Kayla was sitting on a hotel bed, her head resting on AJs shoulder. She was exhausted. It was one o'clock in the morning and Kayla had just finished her first show about two and a half hours ago. After the show all everybody had decided to gather in Kevin's room, since his was the biggest. They had all ben partying for the last couple of hours, reliving the highlights of the show. Kayla must have started to drift off to sleep, because she felt AJ slightly nudging her. "Baby, you want me to take you to your room?" She looked into his eyes, determined to make herself stay awake. Since there was no show the following day, she didnt want to be the first one who went to sleep. They would never let her live it down, she thought with a smile. "Naw, It's alright. I was just thinking about tonight."
Kayla had not believed how much work went into putting on one two and a half hour show. Her day had started at around ten o'clock. Fatima had scheduled early practices for the first few shows of the tour. She said it would give them a chance to work out all the loose ends in the routines.
As soon as the practices were over, they began what was called a technical run-through with the whole group. What a technical run-through is is basically going through the complete show, with the boys, the band and the dancers. It was when the boys tested their mics and the band sound checked their instruments. Kayla learned that this was going to be done before every show. As she ran through a couple of the routines on the stage, she felt herself slip up more than once. The butterflies in her stomach that had been with her when she woke up were back again, only multiplied.
After the run-through was over, the atmosphere relaxed slightly. Management had given the everybody about three hours to themselves to do what they wanted, as long as they were where they were supposed to be in time for the show. Taking advantage of the time to herself, Kayla searched the arena for AJ. She couldnt find him and saw Howie. She went over and asked him if he had seen AJ, and he told her to check the Boys bus. She ran to the buses and found him inside the boys bus. He looked up at her as she approached.
"Hey baby! How you holdin up?" He asked her as she flopped down next to him. He smiled and put his arm around her shoulder. "Im doing alright, considering that Im so nervous that I could puke." Kayla laughed as he mockingly pushed her away. "Puke over there. Thats Nicks bunk." "AJ, thats so mean!" She teased him and watched as he got a devilish grin on his face. "Oh, Im mean, am I? Come here and I'll show you mean!" He pulled her close to him and kissed her, softly at first. Kayla felt his kisses getting stronger and stronger. She looked deep into his brown eyes and felt herself getting lost in them.
She didnt know how long they had been kissing when she heard somebody clearing their throat. She looked up and was embarrassed to see Brian standing in the doorway of the bus, a shocked look on his face. "Hey Bri!! Whats up?" She asked, trying her best to regain her composure. She dared a small peek at AJ and the two of them broke out in a fit of laughter. Brian rolled his eyes and simply said, "I was coming to tell you guys that lunch was here, but i can see that you are in a world of you own." He laughed and walked off the bus. Kayla and AJ looked at each other and said at the exact same time, "Did he say food?" Their romantic moment was lost as they raced each other off of the bus and towards the cafeteria.
Sitting in the chair, getting her makeup done, Kayla remembered what the Boys had told her during lunch. She had expressed her nervousness to them. They told her that it was alright to be nervous, they shared that they often were before a show, but its not good to let the nervousness consume you. It made sense to her, but she still wished the little butterflies would leave her alone. Nick had told her to just have as much fun as she could, and Brian said that it wouldnt be too hard. Kevin told her to stay as focused as she could and Howie told her to concentrate and just let things flow. She looked at AJ, who told her "If anything happens, just smile and turn it into something crazy. Thats what I always do!" He proudly stated, ignoring the growns from his bandmates. "We know, Bone, we know!"
As Jessie, her make up artist was putting the finishing touches on her makeup, kayla thought about the cameraderie that the Boys shared. They really are alot like brothers, she thought. "Well, Ms. Davis, you are all set. Show time is in twenty minutes." Upon hearing this, Kaylas nerves returned. She got up and walked towards the dancers dressing room. She stopped and looked at herself in the mirror, not believing what she saw.
Her costume for the first few songs was a tight fitting black and silver halter top and a super short black skirt. her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and teased until it was frizzy. She couldnt believe that she actually agreed to have her hair like that, but had to admit it looked pretty good. The biggest shock of all to Kayla was her makeup. She was wearing more than she had ever worn before and looking in the mirror, was suprised that the person staring back at her was indeed her. Silver eyeshadow framed her eyes, along with dark black mascara and a shimmery eyeliner. Jessie had applied foundation and all of the makeup she needed for the harsh stage lights. The last thing Kayla noticed were her lips, which sported a metallic blue color on them.
"Hey babe, you ready to do this?" Kayla turned and felt her jaw drop. She stared at AJ in amazement. He looks so damn good, she thought. He was in his opening costume, which for AJ, consisted of a pair of very baggy metallic silver pants and a black "wifebeater" shirt. His headset microphone was hanging around his neck and he wore his killer grin.
"My God, baby, you look awesome." She felt heat rising in her cheeks as she realised that she was still staring at him. She managed to tear her eyes away from him for a second, looking towards the stage, then back at him. "I...I'm so nervous. What if i screw up?" "Aww...," AJ pulled her into a hug and did his best to ease her nerves, "You are going to be awesome. Tima has faith in you, The guys have faith in you," He paused and looked directly ino her eyes, "And believe me baby, I have faith in you. I know you can do it." Kayla let him hold her for a few minutes, until one of the guys from management came walking towards them, looking frantic. "AJ! Kayla! There you are! Kayla you need to be in your place, NOW! AJ get yourself ready and where you are supposed to be!! LETS GO PEOPLE! Its time!!!"
As the two of them hurried to join the rest of the group, Kayla spotted Chel standing next to Nick. Chel motioned for her to go over to her, and she did. Her friend gave her a huge hug. "OMIGOD! Kay, you look so cool! I'll be watching you from the front! Have fun and break a....." Kayla gave her a warning look, "Dont say that! Its bad luck." She saw Chel roll her eyes, then felt AJ grab her hand. Surprised, she looked up and saw that Kevin had started the pre-show prayer.
"Dear Lord, watch over everyone tonight. We thank you for everything that you have done for us and given to us. Give us the strength and good health to get through this and every show that we have. Together, we will continue to grow. Again, bless our voices and bodies, we are thankful to you. Amen." there was a chorus of "Amens" throughout the group of people.
Kayla noticed that everybody was there, huddled in the group, the Boys, the band, the dancers, and management, family and friends. For just the five guys, she thought, it was such a huge group of people. One of the managers shouted, "Backstreet, what time is it?" A few seconds later, she heard the answer, "Its time for me to go to work Y'all" "What kind of work?" She looked at AJ, who squeezed her hand reassuringly, as he yelled, "HARD WORK!!!!" He quickly gave her a kiss as she ran to take her place right off stage. She heard him yell to her, "I love you!" She turned and mouthed back, Love you too.
Standing right off stage, Kayla waited for the opening beat of the song. Her stomach was in knots and she tried telling herself that this was just like rehearsel. Yeah, but with an extra 50,000 people, she thought sarcastically. She could hear the screams of the fans and laughed to herself as she heard one girl yell out AJ's name. As she tried to block the image of all of the people out of her mind, the song started. This is it, she thought to herself as she felt herself get completely lost in the song.
Back in the hotel room, Kayla was still thinking about the show. She had felt the biggest high of her life, dancing in front of all of those people. Her nerves had subsided as soon as she began dancing, when she had realized that she had nothing to worry about. The show had gone pretty much flawless. Kayla had felt herself miss a couple of steps, but she just smiled and kept going, not yet comfortable enough to, "get crazy" as AJ had instructed her. She also knew it would take time to get used to dancing around all of the stuffed animals and various things thrown onstage.
Under instruction from their management, the boys maintained a strictly professional relationship with the dancers on stage. That didnt mean that the dancers were free of jokes though. Kayla laughed when she thought of how Brian had pretended to forget her name when he introduced her. he had said, "And our fifth and final new dancing pro is......UM.....Wait, i know her name starts with a "K"" Kayla was glaring at him, jokingly and saw that he was grinning from ear to ear. "Naw, Im just playing. This beautiful and talented young lady is Ms. Kayla Davis!! Everybody show her some love!!" He held his hands up over his head and clapped. "Give another big round of applause for all of our new dancers!" He told the crowd as kayla picked up a stuffed basketball that had landed by her feet and threw it at him. "Dork!!" She yelled as Brian turned and laughed.
At that moment, Kayla looked out towards the crowd and noticed Chel waving frantically at her. She laughed and waved back, mouthing the words, this is so awesome!!!! A little over a half an hour later, the show had ended and Kayla was taking her bow with the other dancers. As she stood back up, she looked out over the crowd and knew this was exactly where she wanted to be.
Kayla was still thinking about the nights events as she felt AJ lift her up. She lifted her head off of his shoulder and saw that he was carrying her back to her room. "AJ, you didnt have to....I was awake." She told him as she let out a yawn. She smiled, then told him, "Well, I guess I am just a little tired. Tonight was just so incredible. There was such a rush being up there. I cant believe......" She paused to yawn again and AJ looked down at her and smiled, knowing exactly how she felt. "I know baby. Im so proud of you. You didnt know it but i was watching you, you were awesome." Kayla listened, as she felt his eyelids getting even heavier. She yawned a third time and laid her head back on Ajs shoulder.
When they reached Kayla and Chel's room, Aj laid Kayla on her bed and sat down next to her in the chair. He watched her sleep, not wanting to leave her by herself, until Chel got back to the room. When she did come in, he pointed to Kayla and said, "Shes out like a light." He got up and leaned over her. She had turned towards the window, so her back was to AJ. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I love you Kayla." He whispered to her. He laughed when he heard her reply. "Hmph mmph." He looked at Chel who was trying to stifle a laugh. Still chuckling, AJ walked down the hall, feeling like the luckiest man in the world.
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