The Way You Said Hello ~ Chapter Sixteen

"Oh my god!" I yelled, dropping to my knees. Gillian lay unconscious on the cold tile floor next to me, her body twisted from the fall. "She's never done this before…Anne, go get some cold water," I directed. I turned around and glared at Anne. She was staring, bug eyed, at the five guys standing in front of us. "Anne!" I shouted. She emerged suddenly from her trance and looked down at me, still in shock. "Water. Now." I repeated.

Anne looked at me helplessly, then back at the guys. I sighed impatiently.

"Come on, I'll go with you," Kevin jumped in. He took Anne by the arm and headed for the sink. I turned my concentration back to Gillie, trying to wake her up.

My friends and the five Backstreet Boys stood around awkwardly, not knowing what to do. I was the only link between the two groups, and I was rather occupied at the moment.

Finally, Brian broke the silence. He hesitantly asked, "Well, is there anything I can do to help?" His slight southern accent made his question sound warm, inviting.

I kept trying to revive Gillie as I replied, "Sure. I'm Becky, by the way, everyone. Well, Brian, why don't you do something to keep the rest of them occupied?" I referred to my friends. I glanced over my shoulder and realized that the only one of my friends left to be kept occupied was Eilene. Ryan had gone off with Nick, Gillie was lying on the floor in front of me, and Anne had gone with Kevin to get some ice water.

Eilene was left standing in the doorway with a confused look upon her face. "Rest of who? Where did everyone go?" She said, puzzled. "I don't get it!" She started laughing hysterically, as usual.

"Umm, okay, I'll take care of this." Brian grinned and walked over to Eilene. They both sat down at a table and before I knew it, Eilene had Bri laughing just as hard as she was. Laughing was a gift with her. It was like a contagion that spread to everyone she touched.

AJ came over and sat down cross-legged on the floor next to me. "Well, that didn't really work out the way we'd planned, did it?" he grinned.

"Not exactly," I sighed, trying to reposition Gillie so that she was lying on her back and not twisted around.

"I wasn't really expecting that," he said. "I thought your friends would be as cool with it as you were."

"Well…I knew what I was getting myself into," I explained. "I didn't warn her ahead of time. But then, I didn't know this would happen…Oh God, this is all my fault. She's gonna kill me," I worried out loud.

"Hush," AJ said gently and put his arm around me. "Baby, you know you couldn't have done anything to prevent this."

Finally, Anne and Kevin came back with a bucket of ice water. Anne appeared to be back to her normal happy self, as she and Kevin were getting along well. I watched amusedly as she stood on her tip toes to ruffle his hair, and he grabbed her hand and pinned it behind her back. In the meantime, they were spilling water everywhere.

I slowly turned my head to AJ. "Why is it that all you Backstreet Boys get along so great with my friends?" I asked under my breath. "Is it something special about us? Some kind of weird magnetism?" We both laughed. It was rather odd, considering we were all strangers - but I couldn't have hoped for better. Not only were AJ and I, Ryan and Nick, and Anne and Kevin having a great time, but Eilene and Brian were hitting it off as well! They sat at the round table in the middle of the room, taking turns being weird with each other. AJ and I looked at each other and grinned - they were hilarious. Finally Brian had found someone even goofier than he was.

Anne made her way over to where AJ and I were sitting on the floor next to Gillian. She handed me the ice water, which I proceeded to pour all over Gillie's head. Her eyes fluttered open, and she gasped. Her eyes darted about the room, taking in everything that was going on, but she quickly closed them again in embarrassment.

"I can't believe I did that," she moaned, covering her face with her hands. "Now look what you did, Becky… I'm all wet."

She sat up, and I saw tears glisten in her eyes. I reached over and gave her a hug. "Gillie, it's okay," I murmured to her kindly. "Look, no one thinks anything of it!"

Howie crouched down next to us. "Yeah… I mean, that's nothing, Gillian!" He tried his best to make her feel better. "Don't worry about it. We've seen things happen that you would not believe…" He put his arm around her waist and took her over to the table with Eilene and Brian, telling her stories to put her more at ease. I had never seen Gillie so embarrassed in all the years I'd known her. Her face was still a bright shade of crimson that I had never quite seen before.

"Babe, I'll be back in a few," AJ said, getting to his feet. "I gotta use the phone." He strolled out of the room quickly.

I sat on the floor in the middle of the room for a moment, taking a deep breath. It had been a very eventful past ten minutes. I still had that nagging feeling deep inside me, warning me - I concluded that it must have been about Gillian's fainting. But then why would I still feel like something was going to go awfully wrong?

I smiled as I watched the group sitting at the table. Brian was laughing so hard he was starting to turn purple from lack of oxygen. That must have been because Eilene was doing her N Sync impersonation - even I started to giggle silently to myself at the thought of that. It was hysterical, like everything else she did.

Then there were Anne and Kevin, who sat across from them, deep in conversation. They smiled gently at each other, eyes warm. But I noticed something running deeper than friendship in their body language: something about it gave me chills down my spine - good ones. They kept their feelings hidden for now, though, and joined in the discussion that everybody else was carrying on.

I stretched my arms over my head and glanced around the room, looking for Ryan and Nick, until I remembered that they must have gone off somewhere to be alone. "Young love," I sighed to myself and smiled. They were so perfect for each other. They acted like they could be with each other twenty-four seven and still not have enough.

I straightened out my legs, working out the kinks I had developed in my tired muscles, and got up from the wet floor. The sounds of everyone's quiet conversations floated around the room softly, and I stood and listened contentedly in silence.

"Hey Becky, come over here for a second," Gillie called to me. I walked over to where she sat, shivering, at the table. Tiny water droplets shone like crystals on her forehead and dripped slowly, rhythmically from her hair. She looked much more at ease, but the entire incident had made her very shy.

"Do you think you could get Gillian a dry shirt?" Howie asked me, his eyes never leaving Gillie's face. Her eyes, however, were down, fixed on her hands resting in her lap. He wanted to help relax her, his intentions friendly and nothing more, but she was still too ashamed of her behavior to acknowledge his efforts.

"Sure," I nodded amiably. "Where would I find one?"

Howie thought for a moment. "Well, you can try in the dressing room. She can put on one of my T shirts or something."

"You got it," I promised, and turned to walk back down the hallway. I wandered around, trying to find the dressing room, but soon realized that I was hopelessly lost - I had never been backstage before.

I heard a voice speaking quietly, and headed toward it. Perhaps they could give me directions. However, as soon as I got within range, I recognized the deep voice as AJ's, speaking on the phone. I realized I could make out the words, and as soon as I did, I stopped and listened in horror. I knew I shouldn't be doing it, but I was, and it was too late to un-hear what I'd heard.

"Yeah, you can come over tonight…No, she won't be here. She's never even been to my house." He paused for a minute. "Baby, don't worry. We can be alone." His voice was gentle and full of affection.

I was frozen…I couldn't move. My throat constricted, and suddenly I found it heard to breathe. What was going on? I couldn't believe he would do this…after all we'd been through. No, I wouldn't believe it. But what other explanation could there be? My heart protested weakly - it begged to simply stop beating, the betrayal was so painful.

And then suddenly, I wasn't frozen anymore. I was liquid fire and I was burning inside, the red flames of anger and hurt licking at the inner surface of my skin and spreading uncontrollably.

I spun around on my heel and ran, ran as fast I as I could, back the way I came. I burst in the main room where everyone was talking and laughing, and silence fell quickly when my friends, old and new, saw the look of fury on my face.

"Come on, guys, we're leaving," I growled, my hands clenched into fists at my side.

Anne, Gillie, and Eilene glanced at each other. "Umm…no, we're not," Anne said slowly.

"Well then, I'LL FUCKING GET A CAB!" I screamed to no one in particular and threw my car keys violently down on the table so that someone else could drive my car home.

"Is she always like that?" Brian whispered to Eilene across the table.

"No," she replied quietly. "I've never seen her that mad before."

Kevin, always one to try to help, spoke up: "Hey, Becky, I know I just met you, but…is there anything I can do?" His caring eyes exuded sympathy, and under any other circumstances I would have fallen into his friendly arms and cried. Now, however, I was too upset to let him comfort me - all I wanted to do was leave, to be alone.

"Yeah," I snarled. "You can tell the sorry son of a bitch in there-" (I nodded my head in the direction of where AJ was talking on the phone) "-that he can stay the hell away from me." I took three half-running, half-walking steps toward the door, but stopped and turned to face everyone. Their faces were serious, worried. "I'm sorry to be like this," I said apologetically, "I know I just met you, but…I can't take this right now. Please don't think any less of me for it."

I hurried out of the room, leaving my friends to do what they pleased. I was too distraught to think rationally, and my first instinct was to run. All I wanted was to save myself from the pain AJ was bringing me right now.

I stood outside on the curb and hailed a cab. I couldn't stop shivering, though it wasn't cold outside. The moon frowned down on me, disapproving, mocking. Even the stars refused to shine; they hid behind the shield of my grief.

The whole ride home, I felt unbelievably empty. What went wrong? I kept asking myself. Just days ago, what we had was perfect. Why would he want to have someone else? Was I not good enough? Or did I just imagine there was something there that never was?

I stumbled from the taxi and unlocked my front door, my hands shaking. I thought that by now I would be crying, but I couldn't let myself. To cry for him would be to admit defeat.

I fell into bed, the sheets cool against my flushed skin. My hair fanned out on the pillow - I was too apathetic to put it up before I slept. I turned over and breathed in the deep scent of sweat and perfume that was mine alone. No one else's, I screamed inside my head. This place is mine, and no one can reach me here…

I lay awake in anguish until finally I was too exhausted to care any more. After an eternity, I slept.

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Continue to chapter seventeen

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