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Going To Grandama's
Chapter Twenty-Nine


"The Mysterious Question..."

"What did you want to ask me?" I asked, blinking at him.
"Well, it's not important, it can wait. I don't wanna do it here." AJ said, squirming a bit, sticking something in his pocket.
I nodded and stood up, kissing his cheek. "Alrighty. Anyway folks, we can leave now, I'm fine."
"They discharged you?" AJ asked, a bit surprised.
"Well, um, no. I told them I was going, they said fine." I said quietly.
"Manda..." Tony scolded.
"Tony, I am not staying here. I am fine." I defended.
"Baby, I think you should stay." AJ cut in.
"AJ..."
"I don't want anything to happen to you." he said quietly.
"Honestly you guys, I'm fine. I feel fine." I said assuredly.
"You sure?" Abby asked, gazing at me.
I nodded.
"Alright. I'll go find Mo, and meet you all at the cars." Tony said, sliding out the door.
I took AJ's hand as he stood. He sqeezed it and pulled me close, kissing my temple.
Nick pulled on his Nike cap, and AJ pulled down his shades. I let go of his hand and slid my arm around his waist, hugging him for a second.
"Jesus," Nick muttered as he spotted a clock in the hallway.
"What Nick?" AJ asked, gazing at his incognito pal.
"We are so goddamn late for the last rehersal." Nick replied, pointing to the clock.
AJ looked at it. "Holy fuck... But we have a decent excuse..." he trailed off and hurried his pace to the elevator. I sort of got tugged along.
The elevator doors slid apart and the boys, Abby, and I hurried in, not noticing who was already in there. Two girls slipped over to the side of the car.
"Oh my god!!" one of the girls yelled.
"Janey, SHHHHHH!" the other chided. Nick winced a little at the screetch, tugging his hat down lower over his eyes. He quickly dropped his hold on Abby's hand and I carefully and quietly unwound my arm from AJ's waist. I slid closer to Abby. This was all done in a matter of seconds, and the girls hadn't noticed.
"No, but it's them Casey! You know it!!" the Janey girl defended, as she tugged on her red striped candystriper's apron, and smoothed out her hair.
AJ bowed his head a little, laughing quietly. Nick smirked.
"I know that!" the girl replied hastily, her whisper harsh. "They are still people!"
"Excuse me," Nick piped up.
Janey let out a little "eep" type sound. Casey blushed and smiled. "Sorry," she started.
"I've seen worse." Nick said with a smile.
The girls blushed again and laughed. "Damnit I have a pen somewhere..." Casey muttered. She smiled apologetically. "If I can find a pen can we get your autographs?"
"Sure." Nick replied.
"No problem." AJ agreed.
"Great! Thank you sooooo much!" Janey said hurridly.
"Is someone you guys know sick?" Casey asked, her search for the pen ended as I produced one quietly from my bag, handing it to AJ.
"Huh?" Nick asked. "Oh, because we're here." he grinned sheepishly.
AJ, Abby, and I laughed.
"We were just visiting some sick fans." AJ lied, cutting in. The elevator beeped and we steeped off onto our floor, the girls following. AJ finished his autographs and handed the pen and pieces of paper to Nick.
"Oh that's so sweet!" Janey replied.
"Well, it's our last day before the tour, we wanted to do something." Nick replied, his eyes on the paper he was signing with his messy "Nick Carter" covering part of the page, right along side AJ's loopy "AJ 'Bone'" deal. Abby and I walked out towards the cars like we had no clue who the boys were. I scanned the lot looking for AJ's bright yellow BMW. I spotted it towards the back rows of cars, Nick's green truck was nearby. Abby and I headed out for the cars.
"Girls! Wait up!" Tony called, Mo walking behind him.
I stopped, turning. "Wha?"
"Where's Nick and AJ?" Mo asked, looking around.
"Signing autographs. Didn't you see them as you walked out?" Abby asked, arching a brow.
"No..." Mo trailed off, glancing at Tony who shook his head.
"Well that's wierd..." Abby muttered, but we continued to walk towards the cars.
I didn't touch the car once we got close, I knew that damn thing would have an alarm. Abby sood near Nick's truck, but didn' touch t either. After about three minutes the boys showed up.
"There they are." I called, pointing to them. Abby looked up.
"It's about damn time." she muttered. Mo and Tony had headed to Tony's car. I yawned. It was about 7:30 at night.
"Sorry, we got mobbed by candystriping-fans." Nick replied, beeping his alarm off and unlocking the doors with the push of a button.
"We're going straight to the rehersal baby, is that okay?" AJ asked, clicking off his alarm and unlocking his doors too. I climbed in.
"Yeah, it's fine." I said, settling down into the seat.
He patted my thigh before reaching up and turning the key. I grabbed my seatbelt and clicked it in, flashing him a smile.
We followed Nick's truck all the way to Pearlman's O-Town studio. The place was sort of like a boot camp for upcoming groups, AJ told me. I remembered this had been the place I'd visited, when Abby had been helping Kevin work on his dancing and I'd met Fatima. AJ parked his car, and we climbed out. AJ and Nick ran to the doors, Abby and I walking behind them, they were the late ones after all, not us.
We got in a few seconds behind the boys, and we wandered to the dance studio type-place. Fatima and Denise were already laying into Nick and AJ, questioning them.
"You guys!! Relax!!! Mandy had to go to the emergency room, and we lost track of time." AJ defended, blinking at his Mom and Fatima.
"What?" Denise said, blinking. "Is she okay?"
"See for yourself," Nick replied, nodding in my direction. Denise turned around.
"Mandie, you okay sweetie? What happened?" Denise asked, walking over to me and giving me a hug.
"I don't really remember, I passed out. But I'm fine now. They released me after a few hours." I replied. That was sort of true... sort of.
"Aww, you poor thing. You must of scared the crap out of your grandmother."
"Actually she's in Tampa." I replied.
"Oh, did you call her?" she asked, arching a brow at me.
"Yep. I did." I lied.
"Oh okay..." Denise nodded. She turned to Nick and AJ. "Alright you guys! Get out there with Bri, Kev and D!" she ordered.
Abby snickered, and Fatima smirked. "Stop saying what I'm gonna say before I say it Denise!" she remarked with a smile, walking to the front of the group, her back to the mirrored wall.
The boys danced and practiced various aspects of the tour's show until 2 in the morning. I was sitting in a chair, falling in and out of sleep and occasionally getting up to hand out bottled of water. The boys all looked sleepy and tired, but they kept on dancing. I sighed, glancing at Abby and Mo, who had been sleeping on and off too. It had been a damn long day. at about 2:30 I was so bored I decided to get up and dance along with the boys. Fatima laughed, tossing me an extra hat. The boys were doing the "All I Have To Give" dance. Abby laughed softly and got up next to me. Mo smiled getting a clue and followed. I had watched them do this routine about 6 or 7 times already, I was pretty sure I knew what to do. 'Tima tossed them each a hat too. We got up behind the boys, following along, Nick was laughing so hard, watching us in the mirror, in fact all of them were laughing, but we were so bored! Tony just leaned against the wall, laughing quietly, talking to Denise. Pearlman, who the boys, actually everyone, called "Big Poppa" walked in, quietly watching from the doorway. we didn't notice him, we were too busy sbeing wierd and dancing. Fatima laughed, calling for a short break, saying we did just as good as the boys, if not better.
"Should I be worried about keeping my job?" Howie laughed.
"Now Howie," Fatima joked, "what would the group be called if the girls joined?"
"Backstreet?" Nick piped up with a smile. Howie shoved him, causing Nick to laugh harder.
"Now Howie, why would I take your job..." Abby said with a smile, "When I could have Nick's?"
Nick choked mid-gulp of water. "What?" he managed to breathe out through the coughs.
Abby laughed. "I'd never do that baby." she teased, kissing his cheek.
"Big Poppa!" Kevin called, noticing the man who filled the doorway.
"Hey Kevin!" he called, waving. The boys all turned and waved, calling out hellos.
Pearlman hung out and chatted with us, cracking jokes and being very sweet and fatherly towards the boys.
At about 3:45 we left the O-Town studios. Mo and Tony climbed into Tony's car, and Nick and Abby headed home. I climbed into AJ's car, my wonderful driver looking bleary-eyed, but awake enough. I leaned my head against the door and sighed, drifting off to sleep.

The next thing I know sunlight is pouring through a window onto my face warming it. I yawned and rolled over, turning my face from the light. As I turned I grazed something. I blinked my eyes open, focusing. It was AJ. I blinked again, looking around. We were at his place, amidst all of his nice new furniture. I yawned and sighed, curling up next to him. He stretched a bit and slid an arm around me. I shivered in the cool air-conditioned room, pulling the blankets up around me and let my eyes slide shut again.
About five minutes later a beeping sound stirred me. I felt AJ move. I was too sleepy ro realize he was answering his cell phone until I heard his sleepy voice say, "Hello?"
Two seconds later he's scrambling from the bed, muttering out some curses. He wandered into his closet, walking out a minute later in fresh clothes. I sat up. "What's wrong baby?" I asked, trying to hide the yawn that was tugging at the corners of my lips.
"I've got to go sweetie." he said, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling on a pair of Nikes.
"Alrighty." I said, stretching. He didn't offer up where he was going, I didn't ask.
He tied his shoelaces and turned around and leaned across the bed, kissing me gently. "Go back to sleep. I'll be back in about an hour and a half."
"Fat chance," I said kissing back, letting a soft smile run across my lips. "I'm awake now."
He just smiled at me and kissed me again quickly before grabbing his cell and his pager and running out the bedroom door. I sighed and crawled out of the warm bed as soon as I was sure he was gone. I pulled on one of his teeshirts and a pair of sweats and went to go bask in the warm sunlight that had been warming the kitchen since sunup.
I dug around the kitchen, tossing some bread into the toaster. Amongst AJ's stuff on the counter, loose change, a silver necklace, and a watch, was a small box. I peered at it, realizing it had been the box AJ had toyed with earlier. I picked it up, but didn't open it, my conscience debating silently as I turned the box in my slowly-warming fingertips.
I blinked, shoving away my conscience and began to crack the box open....

Going To Grandama's
Chapter Thirty
"Loose Ends.."

I screetched, dropping the box as somthing grazed my ankle. "Tobi!" I laughed, bending down to pet the puppy. Tobi just looked up at me with cute lil eyes. I scooped the box up. "Guess I shouldn't be opening this up, huh?" I didn't expect the dog to reply. Instead, I picked the box up and stuck it back on the counter where I'd found it. I yawned, grabbing my toast from the toaster and roamed the fridge for butter. I found that and slathered some over my toast. The dog skittered around at my feet. "Alright, alright Tobi, I will walk you, can I eat a piece of toast first?" The dog, who obviously somehow understood me, calmed down. I wandered into the TV room and slid onto the couch, clicking on the set. I blinked. Today was the final day before the tour! I eeped and clicked off the TV. I needed to get home! I was packed already, but I wanted to go over everything, and get some things together. All of my stuff had moved from the Tampa house to the Orlando house, Gran had realized my need to be closer to my friends. AJ lived about a half an hour from Grammy's house. I finished my toast and grabbed my clothes from last night, pulling my tank top and khaki's back on. I pulled my brush through my hair and pulled it up into a ponytail. I grabbed Tobi's leash, and my cell phone from my bag. I slipped out the front door, locking it behind me. I stuck my keys in my pocket and peeked around. From what I could tell there was no one trying to capture pictures of AJ's house. Howie had told me funny storys of girls visiting his mother, and how she actually let people in to look around. Howie now lived down the street from Abby, but the girls still visited his mom.
I tugged my sunglasses down over my eyes and slipped the loop of the leash over my wrist. I slipped down the front walk, the cute dog trotting ahead of me. I hit speed +1, calling Abby. I had realized there were too many important numbers to remember, so I'd gotten a digital cell phone, with caller ID and speed dial and a whole bunch of other stuff.
"Yo." Nick answered sleepily.
"Nick?" I laughed.
"That would be my name," he replied sleepily.
"Where's Abber Dabbers?" I asked, walking up AJ's street. I was planning to go around the block once or twice. Tobi seemed thrilled to be out in the open.
"She's sleeping." he said after a moment.
"Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?" I asked, remembring how AJ had litterally fallen out of bed this morning... er afternoon. It had been about 11:30 when AJ had left, it was about 15 minutes after twelve now.
"Uhm..." I could almost hear him thinking. He was still half-asleep, I could tell. "HOLY FUCK!" he yelled. "Mands, I need to go, talk to Abby." I heard him toss her the phone.
"What?" Abby asked, not talking to me but obviously confused.
"He's late. AJ did that this morning." I laughed, rounding the second corner. Tobi was trotting along happily.
"Oh jesus. Baby! Don't forget your cell!" I heard her call to him. Then I heard a smacking sound as they kissed. "Where is he goin?" she asked after a second. I assumed Nick was already out the door.
"I have no clue, big secret meeting?"
"Maybe."
"I was just calling to ask if you could come pick me up pleeeeeease? AJ stranded me here, and I need to get home and into clean clothes, we leave in like 3 hours do we not?"
"Yep, according to my lil clock we do. Yeah, I'll be there in like 20 minutes."
"Thank you Sissy." I said sweetly.
"Welcome. Byes."
"Bye."
I rounded the third corner with Tobi. He was trotting along, stopping to sniff here and there. As we got to the fourth corner and headed back to AJ's house I saw a car parked in front of it. Two girls were leaning against the car, and they were pointing to a piece of paper in thier hands, and then back to his house, comparing the two. I debated turning around, or walking up to the house and going in. I sighed, here was what Abby was talking about. Those girls were gonna assume things and rumors would insude, maybe I could lie to them. I took a deep breath and walked up to the house and up the front walk, pulling out my house key. The girls just sort of stared. But suddenly they were running up the walkway.
"Wait! Hey!" they yelled, I sighed, opening the door and letting Tobi scamper in, unhooking his leash. I stuck a foot in the door and turned to face the girls.
"Yes?"
"Isn't this AJ Mclean's house?" one with curly red hair and freckles asked.
"AJ Mclean?" I asked, playing dumb.
"Yeah. Weren't you just walking his dog Tobi?"
"Sorry you guys I've got to go. I am waiting for a ride, as far as this AJ guy, he moved in a few blocks down, that's all I can really tell you. No, that is my dog, but I've seen AJ walking his dog around here before though." I began to close the door, but the girl stuck her foot in.
"Please! All we want to do is see him!" she cried.
"He's not here, I'm telling you." I replied, opening the door and standing in the way so they really couldn't see past me.
"But this is his place right?" the other with wispy blonde hair asked.
"Girls..." I said with a sigh. "He's not here, all I wanted to walk the dog. Please, don't bother me."
The girls blinked at me, letting my exasperated words soak in. Some things, like talking the boys into meeting the girls at the hotel, or things like that, were different. This was AJ's HOME, some things fans just didn't belong in. He'd just moved here not too long ago, and they'd found him already!
"But, we're sure this is the place..." The wispy blonde girl turned around some magazine, and on the page was a huge picture of AJ standing in front of this house.
"Jeeze..." I muttered.
"I knew it Mariah!" the redhead screetched.
"Laura! Shh!" the wispy Mariah girl shushed.
"So is he here?" Laura asked, her excitement burning.
"No, he left at about 11:30 this morning, and he's not planning on coming back. They leave for the first leg of the tour today you know. I was just supposed to walk Tobi, check over his alarm system, then set it and take Tobi home with me and take care of him till AJ either misses him so much he needs me to bring him or the tour's over." I spun the lies as the words came to my brain.
"Aww! Where were they going, do you know?" Mariah asked.
"No clue, he was late so he basicly tossed me the keys and ran." I replied.
"Damnit. Alright. Can we leave something for AJ with you? Maybe you can leave it on his counter or something?" Laura asked meekly.
"Of course." I replied with a nod, and the girls ran to thier car. They stumbled up the walkway, each of them had a box in their arms. They weren't huge boxes, about medium-to-small, but I was only imagining what was in them. One was bigger than the other, and heavier too. I took the boxes, my arms overloaded and after beckoning to Mariah to hold the door open I wandered back into the house and set the boxes on a chair nearby. By the time I got back to the door the girls were already inside, gazing around from the front hall, eyes wide in awe.
"Girls... you cant be in here. I promise to give AJ your stuff. Are your numbers and stuff in, on, any of that stuff?"
"Oh yeah." Laura replied.
"Okay then. Maybe he'll call you but you need to leave, now."
The girls sighed and turned around just as a car honked from outside, suddenly joyous the girls dashed outside, only to see AJ and her cute little blue BMW parked in AJ's drive. I closed the door behind the girls and dashed back into the bedroom, snatched up my bag, and ran to the kitchen, scrawling AJ a note. I stuck the packages on the counter in the kitchen next to the note, and after petting Tobi really quick and making sure he was fed, I ran out. Abby was trying to shoo the girls away.
"Go on, he's not home!" she cried at Mariah, who was desperately trying to pump her for info.
"God, be a bitch about it why don't you?" Laura muttered not-so-quietly.
"Excuse me?" Abby asked, her tone taking on a pissy twinge.
"You could be nicer you know." Laura repeated.
"Nicer? What did you do to deserve niceness?" I cried, tossing my bag into Abby's car. "I want to go put your packages on a table and you invited yourselves in! Now I understand your need to see AJ, but when I said he wasn't at home I wasn't lying. Now go on. I need to be going and I don't want to worry about you people hanging around here." I said with a sigh.
"Okay so you told the truth about him not being at home, I bet you lied about everything else." Mariah said, her tone low and brooding.
"Okay, that's it. I don't need the rest of this aggravation." I cried, climbing into the car.
Abby glared at the girls. "Go home you two, AJ doesn't appreciate fans harassing his friends. She did you a favor, be greatful you even got his front door open."
"Whatever. I bet you AJ is on his way home. You can't make us leave." Laura replied haughtily, crossing her arms.
"Jesus, the fans from hell." I muttered with a sigh. Most of the girls I'd met had been nice, what were these girl's deal?
"I can too make you leave." Abby replied bitchily, pulling out her cell phone. "Watch me call the cops on yer ass."
"Whatever. Laura, let's go." Mariah said with a sigh, pulling her friend to thier car. They climbed in and soon they'd driven off.
"I bet they drive around and come back later." Abby said with a sigh.
"Probably." I replied. "And they'll get thier wish because AJ will be home in an hour and a half, well more like an hour now." I said with a sigh.
"Alright. Get out. We'll wait for him. Damnit I hate girls like that." Abby said, unblucking her seatbelt and climbing out as I fished out my bag and then climbed out too. I pulled my keys from my pocket and let us back in. Tobi, somewhat confused skittered around at our feet. Abby bent to pet him. "Aww Tobi Wan..." she cooed at him as she scratched his ears. "What packages were you talkin about earlier Roo?" she asked, suddenly, standing up.
"Oh, the girls left boxes for AJ." I said, leading her to the kitchen. I grabbed the note and crumpled it up, tossing it away. She grabbed one of the boxes on the counter and turned it in her hands, gently shaking it.
"Jeeze, they packed it tight, I have no clue what it is, and I open fan mail with Denise all the time." She said, opening a drawer and pulling out a knife she carefully slit the tape along the top, she pulled the box open and...

KABOOM!!!!!!!

"Jesus, late for something I fucking planned, I can't believe it." AJ muttered, pulling his hat down and his sunglasses over his eyes as he walked into Planet Hollywood. He smiled at the hostess, who recognised him and led him upstairs to the upper ring. There, in a booth was Howie, Kevin, and Brian... no Nick.
"Fashionably late?" Brian cracked as AJ pulled off his NIKE cap, running his fingers through his dark spikey hair.
"I overslept. I either didn't hear the alarm, or forgot to set it. Thanks for the call Kev." AJ said, slding into a seat. He ordered a drink from the waitress.
"You and Nick both I guess. He should be here soon too." Kevin replied.
"Okay, so why are we here?" Howie asked, gazing at AJ curiously.
"I'd rather wait for Nick, D, if that isn't a hassle." AJ replied.
"Okay, no problem."
They all ordered food, and just as the waitress was about to leave Nick wandered up behind a hostess. "Jesus, I'm so sorry guys!" he said with a sigh, pulling off his hat and sliding in next to AJ. He ordered some food off of the top of his head and a drink as well.
"Okay, here's what's up..." AJ began.

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" Abby screamed, dropping the box as confetti rained down all over the place.
I had screamed too as the box had made the large boom and confetti had flown all over. Someone had rigged the box to rain down glittery confetti when opened, and a big scene popped up out of the box, like a cute 3-dimensional card. My chest was heaving as I got over the initial shock.
"God damn that scared me!" Abby cried, trying to slow her breathing.
"You?! I thought those crazy girls had tried to blow us up!" I screetched.
"Oh my god!" Abby said as she began to giggle.
I smiled too, it was kinda funny. Soon we were both in tears laughing so hard. I picked up the box as I shook the confetti from my hair and set it on the counter. I went to go find a broom.
Abby began to scoop up confetti. A few minutes later I had produced a broom and we cleaned up the confetti. "That's what you get for opening AJ's mail." I smirked.
"I guess. Jeeze, I'm scared to think what's in the other one." she replied, slitting it open anyway. She squinched her eyes shut and opened the flaps...
Nothing. Not a sound. I opened my eyes and peeked in. Inside the box were two envelopes and five cute stuffed bears. One was wearing a cute yellow tee shirt with the word "AJ" embridered on it. It had bright red hair on top of its head and silver earings in each ear. It had on a big silver necklace and sunglasses. They even had given the cute lil thing a goatee! I laughed. They all had bears! Nick's bear was wearing a green shirt and it had big blue eyes, blonde hair and it had on a cute fisherman's cap and "NIKES" on its little feet. Howie's bear had a winking eye and a purple shirt. He had long black hair which was pulled back into a ponytail and an earing in one ear. They even had Howie's new facial hair right. Brian's bear was in a bright blue tee. It had curly reddish blonde hair which was covered by a miniature Kentucky Wildcats hat, turned backwards of course. The bear had bright blue eyes and under the shirt there was a scar from his heart surgery and where his appendix had been taken out! THere was a bright blue ribbon tied around the bears wrist. Kevin's bear was in a darker blue tee. It had dark eyes and bushy little eyebrows. It had in silver earings too, and a little Kevvy-goatee. I giggled. These things were too cute! Abby was smiling, turning the bears around and laughing every now and again.
"Those girls..." she muttered, but she was smiling at the bears.
I heard a slam and I jumped. Abby looked up, surprised.
"Honeeeeeeyyyy I'm hooooooommme!" I heard a laugh as AJ waited for my reply.
"In the kitchen!" I called back.
He tromped in. "Yo Abby Jo." he called with a smile and a wave as he walked to me and hugged me from behind, planting a kiss on the side of my neck. "Hey you. What you doin?"
"Opening up for fanmail." I replied, waving the AJ bear at him. "Look at these things, they're so cute. There's one of each of you."
He let go of my waist and grabbed the bear, peering at it and laughing. "Oh wow." he laughed. "Now that's almost eerie." He smiled.
"Nooooo they're cute. The other box was scary." I said, explaining to him about the confetti. He laughed and I whapped him with his bear. Abby explained to him about the crazy girls.
"Oh yeah, I heard all about you from them." he replied with a smile. They were parked across the street. As soon as I pulled up they were all over me, telling me about the 'evil girls' that inhabited my home."
"Oh jeeze, now I'm not only a bitch, I'm evil too?" Abby said with a sigh.
AJ picked up the Nick bear and mimiced Nick. "Awww my poor baby." he said, doing a semi-good Nick impression, he then made the bear kiss Abby's cheek. "MWA!"
I died of giggles while Abby picked up the Kevin bear, and, making her voice a few octaves lower, "Now Nick! You know you're not allowed to show affection to your girlfriend! Someone might see you!"
"Aww you guys stop it! You're so mean!" I giggled.
"Ok ok, she's right." Abby said, giggling.
They stuck the bears back in the box.
"Alrighty. We leave town in like, 1 and a half hours, can someone please take me home?" I asked, realizing the time.
"Oh jeeze, yeah sweetie." AJ replied, grabbing his keys off of the counter. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him stick the box in his pocket too. I didn't say anything.
"Abber dabber doo, we will see you in front of the bus later. Nick went to go find you at your house you know. You best call him." AJ said, glancing at his watch.
"Alright," she replied, fishing her cell phone out of her bag. "Later guys." she called as she walked out the front door. I went to go grab my bag and the teddy bears.
"You're not bringin' the bears!?" AJ cried as we walked out the front door, locking like mad behind us.
"Yes, they're cute." I replied with a smile.
He rolled his eyes as we walked out to his car. I climbed in. The girls were gone... for now.
We drove to Gram's. All of my stuff had been picked up earlier to be loaded onto the bus. I ran up to my room and grabbed my portable cd player and all of my CD's, cramming them into my backpack. I shoved my book and my journal into my bag, along with some colored pincils and my sketch pad. I zipped up my bag and slipped back downstairs to AJ. Conrad was standing nearby.
"Miss Amanda, your grandmother wants me to tell you she's sorry she can't be here to say goodbye, but that she loves you very much and will call soon." he smiled warmly at me and I hugged him.
"Aww. I'll miss you too Conrad." I grinned.
"Ready?" AJ asked as soon as the hugging was done.
"Yep. Think so." with a wave I followed AJ out the door and to his car.

"Okay! Everyone pile on!" Denise called.
I wandered to the boy's bus and climbed up onto the bus. There was a lot of room because Nick and Abby and Aaron and Jane were all on Aaron's bus, Aaron was the boy's opening act. I slipped into the very back of the bus and climbed up onto one of the couches, my backpack carefully stowed in AJ's bunk for now. After everyone was on the appropriate busses we were off.
The begining of the trip was really boring, we sat around, caused trouble, annoyed Denise, you know, normal stuff.
By about 7 we were all starving, so we grabbed some food, once again, nothing special except for the faces people made when you walked into McDonalds after getting off of a huge ass bus.
In fact, most of the trip to North Carolina (the first show of the tour) was pretty uneventful.
The day of the show was pretty uneventful for me, I just hung out while the boys did sound checks and stuff. Abby and I talked a lot.
That night, backstage, AJ seemed a little antsy.
"Baby. You alright?" I asked, wondering what the deal was.
"Yeah, just first show jitters," he replied, but I didn't think he was telling me the truth.
"Oh, okay." I replied, snatching his water bottle from him and stealing a drink.
"Hey, get your own!" he cried, snatching it back. I smiled sweetly at him.
"Huddle up!" a voice called and we all gathered into a tight little group, underneath the stage.
"BSB WHAT TIME IS IT!?"
"It's tiiiiiiiiiiiiime for me to go to work now!" we all yelled back.
"What kinda work?!"
"HARD WORK HUAH!" We all laughed and clipped as the huddle broke. I hugged AJ and ran out the doors that would take me to my seat. Abby trotted behind me. We slipped into our seats, front row, our angle was really good too, we could see all of the stage. Soon all of these pyros were going off and suddenly the boys popped up out of the stage.
"Heey-ay-ay!" AJ sang, and the music started, the band's platforms moved into place. They went into "That's The Way I Like It", a song off of the Backstreet's Back album. They did a few more songs, then once the crowd was hyped they went into solos. I about fell over, either in laughter or in shock as AJ did, let's just say... bad things, to the stage. I think it was mostly laughter because the crowd volume rose about 3 octaves whenever AJ's pelvis got to thrusting. Overall though, I was terribly impressed.
The show was almost two hours long, and Abby and waved and yelled, just like the rest of the fans. The Boys, every once in awhile, would wander over and wave and stuff, it was a lot of fun. After the show we slipped back under the stage, and waited for the guys to unwind. Abby had explained this to me. The boys needed time to unwind from the adrenaline caused by running around for two hours, it was just the way it was. So as the boys took showers and changed, we talked with the various people who had access to the backstage area. About half-an-hour the boys were calm enough that we all caught a van back to the hotel. Nick and Brian, still a bit jumpy, went to go play bball, some securty guards tagging along behind them. Howie went to go find his family, some of which had attended the show, and who he'd invited to visit him at the hotel. Kevin went to go call Bree (his girlfriend oh that was so long ago, chapter 7 I think.). Bree was joining up in a few weeks, and in about two weeks I was going home for a little down time, only to join up again later. I wasn't thinking about my schedual though, I was gazing at AJ, who was eerily calm.
"Baby?" I said quietly, touching his shoulder.
He jumped a bit, dropping something. I bent to pick it up. It was that box again! "You know," I said, standing and holding out the box to him, "this is like the fifth time I've seen this thing with you. What's in it? Some sort of lucky charm?"
He pushed the box away. "Something like that. Open it." his voice was almost quiet.
I flipped open the box, and saw, yeah you guessed it, the hunking rock AJ had been showing Brian and Nick a few days earlier. In shock, I dropped the box, ring and all. AJ bent to pick it up as I struggled to breathe.
He smiled, pulling the ring out of the box. "It's not THAT heavy." he said wih a grin.
I smiled, my eyes welling with tears.
"Mandy, will you marry me?" he asked quietly.
I nodded, my throat to clamped shut to speak. He gently took my right hand and slid the ring on my finger. I threw my arms around him and hugged him. He hugged me back gently.

I'd been off of the tour for about 5 days now, and I was already getting antsy. Most of my time was now spent staring at the ring that sat on my right hand. AJ and I had decided that marriage was a long ways off, and that for now, what we had was enough. Tobi was with me at Gran's place for now, and he would come with me to New York when I rejoined the boys in about 6 days. Abby was due home today. I sighed, waiting for my cell phone to ring. I even went shopping to waste some time. Tony had managed to get tranfered to Orlando, and he and Mo were living together in a place about a 15 minute drive from Gran's. Mo was going to go to college in the fall, and had found work at Virgin, and Tony was working in his firm's Orlando office. Most of Mo's stuff was still en route from New York. I was terribly glad things had worked out so well for them. I stared at the TV, not paying attention to the show or channel. Tobi was on the couch next to me, his head in my lap. My cell rang and I snatched it up.
"Yo!" I called
"Rooblez!" Abby called.
"Yo Abby Jo!"
"What's up?"
"Nuttin, just being bored." I replied.
"Aww. So have you decided?"
"Decided what?"
"Who gets to be maid of honor silly!" she replied.
"Oh, no. I can't choose between you and Mo!" I cried, patting Tobi's head.
"Yes you can, you say, 'Mo, I want Abby to be my maid of honor.' Simple as that." she laughed.
"Nooooo. No can do. Besides I'm not getting married for a while yet."
"Aw, you're so mean to me!" Abby said, pretending to be sad.
We talked for a little while longer, and we agreed to go out for dinner tomorrow night. I glanced at the clock. It was 1 AM. I traipsed up to my room, Tobi following behind sleepily. Just as I was about to go to bed my cell rang again. I picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Baby!" AJ replied.
"Hiya babe." I said, settling under the covers.
"What's up?"
"Nothin, I was just gonna go to bed."
"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie, did I wake you?"
"No, not at all. Tobi misses you." I said, patting the sleeping dog's head.
"Aww, I miss you both." he replied.
"Awwww." I replied, melting at his sweet words.
"Alright, I just wanted to call and say hi. I love you. Go to sleep."
"Good night baby. I love you too." I replied, and clicked the cell off, curlng under the covers.

Not too long after that I was back on tour with the boys. Then I spent a few days in Europe while they worked on the new album, and then I jammed back to Orlando for a modeling shoot. Bree, Tiff, Abby, and a few of my friends all modeled and they had gotten me a job with some photographer. I really had no idea what it was all about, but I went and did exactly what they asked of me. Soon they were calling me about more jobs and I got a manager to deal with the scheduling of it. Soon the boys were back in Orlando, recording more for the upcoming album. We were all sitting around on a break when somehow the subject turned to Abby and Nick's engagement.
"So are you two ever gonna get married?" Kevin asked, eyeing them from over his bottle of water.
"Eventually," Nick replied, shooting Kevin an unreadable look.
"Yeah, we're too young yet." Abby agreed.
"You two should do a double cerimony." Brian declared out of the blue.
"Hmm, maybe." I replied, glancing at Nick and Abby.
"Hmm, yeah, anything's posible." Abby said, nodding.
"Yeah," AJ began. "Who knows what the future holds!"

Hahahahaha crummy ending but anywho--
THE END!!!!