I'm Not Losing You
A Story of Dedication to Those I Love
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-
“What do you mean ‘surprise visitors’?” Sam asked. “Who was that?”
“Um, that was Erik. He said that they’re going to try and stop by…” I said, not believing even my own words.
“WHAT!?” Sam said again. I could tell by the second of silence that they all just stopped and looked at each other. Then I heard the four of them squeal.
“Guys, keep it quiet though. I’m going to make it a surprise for everyone else. Kind of like one of those ‘if you weren’t here, you missed out’ because you KNOW some people didn’t want to come unless the guys were here.” It was true. Some people I invited asked me specifically if Vi3 would actually be there. And of course I said no, because at that point, why would I ever have expected them to show up? And in hearing that they would not be there, the fans immediately said that they would not be there.
“Hey, you know what this means?” Mardy asked.
“What’s that?” I yelled back downstairs.
“Now we won’t have to bring the Christmas presents to the next show. We can just give them to the guys here.” She was right. Now I didn’t have to haul all that stuff up to Wisconsin. Now had I known that they would be here, I would have given them my gifts that I gave them at that signing today instead of months ago. But the five of us, Rachel, Mardy, Sam, Michelle and I had all pitched in to make them a little something. We put together a video of all the fans giving some shout outs and our favorite moments that we had on tape. It turned out so adorable. We got each of them a copy of it, and then we got these blankets made. They were like throw blankets, and if you’ve ever seen the *NSYNC ones with their faces weaved into them, that’s basically what these were. It took us four months just to find someone that would do this. We got each of the guys a blanket with their faces and the Vi3 logo weaved into it, and quite frankly, they looked pretty cool. I was pretty skeptical myself when Rachel and her mom told me what they were being made, but I must admit, I was very impressed when I saw the finished product. And we had gotten Erik something too, just because he’s Erik. He has this “all purpose” bag that he carries around with him all the time, and his is starting to get kind of ratty, so we got him a new Adidas bag. I actually had everything sitting up in my room, completely wrapped and ready to go. I’m lucky they were here and not at Rachel’s house.
I finished getting dressed and decided to relocate to the bathroom to do my makeup, just in case someone showed up while I was still getting ready. But before I did, I had to go downstairs and remind my crew of one rule.
“Ok guys, remember. I don’t care how much you love or hate someone that’s going to be here, it’s Christmas, and you’re going to get a long. Even if that means just not speaking to them all night, so be it. Get along, it’s Christmas for God’s sake.” It was now 12:44, and people would be showing up at any minute. 12:50 came around, and the first people showed up. Krystal and Lety showed up at my front door, and Rachel opened it for them. They showed up with their gifts, and placed them under my wonderful (fake) Christmas tree. I had decided to put together a grab bag sort of deal for everyone that was coming to the party for sure. I ended up with Smurf. Hopefully everyone would remember their gifts so no one would feel left out. After finishing my hair and makeup, I finally came downstairs. It was just about 1:05, and only Krystal and Lety were here so far.
“What’s up amiga?” Said Krystal, coming towards me to give me a hug.
“Hey hun, how are you on this wonderful afternoon?” I asked. They both said that they were doing good, and were ready to party. I laughed and said,
“Oh well you better be. I’ll tell you that right now!” I said it slyly, implying that something was up. They didn’t have a clue, however. But my crew did. As a joke, I decided to ask Rachel if I should go make a plate of cookies. She just laughed and said,
“Yep. Sounds like a good idea. Three dozen of course.”
By 1:15, pretty much everyone was here. There were about thirty people in my living room. The only ones missing were Jen and Kelly. But I knew that they were on their way because they had just called, totally lost. Everyone that had shown up so far had remembered their gifts, so I was pretty excited. My tree had almost no room under it, and it was a big thrill for me. And the fact that everyone was getting along was just astonishing to me. I had a big smile on my face the whole time. And the big surprise hadn’t even happened yet. I was picturing the looks on their faces when the guys showed up. My phone rang again, and I picked it up after only half a ring. It was Erik again.
“Hey, what’s up EB?”
“Ha-ha. Hey Mya. We just wanted to let you know that we’re on our way.”
“Oh, awesome. How long until you guys get here?” I asked. I tried to contain my excitement, pretending like it was Jen and Kelly on the phone. Although that didn’t go over to well because as I was talking, they walked in the door.
“Well, we should be there in about a half hour, maybe forty five minutes.” He replied.
“Awesome. Sounds good. I’ll see you in a little while.” I hung up the phone and went back to the party.
“Who was that?” Crystal asked. I had to think quick. Who could I say called my house? Um, let me think…
“Oh, that was…my aunt. She’s stopping by to drop off something for my sister.” It sounded valid. I almost believed myself. Thank god she didn’t catch the pause in my voice.
“Oh, fun times.” She replied, and then went back to the party. Everyone was chilling in the den, so it was much easier for me to keep the guys a surprise. I made sure everyone parked on the side too, so it would be even easier to hide. As I’m coming back from my room to get the gifts and such, I see the Denali park itself in my driveway. I set the gifts down on my coffee table and put on my coat. I had my sister helping me out, so I just had her come outside with me to greet them. It was cold outside. Very cold. I greeted each of them with a big hug and a thank you. This was just so sweet of them to come. I introduced them to my sister, and walked them inside to where it was a little bit warmer.
“Do they know anything?” Erik asked.
“Nope. The only ones that know are Rachel, Sam, Mardy and Michelle because they were here when you called.”
“Oh ok. Cool. So then we’re kind of like a Christmas surprise huh?” Jackie said. And they were, if you really thought about it. I walked back inside, and had Carrie take their coats up to the other room. Luckily there wasn’t anyone in my living room when I walked them through it. We got into the kitchen, and I just saw everyone freeze for a moment.
“Hey. What’s up?” Lucas broke the silence. All the voices in the room said hello at the same time. Some of them stood up to greet them with a hug, and some just sat and waved.
“Mya, why did you tell some people that they weren’t going to be here?” Asked Krista. “Because you know a lot more people would have decided to come.” She was right, a lot more people would have come.
“Exactly. That’s the idea. The whole point of this party was for the fans to get together for Christmas. I don’t want people here that are only coming to see them. You know?”
“Oh I see. Well that makes sense.” She replied.
“And plus, I didn’t know they were coming until about two hours ago.” I slid that in at the last minute. Meanwhile, I looked over at the guys, and they were busy giving hugs and saying Merry Christmas to everyone. It was adorable to watch. Eventually they made their way to the kitchen table and had a seat. Jackie started to pick at some of the food that we had on the table, and Justin grabbed one of the bottles of water that was there. My sister walked back into the room, and just stood in the doorway. Jackie looked at her, and said hello.
“Hi. I don’t know you. I’m Jackie.” He put his hand out to shake hers, and she slowly approached him, looking at me funny.
“Jackie, this is my little sister Carrie. Carrie this is Jackie.” I introduced the two of them.
“I know who it is.” My sister insisted.
“Nice to meet you Carrie.” Jackie said, enthusiastically. “How come you don’t come to any shows?” Ha! He caught her up in that one. But Carrie was honest, and she said,
“Well, you’re really not my type of music. Nothing personal…”
“Oh I see how it is…” Jackie said, sliding back into the chair. Then Lucas chimed in.
“Well I remember when you used to come to the shows way back in the old days, what changed? Huh?” He was just joking around with her, and my sister turned bright red. “Oh! Caught you!” He laughed again. She smiled, and looked over to me.
“What are you trying to do? Get me beat up?” She asked.
“Eh, it’s alright. You’ll love us after today.” Justin joked. Everyone laughed a little bit. Now that I’ve embarrassed my sister, the day is pretty much complete. Ha-ha.
The whole room settled down a little bit, and everyone was enjoying friendly conversation with each other. This was probably the first party that I’ve thrown where something doesn’t go seriously wrong and people end up trying to kill each other. But there’s always time for that, now isn’t there? Hopefully I’m wrong. Hopefully everything will stay picture perfect like it is now. This whole time, Rachel and Michelle had both been taping the whole party. I was hoping this tape wouldn’t turn into an episode of “The Real World” or even “Cops” (worst case scenario) when we look back and watch it. I was hoping for more of the ‘cheesy family Christmas’ type of video. Throw in a few hotties, and you’ve got my IDEAL video…oh wait! We have that right here! Ha-ha.
“Hey, when are we going to do these gifts? I’m ready for some serious presents!” Said Krissy out of nowhere. She got up and started to walk back to my living room.
“Hey, I’m with Krissy on this one.” Said Jen.
“Well then I guess we could do this now, huh?” I said, getting up off the table where I was sitting, and I walked with everyone else to my living room. It was a challenge fitting all these people in one room of my house, but it was done somehow. There were some on the staircase, on the landing, at the dining room table, on the couch, piano bench, and tons on the floor. I was sitting next to Lucas on the couch, with one pile of gifts to my right side. I remembered that I had to go get the guys gifts before we started.
“Shit, I’ll be right back. No one better take my seat!” I said, going back up to my room to get the gifts. I ran upstairs and grabbed the four gifts on the far side of my room, sitting pretty on the corner of my desk. Putting all four of them in my arms, I carried them out and down the stairs. I walked slowly, careful not to trip over my own two feet and fall down the stairs. I made it down the two flights without so much as a stumble. I turned to place the gifts with the rest on the end table, and I started back to my seat…but it had been filled.
“Hey! Someone seems to have taken my seat…” I said, giving Jen a look. She laughed at me anyway.
“Sorry Mya. You took too long.” She said to me. I just sighed and said,
“Well, now I’ve got to find somewhere to sit.” I looked around on the couch, floor and chairs for somewhere, and I found nothing. Jackie, sitting on the piano bench, slid over a little bit, and told me to sit next to him. I smiled and made my way over to sit down, but instead, Sam took that seat faster than I could get there. So just took her spot and stood there. And that was better for me anyway, because I had to hand out gifts.
“Ok, so how about I just hand out this stuff, and not sit. It works.” I laughed. Everyone pretty much agreed with me, so I picked up a few gifts and started to hand them out to whom they belonged to. The guys just sat back and smiled as they watched the scene around them. I was impressed because not one person had forgotten their gift. As I finished passing out the gifts to all the girls, Lucas noticed that there were still some left.
“Alright, who doesn’t have one?” He asked out loud.
“Um, no hun. These four are for the four of you.” I said, handing Erik his first, then Jackie, then Lucas and then Justin. They all looked surprised.
“Awe, you didn’t have to get us anything Mya!” Said Justin and Erik both.
“Well it’s not just from me, it’s from me, Sam, Rachel, Mardy and Michelle.” I had to make that clear, because it wasn’t all from me and I didn’t want them to give me any more credit than I deserved.
“Awe, well thank you guys!” Jackie said. “I don’t even know what it is, but thank you!” I smiled at each of them, and sat down to open my own gift. From the looks of it, Jen had drawn my name, and from the package it was in, I could tell what it was. I opened the small envelope, and revealed a $30 gift card to my second favorite store in the world, Forever 21. (I can’t get a gift card to my absolute favorite because it’s where I work…) I thanked Jen and gave her a big hug. She always knows what to get me to make me happy. Just take my 18th birthday for example. That was just one of the best gifts I had ever received. Everyone seemed to be pretty excited with the gifts that they got. Including the guys. I looked up to Lucas, who had gotten his open first, and I heard his first reaction.
“Wow. I didn’t know that they could make my head this big!” He was always one for a quick joke. “Thanks so much guys. This is pretty cool.” Erik opened his next, and he was pretty excited by the thought of our gift. The other two opened theirs, and looked at the same blanket that they had seen Lucas unfold. All the girls in the room obviously thought they were pretty cool, and asked us where we got them. I didn’t know the answer, so I told them to ask Mardy. Ha-ha.
“These are awesome. And look, they even have our names on them!” Jackie said. I didn’t even notice that before. But looking closer, I noticed that at the bottom, their names were weaved into the blanket, and under their names it said: “Vi3 – Taking Chicago to the Top!” It was, in fact, pretty cool.
“Awe, that’s awesome!” Justin said, getting up to give each of us a hug. The blankets got passed around the room so everyone could see them before Erik ran everything back out to the car.
“So how long are you guys going to stay?” I asked Lucas, since he was sitting closest to me.
