The Way You Said Hello ~ Chapter Fifteen

"Hurry UP, Eilene!"

"I'm coming!" Eilene yelled from inside the bathroom stall, her voice echoing hollowly off the tile walls.

"It's not normal for you to have to pee every twenty minutes," Anne remarked jokingly as the rest of us stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Gillie was putting her curly blonde hair up in a ponytail while Ryan whipped out her tube of lipstick and applied a fresh coat.

"We do need to get to our seats, Eilene," I added while giving myself a once-over in the mirror. Not bad. "The concert's going to start in ten minutes."

"I said, I'm coming!" Eilene shouted. She emerged at last and said, "Ahhh… that's better!" We all laughed at how relieved she sounded. Eilene was definitely one of a kind.

One last glance at everyone in the mirror. We were all wearing jeans and shirts - of varying degrees of exposure. Eilene of course was the most revealing, with a blue tube top hugging her - how shall I put this - well endowed chest. It did look good on her tiny frame, though. Gillie had on a lavender halter top that looked great with her blonde hair, while Anne wore a black tank. Ryan had on a white short-sleeved CK shirt. I checked myself out one final time-I had on a white spaghetti-strap tank with an empire waistline and V-neck. It was linen and had tiny flowers embroidered on the straps - it was my favorite. My dark brown hair was down, straight, hanging to my shoulders.

We made our way out of the bathroom and into the main hall of the Ice Palace. Suddenly we were bombarded by the eardrum-piercing shouts of fifteen thousand adolescent girls. Everywhere we looked, teenagers wore Backstreet Boys clothing and held up signs that read, "I LUV U NICK!" "B-Rok rocks the house!" "Bone this AJ!" I grinned when I saw that one.

"Becky, get up here. We need you to get us through the crowd," Gillie called to me. I made my way to the head of our five-person procession.

"Excuse us! Move out of the way! Very important people coming through!" I yelled, clearing a path for Gillie, Eilene, Anne and Ryan to follow. We jostled our way up to our seats and sat down.

"What a workout!" Gillie laughed, collapsing into her folding chair seat. She straightened out her shirt and crossed her legs, fanning herself. "It has to be at least ninety degrees in here."

"Damn, I knew it was worth it to camp out in front of the ticket office," Anne said happily.

"Yeah, they could spit all over us!" Eilene shouted in her weird hyper voice. She and Anne pointed out various things on the stage that we could see from our second row center position.

Meanwhile, Ryan and I put our heads together. "How are we gonna get them backstage after the concert?" she whispered to me.

I glanced at our other three friends, chatting excitedly among themselves. They didn't have a clue what we had planned for them after the show. "I don't know," I whispered back to her. "I'll think of something."

"They're so oblivious," she giggled.

I turned back to the others. "Hey Eilene," Anne was saying. "Do you want me to put you up on my shoulders? I know it's kinda hard to see from all the way down there…" Gillie, Ryan and I broke out laughing while Eilene just pouted.

"Ha, ha," she said sarcastically. "Very funny, Anne."

"I wish I'd brought earplugs," Gillie commented while looking around the huge arena.

"Why?" I asked, a puzzled expression on my face. "The music hasn't even started yet."

"No," she replied, frowning. "I'm talking about all the screaming fans."

Suddenly, the house lights went down, and the screaming multiplied about ten times in intensity. I had never heard sound of quite that volume before. Then, all of a sudden, the music started. The boys popped out of the stage amidst fireworks and pyrotechnic explosions. The five of us started screaming our heads off as the concert began.

"Are you ready, Tampa?" Nick said teasingly, eliciting more screaming from the fans - as if that were even possible. He started to sing, and the show was off to a rocking start.

They were all incredible - it was even better in person than on a CD. I tried waving to AJ, but was lost in a sea of swaying hands. He did give me a wink during his solo - though it was nothing like those we shared in private.

"Kevin!" Anne yelled. "Man, are you sexy!"

Gillie screamed, "Oh yeah, Howie! You keep taking off that shirt, now!" She threw her arms in the air and started dancing insanely.

"B-Rok!" Eilene joined in. "Umm… you're as hard as a rock!" We all fell down laughing at that random comment from Eilene. Most of the time Ryan and I just shouted as loud as we possibly could. Once in a while, we would glance at each other and smile, sharing our excitement in our surprise we had planned for the others. I knew that once they experienced it, they would either kill us or worship us forever.

After what seemed like only minutes, the concert was over. The Backstreet Boys left the stage, and people started filing out of the arena.

"Oh my God, that was the best concert ever!" Anne exclaimed, the words tumbling out of her mouth at the speed of light. Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, guys, let's get going," I said quickly, trying to usher everyone along.

"So soon?" Gillie asked, pouting.

Eilene suddenly blurted out, "Why don't we try to get backstage?"

I tried desperately to hold a straight face, but failed. Ryan and I burst out into hysterical laughter as Gillie, Eilene and Anne looked on in bewilderment.

"What? What's going on?" Anne asked worriedly.

I quickly regained my composure and replied seriously, "Nothing. Really. Now let's get going." I leaned over and whispered to Ryan, "Follow my lead."

I started walking toward a back hallway. The others ran to catch up with me, and we continued down the hall. The other four chatted endlessly about every single aspect of the show, but I walked in silence. I was wondering what was going to happen later on tonight. There was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that just wouldn't let go. I finally decided to forget it and simply enjoy myself.

After a while, Gillie spoke up. "Um, Becks? I don't think we're going the right way."

"Of course we are," I said quickly. "So how about that Howie, huh Gillie?" I attempted to change the subject.

"That's funny," Anne commented, running her fingers through her short hair. "I don't remember seeing that sign as we came in." She pointed to a sign that said CREW MEMBERS ONLY PAST THIS POINT.

"That's because you were arguing with Eilene," Ryan said, trying to help me out.

"Yeah, because I had to pee!" Eilene yelled. "I'm sorry if my bladder isn't as superior as yours is, Anne, but excuse me! It's not my fault! You don't have to get up on my back about it!"

"Whoa, Eilene, calm down," I laughed. "Don't give yourself a stroke."

Eilene stopped in her tracks and put her finger to her chin. "Wait a second," she said slowly. "We did come in the other way…because the bathrooms are over there!" She smiled triumphantly and looked very proud of herself.

I just ignored her and kept walking down the hallway. Nothing was going to stop me now. Finally, we reached a plain wooden door. Everything around us was eerily silent, save for the click-click of our shoes on the tile floor. A large, frowning security guard stood next to the door. Behind his head, I could just make out the sign "NO ENTRY UNLESS BY SPECIAL PERMISSION."

"What the hell are you doing?" Gillie exclaimed worriedly as I strode determinedly up to the security guard. She, Eilene and Anne watched in amazement as I whispered quietly with the guard. Ryan just worked on fixing up her short brown hair and gave the others a smug look.

After about five minutes of heated exchange with the guard, I walked back toward my small group. "Follow me," I said, smiling. I led them through the door, giving the security guard a small wave as we passed. We walked down another short hallway, and I hastily smoothed down my hair while licking my lips nervously.

We rounded a corner with me still in front. In front of us stood all five Backstreet Boys. They abruptly turned around to see who had invaded their private space, but AJ and Nick quickly relaxed and walked toward us.

I turned back to my friends. "Surprised?"

Ryan ran up to Nick and gave him a crushing hug. Anne's eyes popped out of her head while Eilene stood in silence. 'Eilene? Silence? That's a first,' I thought to myself.

I glanced at Gillie. "Gil?" I asked. "You okay?" She looked pale, and her jaw was hanging open. I gasped as her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed to the ground.

~

Continue to chapter sixteen

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