*Early May of ‘98*
It was 7:15am and I was on my way to the local bagel shop. I had class at 9 that morning and needed my plain bagel and black coffee. If I was going to function properly, anyway. I had a bad night, just didn’t sleep well. And today was important. Major review for the final in one of my business classes.
I pulled into the parking lot and into a space that was next to a blue BMW Beamer and a yellow VW Bug. Boy, my little ‘93 Honda Prelude looked so cheap and old compared to those two. But it didn’t matter; I loved my dark blue Prelude. It got me where I needed to go. I climbed out of the car and walked into the shop, standing behind a guy wearing a blue baseball hat.
He got his order and I was next. I walked up to the counter and the woman asked for my order.
"Yes, I’d like a plain bagel, toasted with cream cheese and a regular coffee."
She took my order and started fixing the bagel. The coffee was already ready, so she poured the cup and handed it to me.
"You’re bagel will be up in a minute."
"Ok, thank you."
I looked around the small shop and there weren’t very many people in there. Just two girls and the guy that was in front of me.
The lady handed me my bagel with a little container of cream cheese. I took a seat at a table near the middle and near the window. I was at the table next to the guy wearing the baseball hat. He had his face buried in his newspaper. But I noticed the hat was a Wildcats hat.
So he was a Kentucky fan. Always cool. Ok, I don’t know why I took notice to that. I usually don’t care about other people around me. But there was just something about him that got my attention. Though I haven’t a clue what it was.
Maybe it was the fact that he looked vaguely familiar. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I guess he felt me staring, because he put the paper down and our eyes met. Ok, I know I’ve seen those blue eyes before. Think where have I seen them before? I looked down at my coffee, thinking. Then it hit me. What group was that? Backdoor/ No, oh wait I know. Backstreet Boys. He’s a backstreet boy.
I looked up again and I guess he noticed the shocked smile on my face, because he put his finger to his lips, telling me not to say anything. I nodded and went back to my bagel. Just as I was about to take another bite, my cell phone rang. I pulled it out of my bag and pushed the send button.
"Hello?" I asked.
It was the school. Informing me that my class had been canceled for the day, as my professor was sick. I didn’t mind though. It was my only class for the day. Good, I can relax. It’s Friday and I don’t have class ‘til Monday. Woohoo!
I was about to take another bit when I heard someone sit in the chair on the other side of my table. I looked up and was met with blue eyes and a goofy smile.
"Hi, can I help you?" I asked, then felt like an idiot. I was asking a Backstreet Boy if I could help him.
"Well, I don’t know. I just came over to thank you for not saying anything. And to ask why you were staring?"
"I was staring? Oh, I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t realize that I was. I know that sounds stupid, but it’s the truth. But to be totally honest, I don’t always look at the people who are in here. But for some reason you caught my attention. Then I realized who you were. I wasn’t going to say anything. Because, I honestly don’t know you’re name." Woohoo, record for me! I just made a fool of myself and confused the hell out of a famous person. Ain’t that great?!
"Oh, well. Ok, you know who I am, but you don’t know my name?"
"Yeah, crazy huh? Well, see my little sister is a big fan of you and your group. She has posters all over her room. She’s probably told me all your names; I just never really paid that much attention."
"Ok, I understand now. Well, I’m Brian."
"Nice to meet you, Brian. I’m Andrea. But you can call me Andi or Drew. I don’t like going by Andrea."
"Nice to meet you too, Andi. So, do you go to school here?"
"Yeah, I do. I go to UCF."
"That’s cool. What are you majoring in?"
"Music business/management. And obviously I’m doing a bang up job, since I don’t know the names of the most popular boy band."
"Hey, it’s all good. You don’t have to know all our names. Just mine." He paused and started laughing. I laughed with him.
"Just kidding. But as long as you know our group name, it’s all good."
"Ok, good. I felt kinda stupid not knowing your name. My sister knows everything about you guys. She’d probably kill me if she knew I was here with you."
"Well, then don’t tell her. I wouldn’t want you to die on account of me."
I just laughed. He was so down to earth that I felt I could talk to him about anything.
"So, what are you doing at a bagel shop this early in the morning?" I was curious, so I asked.
"I had some thinking to do. And this place looked pretty quiet."
"Oh, ok. I see. Just to warn you though, around 8:15 a crowd of people all come in at once. It gets crazy."
"Oh, then I guess I should leave." He started to get up.
"Oh, now I didn’t mean you had to leave."
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to join me? Do you have any plans today?"
"Nope, actually I don’t. My class was canceled. If you really want me to join you today, I will."
"Yeah, I do. So, will do?"
"Sure, I’d love to."
I grabbed my stuff and we went outside.
"Ok, who’s car do you want to take? Or do you just want to follow?" He asked.
"I’ll follow you, because I don’t want to leave my car here."
"Ok. I hope you don’t mind, but I felt like going to St. Pete to John’s Pass."
"That’s fine. I love John’s Pass."
"Ok, great."
I unlocked my door and climbed in. Brian climbed into his car and he backed out first and I followed. We drove the 2 hours to St. Pete Beach. We reached John’s Pass and parked. I turned the ignition off and got out of my car, closing the door. Brian did the same, and we met up on the sidewalk.
"Alright, we’re here. What would you like to do?" I asked.
"Let’s walk around for a while."
"Ok, sounds good."
We walked up to the boardwalk and started walking down it. I was looking at all the shops when I felt Brian grab my left hand. I looked at him like he was crazy.
"That’s a really pretty ring. Is it an engagement ring?"
I didn’t know how to answer that. This was a little hard. But Brian seemed like a person I could trust."
"It was a promise ring." I looked straight ahead. Unsure that if I looked at him, I’d start to cry.
"Was? What happened?"
I took a minute to answer, because I didn’t want to start crying.
"Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. We just met and it’s not right that I asked you something personal like that."
"Oh, no. It’s ok. I should talk about it. My boyfriend or I mean my ex-boyfriend, Kyle, gave me the ring. Promising that we’d get married after we graduate. But about three days ago, I found a note on my refrigerator from him. Saying that he found someone else and that he was living with her." I had to stop, because I was almost crying.
"Oh, wow. I’m sorry. No one should ever go through something like that. He’s a jerk for doing that to you."
"I know thanks. I can’t bring myself to taking the ring off yet."
"Hey, that’s understandable."
"I guess. What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?"
"I did. But we broke up a month ago. Just wasn’t working out. With her career and my career. So, it wasn’t like I lost anything. I cared about her, but I didn’t love her."
"I understand. So, whatcha been thinking about? You got that worried look. I mean, you don’t have to tell me."
"I’ll tell you, just not here."
"Ok."
"Hey, are you hungry?" Brian asked.
"Yeah, I am. You?"
"Yeah, let’s go to Friendly Fishermen."
We walked down to the Friendly Fishermen and went inside. We were lead to a table in the back, so Brian wouldn’t be spotted. A waitress came and took our drink order. She left and came back with out drinks. Then she took our orders. She left and Brian and I started talking.
"So, you wanna know what I was thinking about earlier?"
"Yeah, I mean only if you want to tell me." I didn’t want him to feel like he had to tell me.
"It’s fine. I guess I should tell someone. See, just recently the guys and I stopped touring. We could go on, but next week I’m having surgery. I have a heart condition and I have a hole in my heart. I’ve just been thinking about how bad it is and what’s gonna happen next."
I was totally shocked when I heard that. He looked totally healthy, like nothing was wrong with him. And he was having surgery soon, which meant he wasn’t doing too good. Maybe, I mean I could be wrong. But still, I wasn’t expecting to hear that.
"Oh wow, I’m sure that you’ll pull through, Bri. You look perfectly healthy now." Did that sound stupid or not? Yeah, I think it definitely did.
"Thanks. But if I do too much, it takes a lot for me to catch my breath. And sometimes I have pain in my chest. It’s getting worse."
"Oh, Ok. So the surgery will help. You’ll be fine and will be back to normal in no time."
"I guess. We’ll..." Before he finished his sentence; he closed his eyes and gripped the table in pain. He turned really pale. I got up and went over to him.
"Brian, are you ok?" I asked, grabbing his shoulder. I guess the pain subsided, because his breathing started to go back to normal and his color was coming back. He opened his eyes and smiled weakly at me.
"I’m fine. I think. Though that hasn’t happened before when I was just sitting, relaxing. But don’t worry, I’m sure it was nothing."
Yeah, don’t worry. NOT! I will worry.
I guess I still had a shocked expression on my face, because Brian grabbed my hand.
"Andi, it’s ok. Really, I’m fine." He tried to reassure me.
"I know. It’s just that shocked me. No one has ever done that in front of me before."
"I know. I’m sorry that I scared you. We can change the subject. So, how old is your sister?"
"She just turned 17 last week. Actually my family live here in St. Pete."
"That’s cool. What’s her name?"
"Billie. And her favorite BSB is Nick."
"Aw man, that sucks. I was hoping she’d like me. Wait a minute, I thought you didn’t know our names?"
"Oh, I don’t know who is who. I know your names, just not the faces. Though Billie would kill me if I didn’t know who Nick Carter was. The blonde one. He is the only one that I know what he looks like."
"Hey, you know what I look like." He pouted.
"That was before I met you, dumb nut."
"I know. I was just making it hard on you." He gave me a goofy grin. I just laughed at him.
I then saw a girl who looked vaguely like my sister walking towards the bathroom. When she got closer I saw that it was indeed my sister.
"What is she doing here?" I asked. Brian looked at me with confusion.
"Who?"
"My sister. She’s supposed to be in school right now."
She got to our table and was about to walk past when I grabbed her wrist. She turned around.
"Hey, let go. Oh, it’s you." She stopped and looked down at the floor.
"Yeah, it’s me. Billie, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in school."
"Hey, what about you? You have class."
"It was canceled. Don’t change the subject, Bill."
"I’m not. I was just wondering.
"So, are you gonna answer my question?"
"Well see, my friends and I wanted to come here for lunch. So, we skipped 3 & 4 period. You can’t honestly say you haven’t skipped Andi."
"Ok, I have skipped. But still."
"But still what? And, you know you were just like me."
"Hey, I was trying to be the good older sister."
"Whatever. You’re just odd."
"Billie, I hate you. But anything, I won’t be rude. Billie, this is Brian. Brian, this is my baby sister, Billie."
"Hi, nice to meet you, Brian." Billie turned towards Brian and extended her hand out to him. But stopped when she realized which Brian it was.
"Hi, Billie. It’s great to meet you." Brian smiled.
Billie didn’t move. Just stood there.
"Billie, aren’t you going to shake his hand?" I asked, enjoying this.
"I, uh, oh yeah." She took his hand and shook it.
"Andi, can I talk to you for a minute?" She started walking to the bathroom. I got up and just as I turned to Brian to tell him I’d be back I saw him turn really pale and almost fall over. I ran over to him and grabbed him before he fell.
"Brian, what’s wrong?"
"My...chest....it....hurts..." He mumbled.
"Billie, where are you?"
"Right here. What’s wrong?"
"Where are you parked?"
"Near the entrance. Why?"
"We gotta get Brian to the hospital and NOW!"
She helped me get him out of the booth. Surprisingly there weren’t that many people there. So we got out quickly.
Billie had a Jeep Wrangler, we put Brian in the back and I got in the back with him. Billie got up front and started driving to the nearest hospital.
"Brian, you stay with me, ok?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.
"Call...Nick"
I looked through his call log and found Nick’s number. I pushed send and someone answered on the 3rd ring.
"Hi, is this Nick?"
"Yeah? Who’s this? And why are you on Brian’s phone?"
"This is Andi. I’m with Brian. I’m taking him to the hospital."
"What? What happened?"
"His heart. He has chest pain."
"Ok, what hospital are you going to?"
"Hold on....Billie, which hospital are we going to?"
"St. Pete General."
"Ok, we’re going to St. Pete General."
"Ok, we’ll be there in 30 minutes."
"Alright."
I hung up just as Brian grabbed my hand in pain. He then suddenly let go and became limp.
"Brian!" I screamed. He stopped breathing. I put him on his back and started doing CPR. Those lifeguard classes I took back in high school really came in handy. Though I never thought I’d actually be using them on someone.
Just as we reached the hospital, he started breathing again.
Billie honked her horn and two nurses came out.
"What happened?" One of them asked.
"He has a heart condition. He stopped breathing a few minutes ago, but my sister revived him." Billie informed them. They got him on a gurney and escorted him into the ER. They rolled him into a room and put a heart monitor on him. Suddenly there was a loud beep.
"Flat line. He’s going into cardiac arrest!" A nurse yelled. They started CPR on him, but that wasn’t helping. Billie tried to pull me away, but I couldn’t. I had to stay right there. They charged his heart 3 times, before they finally got his heart beating again. Billie finally got me away from the door and I collapsed into a chair.
"Andi, how could you watch that?" She asked.
"I don’t know. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t move. I had to watch." I felt sick. I was shocked that I had just seen them charge his lifeless body. And that I had to do CPR on him. And that he almost died. This was all freaky...
