"Dammit, you drama queen! We've got plenty of time. Anyway, you don't wanna be there exactly on the button. Gotta make an entrance, you know!" Laura said faking a British accent, flipping her long hair over her shoulder with her hand.
"You're ridiculous, you know that? And you call me the drama queen. I've never seen someone so--"
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Laura interrupted. "Stop your babbling and let's go!" Laura and Misty giggled as they walked out the door. Jenn stopped to lock it. "And you bitched at me for taking so long. 'COME ON! Let's GO!' " Laura said, mocking Jenn. Misty laughed seeing how pissed off Jenn was getting.
"This is sure gonna be a long night," Jenn thought aloud as they headed to Misty's car.
"I think this is it," Jenn said, looking at the address Nick scribbled down, then looking up at the house. "Yep. It's gotta be... Damn, it's a gorgeous home! I'm officially impressed!"
"You said it, Jenn," Laura agreed. "I don't know about you guys, I'm so nervous I could shit."
"Well, please refrain from that!" Jenn joked. "Actually, I wasn't nervous all day, not even an hour ago, but I sure as hell am now. I mean... who knows who else is gonna be in that house. I mean, sure, the rest of the Backstreet Boys is a given. But I'm so totally curious now!"
"I know what you mean," Misty said, clutching her purse tightly. "But we're never gonna find out unless we get in there now, so let's go!" With that, they left the car and walked up to the house.
Before Laura could even knock on the door, it swung open. "Ladies! How are ya? Welcome to Chez Carter." It was Chris Kirkpatrick of 'Nsync. "I'm Chris, and apparently I'm playing doorman right now. And you are...?"
Misty nudged Laura in the back. "Um, I guess I'm going first," she laughed nervously. "I'm Laura... this is my sister, Jenn, and friend, Misty. We work at Point & Shoot." The girls started following Chris further into the house.
"Ahhh, OK. Nick told us about you ladies. Right this way..." Chris said, allowing the girls to enter the room first. It was an activity room of sorts. It had a pool table, pinball machine, and 2 medium sized TVs--one with Nintento64, the other with the new Playstation 2--and a large screen TV complete with a home theater stereo system. "Wow," Laura mouthed to Misty as they looked around, taking in the surroundings. Not to mention the people. As anticipated, the rest of the Backstreet Boys were there, as was the rest of 'NSync, and Britney Spears, and Aaron, and a few others.
Nick and Aaron were playing Nintendo, when Nick looked up and saw Laura, Misty and Jenn. He paused the game, handing the controller over to Brian. "Here, Rok, take over, I have new guests to greet," he said, never taking his eyes off them. He left Brian and Aaron and walked across the room to where the girls were standing. "Hey, glad you could make it," he said, leading them over to the pool table, where AJ McLean, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Lance Bass were playing pool.
"Hey guys, this is Jenn, Laura and Misty. They work at P & S. They worked on Aaron's shoot this morning," Nick said, introducing the girls to them.
AJ was the first to speak. "Nice to meet you, ladies," he said, focusing on Misty, not even glancing Laura and Jenn's way. "Misty, is it?" he said, putting his hand on her arm.
"Y-yeah, Misty," she replied nervously. AJ smiled, and she relaxed. "I'm in the middle of getting my ass kicked at pool. Care to be my good luck charm?" he asked her, still smiling, looking into her eyes. Misty just nodded numbly as she sat by AJ as he awaited his next turn.
"You guys just make yourselves comfortable. Mi casa es su casa," Nick said smiling. "Beverages for anyone?" he offered.
"Whatever you've got for beer, I'll have," Jenn said. Nick then looked at Laura, and she nodded in agreement.
"OK, two brews, comin' up," Nick confirmed, winking at Laura as he walked away.
"Oooh giiirrrrll, someone's sweet on youuuuu," Jenn teased after Nick was out of sight.
Laura rolled her eyes. "As if. I mean, he's Nick Carter! He can have any girl he wants!"
"Exactly my point! It appears that he wants you!"
"SHH!" Laura said, quickly. "Here he comes..."
"A beer for each of the ladies. Glasses?" Laura and Jenn both shook their heads, declining. "Ahh, my kind of ladies!" he said, smiling at Laura. She couldn't deny it, he definitely was looking at her. She suddenly felt herself blush, and tried to start a conversation to calm herself.
"So, Nick... this is really a great house! Beautiful inside and out!" Laura said.
"Thanks! Yeah, it is great. I love it too!" Nick replied. Just then Kevin Richardson walked by.
"I see we have new guests! I'm Kevin," Kevin said, smiling as he shook hands with Jenn and Laura.
"Yeah, this is Jenn, and her sister, Laura," Nick said. Just then the doorbell rang. "Annnd, I hear there are more guests here. I'll be back in a few!" he said, and ran to get the door, leaving Kevin with the girls.
"Actually, I need to go use the little girls' room," Jenn said, blushing. "Where's the bathroom?"
Britney Spears was walking by at that moment, and said, "Hey, there... I'll show you where the bathroom is. Come on," she said with a warm smile. Jenn went with her, leaving Kevin and Laura.
"So, having a good time?" Laura asked, trying to break the ice. She couldn't help but stare at him, though. Pictures sure did not do him justice, he was gorgeous.
"Yeah, I love just hangin' with the crew. We just got back into town after some heavy promotional work, so it's nice to come back and just relax with friends." Kevin smiled at her warmly. "So what's your story? What do you do?"
"I'm a hair and makeup artist. I work at Point & Shoot. Jenn... she's my sister and works there too... she did Aaron's shoot today. I helped with his hair and makeup for the shoot."
"I see. Very cool!" Kevin said, still smiling. Laura smiled back, trying not to let on that she was nervous as hell. This is gonna be one hell of a night...she thought, as she sat and chatted away.
"You should have seen her! It was funny as hell. I never laughed so hard in my life. And Jenn... let's just say she was ready to disown me," Laura laughed, telling Kevin about some of the times her and Jenn shared growing up. "I'm surprised she ever forgave me for that one!"
Kevin laughed. "Well, it's nice to know that my brothers and I aren't the only siblings that tortured each other like that!"
"Oh, definitely not," Laura said, smiling. She looked at her watch. "Wow, we've been chatting for over three hours!"
"Well, I guess time flies when you're having fun," Kevin said with a wink. Good thing Laura was sitting or she would have gone weak in the knees.
Just then Kevin caught Nick's eye. He looked upset, so he excused himself. "Hey, Laura, Nick looks like something's wrong. I'm gonna go see what's up, OK? Good talking to you! I hope we meet again, very soon."
"Oh, I'm sure we will," Laura replied, as he shook her hand, gently but firmly. "Later, Kevin."
"Later," Kevin said with a smile and a wink, as he walked over to where Nick was. Jenn returned as she saw Kevin turn to walk over by Nick.
"Oh my God, girl! He was totally falling all over you!" Jenn said, sitting down next to her sister. "You seem to just be swimmin' in the men tonight!"
"Yeah, well..." Laura blushed, then quickly changed the subject. "So where have you been all this time?"
"Just making the rounds. Not been sticking by any specific person or people. But, I do hate to break it to you, but it's almost time for us to go. Remember, we have another early morning shoot tomorrow."
"Ah, shit. Oh, alright... Let's get Misty and hit the road, then. Where is she?"
"She's still over flirting with AJ. I'll go drag her away, if I can," Jenn laughed, and walked off to get Misty.
"I don't understand why you had to talk to her all night," Nick said to Kevin, almost scolding him. "I invited her here for a reason, you know," he said, winking at him.
"Hey, Nick, I'm sorry, bro. I didn't know you liked her. I was just having a conversation with her. You could have butt in. It's your party, after all."
"Like her!? I haven't been able to stop thinking about her since this morning! And yeah, I could have come over and butt in, but part of me just wanted to watch her, with her totally oblivious to the fact that I was watching her." Nick sighed as he glanced over by Laura, Jenn, Misty and AJ. He noticed the girls were saying good-bye to everyone. "Ahh, shit, they're leaving, I gotta go say good-bye." He said, as he walked over to the door, and Kevin followed.
"Hey! Laura!" Nick said, fast approaching the door. "You're leaving already?" he asked, a look of disappointment on his face.
"Yeah, unfortunately, we have an early shoot again tomorrow morning. Trust me, we wouldn't go if we didn't have to," Laura said, smiling at Nick. His face softened, and smiled back at her. "Thank you... for your hospitality. I had fun," she said, unconsciously standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. After doing so, she felt herself blush, so she turned away quickly to head out the door. "Bye!" she said sharply, as Jenn and Misty hurried to catch up with her. I can't believe I just did that! she thought, as they drove away. The sooner they got home, the sooner she could go to bed, and forget about embarrassing herself immensely. Way to go, weirdo, she thought, as they rounded the corner to home...
