Paulie Robert McDaniels & Sammy Benjamin Rogers
Paulie stood backstage with his left hand in his pocket, leaning against a wall. The final sound checks were running, and he continued to read over his material for the umpteenth time that day. Once the band that was playing was done, the stage manager announced that the red carpet would be opening soon for those who were inside the building. Several people had arrived early to do a run through of the whole ceremony, and they were given the option of walking the carpet or staying behind backstage. Paulie’s anxiety was yelling for him to stay behind, but he would have to make an appearance, due to being the MC for the night.
Despite the arguments from his agent, Paulie walked the carpet beside of Rosa. There were many who opposed their relationship, because it seemed like they came from two different worlds. Paulie was the family friendly comedian who voiced a sassy rabbit in one of the latest children’s movies, and Rosa was the rough and tough rock star. However, people tend to forget that even the guy who voiced Olaf in Disney’s Frozen worked on South Park and The Book of Mormon. Paulie, himself, had done voice work on adult animated shows, and he even had late night 18+ comedy shows. He was usually the first person to make fun of the fact that his cute bunny character was what he was most well known for.
While on the carpet, Paulie put on his usual goofy grin act and tried to get the world to understand that he was one of the luckiest men on the planet to be with his blonde rock goddess. The cameras flashed in his face until he believed he was going to go blind. At one point, someone asked him who he was wearing, and he glanced down at his mismatched plaid outfit. He looked up at her and just replied, “A fashion designer called ‘I couldn’t find the light switch,’ obviously.” He winked at her appalled facial expression, and continued to move forward. Once back in the building, Paulie massaged his smile out and frowned for a moment to give his face something to do.
“I swear those things are more hectic than my family,” he muttered to Rosa with a chuckle. She had only met all of them once, but it was an extremely awkward situation. His mother had snubbed her, which cut Paulie to the core, because he valued her opinion so much. The only one who wasn’t practically breathing down their necks was his father, and that’s because he met her and then disappeared out the backdoor to go to his carpentry shop to work. Paulie kissed Rosa’s forehead as the stage manager was trying to get his attention to start the ceremony. “I really hope I break a leg,” he stated, only to her, with his voice full of dark humor.
He paused, took a deep breath, and put on his goofy grin once more as he stepped out onto the stage. He was glad that he couldn’t barely see the people through the lights, because he hadn’t been in front of his number of people in his entire life. Even when he did his shows, they were always in smaller venues so that it was more intimate. He did a couple opening jokes before announcing the first act of the night. “Alrighty ladies and gentlemen! I won’t say too much about this opening act, in fear of the things his fans will say about me on Tumblr, but get your voice boxes ready! You all know him as America’s sweetheart, and I know him as the subject of my late-night fan-fiction stories. This is Sammy Rogers!”
Paulie slipped off the stage to allow Sammy to go out. He passed by him in the process, and saw him shoving something into the inside of his jacket pocket. He fixed his jacket, and headed off toward the screaming crowds. Paulie stood off to the side, and leaned against a wall as he watched what was happening on stage. Sammy had a grand piano wheeled out onto the stage as his band set themselves up. He unbuttoned his coat so that he could sit down, after he waved toward the crowd. He began his song, and Paulie ran a hand through his hair as he watched the guy do his thing. He seemed like he was in his element, and Paulie envied him.
When he was done, Sammy stood and bowed to the crowd. He walked off the stage, and Paulie went back out to announce award winners and various other things. Sammy sunk into a chair that was backstage, and pulled his flask back out of his jacket pocket. He took a large swig of it, and put it back in his jacket before people could catch him. He was rather good at getting away with things like that; he always had been. He rubbed his eyes, and headed out the stage door to take his seat in the crowd for whenever they called his name for his award. He smiled as the camera scrolled passed him, and turned his attention to the stage.
Lendi placed her hands on her hips as she did her sound check for her performance. The lighting and tech crew had to get the perfect timing for her performance to go as planned. They had spent practice the night before getting it right, but today they had to get it perfect. As her voice hit the highest note before the bridge, the lights were to cut off, and plunge the whole room in darkness. Then the drums were to make a heartbeat so that the lights could flash, and the bridge brings a whole new mood to the song. She wiggled slightly on her feet, and grabbed hold of the mic so that she could hold it while she hit the note. The note hit and the lighting crew did their job.
Once she was done with her soundcheck, she blew them a kiss and skipped off the stage. She pulled at the bottom of her shorts to adjust them, and she had to refrain from rolling her eyes whenever her manager appeared, “Perfect as always Lendi! So, now its time to change and get ready for the red carpet.” Lendi looked at her like she had several heads, “Um, this is what I am wearing on the carpet.” Her manager opened her mouth, and closed it rather quickly. She sighed, “It doesn’t even look like you are wearing a bra, and you aren’t even wearing shoes. You need-” Lendi cut her off, “That’s because I’m not wearing a bra. They are annoying torture devices of Satan, and I will not be repressed.” Her manager groaned and walked away, muttering to herself.
She made her way to the carpet whenever they got the go ahead, and she walked in with her head held high. She stopped to be photographed a couple times, and answer a few questions. One of the press asked her what she thought about the line up for performances, and she smiled, “I am really excited about the line up. I’ve gone to a couple of Oxygen’s shows before, and they are just amazing.” The woman continued to press toward if she had a favorite of the Javachi siblings, and Lendi flushed as she laughed, “Oh yes, definitely. Their drummer can bang me any day.” The woman laughed as Lendi moved on.
She realized that the band she was speaking about was standing right behind her, and her face turned deep red as she made eye contact with their drummer. She hurried off toward the backstage to await whenever she performed, and she was practically kicking herself. She picked up a random carrot from the concession table back stage to give herself something to do. She nibbled on it as she watched the stage from the monitors. Paulie announced her first award, New Artist of the Year, and she went on stage to accept it. She thanked her production company, and all of her fans before coming backstage once again. She sat down cross legged on the ground after grabbing another carrot to chew on.
