Chapter Two

Work.

A normal day of work consisted of getting to the office by at least two in the afternoon. But if it was going to be a big day, and a huge artist like Tim McGraw or Faith Hill was coming in, you must get there by at least ten in the morning so you can plan and rehearse. Huge stars are intimidating sometimes. They are so used to doing interviews that sometimes they can scare you.

I remember this once, when I was interning at MTV and Joey McIntyre came by the studios and surprised everybody. He really surprised me. Carson or any of the other VJ’s weren’t here and I was hosting the show all-alone.

For anybody that does not know me, when I was little, Joey Joe McIntyre was my God.

I seriously freaked out that day, but I kept it on the inside. I kept my cool and did a great interview. Joey later told MTV that it was the best interview he had ever done at Total Request Live and on MTV period. That made me feel so good. But inside I was freaking out when I interviewed him.

So I come to work at two on most days, go to wardrobe and pick out what I’m wearing for the show that night, go to the production meetings with the producers. Those can last up to two hours sometimes. Then you meet with the artist that’s on the show that day if there is one. You go to wardrobe, hair, and make up and you do the show.

It’s a stressful job, but it’s something that I always wanted to do. I grew up watching people like Kurt Loder, Pauly Shore, Ed Lover, and all of the people on MTV host shows, report the news, etc. I wanted to do that and I do. It’s a good thing CMT finally got up with the times and got some VJ’s huh?

“Elisabeth,” Lance Smith, another VJ from CMT, said as he walked into her office to see her going over her cue cards, already dressed for the show. Elisabeth looked up at him and then back down at the cards, going over them, “The guys are here. The traffic let up and they finally got here.”

“Okay,” Elisabeth said as she smiled, following Lance out of the office and down the hallway. Lance was always trying to ask Elisabeth out and she wasn’t interested. He was cute, but not her type at all.

“Man, I have to run back to wardrobe. Be right back,” Lance said as he ran down the hallway slowly as Elisabeth turned a corner running into someone.

“Excuse me,” the guy said as Elisabeth looked up at him, “You’re Elisabeth.”

“You’re Joe Don from Rascal Flatts,” Elisabeth said as she looked at him. She looked down at what he had on - a sleeveless muscle shirt that was kind of tight and showed off his arms really well. She just smiled, looking back at him, “We’ve never met before.”

“No, we haven’t. You’re always on location when we come,” Joe Don said as Elisabeth smiled and Lance walked back up, putting on a jacket, “Oh hey Lance.”

“Hey J.D. Elisabeth, I’m ready,” Lance said as Elisabeth gave Joe Don a little wave and continued to walk to the studio, following Lance. “So you talked with Joe Don?”

“Yeah we ran into each other,” Elisabeth said as they walked out into the studio audience where the producer of the show was telling them that they had two minutes until they went on the air, “He seems pretty nice.”

“He is. They’re great guys,” Lance said as he looked over at her, “You seem weird today. Everything okay?”

Elisabeth just sighed in return. Was everything okay? Well besides the fact she just had some weird eye-locking experience with a guy in her favorite country group that she had a somewhat small crush on and her ex-boyfriend and best friend was in town acting really weird.

“I’m just fine,” Elisabeth said as she smiled. The producer’s assistant walked up to them, handing them their microphones and began counting down the seconds until they went live on the air.

“Ah, welcome to Most Wanted Live today,” Lance said as they went live on the air and he looked over at Elisabeth, then back at the camera. “We’ve got all of your votes in for the top 8 videos and we’ll be counting them down.”

“And we’ve got Rascal Flatts here to perform their brand new single,” Elisabeth said as the live studio audience applauded to the fact that the guys were there, “and I’m going to be asking them some pretty personal questions!”, she said as she waved the cue cards in the air and the audience screamed more.

About two miles in downtown Nashville, Nick sat in his hotel room, laying on his bed with his feet propped up, watching Most Wanted Live, agreeing with his long time theory that yes, country music really did suck. He always hated it and Elisabeth used to make him listen to it all the time. So what if a few of the artist rubbed off on him?

Faith Hill was kind of hot for an older lady.

Nick rolled his eyes in response as a Faith Hill video came on the show at number eight.

“We’re back here with Most Wanted Live,” Elisabeth said as the audience cheered more, “And you see these three stools here beside me? That’s right, it’s time for our special guest tonight, Rascal Flatts!” And with that, the music to their hit song “Praying For Daylight” began to play as Joe Don, Gary, and Jay walked through the crowd and up to the stage. They all greeted Elisabeth with a kiss on the cheek and took their respective places to her right, sitting on the stools with Joe Don sitting next to her, “So are you guys ready for my juicy questions?”

The guys just laughed in response.

“Oh yeah, give them to me.” Jay said as Gary just rolled his eyes at him.

“Okay now remember, these came from your fans at cmt.com, not from me,” Elisabeth said as they laughed, “Okay who in the band is the biggest flirt?”

“Jay,” Joe Don and Gary both said at the same time as Jay held his hands up in the air.

“I’m innocent,” Jay said as everybody laughed at him, like they normally did.

“Who is the best kisser?” Elisabeth asked as she looked over at them. The guys just all looked at each other.

“Well, I never kissed any of them,” Jay said as he rubbed his chin, “I’d probably say Joe Don.”

“Okay I’ll say Joe Don too,” Gary said as Joe Don looked at them laughing.

“Me?” Joe Don asked as he looked back over at Elisabeth, “I don’t think I’m the best.”

“Well we don’t know that.” Elisabeth said as everybody laughed at them. She looked back down at her cue cards, seeing what the next question was and when she looked up, Joe Don leaned in to kiss her deeply on the lips. She hesitated for a second, until she gave in and kissed him back.

“Okay, back up dude,” Nick said as he sat up on the bed, looking at the TV, “Who the hell is this dude?”

“There,” Joe Don said as Gary and Jay looked at him in shock while he sat back down on his stool, “Next question?”

“Uh,” Elisabeth said as she looked up at her producer and blinked her eyes, “Um no it’s time for a video. Here’s Kenny Chesney dropping two spots down to number four tonight with “Big Star” here on MWL.”

“And we’re out!”, the producers assistant yelled as Elisabeth looked over at Joe Don and stood up, walking over to where her producer was standing.

“What was that?” Andrew, Most Wanted Live’s main producer asked as Elisabeth shrugged her shoulders, “Is there something going on?”

“No Andrew. It came out of nowhere. I just met him like 4 minutes before we went on air,” Elisabeth said as she crossed her arms, “It wasn’t me. Trust me.”

“Okay,” Andrew said as Elisabeth walked back over to her stool and Joe Don leaned over to her.

“Sorry about that,” Joe Don said as Elisabeth cut her eyes over to him, “Won’t happen again.”

“Okay,” Elisabeth said as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. How was this day going to get even weirder?

“See you tomorrow Beth!” Lance said as he walked by her office that night after the show. Elisabeth was standing in her office, getting her things ready to head back to her apartment and then remembered Nick. She sighed, picking up her cell phone, and pushing the button to automatically call his. She didn’t even have to look at the number. It was just sketched into her brain where to place her finger.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I’m about to leave the office if you wanna come over to my place.”

“Sure you don’t have company?” Nick asked as Elisabeth rolled her eyes, knowing he had watched the show, “Because if your little new cowboy boyfriend is coming over, then maybe I’ll just stay here -”

“There is no cowboy boyfriend,” Elisabeth said as she put her messenger bag strap over her body, “I’m alone. I’m going home. If you want to come, then come on. You know where it is,” and with that she turned her cell phone off, sticking it in her bag.

Home.

Home for me is usually a small town outside of Atlanta, Georgia where nobody ever went. About 2,000 people lived in the town and most of them were old people. There were no hip stores around. There were only antique stores around.

Now home is my two bedroom studio apartment in downtown Nashville.

I live by myself. Let me clarify myself, I live by myself and I hate it. I wish I had someone else around. Maybe ‘the one’. Hell I would settle for a decent roommate if I can’t have ‘the one’.

The first night I lived here in Nashville alone, I didn’t sleep any. I was so scared because it was the very first time that I actually lived alone. In New York City when I went to school, I lived in the dorms, but now that I was on my own - I lived alone.

The whole apartment is done in mostly white and blue. I have my University of Kentucky stuff all over the place too. I’m a huge fan. Then usually over on the window still is my cat, Bunny. He’s called Bunny because, well, he looks like a big white rabbit. I’m weird and very unoriginal and couldn’t think of a better name.

I love my apartment. It’s very classy, yet cute. I have a cute kitchen and a cute, sexy, very sensual bedroom that is decorated in white completely. But what I like most about my apartment is that it’s mine. I pay for it and I can do whatever I want with it and in it.

Life as an adult is great, except for that whole alone thing.

Elisabeth stood there in the kitchen of her apartment after feeding Bunny his nightly feast. She sighed, reaching in her refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. She tucked her hair behind her ears and opened the bottle up to take a sip when her doorbell rung.

It had to be Nick.

“Coming!” Elisabeth yelled as she pulled up her drawstring pajama pants and walked over to the door, looking out of it to see Nick looking in. He always, always did that to her, “You ass.”

“You like my ass,” Nick said as Elisabeth opened up the door to see Nick standing there with something behind his back, “Hi.”

“Hi,” Elisabeth said as she laughed a little as Nick moved his hand from behind his back, handing her a bottle of champagne. She looked down at the bottle as Nick walked into the apartment with a smirk on his face.

This was getting interesting.