Center Stage - Chapter 33

I leaned back in the cushioned chair and closed my eyes for a minute. The party had gone late the night before, with Kat and I not being able to escape until almost two in the morning and Quinn had me on a call at six that morning for the first of dozens of call-in interviews I did that morning, and then hustled out for the midday taping of the show that would air that night.

My friends had all stayed in town to see the show and were flying back the next day and, because they were here, Lyla and Seth would be able to back me when I played, but wouldn’t get to come to the couch to talk to Hayden. While I was trying to make sure they got mentioned, we all knew that was how it was going to go.

Even with as tired as I was feeling, the difference in this appearance on the show and the last one was so jarringly opposite it was like being slapped in the face. The moment I got to the sound stage, everyone I came in contact with said hello to me, telling me how much they liked the new album, and telling me to tell Kat good luck. The last visit, there were times I thought I was in the wrong place with how much people didn’t seem to know who I was.

It didn’t stop there.

Instead of a small closet of a dressing room with a small card with my name handwritten on it taped to the door, I was in this large dressing room with a full couch and comfy chair, a TV, a big mirrored table against the wall, and my name printed and framed on some kind of laminated card.

Inside the room, they had this big fruit basket with my name on it, which was crazy wasteful because it wasn’t like I was going to be there more than an hour or two. The poor kid in me was wondering how I was going to haul the thing back with me, and a little appalled at their wastefulness.

I’d decided to just ignore it and try to close my eyes for a bit instead. For a little bit, at least, I was on my own, as Seth went to talk to the band and Lyla said she wanted to go meet them. Which meant I could have a short nap. I’d only managed about five minutes of that before someone knocked on my door.

“Come in,” I called out.

To my surprise, Hayden Brooks, who hadn’t given me the time of day when the cameras were off the last time I was here, walked in.

“Charlie! I just wanted to stop by and say it’s great to have you back on the show. We’re thrilled to finally have you on the show.”

It was all I could do to keep my face neutral, “Uhh … thanks, although I was on a few months ago.”

“Of course, of course! And it was fantastic. I mean since your new album has come out, of course.”

It was shocking that no one had called him out on this, since I had no doubt this was how he was like all the time, but I had an unfortunate sense this was what the industry was like. And I couldn’t see an upside for trying to buck it.

“Well, I appreciate the invitation to come back.”

“I heard Trey Mitchell came by your party, do you two know each other?”

“Uhh … We’ve met and he was part of a challenge I had when I was on the Stage, but it was only briefly. I was surprised he came as anyone else, and he only stayed for a few minutes. Honestly, I think it was mostly for the photo op.”

“Huh … I should have thought of that. Anyway, I’ve been trying to get him back on the show and hoped you could get us in contact.”

There it was. I was wondering why he was schmoozing. I was sure part of it was because I was no longer an unheard-of reality TV winner, but that hadn’t been enough for him to be hanging out chatting with me.

“Sorry. I’m not sure how to get in contact with him, actually.”

That wasn’t true, but I figured he’d know how to contact Trey’s agent, which is all I could do.

“Hey, I get it. No problem. I’ve gotta go get set up for the show, but we’ll see you out there.”

Seeing I couldn’t do anything for him, he took off. I just shook my head. These people were unbelievable.

I sat back down and somehow fell asleep waiting for the show to start and my part to begin. I wasn’t sure when I’d fallen asleep, but a loud rapping on the door jerked me awake. I’d expected Lyla and Seth to come back and end up waking me up, so I was surprised to see the TV in the corner of the room showing a guest talking to Hayden on the couch.

“Mr. Nelson, you’re on in ten,” a woman said.

Which meant I needed to hurry up and find the other two and get set up. I looked around and didn’t see my guitar, and started to freak out. I ran out of the room and started asking every PA I could find if someone had been in the green room, but no one had seen anyone. I was screwed.

I ran up, looking for Lyla and Seth, hoping they were still near the curtained off area where they would have set up Seth’s kit. I was pissed at myself. I was supposed to be a professional, which meant being where I needed to be on time. Not sleep until showtime and lose my fucking guitar.

I came running into the area, to see Lyla and Seth just hanging around the equipment, waiting. In a stand next to Lyla’s bass was my guitar.

“Well, look who made it,” Lyla said with a laugh.

“Thank god. I thought you guys were coming back to the green room when you finished?”

“We did, and you were passed out, dude,” Seth said. “You’ve been pushing yourself like crazy, lately, and we decided we should let you get some rest. We’re all set up here and you’re tuned up.”

I calmed down. While I appreciated them setting up, I would prefer if they didn’t scare the hell out of me like that again. But they were trying to be kind, so what the hell.

“Ready?” One of the PAs said.

We all got into our places just as the lights dropped.

“And now, performing a song off his new album, Unexpected Paths, please welcome Charlie Nelson!”

We’d decided to go with “Appalachia Warrior,” the regular version, both because it was a little different than other stuff and the first song on the new album, which made it seem like a good fit to start with.

The crowd loved it. Even without the banjo, it still had a folksy, mountain feel to it that worked really well in this setting, as opposed to something with a heavy rock focus like Dirty Little Secrets that did better in big, open concert venues.

The crowd was into it and we got a standing ovation at the end, which seemed to be pretty standard for a talk show performance, but which I appreciated anyway.

As we’d pre-arranged, I left the others, who would start packing stuff up when the curtain closed, as I made my way over to the seat next to Hayden’s desk.

He talked a little bit to me while the, mostly just him asking who else he might know that was at the party, until they counted us down and we were back from the commercial break.

“Wow. Charlie. That was really something.”

“Thanks, Hayden. I’m just happy to be back.”

“Your new album dropped yesterday and already the buzz around it is pretty strong. Do you think you’re going to hit number one with this one?”

“I have no idea. Honestly, this is the first thing I’ve done, at least first album, that was released wide, so I’m not even sure what to expect. But really, I’m just happy if people enjoy it.”

“But you have to have some sense. Your EP got close to number one on the singles chart, which has to bode well for the album.”

“So my manager tells me.”

“And it’s a big departure from your last work, I understand.”

“I don’t think it’s so much of a big departure as it is more focused than what I did before. Country Roads was really a first for my entire band, so we were kind of winging it. With this new one, we’re a lot more focused and had an actual idea behind the album as a whole, as opposed to just songs we liked.”

“And you’re heading out on tour soon, right?”

“Yeah, we kick off in a month, after the Olympics wraps up. We’re hitting eight cities over four weeks, including Madison Square Garden. We’re all pretty excited.”

“You mentioned how different your last album was. Do you think that’s because you’re working with ARC Records now? Was there something about your previous label that held you back from how high you’ve managed to climb?”

The bait on that hook couldn’t have been any more obvious, and in spite of all the animosity between myself and MAC, I wasn’t going to go on TV and start badmouthing anyone. There didn’t seem to be any upside to it.

“Every label is different. ARC has been fantastic, really supportive of our vision. I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had with both labels.”

“Diplomatic answer,” Hayden chuckled. “Now, you mentioned the Olympics. I understand you’re dating a swimmer. How do you think she’s going to do in Tokyo.”

“I think she’s going to get gold. She’s maybe the best athlete I’ve ever seen, and I’m just happy that I get to be there to support her.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a busy summer ahead! We’ll be right back with Charlie Nelson after this break.”

Unlike the last time, Hayden then made more small talk, instead of ignoring me, and they didn’t hustle me off stage to make room for the next guest. Instead, I spent the rest of the show one seat down, just watching him interview the next person, who was an actor in some new horror movie I hadn’t heard of.”

The music industry might have been brutal, but it was nowhere near as ridiculous as Hollywood, and it made me glad I wasn’t an actor.

***

We made it back to Wellsville and the week was mostly spent doing call-in interviews and marketing the book. I did get to home Sunday in time to play one last gig at the Blue Ridge, with Cole this time, which was exciting.

Alina had also come back home with us, saying she’d told her management she was taking the month off to be with her friends. I was a little surprised by this, since that was a long time for someone of her stature to not be working, but she said it’s the first vacation she has ever taken, and she’d come to realize there was more than just working, constantly out there selling herself.

After a week of interviews, I could feel her pain. It was draining, especially since every day Quinn piled more onto my already full schedule. Not that I begrudged her, since that was her job, but it was a lot to deal with when all I really wanted to do was play music.

The other thing that surprised me about Alaina’s staying to visit was that Kat, who she’d formed maybe the closest friendship with, wasn’t there. She spent the week back at school, using their facilities to get as much final training in as she could. I honestly barely got to talk to her. She was spending up to twelve hours a day in the pool and was so tired by nighttime that she could barely form a sentence.

So instead of hanging with Kat, she was spending a fair amount of time with Cole and Hanna. She and Cole had hit it off at the party and got along, and I guess Kat introduced her to Hanna and must have asked Hanna to look after her because Hanna was practically mother-henning Alina. It was weird, but Alina was eating up the attention from friends, and it showed how starved she really was for people who just liked her for her. The more I’d started to see into the lifestyle, the more I realized this was a problem. That people, when they got famous, were just surrounded by those who wanted to use them and tell them what they thought the person wanted to hear.

Hollywood and all of the apparatus around fame could really make a person feel lonely and disconnect them from reality, which I guess is why so many of the people who reached a certain level became so self-involved. It’d be hard not to, surrounded by people fighting to be the one to tell you how great you were.

It made me appreciate the friends I had around me, who reminded me of who I was and what was important.

The downside of it was that sometimes I ended up traveling with a lot of people. From the outside, it must have made me look like such a diva, and the trip to the airport for our flight to Tokyo took it to new levels. Besides myself and my three keepers, I had Kat, Hanna, Hanna’s mother, Cole, Alina, Lyla, Tabitha, Seth, and Chef all traveling with us. I’d ended up just booking out the entirety of first class, which was crazy expensive, but I wanted Kat to travel as comfortably as possible.

The only real bad part of this trip was she had to stay in the Olympic villas while we’d gotten several suites at a hotel nearby, so I wouldn’t get to stay with her each night. But she needed to focus anyway.

Matters were significantly complicated when we arrived at the airport to find the place a madhouse. There were a swarm of people standing by the arrival gates, and they were there to see me. I knew that because several of them had signs with my name on them, and they went absolutely insane when our small caravan of cars that we’d had to arrange to get all of us and our luggage to the airport pulled up.

There were a handful of airport security officers trying to push them back, but they were nowhere near enough to deal with what looked like several hundred screaming fans, mostly girls, from what I could see.

Jean looked pissed. Thankfully, we’d had drivers for the cars since my guards were all going with me, and all three were in the car with Kat and me, with the rest of my friends and family in the following car.

“Leave the luggage, I’ll text your friends and let them know to get it once we’re through the crowd. I’ll be getting out first, followed by Mana, then you, then Malik. You are to stay between the boys, do you hear me?”

She was deadly serious, and there was no way I was going to ignore her. I was honestly just happy she didn’t try to say we needed to wait to fly until we had more security.

“I do.”

“Okay. Stay tight and do not slow down for anything.”

Jean opened the door, pushing the people pressed against the car back hard, screaming at them to step back. That had some effect, but not as much as when Mana got out. He had on his work face, and everyone took a step back on their own. Kat and I followed behind him, and then Malik got out. Malik and Mana practically squished Kat and me between them. People were trying to reach in and grab me, but Malik and Mana pushed anyone that got a hand near us away.

They were chanting my name and shouting frantically. Part of me thought I should stop, say hi, sign autographs, but the way they were pushing and screaming, I was pretty sure I’d get either trampled or mauled in the process. The officers who’d been trying to create some control must have figured out we were the cause of the mess because they rushed over to help push us through the crowd. Inside the airport was a little better, as the officers were able to use the doorways to physically keep most of the crowd out. I was just wondering how we’d ever get through ticketing when a harried woman in a suit came hustling up to us.

There was a brief exchange between her and Jean, mostly because Mana and Malik were not letting Kat or me out of the little bubble they created. After a moment, Jean waved for us to follow them as they headed for a security door that I assumed was for employees.

“What about everyone else?” I yelled out to Jean.

“They’ll have someone escort them to us. We need to get you out of sight so this crowd disperses.”

She wasn’t wrong. They’d started to push past the officers and into the airport check-in area, which meant our brief reprieve was almost over. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but once we were through the secure door, Mana and Malik backed off a bit, giving me a little room to breathe, thankfully since I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic pressed between them.

The lady ended up taking us to what looked like a waiting area with very comfortable chairs and a screen showing arrivals and departures.

“This is our VIP waiting area, which we use for people who would otherwise cause security issues if they were out in the general boarding area.”

I had no idea such a thing existed, but considering the scene we’d just left, I could see why it was needed.

“I do wish you’d given us a heads up about your travel plans.”

“I didn’t know I needed to. I flew out of here last week and there were a few people, but it wasn’t a big deal. Then I flew back from LA...”

“That may be, but you can see from what happened this time, the reaction that your arrival does cause something of an issue for general safety. If you choose to fly commercial or out of this airport, we have procedures for bringing someone of your status in through an alternate entrance and keeping you out of public, to keep this exact thing from happening. I would venture to guess that other airports you fly in or out of have similar policies. I would suggest, in the future, you have your people inquire ahead of time about those policies and procedures.”

“I will,” I said, still not sure why this was suddenly so different.

She gave kind of a satisfied little nod and took off.

“Since this is a secure area, I’m going to leave you with the boys and find out what’s going on, because you’re right. This didn’t happen the last few flights and I’m concerned with what changed. Do not leave this area until I get back. Under no circumstances,” Jean said.

“Sure.”

I wasn’t going to argue, not after seeing that. A few minutes later Hanna and everyone else were led in, along with all of our luggage. Apparently as soon as we were gone, the crowds dissipated. We showed up early cause we thought we’d have to go through security, but instead a TSA agent came through, checked our stuff and took our bags to be run. I set Malik with them just to be on the safe side, and keep an eye on them. Mana was kind of against it but I pointed out that we were in a secure area of the hotel and I was staying put per Jean’s orders, and if something happened to our luggage, we should know about it.

He thought about it and agreed, which was enough for Malik, who headed off with our stuff.

“Anyone know why everything’s so crazy?” Hanna asked once we’d all settled in to wait for our boarding time.

“Maybe it’s ‘cause your album came out and you went back on late night? I mean, it has to be getting you a lot of notice and it’s the only thing that’s happened since we left LA,” Hanna mentioned.

“Yeah, but we haven’t hit number one or anything. We just pushed into the top ten.”

“That’s still really good,” Chef pointed out. “Maybe good enough for crowds like this.”

“Maybe,” I said, but I didn’t believe it.

“I just wish the album was doing a little better, you know? I mean, I know it’s crazy ‘cause it just came out and all, but still...”

“I know, but Warren says this is pretty much what they expected. There were some other big releases this week. Apparently, GLR pushed their biggest artist to drop an album at the same time.”

“Really?” Seth asked.

“It’s business, I guess. Warren also mentioned we still need to break into a wider audience enough for them to buy the whole album. It takes time on a debut, and ARC was expecting this to be more of a slow burn.”

“Yeah, I hear you. I just hoped it would’ve been different, you know?”

I didn’t disagree, but we had to be patient. Warren and Hal weren’t worried, so I was trying not to worry either. A few minutes later, Jean returned, her stern expression shifted to annoyance.

“I’ve spoken with airport security. They’ll put us on the plane last, once everything else is boarded.”

“That’s good,” I said.

“I also found out why it was so crazy today. Someone leaked your flight itinerary online yesterday. So fans knew where you were going to be.”

I actually wasn’t surprised that happened, and the odds were it was pretty common. There were so many people involved in getting travel arrangements, and enough money pushed out by tabloids and anyone else who wanted an inside scout, it had to be all but impossible to keep it secret.

Since it was impossible, however, it should not have taken us by surprise like it did. I stood up and walked to a corner, waving Jean to follow me.

“Why didn’t we know about this ahead of time? Isn’t this exactly the kind of threat you’re supposed to be watching out for?”

Jean’s professional demeanor faltered for a moment, showing a flash of self-doubt. It was the first time I’d ever seen anything like that from her. She was always so controlled and confident, seeing her question herself took me back a step.

“You’re right. We’ve been so focused on your stalker that we clearly dropped the ball on this one.”

“Look, I appreciate everything you’re doing to keep me safe, I really do. But this seems like a pretty big miss, don’t you think?”

“You’re absolutely right. It won’t happen again.”

“I know you won’t let it happen again, and I really do appreciate all the work you, Mana, and Malik have been doing to keep me safe. I just wanted to make sure we were looking at this. Thanks.”

I gave her a smile, trying to make sure she knew I was not yelling at her and then turned to rejoin the rest of our group. As I did, Jean’s hand shot out, gently grasping my arm.

“Charlie, wait. Did you pull me aside so you could say this in private?”

“Yeah. I didn’t see any reason to complain about something you did in front of others. I mean, not complain, but talk about something like this. It’d be disrespectful, for one thing. And it’s important that everyone listens to you when situations get dangerous. If I said something to cause anyone else to question your decisions, well... it wouldn’t do anyone any good.”

“Ohh,” she said, sounding genuinely surprised.

I gave her another tight-lipped smile and headed back to the group.