I had safely made it home and now I was back in good ole Minnesota. It had been about two weeks into my break and true to his word Nick called me everyday. Mostly begging me to cut my break short and come back to the tour. I kept telling him I would see him in a short time in Minneapolis. It broke my heart everyday when I hung up the phone because the conversation would end with both of us saying “I love you” and I would hear sniffles coming from Nick as I hung up. There was never a day that I didn’t cry after I hung up the phone. I thought that this break would be good, but I realized that I was actually a lot happier when I was with Nick. I would see him in two weeks so I decided to pack up my things and spend the rest of my time off with my parents.
I walked into the house and threw all my bags down so I could give my mom and dad both a big hug and kiss.
“We missed you.” my mom said, “How was the tour?”
“Grueling, that’s why I’m here. Only for two more weeks though. Then I’m meeting up with the tour again when they come to Minneapolis. Hey, Nick didn’t call here by chance did he?” I asked.
“Yea, actually he did, not long ago. I told him you would probably be home in a half and hour. He said he would try back then.” My dad told me.
“Okay, thanks.” I said as I starting to unpack.
About fifteen minutes later the phone rang. I went over to answer it.
“Hello.” I said.
“HELLO!!!” I heard a ton of people scream.
“Wow, who’s all there?” I asked.
“Everybody’s here. The girls, the rest of the fellas, the managers, and of course all of our trusty bodyguards. We all decided to go out to eat. And you aren’t here to enjoy it.” Nick said with a slight pout.
“Oh sure, as soon as I leave, you do all the fun things.” I said with a laugh.
“Yea, pretty much.” Nick said.
“WHAT?” I asked.
“I’m just kidding, how are you doing? Did you just get home?” Nick asked.
“Yea, about fifteen minutes ago. Everything’s fine. I’m excited to see you again. I really thought about things these past two weeks. I realized that I’m a lot happier when I’m with you.” I said.
“See, I told you that you should’ve never left.” Nick said.
“Well, I didn’t exactly mean it like that. This break was definitly good for me. But I will be glad when I’m back on the tour. I’m coming to Minneapolis the day of the concert. Steve told me not to worry if I get there before you guys. He told me just to check into my room like normal. I’m flying into Minneapolis pretty early, so I’m sure I’ll beat you guys there.” I said.
“I’ll make them speed the bus up so we can meet you there.” Nick said with a laugh.
“Yea right Nick, and then take the bus into a ditch, I don’t think so.” I said back.
“You’re right. Okay, well our foods here so I’ll talk to tomorrow. I love you Araysa.” Nick said.
“I love you too Nick.” I said back.
Just then I heard somebody say in the background, “Oooooooo...Nicky... I love you.” And then I heard a bunch of giggling.
“Why don’t you just shut up Mr. I Can’t Find A Room Before I Start Making Out With My Girlfriend!” I heard Nick yell.
“Hey, hey what’s going on there?” I said starting to laugh.
“Nothing, AJ’s just being crazy as always. I’ll talk to ya tomorrow then. Bye, bye.” Nick said.
“Okay, bye babe.” I said and then hung up.
Finally, I was relieved after I hung up the phone with Nick. I continued to unpack before my parents and I went out to eat.
*********
“Yes, I have a room reserved here for a night. It should be under either Araysa Ashmore or The Firm. I’m not sure which.” I said at the front desk of the Crowne Plaza.
“I have it right here. Room 1723. Here is your key, remember you must have it to get on your floor. Just swipe it in the elevator and it will take you to the seventeenth floor. The bell hop will get your baggage, don’t worry about that. Have a nice stay.” the desk clerk said as he handed me my keycard.
“Thank you, will you deliever a message to someone when they arrive? I’m planning on going down to the Mall of America and I want them to know that I’m here already.” I said.
“Yes Miss, that would be no problem.” the clerk said has he handed me a message pad.
I wrote a quick note to Steve that I was here and to tell Nick I would see him that afternoon. I handed the pad back to the clerk and made my way up to the room. As soon as all my stuff was in the room and I had my laptop out and connected I went back down to the lobby where a car was waiting for me. I had decided to do a little shopping before I saw everybody. Actually I wanted to get something nice at Victoria’s Secret to wear when I was with Nick that night. We got to the mall and I told Mike, the girls and my driver to meet me where he had dropped me off in two hours. Mike gave the okay sign and drove away. I walked into the mall and proceeded to do some shopping.
I had been the mall for about an hour and half when a couple girls came up to me.
“Hey are the Backstreet Boys here?” they asked excitedly.
“What? How should I know?” I asked back.
“Well, you are Nick’s girlfriend aren’t you. So who else would know but you?” one of the other girls said.
I knew that I had to be nice to the girls. I’m not a mean person and I wasn’t about to start then.
“Nope, I’m sorry. The guys aren’t here. They aren’t even in Minneapolis yet. Not that I know of anyway. There weren’t here when I got in town this morning.” I said.
The girls smiles turned to frowns after I said that.
“Well, do you know where they are staying? Please tell us. We just really want to meet them.” the last girl said.
“I’ll give ya a hint. They are not staying at the Hyatt or the Marriott. Also, their hotel is only about three or four blocks away from the Target Center. You can narrow it down from there.” I said.
The one girl looked at the other one with big eyes. She whispered something in her ear and then the girls thanked me and walked off. I watched as they walked away, I couldn’t help but smile. If I was them I probably would’ve been doing the same thing. I knew then that I could make the rest of the tour. And I was going to have a darn good time doing it. Since it was almost time for me to meet Mike I made my way back to where he had dropped me off. I spotted the car and got in.
When I got back to the hotel I saw three very distinctive rental vans in the hotel entryway. I knew the guys were there. I walked into the lobby and spotted Mandy, Molly, and Ashley talkng with some fans. They hadn’t noticed me yet so I decided to have a little fun with them.
“BSB what time is it?” I yelled.
Mandy, Molly, Ashley, and the fans that were there looked up at me. Mandy, Molly, and Ashley got a big smile on there face and continued the chant.
“It’s time to go to work y’all” they all yelled.
Then I yelled, “What kind of work?”
Then we all yelled. “Hard work...uh!”
The girls got up and ran over to me. I got hugs and kisses from all of them.
“Race!!! I’m so glad you are back” Molly said.
“Yea, me too. Hey, I see you went shopping.” Mandy said with a smile as he pointed at my Victoria’s Secret bag.
“Yea, who’s that for? You or Nick?” Molly whispered in my ear.
“Mmmmmm...both.” I said with a laugh.
Just then Mandy turned back to the fans that they had been chatting with.
“Hey, Araysa, this is Carrie and Meghan. Carrie, Meghan, this is Araysa. She is Nick’s girlfriend. They decided to check out the hotel and I think they hit a jackpot.” Mandy said motioning to the two girls.
“Hey guys, how’s it going?” I said as I shook both of their hands, “Did you girls happen to catch the guys yet?” I asked with a smirk.
“No, we didn’t.” Carrie said with a frown. “We just missed them, but we recongized the girls so we thought we would talk to them.” she continued while pointing at Mandy, Molly, and Ashley.
I looked at the other girls with a let’s-bring-them-up-for-a-bit look. Mandy smiled and nodded. So did Molly and Ashley. Just then my cell phone rang.
“Hold that thought.” I said as I answered my phone, “Hello.”
“Race, where are you?” a voice that was Brian said.
“I’m in the hotel lobby, why?” I asked.
“Well, get your butt up here. Nick’s going crazy.” he said with a laugh.
“Why didn’t he call me?” I asked.
“He’s in the bathroom, so he said to call your cell phone to see where you are. He looked out the window and noticed Mike and the car downstairs so he knew that you were close-by.” Brian said.
“Yea, I’ll be up in a minute. Hey we’re bringing up a couple of cool girls, so you be on your best behavior.” I said.
“Okay, I’ll tell the others. Hey, I’m really glad you are back. We all are.” Brian said as he hung up.
“Sorry about that. That was Brian, he said that Nick is having a fit upstairs because I haven’t gone up to say hi yet.” I said.
“Yea, Nick has been in a fit since you left a month ago.” Molly said with a giggle.
Carrie and Meghan looked at us with a weird looks.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I bet you guys have no idea what we are talking about. I’ve been on a break from the tour for the past month. This is my first time seeing the girls and everybody else.” I said.
“Oh, I was kind of confused there for a bit.” Meghan said.
“Well, are you going up to see Nick then?” Ashley asked.
“Yea, I’m going right now.” I said, “Aren’t you guys coming?” I asked.
“Yea, we’re coming up too. Hey Carrie and Meghan, you coming with us?” Mandy asked.
“What, are you serious.” both of the girls said at the same time.
“Yea, we’re serious. Let’s go.” I said as I took the hand of Carrie and Molly took the hand of Meghan.
We made our way up to the floor and walked into the living room area on the penthouse level. All the guys were there. We all walked in and the guys faces lit up.
“WAS UP!!!” I yelled.
“Yea, she’s back!!!” Brian said.
“Race!!” AJ said.
“What’s up girl!” Kevin said.
“Where’s Nick?” I asked.
“Nick...Is right here.” I heard someone say.
I turned around and there was Nick coming in the door. I ran over to him and gave him a big hug and a kiss. Just then Howie came over and got down on his knees and clamped himself to Nick’s leg.
“Finally, now Nick can stop pestering me by saying. ‘Oh, Howie...I miss her so much...when is she coming back?” Howie said as Nick drug him around the room.
“Howie, get off of me. I never did that.” Nick said as he started to blush.
“Whatever Nick, you did too.” Kevin said he started to laugh.
“Nick, that’s cute.” I said as I put my arm around his waist.
“Don’t believe them. I did miss you but I never did that.” Nick said.
I looked at all the girls and then guys. They all rolled their eyes.
“Hey guys, now that we’ve shown some fans of yours that you have no sanity whastsoever, how about we introduce everybody?” Molly said, “This is Carrie and Meghan.”
“Hey, Carrie. Hey, Meghan.” all the guys said as they got up to give the girls hugs.
The guys gave the girls autographs and took pictures. When that was finished it was time to make our way to the Target Center. I realized when we pulled up to the doors that this was where I had met Nick almost a year ago. Our year anniversary was coming up and I was psyched to see what was going to happen. Come to think of it all of us girls and guys year anniversaries were coming up. I couldn’t believe that I had been with Nick for almost a year. We’ve gone through so much, yet I’m more in love with him now then ever before. I looked at Nick and smiled. I took his hand and squeezed it. He squeezed it back and smiled. I mouthed, “I love you.” and Nick did the same. I then layed my head down on his chest and he kissed the top of my head. I was so content, and I was so glad to be back.
We made it inside the venue and got to the backstage area. We all set our stuff down and made our way out to the arena.
“Hey, guys this is where we first met.” Molly said.
“Iceburg straight ahead.” Mandy said as she started to laugh.
“Shut up Mandy.” Molly said giggling.
“Where were you guys sitting for that concert?” Nick asked. “Remember when I dedicated “Get Down” to you? Show me where you were sitting.” Nick said as he took my hand.
We all went out to the main concourse and made our way up four flights of stairs, till we made it to where us girls sat for the concert that changed our lives. When we got up there. Kevin whistled.
“Wow, this is really high up. How small were we?” Kevin asked.
“Ummm...this small.” Ashely said indicating with your thumb and pointer finger how small they were. The size of little bugs.
“Well, you guys don’t have to worry about sitting up here anymore do you?” AJ said.
“Nope, but then again we really didn’t mind being this high up. We got to meet you guys backstage and also I once heard Tommy say that these high up seats are the ones that pay your salaries so we should be happy to have those seats. And we were.” I said.
“Okay, this is enough. Too high for me.” Brian said as he started back down the stairs.
We got back down to the arena just as it was time for thier sound check. All of us girls decided to go out by the back and just walk around outside. We were walking around when the dancers and the band arrived. We hadn’t really noticed all of the getting off the bus, so I was turned around. All of a sudden a pair of hands came around my waist and tickled me.
“Araysa!!” the person yelled.
I jumped so high and quickly turned around
“Tommy, I swear if you do that one more time I’m going to kill you.” I said trying not to laugh.
“Ah, you like it.” Tommy said back as he gave me a hug, “How ya doing? I missed ya.”
“I’m great. Really glad to be back. I’m so psyched to be back in Minneapolis. It’s been almost a year.” I said.
“Yea, that’s right. I didn’t even know you the last time we were here. And you know what, I really regret it ever since.” Tommy said with a devilish grin.
“Whatever, you are such a meanie you know that.” I said as I slapped him on the arm.
“I was just kidding. No, I’m glad that we’ve gotten the chance to really get to know you girls.”
“Thanks, that’s really sweet.” I said.
“Well, we gotta get going. Talk to you girls after the concert or whatever.” Tommy said as he walked off.
I then gave hugs and said hi to all of the dancers and the rest of the band. I felt like we were a family and it was a really good feeling. After everbody was inside Molly, Ashley, Mandy, and I decided to head on in and get ready for the concert.
Chapter Fourteen
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