“Here, hand me the pink top on the chair,” Georgina called to Mattie as she pulled on a shoe. Mattie came out of the bathroom and long enough to toss Georgina the shirt before going back inside the bathroom. “Can you even believe we are having dinner with Mariah Carey tonight?” Georgina exclaimed excitedly as she pulled on the top. The girls were getting ready for dinner after a long day with the lads. They had sat in the audience that day for the Regis and Kathie Lee show, went for some more sightseeing while the lads were doing more interviews for several teen magazines, then had come back later for their performance and autograph signing at a Virgin Megastore. It was now only half past four but they had to get ready early as Mariah Carey’s summer estate was tucked away in the New York countryside, quite a distance from the city.

“Oh, stop saying it like that, you’re making more nervous than I already am,” Mattie said anxiously. “Have you seen that white top I bought yesterday?”

“It’s in the bag by the nightstand.”

Mattie came out of the bathroom and rooted around inside her shopping bag until she found what she was looking for. It was a sheer, summery, form fitting, long sleeved white top, with a delicate mesh. Mattie slipped it on. Under, she was wearing a thin white tank top with delicate straps that showed through the mesh of the white blouse. “How do I look?” she asked Georgina.

Georgina inspected her outfit. “It looks good, but I think you should wear a skirt instead of pants,” she said, gesturing to the pair of khaki ankle capris that Mattie was wearing. “I thought I saw a lovely skirt in your suitcase that would do very well.” She walked over to Mattie’s valise and came up with the skirt. “Here, put this on instead.”

Obediently, Mattie wriggled out of her pants and put on the skirt. It was a light, breezy skirt that reached to calf-length and flowed when she walked.

Georgina nodded approvingly. “That looks absolutely lovely. It makes your eyes look more blue.”

“Alright then.” Mattie reached down and pulled on a delicate pair of heeled gray satin sandals and stood up.

“Now, you tell me how I look,” Georgina instructed, turning around. She was also wearing a flowy, calf-length skirt, but hers was a flowered pink one as opposed to Mattie’s blue. Her top was a solid baby pink tube top.

“You look absolutely darling,” Mattie said, smiling. “Nicky’s going to fall in love all over again.” She grabbed her cardigan and handed Georgina’s sweater to her.

A knock sounded at the door. “You girls ready?” Anto called. “We’re ready to go when you are.”

“Yes, we’re all done,” Mattie called back. She and Georgina grabbed their bags and went out into the hallway, where Anto and all five lads where standing, waiting for them. When the girls stepped out into the hall, the jaws of all five boys immediately dropped. Anto smiled benevolently at Mattie and Georgina.

“Girls, you look absolutely radiant,” he said, giving them each a kiss on the cheek.

“Wowww…” was all Kian could muster as the rest of the lads stood in shock.

“We look gooood don’t we?” Mattie said, grinning cheekily.

“Beautiful,” Nicky said smiling. He took Georgina’s hand and kissed her on the cheek.

“That’s very nice and special, but we’ve got to haul out,” Anto said, checking his watch. “It’s going to take more than an hour to get there. The limo’s ready and we don’t want to keep Mariah waiting.”

Nearly two hours later, Anto, Mark, Shane, Nicky, Georgina, Kian, Mattie, and Bryan were seated around a large table in Mariah Carey’s fancy dining room waiting to be served their dinner. For the past half hour, things had been going smoothly. Mattie hadn’t started hyperventilating and hadn’t jumped on anybody, much to Mark and Anto’s relief. In fact, once she had got over her initial shock, Mattie had returned to her usual, chatty self and talked to Mariah quite normally and interestingly.

“So how long have you lived here?” Mattie asked.

Mariah contemplated. “Well, I grew up in New York, but I haven’t had this house for more than a couple of years. In fact, I just bought it when I opened my camp.”

“You camp?” Shane inquired.

Mariah nodded. “I have a camp nearby, Camp Mariah, that’s open every summer. It’s a music camp for kids from the inner city who don’t really have much of a chance to be in this sort of atmosphere. I filmed the video for “Always Be My Baby” there. It’s a really nice place, you guys should visit sometime. Maybe you could give a performance for the kids.”

“That sounds lovely,” Anto said. “We’ll have to set that up sometime.”

Just then, the door that led to the kitchen opened and the servers began to come out bearing the first course.

“Great!” Mariah said as a plate was put in front of her. “I was starving.” She waited patiently until everyone had been served. “Well, don’t be shy. Dig in!” They all dug in obediently and ate heartily. All that is, except for Bryan, who as sitting at Mariah’s right. Mariah noticed that he was only picking the vegetables on his plate and wasn’t going anywhere near the clams.

“What’s wrong, Bryan?” she asked curiously. “Don’t you like clams?”

“Well, uh –” he hesitated, not wanting to insult her.

“Oh, are you one of those people with a weak stomach?” Mariah said understandingly. “I’m like that too. If anyone even says anything remotely derogatory about my food, I can’t touch it anymore.”

“No, I haven’t got a weak stomach. Not at all,” he said honestly.

“Well, why aren’t you eating? They’re reeeally good,” she said. “I promise, I wouldn’t feed you anything that tastes bad.”

“No way,” Bryan replied, wrinkling his nose. “I am not eating one of these things.” He poked at a limp clam with his fork.

“Come on!” Mariah said smiling. “Don’t be such a wussy. I bet you’ve never tried a clam in your entire life. Just do it this once!”

Bryan shook his head. “It looks like a bowl of snot,” he joked.

Mariah’s hand froze in midair as she was bringing another clam to her mouth. She stared at her clam, then put her fork back down on her plate.

“Well, now I can’t eat that anymore,” Mariah said, folding her hands in her lap.

Bryan’s eyes widened. “Oh, no I didn’t mean to say that really, just keep on eating. I won’t say anything like that again.”

Mariah shook her head vehemently. “No. I won’t eat anything that looks like snot,” she refused.

Bryan shot a panicked look around the table. Mattie disguised a giggle as a cough into her napkin. Beside her, Mark was looking nervous, and across the table, Kian, Nicky, Georgina, and Shane were trying their best not to laugh. Anto however, was shooting Bryan a look that could have stopped an elephant in its tracks.

“No, please Mariah, go ahead and eat your dinner, I swear I won’t say anything else,” Bryan pleaded.

“Uh-uh.”

“Really, it doesn’t look like a bowl of snot, it looks like a culinary masterpiece.”

Mariah gave him a look. “I’m still not eating it. No way. I’ve lost my appetite completely.”

Bryan gave another wild look around the table. They could all tell he was thinking, “Holy crap! I’ve upset Mariah Carey!”

“Please, I don’t want to spoil your dinner,” he said desperately.

Mariah looked at him for a moment before answering. “I’ll finish eating it on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

With a mischievous grin, Mariah speared a clam with her fork, then without saying a word, brought it in front of Bryan’s face.

Bryan stared at the clam in disbelief. “Oh no. No way. No way am I going to eat that thing.”

“Eat it, Bryan,” Anto said in a warning tone.

“Are you kidding?’ Bryan shook his head vehemently. “No! Food like this can kill you in five seconds flat!” Mariah raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh, I mean, food like this…erm…shoot.”

“There’s no way out of this. No one’s leaving until this baby gets in your mouth,” Mariah said. She began to move the fork around in front of his face with airplane-like movements. Bryan pursed his lips shut and shook his head vigorously.

“Uhwuntetit,” Bryan said, refusing to open his mouth.

“What did he say?” Mariah said, looking back at the others.

“I believe that was ‘I won’t eat it’,” Kian translated.

“Oh yes you will.” With that, Mariah reached out with her free hand and squeezed Bryan’s cheeks, trying to pry his mouth open while holding the fork with the clam in front of his face with the other. Seeing Mariah Carey trying to force a clam down Bryan’s throat was too much for Mattie to handle and she immediately burst out in peals of laughter. One by one everyone else at the table followed suit, except for Anto, and Bryan, who was still trying desperately to keep his mouth shut.

After trying unsuccessfully for a few seconds to get the clam in his mouth, Mariah turned back to the other guests at the table.

“Would someone mind helping me out here?” she said in an exasperated tone. Immediately, Nicky and Mark, still laughing, went over to where Bryan was sitting. When Bryan saw them coming, his muffled protests began to get considerably louder and a look of real panic was coming into his eye. Nicky went behind him to hold his head while Mark and Mariah tried to force open his chin. Finally, Mark, managed to get Bryan’s mouth open a few centimeters and Mariah quickly shoved the clam in.

“Eat it, eat it!” she cried, laughing. “Don’t even think about spitting it out!”

Bryan made a terrible face and swallowed quickly. Once he had swallowed it, Mariah, Mark, and Kian let go of his head. Bryan shuddered violently and reached for his glass of water, downing the entire thing as everyone else at the table continued to laugh hysterically. Mattie was laughing so hard tears were running down her cheeks. Even Anto was now clutching his stomach in uncontrolled spasms of laughter.

Mariah sat back down in her seat at the head of the table with a satisfied smile on her face. Innocently, she picked up her fork, picked up a clam and put it calmly in her mouth. “It’s good, right?” she aksed Bryan brightly.

“Errghh,” Bryan responded, looking like he’d just eaten a lemon. It took a while for everyone to calm down, and they finished the dinner without any major incident, although every once in a while Bryan would start turning green, making them wonder if he was going to make a mad dash for the toilet.

After dinner, Mariah took them on a personally guided tour of her home. She showed them around the small recording studio she had had built in extension to the house, in which they spent quite some time fooling about with the equipment. After they were done in there, Mariah led them around the rest of her house. Their last stop was her living room. It was a large, airy room with hardwood floors and large glass windows that offered a view of the wooded courtyard out back. A complicated looking, hi tech stereo system stood in a corner of the room and a flat screen tv adorned the wall along with a few modern art pieces.

As the rest of the groups admired the collection of souvenirs and curios that were placed around the room, Mattie wandered over to one of the windows and looked out.

“You’ve got such a lovely backyard, Mariah,” she remarked. Mariah looked over to where Matite was standing.

“Oh, thanks! I helped with the design of the landscaping. I like having lots of trees and foliage around. I’ve got so much plant life out there, you’d hardly believe you’re still in New York. You’re welcome to go outside and explore if you want. The grounds are well lighted.”

“Oh, thank you, I’d love to,” Mattie answered.

“Here, I’ll come with you,” Mark offered. The four lads and Georgina exchanged excited looks as Mark and Mattie stepped outside the glass door together and wandered into the garden. Suddenly, Anto’s cell phone rang. He looked at the number on the screen.

“Will you excuse me, I’ve got to take this,” he said to Mariah.

“Oh, no problem! My office is in there if you need some privacy,” she said, pointing. Anto disappeared inside the room.

Meanwhile, Mattie and Mark were wandering around the grounds together in silence. It was a beautiful night. In the city, the nights weren’t like this. A permanent veil from the residue millions of cars and hundreds of subways seemed to always hang over the it, preventing the stars and moon from shining to their fullest potential. So far out in the country, however, there were no such hindrances, and the stars sparkled brilliantly in the heavens. Mattie lifted her face to the night sky, allowing the moonlight to fall across her features. A light breeze blew through, making wisps of her hair flutter in the wind. Mark smiled at the enchanting picture she made as she gazed intently at the stars above. Automatically, he reached out, clasping her smaller hand in his own.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?” Mark asked her softly.

Mattie turned to look at him, smiling. “You mean I didn’t look beautiful this morning when I had just rolled out of bed and woke you up by splashing water on your face?”

Mark laughed. “You know what I mean.”

Mattie blushed. “Yes, I know what you mean. And thank you.” Mattie looked up at him and touched his cheek lightly before bringing it back down. Mark shivered at the gentle gesture. She squeezed his hand and they lapsed into silence again and as they wandered hand in hand around the garden.

Meanwhile, back in the house, Mariah was beginning to notice something was going on. Every so often, one of the guys or Georgina would walk by the window, peek out quickly, then look away. She looked out once herself to see if there was something out there she should know about, but when she checked it out, there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. She left it alone until Shane, preoccupied in looking at whatever was out there, tripped over one of her potted ferns and fell with a thud to the floor. Mariah gave him a strange look as he smiled sheepishly and got up, dusting himself off.

“Alright, what is going on?” she demanded. “What on earth are you five trying to see out there?” Mariah peered out the window again. “Have you all lost your minds or something? I don’t see anything!” She turned back to the boys and Georgina with an expectant look on her face. “Well? I’m waiting.”

“I guess it can’t really hurt to tell her,” Nicky shrugged, smiling.

“Tell me what?”

“Well, it’s about Mattie and Mark…” Shane began.

“Yeah, there they are, right by that hibiscus tree,” Georgina said, pointing.

“Oh, I see them! Hey, they’re holding hands!” Mariah exclaimed excitedly.

Bryan made a face. “That’s nothing. They always hold hands.”

“Oh,” Mariah replied.

“This is so boring,” Kian complained. “They’re just walking around. They aren’t even talking!”

“Hmm…” Mariah said thoughtfully. “I think I’ve got an idea.” She got up from the couch and walked over to her stereo system. The lads and Georgina looked at each other curiously as Mariah rooted around in her cd collection. Once she found what she was looking for, she stood back up with a satisfied smile on her face and a cd in her hands.

“This should help set the mood.” Mariah bent down and turned on the stereo system. She put the cd in, and fiddled for a while with the buttons. When she was finished she walked back over to the couch with the rest of them. “I’ve got speakers installed in my trees,” she explained, “For parties and things like that. The music should come on in a minute. And when you’re in a romantic situation, there’s nothing like a little old-time blues to get you in the mood.”

Mark smiled at her, and with the hand that he was holding, twirled her around. “Why don’t you sing it?”

Mattie gave him a look. “I’m not going to sing in front of one of the members of the most famous singing sensation in Europe.”

Mark laughed. “Then don’t. Just sing in front of me.”

Mattie tilted her head and smiled at him. “I’ll sing. But only if you do Louis Armstrong’s part.”

“Deal. Now open that mouth. The first verse is coming up.”

Obediently, Mattie started to sing.

“Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper ‘I love you’
Birds singing in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me”

Mattie’s voice was clear and sweet, and a smile lighted her face as Mark took her other hand, and together, they began to dance. Their gazes were fixed on each other and their eyes never left the other’s face.

“Say nighty-night and kiss me
Just hold me tight and tell me you miss me
While I’m alone and blue as can be
Dream a little dream of me”

Mark let go of one of Mattie’s hands and twirled her around again, then brought her back into his arms as she laughed. “Now it’s your turn,” she instructed him. Mark smiled at her and opened his mouth to sing.

“Stars fade, but I linger on, dear
Still craving your kiss
And I’m longing to linger till dawn, dear
Just like this”

The two of them, still dancing, sang the next verse together, harmonizing beautifully.

“Dream, till some dreams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams, whatever they be
Dream a little dream of me”

“Oh my god, this has to be the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Mariah said, clasping her hands over her heart.

“Isn’t it?” Bryan said, sniffling tearfully. Georgina reached over and pulled a few tissues from the ornately engraved box that sat on one of the side tables. She gave one to Bryan and then dabbed at her own eyes as Bryan blew his nose noisily.

“If something doesn’t happen tonight, I’m going to – I’m going to – well, I don’t know what I’m going to do but it’s going to be something drastic,” Shane declared.

“Well, there are no problems in love that Ella can’t fix,” Mariah assured.

“Hey, where are they going?” Kian said. “They’re going behind that big statue! No! They can’t do this to us!”

“Now we can’t see anything!” Nicky exclaimed. “We sure have some crappy luck.”

“No, I’ve got an idea,” Mariah said suddenly. “Come on, guys, follow me.”

With that, she got up from the couch and walked over to the side door that led to a part of the garden. Silently, she motioned them to follow her. Once they were outside, she immediately crouched down on the floor. “We’re going to have to keep low,” she whispered. “My bushes aren’t that high.” The rest of them crouched down also, and, with Mariah leading the way, slowly crawled over to where they could get a good view of Mattie and Mark.

“There they are!” Mariah whispered excitedly. Nicky, Bryan, Georgina, Shane and Kian all crowded around her, breathlessly watching and waiting for what would happen next.

Oblivious to the six people hidden in the foliage not ten feet away from them, Mark and Mattie continued dancing to the music. The first song had ended, and now they were moving slowly to the sound of Ella Fitzgerald singing “Angel Eyes”. Mattie wound her arms around Mark’s neck and leaned her cheek against the soft fabric of his sweater. She closed her eyes, allowing the music to wash around her like a gentle breeze. She breathed in, taking in the scent of him as it mingled with the balmy night air. Almost without knowing it, Mattie’s arms gently tightened around Mark’s neck. In response, he drew her closer to him and rested his chin on top of her head. For the first time, Mark realized how nicely she fit in his arms, how right she felt there. A million thoughts had been running through his mind, but as they continued to dance under the starlight, they all seemed to fade away, and the only thing he could think of was the feeling of being with Mattie, on such a perfect night, feeling her breathe against him, feeling her heart beat against his. The touch of her sent waves of electricity through his body, and he wished that the moment would never have to end.

“Mattie…” he whispered softly.

At the sound of her name, Mattie opened her eyes. She leaned back away from him so that she could look at his face. Before he could say anything, she smiled, realizing something.

“I think we’ve stopped dancing,” she informed him.

Mark’s eyes never left her face. “We have?” It was true. They were standing perfectly still. The music of Ella Fitzgerald was still softly drifting around them, but they had stopped dancing. Mattie’s smile faded from her face when she caught the way Mark was gazing at her. He was looking at her intently, his eyes fixed upon her face. Mattie hardly dared to breathe as her heart quickened its pace. They stood there for what seemed like forever. The intensity of his blue eyes overpowering, and Mattie had to look away, forcing herself to take her eyes from Mark’s face. Her arms remained wrapped tightly around his neck and she couldn’t being herself to pull away. Slowly, Mark brought a hand up to Mattie’s face. A shiver ran through her body at his touch and she closed her eyes. Gently, he turned her face back so that she was facing him again.

“Open your eyes,” he told her softly. Obediently, she opened them and was met again with the intoxicating blueness of Mark’s eyes. Mattie exhaled shakily, unable this time to take her gaze away from his face. She could feel her heart pounding in his chest. Could he feel it too? His head began to lean down toward her, and instinctively, she lifted her chin.

Not far away, in the bush, six people sat waiting breathlessly for what they thought was now going to happen for sure.

“Omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod,” Georgina was whispering over and over. She gripped Nicky with her hands, nearly tearing out a piece of his shirt in the process but Nicky was too enthralled in the scene before them to notice. Kian and Shane were clutching at each other anxiously, and Bryan was biting his nails right down to his knuckles.

“It’s going to happen. I can’t believe it’s actually going to happen,” Kian whispered incredulously.

“Oh my god, this is so exciting!” Mariah said in a high-pitched whisper. She clasped her hands together tightly. They were getting closer and closer…

“What on earth are you doing out here?” a voice demanded behind them.

Slowly, Nicky, Shane, Georgina, Bryan, Kian, and Mariah turned around to see a bewildered Anto standing behind them. The look on his face was one of total perplexity, and he couldn’t be blamed. After all, it was not every day you find four members of a famous pop group, the daughter of a prime minister, and Mariah Carey crawling around in the dirt.

“Well?” he demanded.

“Uhhh…” Mariah said nervously as she scrambled up to face him. “I was just, um…I was showing them around my garden!” she said brightly.

“Why…are you on the ground?”

“Ummm…” Mariah looked around frantically for some sort of reason as to why they were all on their hands and knees crawling around in the soil. “I was…um….well I was showing them the moss that I had just had planted. Yeah, that’s it! See? Right there.” She pointed to a very ordinary looking clump of moss. “I just had it shipped out from, um, Bolivia. It’s nice, right?” She smiled sweetly at Anto.

“Lovely,” he answered, giving her a strange look. Then he shook his head. “Well, we’ve got to head back now, it’s getting pretty late. Where is Mark? And Mattie? Are they still out here?” Anto craned his head to look.

“No!” Nicky exclaimed. Anto looked at him strangely. “I mean, no,” he said lowering his voice as he blushed. “I think they’re in the house. Why don’t you go look for them?”

Anto shook his head again. “No, they’re not in there. As far as I can tell, no one seems to be in the house.” He looked again around the yard. “Mark? Mattie! Are you two out here?”

Frantically, Georgina, who along with Nicky, Shane, Bryan, and Kian, was still on the ground, turned her head and peeked through the bush to see how Mark and Mattie were doing. She knew that Anto couldn’t see them from where he was standing, but they could. When Anto had called their names, Mark and Mattie had jumped apart, before anything could happen. She sighed heavily as Nicky groaned and Kian, Shane, and Bryan put their heads in their hands. Mariah saw their dejected looks and gave them an understanding one of her own. “Sorry,” she mouthed to them silently with an apologetic smile. One by one, they all stood up just as Mattie and Mark were coming up.

“What’s up, Anto?” Mark asked. Everyone except Anto noticed that his face looked flushed, like he was blushing.

“It’s time to get back to the hotel,” Anto said, pointing to his watch. He turned to Mariah. “Well, Mariah, it was so good seeing you again. Thank you for a lovely evening.”

“No problem,” Mariah said, giving him a hug and a kiss. She walked them back into the house and then outside, where the limo was waiting. Mariah turned to the rest of the boys. “Well, guys, it was great to see you again,” she said sincerely. “I guess we’ll be seeing each other in September, right?”

They all nodded as she gave them each a hug and a kiss. Then, she turned to Georgina and Mattie.

“It was good meeting you girls,” Mariah said, smiling. She winked at Georgina, who smiled back at her. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing a lot of you two in the future.” She looked at Mattie who seemed to be off in a world of her own. Mariah gave Georgina and the boys a knowing look before hugging Georgina and Mattie goodbye. They all turned to walk to the limo, but Mariah caught Bryan’s hand as he was walking away.

“Let me know how it turns out, okay?” she said to him with a little smile on her face.

Bryan grinned and nodded. “You can count on it.” He gave her one last wave before getting into the limo.

As they drove along back towards the city, no one seemed to be in much of a talking mood. No one, that is, except Anto.

“So how was your evening, everyone?” he asked.

“Could’ve been better,” Shane mumbled.

“What?” Anto looked at him in confusion.

“Nothing,” Shane answered. He gave Anto a bright smile.

“Mariah’s really nice, isn’t she?” Mattie remarked. “I didn’t think she’d be so down to earth.”

“Yeah, she’s really great,” Anto said. “I’ll bet the lads can’t wait until September when the single comes out and she’ll start making appearances with them. Especially Mark. Right lad?”

“What?” Mark said when he realized Anto had spoken to him. “Oh! Yeah. Looking forward to that,” was all he said before turning his head to look back out the window.

Mattie yawned. Immediately, Mark turned his head away from the window to look at her. “Are you tired?” he asked concernedly.

“A bit,” she answered. “It’s kinda been a long day.”

“You should try to get a bit of sleep on the drive back to the city,” Mark told her. “It’s going to be a long drive anyway.”

“Alright,” Mattie nodded, yawning again. She closed her eyes and rested her head against Mark’s shoulder. Automatically, his arm went around her protectively, drawing her closer to him. His head bent and he gently kissed Mattie’s hair as she slept against him. Smiles were exchanged all around the limo as Nicky, Shane, Georgina, Kian, and Bryan caught the gesture. Although what they had hoped would happen got interrupted that night, there was no doubt that their plan was certainly on the right track. Now, all that they needed was time.

Chapter 17

---

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws