Usually, the guys would go home for a couple of days, but since the US tour was starting tomorrow, they had to go straight to their hotel (near the venue).
"Man, we don’t even get to go home." Nick grumbled, and yawned. He was feeling really tired - he doesn’t sleep on planes ‘cos he can’t relax on them…he doesn’t like flying much. But actually, I’m quite similar. I don’t usually sleep on planes, but I can just about relax.
"I know, it’s a shame." AJ agreed. "But we get a break in a couple of months, and I’m planning on going home then."
"What are you gonna do during the breaks?" Sam (Howie’s girlfriend) asked me. I hadn’t really thought about it. I’d had practically one day to pack up all my stuff and my passport and any money I had, so I hadn’t considered everything. I was lost for words for a minute or two.
"Um…uh…I’m not really sure." Kevin would be staying with his girlfriend, Julie. Brian would be staying with Emily. AJ would be staying with his mom. Howie would be staying with Sam. And Nick would be staying with Nintendo. I had nowhere to go! "I have no idea." I shrugged. I suddenly felt panicked. In two months time I’d have a month of absolutely nothing…nowhere to live and no-one to be with.
"Oh dear." Sam gave me a sympathetic look.
"Emily, hold up!" I called. She was walking along on her own, and I desperately needed to talk to her. "What am I gonna do during the breaks?"
"Huh? Oh, I see! You’re gonna stay with Nick."
"What?!"
"I might be wrong, but Brian said he’s sorting it out, don’t worry about it." With that, she hurried ahead and joined Brian. And even further ahead of them was Kevin - rushing to meet up with Julie.
"Been abandoned, eh?" A friendly voice asked me. I turned around, and it was AJ.
"Yeah, something like that."
"Hey, cheer up! We’re in the USA! Home of such delights as New York, LA, McDonald’s…" We both laughed. "C’mon Holly, this is gonna be fun. We’re all real glad you came."
"I can name at least one person who’d rather be tortured than endure a tour with me."
"Oh, don’t worry about Nick, just ignore him. But he’s not really as arrogant as you thought, okay? I promise, Nick’s a really, really nice guy. You just have to get to know him."
"Well I am as bitchy as he thought, so I guess I’m in a kinda no-win situation!" AJ put his arm around my shoulders and we continued to walk to the main terminal, talking about the tour. Behind us, Nick was complaining to Howie. Sam had also rushed off to meet Julie - they were good friends.
"Man, I can’t believe she was actually invited along!" Nick moaned.
"Nick, just deal with it. Holly’s really nice, and besides…she’s Emily’s best friend. You know, you’re the only one outta everyone else on this tour who doesn’t like her. I mean, we don’t know her, but our first impression is that she’s really nice. You just didn’t give her a chance."
"It’s still unfair - no-one asked me if she could come along. And look - now she’s making moves on AJ!"
"What?! She’s not making moves on him! You’re really stupid sometimes Nick. Stop criticising her, AJ’s just probably making her feel better - I doubt she’ll ever get over being called a ‘fucking bitch’ in public."
"She deserved it."
"No she didn’t!" Howie rolled his eyes at Nick and decided to leave him to it. Nick was now left lagging at the back.
That evening at the hotel, Brian and AJ came and visited mine and Emily’s room.
"We want to take you ladies out for an evening." Brian declared with a smile.
"Holly, you can be my date for tonight." AJ grinned at me.
"Okay, cool! Thanks!" I grinned back at AJ, and Emily was pleased that I’d been included.
"Okay, Holly, we’ve gotta get changed!" We were both wearing sweats, so we told the guys to take a seat on the couch while Emily changed in our shared bedroom (which of course had twin beds) and I changed in the bathroom.
As we were leaving the hotel, AJ and I walking side by side, Brian and Emily holding hands, we passed Nick.
"Hey guys, where’re you all going?"
"We’re sorta double dating." Brian told Nick.
"Except AJ and I aren’t exactly dating, we’re just on a date!" I grinned at AJ who grinned back. We were just friends, AJ and I both knew this. That’s why I knew the ‘double date’ would be a lot of fun.
"Oh, I see." Nick looked a little annoyed as he walked to the elevators and waited for one to arrive.
"What’s wrong with him?" Emily asked.
"Kevin and Howie are double dating with their girlfriends and now we’re all going out - I guess he feels a bit left out." AJ told her.
"He reckons he’s Mr. Super Stud, why doesn’t he just bag himself a girlfriend for an evening or two?" I was being as pleasant as ever about Nick.
"Holly," Emily warned.
"Okay, okay, I’m sorry." AJ thought it was pretty funny actually. I just thought it was true!
We had a really good evening, AJ and I just got along so well. Brian went back to mine and Emily’s room that night, so I decided I’d just bag the sofa in AJ’s room. But we ended up chatting all night, just laughing and joking and talking about everything. It was really fun, and I could tell that AJ was gonna make the tour a lot more pleasant for me.
The next morning, AJ and I left AJ’s room together, and headed down to breakfast. But when Nick saw AJ and I leaving AJ’s room together, he looked really shocked. He was in the elevator with us on the way down, and he asked AJ about it.
"AJ, man, why was Holly coming out of your room this morning?"
"Nick, I am here, you can ask me. I was leaving AJ’s room this morning ‘cos I stayed in his room last night. It was nothing disgusting, nothing for your immature little mind to worry about. I had the sofa ‘cos Brian went back to mine and Emily’s room." Nick raised his eyebrows, as if to say ‘I don’t believe you’.
"It’s true man, I don’t jump girls after one date that wasn’t even a date." AJ informed Nick. AJ and I were being pretty light-hearted about the whole thing, it was just Nick who seemed to have a problem with it.
When we were back on the tour bus a couple of days later, the three couples each had a set of bunk-beds…but Em and Bri both got into just one bunk, and the other two couples did the same. AJ and I grinned knowingly, Nick just rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I have an idea!" Nick whispered to us.
"What?" I asked eagerly, sensing that Nick was planning something.
"We have to set them up somehow, and I know how to." Nick grinned and I grinned back. This sounded like fun!
"Oh man, no way. I absolutely refuse to be a part of this." AJ folded his arms adamantly across his chest, and went and sat down at the back of the bus.
"Holly, I know we hate each other, but I need some help to pull off this practical joke…could we possibly bury the hatchet for an afternoon?"
"Sure, I wanna have some fun!" We also sat down up the back of the bus, and as Nick told me his plan, AJ just rolled his eyes and sighed…although he did think it was gonna be pretty funny.
Nick planned to put itching powder in the sheets of the beds the three couples were sharing. But we needed to visit a shop that sold itching powder…and we needed to get the couples outta their beds for a while. Nick agreed to distract the couples while I found the powder.
When we pulled up at a service station for a toilet visit, I went inside the large grocery store. And sure enough, just as Nick had told me, they had a small joke section. I chose several packets of itching powder and paid the cashier. Then I went to see how Nick was distracting the couples.
As it turned out, he hadn’t had to…they’d all wanted something from the McDonald’s…AJ of course was the first to run straight in there. He was also gonna get Nick something from Mickey D’s while Nick and I planted the itching powder.
"Here you are, Nick." AJ handed Nick a hamburger and helped himself to everything else in the bag…a Big Mac, large fries, large coke and an iced tea. AJ was in seventh heaven!
"Now, we just have to wait…and watch." Nick grinned evilly and I had to laugh. It was gonna be pretty funny.
As soon as the couples got into their beds and drew back the curtains, Nick and I crept closer to the bunks. We didn’t have to wait long to see fidgeting and hear scratching sounds. Then, suddenly, Brian jumped out of his and Emily’s bed…he wasn’t wearing a shirt and he was red from scratching. Nick and I burst out laughing, and soon enough all the others had exited their beds too. We were absolutely killing ourselves seeing our half-dressed (but decent) friends scratch themselves half to death!
Nick and I gave each other a high-five as we continued to laugh.
"However much I despise you Nick," I told him. "You make a pretty good practical joke partner!"
"You too."
Doing the practical joke together kinda got us to make our peace with each other.
About a week after the itching powder incident (and since that there’d been a frog joke and a ‘let’s steal everyone’s underwear’ joke) we stayed at a really swish, expensive hotel. Each room had it’s own, large, private spar on the balcony. So Kevin invited us all over to his room so that we could all chill out in his spar (which for some strange reason was larger than everyone else’s).
We were all just mucking about and laughing, and I was sitting in-between AJ and Emily (who, of course, was sitting next to Brian). AJ had brought along a huge case of beer with him, and we were all drinking some. I even had a couple, which is strange for me - but I guess I just wanted to let go for one night. We all got a little drunk, so after a while the notorious ‘truth or dare’ game was played.
"Okay, I’m going first." AJ declared. "Emily…truth or dare?"
"Truth." We all groaned, but grinned anyway, noticing the glint in AJ’s eye. He was gonna ask a probing question!
"Okay…is Brian the best *** you’ve ever had?" We all burst out laughing, even Emily and Brian did. She blushed a little. "I have to remind you that you must tell the truth at all times."
"You want the truth?" We all nodded. "Then yes, he is." We all clapped and cheered, and Brian hugged Emily closely, kissing her passionately.
"Guys, guys, stop!" AJ cried out, covering his eyes with his hand.
"Okay, that means I’m next." Emily said. "Okay…Nick…truth or dare?"
"Dare." We all clapped, and Nick grinned a grin that said ‘I knew you’d think that was cool’!
"Okay…I dare you to not play Nintendo for a whole week." We all laughed at Nick’s pouting face. Emily knew Nick would choose ‘dare’, so she decided to take away Nick’s true love…his console.
"Em, that was pure genius!" Kevin exclaimed.
"I know." Em replied modestly (yeah, right!).
"Right, my turn." Nick said angrily. "Kevin…truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Okay…how long is ‘it’? Truthfully now." Kevin almost choked on his gulp of beer.
"I’m not answering that!"
"You have to, Kev." I pointed out.
"Yeah, you have to!" Nick yelled. He was a bit drunk by now.
"Man…I’d say around *** inches." [Author’s note: Obviously I have no idea, and express absolutely no interest in knowing! So I left it blank.]
"I can vouch for that!" Julie added. We all whooped and grinned, and Nick felt a little better.
About thirty minutes (and thirty bottles…each) later, it was AJ’s turn to ask someone if they wanted a truth or a dare.
"Holly…truth or dare?"
"Dare." I replied adventurously. We were all quite drunk, but not ridiculously drunk.
"’Kay, you’ve gotta kiss…um…Nick."
"What?!" I exclaimed. The others just laughed, including Nick.
"For…thirty seconds." The others groaned. "Okay, for one minute…no, TWO minutes!"
"You have to do it, Holly!" Emily told me, laughing. I was feeling a bit unwell because of all the beer I’d drunk…but also because the prospect of kissing a very drunk Nick didn’t seem particularly appealing. I walked over to where Nick was and smiled apprehensively at him.
"Do I have to?!" I whined.
"Yes!" They all cried (Nick didn’t though…obviously!).
"Sorry about this, Nick."
"Let’s just get it over with." He was more drunk than me, so he was kinda grinning…I just sighed and glared at AJ.
"I’m gonna get you for this, AJ!" I warned him. He just shrugged and laughed.
"Go on Holly, just kiss the guy!" I sat down next to him and slowly moved my head toward his. As our lips met and we kissed, the others cheered and clapped.
"Get it on!" Emily cried. I glared at her as I looked sideways.
"30 seconds!" AJ told us. I rolled my eyes and kept on kissing Nick. Our lips were kinda together, but we weren’t exactly kissing. "Come on, we need some lip action!" Nick smiled as we started to kiss a bit more properly. Then he put his arm around my waist and pulled me a bit closer. I put my arm around his neck, and we actually started to kiss. "45 seconds!" We were actually kissing properly. And although it was really weird…it was also kinda nice. "One minute!" Nick and I just carried on kissing for the next minute, seeing my dare through. "Two minutes! You’re done!" As we pulled away from the kiss, I could feel myself blush…something I never do. Emily noticed, but as the others didn’t know me very well, they didn’t pick up on it.
"AJ, I am getting my revenge on you now!" Nick was blushing a little, but as he was so drunk, I don’t think he’d realised it was me he’d been kissing! He was taking more swigs of beer, as were the others. "Truth or dare."
"Dare. You dare me something bad."
"I have just the thing." I replied. The others looked interested. "I dare you to give up McDonald’s for…one week…no, TWO weeks!"
"You can’t change from one week to two weeks!" AJ cried.
"You changed from one minute to two minutes, so I can do the exact same thing." Everyone laughed at AJ, who was now in agony…he tried to eat a McDonald’s every day…and now he couldn’t have one for two whole weeks!
"No fair." AJ sulked. Nick gave me a high-five.
"Good, I have to give up what I love…now he has to give up what he loves!"
As we were all walking (staggering, actually!) back to our hotel rooms, I could see Brian going into mine and Emily’s room once again. I sighed and rolled my eyes, searching for another Backstreet Boy who would lend me his couch. Everyone had gone into their rooms, but I saw one door which wasn’t closed.
"Hey, hold up!" I ran to the door, and it was Nick’s. "Nick, please can I crash here tonight? Brian’s gone in mine and Em’s room again, so I need a sofa to borrow for the night."
"Sure." Nick was very drunk and very tired. He just drunkenly and sleepily smiled at me. "You need a blanket?"
"No, I’ll be fine. But I think you need a cup of coffee before you go to bed."
"Nah, I’m too tired. ‘Night!" Nick staggered off into his room and shut the door. I yawned and flopped down on the couch.
I’d only been asleep for about an hour (so it was around one-thirty in the morning) when I heard moaning from Nick’s room. I got up and walked to his door.
"Nick? Nick, are you all right?" I heard more moaning, so I entered his room and turned on the light. He was sitting up in bed, clutching at his stomach. He’d also turned a rather fetching shade of green. He looked like he was about to puke, so I grabbed a couple of paper bags from the main room (they provide them in all US hotels for some reason, with the hotel logo printed on). I handed Nick one of the bags and sat next to him. As he threw up into the bag, I rubbed his back soothingly. He stopped after a minute or two and threw the bag in the trash. He looked really ill, so I got a cold flannel (and some mouthwash) and a glass of water for him. I told him to lay down and sip the water, and I put the flannel on his forehead. I’d put the mouthwash there just in case he’d wanted to use it. "Do you have any headache tablets or anything?" I asked Nick gently. He shook his head, his face a picture of agony. I had some paracetamol-type tablets in my bag - back in my room. It was in the main room, though, not the bedroom, so I thought it should be okay if I went in there quickly to fetch them. "I’ll be back in a minute, okay?" Nick nodded before grabbing another paper bag and throwing up again. I took his room key so that I could get back in, and crept along the hallway to my room. At this point, I was still in a bikini! Great!
I crept into my room and fetched the tablets. I couldn’t hear a sound coming from the bedroom…but Em and Bri did get really drunk, so they were probably sleeping it off!
Back To Main Page
Back To Fan Fic Page
Chapter Three