I have always felt like I had this really weird connection with The Backstreet Boys. I honestly don’t think its an accident that they are in my life. As a matter of fact, people always ask me, “What would you be doing now if it wasn’t for The Backstreet Boys?” I can’t answer that question because I know they were meant to be in my life. From the first day I became a fan (Aug. 7th 1998) my dream was to meet them. On December 10th 2003 that dream came true. This is my story of what happened that day.
(To get the whole story you have to know what happened exactly one year before Dec 10th 2003 read the Dec 9th 2002 story first).
In 2003 rumors were going around that Backstreet might be at the music awards. Nothing was confirmed. I wasn’t about to get my hopes up but I was going to go just in case. I made plans to meet up with my friend Veronica (a fan also) at the MGM around 6pm. She was hoping to see them at the red carpet. I wasn’t that crazy about the red carpet thing but she said it was fun.
I got up that morning and went online to see if there was any news on BSB and the music awards. To my surprise there was! It was confirmed, they were going to be there! I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was I had very very little time to get ready. I had to be out of the house as soon as possible and headed to MGM. I knew, I just knew from that moment I was going to meet them that day. This gut feeling was telling me today was the day I had been waiting on for five years. I wanted to call everyone I knew just to tell them “I am going to meet the Backstreet Boys today! Mark my words!”. I had no time for any of that though. I went through all my BSB stuff to see what I wanted to show them or have signed or anything else. My room was a mess! I brought all my BSB hats, a photo album, my handmade BSB backpack, and a letter I wrote AJ a long time ago. I was in a frantic rush but that wasn’t a bad thing because of the weird connection I had with BSB. Seems like if the day is rushed and unplanned something great always happens.
I arrived at the MGM around noon. I decided I was going to find the red carpet by myself since Veronica wasn’t going to be there till 6. After standing there for a short time I became really annoyed by the people around me. I felt like I had to leave. I felt like I needed Veronica with me even if it meant missing the red carpet, which could mean possibly missing the boys completely. I went to my job ( at the NYNY casino) and waited there for Veronica. She showed up at the time she said she would. She brought along her boyfriend Boris. Since he isn’t a BSB fan, his job was to take the pictures!
When we got to the MGM we found out the red carpet was already over. Which was a bummer. I still had faith though. We went inside the MGM to figure out what to do next. We didn’t really know what to do since the show had already started. Everyone was inside enjoying the show. We ended up by the arena entrance. There we were waiting around for nothing, along with a funny guy pretending he was someone important, talking on his cell phone trying to get in, but he knew it was hopeless. We were just like yeah we aren’t cool enough to get in. Veronica noticed people leaving the show early. Half joking she would hold out her hand and say “Tickets? Anyone? Please?”. This man in a business suit and his wife walked out and Veronica did that to them. They just walked by. We were laughing because it was kind of funny begging for tickets. Just then the man turned back around and came up to us. He said “You want to go into the show? Yes or no because I have two tickets here if you want them.”. We were shocked and said “Yeah!”. Veronica and I were in! We left Boris behind with the funny guy.
The seats were pretty good. The man who gave us the tickets happened to be an employee of MGM so he got the promo seats. We saw the last 20 minutes or so of the show. No BSB yet.
After the show we were stuck in the middle of all the people looking for Boris. While looking around we noticed these young girls also waiting around. We asked them who they had seen. I was quick to ask them about BSB. I told them about how they were the only reason I was there. They hadn’t seen any stars yet and had no idea BSB was going to be there. One of them liked Nick a little bit. For some reason they hung around us. I guess they thought we knew where to find the stars. We were clueless.
After we found Boris, I suggested going to the elevators.
I remember this like it was yesterday. While walking to the elevators I was looking away at this club thing. Veronica said “Isn’t it funny how people always spot Nick at food places?” I laughed and said “Yeah, wouldn’t it be funny if Nick brought the rest of the guys to the same restaurant where I met him before because he thought it was so good?”. Her response was “There they go” I was like “WHO? WHERE?”. She goes “The Backstreet Boys there they go right there.” They were walking into the same restaurant where I had met Nick the year before! No lie! Right after I said that they went to the restaurant! It was like I had wished it and it came true.
I ran towards them. I didn’t catch them before they went in but AJ was the last one walking in. While he was walking to their table I screamed “AJ!”. He didn’t hear me. Just then Veronica came up beside me and screamed even louder “AJ!!”. He turned around smiled and waved at us. It was so awesome! I said “I don’t give a f*ck, I’m gonna wait here until they come out. There’s no way I am leaving this spot.” We were just staring towards their table from outside the restaurant, and we could barely make out who was who. Nick and Kevin were easy because they are tall. The girls were still with us at the time. They were so excited mostly for me because although they had just met me they knew I was like the biggest Backstreet fan they had ever met.
We saw someone get up from the table. It was Kevin. Veronica said “He is probably going to the bathroom!”. The bathroom was outside the restaurant! Veronica said she was going to go check if he was going over there. I wasn’t taking any chances I stayed in my spot while she went to look. Seconds later one of the young girls came running to me with her hand extended. She said “Oh my god come with me! Come! Come!”. She took my hand and took me to the bathroom area. She said “He’s in the bathroom right now! He said he’s gonna be right back!”. We all waited impatiently. He came out looking so handsome! Everyone let me go up to him first. I was rambling things to him about how much I loved them. I didn’t even know what I was saying but he kept looking at me paying so much attention to what I was saying. His eyes looked really concerned and humble. One of the girls said “This girl right here loves you! She love you guys so much!“. He was trying to calm me down by asking me some questions. He asked “Where you guys from?” and I said “Here in Vegas.” He said “You knew we were going to be here?” I said “Yeah!” He looked surprised and asked how I knew. I stuttered “The um the… the Internet!”. He just looked at me and said “Wow“ in his classic slow Kevin voice. It was great! He signed my Von Dutch hat. I got two pictures with him. He was really nice. After he signed Veronicas book she said “Thank you!” He looked at her in the eyes and said “No. Thank you.”
After that we went back to the front. Then someone else got up from the table. This time it was AJ! He wasn’t walking to the bathroom. He got up and walked towards us with his bodyguard. I thought he was leaving but he just took a seat at the little bar in the front of the restaurant. He was just sitting there a few feet away from us. I was in awe. I had my mouth open like wooooooow there’s AJ look at him. At that point I wasn’t thinking straight, I was just mesmerized by him. Veronica was on cue , as soon as AJ turned to us she waved him down. She gave him the puppy dog face begging him to come out. I was just drooling. He looked away and said something to his bodyguard. He got up and pointed at us then walked towards us. When he came out once again everyone let me be the first to go up to him. He had a cigarette in his hand. I had my letter in hand ready to give to him. I started with my rambling again. He looked at me patiently and humbly also. Yet had a tiny bit of fear in his eyes. I will never forget the way he looked at me. He kept saying “Why thank you” bowing his head every time he said that. Veronica reminded me about the letter. Suddenly I realized it wasn’t in my hand. I was freaking out but as it turned out I already gave it to AJ. I asked if I had given it to him he said “You sure did” and patted his pocket. Veronica also reminded me to show him my backpack. I said “oh yeah!” and I turned around to show him. He took a look at it and laughed. He said the picture of him was a “bad hair day, but hey if it works”. It is the hottest picture of him! And all he could see was a bad hair day.
He said that he came outside to smoke because he didn’t want to kill the people at the bar. When he signed an autograph for one of the girls, some of his ashes fell on the paper and as he was dusting it off she said “oh no, you can just leave that on there!”. More and more people started coming up to him. He was in the center of all the people. People handed him cell phones and he told them all “ I want to wish you a Merry Christmas.” He talked to everyone like he was friends with them all. Veronica told me that when he first came out he said “Hey ‘sup man” to Boris and shook his hand and he was just standing there. Now Boris likes AJ and says they are friends.
AJ went back in the restaurant and sat at the bar again. He was just talking on his cell phone. I could have gone in and sat next to him because I am 21 years old and there was no one around him really. I didn’t want to bother him after he came out to sign autographs and all. To this day I still don’t know if I should have gone in or not. I saw this girl there that works in the NYNY also. She was a huge AJ fan so much so that she had AJ tattooed on her (she got it covered with a flower later). We convinced her to take my ID, go and sit next to him since she wasn’t there when he came out and that was probably her only chance. When she got enough courage, she did. She sat there and ordered some drinks for her friends. She was listening to him talk on his cell.
Then we saw Nick get up and go into to the bathroom. This time we knew exactly where to wait. He said he would be right back too. When he came out, we got pictures and he autographed my hat. Nick doesn’t say much. He just gives the fans what they want whether it be a picture or autograph then goes on his way. Not in a mean way just more like he treats it like business. It was funny because Veronica was so nervous when we met Nick (he’s her favorite). When she was taking the picture of Nick and I she couldn’t get the camera to work. After trying a few times she realized that she hadn’t wound the camera. You could tell she felt really dumb. I was laughing at her. Just as she was about to snap the picture Nick said “Wait! Wait!… Your finger.” Her finger was on the lens! Nick saved the day! I laughed even more and she snapped the picture as I was laughing at her. That’s why I look so weird in my picture with Nick.
Although all five were there, only those three came out. Brian and Howie took the back way out. Nick was the last to leave. After we saw that it was only Nick, and he was probably going to take the back way out too, we just left and called it a night.
It was awesome! They were all exactly as I thought they would be. I have a new dream now. I want to meet AJ again but this time talk to him calmly! Wish me luck!
Side notes
-The name of the restaurant is Craftsteak.
-While waiting for BSB to come out the restaurant Stevie Wonder passed by!
- That girl who went to sit next to AJ ended up taking my ID with her and not giving it back. When I saw her again at work she said she had it taken away at another bar. So I got a new ID on AJ’s birthday and also got my labret pierced that day.
-Since we didnt get to meet Howie we found this guy sitting around. He was our Howie for the night!
..::*THE END*::..
