Carson Daly was kind of an ass. Okay, so maybe there was no “kind of” to it. Oh, the interview started out pretty well, but it suddenly took an ugly turn, and there were ramifications-- both good and bad I guess. Here’s how it all went down. We were standing in front of those famous windows overlooking Times Square beside Carson and looking down on a decent-sized crowd standing outside. Those were the days before the live studio audience, and the shows weren’t always actually live but often pre-taped. Unfortunately for us, this particular show was one-hundred percent live.

“Welcome back to Total Request Live. I’m Carson Daly, and standing here with me is a group of young ladies who have become the envy of teenage girls everywhere. Meet Melissa Rankin, Amelia Roberts, Christina Saylor, Emily Rose, and Cassandra Dale, the ladies of up and coming vocal group Forever. Nice to have you here ladies.”

“Nice to be here, Carson,” Mel said cordially.

“Now, if you don’t know who Forever is, you soon will. These ladies have spent the last few months on tour as the opening act for the Backstreet Boys and recently also spent a few weeks touring with N’Sync. More about that later, but now, tell us about this video and your single, titled ‘Understand You’.” Carson winked at Chrissy in an obvious flirtation and she looked down at her feet.

“Well Carson,” Mel spoke up again. “The protagonist of the story is a girl who basically doesn’t ‘understand’ her boyfriend.” She held up air quotations when she said “understand.” “It starts out pretty angsty but ends with kind of a ‘girls rock, I don’t need a man’ kind of vibe.”

“So it’s kind of a girl power anthem for the summer. Like the Spice girls only a couple years later?”

“We don’t really like to compare ourselves to other artists, but okay, yeah.” Amelia answered with a smile.

Carson laughed. “So without further adieu, this is ‘Understand You’ by Forever!”
When the video was over, Carson told us he was impressed. “I have to admit I had my reservations, but I really liked it! Kind of reminds me of the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync, except that you’re girls, or uh, women.” Then he got this look in his eyes like he was up to something, and it turns out he definitely was. “So, the question has to be asked. All the young ladies out there want to know what it’s like touring with the boys. You’ve got five young men and five young women sharing the stage and traveling the world together, there’s got to be a little bit of hooking up going on behind the scenes, right ladies?”

We all knew it was coming, but it was still a bit of a shock to the system for him to be putting it so bluntly. Melissa had emerged as the talker or the group so she handled it gracefully and immediately. “Well, we hate to burst your bubble Carson, but a concert tour is literally non-stop work. We’ve got practices, soundchecks, hair, makeup, travel time, media interviews like this one, photoshoots, yada yada yada. There’s really not much time for ‘hooking up,’ as you put it.” I smiled proudly at her.

“Okay, but I’m sure you’ve heard the speculation linking some of you romantically with some of the guys?” Carson egged on.

“Actually, no. This would be the first I’ve heard of it,” Cassie spoke up truthfully. I thought about the girl in the restaurant asking if I was dating Howie, but actually had shrugged it off as a one-time thing. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that there were a lot of people out there who truly believed we were dating the guys. Of course, for some of us, it was kind of true, and for me, it was absolutely true. We had of course been told by management to give the “we’re just friends” spill.

“Well, we’ve got some pictures here....” Carson pointed us to a television screen nearby. “Maybe you can clear them up for us?” We watched in horror as the images flashed across the screen. First up was a picture of Kevin and I dancing in the club on the first night of the European tour. Next was a picture of AJ and Amelia walking together, his hand on the small of her back, then a picture of Chrissy and Nick sitting on a towel on the beach laughing, Cassie and Brian talking in auditorium seats, Howie hugging me on the loading dock (how in the world did someone get a picture of us that day?), Joey and I at that Italian restaurant, and Mel and JC seemingly in an intense conversation. I blinked back tears, realizing that apparently I was being made out to be the slut of the group, since there were three pictures of me with the guys compared to just one of each of the other girls.

“That’s easy,” Amelia perked up with a smile. “We’re together a lot on tour. Naturally we’re all friends. Of course there are plenty of opportunities for us to have our pictures taken together.”

Carson smirked. “So why does AJ McLean have his arm around you?”

Mel laughed. “That’s easy. AJ’s a big flirt, and so is Amelia here. There’s nothing going on between them except a little flirting.” We all nodded in agreement. A little flirting and a little sex, but America didn’t need to know that.

“So Emily....” Carson sauntered over to me with an almost sinister grin on his face. “We haven’t heard much from you today.”

I grinned sheepishly. “I’m not a big talker,” I answered.

“There are reports linking you romantically to both Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson. I must say, according to the pictures, it looks like either one could be true. Care to comment?” He thrust his microphone in my face even though I was already holding one in my right hand.

I cleared my throat and started speaking. “Kevin’s like a big brother to all of us. I love to dance, so in the picture it’s just that--dancing. As for Howie, he and I are probably the closest of the BSB/Forever friendships, but he’s simply a close friend. That picture is a very private moment in which I was having a very hard time with a certain situation. I’m not sure how anyone even managed to snap that picture.” Whew. Easy, right? Wrong.

Carson nodded approvingly. “So, then, is there any truth to the rumor that you and Joey Fatone from N’Sync are dating?”

I bit my lip. “Joey and I do hang out a lot and go out together occasionally.” Chrissy winked at me. I thought that was a pretty good save, myself.

“So what if I told our viewers at home that one of those three men happens to be backstage at this very moment?” Carson cocked an eyebrow, obviously proud of himself.
I felt a wave of nausea wash over me and I could literally hear the sound of my heartbeat pounding in my own ears. He gestured towards the monitor again and there was a shaky video obviously being shot by someone walking down a long hallway. My breath caught in my throat when the camera focused on Joey, who actually crouched down in a corner with his hands covering the bill of his baseball cap. “Hi Joey.” You could hear Carson’s voice echoing in the hallway.

Joey slowly took his hands down and turned to the camera, red-faced. “Hi Carson,” he said with a forced smile. As he stood up and smoothed down the legs of his jeans, he mouthed a “sorry” to the camera, which was obviously intended for me. The rest of the girls all looked at me apologetically as Carson continued talking.

“Might I convince you to come out into the studio?”

Joey sighed and looked into the camera purposefully. “Thanks, but no thanks. Today’s TRL is about those fantastic young ladies standing there with you. Maybe some other time.”

“Okay then, but will you either confirm or deny that you are in a relationship with Miss Rose here?” Joey looked down thoughtfully and bit his bottom lip for several seconds before looking back at the camera with a smirk. I could literally see the wheels in his head turning and gripped Amelia’s arm in anticipation of what he was about to say.

“So, ah, Em.....?”

“Yeah?” I answered, wide-eyed.

“Now that the cat’s out of the bag will you go to VMAs with me?” He grinned sheepishly and stuffed his hands in his pockets as a collective gasp was heard throughout the studio. I think even Carson joined in.

***Alright all you lurkers out there! I know I have at least a few people reading and following the story (the site tells me so), so I’d love to see some more reviews! Good, bad, ugly? I want to know!