Dusty Rose - 5 Final

 

Chris and the Dusty Rose girls have finished in the studio for now
and Chris has to actually experience his life as Chrissie.
Their story comes to a conclusion.

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Author's Note: I apologize. I thought I could finish this series with this installment, as I promised would. I was unable to do that though. There is something about these characters that just keeps me exploring their story. But alas, I have come to their end, for now. I hope that you have enjoyed this story.
Please, let me know what you think about my story, both good and bad.
Please, leave me a review! ~Clara.
 
This version of Dusty Rose - 5 has been updated with many corrections towards spelling and grammar.~Sephrena.
 
Image Credit: Image created through the use of ai at https://perchance.org/beautiful-people .~Sephrena.

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Chapter 1
 

"Well, this is a new look for you!" Willy laughed as Chris pulled himself into the shot-gun seat of the town car. When Willy had pulled up to the front door of the hotel, Chris had been out in front waiting for him. He was carrying his guitar and wearing a simple, yellow sundress. That alone was a bit different, Willy had noticed that all the Dusty Rose girls tended to dress similarly, usually in fairly subdued colors, like most northern girls. Although he had seen Chrissie dressed up on three separate occasions, now, this dress was a distinctly southern looking dress. Like something that Jojo and her friends would wear. The big difference, though, was the hair. It was elaborately braided around his head and down his neck.

"Does it look ok?"

"It looks lovely, darling. Did you do it yourself?"

Chris laughed, "Yeah, I wish. I don't know how to do anything fancy with my hair. I went to the salon at the hotel and asked them to do something nice that would keep me cool. It's getting so hot out and I have a lot of hair."

Willy put the car in gear and pulled out of the driveway. "What are we listening to today, sweetie?"

"Can we just talk, today, Uncle Willy?"

"Sure, darling. What's the problem?"

"No real problem, Uncle Willy. Just... well, just worries, I guess."

Willy just listened as he drove.

"I can't really talk to anyone else. I hope you don't mind, but... see... When we were signed to record this album, well, everything just became a whirlwind. We had to change our lives and the way we looked and we had to talk to our parents... Then, before we knew it, we were here and in the studio, working nonstop'

'Since we finished the album, I'm really scared about it. What happens if the album flops. Or, what happens if one of the girls gets sick, or leaves the band. Or, what happens if the public... I don't know... finds out something about us that they don't like. What will happen to us?"

Willy sighed and turned on his right turn directional. He pulled into an empty parking lot and put the car in park. He looked forward, lost in thought, for a few moments before throwing his right arm over the seat behind Chris, pulling his bulky frame as far to the right as possible. When he'd settled, he looked into Chris's eyes and patted his braided head gently.

"First," he spoke quietly and firmly, "you are seventeen years old. You're in Nashville, working with a great producer. You have already achieved far beyond your peers. If that success continues, that's wonderful. If the album fails, then think of it as the first failure on your way to success. Relax. If things go well, the other girls will be there with you. If things go badly... guess what... the girls will be there with you, too.

Chris nodded.

"Second, the Lord takes care of us all. We can't control every aspect of our lives or our health. I had a brother who was in great shape, walked three miles a day and ate nothing but organic food. Then, one day when he was thirty seven, I found him dead at his desk. We worked together every single day. Who do you think I blamed for that? Me. I blamed myself and I hated myself for not being there when he needed me."

He continued to hold Chris in his fatherly gaze. "Does that sound familiar at all?"

Chris nodded.

"Now, it took me a long time to realize that I was not responsible for his death and you need to realize that you're not responsible for your daddy's death, either. I know you're afraid of losing any of your friends, but you are only a child. You have a long road ahead of you and you are not responsible for anyone but you. Everyone is happy and healthy now. Enjoy that while it lasts."

Now, Chris sighed and nodded again.

"And finally..." he paused to choose his words correctly. "I'm not a brilliant man, baby, but I know that you're keeping some pretty big secrets and that wears on a child, but there are a lot of people around you and they all love you and they will protect you. Do you understand?"

Chris wiped his watery eyes. "Uncle Willy... I need to tell you..."

"No, angel, you don't. There is nothing that you could tell me that would change how I feel about you. If I was forced to tell you what I think you want to say, I bet you'd be surprised to hear me say it, but sweetheart, I have watched you grow from an uncomfortable girl to confident woman in the last few weeks. That doesn't happen unless there were some pretty big changes going on in someone's life."

"You knew?" Chris was relieved and a little scared.

"Actually, you told me once."

Chris was confused. "No, I didn't."

Willy took a deep breath. "Once, when you were telling me about your daddy and you were pretty emotional, you said, 'I was only a little boy.' I never heard a woman say that she had been a little boy - that is - unless she had been a little boy."

Chris raised his hands to his mouth. How could he have said something so careless. Had he said that to anyone else!?!?

"Don't worry, angel. No one else knows. Every day, you become a more beautiful woman. I promise: no one will ever know unless you want them to."

Chris hugged Willy and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Uncle Willy."

Willy smiled, turned forward and put the car in gear. "We're family, now, darling. Family takes care of each other."
 
Chapter 2
 

"Ok, Chrissie," Mark's voice was in Chris's headphones, "I think you nailed it that time. Take a break. You have some visitors in here."

They had been recording the scratch-track for the duet between Dusty Rose and John Holden. It was a pretty straight-ahead country music ballad, Chris was determined to make it feel a certain way - just a little bit more like a rock song without taking it out of the sphere of 'country.' He took off his headphones, put down his guitar and headed into the booth. What he found surprised him. Besides Mark, Allan Bennett had come in and so had John Holden with his new romantic partner, Gina. They all had big smiles on their faces, but it was the woman next to Gina who spoke first and it was her words that made Chris's knees go weak.

The woman had a young child on her hip and she had to move the child a bit to free up an arm to offer a hand shake to Chris. "Hi, Christine, we met the other night," she said with a sweet touch of a drawl. "I'm Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum and, girl, that is sounding real good in there."

For a moment, Chris couldn't speak. This was just a scratch-track; not the kind of work he wanted to present to a successful country music artist like Hillary Scott! Why hadn't anyone told him that she was in the booth!? Then he stuttered, "Oh, hi... Ms Scott... oh, my goodness, Hi! Oh, my... Gina!! It's Hillary Scott! Ummm... yeah... That was just a scratch-track, you know... not really a completed..." Then it occurred to him that it could not just be a coincidence that Hillary Scott would wander into a recording studio by chance. There had to be a reason. He tried to form a polite, thoughtful sentence, but all that came out was, "Why are you here?"

Hillary laughed. "Well, darling, I just stopped by to talk to Allan. The boys and I would like you girls to open for Lady Antebellum at six large arenas over a two week period starting in ten days at an arena in Jacksonville. How does that sound?"

He leaned against the wall to stay upright. "Seriously?"

"Well, yes, darling. Of course I'm being serious. Six concerts to get you gals ready to become headliners yourselves. What do ya say?"

He looked to Gina who said, "You say, 'yes,' Chrissie! You say, 'yes!'"

Chris began nodding, but it took a good 10 seconds to make his voice work. "Yes! I say, yes!! Oh, my goodness! Thank you so much, Ms Scott. Thank you, so much!"

"Hillary, baby. Call me Hillary."

Allan laughed. "Good luck with that. I'm still Mr Bennett."

Hillary smiled and the child in her arms grunted her desire to get down. "I've got to go. This little one is getting fidgety and needs a nap. We'll be in touch!" She left with a final wave.

Gina ran to Chris and hugged him. "Can you believe it!? Ten days from now and we'll be opening for them! Ten-freaking-days!"

"I have more news," Allan said. "We're dropping your first two singles the day after tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow!?" Screamed Gina.

"Two singles!?" Screamed Chris at the same moment.

"That's right," Allan loved their reaction. "'In His Eyes' and 'One Less Set Of Footsteps' are being released simultaneously in," he checked his watch, "thirty-six hours and eleven minutes."

Gina leapt into John's arms. "Can you believe this?"

John's smile showed a bit of concern about his own future, but he said, "That's great, baby. Congratulations!"

Chris was still holding the console for support. "I think I'm going to throw up," he said. Allan realized that Chris was actually shaking, so he grabbed a waste basket handed it to him, the took him into a big, supportive hug.

"That's ok, honey. You're ready. It will be great," and Chris vomited into the waste basket.
 
Chapter 3
 

"Mr Bennett says that we need to take the next two days in the studio to finish up the recording with John, he's from our hometown, and then on Monday we start filming performance and concert footage for the videos. They'll only be a little bit of a story with Gina and John and a little with Terry and John. Other than that, we need to get a concert set together for the tour with Lady Antebellum and then we go on a short tour. From there, Mr Bennett says that we'll have to see how the sales of the singles go and, eventually the album, goes, but we probably will start on our own by the beginning of August. Small places at first, of course, but it could pick up momentum if sales are good. They're working on a logo for us, too. The drafts that I saw are very cool. They all have a rose, of course, but very cool..."

Chris was talking a mile a minute while Jojo and Margo sat at the counter with him. All three were shucking freshly picked corn while Sophie was pulling pots and pans out of cabinets. The younger girls were laughing at Chris's excitement, while Sophie struggled to keep up with the nonstop barrage of words. Her occasional remarks consisted of "uh-huh," "now, who said that," "where is that, now?" etc.

When Willy had come to pick up Chris, he had brought along Margo as a surprise and thank goodness he had because Chris was so excited that he had been speaking nonstop since entering the town car. It was not even 4:00 and Willy was exhausted from all the talking.

Margo was also excited, but Chris was so much more excited than Margo was even capable that she was hopelessly amused by his enthusiasm.

"Are you excited, too?" Jojo asked Margo from across the counter. She spoke quietly so as not to interrupt Chris.

Margo smiled and nodded. "I'm pretty scared, too. We never played for more than 250 people before. Everything is just moving so darned fast, you know?"

Jojo smiled and rubbed her hand on Margo's arm. "You're going to be great. My dad says that you guys are the best."

Margo smiled and grabbed another ear of corn. "I hope so."

Sophie was trying to find a break in the flow of words coming out of the little girl in the yellow sundress so that the cooking lesson could begin.

Willy, who had changed into jeans and a tee shirt, came back into the kitchen. "Lord, child," he gave a full throated laugh as he spoke loader than necessary. "Will you please take a breath? If you don't get dinner started, we're all going to starve!"

Chris stopped abruptly and cover his mouth with his hands, but his eyes were still sparkling with excitement. "Sorry."

Willy laughed even harder and gave him a huge hug. "No need to apologize, sweetie. It's a big day. I know. Now, let your Auntie show you how to do some cooking, ok?"

Chris hugged Willy once more and then bounced over to Sophie. "I'm ready Auntie Sophie. Sorry."

"Oh, baby," Sophie laughed, "I love seeing you this happy. Let me show you how to make the stuffing first. Then we'll get the chickens started."

"Chickens!" Chris was surprised.

"Yes. Three chickens. There are twelve of us tonight."

Margo was shocked at that number. "Twelve? Is it a party?"

Jojo laughed at Margo. "You can tell that you're new around here. Twelve is a slow night around here. That's why we have a ten foot long dinning room table. It's always full."

"Wow." Margo considered the amount of work necessary to feed twelve people. Living with her dad, it was mostly take out food or mac and cheese. She'd never seen a family like this one before.

"Daddy," Jojo said with a playful smile. "Can we go to Margo and Chrissie's first concert?"

Willy feigned astonishment. "In Jacksonville!? I don't think so, Josephine. That's a long way to travel. I'll have to think about it."

"Oh, come on, daddy. Pleaaaaaaaaassssssssseeeeeeeeeee!?"

Willy raised his eyebrows to look injured by her persistence. Then he sighed. "Darn it! I forgot to bring out the stuff I just printed. Joey, would you please go get the papers from my printer?"

Jojo said, "Sure," and ran down the hall to retrieve the papers."

"Just mix up the bread crumbs and spices with your hands and we'll add some warm water." Sophie was showing Chris how to mix the stuffing. "I always add some chopped celery and carrots and sometimes, like tonight, I add some chopped greens, too. It makes the stuffing taste so much better."

While Chris followed Auntie Sophie's instructions, Willy moved to the counter and put his hands on Margo's shoulders. "You ok, honey?"

She smiled. "I'm fine, Willy. Just very excited and very... well... petrified."

Willy chuckled. "That's ok. You should be, but y'all are going to be great. I'm sure of it."

Out of the blue, there was a scream from down the hallway. Everyone turned to see Josephine skip into the room carrying a small stack of papers , she ran to Willy and hugged him. "Oh, daddy, thank you, thank you, thank you! Look!" She held up the papers for Margo, Chris and Sophie to see. "We have tickets to the show!"

Sophie folded her arms in a scolding manner, "William Elias. What is the matter with you? Do you have any idea how much it will cost to go to Jacksonville for a concert?"

Willy nodded. "I do because I already booked hotel rooms and plane tickets. It's done Sophie and I can't un-do it."

Sophie walked towards her husband with a look of cartoonish anger on her face. When she reached him, she ran her hand along his cheek. "You're a good man, William. That's a nice thing to do."

"Purely for selfish reasons, though, my love," Willy smiled. "I want to tell people that I was there the first time Dusty Rose performed live."

Sophie hugged him. She smiled as she turned back to give Chris her full attention. "That's good, baby. Now, let's stuff the birds. I'm telling you, baby, this is an easy meal and everyone loves it. You'll hold onto a man forever just serving this meal once a week."

Margo snickered at the remark. Jojo leaned across to her and whispered, "Are you guys a couple?"

Margo's smile was a dead give away as she rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. We kind of are. Nothing official, but, yeah."

The smile that spread across Jojo's face showed that she had figured that out on her own. "I thought so. You're very cute together."

"Thanks."

When the family had finally gathered, there was Willy, Sophie, Josephine, Margo, Eli and his fiancé, Jenna, 2 of Jojo's sisters, Carrie and Louise, Louise's husband Tony, their daughter Emma and, of course, Chris. As each woman had arrived, she took up a job in the kitchen. "Many hands make light work," Auntie Sophie had said, but it looked to Chris as if Auntie Sophie thrived on hard work in the kitchen. It was her kingdom.

When it was time for things to be served, everyone took their place around the huge kitchen table, except for Jojo, Sophie and Chris. While Jojo brought the vegetables and salad to the table, Sophie showed Chris how to quickly carve the birds and debone the pieces that just pulled off. "Better to keep all of your mess on the counter, so that the table cloth stays clean, right, Angel?" Chris nodded, still amazed at all of the thought that Sophie put into a meal. His own mom never had the luxury of being a real homemaker. Even when his dad was still alive, she always had a job that kept her working till dinner time. If she ever dragged out the crockpot, he and Terry rejoiced at the idea of a 'home cooked' meal.

When Chris heard Jojo announce, "Christine made these biscuits by herself. It's her first time baking anything," Chris looked up and smiled at the assembled family.

"Is that so?" Asked Louise. "Well, let's just see if they pass The Daddy Test!" The whole table laughed.

Carrie explained through her giggles, "Daddy likes his biscuits just so, isn't that right, daddy?"

"Yes indeed, I do." Willie held up a lumpy biscuit and looked at it carefully. "Let's see how the newest member of the cooking brigade has done."

The room grew quiet as Willy appeared to be very business-like. Only Sophie waved him off and continued plating the meat.

"Hmmmm. Nice shape," he mused.

He sniffed it, "Nice aroma."

He pulled it apart, "Nice consistency, looks as if it is cooked thoroughly."

He put half of the biscuit down and grabbed a knife, spreading a thin layer of butter on the remaining half, "Seems to hold the butter well." A few snickers passed around the table as the patriarch of the family made smiling-eye-contact with everyone at the table and he tossed the entire half-biscuit into his mouth.

As he chewed, his eyes rolled back in his head and he announced, "Lord Almighty, if that isn't one of the best biscuits I've ever tasted!" There was playful applause around the table.

Even Sophie stopped what she was doing to join in. Each of her daughters had experienced the exact same ritual when she made her first batch of biscuits. Each of them had only been eight or nine years old, though. It amused her to see how big Chris's smile was. 'She's an odd child,' Sophie thought.

When everything was on the table and everyone was seated, Willy took the hands of Sophie and Eli, who sat to his right and left, and everyone else joined hands as well. Margo looked at Chris and raised her eyebrows. She thought that saying Grace was just something that happened in old movies or done ironically at holidays.

"God," Willy said so comfortably that it was obvious that this man said these words with frequency, "thank you for this food, for the earth that provides it and for my wonderful family with whom I share it. Thank you for my wife and all of my beautiful children, including my two newest daughters, Christine and Margo. May they always feel welcome in my home."

"Amen," was said in unison.

Chris smiled and looked to everyone to see when to start eating.

Margo raised an eyebrow towards Chris, again, "Wow," she whispered to him, "no wonder you love this guy."

"I know, right?" Chris laughed as a huge bowl of potatoes was passed to him. "I love it here."

"So," said Louisa's husband, Tony, "you girls are musicians, huh?"

"Yes. I play bass and Chris sings," Margo replied.

"Cool. And how is your career doing? It's not an easy road, is it?"

"No work talk!" Willy proclaimed as he filled his plate. "You know the rules. No talking about work or school work at the table."

"I know, dad, but..."

Willy smiled and shook a finger from side to side imitating a shaking head.

"Ok," his son-in-law laughed. "So, Margo," he began again, "how do you like Nashville?"

When no one could eat another morsel, little Emma started fidgeting in her high chair. "Oh, you need to stretch your legs, baby, don't you," said her mom, Louise. She unbuckled the child's restraints and lifted her from the chair, allowing her to wander the kitchen freely. She took just a few wobbly steps before making a bee-line for Chris who could not have been happier to reach down and pick the child up.

"Hi, Emma. Hi, baby," he cooed. "Did you miss me? I sure missed you?" Now, Chris stood so that he could sway the child back and forth.

Louise leaned over to whisper to Margo. "She's a natural born mommy, isn't she."

"I guess so," Margo shrugged. "A couple of months ago, I never would have said so, but, yeah... she sure seems to be a great mommy."
 
Chapter 4
 

"'Broken Promises' lead vocal track, take seventeen." Mark's voice showed no sign of the frustration that everyone was feeling. It's a really good song and they all knew that. The girls had laid down the instrumental tracks in a heartbeat, yesterday. Chris had been typically well prepared and had walked each of them through what he was looking for.

But the lead duet vocal tracks were just not coming together.

Just as the recording began, Allan Bennett entered the booth. "How's it going, Mark?"

Mark let out a long breath, "Not great, but it'll get there, I guess... I hope..."

Chris began singing,

"Just another day, dreaming of your touch
Just another morning, expecting way too much"

John Holden took over,

"Just another lie to get me through the day
Just another empty kiss to make you want to stay."

Then the true duet began with John singing in a medium-high range and Chris belting out deep sadness a third above John,

"You broke your vow and made me cry
You turned your back and said goodbye
You laughed and sneered as I fell apart
But your broken promises can't break my heart."

Mark looked Allan who shook his head. Mark stopped the playback.

When the music in his headphones stopped, Chris sighed, dropped his gaze and shook his ponytailed head for a moment, waiting for Mark to tell them what was wrong. When nothing was said, Chris looked to the booth and saw Allan Bennett gesturing broadly, explaining something to Mark and the girls.

He was saying, "It's not Chris, it's John, I know. He's not opening up to Chris's voice. It sounds like he's fighting her rather than singing with her. How long have they been at it?"

"We did the background vocals with Chrissie from about 10:00 till 11:15. She's been in there with John for about two-and-a-half hours now," Grace said. "They rehearsed for a while, then started recording."

"Maybe we should all leave. Maybe we're making him too nervous." Gina was offering any reason to leave. She had developed strong feelings for John and could sense his anxiety. Maybe, if they were gone, he could relax and do a better job.

Allan nodded and turned to Mark. "Tell them to take a break and talk through the emotions of the song or something. Tell them to keep busy." He turned to the girls and said, "Let's go out to the hall to talk. They're watching us and I have some news for you."

When the instructions from the booth came through, John pulled his headphones off and threw them at the wall. "Goddamnit! What the hell am I doing wrong?"

The outburst really startled Chris and he was genuinely scared for a moment. Nothing like this ever happened dealing with the girls. He'd talk them through things and everything would just come together. This was exactly what he meant when he'd been talking to Mr Bennett. He and the girls were much better than the sum of their parts. He didn't have any experience with John and he felt like he was in far over his head. He looked to the booth for help, but Mr Bennett and the girls were leaving and Mark was talking to Mr Bennett. None of them had seen John's outburst.

"Well, first, calm down," Chris said. "Anger is definitely not the emotion we want in the song." Chris sat on a piano bench and hunched forward, his knees together and his elbows on his knees. "We need to talk our way through this so that we're not just beating our heads against a wall."

John nodded.

"Here's how I envision the song," Chris continued. "We really loved each other, once, and something went wrong. We still love each other now, but we're both so hurt by the other that we can't let that pain go and get on with our lives."

John contemplated this, took a deep breath and nodded.

"Ok," he said as he moved to sit beside Chris on the piano bench. While Chris had his back to the keyboard, John faced it, folded his arms on the closed music stand of the 8-foot Baldwin and put his head down. "I understand all that. I'm trying, I swear I am."

Chris leaned back now, his back supported by the key-cover. "Then what's going on? We ran through this song at least ten times in the hotel room. You sounded great then."

John remained quiet for a few minutes, then, "Chrissie... I'm scared."

Chris leaned to the side and rested his head on John's arm. "I know, John. I am too. At least you have a back up plan. You have your bachelors and nearly have masters degree. If this all falls apart, John... I'll be working as a checkout clerk at a food mart. I don't even have a GED."

John let out a frustrated laugh. "Chris, I heard your songs on the radio last night. On the freaking radio! They are amazing, Chris. You are going to be huge and you know it. This duet... this is just charity and you and I both know it."

"No, it's not, John. It's friends helping friends. Let us be your friends, ok. Relax and just sing the song. It'll be great and so will you."

John picked his head up and turned to look Chris in the eyes. "You think so?"

"I do."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Chris turned his body to face John, but remained leaning on the piano. He put his right elbow onto of the instrument and laid his head down on it, facing John.

John moved his body slightly to mimic Chris. "These songs you write... have you ever been in love? I mean... you're only seventeen, right?"

Chris smiled and giggled a bit. "I think so. You?"

"I don't know. I think I may be in love with Gina, but I don't know." There was a silence as they just looked at each other a while longer. Then John said, "Can I ask you another question?"

"Sure," Chris smiled.

"It's Margo, isn't it? You're in love with her."

At first, Chris didn't know quite what to say, then he just grinned and giggled.

"I knew it. Well, I can certainly understand that; she certainly is beautiful."

The silence continued.

"And so are you," John said as he slipped a hand around Chris's waste and pulled him close. "Have you ever kissed a man before?"

"Just you at the dinner." He couldn't help himself. He wanted to make John comfortable and flirting was certainly helping.

John leaned in and gently pressed his lips against Chris's. The kiss was soft and tender and, despite himself, Chris felt a tingle in his gaffed loins. When the kiss ended, Chris remained in the exact position that he had been before, and he smiled broadly at John.

"Well?" John asked.

Chris giggled some more, "Well, I'm not falling in love with you if that's what you're asking."

John joined in the laughter, "Me neither, but I felt like I needed to kiss you. Are we cool?"

"Yes. We're cool. Now, let's try the song again."

Meanwhile, Mark had joined Allan and the girls in the hall.

"They're putting 'In His Eyes' into the standard rotation today. It has already been doing well over night and the local Nashville affiliates are sending out word to the rest of the country that you girls are hotter than Hades. I'm pretty sure that both songs will chart in the Hot 100 this week and I think that 'In His Eyes' may well make it to the Top 40 and the Country Top 40 within a week. This is even bigger than I had expected. We need to finish up video work ASAP and get you girls onto some television spots quickly. Y'all are blowing it up just like I predicted!"

Rather than the jumping up-and-down that Allan had expected, the girls responded with shocked whispers of 'wow' amongst themselves.

"I did expect a little more enthusiasm about this," Allan chided.

"It's just a lot to take in," Terry laughed, nervously. "Especially on the first day that things aren't going very well."

He gave a dismissive wave towards the studio. "Don't worry about that. Chris will get him there, but listen, not a word to Chris or John until they finish up. Neither of them needs more pressure. As a matter of fact, why don't you all give us an hour or two here to finish up. Like Gina said, I think the audience is bothering John a little."

They said, "Ok," and, headed for the elevators.

Terry stopped to give Mark a kiss. "Want a coffee or anything when I come back."

"Naw," he kissed her again. "It'll be almost dinner time by then. How about supper with my girl?"

She laughed and gave him a final kiss. "We probably should. It looks like things are going to get pretty busy in the next few weeks."

"'Broken Promises' lead vocal. Take 20."

Take 18 had gone pretty well. Take 19 had gone really well. John had opened up his ears and started singing WITH Chris instead of against him, and Chris had been able to relax and reach a more comfortable emotional level - more like he had been doing with the girls. Nevertheless, this was the hardest day in the studio that Chris had had so far.

The final line of the song approached and the music slowed down. They looked directly at each other, determined to enunciate every work at the same time.

"Broken promises
Can't break
My
Heart"

Chris took a chance and leapt to a higher note to create a new harmony, then, as John held his note, Chris did a little ornamental flourish and dropped back down to the original harmony. John's surprise and smile brightened his voice just a little, making the last phrase more touching and poignant.

Three seconds of silence and stillness, then Mark's voice, "You nailed it, guys. Come on in and give it a listen."

John grabbed Chris and planted another big kiss on his lips. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! It was so much better working with you then the studio guys. They treat me like an upstart." He took Chris's hand and lead the way to the recording booth.

Chris smiled as he thought about that. It probably was a lot easier to do it with a band than it would be doing it alone. He hadn't thought of that.

They heard the play back. Chris was satisfied, but John was elated.

Mark fidgeted with a few things to balance things correctly, add a little reverb here and there... he knew from day one with Chrissie that she would have a fit if he even mentioned pitch-correction, so he stayed away from that.

Allan came in to hear the piece and he liked it a lot, too. He hugged Chris and kissed the crown of his head. "You know," he said to John, "you have a pretty good album put together, but, judging from the initial airplay, feedback and sales from Dusty Rose's debut singles, having this appear only on your album and NOT on theirs is going to really help you. You know that, right?"

"I know," he nodded his head and smiled. "Chris, I can't thank you enough."

Chris shrugged, "It's what people do. They help each other. Right?"

"Not most people," chortled Allan, "but maybe hanging around with your Uncle Willy has been good for you."

"It's been great for me!"
 
Chapter 5
 

"Pink? My signature color has to be pink!? Can I please have blue - even baby blue?" Chris was looking at the pink confection before him and nearly shaking in his flip flops. The "Image Consultant" that had been assigned to their video shoot seemed like a very nice lady, but she had assigned a signature color to each member of the band for the video. That, she explained, would make it easier for the audience to recognize the girls throughout the video. Each member of the band had three outfits - one for the "practice room" section of the video, one for the "out and about" section of the video and one for the "live performance" section of the video. Grace was red. Margo was grey with patterns. Gina was a combination of black and brown. Terry was purple and, of course, Chris was pink. Not just pink, but PINK. Pink that you could see a thousand feet away in a blackout.

The "out and about" dress was fine; a little fit and flare thing with a lot of white lace, exposed shoulders and a modest neck line. It showed lots of leg, but he could be careful enough wearing it.

The "practice room" outfit was actually a very cute romper that hung playfully from his shoulders and looked a little too big, but in a sweet kind of way.

The "live performance" dress, though... It was a pink, strapless dress with a full tulle petticoat that ended mid-thigh. Even the ludicrously high sandals that went with the dress were pink.

"Come on, Sissy, try it on. The other two looked adorable on you and we all like what she gave us." Terry laughed at Chris's dilemma.

"It's just a dress," Gina added. "God knows you've worn enough dresses lately. Why is this one spooking you?"

"It's not spooking me, it just looks... infantile. Like a little girl's dress. And besides, you get to wear jeans, so you can just hush up."

Gina laughed heartily now, too.

Grace pulled on her concert dress, a simple, yet beautiful, red sundress with white flowers embroidered on it. "Look, mine is young looking, too. It's not "infantile," it's "girl next door." It's country music, baby! Girl next door, petticoats, lipstick, eye shadow... the whole nine yards."

"Come on, sweetie," Margo looked amazing in her sundress and cowgirl boots. Like a model in a magazine, "try it on. I can't wait to see you in it."

"Or out of it," Gina joked, but, instead of laughs, she was greeted with "Shhhh," from her band mates.

He sighed and pulled off the romper. "Can you help me with this?" he asked Terry.

"Of course, baby," she replied and took the poofy, pink garment from its hanger.

As she brought it to the floor, Terry realized that she would need to organize the petticoats in such a way that Chris would be able to step into the dress, but there were so many layers that she couldn't make it work. "We'll have to lower it over your head. Margo, here, take half of this with me and help me get it on him."

They folded through the material to find the center, then lifted it high enough to lower it over Chris's head and past his arms to hold it in place before zipping it up. As Terry started to pull up the zipper, Margo said, "Hang on. There's a bustier built into the dress, baby. Take off your bra or it won't fit right."

Terry undid the clasps in the back and helped him get it off as modestly as possible, but there were a few seconds of exposed breast. Margo, of course had seen them before, but Terry, Gina and Gracie had not and there was definitely a fascination about them.

It was Gracie - quiet, shy Gracie - who said, "Wow. They look so real. You're really beautiful, Chris, you know?" On complete impulse, she moved closer and lowered his top to get a closer look. "Really beautiful. I didn't think they'd look this good."

Chris, gently moved his dress back around his breasts. "Thank you, I guess."

Realizing how intrusive her actions had been, Gracie shook off her fascination and said, "Oh... sorry. I was just... sorry."

Chris shrugged it off and Terry pulled the zipper up. "It's tight. Take a deep breath for me." The zipper rose and Chris's posture improved as the tightness of the bustier top encased him.

When she'd got the zipper all the way up, he breathed again. "It's very tight!" he smiled and rubbed his abdomen from just beneath his breasts, which were on magnificent display in this dress, to the place where his skirt began to spread out. "Very tight. Whew!" He rubbed his abdomen and blinked his eyes. "Very tight."

"But very pretty," said the image consultant as she entered the room. "Yes, I think we nailed it. You look radiant in that. The right hair and makeup and, little girl, you will be a knock out. Put on the shoes and get used to them. Allan tells me that you are a bit of a tomboy, right? Well, no one will know when I get done with you. You will be a beautiful, twenty-first Century Southern Belle."

Chris sat as he put on his shoes and fastened the straps. "I'm not sure that I wanted to be a Southern Belle." He said. "Most of my music heroes dress pretty casually."

Terry knelt in front of him to help with the shoes, "That's because most of them are men. Think about the women you know in country music. They're all some kind of a Southern Belle fantasy, right?" She stood and whispered in his ear, "I think that you are going to have to accept that being a woman in country music means looking like every southern man's wet-dream, Sissy, and believe me, you do."

Chris felt his stomach turn. This aspect of the business had not occurred to him before. He glanced to his left to see himself in a mirror and he realized that Terry was right. The dress was pretty and 'down-homey" while also being revealing and sexy - showing just enough breast and leg to truly entice a man. His shoes were designed to attract attention, as well - four inch heals with little, feminine rhinestones everywhere. His makeup was pretty and appropriate for a warm day in early summer and his hair, done up like Terry's again, was about as girl-next-door as he could imagine.

He took Terry's hand to stand and found that he had no real problem standing. When he mentioned his surprise, the image consultant said, "Of course not. Those are $800 shoes. If you want style and comfort, you have to pay for it, but they are so perfect on you! You were born to wear clothes like this."

"I feel kind of funny," Chris said looking in the mirror. There was so much dress that he couldn't let his hands hang. He had to fold them in front of him. "It's like the dress has taken over and I'm just an accessory for it."

Margo came up and hugged him from behind. "I think you're beautiful, but I understand what you mean. You know how it is when you just let go and let the music control you?"

He nodded.

"That's when music really becomes art for you, right" she continued. "Now, you have to let fashion be part of your art and let it take you over, too."

"She's right," said the consultant. "This dress will make you pop off of TVs, computers, cell phones, iPads... and when you wear it on stage, the people in the last row will be able to find you at a glance. It's perfect for you."

Margo kissed his cheek and whispered, "You are adorable, baby. Your voice is unforgettable and your image will be unforgettable in this dress, too. Go with it, please."

"Ok," he sighed. In fact, he could not look away from the mirror. He knew he looked like a girl and all and he knew how pretty he looked dressed up for dinner a couple of times, but... wow. His breast looked so enticing and round and perfect. "No more tomboy-Chris, I guess."

Terry laughed, "I don't really remember a tomboy. Just my little Chrissie."

It was true. Chris was gone and Chrissie was here for good, now. Good riddance to the old, sloppy, lonely Chris, but he would have never pictured Chrissie - himself - looking this beautiful. Truly a music video fantasy of a woman. He stood straighter in the mirror and tried to picture himself on stage. He raised and lowered his arms a few time to check that his breasts were secure. He spun around to see how the skirt would spin and pictured doing that on stage, too. He turned to the consultant and his band mates and finally announced, "I guess I love it. I want us to make it and the Country-Glam-Babe-Look looks good to me."

They cheered and applauded his decision.

And then... it was video time

They had set up a studio in an old warehouse. There were two sets - one of a garage where the girls and Chris would act out how they rehearsed a song and another that looked like a stage at a concert arena.

The plan was to film the song in three sections to tell a story.

First rehearsing and working in the garage. While they were working, John would deliver pizza and his eyes would lock onto Gina's and, naturally, love at first sight.

Then, the band going to a fair and seeing John singing on stage. Their eyes meet again, and they have a little back story part of the video.

Finally, Dusty Rose performing on stage and, at the end, the audience glimpses John coming on stage to join them, thus setting up the video for "Broken Promises."

They had a blast filming the garage sequences. They didn't use any microphones in this section since it was just a quick 'getting to know who's who in the band' segment. They were told to just act like they had just met and were trying to create the band. The cameras rolled for more than two hours and Gina and Margo got pretty silly, making them all laugh. At one point, Gina made a rude remark about the cost of the panties that Chris had been wearing at the fitting. It made the other girls laugh and Chris feigned indignation before completely losing it and laughing as well. It was exactly the kind of 'we love each other' moment that would work in the video. The director said he had lots of footage from the shoot that morning.

That afternoon was spent at an actual fair grounds with a real fair going on. Again, they were just acting silly for a couple of hours and laughed a lot. They rode on dozens of rides, shared all kinds of fried foods and Gina even won a toy bear throwing softballs at stacked, wooden bottles. The director was satisfied again.

The next day was the concert footage. The band took the stage in the mock-arena and they lip-synched with the recording for hours. Chris felt like a silly, little princess at first, but as the morning wore on, he got used to the over the top dress and its fullness.

At 2:00, after a brief lunch break, they brought in about 200 extras to act as an audience. The director asked everyone to just be patient while they dealt with tech issues. He said it would be about an hour.

The crowd of extras was just milling around while the band was chatting amongst themselves, when from the stage right side of the room a group of about 15 young people started chanting, "Mar-go, Chris-tine! Mar-go, Chris-tine!" over and over.

Chris, who was talking to Grace didn't seem to notice until Terry said, "Hey, Sissy. I think you have a fan club here."

Margo was already at the edge of the stage, shielding her eyes to see past the lights, her bass hanging heavily from her neck and shoulders. As Chris joined her, suddenly Margo spotted the source of the chant and waved to Josephine and a group of her friends.

Chris spotted them, too, and called one of the security men, a tall, broad man with a shaved head and an imposing beard, over to the stage. He asked the man to please allow that group to come to the edge of the stage, but the man explained that keeping them from the stage was, in fact, his job.

"Can you help me down so that I can go say hi, then?"

The man shrugged and reached up to help Chris down. Chris leaned out and put his hands on the man's shoulders, while the man grabbed Chris by the waist, lifting him easily and swinging him out, over the monitors, and down onto the floor - raising Chris's dress and exposing petticoats and a little glimpse of panty to several people, including Josephine.

Chris made a face of exaggerated embarrassment as Margo laughed from the stage. Then he ran as fast as his heels would allow to Jojo and and her friends, smoothing this dress along the way.

All of the faces in Jojo's group were familiar to Chris. They had all been at the graduation party. "What are you guys doing here?" Chris hollered over the rumble of the crowd in the noisy warehouse space. He hugged each of them, ending with Joey's cousin Bucky.

"We wouldn't have missed it for the world!" Jojo said. "Mom and dad are over by the door with Eli."

Chris could not see over the heads of the crowd, so, learning from recent experience, he asked Bucky to lift him up so he could wave to them. Bucky complied, very eagerly, and held Chris as high as he could. "Uncle Willy! Auntie Sophie! Eli!" he called as loudly as he could as he waved with both arms.

They waved back and blew kisses as Bucky, reluctantly, lowered Chris back to the ground. Chris gave Bucky a peck of thanks on his cheek, then threw his arms around Jojo's neck. "Thank you so much for coming! This makes it so much more special!"

Jojo hugged Chris around his back, "We are thrilled to be here. Like daddy says, "We support family" and you are family, now"

Chris kissed her cheek again. "I better get back up there. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, though, ok? Love you!"

"Love you, too," Jojo called after Chris as he skipped back to his bearded, bald helper who lifted him back onto the stage.

Margo reached out to help, too.

Chris bounced joyously back to center stage.

"What was that all about?" Asked Terry.

"That's Jojo, Willy's daughter, and her friends that I met at the party. They came to support us."

Terry strained to see the group, but the lights were far too bright to make out anyone past the edge of the security area.

"Let's play for them," Chris wanted to play in the worst way. "We have instruments, amps, a PA system... let's play for them."

"I don't know," Terry was apprehensive. "Maybe we should wait till they're ready for us."

"Oh, poo on them," Chris pouted in a very girlish way, almost surprising his sister. "I want to play and they want to hear us. Let's play."

Margo, Gina and Grace laughed at Chris's impetuousness, while Terry marveled at this monster that she'd help create.

She turned to Margo and said, "Now I know how Dr Frankenstein felt when his monster developed a mind of his own."

Margo laughed at the joke and said, "Let her be. She's finally in her element. All we need to do is stick with her and hold on while she makes us look good."

Terry nodded and smiled as her shy-little-brother/brave-little-sister took command of the room.

"Hey, y'all" Chris shouted into the microphone, shocked that it was so loud. "Did I say that right? Y'all? I'm not from 'these parts' and we don't say y'all in New Jersey."

Some laughs and fake boos came from the audience.

"But we do play country music and, while they're dealing with the lights and cameras, we're going to play some songs for you, ok?"

A smattering of applause came from the extras with big whoops and shouts from team Jojo. Most of the extras had done many video shoots before and had a bit of disdain for the way the bands would just lip sink. They figured this was just a rehearsal for shoot, but as Dusty Rose kicked off the opening to 'Get Outta My Way' their interests were definitely piqued.

The balance was a little off. The drums mics weren't on at first. The bass was a little 'thunky,' but it quickly leveled out and this band that they'd never heard of, started kicking ass.

Chris's voice rose above the band,
"The day is here, I knew was always coming
And your lies cut through and make my poor heart break
I can feel your touch as it burns through with your deception And what I thought was real and true just turned out fake

And you say a little hurt
Is the price we have to pay
Just to have a little love
In the world we live today

I won't be a baby doll
In this little game you play
If you think that this love
Get outta my way

Don't you speak or try to stop me
Don't make a promise you can't keep
Don't try to tell me to be calm
Or to get some beauty sleep

I won't be your little girl
I won't be quiet or afraid
You're not my hero or my cowboy, so,
Get outta my way"

By the end of the song, the crowd was ecstatic. Cheering and screaming and dancing.

Everyone in the band was smiling.

"That's NOT the song we're doing today, though," Chris said to the crowd. "We're doing this one."

Gina clicked her sticks four times and they started. The crowd, who had been so revved up by the first song, was immediately enraptured by this glorious ballad. They watched and swayed. Hugged each other and some of the girls wept at the lyrics. As harmonies grew and the key moved a half-step higher, the crowd began clapping on beats two and four.

"Are you filming this!?" The director shouted into the headset of the camera operators.

"I sure as hell am!" Yelled back camera four.

"Me too!" Said camera one.

"I'm on it!" Said cameras two and three simultaneously.

The lighting wasn't exactly right. The angles hadn't been locked in and the director hadn't given Chris and the girls their final instructions, but the shot was perfect. There was genuine joy on the faces of the audience. They loved Dusty Rose and it was obvious that Dusty Rose loved playing for them.

When they finished, the audience went crazy. Unexpectedly, the director showed up on the stage and asked for quiet. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to thank you for coming today. I thought you'd be here about three hours, but, wow, what a show you just got, huh? How about another round of applause for Dusty Rose!?"

The crowd showed their appreciation.

"I'm going to let you go, now. You can pick up your checks at the desk on the way out. Thank you for coming!"

Then he turned to the band. "Good God Almighty, girls! Wow! Just... Wow!"
 
Chapter 6
 

"Is your momma coming to see you in Jacksonville?" Sophie asked Chris. They were making three pies at the moment, apple, pecan and huckleberry, to go with the pork roast that was in the oven. Jojo and Margo had gone to the local food bank with a pickup truck full of early summer squash and peas. Chris had stayed behind to learn about baking and whatever else Sophie had to show him.

"I hope so. It's hard for her to get away with short notice, especially after coming down for the party the other night..."

"Like this, baby," Sophie said as she reached around Chris to instruct him on the nuances of pressing the recently rolled crust into the pie pan. Chris loved how she flowed through the kitchen and how she always smelled of plain soap and the foods she had been preparing that day.

"... it's a pretty small company and she hates to miss a day."Chris continued. "My sister and I are hoping that things go well for us so that mom can retire."

"That's sweet, honey, but you do need to look after yourselves, too. Make sure you don't give it all away."

Chris just nodded. He'd been hearing that a lot lately, but the fact was, he'd never even had a job in a grocery store before and now he had more money in the bank than his mom did. It all seemed pretty unreal to him.

"We're back!" Josephine called as she and Margo came through the kitchen door, she continued, "Reverend Adu says 'thank you' and he says that he'd be happy to take one of these pies off your hands if you are stuck with extras."

Jojo kissed her mother, then moved to Chris and kissed him, too.

Sophie snickered and said, "Ok. I'll send a few pieces over for him and his wife. That man's blood pressure is so high that he should stick to the vegetables."

As Jojo moved away, Margo came along and gave Chris a peck on the cheek. As she started to move away, Sophie said, "I beg your pardon, young lady."

Margo turned to see what the problem was and she found Sophie pointing to her own cheek. "When you come in to your Auntie Sophie's kitchen, you give your Auntie Sophie a kiss, too."

Margo's grin grew wide as she kissed Sophie's cheek. "I'm sorry, Auntie," she kidded.

"That's better.

Chris laughed as he wiped his hands on his apron and presented his apple pie to Sophie. "Is this ok?"

"It's perfect, baby. Now, let's put these into the oven and while they're baking, Joey, don't you have something to show your cousin, Christine?"

"I do," Josephine laughed and grabbed Margo's hand. "Come help me." Off they ran.

"What's that about?" Chris asked as he handed the pecan pie to Sophie.

"You know, Christine," Sophie stood, closed the oven door, put hands on Chris's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye, "I am very worried about you and Margo and the other girls - who I still haven't met."

One hand moved to his cheek, then played with his hair while she continued. "You have much more talent than you should at your age and when I saw you and the band, yesterday... well, darling, I was speechless. I could feel your joy and your ecstasy on the stage and it raised my spirits and broke my heart. But even though you look like a young woman, you are still a very little girl and I've seen too many people burn out and end up destroyed by fame. I don't want that to happen to you, baby. Do you understand?"

He nodded.

"Now, even though you girls will be out on the road alone, I want you to make me a promise. Promise me that you'll always remember that your mama and daddy are always right here, in your heart. You need to always be their little girl and always make them proud."

Another nod.

"And if you ever need your Uncle Willy or your Auntie Sophie, or any of your new cousins - you just call and we will be there as fast as we can."

Chris hugged Sophie and she hugged him back. "Auntie, I'm really scared."

"Of what, baby?"

"Of failing, Auntie. Everyone's counting on me to keep everything together and I don't know if I can."

Sophie led Chris to two chairs. They each took one and Sophie took Chris's hands in hers. "Remember how we made the pie crusts? We took one ingredient at a time and went one step at a time. Chrissie, baby, life is the same way - especially for women. Men have been the bigwigs since the beginning of time, but now, young girls like you are taking over the world. You have to be strong and petite. Willful and submissive. Brilliant and... well, I guess just brilliant. But women need to know they're loved, baby, and I want you to know that when I say you're family - I mean you're really and truly family. And, I swear, your Uncle Willy truly thinks of you as his niece - maybe even as a daughter. Your friends, your sister, your momma and Willy, me and the kids... we all love you, too. Will you promise me that, no matter what, you'll always remember that, and that you'll call if you need us?"

Chris nodded and hugged Sophie. "Thank you, Auntie. I love you, too."

Margo and Jojo had been waiting and watching in the doorway during a lot of the conversation. Both were touched by it, but Margo felt a few pangs of guilt in her stomach. She and Terry had, after all, laid a lot of this in Chris's lap. If he couldn't handle it, who could?

"Can we interrupt?" Jojo asked.

Sophie waved them in as she and Chris wiped a few tears from their eyes. Both Margo and Joey were carrying garment bags. They placed the bags over chair-backs. Jojo's smile was huge and infectious.

"What's all this?" Chris asked as his mood turned from trepidation to curiosity.

"Well," Jojo let out a huge sigh indicting a great deal of effort, "you know I was in the Fashion/Tailoring track at my technical high school, right. So, I was putting my portfolio together for college the other day and I took out some of my favorite dresses and I thought that some of them might fit you guys. I sent a text to Margo and got your sizes and I picked these out for you. Would you like to try them on?"

"Here," said Sophie helping Chris to his feet, "you'll need help getting into these. It's just us girls here, I'll help you and Jojo can help Margo."

Without having a moment to think, Chris was standing in Sophie's kitchen in just a bra and cheeky-shorts, very grateful for the gaff hidden beneath those panties.

There were two dresses for each of them. The first ones taken from the bags were very fancy; the kind of dress a star would wear to an awards show. Margo had a gold lame gown that was tight from the strapless top to her knees where the front opened, exposing her lower legs, then gradually flowed down and to the back creating a short, but elegant train behind her. "My goodness, Jo. I hope that we get invited to the Grammy's or the CMAs so that I can actually wear this. It's beautiful."

Chris's first dress was a lavender evening dress made of crushed velvet with a thin, silk lining. It had a top that clasped behind his neck, exposing his back nearly to the crack of his bottom and hung loosely over his breasts exposing substantial cleavage. The waist tapered and forced the top to blouse at the waist allowing the the skirt to flow loosely to just below his knees. "It's so elegant, Jojo. I love it. I wish I could wear it to dinner, tonight."

Josephine smiled at the praise, happy that her work was appreciated.

Josephine helped Margo out of her first dress while Chris turned his back to Sophie to have her undo the clasp. She did, but she said, "Don't take it off, yet. Wait till Margo's done."

The dress that Jojo handed Margo was a short, peasant dress. A neutral beige background with intricate needle work all over the surface of the dress. There was no zipper, it just slipped over her head and hung unevenly off of her shoulders. The sleeves were longer than her arms and ended in wide, floppy bells. The hem ended a good four or five inches above her knees.

Chris thought that Margo had never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment.

Margo rubbed the fabric. "It's so beautiful and so soft."

"It's a thin, brushed cotton. It's soft, like flannel, but thin so it hangs on your figure, shows all of your curves and can be worn in the summer." Jojo smiled. It really looked good on Margo's strong, curvy figure.

" I love it!" Margo said. "I wished that I'd had it when we took the album cover picture!"

"You can wear it for the next one," Sophie said.

"If there is one," said Chris with raised eye brows.

"Oh, just stop acting like a teenager, will you, please?" Sophie gave him a soft dope-slap on the back of his head. "Now, little girl, let's get you into your dress."

Sophie and Jojo helped him out of the dress he was wearing. Then, Jojo held up a very plain, light, cotton dress with almost no definition to it. They pulled it down over his head and fastened a clasp at the back of his neck. It came to just above his knees and was very soft. His breasts were on prominent display, more than Chris cared to display. It looked half finished.

"Do you like it?" Jojo asked.

"Umm..." Chris stuttered over his answer.

"Now, stop teasing," Sophie waved Jojo away, "that's just the underdress."

"Under-dress?" Chris asked.

"Yes," Jojo explained. "The dress is very sheer and you can see right through it, so you wear an under-dress with it. It can't be a slip because a slip has too much definition. An under-dress is plain and just gives the outer-dress color. I made two for this dress - one white and one red. Let's get the outer-dress on you. Close your eyes."

He did as instructed. He could hear the dress being taken from the garment bag and he heard Margo let out a little gasp as she saw it. Then he felt hands moving his arms and soft material being drawn across them, over his head and down his body. He could feel them fussing with the skirt and straightening out the hem of the garment.

"Keep 'em closed," Jojo teased, as he felt another rear neck enclosure being hooked and a sash being tied behind his back. He could hear whisperings,

"Joey, you out-did yourself. This is precious," from Margo

"It's beautiful, baby" from Sophie.

A giggle from Josephine followed by a, "Thank you."

"Can I open my eyes?"

"I think she's ready," Jojo said. "Ok, open your eyes."

When he did, he looked around at the three grinning females. The first thing that he noticed was the puffy, very short sleeves that formed little balls around his shoulders. The material was white with tiny red flowers printed on it, but barely opaque. He could see the skin of his shoulders and the underdress through the material. Where the underdress was visible, the flower pattern was more obvious.

Even though the material was so thin and nearly transparent, it made the plummeting neckline of the underdress more conservative and a bit playful. The sash, which was tied in a large bow in the back, pulled the dress flat across his midsection and accentuated his round breasts. From the waist, the skirt was very full and hung loosely to just below his knees. The three inches between the hem of the underdress and the hem of the overdress allowed a hint of his feminine knees to peak through.

"It's so soft," Chris spoke quietly. The material felt like gauze and, when he played with his skirt, it floated rather than fell back to its resting position.

"It's a cotton-gossamer material. You need to be very careful of it and, when the time comes for laundering it, only hand wash it with a delicate detergent," Josephine said. "Do you like it?"

"I do. I love it. Can I look in a mirror?"

"In a moment," Sophie said. Then to Margo she said, "Watch this. Chrissie, spin around a couple of times for us."

Chris did so and the dress spun too, but the light quality of the overdress made it move more slowly, more cloud-like than Chris and his underdress. It was as if it was animated onto him.

He heard Margo gasp, again. "That's so pretty."

"You did a wonderful job, Jojo," Sophie said. "I'm very proud of you. Take Chrissie to see herself in the mirror. I'm going to get the vegetables started."

Jojo led Chris and Margo to a closet near the front door and opened it to a mirror on the inside of the door. Both Chris and Margo admired themselves in the reflection.

"Wow," Chris swung the dress around his legs. "I've never met anyone who could do this kind of work. You're like the most talented person I ever met."

The snort that escaped Jojo was mixed with laughter. "Yeah, right!"

"I'm serious. Look at these dresses. They're beautiful." Chris was so enamored of the dress he was wearing that he could feel a stirring in his loins. Not as if he was growing, just a stirring. An excitement. It was so amazingly soft and feminine and he was inside it. Combine the feelings he had in this dress and the feelings he had wearing the performance dress that had been chosen for him and he felt so, so girly - vulnerable, beautiful and willing and happy to be so.

"She's right," Margo said. "You're very talented."

"Oh, please," Jojo was adjusting the back of Chris's dress to be sure it hung correctly. "Yesterday, I watched you guys blow away a couple of hundred people with your music and you expect me to think of myself as talented?"

"Joey," Chris said, "I couldn't do something like this is a million years. Thank you, so much, for these."

Eventually, the usual participants in the family meal arrived and took their seats around the table. Dinner was salad, the pork roast, fried zucchini with Sophie's home made tomato sauce, some mixed garden vegetables and, of course, pie for dessert. Margo and Chris had stayed in they're new dresses which Willy had pronounced, "divine."

When dinner was done, Willy rose from his seat at the head of the table. "Sophie, honey, can I seal my two new daughters for a few minutes apiece?"

"William," Sophie said, "you know that these girls have parents of their own and they don't need one of you fatherly chats. Just let them be."

Willy laughed at his wife. "Sorry, kitten, I can't do that and you know it. Young Ms Margo, would you mind coming with me for a few minutes?"

The two younger men at the table started laughing as Josephine, Carrie and Louise all started shouting, "Daddy, no! Not 'the talk!'"

Chris who had been sharing most of his meal with his favorite member of Willy's household, Emma, looked up, confused.

Margo, equally flummoxed, said, "What's 'the talk?'"

Louise took charge of the explanation. "Every time one of us girls goes away, and I mean EVERY TIME - Girl Scouts, sleep overs, slumber parties, camp, school trips - my honeymoon, for crying out loud - daddy gives us 'the talk.' He tells us how dangerous the world is for a woman, how we have to stay in groups, etc, etc, etc."

Carrie started singing in a sappy voice, "Sometimes its hard to be a woman..."

"Poor, poor, pitiful me..." took over Louise singing a different tune.

Josephine, Eli, Louisa's husband and Sophie applauded the singing, confusing Chris and Margo even more.

Willy smiled broadly, loving every minute of the ribbing, but determined to say what he felt needed saying. "Ms Margo, if you would accompany me to my office for a few moments..."

He offered his hand. Margo took it and rose to join him. They disappeared around the doorway and they all heard the click of Willy's office door.

"Don't worry, darling, its short and painless," Sophie said as she rose to clear the dirty plates. Chris and Willy's daughters also stood to help, but Louise said, "Not you Christine. I don't want you getting that pretty dress dirty. You just keep Emma occupied if you don't mind."

"Ok," he replied, happy to play with the toddler.

"You really did a great job on those dresses, Joey," Carrie said as she carried a pile of plates and silverware to the sink.

"Thanks," Jojo smiled. "I wish you guys could have heard Chrissie singing at the video shoot yesterday. She was incredible!"

Carrie, who was returning to the table, stopped and looked at the pretty little girl playing with her niece. How good could she possibly be? "Really? Are you as good as daddy thinks?"

His laugh sounded more nervous than he meant it to. "I don't think anyone's as good as you daddy thinks I am. I never met anyone as supportive as your daddy."

Everyone laughed, but Sophie spoke above the noise, "You know, a few days ago, I would have agreed with you, but, then, I heard you sing, yesterday. Girl, you are better than your Uncle Willy says. I've never seen a group as good as you girls."

Josephine sat next to Chris and played with Emma, too. "You know, part of me wishes you guys weren't so good."

Emma reached for Jojo and Chris handed her over, "Why?"

"Because summer has just started and you're leaving, soon. You'll probably be traveling all over the world in a few weeks and, maybe it sounds selfish, but I'm going to miss you."

"Really?" Why would anyone miss him?

"Yeah. You and Margo are fun to have around. Usually, I'm the youngest sister. I like having you here. I'll miss you both."

He smiled, uncertain as to how to respond.

Margo came back into the room, still looking gorgeous in her peasant dress, "Your Uncle wants to see you, RIGHT NOW!"

Willy's wife and daughters laughed.

Chris stood and straightened his dress. "What's this all about?"

She giggled, "Just some fatherly advice. He's just being nice." She kissed Chris on the cheek and sent him down the hall.

He knocked softly on the door.

"Come on in, honey," Willy's husky voice cut through the walls.

Chris opened the door, entered and closed the door. Willy was standing when Chris came in. He came around his desk and looked at Chris. "Well, young lady, you sure look beautiful in that dress."

Chris smiled, "Thank you."

"Come here." Willy pulled Chris into a warm, affectionate bear-hug and kissed the crown of his head. As he held the pretty, little boy he said, " You know that a lot can happen when you're seventeen and out in the world by yourself, don't you?"

Chris, enveloped in the big man's arms, replied, "Yes."

"It's hard for a boy. It's harder for a girl and it's harder still for a girl like you, Chris. The other day, I told you that your momma and daddy will always me with you and so will your Uncle and Auntie, and I mean that, but I want you to promise me something that I make every one of my daughters promise me whenever they go away." He released Chris from the hug and looked him straight in the eyes.

"What's that?"

"Promise me that, whenever you find yourself in a situation and you need to make a decision, you will think to yourself, 'Will this decision make my family proud?' That goes for everything - alcohol, drugs, sex, even the clothes that you wear to represent yourself. Always think, 'Will this make my family proud?' Understand."

"I do, Uncle Willy. I understand."

"Good," Willy let go of Chris's shoulders and walked back to sit at his desk. "I know that sounds like a lot of pressure, honey, but you need to remember that you're just seventeen and seventeen year old children are not known for making good decisions. Years from now, I hope that you will look back at your teens and twenties without any major regrets."

"I understand, sir."

Willy breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Now, you know your daddy loved you and, no matter what happens or what you ever do, your momma, Sophie, my children and I will always love you, too, but, baby, it's a hard world, full of pitfalls. Try to avoid them, ok?"

"Yes, sir."

"Sir...? I'm not scolding you Christine, I just... need to say these things to you. It's my responsibility."

Chris smiled and nodded, uncertain as to what to say.

"Now, one more thing and this is probably something that is none of my business."

He paused and considered his words before continuing, "Margo is a beautiful and fine young lady. I have come to be very fond of her - I don't think of her a my own child, but I do think of her as my own child's girlfriend. You see what I'm saying?"

"I do," Chris's eyes were watery.

"Now, two young ladies who have strong feelings for each other and are left alone, unsupervised, in the same hotel room for weeks on end... well, I'm sure that your relationship has gone beyond hand-holding and, like I said, that's none of my business."

Chris looked away for a moment, uncomfortable with the conversation and embarrassed.

"You know that, for me and Sophie and the rest of the world, you will always be Chrissie - our little girl, but if there is even the remotest possibility that my beautiful, new daughter, who is looking so angelic, standing in front of me, can get Miss Margo pregnant, then my little girl better think like a responsible man every now and again. You understand me, young lady?"

Willy's words were hard, but sincere and, as much as he didn't want to ever think of himself as anything other than Chrissie again, he knew that Willy was right and that what he'd just said really did need to be said. Chris mustered his strength and raised his head to meet Willy's gaze. He blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall from his eyes and strained to form a smile. "I understand, Uncle Willy. I'm sorry and I understand." Finally the tears raged forth, reducing Chris to sobs."

Willy moved as quickly as his large body would allow to comfort him against his chest. "You have nothing to apologize for, baby. Just be careful, that's all I'm asking."

"It's not that, Uncle. It's... it's just that I didn't know how to be the person I used to be and I am struggling to know who I am, now. The only time I feel like I'm who I'm supposed to be is when I'm singing or alone with Margo or when I'm here with you and Auntie. Other than that, I'm scared to death and I feel like a fraud." He pushed away from Willy's embrace and smiled up at the kindly man who'd just told him that he viewed Chris as a daughter. "I'm sorry that I dragged you into my... bazaar life. That's all."

"Baby, everyone's life is a mess. That's what living is all about. You'll see, it'll come together for you. Just stay strong and make good choices, ok?"

"Ok," Chris nodded, breathed deeply, wiped his eyes and smiled at the relief of talking to Willy.

When they returned to the kitchen, the women were all finishing cleaning up. Sophie took one look at Chris and pulled him into a hug. "William Elias! Did you make this child cry!? What is wrong with you!?"

Before Willy could defend himself, Chris said, "No, Auntie, it was just me. I'm very nerved up about everything and I just unloaded on my kindly uncle. I shouldn't have, but I needed to."

"Oh... well... alright, then," said Sophie.

Suddenly, Chris was surrounded by Margo, Jojo and her sisters, who formed a line with Chris and Margo at the center. "Hold your fingers like this, honey," Louise said. She formed the three fingered, scout-salute with her right hand and everyone, including Chris, followed suit.

"Now, repeat after me, 'I solemnly swear.'"

"I solemnly swear."

"That, whenever I am away from home."

"That whenever I am away from home."

"And I have a decision to make."

"And I have a decision to make."

"I will think to myself."

"I will think to myself"

"All together now..." and they all joined in, "Will this decision make my family proud?" And they all burst into gales of laughter.

Willy laughed, too, but shouted above the laughter, "Make fun of me all you want, but look at the fine women standing before me. I can take some teasing if this is the result!"

That caused even more laughter as everyone pushed into a group hug with Willy at the center of it.
 
Chapter 7
 

It wasn't quite 9:00 when Chris and Margo got back to the hotel, that night. They decided to come back early because tomorrow was the rehearsal for video shoot for "Footsteps" and Chris was a little nervous. The suite, as they expected, was dark. None of the others had come back, yet.

Margo flicked the light switch and led Chris into the common room. "I think I'm going to put on my pjs and watch some TV. How about you?"

When she turned to look at Chris, he was right behind her and surprised her with a kiss. She smiled and they kissed again and again, each time with more passion.

When they finally separated, Margo held Chris at arms length to look at him in the dress that Jojo had designed. "You look amazing in that dress. I can't believe someone my age designed it and made it."

"It is pretty, but I've been going crazy every time I look at you in THAT dress. You are the sexiest thing I have ever seen."

Margo smiled and stepped back, holding Chris's hands in hers. Her smile got a little sad. "Did Willy talk to you about us?"

Chris nodded.

"He's right, you know. An unexpected pregnancy would not only mess up the band, it could mess up my life. I'll talk to my doctor back home about getting on birth control, but until then..."

Another nod.

"Did you know that he knew?"

"Just since a couple of days ago. I was going to tell him, but he already knew."

Margo shrugged, "I don't know how he knew, but we need to make sure no one else ever finds out."

"I know. He figured it out early on. I'm more careful, now."

They kissed, again. Margo gave a great, heaving sigh, "Arrg, this is so frustrating, but he's right, he's right."

Chris pulled his hands free to grip the sides of the skirt of his outer dress, gave a deep curtesy, then descended to his knees in front of Margo, reaching under her peasant dress to pull down her panties. "We can't do everything, but I can relieve your frustration. He lifted the hem of the dress, revealing Margo's shaved vagina.

Margo giggled. "That will help. I do love your 'blowjobs.' It's nice to have such an accommodating girlfriend."

Chris smiled and hummed his laugh at Margo's joke. His tongue went to work, slowly at first, but picking up speed and searching deep within her. Her knees began to tremble and she had no choice but to grip his head to remain upright. She began to buck softly toward him to encourage his tongue to dive deeper. "Oh!" She moaned and he could feel her shudder as her first orgasm racked her body. He worked harder and faster, trying to make her reach new heights. "Oh... oh... oh... oh... YES!!" She let out a monumental shout as she grabbed the back of Chris's head and held him as deeply as possible until her trembling subsided.

Her eyes were closed and her head bowed when she heard a laugh and a shout of, "Oh my God! I'm sorry!" Followed by more, almost delirious laughter.

Margo's eyes shot open and she pulled back from Chris, pulling her peasant dress down around her hips and nearly tripping on the panties that were still around her ankles.

It's was Gina. She'd come in without them hearing and was now leaning, nearly collapsed, against the wall, her hand over her mouth and her face red from embarrassed laughter. "I'm sorry," she guffawed, "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to..." She slammed her mouth shut, stood straighter , cleared her throat, controlled a smile that wanted to turn into a laugh and repeated, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I just came back to grab a sweatshirt before we go to a barbecue and... well, I never expected... and I certainly never expected it to be Chris on his knees..." Again, she worked hard to control her nervous laughter.

Margo gathered what dignity she could and pulled her panties back up as discreetly as possible. Then she helped Chris, who was still on his knees and had done his best to wipe his mouth clean, to stand. She put her arm around his shoulder and turned him to face Gina. "Umm.." she took a deep breath and shook her head, "no, I'm sorry. We, umm... we were being careless. I'm sorry. We, umm... yeah... I don't know what to say."

Chris was horribly embarrassed and couldn't find any words, but he tried, "Gina, you... you won't tell Terry, will you?"

"Oh, baby-cakes," Gina laughed some more as she skipped to hug both of her band mates, "I won't say anything, but you do know that everyone knows, right? I mean, we know you're together."

More laughter, but she was calming down.

Chris calmed. The hug and Gina's kiss on his cheek helped, too. She took his chin in her hand and turned his face up to meet her smile. "There's nothing wrong with two people loving each other, baby."

Chris smiled back at her, then he had a thought, "Then why did you laugh at us?"

Gina thought for a moment and guffawed her big Italian-girl-from-New Jersey laugh, again, and said, "I don't know! I guess I was just so caught off guard and embarrassed that I didn't know what else to do, so, I laughed!"

She kissed them both, then ran to her room.

Margo hugged Chris tightly, "Oh, well. It could have been worse. She could have had John with her."

Chris laughed a little at that thought. "I guess."
 
Chapter 8
 

"Can we, maybe, not have camera operators right here, on the front of the stage? It will block our view of the audience and their view of us." Chris was back on stage with the girls. They were preparing to film the video for "One Less Set of Footsteps" and the rehearsal was getting more stressful than the Dusty Rose members had expected. Chris had very specific ideas about how this 'concert video' needed to look and so did the director. The problem was, the director wasn't listening to Chris's ideas. The director became dismissive of him, implying that Chris was too young, too inexperienced, too female, etc. Chris had grown belligerent as a result and Terry had been trying to calm him down. This last question didn't seem at all unreasonable to the girls, Chris had, after all, understood much more about the business than any of them had.

Chris was regretting his choice of clothes today. It was comfortable, but made him look too young in this situation. It had gotten very hot in Nashville and he knew it was going to be a long day, so Chris had chosen a plain, olive green romper that had spaghetti straps that held up a blousy top and little, white flip-flops with a little flower between the toes. He'd also stopped in at the salon and had his hair braided again. The others were all wearing shorts and tee shirts and sandals with various heel heights. Even when they'd headed out that morning, Chris caught a glimpse of all of them in a lobby mirror and and it occurred to him that he looked like the baby of the group, which, of course, he was, but, now that he needed to be 'the guy in charge,' he felt that he was being dismissed because he looked more childish than he should.

"No," the exasperated voice of the director called from the darkened, empty civic center, "we can't remove the camera operators from the front of the stage. We need the coverage."

"But, you have coverage from the floor and you can take the long shots in closer. No one needs to see the pours in my skin! I read that when The Bangles filmed the 'Walk Like an Egyptian' video, there were no cameras anywhere near the stage and you can see Susanna Hoffs' eyes leaping off the screen. These will just be in the way! I won't be able to see the audience and they won't be able to see the band!" Chris pleaded with the director.

"LOOK!" shouted the hipster-wannabe with his obnoxious chin beard and ironic, knit, wool hat that had no function in Nashville in late May other than to scream to society, 'Look at me! I'm an douche-bag.' "I was hired to make you talentless little twats look like stars and that's what I plan to do whether you like it or not!"

Everyone in the band stood and moved forward around Chris. "What did you just call us!?" shouted Gina as she ran forward with her sticks clenched in the fist of her left hand and the forefinger of her right hand pointed directly at the director. "Did you just call us 'talentless'!?"

That actually made Margo and Terry laugh a bit. They knew that Gina was sincere, but it was the 'twat' remark that had made the rest of them angry.

"Get your hipster butt up here, jackass," Gina continued to shout, "I'll show you who's untalented! You Starbucks drinking jerk!"

"All right, all right!" Terry shouted. "Everybody calm down." She turned to Margo and, in a quieter voice, said, "See if you can reach Allan on the phone."

Margo nodded and pulled out her phone, but the director continued to engage, "Call anyone you want, little girl, but this is my set and my shoot. Do what I say or get your asses back out on the streets and find yourselves a good pimp..."

"What the hell is going on in here!" was suddenly shouted from the back of the civic center. It was too dark to see that far, but the band knew the voice. It was Allan Bennett, right on cue.

Gracie, who had put her instrument into a stand long ago and was wearing yoga pants for this rehearsal, hopped down to the floor level and jogged over to Allan. Grace was currently, without question, the most level headed member of the band and certainly the coolest person in the room at the moment.

"Hi, Allan," she said, "We're having a problem with the logistics for the video. See, there's so much equipment on the front of the stage that the audience won't be able to see us and Chrissie is concerned that her performance won't be authentic because she won't be able to work the crowd, you know what I mean?"

"Uh-huh," Allan nodded and turned to the director, "and what do you think?"

"Can I ask a question," the director asked. Allan nodded, again.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my space?"

Allan smiled at the director and said, "I need to ask a question, now." He looked around and found a young woman, twenty-five-ish, light brown skin and a tee-shirt with a picture of Sheryl Crow on it. "You, young lady. Do you know who I am?"

She nodded, "Yes, sir, Mr Bennett, I know who you are."

Allan glanced at the director - still no sign of recognition.

"What's your name?"

The young woman shifted from one foot to the other, "Amanda, Mr Bennett."

"And what's your job right now, Amanda?"

"I'm the director of photography, Mr Bennett."

"And what do you think about the cameras on the stage, Amanda"

She glanced from the director to Allan and back again before answering. "To tell the truth, sir, I think that there's way too many cameras here. I think we could do everything we want to do with four, five or six cameras and a crane or a drone. Right now, we have twelve standard cameras and twelve robo-cams set up. I think that the little girl over there is right, the cameras and operators will be in the way when we bring in an audience. But... that just my opinion, sir."

"Uh-huh." Alan mused. He turned to the stage and called the girls down. As they gathered, Allan handed Grace a manila envelope and told her to open it and read it to everyone.

Grace looked the page over and read it out loud without much conviction: "Release number 19478. Units sold 1,268,745. Placement first Release number 19477. Units sold 1,167,733. Placement two.
What does this mean?"

'It means," Allan said, "release number 19477, also known as "In His Eyes" has officially gone platinum and is the number 2 song on the country charts this week..."

The faces on Chris and the girls indicated that they were ready to burst, but Allan had more to stay.

"Aaaannnndddd it means that release number 19478, also known as, "One Less Set of Footsteps" has officially also gone platinum and is the NUMBER 1 song on the country charts this week - Aaaannnndddd both songs have made it into the Top 40 at number 3 and number 6! As of this moment, ladies, you are bonafide stars! Congratulations!"

The girls screamed and hugged Chris and Allan. There was bouncing and yelling and there were a few tears of joy! How could this be happening!?!? Chris was absolutely in shock.

When the noise subsided, Allan turned back to Amanda, "Do you think you're ready to direct your first video?"

Again, her eyes flittered to the director for a moment and back to Allan, "Yes, sir, I am and I won't let you down."

"I know you won't, Amanda. You see the pretty little thing in the olive green romper?" Amanda nodded. "That's Christine. She is our golden goose, you understand? When she she asks for something, you give it to her, you got it?"

Amanda smiled. "I got it, sir."

"Great," Allan laughed, "and my name is Allan. Please - just Allan."

Then he turned to the director, "and as for you..."

"Mr Bennett, I didn't know..."

"I know and if we were just about the cameras, I'd be willing to have a conversation about a compromise. Unfortunately, though, when I came in, I heard you refer to these lovely, young ladies using some pretty derogatory terms, didn't I? That seems pretty ungentlemanly to me. So, let's do this - Why don't you get your talentless ass back out on the street where YOU belong."

The director looked around, embarrassed. "Mr Bennett, I'm really..."

"STOP!" Allan was uncharacteristically angry. "I don't want to hear another word. If you leave now, without saying another word, I'll never hire you again. If you even grunt, though, I will make it impossible for you to ever direct another music video, again."

Then, he turned to the girls and Chris, " Come on, ladies. Let's go have a nice lunch while Amanda resets the cameras.

The director stormed out as Amanda called after Allan and the band, "Thank you, Mr Bennett! Girls, if you need anything at all, just let me know!" Then she turned to the crew and took control, "Alright, guys. Let's get those cameras off the stage and move all of this gear back. I want four long shots up there, two of the robo-cams behind the stage. Jack, find me two good angles on the drummer and you, you and you find a place back here where you can each pick up one of the girls with instruments. We'll pick up the singer in the long shots..." As the door closed behind Allan and the band, they could still hear the echoes of Amanda's directions back in the hall.

"Yes, mommy, please try to get time off for Jacksonville. Chris and I really would love you to be there. We'll pay for everything. Yeah, but we can. Mommy, they've both gone platinum! We have the money, I swear! Ok. I love you, too. Let me know. Bye, bye." She pressed the 'end' button on her phone.

Terry turned to Chris, "Mom says that she's heard both songs on the radio all week. She says that everyone at the agency has bought the album and that she loves the first video, too. Chrissie, I've never heard her so excited!"

"That's great, " Chris said. "I'm glad she's happy! I wish she was here to see all of this!"

"My dad is nuts! He was crying on the phone because he was so happy!" said Margo

"My parents can't believe it," Grace said. "My mom still thinks I'm trying to learn how to play 'Horse a With No Name' in my bedroom."

Gina laughed, "Mine are the same way. My grandmother just said, 'Well, I'm glad that all that banging in the basement is finally paying off. I think she meant it to be a compliment."

Everyone laughed. Margo turned to Allan, "So, about this new director...?"

"I wasn't just picking 'anybody,' I knew Amanda was a good choice. Our VP in charge of Video Production told me that she was grooming Amanda to become a director. So, I expect she'll do a great job for you. If she doesn't, we'll fix it."

"She sure seemed ready to take over," Terry laughed. "I already like her better than the first guy."

"I liked Frank, the guy that directed the video for 'In His Eyes.' He had a lot of enthusiasm." Chris said.

"What happened to him?" Grace asked.

"Different day/different people," Allan said. "It's the nature of the business and, by the way," he turned to Chris, "I admire your integrity, but you need to get better at working WITH people - not just demanding."

"Yes, sir, Mr Bennett," Chris nodded, "but..."

"That guy was an asshole." Gina said matter of factly.

"Gina!" scolded Grace.

"What? He was!"

"Still... have some manners. Mr Bennett is our boss."

"Tsk," Gina dismissed the scolding with a wave of her hand.

"Gracie," Allan said, "I am not your boss, I'm your producer and collaborator. Yes, I own the company, but, please, never think of me as your boss. Now, Gina, I try hard to not swear, but I certainly swore like a sailor when I was your age. The thing is, though, it is a good business practice to be careful of what you say. We've already sent out your press-package and your first TV performance is on Fallon in a few days. Y'all need to remember that if a guy slips up and swears on TV, he comes off as either tough or stupid, but if a girl swears on TV, she comes off as cheap. I know that's a double standard, but it is a fact and you need to keep it in mind at all times. So, if I can give you a little advice, whenever you're out in public, watch your tongue. Ok?"

Gina leaned over and shook Allan's hand, "Point taken, Allan. I'll watch my f-ing language."

Allan laughed and looked to Gracie, "Well, it's a start, I guess. Freaking Jersey-girls."

The waitress brought five small salads and a chicken salad sandwich to the table. "Could we get another pitcher of sweet tea, please?" Grace asked and the waitress said she'd bring it right over.

They dug into their food until Gina started laughing. "Girls, we're gonna be rich!"

They all smiled and burst into laughter, too.

"What have I been saying for the past ten weeks!?" Allan said.

The waitress left a new pitcher in the middle of the table. Allan grabbed the pitcher and filled everyone's glasses. "Ladies, I'd like to make a toast." They all grabbed their glasses and held them aloft while Allan continued. "Here's to the most unlikely star I have ever met: Christine. You, little girl, have made my job very easy and surprised me at every turn. No matter what happens, always remain this surprising young woman before me. To Chris!"

"To Chris!" they echoed.

As they drank, Chris held his glass high, "To all of you. Mr Bennett, thank you for making this all possible. Gina, Margo and Gracie, thank you for accepting me and teaching me how to, you know, be a girl. And Terry, I love you so much, Sissy and I'm so glad we're doing this together - as sisters."

"To sisters!" Terry shouted!

"To sisters!" Everyone echoed.

They drank their tea and shook with excitement. All they needed to do now was finish this video, do the video with John, appear on Jimmy Fallon, perfect their 30 minute opening act and keep things moving. Sure - they could do that. Right?
 
Chapter 9
 

It was different when they took the stage to film this video. This time, the audience applauded. They knew who Dusty Rose was! They'd heard the two songs that had been released and some of them knew the whole album. The band members all smiled as broadly as possible and waved to the audience. They were actually excited to see the band.

Chris was feeling good about this shoot, now. Amanda had agreed to make this a true concert-video, so they were going to actually play the song four times for this audience and record the performances to create a video. They'd worked hard late into the evening the night before to prepare for this and for the performance with Lady Antebellum and everyone was ready to go.

He also felt good about how he looked. He was wearing the thin white dress that Jojo had made for him, this time with the red under-dress. He'd picked up a nice pair of red pumps to go with it. Pretty and fresh make up with red lips that popped off of his face and his hair was similar to Terry's but different enough so as not to be silly. He'd asked for the back of his hair to be loosely curled and to have some body in it. It looked great. He was happy, confident and, according to Allan, he'd just made his first half-million dollars. They were become a phenomenon and, although he'd dreamed of making as a singer, he'd never actually believed it would happen and he never once expected it would happen with him looking like this.

"Hi, everyone," Chris called into the microphone. "Thanks for coming out, today, to help us make this video.

A big cheer rose from the crowd. Just before going on stage, he'd found out that there were no extras in this crowd. They'd put out a call for people to come in for the shoot and the crowd were actually fans of the band who'd wanted to see and hear them.

"We are Dusty Rose," more cheers, "and this is Gina, Margo, Gracie, my sister Terry and I'm Chrissie and we're here to make some noise for y'all!"

"You rock, Chrissie!" Was shouted by a number of people from the stage left side of the front of the stage.

Chris looked to see who'd called his name and he saw Josephine, Louise, Eli, Tony, Carrie, Bucky and a whole group of familiar faces from Josephine's party waving up at him. Chris ran on his tip toes to the edge of the stage and thanked them for coming, then asked security to allow Jojo onto the stage. Once he got her up, her brought her to the microphone and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to introduce you to my other sister, Josephine. She designed and made this dress for me. How about a round of applause for Jojo!?"

Again a huge round of applause.

Jojo's bow and smile made it all worth it, but the hug that she gave was so warm and sincere that it made Chris happy to have her in his life. Last night, he'd had an epiphany and he'd taken stock of everything that he had been given. Growing up, it was rare that he ever set foot in a church - his dad's funeral was the last time - but he realized that he was truly blessed to be where he was.

"Thank you, so much," she gushed.

"You deserve it," Chris shouted back to her above the crowd noise. "I love my dress."

"You look beautiful! I love you, so much!" She yelled as she kissed his cheek and gave him another big squeeze.

"I love you, too!" He yelled as she turned and ran back to the side of the stage where Bucky and one of her friends from the party helped her back down to the floor.

Suddenly, a male voice boomed through the PA system, "Alright, everyone," it was Mark's voice, he'd been brought in to record the sound on video now that it had become a "live" shoot, "we'd like to start recording the video. So, can I get a big cheer from the crowd to test my levels?"

A big cheer rose and Mark did what he needed to do.

While Mark continued his last minute adjustments, checking the instrument levels, etc, Chris glanced to the right and saw two men standing in the shadows on the edge of the stage. It was Allan and Willie. He strode over to them and accepted a hug from Allan.

"You look amazing, little girl. So grown up and beautiful. You'll knock 'em dead, I'm sure!"

Allan kissed his check as he released Chris. "Thank you, Mr Bennett and thank you for all of this."

"Once again," Allan smiled, "it's a great idea, but I would never do it with another band this early in their career. Dusty Rose just keeps breaking the mold for me, though!"

Chris smiled appreciatively, then turned to Willie and gave him a big hug and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Uncle Willie"

Willie laughed, "Me? I didn't do anything."

Chris smiled. "You did everything. Last night, I realized what you'd been telling me."

Willie patted Chris's hair and smiled back. "That you're a beautiful woman?"

Chris blushed a bit a the compliment. "That I'm only seventeen and I am very blessed to be where I am. That I am happy with who I've become and that I am loved by a lot of people."

"Well, anyone could see that from the outside, but sometimes it's hard to stay focused when you're in the middle of struggling with your own life. Anyway, you look different, today. Better. And you know that you can come home to your auntie and me anytime that things get to be too much, right? You're a part of our life now - and forever."

"I know and I will be back as soon as I can. Right now, though, this is where I belong and, here, onstage and with my friends - I feel... right. Thank you for helping me become a woman, Uncle Willie."

Willie shook his head. "What happened to you, angel. Just the other day you were a scared little girl. Where did all this come from?"

"Last night, we rehearsed until around midnight, then we all went up to the rooftop of the hotel and sat and looked at the stars. Just the five of us. We haven't really been alone with just the five of us for weeks. After a while, we started talking about where our lives are right now and, you know, what might happen - good and bad stuff. Anyway, I realized that no one was holding me responsible for making it all work. No one would hate me if it didn't. And that I loved them all and they loved me. So, no matter what, it'll be ok."

"That's my girl," Willie hugged him again.

"Hey, Sissy, are you deaf?" Terry called to Chris. "We're ready to start. Marks been calling you on the PA."

"Oops!" He said as he stretched higher to kiss Willies' cheek, "gotta go. Love you!"

"Love you, too, sugar."

And with that, Chris took the stage, standing straight and beautiful in the white dress with the red underdress, his hair and makeup looking perfect and his lipstick color popping off of his face. The cheers grew and he waved to the audience with both of his perfectly manicure hands, then grabbed the microphone and, listening to the click-track in his earpiece -monitor, shouted out, "One... Two... One, two, three, four."

The End...
 
For now.