Miles of Pleasure

chapter 9




Kaylee and ashton were the last to get to the limo that was waiting for them in front of the hotel. They got in and Kaylee looked around. She saw Jayden and Colton on the other side of the long black limousine, semi-dressed up, along with their dates. She knew that Jayden had arranged their dates, in order for them to portray the right image, since neither one had any girls who they wanted to bring. The way they talked among themselves - a little too formal and careful - said that they were all complete strangers trying to make the best of the night.

Noah's date, however, struck something in Kaylee's memory. She looked curiously at her brother, trying to remember where she had seen the girl. After a moment of serious thought, he had it - this was the same girl from the bar a few weeks ago, and even then she looked familiar, but Kaylee couldn't put her finger on where she knew her from. With all the people whom she had met on the tour, names and faces tended to blend together.

"Kaylee, you remember Brittany, right? We went out for a while in high school," Noah told her.

A moment of realization hit Kaylee hard. That was the girl! How could she have forgotten? "Yes, I remember you Brittany. How are you?"

"I'm great, thanks," she replied, obviously feeling a little awkward. "You look great, by the way."

"Thanks, so do you," Kaylee returned the compliment. Her curiosity was now at an all-time high. "So, tell me how you and Noah ended up in contact again?"

The limo began moving, giving a little jolt to all of them. Ashton reached out to steady Kaylee, who wasn't prepared for the movement.

"Well, I travel a lot for my company," Brittany said. "I'm a Business Development Manager for a largeconsulting firm. So I'm all over the country trying to persuade companies to use our services. I ran into Noah at a restaurant a couple of months ago. I wasn't sure it was him at first, but then he recognized me and we started talking. Now whenever we are in the same area, we get together and hang out," Brittany informed her.

"Wow, that's great," Kaylee said, wondering if she really felt that way. She shot Noah a look, asking clearly, why didn't you tell me? But then she thought back to the women Noah had dated, and the pieces finally clicked into place. If she remembered correctly, Brittany was the girl who turned Noah loose, thinking that he'd never make anything of himself. How ironic that she was here now, after Noah had finally done exactly what Brittany swore he would never do.

She turned to Colton and Jayden's dates and introduced herself to them. They seemed rather nice, and she hoped that Colton and Jayden would have a good time with them. They deserved some happiness.

The limo began to slow, and Kaylee looked out thewindowto see what was happening. The sides of the streets were barricaded, and there wassecurity allaround. They sat still for a few minutes, then crawled forward one spot. The cycle repeated until they were at the drop off point.

Kaylee looked at Ashton and nearly laughed. He was chewing on his lip nervously as he waited for the doors to open. It was very unusual to see him nervous, but he was definitely that and then some. She wanted to tease him, but she was nervous too, so she bit back the snarky remarks she wanted to make.

"You ready for this?" Kaylee asked instead.

Ashton turned to her. "I think so. Just smile the whole time, right?" he asked.

"You got it. Piece of cake!" Kaylee said cheerfully.

Ashton reached out and grabbed Kaylee's hand as the door to the limo was opened from the outside. Everyone filed out of the limo, leaving Ashton and Kaylee to get out last. He crawled out as well as possible, then turned to offer his hand to Kaylee. When she stepped out of the limousine, the reporters began hollering for attention and the lights were suddenly popping everywhere around them, almost blinding them both.

Seeing all the flash bulbs go off, and hearing all the reporters calling, Ashton froze. He forgot what he was supposed to say or do. He wasn't smiling, and he wasn't walking. He simply stood there, looking a little lost and rather scared. Kaylee gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and a wide, radiant smile. His confidence returned as he led Kaylee down the red carpet entrance.

All around them, people were yelling and asking how it felt to be nominated for an award. The red carpet was blocked off on both sides, but the reporters jostled for position, pushing in as much as they could. It felt like a corridor of madness. Microphones were shoved in their faces, and flash bulbs spotted their eyes. They stopped at a few of the well-known interviewers, and politely answered a few questions. The whole time, they were eagerly making their way to the doors of the American Airlines Arena.

The red carpet took much longer than anyone might have thought; what appeared to go by in a flash on television crawled along for over an hour on the carpet. Once inside the flash bulbs stopped, and even with everyone talking at once, it was a lot quieter than having the reporters yelling their questions.

Kaylee looked down and realized that Ashton still had his hand intertwined with hers. He hadn't let go of her the entire time, even as he talked to reporters and smiled for the cameras. For some reason, it made her smile.

The others headed to their seats, while Ashton and Kaylee stayed in the lobby for a few minutes. He didn't seem to want to go into the main room; in fact, Ashton looked pale, and Kaylee realized exactly how nervous he was. "Hey, you okay?"

"You know, I don't think I've ever been this nervous. This is such an important moment for us as a band, and for our future. I know that it's a long shot for us to win, but I am going to be disappointed if we don't. I know it's just a bunch of metal, but it's important metal." He looked around the room. "Look where we are, Kaylee. Look at all these people. We don't belong here, we are so out of our league."

"No," she said, looking around. "You're newcomers. But everyone was a newcomer at some point, right? Does that make them any less worthy?"

Ashton smiled at her and let out a deep sigh of relief. "That's exactly what I needed to hear, Kaylee."

"It's the truth, isn't it?"

His smiled broadened. "It is. Thank you."

Kaylee grinned up at him. "Time to shine, superstar. Let's go in."

His hand squeezed hers again as they walked down the aisle to their seats. Making their way to their spot, Kaylee looked at everyone in the crowd. She couldn't believe all the famous people she recognized, and it gave her a little jolt. The realization of how truly momentous this night was finally hit her. This was the big time - the real big time - and they were all a part of it.

Ashton was also humbled. He saw so many people he had idolized, and never thought he would see them in person, let alone be sitting next to them at an awards show. This was the kind of thing he had dreamed about for years. It was so unreal, as if he was dreaming.

They found their seats, and anxiously awaited the beginning of the awards. They watched the cameras move around, watched the lights flicker on and off above various parts of the stage, and watched a few of the stars walk across it to the sound of scattered applause from the audience and screams from the fans that had seats in the nosebleeds.

The opening band came on, and the crowd got pumped. Kaylee enjoyed watching, but she was distracted by the heat radiating from Ashton's hand.

They sat through presentation after presentation, performance after performance. It was exciting to watch, but the real excitement was yet to come - the award for Best New Group. The night seemed to drag as they waited for their category to be called. The nervousness built and built. Ashton started biting his lip again, and Kaylee had to squeeze his hand hard to get his attention and make him stop. It was hard to concentrate on everything that was happening around them as they sat in sweet anticipation.

Finally, their moment came when the band that won the award the previous year went to the podium.

"This is it," Kaylee whispered, and Ashton smiled at her, but didn't take his eyes away from the stage.

"Tonight, we're presenting the award for Best New Group, and for the first time, the winner has been picked by the fans. For the past week, MTV has accepted your votes and let you pick this year's Best New Group. And the nominations are..."

The screens came alive, showing the videos of all the nominees. Ashton and the rest of the guys smiled broadly as their video came up. The cameras moved into position, pointing directly at them to get a good reaction shot.

Finally, all attention went back to the presenters. "And the winner is..." One of them opened up the envelope slowly. "That's great, I love these guys," he said, more to himself than anyone else.

"MILES OF PLEASURE!"

The shock of hearing the name didn't register at first. The crowd went wild, but no one in Miles of Pleasure moved. The group in front of them turned around and stood to shake their hands, and the producer waved frantically, trying to get them moving.

"It's you!" Kaylee said, fighting back the tears and smiling so hard she felt as though her face would crack. "Ashton, it's you!"

In a delayed reaction, the group finally stood and hugged one another. Their dazed eyes told the story. None of them had expected to win, but here it was, and now they were going up on the stage - it was so surreal that each of the men thought they might be dreaming.

Ashton turned to Kaylee when she stood up, and did the one thing she didn't expect - he pulled her in for a deep kiss. She was shocked by the suddenness of it, but the surprise of his lips against hers and his hand against the small of her back. Before she could properly react, he backed away and let out a shout of joy.

He looked into her eyes for a tender moment, but the producer was still waving and the crowd was cheering. He smiled at her one last time before heading down the aisle.

Kaylee hugged each of the guys as they passed her. Noah was the last one. He pulled her tight and lifted her in the air. "I saw that," he whispered in her ear, then ran to join the rest of the guys.

She sank back into her chair, a little embarrassed by the kiss, but she couldn't think it through right now - there was an award to be accepted! She was so ecstatic and proud of her boys.

The guys all gathered around the microphone. "Wow, this is great! We didn't prepare a speech, because honestly, we NEVER thought we'd be up here," Noah told everyone. He looked at the little moon man statuette, holding it tight in his hands.

"First, we need to thank our fans. You're the ones who put us here, and you're the ones who keep us going day to day. Next, we need to thank all our friends and family, everyone who has supported us since day one," Noah went on. He looked to the other guys for help, as he got caught up in the moment.

"All the production crew, Jayden, Cody, the guys at the recording studio, our record company..." Jayden added.

"And most importantly, a special thanks to my sister Kaylee. Thank you so much for always keeping us in line, and for being there whenever we need you," Noah announced.

"We love you Kaylee!" Jayden and Colton yelled together.

Ashton took the mic then. "Thanks for being my sparring partner, as well as my teddy bear." He looked out to the crowd and spotted Kaylee.

That did it. The tears started, the kind of good tears that she would never try to hide. She blew a kiss at all of them. The music came on to usher them off stage, but before they moved, they saw their biggest fan give them a standing ovation. Kaylee stood, with tears pouring from her eyes, clapping like there was no tomorrow. Her heart swelled, knowing how deserving the band was. She had been there through all the shows - the crappy ones and the great ones - all the long hours on the road, the interviews and the press and the occasional problems. She had seen it all, and she knew that ninety percent of stardom is serious work. That hard work had finally paid off, and she couldn't be happier for them.

Kaylee sat back down and watched the rest of the show. During commercial breaks, people would stop by to pat her on the shoulder and congratulate her and "her boys." She knew those boys were backstage in front of a bevy of cameras.

The guys made it back to their seats just as the show was ending. Ashton immediately took her hand as she sat down. They were all so euphoric that it was as though their bodies were filled with electricity; nobody wanted to sit. There was a lot of fidgeting until the show was over. After the cameras stopped rolling, they were finally able to get out of their seats and head to the front lobby.

Once there, Kaylee hugged all the guys again, telling them all how proud she was of them.

She went and talked to Colton and Jayden's dates as the three of them faded into the background. The women watched as different singers and actors came over and congratulated the band, giving them their moment of glory. Of course, Brittany stood right by Noah, making sure she was both seen and heard by everyone who stopped by.

Neither of the other two girls seemed to like Brittany much. They got along well with Kaylee though. They kept themselves entertained as the guys basked in the joy of the night. Ashton kept motioning for Kaylee to stand next to him, but each time, she smiled and shook her head.

The guys were able to meet some of their idols, the bands that they patterned their music after. It gave them an unbelievable high, something that no drug could ever match.

Ashton had enough of Kaylee holding up the wall, and went over to her. In one swift movement, he wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up and spun her around. Kaylee tossed her head back and laughed, feeling so carefree and happy.

An hour later they were back in the limo, heading to the post-party that their record company was throwing for the newly-minted winners. Ashton had his hand back in Kaylee's as they talked about all the famous people they had met that night.

At the party, the champagne was endless as the eight of them celebrated the success of the band. No one's glass was ever empty, and they were all plastered at the end of the night. It seemed a fitting, carefree way to end a night that had gone impossibly well - both professionally and personally.