“Turn it up Araysa, turn the radio up!!” Mandy yelled at me from the back seat of my car.
The Backstreet Boys song “All I Have to Give” was on the radio and now was blasting from the speakers of my car. We were on our way to the BSB concert in Minneapolis, MN. Whose we you ask? Well, we is me, Araysa, and my three best friends, Mandy, Martina (Molly), and Ashley. We had been traveling for about an hour and a half when a BSB song finally came on the radio. After it was over the DJ had an announcement.
“Hey, all you Backstreet fans out there I’ve got some backstage passes here that I’m just dying to give away. I’m going to play a Backstreet Boys song backwards and the first caller to correctly identify this song will win four backstage passes to of course the BACKSTREET BOYS!!!”
He then proceeded to play the song. And it was obvious what it was.
“Oh my God!! It’s Everybody!!! Where’s the phone, where’s the phone?” Molly screamed.
“It’s down under the seat. Here you have to plug it in for it to work,” I said as Ashley was already diving under the seat.
Molly punched in the numbers for the radio station.
“It’s ringing!!” Molly screamed.
After about 10 rings the DJ finally picked up. Molly screamed right into the phone, I’m sure the DJ loved that.
“You’re the first caller!! Can you tell me what the song is that I played so you can get those backstage passes?” the DJ asked Molly.
“Yes, it’s Everybody(Backstreet’s Back)”
“You are absolutely right!!! What’s your name and where are ya calling from?” the DJ asked.
“My name is Molly and I’m calling from I90 on a cell phone.”
Molly could barely hear the DJ because the rest of us were screaming so loud. I couldn’t believe that she actually had won. It took forever for us to get the phone plugged in that I thought there was no way Molly would’ve been the first caller. But she did it and we were going to finally meet the men of our dreams. Molly continued to talk to the DJ about details as to how we were to get the backstage passes. After she hung up the phone we all sat in silence.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!,” I screamed, “I can’t believe that we won! This defiantly makes up for the crappy nose bleed seats that we have.”
“Absolutely Araysa, I was so depressed to find out the seats we got, but now I will be able to sit through the concert knowing that we will be able to see them close up,” Ashley said.
“The DJ said that we have to pick up the backstage passes at the radio station before the concert, and he said that we have to be backstage two hours before the concert. Araysa, I know you have racing in your blood so step on it,” Molly said as she pointed at the gas pedal.
I stepped on the gas and soon we were cruising along at 85 mph. We arrived in Minneapolis around 11:30 just after the morning rush hour traffic. Now for anybody who hasn’t drove in Minneapolis let me tell you from an outsiders point of view it’s not fun. I had to use that racing instinct again to zip in and out of the slower cars.
“Araysa, slow down your gonna kill us I’m positive of that,” Mandy screamed as she tightened her seat belt.
“We have to get to the radio station don’t we? Don’t worry, I’m an excellent driver,” I said back to a petrified Mandy.
“Um, Araysa you weren’t saying that when you got in that accident last year were you?” Ashley snickered.
“Shut up Ashley, that accident was clearly not my fault, my brakes gave out.” I retorted.
“If you weren’t going so fast at the time, you would’ve been able to stop!”
“Ashley do you want to take this outside?” I yelled starting to get a little annoyed.
“Come on girls, you guys are friends and we are going to see the Backstreet Boys! Let’s not be fighting while we are there okay.” Molly said.
“I’m sorry Araysa I didn’t know that you would take what I said personally,” Ashley apologized.
“That’s okay Ashley, it’s just that I got a lot of flack from my parents and friends for the accident, and it’s been over a year now so I would just like to forget it.”
After that little argument we finally arrived at the radio station. I pulled into the parking lot and we all proceeded to crawl out of the car. After three hours of nonstop driving your butt and legs tend to feel like mush, especially in my car. I’m blessed with no cruise control.
“Oh my God, my butt hurts!”
“My legs hurt!”
“My back hurts!”
“How do you think I feel, I had to drive. Everything hurts!”
We walked into the building and approached the front desk. We could barely contain ourselves thinking about what the secretary was about to give to us.
“Hi, my name is Molly, and I won the backstage passes for the Backstreet Boys concert tonight.” Molly squeaked.
“Yes, I believe that these are yours then, and remember you have to be at the Target Center and backstage two hours before the concert.” The secretary said.
“How do we get back there? I mean do we just walk into the lobby and say hey we gotta get backstage?” I asked.
“Are you staying anywhere in Minneapolis tonight? I could arrange to have somebody pick you girls up for the concert and take you back to your hotel,” the secretary offered.
“As a matter a fact we are staying for the night. We are staying at the Hyatt right by the Target Center.” Ashley interjected.
“Well, I will have a limo outside at 4:30,” the secretary said while writing a note in her planner.
“Excuse me, I don’t know if I heard you but did you just say limo?” Mandy asked as the rest of us dropped our jaws.
“Yes, is that a problem?”
“Oh no, we just wanted to make sure we knew what to look for,” I said with a smile.
“Good then, I hope that you have a great time at the concert and congratulations for winning the passes. My daughter would’ve given her right arm for those.” the secretary told us.
“Thanks, this is a dream come true for us.” Mandy said trying not to cry.
Soon we were on our way to the hotel. As I pulled up to the hotel we all just stopped and stared at the massive building in front of us. It was the most beautiful hotel I had ever seen. I felt like a queen getting out and letting the valet park the car.
“Looks like this place is well worth the $240.00 we’re paying for this room.” I said.
“This place looks like a palace, I’ve never stayed at hotel this nice before. I could get used to this!” Ashley said awestruck.
“First thing I’m going to do when we get in the room is go swimming. I’m paying for it, and I’m gonna darn well use it.” Mandy said.
“I’m with you Mandy, I can’t wait to take a dip. We can’t go for too long though because I have to get ready for AJ you know.” Molly said while checking herself out in one of the many mirrors in the lobby.
Of course as all Backstreet Boys fans go we each had our special favorite. Mine is Nick, Mandy’s is Brian, Molly’s is AJ, and Ashley’s is Kevin. We had been dreaming of meeting them ever since we started liking BSB and that moment was less than five hours away. We checked into our room, which by the way was bigger than my entire house I think. We all decided that the pool was defiantly a good idea. After we had all changed into our swimming suits we headed down to the pool area.
I couldn’t believe what I saw when I got there. The pool had a jungle theme to it. There were trees and plants everywhere. The pool was outlined with rocks, and some exotic flowers.
“This is so cool, I’m afraid to go swimming, I might mess something up.” Mandy said while smelling a flower.
“I don’t care. Last one in is a rotten egg!” I yelled as I cannonballed into the water.
After swimming for a couple hours we trotted back up to our room shriveled like prunes and exhausted. We had to get ready, the limo was going to pick us up in a couple hours. We had all chose not to dress to formal at the concert. The last time that we had gone to a Backstreet Boys concert we realized that we were some of the oldest people there excluding all of the parents. Instead we chose to dress casually, khakis and tank tops. To finish off the ensemble I decided to wear my new fishermen’s hat. Soon it was time for the limo to pick us up.
The limo arrived exactly at 4:30. We all climbed in and we were on our way. As we were driving along I started to think about what I was going to say to Nick when I met him. All I could think of was that I can’t be dumb or say anything dumb. I’ve learned in the past that first impressions are the most important and I wanted to make a good one on the person that I had been fantasizing about for the past year and a half. The limo arrived at the back of the Target Center and we all got out and faced the doors that would bring us the closest to the Backstreet Boys we had ever been.
“I can’t believe that we are actually here. How do I look? I hope Kevin notices me.” Ashley said holding back tears.
“Don’t cry Araysa, don’t cry Araysa.” I said to myself
We walked up the stairs and approached the rather large security guard that was in front of the doorway. He took one look at all of our passes and opened the doors.
“Go down the hall and to the left. The Boys should be in there shortly.” The guard mumbled.
“Wow, don’t be so enthused or anything,” Mandy said as Molly slapped her on the arm.
We walked down a hallway which seemed to go on forever. We finally came to the end of it and took a left. We walked into a big reception room where food and drinks were on a table. We just stood there not knowing if we were in the right place or what to do.
“Oh good, you girls made it,” somebody said. I spun around to be face to face with Denise McLean, AJ’s mother and BSB’s tour manager.
“Yep, here we are.” Molly said while hugging Denise.
“The Boys should be in here any minute, so help yourself to the food and drinks okay.”
The second Denise left we headed for the food table. Beings that all of us are college students we jumped at the chance for free food. We all filled our plates and sat down on the couches. We had been eating for about ten minutes. When we heard a knock on the door.
“Hey, save some for us!” a voice said with a hint of humor.
We stopped in mid bite and looked up. There in front of us was the BACKSTREET BOYS!!! Mandy dropped her fork while Ashley choked on her Pepsi. There was complete silence for a couple of seconds and then I spoke up.
“There’s still plenty of food, we wouldn’t eat it all.” I got up and walked over the guys, “My name is Araysa and this Mandy, Molly, and Ashley.” The other girls looked at me amazed that I could even speak.
“Well, hello Araysa. That is a really pretty name.” Nick said to me while giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
At that moment I melted like butter. I was in the purest form of Heaven on Earth there is. I motioned for all of the other girls to get up and introduce themselves. They all got up and went over to their favorite guy. After about five minutes of chit chat, the guys decided that food needed to be consumed. They ran over to the food and started to dig in.
“Guys can never eat nicely can they, they just have to inhale it.” Ashley whispered to Mandy as Nick shoved down his potato salad.
After the guys had eaten every piece of food in site we all sat down on the couches to let our food settle. I looked over at Mandy and noticed that her and Brian were talking and looking at each other with that flirty look in their eyes. Mandy looked up at me and flashed me a big smile. I knew right then that all of us were having the best times of our lives. I walked over to Nick and sat down next to him.
“So, Araysa where are you from?” Nick asked
“I’m from LaCrosse, Wis but I go to college at Winona State University in Winona, MN.” I answered.
“College, that’s cool so what are you studying?”
“I’m a double major in Political Science and Public Administration.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. So are ya gonna be like the President someday?” Nick asked with a look of interest.
“No, I want to be like the top advisor or press secretary to the President. But if you want to get into a political debate I’ll shed you.” I teased.
“No thanks, I don’t want to look dumb in front of you.” Nick said.
“You would never look dumb, I assure you.” I said while touching his hand.
Nick let my hand linger there for a minute and then pulled it away before any of the other guys saw anything.
“So, what’s your favorite song of ours?” Nick asked.
“Well, I would have to say “Get Down.” I like all of your songs but that one is my favorite.” I said while trying to imitate the dance moves.
“Hey, you know the dance to this one?” Nick said with surprise.
“Oh, yea, I’ve perfected it. It’s how I work out. I put your guys’ Live In Concert video in and go to town.” I said.
We continued talking and the longer I talked to him the more in love I became. For the longest time I was in love with the Nick Carter I saw on TV and in magazines. I was in love with his voice and looks, but not his personality until now. I loved everything about him. I was hoping that he would ask how old I was so I could tell him that I was a week older than him. Before I could think anymore the question arose.
“I have to ask, how old are you?” Nick probed.
“Well, I’m 19. And you want to know something. My birthday is January 21, 1980. Pretty cool that we’re so close in age huh.” I said hoping that he would feel the same way.
“Wow, that is cool. You get the award for being the closest in age to me that I have met.”
“Are you serious, with all of the fans you’ve met you haven’t met anybody that was exactly the same age as you?” I asked skeptically.
“I’m serious you are the closest. I wouldn’t lie.”
Soon, Denise came back in the room and said that the guys had to get ready for the show. We all said good bye to the guys and made our way to the arena to take our seats. All of us were holding back tears. We knew that we would probably never get the chance to meet them again and even if we did they probably wouldn’t have remembered us. They meet hundreds of people everyday there was no way that they would remember four girls that had won a radio contest.
We finally got to our seats. We had the upper level sec. 207 row L. It was really high up but there are no bad seats in the Target Center. We got all settled and waited for the show to start. Soon the wave had started around the arena. We had a good one going when the lights started to go down. Screaming erupted from the 13,000 fans that were there. The opening act was a girl called INOJ. *As a side note to this story, INOJ is one of the worst entertainers I have ever seen in my life. She was lip-synching the entire time and was just a really awful thing to witness.* After INOJ was done the lights came back on and we once again had to wait. Twenty minutes later the lights went down once again and the screaming started. The music started and all of a sudden the curtain dropped and there were our Boys! They were standing on a riser behind the band. The entire concert was so good. Finally they got to my favorite song. The music started then all of a sudden Nick started to talk.
“Hey what’s up everybody. Tonight I would like to dedicate this song to a special friend of mine. Her name is Araysa and she is somewhere in this audience tonight dancing right along with us.”
I couldn’t believe he had just said that. I’ve been to a BSB concert before and I have seen many on TV. They have never done something like this. I pinched myself just make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
“Well, you must have made a good impression on Nick backstage. What did you say to him?” Mandy asked in amazement.
“I don’t know, nothing that special or anything. We basically talked about everything. I didn’t think that even liked me that much.”
“Apparently he did.” Molly said while giving me a big hug.
The rest of the concert I was in a daze. Before we knew it the concert was over. We could hear people crying around us. I looked around and burst into tears.
“What’s the matter Araysa?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t know, I just saw all these people around me and got really depressed. Why did Nick say that before “Get Down?” He knows and I know that we are never going to see each other again.” I sobbed.
“You don’t know that Araysa, maybe he said that to tell you that he will never forget you or to say his last goodbye,” Molly said trying to comfort me.
“Maybe your right, but let’s get out of here and get back to the hotel, just looking at the stage makes me feel sick.” I said wiping away my tears.
We got outside and saw the limo waiting for us. We got in and the limo pulled away from the Target Center. I stared out the window at the doors that brought me to Nick earlier this afternoon. The second the limo pulled up in front of the hotel hundreds of screaming girls came running at it.
“What in the hell are all these girls doing here, and why is that girl kissing the window?” Ashley said while ducking her head under the seat.
“Well, this is the Hyatt, they probably think BSB is staying here and that this is their limo.” I said while laughing at a girl that her face plastered up to the back window.
“The show has only been over for fifteen minutes, don’t they realize that if they were staying at this hotel that they wouldn’t be here this quick.” Molly huffed.
“Most of the girls look like they are about 13 years old, I’m sure we would be doing the same thing if we were their age.” Mandy said.
The limo driver maneuvered the limo up the front of the hotel so the doorman could open the door of the car. As soon as he opened the door the girls went nuts. Finally as I stepped out the girls realized that BSB was not in this limo. Many of the girls were crying and some of them were calling us names.
“Let’s get inside before we get killed.” Ashley screamed.
“I will never be like this. Now I know what the Boys go through. This is insane.” I yelled as I dodged a fly-away Beanie Baby.
We made our way up to the our hotel room. We all crashed on the bed. This night had been so great and none of us realized that it was only just beginning.
Chapter Two
Chapters List
My Stories
Main Page