Honestly For You 5
"Hello? Meredith?"
Meredith's gaze ripped away from the image in the mirror and she looked
at Adrianne who was standing behind her looking at her with a worried
expression on her face. She hadn't known she'd been sitting there so
long, but she found when she looked up that the sandwich that Adrianne
had been eating was now almost gone. As Adrianne put the last little
piece in her mouth, she smiled.
Instead of speaking she grabbed up the cup of tea in front of her and
took a sip. She'd woken up feeling fine, but her throat had been feeling
raw and her head had begun to hurt just after her sound check. She
didn't know if it was a cold coming on or if it was nervous, but she was
praying that it didn't turn into laryngitis before the night was through.
She downed half a cup in almost one drink. It was cooler now,
being that it had been sitting out for so long, but the lemon and the honey
would still work. "Yeah?"
"You got lost there for a second," Adrianne said.
Her voice stuck in her throat so she took another sip. Her eyes
slid to the mirror again, this time concentrating on the way that her hair
had been styled. Before she'd been staring at her eyes, noticing how
they didn't look like her's anymore. They were dramatic with deep
lines and enough glitter for three people. This time it was the curls
that had caught her attention. She'd sat earlier in curlers feeling
like an alien, but she felt more out of this world with the curly hair than
with the contraptions in her hair. She knew that things were going to
turn out ok and that the dramatics were going to be worth it, but staring
at herself looking this glamorous was making her feel strange.
"I'm fine."
"Clearly you aren't," Adrianne came around and stood between the mirror
and the director's chair she was sitting in. Her friend was standing
there in jeans and a t-shirt and a jacket. She looked comfortable
with her hair in a pony tail and normal make up on, something that Meredith
wished she could have. "What's wrong?"
"Justin hasn't called me," she said staring for a moment at the security
pass that her friend had plastered to the thigh of her jeans. She
thought that it was horrible that her best friend had to wear a pass to
see her. She'd always felt strange about having to wear one for Justin,
but she'd put up with it because she was dating him, but to have her friends
go through that, being on the other side now, made her feel strange. "I
wish he'd call me before I go on."
"Awe girl," she said and leaned and took her hand. She swung
it back and forth. "You're just nervous. Don't worry...things
are gonna be ok. Maybe he went over to JC's or something and they're
working and he lost track of time. You know how he gets."
"Yes." She started to hear her own breathing and she knew she
was becoming paranoid when it didn't come out right. She should have
been breathing on the four counts not every other count. When she
started to think about timing she started to think about the song that she
was starting out with and forgot for a moment the set list that she planned
to use that night. Her eyes went wide and she grabbed for the sheet
of paper and ran over the names of the songs quickly before she said, "I
know. I know how he gets, but he told me he'd be here."
"You're gonna do great tonight girl." Addy took the piece of
paper away from her, probably due to the strained look on her face. "You're
a big pop star now. You don't need little old Justin--"
"I'm not a pop star," she said and took the paper back from her. She
felt like she was in school again and wanted to cheat by writing the set
list on her arm or shoe or something so she could cheat. "Or at least
I don't feel like one. I need Justin. He was the one who started
this--"
*****
"Five more minutes," he said.
"Justin," she said again.
"Five more minutes, Mere," he repeated not looking up from his work.
Before he knew what was happening Meredith was standing on the other
side of the glass from him, inside the studio.
"What are you doing?" he asked speaking into the microphone.
Meredith stepped up to the mic and spoke, "I'm gonna sing this because
you don't seem to be hearing me when I speak."
"I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to ignore you. I just said that
it was going to be five more minutes."
"That was almost an hour ago," she said pointing at the clock on the
wall behind him. "I know that you're busy with the new album and stuff
and I know that this is important, but your brothers have been in town since
yesterday and it's getting hard to be with those two and try to explain
that you're coming home soon."
"Fine," he said.
"Good," she said.
"Wait!"
Meredith stopped before she moved away from the microphone looking
as if she might hit into something or break something if she moved, "What?"
"Sing for me," he said.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"Sing for me Merebear," he said, "Please. It's my birthday."
"Oh no," she said, "Some of us are born for that kind of thing, but
this little songbird has no voice."
"Whatever you," he said, "Just sing for me."
"No," she said again.
"Please," he said and began to pout.
"You're not going to let this go are you?" she asked.
"No," he said and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Fine," she said.
"Ok," he said, "Just take the headphones off the stand, put them on
and I'll play the song and you sing."
"What?" she asked, "You aren't going to record this are you?"
"You sing Kareoke all the time at Joey's--"
"Hey, that wasn't my fault and that was only once--"
Justin held up two fingers.
"OK fine, two fingers, but I was drunk and I didn't mean to get that
into it."
"You were on the table," he said.
"Do you want me to sing or sit here and argue with you?" she asked.
"Hold on a second, I want to get these settings right."
"You're not going to show this to anyone are you?" she asked.
"Maybe," he said, "You never know when I might need to get a new job,"
he said.
"Is Pest a job description?" he asked.
"I'm gonna be a producer Merebear," he said, "And you're going to be
the next pop-star."
"Yeah right," she said rolling her eyes. "Don't hold your breath."
*****
"Meredith?"
This time it was a male voice that distracted her from her reflection.
For an instant she thought that it might be Justin, but after a
moment she saw movement in the mirror and her eyes slowly moved to the
spot in the mirror where she could see the door and found Dean leaning
in. He wore all black and had his headphones around his neck. "Yeah?"
"You've got a half hour," he said with his deep Boston accent. From
the deep rasp in his voice she could tell he'd been smoking that afternoon,
a habit that she'd teased him about earlier. He coughed. "Wendell
just went on and the band will be ready in about twenty."
Meredith swallowed the lump in her throat and sipped more tea. She
smiled for him and for her mother who was now watching her as well as
Lynn who was getting up to come over to her. "Thanks Dean."
He moved his headphones back onto his ears and winked at her. "No
trouble."
Taking a deep breath Meredith pushed herself from her chair and moved
across the room. She had on all her stage outfit except her t-shirt.
She walked over to the small couch that her father was currently occupying.
"I hate to make you guys leave, but I need to put my shoes on and
do my warm ups."
Lynn took over then switching from mother to manager. "It's ok
honey," she said, "I'll show your parents and Addy their seats and we'll
meet up with you tonight when you're done."
"Thanks Lynn," Meredith said with a shaky voice as she pulled the black
running shoes towards her. She would later change into heels, but
for the moment it was all about the running shoes. She had a dance
number the first two songs. "Hey Lynn, can you get Mari and Trina in
here?"
"Sure honey," she said.
"Can you tell Dean that we'll be out in a minute?"
"Sure."
[Honestly For You Index][[Thank Yous] []
(c) 1999-2002 Pit Pat
Productions
JLBFF pages are in no way directly connected with
NSYNC, Jive Records, WEG or FLEG.