“I’m so bored!” Shiri yelled as she walked through the apartment
waiting for Daniel to get home from the restaurant. “I’m hungry. What’s
taking him so long?”
The door flew open as Daniel rushed into the house and put the food down
on the counter. He ran into the bedroom and grabbed the cordless then pulled a
slip of paper out of his pocked and dialed the number on it.
“What’s going on?” Shiri asked. “Big deal going down?”
“No, Darren just called me on my cell. Something happened at the video
shoot and Chance is in the hospital. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but
he gave me this number to call when I got home,” Daniel explained as he tried
to regain his breath. He paced the floor waiting for someone to pick up.
“Hello?” he asked.
“Dan, you there?” Darren yelled from the other end.
“Yeah, what’s happened?” Daniel nervously questioned.
“We’re in the middle of a crisis over here. Chance slipped and fell
and I think she broke her leg. She’s in surgery right now. We should know how
she is in a few minutes. They’re almost done,” Darren kept yelled from the
flimsy connection.
Shiri had taken a hold of the other phone in the kitchen and was
listening in on the conversation. “Is Chance going to be okay?” she asked,
biting her nail as she waited for an answer.
“I think so. She was in shock, but the doctor told me that she’ll
most likely make a full recovery,” Darren replied. Shiri breathe in a sigh of
relief. “Okay, I think she’s here. I’ll call you guys later with more
details. I have to go. Bye.” He hung up abruptly.
Shiri let the phone drop to the hook and looked over at Daniel as he
stool soaking wet in his yellow raincoat. He stared back at her with intense
green eyes. He was definitely worried about Chance. “Do you think we
should…” he began to ask. Shiri shook her head.
“We’re not needed out there. If she was in a coma, then we would go,
but let’s take this a day at a time,” she replied.
“Okay,” Daniel whispered as he put the phone on the table and let the
raincoat slip to the floor.
“Come on, Danny. We need to eat.”
Dinner was dead silent. Neither one spoke a word, neither one wanted to
think about what was happening at the video shoot for Chance and Darren’s
first single, “Another Dream.” They had left a few days ago and finished
most of the video before the accident, so not much was left. They’d be home in
a few days, hopefully. Then everything could possibly go back to normal.
Possibly. But ever since Chance came back from her “journey,”
something had changed about her. She had become a more enlightened person,
easier to talk to, and much more respectful of other’s feelings. She listened
to everything someone said to her and tried to give back the best advice she
could. One of the strangest things about her now was that she took time out of
her hectic schedule to meditate and find “inner peace.”
Daniel was the first to notice the changes. He always seemed to be the
first one to notice things about his friends. This didn’t really make any
sense to him, though. ‘What happened to Chance while she was gone?’ he kept
asking himself. As he pondered the question, Shiri spoke.
“What are we gonna do now? The last few episodes of ‘Roswell’ are
being taped in the next few weeks, and Chance is in deep shit with her leg. The
writers are gonna be in hell trying to explain this to the audience,” she
rambled. “Can life get any weirder?”
“Huh?” Daniel replied, clearly jumping into the conversation a little
late.
“Did you hear a word I just said?” Shiri asked. “No, I didn’t
think so. I was just taking to air.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m just really worried,” he said.
“I know you are, and I don’t blame you. But I’m trying to get you
to think of something else besides Chance, like me,” she answered back.
“Come on, Danny. Talk to me and stop thinking about her. I’m your wife;
she’s your friend. Who’s more important, huh?”
“You are,” Daniel mumbled. He picked up his plate of cooled Chinese
food and dropped it into the sink. “Is it my turn to do the dishes tonight?”
he whined.
“Yeah,” Shiri said as she handed him her plate.
~~~~~~~~~~
Two weeks after Chance came home from the video shoot, MTV had called to
tell her that she’d be on TRL in a couple of days to premier the video with
Darren. She had invited Daniel and Shiri to tag along, and they gladly accepted.
They were now at the New York studio waiting for the show to begin.
“I can see you remember the last time we were here,” Darren said as
he helped to carry her out of the car and through the doors towards the safety
of the building.
“It brings back a lot of stuff. Doesn’t it for you?” Chance asked.
“Yeah, quite a lot,” he answered, setting her down on a chair. Daniel
handed her the crutches and she stood up again. They were shuffled to the
backstage area of TRL, which wasn’t starting for another half hour.
A producer walked up to them and said, “You’re all here together?”
“Yeah, but only Chance and Darren are appearing on the show,” Shiri
replied as she set down her bag beside her feet.
“Why don’t you all go out there? It would be a much better show if
you all were on stage,” he tried to convince her.
“Guys, what do you think? Should we all go out there?” she asked the
other three.
“Yeah, why not? I’d love for you and Dan to be out there with Darren
and me,” Chance said.
“Alright. I’d better go make some changes in the control room,” the
producer replied then scurried off. The half hour passed by quick, and Chance
could easily tell that they were going to be up soon when Carson stepped on
stage and began to talk to the audience.
“Today on TRL, Chance Malone, Darren Hayes, Daniel Jones, and Shiri
Appleby all stopping by to premier the video for ‘Another Dream,’” he said
as the crowd went wild in the background of the small studio in Times Square.
Chance was more than thrilled to be back at the place where all her
dreams had come true. If it weren’t for MTV, she wouldn’t be the star she
turned out to be. Even with a broken leg, she’d still come from backstage and
meet her fans. They were expecting something great from her, and she was going
to give it to them.
Darren patted her shoulder and she looked up at him. “Can you believe
this?” Chance asked him.
“No,” he simply replied. “Who would have thought this would be how
everything turned out for us?”
“I sure wasn’t expecting it, and now that it’s all happened, I’m
still reeling from the experience,” she said.
Darren smiled down at Chance. “I’m so glad it was you who won that
contest. I don’t think I would have ever found anyone better for the album
than you.”
“I’m glad you picked me.” Chance pulled him to her lips and gave
him a sweet kiss.
“Aw! Look at those two. They are so cute together,” Daniel said in
the background.
Chance and Darren parted lips. She turned and glared at him. “Oh, shut
up! Couldn’t you see we were having a moment?”
“Yeah, that’s why I interrupted you. We’re gonna be on in a few
seconds, so get ready,” he answered.
“Oh, then thanks,” she replied. Chance took a hold of Darren’s arm
and pulled herself out of her chair. He handed her the crutches and they waited
for Carson’s signal for them to come out.
“Welcome to the show, Chance, Darren, Dan, and Shiri,” Carson called
out for them to come onto the stage. Chance was the first one in the order to
come hobbling out careful not to hit any wires as she found her way down the
hall. Darren followed and quickly found her a chair to sit on.
Looking out across the audience and out the window, Chance saw a sea of
people frantically waving and screaming for her attention. She was the star of
the show today, and she knew she was going to enjoy it.
“Welcome back to TRL,” Carson said as he shook hands with the four of
them.
“Thanks for having us,” Darren replied when he was handed the mic.
“It seems like just yesterday we were sitting here doing that contest.
It’s almost a fairy tale ending for you guys,” Carson added as he gave the
mic to Chance.
“Believe me, it has not been a fairy tale,” she said. “I went
through hell to get where I am now. It wasn’t as easy as some might think.”
“We know,” Dan, Darren, and Shiri answered in unison.
“I guess they’ve heard that before,” Carson observed.
“We all went through it together,” Shiri said. “But I think it
turned out for the better.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because I found my sister and my soul mate, and Chance found the love
of her life. It’s amazing how fate works in mysterious ways.”
“Wow, that’s great,” Carson replied. “What else has been going on
in your lives? Care to give any details?”
“Um… If you haven’t heard, Darren and I are getting married.” The
crowd exploded into cheers when Chance made her announcement. “The wedding is
going to be in December at a really big church in Brisbane.”
“That’s so great! Congratulations!” Carson said. “What about
you?” he asked Daniel and Shiri.
“Well, I’m going to be producing a band in Australia and Shiri is
still going to play Liz Parker on ‘Roswell,’” Daniel answered.
“I heard some rumors that you two were married in Vegas a while back.
Do you wanna dispel the rumors right now and tell us what’s really going on
between you two?” Carson asked.
Daniel and Shiri stared at each other for a few moments and nodded their
heads as if they knew exactly what the other was thinking.
“Yeah, why not?” Shiri replied. She stood up from her seat and slowly
made her way towards Daniel. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and gave him a
deep kiss. The crowd went wild as it had with Chance’s announcement. When
their lips parted, Shiri added, “Does that answer your question?”
“You go girl!” Chance hollered from her seat.
“I’m taking that as a yes,” Carson said when he managed to close
his mouth after his jaw dropped to the floor.
“We’re happily married,” Daniel told the world. “We’ve just
been waiting for the right time to tell everyone.”
“TRL seemed the best way to reach the world,” Shiri added.
“A TRL first, folks,” Carson said. He turned to Chance, still reeling
from the announcement. “Onto the video. What’s it about?”
“Well, it’s about a girl who has just lost her significant other in a
car accident and she’s reflecting on her past with him. The video stays very
true with the song,” she answered.
“I heard that you had a little trouble shooting the video.”
“Yeah, the second day was the day that I broke my leg. It was all
caught on tape by the MTV cameras that were on the scene shooting ‘Making The
Video.’ I look back at it right now and I think it’s really funny. But it
wasn’t when it happened. I was in a tremendous amount of pain.”
“That really must have been one of the hardest days of your life.”
“It was, especially since there was only one English speaking doctor in
the whole hospital out there in Switzerland. It was horrible. And to return the
next day and keep filming, it was really tough. I must have been on ten
medications to keep me from feeling the pain in my leg. I’m so thankful it’s
over and I’m home to rest.”
“Why don’t we check out the video now and we’ll have you tell us
everything afterwards?”
“Sure.”
“Alright,” Carson said. “Now, the world premier of ‘Another
Dream’ by Chance Malone and Darren Hayes, only on TRL.”
After the video was premiered on TRL, Chance, Darren, Shiri, and Daniel
were headed home for a small break before all were supposed to start with their
lives again. Daniel would be headed to Australia to begin his new project, the
production of a new band. Shiri would head back to the set of “Roswell,” but
without Chance. She and Darren were headed for their first world tour together.
Within two weeks, everyone would be torn apart once more.