International Love

Chapter 18

The next morning Derek and I were up early so we could go to Disney World. We wanted to be out early so we didn’t have to run into Lacey and Cathy.

“Here’s a bagel with strawberry cream cheese.” Derek said handing me a napkin with the bagel inside, “Take it to go because Steven said they’re about 30 minutes out.”

I grabbed my backpack purse and slid on my tennis shoes and was out the door before Derek.

“Babe, really?” He laughed catching the door.

“What? You said they were 30 minutes out. Let’s go slow poke. I want to go to Disney World damn it!” I laughed running down the hall.

When we got to the hotel lobby I was able to see outside the windows that there was paparazzi swarming the place.

“Ivy Andersen has made a statement regarding the rumors of abuse.” I heard a reporter say on the tv, “Instead of confirming them she knocked them down so hard. But what’s shocking is all the other things that no one even knew. This is a girl that was abandoned by her parents as a preteen. She bathed in lakes and ponds and even the ocean and couch surfed and slept on park benches. Now, she’s on top of the world. But how does one go from nothing to everything?”

I expected this to get a lot of attention. It was all over the news and there were so many people trying to get answers and a little further glimpse into my life. Thankfully, Katie knew this was going to blow up and she managed to get another body guard to escort us to Disney. There was no reason for our fun to be spoiled. It’s exactly what Lacey would’ve wanted.

As we were waiting for our car to pull around before trying to go outside I felt my phone vibrate and I heard Dereks go off as well. I pulled it out and looked at the message.

Katie: Press conference tonight at 6:30. Make sure you all allow enough time to get back from wherever you are. We are having a private meeting starting at 5:45. Do not be late. This is extremely important.

It’s happening. They were terminating Lacey’s contract tonight and removing her from tour and all further promotions. Katie never played when it came to the safety and sanity of the bad. Lacey has become such a toxic person that the dynamic of our band was off. While it may not have been visible at our first concert, it was only a matter of time before it was visible. We wanted to be successful as a band and if Lacey couldn’t be apart of that then she was going to be removed.

When we got to Disney World it was already packed. It was just past 10am which means we had a roughly 5 hours to enjoy before we needed to get back to the hotel to get ready. We were hoping some sunglasses would help hide us, but we weren’t very hopeful. Especially with not one but two huge men in front of us.

“Alright babe, what do you want to do first?” Derek asked as we made it into the main entrance of Magic Kingdom.

“Space mountain.” I smiled looking up at him.

“Space mountain it is.” He said as he grabbed my hand.

My time at Disney World was a blast. We rode every ride that we possibly could. Ate lunch at the Be Our Guest Restaurant. Bought matching Mickey ears. Snacked on some cotton candy and rode some more rides. My personal favorite was the parade and meeting a few of the characters. Even though I was 19, I felt like a child. I never got to experience Disneyland let alone Disney World. Derek was making a childhood dream come true.

We were stopped outside of a little shop resting when a little girl with brown hair ran up to us.

“Hi.” She said shyly, “You’re Ivy and Derek right?”

“That’s right.” I smiled leaving closer to her, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Alexis.” She smiled, “I was wondering if you’d sign my Mickey book.”

“Yes, of course we will.” Derek smiled.

She handed us her Mickey book and pen and we both signed it.

“Alexis!” I heard a woman yell, “Alexis, honey you cannot run off like that.”

“I’m sorry momma.” The little girl said, “But I saw Ivy and Derek over here and I had to get them to sign my Mickey book. Do you think they will take a picture with me?”

“Well I don’t know, honey why don’t you ask them?” The mom replied.

“Will you guys take a picture with me?” Alexis asked.

“I think that’s a reasonable request, what do you think, Derek?” I asked him.

“I think that’s a great idea, Ivy.” He smiled.

The little girl climbed up on the bench next to us and her mom pulled out her self phone and snapped a couple pictures. The little girl hugged us both and her and her mom bounced off. After meeting with the little girl, more people began to realize that we were there. Which means more people were coming up to us getting pictures and autographs.

Meeting with fans took up the last hour or so that we had to enjoy the park. But I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I enjoyed meeting with fans spontaneously. Seeing the joy on their faces when they saw us in person was such a joy that I loved participating in. This was the one thing I would never get sick of. If it was fans surrounding us rather than paparazzi, I’d enjoy going outside so much more.

“Mr.Greene, Ms. Andersen,” one of the body guards said, “I don’t mean to interrupt but we must leave now in order to make your 5:45 meeting.”

Derek grabbed my hand and we followed our body guards out of the park and eventually made our way back to the main parking lot. When we got back to the hotel room Lacey and Steven were arguing in the kitchen about something. I didn’t care enough to figure it out.

I went up to my room and it looked like Daniel had already been in. On the bed I had a pair of black leather skinny pants, a red tank top with a white blazer and red high heel closed toe shoes and various pieces of red accented jewelry. Daniel was getting spicy with these outfits.

Mandy and Samantha walked into my room and went straight into getting me ready. Mandy put the big loose curls in my hair and called it good. Samantha did a normal Smokey eye with big lashes and bright red lipstick. They knew me so freaking well.

I topped off my look with my outfit and headed out to the living room where everyone was waiting.

“How the hell does this girl always look bette than me?” Lacey yelled standing up.

Lacey was wearing a red skirt skirt with a white blouse and white sandals. Steven had on simple black pants with a red button down shirt that he left untucked and a black tie and brown dress shoes. Derek had on white pants with a black button down shirt that he tucked in and a red tie and black dress shoes. Our stylists always color coordinated our outfits. I guess tonight’s color of choice was red, black, and white.

“My baby.” Derek said walking up to me and kissing my cheek, “You look so sexy.”

“You look pretty handsome yourself.” I smiled up at him.

“Can we just get this meeting done with?” Lacey scoffed walking and stopping in front of me, “Don’t think I forgot about your stupid little video you recorded last night. If you thought life sucked now, you just wait.”

When we got down to where the hotel had their conference rooms and ball room we saw that the ball room was already pretty full. That meant this could go on for a few hours.