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I was so glad to be back with AJ right now. I had really missed the little things about him. How he would look at me out of the corner of his eye or how he would watch me across a room. I looked around the room and saw everyone snuggled with their man/ girl. Nick and Hazel looked so cute together, as did Dominique and Kevin. We all stayed up until the clock read 3 in the morning. We all fell asleep on the couches and on the floor under blankets with our honeys. I woke up before everyone around 3:30 a.m. to feed Xander and of course I couldn't resist taking pictures of each couple. Finally I climbed back on the couch with AJ and went back to bed. I have no idea how many hours later, but we all awoke at the same time. I sat up rubbing my eyes and looked at the clock. It read 1:00 p.m. I gasped and stood up heading upstairs to Xander. AJ was already in there rocking Xander. I could tell he had already showered and changed.
"I'll watch him while you shower," AJ said.
I nodded my head and went into the bathroom to shower. When I came out AJ was walking around with Xander singing I'll Never Break Your heart. When his part came up I walked over to them and sang it. When it was over AJ just shook his head.
"I swear you need to get a record deal," he said.
"Oh and be popular like you," I laughed.
"Not too popular I hope. I don't want all those men yelling and trying to pull your clothes off," AJ said.
"Well now that you mention it maybe I should get a record deal."
"Funny. Now get up I want you to come with me to a meeting we have with Jive."
"AJ, I don't know."
"Its nothing confidential and the other girls will be there so don't worry."
I nodded my head as I took Xander from him to feed. We drove to the meeting place in AJ's blue Mercedes. I sat in the car silent for a moment thinking. Did Jive know that AJ had a girlfriend now or was it even their business? I walked in pushing a sleeping Xander in his stroller. Dominique, Jessica, Hazel, and Shannah were already sitting around with the rest of the Backstreet Boys. I sat down and AJ sat down next to me. A woman and a man sat down at the same table as us.
"Okay AJ what is this meeting about?" the woman asked.
"You called this meeting?" I asked.
"Yeah, we called it to talk to you about a possible new group," he explained.
"Yeah, they have the perfect sound," Brian said.
"And harmony," Howie said.
"You two are in on this too?" Jessica asked.
"Who is this group? You have our attention we're definitely interested," the man said.
"Them," Nick said pointing to all of us girls.
"Them?" the woman asked.
"Yes, we heard them song last night and they are great," Kevin said.
The woman sat back in her chair and looked uninterested. "Okay, sing for me."
"First off I never agreed to this meeting," I said.
"Me neither," Dominique said.
"Me three," Shannah said.
"Wait, you guys this our big chance. Come on, what could one song hurt?" Hazel asked.
"She has a point," Jessica said.
I sat there in silence everyone waiting for my cue. It was as if I was the Kevin of the group. "All right," I conceded. "Let's sing Spice Girls 'Too Much'," I suggested.
"Ok," they all agreed. I counted off with my fingers and started singing Scary Spice's part. Then Hazel came in with Baby's part, then with Dominique and Sporty's part, Jessica with Ginger's and Shannah with Posh's. We sang our parts like there was no tomorrow, hitting every note and harmonizing perfectly. I could see that the woman and the man were definitely listening now. As the last few bars faded away AJ and the BSBs started clapping.
"That was great. What are you guys called?" the man asked.
"Um," Jessica stuttered.
"Well," Dominique said.
Then the perfect name came to me. "2 Much," I said. Smiles broke across everyone's face as they got a feel for the name. "2 Much? Well can we get you guys numbers so we can contact you?" the man asked.
We each wrote down our numbers and gave them to him. We left the meeting place and drove to lunch. Over the next few days we met up with that same man and woman numerous times. They told me their names were Danny and Sonja. One day they came at us with a deal.
"Okay girls we have a contract here for you to read," Sonja said.
"This is a singing contract right?" Hazel asked excitedly.
"Yes, we are very interested in you guys and want to sign you and begin recording as soon as possible. Maybe you guys can be on the boys new album and they could be on yours," Danny suggested.
"That's cool, I'll get back to you on this contract ok?" I asked.
"Sure," Sonja said.
I wanted my cousin Jason to look over the contract since he was a lawyer. I didn't want to sign into something that in no way was good for me in the long run. I got back to AJ's house and faxed the contract to Jason's office with a note to look over it quickly. About thirty minutes later he called me on my cell phone and said that the contract was legit. I thanked him and signed all the papers. I took the contract over to Sonja's house and left. After that it seemed we were busier than ever. Everyday we had to go to the studio for sound checks and to listen to potential songs. They all were pretty cool, but they didn't have the flavor I wanted for our groups first single. Then I heard this one duet called "Diggin' On You". It was perfect. I wanted to split the lyrics so all of us could sing a verse.
"This song is pretty dope, but what about if we added a few more lyrics and had Backstreet sing it with us?" Dominique said.
"Yeah," we all agreed.
And that's how the creation of our first single "Diggin On You" went. Of course the boys said yes to doing the song with us. A songwriter added a few lyrics for them to sing. It was so much fun recording with them. We each separated and sang with our men. AJ and I went into the room, put on earphones, and waited for the music to start. At first I couldn't get the same tone as AJ, but the second time I got it. Our voices mixed and sounded awesome. The whole time we were holding hands singing to each other. After our verse was over we left the studio and sat outside waiting for everyone else to finish. Then we all (BSB and 2 Much) had to go into a large studio and record the chorus. All of this took around 5 hours because we were all playing around.
This went on for about a month or so while we recorded our album and Backstreet recorded theirs. One night in bed AJ showed me the lyrics to this one song he had wrote. The song was called "I Need You in my Arms" and it was the sweetest song.
"AJ it's beautiful," I said.
"That's why I want you to sing it with me on Backstreet's album."
"What?" I asked.
"I talked to the boys and its cool with them if you and me sing this song on our album. It could be like a Brandy and Monica thing. It'll be on both of our albums."
"I'd love to AJ," I smiled.
So the next day AJ and I went into the studio and got a feel for the song, picking beats and sounds. It took practically all day to record the one song perfectly to Sonja's satisfaction.
"You guys that song was slamming, I know its going to sell like hotcakes," she said.
"Thanks," AJ said.
We continued to record in Florida and 4 months later they released our first single "Diggin' On You". It was an immediate hit and it made it in Billboards top ten list for 6 weeks. Now it was time for us to do the video. Of course we requested Fatima for our choreographer.
"Girls this is Fatima. Fatima this is Dominique, Jessica, Hazel, Shannah, and Kelly," Danny introduced.
"Wassup," I said.
"Hi," she said.
"I'll leave you girls to your work," Danny said.
"So, first off do you guys have an idea for what you want for this video?" Fatima asked.
Everyone looked at each other cluelessly and then looked at me.
"Kelly, any ideas?" Jessica asked.
"Absolutely," I smiled. "Fatima, can we talk?" I asked taking her off to the side.
"Sure," she said.
"Okay, have you heard the song?" I asked.
"Yes, its pretty good."
"Yeah well of course you know we sing it with Backstreet so I wanted a dance step with each girl paired up with each boy."
"I feel you."
"Cool, this whole video is supposed to take place in a club, okay? Now the first scene we're all going to be wearing black leather outfits dresses, skirts, and pants. Then in the second scene I wanted us to wear black cargo pants; tight white tops that lace up in the back or whatever with white fisherman hats. Now I want two different dances one for the leather outfits and one for the cargo outfits."
"The cargo thing sounds cute. So you want a step with the boys in it?"
"Yes, like what you did for Aaliyah's 'Are you that somebody'."
"Oh okay, do you want the dancing clean or what?"
"What do you think?" I asked her.
"I think a little freakiness, but not too freaky."
"Yes girl," I said laughing holding my hand out for daps. I could tell Fatima and I were going to be tight. We returned to the girls who were standing around talking. We explained the concept to them and they all agreed and said they loved it. "How about we add a little battling between 2 Much and the BSBs in the video? You know we do a dance move and then they do one?" Shannah suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Fatima said. "Well I'm going to work on it tonight and we'll start rehearsals in two days."
We all agreed and left the studio. I was the last to leave the studio and so was Fatima.
"Hey, have you taken dance classes before?" she asked me.
"One in high school, but other than that just street dancing," I said.
"I'm not doing anything today if you want we could start the dance now," she said.
"Cool," I said dropping my purse. I had dressed in sweats thinking we were going to dance today. I took off my jacket and both of us in sweats and tank tops we started to dance. Four hours later we had the dance for the leather outfits. It took a lot of yes no's on my part and hers, but we did it.
"At rehearsal we'll show them the dance and by then I should have a foundation for Backstreets dance," Fatima said.
"Cool," I said.
We left the studio and I went home to AJ's house. AJ and Xander were nowhere in sight so I just took a shower and a nap. The next two days I spent with AJ and Xander. One night the phone rang and it was for me.
"Hello," I said.
"Hey girl it's me Fatima."
"Hey Fatima, wassup?"
"I made up the dance for Backstreets part so all that's left is for them to approve it."
"Well tomorrow is rehearsal so you can show us tomorrow."
"Do you still remember the dance?"
"Of course," I laughed.
"So you and AJ are a couple?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Cool, well I'll see you tomorrow."
We got off the phone and AJ stood there smiling.
"What?" I asked.
"So you and Fatima are chummy now?"
"She's a cool person to be around," I said.
The next day we all met at the studio in sweats and dance clothes. Fatima and I stood there talking while everyone conversed.
"All right everybody first off Kelly and I will show you the first girls part of the dance and then I'll show you the Backstreet part," Fatima said.
She bent over and turned on the boombox. We got into positions and the first bars of us singing "Diggin On You" came on. I could see that AJ didn't really believe I could dance. He thought I could dance you know in the club, but he didn't think I could 'dance'. We did the steps and I saw his jaw drop. When the step was over we turned to them and awaited their comments.
"I love it!" Shannah said.
"Me too, teach me," Jessica said.
"It looked fine to me," Kevin said.
"Okay well let me show you guys the boys part," Fatima said.
She did their part and we agreed it was great. So for the next two hours Fatima taught the girls their dance and then taught Backstreet their dance. Finally, when we got it down we tried it together. It was a hit; I loved doing this one move where I ran my hand over AJ's chest.
"Okay now I have to make the cargo dance," Fatima said.
We all sat down as she showed us her ideas. Shannah and I stood up and showed her a few ideas for the dance, some she liked and some she didn't.
"I like the one floor move Kelly did," AJ supplied.
"I'm sure you did," Fatima laughed.
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