Nick yawned and flopped back on the couch. He and the others were backstage, fifteen minutes before the concert started. Yawning, AJ fell down next to him.
“Do we really have to do this?” AJ whined and yawned at the same time.
“AJ doesn’t want to perform?” Nick said, feigning a shocked look. “That’s it. Hell’s officially frozen over.” Groaning, AJ shot Nick a death look before leaning his head on the back of the couch and closing his eyes.
“C’mon, people! Chop chop! Lets go!” AJ opened his eyes to find Brian standing over them, grinning widely in his blue shirt.
“How are you so hyper?” Nick asked, sluggishly getting up from the couch. Brian shrugged.
“I dunno,” he admitted, looking up at his blonde band-mate who was now towering over him. “I just have a good feeling about this concert.” AJ rolled his eyes.
“You have a good feeling about every concert.”
Sighing, Kassy leaned against the wall of the auditorium. She checked her watch. 8:15. Fifteen minutes past show time and, as usual, the concert hadn’t started yet.
All of the sudden, there was a drum roll behind the curtain, laughter following. Kassy cringed as the 1,000 girls screeched in excitement. The lights dimmed and the curtain on the stage rose. There, appeared five guys; three in grey suits, two in black. The blonde on the far left was wearing a green shirt, the guy next to him wearing sunglasses had on a yellow shirt, the Latino on the far right had on a purple shirt, the tall, muscular man next to him had on a red shirt, and the guy in the center had on a blue shirt. They were all seated on stools, which had been studiously placed on an oriental carpet on the stage. The band was set up behind them.
For a short moment, Kassy looked at the one in the middle. She looked like someone she knew, someone she might have recognized, but she could place his face. Shaking her head, she opened her notebook as the audience fell silent. She knelt down and turned to the girl next to her.
“Who’s the one with the funky hair and sunglasses?” Kassy whispered. The girl, around ten or eleven, gave Kassy a look, like she was “supposed” to know who each of the guys were, yet she answered anyway.
“That’s AJ McLean,” the girl said. Nodding thankfully, Kassy stood up, poised to write down any information she came up with.
As the “Boys” began their first song, entitled “Who Do You Love?” Kassy began to take notes on AJ performance, since he was the first to sing.
self confident
graty, satisfying voice
tremendous SP
puts heart and soul into lyrics
Leaving a few lines for anything else she might find interesting, she drew a line and knelt down again.
“Who are the others?” Kassy asked the same girl. Sighing, she didn’t take her eyes off the blonde as she answered, Kassy scribbling down what she said.
“Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian-“ Kassy’s heart froze, her ears only focused on the new angelic voice coming from the speakers.
No, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut, it can’t be. The more rational side of her head differed. There’s no doubt. It is him. You’d know that voice anywhere. Looking up, Kassy’s eyes froze on the face of the center man. She couldn’t move. It took all of her energy just to keep herself balanced on her knee.
His voice was still the same. Angelic, soft, and beautiful, just like she had described it to him years ago. Kassy couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognized him earlier since his looks really hadn’t changed much since the last time she’d seen him. Hell, they hadn’t changed much since the third grade! The same narrow set eyes with the same royal blue glint inside them, the same golden-blonde locks . . . Actually, no. He dyed his hair before he left, she remembered, but he cut it . . . short.
That’s when he saw her. She was sitting on the very far right of the auditorium, in the front near the stage. She was writing furiously in her notebook, tears streaming down her face as she wrote. He wasn’t sure why she was been crying, but she was.
He had waited so long to see her. He’d missed her so much. Before he could do or say anything, the curtain was dropped and a fifteen intermission began.