My watch reads 7pm when I finally open my eyes again. I groan and sit up, reaching for the phone to dial Ali’s room. She answers after a few rings and sounds pretty groggy.
“Hey there, feeling hungry?”
“I’m starved,” she replies. “I just woke up.”
“Me too. Meet in the foyer?”
“Ok, I’m leaving now,” she hangs up and I climb off the bed and out of the door. I feel too groggy to bother checking out my reflection. A few minutes later, we’re sat in the hotel café with a menu.
“Ok, that chicken sandwich sounds perfect,” I tell the waiter.
“As perfect as chicken CAN be,” says Ali. “I’ll have one too.” The waiter grins and walks away. “Man, I hit the pillow and I was a goner.”
“Me too. I guess I was tireder than I thought.”
“Brian not back yet?”
“I kinda remember feeling him kiss me a while back so I think he went out again.”
“Cute.” She groans and puts her head on her arms, “What do I say to Nick?”
“Hello would be a start.”
“Don’t wise ass me.”
“Hey, it’s true. Hello. It’s a great start,” I shrug. “Goodbye. Now THAT’S a bad start.”
“Shut up Jade,” she groans.
“Ali, just act normal around him. You have to work with him now.”
“Oh man. Why’d I agree to this?”
“Cos it’s a great opportunity and you know it. Ok, let’s talk books.”
“What?” she looks up at me.
“What kind of book are we doin’ here? I think a behind-the-scenes type of thing. With interviews with EVERYBODY on the tour.”
“Everybody?! Wow Jade, there’s HUNDREDS!”
“Ok, not everybody,” I roll my eyes. “But I’d like to talk to people and find out about what goes into making a concert successful. Like wardrobe, lighting, sound, catering… All of that.”
“Yeah… Sounds interesting. I can take some pretty cool pictures of sound rigs and wardrobe rails. Yeah. I mean, everybody knows what the boys look like by now.”
“I think you should take sneak shots of the boys. No posing stuff, just catch ‘em relaxing and joking about.”
“Show the REAL side of the Backstreet Boys… Yeah!” Ali sits up excitedly. “I can’t wait to get started.”
“Get started on what?” asks Brian as he sneaks up behind me and covers my eyes. “Guess who?”
“Taking pictures of you,” I hear Ali reply.
“Ok, well seeing as ‘you’ means a Backstreet Boy,” I say. “I’m guessing you must be…. Howie.”
“Not even close!”
“Ok, then you must be… Kevin.”
Brian laughs. “Starts with a B.”
“B? B?… I don’t know any Bs.”
“Really? You don’t? You’re missin’ out on a lot,” I feel Brian kiss my neck and I lean back into him as he takes his hands away from my eyes to hold me tightly. “Hello.”
“Hello,” I smile up at him. Nick is standing just behind him looking very uncomfortable. “Hi Nick.”
“Hi Jade,” he manages a smile.
Ali is looking at him. “Hi Nick.”
“Ali, hello,” he smiles at her briefly and then goes back to looking around the café. “Anyone seen Kevin?”
“No, but we only just got here,” Ali replies.
“Oh, ok. I guess I’ll go to my room.”
“Aren’t you eating?” Brian asks, pulling up a chair next to me and gesturing towards the one by Ali.
“Uh, I guess.” Nick sits down heavily and grabs the menu, “What you havin’?”
The waiter comes over with Ali and my sandwiches as I whisper in Brian’s ear.
“I missed you.”
“Ditto,” he whispers back. “I came in earlier but you were asleep.”
“I thought you did,” I smile. “Y’know… I’m kinda not hungry now.”
“I am,” he grins. “But not for anything that’s on this menu.”
I smile and lean forward to kiss him. I tease him gently with my tongue and he groans before pulling away and standing up. Reaching for my hand, he pulls me up.
“I’m kinda tired. See ya tomorrow,” he tells Nick.
“Have that,” I push my sandwich towards Nick. “It sounded good on the menu.” Before Nick can respond, Brian has pulled me over to the elevators. “I hope they can work it out,” I say with a glance back at the table as the elevator doors close.
“Forget them Jady,” Brian pulls me close to him for a deep kiss. “Tonight there’s only you and me.”
I giggle at his corny comment as we arrive at our floor. We head into our room and Brian makes a big show of disconnecting the phone and hanging a DND sign on the door. I lie on the bed giggling.
“This is like one of those B movies,” I tell him.
“Yup but you’re getting A star tonight.”
Our laughter is smothered by the sheet Brian pulls over us.
Nick picks up the sandwich and takes out the tomatoes. Then he takes the buns in both his hands and takes a bite.
“I thought you liked tomatoes,” I say, trying desperately to get rid of the silence.
“I do. By themselves,” he says simply.
“Oh,” I reply. Feeling incredibly stupid, and close to tears I throw money on the table and stand up. “I have to go.”
“You aren’t going to eat?”
“No,” I answer, fumbling with my purse.
“Ok. Bye,” he returns to his sandwich and I run to the elevator.
I REALLY hope it’s not going to be this difficult every time I see him or I am going to be fired even faster than last time. Every time I see him I’m completely lost for words. Unlocking my room, I throw down my purse and jump onto the bed. I wonder what Jade and Brian are doing right now. Suddenly, two sounds are heard from the next room. Jade’s giggling, and Brian’s moaning. God, could they not make it so obvious! Oh well, they had missed each other and they need to catch up. Finally, their noises become too much for me, and I head outside for some air. Opening my door I run into Nick who drops a plastic box onto the ground - spilling lettuce, tomatoes, and ketchup all over the ground. He shoves it back into the box, and then wipes his hand on his pants looking somewhat irritated.
“I’m sorry Nick. I’ll buy you another one.”
“No, this was yours. You didn’t eat at all, I figured you’d be hungry.”
“That was really sweet of you!” I exclaim, hoping he’s warming up to me.
“Yeah, well…” he thrusts the box into my hands and turns to walk to his room.
My alarm goes off at 2.50am and I sit up groggily. I check my watch and then remember why I wanted to get up so early. I practically bound out of bed and start getting dressed. Brian sits up, still half asleep.
“Huh? Why’s it still dark?”
“Cos it’s not quite 3am sweetie, go back to sleep.”
“Wha-? You ok?”
“I’m fine. Go to sleep.”
“O-” he doesn’t manage to finish the word before dropping back down and curling up.
I laugh at him and head out of the door as quietly as a baby elephant can. I head down to the elevators and press the call button. When it arrives, Kevin steps out holding an ice bucket and a bottle of wine.
“Hey Kev. Havin’ a party?”
“I wish,” he groans. “I can’t sleep at all. I was hopin’ maybe this would knock me out.”
“Well, good luck,” I say, about to step into the elevator.
“Wait, it’s 3am,” he realises. “Why are you up?”
“I’m goin’ to watch the UEFA Cup Final on Sky,” I tell him. “I’m a big soccer fan and my team are playing.”
“Soccer? Cool. Can I come?”
“Sure.”
“Ok. Where are we goin’?”
“Bar I guess,” I say with a shrug. “I can’t exactly watch it in the room, Bri’s asleep.”
“Oh. Well, my room is free.”
“Cool,” we head down to Kevin’s room, which is next-door to ours, and go inside. I turn on the TV as Kevin grabs two glasses and opens the wine. “Oh yes, it’s just starting!”
“Ok, so who’s playing?” Kevin settles himself on the bed and hands me a glass of wine.
“Liverpool and Alaves. Liverpool are my boys,” I lie on the bed next to him. “My Granddad’s from Liverpool and it’s kinda a family thing to support the soccer team.”
“Yeah? Ok, so I guess I’m yelling for Liverpool. They’re in red right?”
“Yup!”
Nick turns in his bed again. He’s been having tons of trouble sleeping, and when he does sleep he has nightmares. The latest one had been about Ali, as usual, but this time it had been about the night in the bar. In this particular dream, Ali had been making out with her guy, and Nick just couldn’t handle it anymore. He stormed up to him, ripped his hands off Ali, and punched him in the face.
“Nick! Stop!” Ali pulled him to her, saving him from being kicked in the stomach. Just then, a loud shot rang out, and Ali gasped. She fell to the ground, and he fell with her. Then, everything went silent, except for Ali. She started to choke, and a puddle of blood formed around her.
As she went limp in Nick’s arms, he yelled “No! Come back! Don’t…you can’t leave me!”
It seemed like he’d slept only a few minutes when he was woken up by shouts of exasperation and annoyance. It takes him a few seconds, but he recognises the voices as Jade and Kevin’s. He stretches before getting out of bed, and clomping over to the door. He pulls it open in time to see a guy walking past with at least a dozen roses. He stops in front of Ali’s room, and stands there hesitantly.
Nick chuckles bitterly to himself and walks over to the guy before he can knock. He pats him on the back and laughs.
“Man, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”
“Wha-”
Nick shakes his head and continues on to Kevin’s room. Why is he going to Ali’s room? Maybe he has the wrong room. How is this fair? Ali can just so easily forget about him, but he is still longing for her. He wants to be over her, and seeing a guy coming to her room in the middle of the night should definitely help. However, it doesn’t and he stomps off to Kevin’s, his face stuck in a cold stare.
It’s about 3:30 am when a pounding on the door very rudely awakens me. Wrapping a robe around me, I storm to the door and throw it open.
“What?” I whisper loudly.
Todd, the clerk from the lobby downstairs, stands there sheepishly, with a bouquet of roses. “My shift just got off,” he whispers, and I chuckle. “I guess I caught you at a bad time, but I just had to see you again,” he flirts. His comment surprises me; he had seemed a lot more shy downstairs.
“It was a sweet awakening, I guess I’ll forgive you,” I say, taking the roses from him and smelling them.
“Umm, do you know a blonde guy, a little taller than me?”
“Well, I know lots,” I giggle. “Why?”
“No reason. So, I came to ask you out for tomorrow. Want to meet me downstairs at 6:00?” he asks.
“God, I hope you don’t mean AM.” I groan.
“No! No,” he laughs. “In the evening.”
“Sounds good. Well, g’night Todd.”
“Goodnight, Alicia.”
I close the door in his face and wipe the fake smile off my face. Sighing, I climb back into my bed, returning to my slumber.