Chapter Two
I awoke the next morning to the sound of the phone ringing. I rolled over onto my stomach and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi," came Mom's voice, "Are you up?"
"Yes, I'm up," I said.
"We're going downstairs for breakfast in half an hour," said Mom.
"Okay," I said, "No problem."
I hung up the phone and dragged myself out of bed. I went to the bathroom to make myself look reasonably presentable and then changed into denim shorts and a blue tank top.
I mt up with my parents right on time. We went downstairs to one of the many restaurants for brekfast.An hour later, as we were walking out of the main lobby, I saw the BackStreet Boys piling into a van with their girlfriends and some other people.
"Weren't those the BackStreet Boys?" Mom asked, as their van pulled away.
"Yeah," I said.
"Did you know that they were staying at the same hotel as us?" asked Mom.
"Uh huh," I said, "I found out yesterday."
"How come you didn't say anything about it?" Mom asked.
"I don't know," I said.
Aunty Karen and Uncle Les showed up a little while later. Malia and Scott had left that morning. We got into the van and headed off. Uncle Les and Dad were going to drop us off and then go off on their own for the rest of the day.
Once we were dropped off, Mom, Aunty Karen, and I entered the Fashion Outlet Mall, which is in Primms. After some begging, they let me walk around by myself.
I was just walking around, ducking into certain stores and passing by others when I noticed someone leaning against the wall, watching me. As I neared him, I realized that it was Nick Carter. His eyes stayed on me as I walked into the Tommy Hilfiger outlet, which was the closest store to where I was.
I was looking through some racks when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I spun around and saw Nick standing there.
"Hi," he said, "I'm sorry to bother you...again, but are you sure we haven't met before?"
"Yeah," I said, "I'm pretty sure."
"I'm almost positive I've met you before," said Nick, "But I'm not sure where and when."
"I think you must be mistaken," I said.
"You're probably right," Nick said, "It must have been a long time ago if I was right."
"Yeah."
"Okay," said Nick, "I'm sorry."
He started walking away and then it was as if a light bulb had gone off in my head. "Wait a minute," I said.
Nick turned around. "Yeah?"
"Were you in California about eight years ago?" I asked.
"Yeah..." said Nick, "I think so."
"Did you know a little girl named Jennifer?"
"Yeah," Nick said, "Yeah, I did."
"My name's Jennifer," I said, "I was the girl you knew."
"Oh my gosh," said Nick, "You're really her?"
"Yeah," I said.
"No way," Nick said.
"Yeah," I said again.
"Wow," said Nick, "I never thought I'd see you again."
"Same here," I said.
We just stared at each other for a while.
"You never wrote," Nick said finally.
"Neither did you," I said.
"I know," said Nick, "But soon after we left California, I went through that I hate girls phase."
I smiled.
"I know that doesn't make up for it," Nick continued.
"It's okay," I said, "To tell you the truth, I sort of forgot about you over the past few years."
"Oh," said Nick, "Maybe I should have written."
"Nick," I said, "We went on with our lives. It's okay."
"Yeah," Nick said softly. "Um, well, do you want to go walk around?"
"Sure," I said.
We left the store and started to walk around.
"So what have you been up to in the past ten years?" Nick asked.
"Nothing really," I said, smiling, "School, stuff like that. You?"
"Just pretty much the group," said Nick, "It takes up a lot of my time."
"I kinda figured that," I said.
"How are your parents?" Nick asked.
"They're fine," I said, "Yours?"
"They're good," said Nick, "So are my siblings."
"That's good," I said.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" Nick smiled.
"No," I said, "But I know you have a girlfriend."
"Actually," said Nick, "The internet hasn't caught up to the fact that we broke up yet."
"Really?" I asked, "That's too bad."
"That we broke up or that the internet hasn't caught on yet?"
"Both," I said.
Nick laughed. "I still can't believe I haven't seen you in ten years."
"Nick," I said, "We only knew each other for two weeks."
"I know that," he said, "But when you're a kid, two weeks is all it takes to make a new best friend."
"That's true," I said.
I looked ahead and saw the other BackStreet Boys with some girls, walking towards us.
"Hey Nick!" Brian Littrell called, "Are you picking up girls already?"
"Yeah," Nick joked.
When we reached the other guys, Nick did the introductions.
"You guys," he said, "This is Jennifer. Jen, this is Brian, Howie, Kevin, and AJ. And Amanda, LeighAnne, and Kristin."
"Hi," I said.
"Hi," they replied.
"How did you guys meet?" Howie asked Nick.
"We met when I was ten," said Nick, "She was eight. We met in California and got reunited here."
"Did you know she was going to be here?" Brian asked.
"No," said Nick, "I didn't even recognize her when I first saw her."
"Really?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah," said Nick.
"That's really cool," Amanda said.
Just then, my pager went off. "It's my mom," I said.
"Do you need to use my phone?" asked Nick.
"No," I said, "I have my own."
I pulled my phone out of my bag and called my mom. "Are you still walking around?" she asked, when she answered.
"Yeah," I said, "Why?"
"Meet us for lunch at one," said Mom.
"Okay," I said, "Where?"
"There's this Japanese restaurant," Mom said, "You should be able to find it."
"No problem," I said, "One, right?"
"Yeah," said Mom, "And then we'll go to Bath and Body Works and go home."
"Okay," I said, "Bye."
"Bye," Mom said.
I hung up the phone and put it back in my bag.
"Did she want something in particular?" Nick asked.
"I have to meet her and my aunty at one," I said.
"But it's already noon," Nick protested.
"Sorry," I said, "I don't need them yelling at me right now."
"Okay," said Nick.
We said bye to the others and kept walking. As we walked, we talking about a lot of things, what's been going on in our lives, things like that. Then, finally, at one o'clock, I had to go meet my mom and Aunty Karen.
"I hope I'll see you around at the hotel," said Nick.
"I'm sure you probably will," I said.
We exchanged cell phone and pager numbers and Nick went to go meet up with his friends.After lunch, Mom, Aunty Karen, and I went to Bath and Body Works. We didn't have it in Hawaii, so it was a real treat for me. I went around the store, picking things up and putting them into a big basket so I could buy them for my friends.
"Are you getting stuff for yourself?" Mom asked me.
"Of course," I said.
Almost half the stuff in the basket was mine.
Half an hour and almost two hundred dollars later, we all left the store.
"Now how are we going to get this all home?" Mom asked.
"I brought an extra bag," I said.
"That was smart," said Aunty Karen.
We met up with Dad and Uncle Les and headed back towards Las Vegas.
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