"You two make me miss Alex," Howie sighed. "Why don't you bring her with us when we see her next," I suggested to him. He looked at me. "Do you think she would go for something like that?" he asked. "Let's see, we go clubbing every chance we get and Alex loves a good party, do you think she'll have fun?" I asked looking at him. He laughed. "Yeah, I guess you are right. Maybe I'll ask her when I talk to her next." I looked to the front of the bus and saw Erika sitting up there by herself. "I'm going to go talk to Erika," I told Brian. "Ok." As I got up I kissed him on the cheek and then walked to the front of the bus.
"Is this section of the floor taken?" I asked pointing to the floor. She looked up at me. "No," she said flatly. I sat down next to her. "Wanna talk?" I asked her. She just stared out the window. She took a sip of her drink and put the lid back on and sat it on the floor next to her. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. She sighed. "I don't know what I should do," she finally said staring out the window. "I don't know if I can ever trust him again." "It took alot from him to tell you the truth. Maybe now he's realizing his true feelings for you. Erika, he's just realizing he loves you." "Yeah, well, I love him, but I think I need some time to think," said looking at me. "Well, I'm going back, if you need to talk you know where I am," I said with a smile. "Thanks," she said softly. I went back and sat next to Brian. "How is she?" he asked gesturing towards Erika. "She's ok, but she wants sometime to think. So we have to find a way to keep them seperated until this clears." "Erika can stay with me if she wants to," Howie said. "Thanks Howie, I'll ask her." I looked over at Nick who was still eating his cereal at the table. "How's he?" I asked Brian pointing at Nick. "I dunno, haven't talked to him since earlier this morning," Brian said looking at him.
I got up and walked over to Nick. "Hey," I said sitting down across from him. He looked at me. "Hi," he said quietly putting another spoonful of Wheaties in his mouth. "You ok?" "Fine," he sighed. He looked over his shoulder at Erika and Brian. "I really screwed up this time didn't I? I mean Brian's mad at me and Erika's mad at me." "Just a little," I said. "I can't do anything right," he said dropping the spoon into the bowl and putting his head in his hands. "Don't say that. Just give her some time to think. She'll be fine in a few days." "I hope so," he said softly. I got up and as I walked back to Brian, I put my hand on his shoulder. I sat next to Brian. "How is he?" he asked. "Upset at himself. He thinks you are mad at him," I said looking at Brian. He looked at the floor. I slide my hand into his. "It's alright. He'll be fine." He looked at me and smiled. I leaned my head against his. He sighed. I looked over at Howie, who was just sitting there watching us. "I miss Alex," he said. "Will you please call her and talk to her," I said throwing my cell phone at him. He caught the cell phone and laughed.
"Fine, I'll call her," he said opening the phone and turning it on. He dialed the number and started to talk to Alex. AJ and Kevin finally appeared from their beds and grabbed some breakfast and joined us. Howie got up and went to the back of the bus to talk to Alex. "Hey, that's my phone bill you're running up bucko!" I yelled as he went to the back. "You should see his phone bill at the end of the month. I think it reaches well into the $300 range," said AJ. "Howie, you have an hour and then you're done!" I yelled. They all laughed at me. "Lost cause?" I asked looking at them. "Yup," said Brian. "Ugh!" I said burying my face in Brian's shoulder. They were still laughing at me when AJ's cell phone went off and he grabbed it. "Hello? Sure, hang on she's right here." He handed me the phone. "It's my mom." I took the phone. "Hello?" I said into the phone. "Janice, we set up a doctor's appointment for when we get to Hartford. Just because the Atlanta doctor wants to watch to see that your bone is healing properly. Ok?" "Ok." "Alright, I'll see you when we stop I just wanted to let you know." "Ok, bye." I hung up the phone and handed it back to AJ. "Where is your mom?" I asked him. "She travels on the band bus," he answered putting the phone away. "Oh, no wonder. I knew I heard fighting in the background." "Tommy and Obie," moaned Kevin. We laughed.
We talked about nothing till we pulled into the hotel at Hartford. We unloaded our luggage and went to our rooms. We had the night free and we decided to clubbing. "Are you sure you don't want to go?" I asked Erika over the phone. "Yeah, I just want to chill here. I've been tired lately." "Ok," I sighed. "See ya." I hung up the phone and Brian came out of the shower. "Who was that?" he asked pulling on a shirt. "Erika, she doesn't want to go clubbing tonight." "Oh." I sighed and started to get ready. I pulled out a sundress and started to change into it. "Bri, can you tie the back of this for me?" It had strings in the back that criscrossed and tied at the bottom. He walked over and tied it for me. He put his arms around my waist and put his head on my shoulder. "You look great," he said kissing my neck. I turned to face him. I wrapped his arms around him and kissed him. He brushed the hair out of my face and smiled. We finished getting ready and went down to the lobby to wait for everyone. AJ, Howie and Nick were in the lobby sitting when we came over. Nick looked at us. "Erika, isn't coming is she?" he asked. I looked at him and shook my head. He sighed. "Nick, just give her some time, she'll come around," said Howie trying to comfort him. Kevin finally came down and joined us in the lobby. "And what's your excuse for being late?" Brian laughed. "Devon called," he said looking at us. "Aww," we all cooed. "Ah, be quiet," he said back at us. "Hey, now you know what you put me and Brian through," I laughed.
We all head to the van and climbed in. We all chatted about nothing on the way to the club. We pulled up and got out of the van. As we were walking in AJ stopped dead in his tracks and I walked right into him. "AJ what are you doing? It's called walking, you put one foot in front of the other," I said laughing. He was totally zoned out. "Yoooohooooo, AJ," I said waving my hand in front of his face. "Come back to Earth." He shook his head and looked at me. "I just saw the most beautiful girl in the whole world," he said with a lovey dovey look in his eyes. I looked at him and rolled my eyes and pushed him to the door. Brian helped me laughing along the way. We finally got in and were having a good time. AJ came over towards us. "There she is," he whispered to us. "There who is?" asked Howie following AJ's stares. But before he could answer AJ was off across the dance floor. "Hi," he said to her. "Hi," she replied back to him. "What's your name?" he asked. "Nicole." "Hi Nicole, I'm AJ." "I know." "Mind if I dance with you?" "Nope," she said with a smile. "Bone's laying on the charm big time," said Howie with a laugh as we watched AJ flirt like an idiot with the girl.
"AJ, let's go we have to leave," Kevin yelled over to him. AJ was still with Nicole. Before he left he kissed her on the cheek and joined us. We walked out to the van and climbed in. AJ sighed happily. "Get her number?" Brian asked on the way back. AJ slapped his forehead. "I never asked her for her number," he groaned. We all laughed. "I'll never talk to her again." We just rode in silence the rest of the way to the hotel. When we got back we all went to our rooms. "Bri, can you untie this for me?" I asked. "Sure." "Thanks," I said as he untied my dress. I was standing in front of the mirror and saw Brian staring at me. "What?" I asked laughing. "Nothing," he said putting his arms around me. "Just realizing how lucky I am to have you." He kissed my neck lightly. "What's that suppose to mean?" I turned to face him still in his arms. "I mean fate kind of brought us together. What if Erika never won that radio contest? What if you never came to that club that night? What if..." I placed my finger in front of his lips. He looked at me and smiled. I took my finger away and kissed him lightly. "No what ifs," I whispered. He looked at me and smiled again. I finished changing and we went to bed.
The next morning I woke up. It was still early so I climbed out of bed and got a shower. After I was dressed I pulled my CD player and my notebook out and just sat in the chair listening to some music and writing. I was so consumed in the music and what I was writing that I didn't realize that Brian was standing behind me till he put his hands on my shoulders. "Holy crap!" I yelled falling off the chair. I hit the floor with a thud. My foot was still on the chair that I had propped it on and I was sitting on the floor. Brian started laughing. "Did I scare you?" he asked helping me up. "Just a little," I said with a laugh. "You weren't reading what I was writing were you?" I said shutting my notebook. "I only read a little of it. Why?" he asked. "Nothing, I just don't like sharing my work till it's done, that's all." I put the notebook in my bag and zipped it up. While I was putting my notebook away, Brian looked through my CD collection. "Now this is what I call a collection. You have everything rock, pop, rap, R&B, jazz, classical, anything and everything," he said flipping through the pages of my CD book. "Someone is organized," he laughed. "Someone doesn't have younger siblings. I keep them in alphabetical order that way I know if my sister borrowed one without asking. Once she borrowed my Matchbox 20 CD. She denied she had it and I found it in her Hanson case." He laughed and continued to flip through my CDs. "I have ten of your CDs," I said flipping to the pages which held their CDs. I pulled the CD booklet out and opened it. I stared at the cover. "You look so young in this picture. And Kevin's hair." He took the booklet and looked at it. He just stared at it.
I could sense that a ton of memories came back from the picture. "I remember the shoot we did for those pictures. I don't remember where it was or even who took the pictures. Our music just started coming around, here in the States. We were so excited that we were finally coming home. Three years of Thanksgivings in hotel rooms were in the past," he spoke with tears in his eyes. "But all those years of hard work and sacrafice." I looked around our well off hotel room. Which was larger than normal rooms, along with all the added freebies from local companies. "Look where it has gotten you. You tour around the world, millions of fans world-wide, killer good looks, and a voice to die for," I finished with a smile. He smiled and laughed. "You definately are my #1 fan, " he said with a laugh. "Nah, #2." He looked at me curiously. "Your mom will always be your #1 fan." He smiled and nodded his head in agreeance. He looked at his watch. "We better get a move on we have to beon the bus soon," he said getting up. We packed up our bags and carried all our luggage down to the bus. We loaded up and headed to the arena.
We pulled into the arena and grabbed our stuff and headed inside. The guys went to reheasrse a bit. So Erika and I went for a walk around the arena. "So how are you?" I asked as we walked down the hallway of the arena. We moved out of the way for a golfcart to pass. "I'm fine," she sighed. "Anything you want to talk about?" "Nope, not really," she said shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. I stopped and turned towards her. "Erika, he is a total mess about everything. I really think you need to talk to him." "When I'm ready to talk to him I'll let him know. So just butt out, ok?" She stormed off down the hallway. "Erika." It was too late she was gone.
I looked at my watch and sighed. I had to go back because I was leaving for my doctor's appointment soon. I went back to the stage door and waited for Denise. She wanted to go with me to make sure of somethings. I also wanted her to come with me, she was like my mom on the tour and she just made me feel more comfortable. Denise came over towards me and we headed out to the van. We climbed in and John took us to the doctor's office. We went in, Denise walked over to the receptionist desk and told her who she was. I sat down in the waiting room. There was a girl about my age sitting there. She looked extremely pale. The nurse came out and took her back. Her mom was still sitting there. She stared at me. "I'm sorry," she said suddenly. "But you look awfully familiar." I smiled. "Do you know the Backstreet Boys?" I asked. "You mean what don't I know," she laughed. "Since Julie got sick and can't go to school. It's all I hear day in and day out."
Denise came over and sat down next to me. "Oh, I'm Janice," I said outreaching my hand. "Lori," she said taking my hand and shaking it. "Is that your mom?" she asked referring to Denise. Denise laughed. "No, but she is almost like a daughter to me. I'm Denise." "Lori, was telling me that Julie is a fan," I said to Denise. "You probably know me because I've been on MTV alot lately. I'm Brian's girlfriend." "Now that you mention it, I remember her saying something about one of their girlfriends getting hurt after a concert." "Who is her favorite?" I asked. "The one with the wild hair, tattoos and the sunglasses. His name slips my mind right now." Denise laughed. "That would be my son, AJ." Lori laughed. "If you don't mind me asking, what is wrong with Julie?" "Cancer," sighed Lori. "She's been battling it for awhile and we end up here alot because of the chemo she gets sick easily." "Oh," I said looking at the floor. I turned to Denise. "Don't we have some tickets or something we can give her?" I whispered. "I know something even better," she said to me. She turned to Lori. "What would you say if I invited Julie to hang out with the guys for the rest of the day?" Lori's eyes lite up. "Really? She would love that. The concert sold out before we could get tickets." "This will be better than any concert," I said with a smile.
The nurse came out and took me back. They did some tests and asked me how I was feeling. They gave me some more pain killers and I went back out to the waiting room. Julie and her mom were still sitting there. I walked over towards them. "Hi, I'm Janice, you must be Julie," I said outreaching my hand. "Hi," she said shyly. "Julie, Denise and Janice wanted to know if you wanted to spend the day with them," said Lori. I looked at Denise. "Surprise," she mouthed. I nodded. "Sure, not many kids my age want to hang out with me." I walked over to her and grabbed her hand. "Come on, let's go wait in the van," I said as we walked out the door. We climbed in the van. "Julie this is John. John, Julie. She's going to hang out with us today." "Nice to meet you," he said. We sat down on the front bench. "This sure is a big van," said Julie looking towards the back. "It holds all of us," I said. "You're going to meet seven of my friends later." "Cool."
We kept talking till Denise came back. As we were driving I put a blindfold on Julie so she didn't know where we were going. We pulled up the arena and I helped Julie out of the van and to the stage door. Denise had gone ahead and called the guys from the doctor's office to tell them what was going on. I lead Julie into the guy's dressing room and sat her down on the couch next to AJ. "Ok, you can take the blindfold off," I said to her as I sat on Brian's lap. She pulled off the blindfold and looked at AJ. Her mouth dropped and she looked around the room at the other four guys. "Oh my gosh," she said softly. "That's why you look so familiar. You're B-Rok's girlfriend." "The one and only," Brian said with a smile. "Julie, I would like you to meet my friends. Howie, Kevin, Nick, Brian, AJ and Erika. Oh and Denise is AJ's mom." "I love my mommy," he said in a goofy voice. We all laughed.
"Well Julie, we have to warm up for the concert tonight. Since you are our guest what would you like us to sing?" asked Howie with a warm smile. "Y'all never let me pick your warm-up songs. Ya always kick me out of the room," I said with a fake hurt look. "When I toured with them the first time they let me pick the warm-up songs," said Erika. I looked at Brian. "Don't give me those eyes," he said laughing. The others joined in. "Anyway, ignore Janke." I punched him. "Ow!" he said rubbing his shoulder. "That'll teach ya," I said with a smile. Everyone laughed. Finally Julie choose a song, Like A Child and the guys sang it for her. This went on for about twnety minutes then we went out on the stage. The guys showed her the behind the scenes stuff. What it looked like under the stage and they even showed her how the trap doors worked. Nick demonstrated. "Make sure your pant legs aren't hanging," laughed Howie. Nick glared at him and we laughed. Kevin told Julie the story od when his pant leg got caught and he fell over. "You guys aren't funny," Nick whined coming down the stairs. We all laughed.
I looked around for Erika and realized she was on the other side of the stage sitting on some boxes. "I'll be right back," I whispered to Brian. He looked where I was heading and nodded. "Hi," I said sitting down on a box near her. She looked at me and weakly smiled and looked back off at the group. They slowly made their way backstage. "Do you wanna talk or just sit here?" I asked looking at the floor. "I want him back so bad. But I don't know if I can ever trust him again." I looked over at her, she had tears streaming down her face. "I'm going to make sure they aren't tortouring Julie. I'll see ya later?" She looked at me and nodded her head.
I followed where the guys had went backstage and found them sitting around a table just talking. I sat down next to Brian and he put his arm around me. "You two look so cute together," said Julie with a smile. "Why thank you," replied Brian with a smile. I blushed and hide in the crook of Brian's arm. "Aww, look she's blushing," cooed AJ. "Shut up, AJ!" I said into Brian's arm. They all laughed. "Well gentlemen it's that time again," said Howie looking at his watch. The guys went to go to the dressing room. I followed Brian a little ways. "You be careful and don't push yourself. I don't want to be taking care of you and my foot." He laughed. "I will," he said grabbing my hands and kissing me. I walked back over to the table and sat with Julie. "So do you want to sit in the front row or do you want to watch from the wings?" I asked her. "Front row," she said eagerly. "Ok," I laughed. We got up and went over to Tim. We told him that we wanted to watch the show from the front row. He nodded and took us down to the floor. We got up against the fence. The band was already out warming up and it would only be minutes before they would begin the concert.
"So are you excited?" I yelled over the music and the screaming. She smiled and nodded with excitement. The concert started and the guys were dancing around the stage. It was the middle of the concert when the guys got to talk to the fans before they sang some accapella. They sang two songs accapella. Then they went to sing I'll Never Break Your Heart. "Before we begin, I would like to invite a very special friend of the Backstreet Boys to the stage," said Kevin walking towards us. "Julie, would you care to come up?" he asked lending his hand to her. She looked at me. "Don't look at me, go!" I said to her. She smiled and took Kevin's hand. Tim and I helped her up to the stage. They sang the song to her. She danced with each of them as they sang to her. She had this endless smile on her face. Denise was at the stairs that lead to the stage watching, Lori was standing next to her crying her eyes out but smiling as she did so. Denise looked at me and smiled. I looked back up at Julie, she was having a blast with the guys. I smile slowly crept across my face as tears of joy ran from my eyes.