Chapter 13

Phil helped him finishing the last piece of the lyrics to the song and he was happy with it. His face was so full of excitement that Phil got a little scared of it.

 

‘’ Hmmm. ‘Only When You’re Lonely.’ A perfect ballad.’’ Phil said.

 

‘’Hmmm, I think we need to change something. Lets make the beat faster. Phil, give me one of your dangerous beats,’’ Bruno said satisfied. ‘’Oeh, this is going to be good.’’

 

‘’You sure this has nothing to do with Bre?’’

 

‘’Maybe.’’ Bruno said with an evil smile. He stood up and walked right to the recoding booth.

 

*************

I woke up with a pounding in my head. I stood up, covering my eyes from the sun that was shining trough the curtains, remembering what happened last night. I knew I shouldn’t have taken that much wine. I went straight to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I raced down the stairs to the kitchen to make my breakfast. Opening the refrigerator, I realized there were no more eggs or bacon left.

 

I sighed and looked at my watch. ‘If I’m fast enough I can still catch breakfast time at Britt’s.’

 

I thought about it and went back upstairs to change. I had to disguise if I didn’t wanted to be recognized by the paparazzi again and be followed around with stupid questions.

 

I decided to add some dark sunglasses and a scarf to hide my face a little.

 

I hurried downstairs, took my bag and keys and left the door.

 

I walked, looking at the ground most of the time and was relieved when I entered Britt’s. I took place at one of the tables in the back and the waitress took my order.

 

Waiting for my food to arrive, I kept looking around anxious. ‘Cut it out, or else they will think you’re up to something.’

 

Finally my food arrived and I concentrate on eating. After eating I threw a couple of bucks on the table, didn’t even care that I threw too much, and made my way out of the tiny restaurant.

 

Outside I quickly looked around, pulled my collar up and started drifting back home. Halfway I stopped, when I spotted a guy with a long coat staring at me. I quickly looked down and started walking again. In the corner of my eye I could see that the guy was walking behind me. I put more speed in my walking and so did he. I decided to stop, to make sure if the guy wasn’t following me anymore. I turned around and froze when I saw that he took out a camera.

 

‘Sh*t.’

 

‘’Come on. One picture.’’ he said and held the camera up.

 

‘’Leave me alone.’’ I murmured and tried to hide my face in my jacket. I tried to run, but as soon as I hit the corner of the street a mob of paparazzi was waiting for me and I knew I was screwed.

 

I turned away from them, but they surrounded me, like fire. I panicked and held my hand up to protect myself from the flashes of the cameras.

 

‘’Bre, look here, look here.’’ A paparazzo said. Another one grabbed me by my arm.

 

‘’Don’t touch me!’’ I yelled and yanked my arm away. I started walking, but they kept following me.

 

‘’Bre, Bre, we’re from TMZ. What do you have to say about your break up with Bruno Mars?’’ a woman held a mic in front of me.

 

‘’No comment.’’ I said dryly. The cameras really came to close to me to get answers.

 

Another one tried. ‘’Is that song you just released really about Bruno Mars?’’

 

I didn’t answer, but just kept walking.

 

‘’What do you have to say about the new song Bruno Mars released? Rumours said it’s about you.’’ A man walked in front of me.

 

I stopped. ‘’Wait, what? What song?’’ I said, confused.

 

‘’You don’t know about it yet? Bruno Mars released a song just today.’’ he said again.

 

‘A song about me?’

 

I realized that I was standing there too long and more paparazzi came. They started pushing again and I lost my temper.

 

‘’Why don’t you all just leave me alone!!’’ I yelled and started pushing my way out. I started running, and of course they followed. They came closer and closer and I thought I would never survive, until a car rode next to me.

 

‘’Bre! Jump in!’’

 

I turned my head to the side and saw Lea’s car. She held the door open for me and I hopped in as fast as I could, slamming the door shut. She stepped on the gas and we took off. I turned around to look at the mob of paparazzi. A couple of them even tried to run after the car, but stopped when they couldn’t catch up anymore. I watched as the people turned in to little dots.

 

‘’Thanks. I thought I would never get away alive.’’ I said exhausted.

 

‘’Anything for you, gurl.’’ she said, with her eyes on the road, but she flashed a smile.

 

I dropped my head back and rested. We kept silent the whole ride.

 

-

 

‘’I can’t believe this.’’ I sighed irratedly after laying down the newest issue of ‘Glossy Gossips’ on the kitchen table. ‘’They just keep going on with this garbage.’’

 

‘’That’s fame.’’ Lea said, checking her reflection in her little mirror.

 

‘’It’s not fair. Why can’t they just focus on my music and leave my private life alone?’’ I tossed the magazines away. ‘’They’re going too far now. I mean, they can’t stop talking about the ‘diss battle’ between me and Bruno. And I totally can’t believe Bruno is actually playing this game along. Dissing me back and stuff. I’m getting tired of this fame.’’

 

‘’Hey, hey. Just focus on your music and don’t let the paps or Bruno get you down.’’ Lea squeezed my hand.

 

I took a deep breath, smiled a fake smile and then checked my watch.

 

‘’I better get ready for The Grammys. I have to be at my stylist and make up artist in half an hour. Can you give me a ride?’’ I asked.

 

‘’I’ll drop you off. Still can’t believe your going to The Grammys. You’re so lucky.’’ ‘’I know. I don’t know how Matt could’ve got me an invite.’’

 

After minutes we hurried out the door. I gave Lea the directions and she dropped me off perfect in time.

 

I hurried in, waving quickly at the people as I drifted in to my dressing room.

 

Karen was already ready and handed me my outfit and I got changed.

 

I came out, wearing an elagant creme coloured long dress, with thousands of little diamonds on the waist. Karen clapped in her hands of excitement and guided me to the make up chair, to apply my make up. She first covered my body with some kind of leather blanket, so my dress wouldn’t get stains and then started to add foundation to my skin.

 

After the make up applying she loosened my hair a little bit, flashed another excited smile and let me go.

 

The car that would drive me to The Grammys was already waiting outside for me. I slowly stepped in, afraid to slip, ‘cause of the high heels that I was wearing.

 

I was so excited and scared, because this was the first time I would actually go to an award show, with a lot of great stars that inspired me. And The Grammys is like the biggest deal.

 

The car to drive really slow, and that’s when I realized we arrived. I waited for one of the assistents to open the door. My stomach started to feel heavy, when the cardoor finally opened and a hand gently reached out for mine.

 

I took a deep breath and moved over to grab the hand. I slowly stepped out and the assistent walked me over to the red carpet. Cameras were flashing as I stood there, posing, and a woman walked over to interview me. I quickly prepared myself.

‘’Here we have Bre Lake. Upcoming star in the music industry. Hi, Bre. How are you feeling?’’ She had an British accent.

 

‘’Hi, I’m feeling fine right now. How ‘bout you?’’ I smiled.

 

‘’Great. You look lovely by the way.’’ She looked at my dress. ‘’Well thank you.’’

 

‘’So, this is your first time here. How does that feel?’’ ‘’Great. I mean, it’s such an honour to be here. I’ve always dreamed about this and now I’m finally here.’’ I said, looking around excited.

 

‘’I hope you’ll enjoy yourself tonight. Have fun.’’ She ended the interview.

 

‘’Thank you. You too.’’ I smiled and continued posing for the cameras. I looked around, looking at the stars that were arriving and then walked inside.

 

The red carpet continued inside and the press stood ready with their cameras and mics and I continued posing, looking in every direction of the cameras.

 

I could tell most of the celebrities already arrived, conversating and posing.

 

I felt a hand on my back, so I quickly turned around to see who it was.

 

‘Oh my God.’

 

By surprise I found Darren Criss staring at me with a huge smile. I could almost jump out of excitement.

 

‘Ok, calm down. He’s going to think you’re a freak...’ I said to myself. I breathed out heavily.

 

He took my hand, bent down and kissed it gently. ‘’How are you doing?’’ he asked.

 

‘’I’m... fine. How about you?’’ I acted professionaly, almost jumping out of my skin.

 

‘’I’m good. I really have to mention you look gorgeous.’’ He looked me up and down.

 

I blushed. ‘’Thank you. I really love your work on Glee, by the way. You’re an amazing actor.’’

 

‘’Nah, compared to your singing my work is nothing.’’ He laughed.

 

I blushed even more and prayed that he wouldn’t see it.

 

People started to move forward, so he looked around. ‘’Looks like the show is going to begin.’’ he said excited. ‘’Lets go.’’

 

He gently took my arm around his, like a prins, and we followed the others.

We entered a large, ordinairy stage/concert room and I couldn’t help but stare with my mouth dropped. I’d never been to a place like this.

 

He guided me to the chairs that were placed in front of the performing stage. He searched for his name and I searched for mine. Luckily we sat next to each other.

 

I quickly looked at the names on the other seats, looking for any one familiar. My eyes darted across the papers, until they stopped on a chair over to the left in the row in front of me.

 

Mr. Bruno Mars

 

‘Peachy -.- ‘

 

The space started to crowd, so I sat down, waiting for the show to begin. Me and Darren continued chatting to make the time go faster.

 

Nosy, my eyes went to the first row a couple of times, during our conversation.

 

And then I saw him. My eyes rested on him for minutes.

 

I had to admite, he looked smoking hot in that tux.

 

Bruno turned around to look in my direction and I quickly looked back at Darren. I didn’t have the guts to look at Bruno again, so I just continued following Darrens story.

 

*************

Bruno followed Phil and the rest to their seats. Before he went to sit, he looked around, scanning the room.

 

‘Hmmm...Ke$ha,...Cee Lo,...Nicky Minaj,...Ciara...’

 

His eyes stopped in the row behind him, when he set eyes on Bre. He noticed she had been looking at him a while, and quickly turned her head away, when he saw her. She was having a conversation with that Glee guy, what’s his name again? Yeah, right, Darren.

 

He had to say she looked so beautiful and he couldn’t keep her eyes off of her.

 

Phil pulled on the sleeve of his tux. ‘’What are you looking at? Sit down.’’ he said. Bruno straightened his tie and sat down.

 

**************

The lights finally went out and the stagelights went on. Darren and I stopped talking and turned our heads to the stage.

 

We watched as Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Yoland Adams, Martina McBride and Florence & The Machine’s Florence gave the opening performance, a tribute to Aretha Franklin.

 

I enjoyed the performance. I was a huge fan of Aretha Franklin, so I thought they did great.

 

A lot awards were presented and I clapped out of enthousiasm for the winners. Even for Bruno, who won one. He even performed with B.O.B and Janelle Monáe and it was hard for me to sit, cause they were amazing. The way they sang and played instruments for each others performance was amazing.

 

The show ended. Got introduced to a lot of stars and finally said goodbye to Darren, who was still hooked with one of the Glee actors. I tried to made it out of the space, when I bumped in to Ke$ha.

 

‘’Oops.’’ I quickly said. ‘’It’s okay. Hey, you’re that girl who was that back-up singer of Bruno Mars, right?’’ she pointed at me.

 

‘’Ehm yeah,’’ I gave a fake smile. ‘’I’m Bre Lake.’’

 

‘’Cool. Are you going to the after party?’’ she asked me. ‘’I don’t think so.’’

 

‘’I’m not going too. But that’s a good thing. I’m going to a much larger party, with lots of drinks. Are you coming too?’’ she asked excited.

 

‘’Nah, I’m good.’’ I answered. I’m not in the mood for another party.

 

‘’Oh come on. You should totally come. It’s gonna be major, I promise.’’

 

I hesitated.

 

‘Oh, what the hey. I got nothing to lose.’

 

‘’Alright.’’ I finally said and a huge grin appeared upon her face. She pulled me towards the exit, into the limousine that was waiting and we took off.

 

‘’Champagne?’’ She popped a bottle open and without waiting for my answer she handed me a glass.

 

‘’So, where the party at?’’ I said, after sipping my champagne. ‘Hmm, coconut flavor...’

 

‘’Pretty close. Just a couple of blocks.’’

 

And she was right. I didn’t even finish my champagne yet and the limousine already pulled up.

 

‘’Here we are.’’ she said with a high note and pulled me out.

 

I could already hear the music go *BOOM BOOM BOOM* and I pretty much got afraid for what was coming.

 

I got dragged inside and people were partying as animals. They all cheered for Ke$ha and they offered us cans of beers. Ke$ha took a whole six pack and offered me one, but I didn’t take it.

 

She jumped on a table and held up a can of beer. ‘’PARTY!!!’’ she yelled out of the top of her lungs. The partypeeps started to cheer again and I was wondering in what zoo I ended up.

 

The music came back on and everybody started to dance again, including Ke$ha, who was dancing on the table.

 

I frowned my eyebrows and started to make my way over to a place with a much smaller place.

 

I don’t know how, but suddenly I ended up with people sitting in a circle and being pushed to sit down too.

 

I looked around, wondering what this secret stuff was all about, when I saw a guy with an unatractive beard, looking like a hippie, pass a little envelope to the woman next to him. She took some and then passed it to the next person next to her.

 

It didn’t take much time to realize what was in it. My eyes drew bigger.

 

Heroin.

 

My eyes kept getting bigger and bigger, and panick flashed through me as the envelope came closer to me.