(At this point) I had run all the way to the beach, along the sand, up a set of steps (which were actually blocks of wood dug into the dirt on a steep hill), and was laying in a hammock near the gazebo (which was in the courtyard of the Great Oak Bed and Breakfast, a place that is supposed to be off limits to boaters, but no one really cares).
I laid there doing nothing. Not speaking, not moving, nothing. I sat up and looked out onto the bay, just watching the waves.
All of the sudden, I saw a beam of light hit the tree in front of me. I didn't flinch. I knew who it was.
"Alex?" Maribeth called. All I did was lay back down in the hammock and stare up, through the trees, into the sky. The flashlight beam moved around and finally found me.
"There you are!" Maribeth exclaimed. She ran over and knelt next to me. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know," I said honestly.
"Brian's really worried about you," she said.
"Yeah, right," I snickered sarcastically. "Did he tell you that before or after he started throwing things?"
"Before," came a voice from somewhere behind Maribeth. I turned my head slightly to see a shadow standing a few feet away from us.
"Brian, I told you to stay out of sight until I called you," Maribeth hissed, getting up and walking over to him. I turned my head back towards the sky.
"I know what you said, but I need to talk to her," he said. There was a brief pause. "Please, Maribeth. Let me talk to her. If what you said was true, then she'll listen to me."
Maribeth hesitated, then gave in. "Oh, all right, but please be careful. I don't want to see her get hurt."
"Neither do I," he said. Maribeth walked over and sat on a rocking chair in the gazebo as Brian came and knelt down beside me.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hi," I managed to whisper. We stayed there for a few moments in silence.
"Baby, please look at me," Brian begged, putting his hand on mine. his touch sending a wave of warmth washing over me. I turned my head slowly to look at him, my eyes brimming with tears. A single tear escaped and made it's way down my cheek. Brian took his other hand and used it to wipe a strand of hair from my face, kissing my tear away.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
"Don't be," he said. "It's okay. Maribeth told me what happened."
"Oh," was all I could manage to say.
"Alex, I can't change how I feel and I don't want to."
"I don't want you to, either," I said.
"Then, let me help you get through this," he begged. "I want to be here for you. Don't you trust me?"
"Brian, I do trust you. It's just that I got scared. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Just please tell me why next time, okay? It took me a minute of standing there in shock just to comprehend that you ran." I gave him a small smile. "There's that smile I like," he said, putting a finger under my chin tickling it. My smile grew and I giggled softly. He brought his face to mine and kissing me lightly.
"Awe," came Maribeth's voice from the gazebo. I shook my head.
"Shut up," I groaned. Brian held out his hand and I took it, sitting up. Brian stood up and pulled me up into his arms. He held me close.
"Brian?" I said softly.
"Yeah, baby?" he said.
"I . . . I love you."
He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head. "I love you, too. Don't ever forget that." We just stood there for a few minutes, holding each other. Then someone cleared their throat.
"I really do hate to break up this happy moment," Maribeth said regretfully, "but we really should be heading back. Every one's worried about you as it is, Alex. We don't want to cause them nervous breakdowns."
"Why not?" Brian asked, still holding onto me. I giggled and Jamie hit him lightly upside the head.
"Okay," I said, pulling away from Brian reluctantly. He took hold of my hand and the two of us followed Maribeth (because she had the flashlight) down the steps, across the sand, and up to the road. As we started walking, we caught up with Maribeth and I gave her a tight hug.
"Thank you," I said.
"Hey, what are friends for?" She said, hugging me back.
"Yeah, thanks," Brian said. "If it weren't for you, I never would have understood what happened."
"Hey, I'm only doing my job," she said.
"Since when am I a job?" I joked. We walked the rest of the way back to the party in silence. Not an awkward silence, but a comfortable silence. When we got back to the restaurant, Brian jumped ahead of me and Maribeth, opening the door for us and bowing as we passed, Maribeth whacked him lightly on the head as I laughed.
When we walked in the room, Rachel, Joanne, and Jamie came running up to me, giving me a group hug. I explained that everything was fine while Brian went to find the guys. When he found them, they talked for a few minutes, then came and joined us.
After a few minutes, Bob came up to us and told us it was our turn to sing if we wanted. Getting an idea, I immediately said I wanted to go. I went up to the band, told them what to do, and turned around to face the dance floor. Maribeth, Rachel, Joanne, and Jamie came up to see what I was doing. I told them and they thought it was a great idea. They brought the guys to the dance floor and made them stand there while they went and something to the DJ. When the music stopped, they gave me the "go ahead" sign.
"Is everyone having a good time tonight?" I asked. As usual, everyone cheered. "Great! We're gonna slow it down a bit. This next song is dedicated to someone special. You know who you are."
"Oh, Alex!" Justin exclaimed, running up and falling to his knees beside me. "I didn't know you felt that way!" He batted his eyelashes at me, jokingly. The whole room erupted in laughter.
Oookay," I said, raising my eyebrows at him. I gave him a little shove with my foot and he took it as a cue to go away (which was exactly what it was). I looked at Brian and held out my hand towards him. He came to the front of the room and took it in his. The music started and I began to sing Mariah Carey's "My All." As I sang the lyrics, tears began to form in Brian's eyes. He put his arms around my waist and we began to sway slowly to the music. As soon as the song was over, Brian lifted my face and kissed me gently on the lips. When we broke apart, Maribeth, Joanne, Rachel, and Jamie came up and got ready to sing.
"That was great," Maribeth told me. Joanne and Jamie nodded in agreement.
"It really was," Rachel said.
"Thanks, guys," I said appreciatively. Then I turned to the crowd. "I think we're ready to speed it up a bit, don't you?"
'Yeah!" The crowd yelled.
"Okay, you asked for it." With that, we started singing Britney Spears's "Crazy. Granted, I hate the girl and so do Rachel, Maribeth, Joanne, and Jamie (I don't mean by sight. We've actually met her. She's a real b*tch. And that's putting it lightly.) I took the lead, stepping a little bit in front of the others. They did not mind because if they needed to, they followed me in the dance moves (I've been dancing ever since I was three, so I choreographed most of the steps). After that, we sang Christina Aguilera "Genie in a Bottle" and Mandy Moore's "Candy." Those were our warm up songs, just so we got into the swing of things. Then we sang one Rachel and Joanne wrote called "Fire in the Night," then one that Maribeth and I wrote called "Midnight," and then a few others, one of which Jamie wrote called "Stranger." After that, there was a request for a slow song. The girls were kind of tired of singing, so they went to sit down and let the Backstreet Boys take over. As I was about to follow them, Brian came up to me.
"Will you sing with me?" he asked.
"I'm kind of tired . . ." I said.
"Please," he begged, giving me puppy-dog eyes.
I giggled. "Oh, all right," I sighed. I follow him up to the front and we picked the Celine Dion and R. Kelly duet, "I'm Your Angel."
Brian grabbed two microphones and handed me one. I said thanks and cued the band. When the music started, Brian took my hand and looked into my eyes. After a few seconds, I started to sing:
(me)
No mountains too high for you to climb
All you have to do is have some climbing faith (Oh, yeah)
No rivers too wide, for you to make it across
All you have to do is believe it when you pray
(Brian)
And then you will see,
The morning will come,
And everyday will be bright as the sun
All of your fears,
Cast them on me,
I just want you to see,
(both)
I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel
And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
(me)
I am your angel
(Brian)
I saw your teardrops, and I heard you cry
All you need is time
Seek me and you will find
You have everything and you're still lonely
It don't have to be this way
Let me show you a better day
(me)
And then you will see
The morning will come
And all of your days will be bright as the sun
All of your fears
Cast them on me
How can I make you see
(both)
I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel
And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
(me)
I'm your angel
(Brian)
And when its time to face the storm
(me)
I'll be right by your side
(Brian)
Grace will keep us safe and warm
(me)
And I know we will survive
And when it seems as if
Your end is drawing near
(Brian)
End is drawing near
(me)
Don't you dare give up the fight
(Brian)
Oh, no
(me)
Put you trust beyond the skies
(both)
I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call me
I am your angel
And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voice when you call me
I am your angel
And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'll be your cloud up in the sky
I'll be your shoulder when you cry
I'll hear your voices when you call
(both)
I am your angel
When we were done singing, Brian pulled me close and gave me a kiss on the cheek. The music ended and everyone cheered. We put down the microphones and I turned to the crowd, curtsying jokingly. The all laughed and the DJ put on a dance tune.
Brian and I walked over to find Rachel, Joanne, Jamie, Maribeth, AJ, and Howie sitting at our table talking.
"That was awesome!" Jamie exclaimed, jumping up from her chair and knocking it over in the process. Howie grabbed her and sat her down on his lap to calm her down
"Thanks," Brian and I said in unison.
"That really was good," Howie said. Just then, Kevin and Nick came up to us, with less than pleased looks on their faces.
"What's wrong?" Rachel asked them.
"We just got a call from Donna, our manager," Kevin said.
"And?" AJ prodded.
"It looks as if they need us back on tour a few days early," Nick said. "Some photo shoot thing and an interview or two. She also added another concert."
"What's your next destination?" I asked.
"Baltimore," Kevin said.
"How early is a few days?" Brian asked. He looked at me and got a confused look on his face when he saw that I wasn't upset.
"Tomorrow," Nick answered glumly.
"But this is our one week off from touring," Howie complained.
"I know, but she need us there tomorrow," Kevin said. "No 'buts' about it. Trust me, I tried."
Brian turned to me and put his hands around my waist. "Alex, I'm really sorry about this, but it looks like we're gonna have to cut this short."
"Why?" I asked innocently, wrapping my arms around his neck. I put on my "I know something you don't" face and looked at him.
"Well," Brian explained slowly, "because we have to go to Baltimore tomorrow and . . ."
I interrupted him. "You guys aren't very familiar with the geography of the state of Maryland, are you?"
"Huh?" Brian said, not having any idea at what I was getting at.
"My 'guess' is you guys didn't know that Baltimore is only a one hour ride by boat, did you?" Maribeth said.
"It is?" Nick said, cocking his head, confused.
"Yep," I said. "We can ride down tomorrow morning. It's better than staying in a hotel and nobody will expect it."
"How will we get the boat back here?" Nick asked.
"Well," Rachel said, "either you guys could drive it back and resume the tour after dropping it off, or we could drive it back for you."
"That's fine with me," Kevin said.
"But what if we want you guys to come on tour with us?" AJ asked, wrapping his arms around Maribeth's waist.
"Then you can pick us up and the concert at Philadelphia's First Union Center in a week," Maribeth said simply.
"You guys got tickets?" Nick said, mildly surprised. "I thought it was sold out in ten minutes."
"Eight, actually," I said. "Hey, what do you expect? You're looking at the five biggest Backstreet Boys obsessors on the East Coast and probably all of America."
"Which is a major insult to us," Chris said, coming up next to me.
"True, but no one really cares, now do they?" Jamie said. Chris shot her a dirty look and she flashed him one of her sweetest smiles. I just rolled my eyes.
"So, what are you guys up to?" He asked.
"I think we're gonna go back to our boats and get some sleep," I said. "It's already twelve and we have to get up early tomorrow. We're going to Baltimore."
"Oh, well have fun," Chris said. I let go of Brian for a second to give Chris a hug good-bye. He hugged me back, then went around to hug Rachel, Jamie, Joanne, then Maribeth.
"What's going on?" Justin asked as he, JC, Joey, and Lance came up behind us. "Why all the hugs?"
"We're going to Baltimore for a few days," Maribeth explained to him. "Right now, we're going to bed."
"No!" Justin complained. He grabbed my arm and would not let go. "Don't leave me!"
"Justin, act your age," Joey said.
"Okay," he sighed. He gave me a tight hug. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you, too," I said, hugging him back. All the girls and N'Sync member exchanges hugs, then all the guys exchanged friendly handshakes.
"Awe," the five of us girls said in unison.
"Shut up," all the guys groaned. We gave them "The Look" and they shut up themselves.
"Because we have a video we have to shoot here," JC reminded him. Then, he turned to us. "We'll be here when you get back, so don't forget to stop by before you go home."
"We promise," Rachel said. We headed for the door, leaving N'Sync behind.
"So, that's why you visited this place," I said, raising an eyebrow at Chris. He blushed and shrugged sheepishly.
"Call me!" Justin and I called to each other at the same time.
"Don't worry, I will!" Justin shouted to me as the door shut behind us.
"He'll probably call and harass you all tomorrow," Joanne said.
"Oh, I'm counting on it," I said.
"He has called from Europe at two in the morning before," Maribeth complained. (Maribeth and I share a house in the suburbs of Philadelphia.)
I laughed. "Don't worry, I yelled at him for that. It was only once, though."
"Once?" Maribeth said. "If I remember correctly, it was more like ten, maybe eleven."
"Yeah, well you weren't the one stuck on the phone from two 'til four in the morning, so I don't see why you're the on complaining." We walked down the steps and stopped at the beginning of "C" dock.
"We'll see you tomorrow?" AJ said, interrupting our argument.
"Yeah," Maribeth replied.
"What time do you need to be there?" Rachel asked.
"I'll call Donna and tell her to meet us at twelve noon," Kevin said. "Where is it?"
"Inner Harbor Marina," I told him. "You guys do know how to work your boat, right?"
"Umm, kinda," Brian said.
"I'll go with you guys tomorrow and show you," Maribeth said.
"Me, too," Jamie piped up.
"And the three of us will go with you guys," Kevin said, talking about himself, Brian, and Nick.
"That's fine with me, but don't you guys want to learn how to drive your boat?" Maribeth asked.
"The controls are the same," I told to her, "but I'd dock it for them if I were you."
"Yeah, AJ wasn't too good at that. We had about six of seven people helping us in after he almost crashed into the dock," Brian said.
"He has no idea what he's doing," Nick chuckled quietly, mostly to himself.
"It was my first time, so sue me," AJ said defensively.
"It's okay, baby," Maribeth said, petting his cheek. "I'll teach you tomorrow."
"Well, we'd better go," I said. "You, Kevin, and Nick should be at my boat by 9:45. We'll send Maribeth and Jamie to yours. We'll want to be out of here by ten."
"Okay, goodnight, angel," Brian said to me, pulling me towards him and kissing me softly on the lips.
"Night, baby," Nick said to Rachel.
"Night, doll," Howie said to Jamie.
"Goodnight, sweetie," Kevin said to Joanne.
"Night, dumpling," AJ said to Maribeth. All five girls turned to him.
"Dumpling?" We all said in unison. Maribeth raised her eyebrow at him.
"Sorry, I had to think of something quickly. They used up all the good ones," AJ confessed.
"That's okay," Maribeth said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "Goodnight!" She called to the guys.
"Night!" The rest of us called. We all turned around and headed for "G" dock.