We finally got back to Vanessa's house around 6:00am. Her younger sister Sara was getting ready for school. She was fourteen.
"Where have you guys been?" she asked. "I thought you were only supposed to be there for like five hours or something?"
We told her what happened and she stared at us in disbelief "Yeah, right nice try. I'm not stupid you know."
"Sara I'm serious!" Vanessa told her. "They said they are going to stop by and take us to lunch."
"Well, then I'll be here on my lunch break to prove you wrong. My rides here." She left to go to school.
Vanessa and I looked at each other and smiled. It was so hard but we fell asleep. Around I 0:00 am the phone rang. "Hello?" Vanessa said as she rolled over and picked up the phone.
"Hey, is this Vanessa?" Nick's sweet voice said.
"Yes, this is she," Vanessa said with a big grin on her face. I squinted at her blocking my eyes from the bright sun beaming in through the window. When I saw her face I knew who it was.
"What were you guys doing right now?" Nick asked.
"Well, we were sleeping," Vanessa said. "I was so tired."
"Yeah I just woke up about 10 minutes ago. The AJ came into my room and begged me to call..."
"I didn't beg you..." AJ said in the background.
"Yes, you did, 'Please call them and see what they're doing.'" Nick mimicked AJ.
"That's it," AJ said.
Vanessa heard Nick laughing hysterically. "Stop it ... stop ... hey, come on AJ!" Nick said. "Hello? Sorry about that. Well, we're going to start getting ready and we should be there in about an hour or two ... if we don't get lost."
"Great see you then!" Vanessa hung up. "Nick and AJ are on their way. They said they'll be here in a couple hours." We got up took showers and got ready. Around 12:30 p.m. Sara walked through the door. "Just what I thought! I don't see Nick or AJ anywhere! You guys are such liars!" She was still standing with her back to the open door when they walked up behind her. She turned around to leave when she bounced right off of Nick's chest. "Hey ... Oh my goodness!" She said looking up at Nick.
"Hi is Vanessa and Angela here?" Nick asked.
"Uh, yeah they're right over there," she said.
"Hi AJ!" I said I didn't realize how much I had missed him for those few hours we were apart.
"Hey baby," he said giving me a big hug.
"Aww, you guys are so cute!" Vanessa said. I rolled my eyes.
Nick grabbed her hand and said, "Well you guys ready?"
"Of course," Vanessa said. "Sara don't be late to get back to school all right" she said as we walked away.
"Oh, uh, OK," she said still staring in shock.
"I rented an Expedition because I absolutely love them!" AJ said opening the passenger side door for me. I got in and sat down. The car still smelled of mixed cologne and now perfume. Sara walked outside and stared at us with her mouth open.
"Uh, we can give her a ride back to school if she wants..." AJ said as he started the truck.
"Let me ask her." Vanessa rolled down the window, "Sara, do you need a ride? You need to be back in like... five minutes you know."
"Sure!" Sara said as she ran to the car. Vanessa opened the door and started to scoot towards Nick but Sara hopped over her and looked at Nick all starry eyed.
"Sara!" Vanessa said, "If you wanted to sit next to him you could've just told me."
Sara's face turned red and she shot Vanessa a dirty look. AJ was laughing and Nick just smiled. He hated when girls looked at him like he was some kind of God or something. It flattered him and all but it just made him really embarrassed. We pulled into her school and Vanessa opened the door and hopped out. Sara reluctantly got out then poked her head back in and said, "Thanks AJ. Bye Nick." Then turned and walked away. Nick laughed. "Bye Sara..." he said in a mimicking voice.
"So," AJ asked, "Do you guys have any particular place you, want to go?"
"Actually," Vanessa said. "This might sound really cheesy but I haven't been to the Castle in such a long time!" She lived in Riverside and Castle Park is an amusement park with really great rides.
"The Castle it is then," AJ said. "But I have one question. How do we get there?" We giggled then gave him directions.
"There's a great little restaurant inside here where we can have lunch." I told them as we pulled up. There weren't very many people there since school was in session but there were some people who either didn't have school or the high school kids who get off early or just didn't go today.
"Wait, wait, wait..." Nick started "I have one more question. How are we supposed to go through an amusement park without anybody noticing ... AJ!" He started laughing at his own joke. "No, but I'm serious. You cause a lot of attention you know. You tattooed freak!"
"Shut up Nick!" AJ said although he knew he caused attention a lot of times. "Besides I'm not dressed bad today."
"Yeah he looks so handsome," I said as I leaned over and pinched his cheek. He smiled. Since it was cold he was wearing a long sleeved black shirt with a leather jacket over it. He had on baggy blue jeans with pockets on the side of the legs. He topped it off with a stripped beanie and some shades. He was so gorgeous!
Nick wore baggy jeans a black shirt and an orange jacket. He had that cute little 'boy next door' look to him.
"I think you guys will be fine," Vanessa said.
"So do I," AJ said. "Now lets go eat some food!"
We went to the ticket booth first. AJ bought me an all ride bracelet and Nick bought one for him and Vanessa too. The ticket girl was looking at Nick and said, "Did we go to the same high school? I went to Ramona."
"Uh, yeah so did I," he shrugged and said.
"Oh, yeah. See I knew you looked familiar!" she said with a content smile on her face. We all walked away laughing.
When we got inside the restaurant and sat down. AJ ordered a cheeseburger with fries and an iced tea, Nick ordered spaghetti and garlic bread, I ordered a French dip with fries and Vanessa had a BLT with fries.
When your food came AJ said, "Thank you mighty fine, their ma'am" He said it in a western accent and pretended to tip a hat that he didn't have. She blushed and smiled and said, "Well sir, your mighty welcome." Then walked away. AJ smiled and squinted his nose and shook his head. "OK I'm done," he said.
"With your food?" I asked and looked at his untouched plate.
"No, I mean I'm done being silly," he said in a funny voice.
"OK...." I said and took a bite of my sandwich.
We were all done with our lunch when Nick asked, "Does anyone want dessert?"
"Actually I'd love some chocolate pudding," Vanessa said.
"I'm done," I said. "As am I," AJ said rubbing his stomach.
"Do you mind sharing one with me thought' Vanessa asked.
"I don't think I have enough room for a whole pudding."
"I'd love to share one with you," he said. Just then his cell phone started to ring. "Order it," he said as the waitress walked up. "Hello?" he said into his phone. "Oh, Mandy, hey uh, what's up?" He said shrugging at all of us with a surprised look on his face. "No, I just didn't think you'd want to talk to me right away but I'm glad you don't mind to. Well, I'll call you back and tell you what's up later. I'm in the middle of a lunch date right now ... what ... yes, yes with her ... OK, bye, bye." He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"What was that all about?" AJ asked.
"Well," Nick started. "Oh thank you," he said as the waitress put a big serving of chocolate pudding between him and Vanessa. "It turns out that Amanda and Mandy want to 'hang out' with us later. I mean since we're all still, friends and stuff. Oh and they said they want us to bring the girls," he said gesturing towards Vanessa and I. I started choking on my soda that I had just taken a sip of.
"What...(cough, cough, cough) what did you say?" I sputtered out.
"They said they want to get to know you guys," Nick said. "No, that's just weird ... I mean they're your guys ex-girlfriends, I mean we're not even officially your new girlfriends but we are well ... close," I said looking at AJ. He grabbed my hand and leaned forward and kissed my cheek I put my head on his shoulder.
"If they don't want to Nick..." AJ started.
"No," Vanessa said. "We should go." She sat there with a blank look on her face. "I mean it couldn't hurt anything could it?"
"Well, I guess you're right," I said slowly. "AJ if that's not too weird for you, I guess it's all right with me."
"We have a press conference to be at around six tonight," AJ said. "So we'll make arrangements for you four to hang out then."
"Sounds ... umm, good I guess," I said unsure if it really was a good idea.
"Are you sure you guys are all right with this?" Nick asked. "I mean we wouldn't want to see you four rolling around on the floor pulling each others hair and tearing at each others clothes ... well, then again..." He said with a grin. We all moaned.
"Nick," Vanessa said rolling her eyes.
He laughed. "I'm just kidding. You guys don't have to take everything so serious! Hey, ouch!" he said as Vanessa playfully punched him in the ribs.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" AJ asked Nick.
Nick sighed, "Uh, oh. What did I do this time?" He got up and followed AJ a few feet from the table. Vanessa and I smiled.
"He looks so cute when he thinks he's done something wrong," Vanessa said.
"Yeah," I said. "Hey!" She shot me a look. I laughed, "Hey you asked! I mean you want me to lie and say 'No he is very ugly." She smiled, "No I guess not."
"He's not AJ though. AJ is the sweetest most sexiest man I've ever met," I said with a sigh.
"You really, really like him don't you?" she asked.
"Yeah, but I don't know if he feels the same. I mean it's only been like a day and we only spent a couple hours together yesterday unlike you and Nick who spent the whole evening together!" She was about to say something when AJ and Nick walked up.
"Ready girls?" Nick asked.
"Yes, we are," Vanessa said standing up. Nick put his arm around her and rested his head on hers. I stood up and AJ took my hand. Just then three girls walked up to us, "Oh my God! Aren't you the Backstreet Boys?" the blond one who looked about 12 asked. "Umm, uh..." Nick looked at AJ.
"Yes," AJ said letting go of my hand and reaching out to shake the girls' hands. They giggled in delight; "Can we please have autographs?"
"Sure," the guys said at the same time.
The girls then turned their attention to us. "You must be Amanda and Mandy." The blonde one said with a smug look on her face. I looked at AJ. Vanessa and I didn't know what to say. Did they want us to say we were just seeing the guys and that Amanda and Mandy were no longer in the picture. We stood there awkwardly not saying anything. Finally Nick said, "Uh, no. Her name is Vanessa and we're good friends."
"And this is not Amanda, this is Angela and we're friends also," he said putting his hand on my shoulder. At that moment Vanessa and I knew that if we were to get involved with these two wonderful men our lives would be changed forever. "Well," I thought to myself. "That's just a chance I'm willing to take." After the girls left AJ and Nick let out a sigh of relief. Not many people had noticed what had just happened. The boys paid and we walked out AJ looked at his watch and said, "We have a couple hours to fool around before we got to get back to LA" "Great," Nick said. "Let's go on the 'Failing Star'."
"I'm there!" Vanessa said.
"Hold on. Let's go on the Ferris Wheel first," AJ said.
"Tell you what," Nick said. "You guys get lost for about 30 minutes and we'll meet back here."
"Fine, 30 minutes Nick! Not an hour!" AJ called after Nick as him and Vanessa walked away. Nick didn't even bother to answer or even turn around to acknowledge what AJ said. "Nick ... !" AJ called again. "He's such a punk," he said turning his attention back to me. "Let's go on the bumper cars!"' he said.
"But I thought you wanted to go on the..." I started.
"Later," he said and pulled my hand and dragged me to the bumper cars.

Vanessa and Nick pulled the bar over their laps. "This is going to be great!" Nick said.
"Yeah great," Vanessa said. "Nick, I want to talk to you about something," she looked at him. He looked at her and he could tell that she was serious.
"Sure, anything. What's up?" he said just as serious as she was. "Well,..." she said as the ride started to swing side to side. She had to talk louder. "I just wanted to know..." As the ride swung higher and higher.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Nick shouted.
"NEVER MIND!" She said as the ride went around and around. After the ride stopped and they got off Nick stopped her and said, "You had something you wanted to talk to me about."
"Umm, yeah but I think I changed my mind."
He grabbed both of her hands they were now facing each other. Nick looked into her eyes, for about the first time since they have met she just about melted. She could see so much she hadn't seen before just by looking into his eyes. She knew he wasn't the romantic type and that this was his way of showing her how he felt about her. He looked into her eyes for about 30 seconds more then said, "We need to talk. Let's go on the Merry-go-round."
They went and sat on one of those carriage seats. When the ride started Nick said, "I'm not too good with expressing my feelings so I don't know how this is going to sound. I haven't felt this way about anyone for a while. I don't know but I really, really like you. Not just for a friend but... I hope this isn't too soon but I want you to be my girlfriend," he said looking down fiddling with Vanessa's hands.
She took her hand out of his and gently lifted his head so she could look into his eyes. "Nick I need to know that you're not jumping into this too soon. I'd love to be your girlfriend. I really would but is this what you really want?"
Nick smiled, "You know me and AJ had a long talk about this whole thing. He was the one who really made me think about my feelings. He said I couldn't stop talking about you after you left last night. It seems really soon but I really like you. And let me tell you something, your cousin doesn't know what she does to AJ! I think that fool is almost in love, I don't know but I know he really likes her. This whole splitting up thing was his idea so he could get her alone. Then I decided I'd better seize the opportunity while I had it. You know, we're not going to be alone a lot. I hope you understand we will be apart a lot." He looked kinda worried all of a sudden.
"Nick I know it will be hard but I'm willing to do what needs to be done to make it work. I'm getting these feelings for you too you know," the ride stopped.
"Let's go on the 'Falling Star' again!" Nick got up and ran off.
"Hey wait for me!" Vanessa said laughing she got up and ran after him.

After AJ and I rode the bumper cars twice he said, "OK now it's time to go on the Ferris Wheel." We walked to the Ferris Wheel and sat down in the seat. AJ pulled me close to him. The warmth from his body felt good since I was cold. I put my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around me and held me tighter. I felt so secure with him.
"All right I'm ready to tell you now," he said in his sexy husky voice.
"Ready to tell me what?" I asked lifting my head off his shoulder and looked at him. He took his glasses off and put them in his jacket pocket. "Oh this is serious isn't it?" I said sitting up.
"Yeah it is. See I really like being with you. These past couple of days have been ... great and I can't get you off my mind. I mean I've met a lot of girls and none of them make me feel the way you make me feel. When you smile it just, it could stop rain and bring out the sun..."
"AJ that's so sweet!" I said. He was so sincere.
"Well, it's true. I mean I think you're the most beautiful girl inside and out. I want you to know something. In the restaurant you mentioned something about not 'officially' being my girlfriend. Well, I want to make it official. Will you be my girlfriend? Will you be by my side when I'm having a shitty day or when the rode gets lonely will you come and be with me? Will you accept me, AJ for who I am and this whole teen superstar thing that is part of the package?"
I sat there in shock. He laid it all out in front of me the good and the bad. I started thinking about what he said. AJ wouldn't be able to be like a 'normal' boyfriend. Our every move, bicker and heartache would be laid out for everyone to know. Did I really want three million and some girls hating my guts for caring for 'AJ McLean Backstreet Boy teen idol superstar'? I had to only think about it for a second, "Yes AJ. I care for you so much. I will be by your side, no matter how much work it takes." I didn't care about anything except for the fact that I really cared for AJ McLean. And if it means I have to lose some of my privacy for him, I'd do it. I really cared for him. He smiled and gave me a soft kiss.
We got off the Ferris Wheel and played some games. AJ won me one small teddy bear, one huge one and a goldfish that he suggested I name Wanda so I did.
"What if it's a boy," I asked.
"It's a fish! It doesn't care what her name is now do you Wanda?" he said talking to the bag and making fish lips. I laughed.
"It's time to meet Nick and Vanessa back at the spot." He said looking at his watch. He carried my big bear on his shoulders while I carried the little one and Wanda. We got to the spot and waited for 10 minutes. Finally AJ said, "Does there happen to be an arcade here?" I took him to the arcade. Where we found Vanessa and Nick racing each other on a car racing game.
"Hey!" Nick shouted. "Quit trying to run me off the road!"
"I'm not! Your big ass is in my way!" she shouted back.
"Oh hell no! Get in your own lane and quit cheating!" he shouted.
"I won't be bothering you anymore," Vanessa said as she sped by him and crossed the finish line just as Nick spun out.
"Damn it! You cheat! I don't want to play anymore!" Nick said as he stood up.
"Let's go now," AJ said. "Get a hold of Mandy and Amanda and tell them to meet us at the hotel in two hours."