"Hi. Is this Aly?" the male voice pounded. For some reason, fear welt up inside her.
"Umm...yeah. I'm Aly" she stammered. There was silence and then a cough.
"Well...do you know who this is?" the man asked. Aly shook her head, even though he couldn't see her.
"No I don't" she said quietly. Mel and Vanessa were now huddled around Aly, trying to hear the conversation.
"Are you sure? Think harder. Just take a guess" he said. A pit was forming in Aly's stomach as she thought about how deranged this guy was.
"Umm...is it...hmmm...I don't know. You tell me who you are" she ordered. The man laughed a throaty laugh and suddenly stopped.
"It's Uncle Steve!" the man exclaimed. Relief rushed through Aly's body.
"Oh! How are you Uncle Steve?" she asked, politely.
"Pretty good. Your Aunt just got back from the hospital. I hope your parents told you about the baby, right?" he asked.
"Oh yes! Of course they did! I can't wait to see her!" Aly exclaimed with genuine enthusiasm.
"She's adorable. But I was wondering if you would like to join me for lunch in about a half an hour?" he proposed. Aly cringed up her face. She loved her Uncle, but she really wasn't in the mood to kick her best friends out of her house to spend time with him! "I'm sorry Uncle Steve. But I've got friends here and they just came back from vacation. Do you think we can do it tomorrow instead?" she suggested. Steve sighed.
"Well...I'm flying out to LA tomorrow for 2 weeks. So, today was the only day I could see you. But it's okay, we'll do it when I get back. I'll call you as soon as I get back, okay?" he said. Aly smiled.
"That would be great. Talk to you then!" she said. They said their good-byes and Aly hung up the phone. She turned to her friends and shrugged. "That was my Uncle. He wanted to go out for lunch today, but I said I couldn't" she explained. Mel & Vanessa nodded and the girls headed back in to the living room. Mel put her finger in the air. "Wait!" she yelled. "Before we watch more, how 'bout we get some snacks? I'm starving!" The other girls agreed and they fixed a collection of yummy snacks. Finally, they sat in front of the TV once more and Aly turned the VCR back on again. The static finally ended and this time, AJ appeared on the camera...
"Well...it's now..." he starts. AJ looks at his watch and smiles. "It's 7:30PM on May 19 1993, and we're just about to head over to the mall to pick up some CDs" he explains. Brian and Nick walk on screen and smile cheekily to the camera *ya know, those adorable, 'I'm the sweetest guys in the world' looks? Ah whatever!*. AJ turns to them and moans. "Can't you guys give me any camera time to myself? I am part of this group too, ya know!" he cries, desperately needing attention. Brian and Nick laugh and go off screen. AJ smiles triumphantly. "There! Now maybe I'll get to say the speech I've been waiting to say!" he says. He reaches in to his jeans pocket and pulls out a white sheet of paper. He smooths it out and clears his throat. "I, AJ Mclean, promise that if I ever become famous and these tapes ever surface on TV, I will personally go down to the television station and take them back. This is because I will not be responsible for the actions of myself, or any of the other guys in our worst states, i.e. drunkingness. So, if you are watching these right now, please turn it off and return it to where you found it. Unless you're fans, then that's okay. Just make sure we know you're watching it! If you found these tapes without our permission, please call the number on the back of this 1st tape. It will connect you to someone who can get you to talk to us. Thank you, and good-night" he reads. He gives one last smile to the camera, and the static starts, thus ending another scene of the tape...
Aly pressed stop on the VCR and with one look at her friends, she grabbed the video case off the coffee table. She flipped it over and saw nothing. "Where is it?!" she screamed. Mel and Vanessa laughed and Mel walked to the VCR. She popped out the tape and flipped it over. Smiling in satisfaction, she brought the tape over to her frantic friend. Aly grabbed it from her hands and peered at the piece of paper on the back. Sure enough, as AJ had said, there was a number on the back. Aly let out a loud squeal and ran to her phone. Mel and Vanessa ran after her, set on not missing a thing. Aly put the tape on the counter and picked up the phone. After taking a long breath to control her excitement, she punched the numbers in to the phone. A few moments later, a woman picked up. "Hello, Janice speaking. May I help you?" she said. Aly took another deep breath and talked.
"Umm...ummm....I found a tape from the Backstreet Boys...and...and...I was...ummm...I was told to call here if I found it..." she stammered. Janice laughed on the other line.
"Oh geez! I can't believe this!" she exclaimed. Aly was confused. Mel and Vanessa urged her to put on the speaker phone, so she did.
"Wha -- what?" she studdered. Janice still laughed.
"That tape was made like 6 years ago! It's unbelievable that you have it! The guys have had that for years! I doubt they've watched it for so long!" she exclaimed. Aly exhaled deeply, relieved that it was the right number. She was speechless, luckily though, Mel grabbed the phone from her. "Hi. I'm Melanie Vanderbrooke, and you were just speaking to my friend Aly Chesterton. She's a little indisposed right now, so I'll speak to you. Is this totally real?" she asked. The woman laughed.
"Oh yes. This is totally real. This is Jive Records, and we were told when that tape was made that if we got any calls, we should contact them. I think you're gonna meet the Backstreet Boys" she said. Mel squealed and Aly ran from the room, in a total daze.
"Really?!" Mel shrieked.
"Really. I'll connect you through to them right now" she replied. Mel's breath stopped in her throat and the phone was dropped to the ground. Vanessa, the stable one, picked it up and smiled.
"Hi, now Melanie is all shocked. So I'll talk now. I'm Vanessa Smythe" she replied.
"Hi Vanessa. Tell your friends to calm down, or I can't connect you to them" Janice replied. Vanessa calmed down Mel and Aly and smiled.
"Okay. I think they're okay now. Please can we talk to them?" she pleaded. Janice laughed again.
"Yes you can. Hold on please" she said. Vanessa held her breath. A click sounded in her ear and then the phone started ringing. Finally, after about 10 rings, someone picked up the phone. "Hello?" came Nick's voice. Vanessa's eyes opened wide and she felt sick.
"Hello?" she whispered. Nick laughed.
"Who's this?" he asked. Vanessa let out a squeak.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" he asked. Aly grabbed the phone from Vanessa.
"Yes. We're here" she said.
"Who's we?" Nick asked playfully.
"Umm...I'm Aly Chesterton, and I'm with my friends, Melanie Vanderbrooke, and Vanessa Smythe" she explained.
"Do I know you?" Nick asked. Aly licked her lips.
"No. You don't. But we found a box of tapes that belong to you" she explained. Nick started laughing.
"Oh wow! We just lost those!" he cried in amazement.
"I know. We found them" Aly said. Nick laughed again.
"How stupid were we acting?" he asked. Aly laughed.
"Pretty stupid. But it was cute" she said. Nick laughed again.
"Yeah that's us. So, I'm not even sure why AJ wanted to be contacted, but you can talk to him if you want" he said. Aly smiled.
"Yeah sure" she replied. Nick cleared his throat.
"AJ!!" he called away from the phone. He came back to the reciever.
"Hold on. He's coming right now" Nick replied. Aly took another deep breath, composing herself once again...
