“Ali! ALI!” an irritating voice whispers into my face.
The owner of the all too familiar voice was obviously the owner of the hands that were relentlessly shaking my shoulders, also causing me to bang my head on the headboard.
“Nick!” I sit upright on the bed and push him onto the floor. “What do you want?” I grab the alarm clock and hold it real close to my face, as my eyes are still blurred from my sleepiness.
“To kidnap you.”
I rub my eyes and look at him annoyed, “What the hell? It’s 7:00am!”
He climbs off the floor and rubs his butt. “I’m taking you out today, sight-seeing.”
“Nick, you are insane. You’ve got a show tonight.”
“Nope, all I’ve got is an interview with some radio station. Let’s play Ferris Bueller, please?”
“Won’t Kevin get mad?” I ask, looking at him like he’s crazy.
“Please, if you are leaving soon we gotta spend some time together. It’s just one interview, besides after they find us it’ll be too late.”
“You make it sound like we’re escaped convicts.”
“So can we go?” he begs.
“Can I get more sleep?” I ask, falling back onto my pillow.
“No! We have to leave before the guys get up!” he pulls me out of the bed and I stumble over to the shower.
“Give me ten.”
I step out of the shower and wrap a small towel around myself. Taking another towel to help dry my hair, I enter the main room.
“Nick, have you seen my blow-dryer?” I ask, looking through my suitcase.
“You can’t blow dry your hair! It’s too loud,” he replies, glancing up from the clock radio.
“But then my hair is going to look funny!”
He rolls his eyes and tosses me the bottle of hair spray on my nightstand, “There.”
“Fine, now what should I wear?” I rummage through the makeshift closet. “This?” I pull out a black skirt and baby blue T-shirt.
“Nah, you gotta wear something really comfortable, because we have to walk around all day,” he gets off the bed and comes up behind me. “This looks good,” he pulls out an Old Navy tank top and my favourite denim overalls.
“I want to look nice! Looks at these overalls, they’ve got holes in the knees!”
“I think they look sexy, now put them on. We gotta leave soon.”
I quickly change into the outfit he selected and grab my make-up bag. Sitting in the director’s chair in front of the vanity I dump its contents onto the counter.
“What are you doing?!” he whispers loudly, stalking over to me.
“Fixing myself!”
He begins stuffing my powder and eyeliner back into my bag, and then snatches the lipstick out of my hand.
“Nickolas Carter, I have to put my make-up on!” I snatch the bag right back and dump them out again.
“Come on, honey. We are kinda running out of time. The guys will wake up at 8:00.”
I look at the clock and it’s nearly 7:50. I quickly smear on some light lip-gloss and leave the rest scattered on the counter. Jumping up from my seat, Nick goes to grab my hand but I turn back towards the nightstand.
“Okay, now what are you doing?” Nick asks, obviously getting frustrated with me.
“Leaving Jade a note.”
“You can’t! Then they’ll know where we are going and they’ll look for us!”
“But if I don’t then they’ll be worried!”
“Well, then they can be worried. It’s not like we aren’t coming back!”
“Fine, I won’t leave a note. But they are going to KILL us!” I pick up my purse.
He smiles widely and pulls me to him. He pins me up against the wall and takes my purse from me. As he leans in to kiss me he throws the purse backwards, much too forcefully, and it hits the wall with a bang.
“Nick! What the fuck are you doing in there?” AJ mumbles, then we hear his head hit his pillow again.
We both laugh uncontrollably as Nick grabs my hand and we run out of the room.
We’ve run three blocks away from the hotel and we’re still doubling over in laughter.
“Oh shit, Nick!” I say, gasping for air between my giggles. “I left my purse at the hotel!”
He grabs his stomach and leans against the side of a building, trying to regain his breath. “That’s okay I’ve got my…” he reaches into his back pocket, only to find nothing there. His smile fades, and the colour drains from his face. “Umm, I know I put it in here this morning!” he exclaims, searching his jacket for his wallet. I stand there, hands on hips, very much agitated by his idiotic mistake. “This is perfectly fine. Ferris Bueller didn’t have any money either,” he compromises.
“Nick, Ferris Bueller had that hot red convertible and-”
“Well, look over there,” he demands, pointing to a black BMW.
“Nick! We are not ripping off some car!” I yell, and then quickly lower my voice. “Absolutely not, we’ll take the bus everywhere.”
“Sure, I’ll just get the money from my wallet and-” he says sarcastically, pretending to pick the wallet from his back pocket. I smack his shoulder lightly.
“Alright, smart ass,” I turn around and look down both sides of the street.
“Well, what now?” he asks, taking my hand and pulling me close to him.
I stare at him incredulously. “What now?” I mimic. “YOU are the one that dragged me out of bed WAY too early in the morning so you better have some kind of plan or I’m going back to bed and YOU, mister, are going to that interview.”
“Fine, fine!” he holds his hands up in defence. “Okay, well that looks cool. Let’s go there,” he suggests, pointing to a sign.
“Live life in the fast lane at Six Flags Astroworld and Waterworld. Pick up your season pass 4-pack at any local Kroger’s for only $52.50,” I read aloud off the huge billboard sign. “Hmm, I wonder if we need MONEY to get in there.”
“We’ll improvise, come on.” He takes my hand and we rush down the sidewalk in the direction the sign was leading us. “Hey, look!” Nick stops and picks up a flyer on the sidewalk.
“What is it?” I ask, trying to read it upside down.
“Directions. Okay, we have to find the Astrodome. Supposedly, it’s across the street from there. Let’s go.”
We continue our journey until we spot a huge parking lot with a dome covered building in the centre.
“That’s the Astrodome, I’ve seen pictures,” I explain. “And look, I see roller coasters over there!” I shriek, pointing across the highway to the theme park.
“Awesome!” he yells, and we run up the small hill and over the bridge used for people to walk across to the park, over the highway.
“Okay, now how do we get INSIDE?”
“I’m still thinking’,” he leans over the railing and we watch the cars pass under us.
“NICK CARTER!” shrieks a high-pitched girl, and we turn around warily expecting tons of girls to mob us. Well, him. I chuckle to myself at the thought of someone wanted to mob ME. Anyway, it turns out to be only two girls. One about 11 or 12, the other about 19.
“It IS Nick Carter!” shrieks the younger girl.
“Told you I’d know that ass anywhere,” says the other, pulling down her sunglasses and glancing over me disgustedly.
“Fancy!” the younger girl cries embarrassed. She turns back to us, and pulls out a flyer and a pen. “Nick, would you sign this for me.” He smiles widely and bends down to her level.
“Of course! So, beautiful, you got a name?” he asks, giving her that heart stopping half smile. She blushes, but giggles excitedly.
“It’s Trinity. And this is my sister Fancy.”
He smiles up at the big sister, “Nice to meet you, Fancy.”
In return, she smiles and nods flirtatiously, and I watch Nick pathetically try not to stare at her overly exposed chest.
“And it’s nice to meet you, too, Trinity,” he grabs her hand and kisses it. “Oops, I don’t want to smear your…” he pulls her closer to him and looks more clearly at her hand, which has a small red ink pattern on it. “Your Tweety bird.”
“Oh, that’s the stamp they put on you when you leave the park, so that you can get back in.”
“Oh, really?” he raises his eyebrows and smiles back at me.
“Is she your girlfriend?” asks Fancy, pointing her sunglasses toward me.
“Psh! Whatever!” I nudge Nick and he picks up the act.
“No way, she’s my cuz,” he says, wrapping an arm around my throat and messing up my hair.
“Hey, stop it loser!” I push him off me and we smile at the two girls, who obviously bought it.
“Well, it was SO great meeting you, Nick. And you too, umm..”
“Alicia,” I stick my hand out, and Fancy shakes it.
“Wait, don’t you have your camera, Fancy?” Trinity asks, hopefully.
“Yes, I do. Alicia, will you take the picture of us with your scrumptious cousin?” Fancy asks me, eyeing Nick. I clear my throat as he starts to smile and blushes.
“Sure, y’all just get in together. Perfect,” I snap a couple of shots, but in the last shot Nick’s eyes are wide and his eyebrows are raised.
“Well, we must be going. Thank you,” Fancy says, hugging Nick and whispering in his ear. Trinity also hugs Nick, and they say their goodbyes.
“What was that look for, when you were taking pictures?” I ask him, walking over to the rail he is leaning on.
“Fancy pinched my butt!” he whines, rubbing the spot where she pinched him. I crack up laughing.
“Aww, poor baby. Want me to kiss it for you?” He nods his head vigorously, but I pat it instead.
“Well, you heard what Trinity said. We have to get stamps.”
“Nick, I’m pretty sure all you have to do is go and flirt with one of their gate-keepers and we can get in.”
He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest, “I could NOT. Besides, where is your sense of adventure? Asking to be let in is simply no fun at all.”
“Right, no fun. So what do we do?”
“Find a local Wal-Mart of something, and buy stamps!”
“We have no money!” I remind, poking his forehead. “Remember?”
“Then, we’ll improvise!”
I have a feeling I’ll be hearing way too much of that word today.
A banging noise wakes me up and I squint into the darkened room. I check the clock, it reads 8:40, and groan.
“Brian, what are you doin’?!”
“Sorry baby, did I wake you?” he comes out of the bathroom.
“Well duh.”
He laughs and sits on the bed by me. “Sorry honey.”
“What’re you doin’ dressed at this time anyways?”
“Interview. But then I have the rest of the day free. Maybe we could do somethin’?”
“Like what?”
“Hm… We’ll think of something,” he grins and leans over to kiss me. He stands up and heads back into the bathroom.
“Bri, do you like courgettes?” I remember his sleep-talking.
“Courgettes? I dunno. Never really thought about ‘em.”
“Well, you sure did last night!” I giggle and he comes back into the room, pulling his shirt on.
“Huh?”
“You were talking about courgettes in your sleep last night.”
“I wasn’t! Don’t be dumb.”
“True!”
“Why would I talk about COURGETTES?!”
“Beats me,” I giggle. “You also said somethin’ about you bein’ the one.”
“Well, I AM the one,” he says, standing up and crossing the room to me. “I’m yours.”
“That you are,” I agree, kissing him and watching him walk to the door. “Even though you believe in the power of courgettes to make it rain…”
Brian shoots me a bemused look and I giggle into my pillow as he shuts the door behind him.
It took about fifteen minutes to find the nearest stationary store. Isn’t exactly a Wal-Mart, but surely it has stamps.
“Okay, you know what the stamp looks like so you find it,” I tell him, as we casually walk into the store.
“May I help you two?” the manager asks.
“No, I think we can find things ourselves, thank you,” Nick says.
The man smiles politely and goes off to help the next customer.
“Look, they’re over here. So, which one is it?” I ask, searching through all of the Loony Tunes character stamps.
“This one! It looks just like it.”
“Nick, this is stealing!” I whisper, accentuating the word stealing.
“I know…I’ve never stole anything before. Have you?”
“Money, from guys that ripped me off!” I say proudly, casually dropping it into my pocket.
“Now we need an inkpad.”
I walk over and swipe a red inkpad, slipping it into my other pocket. “You don’t think they have an alarm system do you?” I ask, worried.
“Nah, not a small store like this.”
Luckily, they don’t, and we make it back to Astroworld safe and sound. We stamp our hands and then throw the inkpad and stamp into the bed of a truck going under the bridge.
“Ha ha, now that guy can get into Astroworld for free!” Nick says, causing me to giggle. “Shall we?”
“We shall!” I take his arm and we walk through the first gate, where you buy your season’s pass.
“Ticket?” asks the lady at the second gate.
“Oh, we have these,” Nick holds our hands up and the lady waves us through.
“Tickets?” she asks the next customers, completely forgetting about us.
Nick pulls me away a few feet and hugs me, “That was way too easy! This is totally awesome!”
I laugh as he picks me up and runs with me, “You are crazy, Nick. I love you, but you’re crazy!”
He smiles and gives me a small kiss. “Why thank you. So, where to first?” he asks.
“Well, let’s look at this big map.”
“The Mayan Mind-bender sounds cool. It’s a roller coaster in the dark. You know what we can do in the dark?” he nudges me and I smirk.
“On a ROLLER-COASTER?” I ask, rolling my eyes. “Won’t that be kind of hard?”
“Humour me,” he laughs and we follow the maps to the ride.
“Yo cuz, seen Nicky?” asks Kevin with a yawn. Brian shakes his head and stretches out on the chair in the hotel lobby. The four guys are waiting for Nick and a car to come take them to their radio interview.
“Man, where IS he?” complains AJ. “He woke me up just before 8 throwing stuff in Ali’s room.”
“He did?” Brian sits up. “You think he’s ok? Maybe he found out something else ‘bout Ali.”
AJ gives Brian a hard look. “IS there anything else?”
“I dunno,” Brian shrugs. “Ali and I are not exactly best buddies. Jade might know,” he starts to stand up but Kevin pushes him back.
“You stay here. I’ll go check Nick’s room and then ask Jade. If you go, we’ll never see you again,” he stalks off to the elevators and a few minutes later he’s knocking on Nick’s door. There’s no reply so he knocks harder. “Nick, answer the door NOW!” he tries the handle several times. “Get your lazy butt outta bed NOW!”
No response, so he goes back to his room and finds a key on his cabinet. He smiles evilly at it and heads back to Nick’s room, inserting the key in the lock. Ever since Nick had managed to sleep through four angry guys and a security guard’s banging and yelling four years ago, Kevin had requested a spare key to Nick’s hotel rooms. That blonde kid was gonna be sorry. He swings open the door.
“Ok, Nicky! Get up!” he stomps into the darkened room and pulls back the sheets.
The bed’s empty. He stares around the room. At Ali’s purse on the floor by the door, her make-up dumped all over the table, a towel on the floor by the bathroom and Ali’s suitcase emptied in a heap in a corner. He checks the bathroom and then turns and almost runs to Brian and Jade’s room. He knocks loudly on the door.
Jade opens it after a while, looking half-asleep and pretty pissed, “What?!”
“Hey Jade. Sorry to wake ya.”
“Oh jeez,” she groans and rubs her eyes. “I got woken by Brian at 8 o’ friggin’ clock. Haven’t you guys GONE yet?!”
“We’re tryin’ to. Nick’s kinda gone missing on us. Do you have any ideas?”
“Nick’s gone…?” Jade shakes her head slightly and seems to wake up a bit. “Isn’t Ali here?”
“No, she’s kinda gone too.”
“You try the room?”
Kevin nods. “It looks like somethin’ happened. And AJ said he got woken up by them banging just before 6am.”
“Oh…” Jade pushes past Kevin and into Nick’s room. She looks around at the room. “The mess is pretty normal for Ali, but she’d never leave her purse like that.”
“Nick’s wallet is on the dresser,” Kevin points out.
“Oh God…” Jade looks up at Kevin, a hand over her mouth. “You think somethin’ BAD happened?”
“I don’t know,” he says grimly. “I sure hope not.”