"Rozzie, hurry up, girl. I haven't got all day to wait for you. I've got stories to do." I stood in the open door of my apartment waiting for her. She suddenly came flying into the doorway from what had become her room, papers and art supplies flying after her. All I could do was shake my head. Who knew when she asked if she could visit for the summer that I would be dealing with a 19 year old tornado.

"I'm ready, I'm ready. Just push me out the door when you drive past the beach okay? That'll make it faster." She grinned, so I rolled my eyes, and pushed her the rest of the way out the door. We went out to the parking lot where my car was parked, and I started the car. As I turned in the direction of the beach, Roz pulled something out of her pocket. "Look, what I found," she taunted, waving a cassette tape that she had in her hand. I shrugged, not knowing what was so special about the tape, so she popped it in the car's tape player.

I groaned as I heard the music that poured immediately out of the car speakers. "Oh my god, Roz. You brought a tape of the Backstreet Boys with you? Why?" I couldn't stop laughing. The words and music were so familiar that I instantly started moving to the music.

"Why not? They only broke up two years ago. I figured it might be fun, since I'm in Florida. They could be anywhere, y'know." She paused for a second. "Do you remember how disappointed I was that you knew B was getting married and you didn't tell me?" She looked at me as if she expected me not to remember.

"Of course, I remember. I couldn't help it though. He denied it, and I was told by my source, when I was told, to keep it a secret, because of how fans would react. As a journalist, I had to respect that."

She laughed and sighed, "I know, and I can appreciate that. You are an excellent journalist, and when I get to be famous, you know that you get to be my official biographer." We both laughed. That had been our long-standing joke. Because she wanted to be a singer/ dancer, we had always said that when she was famous, I would write her biography for her.

"You heard that his marriage didn't work out right? I read that in the newspaper a couple of months ago. It said they split up because their careers conflicted." She looked surprised.

"Aw, poor B. That's so sad." I nodded, it did seem sad, since he had always seemed so sincere and sweet. Roz paused and looked out the window for a minute. "So, did you hear that Nick is singing with Aaron in concert right now? That is so cute." She giggled before continuing, "And Howie's new movie comes out next week. You wanna see it? It looks kind of good." I shrugged thinking that the only reason that movie looked interesting was because Howie was in it. Unfortunately, it wasn't something that looked like it would become an epic film.

"What about AJ? Have you heard anything about him? He seems to have faded into the woodwork." I was curious, because AJ had been my favorite of the boys at one time. But since they broke up, he hadn't been doing anything publicly.

"Actually, I heard that he's changed his look, like that's a surprise, but I mean he's gone really respectable now. And he's trying to release his own album. Something's wrong with the release or something I guess, I'm not sure." I interrupted her.

"Hold on, this is really sad you know?! We're discussing a group that's not together anymore. And that neither of us should really care about anymore. How pathetic." I was being really sarcastic, and I laughed. "Why do we care, or want to know what they're doing now?" She grinned, and motioned to the window.

"That's okay, because I have to get out now anyway. You can keep the tape, since I know you enjoy it so much." I reached over and swatted her on the shoulder.

"I'll be back here around five, alright. Be right here so I can find you." She rolled her eyes, so I continued. "Hey, it's your life. If you don't want to get out and go to a club, then it's not my problem." She nodded.

"Yes, mommy." She grinned, and stuck her tongue out at me before she shut the car door and took off toward one of the picnic tables nearby. I drove away thinking how odd the summer was going to be. Roz was going to college in September so she was taking the summer to hang out in Tampa with me. She'd only arrived a week ago, at the end of June, so we hadn't done anything really exciting yet. I didn't really how she spent her time while I was at work. But she seemed pretty normal so I wasn't inclined to worry about it.

The day at work was pretty dull, as usual. The beginning of the week was not a prime time for the entertainment industry. It was usually used to catch up on all the stuff that happened during the weekends.

I wrote a couple of reviews for the next edition of Tampa Beat, the magazine that I worked for, and got leads on a couple of other stories to fill the week. Since I'd started about a year ago, I had gradually been getting more and more important stories. I still hadn't reached a high enough status to get the real celebrity news though. That was left to the reporters who'd been there for much longer than I had.

At about a quarter to five, just as I was about to leave, Dave, my editor, came up with a new story in his hand. "I wanted to make sure that you do this story. Don't pass it off to anyone else, because I want to see how you handle it. Alright? A friend of mine asked for this story to be done as a favor and I think you can do a really good job. That's why I'm giving it to you." He looked at me, to make sure that I understood him. "You can go home now if you want to, there's nothing more to be done here. You're still doing the reviews on the artists that perform at Aquarius, right?" I nodded to confirm that I was, and looked at the scrap of paper with the details for tomorrow's story written on it. It was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 2:30. But the only other details on the page were the address and the first name of the guy I was supposed to talk to. With that little information I felt like I would be going in totally unprepared, but in entertainment that seemed to be the trend.

I tucked the page into the pocket of my camera bag with my notebook, and cleared off my desk before heading toward the door. I waved at a couple of co-workers on the way out the door, and heard a high-pitched voice yell out "See you tomorrow, Lisa. I hope I can come and work with you again!" I cringed knowing that the voice belonged to Amber, the most annoying woman in the office. I didn't turn around, hoping that she would think I hadn't heard her. I couldn't bear to actually hurt her feelings and tell her to go away, so I did my best to pretend that she didn't exist. Dave had sent her with me on a story a couple days earlier and since then she seemed to think that I was her best friend.

I managed to get out of the building and arrive at the beach just as Roz was walking up to �her' picnic table. She picked up the rest of her stuff, and came over to the car, so that I didn't have to park. "How was your day? Get a lot of writing done?" I laughed, and gave her a look that said �yeah, right.'

"Dave gave me a story for tomorrow afternoon that might turn out interesting. Some new music company. A guy named Kevin runs it, so I have to talk to him. Other than that the day's been very dull. What about you? What do you do all day anyway?"

"Stuff. Nothing important . . . Sketch, paint, stare at the sky." She giggled.

"Oh kay, I guess I just won't bother asking that question again. Do you still want to go with me to listen to these people? They're usually pretty bad. It's not like they're all actually talented or anything. They're all just hoping to get discovered." I looked at her, wondering what could possibly interest her about going to the Aquarius.

"Sure, I'm always interested in hearing other people sing." I parked the car, and got out after grabbing my camera bag from the back seat.

I went on as we climbed up the stairs to my apartment. "Okay, we've got until seven, because I have to be there early. Have to talk to the manager to get information about the line up." I stopped talking to put the key in the lock, and open the door. Muse and Beej my cats were sitting in the hall directly in front of the door as always. Roz tripped on Muse, like she usually did and then spoke.

"When are we gonna go out and actually meet some people? You've lived here like, two years and you still don't know anybody. What's up?" I shrugged.

"That's what happens when you get old like me," I said, pointing out our wide age difference again, "you don't wanna get out and meet people. You're happy to hang out at home." I chuckled, and Roz glared.

"Oh yeah, 27. You are SO old."

"Okay, okay. We'll go out this weekend, okay? I promise. Remember my Jays are in town!" Roz had wandered off into the living room and I heard her loading the CD player. As I heard the first few notes I sighed and called to her. "What is this, walk down memory lane day? Backstreet this morning and now �N SYNC. Get over it, Roz," I said, just as she walked into the kitchen where I was starting dinner. "It's over ya know. They were all just flash in the pan bands." I was being overly sarcastic just to bug her even though I didn't believe what I was saying. We'd had this conversation before.

"Ya, ya, I know." She rolled her eyes at me. "But it's still fun. Ooooh, just a sec," and Roz ran out of the room back to the stereo. The music came to an abrupt stop and I heard the CD tray open, then close before the sound started again. This time though the pace was much quicker and the single voice that was singing was much higher.

"Oh my god, It's Aaron Carter, now? Not an improvement, but at least he still has a career. Although his voice is lower now." We both giggled as Roz came back into the room.

"Remember the Backstreet concert when he opened it, and they taught us how to do the �Shake It' dance?" Of course I didn't remember because I hadn't been able to get tickets to that tour. I made a fake pouty face, and Roz pretended to comfort me before breaking into her rendition of how she remembered the �Shake It' dance.

We spent the next hour singing to songs that we should have long ago put away and then got ready to go to Aquarius.

The Aquarius club wasn't very far from my apartment building so we decided we'd walk to it instead of bothering with the car. When we got there, I found the manager, Harv, who was always really helpful. The place was usually packed full of hopeful musicians on Tuesday nights for Talent Night. Roz and I arrived early enough to watch the crowd filter in, and we chatted for a little bit until the show started. I pointed out several talent scout type people as they came into the bar, and Roz seemed to take note of each one of them. I noticed one of them seemed really young to be the owner of a company, but he was a gorgeous man - dark hair, and eyes that could mesmerize you with a single glance. I made a mental note to remember him but turned back to the stage because the show was about to start.

The first performance was by a female trio who both danced and sang. The dancing was good, but the singing didn't go with it very well. I always hated writing bad reviews. I didn't like being mean to people, especially when they were willing to get up in front of people and perform. I never had the guts to do that so I had to admire them in some way. I took some notes on them and the next three acts as well.

There were usually five full performances each night, but tonight after the fourth performer had finished, Harv stepped onto the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to tell you but that is the end of the show for tonight. Our final scheduled performer was unable to make it in, so we have to cut the night short." One of his staff members whispered something to him from the front of the stage, and Harv continued "Unless of course, we have someone who would like to volunteer, to prolong the entertainment for a bit."

I saw Roz look over at me, and then down at the table. I knew she was weighing her options, and deciding if she thought she could perform. She looked at me again, and then past me towards the table where the scouts were sitting. I tapped her on the shoulder and whispered, "If you want to, here's your chance." She nodded and took a deep breath. Then she stood up looking more determined than I had ever seen her, and walked toward Harv.

"I'll volunteer. I can sing, a capella even, so I'll do it." Harv looked surprised but he stepped away from the microphone, and Roz took her place at it. I saw her take a deep breath, and then it looked like she was trying to decide what song to start with. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then took another deep breath before starting the song.

"Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine . . ." I chuckled as I heard the first line. I knew that she had practiced the songs a lot when they had been popular, hadn't we all really when we sang along with the CD's. It seemed ironic that she would choose to sing "As Long as You Love Me", originally by Backstreet Boys.

Because I'm a curious person, I had to turn around to see how the scouts were reacting. None of them really gave much indication of their reaction except for the guy that I had noticed earlier. He seemed to be singing along with Roz, and smiling, but I could see a veiled sadness in his eyes. I made myself turn back toward Roz on stage, because I didn't want to start analyzing people that I didn't know. Having taken psychology in university, I was prone to doing just that. I blinked to make myself focus back on Roz on stage. She finished the song and waited while the crowd stopped applauding.

She sang three more songs and got more applause than all the other performers combined. Even Harv was impressed, and suggested that she come back to sing at the club again.

By the time Roz was settled back at the table, all the important people from the back of the room had left, so she asked me about their reactions. I told her quickly about all the non-reactions, and how normal that was, and then about the guy who was singing along with her.

She grinned. "That's a good sign, isn't it? It should be. At least they weren't like flinching or anything. That's good, right?" I smiled. "It's hard to say, but I'm sure Harv will let you know if anything happens. " I held back a yawn. "I have a big story tomorrow, and now I have to write a review on one of my best friends, so we've got to go home."

Roz's face fell. "Oh no. I didn't even think of that. I shouldn't have done that to you. You can't write a review of me. I'm so sorry."

"Rozzie, calm a little. I wouldn't have encouraged you to do it if it was going to be a big deal. I just have to be careful not to let you influence what I write about you." She sighed. "Don't worry, you were the best one. By far." I gave her a hug. "Who knows, tonight may be how you get that big break you've been waiting for."

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