Meant to Marry Me

"I see you've found your station," Monica said, noting the counter and mirror that had their name on it.

"Yeah, it's really nice," Shawna said. "So many great products. Are these for us to use?"

"Sure," Monica said with a shrug, fingering some of the expensive makeup. "We want everyone to look their best when they're out there sharing the stage with us."

Monica tapped the can of hairspray. "This stuff is the best," she said. "Your hair will never move if you use Bright Salon products. Seriously, even if you do your hair at home before you get here, you're gonna want to coat it in this when you arrive. It looks natural, too. Not stiff."

"Good to know...." Shawna smiled uncomfortably. It really did seem odd that Monica was pushing the hairspray to them, like she owned stock in the company or something.

"Well, let me walk you through the set," she said. "The show starts at seven, but we want everyone here by six, just to make sure you're ready. Models will be here way earlier than that. It would be great if you could be here around five. Have you met Dereka Shields? The woman in charge of the show?"

"Is she... a bit older and quite serious?" Dominic asked.

Monica smirked at him. "Yes. She will be more at ease the earlier you get here. She is so busy. Pulled in a million directions, as you can imagine."

Bree wanted to ask if that's why Monica was off with the maintenance guy, making sure that he knew what he should be working on. She kept the comment to herself and followed Monica as she walked them around the backstage area. None of it seemed relevant to them, other than the place she had already shown them where they could get ready and the green room off to the side where there would be snacks and drinks available that they could partake in until it was their turn to go out on stage.

"You guys are toward the end of the show, second to last, I think, so you'll be hanging out a while, but as you can see, the green room is pretty big with lots of seating. Or you can just stand around your area backstage and watch all of the excitement if you'd rather."

They stood in the doorway and surveyed the area. It looked big enough for five or six bands. Bree didn't have any idea how many there would be or if her band would prefer backstage as a place to hang out before they went on, so she didn't concern herself with it. When Monica led them toward the stage, Bree hung back a bit so she wouldn't have to listen to the woman or smell her expensive perfume.

Once they were up front, Monica said, "You guys will set up right here. As you can see, the stage is split into two sides, fire and ice. You will be on the fire side."

"What does that entail exactly?" Griffin asked. They all wanted to know. This part, Bree tuned in to.

"Oh, just the decorations on each side of the stage, I guess," Monica said.

"What are the pipes for?" Zach's voice was louder than usual, and Bree was surprised to hear him speak up. It was rare for him to talk to people he didn't know at all, so he must've had some sort of concerns about the pipes above their heads. "Just some sort of special effects. I think they will send smoke and fog out of them," Monica said.

"Not actual fire and ice?" Chase chuckled when he asked the question, but Bree was glad he did. She could imagine that would be bad--very, very bad.

“No!” Monica giggled and held a hand over her mouth. "That would be dangerous, wouldn't it? No, we were told just smoke and fog, which is really the same thing. For our purposes."

Bree didn't quite understand what that meant, but she followed Monica around the rest of the stage, wishing they were on the ice side of the stage and not the fire. Even though she knew it sounded silly for her to be worried about being so close to fire again, as Monica led them away, her eyes lingered on the large fake flames workers were installing above the place where she'd be performing.

Glancing up at the men calling to each other from ladders and risers, she realized that one of the men she saw working there, hanging some flames at the moment, was the same man Monica had come out of the closet with. So he truly was a maintenance worker. It all seemed odd to her, but the rest of the group was getting away, so Bree put it out of her mind and hurried to catch up, wondering if Trent had been right to be worried about this situation.