(Brittany’s Point of View)
“Lauren, I’m telling you now, we’re going to be late and miss the entire thing!” I yelled. I was becoming angrier by the second; what could be taking so long? I impatiently tapped my foot, and put my hands on my hips at the bottom of the staircase.
“I’m coming, I’m coming, geez. I just need to put on some liquid eyeliner,” Lauren explained.
I sighed, exasperated. “Lauren, put it on in the car. I’m sure AJ won’t care if you’re wearing eyeliner or not.”
I heard a cabinet door slam from the bathroom. Lauren came thundering down the stairs. “He just might,” she retorted, grabbing my car keys and tossing them to me.
“Let’s not fight, okay? This is going to be the time of our lives,” I said.
If I had only known how true that statement was going to become.
“Man,” Lauren muttered. “This place is huge!”
Lauren and I stared at the enormous dome shaped building in front of us. I had been here many times before, but never with the intentions I had today.
“You ready?” she asked, reapplying some lip-gloss.
My stomach did about ten flip-flops. “Ready as I’ll ever be!” I said, grinning.
“Tell me you have them with you.” Lauren said.
“Oh, I do,” I assured her, pulling out the laminated passes. “Let’s go.”
We walked into the arena, searching for someone to direct us. Lauren stopped a middle-aged woman, and she walked us to the far end, behind the stage.
“Just wait here. And aren’t you two the luckiest girls!” the lady exclaimed.
Lauren and I exchanged bewildered looks. Before I could say a word, the lady hurried off. We shrugged.
“You nervous?” I said, nudging Lauren’s ribs.
“Course not.”
“Liar, liar pants on fire!” I teased.
“Okay, a little.” Lauren admitted.
“I thought so.”
“I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE GONNA MEET THEM!” Lauren suddenly screamed, grabbing my arm.
I covered my ears, but it was too late. “Lauren, you’re gonna scare them off. That’ll make a good impress-“
“Are you Brittany Shannon?” Asked a tall, heavy-set black man.
I gulped. “Yes.” I showed him our passes.
He looked at me. “Can I see some ID?”
I fished through my purse. How does he know my name, and why does he need ID? I wondered. I gave him my driver’s licenses. He nodded approvingly.
“Great. Follow me.”
“Eeeeek!” I squealed. Lauren shot me a warning look. I quieted down, and we passed through the heavy white doors. He took us through a very long, cool hallway, and then he stopped in front of a room.
“Okay, ladies, here they are…the Backstreet Boys!” He flung open the door, and we peered inside.
There was no one in the room.
(Nick’s Point of View)
“High score! All right!” I yelled. I turned off the PlayStation. I was getting too good at it anyway.
“Wonder what the other fellas are doing,” I said to Brian. He shrugged, and returned to the infamous book he was reading. You guessed it – The Bible. I admire the guy – I don’t think I could sit down and read that thing like a John Grisham novel. He should’ve been a minister.
I got up from the couch and made my way towards the front of the bus. I could hear Howie and Kevin talking loudly. Something about investing. Boring.
I checked AJ’s bunk. Sure enough, he was sleeping. A light bulb turned on above my head. I giggled to myself, and went to the bathroom. I grabbed a small piece of toilet paper off of the roll, and took the shaving cream out of the cabinet behind the mirror. I returned to AJ’s bunk. This is definitely payback for leaving me outside the hotel room in my underwear.
I squirted some shaving cream into his hand as quietly as possible. I picked up the toilet paper (we don’t have any feathers on our tour bus) and tickled his cheek with it. He rubbed his face, leaving white, fluffy stuff on his skin. I continued until his other cheek, nose, and forehead were smothered.
“NIIIIIIIIIIICK!” Kevin yelled. “We need you out here – hey, what are y – “
“Would you shut up? I’m getting revenge here,” I whispered. But it was too late. AJ woke up suddenly and looked at the shaving cream in his hand and felt his face. His expression went from innocence to rage.
“NICK, I’M GONNA CUT OFF YOUR DICK!” He screamed, sitting up suddenly and knocking his head against the wood above him. Our bunks are really close together.
I laughed. “You’d like to touch it, wouldn’t you?”
He lunged for my throat. I stepped back and pushed him away, still laughing. Kevin intervened and sent AJ to the bathroom to clean up. Kev rolled his eyes at me and chuckled. Before he could turn around to go back to the front of the bus, he stumbled forward, along with everything in the bus. Our driver isn’t exactly the best one out there. I went flying and fell to the floor. We stopped, and AJ emerged from the bathroom, as did Brian from the so-called “living room.”
“What the hell is going on?” AJ demanded, wiping off his face with a towel.
Kevin shrugged, standing back up. “You know Bernie.”
Johnny came to the back of the bus. “We’re here.”
“Where’s here?” Brian asked. It was hard to keep track of where we were on tour.
“Cleveland, Ohio. Gund Arena.”
“Oh yeah,” I said. “This is the meet and greet with those two girls.”
Johnny nodded. “And we’re already late. AJ, quit playing around and get that crap off your face. I thought you would become more mature now that you’re twenty-three, but I guess not.”
“Yeah AJ,” I added. He scowled at me.
After a few minutes, we were all ready to get off the bus. It was good to be off the road, even if it was for only a couple of days. Luckily for us, there were no fans outside of our tour bus. We went through the back entrance, and a security guard led us to the meet-and-greet room.
“All right guys,” Johnny began. “These two girls have no idea that they are the only ones meeting you. I’m sure they planned on getting a few autographs and pictures, and then getting ready to watch the show. As you know, we’ll be inviting them to come along with us for the next couple of days that we’re in Cleveland. Please remember that these girls can leak things to the press, so don’t talk about anything that you don’t want repeated. Understand?”
“Yes, mommy,” I said. The guys laughed. Johnny ignored my smart remark.
“Good. Now, I think they’re already here. The girl with short brown hair is Brittany, and the girl with long brown hair Is Lauren,” he said, checking a piece of paper in his hand. “Security says they’ve been very calm, so you shouldn’t have any problems. I’ll catch up with you guys in about an hour,” he explained.
A security guy opened the door. I was the last one in the room, and when I got a chance to look, I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my entire life.
LINKS
