Chapter 4
After what seemed like an eternity it was February 21st 1998. Melissa and I were in my car heading towards the House of Blues. We arrived there at about 10a.m and got in line. There was only about 20 people ahead of us, so we figured we'd be pretty close to the stage.
"I can't believe we're finally here!"Melissa said as we sat down in line.
"I know I can't wait for tonight."
"Me either, I finally get to see Brian in person. And you finally get to see Nick." We talked for a few more minutes before some other girls came over and got in line behind us. Then all of us started talking. After about an hour I was getting hungry so I told Melissa that I was going over to the Wolf Gang Puck Café for something to eat. She gave me her money and said to bring her back the same thing I was having. So I bought 2 orders of fries and 2 large cokes. I brought hers back to her and said that I was gonna go over to a bench across from the building and eat, so I could sit in the sun. I sat there for about 20 minutes eating my food and looking around the area. Just as I was about to go back over to where Melissa was sitting, a pair of large steel double doors that were right next to the bench I was sitting on it opened up and in walked Howie from the BSB's. At first I sat there in disbelief, and when I finally remembered myself, I got up and went over to him. By then he was already talking to a few other fans, but I still got my chance.
"Hey what's up?" He said with a huge smile.
"Not much, just chillin' out."I took out my notebook and handed it to him.
"Could I have your autograph?"
"Of course you can."He took my book from me and put his John Hancock on the paper.
"Here you go."He gave it back to me, smiled and gave me a hug before his bodyguards rushed him off.
"Thanks."I quickly said before he left.
"No problem."He waved goodbye as he went in the back way to the House of Blues..No sooner had I sat back down on the bench that Brian walked in. Before I could even think, he was surrounded by screaming fans all saying hi to him. I watched as he greeted a few of them and signed some autographs along the way. Then AJ walked in behind Brian. And again the fans went wild. But just as quickly as they got there, they were gone. I wasn't about to be thrown around by those fans so I stayed back and watched. I was very disappointed when I found out from one of the techs that Kevin and Nick had arrived earlier.
"Oh my god Kim did you see Brian, he looked so hot!"
"Yeah I saw him."I said under my breath
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing I just wish I could of seen Nick, but he got here sooner. But I did get to meet Howie, he was so sweet."I showed her my autograph.
"You are so lucky! I wish I could have met him." We talked for a few more minutes and then I decided to go down to the market place and go shopping for a while.. I spent about an hour there and spent more money then I should have on Disney stuffed animals that I bought for my cousins in New Jersey. As I was making my way back to the House of Blues I stopped in their souvenier store to look around. I found a really cool jacket there and bought that for my dad. I went out the door and started going through my shopping bags. When I was finished I looked up and out of the door came a tall guy dressed in a navy blue Nike suit with green stripes and a white hat turned backwards. I stared at him, he looked so familiar with his blue eyes and blond hair that you could seen just a hint of. The problem was he was turned sideways to me so I couldn't see his face clearly. Then he went through the back doors into the building. I knew I knew him from somewhere, I just couldn't think of where. I shrugged it off and went into the Virgin Megastore to see their CD collection. No sooner had I left the shop that Melissa came charging up to me and grabbed my arm.
"Don't ask questions, just run!" I did as I was told and managed to drop my bags off at the spot that we saved for ourselves in line. Melissa took me around to the side of the building where there was a crowd of people gathered and looking down at the pier that lead to where they docked their transportation boats.
"Come on!"
"Melissa I'm not going through that crowd, I'll get killed."
"Trust me it's worth it.. Just come on!" I rolled my eyes and followed her. We pushed and shoved our way through the crowd until we were at the very front in the center. Melissa turned to me.
"Look down at the gizzibo."I did as she said. My eyes fell upon the Backstreet Boys having pictures of themselves taken by the press and giving brief statements and interviews. I nearly fell over when Melissa pointed Nick out to me.
"Mel, I just saw him!"
"What? Where?"
"Before I went in the Megastore I saw him come out of the House of Blues store. I knew I had seen him somewhere before. But his head was turned to the side so I couldn't make out his face."
"Wow! Why didn't you just go up to him?"
"Because I thought is I was wrong then I would feel really stupid."
"Good point, but I guess you weren't wrong."
Obviously." Every time the BSB's made a slight gesture the crowd went wild..So wild that Denise McLean came over to talk to the crowd about the noise level.
"Ok guys, listen, the people cannot here the boys talk cause of all the yelling. Now if you guys will stay quiet until it's over, I'll get the guys to come over here and maybe say hello and sign some autographs." The whole crowd was completely quiet from that point on. Finally about an hour later their meets with the press were over and they came over to the crowd one by one. First Kevin came over. We were in the dead center so it took him a while to get to us. But when he finally did I was blown away be how sweet he was. The two of us shook hands, exchanged hello's, and he gave me a quick hug before he moved down the line.....It was the moment I had dreamed of for the last 3 months, Nick was next in line to meet the fans. As I watched him make his way toward us my stomach was doing flip flops and my heart was beating a mile a minute. Finally it was my turn. He flashed me that famous Carter smile that only he could pull off, and said hello to me.
I look at you, looking at me. Now I know why they say the best things are free -Monica-
"Hey, how's it going?" I smiled brightly at him.
"It's going pretty good, how about yourself?"
"Fine just chillin' with some friends before the show starts."
"That's cool."Again he smiled at me, and is blue eyes glistened like two safire diamonds in the sun.
"Well, as long as I have you in front of me, can I get a hug." I couldn't believe I had just said that.
"Sure." Before I could blink an eye I was in his arms. I closed my eyes slowly and breathed in the scent of his cologne so deeply. The warmth of his body rushed over me like a tide, and I was bathed in a light the radiated only from him.
How you've changed my world you'll never know. I'm different now, you helped me grow. You came into my life, straight from above. When I lost the hope, you showed me love. I'm checking for ya boy, you are so fine. Angel of Mine. -Monica-
But my time ended too soon as he pulled away to greet the rest of his screaming admire's.
"Good luck tonight." I said just before he moved on.
"Thanks." I got the smile again and then he turned away to continue with the meet and greet. The scent of his cologne was all over my shirt and I could still feel his arms around my waist. I think I must of been in a daze cause the next thing I knew Brian was standing in front of me. It was then that I realized that because of the large crowd, I had people standing beside and in back of me, all with there elbow's and fist's planted on my back and my arms. Brian came up and smiled at me as I handed him my notebook to sign.
"Hey, how ya doin"? I struggled to get out of the position that I was in.
"I'm fine except for the fact that I can't move."
"You can't move?" He said with a smile as he signed my book. Another thing I realized was that I had completely forgotten to get Nick and Kevin's autograph.
"No, I'm trapped." He started to say something but his bodyguards urged him on. But he didn't leave before he gave me a hug. (Author's note: Brian hugs really tight, he's like a big teddy bear) Next to come over was AJ. I thought he looked so cute with his hair dyed red and his Nike sweat band across his forehead. He greeted me with a smile, gave me his autograph and a big hug. Last but not least Howie came over.
"Hey, I remember you" I laughed a little at his comment.
"Yeah, long time no see." We both smiled at each other, before I spoke up.
"Well, you already gave me your autograph earlier, but could I possibly get another hug from you?"
"Sure you can." He gave me my second hug of the day. When they were finished with the meet and greet they retreated back to the main building, while Melissa and I left the crowd and went to sit down.
"Ouch!!" I said as Melissa grabbed my arm.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah, some girls had their fist's and elbow's in my arms and back. They should be good and bruised by tomarrow morning."
"But it was worth it."
"You can say that again."
"I know, I saw your face as you were hugging Nick. I thought I was going to have to pry you off of him with mase." We both laughed and started to exchange stories with some other fans.
The rest of the day was spent pretty much talking and shopping at the different stores. At around 6:30 Lyn joined us in line. She had to meet us there cause she had a doctors appointment earlier that day. At 7:00p.m. they opened the doors to the building and let everyone in. We ended up directly in the front. Lyn unfortunatly, because of her short height, was a couple of rows behind us, which was bad because I had used up all my film, except for 2 picture, at the meet and greet and Lyn was the only one with a camera at that time. The opening act (L.F.O.) came on and sang their latest single "Sex you up (I know the way you like it)." It was a great performance and it got the audience geared up and ready for Backstreet. They finally took the stage at about 9p.m. breaking into a mix of the songs on the album. Their performance that night was beyond phenomenal and the crowd roared all night long with screams of love and affection for their unsurpassed talent. But it all seemed to end too soon. Before I knew it Nick came back out on stage, dumped a bottle of water over his head, drank some and then chucked the bottle into the audience. The girl next to me was the one that caught it, but to my surprise she didn't keep it. Instead she threw it back at him.
"Why did you do that?"I asked angrily.
"Cause I wanted to get him wetter."
"Well, I don't think it worked."
"What do you care?" She said in a very snobbish tone of voice.
"Cause that was just about the rudest thing that I have ever seen at a concert. Why don't you get a grip on yourself and start acting a little more mature." With that I grabbed Melissa and Lyn and we left the building.
"Kim, what did you say to her? She was totally dumbfounded."Melissa asked
"She was rude to Nick by throwing that bottle back at him. I just made her aware of it."
"Damn straight you did girl, she was speechless as we passed by her." We slapped each other a high five and started walking to my car. That night all of us stayed at my house, but we were to excited to sleep. We stayed up all night talking but feel asleep at about 7a.m. the next morning. At around 10a.m. I heard my door open and saw my dad poke his head in.
"Hey, dad."
"Hey, how was the concert." I smiled, picked up my note book and showed it to him.
"Not only was the show great, but we all got to meet them." He smiled at me, as I promised that we would tell him everything when we woke up.
