Since you walked into my life

Chapter 2

Imogen checked into the liberty Marriott in Newark. It was only a short drive to the prudential center. She was meeting Geoff in the lobby before heading over to the center for a 4pm meet. She showered and changed into some tight black jeans with a halter neck cerise blouse and biker jacket teamed with 4" heeled boots. Leaving her hair down she applied grey eyeshadow to make her eyes smoky and blush that enhanced her cheek bones. She'd opted for a bright pink lipstick to match her top.
A mixture of nerves and excitement hit her hard. She felt like a teenager all over again. Taking deep breathes she paced the room. As she pulled herself together , She gathered her notes and iPad into a soft leather case and headed down to meet Geoff in the lobby. She straightened herself down as the bell of the elevator sound on hitting the ground floor. She stepped out and scanned the area for Geoff. He paced up and down in front of the large window. Once he spotted her, he signalled to go into the lounge. She nodded and headed over to the large leather sofas. As Geoff came over, he smiled warmly holding his arms out to hug her. She stood up.
"Welcome to New Jersey" he said
"Thank you" she smiled
"How are you feeling?" He asked
"I'm ok" she nodded "meet and greets with the guys and this don't compare. I'm holding it together, just"
"That a girl" he said "the pitch is air tight. Jared is confident they guys will like it so you're just tying it all up in a pretty package"
She nodded.
"The presentation packs are over at the center already. The conference room is set, it's all just waiting for us."
She nodded again and took a deep breathe,
"Ready when you are" she said
"Ok let's go" he winked.
Gathering her thoughts Imogen paced the floor in the conference room. Geoff put his hand on her arm and gave her a reassuring smile. Jared came into the room first. Geoff shook his hand
"Nice to meet you in person" Jared said
He came over to Imogen
"Hey Imogen, How are you?" He asked
"Good thank you" she grinned
"I took a look at the pack you sent, it all looks very impressive." He said.
Imogen blushed
"Thanks Jared. I just hope the guys like it"
He nodded and smiled "I know the guys, this is right up there street"
She gave a nervous smile and nodded. Setting her purse and iPad on the table she closed her eyes and took a breathe. As the door opened she spun round to see Jordan Knight walk into the room. He was on his phone so looked over and smiled. After a couple of minutes he ended the call and walked over.
"Hey buddy" Jared said "I'd like you to meet Geoff Hanes executive producer from red fish productions and Imogen Reece Clark. She is the director and storyteller of our little celebration"
After shaking geoffs hand he came over to Imogen. He was much taller than she remembered even if she wearing heels. His dark eyes gleamed as he smiled,
"Hey Imogen. Nice to meet you" he said
"You too" she smiled back. They looked at each other for a few moments. She couldn't seem to look away from him, almost like she was mesmerised. Pulling her attention back to Jared, he introduced her to Donnie and Joe who, were next to come in. Joe has been her favourite a self proclaimed joe girl. Looking away she briefly caught Jordan's eye. She couldn't help but stare back. Her stomach fluttered. What was that? She thought. Before she had time to think, Joe and Donnie were coming over to where she stood. Both guys had big personas that they battled with at first but now, they were a formidable duo. Joe came over,
"Hey I'm Joe" he smiled "Imogen, right" he said
"Yes" her heart fluttered. Her mouth went dry, She felt kind of awkward around him.
"Good to meet ya" he said
Donnie finished chatting with Geoff and came over. Imogen held her hand out to shake his. He shook his head smiling,
"This is a hug only room right here"
He threw his arms around her and squeezed her gently "nice to finally put a face to the name huh Imogen?"
She laughed "absolutely"
"I heard through the grapevine you are a blockhead?" He asked
Again she nodded "Yep I'm a blockhead V1.
He laughed "well it's a honour to get to do this with a blockhead. Our block sisters are our world, family even"
Joe had been speaking with Jordan but stopped short, "wait Your a blockhead?"
"A V1 apparently" Donnie said
Joe raised his eyebrows,
"awesome"
"Did you know?" He asked Donnie.
Donnie rolled his eyes,
"Dude do you not read your mail? Jared told us weeks ago" he laughed
"Bro I've got 3 kids, I can't remember what I did yesterday" they all laughed. Again she locked eyes with Jordan.
Danny coming into the room broke her gaze. He came in next and came straight over with is signature grin,
"Imogen?"
"Yes" she said
"Danny" he said
She giggled at the way they introduced themselves like she didn't have a clue. Donnie put his hands over his eyes "shit not you too, she knows who you are, she's a blockhead"
"I know that" he said "but we're doing introductions right?" Danny replied
Donnie shook his head.
"Where's Jon?" asked Jordan
"What Jon ain't here?" said Joe in a faux shocked voice
"Who would have thonk it" laughed Donnie
"He was following me" Danny said "I guess he must have stopped"
"We should have told him the meeting was at 3.30 then he'd get here at 4" said Joe
"We tried that already" Jordan said quietly.
Imogen was intrigued, on stage Jordan was quite vocal but here, he kind of hung back. Imogen knew he admitted to being shy but seeing it was definitely interesting. Imogen thought about how she was going to deal with that for the individual filming. She needed to think of a way in to fully engage him. Again she found herself staring at him. As if he felt her staring he looked back and gave her a shy smile. He sent a shock through her body. What made her react like that she wondered.
A few minutes later Jon arrived. The whole room cheered. He laughed as he came over,
"Actually Jon we're just wrapping up, your too late" shouted Joe
Jon laughed and held his hand out to Imogen,
"Hey" he said "sorry what's your name"
The guys all burst into a rapture of heckles. Donnie went over to him and put his arm around Jon's neck guiding him a few steps from where everybody was gathered. They had their backs to them but Donnie spoke loud so they could all could hear,
"For clarity, we are in New Jersey" he mocked and winked over his shoulder.
Everybody laughed then he continued
"We play a concert here tonight, we are the new kids on the block"
Everybody laughed again
"You read the damn email to me 2 days ago confirming our meet with Geoff and Imogen" he really emphasised on Imogen's name.
Jon turned his head to look at everybody then looked back to Donnie, "who's Geoff?" He laughed
The whole room erupted into fits of laughter as Geoff raised his hand.
Joe turned to Jordan, "you gotta take your bro to therapy man"
Jordan smiled cheekily "dude you gotta go with him"
Everybody laughed again
"Hey hold up hold up" said Joe "I knew we had a meet I just forgot she was a blockhead"
As the room died down, Jared clapped his hands,
"Ok everybody let's get started"
Everybody sat down around the table with Imogen and Geoff at the head with Jared beside them. He opened up the meeting, There were several other people who Imogen didn't know but guessed they were the guys staff. She scanned the room and, she saw Jordan was looking at her. She gave him a small smile and quickly looked away.
"So as we all know we have our 20 years since hangin tough anniversary this year. We spoke about a documentary to kind of pay homage to that. We approached Red Fish. They came back with, in my opinion, the one that best fits like the bands origin. Geoff is the executive producer and Imogen is director. They took the time to come out today to, have the chance to ask questions and confirm the schedule of filming which, will start at Maddison next week.
A young looking man passed out the packs for the guys to look at.
"All the info is in the packs for you including your own schedules.
The guys all nodded
"Great I'll hand you over to Geoff" Jared said
Geoff stood up,
"Thanks Jared. I'm mainly here to tell you a bit more about Red Fish. I will then hand you over to Imogen who can talk to you more about what she'll be doing with you"
Everybody nodded again as they looked through the packs
"Red fish formed in 1995 as a maker of documentaries. We cover most genre of topics. We started playing around with musical docs some 20 months ago so are still relatively new. We recently had a doc air about the changes in country music with people like Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton and the Dixie chicks to name a few who all participated. It went down pretty well with around 2.1 million watchers on the first air and a further 1.6 on catch up. This time round, we came across a director who despite not having any big projects over here, had an extensive list of musical docs in the UK. That included a British band, bros. That pulled in just shy of 4 million Imogen?"
She nodded
"That was world wide. So for us to land Imogen now for this seemed like a no brainer. As we already discussed she is a blockhead? That's the term right? so has a unique edge on the doc we want to do with you. There are links we can send you out for you to view of her work. With all that being said, I'll hand you over to her now to tell you more about it"
Her stomach churned with nerves as she stood up
"Thanks Geoff. The pack will give you a more in depth schedule but, for the here and now, I just wanted to run you through the concept. It will play out chronologically with a brief history of the group. I don't want to dwell on that too much because, we expect a high percentage of viewers to be blockheads. They know the back story. For anybody new, this will wrap it up in a nutshell. Next we will touch on the New Kids on the Block album and, how it shaped into the style and content of Hangin Tough. We will run through each song on the album and how you decided which ones you put forward for single release. Then how soon after release did you realise it was going to break through. Your thoughts, feelings and experiences. And then how it influenced step by step. We have interviews with blockheads/fans to discuss what they liked about it, favourite song of the album and why. We have interviews with family and friends. Their thoughts and how they dealt with the success of the album that ultimately, launched you to being the biggest group in the world at that time. Ending on the bonus tracks and how you managed to extend on the album rather than, over shadow the older songs. How you bridged the gap between musical differences from the 80's to today's sound. Also why you decided to add the bonus tracks. Obviously that is the biggest content but I also want to touch on what happened when you split and how the reunion happened. Then how you developed personally from hangin tough and what you learnt from then that you still use now. How the reunion bought a new generation of blockheads and the v2's.
"Yeah baby" Donnie shouted.
Imogen smiled at him " we'll look at what's changed about you, the music, fans. Then finally a group interview where you want to go from here, are you happy to continue? What the fans can expect etc. You will each contribute as much or as little as you like personally, with family friends etc. For me personally, I've got a pretty good idea of the questions that are asked all the time. I want to steer away from them as much as possible and give the audience a better understanding of who the blockheads see you as and also non blockheads that may watch to allow them to have an idea who you are in the group and individually"
"Who do you see that we are?" Asked joe
"You all contribute in different ways and when you all come together you are a massive source of energy"
"I like that" Danny pointed
"I see Jon has the caring side, looking out for you all, kind of like the go to guy"
He smiled widely
"Danny is the grounded one that keeps who you are in check and to never forget where you all came from"
He nodded and pointed his finger "yes"
"Donnie is the leader. He deals with how the collective group evolves and develops going forward"
He clapped "you got me right there"
"Joe is the showman. He taps into the audience to make the show less concert and more experience"
"Oh you're good" he said
"And Jordan" she paused
He looked at her intensely
"Jordan has a unique purpose"
He looked intrigued with his finger on his lips
"On stage he can pull every person at the show regardless of if they sit on the front row or the back and, make them feel like they are the only ones there. Off stage he thinks about the meaning of things to formulate strategy"
He looked kind of surprised but a smile crept to his face making Imogen smile back. She blushed.
Jared looked out at everybody "has anybody got any thoughts?"
"I think she has it all in a nutshell, I mean they were all pretty intense descriptions of us all that were accurate right?" said Joe
He looked round to the other guys. They all nodded
Donnie shrugged his shoulders "if you can draw all of that out in the doc, I think we could get a honest, true vision of us. I genuinely like it. I'm all in. Sold"
Imogen grinned
"Jon?" Jared asked
"Yeah it's sounds like a solid to me" he smiled
"Danny?"
"I mean I like it. It's like a way to feel appreciated and also appreciate what we have"
Imogen nodded
"Jordan?"
"Yeah I think we can give this full justice to really put a milestone on this all. We can take as much out of it as the fans"
Imogen felt overwhelmed that they all seemed to get her vision.
"Great. Let's sign it off then" Jared smiled.
Everybody clapped. Imogen blew out a breathe of relieve. Geoff winked at her. Everybody started talking amongst themselves. Donnie stood up,
"Hey everybody" the room went quiet "I was just thinking, every blockhead had their favourite new kid. I wanna know Imogen's"
Imogen's eyes were wide and the heat from her face radiated through her whole body.
"Tell us, tell us, tell us" Joe chanted banging on the table. Everybody joined in laughing. Imogen covered her face not sure how to get out of this one. Somehow she didn't think 'all of you' would be enough. Her eyes were scrunched up really tight. The banging got louder. She put out her hands to quiet everybody down and blew out a deep breathe,
"You guys are brutal"
"We ain't going anywhere till you tell us" Donnie yelled
She shook her head and put her hand over her eyes,
"I'm a Joe girl"
Everybody clapped and Joe stood up with his arms aloft. He came round the table towards her and pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek
"Damn it" teased Donnie throwing his pen across the table
"Do you realise what you started here?" Danny laughed
"Ignore them" Joe shouted and carried on hugging her. "Theyre just jealous" he let her go.
"Ok guys we have an interview in 15 minutes. We have to leave" shouted Jared. The guys all came over to hug Imogen.
"Are you sticking around for the show?" Danny asked
"Erm no not tonight" she said
"You flying home" Jon asked
"No I'm heading in  to New York in the next few days so I'm in town tonight" she replied
"You gotta see the show" Donnie said
"I'll be at Maddison square garden" she smiled
"Do both" Donnie waved his hand "that ain't a problem. Matt?"
he shouted across the room "you can hook Imogen up with a pass?"
"Yeah" Matt shouted back
"See" Donnie said
"I'd love to then thank you"
"Great. Come hang out with us then"
She smiled excitedly "I just need to finish up in here"
He nodded "security will bring you down when you're done"
"Ok"
"See you then"
They all started piling out the door. As the room emptied to leave just Imogen and Geoff they both sat back down.
"I think that went pretty good?" Geoff asked
"Yeah I'm happy" she  replied
"We will go ahead and hand over to legal with contracts, yours included. We can touch basis through the week. They have the schedules for filming too so that's covered. I'm heading off back to New York now so I'll catch up with you tomorrow"
"Great" she nodded
"Ok well enjoy the show and well done, you really did a good job"
"Thanks Geoff"
He packed his case and left leaving Imogen in the room on her own. She took a few breathes and closed her eyes. Her face ached from all the smiling but it wasn't going to stop because right now, she was on top of the world.