The summer was dragging by slowly. VERY slowly. Nick left at the end of May and called me almost every day for the first week that he was in Europe. One day I was laying on the couch watching soaps when I heard the phone ring. A few minutes later, I heard my dad calling me:
“Katelin! Phone!” I dragged my lazy butt of the couch and went and picked it up:
“Hello?” I heard an unfamiliar voice on the other end:
“Katelin? This is Jane Carter.” I was scared for a second as a million thoughts ran through my head:
“Hi Mrs. Carter. Is Nick okay? There’s nothing wrong, is there?” She laughed a little:
“No no. Nothing like that. By the way, please call me Jane.”
“Uh..okay.” She continued:
“The reason I’m calling is that I talked to Nick earlier and he was telling me how miserable he was and how much he missed you and I was thinking that maybe I would send you out there for a few weeks. Sort of a surprise for him. Of course, if it’s okay with you.” I was speechless. Finally, I managed to find my voice:
“Oh my god! I couldn’t let you do that, though.”
“Oh, it’s no problem at all, believe me. I knew you’d be apprehensive about letting me pay for everything, but it’ll be worth it not to have Nick call me whining every day.” I giggled:
“Well, I’d have to talk it over with my parents, but I would love to.”
“Good. Would you rather have me talk to your parents? It always sounds better coming from another parent.” I laughed:
“Okay, hold on a sec.” I covered the mouthpiece:
“DAD!!! PICK UP THE PHONE! IT’S NICK’S MOM!!” A few seconds later, my dad picked up and I hung my end up so they could talk to each other.
Finally, it was settled. I would be flying to Italy on the evening of June 30th and would arrive in Rome in the morning of July 1st. Brian’s girlfriend, Leighanne, was also coming and we would be on tour with the boys for about a month. I was so excited. I couldn’t believe my parents were actually letting me go. This was totally unlike them. Florida was one thing, but another country.
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July 1st could not have come any slower. I was so excited to go that the rest of June seemed to drag on and on and on… I still talked to Nick at least once a week when he would call. He had no idea that we were coming, neither did Brian. We couldn’t wait to see the expression on their faces.
When we arrived at the airport in Rome, Eric, one of the boys’ bodyguards met us to take us to the hotel. When we arrived, they were out doing promotional stuff and would be back around in about an hour. We walked into the penthouse of the hotel and both of our jaws hit the floor. My eyes widened as I looked around the room:
“Holy shit. This place is awesome!” Leighanne was equally impressed:
“I think I’ll just stay here for the next month while the guys go on tour.” I giggled and grabbed her arm:
“Come on. Let’s go check this place out.” I threw my stuff in Nick’s room and she put her stuff in Brian’s and we ran around the place exploring. We were so excited that we didn’t hear the guys come in. We ran in from the balcony and noticed that they were all sitting on the couches in the living room. Leighanne ran in first and, when she stopped dead in her tracks, I ran right into her:
“Ow!” Then I noticed why she was stopped:
“Uh..surprise?!” The guys just stood there with open mouths. Leighanne started laughing:
“Close your mouths guys. You’re catching flies.” Brian stood up and ran over to her:
“OHMIGOD! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE HERE!” He picked her up and swung her around before he kissed her softly on the lips. I smiled at them and then I turned to Nick. He was still sitting there, staring at me with huge eyes and his mouth hanging open:
“Hey Nicky!” Finally, he managed to speak:
“Kate? Ohmigod! What…how?” I laughed:
“I take it our surprise worked.” He jumped and hugged me:
“I can’t believe you guys are here. How did this happen?” We all calmed down and Leighanne and I explained the reason for our trip. Nick and Brian were both so happy. Nick jumped up to grab the phone:
“I have to call my mom and tell her how much I love her.” I laughed again:
“Nick, it’s like 6am there. I’m sure she’ll kick your ass if you call her this early.”