It was a cold and snowy Quebec that greeted them when they stepped out of the plane. The wind was blowing and it was barely above freezing.
The Canadian reporter Sonia was chatting along with them as they prepared to walk down the stairs of the airplane. "Where are the rest of the guys?"
Howie, who was the first to step down the plane was too busy holding the rail to answer and instantly she repeated her question several times to him. "Where are the other guys? Why aren´t they here?"
"Huh?" He looked up.
Another repeat. "I said where are the other guys? Are they taking a different plane?" To the Latino’s surprise her voice hadn´t lost any of the enthusiasm that she showed earlier in the plane and she continued talking while he was thinking of something to say.
"Um...They went on another plane. From Lexington, Kentucky and they will arrive a bit later." He was surprised that Johnny hadn´t filled her in on the details.
"Oh! They went home for the vacation? The break you guys had?"
"Yup." Howie felt it was best to take the lead since both of AJ and Nick didn´t seem to have been able to get their butts off plane yet. Walking along with the reporter, who was talking constantly, he tried to answer all of her questions in a polite manner.
"There are girls, fans, that has been coming to greet you. All over from the continent." She smiled.
"Oh yeah?" Howie was trying to follow her fast pace, dragging his heavy bag along with him.
"Yes and these girls, these girls have been waiting for you since one o’clock last night. Trying to get a good look at you."
"Really?" Howie felt amazed. "Wow that is fantastic." he smiled widely towards the camera. "It´s great to have such wonderful fans."
The truth was that in his world he could never understand how girls could wait for them since one am last night. After all they were just a bunch of ordinary guys that were singing and dancing. He´d a hard time understanding all the hysteria that seemed to follow them everywhere they went these days. Everywhere but in the United States. A couple of years back they had been pretty unknown and no one had known their name but then things had changed drastically after they had topped the charts in Europe and now the situation was totally different.
Screaming fans, security and media followed them wherever they walked. This was kind of exciting but also in a way a bit taxing and by the look of it Canada wasn´t much different from Europe. The place was packed with screaming girls.
Several steps behind were AJ and Nick.
Nick was walking down the stairs, carefully and slowly, almost as if he was afraid to trip and fall. He was also holding onto the handrail with both hands which slowed down the pace a bit, making AJ irritated in the process.
"Dude can you walk a bit faster?" he nagged. "In this pace we won´t reach the building before midnight and I´m already freezing my ass off." He rubbed his arms. "Shit this is cold!"
Ignoring the comment the teen did his best to keep his balance and no snide remarks were returned.
With a frown AJ thought that this wasn´t like the blonde at all. Usually Nick would get off a plane, all bouncy and hyper, especially if there was a camera in sight. He would jump on their backs, hugging them from behind, making an act of it all. Today however he acted like an old man, dragging his feet along.
Something was definitely off!
Johnny most have thought so too since he kept walking beside Nick, watching him as if to see if the teen would pass out or not. Even though AJ felt concern over his friend, at least a tiny bit, he still didn´t want to freeze his ass off in the cold weather. This lead to that he hasten his pace, walking quickly into the airport.
'This is freezing' Nick thought as he dragged his feet along. The backpack he was carrying felt like lead on his shoulder and the headache he´d gotten an hour or so ago did anything but let up. Man how he wished he hadn´t refused the aspirin Howie wanted to give him earlier. The bright light hurt his eyes and he had to squint to see where he was going.
"Excuse me." Nick felt someone tug at his sweatshirt and turning around he found one of the ground staff standing there with a nervous smile on his face. "Excuse me but do you think I can have an autograph." He seemed a bit embarrassed. "You know for my daughter?"
"Sure." Nick stopped "You have anything to write on?"
"Yes!" The man had come prepared and he handed him a napkin as well as a marker. "There you go."
"Oh Ok." Nick started to scribble down his name.
"My daughter really likes your music," the man went on.
"That´s nice." He knew that his voice most have sounded dull and unenthusiastic, yet he coudn´t help himself because that was the way he was feeling. Tired and bored.
"There ya go," he handed the napkin back with a smile. "Whose pen was it?" Now several people from the airport staff had gathered around him.
"Mine." Another man said, taking the pen from him.
"Ok." Nick looked at him. "You want one too? I mean an autograph?" Man did he feel stupid standing there in the cold, signing his name while the others were inside waiting for him.
"I do Ni.." the man with the pen started just to get hit on his back by his friend. "Sure Mcgidden take one too. You know for your children."
"Oh Ok." The McGidden person handed him another napkin and Nick wrote his name as if in autopilot. His fingers were stiff from the cold and it was hard to write without having any gloves on.
"Kind of cold for a Florida boy like you huh?"
"A bit." He was trying to be as polite as possible while doing his best to concentrate on writing his name. For some strange reason the letters seemed to blur and he had a hard time thinking straight.
Crap! The letter C in Carter, that one he´d practiced so many times, looked kind of crooked and for a short second he debated whether or not he should re-write his name. A call from his manager made his decision easy.
"Carter we gotta be going! Come on!"
"Sorry. I hafta go," he mumbled, handing back the napkin. "Oh and say hi to your daughter for me."
"Sure and have a great time over here."
"I will," Nick called back as he started to jog towards Johnny who was standing by the entrance, looking anything but pleased. In the background he could hear the men talking about him and the words "great" and "nice one" was being mentioned. This left him smiling.
"Nick we´re getting behind. You have to come now. That reporter wants you inside." Johnny pushed him forward in the entrance and once he got inside he heard the worst of noises that he´d ever heard.
There were girls, hundreds of girls in all ages. mostly teens, screaming their names. They were all trying to get the attention from the boys and several of the girls were crying hysterically.
He´d never thought that the reception would be this big. That there would be almost like a riot. There were security men all over the place and the girls were standing behind glass doors. It was totally jammed. And he had to get through that crowd.
"Niiiiiiickkk, come on huuurryyy." The reporter had spotted him. She waved with her hand for him to come and instantly he obeyed. She was irritating, this whole situation was frustrating but he had a job to do. And he did it.
"Nick oh Nick can you come here? Can I touch you?"
"NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK"
"Can I have a hug?"
“Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicccccccckkkkkkk!!"
"I loooooooveeee youuuuuuu! Niiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccck"
He felt scared. This was getting a bit too much.
"What´s the word for Hi?" Howie asked, standing next to the reporter, waving to all of the fans.
"Bonjour..the word is bonjour." Sonia seemed to be very pleased with Howie who was asking questions about Quebec and Canada. Spotting Nick walking she shouted once again, waving to him "Come on hurry up." As the teen came closer she said, "Remember Bonjour." She seemed a bit annoyed.
"Huh?" The sixteen old had no idea what this woman was talking about. Howie jabbed him at his side, urging him to pay attention.
"Bonjour. That is hello."
"Oh..Ok." He grinned to the fans and then shouted. "Bonjour-a."
"Bonjour-a," the reported repeated with a smile.
This had the fans get even wilder, screaming so loud that Nick was sure that his ears would pop any second. It was totally crazy.
Nick’s reaction was to giggle, giggle so much that he had a hard time controlling himself. This could be an reaction from being overly tired but everything had been pretty much a shock and now it was his way of dealing with the situation. The pressure.
Howie patted him friendly on his back while AJ snarled "Quit it!"
Nick was about to comment when a young girl walked up to them, holding flowers in her hand. "This is for you." She said in broken English. AJ was the one who accepted the flowers and then returned it with a hug.
The girl was in heaven. She was giddy with happiness.
"These are the girls that will come on the show for you," the reporter smiled but the boys looked like question marks.
"What show?" AJ whispered to Howie who shrugged his shoulders and then looked at Johnny.
Johnny looked just as surprised. He opened his mouth to ask, "What do.." when the reporter cut him off.
"Oh you haven´t heard?" She looked genuinly surprised. "First there will be a short show where you do some things," she smiled but the guys did not.
'What things?' Nick’s mind went into over drive. Even if he loved playing sports and stuff he still didn´t feel like such an activity. The headache was getting worse all the time and now he was experiencing a sore neck too. 'Wierd,' he thought. ' I must have slept wrong on the plane.'
"And then you will all do a small concert and after this..."
"A concert?" Howie cut her off, still smiling to the fans.
"Yes." She looked surprised. "Didn´t my management mention this?" Before either of them had a chance to comment she continued, "And after the show there will be a big meet and greet where you sign autographs and take pictures." Sonia smiled to them all.
Johnny looked a bit confused like he was trying to figure out if this was in the contract.
"Then of course there is the interview and then we will do one on one interviews with all of you."
This was alot more than they had been told to do in the contract, at least the one the guys had signed. It would also mean that they would be very busy the whole afternoon, not to mention the dinner at the end. Usually things like this didn´t bother them but they were all tired and jet lagged and tomorrows schedule was just as packed as todays.
AJ got a feeling that they were getting screwed over and he wished Kevin had been there to help them out. Johnny was good, but he was also a businessman and when he smelled money he was all go! It didn´t matter if the guys were fit or not. Business meant business and you had to be prepared to work hard.
None of the guys felt fit to object since they didn´t know if the contract had been changed or not. It was also not the right time to say anything surrounded by fans and a camera team. Looking at Johnny they tried to get some sort of response but he just shrugged back and gave them the look that told them to shut up and follow their obligations.
Howie as always was the first to accept it. "That sounds really really nice," he smiled towards the camera and the reporter. "It´s so wonderful to be here in Canada and meet such a great fans."
'Kissing ass much?' Nick thought but he said nothing.
AJ filled in too. "Yes D is right. It´s great to be here and we love you all."
A loud scream could be heard all over the airport. The fans was in ecstasy.
"Yes," the reporter said with a large smile. "It will be wonderful for you to meet the Canadian fans and discover how warm and nice we all are."
Nick still hadn´t said anything and as he was passing through the crowd one girl pulled at his sweatshirt. He turned around to see a young teen standing there, looking a bit shy. "Excuse me Nick," she said on her broken English. "Do you think that I can have a picture with you?" As to make a point what she meant she waved with her pocket camera.
"Yeah. Sure." Nick was never the person who let someone down.
With a delighted squeal she handed her camera over to her friend and Nick took in the position, holding a hand around her shoulder and then smiling the famous Backstreet smile. Afterwards he was rewarded with a large hug. "Thank you..Thank you so very very much." The girl was in heaven.
Nick smiled back. This was one of the best things with touring and going public. It was the fans and all the love that they shared.
"Can I have a picture too?" Another girl came forward to him and he was about to take in his photo postition when a security gut barged in.
"It´s time to go. The van is waiting!"
Nick could feel his arm getting pulled by the security guy and he felt bad for having to say to the young girl that he couldn´t stay. "Sorry," he whispered honestly. "I gotta go. Can´t stay."
There were sounds of disappointment coming from the girl but also from the rest of the fans. He held out his hands as to show that he had no control over the situation as he was being whisked away quickly and as he as well as the rest of the guys walked away he waved, blowing kisses to the fans that went simply wild and crazy.
"This way." The security man urged them as they were being lead through a backdoor. Nick felt like he was walking in slowmotion. This felt all so unreal, almost surreal and the impression he got from today were so many that he had a hard time digesting it.
Walking outside to the waiting van they found that it was just as many fans standing outside, waiting for them and they had to be whisked quickly into the car. Even if Nick felt bad for not being able to stop and talk with the fans, giving out autographs and hugs, it still felt good coming into the warmth of the car. Getting inside he found himself sitting between Howie and AJ since that was how the reporter wanted it for the interview in the car.
The Backstreet Baby in the middle.
The drive from the airport and to the hotel felt like an eternity. AJ, was just as bored as he´d been on the flight and all he wished for was that they would arrive soon and also that they would get a few hours of rest.
But that was just not going to happen.
Sonia, the reporter, was asking them all kinds of questions and Howie had taken up the task to answer them, at least most of them. AJ filled in once or twice but mostly it was sweet D that got the stage to himself. AJ as well as Howie had drawn the lucky stick and they were sitting by the windows while Nick was stuck in the cramped up seat in the middle.
Catching a quick eye at his younger buddy he noticed that the teen looked like he was ready to doze off. His eyelids seemed heavy and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. AJ watched in amusement for a while, noticing how Nick would battle with sleep only to doze off and then the next wake up, snapping his eyes open. As if that wasn´t enough Nick seemed unusually fidgety and he kept moving his legs all the time. He got the impression that this was an attempt to stay awake.
But what had AJ puzzled was the uncharacteristic silence, where he only answered with one word like "Umm", "No." and "Yes." This was very unusual for his friend who often talked in long sentences about all kind of topics. His posture was also slightly hunched in a way that told him that he was either in some kind of pain, very cold or too tired to sit up straight.He also had his hands in the sweatshirt pockets like he was warming them. A blank exression was set on his face and he looked like he was spacing off.
AJ cared about Nick, still he didn´t want to ask how he was doing. It was way too uncool and would destroy a bit of his attitude. It was better to pretend that you didn´t care then show love and then in the secret make sure that your "brother" was doing fine. If he let down his guard it could happend that the teen wouldn´t take his snappy harsh remarks seriously . That would be an defeat. Little brothers needed to be taught who was in control of them, besides the rest of the guys were on his case so why couldn´t he be on Nick’s?
The rebel had his own ways to look after his bro. He asked Howie to ask and that way he found out if something was bothering the teen. It might be stupid but it was his way too keep his posture and he wouldn´t change it any time soon. It was Howie that told him that Nick was nursing a "small" headache.
Nothing more, nothing less.
"So Ajeeeeeee," the reporter asked with her annoying French accent. "There is something I would like to ask you."
"Ok.Shoot."
"Is it true that you have a girlfriend?"
Looking up AJ tried to bid time. "Ugh sorry. What was the question?"
Howie rolled his eyes while Nick said nothing, not even looking at his direction.
"There is a rumor that you´re dating a girl called Molly. Is this true?"
'Nosy much' the rebel thought annoyed. He smiled. "No I´m single." He paused. "We´re all single."
Howie gave him the look that said "Don´t go there". This was a white lie since three out of five Backstreet boys had girlfriends. Kevin was dating a girl named Kristin whom he met when he worked over at Disney. They had been dating on and off for several years and right now it was on.
Brian dated his girlfriend Samantha and AJ himself was dating Johnny Wright’s daughter Melissa. It was only Nick and Howie who were the single ones.
The reason for the "white lie" was that the managment thought it would be bad for the business if it came out that their "Posterboys" actually had girlfriends. This could upset the fans too much and therefore they had promised to act like they were all single. Sometimes this wasn´t easy, esepecially those times when a teenie caught them holding their girlfriends hand and then the media got a wift of it too. It would be bad publicity so therefore NO STEADY GIRLFRIENDS!
The questions kept coming to him now and he answered them as good as possible while feeling envious that Nick got off the hook so easily. Catching another look at his friend he found that the warmth and the movement of the car must have lulled his friend to sleep since Nick was leaning against Howie’s shoulder.
"Oh how sweeeet." The reporter squeeled, taking a notice of the two Backstreet boys. Turning to the film team she continued, "You juuuuussst have to take this picturrrreeeee."
AJ waited and Howie seemed a bit embarrassed. Nick was sleeping unknown to the fact that he was being filmed. The teen would be soooo pissed when this was shown on live television. The thought of his friend’s blushing face made him grin even wider. It was fun to play that kind of prank.
When Nick smacked in his sleep, Howie had enough. He lifted his shoulder up a bit in a hopes to wake up the blonde. Nothing happend. Then he started to shake his shoulder a bit. Still nothing. "Nick..Nick," the Latino shook the arm a bit and finally a stir.
"Nick get up." Still a soft and low tone.
AJ as well as the rest of the people in the bus watched the drama with amusement.
A groan was heard and this time Howie shook even harder, "Nick get up!"
The words did it. Nick sat up with a jerk.
"Wha..what?" He looked confused around in the van. They all laughed at him. "What? what did I do?"
"You fell asleep." Howie explained.
"Oh." Nick seemed to relax a notch.
"On tv!" AJ added with a grin. "And you were drooling man. Gross!"
This was fun!
His eyeballs looked like they were going to jump out of their sockets. Nick’s eyes were all wide and a red tint of color crept into his cheeks, quickly turning his face red as a fire truck. "I did not!" He looked a bit panicked.
"Yes you did." AJ grinned even wider. Rule number one; if you were bored always tease Nick.
"Don´t you worry honey." The Sonua character said. "You looked so cuuuuuteeeeeeee and the girls will go absolutly maaaad when they see this." She chuckled.
"Yeah man," AJ laughed. "Especially the drool part."
Nick hit his friend in the stomach. Hard.
"Ouch!" AJ bent over like he was in serious pain. Rubbing his belly he looked up at Nick again and then said with a tease in his eyes. "Dude at least you can be happy that you didn´t snore." He paused, watching Nick’s color rise degree. "Like you always do," he added with a glint in his eye.
"I do NOT snore!" Nick was in no mood to be teased.
Everybody in the van laughed, everyone but Nick who seemed too pissed to say anything.
AJ sighed. Now they would have to deal with a totally pissed teen and that would be nothing to take easy upon. The blonde was known for his bad temper and mood swings and the dark color in his eyes told them that they would be in for a real treat if they didn´t stop right now.
But the rebel had no such intentions.
He opened his mouth to say something when the driver suddenly spoke. "This is fucking wild!"
Looking outside they found that the front entrance to the hotel was absolutely packed with people. Fans screaming for their attention as the white van rode up towards the entrance. Hundreds of fans were waiting and they had to shut off the street so no one would get hurt.
"This is wild,! AJ commented, plastering his face against the window, waving to the crowd. "Hi girls!" he shouted at the screaming fans.
"Yes look at them. They are crazy!" Howie waved too, just as excited as his friend.
Nick was mostly shocked. The amount of fans that had come to see them was absolutely unbelivable and he couldn´t understand that all of these girls had come to see them. He waved just as excited as the rest of the guys, blowing kisses to the screaming girls that were doing everything to get into the van.
"This is absolutly crazy!" The driver said, stopping the van."I can´t move another inch because if I do, someone might get hurt!"
Nick was the first to grip the situation. "Does this mean that we can´t get out of here?" He sounded very nervous all at once and by the look of his face he was scared too.
"It means that we have to stop the car here and then call for security and then walk through the crowd." Johnny acted fast when it came to an emergency.
"That is madness!" This time it was Howie that objected. "We will get crushed."
"Yes," AJ filled in. "The fans will run us down." He sounded just as scared as the rest of them.
Meanwhile the reporter was urging her camera men to film the screaming crowd outside. She was the only one that was getting excited now, since she smelled that this could be a real scoop and she was actually in the Backstreet van and could get first hand situation what the guys felt about it all.
More and more fans surrounded the van and soon they were stuck. Stuck in a crowd of fans...
