Kim and I spent the next few days before New Years making sure that everything was ready for the guys. Nick had called me numerous times and we had finalized the plans. Nick, Brian, and Nick's family were going to be staying with me. The other guys and their families had decided that it would be better if they stayed at the hotel even if I knew that there was a good chance that we could fit them all at my house and at Kim's.
"Are you sure this is the flight they're coming in on?" Kim asked me, as we waiting nervously at the airport.
"Of course," I said, "I think. It might be. Unless I wrote the time down wrong. I don't think I did. I might have. No, I'm sure this is the time Nick told me."
"Okay," said Kim, "But you'd better be sure."
"I am," I said, "Don't worry."
We waited for about ten minutes. I started to get worried. Maybe I had written the time down wrong.
"I'll be right back," I told Kim.
"Okay," she said.
I went to go and find out if the guys were on the flight or not. The person at the desk couldn't tell me because it was confidential information. I knew that that probably mean that they were on the flight because I had asked someone at the desk before when my mom was coming home from a trip and they told me right away if she was on the flight or not.
"Where did you go?" Kim asked me when I got back to where she was waiting.
"I went to go and ask if the guys are on the flight," I said, "The lady said that she can't tell me.""Do you think they're coming in soon?" asked Kim."I hope so," I said.We waited for about half an hour more, and the guys still didn't come in. Kim's mom had paged her and said that she had to come home to help with something."Page me when they come in," Kim said, just before she left."Okay," I said, "No problem."After Kim left, I just wandered around for a while. I turned on my cell phone just in case my mom tried to call to ask where in the world I was, and before I could even take my finger off the power button, the phone rang."Hello?" I asked."Jen?" came a familar guy's voice, "This is Nick.""Oh, hi," I said, "I think I wrote the time down for the flight wrong. What time are you coming in? Are you here now?""Oh, no," said Nick, "We're still in Honolulu. The flight was overbooked, so we just sent my mom and Denise, AJ's mom, ahead of us. They should be coming in soon. We'll be there in about an hour.""Okay," I said, "That's fine. Do you want me to go and say hi to your mom when she comes?""That would be nice," Nick said, "I showed her your picture so she knows what you look like.""Great," I said, "And we'll hang around until you guys get here. Okay?""Okay," said Nick, "I can't wait to meet you.""Can't wait to meet you too," I said."Bye," Nick said."Bye." I hung up the phone and almost turned it off. Then, remembering about the fact that my mom might call, I left it on.About fifteen minutes later, a flight came in from Honolulu. I recognized Jane Carter and Denise McLean even before they stepped off the escalator. I think Mrs. Carter recognized me too. She headed straight over."Are you Jennifer?" Mrs. Carter asked me."Yes, I am," I said, "Mrs. Carter?""Please," she said, "Call me Jane.""I'm Denise," AJ's mom said."Nice to meet you," I said to both of them."You too," said Denise."The boys are coming in soon," Jane told me."Nick called me and told me," I said, "He said that they should be coming in within an hour.""So he did call you," said Jane."Yeah," I said, "About fifteen minutes ago.""He was telling us that he was going to call you," Denise said, "We didn't know if he was going to go through with it.""Why wouldn't he?" I asked."Oops," said Denise, covering her mouth with her hand, "I've said too much already.""He's called me before," I said, "So I don't see why it would be such a big deal to call me now.""Exactly," Jane said.We waited for a while more and then the flight with the guys finally came in."I'll go get them," said Jane, as soon as she saw Nick coming down the escalator."Okay," I said.Before the guys could even step off the escalator, Jane was waving frantically to them. While Denise and I were waiting for them, my cell phone rang. I pulled it out of my bag."Hello?" I asked."Jen?" Mom's voice asked."Oh, hi," I said, "The flight with the guys just came in. We should be home soon.""Okay," said Mom, "Kim called to find out if they had come in yet.""I'm going to call her now," I said."Okay," Mom said, "I'm going to go and call Dad to remind him to pick up the pizza on the way home. Do you know what the guys like on theirs?"I knew, but I pretended not to know. "Nope," I said, "I can ask them, though.""Go do that now," Mom told me."I haven't even met them yet," I said."Oh," said Mom, "Okay, then call me back.""Yeah, yeah," I said.I hung up the phone and stuck it back into my bag."Jennifer," Jane said, coming back over, with the guys trailing closely behind, "These are our boys, Howie, Brian, AJ, Kevin, and Nick.""Hi," all of the guys, except for Nick, said together."Hi," I said, surprised that I didn't feel at all nervous in front of them. I glanced at Nick, who was looking down at his feet."Are you okay?" I asked him."Um, I'm...it's nothing," Nick said quickly, looking up."Are you sure?" Jane asked her son."Yeah," said Nick, "Sorry. I'm fine.""Okay," I said.Nick," Brian said, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"Brian led Nick to the side and I pulled my cell phone out of my bag. The first thing I had to do was page Kim to tell her that the guys had arrived. I was going to call my mom when I realized that I hadn't asked any of the guys what they wanted on their pizza. When I finally did ask when Brian and Nick got back, there were answers from all sides."Whoa," I said, "Hold on a minute. Let me call my mom so I can tell her."I dialed home and when my mom came on, I told her that the guys had arrived and that I had asked them about the pizzas."Okay," said Mom, "So what should I order?""I don't know," I said, "Whatever I guess because I can't get only a couple of answers out of these guys.""Is Kim coming over?" Mom asked."Yeah," I said, "I'm pretty sure she is.""Okay," said Mom, "So I'll order the pizzas and what time should you be home?""No clue," I said, "We didn't even go and get their baggage yet.""So maybe about an hour?" Mom asked."Maybe," I said, "Maybe less.""Call before you come home," said Mom."Okay," I said, "Don't worry." I hung up the phone and put it back into my bag."Do you have a lot of stuff?" I asked the guys."Not really," Kevin said, "Only a suitcase and a bag each.""Okay," I said, "We should go and get it.""How are we getting to the hotel again?" asked AJ."We're renting a van," Denise reminded him."Oh yeah," AJ said."I thought the rest of your families were coming," I said."They're coming in later," said Jane, "I think tomorrow, right Brian?""Yeah," Brian said."Do we need to come and pick them up?" I asked, surprised how easy it was to talk to them.
"I don't think so," said Kevin, "I think they're planning to rent a van."
"Or two," added Howie.
"Okay," I said, "But if we need to pick them up, it's no problem."
"Thanks," Kevin said.
Just then, my cell phone rang. I pulled it out. "Hello?" I asked.
"Hi," came Kim's voice, "So they're here?"
"Oh, yeah," I said, "Sorry. I forgot to call you."
"That's okay," said Kim, "I know you're too busy flirting with Nick."
"I am not," I said, "I barely even talked to him."
"Okay," Kim said.
"Are you coming over to my house?" I asked, "For pizza?"
"I think so," said Kim, "Are the guys going to be there?"
"Of course," I said, "Why else would we be having pizza anyway?"
"Good point," Kim said, "So what time?"
"I don't know," I said, "An hour?"
"Okay," said Kim, "See you later."
"Yeah, bye," I said. I hung up the phone and put it back into my bag.
"Who was that?" Nick asked."One of my friends," I said, "I forgot to call her when you guys came in.""Is that the other girl who wrote the letter?" asked Brian, "What was her name again?""Kim," I said, "And yeah, that was her.""Cool," Howie said."We should get going if you have everything," I said, "I think my mom's expecting us.""Okay," said Jane, "How are we all going?""I have my mom's van," I said, "And that can hold about...um...six people. Seven if needed.""And we rented a van," Denise said, "So that should take care of everyone."Everyone headed to the vans, with the bodyguards that had come with them taking the luggage in their van."So is Kim coming over?" Brian, who was riding with me, asked."Yeah," I said, "She should be there when we get there.""Great," said Howie.Nick, who was sitting in the front with me, sat there silently. "Hey buddy," Brian said to him, "Are you okay?"Yeah," said Nick."Don't worry," I told him, "I'm not going to get us into an accident. I'm a pretty good driver."The other guys laughed. Nick really had no reaction. I got a strange vibe from him. I didn't know if I liked it or not.When we got to my house, my parents came walking out of the house."Hi," Mom called.I introduced everyone and then we went in."Is Kim coming?" I asked Mom, walking into the kitchen after showing Brian and Nick their room."Yeah," she replied, "She called a little while ago to tell me she's on her way."And as if on cue, Kim's car drove into the driveway."I'll go get her," I said.I ran downstairs to get Kim."Are they here?" Kim asked, getting out of the car."Yeah," I said, "They're upstairs. I think Nick's mom and AJ's mom went to the hotel for a while to get settled.""So only the guys are here?""Yep," I said, "Come on."We headed upstairs."Nick seems a little shy," I said, "I think something might be bothering him. I don't know.""Maybe I can find out for you once I get to know him a little," said Kim."Okay," I said.We went into the living room where the guys were talking to my parents. (Amazing. My parents weren't embarassing me with stories of when I was younger.)"You guys," I said, "This is Kim. Kim, this is Kevin, Brian, Howie, AJ, and Nick."The guys all waved and said "Hi.""Hi," Kim said to them.I told Kim to sit by Howie, who was on the couch. Nick and Brian were on the floor leaning against the couch, Kevin was sitting in the chair by the computer, and AJ was lounging on the loveseat. My parents were in the recliners. I sat down on the arm of the loveseat."So," I said, "What are you guys talking about?""We were just talking about the things that the guys want to do while they're here," Mom said."Really?" I asked, "Like what?""Maybe go to the beach if we have time," said Kevin, "And just go driving.""Sounds good," I said, "Just tell me when you guys want to go.""Okay," Brian said, "Thanks."
