"Ouch!" I yelped. Luckily, no one heard me. I sat on a big lump! I stuck my hand in my pocket and pulled out the small, beautifully wrapped box that Jeff handed to me last night. I remembered his carefully said words he said to me last night, "Promise me, Nicole. Don't open it in front of anyone and open it in the plane." I silently smiled. I started unwrapping the shiny wrapping paper, careful not to tear it. I suddenly stopped when I opened one side. I thought to myself. 'What could be so important in this tiny box? Why is he so secretive? Is it like a bug or something he wanted to pull on me? What could it be?' The curiosity almost killed me. I tore open the rest of the paper, pretty or no pretty paper. This was the first time I've ever seen Jeff so sensitive, it's pretty cool.
Inside the wrapping paper, was a velvet box. I lost my breath. It was the kind of box, that rings or jewlery was kept. 'Well, here goes,' I thought. I slowly opened the beautiful navy blue velvet box. I peered inside, and a huge smile spread across my tired and worn out face. 'Oh, Jeff.' Inside, was the most beautiful gold ring and bracelot I've ever seen. I picked up the treasures and took a closer look.
They both were real gold, I could tell. 14K at least. The bracelet was very delicate. It was a golden band and the center was a golden heart and he engraved my name "Nikki" on it. On the back of the heart, engraved was "Love Jeff". I felt tears come to my eyes. The ring was pure gold also. But it had one, very special and miraculous diamond in the center. It looked like a wedding ring. But I knew it was not a wedding or engagement. I looked in the inside of the ring, surely, he had something engraved into it. It said "Best Of Friends Forever". I tried on the ring and bracelet. Perfect fit. I couldn't hold it in any longer. The tears streamed down my blushing cheeks. I've never felt so loved or happy. Even when I won the Singathon, I never felt this happiness inside me. Jeff, the rude, gross, boyish, insensitive, cruel, impolite boy I've known so long, spent hundreds of his own money on me. If you ask me, that's the most romantic and kindest deed I ever experienced.
I was still admiring my new and wonderful gifts when I heard a muffled ring. I looked around. I leaned towards my purse for I thought I heard the ringing coming from there. Sure enough, when I opened my purse, I found a small cell phone.
"Wow!" I said, very pleased. I've always wished for a cellular phone or at least a beeper. I found the 'ON' button with no problem.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is this Nicole?" asked the voice. I was surprised. I didn't recognize this deep, but comforting, voice at the end of the phone.
"Yep! Who's this?" I heard kind of a chuckle. My eyes widened.
"Hey, this is Kevin Richardson," replied the soothing voice. "You know, from the Backstreet Boys?" I gave out sort of a gasp and laugh at the same time.
"Wow," I barely whispered. I heard some laughs in the background, and I recognize some of those laughs.
"Yeah, cool huh? You're on the plane to here, correct?"
"Yes."
"Do you know if you're close to landing?"
"Um, hold on a second." I grabbed the nearest stewardess and asked when we were landing. She told me about 45 minutes.
"About 45 minutes till landing," I said into the phone, still stunned.
"Oh, that's great! We can't wait to meet you," said Kevin happily. I was pretty confused at that time.
"Why?"
"Well, we do wanna meet the girl who won the Singathon and who's gonna be on tour with us for a month, should we not?"
"Oh, right. Sorry, my brain's not working properly right now," I laughed. Kevin laughed too.
For the next 15 minutes, we chatted over the phone. It was really a lot of fun. I couldn't believe how comfortable I was. Whenever I even thought about meeting the Backstreet Boys, I always shrieked or squealed. But I didn't do anything when I was talking to Kevin. He was really sweet and everything. I didn't get a chance to talk to any of the other guys because they wanted to see me in person and talk. But Kevin did tell me I was on speaker phone because they wanted to hear my voice. "So that's why I heard laughing," I thought to myself. He said they all thought I had a beautiful voice and could tell I could sing very well, too. I heard that the boys were sweet, but now I know it's really true. They really know how to make a girl feel good about herself. That's what made me want even more to land in New York.
"Please fasten your seat belts, we will be landing in less than five minutes," announced the PA system. I quickly packed the small velvet box into my purse and fastened my seat belt. "YES!" I thought excitedly. "I'm finally going to meet my idols, the guys I've loved for so long. And I'm not even nervous! How cool is that?" I felt the plane get pretty shaky, and I knew we were landing.