I have to say this is one party I�m pretty happy about attending. For whatever reason I was in the mood to have a good time, I looked over and held her hand and smiled, maybe it was because Colleen was with me,
�Are you ok?� She smiled nervously and nodded,
�Yeah, just a little nervous.� It took a long time to convince her to come to this party with me but after her dad said she should do it she agreed. He sided with me, that she needed to get out and have fun; there was no reason why she shouldn�t come out and have a good time; she worked hard. She complained about everything from not having anything to wear to not being able to afford to come to New York from Boston. I took care of all of that, I paid for the ticket and I paid for the dress. I sent her to Sak�s Fifth Avenue and told her to get whatever she wanted. I had our tour manager handle the issue of paying, one of the perks of being a pop star was having people do for you; might as well take advantage of it. Kevin smiled at her,
�You look great. You�ll be fine.� She looked amazing; she was wearing a pale yellow dress that came just above her knees and the bracelet that I gave her that matched perfectly with the color of the dress. Howie chimed in,
�Yeah, like Cinderella.� I smiled at them, thankful that they were making her feel so comfortable and relaxed. Pollyanna nodded her head,
�The dress is so nice.� Ugh, there�s that undeniable urge to gnaw my leg off and escape. She annoyed the heck out of me and it wouldn�t be so bad if Howie didn�t insist on her being his permanent date to every function possible. Colleen smiled,
�Thank you. I was so nervous I was going to get the wrong dress. The saleswoman was so nice though. She was the one that picked it out.� I know everyone was surprised that a girl like Colleen was hanging out with me. If it were last year she probably wouldn�t want to hang out with me and I wouldn�t bother to hang out with her. In fact, I would have avoided any girl at all cost if she wasn't willing to give me what I wanted. They still think that she and I are an item but I�ve given up on trying to prove to them that Colleen was just a friend. We pulled up to the party and I leaned over to her,
�It�s going to be ok. Just smile and stay next to me as we�re walking. Occasionally the guys and I are going to have to take pictures, just hang back with Pollyanna. But remember you�re always on; cameras are everywhere so they�ll get your picture. I�m going to step out then you come out behind me and I�ll escort you ok?� She nodded and it seemed like my pep talk only made her more nervous,
�You belong here. You look amazing.� She licked her lips and nodded,
�Ok.� She was breathing hard and I hoped she didn't pass out or anything. I looked up and caught Kevin�s eyes and he winked at me and nodded. I smiled, I knew he was impressed with my talk I had with Colleen. I�m not a complete dud I don�t know why they think I can�t handle things. I�ve been doing this just as long as they have. The door opened and Kevin stepped out, followed by Howie, Pollyanna and then myself. I turned and held my hand out and there was a second when I wasn�t sure whether she was going to come out but her tiny hand fell in mine and I gently pulled her towards me. I smiled as she looked at me and I leaned down,
�Relax, breathe and have fun with it.� She nodded and we followed behind the others. The cameras flashed and I looked at her,
�You better smile or I�m going to tickle you on the red carpet.� She shook her head and smiled as she looked up at me,
�Much better.� Of course since I was one of the fifty most beautiful, I can�t get over that, everyone wanted to talk to me,
�Nick, how does it feel to be on the list?� I laughed,
�I feel like a fake. I�m waiting on someone to say, �hey, he�s not supposed to be on here.�� I was so animated I needed to tell myself to calm down. It was at the point now where these things really didn't intimidate me anymore; you just have to have fun with it. I looked over at Colleen and I could tell she was awed with the way I was handling it all. One of our other publicists, Daniel I think his name was, let them have two more questions before pulling me away. Colleen and Pollyanna hung behind the guys and me as we posed for pictures but a couple shots were of all five of us lined up. I told Daniel to make sure he got a copy of those; I wanted to send them to Colleen. Before, I would never have thought of something like that, but like I�ve said, I�ve done a lot of growing up.
We entered into the party and Colleen yelled to me over the music,
�You were great out there.� I smiled,
�Thanks, you get used to it.� She looked around and her eyes were wide with admiration,
�Is there anyone you want to meet?� She looked at me and shook her head,
�I don�t know. No one.� I laughed,
�There has to be someone. We�ll see, I�ll introduce you to someone.� We headed through the crowd and soon Howie and Kevin were off chatting to people they knew,
�Kevin and Howie are the big time celebrities, they know more people than me. Maybe I�ll have them introduce you to someone.� She laughed,
�I�ll have fun with you I don�t need to meet anyone.� I nodded and smiled as we walked around. All fifty members on the list had their pictures blown up and they were hanging on the walls,
�Wow Nick, your picture looks good.� I frowned slightly,
�It�s ok I guess.� She laughed,
�That picture is great. What do you mean you guess?� I shrugged; my picture had been taken so many times it was probably in the millions. Taking pictures didn't even bother many anymore. Long ago, as shallow as it may sound I stood in the mirror and knew every pose, expression and smile that looked best on me. I suddenly remembered I hadn�t commented on the bracelet,
�The bracelet looks great with the dress, it matches completely.� She held her arm out and looked at it,
�I took it with me to the store. I wanted a dress that I could wear the bracelet with.� I smiled; that kind of blew me away. For her to think of the gift I gave her and want to be able to wear it tonight while we were together; she was just a sweetheart to me and I couldn�t get over how good she was.
�I wish my dad and my brother could see me right now, I never dress up.� I grabbed a couple of glasses of champagne and handed her one,
�The photographer will be sending some to us, so you can have them. And not to mention the pictures will be on the internet.� She smiled,
�I�ll have to find them so I can send the link to my brother, he�s going to be shocked.� I was glad she was going to have something nice to remember and share with her family. This was so exciting to her; I shook my head, so many times I considered all this stuff work but I was going to have a fun carefree time tonight and I was going to make sure Colleen had a blast too. She sipped the champagne and her face did the same funny expression when we were in the club. I laughed,
"Do you drink at all?" She smiled at me and shook her head,
"Not really." I took the glass from her,
"You don't have to drink for me. Let's find you a Coke or something." She nodded as I took her hand and looked back at her,
"Hold on." She nodded and held my hand tighter as we manuevered through the crowd.
Chapter 46
Stranger Than Fiction
Stories
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