Alishia arrived at the Orlando airport on the day of her 18th birthday. All her life, she had dreamed about this moment. She had led a normal life, in a normal school, with normal friends, doing normal activities. Growing up in a middle-class family, she always had managed to get pretty much all she wanted but even that wasn’t enough for her. She had always thought her life was boring and had lived for the day that she could go away where there was action and adventure. She wanted to be a reporter and work for a well-known magazine or newspaper, interviewing all kind of important people. She had excellent grades at school and had already a lot of experience. She hoped to find a good job while doing correspondance classes at a nearby college.
She bought a journal, took a cab and started searching for an appartment. After visiting several places that weren't close to satisfying her, she finally came accross one that suited her perfectly. It was small but there were big windows and therefore a lot of light. There was a big bedroom, a smaller one, a nice livingroom and a kitchen with all the latest equipments. It was a modern looking building situated in down-town Orlando. It hadn't been rented after the last person left it a month before and she was pleased to learn that she could take possession of the place the next day. She went for some furniture shopping and bought everything she needed.
The next morning, she moved in her new appartment. The furniture would be arriving the same day. She sat on the floor and searched threw the job adds. Finding nothing that interested her, she called some well-known magazines and asked for appointments. The first one would be the next morning. She went shopping for a serious suit, one that would make her look older. She found a short black skirt, a white blouse and a black jacket. Alishia also bought a pair of black high heels to look taller.
She was up at 6 a.m. on September 8. Her appointement was at 8:30 a.m. with the editor of the most famous artists magazine in the United States. She was very nervous, but it wasn't noticeable. She had always been confident. In her new suit, with her strawberry-blond hair falling on her shoulders and her thin silhouette, she was looking much older than 18 years old.
She took a cab to the magazine office and was told to wait in a fancy sitting room. The only way someone could have said she was nervous was by looking at her left feet, which was slightly shaking. The door on which was written -Jack Martins-Editor-In-Chief- opened and a tall man came out of the room. He looked like a very busy man.
“Come on in, Miss... “ he looked in the papers he had in his hands. “...”
Alishia got up and went to shake the man’s hand. “Crew. Alishia Crew.”
He looked at her, surprised. “Well, would you please come in Miss Crew.”
They entered in the office and he told her to sit down. It was a very richly decorated and spacious office.
“Miss Crew, you are searching for a job has I can see. I don't usually do the interviews but most of our staff is sick today or working on a special assignment. Anyways, let's start. Do you have any kind of experience?” he asked her while searching through a pile of papers.
Alishia’s mind was racing. This man didn’t seemed interested in her and seemed about to dismiss her anytime. She had to get his attention. “Yes. I worked part-time for three years at the Ottawa Citizen. I’ve done articles and interviews with a lot of Canadian personnalities such as Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Wayne Gretzy and others. I was the editor-in-chief of my school paper for 5 years and I have a lot of good references. I am increadibly hard working.”
Jack Martins looked at her. He was impressed. She looked young but seemed very determinated. Maybe she was the person he was looking for. Suddenly, the door opened and a woman bursted in without knocking. Mr Martins didn’t looked very happy to be interrupted.
“What is it Sheila?”
“Mr. Martins, Denis is very sick and he can’t come in today. There’s no one else that can do the interview tonight.” That was bad news. The interview had been set up a long time ago and it was of great importance to the magazine. Mr. Martins looked at Alishia.
“Can you start today with an interview, Miss Crew?” he asked.
“Absolutely.” She smiled.
“Good. You are going to interview the Backstreet Boys.”
* * * * *
Alishia was getting ready for the interview. Althought she had done important interviews in the past, this one was very important to her because she really enjoyed the Backstreet Boys' music. She thought they had such beautiful songs and voices. She had always liked almost anything that was related to pop music. This interview was also important because it was her first assignement for the magazine. Mr. Martins had made it very clear that this was crucial for the futur of her career at his magazine.
She decided to dress in a simple way. A midnight blue dress, her hair down and a little bit of makeup. She wanted to look nice but not too dressy.
She drove to the meeting point in the car she had rented earlier that day. It was a nice little French restaurant where they could do the interview without being interrupted.
When she arrived, the Backstreet Boys were already sitting at their usual table and they all looked really handsome. It was a fancy restaurant and she was glad she had put on a dress. Alishia took a deep breath and walked toward them. Brian looked up and asked her if she had a paper and a pen. She was surprised but handed them to him. He signed his name on the paper, gave it back to Alishia and joined the guys’ conversation.
“Thanks a lot Mr. Littrell.” she said, almost laughing. “My name is Alishia Crew and I’m the reporter.”
“Oh..... sorry. I thought you were a fan.” he said in an embarrassed voice.
“That’s OK.”
She had everyone’s attention now. They all got up, shook her hand and tried to pull her chair but five men was definitly too much for this task and they looked very funny.
They started by ordering and talked about different things until the food arrived. Alishia started to ask them the questions she had prepared that afternoon.
“What you do in your spare time?”, was her first question.
“I like watersports.” Nick said.
“Actually, Miss, Frack likes to mess up his and Brian's house whenever he has the time!”, A.J. replied.
“That’s not true! What A.J. always does is telling us he’ll cook dinner and then ruin it!”, Nick fought back.
“Come on, that only happened once!”
“Next question.” She didn’t wanted them to start a fight over a simple question. Over the next hour, she asked them questions about their concerts, the next tour and the upcoming album. She was now getting in the more personnel questions.
“Do any of you have a girlfriend?”
“I do and Brian does too.” Kevin answered.
“Is there any marriage coming up soon?”
“We haven't seriously talked about it yet but it's something that is definitely very important to both of us.”
“What about you Brian?” He hadn’t said much since the beginning of the interview and what Alishia hadn’t notice was that he hadn’t taken is eyes off her for a second.
“Sorry?” He looked at her with a weird look on his face. Alishia repeated the question.
“Oh no. It’s not that serious.” he answered quickly. She nodded and asked another question.
Half an hour later, the interview was over. “Well, I want to thank you all very much for your time. The article should be in the November edition.” She shook their hands, thanked them again and left.
She was walking toward her car when she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around, a bit scared. It was Brian Littrell.
“Hi! I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you needed a ride home.” he asked.
“Thanks a lot Mr. Littrell but I rented a car.” She smiled at him and started walking.
“Could I invite you to dinner tomorrow?” he tried again.
“Actually, I have another interview tomorrow but thank you for the offer.” She sat in her car, waved good bye and left the parking lot.
Brian stared at the road until the car turned at a corner. He had been very impressed by Alishia's personnality and found her beautiful. He promised himself to find this girl and ask her out.
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