Chapter Twelve
"I cannot believe how nervous I am," Lisa muttered as she sat in the makeup
chair. "It's only television. What's the big deal?"
"You're nervous because Kevin is gonna be watching you," Lara teased with a
smile.
"A million viewers will be watching. What's the big deal about one more?"
Lisa retorted. Lara leaned close to whisper in Lisa's ear.
"Those million viewers don't fuck you 'til they scream, do they?"
Lisa gasped and stared at Lara, who burst into hysterical laughter. Lara
had been in such a good mood lately, and Lisa could not figure out for the
life of her what was causing the sudden mood swings. She herself seemed to
be getting further and further into the dumps, with Kevin leaving and
another letter arriving every week. She knew she had to tell someone about
the letters, but she was still hoping the person would get tired and stop.
"You frighten me, Lara, you really frighten me," Lisa said, closing her eyes
and leaning back in the chair.
"I'll be standing right on the side of the stage. You need anything, you
let me know," Lara told her.
"How many screaming teenyboppers are out there?" Lisa asked. "I knew I
shoulda used canned laughter instead of a live audience," she grumbled. She
knew that dating a teen heartthrob would be difficult, but this was
impossible. She was well liked enough by the teenybopper set that there
hadn't been TOO many evil threats or rude insults, but it was still hard.
"Let's see...the studio holds about one hundred and fifty people..." Lara
checked her clipboard. "Um...about one hundred forty teenyboppers."
Lisa groaned and closed her eyes again. "Hey, listen, Kevin and I were
gonna go out tonight and celebrate tonight after the show. Wanna come?
Nick will be there probably."
"Um, no thanks," Lara said quickly, knowing quite well exactly where Nick
would be. "I don't think I'd feel comfortable."
"Lara, listen, I think he's been seeing someone," Lisa finally confided.
"Kevin says he never wants to hang out with the guys, but he also refuses to
tell where he goes or who he's with...even the tabloids haven't been able to
keep an eye on him."
"Oh, well," Lara said with a sigh, practically sitting on her lips to keep
from smirking. "Guess I'll just have to find someone else to drool over
then...Kevin available?"
Lisa threatened to throw a powder puff at her. "Don't even think about it,
wench."
"Miss Lucky, you all ready?" The stage manager knocked politely and then
stuck his head in.
"Just about," Lisa said with a sigh.
"You'll do great," Lara said encouragingly. "Charlotte and Christina are
sweethearts, and, well, you know that the guys are gonna do everything they
can to make this show a success."
"Okay, ladies, I know you've patiently sat through my first two guests
waiting for this moment," Lisa said about forty minutes later. Screams
resounded through the room and she patiently smiled and waited. She had the
audience in the palm of her hand, and she was actually having a good time.
"I know I've been waiting. These guys are about to take off to Europe for a
two-month press tour, but for the next fifteen minutes, they're all ours.
Welcome the Backstreet Boys!"
When the five men strutted onto the stage, Lisa gasped and Lara covered her
mouth to stifle the hysterical giggles that threatened to fly out. AJ,
Brian, Howie and Nick had on "We Love Lucky" tshirts and Kevin wore a large
version of one of the first dresses from Lucky's new line of clothing. Lara
knew this was in retaliation for Lisa's twenty-minute tirade about how awful
he had looked in the skirt he wore to the Men Strikes Back show.
Lisa stared at Kevin, not able to believe that he would actually do
something like this on her show. She was almost mad at him, then she looked
up at the way he was smiling at her, crinkling his eyes and nose in the
special way he did when he was trying not to laugh. She smiled up at him.
"Kevin Richardson, is there something I should know?" Lisa asked sweetly,
and the audience roared. Kevin sashayed over to her.
"Unzip me, please," he said in a feminine voice, and Lisa helped him out of
the dress. Underneath, he wore black pants and his own "I love Lucky"
tshirt.
She asked a few predetermined questions, then started the questions about
their love lives. Lisa really didn't want to ask those kind of questions,
and she knew they hated answering them, but Reggie had insisted, saying it
was what the public wanted to know. AJ and Brian briefly mentioned their
Amandas, and Howie noted that he was single once more. Girls screamed at
that, and Lisa had to laugh. She looked up at Kevin.
"What about you?"
"Well...there was this one girl I was seeing, but I dunno...I think she's
too much woman for me," Kevin replied. "Know anyone available?" Lisa
smacked him. She couldn't help it. The audience chuckled, obviously loving
the chemistry between the two of them.
"Nick?" Lisa asked. Lara held her breath.
"Well..." Nick stared into the camera, then down at his feet. "There is
someone I've kinda been seeing...not too serious...she's great though...my
Juliet."
The girls in the audience "awwww"ed, and the guys rolled their eyes. Lisa
glanced over at Lara, who was looking everywhere but at the stage. "Sounds
great," she said simply. "So, what are you guys gonna sing?"
"Well, we were planning on singing The One," Brian began, and the room was
filled with screams once more.
"But then we decided we'd sing whatever YOUR favorite Backstreet song is,"
Howie finished.
"How sweet," Lisa said with a smile. "Let me think. What do you guys
think?" She turned to the audience, and girls started screaming out song
titles. Kevin knew her favorite song but wasn't about to suggest it without
her okay.
Nick looked towards the side of the stage and barely gave Lara a wink. He
was wearing baggy black dress pants with his tshirt and Lara sighed
unconsciously at the thought of his long legs in the black pants. He
reached up and ran his hand through his hair, letting his fingers linger at
the back of his neck for a moment. She shivered, knowing he was doing that
just to drive her crazy. She had told him how she loved watching him run
his long fingers through his hair, and he had taken to doing it at least
once every time they were together, just to make her squirm. "Why don't we
do All I Have to Give?" Nick said over the screams. Lara turned pink. He
knew this was her personal favorite. The other guys nodded.
"I think that's a good idea," Kevin said, smiling down at Lisa. She walked
off the stage and headed right for Lara.
"You okay?"
"Wonderful," she sighed, trying not to look at Nick. "I love this song."
"Sure you don't wanna come along?" Lisa asked Lara as she was almost ready
to leave to meet Kevin and the other guys at the restaurant. "If he's
there, you can sit by me."
"No, it's fine. I really don't care if Nick Carter is there or not," Lara
told her. "I'm just gonna veg at home."
"Okay." Lisa smiled. "It went good tonight, didn't it?"
"It was fantastic. It will be all I can do to keep the monsters at bay for
the next two days."
"Huh?" Lisa asked, confused.
"Like Reggie said, this is the best thing since sliced bread," Lara told
her. "Everyone's going to want to be on your show, not to mention all the
interviews you're going to be asked to do. But I am going to keep everyone
away until Kevin leaves. I think we will have a two-day vacation until
then."
Lisa squeezed Lara tight. "Thank you!"
"I'll talk to you Wednesday morning. Go!" Lara shoved Lisa towards the
door. As soon as Lisa had disappeared, Lara grabbed her bag, ran out the
door, and went home to wait for Nick.
Home
By: Lara
© 2000
Hosted Stories
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Thirteen