There was a bang at the door. "Let's go you two, we're at the center," said AJ through the door. I kissed Brian again. "Come on," I said opening the door. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back. We fell back onto the couch laughing. "What?" I asked as he ran his hand down my cheek. "I love you," he said staring into my eyes. I grabbed his hand and held it tight in mine. "I love you too," I said softly. He kissed me. I pulled back. "Come on, they are waiting for us." He kissed my neck softly. I giggled. "Brian." He continued to kiss me. I broke free of his embrace. I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the couch. When he stood up he put his arms around me again. "Brian," I said staring at him. A smile broke across his face and I laughed. We finally made it to the front of the bus and grabbed our bags. We got off the bus and headed inside.
"Nice of you two to join us," Howie said with a laugh. "We were taking care of something," defended Brian. They laughed. "Sure ya were," AJ said with a grin. We walked into the dressing room and put our bags down. Brian went off with the guys for a sound check and I went with Denise. Denise had to go home in three days to take care of some things in Orlando and she would be gone for a week. Which meant I would be running things till she got back. "I don't know if I can do this," I said as we walked around the arena. Denise stopped and looked at me. "Janice, this is what you are going to be doing soon. So why not learn now? The guys will work with you and you have the whole crew to help you. Just keep your head on straight and get your job done." She put her arm around my shoulder. "I believe you are more than ready for this." She smiled.
We continued to walk. We went to the security office and signed some papers. We were walking and Denise stopped at the door. I could see the guys onstage warming up and doing some vocal practice. "Just remember, they are only half the reason you are here," she said pointing to the guys. "The other half sits in these seats," she said motioning around the arena. The arena could easily house 15,000 people. Not the largest place the guys had sold out. We made our way down the stairs and across the arena floor to the stage. It was hard to imagine that the empty arena would be jam backed with people in less than three hours. We walked up the stairs to the stage. Aaron was sitting off to the side on some boxes watching the guys perform.
I sat down next to him. "S'up buddy?" I asked sitting down. "Nothin much. Just watching the guys practice. So are you and B going out?" he asked. At first I was shocked at the question. I looked at him and nodded. A huge smile came across his face. "Cool!" he said out loud. I laughed. He wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a big hug. "Uh oh, looks like Aaron's putting a move on your girl, Bri," laughed Nick. They guys were walking towards us now. "Hey A, are you hitting on my girl?" Brian asked with a smile. "Nope," Aaron laughed then he kissed me on the cheek. "That's it. You're done little man," said Brian lunging for Aaron. Aaron had hoped down the box and was running away from Brian. The five of us watched as Brian and Aaron ran around the stage. Finally Aaron hoped back upon the boxes and hid behind me. "Come here ya little runt." Aaron laughed from behind me. I grabbed Brian's arms. "Calm down," I laughed. "He's ten years old. What harm can he do?" The guys laughed. Brian sighed. "Ok," he said. Aaron looked over my shoulder and kissed me on the cheek again. And he tore off around the stage again with Brian on his heels. We just stood there and watched them run around like mad men. "You two are going to be too tired to perform tonight if you keep running around like that." Aaron then ran up the platform stairs and stood on the top pedestool. Brian ran up after him, just as Brian got to him. The trap door took Aaron down safely to under the stage where he reappeared. Brian had this stunned look on his face and the rest of us were laughing. Aaron skipped over towards us and sat down on the boxes. "That was fun," he said with a smile.
Brian came down the stairs and headed towards me. He put his arms around me. "Eww! You're all sweaty!" He laughed. "You better go get a towel and wipe your face. Cause Angie is going to go crazy if you in to get your make-up done looking like that." He whined and walked backstage to get a towel and came back. He patted his face with the towel and looked at me. "Better?" he asked. "Much," I said kissing him. Angie appeared around the corner and walked towards us. "Come on little man, you're first," she said taking Aaron by the hand. Aaron looked back at us as she took him back to the make-up chair. We all waved. We decided to head backstage before the fans started coming in and saw us hanging around the stage. The guys went in the dressing room to warm up and change.
Aaron came out of his dressing room, he was wearing his red overalls with a big letter A on the front. "Hey cutie," I said as he came towards me. He grinned from ear to ear. "Ready to go on?" The stage crew member came over and put the mike on his head and fixed it till it was just right. "Yup," he said with a smile. "Give them hell, buddy." I gave him a high-five and he ran out onstage. "How ya doin' Scranton?" he yelled. I laughed to myself as the crowd went nuts and went towards Devon and Erika. "You and Aaron are so cute together," said Erika. I looked at her taking a sip of my soda. "What's that suppose to mean?" I laughed. "I mean in a brother-sister kind of way. You look cute together." "Yeah, I guess. I like to think of Aaron and the guys as brothers I never had." "Janke, you have a brother," said Devon. "That's why I said, brothers I never had. These brothers are normal and I can stand them." They laughed. We made our way towards their dressing room door as Aaron ran by us towards his bus.
Five minutes later they came out. We each gave them kissed and they were off to start the show. While they performed I realized that the shows went by quicker and quicker as I saw them. They wanted to bring the three of us out for the encore but we begged them not to. They were in the dressing room getting changed for the when the stagehands started running around. We kept stepping back to get out of their way. All of a sudden the lights came up and Devon, Erika and I were looking at 15,000 screaming fans. "Oh no," muttered Erika. We looked like three deer staring into headlights. With that the five guys came on. We just stood there with these stunned looks on our faces. "Would you lookey here," Nick said walking across the stage towards us. He took Erika's hand and we followed him to the center of the stage. Erika stood with Nick, Devon stood next to Kevin, and I stood next to Brian. "Scranton, we would like you to meet some very important people in our lives," said Kevin. "I would like you to meet Devon Stewart." The fans screamed. Devon waved and smiled at the crowd. "This is Erika Terrosa," Nick said holding her hand in the air. The audience screamed again. Erika hid behind her hand and smiled. "And y'all know who this is," Brian said pointing towards me. "Janice!" The whole crowd screamed. A look of disbelievment took all our faces. "We brought them out to help us sing our finaled for you. Is that alright?" The audience screamed with approval. We sang Celebration. After the song ended the three of us waved and walked off the stage so the guys could do their final curtain call.
The three of us were laughing as we were walking backstage, when we walked into Denise. "Denise, is everything ok?" I asked when I saw her. She looked at me and looked at the floor. "What's wrong?" Erika asked. "I have some bad news," she said looking at me. I swallowed hard. "Lori called whole you were onstage. Julie went to the hospital last night." "Oh my gosh! Is she ok?" Denise kept looking at me. "She's alright, isn't she?" Denise looked away and looked back at me. Tears were welled up in her eyes. She didn't need to say anymore. I tore off towards the stage door. "Janice!" yelled Erika through tears. She went to follow me. Denise stopped her. "Let her go," she wrapped her arms around her as Erika cried. I walked down the stairs. When I got to the bottom I just sat down on the step and cried. I heard the stage door open and someone come down the stairs and sit down next to me. I looked up and saw Brian. He didn't say anything, he just put his arms around me. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried. After a few minutes, I pulled away. "You ok?" he asked looking me in the eye. I nodded. "Denise told us. AJ took it really hard. We told Denise to call Lori and find out when the funeral is. We'll see if we can get back up there." "If we all can't go up, I at least want to go." He nodded. "We'll see."
The next morning we boarded a plane at the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre International Airport. We landed in Hartford shortly after. When we arrived, we took a van to Lori's house. Brian sat next to me in the van, he held my hand and tried to comfort me as we rode to Lori's house. The thoughts and memories of Julie's stay with us kept running through my mind non-stop. When we arrived at Lori's house we went up the walk. I rang the doorbell. Lori answered the door. "Janice," she said pushing the screen door open. I immediately walked towards her and hugged her. After a brief hug she escorted us into the house. We sat in the living room. "It's so quiet without Julie around." She laughed at herself. "I even put your CD in the player just for some noise." She began to cry to herself. "She wore out three copies of that CD." We laughed lightly. I was sitting in between Brian and Kevin. I looked over towards Kevin. He had been quiet the whole time since we were told of Julie's death. I put my hnad on his for reassurance. He looked at me and smiled weakly. "The viewing is tomorrow followed bt the funreal. We just moved here so I'm not expecting a big turn out." "Well we're here," said Nick with a smile. "She never stopped talking about that day at the arena. She loved each and every one of you. Which reminds me, Janice, she wanted me to give you something."
She got up out of her chair and went to the other room. She reappeared with a small box which she handed to me. I opened the box, inside was a locket with the words, "BEST FRIENDS" engraved on it. I opened the locket, inside was a picture that was taken at the concert of Brian, her and I. Her smiling face brought tears to my eyes. Brian placed his arm around my shoulder. He then took the locket out of my hands and put it on me. The locket laid on my turtleneck. I picked it up in my hand and helf it tightly. Lori invited us to stay the night at her house. Brian and I stayed in Julie's room. The room was papered with pictures of the guys. On her bureau was some framed pictures that were taken at the concert. One of her and AJ, another of Howie, Nick, Brian and me.
After we placed our bags in the room, we decided to go to a local restaurant for dinner. The conversation during dinner was light-hearted, there was frequent pauses of uncomfortable silence. I looked at Lori who was sitting next to me. Her smile was warm and caring. It was hard to imagine that she had lost her daughter to cancer days before. Her strength was inspirational to all of us. Whether we knew it then or not, Julie's death had made it's mark on us.
Later, that night I was sitting in bed. I could hear the light ticking of the matel clock in the living room. I slowly turned the locket in my fingers. As it turned it caught the moonlight. Brian turned over in bed to face me. "Can't sleep?" I looked at him. He sat up and brushed my hair back. "Just thinking," I sighed dropping the locket. "Want to talk about it?" he asked moving his hand to mine. I stopped and thought for a second. "We were with this girl less than a week ago. And tomorrow we are burying her." The tears silently fell down my cheek. I looked at him. "Why?" He gently placed his hand under my chin and rub my tears away with his thumb. "Think of the impact you made on her life. Did you have fun with her?" I nodded my head. "Did she have fun?" I rememberd seeing Julie on stage at the concert, dancing with each of the guys. The smile on her face was worth more than anything in the world. "Her smile," I said slowly. "You made her day. You could have sat in that waiting room and just ignored her. But you didn't. You brought her to meet the people that she has only dreamed of meeting. You made her dreams come true. And you made us all realize how precious our lives are. Janice, you're truly special." When he finished I looked at him in the darkness. I could see the tears shimmering in the moonlight on his cheeks. I leaned forward and kissed his lips gently. His hand brushed my cheek softly. I pressed my forehead against his. "I love you," I said softly. "I love you, too."
The next morning the limo took us to the funreal home. We entered the building. We slowly entered the viewing room, where Julie was laying. Around her casket were beautiful flowers. The one at her head was in the shape of a heart with her name written in white carnations in a sea of red carnations. The card was signed AJ, Brian, Devon, Erika, Howie, Janice, Kevin and Nick. We slowly walked towards her casket. We each took our final moments with Julie. Brian and I stopped at her casket last. We both silently prayed. After our prayer we grasped hands and walked away. We sat down in the next room. A few minutes later the front door opened and Denise walked in followed by the band and Angie. They joined us, and slowly the whole crew for the tour passed by the casket. Andre, the tour photographer stopped by Brian and I. "I took this picture at the concert of the five of you and Julie. I thought you would like to give it her mother or something," he said handing me the picture. "Thank you," I said.
I got up out of my seat and Brian followed me. Lori was talking to Lou Pearlman when I approached her with the picture. "Our photographer took this picture when Julie was onstage at the concert. So he thought it would be best if you have it." "Thank you." She took the picture and stared at it. Her finger trailed over the image of Julie. The tears fell freely as she walked towards the casket. She placed the picture in the casket. I began to cry, Brian hugged me as I cried into his shoulder. We then went back to the limo and were taken to the cemetary for the rest of the service. The guys asked if they could sing a song. After the minister finished his service, the guys got up and sang, "It's Hard To Say Good-Bye to Yesterday" I had never seen the guys emotional during a song as they were that day.
After the service we headed back to the limo. I hung around the casket a little longer. I stared at the casket. I shut my eyes and thought about her. I felt a hand go around my shoulder. I looked up and saw Brian. I took a rose and placed it gently on the casket. I leaned my head against Brian and we walked back to the limo to join the others. The next day we took the next flight to Pittsburgh to continue the tour. Denise flew home to Orlando leaving me in charge for the next few days. "Yes, we have a reservation," I said to the desk clerk at the hotel. "Names, please." "John Clark, Will Michaels, Terry Smith, Bob Knight and Leo King." "Alright, here are your keys. Enjoy your stay in Pittsburgh." I took the five keys and handed them to the guys. We took the elevator to the sixth floor. We got off and went to our rooms.
I
dropped my bags on the bed and laid down. "How are you doin'?" Brian asked laying down beside me. "I'm fine. My stomach
is another story." He laughed. "Your stomach and landing don't get along do they?" "Nope." "You'll be fine," he said kissing me.
"Well that continental breakfast lasted me all of five minutes after getting off the plane." He laughed again. "After we fly a few
more times your stomach will get use to it." "I hope so," I sighed. "You look beautiful when you're green." I looked at him and
he laughed. "You are not funny." Nick was laying on the bed staring at the ceiling.
Erika was propped up on one elbow with her
hand on his chest playing with the buttons on his shirt. Nick placed his hand on her hand and ran his fingers through her hair.
Erika looked up at him. "You ok?" she asked. He looked down at her. "Hmm? Yeah, just thinking," he replied. Erika moved
up. "What are you thinking about?" she asked. "Stuff," he said staring at the ceiling. She traced her finger along his cheek. He
turned to look at her. He grabbed her hand and kissed, she smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.
"Janice, honey, wake up."
I turned over in my bed. Brian was standing over me. "Hun, someone is on your cell phone," he said handing it to me. I sat up
and took the phone from his hand. "Thanks," I yawned. I took the phone from him. "Hello?" "Janice, sup G?" "Hey Alex, how
are you?" "Good. I'm on my way to the hotel." "Cool, hey did Howie talk to you recently?" "If you are asking if he invited me to
be with you guys, yes he did. My suitcase is sitting next to me." "Cool, so what time will you be here?" "In about ten minutes."
"Ok, I'll meet you in the lobby since security around here is kind of tight." "Alright see ya then." I hung up the phone and tossed
it into my bag. I got out of bed and limped to the bathroom. I came back in the room limping. "Are you alright? Does your foot
hurt?" Brian asked coming towards me. I plopped onto the bed. "Yeah, it's killing me," I said loosening the boot. "And it's really
swollen too." "I'll get ya some ice," he said walking into the bathroom and returning with some ice. I had taken off my boot so I
could put the ice on my foor. "Janice, that doesn't look good. Now, I know I'm no doctior but that can't be good." I looked at
Brian and he had a concern look on his face.
Just then the phone rang. I reached over and answered it. "Hello?" "I'm in the lobby," said Alex over the phone. "I'll be right down." I hung up the phone. "You aren't going anywhere. I'll go get Alex and then we are getting a doctor to look at that foot." I groaned. "You stay right here and I'll be back in a jif," he said kissing me. "Yeah, yeah," I groaned. He laughed and left. Why me? Why now? For twenty-two years I go without a single broken bone and now that I have my dream job my ankle breaks. "ARGH!" I groaned, throwing my hands into the air. The door opened and Brian and Alex walked in. "So do you know any?" "I'm sure there is a doctor in the area that will look at her on such short notice. Just don't forget to mention your name. It couldn't hurt to speed up everything." We laughed. "Hey Alex," I said outstretching my arms for a hug. "Hey kiddo," she said hugging me. "How are ya doing." "Alright, I guess." "Should we go to the ER or find a doctor and pray he can see her?" "I know how much you are going to hate this but, her best bet is at the ER." I put my hand over my eyes. "I know how much you love hospitals but it's the only place I can think of." Brian and Alex looked at me. "Fine," I sighed. Brian picked up the phone and told security what was up and what we were doing. Within minutes Brian had carried me downstairs and we were headed to the van that would take us to the ER. "I hate hospitals," I said when we pulled out. "I know you do," Brian said brushing my hair back and kissing my forehead lightly.
We pulled into the hospital and Brian carried me in. They showed us to the waiting room, where we filled out some paper work and waited to be seen. Since I had no health insurance yet, Jive would cover the bill once again. "Employer?" I asked Brian. "Should I say Backstreet Boys, Jive Records or unemployed. Since I'm technically not being paid?" He looked at me. "Put down Jive since they cover the bills for this." "Whoever pays their bills is going to love me," I said with a laugh as I finished writing up the form. When I finished Brian took it up to the recptionist at the desk. She made me a file and took us to an open exam room. We sat in the room for awhile. Brian sat on the examination bed next to me while we waited. "This place gives me the creeps," I said looking around the room. "I know what ya mean."
Finally a doctor entered the room. "Hi, I'm Dr. Nash. You must be Janice," said the doctor entering the room and pulling a chari towards us. I gripped Brian's hand tightly. "Yes," I finally said. He started to look at the file to see what my compliants were. "Ok, you're complaining of some swelling in your foot," he said looking at me. "Yes." "Alright, let's lay you down and check it out. How did you break your foot?" I looked at Brian and we laughed. "Escaping from fans," Brian managed to say finally. "Fans?" he asked while still checking my foot. "Brian is in a musical group and while trying to leave the arena we got attacked and I guess my foot got caught on something. Next thing I know we were in the Atlanat hospital." "What type of medication are you on?" "Um, pain killers and some anti-biotics." "Have you flown recently?" "Just this morning." The doctor thought to himself. "Ok, just so I'm sure, I want to run some tests. But I think the swelling is just from flying. The pressure while you fly can make your foot swell. But it may also be an allergic reaction to the medication that you are on." The doctor left and a few minutes later a nurse came in to do the tests. When she was done, she locked the boot back up and told me I could sit up. She left and Brian sat down next to me again. He put him arm around me. I rested my head against his shoulder and yawned. "Someone tired?" he asked laughing. "Just a little."