"Pop
Life"
Chapter 83
"But I want to see it," Britney whines to her husband again.
Justin shakes his head and stands in the doorway of Adriana's dressing room on opening night of her tour.
"Why?" she pouts.
Justin couldn't take it any longer and he leans down and kisses her.
"Those pouty lips were too much for me to resist."
"You didn't answer my question," she says, folding her arms over her chest.
"You look beautiful," he says as he plays with the V neck of her maternity blouse.
"Justinnnn," she warns.
"Adriana wants it to be a surprise for you, that's all."
"So everyone else has seen the stage and even part of her rehearsals, but me?"
He starts playing with the strands of hair that are resting on her shoulder.
"Uhhhh pretty much, yeah. Come on sweetie. There's just a few more hours and I'll walk out to the VIP area with you and we'll see everything together."
She turns around and walks back into the room. She sits down on the couch and folds her arms again.
"It's not going to work with me, you know that," Justin says, standing over her.
"I mean, I don't even know what she's singing. What she's opening with...how's she's opening. Is it dangerous?" she asks, suddenly nervous.
He shakes his head and sits down next to her, putting his hand on her thigh. "No, it's not. You know I'd never let her do anything dangerous."
"I know."
She still sits there, staring straight ahead.
"Mama," Ashleigh says as she comes into the room. "Adriana's stage is so cool."
She plops down on the other side of Britney.
Britney starts to pull Ashleigh's hair from underneath the collar of her shirt. "Is it? Hmm, I can't wait to see it," she says glaring over at Justin.
Ashleigh nods. "Yeah, she's got all these things hanging all over and..."
"Shhh," Justin cuts her off. "We want it to be a secret for mommy."
"Ohh...shhhh," Ashleigh mimics putting her finger up to her mouth.
"Nothing's going right," I say as I crash through my dressing room door.
I stand in the doorway, looking at my mama, daddy and Ashleigh sitting on the couch, staring at me.
"The sound isn't right. The pyro isn't going off right," I say, starting to pace back and forth.
Daddy stands up, makes me stop and grabs my shoulders so he can look me in the face.
"Take a deep breath. Everything is going to work out. Let the stage manager fret over this stuff, okay?"
I nod.
"You just concentrate on loosening up your voice and your body."
He started to kneed my shoulders a little bit while I rolled them around.
"Okay. Okay, I can do this."
"Yes, you can."
I take a deep breath and nod. "Okay, yeah it's going to be okay."
"Come sit down by me," mama says, patting the spot on the couch next to her.
I sit down and lean my head on her shoulder as she puts her arm around me. Mama's touch, sometimes that's all you need.
Mama mentions her visit with Aunt Jamie Lynn and the baby and that sparks a whole new conversation. Eventually Cody, Tony and Uncle Lance join us.
"Ana, you ready to go get more beautiful?" Pam, my stylists asks me.
I laugh. "I guess so."
We walk to another part of the dressing room where there's a makeup table and chair.
"Go ahead and change," she says, pointing toward a moveable wall.
After changing into my first costume I sit down in the chair and let Pam start playing with my hair. We try a couple of different hair dos.
"Mama, can you come in here?" I yell into the other section of the room.
"Okay," she yells back.
"Snowball, we're going to go to our seats. Break a leg," daddy says, peaking his head around the corner.
"Okay daddy. Thanks."
"I was just about to go out and watch the opening acts", she says, leaning against my chair.
"Oh, sorry. I just wanted to know what you thought about this hairstyle?"
"Is that your first outfit?" she asks, looking me up and down.
I nod.
"Stand up and let me see," she says excitedly.
I stand up and twirl around.
"Gorgeous. You need to be more bold with the hair though. Pam, can you do something spiky maybe? It would go with the outfit."
Pam nods as I sit back in the chair.
"Mrs. Timberlake?" someone in the doorway asks.
"Yes?"
"Can you sign for these please."
Mama walks out and then comes back in with a bouquet of red roses.
"Ohhh mama."
"Aren't they beautiful?" she asks as she sets them down on the makeup counter.
"They're gorgeous," Pam agrees.
Mama pulls the card off and hands it to me.
Adriana,
I have never sent you roses, have I?
Well, I wanted tonight to be amazing for you.
I wish I could be there with you for this special occasion.
I won't wish you luck because you don't need it.
Just know that I will be thinking about you and wishing
I was there watching you do what you do best...
Well, second best ;)
Love,
Brad
"They're from Brad," I say softly, holding the card close to my chest.
Mama smiles and nods. "I figured as much. Well, one of the bodyguards is here to walk me out."
She squeezes my shoulder and pulls me close to her.
"I don't want to mess up your hair or makeup. I love you baby...kick some ass."
I laugh. "I will. I love you too. Oh and mama?"
She stops at the doorway.
"Thanks for distracting me earlier with those stories...it helped."
She smiles and places her hand over her chest. "Me...distract?"
She leaves the room and I turn back around in my chair so that I'm facing the mirror. Pam touches up the makeup on my face one more time and I smile at my reflection.
"It almost doesn't look like me," I say amazed.
"I'll be right back," she says patting my shoulder.
I stand up and look into the full length mirror and my whole ensemble.
"I'm a bad ass."
"That you are."
I shriek when I hear Brad's voice. I run over to him and practically tackle him in the doorway.
"Oh my God. What are you doing here?"
He grabs onto me so I don't fall as I wrap my legs around his waist. He sways back and forth.
"I'm here to see you."
"I know but how? I didn't think you could get away....and then the flowers," I say pulling back so I can look at him.
He smiles. "I wish I could kiss you."
"You can," I say, leaning in.
He pulls back. "No, you're just about to go on and I don't want to mess up your beautiful makeup."
"How long can you stay?" I ask, pouting.
"I have to leave early tomorrow morning."
"So I'll see you after the show?"
He nods and sets me down.
"Yep. By the way, you look hot."
I grab his hand as we walk into the main part of the dressing room.
"Thanks."
There's a quick knock on the door and then Tony pokes his head in.
"Ana, you ready?"
I nod. "Yep."
"I'll see you after the show," Brad says leaning down and giving my shoulders a squeeze. He quickly kisses my temple and then starts to spit.
"Yuck, hair spray."
I slap his chest and laugh.
He passes Tony and walks into the hallway and disappears. Tony walks into the room and puts his hands on his waist.
"Let's go," he says with a small smile on his face.
"Brad's here," I say in a giddy tone.
"I know," he nods.
"You had something to do with that, didn't you?"
He shrugs. "He's the one who contacted me about the possibility of being here and I just made the arrangements...just in case."
"Well, thanks."
"Anything to see that smile on your face. Come on kiddo...let's go rock the show."
He holds the door open for me and Andre's on the other side, waiting for me. We walk down the hall a little bit where my band members and dancers are waiting. We hold hands and say a prayer of thanks before we hug.
"Go get 'em," George says to me before he hugs me and walks away with the rest of the band.
I walk back with Andre and Roy to the harness so I can get strapped in.
"You comfortable?" Justin asks Britney.
She scoots into Justin's side a little bit and wraps her arm around his.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm glad they brought this couch for the VIP area."
"My idea," he smiles down at her.
"I knew I loved you for a reason," she says leaning up for a quick kiss.
A flash bulb goes off and Britney turns to see a fan who just took a picture of them. The fan smiles and waves. Britney looks back and Justin and rolls her eyes.
"Like the good old days, huh?"
"When's the show gonna start?" Ashleigh asks as she stands in between her parents legs. She puts a hand on each of their legs while she shifts back and forth.
Justin looks at his watch. "It should start any minute now. Where are you going to sit?"
"Over there," she says pointing next to Brad.
"Okay well go over there now while the lights are still on, okay?"
"Okay," she says turning around and taking her seat again.
"I'm glad Brad surprised her like that," Britney whispers.
"Me too. Reminds me of surprises from the past," he says nuzzling her neck.
"Yeah...lucky girl. Those were my favorite shows to perform."
"Which ones?"
"The ones where you surprised me with a visit."
"My favorite too."
Suddenly the lights go out and the audience screams. Britney grabs onto Justin's arm even tighter.
"You have to tell me which way to look for her," Britney says above the audiences screams and the band's music.
"Up."
"Up?"
He nods.
The spotlight finds me as I hang in the harness, above the stage. I smile at the sound of the crowd...it's a rush I can't even explain.
I start to sing, just like daddy told me to up in this thing and by the time I reach the stage and remove the harness, the audience is screaming louder then I ever imagined. The dancers come up behind me and we dance our way up the stage and around the catwalk that surrounds about half of the floor of the venue.
The song ends as we stand in the middle of the venue. I'm not far from the VIP area so I look over at my family and friends who are now standing and cheering me on. Mama is screaming, which makes me laugh.
"Thank you," I say as the dancers and I walk to our left a little bit. "I want to thank you for coming out to the "It's Me" tour. There's just a couple of things I need to ask of you," I say, as I try to slow my breathing down. "Get on your feet and sing along...oh yeah, and have a good time."