Chapter 5
The "Charity '98" was an amazing show. It lasted more than five hours. Everyone that was big in the charts came to perform and helped to collect as much money as possible that would be given to a foundation that cared for children with cancer. Sarah and Molly had very good seats and totally enjoyed the show. They had a lot of fun and when Aaron performed, who rode onto the stage on a BMX bike, he waved and pointed at them. The girls waved back and suddenly all the girls around them started asking if they knew Aaron or even Nick.
"Yeah, we do", Sarah answered, not sounding big-headed or anything.
"Are you the BSB's girlfriends?" a girl asked.
"Geez...No! Why do you fans always think every girl around them has a sexual or romantic relation to the guys?" Sarah retorted.
"And besides", Molly added, "you do know what Leighanne and Amanda look like, don't you? See, we're not them and the others are still single. We were just lucky enough to meet them at their hotel, that's all. So are you guys BSB fans? Who's your favorite?" They started chatting a bit and enjoyed the rest of the show together.
Innosense sang only one song, "Wherever You Are", which Molly and Sarah liked a lot. Molly had to admit that Amanda was looking incredibly pretty. She saw a girl in the second row holding up a sign that said "AJ and Amanda", but she didn't know if Amanda had reacted to it in any way.
Finally, hours later, having saved the best for last, the Backstreet Boys entered the stage. You almost couldn't hear the music because of the fans' screaming. They hit it off with "That's The Way I Like It". They performed the new routines in Europe for the first time and the crownd went crazy, everyone was surprised and loved it. During that song the guys, except AJ who didn't know the them, found out where the girls were sitting and smiled at them. Kevin also waved once. The girls around Sarah and Molly freaked out, while the two only laughed. The next song was "Hey Mr. DJ (Keep Playing That Song)".
Molly could never describe what she felt... She grabbed Sarah's arm and whispered: "God, Sarah! This guy is driving me nuts!! Oh boy, that's...too much." She sighed out loudly. Sarah laughed and squeezed her hand. AJ was doing his famous pelvic moves and the girls in the crowd went wild. He made his voice sound sexier than ever and he was looking sexier than ever! But the others were just as hot as him. They proved that they really were the biggest thing in the show that night!
You could tell that they had a lot of fun, and they were also joking in Sarah's and Molly's direction, especially Brian and Howie. But Molly thought that AJ had some strange serious expression on his face... Nick suddenly jumped off the stage to shake hands with the fans. Securities quickly joined him to make sure nothing would happen. But the funniest thing was when Nick, back on stage with the others, did the fast pelvic moves that were part of the routine and suddenly fell backwards, landing on the floor on his back. Sarah put her hand on her mouth in shock, but joined Molly in her laughing when she saw that Nick was alright. This guy just has too much energy...
The next song was "All I Have To Give". Molly didn't even try to talk to Sarah, who was dreaming while looking at Nick, but Molly herself couldn't do anything but stare at AJ. They ended their performance with "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". The entire crowd sang along. Throughout the whole show the boys had put so much power into their dancing and singing, but it seemed as if they had even saved some more energy for this last song. AJ was rather screaming than singing his part, letting out all the feelings inside and jumping and running around on the stage. Brian had fun doing the wolf's howling, which was really cute.
The big final was this year's Charity song, which is performed by all the bands and singers together (N'Sync also sing on it, but they didn't come to the show...). Everybody who performed or was part of the show in any way came back on stage and sang. The BSB were kidding around: Kevin with Andreas Türck, the male presenter of the show, who was very popular in Germany (a real cutie, who might remind you of ER's Noah Wyle!), Nick with Aaron and Brian, Howie with another band and AJ was constantly dancing around.
Denise had told the girls to wait at their seats after the show for someone who'd pick them up. Just because they couldn't get backstage before and during the show didn't mean they couldn't join them at the After-Show-Party! Again Jeff came to take them with him. Sarah and Molly told the other girls, who for some reason had waited with them, good-bye. But before that Molly took some pictures from a girl called Jessica and promised she'd try her best to get autographs on it from the boys. She would meet Jessica outside the Hyatt at 11:30 am the next day to give them back to her.
When the two girls arrived at the party, the boys were not there yet. They were probably still under the shower or getting dressed in different clothes. But Aaron and Jane were there. Aaron came running towards them immediately. He grabbed a hand of each girl and said: "You gotta meet some cool friends of mine!" Sarah and Molly agreed laughing. He was such a sweet honey-bunny (probably because he was hanging around with the greatest guys and was even the brother of one of them)! He dragged them across the whole room, stopping in front of a guy the girls already knew. His name was Gil and he had been touring with Aaron (together with the Moffatts and some others) and was friends with him and BJ, who even appeared in his video to "If You Only Knew".
More and more people arrived as the four of them were having some fun just talking and kidding around. The girls hadn't noticed that the boys had also arrived. But they should know soon...
"Excuse me!" A very big, angry-looking guy tapped Sarah on the shoulder. The girls turned around, just as surprised as Aaron and Gil.
"Yeah?" Sarah asked.
"May I see your VIP passes, please", the guy said, not too friendly. Molly and Sarah gave each other a shocked look.
Fortunately Aaron jumped in between them: "They don't need passes, they're here with me!"
"So? And who are you?" the guy retorted, sounding more and more annoyed. The four of them gave him a queer look.
"They are allowed to be here with us, that's right", Gil said.
Sarah tried to explain: "See, we're friends of the Bac..."
She didn't get further, because the tall guy yelled: "I don't care whose friends you are. Without passes you're not allowed to be here, so you better follow me - I'll show you the way out!"
Gil and Aaron's jaws dropped down, while Sarah stood there kinda shocked. The two boys wanted to "defeat" the girls, but Molly tried to keep calm and said: "Don't panic, folks! I'll try to find Denise, Donna or your mom, Aaron - together with Sarah and Mr. Nice Guy here." She pointed at the big guy. "But if we don't find them we'll drive back to our hotel, k?! In that case tell the boys we enjoyed the show and..."
Suddenly they heard laughter behind their backs. Molly knew that laughter too well by now.
"BRIAN LITTRELL! - NICK?!" She turned around to face the two boys, who were turning bright red from laughing. The big guy started laughing as well and said: "I'm sorry, they made me do it! Enjoy the rest of the party!" With this he walked away.
"Aah, very funny", Sarah commented pissed.
"We thought it was", Nick stated. "You should've seen your faces!" He was still giggling.
"Yeah, but Molly screwed up everything!" Brian said.
"I did?"
"'Cause you didn't panic at all. The joke was over when you started being so clever", he said with a big grin.
"Aw, thank you. I'm so sorry", she said sarcastically.
"Don't be so fresh!" He stepped towards her, grabbed her hips and before she knew it he had lifted her up and over his shoulder.
"Oh my god! Brian... Brian, let me down... Oh noooo!" Molly whined. All the people around watched them laughing 'til Brian had made his way to the dance floor, where he put her down again. Nick had followed them, hand in hand with sarah, and they all spent the next hour dancing.
The party was pure fun. Sarah and Molly met a lot of people, stars as well as VIPs and realized the jealous looks from the other girls around.
~~~~~
"Being your girlfriend must be a pretty hard job", Molly stated, while dancing with Brian.
"Why?" he asked.
"Man, if I jumped onto a chair right now and yelled: I'M NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND! the only thing left to hear would be the sigh of relief from every girl in here tonight. - Hey, that could be fun, shall I try?!" She laughed.
Brian blushed a little. "If Sarah did that, you would possibly be right. Anyways, yeah it is a hard job, but 'cause of other reasons. But my girl can handle that pretty good!"
"So you have a girlfriend? If I may ask...", Molly smiled.
"Yeah, her name is Leighanne. She's very special to me", he smiled shyly. From the sparkle in his eyes you could tell he was in love! They continued their conversation at the bar. Brian didn't feel uncomfortable at all as he told Molly a lot about his relationship with Leighanne. He felt he could trust her and it surprised himself how easily he opened up to her.
Later Kevin joined them again, asking: "Hey B, where's Bone?"
"Don't know. Haven't seen him since we came in."
"So he's not back?"
Brian gave him a questioning look: "Back from where or what?!"
"He left an hour ago with Amanda - well, it wasn't important anyway!" Kevin turned to Molly and said, while shrugging his shoulders: "I wonder if you'll ever get to know him?!"
Little did he know how these words pierced through Molly's heart. "Yeah, I wonder myself...", she sadly replied, but the boys didn't notice her sadness. She soon forgot about AJ again. Many people passed by, stopping to say "hello" to Brian or one of the others and to tell them how amazing the show was. They appreciated the nice feedback, but you could tell that some people just came around to be seen with a Backstreet Boy. Once again the boys proved they were the biggest thing tonight...
Like every party even this one had an end and everybody drove back to the hotel. As soon as they sat in the vans (Molly and Sarah sat in a car with Nick, Aaron, Brian, Jane and Denise) they felt very tired, so they didn't talk too much. But they all had a smile on their faces. Aaron had already fallen asleep, leaning against Nick's side.
"Thank you once again", Molly whispered to Jane.
"You're welcome", she replied. "I hope you enjoyed it!"
"I think I had the best time of my life."
"Where's AJ?" Nick suddenly asked.
Denise, who sat in the front next to the driver, turned around to answer: "He's already back in the hotel. He called me earlier, so we wouldn't worry."
"Why did he leave?" Nick wanted to know.
Denise quickly glanced across the car, then decided it was alright to say it in front of everyone, who was there: "He and Amanda had some talking to do."
When they arrived at the hotel Nick carried Aaron up to his and Jane's room, because they didn't want to wake him up. Sarah went up with Nick, while Jane went to get the keys. Jane, Brian and Molly walked over to the reception desk. After Jane had said good night, Brian and Molly slowly made their way up to the girls' room.
"I will miss all the fun we had", Molly said. "Tomorrow's time to say good-bye."
"Doesn't have to be good-bye forever", Brian said.
Molly didn't know what to say. Should she tell about her lie now? "Brian...umm...I..." She couldn't get the words out.
"I'm sorry, you must be tired", he said softly. "I better let you go to bed. Don't you dare leave without saying good-bye, k?!"
"I won't", she said.
"Promise!"
"I promise", she said, while putting two fingers to her heart, then holding them up. "Sweet dreams."
"Good night." He kissed her on the cheek and went to the elevator.
Sarah came into the room only minutes later. Molly saw that she tried holding back the tears. She embraced Sarah in a big hug and they started talking. They didn't find too much sleep that night...
The girls sadly packed their bags the next morning. They didn't speak much, both were lost in their own thoughts. Sarah had decided that the best would be to just forget Nick, though she wasn't sure if she could. She knew they had no future and figured if Nick had been interested in her in any other than just friendly way he would have made his move by now. She would take these wonderful memories of the time of her life with her, nothing else...
Molly on her part tried to find a way how she could break it to Brian that she had lied. It seemed like the hardest thing to do, because she believed that this conversation they would have would be the very last, the end of it all. If only he could forgive this breach of trust! She wanted to be prepared to his reaction, whatever it might be, and played every possible situation over in her mind - where Brian always turned out to be very disappointed and angry... She just hoped that, whatever would happen, he knew that she didn't lie about everything. That the lie was "only" about not knowing who they are and where the girls were coming from. But this little lie would possibly be enough to ruin a friendship that could have grown very strong.
"Are you ready?" Sarah asked. Molly turned around to face her and nodded. They hugged one last time before leaving the hotel room.
Down in the lobby Molly checked her watch, it was 11:25 am. Jessica was probably already waiting for her outside. Molly told Sarah to wait for her near the reception desk and that she'd be back in a few minutes. She had guessed right: there was Jessica sitting on a low wall not far away in front of the entrance door. Molly went over and handed Jessica the pictures with the autographs - the girl almost freaked out of happiness! She hugged Molly and wanted to know all about the After-Show-Party. They talked for a short while, when Molly suddenly heard someone call her name and then heard the screams of the fans. Both Molly and Jessica turned around to see Brian at the entrance door, taking a look at his fans, waving and quickly going back into the hall. Fortunately the securities kept the fans from blocking the door. Molly told Jessica good-bye and went back inside the hotel. She spotted Brian standing at Sarah's and her luggage.
"You promised not to leave without saying good-bye", he said sadly, when she stood in front of him.
"I'm not gone yet", Molly replied. "Where's Sarah?"
"In the restaurant to see Nick."
Molly took a deep breath. Damn, this felt like judgement day! "Brian, I gotta tell you something...", she started.
"Sounds serious", he said with a smile. When he saw that she couldn't even force a smile, he asked concerned: "Molls, everything alright?"
"It won't be alright in a minute..."
"Come on, spit it out!"
"Well, I...let me tell you first that I enjoyed the time with you guys more than anything else, and especially the fun I had with you, Brian. I consider myself a very lucky girl 'cause I've found a...a friend like you." She looked into his eyes to see how he reacted to her saying that they were friends. Molly was about to cry when she saw his warm smile.
"We're also happy about finding new friends in you two, very dear friends by now. I'm glad you and me got to know each other", he responded.
"Not after what I gotta tell you", she said, while quickly wiping a single tear from her eye. Then she looked straight into his eyes again and confessed: "Brian, I lied to you!" He only looked at her confused. "From the very moment we met, I started this with a lie. But...I know I can't make you believe me, but whatever I said I meant it. I just wasn't honest about EVERYthing!"
"Molly, WHAT have you not been honest about?" He was still confused because he didn't really know what she was talking about. At that moment Sarah came by and picked up her bag. She could tell what was going on, so she just quietly said: "Our cab is waiting, Molls!"
When Sarah had walked away, Brian asked once again: "What is it you lied about?"
Molly could hardly hold back her tears, but she managed to somehow. "I know who you are, ok?! I always knew who the Backstreet Boys are, what you look like and...damnit, I'm even a fan of yours!" Her voice was breaking. Brian didn't say a word, but she could see the disappointment in his eyes. He didn't look at her.
Brian's thoughts raced across his mind. She hadn't been honest! She was honest now! What else had she been lying about? She was a friend! Could he trust her any longer? She had fooled him! She...
"Believe me I'm sorry, Brian, but I do understand that this is it! I screwed up, I know..." With this she grabbed her bag and ran away.
Before he could really arrange his thoughts and realize what was happening she had reached the entrance door. He called her name right at that moment that she ran outside. She didn't seem to hear him 'cause she didn't stop. He ran after her, but it was too late. The only thing left to do for Brian was watch her and Sarah's cab speed away...
* * *
While putting on his shirt, AJ once again thought about this girl he had seen in and outside the hotel. He referred to her as "his mysterious lady" now, as Howie had called her. He wasn't too sure about it, but he thought he had even seen her at the After-Show-Party yesterday. He couldn't find out though because he had left the party early with his ex-girlfriend Amanda. They hadn't talked to each other in a while before meeting in Cologne, because it was hard and hurt somehow, but they both really wanted to be friends, that's why they had a lot of things to talk through - and a party wasn't the perfect place for it! He didn't know when he would be able to meet Amanda again because both bands, the BSB and Innosense, had a lot of work to do, so he willingly left with her yesterday. His "mysterious lady" would have probably turned out to be just imagination anyway. "You're overworked, man", AJ thought to himself. "It's time for breakfast!"
He walked over to the table, where his sunglasses were, and peered out of the window. He stopped dead in his tracks. There she was - he only saw her for a little bit longer than the blink of an eye because she jumped into a cab, but he was sure it was her. So she was not pure imagination - but she was gone... "S**t!" There was no way he'd ever get the chance to get to know her, he thought. "She's out of my life as quickly as she walked into it!"
On his way out of the room he wondered why she had been crying... He hoped that she was alright and nothing bad had happened to her. AJ suddenly felt the need to hold her in his arms to comfort her. He suddenly felt the need to be held in somebody's arms that would comfort him! He felt alone, though not lonely. He knocked onto the door next to his room, went in and hugged his very surprised mom tightly!
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