Neither Amanda or Mel admitted they were nervous but I could tell. We had all grown to recognize each other's signs. But I couldn't say much, cause I was extremely nervous also. My mom said that we were all overreacting because they were just people like us. But these were the guys that pretty much started us. We were now checking into our hotel, we wouldn't be leaving for another two days.
"Ohhhhhhhh," I slumped down onto the nearest bed as we entered our room. We were now in a different time zone, Florida.
"I'm pooped," added Amanda as she fell beside me.
Mel sat down the pet carrier she'd been carrying. She took one look at us and began to laugh.
"What?" asked Amanda.
"Nothing, you guys just look so pathetic," she said.
"Take a look in the mirror," I commented. I got up an walked over to where she'd put the carrier and opened the door. Jimmie was clung to the door.
"AAArrrrrrrrrrrrrrwwwwwwwwwwwkk," he screamed. Jimmie didn't like to travel unless it was on my shoulder.
"Hey, come here baby," I said to him as I put my hand down for him to climb on.
"Why did you bring him?" asked Amanda, she wasn't a big bird person.
"Cause if I had to wait until Mom got here bringing Sadie I wanted to take Jimmie with us. Plus he can't take it for long in that cage. I knew a plane would be faster." I told her while petting Jimmie's breast.
"So are you going to tell him where you got Jimmie's name?" Mel asked with a grin.
"Not unless he asks," I said, smiling.
"Well let's get some rest," Amanda said.
It was only six in California but here in Florida it was later and we were tired. After putting some newspaper under and on the seat of a chair and Jimmie on the back, Amanda and I climbed into the bed by the door and Mel climbed onto the other. And there we slept until what we'd hoped would be about seven am. It was a scream that woke us.
"What?" I asked Mel again, angrily.
My mother sat up next to her. "What?"
Jimmie had been put in his cage that my mother brought with her, he had woke from the scream also and began screaming himself.
"AArrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkkk!"
Sadie was asleep between Amanda and I and amazingly didn't move. Amanda, too, sat up and looked in the direction of the clock. 5:45 in bright red letters stared back at her.
"Nothing, sorry. You just scared me, Mom." Mel said as she was getting up.
Amanda and Mel had been calling my mother "Mom" since before we even started the group. Amanda had even once said that she thought of my mother as her own, which almost brought tears to Mom's eyes.
The phone rang beside the bed and I reached over and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Is this...Lauren?" came the voice.
I could tell right away that he was reading the name off of a paper because I could hear the crinkling through the phone.
"Laura...."
"Oh..uh... sorry. Anglen, right."
"Yes," I said confused.
"Hi, sorry it's so early but...uh.... we were wondering if you girls wanted to come down to the venue?" he said again.
"Who is this?" I said.
"A friend?" he tried.
"Ok," I laughed. "Does this friend have a name?"
I looked over and saw Mom trying to quiet Jimmie from his screaming fit.
Thanks a lot, Mel. I thought. He's going to wake up the whole hotel.
"Yeah, it's JC," he said with a sigh.
I froze, one of NSYNC was calling us and wanted us to come to the rehearsal studio.
"Sure," I managed to squeek out.
"Great, see you in a hour." he said.
"Yeah," I said dumbfounded.
I hung up the phone to find three blank faces.
"Well? Spill it, Laura. Who was it?" asked my mom reading my face.
"That was um... JC... they want us to come down to the rehearsal studio." I said still in shock.
"Oh my god," Mel whispered.
Amanda and Mel looked at each other and both got up and ran for the bathroom door. As I saw them I broke out in a run but missed just as Mel closed the door. Amanda and I turned to find my mom laughing at us.
As we walked into the venue, we were struck at how big the stage for these five guys was. You could tell they loved to perform for their fans. The five guys were on the stage sitting on the stairs. As we walked in, the guys stood up and walked toward us.
"Hey," I said. All I could do was stand there. Amanda nudged me on the arm. "Oh, I'm Laura and this is Mel and Amanda."
"Hi," said Chris while looking at us. "I guess we don't need to introduce ourselves."
Amanda chuckled, "Um... no, not really." "Well come check out the stage," said JC.
"No offence, but um... why exactly did you guys want us to come here?" I questioned.
"We'll be traveling together for about six months. We just thought we could get to know you before hand." said Justin while climbing back onto the stage.
"Oh, good idea." I stated.
We had been at the venue for about an hour talking to the guys.
"So, where do we go first?" I asked JC.
JC just shrugged. "Ask Lance," he said before walking over to talk to Amanda.
"Gee, thanks." I said out loud to myself.
"You know talking to yourself is a sign of insanity," said a voice in my ear.
I turned to find Chris standing behind me.
"Well if that's the case you must talk to yourself non-stop," I said laughing at him.
"Ah, Laura, you hurt my feelings." he said pouting.
At this Wade came walking in. "Ok, guys." He then stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh, didn't know we had company today."
"Wade, this is Laura, Amanda and Mel. They're going to be opening on tour." Lance told Wade.
"Well, Ok. Rehersal starts in five minutes." Wade told them.
"Wait what about us? What are we going to do while ya'll practice?" I asked as Wade walked back into another part of the venue.
"Ya'll can watch. Sit on the stage stairs." Lance told me while walking over toward where I was.
Lance and I began talking not noticing Amanda and Mel.
"Yeah," I laughed at the story he was telling me.
He stared laughing with me. I couldn't help myself but to notice his green eyes and the beautiful smile of his.
They look much better in person. I thought.
He stared back at me as I kept looking into his eyes.
"Laura??" he said. "Are you ok?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine." I quickly said, my cheeks turning colors.
Amanda and Mel had been whispering and finally came out of their huddle.
"Would you mind if we showed you our first song- dance we got?" asked Mel.
I looked at her in horror.
Mel, no, they probably get enough of their own music just singing it themselves.
The guys looked at each other. "No, please go ahead." Lance told Mel.
Mel ran over to the band and whispered something in Billy's ear. A grin came over his face as Mel ran over to the others who had all gotten in one spot. She walked back toward us and looked at me.
"Come on, Laura." she pleaded.
I stood there in shock...
Amanda turned to the guys and smiled.
"I'm pretty sure you guys are familiar with 'You Got It'?" she said to them.
The guys looked at one another with grins. "You guys learned our dance?" asked JC.
"No, we made our own." Mel stated while pushing them off-stage so they could get the audience point of view. Amanda had the task of pulling me out of my trance.
"Ready?" asked Billy.
"No," said Amanda as she walked over to me. She had had to do the same thing several times when we were in front of people. She followed my gaze to see me looking right at Lance. "Sing to him," she whispered.
I turned toward her. "Are you kidding? I can't do that."
"Why not?" she asked.
I was silent. I couldn't come up with an excuse.
This is going to be a nightmare. I thought.
"Course you can. We have to do this in a couple nights in front of thousands of people. You can sing one song in front of five guys." Amanda said to me.
I nodded softly. We all got in our spots and waited for the music to start.
