbow is the record label for those of you that didn’t remember *Court*) made the whole pharmacy place sign confidentiality contracts. ‘The things people will do...’ I thought as I shoved the pill bottle back into my duffel bag and left the trailer to finish up the recording of my bedroom scene.

"There you are," Chantal called to me as I walked down the steps of the trailer. "You’re up...cameras are waiting."

I followed her into the warehouse once again and over to the set, where they would be filming me leaving the room to ‘go out for the night’.

~~~~~~~~~~» Three Days Later «~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~» AJ «~~~~~~~~~~

We were on our way to Denver from LA when I slumped down on the double bed in the back of my bus. I switched on the TV that was above the doorway with the remote and silently thanked management for insisting that the bus company provide us with satellite TV. I flipped through the channels until my cell phone rang. I carelessly picked it up and said hello.

"Channel 9," Meg said before she said bye and hung up.

I didn’t really know what she was talking about, but I turned to channel 9 in time to see the running opener for Rosie’s show. I reached up to change the channel again when she said Liz’s name...that caught my attention. I watched for a few more minutes until Rosie came on to do her intro.

"How’s everyone doin’?" she asked happily. "Karen...how are you?!"

The camera panned to a little girl that was about ten years old that was sitting in the front row of the audience where Rosie always had her ‘entry-readers’ sit so she could introduce them.

"Good!" the girl replied shyly.

"Are you excited?" Rosie asked with a smile.

"Yeah!!!" the girl said happily as she jumped up and down a little.

"I can see that you are a big Ellz H fan...she’s here today. You know that right?" Rosie asked.

"Yes! I’m soooo excited! I wanna meet her..."

The camera panned out a little and showed what the girl was wearing. She had on an ‘Ellz H’ studded baby tee like the ones that Liz always wore at her shows and sold to her fan club members. She also wore flared jeans with studs up the outer seams, again something that Liz would wear in concert.

"She’ll be out soon, but first, everyone say hello to John McD!" Rosie said as she pointed to the piano player and then went to her desk to do her intro.

I took the opportunity in the shifted focus to go to the bathroom real quick. When I came back, it was a commercial, so I sat back down on the bed and waited for the show to come back on.

"Here she is, America’s sweetest pop princess, Ellz H," Rosie said just as I’d sat down.

I looked up to the screen and watched as Rosie stood up and the camera then panned to where the guests came out. When a group of teenagers and younger kids came walking out with Ellz H merchandise on, I got a little confused. Behind them, Liz walked out with a huge grin on as she held a little girl’s hand that walked out with her. After she let the girl sit down with the others in the group on the steps in front of Rosie’s desk, she gave Rosie a hug before they both sat down. She looked amazing in the metallic purple pants and black sleeveless shirt that she wore.

"Hey!" Rosie said happily after the kids in front had settled down a little bit.

"Hi," Liz replied with a grin.

"How have things been? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you!" Rosie exclaimed.

"Things are going great," Liz said with a smile. "I’m in the middle of shooting the video for my new single that’ll be out soon."

When Liz turned and looked at the camera with a smile, my heart began beating faster. It was almost as if she was smiling directly at me, though I knew this was taped at least two or three days earlier.

"You let all these kids on the set of the video, right?" Rosie asked, motioning to the kids sitting in front of her desk.

"Yes, that’s right," Liz said happily. "I try to get close to my fans and let them know that I really do care about what they think, how they feel, and that I’m a normal person just like them."

"I hear that you’ve got a website opening up soon. Some artists like to get involved in that sort of stuff...I know Mandy Moore is very into the whole computer scene. What about you? You into computers?" Rosie asked.

Liz smiled and let out a little laugh. "Yes, I am a HUGE computer person. I love to get online and chat to people about stuff, fans or not."

"You ever go into chatrooms just to chat?"

"All the time," Liz replied with a sly grin. "I like to talk about everything from current events to girl stuff to HTML codes to the weather..."

Everyone laughed a little. She sure looked cute when she laughed like that. The corners of her mouth curled up into a little smile as she tentatively listened to what Rosie was saying to her.

"Will you sing for us?" Rosie asked.

The kids cheered and clapped, urging her on.

"Sure, I’d like that," Liz replied with another small laugh.

"When we come back, Ellz H will be singing for us, so don’t go away," Rosie said before the show cut to a commercial.

I patiently waited through the commercials until the show came back on.

"Here she is with her new single ‘I Will’," Rosie said before the camera changed to a shot of Liz and a few of her dancers in the ‘performance’ area of the stage.

She sang beautifully and her every move was precise as she danced her way through the hip-hop type dance moves with her dancers. She sang the album version of the song, so it was a little shorter than the version she did at the VMA’s, but no one seemed to mind and I definitely wasn’t going to complain. Just seeing her face was good enough for me. When the song ended, she smiled at the camera with a wink that caused the audience to go even wilder than they already were. Throughout the song, I kept moving closer to the TV, and by the end of the song, I was kneeling at the end of the bed as close as I could to the TV without falling off the bed.

"After these messages, Ellz H will give her fans a chance to ask her questions. Stay tuned to see if she answers your question," Rosie said after she congratulated Liz on her performance.

‘I hate all these freakin’ commercials that they have during these shows’ I complained to myself as I sat back on the bed and held the remote in my hand. I knew that the TV was loud enough for Rick to hear clearly, so I reached out and shut the door so I wouldn’t bother him. After I turned it up a little bit, the commercials ended and Rosie was back.

"Let’s start things off with some audience questions," Rosie said as she was handed a mic and walked to the audience, where both girls and guys were standing (instead of sitting) in hopes to get picked. "Do you have a question for Ellz H?"

She stopped next to a girl that looked about eight with really long brown hair and a cute smile.

"Yeah!" she replied with a grin.

"What is it that you wanna know?" Liz asked with a little laugh.

"First I want to say Hi!" the girl said. "And can I have a hug?"

"Hi!" Liz replied. "And yes, you can."

The girl practically ran over to where Liz was walking halfway to where Rosie was standing. The girl hugged Liz and then just sort of stood there with a look of awe on her face.

"Did you wanna ask me a question?" Liz asked.

"Oh...yeah...I heard that you like to answer fan mail. Is that true?"

Liz walked the girl back over to where Rosie was standing next to the next question person while she answered.

"Yes, I do try to answer as much fan mail as I can," she said with a smile while the girl sat down with a quick ‘thank you’. "Without the fans, I wouldn’t be here, so I like to write them and tell them thanks for all the support."

Rosie moved on to the next question. This time it was a guy that was about fourteen.

"Which is better for a girl, flowers or chocolate?"

‘Nice question’ I thought as I rolled my eyes and waited for her answer, even though I already knew what she’d say.

"Well that depends on the girl, but I prefer flowers," she replied. "Roses are nice, but ones like daisies or tulips are more original and that makes it all the more special."

‘I could’ve told you that’ I thought as Rosie went to the next person.

"If you weren’t singing for a career, what would you be doing and why?"

‘Ha...she’d be in music somehow’ I thought with a smirk.

"Well, I used to work at a radio station as a DJ, so I’d either be doing that or teaching music," Liz replied with a smile. "I love music, so I think I’ll always being doing something with music."

"Ok...we’ve got some questions from a few fans that e-mailed us," Rosie said as she walked back to her desk, followed by Liz.

"Ok," Liz replied before she sat down.

Rosie picked up a small pile of papers that were on her desk.

"This comes from Jennie in California. What type of music do you listen to when you want to get into a mellow mood?"

"That’s a good question," Liz replied. "I like all types of music, but to calm me down and get me relaxed, I like to listen to Celine Dion’s ‘Let’s Talk About Love’ album. I love the whole CD. It’s great."

"The next one is from Paul in New Hampshire. What type of guy do you like and are you dating anyone?"

Liz laughed a little before she replied. "I like a guy who’s sensitive, caring, well-mannered, and who likes to enjoy life and everything it gives us. Am I dating anyone right now? No, I’m not."

"One more from Jay in Utah...wait...I think this got mixed up," Rosie said as she turned a little and talked to one of the stage people. "Wasn’t this supposed to be an audience question?"

Jay, the guy that Liz used to work with in Utah, walked out and shushed the audience so he could surprise her. He walked up to her while she was watching Rosie talk to the stage people. When she finally realized that someone was standing next to her, she looked up.

"Jay!!!!" she said happily as she gave Jay a big hug and a kiss on his cheek.

"Hey!" Rosie exclaimed after they’d all sat back down.

"Hi Rosie," Jay replied.

"How are you?" Rosie asked.

"I’m great. Thanks," he replied. "I’m glad to be here."

"First of all, explain to everyone how you know each other," Rosie said with a laugh.

"I used to work with Jay at the radio station in Salt Lake," Liz replied.

"Yeah, she used to be my runner before she got her own show," Jay added with a laugh.

"That’s cool," Rosie said. "We’ll talk more after these commercials ok?"

"Ok," Liz replied happily.

The rest of the show was pretty much stuff that I already knew and since there was only about five minutes left, I turned the TV off and went to the front of the bus.

"We’re just leaving Vail, so we’ll be to the venue in about an hour to an hour and a half depending on traffic," Rick told me when he saw me come up front.

I sat down at the table and carelessly flipped through the magazine that someone had left on the table until I came to an article about Liz. Actually it was an article about her and me, talking about the whole baby situation and trying to figure out who’s she was. The whole thing disgusted me so I shut the magazine and tossed it to the floor by the garbage can.

© Liz Holder 2001