Chapter 7

Shuffling through the papers on her desk, Helen Mitchell tried to find the phone number Robby had given her several weeks ago when they last spoke. “I know it’s here somewhere!” she uttered to herself frustratedly. “Ack!  Here it is right in front of me.”  With a roll of her eyes she dialed the number.

 “This is Helen Mitchell at Warner Brothers, calling for Mr. Takac.  May I speak with him please?”  She waited while the woman on the other end of the phone went to retrieve Robby.

 “Hi Helen.  What’s up?” Robby answered in his usual chipper voice.

 “Mr. Takac, Robby, I’ve finally gotten all those resumes from the MTV applicants.  They just faxed them this morning.  They’re here in my office if you want to come take a look at them.  You’re free to take them with you if you’d like.” 

 She was still a little surprised that they had agreed to do this.  She just hoped with all her heart that they liked one of these people.  She had no idea how she was going to get them out of this now.  Once they released their tour dates in a few days, it would be tough to tell MTV that their schedule wouldn’t work, when it so obviously did.  She waited, with her fingers crossed, for his reply.

 “Cool.  Thanks Helen.”

 She breathed a silent sigh of relief, knowing that they weren’t exactly past the hard part yet. Robby was one thing, he was a pleasant, affable guy, but his friend was totally different. She was afraid he’d fight her on this.

  “Johnny is going to be in the offices this afternoon.  I’ll tell him to pick them up from you if that’s OK?”

 “Sure.  Do you want me to call him?” She hoped he’d say no; John was pretty difficult to deal with.  She much preferred dealing with Robby.

 Robby smirked, “No, Helen, that’s OK. I’ve got to call him anyway.  Thanks though.” Another sigh of relief. “Hey, when do you need our decision?” he asked.

 “As soon as possible, if you would.  They’re really trying to get this lined up quickly.  They have lots of security checks and stuff to do.  That all takes time.  You understand.”

 “Yeah, yeah.  I know.  OK.  Well, I’ll try to get with John tonight to look ‘em over.  We’ll let you know in a couple of days.  Will that work for you?”

 “Yeah, thanks.  Hey, Robby, I really appreciate this.  You know that don’t you?”

 “No problem.  I’ll talk at ya later.”

 “OK” she replied and disconnected.

 Robby sorted through the call log on his mobile phone looking for John’s number.  He found it, dialed and waited for John to pick up.

 “Yeah, Dude, what is it?” John answered, fumbling with his phone as he drove down the freeway.

 “Helen called.  She’s got those bios from MTV.  Go pick ‘em up, will ya?  She said they’re in her office.” 

 “Well, Rob, man, I’ll try, but I’m really busy today...”

 “Yeah, whatever, dude.  Just do it.  It won’t kill you to stop by to pick them up.  I know you’re going to be there anyway.”

 “OK.  Anything else you want me to pick up while I’m out?” he mocked.

 “Nope. That’ll do it.  Thanks.”

 “You sure you don’t need any milk, bread… rat traps…clothes pins…anything?”

 “Listen, jackass,” Robby grinned, “just get those papers and get your ass over here this evening.”

 “Hey Robby?”

 “Yeah?” he said flatly.

 “You suck.”

 “Thanks, you too.  See ya later.”

Several hours later John knocked on Robby’s door with the packet of bios in hand.  He wasn’t thrilled about this, but he’d been through worse.  He’d pretty much accepted that this was going to happen. He realized that, no matter what Helen said, he didn’t see a way for them to get out of it at this point. He just hoped that somewhere in this envelope was the person with whom they would get along perfectly…or at least could tolerate for seven days.  Someone who wasn’t looking to find dirt on them.  Someone who wouldn’t try to make them look ridiculous.  And someone they would not have to worry about embarrassing or offending, or any of those things that can happen when you’re forced into an awkward situation with a complete stranger. That wasn’t asking too much, was it?

 Robby's girlfriend, Sasha, came to the door.

 “Hi, John, come in.” She welcomed him with a smile.  “Robby is just getting off the phone with his mom and dad.  Come,” she gestured toward the living room, “have a seat.  He’ll be right in.  May I get you something to drink?” she asked politely, such a gracious hostess.

 “No, I’m fine, thanks.” John said as he took a seat on the couch.  “Did Rob tell you about this MTV thing?  That’s what we’re working on tonight. You want to look at them?” He slid the sheets of paper from their envelope, spreading them out over the coffee table.

 “He did tell me.” She nodded, grabbing her purse.  “But, no, I’ve got to get to a haircut appointment.  Then I need to do some grocery shopping.  You’ll have to do without me this evening, I’m afraid.”  She turned to Robby, who had just entered the room, and she planted a kiss on him. “Bye.” She turned. “Bye John!”

 John looked up and waved absently before Robby came over and plopped down on the couch.

 “So these are the lucky finalists, eh?” Robby asked.

 “Yep.” John replied, running his fingers through his hair.

 “You take a look at them yet?”

 “Nope. This is the first I’ve seen of them.  I guess we need to figure out what we’re looking for, right?”

 They rifled through the applications for over an hour, weeding some out, here and there, until they finally settled on a couple that they could live with and one they really liked.

 John took the applications in hand and looked at Robby. “So, you think we can deal with these here?  A week won’t be so bad, will it?” he implored, trying to conjure up confidence in their decision.  He wasn’t too sure himself.

 “Nah, we’ll be fine.  We just really need to push for the one we want. But I don’t know, though.  She’s nothing like the rest of them.  Hopefully, the powers that be will trust our decision,” Robby replied hopefully.

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