"I cannot believe we are finally coming home!!!" Danielle sighed as she and Amanda duked it out on the Sega, trying hard to tear each other to pieces, while Kev watched on.
"Hoooommmmeeee..." Nick sang.
"Is where the heart is..." Brian finished for him. Nick shot his head over to Brock and gave him a funny look. "On the range? Homeward Bound?" Nick laughed as Bri joked around with him. "Yeah you're right Nick. Of course, don't think we'll be getting too far away from the fans...always seem to find our houses...it's almost nicer to be on the road than at home because we aren't stalked."
"Brian...my goodness. I swear, people would think you were a pessimist! Listen to yourself talk! MAN!!!" Amanda called. Brian chuckled, as he grabbed his passing dog. I was sitting in the front room, playing paper triangle football with D. Nicky sat nearby, watching us like a hawk, and waiting for the right timing to snatch the paper triangle out of the air with an evil laugh. Howie and I both glared at our thief.
"Hey! Give that back, fool!" Howie cried.
"No! It's mine now! Make another one!" Nick argued back.
"I don't think so! Give it back!" D continued to fight, playfully.
"No way, man. It's mine. You can't have it," Nicky snapped.
"You're goin' down man. Your Sega days are over!" Howie shot back. They gave each other silly looks of death, then ended up laughing, hysterically. I rolled my eyes.
"You two are completely hopeless," I sighed, shaking my head. I went to the back room to look for my dog, grabbing one of his toys with me on the way. I brought Chachi into the front room and got him hooked on a vicious game of tug of war. Suddenly, Jeff began to slow down the bus.
"We're home guys!" he called. Everyone shot their glances out the window to
see the big tour bus pulling into the parking lot, which was full of tour buses and cars, and a few fans. Somehow, they always managed to find out where we'd be. It was almost a pain in the butt, knowing that wherever we'd go, we'd have a pretty big following. But we had to get used to it. The bus stopped and i quickly hopped out of it.
"AIRRRR!!!" I cried. Kristin and Ro were the first ones off their buses. With a chaine and jete, she bounded over to land in front of me.
"Hey Gill. So, ya wanna do something tonight?" she asked.
"HA! Girl not with you driving. That's a nightmare within itself!!" I laughed. Ro came up behind her to stand beside me, placing his arm across my shoulder.
"Now Red. We all know that one must have his will written out before he even gets into a car where you are in the driver's seat! Lord, you and your driving skills. Who was the psycho that let you pass the test?" he teased.
"Hey guys! I am so a good driver! I just...like to speed things up a little!" Kris tried to back herself up.
"Yeah hun then why are you dancing? You should be in the Indy 500!" Niki exclaimed, climbing out of the bus.
"Yeah. In forty years," I said, then sang out "It's the little old lady from Pasadena!!!"
"Go Granny Go Granny Go Granny Go!" J joined in. We all laughed a bit more.
"Nah I just wanna go home and see my new dog," I sighed. "Maybe another day, Kris. Once we've had our rest!" She smiled, then dashed back onto the bus to go get her things. The amount of fans grew by the dozens as the minutes grew longer. Cars drove up and friends came by to pick us all up, one by one. We could have opted to have limos take us back to our houses, but we had so much stuff that there surely wouldn't be enough room to put everything in them.
John came by to pick D and me up. We loaded our suitcases, clothes, and toys
into the car trunk and packed ourselves into the car, locking the doors so that fans wouldn't be able to open them as we drove by. Screaming grew louder as each car, equipped with a member, or two, or three, or four, of the Backstreet Crew drove through the gates. We waved at the flashing cameras and smiled at devoted fans, causing them to scream even more and wave back frantically.
"You know, it may be a pain in the butt sometimes, but there really is something about seeing people so pleased to see you," Howie replied, waving at some fans as we drove by. "Making people happy is the best feeling in the world."
"I know. It's amazing that, throughout the tour, fans have actually begun to accept me!" I cried.
"Tell me about it! You dancers are all famous now!" D joked.
"No kidding! I never thought people would ask for my autograph!!"
"Oh Gill, you knew you would be giving out autographs quite a long time ago. You practiced your signature when you were eight!!" John told me.
"Yeah but that was for signing my books! I never thought I'd be signing autographs because I'm a backup dancer for the Backstreet Boys!!" I explained.
"Hey Steph, just please don't write a tell-all book like Sam's!" Howie pleaded. "Your's would be way more revealing than I would ever hope to imagine!" I giggled.
"Okay okay I won't. But forgive me if I want to write a novel about my life with you guys!" I teased.
"Yeah yeah yeah. Just don't embarrass me!"
"Hey Steph your dog thinks I'm her owner," John changed the subject. I looked at him and laughed even more.
"Oh boy. That sounds so exciting...so she won't eat me up if I try to get into my house will she?" I wanted to know.
"Nah. She's too gentle. A few fans came by the other day while I was there and she just went right up to them and began to lick them clean!" John informed me.
"Awwww!" I cried. "I can't wait to get home to see her!"
The wait wasn't long, as we soon drove up to my house and parked in the driveway. There were a few things sitting on my front porch, gifts from fans that were, surprisingly, for me, not Howie. I received a few funky looking hats and letters saying how awesome it is that I'm onstage and I'm dating one of the Backstreet Boys.
"There's more in the house," John told me as I unlocked the door, turned off the alarm, and stepped inside. I let Chachi down, who went straight to his favorite spot on the couch and settled down for a nap. The guys walked in, carrying my things, as I turned on the lights and took a look around.
"Dang I miss this place!" I exclaimed.
"Hey hun, we're gunna have to move the pool table into the hat room to make room for your car."
"Yeah I know. We can do that tomorrow or something," Howie said, setting one of my bags on a chair in the kitchen. John overheard us and walked over, his brow wrinkled with confusion.
"Uh....did I miss something?" he asked.
"You didn't tell 'im?" I cried.
"Oh I told Mom but I don't think she told John," D explained. He turned to John. "I'm moving out of the house."
"And I thought the day would never come," John teased. "You need any help?"
"Well the process will take a few days, but we were planning on starting it today," Howie replied.
"Cool. Well then let's get everything out of the car and then be on our way back home so we can get your stuff and bring it over," John declared.
"Take your time. I have to make room for everything over here," I told them, opening the door so Oreo could come in. She walked over and began covering me with her slobbery tongue, making me laugh. The brother said bye, then left.
It was around two in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time. I turned on the radio and found the oldies station, playing "Unchained Melody." I smiled to myself and began to sing my heart out. I walked throughout the house, picking things up and moving them. In my bathroom, I put things away, but saved space for Howie's stuff. I threw my clothes in the washing machine, then pushed aside my dressers and chair so that we could make room for his. In the hat room, I folded up the cot and rolled it out to the garage, then began to roll the pool table around the house. The sliding glass doors were wide enough for the pool table to come in, thank goodness. The dogs sat and watched as I struggled to bring the heavy thing in through the back door. Finally, I gave up and left it in the backyard, then went into my garage to get the wooden cue rack that held the cue sticks, balls, chalk, and the plastic triangular rack, along with some nails and a hammer. In the hat room. I cleared away a spot on the wall and hammer a few nails into it so I could hang the cue rack. Then I went into the front room and dug out my new cue stick and put it in its new place.
Next, I moved my cd rack aside, so D could put his beside it, and fed the dogs, then sat down to sift through my piles of mail. There were piles of it. So much to look through. I knew I would have a great time attempting to read all the crap I had received, all the magazines, all the bills, all the advertisements. It was nuts. So, I pulled the trash can up beside me and sorted all the junk mail out. I actually received quite a few letters. Once that was done, I checked my answering machine, which had reached its max capacity.
"Hey babe...I just called to say I love you. I just called to saaay how much I care.
I just called to say I loooooove yoooooooou. And I mean it from the bottom of myyy heart." I smiled as Howie's voice filled the room. There was always something I had loved about that boy. He was too much for me. Wayyy too much! I laughed to myself, listened to it once more, then deleted all the messages once I had gone through the entire thing, making notes to call certain people. Then, I picked up the phone and began to dial.
Once I had finished making all the calls, I went back into the hat room to check out the pile of presents and letters I had received. There were many different hats in it, some I had, some I had never seen before. Nice letters, mean letters. I began to wonder how in the world fans had gotten hold of my address. My phone calls were screened, so I didn't get any crazy messages, but these gifts were too much! I had to laugh, reading a few of the letters. One of the letters was from a girl who was not much younger than myself, who talked about how much she loved us dancers and how inspiring we were to her. She left her address and personal information, which I appreciated but objected to, due to safety reasons.
I sat in the middle of my hat room, in the midst of fan mail, when in walked Howie, adorned with bags.
"Hey babe, what'cha doin?" he asked. I turned around and looked up at D.
"Goin through my fan mail," I told him, holding up a letter I was reading.
"You have fan mail? Never thought the day would come," he laughed to himself, walking toward my room. John followed him with a few things. I got up and went after them, then watched as they threw item upon item on my bed.
"Dad's gunna bring the dresser over tomorrow morning. He and John are gunna
load it into the truck and drive it over," Howie explained to me. The guys set his suitcases on the floor, then he took one bag and walked into the bathroom with it.
"That's cool. Hey John, you wanna help me with the pool table? I am trying to roll it into the house," I asked.
"Steph, you'll have to take that thing apart if u wanna get it into the hat room," John told me.
"Man...I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that..." I sighed.
"I can take the legs off if you want me too. Then we can prop it up on its side and slide it into the hat room," John offered.
"Really? That'd be awesome! Lemme go get a screw-driver for ya," I cried, jumping up to go get it.
"Hey D, help me with this thing, will ya?" John called as I disappeared into the garage. I brought the screwdriver back in and warily handed it to John.
"Ummm...don't you think we should have a professional come in and do this?" I wanted to know.
"Nahhh...how do you think we got this sucker in here in the first place?" Howie pointed out.
"I'm callin AJ..." I declared, rushing over to my phone. I speed dialed his number and waited for him to answer it.
"Hey what up Gilli," he said, answering the call after checking his caller ID.
"AJ they are taking apart my pool table! I'm scared!!!" I cried. J laughed. "Will you come over to supervise them so they don't screw anything up?"
"HEY!" John and Howie both exclaimed.
"Yeah I'll be down there once I get my clothes going in the washing machine," he decided.
"Thanks Bone!"
"Later, Gills," J said, before hanging up the phone. Within a few minutes, my billiard table was in pieces. Two of its legs were taken off and it was tilted. AJ walked in without bothering to knock and rushed over to where the mess was.
"What are you two doing?!" he exclaimed.
"We're screwing the legs off the pool table," Howie explained, innocently. AJ squeezed the bridge of his nose with annoyance.
"Whatever you do, be careful," AJ sighed. "And turn the thing on it's side. You're not gunna be able to slide it into the room you know. It's too heavy."
"You wanna help us Bone?" Howie asked.
"Yeah I might as well. Get those other two legs unscrewed and we'll attempt to get this thing in. Is the hat room even big enough for the pool table Steph? I just say leave it out here. We can move the dining table if you want," J suggested.
"Not a bad idea. We could move the dining table into the hat room if you want," John added.
"Sure! I like the idea. Let's just rearrange my house now!" I cheerfully cried out, with a sarcastic tone. AJ wrapped his arms around me in a playful hug, squeezing me. I wriggled out and looked at J.
"You met up with Emily yet?"
"Oh yeah. She's gunna move in over break," Bone informed us, transferring his gaze over to the pool table.
"Really? So you guys are getting back together? Bone that's awesome!" I exclaimed. He looked at me over his designer glasses and smiled.
"Done!" Howie declared, cheerfully.
"Alright. Let's get this thing reassembled so we can put it up," AJ ordered. Howie gave him a look of disbelief.
"What? Bone why didn't you tell me. I coulda saved this whole ten minutes of unscrewing the legs if you had just told me!" D cried.
"Sorry, D. I wasn't really thinking..." AJ apologized.
"Ah well it's okay. Come on John, let's get this thing back together," Howie instructed. They began to reassemble the thing while I went into the bedroom to get the cue rack and equipment. Once the boys got everything set up on the opposite side of the large room, we hung up the cue rack and made sure everything was perfect.
"Well guys, I'm leavin', okay?" AJ explained. We said goodbye and thank you, and watched as he walked out the door. Just as he was about to close the front door, J poked his head back in and asked, "Yo D, you movin' in?"
"Yup," Howie answered.
"Cool. 'K, bye guys!" Bone said, before shutting the door behind him.
"Ah well I should be getting home guys. I'll talk to you later 'k?" John finally decided, getting back on his feet.
"Wait John. I'm gunna go with you. I need to pick up my corvette and drive it back here. The garage ready, babe?" D asked me.
"Yup. That's why the pool table is here!" I told him. Howie smiled. He gave me a kiss, then the two Doroughs walked out the door.
"Hey sweetie. You ready to wake up?" I heard his voice talking to me. I woke up, thinking I was hearing the answering machine. My eyes blinked a few times, then I felt a presence beside me on the bed. I turned my head and smiled.
"Ha. Forgot you were there!" I joked.
"Oh really? Yeah I feel loved now!" D sarcastically replied. I wrinkled my nose at him, causing Howie to laugh. "Sure does feel good to be home again." I smiled and
gave him a kiss.
"So what do you want to do today?" I asked.
"Hmmm...well I gotta get up and go get that dresser from my room. And my CD rack. We could finish getting everything situated around here. Finish unpacking. What do you wanna do?" D wanted to know.
"I want you to make this your second home," I declared.
"Sounds like a plan!" Howie smiled. He gave me a wink, then climbed out of bed. I covered my head with the sheets, hoping for a few last minutes of sleep. I didn't get them, for a huge thing jumped onto my bed and began to cover me with slobbery kisses.
"HOWIE!!!" I yelled. "Get this Thing off of me!" He walked out of the bathroom, laughing. D whistled for Oreo, and she responded by getting off the bed. "Little dogs are fine, but not big ones!" As if on cue, in ran Muchacho. "Hey boy! Long time no see, buddy!" Oreo must've felt left out because, before long, she was back on the bed. Not long after, so was Howie. We sat on the bed, laughing hysterically at our little family.
"Aw now don't you look cute, all on the bed!" Howie and I both looked up to find Nick standing in the doorway.
"Where did you come from?" Howie asked.
"Well I do believe that one night, in April of 1979, my parents decided to have a little--" Nicky began to explain.
"THANK YOU NICKY. We don't need to know your entire history!" I interrupted him. Nick smiled and then started up again.
"I came by to see what you guys are all up to today. Everyone is moving into everyone else's house and I don't have anyplace to go. I spent the night at Brian's house, but today Amanda is moving in. People are coming by to check out my house and my family is in LA, as is everything that was once in my house. Amy is in Europe. I don't want to stop by Lisa's at this time in the morning," he explained.
"Well you're welcome to help me move stuff out of my room at my mom and dad's if you want," Howie offered. He was still in his pajamas. I was still under the covers.
"Sounds like a rather unfun plan but what the heck. Y'all want me to make breakfast?" Nick wanted to know.
"Sure, if you would like Nick. You know your way around the house," I told him. He didn't even wait for me to finish before he was on his way into the kitchen.
"Hey hun can you get dressed so that I can?" I said, reminding D that I wanted to get out of bed and get ready to do something. He smiled, winked at me, got up, and disappeared back into the bathroom. A few minutes later, he came back out with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on. I jumped out of bed in my t-shirt and guys pajama bottoms and headed for the bathroom, accidentally slamming the door behind me.
When I got out of the bathroom, I could smell bacon. I walked into the kitchen to find Nick feeding Oreo and Chachi bacon strips. I stared at him, my hands on my hips. He looked at me and gave a short laugh, his face turning red.
"What?! They were hungry!" he confessed. I laughed.
"Oh well. But not too much okay? I don't want to find barfed up bacon pieces on my carpet!" I warned Nick. "If I find any, you're the first person I'm calling!!"
Howie turned on the radio to a dance-y song..."What A Girl Wants." I started to dance my heart out, completely rocking out to the song. I sang it to Howie, imitating what I had seen from the video. He laughed, playing along. The song eventually faded out, and a new song came on. I ignored it and went back over to Nick, who was frying some more bacon for us humans to eat. "Are you gunna fly home in a few days, to spend Christmas with your family?"
"Yeah. Hope to, at least. I'm not sure if they'll have any tickets available," Nick told me.
"Well call, Nick!" Howie exclaimed. I handed Nick the phone and took his spot in front of the stove. Howie walked up behind me.
"Can I kiss the cook?" he asked. I thought for a second, but wasn't even given a chance to answer before I got a kiss on the cheek. "Oh well. I'm not patient." I giggled.
"I need to do some Christmas shopping," I thought. "Howie, and I haven't even figured out what the hell I'm getting you!"
"Man! And I was just about to ask too!" D teased. I wrinkled my nose at him.
"Thank goodness no one flies first class!" Nick cried, walking into the kitchen with the phone.
"Got a ticket?" I asked.
"Yup!" he answer, cheerfully.
"Good! When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow morning," Nicky informed me.
"AWESOME!!!" I exclaimed. "We better get you packed buddy!"
"Hey hey hey! I sense someone wants to get me out of here! If that's the way you feel, I'm leavin!!!" Nick began to walk out the front door. I held the boy back by the pant waist.
"HOLD ON!!!!" I exclaimed.
"Aw Steph, I wanna go to Lisa's for a bit okay?" Nick begged. I sighed.
"FINE. Bye. But you better stop by before you leave tomorrow!" I made him promise. He gave me an adorable smile and agreed to, then gave me a hug and left. "Ah! I am gunna call Kristin. Maybe she will go shopping with me!" I suddenly realized.
"Oh leaving me, eh?" Howie asked, pretending to pout. I literally leapt back over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Oh but I'll be back, baby! No withdrawals okay?" I joked. He winked and gave me a kiss. I broke away from D and grabbed the cordless phone. I dialed up Kris' number and waited for her to pick up the phone.
"Helloooooooooooooooooooo," a voice called into the phone.
"Hey Red, how bout doin' some Christmas shopping on this fine day?" I asked.
"Sure thang Gilli! Anyone else gunna come?" she wanted to know.
"Hmmmmmmmm....anyone you can think of?"
"MEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Howie teased. I covered his mouth with my hand, laughing.
"Ohhhh is the boy feeling left out?" Kristin cooed. "Maybe he and Reggie can have a guy get together while we're gone..." I rolled my eyes.
"Oo! I haven't talked to my friend Bridget in forever!! Lemme call her! I'm sure she'd go!!" I suddenly thought. "I'll see you in about in hour okay Red?"
"Yeah sure!" I hung up with her, then dialed my best friend's number.
"HELLo!" Bridget answered into the phone.
"Hey Reddie!" I exclaimed, excitedly.
"Whoa Steph! Back from the tour already?" Bridget asked.
"Yup. Got back yesterday. Hey I haven't seen you in awhile. Wanna go Christmas shopping with me and one of the other dancers?" I offered.
"Oh sure! I haven't done any shopping yet!!" she told me. I giggled.
"Kay I'll pick you up in an hour okay?" I said to her. Bridget said she'd be ready, and I hung up.
"Okay. We have one hour, then I'm leaving. What do you wanna do?" I turned to Howie, once I had hung up the phone.
"You know what I wanna do..." Howie joked.
"Oh no...you know, you have a sick mind!!" I cried, throwing myself in the big chair. "Let's play pool." He agreed to, and I got back up.
"You still dating that dork of a boy?" Bridget asked, once she climbed into my mustang.
"Yeah...he's movin' in!" I enlightened her.
"You know, you never believed me when I told you that you'd date him one day! Noooooo you were too obsessed with his life to listen to ME!" she teased. "You were so wrapped up in everything he did..."
"Yeah well he's my oldest friend!" I tried to argue. Suddenly, "Show Me the Meaning" hit the radio waves.
"OH GAWD!" Bridget cried, covering her ears. "Not the BACKSTREET BOYS!!!" I turned the volume up and began to go through the motions of the dance. Bridget looked out the window, pretending to be extremely annoyed. When the song was over with, she returned her gaze to me with a grave look. Back in the day when I was in fifth and sixth grade, even before then, I never stopped talking about my best friend's group and how they were going to make it big one day. I had their early photo shoot pictures plastered all over my binder. Bridgie was the one who was forced to listen to all this from day one. She was the one who told me "yeah right they'll never make it!"
"You know, you've annoyed me with the Backstreet Boys from day one. WHY do I want to admit that I actually think SOME of their songs are cool?!" Bridget whined.
"Cuz you are finally starting to like them but you won't admit that," I told her, matter-of-factly.
"Maybe I just got so sick of trying to fight you...You're weakening me Steph..." she decided. I pulled to a halt in front of Kristin's house, then honked the horn numerous times. Kris burst out the front door, slamming behind her. She ran over to the car and climbed in as I held the seat up for her.
"Hey Kris! Red, Reddie. Reddie, Red," I jokingly introduced them. They gave me crazed looks. "Kristin, Bridget. Bridget, Kristin." They said hi to each other, then we took off.
"You know, I don't know why you won't let me drive!!" Kris pouted in the back seat.
"You wanna know why?! Because when you drive, it's like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. That's why!" I cried. Bridget laughed, pulling out a tootsie pop, as Kris pretended to get angry. She and I had way too much energy to even get mad. We were always in pretense, pouting to get attention or yelling to get hugs and apologies. We were a fine team of hyperactive dancers. I looked at my dance friend through the rear view mirror and rolled my eyes, laughing to myself. "Somebody hit her!" I called out.
"I would, but there's nothing to cause permanent damage," Bridget told me. "Okay. I'm sick of this pop shit." She reached for the radio dial and turned it to find her personal favorite station. "Criminal" was playing.
"What I need is a good defense...cuz I'm feeling like a
criminaaaaaaaal...And I need to be redeemed to the one I've sinned against...Because he's all I ever knew of love..." we sang out at the top of our lungs.
"Oh haven't heard this song in forever and two days!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah , we listen to so much pop it makes you want to pull your ear monitors out and go deaf!!" Kristin added. Bridget smiled.
We pulled up to the mall and began to climb out of the car, when my pager went off. Kris handed me her cell phone and I dialed up Swoop.
"Steph, we need you today. I got a call and we have to meet with this Courteney girl to discuss her part of the show. We have to start setting this up and I want you and Ed to help me with choreography," Swoop explained.
"Aw Swoop! I just got to the mall! We were gunna go Christmas shopping!" I whined. I hesitated, then told him, "I'll meet you in twenty minutes. Where are you gunna be?"
"My place. We might go to the studio, too. Courteney and her manager are gunna stop by. And I need you to find me some dancers," Swoop informed me.
" 'Kay Swoop. I'm on Red's cell, though. Talk to you later, bro," I cut our conversation short. I said goodbye, then turned to my friends. "Gotta go to Swoop's. Sorry guys! We'll do it tomorrow, okay?" They smiled, said no prob, and we climbed back into the car and took off.
After dropping the girls off, I went back home to change into some dance clothes. Howie wasn't home, so I assumed he was at his parents', getting stuff he'd need here. After letting Chache out for a bit and grabbing my address book, I left. I pulled up to Swoop's place to find Ed's car and an unfamiliar vehicle in front of it. I hopped out of the car and bounded up to the front door, knocking on it cheerfully. Emo opened it and smiled.
"Long time no see!" I exclaimed. Ed laughed and let me in. We walked into the kitchen, where Swoop was sitting with a young redhead and an older woman. I smiled at them and introduced myself. Courteney, the redhead, was very pretty and looked as if she was in her twenties. I soon found out she was a year younger than myself.
"So we need to discuss the show. Do you have a list of songs in mind?" Swoop asked her. Courteney's manager handed him a paper with songs on it, and a tape. "Okay thanks. Now, how capable are you at dancing, hun?"
"Not capable. I am a klutz!" Courteney exclaimed. We laughed.
"Okay then we'll just have you sing to the audience. It will be easier for you than learning how not to trip over your feet," Swoop decided, giving her a warm smile.
"Groovy," the Canadian chick sighed, nodding her head.
"For you, I'm thinking about four female dancers. If we want to add guys, we'll just put ourselves in okay?" he informed her. Courteney smiled as her manager took notes. Then, my friend turned to me. "Steph can you make us up a quick list of dancers?"
"Sure. May I use your phone though?" I asked. Swoop said I could, so I grabbed the cordless and went into the living room. I sat down on the ground and began to look through my address book. Before long, I came up with a list of names. Lacee, Sheridan, Kristin, Laura, Amy, Rachel, Yvianna, Theresa, and Lindsay. Then, I called each of the girls individually. Lacee: in college. Sheridan: overseas. Kristin: getting married. Laura: acting project. Amy: school. Rachel: new modeling contract. I was left with Yvianna, Theresa, and Lindsay. I knew Theresa and Lindsay from school and Melanie from my studio. I knew those three weren't too busy, so I called them up.
"Hey Theresa?" I called up my friend.
"Steppphhhh!!! What's goin' on girl?" Theresa cried into the phone. "How's the tour goin'?"
"Oh pretty good. We're on break right now. Hey, I'm on a mission right now--"
"Mission...Impossible? Duh - duh - duh - duhnuh - duh - duh - duh - duhnuh--" she joked.
"No...dork! A mission...from GOD," I said sarcastically. Theresa laughed. "No, seriously. We got a new opening act for the concert and she needs dancers. You wanna be one?"
"Steph! I haven't had classes in forever!!!" Theresa told me.
"So!! You are still capable of doing this type of stuff! Come on! No worries!" I begged her. Theresa sighed briefly.
Then she quickly exclaimed, "okay!" I giggled at my friend's reaction.
"Cool! Hey we're gunna need to start rehearsals soon. Like...sometime in the next couple of days," I said.
"Okay hmm...hey guess what?!"
"What?!"
"Remember Jooooeeeeeee...that guy that I started dating two years ago?"
"Yeah. How could I forget him?"
"I'm still going out with him!!!!"
"No way!!"
"Yeah-huh!" I couldn't believe it.
"Hey that's soooo cool! But girly, I gotta go. I have a few more phone calls to make. I'll let you know when we need you okay?" I interrupted Theresa's excitement.
"Okay bye Stephanie!" I said bye, then hung up. Next, I called Lindsay, who was more than ecstatic to be put on the tour with me. I began to dial up 's number, but stopped when I realized I still had Danielle and Shivani. I called Shivani, who was more than willing to be a part of the show. She needed to be back on tour with us. She was having withdrawals, she confessed. Then, I began to dial Dani's number, but stopped myself when I realized she was now in Kevin's house. So I called Kev's.
"Hey Dani, what'cha up to?" I asked.
"Well, actually, Kev and I are just on a break from recording a demo for me," she confided in me.
"NO WAY!!! DANI THAT'S AWESOME!! I can't believe it! FINALLY! What you always wanted! I'm soo happy for you girl!" I cried.
"Hehe thanks Steph. But what did you call for?" Danielle wanted to know.
"Oh I wanted to know if, since Niki's coming back, you wanted to be one of the dancers for the new opening act," I told her. There was a brief silence before I got the final answer.
"Nah Steph. I'd rather be dancing with Kev and plus, I have to really start working on my songs if we're gunna start recording demos. But thanks, sweetie, for thinking of me!" Dani answered.
"Oh no prob. Give Train a hug for me! Bye girly!"
"Bye!" I hung up, then called Yvianna. She was two years younger than me, but was willing to be put on home study for a few months to do the opening act. Yvianna was like a little sister to me. I had nicknamed her Jammer. Jammer was so excited to be on tour that I couldn't even talk to her over the phone. I could tell she was already jumping up and down while I talked to her.
When I walked back into the kitchen, I handed my list to Swoop. Then we listened the Courteney's songs. She had an extremely mature voice for her young age. Her songs were awesome. I told her that. She also seemed extremely nice. A little crazy, but that only made her more perfect for our clan. We discussed the order the songs should appear in and how we should go about with the placement on stage. Courteney gave a lot of wild, outrageous ideas, and I could tell Emo and Swoop were ready to adopt her on the spot.
We spent a few hours, discussing everything with Courteney and her manager, and didn't even get out of the kitchen. Before long, it was around six o' clock and I had to get home. I got up, said goodbye, and walked out the door. So much for Christmas shopping. The rest of my break would be spent working with other dancers on Courteney's opening show.