Christine stepped out of the rickety elevator and ran her fingers through her hair. Today had to be one of the worst days she had in a long time. It wasn’t anything in particular, it was just a lot of little things annoying her. She hadn’t eaten anything all day, it had been raining while she was walking from store to store without an umbrella, and Nick was probably mad at her because he had ignored her when he saw her in the morning. Then, she was lonely because Sandra was gone for the week because she was standing up in her cousin’s wedding. She wouldn’t be back until Thursday. It worked out fine for rehearsals because one of the male dancers was also out for the week.
Sighing, she pulled out her key and opened the door to her room. As soon as she stepped in, her day became instantly wonderful. “KAT!” she screamed. She ran over to her best friend and gave her a hug.
“TEENY!” Katelyn screamed back. “AHHHHH! I MISSED YOU!”
“I missed you, too! What did-how-who set this-” Christine stuttered. Then she looked at the bed and saw Nick. “You did this for me?”
He nodded modestly. “I thought you’d be kind of happy.” He stood up and pulled her into a hug and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Christine squealed. She turned back to Katelyn. “So how long have you known about this?”
“Since yesterday,” Katelyn replied. “Nick called, and he was like, ‘Dude, you should come visit!’ I said I would love to, so he bought me the ticket.”
Christine turned to Nick and kissed his cheek again. “Thank you so much!” Then she looked at Katelyn. “How long are you staying?”
“Until Thursday. I leave when Sandra gets back,” Katelyn answered.
“YAY! We’re gonna have so much fun!” Christine yelled.
“Gosh, settle down, Chris! It’s only been three weeks since you’ve seen me,” Katelyn laughed.
“Yeah, but do you want to try spending three weeks with Nicky Boy, here?” Christine joked. She grabbed Katelyn’s arm and led her to the door. “Come on, you have to meet the other guys!”
In the hallway, Kevin and AJ were talking about how rehearsal for the next day had been cancelled. Fatima was sick. Katelyn’s jaw dropped, and they turned to introduce themselves.
“Hi, you must be Kate,” AJ said. He kissed her hand. “I’m AJ. Chris told us a lot about you, and Nick told us that you were coming. This here is Kevin.”
“Uh, hi. Nice to meet you!” she exclaimed.
“You two are her favorite, so she’s kind of excited right now,” Christine explained.
“Well, that’s always nice to hear,” Kevin said warmly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kate.” Katelyn smiled, a little more comfortable with the situation now. It wasn’t every day you got to meet your idols.
Just then, Brian poked his head out of his room. He had obviously been sleeping, as told by his wrinkled clothes and ruffled hair. He blinked a few times. “What’s going on out here?” he yawned.
“Hey, Brian!” Christine exclaimed. “This is by bestest friend in the whole wide world, Kate. Kate, meet the coolest guy in the whole wide world, Brian.”
“What about me?” Nick, AJ, and Kevin whined simultaneously.
Christine laughed. “You guys are all tied for second.”
“Hi, Kate. It’s great to meet you,” Brian said. He studied her. Wow! He had guessed she would be pretty, but not this pretty! Her long, black hair fell to the middle of her back, and her dark brown eyes sparkled with excitement. She was Asian, and her skin was tan.
“Do all of you want to go to dinner at the restaurant downstairs?” Nick asked.
“I will, and I think Brian will, once he’s done lifting his jaw off the floor and wiping the drool from his chin,” AJ teased.
Brian turned a deep shade of red and tore his eyes from Katelyn. “What? What are you talking about?”
“We’d love to go,” Christine said, rolling her eyes.
“I certainly would!” Katelyn replied excitedly.
“If she’s going, I guess that means we can count Brian in,” Kevin joked. “And me, too. Want to go now?”
“Yeah, sure,” Nick said. “Does anyone need to shower or anything?”
“Nah, it’s not like there’s anyone to show off for,” Christine said. “Right, Kate? Right, Brian?” She smiled angelically and her friends blushed.
Brian tried to ignore her comment. “I need to change real quick. My clothes are all wrinkled and stuff. Be out in a minute.” He ran back into his room and emerged a few moments later. Now it was Katelyn’s turn to pull her jaw off the floor.
“He’s really hot,” she whispered to Christine. Christine nodded.
Christine opened the door to her room and collapsed on the bed. It was about eleven, and after dinner, Kevin and AJ had gone back to their rooms, leaving Nick, Brian, Katelyn, and her at the table. They had stayed there until about nine-thirty, just chatting, and then they had gone swimming.
“So you and Brian really hit it off, huh?” Christine asked Katelyn.
“I hope so,” Katelyn replied.
“Well, he’s acting worse with you than he was with me! There’s got to be something there. I think you should go for him!” Christine encouraged.
“Is that how he acted with you?”
“Sort of. He wasn’t so nervous around me, though. I think I attracted him more with personality than with looks.”
Katelyn took offense to that statement. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Wait, that didn’t sound right. He didn’t like me until he got to know me, but I can tell that he thought you were gorgeous, and I can also tell that he likes your personality. So it’s not just looks, but his first attraction was based on looks. Does that make any sense?”
“Yeah, I see what you’re saying. Do you think I have a chance with him?”
“Absolutely, but Kate, do you want to go out with him? You live in Madison. You’ll barely ever see him.”
“Are you saying that I shouldn’t go out with him?” Katelyn asked.
“No, I’m just saying that you should make sure you want to before you make a move,” Christine said wisely.
“Okay. Chris, do you mind if we get together? Because if you do, then I won’t ask him out or anything.”
“No, not at all,” Christine replied. “I’m just looking out for you. I don’t want you to get your heart broken.”
Katelyn smiled. “Thanks. So what’s up for tomorrow? You don’t have rehearsal, so do you want to have a girls’ day or something?”
“Why do you even need to ask that? You should know me well enough by now,” Christine teased. “Of course! We can go shopping! I can invite Leah, Andrea, and Jessica, but if you want just the two of us to hang out, I’d rather do that. It’s been a long time.”
“Yeah, let’s hang out, just the two of us, like old times. I miss that!” Katelyn said.
“Then maybe tomorrow night, we can rent some movies, and then Tuesday night, we can go to an eighteen and up dance club with the guys. I would say we could go to an all-ages club, but the guys are going to get mobbed,” Christine said.
Katelyn gave her a funny look. “How are you going to get in? You’re only seventeen, dear.”
“Kat, when have I ever gotten carded? Anyway, do you think they’ll kick me out if I’m with the Backstreet Boys? We can even go to a regular, twenty-one and up club or something and they’ll let us in.”
“Good point. Okay, then what about Wednesday?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out when we get there. Besides, you might be with Brian by then and you might want to spend some time with him,” Christine joked.
“And I’m sure you’ll want to spend some time with Nick this week. I don’t mean to tear you away from him,” Katelyn said, half sarcastically and half apologetically.
“What do you mean?” Christine replied, confused.
“I saw it all night. You like him,” Katelyn said matter-of-factly.
“What? Yeah, right!” Christine exclaimed, blushing furiously.
“Then why are you so red?”
“Because I-this is ridiculous. That’s why. The idea of me liking Nick is just…absurd.”
“Okay, if you went to lengths to use the word ‘absurd,’ which I have never heard you use, you have to like him.”
“Even if I did like him, don’t you think I would tell you? You’re my best friend! I tell you everything!”
Katelyn pondered for a moment and realized that that was true. “I guess you’re right. Now let’s go to sleep because I’m exhausted and we have a long day of shopping ahead of us tomorrow!”