Chapter 28"Yeap. Every seat will be occupied," Howie said when Mandy began squealing and took off running. Kristen, Jasmine, and Howie turned to see where she ran off to and saw her jump into the arms of TJ. Kristen saw that Howie had a hurt look on his face and she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug.
"Don't worry about them Howie. Like I told you before, I don't think Mandy and TJ will last very long," Kristen said.
"What about me?" TJ asked joining them with Mandy at his side. "How you been Kristen?" he asked giving her a hug. "How's the marriage life going?"
"It's actually going really good."
"That's great. Britney just finished up on the stage so you three need to get up there to rehearse." They agreed and grabbed three microphones and jumped on the stage. They began singing and dancing to recorded instrumental versions of the three songs they would be doing later that night. When they were done everyone went out to get something to eat before the concert that night. By the time they got back to the venue, fans of Britney's were already lined up waiting to enter. Mandy, Jasmine, and Kristen went into their dressing room to get ready for the concert. About an hour later Howie knocked on the dressing room door.
"Come in," Jasmine said and Howie entered.
"You ready? They want you on in like two minutes to perform.
"You know there are a lot of people out there," Mandy said as she was beginning to get nervous.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Kristen said leaving and going into the bathroom where she started to throw up.
"I don't think it's such a good idea that she performs tonight," Mandy said.
"Of course it's a good idea. She's just nervous. She's never performed in front of any crowd larger than five hundred people. I'll be right back." Howie went and knocked on the bathroom door and after a few seconds entered closing the door behind him. Kristen was standing in front of the sink rinsing her mouth out. "You okay now?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've been fine."
"Are you sure? AJ told me that you've been getting upset stomachs a lot lately. You're not coming down with the flu are you?"
"Trust me Howie. What's wrong with me is far from being the flu."
"Then what exactly is wrong with you?" Howie asked curiously.
"Promise you won't tell AJ?"
"Considering I'm not going to be around him for a few weeks I think it'll be an easy promise to keep."
"Fine. The reason I've been having upset stomachs lately is because I'm pregnant."
"I guess I was wrong. That's not going to be an easy secret to keep. Kristen the first time you kept it from AJ that you were pregnant it killed him when Toni told him. You can't do that to him again."
"No, don't worry I'm not. Kristin, Kevin's girlfriend, told me that I should wait until Christmas to tell AJ. It was his idea to try and have a baby so don't you think that would be the perfect gift for him?" Kristen asked.
"I guess you're right. AJ is going to flip when you tell him. I promise I won't say anything to him but you have to promise me that for the next two months you'll take it easy while on this tour."
"I think I can keep that promise."
"Good, come here," Howie said opening his arms. Kristen entered his arms as he gave her a hug. "Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"Now come on. You need to get on stage with Mandy and Jasmine."
"I'm friends with both you and TJ so normally I wouldn't try to side between the two of you. But I really think you deserve Mandy more than TJ does."
"Now it's my turn to say thank you to you but you need to get on stage, let's go." Kristen, Mandy, and Jasmine grabbed their headset microphones and got ready to go onstage. When they were introduced and the music started the girls ran on stage. They looked at the huge crowd and all three of them became really nervous. As soon as Kristen sung the first line of 'Making It Tonight' she became really confident and sung her heart out. They were all completely shocked when about half of the crowd began singing along. They next sang the next to songs and the audience just screamed. No one had heard the two songs they were singing therefore couldn't sing along. When they were done they said thank you to the audience then ran backstage totally hyped up. Mandy ran and jumped into TJ's arms once again.
"That was way too cool!" she yelled.
"You did excellent," he said kissing her. "We're going to be on stage in about fifteen minutes so I'll see you when we're changing outfits or something," TJ said walking away to finish getting ready.
"So how'd you like it?" Howie asked seeing how excited Jasmine and Mandy were.
"I could definitely get used to this," Jasmine said.
"Where did Kristen go?" Howie asked.
"She went some where that wasn't so loud so she could call AJ I think," Mandy said.
"I guess that means she enjoyed performing," Howie said.
"So when you went into the bathroom did Kristen tell you anything?" Mandy asked Howie curiously.
"About her being pregnant? Yeah she told me. I'm happy for her and AJ."
"Who's pregnant?" TJ asked walking by them to get ready to go on stage.
"No one," Howie said. He remember what happened the last time Kristen was on tour as one of Britney's back up dancers and they sent her home. He didn't want Britney to find out that Kristen was pregnant again and for her to try and get rid of Love's Angels as her opening act.
"Someone here is pregnant?" Britney asked as she also walked by and came in on the middle of their conversation.
"I said no one was pregnant," Howie said repeating himself once more.
"You guys are just going to stand there and lie to me?" Britney asked upset.
"Britney just believe them. No one is pregnant," TJ said putting his arm around her. He figured that it was probably Kristen they were talking about since her and AJ were now married and probably wanted a family. He didn't want to say anything and start any trouble though. TJ walked away along with Britney with his arm around her. Mandy just stood there staring at them trying her hardest not to get upset.
"Mandy, he's your boyfriend. Nothing is going on between them," Jasmine said knowing what Mandy was thinking.
"Sorry, but why would he walk away with his arm around her?"
"Maybe for the same reason he hugged Kristen," Howie said. "They're just good friends."
"You two are right. I'm just jumping to conclusions," Mandy said walking away to their dressing room to change. She just hoped that her jumping to conclusions about TJ walking away with Britney with his arm around her was really the truth.
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It was Christmas Eve night and Howie, Kristen, Mandy, and Jasmine were all on a plane back to Orlando to spend Christmas with their families. Mandy was upset because it would have been hers and TJ's first Christmas together but he chose to stay with Britney and the rest of the dancers on the bus driving to the next city. Kristen was hyper as hell since she was excited about seeing AJ after three weeks. "I don't mean to sound rude, but if she doesn't shut up I'm going to gag her with something," Mandy said about Kristen. She wasn't exactly in a happy cheerful mood because of TJ so she was beginning to get an attitude with her friends.
"I second that," Jasmine said. "This group is about to only have two people in it instead of three." Jasmine was starting to get annoyed with Kristen since she would not stop running her mouth. Howie just sat back and laughed about it.
"Oh come on. You know you guys love me!" Kristen said happily giving Jasmine and Mandy a hug.
"God Kristen lay off!" Mandy said shoving her away and getting up to go to the back of the plane.
"Gees, I'm sorry. I'm just a little excited but I guess I'll sit here with my mouth shut," Kristen said. "What is wrong with her anyways? She's never blown up on me or anyone else before."
"She's just upset about TJ," Jasmine said.
"Why? Because he wouldn't come home for Christmas? His family doesn't even live in Orlando so if he was to go somewhere it would probably be to where his family lives."
"I think there's more behind it than just not going back to Orlando."
"I'll go find out what else is bothering her. I think I have an idea," Howie said getting up and going to the back of the plane. It was a large plan and even though it was Christmas time it was fairly empty. He found Mandy in the back sitting in one of the seats with her knees up to her chest with a few tears slowly falling from her eyes. "You know it always helps to talk to someone about things that are bothering you," Howie said sitting down next to her.
"I know but you would probably tell me I'm jumping to conclusions again or something."
"I doubt that you jumping to conclusions is what's making you cry. So what's wrong?"
"I think three words can sum it all up for you. TJ and Britney. I swear, Howie. I really think that something is going on between them."
"Why do you think that? TJ treats you great why would he go behind your back on you?"
"That's the thing. I don't know. It's like when we are together everything is just great. But then Britney will come into the picture bitching about something and TJ will go off with her and cheer her up. I know she likes him I just don't know if it is the other way around too."
"Why don't you just ask him then?"
"Because if I was wrong he would get mad at me for even thinking that something was going on between them two."
"But then at least you would know the truth. And if he's anything like AJ you'll know right away if he's lying," Howie said and Mandy laughed. They both knew that AJ had to be the worse liar that ever existed.
"Thanks Howie. I'll think about it," Mandy said giving him a hug. The seat belt sign came on and the airline attendant said they would be landing soon so make sure everyone was buckled in their seats. As soon as the plane pulled up to the gate at the Orlando airport Kristen grabbed her carry-ons and ran to get off the plane and through the walkway thing to the front gate in the airport.
"Damn, she's in a hurry," Jasmine said who just got up out of her seat and noticed Kristen was already gone. Howie helped Jasmine and Mandy get their things out of the bins above the seats and handed their things to them before they got off the plane. Kristen stopped for a second at the gate and looked around for a second and saw AJ with a bouquet of flowers standing there. A huge smile formed on her face and she took off running towards him. AJ opened his arms for a hug and Kristen dropped her stuff and jumped into his arms. She had her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. AJ wrapped his arms around Kristen and held her kissing her.
"I missed you so much," Kristen said with a smile as they separated.
"But I bet you loved singing on stage in front of thousands of people didn't you?"
"Yeah but I still love you more. Now let's go home and go to bed so Christmas can come and I can give you your present."
"Is my present that good?" AJ asked and Kristen nodded her head. "Great, then let's go home. But I'm hoping we don't go straight to bed," he said with a wicked smile as he walked away with Kristen still wrapped around his body. Jasmine picked up Kristen's bags that she just threw on the floor and Howie took them from her so she wouldn't have so much to carry.
"That girl definitely worries me sometimes," she said.
"I think that puts you on the same line as everyone else in the world who knows her. Let's get home, it's late," Howie said leading the way through the airport to baggage claim where they grabbed their bags and headed home.
