Emily had been gone for a few days. We had run into Britney Spears on the road, but she didn't really remember me very well, despite the fact that her dancers did. Amy was due to depart soon, though she'd be going only to LA and we'd be able to meet up with her again in a month. Fatima had joined the tour for a few weeks, planning the MTV VMA performance with us at each rehearsal. We were all really excited about how it would go. The guys had decided they wanted to start out with "I Want It That Way" and then go on to "Larger Than Life" and do that dance. I was extremely excited because that meant I would get to dance on the Metropolitan Opera House's stage. I had danced with stars, met them, but never danced for them. This was a new thing for me. Dancing with Madonna watching from the stage. Being backstage with all these famous people down the hall from me. It was crazy for me. I didn't want to believe it. It was the beginning of October and we were having a concert on Halloween so we had secretly planned a surprise for everyone. The VMAs were only in a few weeks, and we would leave the buses in Arizona and take a plane to New York the day before the actual show.
Each guy had a ticket for one guest, so Howie had already told me that even if we dancers weren't technically allowed to, he was gunna make sure that I got to sit and watch the show with him. Amy was going, as were Amanda and Danielle. Emily was going to see if her boss would let her come down for the awards so she could be with AJ.
"KEEEEVVVVVVVIIIIIIIIINNNNNN...do you remember what day it is???" Brian called into his bunk, waking the boy up.
"Huhhhhhh?" Kev grumbled, turning over as he tried to ignore his cousin.
"WAKE UP YA BIG LOSER! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!" he exclaimed. Everybody perked up, remembering that it really was October 3rd. We all crowded around his bunk and stood there, waiting for him to get up. Dani leaned over and glanced at the sleeping boy, then sat down on his bed and stared at him. Kevin turned his head to look up at her and smiled. Just then, Brian whispered a "one, two, three" and we all burst out into Happy Birthday at the top of our lungs. Kevin chuckled and groaned some more, tired from the previous night's concert. "Kevin, I've been bugging you for the last half hour. The least you could do is get your ass out of bed and acknowledge that you're twenty-nine."
"Twenty-nine?! I'm that old? My goodness I'm surprised you guys haven't started calling me Grampa by now," Kev joked.
"Oh no Boo. You're not quite the Grampa yet. NEXT YEAR, however..." Nick replied. Kevin reached from behind him and tossed a pillow at Nicky. Nick caught it and handed it to Dani.
"You guys, in order for me to get up you have to move out of the way," Kevin noted, looking at us smashed in the tiny walkway. We all made the small hallway clear so he could walk out to the front room and sit down at the table. The first thing he did was call his mom. Dani sat across from him, watching and listening to her boyfriend talk to his mother about the tour and how everyone was doing. Kevin was staring out the window, then he'd look down at the table, then his gaze would be back out the window. Finally, while listening to his mom, he turned and looked at Danielle, allowing a broad, appreciative, loving smile spread across his face. Dani returned the smile, then leaned back in her seat, relaxing a little. We all knew what she was thinking, but dared not to say it.
As soon as Kev got off the phone, he turned to us. "Come on guys! Where are my presents? I'm in the mood for paper tearing!" Nick handed him a newspaper.
"There, that oughta tear just right Kev. Just like wrapping paper," Nicky joked. Kevin looked at the paper on his lap and laughed.
"Kev, this year we decided you're a little old for presents. I mean come on. You're almost 30. You only get presents every five years now," Howie explained. Kev continued to crack up.
"It's not that we don't love you...it's just that...we have better things to spend money on ya know?" I added. Kevin gave me a Look.
"Don't worry. We still love ya...we just...think you don't need presents anymore," Danielle said. Kev couldn't stop laughing. "We'll do something special at the concert tonight okay? You like having the entire audience singing 'Happy Birthday' to you, don't you?"
"Okay okay okay. Yes I guess I am kinda old. 'Kay guys I'm gunna get dressed so if you'll excuse me," Train finally gave in, getting up and walking back towards the bathroom. As soon as he was in the bathroom, we all let out a deep sigh of relief. Just then, Jeff pulled into the arena and we all got ready to hop out and see the place. The dancers were already out and stretching themselves. They (as well as myself) were all weak from a day's worth of sitting around on a bus. The band was walking about, talking to each other.
"Where's Kevin?" Tommy asked.
"Takin a show--" Dani began to answer, but was cut short by a sudden outburst of 'Happy Birthday' and a camera flash. Kevin had just walked off the bus and the entire clan had begun to sing to him. He laughed and thanked us all once again. Then a cell phone rang and everyone immediately checked their sides.
"It's mine!" Louie announced, putting his cell up to his ear. Almost instantly, he handed the phone over Kev and said, "Roxanne wants to say hi." Kevin took the phone.
"Hey Rox. Haha! Thanks! I appreciate it! Uh huh! What are you up to? Ohhhh I see. Yeah, uh huh. Yeah we just got to our next arena. Yeah. Okay. Thanks Roxie! I'll talk to ya later hun! Bye!" he disconnected the call and handed the cell back to Louie. Roxanne always called to talk to the boys on their birthdays. At school, she was the most popular girl because her dad was the boys' bass player. She had joined us on tour a few times, had grown to be tight with the boys through frequent visits with her dad while on tour.
We all walked backstage, tired and not enjoying the heat. Howie had brought in his new digital camera--the Polaroid was now retired for personal pictures only. He used this digital camera to take pictures so his cousin and niece could post them at his website. So the thing was really quite useful. Everyone was always borrowing it. Tommy had one for his website, as well. We dancers split off to find our quarters, using the maps posted around the backstage area.
"This is just so...it's such a ritual!" Kristin complained.
"Oh shut up Kristin! You're a wimp!" Tae cried. Dani, Nef, and I all laughed. Suddenly, I felt big hands placing themselves on my shoulders. I whipped around and looked to see Emo. I placed my hands on his and turned back around.
"Hey Emo!" I cried. Emo had been like my big brother as well.
"Hey Curly!" Emo answered back. Curly was the nickname he had given me one day, after practice when I had little curly q's hanging by my face due to sweat (it was a vigorous work-out that day!). I had always called him Emu, anyways, so this was his way of getting back at me. His arms closed around my neck as he gave me a big hug. "We miss you on the buses!"
"Oh you do? But I was never on the dancer bus!" I pointed out.
"Soooo it gets lonely," he whined. I laughed.
"Emo, you need to get yourself a girlfriend, hun. Stop hanging on the unavailable ones," Nef teased him. Emo scrunched his nose at her. Just then, I broke out of Emo's wrap.
"Sometimes I run..." I sang, jogging. Then, suddenly, I dodged into a room. "Sometimes I hide...sometimes I'm scared of you..." Dani, who actually had a good voice, continued the song for me, while I came out from hiding to do the dance in the hallway.
"Are you guys sure we haven't missed the dressing room? I think we've gone a little too far," Reggie pointed out. He was beside Kristin and had his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"Ya think so? I think we still have further to go," Tae pointed out.
"Uh yeah, Tae we've been walking for a good twenty minutes. We're probably 13 miles away from the stage right now and 15 feet underground!" Nef cried. "THEY DON'T WANT US ANYMORE!!!" The ten of us (the guys had long since joined us) all busted up laughing. Nef was definitely the joker of our clan. She and Brian got along so well it was sickening.
"I dunno bout y'all, but I'm turning back," Swoop replied. We all did the same and, as if we were an army, pivoted at the same time. We were so used to doing everything in synch that when it came down to just hanging out, we even walked on the exact same step. After five minutes of backtracing our walk down the hall, we found a room with the big sign that said "DANCERS" across it.
"And we missed that?! Dude are we blind?" Danielle exclaimed as the five of us girls walked into the room and she flicked on the light. As soon as I got in, I immediately slammed the door shut and locked it.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" I sarcastically laughed.
"Curly let us in!" Emo whined once more, pounding on the door. The five of us girls stood there laughing as the pounding got slower and the shouts got louder.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked, passing Nick and Brian as I walked by the drum set. They both shushed me.
"We're playing a joke, don't tell anyone or you're the next victim!!" Brian warned. I knew them too well not to spoil it, and watched as Nick slathered some soap onto the drum sticks.
"Don't you realize that you're sabotaging your own show by doing this?!" I whispered.
"Well not really. See, he'll notice it when we do the sound check," Nick pointed out.
"Bubba's gunna kill yooooouuuu," I sighed, before walking towards the edge of the stage to hang out with the rest of the dancers. I could hear the mischeivous ones laughing behind me as I passed them.
At the edge of the circular stage, I found Nef and Kristin, bumming around. So, I quickly walked jogged over and sat down.
"What up dawg?" I asked, startling Kristin. She jumped a little and looked at me. Nef busted up. I said hi and waved at them, then asked what they were up to.
"Just hangin out, yo?" Nef answered. "Did you see Brian and Nick over there? Messin with the drums?"
"Yeah. Those guys never give up do they?" I cried.
"Not likely," Kristin replied. Just then, we heard childish giggling as two pairs of footsteps scampered backstage. We all laughed in response to the two immature boys. "So whaddya guys wanna do? We have a few hours."
"Let's go down and figure out what's goin on. I still have yet to get used to the round," I suggested.
"Good idea," Nef agreed, and we got up to make our way to the backstage area.
We got downstairs and found AJ talking to a young woman who was holding a crazy looking hat. He stopped what he was saying when he spotted me and grabbed my arm, pulling me aside.
"This is Stephanie. She's the one who called you," AJ introduced me. "Gilli, this is Jordyn Blake." I reached out and shook her hand, saying hi.
"I love that hat! Do you mind if I try it on?" I asked, eagerly.
"Not at all! That's what I brought it for!" Jordyn cheerfully answered, handing me the hat. It was a rainbow sequined cowboy hat that was a glittery and had a little leprechaun somewhere in the sequined rainbow.
"Can I wear this tonight during Everybody?!" I wanted to know.
"Gilli, I'm supposed to be the one that gets all the attention by wearing the eye catching stuff. Not you. I was gunna wear it," Bone argued.
"J, don't even think about it. I am so deal with it!" I cried. "And you're not taking it from me EITHER!!!" Jordyn stood there, laughing.
"I don't think I've ever had anyone fight over my hats..." she giggled. "If you want, I can send for another one..."
"NO!" we both yelled.
"AJ just cuz you are a Backstreet Boy doesn't mean you get first pick over everything!!" I exclaimed. "I asked about it first! I am going to wear it!"
"But you're a dancer! NOBODY watches you!" he fought back. "They pay more attention to me! You're not there to steal the show! You're there to make it better! WHY do you always have to be center of attention?!"
"ME?! I'm the one who always has to be center of attention?! Hooooooooohhh I DON'T THINK SO BUDDY! I'm not the one wearing that stupid half shirt during Larger Than Life and walking around with 20 different tattoos all over my body and always dying my hair different colors and buying clothes that no one ELSE on this earth would be caught DEAD in and giving my facial hair weird designs! Face it AJ. You DWELL on attention and if you're not the center of it, you die. It KILLS you if someone else outdoes you," I yelled. Just then, Nick walked by to see what the commotion was about. Nef and Kristin had already left. Jordyn grabbed Nick.
"Don't mind if I join you, do you Nick? I don't want to sit here and listen to those two argue over a hat..." she replied. Nicky laughed.
"They always do that. They both want to be center of attention and try to outdo each other," he informed her. "AJ is always trying to be the wacky one and now that we have Steph she challenges him and sometime he can't stand it. Most of the time they get along, and they always go shopping together because of their similar tastes. But lately, they've been arguing a lot over wanting to wear the same thing or wanting to wear the crazier outfit."
"Ohhhhhh...so should I try to make individual hats for both of them that are equally diverse or something? I can do that, no prob," Jordyn wanted to know.
"That might be a good idea. Do you need to check out their outfits for ideas?" Nick asked.
"That would help. Could you take me to Steph's dressing room?" she wondered. Nick led her down the hall towards the dancers' dressing room, the hollering of me and AJ fading into the background.
"So what exactly do you do?" Nick wanted to know.
"Oh I'm a hat designer. My line is Wild Stylz," Jordyn informed him.
"Oh yeah I think Steph was tellin me about that place when she got back from LA," Nicky reminisced. He got to our room and opened it. Tae, Dani, Manda, and Amy were sitting around, talking.
"Hey Amers! Hey girls! This is...Jordyn right?" he introduced, unsure of her name. She shook her head yes. "Jordyn this is Tae, Danielle, Amanda, and my girlfriend, Amy." The girls all said hi to each other. "Jordyn designs hats and is going to design some for AJ and Steph so she needs to see her outfits. Do you know where they are?" At the sound of the word hats, all four girls groaned and rolled their eyes.
"Where's Steph?" Tae asked.
"She's arguing with AJ over the hat I did bring," Jordyn told her.
"FIGURES!" Tae, Manda, Dani, and Amy all cried. Jordyn laughed.
"I'm taking they do argue about hats a lot," she replied.
"Ya know, I think we should just forbid hats from being on the tour with us," Dani suggested.
"NO! Don't do that! Then I'd be out of the job!" Jordyn exclaimed. They laughed.
"Okay okay okay. But I really think it'd be a lot less of a headache if we didn't have them. Those two argue too much," Dani sighed, giving in.
"No let them have the hats. Just put duct tape over their mouths," Nick suggested. The six of them continued cracking up. Just then, I entered the room, still fuming over my argument with AJ.
"Looks like you won the fight Steph," Nick pointed out. I was still wearing the hat.
"It takes practice Nicky. Arguing with my parents about hats when I was younger really has me well prepared," I joked, trying to cool down.
"Yes I am beginning to notice that. Well, hey Jordyn and I are gunna leave you guys alone to get ready. See you in a little while, okay?" Nick replied, before leading Jordyn out the room.
"Follow me, they are back here," Amanda whispered, leading the surprise guests through the backstage area. While everyone was so busy hustling around, she and Dani had arranged to fly Kevin's family down for his birthday. "Kevin's in the dressing room, getting his hair and makeup done. If you would like, I can take you in there and you can surprise him in his room." She had already explained that Kevin didn't think we had gotten anything for his birthday and that Danielle had the idea of bringing his family down here to surprise the boy. Amy was being a really well mannered little girl and remaining quiet, despite the fact that she was extremely excited and giddy to see her uncle. Suddenly, the little girl let out an unexpected giggle. All heads turned to her. Amanda whipped around and, with a big smile on her face, said "shhhhhh!" as she held her finger up to her mouth. A big smile crossed Amy's face as she hid her head in her grandmother's chest. They slowly crept up to an open door down the hallway and Amanda told them to wait behind while she went inside to talk to Kevin.
"Hey Kev. How's everything comin along?" Amanda asked, popping into the dressing room.
"Just great Manda! So whaddya think of me bleaching the tips of my hair?"
"Uhhh....I think you're supposed to be different from AJ, hun, but it might look neat on you!" she cried.
"Hey Manda, what's up?" Danielle greeted, following her into the room.
"Hello! Well I was just about to tell Kevin that he had some visitors," Amanda hinted. Dani tried to keep her smile concealed.
"What?! Visitors? Who?" he begged to know.
"Hold your horses Kev! I'll go get them!" Amanda cried, laughing to herself as she left the room.
"I wish Mom and Tim and Jerald were able to make it today! It's weird not having them here on my birthday," Kevin was telling Danielle as Amanda peeked around the corner to get the family. They slowly crept up to the door and Manda made sure that he wasn't paying attention to the doorway before everyone snuck into the room. Danielle was facing the door, so Kevin had to turn away from it while she was talking to him.
"Happy Birthday baby," Ms. Richardson softly replied. Kevin's head immediately jerked around and a huge smile spread across his face as his eyes lit up.
"MOM!" Kev jumped up and nearly leapt into his mother's arms. "I can't believe you guys all came! Who arranged this?"
"Danielle and Amanda did, honey. They called us up two weeks ago and we got it all planned out and here we are!" Ms. Richardson explained. Kevin couldn't have been any happier! He immediately pivoted around and walked back over to Danielle, who had a huge smile on her face. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and gave her a quite appropriate kiss.
"I could never thank you enough Danielle," he sighed, telling her as he looked deep into her eyes. Dani blushed as she looked right back into his. Kevin then turned to Amanda and gave her a hug as well, picking the small girl up. "Thank you Manda!!" Amanda laughed at his reaction.
"Hun don't ruin your hair!" Ms. Richardson cried. Kevin shrugged. The hairstylist didn't care. She just laughed. Kev immediately headed over to his brothers, sister-in-law, and niece, and gave them each a hug and kiss. Soon, a conversation was underway and the Richardsons quickly became wrapped up in each other, talking about their lives. Amanda left them and Danielle in the room alone, smiling to herself as she walked towards where her own boyfriend was.
I was not in the mood to dance with AJ that night. But I also knew I'd feel bad if I asked Danielle to dance with AJ for the night so I didn't have to deal with him. I knew J wouldn't do anything violent, like literally throw me off of him during "Larger Than Life," but I wasn't in the mood to be on him in the first place.
During the first few songs, we were dancing and suddenly, I heard a roar of laughter. One of the guys had split his pants.
"Ah! I'm sorry guys! This always happens! I really need to work on dancing more carefully in these things!" Kevin suddenly cried out into his mic.
Dani went over to him and whispered "Uh nice boxers Kev." He looked at her with those flushed cheeks. I looked over and stifled a laugh. Poor boy. It always always always happened to Kevin. It wasn't much better knowing that his family was sitting there, watching him with a big hole in the butt of his pants.
I wasn't in a too happy position with AJ. We didn't make much eye contact and tended to ignore each other as much as we could. He was often dancing on the opposite side of the round than me when we didn't need to be next to each other, so I danced with Howie, since we were always near each other. AJ was quick to get me off him during "Larger Than Life," and wasn't even around me when we did
"Everybody" and I wore the rainbow cowboy hat. (At one point, Nick grabbed it from my head and took off with it, then stuck it over Tommy's blue hair.) As a whole, the concert was pretty fun, minus the disastrous pant splitting incident, but that wasn't unusual. The guys were always splitting the bottoms of their pants! They had to be resewn or replaced so many times we girls had begun to tease the guys about keeping track of how many each split and who split more than the others. The boys hated us for it.
That night I was glad AJ wasn't on our bus. I didn't really care to see his face. I was so incredibly sick of him that I just wanted to lie around and not think of him at all. Kevin had gone out with Danielle, his mom, brothers, and sister-in-law, so our bus had one less person in it. They didn't come back till about three in the morning. Meanwhile, Amy was with the dancers, who were babysitting her for the night.
"Gill, what's up with you tonight? You're mad about something," Howie asked, sitting down beside me on my bed. I was sitting there, playing around with Chachi.
"I'm just sick of AJ right now," I muttered.
"Did you guys get into an argument?" D wanted to know.
"Yeah. I'm so sick of him and the way he thinks he's so much greater than everyone else. He actually said to my face that I would never be able to outdo him because I'm supposed to be in the background and he's always gunna be in the spotlight," I explained, lifting my head up so I could look at Sweet D.
"Maybe he misses Emily right now so he's moody," he suggested.
"No I don't think that's it. Ya know, I think he's started up smoking again and he's not telling any of us. Especially not me and Kevin," I pointed out. "And he knows I'm gunna blow up when I find out because he really worries me a lot."
"I know. He worries us all. We just don't find any point in arguing with him so we don't," Howie told me. "YOU on the other hand...you'll argue with anybody." I laughed. D was right.
"I dunno. I just get so sick of arguing with him. I mean, I wanted to wear that cowboy hat and he just blew up. It's like he can't stand it when I do something that's more outrageous than him," I sighed.
"AJ will always be that way so there's really no point in trying to change him."
"I know. But UG! He's like my sister. So belligerent. Sometimes I just want to tell him to take his attitude and shove it. He tries to make all you guys look so lame. RRRGGG!" I growled.
"Steph, don't get so mad. AJ's just like that. We all have to learn to deal with it. You two are so much alike and you think so much alike that you are subconsciously always trying to outdo each other," Howie D tried to explain to me.
"I know he's one of my best friends, but MAN! Does he have to be so bullheaded?!"
"Gilli calm down," D warned. I took a deep breath, then slammed my head down on my pillow. Howie looked at me and patted my knee, then got up and left my bunk. I grabbed Chache and stuck him on my stomach, then lay there, trying to clear my brain. Before long, I was asleep.
The next morning, I woke up to hear Nicky's Bone Thugz cd playing. I got out of bed and, after noticing someone was in the bathroom, danced my way to the front of the bus, where Brian was busy working on a song he had been composing for a few weeks now. Singing to the song, I danced around while I grabbed an apple and a glass of water. Howie looked up from his spot on the couch and smiled to himself. Nick gave me a cheerful hello and went back to the conversation he was having with his sister BJ online. Brian didn't say anything as he placed his hand on his forehead. It was around 12 in the afternoon and Dani, Manda, and Amy were all on the dancer bus, watching a chick flick. I wasn't in the mood to join them this morning, so I just stayed with the guys. The Richardsons were at a hotel, where they had spent the night because they were catching the flight back to Kentucky that night. While Kevin was in the shower, Nick was talking to BJ, Howie was playing with the dogs, and Brian was writing, I danced around, listening to Bone Thugz 'n' Harmony. This was a typical morning, nothing completely different from the usual.
"DO YOU HAVE TO DANCE?!" Brian suddenly hollered. We all, including the dogs, stopped what we were doing and looked up at him. "My god you are always dancing!?! We can't do anything on this bus without running into you or the bus shaking! Do you ever sit still?!" My eyes widened as I found myself speechless.
"All the time, you dance all over. Why don't you just go live on the bus with the dancers?! THEY are just like you!!!"
"Brian..." I softly replied.
"I'm trying to work and I can't concentrate with you bouncing around all over the place! SIT STILL for once!! Be NORMAL for god's sake!" Brian continued to yell. My eyes welled up with tears as I looked at him before sharply pivoting around and heading for the back of the bus, where I slammed the door shut. Almost immediately, Kevin opened the bathroom door.
"Whoa what was that all about?" he wanted to know, peaking his head out of the bathroom. He placed his ear up to the backroom door and listened to my sobs. "What got Steph all worked up?!"
Without looking up from his computer, signaling that he did not want to have anything to do with it, Nick answered,
"Brian." Howie stood up and looked at B-Rok.
"Really Brian. Can't you learn to control your temper a little bit?" Howie sighed, looking down at Brian as he got up, before making his way to the back of the bus. "Kev, let me talk to her okay?" Kevin nodded his head and moved out of the way so that D could open the door and go into the back room. He walked into the room to see me curled up, my arms hugging my knees as I rest my chin on them and stared at the blank TV, tears streaming down my red cheeks. My gaze transferred over to Howie and he sighed, coming over and wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. I let my legs down and cried onto D's shoulder. He stroked my hair as I let my sobs out into him.
"Why does everybody have to yell at me for being myself?! I can never be myself anymore! Everybody gets mad!" I exclaimed, once I had calmed down enough to talk. "It's like they can't handle me!" I lifted my head to look at my boyfriend.
"They just aren't used to living with you that's all. They don't know what you're really like so they don't know how to deal with your habits. I've grown up watching you all the time so I'm used to it. But the other guys just don't know quite yet your typical personality. I've tried to explain it before but they really just don't get it. And Brian always has had a temper. It's just when he's trying to do something and he gets disturbed that he loses it," D tried to explain, keeping his brown eyes locked on mine. I sighed and let my gaze fall.
"It's just that..." I trailed off.
"I know. That comment about living with the other dancers was really unnecessary and he could've asked you politely to go somewhere else, but Brian just isn't like that most of the time. He's blown up at me so many times. Right now, I can bet that Kevin is talking to him. You just gotta be able to not take it so harsh," Howie continued, in his soft voice, which I loved.
"I know. But what he said really hurt me. It was totally uncalled for and it reminded me of the way my sister used to yell at me all the time. And my dad. Nobody seems to respect me for who I am! Nobody seems to like who I am and appreciate my personality!" I complained.
"I do. I love your personality. When I'm not having a good day, you're always the one to lift me up or make me keep going. Watching you and talking to you always makes me smile. What they say shouldn't bother you. Don't let it. You have a great personality and plenty of people like it. Don't think you have to change because one person gets annoyed with you. If you change, I don't know what I will do with you!" D told me. I looked up at him and let a smile spread across my face. My tears had begun to dry up. "Now, just forget about what Brian said. He's been working at this song for two weeks. He's getting frustrated with it." I sighed.
"Thanks D," I finally said. Howie kissed my forehead. Then hit my nose with his finger. I gave him a hug. Just then, there was a knock at the closed door.
"Come in!" Howie called. Brian opened the door and walked over to me.
"Steph, look, I'm really really sorry for yelling at you like that. It was totally unnecessary and I was just a little stressed over trying to finish that song I was writing," he apologized. I smiled, then got up and hugged Brian.
"Don't worry. I forgive you Brock," I said. Brian returned the hug and smile. "Now get back to your song! I wanna hear it when you're done boy!"
"I will I will!" Brian exclaimed, running back to his work in a goofy way after I shoved him out the door. I turned and looked at Howie.
"Ya know, sometimes I still feel like you're my older brother, D," I informed him. "It's kinda weird. But like when we're wrestling and goofing off, I feel like nothing between us has changed." Howie chuckled.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yeah! It's strange. Maybe I'm psychotic or something. My brain cannot comprehend changes," I joked.
"Silli Gilli..." D sighed. Just then I hopped up, opened one of the cabinets, and took out a movie. Howie used the remote and turned on the TV. "What are you putting in?" I stuck the tape in the VCR and sat down next to my best friend.
"The Outsiders, of course!" I cried, cheerfully.
"How do you manage?" he wondered.
"WHAT?!" I screeched.
"To go from mad to upset to happy in like, TWOSECONDS?!" D joked. I laughed.
"It's my special talent."
"Guess so! I've never seen anyone else do it!" Howie replied. Then he looked down the hall. "We're watching a movie! Any a you guys wanna join us?!"
"What movie?" Nick hollered. I could hear Kevin sigh as he said "Outsiders" under his breath.
"The Outsiders," Howie informed Nicky. Three groans came from the front of the bus.
"NO THANK YOU!" Nintendo Boy answered back. D and I laughed, then turned to the TV screen.