It was the dress rehearsal before the concert...finally. Howie and Nick had flown home and we had left for our first location, University Park in Pennsylvania. I had left with the dancers an hour or so earlier, so we could get to the venue first. Fatima was going to be there. I missed her much. I actually hadn't seen Nick or Howie since they left before the tour because my bus left that morning as Howie's plane was coming in, and Nick was spending the night at AJ's place. Courteney and the girls were traveling ahead of us and we'd be a little behind them when we got there.
In the arena, we dancers spotted one of the head of management walking around with a walkie talkie and asked her where to go. Before long, we found ourselves talking to her. Her name was Elsa and she herself loved to sing. By getting a job as management for the arena, she knew that her luck would one day pay off if she sung for a band playing.
After the long, grueling rehearsal that lasted about 5 hours, we all went back to our dressing rooms and hung out while the opening acts got ready. Melanie and Niki were asleep on the couch in our dressing room, so Tae, Kris, and I ran into the guys' room to see what was up with Tone, Richmond, Reg, Fly, and Sleepy.
"Oh look what we found!?! A bunch of guys playing video games! Who woulda thought!" Kris sarcastically replied. Teresa and I sat down on Reggie and Richmond's laps and watched Fly and Sleepy play. The boys were busy with a press conference so we couldn't go see them. Amanda, Danielle, Emily, and Amy stopped at the door and looked in on us, seeing what was up.
"What's goin on with you guys?" Dani asked.
"We are just chillin. Wanna go somewhere? Do a little shopping or something? I'm seriously bored here," Teresa declared.
"Well the concert will start in two hours so we can't really do that. We can check out the girls with Courteney if you want. They just got done rehearsing," Emily told us.
"Yeah let's do that. I wanna get to know those girls," Kris suddenly spoke up. We left the guys and headed for Courteney Wall's dressing room. The girls were in the room, vegging out in front of the TV as they glued their eyes to a Veggie Tales video.
"What in Heaven's name are you watching?!" Teresa cried out.
"Veggie Tales. It's a Christian cartoon thing like Looney Tunes. They are absolutely hilarious," I explained. I plopped down on a bean bag in the room and began to watch the cartoon, which happened to be Dave and The Giant Pickle. It had just started. "Can we watch the sing-along after this?"
"Sure!" Lindsay cried. We all sat around and watched the story of David and Goliath. The girls all cracked up. They loved the Veggie Tales. During the movie, I snuck out of the room and went to find the boys. I had heard a bit of commotion just moments before and knew the press conference was over with.
The boys' dressing room was elaborately decorated with curtains and candles and makeup tables and mirrors. There was a small refrigerator in the corner of the room, an ice chest next to it. Two fluffy couches and three bean bag chairs sat scattered around the large room. A TV was set up in another corner, a sega hooked up to it. Nick was in one of the bean bag chairs, playing a game while Brian sat on the edge of a couch, writing on a fat pad of paper. AJ was fixing his hair and Kevin was double checking his outfits to make sure they were all in order and in tact.
"Hey guys," I poked my head in and greeted them.
"Oh hey Gilli. What's goin on? Howie just went looking for you," AJ told me, without even looking up from the image of himself on the mirror. The others said hi and bye, as I left the room again.
"Those two become more and more attached as the days go by," Nick sighed, still staring at the TV screen.
"I miss the old, crazy, spontaneous Psycho Dancer," Brian replied, without taking his eyes off the pad of paper and whatever he was writing.
"You guys seen Steph?" Howie wanted to know, coming back into the room.
"She just took off looking for you, D," Kevin told him.
"Hey D what are you doing to our Gilli?" AJ practically demanded.
"Uh nothin'. Why?"
"Aw man she ain't that fun no more!" Nick cried. Howie laughed. He walked over and messed up Nick's hair, provoking a "hey!" out of him.
"It's not my fault. Maybe she's just becoming....mature," Howie declared.
"Yeah right. Like anyone involved with us could really turn mature on us," Bone joked.
"Could you guys please tell me which was Steph went?" D finally got to the point.
"To the right, Howie," Kevin told his friend.
"Thanks Kev."
"No prob." D left the room, in deep search to find me.
"Howie! There you are! I had been looking for you!" I exclaimed, running into D.
"That's funny cuz I was just looking for you!" Howie replied, kissing me. "Now what is it you needed?"
"I didn't need anything. I was looking for you," I enlightened him. "What did you need?" Howie looked at me as a puzzled expression crossed his face.
"I completely forgot!" he cried. I busted up.
"Good job Dork!" I cried. "You realize this is going to bug me for the rest of the day?"
"But of course, my dear," he grinned. I rolled me eyes.
"Howie Howie Howie, what am I to do with you?!" I sighed.
"Well see I was sorta hopin' you'd keep me," he smiled. I gave him a kiss and we began to walk toward the boys' dressing room.
In the dressing room, Bone was playing around with some hats, Kevin was going over what was written on Brian's pad of paper, and Nick and Brock were sitting on the bean bag chairs, playing nintendo. I let go of D and walked over to AJ and snatched the hat off his head.
"Can I have this one?!" I wanted to know.
"Hmmmm how bout no?" he answered.
"You know, you're mean. First you steal girls' hats, then you won't let me have them....greedy, if I might say so," I mumbled. AJ took the hat from my head and glared at me, jokingly. I socked him in the stomach and ran away.
"You goin' dooooowwwwwnnnn woman," he told me.
"And I'm takin you with me!" I hollered.
"Yup, I think you got everyone," Kevin muttered from out of the blue, apparently talking to his cousin. Brian paused the game he and Nick were playing and turned around to face Kev.
"Positive?" Brian double-checked. Kevin nodded his head.
"What is that for?" I questioned them.
"Brian's half of the wedding list," Kevin answered. "He needed me to go over it and make sure he didn't miss anyone."
"Ah." I sat plopped down on the couch opposite of Kev and grabbed a carrot from the snack table. "I'm invited right?"
"Oh that all depends on if Howie wants to take you as a date," Brian joked.
"Well, actually I was thinking about having Polly come. You know how she goes everywhere with me," D teased me. I tossed a carrot at him, nailing him in the chest.
That night, the concert was crazy. We had so much fun, getting back on tour. The costumes and the lineup was a little different, but we still had one hell of a time. The new opening acts were great. Aaron even surprised his big brother by sneaking up onstage at the end, when the guys were dressed in whatever, goofing around.
After the show, I was running around with my stuff and ran into the head of management I had met earlier.
"You guys put on a great show," Elsa complimented me. "You are an excellent dancer. When I'm famous, you guys can all come around and choreograph my concerts." I giggled bashfully.
"I'm not that great! It's just that what we do looks really hard so everything thinks we're awesome dancers!" I explained.
"Now you really are! You think I could get up and do any of that stuff?!" I laughed.
"If you tried."
"Oh forget it," Elsa laughed. "I forgot to tell you earlier, I have an appointment to meet up with a manager and maybe create a demo tape next Saturday. I'm so excited!"
"Elsa! That's so awesome! I know you'll make it! Here...come with me and I'll give you my email address so you can contact me when you find out what happens, okay?" I offered. Elsa followed me to a table, where I grabbed a napkin and took a pen from one of the stagehands, and wrote down my email address. She thanked me and gave me a hug, just for extra measure. I said goodbye, then walked back to my dressing room to gather everything and take it back to the hotel.