Page 1 of Meant To Be - Irresistible Bachelors

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Nikki

“Five, six, seven, eight!” Jane, my choreographer, shouts for what seems like the one hundredth time today.

My body is exhausted, and I’m not the only one who feels this way. I can see the weariness in my dance troupe’s eyes, but we have to get this routine right. Every one of our steps has to be flawless; there’s no room for error. I’m going on tour in less than a week, and I can’t disappoint my fans.

Plus, most of the troupe has been loyal to me since I was ten years old, singing and bopping around on the set of The Mickey Mouse Club. They followed me as I ventured into superstardom and became a pop sensation at the mere age of thirteen. Now that I’m eighteen, I have three platinum albums under my belt and a sold-out tour around North America that starts in a few days. I’m thankful for my success, but sometimes, it gets exhausting.

In the next two months, I’ll be performing in forty different cities. There won’t be much time for relaxation, and there definitely won’t be any time for me to have a personal life. My entire existence revolves around work; it has always been like this. I’ve never had time to be a regular kid, much less a regular teenager. Luckily, life has treated me well so far, and there haven’t been any very public meltdowns à la Lindsay Lohan or Demi Lovato. Poor girls. I feel for them, I really do, because I’ve been in those shoes myself. It’s a rough ride, working 24/7 the way we do, and I don’t blame them one bit for going a little crazy.

So yeah, we’re worn out, but my troupe is young, so that doesn’t show in our reflections. The large mirror in front of us makes it easy for me to keep my eyes on all ten of my dancers. Their agile figures move with ease to my latest top-of-the-chart hit single. Our bodies are drenched in sweat, but everyone is giving it their all. I hand-selected each dancer in my troupe personally. It’s important to me that I have performers who are just as hardworking as I am and who are dedicated to their craft.

Choosing my own dance team is one of the only decisions I’ve ever made all on my own. I usually don’t get much say in my music career, and at times, I feel like my record label’s puppet. I’m their best-selling artist, and sometimes they treat me as if I’m a product to market instead of a person.

I thought I was going to have to beg my manager Rocky to let me hand-pick my dancers, but he’s always had a sweet spot for me, so it didn’t take much convincing. He’s been managing my career since I was ten, and he has always treated me like a daughter. He agreed to persuade the executives at my label to let me choose my own dance troupe, but on one condition – I had to go on a joint tour.

“Yes, perfect!” Jane shouts over the music as our bodies move in sync with the rhythm.

The song comes to a stop, and each dancer strikes a pose. Without the music playing, all that’s left is the sound of us gasping for air.

“Fabulous! One more time!”

“Uh, Jane,” I say between heaves, “maybe we should take a break. We’re all pretty tired, and I think everyone could use some water.”

Jane folds her arms as she looks around at the panting dancers.

“Fine. Ten minutes,” she decides.

“Thank God,” Kenny says as he drops to the ground dramatically. He is always putting on a performance.

Most of my curly locks have slipped out of the messy bun I put my hair in earlier and are now dangling at my waist. I grab the scrunchy that was barely holding onto my strands and quickly toss my curls into another messy bun before walking over to my dancers. Lisa passes a bottle of water to me as I sit down in the circle they’ve formed on the dance floor.

“Thank you for convincing her to give us a break,” Lisa whispers.

“Yeah, it seriously felt like she was trying to kill us,” Kenny adds with an elaborate shudder, causing laughter to erupt among the group.

“She just wants to make sure we’re ready for the tour,” I attempt to maintain the peace.

“Oh my gosh, I still can’t believe we’re going on tour in less than a week!” Kenny shrieks as he smiles from ear to ear.

Everyone else becomes just as excited. They all turn toward one another and talk about their fantasies of what they think life on tour is going to be like.

“Nikki, you still haven’t told us who we’re going on tour with yet,” Lisa says.

She’s right, I haven’t, but that’s only because I’m not sure how they will react when they know who we’ll be sharing the stage with. I don’t know if they will be starstruck, or if they will be confused about why we’re going on tour with a rock star who hasn’t had a hit in almost ten years. Their eyes gleam as they wait for an answer.

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