"Inky Binky Bonky. Daddy had a donkey. Donkey died. Daddy cried. Inky Binky Bonky," Teresa mumbled, staring off in a daze. We all shot our heads in her direction.
"Tae, crack is bad," Dani reminded her.
"Three words: dazed and confused," Nef joked.
"Ya know, that was an awesome movie! We need to get it sometime!" I burst out. Everyone turned their heads to look at me.
"RANDOM!" Kris hollered, while Danielle busted up. Dani loved my randomness. She was probably the only one who did.
"Hey don't you guys remember that one though? Here, put out your fists," Teresa instructed. We all did, stifling laughs. Tae had to demonstrate. The first fist out was mine. Just like children, everyone hooted with laguhter and pointed their fingers at me. I scrunched my nose at them. We continued playing until only Kristin's fist was left. Then Red got up and started dancing, celebrating her victory.
"I cannot believe how many psycho fans follow those boys everywhere! You guys should try shopping with the poor boys! They can't walk from store to store without being hounded! We can't eat at a restaurant without them being found!" I burst out again.
"Oh my gosh you are so right! Kev was just tellin me how they went gambling and older women were just latching onto them like flies!" Dani added.
"So Dani, how's things with your little loverboy? Does he miss his ring yet?" Nef wanted to know. Danielle giggled.
"Yeah the other day he was asking me if I had gotten used to wearing it on my neck yet cuz he felt naked without it on his finger!" she exclaimed. We all laughed.
"Well yeah considering you would probably never take it off if you weren't performing every week!" Red teased. Danielle tossed a pillow at her.
It was one lame, boring day on the dancer bus. Danielle and I had hitched a ride to California with them, leaving Amanda with Nick, Aaron, Howie, and Kevin on the boys' bus. She said she would spend the entire drive there working on her Sega Dreamcast skills. Aaron, being the most skilled at Nintendo thanks to his brother, was going to help her.
"Hey guys, enlighten me. What's up with B-Rok and Amanda?" Teresa wondered.
"Okay. So here's what happened. Amanda and Nick were goofing off and we started noticing a little chemistry between the two of them--" Danielle began. She was interrupted by a chorus of "Ooooooo's. "So I am guessing Brian figured it out. And then Leighanne starts showing up again because she wants to take Brian and Tyk to the premiere of her movie."
"So that made Amanda sooo mad. She told Nick. Brian walked in on them hugging and then got mad and told Leighanne that he would go to the premiere with her. So Nick had to explain the whole situation to Brian. Brian understood and forgave them and then he and Amanda talked about going to the premiere and she said she wanted him to. But they both knew that tabloids would show up of him with Leighanne and question his relationship with Amanda and blah blah blah," I finished for Dani.
"So he went despite of that?" Nefertiti questioned.
"Well yeah. She practically begged him to go!" Danielle exclaimed. "Manda is too sweet. If I were her, I woulda made him call her back up and cancel everything!"
"Dani Dani Dani..." I sighed.
"WHAT?!" she cried.
"Okay so what exactly was said?" Kris wanted to know.
"Okay. So here's what Amanda said. She was sitting in Nick's room, trying to figure out what was going on and praying that Nick could convince Brian when in walks B-Rok himself. He gets down on one knee and said--" Danielle explained. Almost immediately, Nef and Teresa shrieked, thinking it would have something to do with marriage proposals. Dani and I looked at each other and laughed, remembering our reactions from the night before. "So anyways, he says 'Amanda, I'm so sorry about this whole thing. I am willing to forgive you and forget this whole thing happened if you are willing to do the same.' "
"And then Amanda says 'yeah i was hoping you'd say that. But Brian get off your knee. It looks like you're about to propose to me!' " I finished. All five of us cracked up. Once I had gathered my breath again, I continued. "So then she asks him 'are you still going to go to that premiere with Leighanne?' And Brian said 'well I called and told her I would but I can cancel'---"
"But Amanda stops him mid-sentence and tells him 'Brian. Just go. I want you to go and see it with her. It will be like closing the book on your relationship one last time' because that movie was the last permanent thing of them together. So and then she says 'and i do realize that there are going to be plenty of tabloids and stuff about you two getting back together behind my back or something but I can deal with it'. And then Brian said he knew that too and he was just making sure that she was aware of it. They kiss. They make up. Then Brian left this morning with the annoying spoiled dog," Danielle finished up for me.
"Oh gosh!" Nef cried. "One day they--" She was cut off by a ringing phone. I reached over and grabbed it.
"Sassy's Saloon," I mumbled.
"Hey Gilli what's goin on?" a lonely Amanda asked over the cell phone.
"Oh Hey Manda! Nothin!" I cried.
"YEAH! JUST TALKIN BOUT YOUUUUUUUUU!" Danielle hollered. Amanda laughed.
"Yeah yeah yeah. Well I'm positive the Carter Brats are unbeatable at Sega Dreamcast so I've given up," she sighed. I giggled.
"Hey put it on the walkie talkie!" Kris exclaimed. I set down the phone and turn on the walkie talkie part so we could all hear Manda.
"Manda Manda Manda Manda!" Teresa recited, excitedly.
"Hey Tae! What's goin on?" she asked.
"Nothing! Girl where are you? I hear an echo?" Teresa asked.
"Um the boys are being mean so I hid in the bathroom," Amanda confessed.
"Well if you stay long enough those boys will be peeing their pants!" Nef yelled. We all busted up.
"Yeah on second thought I might spend the night in here! They were drinking lots of water earlier..." Manda thought. We were all rolling on the floor with laughter now.
"So Manda...how's it goin on the bus? Ya know...between you and little blondie over there?" Red asked.
"Oh I wish I could adopt Aaron! He's such a cutie!" Amanda cried.
"NO!! Not HIM! His older brother!" Dani corrected Red. I could sense Amanda turning a bright red.
"Uh well..." her voice lowered, causing us to turn the volume way up. "It's weird now. I mean we start to tease each other, then all of a sudden we stop and then we're all cold...it's just weird. I'm trying to not add any problems I guess. But it just seems so strange! I mean...it's gunna take awhile before we get back to normal. And with Brian not here...it's all up to the two of us." All was silent as the four of us hovered over the cell phone.
"Manda, do you want to come join us?" I asked her.
"I dunno. Later or something.....you know, Maybe I'll stay here to work." There was silence. Then she spoke, "No I think I'll do some work. But thanks for offer." We all stared at the cell phone.
"Okay Manda. But you're welcome to hop buses at the next stop!" Nefertiti broke the silence.
"So have you talked to B-Rok?" Danielle changed the subject.
"Uh no not ye--" Amanda began to say, but was cut off by pounding on the door.
"MANDA! B-ROK'S ON THE PHONE!" Nick hollered as he pounded on the bathroom door. "Now will you get out before there's a big wet spot on my jeans?!"
"Amanda. Seriously. The guy's prancing around like he's got ants in his pants..." Howie added. Amanda opened the door a crack and glared up at them from her spot on the floor.
"Will you guys be nice to me?!" she snapped. Aaron joined them as the three boys all gave her puppy dog eyes. We could hear laughter, then Amanda turned her attention back to us.
"Well I gotta go guys. Brian's obviously waiting to talk to me and Nick needs to use the pot-tay. Talk to you later okay?" We said goodbye and hung up.
"Oooo so what do you think is up with Manda and Brock?" Nef the gossiper wanted to know the second I turned off the phone. Everyone grabbed pillows and we all simultaneously tossed them at Nef. "WHAT?!?!?!"
"Another city. Another hotel..." Howie sighed, throwing a backpack onto his bed.
"Who's ready to go shopping?!" I cried. I heard AJ, Amanda, Danielle, and Aaron all yell I am's from down the hall.
"You go. I'm sleepin!" Howie exclaimed, throwing himself on our bed. I threw my jacket on him, grabbed a key card and my hat, and said goodbye before shutting the door to our room.
"K guys!!" I hollered. Aaron ran down the hall with a baseball cap on his head and sunglasses in his hand. Amanda was right behind the boy, shaking her head in disgrace.
"More and more like J everyday. Next thing you know he's got five tattoos and a goatee!" she cried. We laughed.
"WORD to your mother!" Aaron said, tryin to sound all tough.
"What up Homie G?" AJ replied, comin up to us.
"Isn't it brother?" Amanda whispered into my ear. I laughed.
"Who knows?!" I sighed, shrugging. Just then, Danielle walked up. "You two need hats?" I double-checked before we headed for the elevator. They said they were fine and Amanda pulled out Brian's Kentucky K hat and popped it on her head.
"Let's be on our merry way!" I declared before we made for the elevator.
Once we hit the streets, the boys tried their best to stay incognito. AJ had put on a long sleeved shirt and placed his cap low over his eyes. AC tucked his blonde locks into his hat. Amanda, Danielle and I tried to look normal, so we wouldn't turn a lot of heads. I had to bring Chachi with me, even though we knew we couldn't get into many stores with him. He needed the exercise, however. So I stuck him in a backpack whenever we went into stores. AJ and I made a special stop at Wild Stylz and Amanda and Danielle had to go into stores and check out dresses. Aaron and AJ would get a little crazy every so often, sometimes frightening us a great deal. AJ would hold up a dress and say "is it me? Is it really me?" and Aaron would look at him and say "nah. You need it in a green."
"Where to next?" Amanda asked as we stood on Rodeo Drive, looking at all the shops around us. Each of us had a few bags on tow.
"ICE CREAM!!" Aaron yelled. We all laughed.
"Aaron can I adopt you?" Amanda wanted to know, lookin at him. Aaron thought for a second.
"Hmmm...it depends..." he teased. AJ grabbed the boy and began tickling him. Danielle, Amanda, and I all laughed hysterically at those two. Aaron was the official Little Backstreet.
"Ya know who you look like AC?" Dani asked. We all looked at her with curiosity. "Devon Sawa."
"Aw come on Dani. Aren't you hallucinating just a little bit?" I cried, holding up my forefinger and thumb a half inch apart.
"Oh ignore her. Steph doesn't even know who Devon Sawa is," AJ pointed out, playing with my hat.
"WHATEVER! I do SO know who he is!" I hollered.
"Yeah Gilli stop fooling yourself," J muttered. I glared at him.
"Ice cream, guys?" Aaron reminded us.
"Well let's go find one," Amanda sighed. We began our trek down the ritzy streets toward the closest ice cream place.
"Steph...next time be quiet unless you know what you're talkin about..." Danielle whispered to me. I snapped my head to look at her. She saw the expression on my face and began to laugh. A few people began saying hi to AJ and Aaron, sometimes snapping pictures or asking for autographs. Considering the part of LA where we were, not many girls could be found. Parents who were devoted to their kids would come up to us. And come on, this was LA. Famous people walked the streets on a daily basis. Nobody cared anymore.
We finally found our ice cream place and Bone bought us all ice cream cones.
"So AC, you're happy, now tell me the secret to winning that game. How do you and your brother do it?" Amanda asked him. Aaron gave her an unbearably funny look and thought for a second. Then he signaled for her to lean close to him. She did and he stood on relevee to whisper into her ear.
"Know how to play," he confided in her. Amanda looked over at him, placing her free hand on her hip. Aaron burst into giggles.
"WELL?! You wanted to know how to win!" Amanda rolled her eyes and continued licking her ice cream cone. I shoveled mine down quickly and was done by the time everyone else was just about halfway through with theirs.
"Come on let's get going before people start crowding around," AJ suggested. He and Aaron had already begun to attract a bit of a crowd, happily signing autographs for anyone who asked. We all began to walk away from the ice cream stand and towards the busy streets once more.
"Where to next, guys?" Dani wanted to know.
"I'm tired of carrying all these bags..." Aaron began to whine. "Let's go back. We've been shopping for a long time."
"Wait. There's one last store I want to go to," AJ declared.
"Where J?" I asked.
"I think it's just around the block. You'll love it Steph!" he exclaimed. I laughed. Knowing Bone, he was probably right. He speedwalked us over to the shop, which looked completely eccentric. Something AJ and I loved. We headed straight for it.
"Here we go again..." Amanda sighed.
"Hey Bone look at these shoes!" Danielle cried, holding up a pair of boots that looked like they had been previously owned by one of the Spice Girls.
"Oh man those are tight!" AJ joked. He examined them, then sighed. "MAN! They don't have them in my size!"
"Bummer," we all said, pretending to be disappointed. Almost immediately, AJ and I began looking for hats. Amanda came up from behind and placed one on Bone's bleached head. He turned around and looked at her strangely, attempting to feel the thing on his head. AJ snatched it off the top of his head and took another glance at it before laughing. It was some silly looking feathered hat. AJ immediately put it back on, then grabbed a feather boa and wrapped it around his shoulders.
"Now how about that night on the town, dahhhling?" he joked. Danielle walked up with a heavy jacket and a big zoot suit type hat and linked arms with AJ.
"Whatever you wish, my love," she told him. We all laughed hysterically. AJ took the boa and hat off, then set them back in their rightful places. Dani did the same. Suddenly, we noticed we had lost Aaron. AJ threw his hands up. The three of us girls sighed. Of course we would lose Aaron. He had no patience for anything.
"Where's Aaron?" Amanda asked.
"Who knows. I'll look over in the back of the store. Steph you look over there by the boys clothes. Amanda can check over by the accessories and Danielle you can look over there okay?" AJ decided. We split up and, before long, "I found 'im" could be heard from the back of the building. We all ran over to where AJ was and found Aaron playing on a videogame.
"AC is there like a magnet on your head? Whenever you walk near a videogame some censor goes off and you just are drawn to play the game?" I cried.
"NO!" he exclaimed. "Actually, it's microchip. I've been programmed since birth!" We all rolled our eyes.
"Don't tell me your brother has one, too?!" Amanda sarcastically replied.
"No, actually he got a transplant when he was six," Aaron teased. "Why do you think he never cuts his hair short?" All of us were rolling with laughter by now. I had tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Come on...let's get goin. Don't wanna mess around with you anymore, get you lost again..." AJ mumbled. Dani grabbed Aaron's shirt collar and drug him out of the store.
We were walking down the street, heading toward the hotel we were staying at, when we spotted a familiar site.
Brian and Leighanne walking down the street with Tyk and their other dog that Leighanne had taken with her, Lil' Leigh, on leashes. Amanda stopped in her tracks. We slowed down and watched her carefully. Brian handed Leighanne her bags and ran over to Amanda, then wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. AJ and I both said hi to Leighanne, who was walking towards us with the dog and her shopping bags.
"So what are you guys up to today?" Leighanne wanted to know. She gave Aaron a big smile, causing him to blush.
"Just shopping. You two must be doing the same thing!" Danielle answered, smugly. She did not like Leighanne.
"Yeah tonight's the big party. We just had a few small cast parties the past couple of days and now we're shopping for clothes to wear tonight. You guys just out and about?" Leighanne inquired, eyeing her ex-boyfriend and his current girlfriend cautiously.
"Yeah you know us. We're just checkin out the stores. Gotta go look at the new styles and shit," AJ replied. Leighanne laughed. Then we looked back at Brian. "Hey B-Rok! Did you miss us while you were gone?" Brock and Amanda were conversing with each other silently, when they were interrupted. Brian's head shot up, quite alert, and he smiled at us.
"Hey Bone. Yeah it's kinda weird having a break without you guys but it's nice being away from all the screaming fans who don't know that I'm not with you. Leighanne and I have just been catching up on each other's lives. It's been a fun few days. I'll be back with you guys tomorrow, for sure," B-Rok explained to us. Leighanne took a glance at her watch.
"But we really should get going. We have to be ready in two hours, hun," she reminded him. It was around 1:00 in the afternoon. They would need to be leaving soon.
"You're right Leigh. Hey guys it was great running into you," Brian began his farewell. He turned to Amanda, who had walked up behind him. Brian gave her a kiss and smiled at his girlfriend. "Miss you baby." Amanda returned the smile. To her, it was a sure sign that she had nothing to worry about. Leighanne, Brian, Lil' Leigh, and Tyk soon were off, walking down the street to call a cab.
"Remind me why I don't like Leighanne?" Danielle wanted to know, as soon as they were out of earshot.
"Because she used to date my boyfriend," Amanda joked. We all responded with laughter.
"AJ, why didn't I like her?" I was curious to know.
"I dunno. You were the one who was jealous of all our girlfriends, Steph," J pointed out. I giggled.
"Well J, I was, wasn't I?" I sighed. I had never realized that before. All of a sudden, Dani snatched my hat off my head and began to take off.
"Come on! let's go back!" I scrunched my nose at Danielle and attempted to grab it out of her hands. She tossed it back to me. I heard her whisper "wimp" under her breath and jokingly shoved her. Amanda still remained a tad on the quiet side. AJ stopped until she was directly beside him and wrapped his arm around her shoulder in a hug.
"Aw Manda...come on you are seriously lagging, woman. Cheer up!" he told her. Amanda laughed lightly. Then Aaron stepped up to the other side of her and gave her a hug.
"I love you Sis," he teased. Amanda mussed up his hair, laughing harder.
"I love you too, Bro," Manda responded back.
"Here we come...walkin down the street..." I began to sing. Danielle caught on quickly and joined. "We get the funniest looks from...everyone we meet...."
"HEY HEY WE'RE THE MONKEES!" Amanda, AJ, Danielle, and I all hollered at the top of our lungs. "People say we monkey around! But we're too busy singin...to put anybody down..." I started all of them doing the Monkee walk as we helped get Aaron caught on. Being so young, the boy was a little lost over a song that even I was too young for, though I still knew it. Everyone began to give us the funniest looks as we took up the sidewalk, walking the "Monkee" way.
"Oh my god we're back again!" I shouted as soon as the doors to the elevator opened. Dennis and Mindi were walking by, talking.
"Hi Gilli," Dennis greeted me. I laughed.
"Hey Denny!" I answered back.
"Hey Mindi," AJ greeted. They smiled and continued their conversation, walking around to the soda machine.
"AJ, I think you and Mindi will have a thang goin on one of these days..." Dani thought.
"WHAT?!" Bone cried.
"Oh come on. Look at you two. You eat off each other so easily!" she pointed out. "All you ever do is flirt with each other!" We all looked at Dani and began to laugh.
"Dani...give it up....it's not gunna happen," Amanda sighed. Danielle gave her an angered look before cracking a smile.
"Yeah well don't say I didn't warn ya if it does happen!!!" she called as we all split to go into our separate rooms.
"Hey D," I said as I walked into my room.
"Hey sweetie," I heard a feminine voice answer, instead. My heart nearly jumped to my throat, frightening the hell out of me. I saw where the voice was coming from and...
"PAULA!!!" I screeched, throughing my arms around the woman who had adopted me as her sister. I looked over her shoulder and saw a smiling Howie looking back at me. I gave him a huge grin, which he returned with a wink.
"So girly what are you doin' here?" I asked Paula.
"Oh I just got sent down to do a review on the premiere of that new indie film...Olive Juice, I think it's called," she informed me. Paula was the entertainment journalist for the New York Times, which explained why she was always appearing at all the special events we went to. NY Times could always afford to send her anywhere they needed to.
"So are you stakin out in this hotel?" I wanted to know.
"Yeah! I ran into Bubba and Kevin downstairs on the elevator. The Times set me up in a suite down the hall!" my sis told me excitedly.
"AW YEAH! So you wanna come hang out backstage at the concert in a few nights?" I asked.
"Why you know I'd love to see my little sister perform!" Paula replied. I giggled, shyly.
"This is like so perfect! How did you find D, though?" I was curious.
"Oh Kevin pointed me in the direction of your room and I just followed."
"Oh that is sooo awesome!" I couldn't get over the excitement. Finally, Howie decided to make it known that he was still in the room.
"Hey how bout the three of us go down to the cafe downstairs and get something to eat for lunch," he suggested. "My treat."
"Great idea, D!" I exclaimed. I threw my bags on the bed, grabbed one of my new hats to stick on my head, then lead the two out of our room.
"So where'dja find this one, Gill?" Howie asked me, speaking of my new baseball cap. It was a solid black, fitted baseball cap with a smiley face on the back.
"Ummm I think Wild Stylz. J and I had to make a special trip down there. We didn't go into any really nice stores. Mostly the grunge and thrift places. Ya know, where Bone and I are found most of the time?" I informed him. He chuckled. When AJ and I were together, the last place we would go shopping was a ritzy place. "However, why we were on Rodeo today was really unclear. Did they tell you we ran into Leighanne and Brian?"
"No! What were they up to?" he asked
"Shopping for tonight. Had Tyk and that other chihuahua out with them too," I told D. Then I turned to Paula. "Brian is not cheating on his girlfriend, nor did he break up with her! Just had to clarify that for when you see them tonight." Paula shook her head, then stopped in her tracks as we neared the elevator.
"Shit! I gotta get ready for the premiere! Sorry guys, but can we do this little date some other time? I completely forgot what today was!" Paula cried. We looked at her and smiled.
"Whenever you want, you know the room number," Howie said. Paula gave me a hug, waved bye to D, and raced back to her hotel room. Howie D turned to me. "So, ya still wanna go to the cafe?" I shrugged.
"Why not?" The elevator dinged and the doors opened. We walked in and allowed them to close on us. We were taking the back elevator, which was typical, for we never wanted to get caught with screaming fans or have to wait for every stop.
We reached the lobby and walked out, half expecting screaming to be heard through the doors. The girls had all left, seeing we were not going to be leaving. A few were still camping out in the front of the hotel, but for the most part the police had broken up the barricade of fans who blocked the entrance to the hotel.
Howie and I walked into the cafe, a small sectioned off part of the lobby, and sat down at a small round table to order a few drinks. Not two minutes later, an teenage girl who looked to be about my age, walked over from her spot at the bar.
"Howie?" He looked up in response to hearing his name, and smiled at the girl. "Hi my name is Angela," she politely introduced herself. Howie got up and shook her hand.
"Please, sit down," he offered. She did, blushing a little bit. "Did you want something to drink?"
"Oh no I have been sitting at the bar for a while. I've had plenty," she declined his offer.
"Well what brings you here today? Are you staying in the hotel?"
"Yeah, actually. My parents are here for a business convention and I heard that you guys were here and thought I'd take my chances," Angela explained. She seemed a bit shy, but really nice. I remained quiet, deciding not to say anything since I wasn't really even the topic of interest at the table. I was used to this anyways. "You have a concert in a few days don't you?"
"Yeah in two actually. Are you going?" Howie asked.
"No, we live in Michigan and we're leaving to fly back home tomorrow. I didn't get to go to your concert at home either. My parents' jobs really conflict with virtually everything," Angela sighed.
"Hey well I'm sorry. If you want, Steph and I could perform a bit of it for ya right here," D joked. Angela's face lit up a bit as she laughed.
"No that's quite alright. I don't want to make a scene," she replied. Just then, two people walked up to the table. "Oh hi Mom. Hi Dad." Howie got up again to say hi and introduce himself. He shook her parents' hands.
"Well Angela we were going to go out to dinner. Are you going to come?" Angela's dad wanted to know. Angela sighed, but got up with out hesitating.
"Howie can I get your autograph?" she asked quickly. Howie obliged and they found a pen and a napkin, then he signed and gave it back to her. Angela smiled and thanked him, shaking his hand again and saying goodbye to me before her parents led her toward the front glass doors, where their vehicle was waiting.
"Well she was a sweet girl," Howie said to me as we finished our drinks. He left some money on the table and we got up to go back to our floor. "She had to be about your age Steph."
"Yeah I know. It's kinda nice meeting older fans. They aren't all obsessive or freaky, ya know?" I said.
"I know. They can be really polite. Which is pretty cool," D told me.
"Of course," I agreed. With just a few more encounters with fans, we made our way to the back elevator and our floor.