You'll Never Stand Alone

Chapter 47

Production trucks lined the driveway of The Varnish, in which Whitney's good friend Faith Evans recently opened up. The place had been made into an intimate setting, with a bit of lounge feel to it. It would set the perfect setting for Whitney's acoustic tonality. It also was also becoming restaurant with some reputable dishes. The move would be great public relations for Faith as well, with getting her place a lot of exposure.

"Can you believe this?? I really can't believe this!" Faith exclaimed as she looked outside the door of her restaurant and frowned. CeCe looked over her at the weather and sighed "Whoever sung "It Never Rains in Southern California" definitely didn't have this kind of day in mind." CeCe had stopped by to help prepare for the showcase. She would also be doing a sound check as Whitney insisted that her and BeBe perform be one of the artists in the opening act.

It was the night of the showcase and the weather had taken a turn for the worst. It had rained and thundered continuously all morning, putting a huge damper on preparation plans. Production trucks lined the driveway of The Varnish, while the production crew wore yellow ponchos to avoid getting wet by cars that splashed towards their way as they drove by. They tried their best to continue working on connecting cables from the truck into the club.

"Lord why does it have to rain the night of this showcase?" Faith continued frowning as she looked up at the sky. "What if this is a sign CeCe? You know how these Californians are. They forget what rain looks like and turn into the absolute worst drivers. What if no one shows up because of this?" CeCe calmly chewed on a pistachio, while shaking her head. "Fay, I know you are truly tripping when you let something like that come out of your mouth." Before Faith could say anything else, the head cook Anthony, walked up to them. "Hate to tell you ladies this, but the electricity's out. All of the seafood, Cristal and other drinks are in the 'fridge." "Well what about the generator?" Faith anxiously asked. "It's not working either" he replied. "It's due to the crazy thunderstorms."

"Well what are we going to use for electricity then? Because we can't do the concert without electricity." Faith stated the obvious, trying her best to somehow stay calm. "I've called someone to come out and fix things, but I'm worried about the refrigerator. All of the fresh seafood is in there and I don't want it to spoil." "Damn. Also I have the fresh roses that will start to wilt if not chilled." Faith let out a huge sigh.

Always calm,CeCe took control. "Nothing's gonna spoil or wilt, We'll just go to Costco and buy up every last bag of ice that they have in there and put everything in coolers until someone can fix this. The show must go on. But first, we need to pray. She grabbed Faith's hands they prayed for everything they possibly could think of. "I needed that" Faith admitted once they finished. "We all need to be reminded and silenced about who is REALLY in control. God has this!"

Afterwards Faith, CeCe and Anthony filed out to the store.

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The rain diminished into mist by the time the three had got back to lounge with bags of ice loaded in the company van.

"The electricity is still out ladies," one of the crew members announced to them CeCe and Faith wrung their wrists. Faith hated to possibly face the choice to cancel, but knew that she had to plan for it just in case. It would cause a huge mess starting with Whitney, Clive, to the production crews and so forth.

Just then, Kellie (who Whitney insisted on being her top publicist for the event because her previous excellent work with her) pulled up in her Maserati. Before she could take two steps toward them, the ladies explained everything that was going wrong. Kellie sighed and began to walk back and forth in deep thought. "We can't cancel this thing that's for sure. People have been calling all day asking for tickets, although we sold out on the first day! Tonight is gonna be epic in all sorts of ways." In full publicist mode, she whipped out her phone and made a few calls to some personal business connections. Not long after, trucks filled with generators pulled up and the crew came out to hook up the much needed energy. Kellie finally took a sigh a relief, running her hands through her honey blonde hair as she got back to the girls. "Okay, I think everything's gonna be okay. I've called some connects at Party Rental and they are on their way with a few more tents and there are a whole lot more generators out here now. We can just move the press to the tents. The head of the production crew said that they can give us lights out here. The only thing we are lacking is air conditioning and lights inside."