nice to see the sour look disappear from Nick’s face for once.” Allison laughed. “I just got here. Give me a bit more time.” I glanced at Nick; relieved to see the tense lines of his shoulders relax slightly. “Just be careful; don’t give the media too much fodder.” He looked at Allie. “Oh we plan to give them tons.” I raised an eyebrow. “Okay. In that case, have fun tonight.” Nick looked pleased as I departed. I was sure that photos of the two of them would turn up all over the entertainment media outlets tomorrow, but the saying about ‘no bad publicity’ really held absolute truth. This would only cause more people to tune into Rock Star Diaries. I would sit down with the two of them and find out how long Allie was sticking around, and if we would film around her or embrace her presence fully. It seemed that every once in a while a little reality would actually inject itself into the show. I just had to run with it. Tommy and Tyler were captivating a large crowd of people with funny stories, if the crowd’s constant laughter was any indication. Alex was off to the side seemingly trapped by The Vibe’s marketing director, Bruce. As soon as he saw me, Alex used the excuse to step away from Bruce. “Hey Katie. Thanks for saving me from that guy. He’s been talking about his guitar lessons for the past five minutes.” I wrinkled my nose. “Glad to be of help. I just ran into Nick and his girlfriend. I take it that Lena couldn’t be here tonight?” Alex shrugged. “No, and it’s too bad. She would have liked this party. It’s too corporate for me though.” “Me too. But, I’ll take any excuse to dress up. Speaking of dressing up, I’m glad the band didn’t go black tie like everyone else here. You look very edgy, but still polished. It’ll work well for the photos.” Alex looked down at his clothes as if he were just noticing them for the first time. “Yeah, good thing we have Debbie. She’s our image consultant or whatever it’s called. She makes sure we don’t dress like fools for public appearances and stuff.” I was wondering where these guys got their fashion sense. “Well, Debbie does a great job. Sorry you had to put in an appearance here on your night off. You can probably sneak out of here safely in another hour or so.” Alex took a long drink of his beer. “I dunno. I am fucking terrible at gambling. And once I get recognized, I’ll be mobbed by people all night. At least the people here aren’t grabbing my junk.” I had seen crowds descend upon the band over the last couple of months. Sometimes it happened so quickly that it was frightening. The security team around them had kept some semblance of control, but situations had spun up so unexpectedly in the strangest of places. It was crazy now, but I knew once the show aired, these guys were in for even more insanity. Hopefully, they would be able to handle it. I didn’t envy them. I sighed. “They aren’t yet. Just wait. Give them a couple of hours - especially the men. They’ll get real grabby.” Alex looked around. “Huh. I guess I’ll keep away from Bruce then. Maybe it’s a good thing that Lena couldn’t come tonight. She’s going to stay with us for a week on tour though, when we hit the California stops.” That was coming up soon. It was more reality to deal with. “Thanks for letting me know. We need to discuss how you want to play this, with respect to the show. Stop by my bus tomorrow before the concert.” Alex shook his head. “I already know. I don’t want her involved in it.” If Lena was around for a whole week it was going to be difficult shooting around her. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, but I have a few ideas that I think will work for both of us.” As I left Alex, my head was already spinning with ideas on how to use the Lena situation to my best advantage. The crowd surrounding Tyler and Tommy had thinned while I had been talking to Alex. Tommy saw me and