"American Airlines flight 33 to Los Angeles, California is now boarding". I got up from my seat and headed to make the line at the gate, gave my boarding pass to the agent at the entrance and made my way down to the plane. I had a quick surge of an adrenaline rush mixed with a crap load of nerves, I've never been to fond of flying but it's something that needed to be done if I wanted to get around. I made my way to my seat in first class, I've never been a snob about sitting in first class, coach is fine with me too but given that I'll be trapped in a plane for 6 and a half hours, the thought of a spacious seat and a quiet setting does sound alot more appealing. I had a window seat, score! I sat down and glanced out the window, it was a sunny morning in New York which meant it should be a smooth take off. These six long hours would allow me to get some sleep as well as gather my thoughts about all of this. Sure, it sounds like I'm taking this a little too serious but I can't help it, I like to put 110 percent into everything I do. After 20 minutes we finally took off into the sky and on our way to the west coast.

Those six hours went by way too quickly because as soon as I looked out the window we were descending into the Los Angeles skyline. The seatbelt sign came on and we were ready for landing. I always get anxious when it's time to land, I feel at ease once I feel that the plane has landed in solid ground. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Los Angeles LAX, the weather is currently 75 degrees time is eleven pacific time, we wanna thank you for choosing to fly with American Airlines" I heard the captain say through the intercom, I just really wanted to get out of the freakin' aircraft. Once out of the plane I was off to pick up my luggage. Waiting at the carousel I decided to turn my blackberry on, I immediately became bombarded with emails and text messages. I was going through them, a text from Tessa wishing me luck and asking to call her as soon as I got to Cali and a voice message from David letting me know that I would be meeting him in about 2 hours at the headquarters in Santa Monica. This trip was definitely more about business than any pleasure but I looked forward to it. I spotted my suitcase and yanked it out and made way to the exit. The sun was shining bright and the weather was amazing compared to the 40 degree weather in New York. I opened my bag in search of some sunglasses, making my way to the line to catch a cab. The scene was pretty chaotic considering it was only eleven in the morning, people everywhere making their way out of the airport and into the city of Los Angeles. Walking to the line I spotted a tall dark man with a suit on and aviator sunglasses holding a sign with my name, I didn't arrange a pick up but I headed towards him. "Alyssa Battaglia?" he asked "Yes" I replied "Mr. Goldstein arranged for you to be picked up, come with me" He took my suitcase and placed it in the trunk of the sleek black Cadillac escalade, he opened the door and I hopped in. We were making way to the hotel in Santa Monica. On our way there I Lowered the window and took in the sea breeze and the view of the sparkling ocean. I could totally get used to this.

We pulled up to the Loews Santa Monica Beach hotel and stepped out of the car. "I will be your driver during your stay in Los Angeles, please feel free to give me a call if you need to get somewhere" as he gave me his card. "Thank you Drew, I will need to go meet with Mr. Goldstein in about an hour and a half, you can do whatever you want till then" . I checked in and made my way to my too, once I opened the door I was in awe, it was a one bedroom suite with the most amazing view of the ocean I've ever seen. I spotted the Santa Monica pier which has always seemed iconic in Los Angeles. I definitely wanted to check it out before I had to leave, but before I can do any of that, I had business to take care of. First of all I needed to change, I was dressed in warm clothes that needed to go. I opened up my suitcase and pulled out a black bandage skirt, a white tank top and an acid washed denim jacket with some heels. I applied some make up and headed downstairs and there was Drew waiting for me. My nerves were starting to act up a bit, I should've done a shot of Patron before heading to the meeting. On my way there I called Tess, she assured me that everything was gonna be ok and that I was going to rock this shot, I'm hoping she's right. 

I walked in at the Universal headquarters in Santa Monica and waited for the receptionist to escort me to David's LA office. Once I went in I saw David sitting down in his seat and a short brunette sitting across from him. She looked my way and smiled "You must be Alyssa, I'm Jennifer Sousa the boys' manager, you can just call me Jenn" we should hands and I took a seat "How was your flight?" David asked "Way TOO long" I exclaimed causing us to laugh a bit. "Well I'm glad you made it. Now you both know we're here for this project with the Backstreet Boys, Jennifer, Alyssa has been a great asset to our group and I know she can help get the group to where we all know they have potential in going". "We're pretty excited to get started, I spoke to re boys briefly about it and they seem content with having someone onboard from the label that is willing to be hands on in making the transition to a new label a smooth one" Jenn assured us, this made me feel at much ease. "I just want to let you know that I'm in no way trying to come here and steal your thunder, you are their manager and I want to work closely with you in getting everything done" I told her, I really didn't want her to think I was going to take over, all I was hoping for was that we could all work as a team . She smiled and waved her hand at me "Oh please girl dont even worry about that, it's gonna be nice to have another girl on board, I'm sure we can get these boys into shape" she laughed I was already enjoying this already and we haven't even started. "The boys are actually excited to meet you, we had a meeting last night and I spoke to them briefly about what we would be doing and they all agreed this would be best" I smiled, I was feeling really confident about this. "Speaking of which, we are supposed to be meeting them for lunch in about 20 minutes so we could all get acquainted, shall we go ladies?" asked David. We made it out of the building and made our way to probably one of the most important lunches I'll ever go to.