"Hold on hold on! I wanna see if this place can carry my note for a long time!" Nick argued as Fatima tried to sit down with us and discuss what we were going to be doing.
"Nick if you do that we're all gunna die," Nef sarcastically replied. Everyone busted up, causing Fatima to lose control over all of us sitting on the ground. There were a few people standing around in the audience, including a camera crew and Dave Holmes, as well as some other really big name artists who had just finished rehearsals or were awaiting their turn.
"OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY!!!" Fatima hollered over everyone, trying to get us to quiet down. A few heads turned to the stage and looked up for a split second, before turning back around and going back to the business each person was privately attending to. "I'm thinking we're gunna do a lot like what we do in the concert. Same choreography. But you guys all have to be in a big clump. So....like the video sho--" Fatima's explanation was cut off, as Amanda quickly ran on stage with her business cell phone.
"Sorry Fatima but I need to talk to Steph. Gilli--there's a guy from the local radio station who wants to do an interview with you," she told me, apologizing to 'Tima for interrupting.
"WHAT?! NOW?!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah. I told him I'd ask, but I don't want you to. It wouldn't be good for you or for Howie or for publicity," Manda explained as I got up and walked over to her.
"Yeah tell them I decline. I'm not about to go tell my secrets over radio. That's my business. They're crazy to think I'd talk to them about my love life!" I cried.
"SEE?! I was smart in getting involved with that girl!" D suddenly outbursted. We looked over at him sharply, and cracked up. The Backstreet Family always kept each other in fits of laughter.
"Alright I'll tell 'im Steph. Just checking. You're usually pretty considerate so I wasn't sure," Amanda said, turning around to walk back to her spot in the audience.
"Okay Manda. I'll talk to you later!" I cried, then turned to the group and stood nearby, waiting for Fatima's instructions. At her first request, everyone was off their butts and getting in their places. As I jogged to my spot on the side of the stage, I snuck up behind AJ and flipped up the bill of his backwards hat, causing it to fall off. Kevin, who was right beside him, saw this and laughed at me. I turned and gave him a victorious smile, then began to make my way to the side stage, where Danielle, Kristin, Ro Ro, and Emo were all standing.
"Don't split your pants, hun," Dani nearly shouted. Kevin shot his head towards the side stage and scrunched his nose at his girlfriend, his cheeks flushing a semi-deep reddish color. Danielle giggled to herself, as I did, then ran up to Kev and wrapped her arms around him, then gave him a kiss. Kev laughed away the embarrassment as he pulled his arms out of her tight wrap and returned the hug and kiss.
"We only have a few hours to rehearse guys!" Fatima reminded us. I stopped bugging AJ and Dani let go of Kevin, and the two of us made our way to the side stage while J and Kev walked to their spot on a risen second stage. I saw AJ adjust his baggy pants and laughed.
"Bone you better be careful with those suckers! I feel a sudden urge to pants somebody!" Kristin hollered from her spot on the side of the stage. AJ looked over and pointed at us. We had way too much fun to get anything done. Fatima was getting rather mad at us as well.
"OKAY ARE YOU GUYS READY?!" she screeched at the top of her lungs.
"YES MISS ROBINSON!!!" Kristin, Nef, Tae, and I all answered as we usually did when we wanted to be sarcastic. 'Tima laughed to herself then cued for the music to come on. The guys practiced "I Want It That Way," then AJ screeched. As the music for "Larger Than Life" came on, we all danced our way onto the stage. We free-styled it to our spots and did the dance. A part was cut off, so we had to change our performance a little bit, but it wasn't hard to get used to.
AJ and I had made up a few days after our fight. He apologized and I accepted. We became friends again. Couldn't let a dumb little fight like that get in the way of an old friendship. It was just a regular brother-sister type fight, typical of us. It was typical of all the guys and myself to get into sibling fights. Howie and I were more into the tackle and kill playfighting, and now the girls would watch us and aww at us. It drove me nuts. Brian and I had completely patched things up. He was just a little frustrated that night and I didn't blame him.
It was about time the guys had their own buses! Amy was preparing to leave us. She had managed to stay until the VMAs, because Nick really wanted her there.
We finished practicing and went backstage to our dressing room, which was lavishly decorated.
"OH MY GOSH! We're across from Madonna's dressing room!!!!" Nef screeched. Kristin, who was already inside, peeked her head out the doorway and looked. She gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth.
"You mean Madonna is here tonight?" Kris whispered. Nefertiti ran over to her and they clasped hands, jumping up and down in excitement. Ro Ro tossed a towel at them from his comfortable spot, seated in a chair with his feet propped up on the dressing table. Our elaborate dressing room was full of assistants and catering and anything else we could possibly need. Having the dancers, the band, and the boys all in the same place was a little crowded, but we dealt with it. We were just getting a little situated backstage, talking to Fatima. That night, the actual show would be taking place.
"Hey Bone! Maybe Madonna could give you some fashion tips!" Nef joked. AJ leapt towards the door.
"I'm all there baby!" he laughed.
"Hold 'im back! Hold 'im back!" Emo cried. Just then, there was a knock at the door. Howie opened it to find Dave Holmes and a camera crew.
"Hey Dave! Long time no see!" D exclaimed. Ten minutes prior, he had talked to Dave for TRL with Fatima.
"Hey Howie! And of you guys available?" Emo, Reg, and Swoop all shoved J forward. We all laughed and went back to what we were doing while AJ was escorted out of the room to talk to the TRL camera crew.
"I hope you guys are ready for tonight. We're going to have Michael Jackson and Prince in the audience," Tima remined us.
"Michaeeeeelll..." Nef sighed. Fatima busted up and wrapped her arms around her little sister. Nefertiti used to have such a thing for MJ when she was younger and was ecstatic when her older sister worked on "Remember the Time."
Kristin sat in a corner on the dressing table, cozily leaning against the walls as everyone busily hustled around before finally settling down.
"Comfy Red?" Brian asked. She looked over at him and smiled.
"My corner," Kristin replied. All of us girl dancers always staked out corners in our dressing rooms, leaving the guys to survive in between us. It was an ongoing joke we had turned into the game "Four Corners." Somebody always shared her corner with the left out dancer and, often times, we'd even lock the guys out of the room. Ro Ro and Sleep teased each other in brotherly love, nonstop. The strange thing was that we were hardly ever in the room, due to the fact that we had to change so quickly at times.
AJ came back into the room, took his baseball cap off, and threw it on the long dressing table that lined the wall. The room was small, but split into three separate rooms in the back. The band and their equipment were all in a different room.
"Now really, why? Why are you guys here?" Teresa asked the well dressed attendants who stood around our room, waiting for someone to give them something to do. "We don't really need you. I swear!" One of the men cracked a smile and laughed to himself.
"Ah stop buggin' 'em Tae," Brock sighed. He was now sitting in a chair, leaning up against the wall with Amanda seated on his lap.
"What time do you have to be here tonight?" Danielle wanted to know.
"Probably about six I think. Six, right guys?" Nick asked around. He had Amy sitting on his lap.
"Yeah, six," Kevin confirmed. He and Danielle were on the couch, Dani with her legs sprawled out over his lap as she rested her head on the arm of the couch. Nef and Tima stood around by the back of the room, while Tae, Mindi, Swoop, Reggie, and I all sat indian style on the carpet. Teresa sighed and let her head fall on Swoop's shoulder. Tommy, Dennis, Bubba, Guy, and Louie all leaned against the wall, tired and bored. Howie and AJ sat up on the table, beside Kristin.
"That's in two hours. We should probably get going because we need to take showers and get ready," Amy suggested.
"Okay then. I'll call the vans and then we'll get back to the hotel," Amanda offered. She flipped open her (work) cell phone and called up the drivers. We were gone in a half hour.
At 5:00, the many of us piled up in our limos and vans and headed back towards the Opera House.
"I never got to see how long the place could carry my note," Nick whined.
"Oh you big baby," Amy replied. AJ, Nick, Howie, Polly (who had flown down that day), Kevin, Dani, Brian, Amy, Amanda, and I all crammed into the stretch limo.
"Did anybody see our street?" Brian wanted to know.
"Yeah I think we just went by it...." Amanda pointed out.
"We did?! MAN! And I missed it?!" he cried out.
"It's okay hun. Really," she patted his hand.
"Man this is gunna be one hell of a night," AJ stated. I could tell he was thinking about Emily. Poor guy. He really missed her. They were really tight. And now the girl he had been with for two years had to leave him for work. She had told me before she left to watch over the boy because she knew he would get drunk at some bar one night and try to get frisky with the first lady he laid eyes on.
"Man I hope we win something," Nick sighed.
"Yeah, so Brian can get the name of the statuette right this time!" Kevin replied.
"Moon man, moon man, moon man..." Brian chanted, as if he were trying to memorize the name of the statuette that was given out at the Awards ceremony. When they won a year ago, he was so nervous and caught off guard that he had called it Mr. Planet Man. He never heard the end of it either. Just then, we pulled to a halt and screams met our ears.
The chauffeur opened the door and the intensity of the noise increased in one wave. It got louder as Kevin stepped out of the limo. They were going to be interviewed by Serena Altschul and a million other reporters, so the five hopped out of the limo, then it took us girls around to the back, where we got in out of the way of the media. Dani and I had to go in and check on everyone in our dressing room anyways.
"Boy this show is interesting," I whispered to Howie. Videocameras were always showing up in our faces, so it was a good thing that I was wearing a hat and could easily block it out of my view. That night, Polly and I were practically twins. D would just have to look at us and he would end up laughing to himself. She had on a beige dress with a straw cowboy hat and a braid down her left shoulder, while I had on a royal purple dress with zebra print bucket hat and two braids down either shoulder. Polly and I had picked out our outfits together and surely could've pulled off being sisters that night. The guys from *N SYNC were down the aisle a little bit. I had met Chris once and seen him in a few of Howie's yearbooks and at his high school. I had seen Justin and JC when I went to a few tapings of The Mickey Mouse Club with my sister awhile back. I had never met Joey and Lance, though.
Chris Rock was pretty lucky we were so goodnatured. With all the jokes he was making, he was lucky that the BSB were laughing at every one.
Before long, we got called to go backstage and get ready. Almost instantly, my heart got really excited. Adrenaline began to kick in. I was giddy. What I had once thought was pure nervousness ended up being anxiousness as my experience broadened and I performed more often. The key was to not think about the famous people in the audience. And to concentrate on the boys and what I was doing. To smile and have a good time doing what I loved to do. Relaxing made things all the greater. The one problem with awards shows was that there was so little time for us to warm up. We dancers always had the entire show because we sat backstage, but Howie always tried to get me to watch the shows with the boys and him so my warming up time was as limited as theirs was.
Backstage, Nef and Kristin were singing into hair brushes to that Ricky Martin song "Here I Am" or whatever it was called. Teresa was doing her long hair and making sure her make-up was okay. The band was in their room, tuning instruments and warming up. Reg, Sleepy, Emo, Ro, and Swoop were all warming up in the hall. We immediately shut the door and put on our outfits as quickly as possible.
"Hey Howie look! Trenchcoat Mafia!" Nick exclaimed, turning to D with his black coat on.
"NICK! SHUSH! That's disrespectful to talk about that and joke like that! My goodness! Be nice!" Brian warned. Nick apologized, realizing what he was joking about. As soon as we were done getting dressed, we began to stretch. Soon, we began to jump around and get antsy, waiting for our call.
Bubba walked into the main room, hitting everything he walked past with his drumsticks. I looked at him as he tapped on my forehead and giggled as I usually did. Then I pulled him aside.
"BUBBA! WAIT!" he turned out.
"What Gilli?" he wanted to know.
"Need to fix your hat. It's all crooked," I cried. I stood on my tiptoes as I straightened Bubba's hat. He, AJ, and I were constantly checking each other's hats to make sure they were okay. Just then, I thought about Bunni. "Hey D, where's your phone?" I suddenly burst out.
"It's right here," he said, grabbing and throwing it to me. I caught the phone and Shivani's number.
"Hello?" an annoyed voice asked.
"Hey babe! Ya watching for us?" I surprised her.
"OH MY GOD! STEPH!!! WHAT IS GOING ON?! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING READY! THEY JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE BACKSTREET BOYS WOULD BE PERFORMING NEXT!!!!" Shivani screeched. I laughed.
"We have a little while longer hun. They haven't given us a call yet. Have you seen us yet?"
"Yeah a few snippets of the boys. I saw Amanda's shoulder. I can't wait to see you guys, though," she told me.
"Well hun I know it's five days after your birthday but I didn't have any time to call you any of those other days so I just thought I'd surprise you now. Are you surprised?" I asked.
"WHAT TYPE OF QUESTION IS THAT?!" she screeched again.
"Okay okay okay! I get the point!" I exclaimed. Suddenly, she cut in.
"AH AH AH! Commercial break's over! I gotta go! Love ya! BYE!" Shivani hollered.
"BYE!" answered, before disconnecting the call. Just then, the door opened and we got our call to prepare on the side stage. Lauren Hill's performance was just about to go on and as soon as she was done, we were to be up there and ready to go on. Almost instantly, Red, Tae, Nef, Dani and I all clasped hands and began to jump up and down and scream. That was the way we always started a show. It helped us release all of the energy in us. The guys around us would all plug their ears. Sometimes, Reg and Swoop would imitate us by jumping around like idiots and flailing their arms while screaming. They said that's what we looked like. This time, the guys all surprised us by jumping up and covering our mouths. We all excitedly filed out of the dressing room, hugging each other and leaning on each other, just like any regular concert. We had a good fifteen to twenty minutes before we would be called out to get our asses on stage.
The call finally came. We all stuck our ear monitors in and did a few last minute stretches, wishing the boys good luck. As they climbed onto their risen part of the stage (made to simulate the round), I pulled Howie back and gave him a kiss. He smiled and gave me a hug, then hit the tip of my nose with his finger. I giggled. Behind me, Dani was giving Kevin a kiss of good luck and Kris and Reg were giving each other a hug. Soon, Carson and Pamela Anderson came out to announce the boys. They all rushed up to their spots and we got to ours. I could sense a bit of nervousness in Nick's voice when he sang and had to laugh when I saw Howie and Nick sort of bouncing to the beat while the other three stood stiff as doornails. Then, the music for "Larger Than Life" came on and AJ did his psychotic laugh as they whipped off their trenchcoats and we dancers made our way onto the stage. A pirouette, double knee jump turn, and some funky moves got me to my spot by AJ. Smiling, I did the dance then got back up to my spot on the platform, in a clump with the rest of the dancers. An entire verse was cut out, due to the beginning of the performance where "I Want It That Way" was sung.
"Did you see Michael Jackson? I saw Prince," Nef whispered.
"Really?! I noticed Marilyn Manson and the guys from Blink 182. Marilyn Manson was a little annoyed though. Oh well. He can deal with it," Tae replied.
"Saw Amy and Manda and Polly sitting in the audience. We have good seats guys!" Dani softly said. Just then, we stopped talking and began to dance again, doing extensions in our clump. Then we got out of it and began to dance down to the main stage where we did the big part of the number. It looked awesome with all the sharp hits and robotic movements. After the dance was over with, we stood in our spots until the lights went out, taking in the applause from the audience. Out of breath, we walked off stage and back towards our dressing room. As we were walking, we spotted Madonna.
"Good job guys," she complimented us. Everybody's jaw dropped open. She held out her hand for a handshake with the boys and AJ grabbed it and gave it a kiss. Madonna smiled, then went back into her dressing room.
"Oh AJ please! You are such a flirt!" Red cried.
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed.
"Oh get your ass in the dressing room and shut up!" Sleepy replied, shoving J into the dressing room. We all ran in after him and quickly changed out of our outfits and back into our clothes. Then, AJ, Nick, Kevin, Danielle, Brian, Howie, And I all hustled back to our seats.
"Did we miss anything?" AJ asked Polly.
"Nope. Just a few awards that really would have no interest to you whatsoever," she informed him. "Oh and Chris Rock. You know his jokes."
"Chris?! Man that guy is sooo hella funny!" J whispered. We quieted down as we got situated and listened to the presenters and accepters for awards.
They lost three awards. The last one they were up for was against *N SYNC and it was Viewer's Choice. That meant that it all depended on the fans. The guys were tense. They kept telling themselves that if *N SYNC won, they would be happy for them. But as the night wound down, we all started to get more nervous. I could tell that they were questioning whether or not they would win. Finally, the time came when the award for Viewer's Choice was being presented. Howie grasped my hand tightly as we sat there anxiously waiting.
"And the winner of the Viewer's Choice Award is....THE BACKSTREET BOYS! I WANT IT THAT WAY!!!" Rebecca Romjin-Stamos and Heidi Klum cried.
We all jumped up in unison. Howie and I wrapped our arms around each other in a tight hug and rocked back and forth playfully. Brian and Amanda had embraced in a tight hug and just stood there for a few seconds, holding each other, before he pulled away and gave her a kiss on the cheek and made his way towards the aisle. Amy and Nick gave each other a kiss and hug. Kevin and Danielle shared a kiss and she threw her arms around him, congratulating him. Polly and Howie hugged each other. Polly and I hugged each other and kept jumping around, excitedly, while the guys made their way up to the stage. Right as they were about to make their acceptance speech, some well dressed guy walked up and asked if he could say a few words. Howie and Brian allowed him to and he uttered a few words of complete nonsense, then left the stage. The guys all shot us confused looks and we shrugged. The guys said their thank yous and walked backstage. We couldn't wait for them to get back into the audience so we could congratulate them.
At the after party, we ran into so many people. Everybody was congratulating everybody else, the music was blaring, and cocktails were being served left and right. We had a ball. For about two hours, Nick and Amy and Brian and Amanda partied hard, but the four decided to kick back and hit the hotel because they were exhausted. AJ, Howie, and Kevin were rather enjoying their drinks. Polly, Dani, and I constantly had to keep an eye on them. At one point, Howie and I were talking to a good journalist friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in a long time when I eyed Polly walking towards a rather unsober AJ trying to flirt with some girl who looked vaguely familiar.
"Hey Paula, sorry to interrupt, but Howie, we gotta do something about AJ," I pointed out. D, who was a little slow on reactions due to his alcohol consumption, slowly turned his head around and looked over towards where J was.
"Wait a second. I think I know her," Howie suddenly realized. He made his way over to the bar as quickly as he could and said hello to the two who were talking. Then he recognized the woman AJ was trying to pick up on. "Paula Wideman?!" he exclaimed. The woman's head shot around.
"HOWIE! I haven't seen you in a long time!" she replied, happily. AJ, who was also a tad slow on his comprehensions, stared at them a tad confused.
"Who is that?" my friend Paula asked me. I looked over at her, then at the girl Howie had just begun to talk to.
"I haven't the slightest idea. She might be someone he knew in...THAT'S IT! That's the girl that he went out with like freshman year!" it suddenly dawned on me.
"How in the world would you remember that?" Paula wanted to know.
"Cuz I was sooo incredibly jealous of her. He always spent so much time with her and they'd always go out with their moms and I hated it," I explained. Just then, Pollyanna walked over.
"Recognize the chick Steph?" she joked.
"Yeah Polly. Memories of my days spent complaining to you have suddenly been conjured up again," I sighed. Polly and Paula laughed. I excused myself and walked over to the guys. Howie intentionally put his arm over my shoulder.
"SHE is that little girl that always used to hang around your house?!" Paula Wideman exclaimed.
"Yup," D answered, proudly.
"That's neat!" Paula sort of shrugged it off. I turned to AJ.
"Hey J. Why don't we get you back to the hotel? You can call Emily from there okay?" I urged him to get up. AJ gave me a sort of dazed look over his sunglasses as I pulled his arm.
"Nice talking to ya Paula," he sleepily said. I laughed and walked him out to where the limos were and sent him back to the hotel.
When I got back inside, Howie and Paula were still talking. I went over to see what was up. They were pretty much catching up on each other's lives. He hadn't talked to her since they had graduated and he always enjoyed talking to an old friend.
"Yeah I was just hanging around town and somehow I ended up here," she told him.
"How did you get in?" I wanted to know.
"Oh one of the guys from Blink 182 let me come in with him. I don't know where he went though. Probably disappeared somewhere to the land of Narnia. I don't mind though. I've met a lot of neat people here. As for AJ, I don't know what got into him. I kept asking about Howie and he kept trying to flirt with me. he really is a character. I enjoyed talking to him though. Then I spotted Howie and my goodness you've changed so much! When did this all happen?" Paula cried.
"Oh about two months ago," I teased.
"Why do I put up with you? You are so mean to me!" Howie asked.
In a Janis-the-annoying-girl-Chandler-dated-on-F*R*I*E*N*D*S-tone, I told him, "because you LOVE ME HOWIE DEEEEEEE. And you know it! You just don't KNOW you know it."
"We have GOT to get you away from that TV," Howie chuckled. I kissed his cheek and then turned to the two of them.
"Well I'll leave you two to sit around a reminisce, but I'm going to go back to my friends okay? Nice seeing you again Paula!" I replied. I waved and said bye, then made my way back to where Polly and my friend Paula were standing around, talking.
"Either of you seen Kevin and Danielle?" I wanted to know.
"Nope. Not lately. I'm not sure if they're still here. So many people around here after all," Polly informed me.
"Yeah it's so neat being able to come in and talk to everybody. I missed seeing you Gilli! We've been so busy! BUT! Buuuuuutttttt..." Paula dragged on, getting a little excited.
"Buuuuutttt what?!" I asked.
"I saw the concert when you guys were in New York a few months ago and did a review on it! The concert was awesome and I gave it four stars. I put a pic of the guys singing to you in the paper with the article," she told me.
"NUH UH!!! Do you have any copies of your pictures?!" I cried, excitedly.
"Yeah I kept all of the copies of those pictures. They turned out really good. The one of the guys singing to you is really cute. I knew I'd run into you and you'd want copies. You and your pictures. As if you didn't have enough!" Paula teased me.
"Gotta love ya sis!" I exclaimed, hugging Paula.
"Always! I tell ya. We were meant to be sisters!" she cried.
"I don't even know why I have Rachelle. I have so many older siblings who love me anyways, right Polly?" I joked.
"Well you have my whole family and you've got the boys and you've got Paula here. My goodness you've got so many older brothers and sisters that you don't even need Rachelle!" she agreed. Just then, Howie walked up.
"Hey girls. It's three. I'm going to hit the sack," Howie sighed.
"Tired already, D?" I asked. He raised his eyebrows at me. "Okay okay okay. It IS a little late," I admitted.
"Exactly. You guys wanna join me?" he wanted to know.
"I'm gunna go. It's late," Polly decided. She joined her brother and they left. I wasn't planning on leaving because I wanted to talk to Paula longer. But we had to leave the next day for our next concert. I looked at Paula and sighed.
"Well I better get going too. But I'll call you on the road okay?" I promised. Paula and I gave each other another hug.
" 'Kay sis! Love ya! I'll miss you!!!!" Paula told me.
"I'll miss you too! Bye sis!" I said as we walked away.
The next morning, I woke up to a boy with a slight hangover.
"Hey sweetie, how's it going?" Howie asked me. I could tell he was not feeling too swell.
"Good!" I cried happily. I was standing in front of the window, letting the sun flow into the room while I worked with my hand weights, a morning ritual for me. "Did you have a good conversation with Paula Wideman last night?"
"Who?" he wanted to know, still a tad drowsy. I laughed to myself.
"While you were consuming those alcoholic beverages, AJ was flirting with your girlfriend from freshman year. Then you guys got into a huge conversation. But it figures that you wouldn't remember it," I giggled.
"Awwww man I feel horrible," he groaned.
"And that is why you don't get drunk!" I exclaimed. Howie cracked a smile as I put down my weights and sat down on the bed across from him. "Unfortunately, those who are stubborn never learn..."
"Heyyyyyyyyyy..." he sighed.
"Go take a cold shower. You gotta be sober by midday, when we have to encounter those million and a half fans outside the hotel," I told him. Howie groaned once more. "Get upppppp..." He sat up and drug his feet all the way to the bathroom and shut the door behind him. I made sure I had all of my stuff packed and nothing was missing. Then I opened the hotel window to step out onto the balcony and looked down. A huge mob of girls were crowded outside the hotel doors. The screams increased as girls saw the doors opening. I almost immediately shut them, the screaming was so loud. Girls were holding signs, throwing things, screaming every one of the boys' names. This was pretty typical. It was something all of us had to get used to. I sighed and put my stuff on the bed. Howie got out of the shower feeling a bit more with it. We had about an hour or so before we had to board the bus.
Just then, AJ walked in.
"Yeah thanks for knockin Bone!" I exclaimed. He looked at me a little groggily. "Oh are you a little hungover too? Poor babyyy!" J cracked a smile. He was walking around in a pair of boxers. "Why don't you go and share your boxers with the five million girls outside?"
"Huuuuhhhh?" he asked. I shoved him out the door and the mob all screamed and cameras went crazy. AJ waved, shading his eyes, then came back inside. "Gilli you are gunna get it....one of these days...I swear...."
"Yeah J you've been saying that for three years hun," I reminded him.
"Yeah....so...." he shrugged.
"Go back to bed," I told J.
"Good idea..." he mumbled. Just then, Howie popped out of the bathroom, a towel around his shoulders.
"Hey AJ. Get a good night's sleep last night?" he wanted to know.
"Yeah. Called Em and talked to her. She's still real pissed at her boss for making her leave the tour but she can't really ya know tell him that cuz she'll get fired. So she's dealing with it. She moved into my place last weekend. Takin care of Panda and Bear for me. She saw us last night on TV. She said you were making some really funny faces, Steph," AJ explained.
"Your face looks funny anyways," Howie teased. He sounded just like my dad.
"Shut up!" I cried. We all immediately turned our heads as there was a knock on the door and Amanda poked her head in.
"You guys up? Did you see the huge crowd out there? That's probably one of the biggest I've ever seen!" she exclaimed.
"Hun, you haven't been on tour with us that long, remember?" Brian reminded his girlfriend, walking in behind her and draping his arm across her shoulder.
"Oh yeah. Silly me, I forgot!" she sarcastically replied, causing Brian to laugh. He kissed her cheek.
"Yeah we saw it Manda, to answer your question. Gilli over here only threw me out in front of them in my boxers!" Bone said.
"Oh reminiscence of when Kevin did that to Nick...." Brian sighed.
"Hey B-Rok what did you guys do last night after you left the party?" AJ wanted to know.
"Oh I don't think you want to know what we did last night. That's our little secret...right hun?" Brian began to joke.
"WHAT?!" Amanda screeched.
"So THAT would explain all the noises I heard last night while I was on the phone with Emily..." J answered.
"HEEYYYYY!!!" Amanda whined pitifully."You guys are sooo mean to me!!!"
"Aw come on Manda you know we love ya!" Bone tried to reconcile.
"Yeah but now I'm having doubts!" she exclaimed.
"Manda you know you're our little munchkin," Brian cooed.
"Oh FINE. If you wanna be that way!!!!" Amanda cried, folding her arms across her chest in playful anger. Just then, she could sense Howie would break out again. "Don't even start Howie!" she pointed her finger at him. We all burst into laughter as Brian hugged his red-faced girlfriend. "You better watch it buddy. Only Nick has permission to call me that!" She poked Brock in the stomach.
"Oh so you and Nicky have a thing goin on now! Are you gunna dump me for the Nintendo freak? Aww Manda! I thought you loved me!" Brian whined, making our uncontrollable fits of laughter nearly unceaseable. Suddenly, Nick walked in.
"What's all this laughing about?" he wanted to know.
"Nick, Amanda's dumping me for you!" Brian cried. Manda walked towards Nick and leapt into his arms.
"Honey, I'm sorry you had to find out like this but....when you call me a munchkin I...I just can't resist you!" she sighed. Nick's face turned its own shade of a beautiful scarlet color. He decided to play along.
"Yeah. Sorry B-Rok. The girls just can't resist my charm!" he sighed. He gave Brian a cheesy smile. Meanwhile, Howie and I sat around watching and laughing our heads off.
"So my dear, shall we take this love affair somewhere else?" Nick tried to make his voice sound something like James Bond.
"Wherever you wish, dahhling," Amanda obliged, planting a kiss right smack on Nick's lips, causing his cheeks to get even redder than they already were. Then she turned to us and cried "always wanted to be a Bond girl! Never thought I was tall enough!" Seeing Amanda kiss Nick made Brian a little jealous.
"Well this James Bond isn't gunna get away with the girl just yet," Brian sneered, heading towards Nick as he pushed his sleeves up. Nick dropped Amanda on the bed, where she landed with a bounce. Then he and Brian began to "duke it out." The two play fought their way over to the balcony by accident, causing fans to flip out and scream, seeing them wrestle.
"And the good publicity just went down the drain..." Manda sighed.
"Hey D, turn on the TV. Let's see if we made the news!" AJ exclaimed. Howie grabbed the remote and flicked it on. J was right.
"It appears to be that two of the Backstreet Boys are fighting on the balcony! This is interesting. I've never seen a brawl like this before!" the reporter cried through the screeches of fans. AJ threw his hands up.
"Get back in here you idiots! They can see you!" Howie yelled. Nick and Brian quit their playfighting and came inside to see the TV.
"Good job you too!" Amanda exclaimed. "Look who made the news!" We directed our attention to the screen.
"The two brawling Backstreet Boys have left the balcony now. Fan screams are still increasing by the moment. As of now, the cause of the fight is unknown. This will be interesting to find out. But it seems that the Boys have closed the curtains aren't coming out. Back to you Rick," the reporter said, before the screen flashed back to the station's studio. Our jaws were all hanging open as we stared at the screen silently, our eyes wide.
"Oh well, let them deal with it," AJ shrugged, breaking the tension. "I'm gunna go get dressed. It's gettin kinda chilly in these boxers."
"Yeah J you do that. We have to leave in a few hours. And I'm hungry," I pointed out. Bone said goodbye and walked out of our room. He was soon followed by Amanda and Brian, who were in flannel bottoms and tour t-shirts, and Nick, who was walking around in terricloth robe. I grabbed my key card and Howie made sure he had his wallet before we started out to get some breakfast in the lobby downstairs. As we were walking out of the hotel room, we saw Danielle and Kevin strolling down the hall.
"Hey where are you two off to?" Howie wanted to know.
"Oh we just got back from breakfast. You wouldn't believe the amount of girls and camera crews are out there!" Danielle exclaimed.
"Yeah we saw. Nick and Brian were play fighting in front of them," I informed the two. Kevin laughed.
"What will they think of us now....I can only imagine the headlines tomorrow. Break-up Inevitable With Brawl on Balcony," he joked.
"We shoulda thrown Nick over the balcony and he coulda body surfed his way through the fans. Too bad he'd probably end up with no clothes on!"
"Oh I think I already gave the fans enough satisfaction by throwing AJ out in his boxers," I exclaimed. Kevin and Danielle both busted up.
"Guess we missed the big party huh?" Danielle replied.
"Oh yeah! It was so much fun! There will be more though. Next time we'll just have to have a pillow fight," I told her.
"Ah forget a pillow fight. What about strip poker?!" Kevin suggested.
"Now that's what I'm sayin!" Howie agreed. Dani and I raised our eyebrows at each other. Then I felt the call of my empty stomach.
" 'Kay D, I think we'd better get going before I die of starvation here!" I said. Howie laughed and we said goodbye. Kevin and Danielle continued toward their hotel room, hand in hand.