After the sound check was over the guys all went backstage to start getting ready. Mandy and I decided to stay out in the arena and watch EYC and Mandy Moore do their sound check. The guys of EYC came out and started to go to work. I nudged Mandy when I saw Mandy Moore come out to watch what was going on. I got up and went over to her to ask for an autograph.
“Hi Mandy, I was wondering if I could get your autograph?”
“Sure, how are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m great and yourself?” I asked back.
“I am just fine. Are you with a radio station or something?” Mandy wanted to know.
“Oh no, my best friend and I, who’s name is Mandy also by the way, met the Backstreet Boys in Minneapolis and in Madison. They, or actually Nick, invited us to come to Milwaukee.” I said.
“Oh cool, is that your friend over there?” she asked pointing at Mandy.
“Yea, it is. We decided to let the guys get ready and check your and EYC’s sound check out.” I said.
“Okay, well is it okay if I come and sit by you guys for right now?” Mandy asked.
“Yea, come on over.” I said.
So Mandy Moore joined Mandy and I to watch EYC’s sound check. She was so cool, we chatted about everything from boys to clothing styles. Then it was time for her sound check.
“Well, it’s been really great meeting you guys. I have your email addresses so we can keep in touch. But, I gotta go and sound check so I’ll talk to ya later.” Mandy said.
“Yea, we’ll definitly have to keep in touch.” I said. Mandy nodded her head in agreement.
Mandy got up and made her way to the stage. I looked at my watch and realized that it was almost 6:00pm and they were going to be letting people in soon.
“Hey, maybe we should get backstage before everybody starts coming in.”
“Yea, that sounds like a good idea.” Mandy said to me.
We made our way backstage. We got back there and didn’t see anybody. I looked at Mandy and she just shrugged her shoulders. All of a sudden we heard a very distintive laugh come from a room down the hall.
“Nick!” Mandy and I said at the same time.
We continued to walk down the hall towards the room where all the laughter came from. We walked in to the sight of Nick in a straightjacket. I started laughing so hard.
“Okay, we saw pics of AJ in that straightjacket and Brian in that straightjacket. Do you just put everybody in that jacket?” Mandy said as she snorted.
“They go in this only when they’ve been bad. And Nick has been bad.” Tommy, the boys’ keyboardist, said.
“What did you do?” I asked as I put my hands on my hips.
“I didn’t do anything!! I swear. They are just being mean to me.” Nick said as he struggled to get out.
“You know for being on tour you guys sure have a lot of time on your hands.” I said with a laugh.
“It’s how we keep our sanity.” Brian as he started dancing around the room and making funny Jim Carry faces.
“Yea, I see it’s working real well to.” Mandy said.
As soon as everybody settled down we started to hear the sounds of people coming into the venue. I looked at my watch again and saw that it was 6:30.
“Must of opened the doors.” AJ commented.
“I’m getting goosebumps guys and I’m not even in the group.” I said
“We know the feeling. You get this big rush when you start hearing the arena chant Backstreet Boys.” Kevin said. The others nodded in agreement.
“So you guys think that’s cool? I always wondered if you guys weren’t in here thinking, ‘God, I wish they would stop with that chatting or why can’t they think of something better to chant?’” I said.
“Oh no, it’s awesome to hear that.” Nick said.
Just then all the dancers and the band came into the room.
“Okay guys, we have a couple new people joining us tonight. Everybody this is Araysa and Mandy.” Kevin said as he put his arms around Mandy and I.
Everybody said hi, a few people starting clapping.
“Thank you everyone, I’d like to thank God...I’m just kidding. Mandy and I are really thankful to be here and we want to wish everybody good luck and have a great show.” I said.
“We decided to do the prayer and stuff a little early so that they could get in on it and then get seated before the show.” Kevin said.
We all gathered in a circle and held hands. Everybody looked at Brian and started the prayer.
“Dear Lord, we ask that you look over me and the other fellas, the band, the dancers, EYC, Mandy Moore, Mandy’s dancers, Mandy and Araysa, the roadies, and all of the fans tonight. Please make our show injury and incident free. Amen.” Brian stated.
“Amen” Everybody said.
“BSB what time is it?” somebody yelled.
“It’s time....to go to work y’all.”
“What kind of work?”
“Hard work uh!”
Everybody high fived and hugged everybody else. Nick came over to me and took my hands.
“Well, I’ll see ya after the concert. As soon as “I Want It That Way” is done come back here and well figure out what’s gonna happen after that. Okay?” Nick said.
“Yea, we’ll be here. Good luck tonight. I’ll be screaming for ya.” I said.
Nick leaned down and kissed me on the lips. The kiss deepened a bit and then somebody grabbed his arm.
“Come on Loverboy.” Kevin said dragging Nick behind him.
“See ya after the concert.” I said trying not to laugh.
Mandy and I made our way down to the front of the stage. When we got there we tapped a security guard on the shoulder.
“Hi, we need to get through here.” I said pointing at the gate.
“I’m sorry ladies, we can’t allow anybody through here.” he said back.
I grabbed the pass around my neck and showed it to him.
“Now, can I get through?” I asked.
“Oh, I am so sorry. I didn’t see the passes you guys have. Here let me open the gate for you.” he said.
I smiled at Mandy as the guard opened the gate to the pit area around the stage. They had set out seats for us. So we sat down and waited for the show to start. We were sitting there for a while when we heard some girls talking behind us.
“Those are the girls that got out of the same van as Nick and Brian.”
“Yea, I bet that they are their girlfriends.”
I turned around and looked at the girls.
“Hey, so we can settle your fears. We are not their girlfriends.” I said to the girls.
“How come you were in the van with them? And how come you have backstage passes and get to sit up there?” the one girl asked.
I got up to go over to the girls so I wouldn’t be shouting at them.
“I’ve known Nick for a long time now. I met him back in 1997 in Minneapolis and we’ve been friends ever since. We surprised him today in Madison before they left to come here.” I lied.
“Really, that’s cool. So you aren’t his girlfriend? Nick’s my fave so I just want to know.” the other girl said.
I looked at the girl and thought to myself, what’s the difference if I was his girlfriend or not? Sure, he may be her favorite BSB, but it’s not like she could change anything. I smiled at the girl just the same and reassured her that I was not Nick’s girlfriend. Not yet anyway, but I didn’t tell her that. Just then the lights went down and I waved goodbye to the girls. Screaming erupted and Mandy Moore came out on stage. When she got to the song “Candy” she was on our side of the stage. Whenever she would come over by us she would wave. We waved back. Her performance was very good. Next up was EYC. They were so funny and wow way sexual. All of the girls must of liked it because there was major screaming going on. I was getting so excited for BSB to come out. I don’t know how I was ever going to be able to make it through the break.
Chapter Five
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