Part 6
A very special thanks to: erinkatie is now the beta for this story, and you can thank her for editing it so quickly that I am able to provide you with an update before the weekend!
Dreamerlaure- The same thing that inspired me to update this part
KarenEvans- A/I is the main event in the next part so you’ll be able to know exactly what Isabel tells Alex, if anything!
Sternbetrachter-thanks, and Tess still has plans for the other girls so watch out!
Redrumm-thanks
RhondaAnn-thanks
Max/Jason Luver-thanks
nibbles2- thanks
magamnm- thanks
ashleyt-thanks, well tess isn’t 100% evil, just 90%!
Liz Parker sat inside a booth at the McDonalds just outside of Los Angeles. She looked out of place in her designer outfit and big dark sunglasses. A few people had stared in passing but no one really noticed her. ‘The story of my life’ she thought. Everyone knows her name and frivolous information: like whom she dated, where she went to school, and all about her upcoming tour, but they didn’t really know her.
She kept the sunglasses on to help prevent recognition but also to hide the effects of her crying. Since she ducked into the bathroom stall she was an emotional wreck. The events in her life were chaotic and a far cry from the normal life she had once lived. She didn’t know what she was doing anymore. Her life was slowly spiraling out of control and she was losing touch with reality.
She had no one. Her friends consisted of her band mates and PR people; they were the only ones who talked to her on a regular basis. Her friends before she got famous had long ago stopped talking to her, saying she changed or they couldn’t deal with her lifestyle anymore. She had changed, and not because she wanted to. Little by little the life of being one of America’s darlings had started to destroy the carefree girl she had once been.
She no longer went on silly camping trips with her friends. She never went to the mall just to browse. She was unable to enjoy her favorite thing in the world, a triple thick vanilla milkshake, due to the strict diet her contract made her abide by. Everything she had once considered normal and had took for granted she would trade all her fame for. Wishing more than anything she could go back to those days of juvenile camping trips and sweet vanilla milkshakes.
At 16 she was given the opportunity to be famous. What 16 year old is going to turn down a chance to be on magazines and have as much money as they could ever want? She didn’t have to let her parents talk her into joining a band, the second the contract was put in front of her she did not hesitate to sign her name to it.
She was naïve. She trusted her parents completely to manage her career and do what was best for her. She started out loving the job, loved singing and dancing on stage, and being able to travel to far away places. She loved opening a magazine and seeing an article about the band and it success, she was ecstatic that she had instant sisters in Maria, Isabel, and Tess. She liked being recognized.
She isn’t shallow or conceded but she deserved the record contract. She spent her whole life being dragged from voice lessons to dance classes. She logged enough man-hours to be the best thing out of her hometown in Oklahoma. She had fun dancing and she was naturally good at it. It was her passion for dance that made her stay in the business for so long.
She worked her ass off for the life she had.
Then why did she feel so miserable with the way things had turned out?
This year alone she has been hospitalized for exhaustion, twice, one failed marriage, and now a stalker.
There was so much tension and hostility in the recording studio and on stage, everyone blaming each other for their lack of a normal life. She couldn’t escape it anymore. Her job wasn’t 9-5; she couldn’t just leave problems at work and go home to a normal existence. Her job was a 24/7 thing and there was no escaping. If she took a trip to the grocery store, the paparazzi followed. Vacationing in the Maldives, paparazzi waited for a cover shot. Conversations with acquaintances always ended up out of context and on page 6. Her life was like a soap opera.
Liz jerked when she felt someone touch her arm.
“Liz, are you okay?” Liz quickly turned her attention to the person speaking to her. She had been staring out the window lost in thought she had missed Max walk up beside her.
She nodded as Max slid into the booth across from her, he held her hand in his own. She resisted the urge to cry right then. When had her life changed so much that the only person she had to talk to was being paid by her parents to look after her?
Flashback.
Liz sighed; she hated when people were late. Why go through the trouble of setting a time to meet if you couldn’t even show up when you were supposed to?
She had spent the last half an hour camped out in her parent’s condo in New York City, where she was staying until after her appointment with Maxwell Evans. Her parents thought it would be best if she left town until she had a full term bodyguard, so they shipped her off to NYC to “promote” the upcoming tour and too meet with her potentially new bodyguard.
“What are you doing?” A voice said directly behind Liz. Liz jumped and grabbed the closest weapon she could find. She turned around ready to attack when the person started laughing.
Liz looked at him confused, what kind of robber was he? When the laughing continued Liz immediately got flustered. How dare this person come into her house and laugh at her.
“I’m sorry.” He offered when he saw the look on her face, “but what are you going to do, pillow fight me to death?” He was no bent over with his hands on his knees laughing.
Liz looked down; sure enough she had a pillow clutched in her hand. It’s not like she had been in the kitchen when he broke in, apparently that is the only room in your house to find a good weapon at the last minute.
“Who are you and how did you get in here?” Liz said putting the pillow back on the couch and resting her hands on her hips.
“I picked the lock.” He said a little too carefree.
‘Maybe there is still time to run to the kitchen for a real weapon’ Liz thought, but before she had time to back into the kitchen he started to talk again.
“You know, your family has a lot of money the least they should have is a good security system on this place. It was way too easy for me to get in. We’ll have to do something about it, no doubt your apartment in California is lacking security too.”
“You’re Maxwell Evans?” Liz asked watching him as he proceeded to try and open the window she had previously been staring out of.
He didn’t look like a bodyguard he looked normal. He wore a simple outfit of blue jeans, a white shirt and black leather jacket. The bands bodyguards normally wore designer suits when they were working; her father had watched way too many movies and insisted they all follow a certain dress code. She suppressed a laugh as she thought of Jim and Sean in suits.
“Max. No one calls me Maxwell.”
“You’re CIA?”
Her tone must have been one of astonishment because he simply looked at her and laughed.
“Former CIA. And before you start in about how young I am, I cannot tell you anything about that part of my life. It’s confidential.”
Liz nodded. Her father had briefly mentioned that Max was with the CIA before he went freelance a year prior. Max was nothing like she expected, for one he wasn’t as old as her normal bodyguards; okay so Sean wasn’t that much older then her but he was more of Jim’s assistant.
“You realize no one ever stays here.” Liz said as Max proceeded to the next window. “There’s no need for security here, and besides were on the 23rd floor.”
Max just shook his head and went about whatever it was he was doing at the window.
“And what if I had been your stalker just now? You wouldn’t have been able to take him out with just that pillow alone. You should always be prepared.” He scoffed at her like she was a child.
Liz shook her head. Seeing the concern look on his face as he easily pried the window open made Liz nervous. Had she really been under estimating what her stalker was capable of? What if he had walked through the door instead of Max?
“Don’t worry Liz.” Max said trying to make her feel better. He walked over and gently placed his arm on her shoulder, “that’s why you hired me right? To make sure you are prepared.”
Silence filled the apartment. Neither one made a move to talk, Max’s hand was still lingering on her shoulder.
“Liz, are you okay?” Max’s voice once again broke her out of her thoughts.
“No.” She mumbled pulling her hand away from him. “I think I want to quit the band. It’s only causing me problems and I just want to have a normal life.”
“Isn’t that a little selfish?” Max said, upon seeing the horrified and shocked look her Liz’s face he quickly added. “What about the other girls? If you quit their careers are over, you’ll be ruining their dreams. Think about the Spice girls, that red headed one quit and suddenly they are all out of a job.”
Liz was stunned, not so much by the fact that Max knew who the Spice Girls were, but the fact he just accused her of wanting to ruin her friends lives. She didn’t want that. Even if they were having problems, Isabel, Maria, and even Tess were her family. If quitting the band would in some jeopardize their careers, their happiness, then she couldn’t quit.
Liz sucked it a deep breath. She felt like all of the wind was knocked out of her body. She was being a terrible person, a terrible friend.
She was only thinking about herself. She might not be happy about her current situation but she couldn’t just quit and leave her friends to pick up the pieces.
“Am I a horrible person?” She managed to whisper.
“No Liz.” Max said gently. “You’re not horrible, you’re just not thinking clearly. You need to think about this rationally, you need to process this decision.”
Liz stopped listening to Max as he tried to convince her that she was acting to hastily. Maybe she was, maybe she was just overreacting. There are plenty of famous people that want to quit the business sometimes, that doesn’t mean they up and do it.
Right, she was over reacting. She didn’t need to quit the band just because she was having a hard time. Things would be better in no time. All she had to do was wait and things would get better.
She smiled, letting Max think she was okay. Everything would be okay.
As the subject changed to their plans for the weekend Liz tried to distance her thoughts from the band but one question kept repeating itself over and over in her mind.
If everything was okay why does she feel so broken?
***
“Hello.”
“Is it done?”
“Yes. I believe I’ve convinced her to stay in the band.”
“That’s good. Now I know why I hired you. Make sure she doesn’t change her mind. And keep her away from the others. This little episode of theirs almost cost me millions.”
“The others?”
“The other girls; Maria, Isabel, and Tess. I don’t want Liz anywhere near them for a while. Her little outburst almost cost me my band.”
“How, sir, did you know to call me after I got off the phone with Liz?”
“Phone tap, Maxwell. I’m sure you’re familiar with them. And I knew something was off when all the girls started calling their secret boyfriends.”
The line was silent for a few minutes. Max felt disgusted by his actions, convincing Liz to stay with the band. After Liz had called him he went straight to her. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her that it would be okay, that he would be there with her but then he got the phone call. The call that made him crush Liz’s chance at a normal life. A phone call that put an end to any sort of relationship they might have had, because he realized now that he is only a pawn in this industry. He ultimately betrayed the one person he thought he could really start to like.
“The other girls, they haven’t quit?”
“They aren’t going to, Maxwell. I have already sent Jim and Sean to intercept Maria and Isabel. Within the next hour all my girls will be feeling selfish and they will hate themselves for what they almost caused, which will lead to them rethinking their decision to almost destroy their friends lives.”
“And Tess, who is going to convince her to stay?”
An evil laugh filled the line.
“We’ve come to an understanding. One that is going to work to our advantage, and Tess will not be problem whatsoever to the future of Crash.”
Max heard a feminine laugh over the line and had to stop himself from cringing.
“Maxwell enough of this talk, it’s costing me money. I expect you to keep Liz busy this week. I don’t care how you do it; all I want is Liz to stay as far away from the girls as possible.”
The line went dead before Max could say anything else. He resisted the urge to throw his cell phone on the ground. His mind went a thousand different ways, what had he done? His mind kept screaming:
‘Jeffery Parker is an ass.’
AN: You know you want to leave me feeback! I am hopefully going to be updating this a lot in the future, seeing as I now have a couple parts done and hate only being able to update once a month! But you know I might be motivated by feedback
Good,Bad,or suggestions leave it here![/i]
