When we were in our seats I looked at my watch, "That only took three hours of the day." "Is that all?" Brian laughed. "You guys have tonight off so what are we doing?" "I think Alex is taking us to some of the hot spots tonight." "Cool." We rode back to the hotel and went back to our room. The light on the phone was blinking. "Hey Bri, what does it mean when the light on the phone blinks?" "Oh, we probably have voice mail. Could ya check it please?" "Sure," I said picking up the receiver and punching in the code. "When you guys get back page Nick. We all went to the zoo. Check ya laters, D." I hung up the phone. "It's Howie, he wants us to page Nick cause they went to the zoo." "The zoo?" "That's what I said. Probably one of Erika's weird ideas." I said laughing.
I took some of the pain killers that I had and then paged Nick. A few minutes later the phone rang. It was Nick, we told him we would head to the zoo and meet them at the entrance. On the way to the zoo we stopped at the pharmacy to drop off the prescribtion for the new anti-biotics. When we got to the zoo we could see everyone waiting for us inside. Brian and I paid to get in and joined them. "How did everything go?" Alex asked as we started walking. "Just an allergic reaction to some medicine I was on." "That's good to hear," Nick said. Erika looked at him. "What?" "That's good to hear?" "Well it's better that what you said it might happen." Erika elbowed Nick and smiled at me. "OW!" "Can't you keep your mouth shut?" "Sorry," he said putting his arm around her. I was still limping.
"Does your foot still hurt?" Brian asked.
"Yeah," I answered.
"Here get on my back," he said squatting down in front of me. I
climbed on his back and he continued to walk.
"If I get heavy just put me down. It's alright." We kept walking,
when we got to the center of the zoo we split up into couples. AJ
went by himself to check out the "scenery". Brian and I headed to the
monkey house.
"Are you hungry?" he asked as he walked into the building with me on
his back still.
"Starving."
"Cool, so am I. Let's see what they have to eat."
"You can put me down now. I can walk a little bit."
"Ok." He squatted so I could climb down off his back. He grabbed my
hand and the two of us headed to the snack shop for some lunch.
"How's life in The Burgh?" Howie asked Alex. They were sitting on
some benches in front of the lions.
"Alright," she laughed. "How's touring been?" she asked.
"Busy and lonely," he said looking at her.
"Oh sweetheart." She kissed him. "Well it won't be lonely anymore.
Alex's here!" They laughed.
"Is it just me or did it get chilly?" Erika asked Nick as they walked
around the lake.
"Here," Nick said taking off his sweatshirt and handing it to her.
"Thanks," she said pulling it over her head. She put her head on
Nick's shoulder and the couple continued to walk around the lake.
Kevin and Devon headed to the snack cart.
"Two cokes and a popcorn please," Kevin told the man at the cart. He
handed Kevin the food. "Thanks." He handed Devon her soda. "Wanna
go sit down?"
"Sure," she said taking a sip of her soda. They walked over to some
benches and sat down.
"So what are you going to do about school? Now that you are traveling
with us I mean." She swallowed her soda.
"The university is letting me complete the courses I'm enrolled in
right now from the books. After that I don't know." Kevin nodded his
head.
AJ sat down on a bench and took a sip of his ICEE. He just
watched the people walk by. He looked down the line of benches and
saw a girl sitting by herself. She sighed and took a sip of her soda.
AJ stood up and walked towards her.
"Hi, anyone sitting here?" he asked her. She looked at him.
"Not that I know of."
"Mind if I do?"
"Sure." She moved down a bit so he could sit down.
"My name is AJ," he said outreaching his hand to her.
"Angie," she said taking his hand and shaking it.
"Where you from?"
"Cincinnati, I'm visiting some family for the summer."
"Then why are you sitting here by yourself?"
"Cause my cousin would rather be with Roger than to spend time with
me. Where are you from AJ and why are you by yourself?"
"Orlando, and because my four groupmates wanted some quiet time with
their significant others."
"Oh," she said. She looked at him. "Groupmates?"
"Yeah, I'm in a singing group."
"Really? That's cool. What's the name?"
"Yeah, the Backstreet Boys." Angie dropped her soda. AJ laughed.
"Guess you know the name. Just PLEASE don't scream."
"You're, you're, you're, you're AJ McLean," she said in a whisper.
"In the flesh!"
"Oh my God! I can't believe I didn't recognize you."
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry. I'm probaby one of your biggest fans and I didn't even
realize it was you."
"Man, these baseball hats and sunglasses really do work." Angie
laughed.
Brian came over to the table with our food. He sat down and
began eating.
"I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo," I said.
"Me neither. We did a safari thing over in Australia and we can see
strange animals here and there but that's about it." I laughed and
ate some fries. "So is this your first broken bone?"
"Unfortunately." He laughed. "For 22 years I go unbroken. Then I
get my dream job and BAM!"
"Don't you love bad luck?" he snickered. I threw a fry at him.
"Oh shush you. Have you ever broken a bone?"
"Nope, just some bumps, bruises and surgeries."
Alex and Howie had
started walking. They had made their way to the lions and stood
watching them.
"I'm really glad you could come tour with us like this," Howie said
holding her hand.
"Me too," Alex said looking at him. He smiled and leaned towards her
kissing her gently.
"What's wrong?" Nick asked Erika.
"Just thinking about Julie," she answered him. She crossed her arms
hugging herself. Nick stopped and turned her to face him. Tears were
rolling down her cheeks. "She was so young," she finally managed to
say.
"Shh," he said softly wrapping his arms around her.
"Wanna feed some sheep?" Kevin asked Devon as they entered the
children's zoo.
"Sure." Kevin bought some food and they entered the pen with the
sheep in it. They started feeding some sheep. "Kev, watch out!"
Devon called to him. But her warning was too late. The sheep ran
towards Kevin and knocked him off balance into the water trough.
Devon started laughing. She ran over to him. "Are you alright?" she
asked through giggles.
"Can you help me up?" he asked sticking his had in the air. Devon
took hold and went to pull him out. Kevin pulled her harder and Devon
landed in the water trough. "Might as well be wet together," Kevin
said with a chuckle.
"So what brings AJ McLean to the zoo?"
"Ya know, I was asking myself the same question. But now that I've
met you. I guess it's good that I came." Angie looked at AJ. He was
smiling. She looked back at the ground and shuffled her feet
uncomfortably. "Wanna go walk around?"
"Sure."
"Might as well look around while we're here." They got off the bench
and started towards the kangaroos. AJ took Angie's hand in his.
Angie looked at him and smiled.
"Alright you are too quiet. What are you thinking about?" Brian asked
eating some french fries.
"What would you say if I told you I was thinking about getting a
tattoo?" Brian practically choked on his food.
"A tattoo?!?!?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"What brought this about?"
"Nothing, I've actually been thinking about it for a long time. I
just don't know what to get."
"I thought you didn't like needles," Brian siad as we threw our
garbage away.
"I don't but I wouldn't get something huge. Just something small
maybe on my ankle or something." Brian nodded and smirked as we
walked through the monkey house. "Will you stop." I said pushing him.
"What did I say?" he asked laughing.
"Are you alright?" Nick asked Erika.
"Yeah," she sniffled. She rubbed her sleeve under her nose.
"You can keep the sweatshirt now," Nick said laughing.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Here, try these," Nick said handing her a tissue.
"Thanks." She blew her nose.
"Feel better?"
"Much." She leaned forward to give him a quick kiss. As she pulled
away he pulled her back. She looked at him and slowly moved her face
towards his. They began to kiss slowly at first and grow with passion.
"Mommy, are they going to be stuck like that?" a child who was passing
by asked his mom pointing at Nick and Erika.
"Josh, don't stare. Now come along."
"Mom, that guys looks familiar," the woman's daughter remarked.
"Come along," she said pulling her children along. Nick and Erika
finally broke from their kiss.
"Wow," Erika said softly.
"What?"
"That was awesome." Nick laughed and hugged her.
We all met at the main entrance to the zoo. We started out of the zoo and found John waiting in the van for us. We were chatting happily when my pager went off. "Does anyone have their cell with them?" I asked looking at the pager. "Here," Nick said handing me his phone. I took his phone and sunk back into my seat. Brian leaned over. "Who is it?" he asked as I put the phone to my ear. I put my hand up. The phone rang twice when a man answered the phone. "Hey Studmuffin." Brian turned to Nick. "Studmuffin?" Nick shrugged his shoulders and pulled his headphones back on and put his arm around Erika. The four of us were crammed into the back bench of the van. "I'll see you in a bit. Ok. Love ya, bye." I hung up the phone. I tapped Nick on the arm and handed him the phone back. "Who was that?" Brian asked. I could sense a touch of jealousy in his voice. "A friend," I said with a grin. "Don't worry you'll meet him in a few minutes. He's in Pittsburgh for a show and he's staying in the same hotel." Brian just looked at me. I kissed him gently. "You're the only one for me," I whispered to him. He smiled. We arrived at the hotel and we entered the lobby.
"Munchkin!" came a voice from across the lobby. "Studmuffin!" I said running towards a man. I hugged him and he kissed me on the cheek. I turned to the group. "Guys I would like you to meet," I started but Erika cut me off. "Elvis Stojko!" she said excitedly. Elvis and I laughed. "Someone knows me," Elvis said with a laugh. "Elvis this is Brian, Nick, Erika, Howie, Alex, Kevin and AJ." "It's nice to meet you all." "So what are you doing tonight?" "I have a show tonight, in town. Hey, would you all like to come? I'm sure I can squeeze some tickets out of Uschi for you." I looked at the others. Erika had this gaping mouth look and everyone else was just nodding. "I can see Erika likes the idea," Elvis said laughing. Erika blushed. "Is Illya going to be there?" she asked eagerly. Nick gave a glare at the sound of Illya's name. "I'm pretty sure he is." Erika smiled from ear to ear and Nick rolled his eyes. "Well I have to go. See you all tonight. Later Munchkin." "Bye Studmuffin," I called to him as we left to go to the elevator.
We got on the elevator and everyone just stared at me. "What?" "You know Elvis Stojko and you didn't tell us," said Erika. "I thought I told yall that I had met him before we became friends. Why?" "Janice, that was Elvis Stojko, THEE Elvis Stojko," said Devon. "Yeah and?" "He won the silver medal in the Olympics," said Alex. "I still don't see what the big deal is," I replied getting off the elevator, we headed to our rooms.
Brian and I entered ours. Brian plopped on the bed with the remote. "You ok?" I asked. He flipped the TV on and ignored my question. "Brian?" He continued to ignore me. I sat down next to him. I pulled the remote out of his hands. "Will you stop and tell me what's wrong?" He looked at me. "Did you and Elvis, ever ya know..." "Ever what?" "You know." "No, I don't know." "Did you ever date?" I got off the bed and looked at him. "Why?" "I don't know," he said quietly. "Brian, Elvis and I are just close friends if that's what you want to know. Yes, I had feelings for Elvis but now those feelings have changed. I love Elvis," Brian looked at me curiously. "But only in a brotherly way. Ok?" He nodded his head slowly. "I'm sorry," he said. "I should never of questioned you on this." "I would rather you question me than to go on thinking wrong thoughts. But you also have got to trust me." "I do trust you." "We'll talk about this later. I need to take a shower. Do me a favor and call the pharmacy to see if my medicine is ready. If it is have John go pick it up." "Anything else?" "Yeah, if Denise calls tell her the paper work is done and we are running AOK." He laughed as I entered the bathroom. I turned on the shower and got in.
AJ was sitting on his bed flipping through his magazine when the phone rang. He looked at the phone for a second wondering who was calling him. He picked it up and slowly placed it to his ear. "Hello?" "Is AJ there?" "This is him." "AJ, it's Angie." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Hi Angie. How are you?" He sat back on the bed and took off his sunglasses. "Not too good." "Why is that?" "I just found out that I have to fly home. My parents want me home cause they have a surprise for me." "That's ok. I have to leave here in two days anyway." "I guess so. Hey do you have email?" AJ smiled. "Yeah, I do. Do you want the address?" "Please?"
"Anything good on?" Devon asked Kevin coming out of the bathroom drying her hair. "MTV is running a program on boy bands but other than that. Not a thing is on. Hey, here is a commmercial for that skating show we are going to tonight," he said flipping open the newspaper. Devon sat down next to him to read the article. "Cool. I still can't believe that Janice knew Elvis and didn't tell us." "Maybe she didn't feel the need to," Kevin said looking at her. "Maybe," she said shrugging her shoulders.
"Are you done in there?" Alex yelled through the bathroom door. "Give me a minute," Howie yelled back. Alex sighed and put her back against the wall, tapping her foot impatiently. Checking her watch every so often. "Howie!" "I'm coming." Ten minutes later the door finally opened. "Can you go any slower?" she said to him ruffling up his hair a bit. "Alex!" he said shutting the door again. "Ugh!" she screamed falling back on the bed. "Ya know it takes you an hour to put on sweatpants," she said still laying on the bed with her hand on her eyes.
Nick was sitting at the desk doodling on some paper and Erika was laying on the bed watching some television. She shut off the television and walked over to Nick and put her arms around his neck to see what he was drawing. He was sketching a hideous looking monster. "Whatcha drawing?" she asked. "Just a new charachter." "What's his name?" "Illya." Erika pulled away from him. "Are you still mad at him?" she asked. "No," Nick replied going back to his drawing. "Then why won't you look at me when you say that?" Nick continued to draw as if he didn't hear her. She plopped on the bed. "Nick, quit acting like a brat. Illya and I were just friends that's all." Nick continued to stare at his drawing, fiddling the pencil in between his fingers. He said something but Erika couldn't make it out. "What?" she asked looking at him. He turned to look at her. "I was jealous......that's all." He looked at the floor. Erika got up and walked over towards him, squatting down in front of him. "You didn't have me then, but you must certainly have me now." She placed her hands on his knees and looked him in the face. "Nick, I love you and I would never do anything to hurt you." He brushed his hand against her cheek, pushing her hair out of her face and she smiled at him. He smiled back and leaned down to gently kiss her. He pulled back. "I love you, too," he whispered to her. She smiled and hugged him.
I finished blow-drying my hair, threw some light make-up on and squirted some body spray on. I opened the bathroom door and entered the room and packed my things back in the suitcase. Brian was sitting on the bed watching TV. He changed the channel when I heard me name and I froze.