Kevin picked up the cell phone and stared at it intently, trying to remember what time it would be in California at 12:45 a.m. in Indiana. He mumbled to himself. "So it would be 9:45. Is that too late to call?" He started to dial, but paused and sighed, debating the pros and cons in his head. "Tori, Tori, Tori," he said, as if she were in the room with him. "You're gonna barbecue my ass for all this."
Tori was quite successful in her job of promoting the Boys. But she was also very intolerant of situations she referred to as "potential." If there was potential for bad press, then they'd damn well better not be IN the situation, period. She had been the one to caution the Boys against openly partying with the dancers in Europe. But AJ and Nick did not heed her warning. Thus, the huge photo spread and story on their escapades in the seedy magazine, "Bravo," -- just one of many "potentials" to come to fruition. And now, here they were in an even BIGGER "potential," throwing caution to the wind once again. She would NOT be happy.
Kevin sighed again and shrugged. He jumped in surprise when the cell phone unexpectedly rang in his hand. He hesitated to answer it, knowing it would either spell a catastrophe at the bowling alley, or... he pressed the button to accept the call. "Hello?"
"Kevin? Where are you?" Tori's urgent voice demanded.
"Tori?" he asked, hoping to ward off the urgency in her voice.
"Uhhh, yea-ah?! How many other women call you on this phone in the middle of the night?" she replied, not to be swayed. "It sounds quiet. Aren't you at the bowling alley?"
Kevin smiled, even though he dreaded answering her. He didn't know HOW she did it, but she could track them anywhere. "Uh, no, I'm not."
"So who's at the bowling alley?" she demanded.
"The fellas are," he answered, obediently, before prodding for information. "So how did you know about the bowling alley?"
"Oh, Kevin," she snapped. "Mike calls me today and tells me about your little excursion, says he's a little concerned because the details were vague, etcetera etcetera. So I spend the rest of the day calling around and FINALLY get a hold of Nick's LOVELY mother. Well, you KNOW how much I love talking to her?" Tori paused momentarily, waiting for Kevin to agree.
"Yes," he cleared his throat. "Yes, I do."
She continued. "FINALLY, she gives up this Kenneth guy's phone number. Well, I call there tonight, and Kenneth's not there, so I spend 45 minutes on the phone with a lovely woman named Anne."
"Yeah, I know Anne," Kevin inserted to let her know he was listening. Tori hated it when she couldn't tell if they were listening to her or not – especially Nick, who would tune her out at will.
Tori sighed loudly for emphasis. "Now, I just want to know if there's anything you'd like to share with me about this whole situation in Indiana? Anything at all, feel free to share it with me.
Kevin's mind raced as he debated on whether to cover up the absolute truth with vagueness or just spill it all. "DAMN!", he thought. He didn't know what Anne had told her. "Uh, well.... uh." He almost started laughing out of nervousness, because he knew they were busted.
"That's what I thought," interrupted Tori before he could conjure up a full sentence. "This is what I know, okay, and you can stop me anytime you want to tell me I'm wrong."
Kevin sat back on the couch and smiled to himself. Tori's approach was always less than subtle, but it was so amusing to him at times he couldn't help but enjoy her spiels when she was irritated.
"Are you listening?" she asked, persistently.
"Yes. I'm all ears," he answered with sarcasm, trying to contain an audible laugh.
"God, don't mock me," she responded, sharply, before continuing. "You don't pay me enough to take your abuse. Now let me get this straight. You guys DROVE in ONE vehicle from Kentucky to Indiana?"
"Correct," he replied.
"THEN," she added, "you hooked up in Indiana with Angela, Nick's girlfriend of the week."
"Sorta," Kevin inserted, feeling bad that Angela was referred to in such a way.
"SORTA?" Tori repeated. "Either you did or you didn't."
"Okay, we DID," he clarified reluctantly.
Tori's tone didn't change, but by now Kevin KNEW she knew everything, and he was waiting for the hammer to fall. "THEN, some brilliant mind of the bunch - AJ, I'm guessing - decides to add Angela's friends Kim Ann and Sandra to the mix?"
Amidst his awe at her knack for remembering people's names after only hearing them once, Kevin interrupted her. He didn't want to tell her it was he who had suggested the other girls, but he felt an obligation to tell the truth. "Tori, it was me."
A long silence fell on the other end of the phone before Tori responded softly, the disappointment in her voice expressed loud and clear in a single syllable. "Oh." Another long pause passed as Tori chose her words carefully and Kevin prepared for the bite. "You know I count on you to be the voice of sanity and reason when I'm not around." Another long pause passed before Tori concluded at such a low volume, that Kevin could barely hear her. "How could you do this to me?"
Tori's words stung his ears and Kevin resigned to the fact that she was absolutely justified. Why had he even suggested such an insane thing? It had only caused problems and created the party atmosphere she was assuming it had. But the worst part was the personalization of her last question: How could you do this to ME?
"Tori," Kevin answered back, softly. "We needed the help. It wasn't anything to do with you. It was a quick way to resolve the problem."
"How's that?" Tori snapped angrily. "By creating MULTIPLE problems?!?"
"I know it looks bad," Kevin argued, still softly, "but it really seemed like the best alternative at the time I made the decision." He could tell Tori was still not satisfied with his reasoning, but a non-reply at this point was a good thing. She was capable of arguing for an hour over one "potential" alone.
The silence lasted what seemed like an eternity before Tori spoke again. "Well, I really don't want to get into all this right now. I'm packing and we'll discuss it later."
"Packing?!" Kevin asked, surprised.
"Why yes, packing," she replied smugly. He could tell by her voice that she was now smiling on the other end of the telephone. "After five minutes on the phone with Anne, I started rescheduling things in my mind." She laughed. "You didn't really think I'd leave you guys alone to work through this by yourselves did you? I thought you knew me better than that. God, if I stay out of the picture much longer, the damage could end up being irreparable."
It was Kevin's turn to be silent. He would have some major damage control to do before morning, which meant he would have to be awake when the others got back from the bowling alley.
"Uh, hello? Are you still there? Is this thing on?" Tori tapped on her receiver, causing an irritating thump in Kevin's best ear.
"Uh, yeah, I'm, uh, rescheduling things in MY mind, so to speak," he replied.
"Good," said Tori. "That tells me that things are all ready starting to get back on track." She pondered her next question in her mind, analyzing appropriateness, before asking. "So...don't you think it might be nice to have someone to share the 'adult' part of the mayhem with?"
Kevin relaxed and sat back, smiling. THIS was the part of the conversation with Tori he had been hoping for. "Oh yes, it's been pretty stressful today. I think it's because I'm tired."
"Tired?!" she scoffed. "Do you want MY current schedule? You guys are on Easy Street this week compared to me. And now you're adding further to the demise of my social life."
Kevin laughed, even though he felt a bit guilty because of the truth in her statement. "I know, I know. But you would not BELIEVE the conversation I had with Anne's husband earlier."
"Well there's a nice segue, Kev. What does this have to do with my social life?"
"Nothing," said Kevin. "I just thought of it."
"You had a conversation with Kenneth?" Tori asked. She preferred names rather than references when discussing clients or other people.
"Yes, Kenneth." Kevin made a mental note, "Whoops -- gotta remember to use the name thing." "I think he told me his life story, Tori. He doesn't know me from Adam and he's telling me all this, this personal stuff. It was weird."
Warnings were going off in Tori's head. She was highly suspicious of newcomers around her Boys. It always ended up seeming that somebody wanted something from them. Nick was the most naïve of the group about such things, but Kevin had been caught a few times. And it sounded to her as if Kenneth wanted something. "Now why would he spill his guts to you, of all people? Doesn't that strike you as odd? He must want something."
Kevin laughed and rolled his eyes. "Tori, you ALWAYS think somebody wants something when they talk to us. Don't you think that maybe he just needed to talk to someone and I just happened to be here?"
Without hesitation, Tori answered him. "No. I think he's angry because a Backstreet Boy kissed his wife and sent her to heaven and there's a picture to prove it. Who knows?," she continued, warding off a protest from Kevin, "he could be scoping out a rag mag story by pouring his soul out to you. He could have been trying to get personal information about YOU to use against you."
"SHIT!" Kevin thought to himself, angry that the conversation was back to business again and that Anne had told Tori about the picture. "You know, Tori, you're too paranoid. He was just worried about his daughter and wanted to know why she liked us so much, so fast."
"I'll tell you why she liked you guys so much so fast," said Tori. "It's because you've got Nick hanging all over her, she's a Goddess to her friends because she knows the Backstreet Boys, AJ handed her a credit card and told her to go quote-unquote SHOPPING, and now, she's out at a bowling alley getting drunk with all of 'em, probably taking down notes for the big tell-all! I'll tell you what, Kevin, I'm NOT happy about all this! It's gonna get outta control. And you KNOW it's going to look like it was MY fault!"
Kevin's temper was simmering now, too. His first inclination was to hang up on her at this point, but he remembered the time that AJ had done that, and he wasn't about to go through the hell that he had gone through for the next few months after. "You're exaggerating greatly," he said as calmly as possible, trying not to show his anger. "The situation isn't near as bad as you think it is. Her friends are far from treating her like a Goddess. In fact, they've been downright rude to her. All she bought with the credit card was the necessities discussed beforehand, and she really doesn't seem like the type to write for a rag mag."
"And neither did that girl in Italy!" Tori said sharply, decisively.
Kevin snapped. "Now that is just COMPLETE and UTTER bullshit, Tori, that you're bringing that up again! It happened MONTHS ago. I'm tired of having that thrown in my face every time we disagree on something like this."
Tori's end of the phone was silent now. Kevin regretted yelling at her immediately. He knew the Italy "potential" had hurt her professionally, but he suspected it might have hurt her personally, as well. She would never dare mention the personal part to him, but he wasn't an idiot. He felt she was bothered by something more than just the public relations implications. But yet he remained confused. Maybe he was reading something that wasn't really there. Maybe he was on an ego trip. Their conversations amidst all the hype of the incident were entirely professional with no friendly banter and had remained so up until a month ago when the wounds started healing. Softly, he said, "I'm sorry."
Surprisingly, Tori's voice showed regret as well, for having brought it up. "I'm sorry, too. I just don't want to have to deal with a big backlash from all of this because you guys decided to help someone out. It just chaps my hide when people take advantage of the fame and fortune to try to make a buck off it all, not caring who they hurt to do it."
"I know. I know," Kevin agreed. "But we always come out okay. There'd have to be something really terrible to knock us that far down."
"That terrible thing is what keeps me awake at night. I hope to never meet it," she said. "I don't know how much more 'spin control' I have left?"
Tori resumed the professional part of the conversation again. "Just so you're prepared, I'm going to have all parties sign a written agreement that they will not and can not write about this week in any way shape or form, or post their pictures of you on the internet -- especially the kissing pictures. Kevin, I just have to ask you, what in the HELL were you guys thinking?"
"What the hell did that woman TELL you?" Kevin asked, shocked that Tori knew so much about what had gone on earlier.
"Where do you want me to begin?" Tori asked, firmly. "Nick's the one I'm worried about the most. You know he's not thinking clearly with all the 'Poor me, I'm fat and not as good looking and nobody loves me' crap he's been dishing out lately. I'm concerned about this Angela and what her motives are. I don't want him to be ridiculed, Kevin. He's vulnerable and our primary responsibility is to make sure he's at the top of his game. You should be watching out for him better."
Kevin was amazed at how Tori viewed the world compared to others. Her skepticism seemed harsh at times, but there were times when she'd prevented major fiascoes. And there were also times when her warnings were not heeded by other members of the PR group and they'd blown up just like she'd warned. But this time, Kevin truly felt she had nothing to worry about. "Tori, you have to trust me on this one. Angela has been wonderful for Nick. She laughs at his jokes, she defends him against AJ, and-"
"Is that walking inkblot harassing Nicky again?" demanded Tori. "What part of 'knock it off' does he not understand? I told him two weeks ago to knock it off!"
"Well, yes, but Nick took care of it," Kevin said, trying to be vague.
"What do you mean, 'Nick took care of it'?" she prodded.
"They got into an argument and AJ decided it was in his best interest to stop." Kevin was proud at how little information he was supplying, yet not lying necessarily.
"So, what, Nick kicked his ass? What?" Tori wasn't satisfied.
Kevin elaborated, reluctantly. He was glad he didn't know what had taken place inside the house between AJ and Nick, so he wouldn't have to go into great detail about it. He felt this whole discussion was so high-schoolish and intrusive. "All I know is they kind of wrestled around and Nick got mad and went into the house. AJ followed him and I honestly don't know what took place in there, but AJ was sorry. That's all I know. WE let him know we weren't going to put up with it anymore and he got the hint."
Tori was quiet, obviously analyzing the situation Kevin had just shared with her. "So what you're telling me is that Nick and AJ got in a fight in front of the girls, right?"
Kevin sighed and thought to himself, ’How did she do that? How did she always read between the lines?' "Tori," he quietly argued, "I really don't want to fight about things anymore. It wasn't a bad situation and it took care of itself. It's over. There was no harm done. If anything, it brought a little bit of unity that's been missing between Nick and AJ lately."
Tori gave up. She was tired and still had a lot of packing to do. She too had hoped for a more personal conversation, but it was totally against her personality to put pleasure before business. She would talk to Kevin tomorrow after everyone's initial shock at her arrival. "I'll trust you, Kev. Do you hear me? I'm TRUSTING you on some of these issues -- it's your career. If you guys want to live dangerously in the public eye, that's your business. But if you want to make sure you come out smelling like roses, then that's mine. I'm not just going to let it drop here. I can't. It wouldn't be responsible. I'll nail the other guys to the wall tomorrow."
"A-ha!" thought Kevin, grateful for a vague timeframe for her arrival. "So you're arriving in the morning?" he asked, hoping for a set time.
Tori's tone became mischievous. She knew Kevin would love to know her arrival time so he could fully prepare everyone. It made her feel good to have that much influence on her Boys' behaviors. "Yes, in the morning -- or maybe early afternoon."
Kevin laughed. "You're not telling me when, are you?"
"Nope," she said laughing back at him. "Try to help everyone keep their clothes on until I get there. I DON'T want to arrive to learn that my worst nightmare has come true. Some things should just be private. And besides, I don't want your images tarnished any more by dumb lust. Got it?"
"We'll behave," Kevin answered. "I know... your Boys come first."
"Yes," she said. "You do."
There was an awkward silence after that. Kevin was sure the "you do" comment was directed entirely at him and he suddenly wanted to tell her he missed her and couldn't wait to see her. But he knew it wouldn't go over well on the telephone. In person, she was less apt to scold him for such things. He decided instead to fish around for information on the other taboo subject. "So, what does Rick think about you coming to Indiana for four days?"
Tori chuckled sarcastically yet sadly, shocked that he'd dare ask such a question. "He really doesn't care, Kevin. You know that. He doesn't care about much, actually. As long as he can tell his friends about his wife representing teen idols and rock stars, he's happy. Everything else is just......well......"
Another awkward silence -- Kevin didn't know what to say to that. It only depressed him to think that someone had such a strong, talented, and genuinely dedicated woman for a companion and couldn't even see it enough to show the least bit of appreciation.
"Well," Tori said, interrupting his thoughts. "I really do have to finish packing. I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning. Probably around 10 a.m. or so."
Kevin laughed. "Wow! I guess you really DON'T want to see any incriminating evidence, if you're telling me when you'll get here."
"You know it!" she replied.
"I'll see you then, Tori," Kevin said softly.
"Yeah," she said softly back. "Good night, Kevin."
"Good night," he replied. He turned the phone off after she hung up
and sat there staring at it, wondering WHY - why were all these
thoughts and feelings about a colleague running through him? And how
was he going to deal with it?
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