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Everything Your Heart Desires Chapter 29 The next morning Cheryl climbed aboard the tour bus when she knew Howie had gone back into the studios. There she was greeted by A.J. "Hey, C, you just missed �the boyfriend.� He�ll be back in a minute." He saw the flowers in her hand. "forget-me-nots?" "Yeah," she answered sadly. "Hey," he said lowering his sunglasses and lifting her chin so he could see her eyes. "I know it�s hard. I�ll keep a watchful eye on him for you, okay?" She nodded. "I wanted to lay these on his pillow. Could you tell me which bunk is his?" "This one right here." A.J. gestured to the bunk to his left. "I�ll make sure he gets them." He finally saw the small silver box. "What�s in there?" She smiled slightly. "A little something to protect him and give him luck." Cheryl put her gifts in the specified bunk then pulled the curtain. "Take care of yourself, Crazy." She hugged him. He smiled. "Thanks. You, too, Sparky. If you ever can�t get ahold of D, call me. I�ll track him down."Kristy climbed aboard the bus, practically running into Brian as she glanced behind her, watching for any sign of Kevin. �Oh my gawd Bri, you scared me to death!� she said as her hand flew to her chest. Brian chuckled at her nervous behavior. �I take it you haven�t done much sneaking around before.� He grinned at the pretty blond and shook his head as he looked at her thoughtfully. �Nope, just can�t picture you crawling out your bedroom window to meet up with some bad-boy your parents forbade you to see.� �Nah, I�ve always been a �good girl�. Pretty boring, huh?� �Well, I happen to know someone who is very fond of this �good girl�,� Brian said, giving Kristy�s hand a little squeeze. �So, you mentioned you had something for me to help you with.� Kristy nodded and Brian recognized the shine of unshed tears in her eyes. He�d seen Kevin in the studio earlier, and his cousin had looked just as upset. Kristy handed Brian a few palm-sized flat cardboard pieces. Brian examined the objects, an understanding smile crossing his handsome face. �Can you put these somewhere he�ll 'find' them?� Brian nodded. �And I need to put these in his bunk.� Brian pointed her towards the bed in question, smiling as he watched Kristy tape something up next to some pictures of the two of them Kevin had already arranged on the wall. She then placed a small bouquet of flowers on his pillow and turned to leave. �Kris?� Kristy stopped part way down the stairs and turned to face her boyfriend�s cousin. �I�ll take care of him for ya, okay? Let me know if you need anything... don�t hesitate to call, got it?� Kristy smiled thankfully and headed out the door of the bus. �Kev is a very lucky man.�Denise looked around at the five couples surrounding her, all in various stages of good-bye... Nick and Mandy exchanged hugs and quick kisses, then talked and laughed at the other couples around them. A.J. and Amanda were permanently attached at the lip and Denise wondered if they were ever planning on coming up for air. Brian and Leighanne kissed and hugged and cried and laughed... their normal good-bye routine. Howie and Cheryl were in the middle of a long embrace, exchanging quiet words and soft kisses as they both looked to be near tears. And Kevin and Kristy looked to be rivaling A.J. and Amanda for longest good-bye kiss. Although she hated to rule against her own son, Denise felt the older couple had a slight advantage - earning bonus points for emotional intensity. The driver glanced at Denise who nodded, then honked the horn giving the Boys their "warning." Nick eagerly unwrapped two new video games Mandy had just given him and jumped on the bus to try them out. A.J. gave Amanda final reminders for taking care of Panda and Bear, and Brian did the same for Leighanne and Tyke. Howie squeezed Cheryl�s hand reassuringly, seeing the unshed tears glistening in her vivid blue-green eyes. �Don�t cry, okay?� he whispered, his own voice betraying how close he was to tears himself. He reminded her about a couple of things for the house and gave her a long list of numbers of family members and friends around Orlando and the rest of the country that she could call if she needed anything. He kissed her again, wrapping his arms around her as if he never was going to let go. He never wanted to. Kevin draped a lightweight jacket around Kristy's shoulders as she shivered - partially from the early morning air and partially from emotions. "Oh, I think I left something in the pocket," Kevin said as Kristy slipped her arms in the sleeves. She fished around the pockets and withdrew a keychain with a Mickey Mouse "S" on it. Kristy handed Kevin back the keys and he shook his head. "Nope, the 'S' is for you Spunky... since you already have a 'K' one." She looked at the keys, then Kevin. "What're they for?" "They're keys... they open things," he teased, chuckling as she narrowed her eyes at him. He took the keys in her hand and went through them one by one. "This one's to my front door..." Kristy's eyes widened and she interrupted him. "To your house?!" Kevin smiled. "Uh huh. I was hoping you'd check on things for me while I'm gone. And you could stay there sometimes... if you wanted to - you do have your own drawers now and all!" Kristy kissed him softly. "I will check on things... I may even borrow a couple of shirts from that closet of yours." She giggled as Kevin faked an outraged look. "Of course, I'd pay you back for them later," she whispered seductively. Kevin wondered once again how important it would be for all five of the Backstreet Boys to really be at every concert. "But I don't think I'll be staying there... that bed of yours would just be too big and empty without you there with me." Kristy kissed him again, struggling to hold back the tears she thought she'd cried out the night before. Kevin struggled to keep his emotions in check too. God he was going to miss her. He returned his attention to the key ring. "This one's for my office - in case something should come up." He quickly moved on, seeing the fear in Kristy's eyes. "And these are to the 4Runner." Kristy's eye's really widened at that. "You're kidding! You love that truck more than anything... except maybe your piano." Kevin smiled at how well she knew him. "More than anything except my piano and YOU. Since I won't be here to chauffeur you around, I thought you could use it... You can drive right?" Kevin smiled as Kristy rolled her eyes. He knew she'd been talking about getting a new car since she'd moved out there, but she hadn't exactly had time for car shopping. "Besides I know you were thinking about getting a 4Runner yourself, so this will give you a chance to see if you like them." Kristy leaned forward and kissed Kevin very deeply. "Remind me to thank you - properly - for this later." "Oh, don't worry. I WILL!"The guys boarded the bus after one last trip inside the studio. They waved good-bye to their loved ones until they couldn't see them... and even then they still sat at the windows for a bit longer. Brian wandered back to the dining area. "Ooh! Goodies!" Kevin rolled his eyes at his younger cousin. "Ooh goody?" he said in disbelief. "Not 'goody', 'goodies' - as in treats! From the girls..." he said the last part in a sing-song voice. He was soon surrounded by his four friends. They smiled at the banner running across the table and the streamers wrapped around everything in sight in the back of the tour bus. Each girlfriend had taken a poster of "her Boy" and decorated it, and now they were hung around the walls of the dining area. The guys chuckled at the amount - and uniqueness - of the creative accessories the girls had used. A.J.'s picture looked like it had collided with Tinker Bell and the Trojan Man with the amount of glitter and other "decorations" that were on it. Nick and Brian had a variety of sports and game stickers and memorabilia on theirs. Cheryl had used "Discussion Hearts" to personalize Howie's poster and Kristy had covered Kevin's poster with fortune cookie sayings. Brian leaned over Kevin's shoulder and read one of the fortunes aloud, "You have natural skill and talent with your hands..." "In bed," the others chorused, causing Kevin to blush slightly and punch his cousin on the shoulder. "So did Spunky select the others with as much care?" A.J. cracked, trying to get a look at Kevin's poster. Kevin folded it in half and smiled smugly at the couple of other sayings he'd read thus far. He'd have to save the rest for later. "How 'bout you D? Cheryl trying to get you all worked up too?" Nick chuckled as Howie read over his poster with a smile. "Nope, just her being her usual sweet self." "So, let's see what we have here..." Brian said, perusing the table laden with plates and storage containers of treats. "Amanda made her world-famous chocolate chip cookies - with and without nuts. My Snickerdoodle sent snickerdoodles and monster cookies!" The guys smiled over the food, but groaned at the "Snickerdoodle" nickname. "What did Mandy make?" Brian opened a Tupperware container with Mandy's note on it. "Oreos." "Okay, so she's not domestic. She has other talents!" Nick said with a wiggle of his dark blond eyebrows. "I'm sure she does, Kaos," Brian chuckled. "Luckily for the rest of us, Howie and Kevin's women made up for Mandy's lack of baking experience," he said as he looked at the several containers left on the table. "With their focus on their careers, I never would've pictured them as the 'happy homemaker' types," he commented as Howie smiled, recalling Cheryl's cheesecake. Kevin got a far away look on his face as he thought of Kristy standing in his kitchen, scrambling eggs in a pair of his boxers and one of his T-shirts. "They have their moments." Brian handed Howie the simple elegant stationary that Cheryl had left her note on. "Sugar cookies for her Sweet D." A.J. shook his head. "She has definitely been hanging with you too much, D." Howie just smiled knowingly. Brian looked at the other plate from Cheryl. "Ooh, and banana bread. Damn Howie, I could get used to having her around!" "Good, because I plan on keeping her around!" Kevin read Kristy's note on the angel stationary near a couple of large storage containers. "Kevin and the Boys ~ These are two of my family's favorite desserts. I know Kevin will especially enjoy the Peanut Butter Bars in the green container - as will any of you who like Reese�s Peanut Butter Cups. And Sexy, the blue container has the Prune Bars I was telling you about. I know you were anxious to try them, so enjoy. And share with the other guys! ; ) I love you!~ Your Angel" "Prune bars?" Nick shuddered. "You and your girl have some weird tastes... ya know that, right?" Kevin simply shrugged. Kristy had told him about her family's famous prune bar recipe. "They're supposed to be awesome. Kristy's friends and family all request that she brings them to every function." "A whole group of weirdos then!" "Hey, nobody's gonna force you to eat them. Stick to your Oreos. D, you're always up for trying different things with me... what do you say?" "I'm game." Howie bit back a smile. He too had heard the story behind the "prune bars". No one in Kristy's family or circle of friends actually knew what they were originally called, everyone just knew them as prune bars. It all started when Kristy's brother went camping with some buddies. Like the other guys, he'd brought food - including some goodies - made by their moms. When asked what his mom - an excellent cook - had sent along, he replied "Prune bars." Being in the middle of the woods, his friends declined his offer to share the dessert - which was actually a rich chocolate and caramel topped brownie concoction - leaving them all for himself. "Ya sure you guys don't want any?" "Just cause your girl made them, doesn't mean I'm eating anything with 'prune' in the name. Sorry cuz," Brian concurred with Nick. A.J. nodded his agreement. Kevin grinned. "More for us then." Just like he'd planned. Next: Chapter 30 |