"What the hell did I put in this thing anyway?" she asked herself irritably as she lugged her suitcase with her. She didn't remember it being this heavy.
As she made her way to the gate, she was aware of the rapid footsteps that seemed to mirror her own pace as she sped up and slowed down. Testing her hunch, she slowed down, taking smaller steps. The body that was behind her accommodated its pace to match hers.
Raquel's heart began to pound in her chest as she came to the realization that someone seemed to be following her. Without further ado, she adjusted her duffel bag and began to run towards her gate, just as she heard an attendant announce her flight. She knew she must have looked lame as she threaded her way through people, but she also felt much safer moving about.
It seemed to take forever for her to reach the attendant, but she was relieved when she did. She handed over her boarding pass and entered the ramp, but not without turning around to peek at what was behind her. What she saw made her skin crawl, she let out a little gasp. Standing amongst the mob of people was a short Latino man, his eyes were firmly fixed upon her own. The look in his eyes was anything but friendly.
"I like the way you sway…everybody, throw your hands up…" Nick crooned in his prepubescent alto voice. He stopped singing when his voice cracked.
Howie winked, "that's right little man…you keep practicing those lines…eventually you'll sing 'em right."
Brian chuckled from his spot next to one of the windows of the tour bus.
Nick scowled and looked at his supposed best buddy. "You like never stick up for me!" he said indignantly, all the while pawing through the all the seat cushions in sight.
"I told you Nicky, I ate all the cookies…I didn't drop any….not a one!" AJ said dryly as he looked up from a book he had been writing in, watching Nick grope the crevices of the futon.
"I'll have you know…I was not looking for food. I was looking for my book on Super Nintendo cheats and walkthroughs. I can't get past the science lab in Mickey Mania."
Howie rolled his eyes playfully nudging Kev, who was dozing on the small sofa next to him. "looks like the Nickster is still goin' at it Kevy. Should we hide his game controllers again?"
Kevin opened his eyes, and then focused them on Nick. "You know the rule, pal. No Nintendo this late…it's almost time for us to be going to bed."
Nick pouted, "man this sucks!! I'm thirteen years old! I can stay up late if I want to! You're not my boss!"
AJ chuckled at his immature use of words and continued to write.
"Don't laugh at me!" Nick crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And I am gonna go and play my Nintendo!" he stuck his tongue out at the four guys and flounced into the other room of the bus.
Kevin looked at AJ, "odds," he said. The guys counted to three and held their fingers out. AJ held out two and Kev held out four. Kevin chuckled as AJ set his journal down and went to confiscate Nick's SNES.
Howie resituated himself in his seat so he could doze for a while. As he did so his hand felt something through the seat cushion. He frowned and pulled out his address book. He flipped through it and one entry in particular seemed to bore through his heart. It was Raquel's cell phone number. He starred at it, all the while very much aware of the presence of his own phone in his pocket. Sighing, he reached into his pocket and extracted the electronic device, slowly running his fingers over the key sequence that was her telephone number.
He must have been starring at the phone for five minutes before Kevin gently spoke up, "call her D….you'll feel better…and you'll resolve a lot."
Howie smiled sheepishly, thinking how foolish he must have looked, pretending to dial her number over and over again. He winked at Kevin and taking a deep breath, without even bothering to look at the address book, he dialed the number to Raquel's cell phone.
The tinny ringing of Raquel's cell phone in her duffel bag stirred her awake. She lazily reached into her bag and turned on her phone.
"Hello?"
There was a brief pause before she heard that voice. That beautiful, familiar comforting voice that belonged to Howie.
"Hello there!" he said cheerfully.
She had to swallow in order to keep the tremble out of her voice. "H-Howie?" she whispered. The connection was really bad, and she could barely make out his voice…but it was enough to know that at that very moment he was thinking about her.
"So, how are things?" he asked casually.
She couldn't think of what to say: "fine," she said lamely. Way to go Raquel! she thought sarcastically as the two sat in uncomfortable silence.
"What are you up to sweetie?"
"Actually….I um…I have a little bit of news for you Howie," she said nervously. "A few things have changed…and I've come to a few realizations…."
"Oh no…what?"
"I know you're a Backstreet Boy and I'm headed to Germany to meet up with you!" she blurted. The people on either side of her looked at her as if she'd been smoking illegal herbs. "It's true," she continued. "The cat's out of the bag."