“I can’t believe we missed out on all the drama last night,” I tell Jade and she laughs.
“I know. Did you see AJ before he left?”
“Yeah, he dropped by while the guys were at the stadium. God Jade,” I sigh. “He looked AWFUL. So…uh…”
“Broken?” she supplies and I nod.
“You saw him too huh?”
“Yeah. I thought my heart would break.”
“He’s gonna be alright,” I state. “Ok, so TRL huh?” I change the topic quickly and we both gaze up at the building in the middle of Times Square. The guys are already inside. “Should we ask to be in the audience?”
“Naw,” she says as we walk inside. “It’s gonna be awful.”
“You think?”
“Hell yeah. Gonna be crying and all sorts.”
“And that’s just Kevin,” I joke lightly as we catch the elevator up to the TRL studio. It stops on the second floor and Carson Daly steps in, pressing the button for the fourth and looking at us.
“Hey,” he says. “You two in the TRL audience?”
“No,” Jade says.
“You want to be? I can get you in,” he offers. “We always need cute girls.”
“Uh, we’re good,” she says dryly and he frowns slightly. Not used to being knocked back I guess. I’ve never met Carson before but I get the impression he’s pretty up himself.
“The Backstreet Boys are gonna make a SPECIAL announcement,” he tries again.
“We know,” I tell him calmly.
“You know? How?” he asks as the doors open and we step outside.
“Connections,” I say as I spot Howie further down the corridor. “Hey Howie!”
“You shouldn’t be up here bothering guests if you’re not in the audience,” says Carson just as Howie turns round and sees us.
“Hey, you got here!”
“You know these two?” Carson asks.
“Sure,” Howie grins and walks over to us. “They’re girlfriends.”
“Yours?” Carson asks in disbelief and Howie chuckles.
“Nup, of Nick and Brian.”
“Howie won’t have us,” Jade says seriously. She kisses Howie’s cheek and slips an arm about his waist.
“I’m still upset,” I deadpan, kissing his other cheek and wrapping my arm around him.
“C’mon, I’ll take you to the guys,” Howie offers with a grin and slips his arms around our shoulders.
We walk away from a shocked Carson and start giggling.
“I’m guessing you weren’t impressed by Carson,” grins Howie.
“Not hardly,” Jade giggles.
“I really HATE this,” I tell Jade looking away from the TV monitor.
“Me too.”
The guys are in the TRL studio and they’ve just come clean about the tour postponement and AJ’s problems. They had seemed ok earlier but now, I guess it’s hit them properly and they all look awful. Brian is so pale, Howie barely smiles, Kevin’s voice keeps breaking, Nick fiddles with his plaster and the TRL audience are all in tears. Nick looks up at the camera and apologises for not saying much, his eyes are full of tears and I swear my heart breaks. All I want to do is run in there and hold him. I hope AJ’s ok. I check my watch and figure that he’s probably in rehab by now. Denise is meeting him there and I know she will make him feel better. The camera cuts away to show a video and minutes later, the guys are in the green room with us. They all look emotionally drained. Brian walks straight over to hug Jade while Nick walks over to me. I stand up and hug him.
“Aw babes,” I whisper.
“I’m ok,” he tells me quietly. “I just wanna get outta here.”
“Me too. Shall we go to the airport and see if we can change our flight?”
“Yeah,” he lets go of me and turns to the others. “Guys, we’re gonna go.”
“Ok,” Howie says. “You goin’ straight back to Tampa?”
“Yeah. You’re goin’ to LA?” Nick asks.
“And then to Puerto Rico,” Howie nods.
“I’m going to LA with Howie,” Kevin says. “I’m meeting Kris.”
“You’re comin’ back to Tampa right Jade?” I ask her and she nods.
“And then we’re going to Lexington,” says Brian.
“We are?” she looks at him and then shrugs. “We’ll come with you to the airport.”
“Cool,” I say. “Let’s go.”