"Good Morning, Miss Matthews. You have two messages waiting for you on your desk; one is from Miss Martinez and the other is from David Johnson. There are several contracts awaiting your signature as well. And the Backstreet Boys are waiting for you in conference room 2."
"Already?"
"They’re half an hour early, but I thought it best to leave them in there instead of the waiting room until you got here."
"Good thinking. Great, now I have to hurry."
"Relax, take your time. I’ve already served them coffee and made them well aware that they’re very early. They didn’t seem to care so I suppose that they’re at your disposal."
"Thanks, Lucy. What would I ever do without you?"
"Drown in a sea of papers, shoot the phone, destroy a couple thousand computers…"
Indigo rolled her eyes, "I get the point. You can tell them that I’ll be there in a few minutes."
She entered her office as soon as she saw Lucy heading off toward the conference room. She returned the calls that had already accumulated and perused over a few of the contracts while having her morning cup of coffee. By the time she looked her watch, her half hour was just about up. Indigo realized that she hadn’t really thought about her decision, but as she said before, she burned that bridge when she got to it. After checking her schedule, she scribbled a few notes down on a piece of paper, and paper and coffee in hand, she walked to conference room number 2, said a quick prayer for strength and courage, and opened the door.
There sat 5 seemingly anxious Backstreet Boys. Nick was fiddling with a pen, AJ was toying with the hem of his shirt, Howie tossed his sunglasses back and forth between his hands, Kevin turned his now empty cup of coffee and Brian bit his nails and looked at his watch. It took everything she had in her not to laugh. They were just as nervous as she was, and the thought soothed her considerably.
"Good morning," she said brightly, "I hear that you boys have been waiting for me for quite some time."
Howie grinned sheepishly as he stood to greet her with a welcome hug. "It’s good to see you," he whispered in her ear. Her smile brightened notably.
"Well, I won’t mince words with you because I’m sure you have other business to attend to. I’ve come to a decision about working with you."
Brian turned to her, "And?"
"And, I’ve decided that I will." She paused a moment to gauge their reactions. Nick was doing a pitiful job of trying to hide his disappointment, Brian, Kevin, and Howie were outrightly happy and AJ’s face remained a cool exterior. "On a few conditions."
"Oh, here we go," she heard Nick mumble.
"What are they?" Kevin asked.
"First: I work Monday to Thursday, 8am-5pm, no exceptions. You either fit into that schedule or you don’t."
Brian nodded, "Done. What else?"
"Second: The song must be written by one of you, and each of you must play an instrument."
Howie’s smile broadened, "Great! Anything else?"
She sneaked a glance at Nick, "Third: Each of you must agree to this collaboration."
Kevin looked in the same direction, "We’ll work on it. That all?"
"Just one more. Fourth: This is a democracy. Everyone has a right to their opinion. If you think it stinks, say so, but don’t be exasperating about it. If you have a suggestion, voice it, but don’t be too imposing about it. Above all, listen & observe. Not just to everyone else, but yourself as well. Are we agreed?"
"Sounds good."
"Good. I suggest you all stay here to discuss it between yourselves. You can leave a message for me with Lucy and if you decide to go ahead with the project, be sure to ask her for a studio appointment."
"Thanks, Indigo."
"Not a problem. I hope I’ll see all of you soon," she said as she turned to the door and left.
AJ let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding, "She’s gonna do it. She’s really gonna do it."
"On a few conditions," Nick mimicked.
"Nick, buddy, love you like I love myself, but you are in serious need of some maturity and professionalism right now," Brian chastised.
"You are not two years old, you may not throw temper tantrums at will. You were just as excited to work with her as the rest of us, what happened to you?"
"I found out who she really was. I don’t see how any of you can let this go so easily. Without even so much as an explanation."
"You have no more right to an explanation than I do," AJ announced.
"And you have every right to one! Do you see it? Don’t any of you see it? We have history with her. And all the professionalism in the world can’t make one of you forget that. If anything, it only makes things worse. What’s to say she won’t leave again? Her track record isn’t exactly stellar. Can you guarantee that she won’t drop us and run away like she did before? And this time she doesn’t even have the romance factor to keep her interested. God forbid she gets bored, damn the song, she’ll be off and running like MC Hammer after a welfare check."
AJ jumped from his seat, having heard more than he could bear, "Stop it! Just stop it right now!" Everyone snapped to attention. "You have no idea with how much I’m burning up inside, just dying to know. For two years, Nick, two whole years, I have wondered and dreamed and asked that same question a million times over. And for two whole years, I have gone without an answer. And right now the opportunity to get that answer is dangling right before me. I will not ruin it by scaring her away and much less let you ruin it with your cynical attitude."
"So, is that why you’re doing this? Collaborating with her? To find an answer?" Nick’s quick temper began to show. "An answer that you could have in a matter of hours, minutes, even. For that you’d have us do work that would come to nothing?"
Kevin jumped in, "Nick, cool it."
Nick slammed his fist into the table, "I will not cool it! Each of you admits that the issues between us could ruin this record. We are not 100% comfortable, and that’s something you need if you’re going to work with someone. Why should I make a record I won’t be proud of when all he wants is to get into the producer’s pants?"
"Nick, that’s enough," Kevin thundered, "it’s about time you learned that being the youngest doesn’t always mean getting your way! Of course there are personal reasons attached to each of our decisions about this collaboration. I want to get to know my friend again. But it just so happens that my friend is a great producer that I am determined to work with. And maybe, in time, the uneasiness between us and her will go away and our history will make this song even more beautiful."
Brian decided to try to coax his best friend, "What’s there to lose, Nick? We make a song we don’t like, we drop it. That simple. She’s offering us everything we’ve wanted from a producer: one of our own songs, we play the instruments, we have a voice in the creation process. This is it. This is our big break, and four of us don’t want to blow it. We’re asking to put your reservations aside and give it a chance. And maybe then, if it still isn’t working, we can back out. But you never know until you try."
Nick looked around at the faces of his four friends, his four brothers. They were pleading with him to give this a chance. He still didn’t want to, that hadn’t changed. He only saw how much they did, and decided to give them what they wanted.
"Fine. 5-0. But, we back out if things don’t get more comfortable." Howie smiled smugly, "Sure, Blondie, anything you say."
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
"Is it just me, or did I just hear yelling coming from one of the conference rooms?"
"No, you heard it. The Backstreet Boys are in there."
"Whatever happened to brotherly love?"
"This ain’t Philadelphia, honey, and those boys have hot tempers when they’re ready."
"What are they arguing about?"
"Probably trying to convince Nick to do the record."
"What do you mean?"
"I told them I’d only work with them if they all agreed to it, and our dear blond wonder is the lone dissenter." Indigo and Raquel both jumped when they heard a loud, quick banging noise. Kelly was about to go for the door when Indigo stopped her.
"They’re not going to hit each other and if they break anything, they’ll pay for it. Just let them work this out on their own."
"You know them pretty well, don’t you?"
"Too well," she muttered under her breath.
"Come on, you’ve told me absolutely nothing about your past with these guys. Don’t you think you owe it to me just an itsy bitsy bit?"
"Oh, that was just pitiful. I owe you nothing, but I’ll tell you just to get you off of my back."
"Goody! Okay, just let it all out."
"There’s nothing much to tell, really. We met at a flower store in Kissimmee."
"How?"
"You wouldn’t believe me if I told you."
* * * * * * *FLASHBACK* * * * * * * * * *
"Excuse me."
"Good morning, welcome to Country Gardens, how can I help you?"
"Well," he peered over the counter at her name tag, "Indigo, I’d like to buy a bouquet of flowers for my mother."
"Anything in particular?"
"That’s where I was hoping you could help me."
"Okay, well, what’s the occasion?"
"None. Just a little ‘I love you’ present for getting my big head out of her and into this world to cause all sorts of trouble." Indigo laughed for the first time that day, "Really?" She eyed his tattoos and wild hair, "You look harmless."
AJ’s raspy laughter filled the shop, "Now that’s a new one!"
"I honestly have no idea about what you should get your mother. Wait, what’s her favorite flower?"
"I don’t know," he paused thoughtfully, "Hey! I got an idea. What’s yours?"
"Mine?" She looked around the shop, "I guess I’d have to say the lily of the valley."
"Well, then, I’ll have one bouquet of pink roses and a separate bouquet of lilies of the valley."
"Sure, just let me fill out this receipt. Name?" He quirked an eyebrow.
"Your name, please."
"Alexander McLean," he said carefully.
"And form of payment?"
He slid his Visa toward her, "Credit card."
"Okay, Mr. McLean, I’ll have your bouquets ready for you in just a minute."
"Thanks, Indigo, and please, call me Alex."
She smiled and went back to prepare his flowers. Ten minutes later, she returned, bouquets in hand.
"Here you go."
"Would you mind if I filled out the cards here?"
"No, of course not, go right ahead."
She smiled as she watched his emotions pass over his face while he concentrated on writing his note. She didn’t even realize she was staring till he looked up and grinned at her. Indigo, of course, began blushing furiously.
"Here’s your credit card and your receipt. I hope the flowers make your mother’s day."
"Actually, this one is for you," he said, handing her the lilies of the valley.
"Oh! I couldn’t…"
"You can and you will. I want you to have them. Besides, they’re already paid for. Please take them."
She sniffed the flowers and smiled gratefully, "Thank you."
He grinned, "No problem. I hope to see you again, Indigo."
With that, he exited the store. A moment later, Indigo remembered the card and opened it.
Dear Indigo,
I walked into the Country Garden this morning knowing that I wanted to buy my mother pink roses (her favorite flower) for her birthday (getting them ‘just because’ sounded better!). But then I saw you and I knew that I had to get you something special. I hope these flowers make your day as bright as your smile has made mine. If you want to reach me, my e-mail address is alex69@juno.com.
I hope you’ll write me soon.
Alex.
Later that night, when Indigo was bored, she decided to throw caution to the wind and send Alex an e-mail. She thanked him for the flowers and gave him her e-mail address. She was surprised when 5 minutes later an Instant Message™ from bonedaddy1977 popped up on her screen.
BoneDaddy1977: Hey!
Sweetwater62: Alex?
BoneDaddy1977: In the flesh.
Sweetwater62: More like in the computer, isn’t it?
BoneDaddy1977: LOL…very funny.
Sweetwater62: So, what ya doin’?
BoneDaddy1977: Just cruisin’ along the information superhighway.
Sweetwater62: You’re bored, aren’t you?
BoneDaddy1977: Most definitely! What about you?
Sweetwater62: Ummm…I’m listening to Erykah Badu, drinking hot chocolate and writing to you.
BoneDaddy1977: ooooo! That sounds good, can I come over?
Sweetwater62: Ha ha…you wish! Oh, let me change this CD, this is for when I’m in my soul sistah mood.
BoneDaddy1977: You have a mood for each CD?
Sweetwater62: Yeah.
BoneDaddy1977: Really?
Sweetwater62: Really.
BoneDaddy1977: Give me a few examples.
Sweetwater62: Okay, let’s see. Celine Dion = Sleepless in Orlando, Alanis Morisette (Jagged Little Pill) = Angry Bitch, Korn = Seriously Pissed Off, Limp Bizkit = I Pack a Chainsaw, Gloria Estefan = Con Este Ritmo, No Quiero Parar (with this rhythm, I don’t want to stop), Shania Twain = Girl Power and this next CD = C’mon Get Happy!
BoneDaddy1977: What CD is that?
Sweetwater62: I’ll give you a lyric sample: Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine/I’m leaving my life in your hands/People say I’m crazy and that I am blind/Risking it all in a glance. Any ideas?
BoneDaddy1977: You knew!
Sweetwater62: Well, hello, I am in the land of the living, in Orlando, nonetheless.
BoneDaddy1977: Why didn’t you tell me?
Sweetwater62: I decided you might have wanted a moment of peace, and I don’t think you would have been too comfortable with a fan.
BoneDaddy1977: True enough. Wait a minute, are you saying that you’re a fan?
Sweetwater62: Yeppers.
BoneDaddy1977: Prove it.
Sweetwater62: Okay, check your e-mail.
When AJ did, he found that she had sent him a picture of himself as a baby being given a bath.
BoneDaddy1977: Woah! How’d you get a hold of that?
Sweetwater62: It’s called the Internet, sweetheart. Something every BSB fan has come to know and love.
BoneDaddy1977: So, you’ve already seen me naked and we haven’t been on the first date.
Sweetwater62: LMAO!!!
BoneDaddy1977: No! Wait! Don’t laugh your ass off, I haven’t seen it yet!
* * * * * * * END FLASHBACK* * * * * * * * *
"After that we started dating, and the rest is history."
"Oh, that sounds so romantic!"
Just then, the phone rang on the special office line. She answered it on speaker phone.
"Yes, Lucy?"
"Your 11:30 appointment is here."
"Thank you."
Kelly huffed and pouted, "Just when the story was getting good. I still don’t know a thing about your break up."
"You know the old saying: Anticipation is the sweetest torture."
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