Disclaimer: I don't own.
:}
"Oh, in that case, we should make this memorable." The pop princess said. "What would you like to do?'
The smile on the blue eyed girls face was both encouraging, and frightening. For a moment, Tori worried for her life. She really didn't have too. Once the decision was made, they used the cars GPS to find their goal, and drove until they reached what Jade wanted to do. They were at a shooting range.
"And how is this safe?' Tori asked.
"Come on, with all the protective gear on, no one is gonna know who you are. So, pistols?" The dark haired girl asked.
"Sure." Tori said without much enthusiasm.
Jade rented two guns, a Glock 17, and a Beretta Model PX4 40 caliber. Both guns were nice, with the Beretta being a compact pistol. "Thats it? Not a big gun kind of girl, are you?" The singer asked.
"Let me guess, you were expecting me to go all dirty harry and get a 44 automag?" Jade laughed at the comment, but stopped at the glare the other girl was giving her.
"I'll just have the desert eagle in three five seven, please." Tori said nicely to the woman renting the guns.
"Thats a lot of gun, ma'am. Are you sure you can hale it?" The lady behind the counter asked.
"Plus fifty rounds of ammo." Tori said. "We'll take turns with all three guns."
They also bought a few targets and made their way to the range, claiming spaces next to one another so they could share the guns. Tori hadn't flinched when Jade insisted on the male cutout targets. They set up, loading their guns, and took their places at the line. "Now you wanna be holding that gun with two hands, and be ready for the kick." Jade yelled. She had to in order to be heard. It was an indoor rage, so in addition tot he sounds of the other there firing their guns, they also had to get through the protective earmuffs that were required at most ranges. The earmuffs were required to protect their hearing in that enclosed space, something Jade suspected Tori was in favor of. Many musicians wore earplugs to drown out the sounds on stage, so their large, industrial speakers didn't cause hearing damage.
"I Know what to do." Tori yelled back. The pop star then proceeded to empty the 357's clip, nine rounds, fairly quickly, putting holes in the target down range. Jade used the small pair of binoculars to check the score, and almost dropped them. "Well?"
"Not bad..." Jade started.
"So you could do better?" The singer asked.
"Well..." Jade lined up her sights and let her rounds go. She shot almost as fast, and her score was very high, all the shots getting within the torso, most in the kill area, at fifty feet. But Tori's were clustered in a three inch radius ring around the heart.
"So I'm good, right?" The pop princess asked. "You can't do that, can you? Hmm? HHMMMM?" she was once again in the bodyguards space.
"Okay, your a killer shot." The body guard admitted. "How the hell are you that good with a gun. How are you that good with that big a gun?"
"Please, my dad's a cop." Tori explained. "The only person on tour who's a better shot then I am is Trina, and she likes the forty four magnums."
"So I know, if it gets bad, to have someone carry a piece for you." Jade admitted.
"I never said I liked shooting them." Tori protested. "Not at people. Just, my dad made sure I could take care of myself."
"So you can fight?" Jade asked.
"Not as well as you'd think, given who my dad was." Tori admitted. "I'm a bit of a klutz when I'm not dancing, and I really don't have it in me to try and hurt someone. Maybe in self defense..."
From there, they had fun, shooting the various guns and enjoying the differences. The Glock was a smooth, accurate gun with a high ammo capacity. The Beretta was a heavier recoil, and packed as bit more punch. But due to it's small size, wasn't as accurate at range. And the desert Eagle, it was a small hand cannon that helped make holes in the target. Both Jade and Tori had fun using it to put holes in the head of their silhouette targets. It was a fun way for them to kill an hour or two, then head back to the hotel to get changed in time for the limo. Since they had time, along the way back, they stopped to look at a couple of the local sights, as well as grab something to eat and just enjoy the day. It amazed Jade that no one seemed to recognize Tori, but let it slide as people not looking too closely at tourists.
After their adventure at the shooting range, things they seemed to have found their way towards the beginnings of an understanding. The daily life settled into a routine of sorts. Tori would go about her business, posing with fans when she could, and otherwise getting on Jade's nerves. It was almost like a game, pushing it in the face of her security team, that she was going to do things her way, and they had to adjust to her actions. For her part, the bodyguard did her job, stayed aware of any and all possible threats. As a result of her diligence, she'd more then then once pissed Tori of by having either Ron or Bill carry her away from the crowd, at least long enough to check out possible threats, like a guy with his hand in his coat, or a suspicious bulge. Once that led to an arrest, as the guy had a squirt gun full of a potentially dangerous liquid. The others had Tori return shortly to continue with the impromptu meet and greet with only a quick apology. Usually after an agitated looking Jade had confiscating something long enough for the fan to get their time with Tori.
The schedule was grueling, for both the performers and those supporting them. Tori singing was very popular, so for the first leg of her tour she did five to six shows per week, and that was only because no one could maintain doing seven shows per weeks for months on end, let alone the year plus they'd be on tour. For her health, and the investment the promoters were putting into this tour, Tori had to stay healthy. It was why she flew, why she got rest days, and why Trina looked the other way when the pop princess snuck off on one of her little stress breaking adventures.
Those off days were special to the crew as well. Sometimes it was the time it took for the trucks to catch up, others it was just a scheduled layover day. The crew were dedicated professionals who enjoyed every minute of their off time, knowing how unlikely it was to last. Jade found them to be hard driven individuals who often loved the controlled risks involved in the tour, but more often then not just liked the gypsy like life style. Days off for them were the time they used to sigh see, relax, unwind, or otherwise experience the world. One guy had made it his mission to have a one night stand in every city he hit. This was his tenth tour, and he'd yet to come close. Too many shows were in and out before they had a chance to really do anything. Jade kept an eye on him, but otherwise let it pass. 'He did ask me where I was from. I'm not sure I like his implication.' Jade thought.
But the month passed with more incidence between he singer and her bodyguard then between them and the fans. The adjustment was odd, with Tori both resenting Jade for being there, and relying on her for the various things they'd do together. Even Kasey was left out of their little side trips, something Jade only found out was odd towards the end of the month.
The day it became clear to Jade just how things were done in Tori's work somehow etched itself in her memory forever. They did a radio interview, hardly the first one, but the host was reading questions and post on line to help connect Tori with her fans. During the interview, one of the posts they'd read off a fan groups sight was that their local chapters president was having a birthday party. After the long, often pointless interview, Tori raced out to her sister, holding the printout of the announcement in her hands. "Man, I'll bet that would be so fun." Tori said to her sister. "Can we go?"
"I've got things to finish, and you have a sound check at four." The older girl replied, hoping her sister would see reason.
"But we can still drop by, say hello, maybe try the cake..." Tori argued.
"Wouldn't be safe." Jade said, watching the starlet.
"Why not?" Tori whined.
"Not enough time or control." Jade explained. "I'd need to have a chance to go over the house, make sure of everyone at the party, and then we'd be worried cause there are factors we can't control, like knives, and strangers living nearby. Stuff like that we'd need to watch out for. I'd need two more men to work perimeter, while I made sure no one at the party tried anything. Also, we'd want to check ID's, cause you can never tell who'd show up and make trouble once word gets out that your there. And trust me, word will get out.".
"Phooey, thats no fun." Tori harrumphed. But as the day wore on, the pop princess was smiling, plotting something.
Then, a little after one, she led the way to the hotels garage, where a rental car was waiting. "Um, Jade, I don't have my license, so if you would..." She gestured towards the nice mid sized car with tinted windows.
"Whats this?" The bodyguard asked.
"We have somewhere we have to be." The singer said. "Don't worry, I'm not going out the front door. So, since I'm being cautious, I'm sure, if we just drop by for a little while, it'll be okay."
"You want to go to the party, don't you?" The blue eyed girl asked. "We'll need both Bill and Ron..."
"They're running security for the concert, giving us time to just pop in, take a few pictures, and then get out." Tori assured her. "So, you driving, or do I have to see if I can remember my drivers education?"
"You can't just leave." Jade said, glaring at her client.
"I have Trina's permission, provided it's a quick, discreet trip. We go, give them a little time, and pop back to the show. Everything's good, right? Also, I'll be seeing if she has tickets to the show, and if not, I'll arrange some at the will call." Tori promised. "The address is already programmed into the GPS."
"I still don't think this is a good idea." The bodyguard grumbled. "Next time, plan on doing something like this well in advance, so we can factor in the risks."
"How would I know about something like this in advance?" Tori asked. "I only read about it today, while going through the radio stations questions for me. But, I love my fans, and I'm gonna be there for this… Girl?"
"You don't even know what gender the fan is?" Jade asked. "What do you know about them?"
"Their name is Erin, and today is their birthday." The Latina said, smiling like she'd accomplished something.
"So if it turns out we're dealing with a middle aged man?" The raven haired girl asked.
"Then maybe I'll have you sit on his lap first, to make sure nothing happens." Tori shot back. "I just know we're dealing with a teenage girl, someone who will remember this day for the rest of their life. I'm special like that."
"Yea, I know, ride the short tour bus and everything." Jade mumbled.
"What was that?" Tori asked, glaring at the other girl.
"Nothing, just saying how special needs this idea is." Jade said with a big smile. "It's just shy of putting a helmet on you in case you fall down a lot dumb."
Despite the argument, they showed up at what appeared to be a fairly nondescript green painted fourplex. "Stay here until I check this out." The bodyguard instructed before she walked to the door, checking to make sure they were at the right address. With four homes to choose from, it was important to get the right one. Seconds later, she knocked on the proper address and waited. The door opened and a young woman, collage age, stood there, staring. "I'm looking for Erin, has a birthday today." Jade said.
"If Mitch sent a stripper, I'll kill him." She murmured.
"I'm not a stripper." Jade assured her. "You Erin?"
"I'm Stacy, her roommate." The girl said. "She's inside, with her friends, having a small get together. And you are?"
Just then, a screech erupted from the kitchen, followed by a blond rushing out to see who was at the door. "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!" She was chanting, her voice reverberating throughout the apartment, as she struggled to look past Jade to the car where Tori was waiving. Her voice died down to a whhisper. "It's her. It's really her?"
"How'd…?" Jade started to ask, but Tori had gotten out of the car and started walking casually towards the door. Erin, in her excitement, met the megastar part way. "WAIT!" The bodyguards voice cut through the air.
Jade bound over to cut the hug off, but was too late when Tori rushed the girl to get her hug in first. Quickly Jade was pulling them apart, but the smile on Tori's face told her that this girl was no threat. 'Still…' Her next move was to shove the girl towards her front door, while dragging her client along with her. "Everyone inside before we draw attention." Her voice was all command, no room for backtalk.
Jade pushed them into the house, and while they exchanged pleasantries in the entryway, went to check out who was there and what they were doing. It appeared to be a hand full of girls, all in collage, who had gathered together for an early afternoon party before… "Isn't this a bit early to be having a big girls party?" Jade asked.
"She has tickets to the Tori Vega show tonight." One of the guests said. "So, your not a stripper, what are you?"
"Security." Jade growled. But the others were noticing Tori, who was being led by the birthday girl into the apartment.
"Then you'll love this." Stacy said, showing her one of the other girls phone. It held a twitter alert, from Tori, saying 'Attending a party for my local fan club president, who lives in an adorable green fourplex on Lancaster.'
Jade's blood went cold. "She tweeted it?" The bodyguard whispered. "She chizzing tweeted it."
"Yea, not the brightest thing to do." Stacy said. "Wonder why?"
"Tori, why the hell did you tweet that you were going to this party?" The blue eyed girl demanded, storming in to see her client involved in the early stages of a makeover of the birthday girl.
"It's not polite to just show up. I didn't have their phone number, but I knew they'd be following my twitter account, so I just let them know." Tori said, as if that was explanation enough.
"With just me here?" Jade asked, looking more nervous now then peeved. "Tori, do you know how many followers you have?"
"Ninety five million, scattered all over the world." Erin said, smiling.
"And some of them live locally, right?" Jade asked, but didn't wait for a reply. "I'll bet some of them live here, in this city, but not in this apartment."
"It's a fourplex." Erin said. "Technically a condo."
"Technically, we'll have dozens of people arriving withing the next few minutes, and I need to get her out of here." The goth shot back.
"Technically, we'll be fine." Tori said. "These are my fans, and when you consider the number of people around the world, I don't have that many followers. What are the odds that someone local would show up just because I'm here?"
"Miss Vega, as much as I'm loving having you here, I think she's right." Erin said. "There are message boards and shit, and who knows how many have been alerted. I mean, there's the possibility that we'll be swamped, any moment now, and I don't want to be responsible for you getting hurt."
"But I wanted to celebrate your birthday with you." Tori whined.
"Okay, we have to act fast." Jade announced. "Stacy, lock the doors. You got a car?"
"Yea." The roommate said.
"Is it on the street, in a parking space, what?" Jade demanded.
"It's parked in my spot." The girl said. "We have a garage, one space, but we'd have to go through open space to get there. However, it's not that far..."
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do." Jade counted the girls at the party. "Looks like six girls. Anyone planning on meeting up with you?"
"Nah, we're keeping it simple." Stacy said. "Our other roommate is out, having a time, and so it's just us."
"Okay, Stacy, I'm borrowing your car. Four seats, right?" The roommate gave a quick nod. "Erin, you and one other, come with me and Tori. Stacy, your taking our car and driving the others to the venue. GPS has directions. Someone, we'll need one more car to make this work, cause I'm not thinking we'll be able to drop you off when this is done. Anyways, you'll follow us," She then directed her attention to Stacy, "and I'll follow you. I'll call this in. And Tori, I'm gonna get something to hide who you are..." Jade looked around the place.
"Mitche's jacket." One of the girls suggested.
"Mitch is your other roommate?" Tori asked, smiling sweetly.
"No, he's my stupid ex." Erin replied. "We broke up cause he thought I was a lesbian, just cause that Shapiro guy says you are. Like you being gay would make me gay."
"I'm not gay." Tori protested. "And it wouldn't be that big a deal if I was."
"You can argue that later." Jade interjected, having grabbed the jacket and a hat. "Lets go."
She led Tori, her hair stuffed into the hat, dark glassed hiding her face and the jacket hiding her build, out and along the side of the fourplex, watching as the crowd of people looking the neighborhood over grew in leaps and bounds. There were a lot of people walking over to and around the condo, looking for the party. Luckily, with them going in three cars, it made it a little less likely they'd be noticed. Also, since Tori could hide in the garage for the short time it took for everyone else to get moving, they'd be able to meet up a bit later at an Inside-out Burger down the road and go from there.
Jade drove with her knuckles turning white, wishing she didn't have to worry about this kind of chiz. 'If she'd told me, we could have done something earlier. But nooo, I had to find out from a girl I'm trusting with the chizzing rental car. I'll be lucky if things don't get janked up, even more.'
They reached the venue with an hour to kill before the sound check, and Jade had Trina get them all in, as well as arranging backstage passes for the now seven girls that were going to be celebrating Erin's birthday.
"Who the hell is this?" Jade demanded of Stacy, who'd stopped along the way to pick up the extra girl.
"This is Cheshire, the stripper." The roommate said. "Mitch is predictable."
"And you couldn't just leave her?" The blue eyed girl demanded.
"To be buried by that mob?" Stacy asked. "Besides, she doesn't take her cloths off, she doesn't get paid."
"Isn't there supposed to be some guy along to keep her safe?" Jade asked.,
"I'm just a girl trying to earn her way through school." The stripper said. "If I did nude, then yea, they'd send someone. But this is a girls birthday. I wasn't expected to do more then a basic lap dance, and then maybe some other shit. I'm not sure yet."
Jade was almost pulling her hair out as she found a space for them to use, got their backstage passes worked out, as well as their seating for the show, and then found her place to watch and make sure nothing bad happened. "At least you didn't grab extras." The bodyguard grumbled. "You only have room for eight people in those cars of yours."
"Hay hay, looks like the party's going full swing." Trina announced as she walked into the room. "No drinking, Tori. You have a show to do. Who's Erin?" Jade pointed the blond out. "Wanna wish you a happy birthday. Tori doesn't do this very often, so enjoy." Then a bit more serious. "Jade, a word."
Ryder was holding in his laughter as the female bodyguard walked over to get chewed out for letting this happen. "Next time, call and confirm I gave the okay."
"You mean she lied?" Jade asked. "I thought..."
"No, I said she could go." Trina cut her off. "Just, confirm, okay? And I'm sorry my sister still doesn't understand that she doesn't have the level of privacy she once had. Quick thinking, bringing them here. Better, even, cause we can control the media spin on this. Pretend that we had you pick them up and bring them here, and that the group at their home was misguided. I just hope no one breaks in while their gone."
"I'll call the police, have them do more drive by's." Jade said.
"No, I will." The older girl said. "Have Tori go do her sound check. I've sent Kasey to get a cake. You, go get your party on. Just, no drinking. Other then that, have fun."
"I'm on duty." Jade said, watching Tori.
"Yea, but now it's making sure those girls don't cause a problem. And Tori doesn't get a lap dance from the stripper." Trina ordered.
Tori had, unknown to Jade, tweeted that the party had moved to the venue. She'd waited to do it on the road, so they'd be able to get there unhindered. The idea had been to shift the crowd back to the show, and away from the poor girls home.
Later, after the show, Jade made sure each of the party guests made it out unhurt, and sent tee shirts home with each of them as a form of gift. Even the stripper got a shirt, as well as a lift home curtsy of Kasey and the rental car. Despite what a mess it was, the publicity was manageable, and Tori got to have her cake. "Next time, You're getting your dance on." Tori told the raven haired bodyguard as they rode back to the hotel.
:}
So thoughts? Tori is a bit OOC here, but she does fit who I was ask to make her, a pop star with a decade of being near or on top. She's rebelling against her own image, as well as the idea that people will get her whatever she wants, but she can't just pop out to the store to get something.
So review, cause I feel like someone just had the best birthday of their lives. Also, thoughts about Trina's choice in hand cannons. So what are your thoughts.