Around ten minutes later, we’re sat in our Backstreet row. AJ has the aisle seat and next to him is his date Layla; then it’s Howie and his date Cindy; Nick and Ali; Brian and me; and Kevin and Kristen on the other aisle. A couple of rows behind us are the *NSync guys and their girlfriends. Something Kevin took a lot of joy out of, muttering “Two friggin’ rows behind us! Ha ha, who’s lookin’ like the has-beens NOW?!”
After an hour of sitting, or should I say suffering (hell, it would be a better description), through the awards ceremony, I finally get pissed off by the camera which zooms along our row whenever the winners are announced. I lean across to Ali.
“I’m gettin’ kinda tired of this smiling thing.”
“Oh yeah,” she agrees. “My face hurts.”
“My eyebrow hurts,” Nick mutters to us.
“Huh?” we look at him, puzzled.
“Doin’ that whole surprised thing,” he explains and we nod.
“Ah.”
“Ah what?” Brian asks me.
“Nick’s eyebrow hurts.”
“Ok,” he says slowly in an I’m-not-even-gonna-ask tone as Britney Spears walks onstage with an award.
She grins at the audience, “Hey y’all!” She giggles at Wyclef Jean who is hosting. “You look good Wyclef!”
“Thanks Britney. Same for you girl!” he laughs. “Ok, so what’s the award?”
“Ok, this is the award for Best American Album. And the nominees are… Faith Hill with Breathe, Limp Bizkit with Chocolate Starfish And Hot-Dog Flavoured Water, Destiny’s Child with Survivor, and the Backstreet Boys with Black And Blue.”
A quick collage of all the artists starts playing on the screen behind Britney.
“It’s you baby,” Ali tells Nick.
“Ugh,” I stare up at the video shot from The Call. “I will never understand that video.”
“It’s simple,” Brian laughs. “It’s like The Matrix and…”
“Whoa,” I hold up a hand. “What part of ‘never’ didn’t you understand?”
“It’s easy,” he mutters as the video fades out and Britney opens the envelope.
“And the winner is….. BLACK AND BLUE!” she yells in our direction.
The camera swings onto us and zooms in. All I can see is Howie’s shocked face magnified on the screen behind Britney. He looks funny but soon recovers. The guys all stand up and head up the steps to collect the award. I grin proudly at Ali who returns the grin. Kristen is grinning equally dumbly on my other side.
“Gee thanks!” Howie exclaims, kissing Britney and taking the award.
“This is great!” AJ flashes the audience a V-sign.
“We would like to thank all the fans for their love and support,” Kristen imitates Kevin with a giggle in my ear. I laugh at her as Kevin takes the microphone.
“We would like to thank all the fans for their love and support,” parrots Kevin.
Kristen and I fall about in helpless laughter, made worse by the fact that there’s a camera on us. It’s near impossible to hold genuine laughter inside, you might succeed for a while but you only end up snorting and gasping loudly in the end. So we don’t even try. Holding my stomach, I drop down in my seat as Brian takes the microphone.
“Thanks y’all! This really means a lot!”
“Yeah!” Nick grabs the microphone as the guys start to head off-stage. “I wo-” Somebody kills the microphone and his words are lost in applause. He does a mock shrug and bow before running off the stage.
“No fair!” Ali says giggling. “That was dumb-discrimination!”
A couple of awards later and the boys return to their seats. Brian hands me the award as he sits down.
“Check that out!”
“Cool,” I read the inscription on the side of the glass award and smile at him. “Very cool.” I pass it along to Nick and Ali. “I’m proud of ya honey.”
“Really?” he looks happily at me and wraps an arm around me. “It WAS pretty impressive how I managed to climb those steps without trippin’…”
“Indeed,” I giggle and kiss his soft lips.
We both look back at the stage where Britney is performing her Stronger routine. Brian bobs his head along with the beat and I turn to study him. I love watching him this way. When he doesn’t know anybody’s looking at him. To catch him unawares.
“I love you,” I say softly. I almost think he didn’t hear but his kiss says that he did.
“After-show partay!” yells Nick, dragging Ali along to the bar. “That means free drinks! Oh, and free FOOD too!”
“Ok, calm down already!” says Ali. “You’ll rip my arm off!”
“Sorry baby, but we gotta hurry!”
Ali rolls her eyes at us and allows herself to be dragged off.
“Nicky just LOVES the free food part…” giggles Kristen as we walk behind our guys.
“Hey, who doesn’t?!” I grin.
“True. But free food here is like…a cracker with cheese…” she trails off unenthusiastically. “Now, chocolate brownies with cream… Fudge ice-cream… Gateaux…” she licks her lips. “That’s MY idea of free food.”
“Well, if you ever find that party you call me,” I tell her as we catch up with Kevin and Brian. They’re scoping out the room. I slide my hands up under Brian’s shirt and he covers my hands with his, pulling me closer behind him. Kevin notices us with a smirk.
“You don’t have to stay long y’know,” he informs us suggestively.
“Oh, we won’t,” Brian responds.
“Say…five minutes?” I ask.
“Hm, four?” he counters.
“Deal.”
“Should we synchronise watches?” I laugh and rest my head on his shoulder. “Want to dance?”
“Hmm…” I realise that the DJ is playing The Way You Love Me by Faith Hill. “Ok, I love this song.”
“Me too.” We leave Kevin and Kristen discussing cream cakes and hit the dance-floor. Brian reaches for my hands and pulls me close to dance against him. “Y’know, I heard this CD a few months ago and pretty much every song made me think of you.”
“Yeah? Did she cover Sexy Thing then?” I joke.
He laughs. “Have you heard the CD?”
“Nup. I’ll have to borrow your copy,” I smile at him and we start to kiss.
If I could grant you one wish
I wish you could see the way you kiss
Ooh I love watching you baby
When you’re driving me crazy
Ooh I love the way you love me
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be
Ooh to feel the way I feel when you wrap your arms around me
I only wish that you could see the way you love me
Whoa oh, the way you love me
It’s not right It’s not fair
What you’re missing over there
Some day I’ll find a way to show you
Just how lucky I am to know you…