The sunlight streamed in from a separation in the curtains and settled gently on Chris’s face. She turned her head, even though she usually woke up with the sun, and snuggled back down under the blankets. It was chilly in the hotel room because of the air conditioning and she just wanted to stay under the covers.

As she rolled over, Chris opened her eyes slightly and reached for her watch on the night stand. "7:00. Time to get up," she said to herself. "But not yet." Chris lay back against the pillows and stretched. She lay on her back looking at the ceiling, thinking. I just want to enjoy the quiet for a while. Well, the quiet between Howie’s snores and conversations with himself. She chuckled.

The shower water was running, and a few minutes later, AJ came out of the bathroom. He was wearing a pair of black wind pants and towel-drying his hair. Chris turned at the swish-swish of his walk, her breath catching in her throat. He didn’t seem to notice her stare, nor acknowledge that he knew she was awake. As he walked by the bed to his suitcase, Chris sat up.

AJ turned around after looking through his suitcase and saw Chris, sitting up, her hair flat on one side and her T-shirt partially off one shoulder. "Good morning," he said quietly.

"Good morning to you, too," Chris replied. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah. Did you?" AJ opened his eyes and smiled at her, mesmerized by the way the sunlight fell on her face. He leaned up and kissed her on the cheek. "I liked waking up and having you here."

"It wasn’t any different at home."

"But now we’re in closer quarters. I don’t know. It’s just cool, I think. Were you able to sleep with Howie here?" He gestured toward the other bed. Howie was sprawled out on the bed, snoring. Occasionally, he would mutter a few words. AJ got an idea, and put his finger to his lips. Chris nodded, a smile creeping across her face.

"Watch this. Howie?" AJ asked.

"Yeah?" Howie answered in his sleep.

"Wanna go fly an airplane?"

"Not right now. Maybe later."

Chris pulled the blanket over her mouth to stifle a laugh. AJ glanced quickly at Chris to see her reaction, continued to talk to the sleeping Howie.

"Howie, man, you got a show to do in two days."

"I know. Pretty excited."

"You gonna sing your solo?"

"Hope so," Howie said, then settled into a series of snoring. Chris pulled the blanket over her head and started to laugh out loud. AJ sat by Chris at the edge of the bed and pulled the blanket off her head.

"So what’d ya think?" he asked.

Chris just shook her head. "You’re bad."

"But you love me for it, right?"

"I guess I’ll have to learn to love your awful ways with the unconscious."

"Why, you," he growled, reaching for Chris’s sides. She moved away and rolled off the bed, just out of his reach.

"Shh!" she exclaimed, sitting back on her knees on the floor, her arms on the mattress.

"Don’t worry about ‘D. He’ll sleep through anything."

"Don’t think so, Bone," Howie said, still sleeping. AJ and Chris started to laugh hysterically.

"I don’t think I’ll be able to handle this for six months!" Chris managed to say between laughs. "My sides are killing me!"

"Babe, it only gets better," AJ said.

Suddenly there was a quiet knock at the door separating them from Brian and Emily’s room. Chris jumped back into bed and AJ went over to the door. Opening it, he beheld an irritated Emily.

"Would you two please be quiet?" she asked. "We’re trying to sleep!"

"My dear, do you realize what time it is? You guys should already be up and getting the rest of us up. We have to be at the venue in an hour and a half."

"Fine. But we’ll see who keeps who up tonight," Emily threatened, closing the door.

AJ came back to get his shirt out of the suitcase. "Knew I forgot something," he said.

"She sounded perky," Chris remarked.

"Between her and Nick in the mornings...Let me just say it’s a treat." He pulled his shirt on over his head. "You’d better get out of bed and dressed before ‘D gets up."

"Okay. You’re the boss." She got out from under the covers again and started shivering. A pair of black jeans, a gray and white striped shirt, and black clogs were on her person in less than five minutes, and Chris sprayed her hair with a water bottle and began to style. After combing and drying, she plugged in the curling iron and put on her makeup as she waited for it to heat.

"Are you going to wear socks?" AJ asked. "It gets cold in there sometimes."

"Yep!" Chris said, lifting her pant leg just enough so that he could see the grey socks with green frogs. He rolled his eyes. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing. You’re just goofy."

"Thank you." Chris was almost ready. She just needed her black beret and her jewelry. Putting little silver sparkly earrings in each of her three sets of holes, and one in the cartlidge of her ear, Chris shook with excitement. She had a hard time fastening the clasp of her silver cross necklace and asked AJ for help.

"Can you get this for me? I’d ask Howie, but he’s in the shower."

"Sure," he replied, coming up behind her. Chris gave him the necklace and lifted up her hair. After AJ fastened the necklace, he let his fingers linger on her neck, then moved his hands to rest on her shoulders. He leaned his head down and whispered in her ear, "In case I don’t have time to tell you, I love you."

"I love you, too," Chris said, her pulse beginning to race. When AJ kissed her, it was like she was the only one, and had been the only one. It wasn’t easy to forget he had kissed other girls like he kissed her. But she didn’t dwell on that; instead she focused on the here and now. On the two of them.

Forty-five minutes later, the whole group was inside the venue looking at the stage from the top row of seats. For once, the Backstreet Boys had been on time. As Chris looked down at the stage, she asked, "So, where are Emily and I going to be?"

"Probably backstage," Kevin said. "Isn’t that where you were last tour, Em?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But it’s not that bad. You can see a lot," Emily replied.

"It’s a nice view, then, huh?" Chris teased. Brian rolled his eyes.

"Okay, girls, let it out. Go ahead and laugh at my butt."

"We weren’t laughing at your butt," Chris said. "Were we?"

"Not at all," Emily agreed. "We were laughing at Kevin’s."

"What?!" Kevin exclaimed. "How did I get involved?"

"Only when your pants ripped last tour and we all had a nice view of your butt," Emily said, a serious expression on her face. "That was the biggest laugh I ever had."

"Please, girls, that’s enough." Brian said. "My cousin doesn’t deserve that."

"Thank you, Bri," Kevin said gratefully.

"But," Brian continued, "it was the biggest laugh we ever had."

After a few minutes, the group was settled enough to work. AJ introduced Chris to the members of the band, and then Emily took her backstage. She showed Chris around and told her what they would be doing.

"Mostly we’ll be doing the water thing, and helping with costumes. Don’t get in the way, but make sure you can help everyone. Normally they’re pretty good about having everything, but you know how good communication can be."

Chris nodded. "Are they doing costumes now?"

"No. That’ll probably be tomorrow. The setup should be about the same in each venue, so you won’t get confused. My advice to you is pay attention and don’t ask questions. We’re on a tight schedule here."

"You seem like a military person."

"I’ve just done this so many times. I don’t want to seem mean or anything."

"You’re not," Chris assured her. "Just tell it how it is and I’ll deal with it. One question, though. When do we get to watch the show?"

"We get to see bits and pieces," Emily said. "But you can hear them quite well."

"Oh, okay. So what happens after the show? Where do we go?"
"Well, the Boys leave, and the band keeps playing until they’ve left. Then the crew helps take down. If we’re going to another city right away, then the band and crew take separate buses and trucks and eventually we all meet up at the next venue, ready to help out again." Seeing Chris’s confused face, Emily continued. "I know you want to be with AJ, but he has to work--"

"I know that. I just didn’t think I’d be doing manual labor," Chris joked.

"We’re not setting the stage up. We just help with costumes. Getting them packed and cleaned and stuff. The guys still hang out with us, and there are some days off between shows. Trust me when I say we’ll all be so busy, the only time we’ll have enough energy to goof off is while we’re sleeping."

"I sure hope you didn’t mean it the way it sounded," Chris remarked, her eyes twinkling.

"I sure hope you get your mind out of the gutter, girl!" Emily teased.

Just then, the drummer started warming up, and the girls’ conversation was history. It soon got too loud to talk, and Chris and Emily just puttered around backstage setting things up. Occasionally, they would peek out from the wings, waving and making faces at the Boys. There weren’t many responses, but Chris and Emily had a good time mocking them and trying not to get caught. The stage managers weren’t that amused, but let the two girls have some fun, since it would be hectic starting that afternoon.

Before long, it was time for a lunch break, and Chris and Emily quietly came out from backstage. Neither AJ nor Brian were facing the wings, so Chris put her finger to her lips and motioned towards them. Emily nodded and did a quick leg stretch while Chris took off her clogs. At Chris’s silent count of three, the two of them let out a high-pitched scream and raced to their boyfriends. AJ and Brian turned around in surprise and, as the girls approached, dropped to the floor, their arms covering their heads. Emily wasn’t running as fast as Chris, and was able to stop in front of Brian. Chris jumped over AJ and skidded to stop in her socks, nearly sliding right off the stage. Luckily, Howie was watching, and put out an arm to stop her, laughing the whole time.

"Thanks, Howie," Chris said breathlessly.

"No problem, Chris," Howie replied, his dark eyes laughing. "What were you trying to do?"

"Just trying to surprise you guys," Emily said. Chris looked over and saw Emily sitting on Brian’s back. "I’m keeping him under control," she said to Chris’s questioning gaze.

"Oh, okay. I thought you were going to ride him or something. Tell me," Chris asked Brian, "is that how you guys protect yourselves from fans?"

"No," Brian said, his voice muffled. "We run like heck."

"Everyone except Kevin," AJ said. "He usually gets mauled. Too slow, you know."

"Why do you guys keep picking on me?" Kevin asked. "I wasn’t the one getting jumped."

"We realize that, Kev," Brian said, getting up on his hands and knees, Emily still on his back. "You’re lucky you’re so light, Em."

Emily lightly swatted the back of his head. "Giddy-up."

Chris finally caught her breath, and was standing up straight. Her head was a little fuzzy, and she felt dizzy, but that was understandable considering her recent attempt at Olympic gold in jumping hurdles. Howie was still standing next to her.

"What were you two thinking when you did that?" he asked.

"Oh, we just wanted to surprise you guys."

"I honestly didn’t think you had it in you to scream like that." He rubbed his ears. "I thought you were going to break the glass!"

"Very funny, Mr. Falsetto," Chris said, rolling her eyes. Then she heard someone behind her. She turned just in time to see AJ holding an opened ice-cold water bottle up over her head. "You wouldn’t," she warned.

"He would," Howie answered. "I’d run if I were you."

"Oh, come on! It’s not like we tried to kill you! Take a joke!" Chris said, backing away. AJ followed her, still holding the water.

"I don’t know if I should," AJ said seriously. He looked over at Brian, now standing with his own water. "Wadda you think, Rok?"

"I don’t know, AJ. What do they say about payback?" He took a drink.

"I think they say that unless it’s really serious, you should let it go and not take offense at everything," Chris suggested.

"I don’t think so," AJ said. He pushed the cap down, then pulled up again in thought. "I think they say that payback’s a--" With that, AJ pulled up the cap and squeezed the water on Chris, who screamed because of the cold.

"That’s FREEZING!!!" She turned and ran in a circle around AJ and hid behind Howie. "Hide me!!"

"Guys, I think we’d better stop messing around. We have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time--" But Howie was the next target, and got soaked by AJ. "That’s it! Grab some water, Chris!" he shouted, using his own water on AJ. Chris ran backstage and grabbed four bottles and pulled up the caps. She tossed one to Emily and another to Howie, and she took two. Within minutes, the five of them were soaked to the bone in ice-cold water. After all the ammunition was gone the water war was over, and they stood glaring at each other on the wet stage.

Chris was the first to crack up. "You all looked like drowned rats!"

"So do you!" Emily said, laughing.

"I think we deserved that," Chris tried to say. "No more jokes! Hahahaha!"

"Alright, you guys," Kevin said, coming up to the group, who was now laughing hysterically. "Here’re some towels. Now dry off and let’s eat." He tossed some towels out, shook his head, and headed backstage. "You guys are acting like Nick would."

"I heard that!" Nick shouted from a dressing room.

Chris picked up a towel and dried her hair a bit. "Great! Now I’m probably going to get pneumonia and die. Thank you, AJ."

"That’s not a very nice thing to say," Howie commented.

"But it’s true, in it?" she quoted. When no one responded, she shook her head. "Nevermind. You guys don’t watch many musicals, do you?"

"Nope," Brian said. "But I do watch a lot of food commercials. Let’s see what we have to eat." He headed back to the dressing rooms, his towel around his neck.

"Yeah, I’m starving," Emily said. "Come on, Chris."

"Just a minute, Emily," AJ said. "I have to have a little word with my girlfriend."

"What’d I do now?" Chris sighed, as if being scolded.

Howie looked at the two of them. "You guys gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, Howie. I think Mr. McLean is gonna give me detention," Chris joked.

"Well, see you back in the rooms. I’d hurry up if I were you. Don’t know how much will be left with Nick back there." While Chris chuckled, Howie followed the others.

When he was out of earshot, Chris looked at AJ. "You realize that I have no more clothes here with me. And I have wet socks. And my shoes are way over--" she gestured to the opposite corner of the stage.

AJ grabbed her hands and put them by her sides. "I was just teasing. You know that, right?"

"I was, too. Do you know that?" Chris replied.

"Of course I do. We have to have a little fun around here."

"Tomorrow’s probably going to be the last day we’ll see each other for more than five minutes. I mean, we’ll be riding different buses and all."

AJ looked at her. "Who told you that?"
"Nobody, really. I just assumed that because Emily and I were helping with costumes and stuff that we’d have to ride with the crew."

"Do you honestly think I’d have you come with us and stick you in the middle of nowhere with people you don’t even know?! Kevin’s the one who got you on this tour, and you’ll be sticking with him. And because you’re supposed to be with him, you’ll be right by me. For the whole tour. I promise."

AJ watched the invisible mask fall from Chris’s face, and saw the fear and questions slip away. He put his arms around her. "I’ll never let anything happen to you. And if you ever need space, I’ll give it to you. But I don’t ever want you to feel abandoned or alone. That’s not why we’re where we are today."

He gave her a kiss on her forehead, then took her hand. "Let’s go eat."

Chapter Fourteen