Chapter 49: Their First Interview Lauralee woke up to the sound of her alarm ringing at 6am.  Groaning, she turned off the alarm and carefully turned around to Alex, who was still sound asleep.  She slowly got up, trying not to wake him.  She then felt her hand being enclosed by his. “Where are you going?” “Morning baby,” she whispered as she kissed his forehead.  “Where you going?” “Riley set up an interview for the local R& B station.  Felt it would be good timing.”  She started to get up and Alex pulled on her hand.  “Alex.” “Come on, just a few minutes more.” “Hey now, I never protested when you had to do one of these things.” “I’m not you,” Alex’s eyes barely opened.  “Please?” “OK, 5 minutes.”  She crawled back into bed, trying to keep her eyes open.  “OK, time’s up.”  Alex groaned as she rolled out of bed and went into the shower.  ~*~ Bleary-eyed, she joined the others, yawning away in the lobby.  “Hey all.” “Hey,” said Veronica, rubbing her eyes.  “All ready?” “Think so, I think Alex was a little mad though.” “So was Kev,” Laura stifled a yawn.  “We didn’t get much… sleep last night.” “I figured that much,” Lauralee yawned again.  “Jesus where’s Riley?” “Here I am,” Riley said carrying a newspaper, awake as ever.  “Good morning!” “I hate morning people,” Bianca grumbled. “Get used to it,” Riley said as Bianca gave him a dirty look.  “Besides, I think you’ll like what you read.”  He gave them the Chicago Tribune.  Scrolled on the front page towards the bottom was the headline “Elegance Finally Revealed on Oprah show- surprises All,” along with a still frame of them from the show. “Holy shit, the front page!” Elizabeth looked on as they read the first lines.  “A musical mystery was revealed yesterday as the mysterious group Elegance finally revealed their faces to the public on a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show.  It was also revealed that the members—Lauralee, Laura, Bianca, Elizabeth and Veronica—are also the girlfriends of the chart-busting group Backstreet Boys.”  The article went on to say the same stuff about how it was kept a secret and what Lauralee and Laura had said about their reasons why. “Geez,” Veronica said slowly. “The radio station is thrilled to be the first for the interview,” Riley added.  “So we should get going.” ~*~ The girls arrived in a van outside of CFLZ where they were surprised by… “Oh my God, there are people outside!” Elizabeth looked out the window. “Already?” Bianca squealed. The girls got out of the van to people screaming.  They all waved and people were trying to touch them. “Go ahead, meet your fans,” Riley smiled. The girls went up to the crowd and said hello.  They held out papers and pens, and the girls signed autographs. “I love your song!” one girl said. “I can’t wait to get the album!” “Good for you to get out and do your thing!” Riley motioned for the girls to come inside, where the girls waved goodbye to the crowd and went inside.  They all went into the green room, and were treated to breakfast.  The program manager came in, introduced himself and congratulated them. “We’re all excited to meet y’all today, we just got your bios this morning,” the program manager said.  “Interesting stuff.” “Thanks,” smiled Lauralee. “Come on, I’ll show you all inside.  Just stand at you places, put the headphones on and they’ll interview you.” The girls were led inside to a radio studio, where they said hello to the 3 DJ’s at the microphones: Ed Jackson, Tyrone Belfred, and Tina Watson.  Ed flipped a switch.  “That was Joe on CFLZ, the Windy City’s Hottest R & B station.  Now we got some ladies here who have finally come out of the closet yesterday on the Oprah show.  Ladies and gentlemen, here is Elegance!” The three DJ’s clapped as the girls smiled.  “Hey Chicago!” the girls said in unison. “So, ladies, here I was watching the Oprah show yesterday, where the Backstreet Boys were on the dial, and don’t get me wrong, we love the Backstreet Boys here, although we really don’t play their music.   Anyway, they all of a sudden said that Elegance was premiering on the show, so I was glued to the screen, because we have been getting a big response from you guys.  But, I have to be honest, I was surprised that you were… how do I say this…” Tina searched for the words. “Oh Geez, let me say it,” Ed interrupted.  “She was surprised you were white.” “Go ahead Ed, put it bluntly,” Tyrone laughed. “Well, we wanted to get to the point,” Ed explained. “No that’s OK, we were waiting for that,” Lauralee laughed. “So, why did you hide yourselves?  Is that one of the reasons?” Tyrone asked. “Well, like I said on the show, people make the assumption that if you’re white, you sing pop, and if you’re black, you sing R & B.  It’s not something that you would like to hear, but it’s realistic.  When we came out with the single, we just wanted people to accept the song, for, y’ know, what it was an R&B song.  We didn’t want people to label us; we wanted to let the song be the judge, not our color.” “Right on,” Tina laughed. “I’m just glad that someone finally brought up that point,” Tyrone agreed.  “You ladies definitely proved it.  So when’s the album coming out?” “July 6th, so we hope that everyone buys it,” Bianca said. “Is it reflective of what you were trying to accomplish?” asked Ed. “I think so,” Lauralee answered.  “I wrote two songs on the album, and played the track for one of them.  The songs aren’t the typical ‘squeaky-clean’ stuff.  They have edge, sexiness to them.  We’re all young women, so we’re not trying to be like other groups out there who just make sappy love songs.  We wanted to show we weren’t a bunch of lovesick puppies.” “Good to hear that,” Ed said.  “Let’s take some calls.” The girls answered some calls from fans, some asking about the secret, some about the guys, and some basic stuff, like where they’re from. “Alright, one thing before we go,” Tyrone asked.  “Can you do a little a cappella for us?” “I think we can accommodate you on that,” Elizabeth smiled.  “A little chorus of ‘The Roof?’” “1, 2, 3,” began Lauralee. Every time I feel the need I envision you caressing me And go back in time To relive the splendor of you and I On the rooftop that rainy night The DJ’s clapped as Tyrone said, “Girls, we all wish you the best of luck, and please come back and drop us a line.” “Will do,” Veronica said.  “We’ll be right back with more on the CFLZ Morning Show.  Thank you Elegance for coming!” Ed flipped the switch to the commercial.  “Thank you ladies.  You were very comfortable.” “Thanks,” Bianca smiled as the DJ’s shook their hands. They left the studio where Riley was waiting.  “You girls were great!” “God was I nervous,” Veronica held up her shaking hands. “You’ll get used to it,” Riley laughed.  “Come on, we got to get going.” Chapter 50 Contents Chapter 48