Author: Priscilla
Chapter 3
The next day Gwen dragged Angel kicking and screaming to the studio with her. She introduced her to the band, especially Tony, her manager and everyone else that was remotely involved with No Doubt. Once Gwen was satisfied that she knew everyone, the band began their recording session. Angelica watched in fascination as Gwen transformed from crazy, unpredictable, and funny best friend to crazy, unpredictable and funny rockstar. She seemed to glow when she was on stage. A couple of hours later Angelica, Gwen and the guys went out to lunch. That turned out to be a completely weird trip.
"No wonder Gwen's so thin." Angel thought, 'Every time she tries to bite into something someone comes up asking for her autograph or a picture. It was pretty much the same for the rest of the band. After lunch the group split up for some time to relax before the party. The guys going home to catch some Z's and the girls went shopping for something to wear.
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Gavin Rossdale sat in the back room on Bush's tour bus. They were coming back from their year long tour in Europe and were very excited about finally getting home to their families and friends. Gavin stared at the piece of paper with his freshly written lyrics on it and shut his eyes against the sudden tightening in his chest. What had gone wrong? He and Alexis had been so in love and then out of the blue she tells him that she wants to see "new people". Cold's "Gone Away" blared from the portable CD player in the corner of the room, like it had been nonstop for the last couple days. Gavin couldn't help it; the words seemed to speak to him.
He only came out of the dark room when the bus stopped in front of their hotel. The guys were so lost as to what to say to him that they opted to say nothing at all as they each got their bags and checked into their rooms. Gavin ignored the weird looks his band mates were giving him. When he made it to his room he closed the door behind him and dialed the familiar number. No one picked up on the other end. Just then someone knocked on his door. Gavin opened it to find Nigel rubbing his head worriedly on the other side.
"Hey, Nigel." Gavin said in that monotone voice he'd been using lately.
"Hi Gavin, may I come in?" Nigel asked him. Always polite. Gavin nodded and moved aside to let him in, then sat on the edge of the bed and shrugged is shoulders.
"I talked to Gwen this morning." Nigel started. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say, but just having Gavin respond was a good sign right?
"Oh how is she?"
"Ahh, Alright I guess. She throwing a party later on tonight. We're all going and I was wondering of you wanted to come?" Gavin's forehead frowned as he thought it over slightly.
"I don't know---"
"C'mon Gavin. It's been almost a month, man. Let it go. I don't see Alexis moping around. You have to go out, meet new people." Gavin listening to Nigel and smiled to himself.
"You remind me of my father sometimes. Too fucking weird." Nigel stopped his ranting and gestured with his hands.
"So you'll come?" Gavin got up from the bed and patted Nigel on the shoulder.
"Sure, why the hell not?"
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"I don't know Gwen, I'm just not feeling up to a party right now." Angel said to her best friend as they walked into the house with about 4 bags full of new clothes each. Gwen had used what she called "valuable time" to try and talk Angel into attending that night's bash.
"C'mon Ang! You said you came here to meet new people. What better place to do that than at a party? Besides it's not like you'll be getting much sleep."
"Ok fine, I'll attend your "Bash of the Year." Angel said laughing at the puppy eyed look Gwen was giving her.
"Good cuz not only do we have to order the decorators around, but we have to figure out what to wear and get our make-up and hair done." Angel groaned out loud at the checklist. This was going to be hell. A few hours later the girls were done getting ready. Everything was in place. It was 9:43 p.m. and both Gwen and Angel were sitting outside on the patio waiting for their guests to arrive.
Title: Anything But Zen
Author: Priscilla
Chapter 4
A couple of hours later, Gwen's house was packed with people. Fellow musicians, actors, actresses, sports stars and music industry people were amongst the massive crowd. The music was blaring; the dance floor was an ocean of grooving bodies. Angel sighed and took a sip of her drink. Gwen had introduced her to almost all of the people there, but had run off a couple of minutes ago to play the gracious hostess to her arriving guests. Getting up from the table, she made her way through the crowd, stopping to say hello to the guys from No Doubt. They were awesome, could always make you laugh. Out on the terrace, Angel took a deep breath and looked out at the magnificent view of the hills.
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"Hey guys! I'm so glad you could make it." Gwen said excitedly when she spotted the guys of Bush. Gavin forced a smile on his face, he really wasn't feeling up to any of this, but he didn't want to make Gwen feel bad either, he knew both her and Nigel's actions were with the best intentions.
"Wouldn't miss it love." Nigel chimed in when Gavin took a little too long to answer. She was about to say something else when someone in the crowd called her name. Gwen turned to see Tony waving her over. They probably had another dirty joke to share.
"Well, duty calls guys but make sure to have fun." She turned as if to walk away and then turned back to Nigel and pointed to Gavin.
"Make sure he has fun too ok?" Nigel nodded his head yes and Gavin gave him a look. Nigel pretended not to notice as he looked around. He turned back to Gavin and pointed to the bar.
"I'm going to get a drink, you want one?" Gavin shook his head in response.
"No I think I'm going to go outside for a while."
"Ok just......try to have some fun tonight." Nigel said in his best fatherly tone. God, Gavin hated when he did that but he smiled nonetheless as he made his way through the throng of people on the dance floor and onto the terrace overlooking the city. That was one of the many things he liked about the house. He took a deep breath and turned his head a little to the side.
The corner of his eye caught a hint of yellow. No blonde. Hair. Gavin looked at the woman on the other side of the terrace. She had her arms wrapped around her slender frame, almost as if she was cold, but that wasn't possible due to the 78 degrees this night had fallen to. She looked so lost that Gavin took the couple of steps that separated them, hoping to at least take the girl's mind off her problems.
"Beautiful isn't it?" He asked, looking out at the view and then at the girl. Angel looked to the man standing next to her with startled eyes. She hadn't even heard him come up next to her. Somehow she found a smile to match his and shook her head.
"Yeah, it is."
"It's one of the many things I love about this place. Gwen has a certain decorative flair." Gavin said trying his best to do what everyone probably thought he should have done a long time ago. Move on, meet new people.
"You know Gwen?"
"Yes, we met on tour back in 96. We've been friends ever since. I'm Gavin by the way." He extended his hand to hers. Angel had probably never been so attracted to anyone up front before. In the few moments that he'd been out here with her, Gavin had managed to make her feel completely at ease. That seemed to be a big deal lately.
"I'm Angel. Well, Angelica actually but my friends call me Angel." She was blabbering and she wanted to slap herself. Gavin smiled slightly as he watched her. He didn't know why, but he had the sudden urge to learn everything he could about this blonde haired, blue eyed, perfectly shaped rosy lipped.......Ok, he was getting carried away. But she was beautiful. Gavin snapped out of his daze suddenly and actually formed coherent words.
"Want to go for a walk?" Angel was taken a little aback by his forwardness but found herself saying �yes� anyway. They snuck out the kitchen door and started following the walkways of the large estate. Gwen loved the outdoors, anything having to do with nature, so she had a huge gazebo type garden a few yards behind the pool house.
�So tell me about Angel.� Gavin said as they walked around the expertly mazed walkways of the garden. Angel smiled, there was something about Gavin. Something very calm and reserved, maybe even guarded.
�Well, I grew up in Orlando Florida. Parents hate each other, aren�t divorced but might as well be. Both too wrapped up in their own worlds to realize or care that I needed them. I moved to Manhattan New York when I turned 18 and began my writing career. I wrote two best seller novels and worked part time as a columnist for Entertainment Weekly magazine during my two years there. That�s how I met Gwen; I did an article on No Doubt. I moved back home a couple of months ago thinking that I could start over with my family and stuff. I ended up breaking up with my boyfriend and being disowned by my father. Now, I�ve got no job, no money but what I�ve got on me and I�m living with Gwen.�
Gavin couldn�t help but laugh at the way she told her story and realized it was the first time he�d done that in weeks.