"TRICK OR TREAT!!!" the dancers yelled. Kris, Nef, and Teresa were standing at the entrance of our bus, holding plastic ziploc bags. Nicky walked over and handed them each a baby carrot.
"Enjoy," he mumbled. The girls looked into their bags.
"HEY!" Red cried.
"What the?!" Teresa exclaimed.
"Nickolas! I thought Halloween means you get candy!! WHAT IS THIS?!" Nefertiti wanted to know.
"You think we have candy? Tish won't let us!!!" he replied, throwing his hands up. Just then, Howie walked over and handed each of them a Hershey Kiss. Nick looked at him, confused.
"It's the private stash you don't know about," D informed him.
"What do you do? SLEEP on it?!" Nick wanted to know.
"No actually it's Kevin's turn to do that," Howie told the bewildered blonde. The three dancers thanked Howie and walked away. Then Nef turned around quickly and threw her carrot back at Nick, hitting him in the nose. The two walked back into the main part of the bus and sat down. It was midmorning and Brian had just woken up and was chowing down on a big bowl of Life cereal. Amanda, Danielle, and I were hangin' out in the back of the bus, watching Toy Story.
"Ha! Steph I swear you smile just like that sometimes!" Dani exclaimed.
"HUH?!" I cried.
"Like Buzz Lightyear! I've seen pictures of you smiling like that!" she told me.
"Yeah from now on, we're gunna call you Buzz," Amanda declared.
"What about Gilli?" I whimpered. "I like Gilliiiiiii."
"Oh we'll still call you Gilli. You're just Buzz now," Manda clarified.
"Yeah Buzzzzzz," Dani joked. We all laughed. Then, during the movie, everytime we'd see Buzz Lightyear give his goofy smile, the three of us would bust up.
In the middle of our movie, Howie, Brian, and Kevin barged into the room and came flying onto our laps. We girls shrieked, then burst into giggles.
"Sometimes you feel like a nut!" Brian sang out.
"Sometimes you hurt one!" Amanda answered back.
"HEY!" Brock cried.
"Hey this is actually pretty comfy. Mind if I stay here hun?" Kevin asked Danielle.
"Ha! Not if you want to keep me alive!" she told him.
"Wow this is a pretty good movie!" Howie said, leaning back on me as he relaxed and began to watch the film. I began to blow on his neck, which made him laugh because it tickled. I knew his ticklish spots well. "What are you doin Steph?"
"Trying to get you off of me!" I exclaimed.
"Where's everyone else?" Manda wanted to know.
"Nicky is on the phone, talking to Amy I think. The dancers are probably in their buses," Brian informed his girl. I turned off Toy Story, to Howie's dismay, and managed to push the boy off of me. On the TV was some special on Britney Spears.
"Guys look at that one dancer! The one with the spiky brown hair! His name is Alec and he is soooo cute! He's a real sweetie and a goofball! You should meet him! Alec is soooooo hot!!" I exclaimed.
"Oo yeah he is! He's got a gorgeous smile!" Amanda added.
"HEY! How come you never talk about me like that?" D wanted to know.
"Cuz you're not hot, Howie..." I made him realize.
"Steph you're starting to hurt my feelings," Howie teased.
"Oh deal with it, D," I joked. He looked at me and I scrunched my nose at him. Just then, I looked at my watch. "Oh! I gotta go guys!" I suddenly exclaimed, grabbing Dani. "We have to practice!" I said goodbye and ran over to the stadium, sticking a hat on my head as I made my way there, leaving Dani behind because she needed to change into dance clothes.
It was a new hat. A cute baseball cap that had a Nike swoosh and said Dance on it. I had found it one day when the dancers and I were shopping and had to buy it. The only thing I ever really bought for myself nowadays were baseball caps and dance clothes. They were necessities. It was a good thing AJ and I weren't on the same bus because we often would get our hats mixed up. It wasn't that we minded, it's just that AJ's hair would sometimes leave my hats rather colorful on the inside if he wore them.
"Hey Dancer!" I heard yelled at me as I made my way towards the stage. It was Red. She was sitting down on the edge of the stage, swinging her legs back and forth as she waited for me. Red was one of my closest dancer buds. She, Emo, and Reggie.
"Hey Red!" I hollered back.
"Ya know, I miss Gimpy!" Teresa cried, her voice echoing throughout the empty stadium. "I mean I love Dani and all, but it's just not the same making fun of someone for hurting herself 24/7!" Kristin, Nef, and I all laughed. Just then, Emo showed
"Yo Emooooooooooooooo!" Nef replied. "Long time no seeeeeeeeeee." Emo chuckled.
"Word up!" he answered. Suddenly, Danielle walked up towards the stage singing the song
"Word Up." We all turned our heads in her direction and began to hoot with laughter.
"What is so funny?!" Sleepy exclaimed. He too had joined us on stage.
"Sleepy. You DO live up to your name!" Nef teased.
"Heyyyyyy! I'm not THAT out of whack am I?"
"Sleep, you're ALWAYS out of whack. That's how you got your name, right?" Teresa pointed out. Before long, Swoop was out, along with his brother.
"Hey Ro what up G?" Reg asked.
"Nothin' Wildcat. Just got up actually. Swoop had to wake me up. Long night last night. We was partyyyiiiinnnnggg!!" Ro Ro cried.
"Yeah what club did you hit?" Kris wanted to know.
"Uhhh...Oh shit I forgot the name!" Ro Ro exclaimed.
"Ah yeah well figures! You guys probably drank so much you wouldn't have known your pinkie from your thumb!" Danielle retorted.
"Wait. You don't know your pinkie from your thumb as it is!" I added.
"I do so! One of them is fat and one of them is skinny!" Ro Ro cried out.
"Yeah hun, you just keep thinking that..." Tae sighed, patting his shoulder. "Kay guys let's get started." Music flooded the stadium and we began to practice.
"NICKOLAS GENE CARTERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!" I heard echo through the halls as I walked towards the dressing room. Red came storming furiously toward me.
"A little early to be getting into Christmas colors Kris?" I asked. Her red hair was streaked with green. She glared at me.
"Don't even get me started! My hair is gunna look like this tonight! I can't get it out! He put dye in my shampoo or something!" Kristin exclaimed. Her hands were tinted green and she was pissed off. Then, she pointed at me. "WATCH what you do! Who knows what might happen. Nick might liquidate your make-up or something. Check all your hats before you put them on!" I laughed.
"Alright Kris. I promise I will. Nick's probably hanging out in the lounge area or something. Hunt him down and do a little tae bo on him or something," I told my fellow dancer.
" 'I'd give 'er a HA! And a HI-YA! And then I'd keeck 'er sir!' " Red replied, imitating Bartok the bat from Anastasia. I busted up, then finished walking towards the dressing room. Completely ignorant of what Kristin had just warned me, I took off my KY Wildcats hat and reached for my cowboy hat. It was sitting upside down on the high rack, where I usually kept it. I turned the cowboy hat over and this gooey stuff began to run down my head. I shrieked and turned my hat back over to look inside of it.
Taped to the inside of my cowboy hat was a cup full of some type of gooey crap. It was black and extremely thick. My hat and the costumes weren't wrecked by this strange substance, but I would have to hop back into a shower and get everything off of me. As I was trying to get the sticky stuff out of my hair, I ran into Kevin, who had black hands.
"Nick?" Kev asked.
"Yup," I sighed. "No wonder this is his favorite holiday..." Kevin continued to study his hands.
"Hey it kinda looks like I have gloves on!" he suddenly burst out. I wrinkled my brow as I looked up at him, and he scrunched his nose at me. It wasn't long before we found Amanda, who had a similar sticky substance on her hand and face due to the cell phone that Nick had coated with the goo.
"MAN! That boy is on a roll today!!" Manda cried as she came up beside us. The three of us were now on a search to find the culprit and beat him up since he wasn't in the lounge like I had told Kristin. We passed Wildcat, who was fuming from something we weren't sure of but knew it probably had to do with Nicky. Howie, Brock, and AJ hadn't been lucky enough to find their prank yet, neither were Danielle, Teresa, Nefertiti, Ro Ro, Sleepy, Swoop, and Emo. The band hadn't. They were probably checking all their instruments just in case.
Any girl who wished she wanted to be part of the BSB bandwagon probably would've been safe wishing for something else. The trials and tribulations we had to face, especially on days such as Halloween and April Fool's Day, were virtually insane. We were all known to give each other pure hell on the trip, as it became more apparent as the months grew longer. We had been touring for a good five months. Nick was the worst at creating the hell. We had thought for awhile that he had grown out of it, but we were wrong. He was still the little trickster he had always been.
"NIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCKKKKKK!!!" the three of us heard echo through the halls.
"Man if that kid were smart, he'd be in another state by now," Kevin mumbled.
"No shit!" I exclaimed. AJ came storming towards us. He couldn't find any of his sunglasses and his shirt was too small.
"That boy...he's been messin' with my glasses and my clothes. This is war!" J cried.
"Yeah! Good lord, he was messing with your SUNGLASSES!!!" I snapped, jokingly. AJ glared at me.
"Ooo what happened to you? Did he put gunk in your hat?" Bone wanted to know.
"Yup. Well he was kind enough not to put it directly into my hat. He put it in a cup in my hat. My COWBOY hat, thank you very much!" I told him. AJ cracked up.
"HA! That's what you get for trying to be cool like me!" he teased. I elbowed him in the stomach, playfully. We made it out to the buses, where we stormed on and began to search for our culprit.
"Hey Frack! Time to get your ass out here so it can get kicked!" Kevin called. We looked throughout our entire bus without finding Nick. So we went to the next bus, the band's. Mindi was sitting on it, playing with her instruments.
"Ey Mindi, you seen Nick?" AJ asked.
"Nope. Sorry Bone. I've been lucky enough to stay out of his warpath today," she informed us.
"I don't trust you. Let's look anyways," J said. Manda, Kev, AJ, and I all began to rampage the band's bus, checking every nook and cranny for the jokster. We couldn't find him, so jetted out and continued into the dancers' bus. He wasn't in the guys dancer bus, so the next bet was the girls dancer bus. No sign. He was seriously hiding in a good spot.
"I'll bet he's hiding in one of the semis!" Amanda finally figured out. We all ran directly to where they were and opened them up. Almost instantly, Nick popped out of the semi that carried the round's equipment, hands up.
"You found me. I give up. Happy Halloween everybody!" Nicky exclaimed before immediately jetting out of the back of the semi to try to get away. Kevin, being the high school football star, almost instantly tackled him down to the ground.
"You, Little Kaos, have to pay. BIG time," Kev told Nick. Nicky weakly smiled. Kevin knew exactly what to do. AJ did as well.
"It's death to you now, Frack Ol' Boy," Bone laughed evilly.
"Ooooo what do you two have in mind?" I wanted to know.
"Ohhhhhh whaddya say we uhhh dress him up in girl clothes and throw him out in the audience until he gets recognized. I think that's a fair deal. I mean, it is Halloween after all, and this is the day to be wearing costumes!" Kev decided. Amanda, AJ, and I all cracked up.
"You are too good!" Amanda exclaimed.
"Ah no man! Not the girls! They're like giant PIRANHAS man!" Nick pleaded with us to let him free of his fate.
"Ah come on Nicky! It's Halloween! You can pass out candy!" J joked.
"Man shut up!" Nick snapped. Kevin got off Nick and let him get up.
"We'll find you, Nicky. You'll be down there. I promise," Kev replied as Nick walked away.
Brian grabbed his handfuls of candy before examining it.
"Ooo this stuff looks good! Mind if I have some before the performance?" he teased. Amanda walked up to him and grabbed his face with her right hand, smooshing his cheeks together while she shook his head.
"Yoooouuuu, little boy, don't need anything! So stop eating everything!!!!!"
"Dang!" Brock cried out. We dancers were dressed up in Halloween costumes under our jumpsuits. Our faces were painted and we were standing around with our torches. Howie walked up to me with his hands full as well.
"Well we all survived Nick's favorite day," D sighed.
"It's not over yet!" Nicky announced. Everyone rolled their eyes and sighed.
"Don't forget Nicky, we got your little outfit right here and ready to go!" Nefertiti reminded him, patting a dress that was hanging on the clothing rack beside her. Nick groaned.
"And you ain't gettin away with it this time, buckaroo!" Swoop told him. Nick's face turned red. He had overdone it and now he was in for the punishment--disquising himself as a girl and walking around in the audience. I could see the fear in his eyes as he gave us each a weak glance. We dancers all had evil smiles on our faces. Kristin's hair still had green in it, Kevin's hands were black, AJ was sunglass-less, and I still had sticky stuff on my hands. Everyone else had managed to get their prank off of themselves, so they weren't stained. Nick refused to get out J's sunglasses till the end of the show, because he wanted Bone to go one concert without them. The two had actually gotten into a huge argument over the sunglasses and pranks. It did not sound pretty. Their yelling echoed through the halls, before Howie and Guy broke it up. Then Danielle had to attack Nick because he had interchanged her shampoo for bleach and now she had blonde streaks throughout her hair.
"Don't worry Dani," J told her. "It will only last a few months, then you'll be a brunette again! Of course, we could always dye your hair and make it brown to cover up the blonde spots." Danielle stopped to smile at AJ, then turned back to Nick and would've gotten him by the throat, had Bone not grabbed her.
At the moment, we were just sitting around while the opening act got ready.
"Wait. Why don't we just do it now? That way, no one will notice Nick isn't onstage during the concert and...ya know it'll be more fun. Besides, it's Aaron's first concert opening for us. The little squirt can have his big brother in the audience watching," Teresa suggested.
"GOOD IDEA!!" a bleached Danielle cried out. We girls immediately grabbed Nick and sat him down in a chair. Brian sat down on top of him so he couldn't move while we covered his face in make-up. I ran to one of the racks and snatched the polaroid, which was sitting next to my hats, and ran back to take pictures of the chaos because the videocamera wasn't reachable at the moment.
"Smile Nicky!" I exclaimed. Amanda grabbed his face and squeezed his cheeks with her hand as she put her head next to his and gave me a huge smile. I laughed and took the picture before Nef covered the lips with lipstick. Danielle and Kris gave him eccentric eyeshadow while Emo stuck a brown wig on his head. Then we put a cute little dress on Nicky, making him look more girly than ever.
"Ya know, it's too bad your hair would be so recognizable. It really would look better with the dress than the brown would," AJ sighed, rubbing his goatee.
"Now this is classic!" Kevin cracked up. He high-fived his cousin, who was busting a gut. The dogs somehow had gotten loose and run up, then began to bark hysterically at Nick, whom they could not recognize. Before long, the entire crew, dancers and band members and bodyguards and stagehands and any other conceivable person, was standing around Nick, laughing.
"Man this is like fifty times worse than the 'As Long As You Love Me' video shoot!!" Nicky exclaimed. Just then, Aaron pushed his way through the crowd and stood to gaze upon his brother. Then he pointed at him and began to laugh like crazy. Nick turned beet red and glared at all of us.
"Hey AC! Get in a picture with your brother!" Amanda cried out. I aimed the polaroid at the two, then snapped one for the memories.
"Oh imagine if someone got a hold of these pictures...." Danielle realized. Those of us who heard her all began to laugh even harder. "Wait!! WAIT! GROUP PHOTO!" Dani then shouted. I handed the camera to a stagehand, then every dancer and singer, including Aaron, surrounded Nick and smiled. He could not believe he was in a girl's outfit and about to go and walk around in an audience full of pre-pubescent girls disguised as some ugly, out of fashion, out of whack, tall girl. We had finally gotten him back on all his pranks. It couldn't have been better.
"Now it's time to get that boy out in the audience..." Ro Ro thought.
"How we gunna do that?!" Swoop wanted to know. We all became speechless.
"Uhhhh we'll put Nicky on one of those golf carts with security and he can ride out with them," Tish, the wardrobe woman quickly decided. Mike the bodyguard called security and had them come backstage to "escort the lady fan out of the backstage area." They were a little suspicious of our masculine intruder, but didn't question anything. Nick glared at us as the two security guards grabbed his arms and escorted him out to the arena.
Just then, Aaron was called to get ready. He was about to go on in a few minutes. Aaron had joined our tour a few days before because he was going to finish it as our opening act. It was great for Nicky, who missed his family. The worst part was that Aaron was invading our bus. The other guys loved him, but he occasionally got on Kevin's and my nerves. We loved the boy, though.
The rest of us hadn't even begun to warm up very much. Our makeup and hair was all ready, our costumes were on. We just needed to stretch. The boys had a surprise for their audience that night, since it was Halloween. We all began to find spots in the small area backstage and stretch while we talked. Howie pulled aside Q and had him help stretch. ("Cuz you're a wimp!" as Nef liked to tease him.) We girls were all doing our sophisticated stretches, while the guys were doing whatever stretched their leg muscles. Sometimes, Dani, Kris, Nef, Tae, and I enjoyed teasing the guys about it. We'd be like, "What kinda stretch is that?! Looks like you're trying to pull your arm out of the socket!"
Suddenly, we heard one of the side doors slam open. There stood Nick, his dress torn to shreds, his make-up smeared, his hair quite unruly. We could tell he had been mobbed. Everyone grew silent as we stared at the victim of fan love. Then, we all burst out into loud, hysterical laughter, giving each other high fives while taking pictures of Nick with the polaroid. Nick holded his arms across his chest and began to pout.
"This boy got mobbed like the second girls started noticing him," Tom, the bodyguard, told us. "We had to pull him out of the crowd of girls who had gathered and begun to tear him apart. The boy just barely made it out alive."
"Well buddy boy....Happy Halloween," Brian said, trying not to break out into laughter as he went up and patted his best friend's shoulder.
"Come on come on! You have to get ready for the concert Nick!" Tish called, pulling him by the arm. Nick allowed her to drag him off as we continued stretching and the music could be heard from the stage above. Aaron had begun his opening act and we had an hour to get warmed up, hooked up, lighted, and whatever else. Nick came back to us in his outfit and grabbed a handful of candy for himself. The guys had spent the previous day signing all the Butterfingers, Kit Kats, Peanut Butter Cups, 3 Musketeers, Baby Ruths, and other candy wrappers so the fans could have them as memorabilia from that night's concert. Throughout the entire performance, we were supposed to throw out candy, or at least until it was gone.
It wasn't long before we had to get in line and prepare for our entrance. Aaron came down after his performance and was greeted with a huge hug from his big brother. We did a quick prayer and then headed out to get ready. The music started and we dancers marched onto the stage with our torches. Then and the guys came flying out, throwing candy out as they whizzed through the air. Then "Larger Than Life" came on and we all danced as they sang.
"Hellooooooooooo SPOKANE!!! How y'all doin tonight?" Kevin cried into the mike as we dancers jetted offstage and the guys began to talk to the audience. "A cold day in Washington! What better way to be spending it than here?!" The screaming fans grew louder.
"WELL, to compensate for the candy you're all missing out on, we decided to give y'all a special treat! Oh yeah! And special thanks to those girls who decided to mob our Nicky when he was in the audience earlier!" Just then Nick walked out.
"I heard that!" he exclaimed. The screaming increased. "HEY WASHINGTON! What's up in the house tonight?" Fans went crazy for their blonde angel. "Well, as you can see, I came out alive. Thank goodness! But like Kev said, we've got a little surprise of y'all! We all signed a bunch of candy and we'll be giving them out all night! So you guys should get your candy since you're not trick-or-treating!!" The screaming ceased to die down. Fans quieted though as each of the guys came out to speak to them. Then, the concert went on.
The two hours dragged on, until it was finally time for the last song. Ro Ro, Emo, Sleepy, Reggie, and Swoop all did a little performance while the guys got ready for their big surprise. When the guy dancers were done, we girls accompanied the guys out and were met with screaming and a million camera flashes. Kevin was some scary looking japanese warrior, Nick had on a strange looking mask, Howie was a cowboy, Brian was a clown, and AJ was a disco pimp. We dancers all dressed to match the boys. I was a cowgirl, Dani was a japanese girl, Kris was a clown (we frowed up her red and green hair), Teresa was wearing a mask, and Nef had frowed her hair up as well because she was dressed as a disco queen. We did our last performance in costume with cameras flashing nonstop, then left the stage, our makeup dripping down our faces.
"Twwoooo thousand zero zero, party's over and we're out of time. So tonight we're gunna party like it's nineteen ninety nine!" Sleepy, Reg, Kris, and Nef were all singing as we made our way backstage. We all began to dance and Tae and Nef began this rhythmic stomping routine. Another concert over and done with and we were seriously partying hard. It wouldn't be long before we were in California and I would get to see my family. Brian and Kevin had relatives in the same town that my parents lived in so they were planning on making a special trip to go visit their aunt.
"Hey AJ, where'dja get that hat?" I asked Bone.
"Some fan gave it to me!" he exclaimed.
"Dude if I were a fan who had a funky hat like that, I sure as hell wouldn't give it to you!!!" I cried.
"Yeah well what can I say? They love me!" he joked.
"Yeah but sometimes, it's just crazy obsession with the will to do anything for the man she will marry," I pointed out.
"No wait. Gilli, you're wrong. It's all the time!" Danielle corrected me. We laughed. Then we noticed Nick over to the side, holding his cell phone to his ear.
"Hey baby!" he said into it. "Miss ya! Uh huh! Yeah. We'll be home in two months. I promise. How's that modeling going? Great! You're not going to Europe are you? Good! I don't want my girl gone when I come home! Uh huh. How are my doggies? WHAT?! You gotta be kidding me! Oh no! What did you do with him? Okay. Ah man! My poor puppy! Thanks for letting me know hun."
"AMYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Amanda hollered. She missed her friend dreadfully.
"Heh. Yeah that's Manda. You wanna talk to her? Oh okay. Yeah I miss you so much sweetie. Talk to you later hun. Love ya! Heheh okay. Bye honey," Nick said before disconnecting his long distance call to Amy. Everyone looked at him. "Rocky was found on the side of the road. I guess he got hit by a car or something."
"Is he alright?" Teresa wanted to know.
"No. He was dead when she found him. He must've gotten out somehow," Nick informed us.
"Ah Nicky. I'm so sorry!" Dani replied. Nick smiled at her. Aaron gasped.
"Not ROCKY!! That was the coolest dog!" Aaron cried out.
"Ah well it's okay. I don't think that puppy could handle my always being gone, anyways," he sighed.
"Dude I gotta call Emily!" AJ suddenly realized. He ran down the hall and into the boys' dressing room, leaving us briefly. He came back out to us, holding Howie's cell. "D, some girl named Paula is on the phone for you." My eyes widened. My sis!
"Hello?" Howie answered his phone. "Oh hi Paula! Haven't seen you in awhile! How've you been? Good. Yeah we just got done with a concert a few minutes ago. Yeah I'm doing good too. What? Oh AJ? AJ's doing fine." My smile faded a little bit. Not the right Paula. "You wanna talk to Steph?! Uh okay. Hold on." He turned to me with his thumb over the receiver. "Paula--the one I knew from high school--wants to talk to you." I took the phone.
"Hello?" I said.
"Hey Steph! How are you?" a perky voice wanted to know.
"Pretty good! Sorry if my breathing is a little heavy. Like D said, we just finished the concert a few minutes ago so we're a bit tired," I explained.
"Oh well then I'm glad I didn't call an hour ago!" she joked.
"Yeah tell me about it!" I giggled. She was pretty cool! I did not have the slightest clue why I was so jealous of her when she and Howie were dating.
"So is Howie still around?" she asked.
"Uh yeah everyone is," I replied, a little confused.
"Can you, ya know, leave the room? I wanna ask you a question," she lowered her voice, as if they would be able to hear her. I said I would, and walked toward my dressing room. Once I was away from the rest of the group, I let Paula know, and she continued. "Okay. I want to get something for Howie for Christmas. Ya know, become friends with him again. Do you have a problem with that?"
"No! Not at all! What did you want to get him?" I was curious to know.
"Well I wasn't sure yet but I was thinking maybe a puppy," Paula told me. I was taken aback.
"A dog? He won't have time to care for a dog, Paula! And he wouldn't expect his parents to take care of it!" I exclaimed.
"That's what I was concerned about. Do you have any ideas?" My mind drew a blank. Then I chuckled a bit.
"At the moment I don't even know what I'm gunna get him!" I cried. Paula laughed.
"Knowing the boy, he'd probably prefer that you donate to Caroline's Lupus Foundation than spend money on him. But I really don't have the slightest clue." Then I thought.
"Maybe you could get him a new watch or guitar or something. He hasn't gotten either of those lately. I dunno what I'm going to get him but if you decide to get him one of those things, then let me know so I don't okay?" I explained.
"Yeah no problem! Thanks girl!" she cried.
"I'll talk to you later!"
"Bye!" I cried intot he phone.
"Bye!" she concluded before hanging up. Just then, Howie walked in. He was followed by all the dancers who wanted their room back.
"What was that all about?" he wanted to know.
"She wasn't giving you any death threats was she?" I laughed.
"No Howie. She's pretty sweet. We were just talking and I needed to go somewhere quieter so I could talk to her," I made up an excuse.
"Okay. Would it be okay if I got my phone back? I was gunna call Mom," he asked. I handed the cell back to Howie and told him to tell everyone hi for me as he walked out of the room.
Emo was on a couch, sleeping.
"Wait. Sleepy, isn't that your job?" Dani teased him. Sleepy gave her a goofy looking smirk.
"Hey guys look! Someone from the audience gave a guard a bag full of grape blow-ups for me!" Kris exclaimed, holding up her prize.
"Aw that's so sweet! I wish someone would give me something!" Teresa sighed. Swoop came wandering in, and grabbed one of our many huge jugs of water and began to guzzle it down. We continued to clean things up, gathering curling irons and make-up kits and hats.
"Can't wait to get home!" I cried.
"Me neither," Nef agreed. She was beginning to miss her sister.
"Home is where the family is. And I got mine right here!" Ro Ro joked, wrapping his arms around his brothers' necks. Swoop and Sleepy gave him strange looks.
"Uh yeah watch out there before we disinherit you," Sleepy sarcastically retorted. We threw all of our accessories into duffle bags and finished cleaning up our messes. (We were really good at making those.) One by one, each dancer disappeared out of the room, making sure he or she had his or her outfits in hand.
As I was wandering around the hallway, I ended up walking extremely slow behind Amanda and Brian, who were sauntering down the way with their arms across each other's back. I tapped Brian on the shoulder. He turned his head around and smiled sleepily.
"Hey Gilli! Sorry we're kinda takin up the hallway here," Brock apologized. Amanda turned around and said hi to me.
"Oh I don't mind Brock. Just don't, ya know, back up heavy traffic, which should be coming up here in a few. Uh, where's Tyk?" I wondered.
"Oh he's on the bus. I stuck him on the bus earlier. There was absolutely no way I was going to carry that dog around all night! He is going to have to be unspoiled!!" Amanda joked. I laughed in response.
"Yeah Bri, I really don't understand why you didn't just let Leighanne have him," I sighed.
"It was a long custody battle, but they decided she was an unfit mother," he goofed around. Amanda and I giggled. "Besides, I think Manda would make a much better one!" Amanda stopped and looked at Brian. "I meant for the dog!" he clarified. She shook her head and continued walking.
"Is Muchacho with him right now?" I wanted to make sure.
"Yeah they have the run of the bus at the moment. I'll bet those dogs are really enjoying it," B-Rok informed me. Then suddenly he remember something. "OH! Leighanne called today. She wanted to tell me that her movie was coming out soon and she was going to be in LA for the premiere around the time that we are going to be in Calfornia." Amanda gave him another look.
"Why is it that all your old girlfirends think they need to keep in touch with you guys by calling everytime something interesting happens?!" I cried.
"Steph, Leighanne and I are still friends. She still has free reign to call whenever she wants and talk to me. We never stopped talking. We just broke up. I'm still friends with old girlfriends," Brock explained.
"And Steph, really, I don't care that he talks to Leighanne. I've met her once and I really don't think there will be a problem with Brian falling in love with her all over again or anything like that," Manda softly told me.
"I dunno Brock. I guess I'm just wary about everything. I mean I have seen all of you have your share of girlfriends and heartbreaks and it bugs me how you let someone break your heart and then allow them to continue contacting you when you have a new girlfriend. And plus, you guys have had a few relationships where your current girlfriend broke up with you because you were always talking to your ex-girlfriend," I decided.
We walked past one of the dressing rooms and I heard my name being called. Howie was sitting in the room with the cell to his ear.
"Gilli! It's Claudia! She says hi!" he exclaimed excitedly. I ran into the room and walked over to his side.
"HI CLAUDIA!!" I hollered. She and I had become great friends. Claudia was one of Howie's attempts-at-a-relationship. It didn't work because she lived in Canada, but she and D still remained really close friends and whenever he wanted to go somewhere that I couldn't go, he took her. She and I grew on each other and became just as close. Howie continued talking to Claudia, then disconnected the call.
"Claudia wanted to say hi. I called Mom. She and Dad and everyone else are doing fine. John said your dog is doing fine. He really likes Oreo Thingy. Polly says hi. Chelsea said that everyone at my message board is begging me to come online and post messages to them," D informed me. "The girls I guess are posting some really interesting posts concerning you."
"Ooo! Can I borrow your laptop one day and go there? I wanna check out that board and post a few messages!!" I exclaimed excitedly.
"I'll call Steve and make sure he gives you a special account, okay?" he replied.
"Alright! Listen hun, I better run my outfits out to the rack so they don't get left behind. Then, I'm going to hit the showers here, so I'll meet up with you in the bus later okay? Let me know when Steve sets up that special account so I can go on and make friends with all your lady fans," I said, getting ready to leave the room.
"Hey Steph, should I shave my goatee or not?" Howie randomly asked.
"Don't. I like the stubble! It's fun to rub your chin!" I joked. "Besides, you look like you're five when you don't have it!" Howie laughed.
"Okay then. I guess the goatee stays!" he called as I walked out of the room. I threw my arms up over my head in victory, leaving a laughing Howard Dorough in the room behind me.