Okay, the next week went by slowly! We said good-bye to the guys, drove the boats back to the marina, and went home, but not before stopping and going out to lunch with N'Sync. When we got home (Abington, Pennsylvania), we went to our homes (Maribeth and I share one while Rachel and Joanne share one. Jamie lives on her own, though we all live close by one another.
Now, as I said, the week went slowly. We got frequent calls by the guys, but it was still hard to be apart from them. By the time Saturday rolled by, we were relieved beyond belief. We woke up at five in the morning, meeting at an all-hour diner for breakfast. When we were done breakfast, it was nine. We were supposed to be at the First Union Center by one, so we decide to crash at mine and Maribeth's house for awhile. When twelve-noon rolled around, we took Rachel's Green Rav4 to the arena. When we got there, my friends dad got us in right away.
As it turns out, we were a half an hour early, so we got the "pleasure" of watching the last five minutes of the Flyers practice. When that was over, the controller (I have no idea who that is) melting the ice and they put the rubber pads over it and started setting up the chairs. As we watched this, Maribeth and I showed Jamie, Rachel, and Joanne the box where we had sat at our first Backstreet Boys concert. Making conversation with the waiter, we didn't notice when the other three left. When we finally noticed, we saw them down on the stage, waving to us and laughing. We scowled at them and walked out of the box and down the steps to the main floor. As we were walking the lap around the arena for exercise, we heard a dog whistle from behind us. We stopped and looked at each other.
"AJ," we said in unison. Sure enough, when we turned around, there were AJ and Brian standing there, arms crossed over their chests.
"Why the attitude?" I asked, Maribeth and I copying their positions.
"You made us look for you," Brian said. "We don't appreciate having to do a man hunt."
"Well, I'm sorry if I wanted to show her the place I sat at the first concert you guys had here," I said, copying his attitude.
"You were at our first concert?" AJ asked. We both nodded.
"I was sitting down in the first section while Alex, here, got the luxury of a box seat," Maribeth said, hitting me lightly on the arm.
"Awe, poor baby," I said sarcastically. Then I turned to the guys. "If you two are done lecturing us now, we were going to find the Flyers locker room." Maribeth and I turned and headed in the other direction. I heard footsteps running behind us and I was suddenly lifted up by a pair of strong arms. I looked up at Brian, who held me like a baby. He kissed me passionately, putting me down and wrapping his arms around my waist, not breaking contact. for a moment.
"God, I missed you," he whispered softly in my ear, hugging me close.
"I missed you, too," I said, leaning my head against his shoulder and breathing in his scent. (I am so happy that it wasn't Abercrombie and Fitch cologne. That stuff is nasty!) He loosened his grip on me a little, just far enough so that we were face to face. He smiled and kissed me again.
"You can up for breath anytime now," Maribeth said. When we continued kissing, she spoke up again. "How do you breathe?"
"Personal life support," AJ told her, causing me and Brian to laugh. We broke apart and Brian glared at AJ. "Yeesh! Touchy!" he said, holding his hands up in defense. The four of us walked into the arena, joining Rachel, Joanne, Jamie, Nick, Kevin, and Howie on the stage. Donna, Johnny (the Backstreet Boys' co-manager, along with Donna), and Fatima came in a few minutes later.
"You guys ready to show Philly what you're made of?" Fatima asked.
"They already know what we're made of," Maribeth said, looking at me and smiling. When EYC got there, we practiced for the rest of the day. By the time we were done, it was six o'clock (the concert starts at seven). We went backstage to get ready.
This time, we got to pick out our own outfits. (We're big girls, mommy!) Joanne had on overalls and a purple shirt, Jamie had on black and white-striped Adidas pants and a short, light grey shirt, Rachel had on Khaki's and a hunter green hooded shirt, Maribeth had on Jean Capri pants and a yellow crop-top, and I had on silver pants and a black tank-top with a black, zip-down, three-quarter sleeved sweater-shirt. After getting our makeup done, we went out to the front row of the audience to watch EYC. When we got out there, the concert hadn't started yet, so we took some seats and talked to the guys' body-guards.
The setup of the stage was the same as it had been for the Maryland concert, with the stage in the middle, shaped like a pentagon, and the pentagon shaped part in the middle that rises.
"What are you doing here?" asked a voice from behind us. The five of us turned around to see Donna and Kaitlyn (two of our arch-enemies from high school).
"We're here for the concert," I said calmly.
"Well, don't expect them to see you when they've got us standing right in front of them," Kaitlyn said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
"And AJ's gonna say hi to me," Kaitlyn said. "I can just feel it."
"You can feel something else," Maribeth said. Her hands clenching into fists, she almost lunged at Kaitlyn. I put a hand on her shoulder before she got the chance. She looked at me, confused at why I didn't let her hit the girl, then smiled when she saw the evil grin on my face.
"And what makes you think that he's going to notice you with all these people?" I asked, motioning to the thousands of girls and their parents that were flowing in.
"We're first row," Donna said. "And besides, we've got these." She waved two backstage passes in front of my face. "Aren't you just so jealous?"
"Where'd you get them?" Maribeth asked, pretending to be jealous.
"A friend," Donna laughed. Maribeth and I just shook our heads and walked away, joining Joanne, Rachel, and Jamie, who were talking to the bodyguards. After a few minutes, the concert started. When EYC came on, they spotted us and waved. Daemon blew us kisses and we laughed. Halfway through the performance, we went backstage.
"Who were those girls you were talking to?" Brian asked, wrapping his arms around my waist.
"High school nemeses," I said. "One loves you and the other loves AJ. Maribeth was ready to pounce."
"Can you help us make them jealous?" Maribeth asked Brian and AJ. They both nodded and smiled knowingly. When EYC was done, the five of us walked onto the dark stage and sat on our sides of the raised center. The order was me, Maribeth, Rachel, Joanne, Jamie, me, and so on. When the lights went on, I started.
"How ya doing, Philly?" I asked. The crowd cheered.
"I thought my hometown had more spirit than that," Maribeth said. "C'mon, let's hear some noise!" The crowd cheered again, significantly louder this time. I walked down to the stage as the others did the same. We introduced ourselves and I, coincidentally having Donna and Kaitlyn halfway in between mine and Maribeth's side, waved to them, loving the look of death they were giving me. The five of us sang the same songs as at the last concert, and were about to exit, when Nick walked on-stage.
"Now, where do you think you're going?" he asked us, walking up to Rachel. The crowd went wild.
"Well, we were considering leaving so you guys could perform," she said to him.
"No, you're staying," Kevin said, walking onto Joanne's side of the stage.
"Yeah, we've got a surprise for you," Brian said as he walked on-stage. He came over to me and kissed me on the cheek.
"If that was the surprise, I think you could have done a little bit better," I said, teasingly.
"Yeah, B-rok," AJ said, coming up behind Maribeth and scaring the hell out of her. "You have to be able to do better than that."
"Later," he said, rolling his eyes.
"Can we get to the real surprise?" Howie asked, coming on-stage and giving Jamie a hug.
"Does it involve money or anything valuable?" Joanne asked hopefully.
"Ha, ha. Very funny," Nick said. "All last week, when you ladies were at home, pining away for us . . ." he started.
"What makes you think we would sit on our butts and wait for you?" I said.
"Anyone would," Brian said. I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, when you ladies weren't with us last week, we made some phone calls and came up with this. He held up a CD case.
"What's this?" I asked, taking it from him. My eyes widened when I realized what I was holding. It had "Galaxy" written on the front above our picture. I turned it over and saw the title of the three songs we had sang at the first concert, "Follow My Heart," "Star in the Night," and "Midnight." "You guys made us a CD?" I asked Brian, dumbfounded.
"Huh? What?!" Joanne asked. I heard a crash and a series of thuds. The next minute Joanne slid down the ramp on my side of the stage.
"One small leap for Joanne, several minutes of running for anyone else," Rachel muttered into the microphone
"We did better than that," Kevin said from his laying position on the stage. Joanne ran back to their side and hovered over him
"What is it? Huh, huh, huh?" she asked excitedly.
"What do you mean 'you did better than that'," Jamie asked warily.
"He means that we got you a record deal with JIVE," Brian said.
"You what?" The five of us asked in unison.
'We got you a record deal with JIVE," AJ repeated. I practically bowled Brian over when I ran to hug him. He laughed and spun me around as the crowd cheered. After a few more minutes, the girls and I left the stage to let them start their performance. When she was summoned, Joanne joined Kevin on-stage for their duet. When the other four came backstage, I ran up to Brian and hugged him tightly. He smiled at me.
"I cannot believe you did this!" I said as he hugged me back.
"Anything for my angel," he said.
"Oh, just kiss already," AJ groaned as he went and sat on Maribeth's lap. I looked at Brian and smiled. He kissed me passionately on the lips. When we broke apart, we sat down on the couch and waited for our turn. When Kevin and Joanne came back, Howie and Jamie went, then Nick and Rachel. When it was AJ and Maribeth's turn, I stopped her before she went out.
"Make sure to give Kaitlyn a big smile," I whispered in her ear. She smiled evily at me and walked on-stage. When they were done, Maribeth came backstage with a huge grin on her face, showing me that she was content with her work. She had pissed Kaitlyn off. She winked at me as Brian and I walked out of the backstage. I took a deep breath and stood by the stage. Brian started singing "Private Emotions." After the first chorus, I started singing my part, walking on-stage to the rhythm. When I got to where Brian was standing, the raised part in the center of the stage, he took my hand and smiled. I found Donna in the audience and waved. Boy, was she pissed! Man, was I happy! After the song ended, Brian gave me a kiss on the cheek and I went backstage, letting them finish their performance. The five of us talked to EYC backstage during the rest of it.
When the concert was over, the guys went into their dressing rooms to get changed. In the room across the hall, where the fans with backstage passes were supposed to sit, Joanne, Jamie, Rachel, Maribeth, Daemon, Trey, Dave, and I sat there with the fans and talked to them, signing autographs when they asked.
"Uh, oh," Maribeth whispered in my ear. "B*tch alert." I looked up and, sure enough, Donna and Kaitlyn were headed in our direction. They didn't look too happy.
"This should be interesting," I mumbled under my breath. Maribeth and I continued talking to the nine year old girl sitting next to us.
"Just what do you think you were doing up on-stage?" Donna asked when they reached us.
"What on earth are you talking about?" Maribeth asked. I heard Joanne and Rachel snicker at her pathetic look of innocence and I found myself holding back a laugh myself.
"You were all over my man and I don't appreciate it," Kaitlyn said in a huff.
"Didn't you see the way they were trying to get away from you?" Donna asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder (why do they always do that?)
"Oh, yeah," I said sarcastically. "Our boyfriends always try an run away from us."
"You wish they were your boyfriends," Donna said, "But don't even try it. They're ours." Joanne raised a finger and was about to say something but thought better of it.
"I-no, never mind," she said turning away. Just then, Kevin, Howie, and Nick entered the room. The fans went nuts and ran up to them, asking for autographs. After signing them, the three guys went and sat down with their "significant other," joining in the conversations they were having with their fans.
"Brian and AJ should be out in a second," Kevin yelled to us from across the room.
"Thanks," Maribeth and I yelled back.
"He was talking to us," Kaitlyn said.
"Uh-huh, sure," I said, returning to my conversation. By this time, Daemon had joined it, making weird faces at me behind my back. I elbowed him in the stomach, leaving him sprawled on the floor. The young fans around me giggled. All of the sudden, there was more screaming and Maribeth and I looked up to see Brian and AJ enter the room. They smiled at the fans surrounding them, signing autographs happily. When they were done, they came over to us and we made room for them on the couch. Brian sat down and put his arm around my shoulders.
"Hi, Brian," said a sultry voice. I just laughed and shook my head as Donna sauntered over to us. Brian just smiled politely and looked at me, raising his eyebrow, his face asking "Is this the girl you wanted revenge on?" I nodded and smiled. I looked over Maribeth to see Kaitlyn approaching. She smiled at me and winked. I was about to say something, but I felt a tug at my arm. I looked down to see a little girl, around the age of eight, standing in front of me, a shy smile on her face.
"And what can I do for you?" I asked her, smiling.
"A-are you Brian's girlfriend?" she asked. I looked at Brian and he nodded, smiling at the little girl.
"Yes, I am," I said. My eyes quickly flickered to Donna, who stood there with her mouth gaping open.
"You're pretty," she said.
"I know, isn't she?" Brian said.
"Thank you," I said, blushing.
"Can I have both of your autographs?" she asked.
"What's your name, sweetie?" I asked.
"Tiffany," she said. Brian and I both signed the pad of paper she was holding and he gave her a kiss on the cheek before she walked away.
"Talk about good luck. That was perfect timing," Brian said as Donna grabbed Kaitlyn and walked out of the room.
"I don't think that had anything to do with luck," I said, noticing that the same thing had happened to Maribeth and AJ. I looked over at the other six across the room. In unison, they all smiled and gave me the thumbs up sign. I laughed and moved closer to Brian. "You sure you want everyone to know we're going out?" I asked.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said, kissing my forehead.