“Hey guys,” Kevin said as they entered the room.
“Hey, how long was I asleep for?” Brian asked.
“Only about an hour and a half,” Kevin said sarcastically.
“You mean we missed the whole audition?!” Brian asked in shock. “Yeah, but don’t worry, we picked a girl.” AJ said.
“Which one?” Howie asked.
“Uhh…I dunno if she’s still here. Hang on,” AJ said as he looked through the window. He saw The Blonde Girl packing up her bag at the far end of the room. “That one,” he said pointing her out to Brian and Howie.
“She’s pretty, AJ,” Brian said as she stood up and turned around. “You sure she can dance?”
“Yes, I watched her,” AJ said, defensively.
“Or maybe you’re just on rebound from Amanda?” Brian asked.
“Maybe, but she can dance,” AJ said. He looked to Kevin and Nick for support. “You guys saw her, she was really good, wasn’t she?”
“She was. Lay off him, Bri. “Kevin said.
“Alright, but I’d like to see it for myself,” Brian said before cracking a smile. “I’m just kidding. I love ya AJ!” he said as he practically tackled AJ into a hug.
“Right, right.” AJ said, hugging Brian back. “Now get off me so we can go get food. I’m hungry.”
By now it was around 1:30 and the auditions were over. All the boys were hungry, so they went to McDonalds.
After they got their food and sat down AJ asked “Rehearsal’s start tomorrow don’t they?”
“Yeah, cuz tour starts in a few weeks,” Kevin said.
“Ok.” AJ said. “That girl’s gonna have to learn the steps really fast, huh?”
“Yeah. I’m sure she can learn it, though. You saw how fast she picked up the steps to ‘Everybody.’ “ Kevin said.
The guys finished eating and went back to their hotel, where they wasted the rest of the day and went to bed.
~*The Next Morning*~
The rehearsal was scheduled to begin at 10 am and all the guys were nervously awaiting the start of it. They didn’t know how the new dancer would adapt to the new situation. They all were kind of worried if she would even show up. But just when the rehearsal was about 5 minutes away from starting, she showed up.
“Woah…” AJ said to himself. She looked even better than yesterday. She was wearing bright blue dance pants and a white tank top. Her hair was puled back in a ponytail and hung down to her shoulders.
“Sorry,” She said apologetically. She smiled and set her bag down at the end of the stage. She went up to AJ and said “Hi. You must be AJ. I’m Laura. Laura Dianeska. Looks like I’ll be dancing with you for the tour.”
“I guess so.” AJ said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Back atcha.” She said, smiling.
Fatima called the rehearsal to begin and they guys and dancers got into their places.
“Psst! Laura!” one of the other dancers said.
“Yeah?”
“Hi. I’m Paula. Nick’s dancer.” She extended her hand. Laura shook it.
“Hi. So, how exactly does this work?” Laura asked.
“Rehearsal? Oh, we run through the songs and dances then go back and work on detail stuff.” Paula explained. She pulled her light blonde hair into a ponytail.
“Cool.” Laura said.
The group ran through the concert order until 11:30 am and then Fatima said she would let them go some where to eat for lunch, but they all had to be back by 1pm.
AJ went up to Laura and said, “Hey, me and the guys are gonna go to McDonalds, I was wondering if you wanted to come. Y’know, get to know everybody.”
“Sure. Just let me grab my purse. I’ll meet you outside in 5 minutes, k?” Laura said.
“K.” AJ said and turned to walk out the door.
The other guys were outside and waiting for him.
“C’mon! I’m hungry!” Brian whined, and started jumping up and down towards AJ’s car.
“Keep your pants on, we gotta wait for Laura.” AJ said.
Just then, Laura came out the door to the arena and said “Hey guys, I’m Laura.”
The rest of the guys introduced themselves. “We saw you auditioning. You were really good.” Kevin said.
“What?…How did you…?” Laura asked, puzzled.
“The mirror was one-way. We could see you, but you couldn’t see us.” AJ explained.
“Really?” Laura asked. She didn’t know anyone but the other girls and Fatima had been watching her. She started to blush like crazy.
“Don’t be embarrassed. You were great.” AJ said, trying to make her feel better.
They walked out to AJ’s car and drove to McDonalds. On the way, they were making conversation.
“So, Laura, how long have you been dancing?” Brian asked. He was sitting in between her and Nick.
“For 17 years, since I was 4.” Laura said.
“Which would make you…” AJ said, trailing off.
“21 years of age.” Laura finished, smiling at AJ in the driver’s seat.
“For 17 years? How’d you get started?” Howie asked.
“My mom always gets a kick out of telling this story.” Laura said, laughing. “She said I was so jumpy and had all this extra energy and I couldn’t sit still so she put me in a dance class at the community center near our house. She said my teacher said I was the best in my class, that I had this ‘gift’.” Laura said, using finger-quotes.
“Let’s go,” AJ said as he parked the car.
They went into McDonalds and ordered. They got their food and went to sit down at a table in the back. Laura sat across from AJ, next to Nick. Brian sat across from Nick and Kevin and Howie sat across from each other, farthest away from Laura.
Brian asked Laura a question and she answered, but AJ wasn’t really paying attention. He was paying attention to Laura, though. He was finally getting a really good, close-up look at her. She had the brightest blue-green eyes and a great smile. Her eyes lit up whenever she spoke. He thought she was gorgeous.
“AJ…hello?...AJ!” Laura said and snapped her fingers in front of his face. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just thinking.” He said.
“ ‘Bout what?” Laura asked through a mouthful of food.
“That’s attractive!” AJ said.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Laura said after she swallowed her food.
“What question?”
“My question about what were you thinking about.”
“Oh…well, you.” AJ said nervously.
“Me? Why?”
“Well, y’know, I don’t know that much about you, so why don’t you tell me?” AJ asked.
Nick leaned over and whispered to AJ, “Nice cover.” AJ proceeded to elbow Nick in the stomach, causing him to double over in mock pain. Laura looked at both the guys very strangely.
“Ok…well, I have two younger sisters, Kathryn and Rachel, I live with my boyfriend John, …” Laura said.
Laura continued but AJ didn’t really hear any of it. When he heard the word “boyfriend” his spirits drooped. How could she have a boyfriend? Oh yeah, this is just perfect, he thought.
“…and I looove Sandra Bullock, she’s so hilarious.” Laura said.
“So about this boyfriend of yours, how long have you lived with him?” AJ asked. He was curious.
“Well, we’ve been going out for about a year, but I’ve lived with him for about 4 or 5 months. He moved into my house because mine is bigger.” Laura said. She kinda sensed that AJ didn’t like that she had a boyfriend, but she thought nothing of it. “Well, what about you? You got a girlfriend?”
“No, we broke up sorta recently. About a month ago.” AJ said.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s ok.”
Their conversation was abruptly put to a stop when Kevin said “You guys, we have to be back in 15 minutes, let’s go.”
They all piled into AJ’s car and drove back to the arena, where they rehearsed until about 4:30.
