Caroline waved to the girls as soon as she saw them walking out of the gate. They all waved back with wide smiles on their faces, dragging their baggage along behind them.
"Welcome to sunny Florida", Caroline said smiling. "The van is waiting for us in the parking lot. You think you'll make it there?" She laughed, motioning at their bags.
The girls first said their Hello's, before Molly grinned: "No comment about my baggage, please! Sarah and I had to pack up ALL of our stuff, not just enough for a week."
Three days ago the girls had talked to Mike and Dawn first, to check if Sarah and Molly could fly down to Florida and spend the rest of their vacation there. Sarah had to call her parents and, after getting the thumbs up, the first problem had been solved. Then Mandy and Araysa had to check at home, if it was ok that they spent a week with the guys. Fortunately that hadn't been a real problem either, so Caroline had booked the flights for the four girls. They arrived only a day later in Florida than the Backstreet Boys, who had finished their short promotion tour.
"How are the boys?" Sarah asked.
"As if you girls didn't talk to them every day anyway", Caroline laughed. "They are fine and impatiently waiting for you. But...I think Howie's a little sad that Kaylee couldn't make it."
"She is sad herself", Mandy replied. "She brought us to the airport earlier and told us to say "Hi", by the way!"
"Oh, that's nice. It's a pity she couldn't come!" Caroline smiled.
The girls jokingly panted because of the weight of their baggage, as they made their way to the van that would take them to Caroline's house.
"So we're staying with you for security reasons?" Molly grinned. "Does management think we'd burn down the guys' houses including them?" she kidded. Of course AJ had told her why the girls would stay with Caroline. He even told her about Caroline's joke.
"Oh, it's not about the GUYS' security...", Caroline played along.
"What? Do you think some teenyboppers could mob us?" Sarah asked seriously.
Everyone gave Sarah a weird look and tried to keep from snickering.
"Not really...", Araysa replied, biting her lower lip to keep from laughing. Although she and Sarah had got along surprisingly well the past days, she couldn't help not liking Sarah.
"Huh?" Sarah looked to Molly for explanation.
"We were just kidding", Molly said. "What we meant was more...Araysa's and my security..."
Sarah felt a little embarrassed, as everyone loaded their bags into the van. But even more, she felt anger about Nick and Araysa rising up inside her again. It was enough already that the two were together - she didn't need to have someone rub it in!
~~~~~
All the way to her house, that was a little outside of Orlando, Caroline was thinking about a way to tell the girls what she needed to tell them. Actually she had surprised herself, when she had offered to let them stay with her because it meant that she trusted them with something very serious. She had talked to Kevin about it also and he agreed that the girls were trustworthy enough. Still she was nervous about it now. Kevin and her always struggled so hard to keep it a secret - only the other boys knew - and now she was about to give this secret away to people, who were almost strangers.
"Just get it over with", Caroline told herself. "People who YOU trust, trust THEM, so it will be alright." But then another worry came up again: "I hope they won't think bad of me..."
The van came to a stop in front of the house. It was a huge, beautiful white dream. The girls got out of the van, staring at the house in awe. They all started babbling about how cool the house was and Caroline tried to calm them down again.
When Mandy asked "Are you living here alone?", Caroline took the opportunity to say what she had to say:
"Girls, before we go in I've gotta ask a favor from you!"
"We won't burn down the house, don't worry", they laughed.
"No, seriously." The girls realized that Caroline didn't feel comfortable all of a sudden, so they shut up. "I feel a little stupid to explain to you exactly WHY I have to ask this favor, but...you'll see why, when you get in anyway. What I need is your promise that my privacy, and also the privacy of the boys, will always remain exactly that - private! Whatever happens in the week you are here, whatever you see or hear will not become public in any way!"
All the girls nodded, but Molly also spoke up: "I know your the manager and all, but to be honest I feel a little offended by this speech. Of course we don't know each other for very long, but I thought you knew us well enough to be sure we wouldn't go around selling Backstreet stories."
Caroline looked at her sadly and forced a smile: "I know, Molly. You will see why I had to be 100% sure..." She led the way to the house and with one last deep breath opened the door.
They all stepped into a big hall. Everything was held in light colors, mostly white and grey. The floor was made of marble, just like the two big pillars in the room. But what attracted the guests attention most was the giant framed picture hanging opposite of the entrance door: it showed Caroline and her husband at their wedding!
"So that's what Alex meant...the complicated part of their relationship...", Molly muttered, but no one heard her.
Caroline turned to them, looking more pale than usual: "The guy on the picture is my husband. Simon."
"You didn't by any chance forget the ex in front of husband?" Araysa asked softly. They were all shocked, but could see how guilty and embarrassed Caroline felt. They didn't think less of her, but it was strange anyway. They didn't know anything about Caroline's marriage or the reasons why she was with Kevin, so they couldn't judge her about this. They all wondered how Kevin felt about it...
Mandy looked at the other girls, before she firmly stated: "Be sure that no one will know about it, at least not from us." She looked to the others for confirmation again and they all nodded.
"Thank you", Caroline said quietly. She composed herself then and put on a more cheerful voice again. She didn't want them to feel awkward around each other now. "Come on, I'll show you your rooms! We have another hour before the boys will be here."
* * *
The five girls were spread out in the large living-room of Caroline's house. Mandy, Sarah, Araysa and Molly were a little bit exhausted from their trip. And the guys, who they were waiting for, had worked all day in the studio. That's why the whole bunch had decided to start the week with a laid-back evening: they would just watch some movies at Caroline's and enjoy being together.
Caroline was telling some stories about the band's stay in New York, when they heard a honk outside.
"Whoo - Alex!" Molly exclaimed and was the first one to run outside.
AJ got out of his car with Howie, when he saw Molly running towards him. They were both laughing, and finally fell into each other's arms. "Hi baby", he smiled, before greeting her with a sweet, deep kiss.
Molly hugged him and sighed: "God, this feels good!"
AJ happily hugged her back. It seemed that his worries had been unnecessary and that Molly didn't think about leaving him. Either way, it had been a great idea to invite the girls down to Florida!
When the two broke apart, they laughed happily again at the sight of all their friends hugging or kissing. Molly and AJ also greeted the rest of the bunch, but soon returned into each other's arms, walking in followed by everyone. AJ sat down on the couch and, when Molly wanted to sit down next to him, grabbed her hips and pulled her down onto him.
"McLean...", she teased, wiggling her eye-brows at him. "Later!"
"I can't keep my hands of you, they have a life of their own", AJ grinned.
She folded her hands around his neck and smiled. "Ya know...I'm really happy here."
"I'm glad you are. I hoped you would", AJ responded.
"It was weird - the moment I stepped off the plane I felt such a rush of... I felt like coming home", she said, her face glowing.
AJ just smiled and pulled her close for another kiss. He wanted so much for Florida to become a home for her, but it was way too early to mention anything like it. But he, too, felt really happy now!
A few minutes later, after Nick pulled away from kissing Araysa, he whispered into her ear: "Follow me into the kitchen!" Nick picked up his bag and stood up.
Araysa just shot him a questioning look, but did as he told her. In the kitchen, she asked: "What's up, sweetie?"
Nick put his finger to his lips and said: "I'm gonna share a little secret with you!" He grinned from ear to ear and Araysa wondered what he was up to. He motioned for her to come over and opened his bag: first he got out some bottles of drinks, then microwave-popcorn, and then something else... "Remember this?" he asked grinning.
Araysa started laughing: "Oh yeah - it still looks gross!"
"Tonight you're gonna take Brian's place", Nick continued, "you're gonna be my partner in crime, princess! Ready for some pranks and fun?"
"Yes, sir", Araysa replied. Nick kissed her and she smiled: "What do I gotta do?"
~~~~~
Kevin had just finished ordering pizza for everyone, when Caroline asked: "Ok, who wants to drink what?"
The whole bunch said what they wanted, but instead of Caroline Araysa jumped up, saying: "I'll get the drinks...and see what's taking Nick so long with...whatever he's doing." Nick had told her to keep everyone out of the kitchen until he was finished preparing their prank.
"Aww, how cute", Brian grinned, "they just can't stay away from each other!"
"You two", Molly told Araysa jokingly, "please get another room, k?! Tomorrow morning during breakfast I don't wanna think about all the possible things you might have done on that kitchen table!"
Everyone started cracking up, even Araysa, who playfully slapped Molly upside the head with a cushion that lay around. Then she went over to Nick.
AJ wrapped his arms around Molly, slyly commenting: "I like the way your brain works!"
"Yeah, that's 'cause you rarely find someone whose brain works like yours!" Molly retorted, making everyone laugh again.
Caroline patted AJ's shoulder, grinning: "I think someone found his perfect match..."
"Yeah?" AJ asked, eye-brows raised. "Who should I congratulate?" he joked, knowing perfectly well that Caroline meant him.
Now it was Molly's turn to grab the cushion and hit AJ with it playfully. They wrestled around, but only for the blink of an eye it seemed, before ending up kissing again.
"GET A ROOM!" the others laughed, but the two didn't bother at all...
Ten minutes later Nick and Araysa joined them again, carrying all of the drinks on two trays. Soon after that the pizza arrived and they all spent an hour talking and eating - and the couples also cuddling.
Brian caught Mandy staring at him at one point. For a moment he got the crazy idea that she knew he had had that dream about her, but soon realized it was a stupid thought because that was impossible. He smiled at Mandy and she smiled back brightly.
"Hey, what about starting with a movie now?" Howie asked. Everyone agreed and they chose to start off with "The Truman Show".
"Don't start yet", Nick chimed in. "I brought popcorn, it's in the kitchen!"
He stood up, but Caroline soon stopped him: "Stay, Nick. I'll go get the popcorn, since you and Race already took care of the drinks!" With that she went into the kitchen.
Nick and Araysa looked at each other with amused smiles that they were trying to hide from the others. This was going easier than they thought it would.
Suddenly a loud scream could be heard throughout the house, followed by an angrily yelled "NICK! BRIAN!". It was obviously Caroline.
Everyone, except Nick and Araysa, who were cracking up on the couch, stormed into the kitchen to see what made Caroline scream. The honestly surprised look on Brian's face told everyone that he wasn't involved in this prank: in the now opened microwave lay a fake head that looked pretty realistic at first sight. Its skin was a light greenish color and there was painted blood all over the face.
Brian started laughing... He was laughing so hard that he was half spread out on the floor, while grabbing the table for support. He couldn't stop laughing and just yelled "Go Frack, go!".
Caroline was still angry and shocked, so Molly tried her best not to crack up also, but it was no use. She was soon leaning against Brian, laughing just as much. Everyone else started laughing, too and even Kevin turned his back towards Caroline, so she didn't see him giggle. Caroline took in the sight in front of her and couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. She also began giggling and, while laughing, yelled: "I'm gonna get you for that one, Nick!" They could hear Nick cracking up loudly, which caused even more giggles because his laughter was just contagious!
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