As Long As You Love Me
Chapter Forty-Six
"You know, I am so glad to be back on tour," sighed Kristin as she reclined on the long bench at the front of the dancers' bus.
"I'm so glad to be HERE," I cried, drinking my cranberry juice peacefully. Kris gave me a strange look. "Nick poured salt in my cranberry juice yesterday." Tone walked by, heard what I had said, and cracked up. He plopped down beside Kris and sprawled his legs out across the small walkway. "Aren't we close to the venue?"
"Forty-five minutes away," Richmond hollered.
"Richmond, let me braid your hair!" Niki exclaimed, walking behind the dancer as he joined the three of us in the front. He gave her a weird look, then complied. Niki sat on the bench next to me and had Richmond sit on the floor in front of her, then proceeded to braid the thick strands of long hair that usually hung down his back. We girls took turns doing it, because the hair was too long to hang loose during the concerts. He and his brother Tone were always asking us to do their hair. Sometimes we would experiment. Bored out of my mind, I reached for the remote and turned on the radio. A song I loved was on, so I got up and started groovin as I walked over to the sink and set my cup down in it.
"Oh Oh Oh ohhhhhhh OW OW OW OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" I howled in pain. Everyone's glances shot up toward me with worried looks.
"What's wrong?!" Reggie asked with an extremely concerned tone. I sat hopped up on the counter and propped my foot up against the counter on the other side of the 'kitchen.'
"Okay....knee...hurts...really really bad..." I whimpered. Fly walked over and examined it a little bit.
"When did it start hurting?" Melanie asked me.
"Ummm this morning when I woke up," I told her.
"Oooo that's not good. We need to call a doctor, hun," Fly said. My eyes widened.
"Yeah would figure," I sighed grumpily. "Okay. yeah well can someone go to the back of the bus and get me some Aleve and the knee brace please? I'll love you forever!" Fly left me to go get the stuff, then came back in and handed it to me.
"Tell the guys. There's no way we are letting you dance," Richmond declared from his snug spot. My eyes got big as I struggled to hold back tears.
"AW COME ON!! NOT AGAIN!!!!" I cried, getting worried. Niki came up and gave me a hug.
"Don't worry...you're just as gimp as me!" she exclaimed. I giggled as she held up her broken finger.
"Someone will have to call a doctor once we get to the next venue," Reggie said. I pouted a little bit, then got down off the counter, landing on my left foot. "Who wants to call up guys and break the bad news?" I reluctantly rose my hand. Teresa handed me a phone. I dialed up Howie's cell number and waited.
"Hello!" an always perky voice answered.
"Hey D...I have some bad news..." I mumbled, trying to hold back the tears. He could tell there was definitely something wrong, as he could almost hear me holding myself from crying. "I hurt my knee last night during the concert. The guys are saying I can't dance tonight." Howie gasped.
"What are you kidding me? STEPH!!!!" he exclaimed. Salty tears started streaming down my cheek as I began to think more and more about not being able to dance. My voice quivered as I tried to say something.
"It's not my fault! I don't know how I did it!" I cried into the phone. I could tell D felt horrible.
"Aw sweetie, I didn't mean to make you upset. Hey I'll get on the phone right now and call for a doctor to check out your knee at our next venue. We stop in about 15 minutes okay?" Howie tried to make up for his outburst. I sniffled and told him okay, then hung up after sayin I love you and goodbye.
Before long, we had incoming calls every ten minutes, which was exactly the amount of time I spent talking to each person who called. Every single person on the Backstreet caravan called to see what was wrong and ask if there was anything they could do. Dani said she'd take my place. I agreed to that, considering she had taken my place before and knew all of my places and moves. So that worked out ever-so-conveniently.
Everyone pitied me. I was spoiled. The second our buses pulled up to the hotel, Howie had Marc pick me up and carry me to the elevator, then to our room, so I wouldn't have to walk at all. Back at the venue, the stage was being built. Seeing as we had so much time to bum around, Danielle and Amanda met in my room and we bought a movie to watch.
"Master Robin is that YOU?! Yes! Back from the Crusades? Yes. And alive?! Yes...OH HAPPY DAY!!!" Danielle and I cried out, in unison with the movie. Amanda rolled her eyes and smacked Dani with the pillow.
"That goes for both of you!" she told us.
"But you've grown some nice boobs!" Dani and I declared as we looked over at our best friend.
"Why thank you!" Manda joked. I tossed a pillow at her. Robin Hood: Men In Tights was mine and Dani's favorite movie. We had the entire script memorized and we would recite it. Amanda voluntarily smothered the pillow over her face. "Why oh why did I allow myself to watch this movie with you two?!" she groaned.
"Because you love us!" Dani answered, before popping some popcorn into her mouth.
"Someone please hand me the ice bucket!" I asked, the pain in my knee stinging again as I sat with it propped up on a pillow.
"When's your doctor's appointment?" Amanda wanted to know.
"In about two hours," I told my friend.
"Dude Steph that's when we gotta be at the venue. Was anybody gunna go with you?" Dani was curious to know.
"Well whomever wants to is free to come. You can't cuz you gotta dance in my
place. It's a good thing we're the same size!" Dani smiled at me. "Amanda can come if she wants. So can Emily and Amy. But I think having a whole bunch of people would clutter the room."
"If you want, I'll just go with you. That way you at least have one person but not too many?" Amanda suggested.
"That's cool. Man I hope it's nothing serious!" I cried. "What would I do if I couldn't dance?!"
"Commit suicide?" Danielle offered. Manda threw a pillow at her.
"HEY! Don't give her any ideas now!" she laughed.
"Look at her! As if she wasn't contemplating it already!" Dani pointed out, causing the three of us to laugh hysterically.
"Ohhhhh I'll just be miserable for the rest of my life. Then I'll probably live to be 155 just so that I can live in that misery for as long as possible, not dancing, EVER," I whined.
"How bout some cheese with that whine," AJ sarcastically remarked as he walked in. He caught a flying pillow and then ran to jump on the bed. He landed behind us, then pulled the three of us back onto him in a hug. "How's the leg, woman?"
"Painful," I told Bone. "Please let me go though, hun. I have an ice bucket in my
hand!" J let me go, but then I dumped the ice bucket on his head. Bone cried out in agony.
"Whatdja do that for?!"
"I felt like it," I shrugged.
"Girl you are goin downnnnnn," AJ declared as Amanda handed him a towel. I laughed and shook my head at him, giving him a questioning look.
"A constant battle between you too, isn't it?!" Danielle asked.
"Always and forever," Bone answered, then we both smiled at her. Just then, the hotel door opened and someone's head peaked around it.
"BRIGHTY!!!" I exclaimed, jumping up to give my friend a hug. "I didn't know you were coming!! How did you get here and how long are you here?"
"Oh I'm just here for the night. Flew out here and thought I'd see you guys in concert. Ran into Brian and Howie in the elevator and found out I'm a level below you guys so they decided to bring me up here so I could see you all again!" Lisa told us.
"Girl sit down and tell us how things are goin!" I begged.
"I would love to but I can't. Nick doesn't know I'm here yet so I'm gunna go surprise him in his room," she said. We said goodbye to our friend and watched as she walked out.
"Kay Bone you gunna finish watching this movie with us or what?" Dani wanted to know.
"Ah what the hell. Might as well. What is this anyways?" he asked.
"Robin Hood: Men in Tights," I declared proudly.
"Tight! I love this movie!" he exclaimed, pulling a pillow up to his chest and zoning himself into the television.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I cannot believe I can't dance!" I whined once I found out what was wrong with my knee. Amanda and I had just gone to the doctor and were on our way out. I had an inflammation in my knee and a pulled ligament. Which meant no dancing for at least two months. That meant I couldn't dance for the rest of the tour. Dani would replace me until we could get another dancer named Angela to take my spot. Angela was supposed to fly out and meet us at our location in a week, then take over for Danielle. I had to be miserable for the rest of the tour. My eyes teared up as I stared out the window, miserable as hell. Amanda looked over at me and sighed.
"Steph...you can't get depressed over this! The more you rest, the sooner your knee will heal!" she tried to cheer me up. "Besides. You can get the chance to hang out with the rest of us backstage." I began to feel worse.
"How much longer till we get back?" I wanted to know, breathing deeply.
"About ten minutes," the chauffeur told us. We sat for the rest of the ride, silent in the back of the Lincoln.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at the venue, we sat around in the back while everyone was doing soundchecks and costume checks and rehearsals and the likes. I sat on a couch, trying to hold back tears as I watched everyone walk by.
"Why do I have to be here?" I cried as Amy and Lisa came over to sit beside me. "This is worse than last time!" My head fell onto Lisa's shoulder as I began to pout some more. Brighty gave me a hug.
"Oh your poor human being!" Nick whiningly cried as he walked over.
"SHUT UP!" I snapped, giving him the look of death. Amy proceeded to kick her boyfriend in the shin. He gave her a puzzled look, then sat down on the arm of the couch.
"Man whadja do that for?!"
"That's for being mean to Gilli!" Amy informed Nick. Lisa laughed.
"Good thing you did something. I woulda beat him up!" I cracked a smile.
"My own personal bodyguards...ahhhh...I am blessed!" I sighed. Amy and Lisa both glared at Nick, chasing him away back to the arcade room. Amanda walked by on her cell phone, with a bridal magazine in hand. We all watched as she continued passed us. Almost instantly, the future bride veered back in our direction. She got off the cell and sat beside Amy on the couch.
"Okay which bridesmaid dresses do you guys want? See I picked out these baby blue ones right here. But I can't decide--" Amanda told Amy and me, before we stopped her.
"Amanda, calm down. We can figure this out a little bit later okay? Just take a deep breath and relax," Amy told her best friend. Manda smiled at her. I slid the magazine out of Amanda's hands and took a look through it.
"Hey Manda look at this one! It's gorgeous--" I started to say but was cut short when Amanda reached over and pulled the magazine out of my hand, then sat on it. Brian came up to us with a puzzled look on his face as he looked at the peanut butter jar in his hand.
"Ummmm can someone explain this?!" He held out the jar of creamy JIF for us to examine the M&Ms swirled within the peanut butter. Amanda, Amy, and I all giggled and turned red. Suddenly, I spotted Danielle walking around.
"Ask her!" Amy shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Dani. Dani saw this and came toward us, confused. Brian said nothing as he thrust the unlidded peanut butter jar in front of her. She reached her finger into the depths of the plastic container and dug out some M&Ms.
"Thanks Brock! I had been craving those!" Danielle exclaimed.
"OH! So you're the culprit!!!" he cried. "I have three words for you. GET PB M&Ms!"
"Why? It's cheaper this way!" she shrugged.
"Then get your own jar!" Brian stubbornly replied.
"Okay!" Dani agreed before saying goodbye and turning back in her original direction.
"Some people...they just have no respect for peanut butter...tsk tsk tsk..." Brian walked off, shaking his head.
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