The morning sun poured through the curtains in Quinns room the next morning. She groaned and rubbed her eyes. "Quinn I'm going to Lily's house!" her sisters voice echoed through the house. "Uh huh!" Quinn grunted back, stretching her limbs from her long, but restful sleep.
Quinn headed to work swiftly after she woke up, making sure to mentally prepare herself for her upcoming shift.
Arriving to work was a repetitive cycle that plagued Quinn every morning, she despised pulling up to the same old building, listening to the same people talk, watching the same people walk by and stop to stare. She was mindlessly going through the motions of work, when a familiar voice began speaking. "...Yeah, we'll be performing there tonight" she looked up to see Kevin Richardson speaking on the tiny office tv. "...And you'll be giving away two tickets to the 5th caller who calls here, right?" a news announcer asked him a rhetorical question in hopes he'd just simply nod. "That's right!" Kevin smiled and looked at the camera, he held up his hand and held up a cellphone motion before letting out a chuckle.
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"Good job Kev" AJ laughed and slapped Kevin on the back of the head. "I dunno how you say that corny stuff sometimes, I guess someones gotta do it" AJ sat down on the curb as Kevin ignored his comment, pulling out a cigarette in reply. "Looks like we've got our caller!" the newsman exclaimed loudly, looking around for Kevin to answer. He ran up to the camera crew, cigarette in hand, preparing to pick up the phone. "Congratulations, you've won two tickets to our concert tonight!" he said, smiling. He felt genuine happiness for whoever won, he was happy his band was able to provide this opportunity. As thoughts ran through his head, he waited for somebody to reply. He heard a woman's light breath hitch before she excitedly gasped, "I won?" she laughed loudly and gasped once again. Kevin verified the authenticity of the call as he pointed at the screen, flashing the camera yet another charming smile. "We'll see you tonight before the show, during and after" the call abruptly hung up after the last sentence and the news program continued.
Quinn dialed her sisters number and practically yelled at her through the phone. "I got us tickets! VIP tickets!" Amelie screamed in reply, essentially shattering the phone.
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"I can't believe you did this for us Nini!" Amelie grasped her sisters hands. "I'm glad you're excited!" Quinn smiled and held out her hands to hug her sister, in return she received a warm embrace. "What should I wear?" Amelie said, practically gasping for air. Quinn cocked an eyebrow and ran to her room, she pulled out a pink mini dress that she had worn when she was 13, it seemed to be coming back in style at the moment. "Oh Nini its perfect!" Amelie grabbed the dress and ran to her room. "I'll do your hair!" Quinn smiled as she headed to her own room, in search of something to wear for herself
"Mom used to do this hairstyle for me" Quinn pulled two front strands of hair from Amelies short hair and put two small butterfly clips in the front. "I bet this hair style would look good on you still" Amelie smiled warmly and grasped onto her sisters hand. "I'm not so sure, but I know you rock it for the both of us" she replied in return. Quinn looked at herself in the reflection of the mirror, she had a casual outfit on compared to her sister, but that didn't bother her in the slightest, as long as Amelie was the star, she was fine with anything.
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"I'm gonna try and get laid tonight" Nick sprawled his body on the couch backstage, resting his head on his arms behind his head. "Yeah right, good luck with that" Brian chuckled and tossed a towel at Nicks head playfully. "You guys know the choreo, right?" Kevin looked at his bandmates in hopes that they were prepared. They all nodded in unison, giving him reassuring smiles. He let out a sigh, hoping they were telling the truth. "Must you act like such a dad every time we have a show?" Nick looked at Kevin half jokingly. "I just wanna make sure we're gonna give our fans the best show, especially those two lucky winners." he replied. "What if they're two non-fans who just happened to win?" AJ said, scoffing. "Then we'll make 'em fans" Kevin clapped his hands together and rose from his chair. "Now who's ready to practice some more?"
After two gruelling hours of more practice, the boys had enough. "I'm done practicing Kevin, we know the steps" Howie began to chug his water, wishing it was vodka that would fix his pounding headache and sore limbs. "I just wanted to make sure you guys were truly ready, we've been slacking off lately and smoking too much" Kevin took a sip of water and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Boys! You have 45 minutes before the competition winners get here for their meet and greet." their manager, Lisa, made sure everybody was made aware to be on their best behaviour when the ticket holders arrived. "Yeah sure thing Lise" Nick muttered before returning to his sleeping position on the ground.
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"Look at all the lines! Yet somehow we get to just cruise on by." Amelie was buzzing with excitement, and quite frankly, so was Quinn.
"Heres our tickets" Quinn handed the security guard at the front two small tickets in which she had picked up on her way home from work at the radio station. "Thank you Miss, I'll do the honours of escorting you backstage" said the man kindly. "Here, escort my sister, I'll trail behind" Quinn smiled as she watched her sister take the arm of the security guard and begin walking down the long corridors of the arena.
"Here we are" said the man, kindly letting go of Amelies arm and motioning for her to enter the room they had just arrived to. Amelie looked back nervously at Quinn, almost for approval. Quinn nodded and Amelie turned back to the door, pushing it open to reveal the boys on the couch, practically lounging.
"Hello!" Nick exclaimed as he shot up from his lazy position. The other boys did as followed, except for Kevin, who had already been standing up in the first place. They all came and greeted Amelie, smiling and hugging her tightly, complimenting her outfit and hair, being overall kind to her. Quinn stood in the corner, grinning at the scene unfolding, her sister seemed so happy with the boys surrounding her. Quinn headed for the table of snacks that the boys had mentioned to Amelie, she was starving due to the lack of money her parents had given her for food. She began to hungrily grab a few different types of food displayed, putting them on a plate for herself.
"I know you, don't I?" Quinn heard a voice behind her ear. She whipped around to see Kevin, standing closely to her. Her breath hitched a tiny bit before taking a step back to look at the man next to her. "I believe you do, we met at the meet and greet the other day" Quinn smiled coolly. "Ah right, the only girl who didn't want something from me" he chuckled and looked down at his drink. "Thats right, but I believe I owe you something now" she smiled and reached in her pocket to flash her wallet at him. "You got it back!" he smiled and let out a chuckle. Quinn smiled in return as she turned her head to see her sister, in deep conversations with the other boys. As Quinn turned her head back to Kevin, she noticed another man approach him. "Is this the escort you hired Sir?" Kevins eyes widened at the mans comment, he realized Quinn had heard. "Wait- It's not what it looks like" he said as Quinn's face began to turn red, but not in embarrassment, in rage.
"You asshole" she whispered as she bumped his shoulder, walking by quickly. "God how many times do I have to tell you Eli, It's AJ who hires the escorts for himself not me." The mans face went pink as he apologized for the mix-up. Kevin breathed out deeply as he ran his fingers through his hair, he spotted Quinn at the other side of the room and quickly walked up to her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the hallway, she thrashed and hit his arm and dragged herself the opposite way, but Kevin had a firmer grip.
"Listen, that was a mix-up. I don't hire escorts, AJ does. And before you ask, no you do not look like an escort" Kevin whispered as he lowered his head slightly to Quinns height. "Do you promise?" she said, matching the whisper tone of Kevins smooth voice. "Yes" he said sighing, "I promise." The two walked back into the room, going unnoticed as they blended back into the now crowded room, full of hair, costume and makeup designers. Quinn stood in the corner, sipping her drink. Kevin found his way back to her, smiling he profusely apologized again. "Listen I'm sorry, it was a stupid mix up" he was cut off by Quinns laugh "You know I'm not mad about that anymore, right?" she smiled and clinked his glass quickly with hers. "I was going to ask if I can make it up to you?" he said, smiling at her kindly. "No, thats quite alright Kevin" she patted his shoulder and headed for the snack table again. He watched her depart and sighed, but quickly snapped out of his temporary grief as the 5 minute call came onto the speakers. Quinn and Amelie made their way to their front row seats after the boys began getting into their places, they made it just in time before the big opening number began.
