Why Don’t You See
The Show Again?
By: Lara
“This is so exciting…I don’t know HOW you got these tickets,”
Kelley gushed as they pulled into the parking lot of the Kitty Kat Jazz Club.
“I don’t know HOW
in the world you talked me into going somewhere called the Kitty Kat Jazz
Club,” Ari mumbled. Lisa poked her as
Lara carefully maneuvered the car into a space.
“Ari, who cares what
the hell the place is called. Do you
realize what’s going on? We will be
seeing Brian, Howie, Kevin and Nick from like four feet away!”
“Still sucks that
AJ isn’t here,” Ari grumbled, but she refrained from saying more.
“This place is
like the hottest new club in town,” Lara said, referring to the new building in
front of them. “It’s only been open
three months, and they’ve been getting like huge stars that don’t mind playing
acoustic.” She rattled off a few famous
names and everyone nodded, impressed.
“I’m just so glad you guys could be here to visit when the guys are
here.”
They walked up to
the door. Lisa gasped when she tried it
and realized it was locked. “What time
is it?”
“Six-fifteen,”
Kelley replied.
“The place
doesn’t even open until six-thirty,” Lara realized. “This is all your fault, Lisa.”
“MY fault?”
“Who needed to be
up front to see for herself that there really WAS no wedding ring, and that
Kristin and Kevin really ARE divorced after eighteen months of marriage?” Ari replied.
“YOU’RE just
happy that Brian broke it off with HIS fiancée,” Lisa said in way of
retaliation.
“I could care
less,” Ari said with a toss of her head, but secretly she HAD been slightly
pleased. Not that she wanted Brian to
be miserable or anything, but the thought of a single Brian Littrell was so
much nicer than the thought of an engaged and/or married Brian Littrell. “I just wish…”
“AJ was here, yes
we know,” Lara snapped. “Is it our
fault that he’s solo now? If you don’t
want to see the other four, go back to the car.”
“Ladies…ladies…what’s
the problem here?” A bouncer opened the
door suddenly, almost knocking them all over.
“No problem,
sir,” Lisa said politely.
“Waiting to see
what’s left of the Backstreet Boys?”
The four women nodded as one.
“Okay. Come on in. Since you all look so nice, we’ll get you a
table in the front.” He motioned for
them to come in and they sedately followed him, though they were all one big
squeal inside.
Kelley stopped
short as they walked past the indoor marquee.
“Is that…could it be…”
“Yes, that’s
Stef,” Lara replied with a big smile.
“She told me she was hitting this place on her tour, and you should have
heard her freaking when she realized she’d pretty much be opening for the Boys. She’ll mostly be doing some jazz and some
old standards, but it should be good. I
wanted to surprise you guys.”
“Surprise? This is awesome!” Ari yelled. They were led
to their table, and Lara gave their names to the bouncer to carry back to Stef. She soon came hurrying out and the small
room was filled with shrieks and hugs.
“I’m so glad to
see you all,” Stef said, her German accent hardly evident in her words.
“This is so cool.
Did you get to meet them?” Lisa demanded.
Stef sighed.
“Not yet. I’ve
been promised five minutes with them before the show. I don’t know if I'll be able to handle Kevin up close and
personal.”
“You just leave
any handling of Kevin to me,” Lisa replied quickly, and everyone laughed.
“What time do you
go on?” Kelley asked.
“I start at
eight, perform for about forty minutes, and then they come on at nine-fifteen
and eleven forty-five,” she told them.
“I really need to go back and start getting ready. I’ll give you guys a wave from the
stage!” She hugged around and then
hurried away.
Kelley waved over
a waiter. “Are you sure you want to
start drinking already?” Lara
asked.
“I’m still in
shock that in less than three and a half hours, Howie Dorough will be sitting
up there on stage right in front of me.
I need sustenance. I also want
dinner.”
“How does it
look?” Brian Littrell asked Nick Carter
from back in the dressing rooms.
“I don’t know,
Frick, I’ve been sitting in here the whole time,” Nick replied in a snappish
tone. Kevin Richardson grabbed the
Gameboy from the younger man’s hand.
“Go see what the
audience looks like,” he ordered. Nick
sighed but got up and walked to the door.
Nick ambled down
the hall, grabbing an apple off the food cart in the hallway. He turned a corner and ran smack into
someone. A relatively short someone. “I’m sorry,” he said kindly.
“Oh, no, I’M
sorry…I needed my pre-performance cup of tea and finding someone to help me in
this place has been a nightmare,” the person gushed, looking up at him and
blushing. “Oh, Nick Carter, wow. I am REALLY sorry now.”
“You’re Stef,
aren’t you? The person who will be
opening for us, right?”
“Yes,” she
replied, amazed that he knew her name.
“I can’t wait to
hear your set,” Nick said with a smile.
“How does the crowd look?”
“Shitty for me
but great for you,” Stef said with a laugh.
“I’d say about eighty percent female.”
“Classic. I’d better go check it out.” Nick started down the hall again. “Good look
finding your tea!”
He opened the
door to the backstage area and peeked out around one of the curtains. Stef wasn’t exaggerating; the room was
almost full of women. He sighed. They had kind of been hoping that the whole
teen idol thing would die down once they started primarily playing bars and
small clubs, but obviously they had been mistaken. His blue eyes flickered around the room, dismissing most of the
more scantily clad women. Two tables by
the front of the stage caught his eye.
Seven or eight women were seated around the far-left table. One of the women had a baseball cap on which
had about a yard of white tulle attached to the back. Nick groaned. A
bachelorette party. Wonderful.
Four women sat in close conversation around
the other table. Two redheads and two
brunettes. One of the redheads, a tall
girl with shoulder-length hair, said something that must have been funny,
because the other three burst into laughter.
Nick couldn’t help but smile as he watched them, then he slowly turned
back. It had been a long time since they
had been able to sit around a table like that, just four friends enjoying each
other’s company.
“Stef, fifteen minutes to
showtime,” the manager of the bar poked his head into her dressing room. “The
guys are out in the hall if you want to meet them.”
“Okay, thanks,”
Stef said, taking a deep breath. She
checked her black pantsuit one more time in the mirror. The pants made her legs look incredibly long
and slim, and the tailored jacket dipped to her stomach, revealing just the
right amount of cleavage to be decent.
She walked out into the hall.
“Stef,” Nick said
with a smile.
“Damn, Lara is
gonna be floored when she sees that smile up close and personal,” Stef muttered
just quietly enough for Nick not to be able to hear her.
“Guys, this is
Stef. I hear she has a killer
voice. Stef, this is Howie, Brian and
Kevin.”
“The introduction
was definitely not needed. It is
incredible to meet you,” Stef said, shaking hands. She let her hand linger a second longer than necessary in Kevin’s
large hand, then slowly she pulled away.
“I thought you
only liked rock and roll, Frack,” Brian said.
“Shows how much
you truly know about me, Bri,” Nick retorted, laughing to soften his words.
“Full house out
there tonight,” Howie remarked.
“Yes, I saw. Four of my friends are out there at one of
the front tables, so you guys better smile big and sing good,” Stef
teased. “Well, I better get ready to go
out there. Break a leg.”
“You too,” Nick
said, remembering the table of four women in the front.
“Wow, she’s
really good,” Kelley murmured to Lara as Stef started the fourth song of her
set.
“I know! She starts recording her CD next week in
LA,” Lara whispered back. They were all
very proud of their friend, and applauded loudly after every song.
“If that blond
bitch behind me doesn’t shut up, may I kill her?” Ari growled to Lisa.
“Yes, you have my
permission,” Lisa replied, glaring at the table of women behind them. They continued to talk throughout Stef’s
set, but she gracefully ignored them and concentrated on the actual adults in
the audience.
“Get that ho off
the stage!” The drunken bride yelled. “Get Howie out there! I
want Howie!”
“Down girl,” Lara
said to Kelley, placing a hand on Kelley’s thigh. “Down.”
“I’d give him all
I have to give in a heartbeat!”
Another girl yelled. The rest of the
group cackled with laughter.
“On second thought,
you don’t just have my permission. I’ll
hold them down for you,” Lisa told Ari.
“That was
wonderful,” Kevin told Stef. “You were
really good.”
“Thanks,” Stef
said shyly.
“You really dealt
with those bimbos well,” Brian told her.
Stef laughed at his choice of words.
“I would have
used a stronger term, but bimbo will do.
Hope you guys can hold them off as well as I did. Best of luck.” Stef walked back to her
dressing room.
“Fuck,” Howie
muttered, glaring in the general direction of that table. He recognized two of the women, and he
wished with all of his heart that they would disappear. They had been at the last show two days
earlier. His eyes flitted over to the
next table and his heart seemed to stop.
Reddish brown hair…a great smile…petite…
“Let’s go, D,”
Brian said, tugging on Howie’s sleeve.
Heaving a deep sigh, Howie followed his friends out onto the stage.
You tell me I’m the man
of the hour/Champagne all around/It’s been so long since I’ve been
alone/Sometimes it gets me down…
The four men walked out onto the
stage to thunderous applause and many voices screaming their names.
“Kevin! Over here, Kevin!”
“Nick! OMYGOD, Nick!”
“Brian! B-Rok!
Woohoo!”
“Howie! Howie!
Remember us? We love you,
Howie!”
Howie sighed as
he flashed his best smile at the table of rowdy women in the front. Yes, he did remember them,
unfortunately. At the last show, it had
been someone’s twenty-first birthday, and a note was sent backstage asking if
Howie could say a special birthday to the girl. He did just that, even including a complimentary bottle of
champagne. The girls had lurked out
back after the show, and it was all he could do to steal away from them without
the girl practically attaching herself to his body.
Kevin started the
solo at the beginning of their first song, a new original piece Brian and Kevin
had written. Howie waited patiently for
his part in the chorus, his dark eyes running across the crowd. So many eager faces…so many beautiful
women. Every show was the same. Any kind of novelty had quickly worn off for
him. He was counting the hours until he
would be home again, safe behind his four walls, blissfully alone.
“He’s so
beautiful,” Kelley said to Ari with a sigh.
“I can’t believe he’s right there!”
“He looks bored,”
Ari observed. Kelley smacked her. “What?
He DOES!”
“I don’t
care. He could sit there for hours just
doing nothing but looking bored, and it would be fine with me.”
And you, you’re pretty
as a picture/And I don’t even know your name/But I sure would like to meet
you/Why don’t you see the show again?
Howie looked down at the table of
four women seated directly in front of him.
What a nice change…four decent looking women, dressed nice instead of
dressed to get a man to jump in bed with them. One of the girls in particular
caught his eye…the woman he had noticed from backstage. She seemed to laugh a lot, and her green
eyes sparkled with mischief, even when she was stealing glances at him. Every time he looked down at her, she
quickly looked away as if she were embarrassed to have him notice she was
looking at him. He liked that. She was pretty. Not glamorous…just pretty…which was just what he liked. She also
looked as if she could actually put two intelligent sentences together. He wondered if she was from the area, and if
he would be able to talk to her after the show. He made a mental note to grab the owner during the break and make
sure that girl stayed around.
I’ve been playing these
love songs forever/Sometimes the words don’t make much sense/So I’m living it
all through the music/Using last night’s compliments…
Brian gripped the microphone with
both hands, closing his eyes as he reached for the high notes. When he opened them again, all he saw were
pairs of eyes turned towards them, full of hope that maybe he was singing just
for them. He inwardly groaned. How ironic.
If they only knew. If they only
knew that he was writing of a love he hadn’t felt in a long time…a love that
had pretty much eluded him for the last few years of his life. When he sang “All I Have to Give”, he was
singing of emotions that were simply drawn from the happy couples he saw in the
airports or bus terminals…not from anything he was personally
experiencing. Yet his act seemed to be
working. Girls sighed and dreamed just
because he opened his mouth and put these fake emotions to music.
“Brian’s looking
good,” Lara pointed out to Ari.
Kelley looked at
him critically. “Brother Brian? Yes, I guess I could say he looks good.”
Lisa nodded in
agreement. “Good. That’s the best I can do, too.”
Ari growled at
them and took a large sip of her drink.
Brian looked more than good. He
had on a grey silk shirt that seemed to make his eyes look even bluer, if that
was possible. A black vest brought out
the grey of the shirt, and black dress pants brought out the slimness of his
waist. His blue eyes belied the emotion
of the lyrics though…they looked so sad…so lonely.
I’ve been playing for
thousands of people/Sometimes it just never ends/But the look in your eyes
feels so good to me/Why don’t you see the show again?
Brian took a few deep breaths as
the guitarist started the intro to another original song that he had done the
music for and Howie had written lyrics to, “Whatever It Takes.” He quickly glanced around the room, but a
pair of eyes seemed to grab his gaze and hold it. Their intense greenness startled him; they seemed to see right
through him. He played two sets a
night, five nights a week. Hundreds of
people made up the faceless sea before him every show, but this woman seemed to
trap his gaze. He smiled at her, and
was happily surprised when she realized he was smiling at her and returned his
grin. The lyrics he began to sing were
about a hopeful love…about trying again.
For once he actually felt them, and began to sing as if he meant
it. As he stood beside his stool,
putting his heart and soul into his music, he looked down at the girl once
more, memorizing her face. He’d make
sure she was there for the second set.
God knows there’s not
much I can say/I don’t have time for love in my life…
Kevin smiled ironically as he
began his short dialogue at the beginning of “I’ll Never Break Your
Heart.” How many times had he sung just
those lyrics to Kristin, and then he ended up breaking her heart in the
end. Not that he had escaped unscathed;
his heart had been broken beyond repair.
Their love had suffered through so much…they had thought that marriage
would be the final knot to bind them together.
Instead it had only seemed to suffocate them until there was no love
left…only hateful words and evil threats.
He still loved her, deep in his heart.
It hurt him, though, to realize that the love he had thought they shared
wasn’t strong enough to keep everything going.
The Backstreet Boys had slipped a little bit, true, after AJ went out on
his own, but the remaining four were now closer than ever. Unfortunately, the few stressful months when
they were trying to regroup was what finally ended his relationship with
Kristin. She thought that he should
always be around…always be there and not at the studio. He, Kevin, should be the one out on his own,
because then he’d have more free time for her.
Kevin wasn’t
stupid. He knew that he wasn’t meant to
be out on his own. His voice wasn’t
really strong enough, and he was pretty much too shy and self-conscious to try
and go it solo. If this little club
tour didn’t work out, then maybe he’d write or produce someone else, but his performing
days would be over. Kristin didn’t MEAN
to be malicious and selfish, that he was sure of. She just wanted what she wanted, and unfortunately it wasn’t what
Kevin wanted.
“…I’d rather die
then live without you…” Kevin sang, and tried to keep his heart from breaking
as the words hit home. For a long time
he DID feel like he would die without her, but he had finally pulled himself
out of that hole. Now he threw himself
heart and soul into this little tour, basically taking over the role of tour manager,
arranging the dates and arguing with the owners over money and little trivial
things. He didn’t have time to even
think about Kristin…or about how empty his heart was.
“Lisa…Lisa…earth
to Lisa…” Kelley waved her hand in front of Lisa’s face. Without turning her head, Lisa gave Kelley
the finger.
“Fuck off, Kel.
Kevin is singing and you are making noise.
Shush.”
Kelley sighed and
sat back in her chair. “Nuns don’t look
at the Pope the way you are looking at him, Lees. You’re practically WORSHIPPING him.”
“And isn’t he
worth it?” Lisa glanced at Kevin
quickly. “He’s beautiful.”
“He looks sad,”
Lara observed.
“Probably misses
Kristin,” Ari tried to joke. The evil
look she got from Lisa actually made her shiver. “Okay, time to go to the ladies’ room.” Ari shot out of her chair and practically RAN to the bathroom.
“He does look
sad,” Kelley agreed.
“From all the
rumors going around, the breakup hit him pretty hard,” Lara whispered, trying
to keep her voice down since they were pretty close to the stage.
“Of course it
did!” Lisa snapped. “Wouldn’t it hit
YOU hard if you had to break up with the person you had loved for practically
ten years?” Lara’s eyes instantly filled with tears and Lisa wished she could
make the words fly back into her mouth.
Lara HAD recently broken up with the person who had loved her for over
ten years. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.” She reached over and hugged Lara. “I’m a dumb bitch. Don’t cry. Let’s just sit
here and watch Kevin and Nicky, and things will be all better.” Lisa kept an arm around Lara’s shoulder and
sighed, looking up into Kevin’s green eyes.
She could understand his pain.
He looked like he might never love anyone again…she had been there and
done that, and it wasn’t a pleasant place to be.
…but if I ever
thought about changing my mind/It might be with you tonight…
Nick started a
new solo song, and Kevin leaned against his stool, not really sitting and not
really standing. He ignored the
drooling looks from the table of loud obnoxious women and let his eyes settle
on the table of four directly in front of the stage. The loud women were dressed like tramps, and Kevin had the urge
to roll his eyes. Those kind of women
were everywhere, and sometimes, when the need got to be too great, he indulged
himself with one of them back at the hotel.
Not often though; those little rendezvous usually left him feeling even
more lonely. He looked down at the
table in front of him. A girl with
brown hair and deep brown eyes snapped something at one of her friends, who
immediately looked incredibly miserable.
The brown-eyed girl looked immediately guilty, and she grabbed her
friend into a huge hug. They turned
their eyes up to him, the crying girl quickly wiping her tears away. The brown-eyed girl was pretty, but it
wasn’t overdone. She looked up at him
in a caring way, as if she knew his pain and understood it. He let a small smile cross his features and
those brown eyes opened wide. He
laughed a little bit, scrunching up his nose and eyes. She finally smiled back, barely winking at
him. He liked that she wasn’t afraid of
him. His eyes searched the room once
more and found the manager. He’d make
sure to corner the guy after this set.
That girl had to stay…he had to talk to her.
I’ve been on the road
for so many weeks now/And I’m losing track of time/I’m trying to make everyone
happy/I wonder what’s really mine…
“…I’ve been lost for far too long
now…is the light in your eyes the end that I’m searching for…” Howie sang. Nick smiled proudly. Those were his lyrics, set to music Kevin
had written. His first song. And the fans loved it. He couldn’t believe how many people in the
small audience were singing along. When
the song ended, it was welcomed by thunderous applause.
“We love you,
Nicky!” A woman in the back
shrieked. Nick continued to smile and
wave, though his heart was sinking.
Nicky. Everyone still saw him as
the baby Backstreet Boy, the cute one who loved comic books and computer games
and was capable of nothing but looking good and being the comic relief. He was almost twenty-two now, and no longer
the baby. At this point, over halfway
through their tour, he felt as if he were a hundred and two. He liked performing. Loved it actually…he loved the way people
looked up at them, singing along with songs that THEY had created. It had started to take its toll,
though. What else was he good at? Was he only good at smiling pretty and
cracking jokes? Brian was talking about
maybe getting a college degree once this tour was over. Could he do that? He had his diploma…but what would he study? Computers?
Drawing? Music? He had no clue.
More than once he
had stood outside Brian’s hotel room door with his hand raised to knock, all
ready to tell him that he needed out.
It was all too much and he wanted to go home. But he couldn’t do it. He
knew that the other four were enjoying this tour, one of the simpler concert
tours they had done in the past nine years.
He couldn’t bear to break it all up.
AJ’s leaving had been a huge blow and they had survived it. Could he really destroy all the hard work it
had taken to pull them back together?
Nick couldn’t
believe it was December already. The
summer and fall had flown by preparing for this concert series. He still called home every night to talk to
his brother and sisters, but he was more homesick then he had ever thought
possible. He felt about fifteen again
when he heard Aaron on the other end asking when he would be coming home. I miss you, Nick, come home.
Nick sighed and
took a deep breath as he began their next ballad.
“Ya know, I bet
Stef could get us like backstage passes or something,” Ari said to Lara.
“Shut up,
Ari. Don’t even get me thinking that
way,” Lara replied. “I would be a big
bowl of jello in front of Nick.”
“You’re in front
of him now,” Kelley pointed out.
“Not the
same. I wouldn’t even remember my
name.”
“We could make
you a nametag,” Lisa suggested.
“Shut up,” Lara
snapped back, making them all laugh.
“He would laugh at me. All the
beautiful women he sees…if he met me, he’d be like, oh, look at that loser
groupie.”
“He would
not. You are beautiful, too,” Kelley
told her.
“But still a
loser,” Lara replied, looking down at the skirt of her dark green dress and
sighing.
“You are NOT a
loser,” Ari told her sternly. “Just
because he decided to leave you and go live his own loser life does NOT make
you a loser.”
“Then why did he
leave, Ari?” Lara said, her blue eyes
full of tears.
“We came to visit
to cheer you up, remember?” Lisa told
her. “If you DON’T cheer up, I am going
to go up and do a lap dance on Kevin.”
“That’s no
punishment,” Lara said. “You’d enjoy
that way too much.” But she smiled,
making the other girls sigh with relief.
She looked up at Nick, listening intently to the words he was singing.
And you, you’re pretty
as a picture/But I don’t even know your name/I sure would like to meet you
sometime/Why don’t you see the show again?
“Darkness had
settled over my life…a shadow over my heart…I felt as if I’d never smile
again…that I’d always be torn apart…my heart was in pieces, broken again…but
you gave me love gave me hope and then…you loved me…made everything new…you
loved me…it’s all because of you, you loved me…gave me hope in this world…all
because of you, girl…you loved me.”
Nick sang with his heart and soul as he always did. Girls loved this song. Brian’s words seemed to sink into everyone’s
heart and the audience always ended up in tears. As Kevin started his verse, Nick looked down into the blue eyes
of the girl right in front of the stage.
It was strange…it looked like she had been crying BEFORE he had even
started singing. And it wasn’t a
hysterical “ohmygoshthebackstreetboysrighthererightnow!” kind of crying. Her eyes were full of misery and pain. For the moment, though, when she heard him
singing…when she listened to the words, the tears seemed to fade and hope shown
in the depths of her sky-blue eyes. He
wondered what had made her so sad…wondered what he could do to make it better…wondered
if he could make her stay so he could ask.
Stef snuck through the crowded
room, dragging a chair behind her.
“Hey,” she whispered as she sat between Kelley and Lara.
“Hey,” Kelley
replied. Lara said nothing. She was too caught up in the fact that Nick
Carter had actually made eye contact with her three times in ten minutes. “You were great!”
“Thanks…it’s a
good crowd tonight.”
“You’re too
kind,” Lisa said, glaring at the table next to them.
“Did you get to
meet them?” Ari asked excitedly. Stef nodded.
“Yes, for all of
five minutes. They liked my voice. I think I may faint when that realization
finally hits me,” Stef said with a smile.
“Kevin shook my hand and held it,” she told Lisa, who made a face at
her.
“Yeah, well, so
what,” was the best response she could come up with. Everyone snickered.
Kevin looked down
idly and his eyes widened. The girl
that opened for them…Stef…she was sitting with the girl and her friends! He remembered that Stef had said her friends
were in front and they should sing good and smile big…thank goodness her
friends weren’t the bachelorette party.
He caught Stef’s eye and smiled at her.
“Did Kevin
Richardson just smile at you?” Lisa
demanded.
“It looks that
way,” Stef said, just as shocked as Lisa.
“What else
happened back there?” Lisa demanded.
“Nothing, I
swear!” Stef said quickly, wondering
why in the world he had focused on HER.
“Thank you,
everyone! You’ve been great!” Howie said as they grabbed hands and
bowed. Amidst many cries begging for
more, they ran backstage. They didn’t
do encores; they needed to rest up for the second show.
“Wasn’t that Stef
with those girls?” Brian demanded as
soon as they got backstage.
“Yes, it
was. I wonder…” Howie began.
“…if she knows
them,” Nick finished. They all stared
at each other. Kevin grabbed a busboy
who was darting out back for a smoke.
“Hey…you…go get
the manager for us, please.”
“Fuck you. I need a smoke!” The arrogant young man snapped.
Brian flashed a fifty in front of his bloodshot eyes.
“Will this help
you get over that while you run and get him?” The young man grabbed the bill
and ran back down the hall. The other
members of the group stared at Brian.
“What? I…uh…need to ask him
something about the second set.”
A slow smile
crept over Howie’s face. “I think we
all need to ask him the same thing.”
“Ladies, I need
to ask you to follow me.” A wiry man
walked up to the table. The girls
stared at him.
“Is there
something wrong, Mr. Peters?” Stef asked him.
“I just need to
talk to the young ladies in the back,” he said with a smile. “No problem.”
The girls gave
each other wary glances but stood and followed the man. “I’ll wait here,” Stef said worriedly.
“Don’t worry,
ladies…I’m sure you won’t mind what I’m about to show you,” the man said with a
big smile. “Just go down this hall to
your left,” he directed, holding a door open for them.
Ari grabbed a
hold of Lara as they walked down the hallway.
“Does anyone else feel like the stupid girls in horror movies who always
cheerfully walk to their doom?”
“I can scream
loud,” Lara offered. “I’ll scream loud
if we need it.”
“I don’t think it
will be necessary but I…” Kelley began, then stopped short as she saw a head
poke out of a door at the end of the hall.
“Was that…was that Howie?”
“No, it couldn’t
have been because…” Lisa stopped as another head popped out. “…because that was
Brian!”
“Where!” Ari pushed her aside. Kevin walked out of the room and stopped
short as he saw the girls hovering down the hall. He waved his hand in a “come here” motion.
“Hi…you can come
down here. It’s okay.”
“Okay, Lara, I
may borrow your screaming suggestion,” Kelley mumbled as they slowly walked
down the hall. Kevin’s smile included
them all, but lingered on Lisa.
“Hi. I’m Kevin.
Come on in.” He moved aside so
they could enter the dressing room.
Lara saw Nick
Carter sitting and playing a Gameboy, and her heart almost stopped. He was so beautiful. His blond hair was slightly sweaty from the
hot lights on stage, and it clung to his head a bit. He looked up towards the door and did a double take, quickly
turning off the game. “Hi,” he said
shyly. He hopped to his feet and held
out his hand to her. “I’m Nick.”
“L-Lara,” she
stammered, taking his hand.
“See, you could
remember your name,” Ari whispered.
Lara wanted to smack her when Nick gave them a questioning glance. Brian gave Nick a nudge.
“Oh! You know Brian and Howie, I’m sure.”
“Of course.” Lara smiled at them both as she regained her
nerve. “I’m Lara, and this is Ari,
Kelley, and Lisa.”
“Sit down,
please,” Howie said graciously, shoving some clothing off a bench so Kelley
could sit. She smiled as she sat,
trying not to look at his abs and chest, which were sticking out from the
unbuttoned black shirt he wore. Brian
showed Ari to a chair as well.
“No, thank you,
I’d rather stand,” Lisa said, leaning against a wall. Kevin stood nearby, nervously playing with the hem of his shirt.
“I bet you’re
wondering why in the world we asked you back here,” he said quietly. She looked at him inquisitively
“Yes, the thought
has crossed my mind,” she said with a joking smile.
“Well, I was
wondering…um…are you from around here?
We have a break before our next set of shows and…”
“I’m from
Kentucky, like you,” she jumped in.
“Oh.” Kevin’s face fell.
“But I’m staying
with Lara for two weeks, so yes, I’ll be here for a few days.”
“Did you like the
show?” Brian asked Ari.
“Oh, yes, it was
fabulous! Much better than a huge arena
or stadium,” she answered, captivated by his blue eyes.
“Yes…it’s a
bummer Aje couldn’t be here but I still think we do pretty well.”
“Aje? Oh, yes,
AJ,” Ari said. For a moment she had
forgotten he existed.
“We miss him, you
know…we don’t feel quite like a family without him,” Brian continued to babble,
incredibly nervous.
“What’s it
like…you know…playing these tiny clubs?”
Ari asked.
“It’s nice…you
feel like you can get to know people one on one in a small room like
this.” Brian looked her in the
eye. “And then sometimes you’re lucky,
and you CAN get to know them.”
“So…uh…were you
guys gonna stay for the next show?” Howie
asked Kelley finally. They had been
making small talk for almost ten minutes, and he needed to know. She looked surprised.
“Of course! With a table that good, do you think we
would leave?”
Howie smiled a
huge grin. “I’m sure there’s a diner
around here open all night. Do you want
to go out for something to eat after the second set?”
“I’d love to,”
Kelley said softly.
Nick and Lara
didn’t say anything for a moment, but just looked at each other shyly. She couldn’t believe that he had actually wanted
HER to come back, and now that he had her right in front of him, he didn’t know
quite what to say. He wanted to ask all
kinds of questions, but was afraid it was rude.
“That’s a pretty
dress,” he said finally. “Dark green is
my favorite color.”
“Thank you,” Lara
said, blushing. “Kelley made me buy
something new, since I haven’t really gone out much in a while.”
“Really? Why?
I mean…shit that was rude…I mean…” Nick was flustered and Lara couldn’t
help but laugh.
“It’s okay.” Her blue eyes darkened for a moment. “I just came out of a pretty serious
relationship…my best friend, actually…he left me for a new life…one that I
couldn’t be part of.”
“I’m so sorry,”
Nick said, grabbing her hand before he knew it. He got braver by the second.
“I…uh…I noticed you crying during our set. You looked so sad and I
wanted to know why…you looked so lonely.”
He looked down at their fingers.
“I understand lonely.”
Lara squeezed his
fingers with hers. “I know you do.”
“Why Don’t You See the
Show Again?” – Words/Music by Barry Manilow
Please tell Lara what you thought of this story!
