Chapter Sixteen: ** Girls Night Out **

"Goodnight, Manhatten," Debelah yelled breathlessly into the mic, waving to the cheering crowd with a wide smile. The second she was offstage and 'The Call' had started, the grin disappeared and her eyes began to flame. She turned, her eyes searching the backstage and a soon as she found who she was looking for, she stalked over, still wearing the bright tango-like dress for 'Dance with Me'.

"What the hell was that, Bruce?" Debelah demanded as she approached the dancer.

Bruce looked over at her, "What?"

"WHAT was that? What were you doing on that stage cuz, let me tell you, I DON'T THINK that was part of the dance!"

"Look, it was just a little improvising. You know, spice up the dance a bit," he defended himself but an arrogant gleam glinted in his eyes. Debelah didn't miss it.

She took a step towards him, speaking low with warning," You pull that again and I'll have Fatima kick you off this tour so fast you'll still be scratching your head and wondering what happened. I will NOT put up with what you did. Got it?"

Bruce turned and stalked away after a moment of the two glaring at each other. Deb stared at his retreating back for a second before turning on her heel and went in search of Fatima.

"I just thought that you should know so you aren't surprised when I punch him if he does it again," Deb finished.

"I see," Fatima said, her eyes serious. "Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No, I already did. I just hope he listens. I've been getting weird vibes from him for awhile."

"Well, let me know if he does ANYTHING. I won't have this going on my tour," she said determinedly.

Deb smiled, "Thanks, 'Tima."

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"K, slow down," Roslynn ordered, holding up her hands to stop the ranting Debelah. Deb paused and stared at her expectantly, her cheeks flushed. Roslynn lowered her hands when Deb paused, "Now what happened?"

"Bruce! The entire time we're on stage, he's grabbing anything he can. I know the lyrics say 'Let's make love and dance the night away' in Dance With Me, but he was hardly even doing the real dance moves because he was too busy trying to get AS CLOSE as he could and I swear I would have kneed him in the groin had it not been during a concert. I mean, it's embarrassing and it's not like I can just shove him away in the middle of the song."

"Definite creep. Can you get rid of him?"

"I will if he does anything else. I'll already told 'Tima," Deb sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Well, at least we get to stay overnight at the hotel instead of sleeping on the bud tonight," Roslynn remarked, taking her seat back on the couch. Deb went still, cocking her head to see if she'd heard right. After a few seconds, a slow smile appeared on her face as it sunk in.

Roslynn looked over and saw Debelah's face, "Deb, whatever you're thinking, the answer is no."

"I was just thinking we could have a Girl's Night since we got a hotel tonight," Debelah said casually, walking over to the table to grab a water bottle.

"Girl's Night In? Sweet, we can rent some movies or something. You seen that new horror flick? I forget who's in it, but-"

"I was thinking more Girl's Night OUT," Debelah said smoothly, taking a sip.

"Out? But then we have to take the bodyguards and stuff. And the bodyguards are GUYS. How is that a GIRL'S night out?"

Debelah looked at her over the bottle and shook her head, "We don't have to take the body guards anywhere."

"What do you-"

"We're sneaking out."

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"POPCORN COVERED PURPLE PEOPLE!!" Debelah screamed loudly in hysterical laughter, running across the bus, her hair flying behind her. Howie and AJ looked up as she ran by.

"What the hell?" AJ muttered and then saw Nick- wearing a purple shirt- stalk by with popcorn piece covering him and the bag still ripped on his head. His face red, he stalked after her.

"Debelah!" he shouted. Deb looked over her shoulder and saw him and with a laugh, hoisted herself up in the overhead compartment that ran along the inside top side of the bus and shut the door behind her. Nick stopped, confused and stared at the little door before walking towards it. The guy's attention was averted when Kevin came running into the room with Roslynn on his back.

"Hey, guys, where did- Roslynn don't do that, I can't see!" he exclaimed, when Roz covered his eyes as he ran. Roz, also in hysterical laughter, shook her head even though he couldn't see. Yep, Kevin ran into the couch. Kevin was fine, he just landed on the couch. Roslynn, though, went FLYING. She landed on the floor six feet away and rolled into the wall, still laughing. Kevin SLOWLY looked up at her.

"Hey, where'd she go?" Nick asked. He held the overhead compartment door open and everyone could clearly see Debelah wasn't in there.

"What's going on?" Brian asked, walking into the area they were in and standing in the doorway. "I was in my bunk and I hear Debelah screaming about pod people and Kevin falling."

"First off, it was popcorn covered purple people, not 'pod people." Roz said, ticking off on her fingers." Second, Kevin crashed into the couch."

"Your fault," Kevin muttered.

"Nick lost my girlfriend," AJ told Brian.

"Oh," Brian nodded and then stopped. "What?"

"Hey, doesn't the overhead thing run along the whole side of the bus?" Howie asked.

A loud thud, followed by another and another could be heard above Brian on the side/top of the bus.

"What was that?" Nick asked.

Just then, they heard the loudest thud and then the compartment door about ten feet away from Nick flew open and Debelah came shooting out, tumbling through the air and then landing with a smack on the floor. Brian looked down at her as she rolled back and forth in laughter on the floor, tears streaming down her face and then saw Roslynn cracking up on the floor also. Brian shook his head and headed back towards his bunk.

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"Hey, what do you guys wanna do tonight since we got a hotel for the night? We don't have anything scheduled until one tomorrow," Brian announced, turning to the other guys at the hotel.

"I don't know," Howie shrugged.

"Movie?" Kevin asked.

"Nah," Nick shook his head. "Video games!"

"No, Nick," AJ said. "I say we go to a club. Hell, we're in New York!"

"How about a nice café or something?" Howie asked. "We can get some food."

"No. Club."

"Movie."

"Video games."

"Sightseeing."

"Club."

"Café."

"Stop!" Brian exclaimed. They all looked at him. "Why don't we ask Roz and Debelah and see what they want. Maybe they can help us decide."

"Ok. I haven't see Roslynn, though, since she went into Deb's room about ten minutes ago," Kevin offered. Deciding to go ask the girls, they headed over to Deb's room. When they got there, Kevin raised his hand to knock but when his fist struck the door, the door slowly opened They stared at it for a second before Nick pushed it open the rest of the way and they went in, AJ pushing to the front. Quickly glancing the room, they saw it was empty, which didn't help them at all.

"Where'd they go?" AJ asked, running a hand through his hair, starting to panic- he was very protective since the night in the club. Brian looked the same.

"Maybe they just went to get something to eat," Howie offered.

"Hey, look. A note!" Nick exclaimed, picking a piece of paper off of the pillow.

"What does it say?" Kevin asked as they all moved towards it.

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A block away, two girls in large winter coats hurried away from the tall hotel looming in the background.

"Can I take off the hood now?" Roslynn's voice was muffled from behind the large hoods they'd put up to disguise themselves. "It's so freakin huge, I know I'm gonna run into something."

"You are not, Roz. Now come on, we have to be careful. We have to be-"Deb started and then walked straight into a pole. "Ow!" She rubbed her head and Roz peaked from behind her hood to look over and then began to laugh. Deb tore off her hood angrily, freeing her hair, "Don't laugh at me!"

"He he," Roz laughed and then muttered, "loser."

"I heard that!"

"You were supposed to." Roz took off her hood and pulled her hair out from the jacket, running her fingers through it. They both unzipped their jackets and dumped them on the nearest bench, no longer worrying about being recognized. Roslynn wore a pair of light blue low-cut bell bottoms, black platform shoes and a baby blue mini shirt. Deb wore black flared pants with ties going up the sides, black platforms and a hot pink sleeveless shirt with a plunging neckline and the word 'Feisty' printed across the chest. Both had their hair down, Deb's falling in waves and Roz's straight with a few crimped pieces.

"Where are we going?" Roz asked after realizing they had walked a couple blocks with no real destination.

"I say club first," Deb answered. Roz nodded and they quickly hailed a cab. The club, The Rage, was jam packed full of half clothed, ass shaking, WAYCLOSETOGETHER people. Deb and Roz both worked the dance floor AND the bar and by the time 2 am rolled around, they were having a blast. Deciding to leave the party while it was still happening, they ran outside on an adrenaline high and hailed another cab.

"That a cute shirt," Roz said looking over.

"Yours too," Deb said, and then they both looked at each other for a second before it both struck them.

"SWITCH!" they both exclaimed loudly and took off their shirts at the same time, traded and then put the other's on. They settled back into their seat but when they caught sight of the cabbie's bug eyes look in the rearview mirror they both started to crack up.

"You think we should call the guys?" Deb asked.

"Nah, we left them a note. They'll be fine. They're probably having a great time right now out in NYC," Roz said. Debelah nodded.

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"Why the hell haven't they called yet!" Kevin yelled.

All the guys were sitting tensely in Deb's room. After reading the note, which happily said that Deb and Roz were going out for a night on the town and would be back by ten a.m., they'd all flipped. They were torn between going out to look for the girls or wait for a call.

"Why the hell would they go out in NEW YORK CITY in the MIDDLE of the night?!" Nick exclaimed

"And they didn't take any bodyguards with them," Brian said, but he said it in a tone like he just realized it and he rested his head in his hands after he had realized it.

"Deb grew up here, though, right?" Howie asked.

"That doesn't matter!" AJ yelled. "Do you have any fucking idea what could happen to them!?"

"Maybe we're overreacting, though. I mean, for all we know, they could be fine," Howie argued.

Kevin grabbed the phone, checked the dial tone and then slammed the receiver down on the hook again. "Why the hell haven't they called?"

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They crashed a cosmic bowling session of high school kids at a bowling alley in the basement of a building. After being kicked out for taking a head start and sliding down the lane and knocking over a cart of bowling balls after convincing the DJ to play Bon Jovi's 'This is Your Life', they tried to think of what to do next.

Deb raised her hand and pointed at the supermarket not too far away.

"I thought we could use a snack," she said innocently and it was the innocent tone that made Roz turn and look at her suspiciously.

"Why does that sound NOT too innocent?"

"Because it's not."

Five minutes later..

"FOOD FIGHT!!" Deb and Roz shouted in the middle of the large grocery store. Even at midnight, there was a good sized crowd still there- hey, it’s New York. Among this group were a group of wild teenagers on their way from a club. At the sound of food fight, they immediately grabbed the nearest food product next to them.

Deb ripped open a bag of marshmallows and began throwing them by the fistfuls. Throwing some over the aisle, she was a rewarded with a shopper's loud exclamation. Running full speed around a corner, she zipped by the produce section, grabbed three apples and did a quick target practice on a sign hanging up.

Roz had climbed to the top shelf in one of the aisles with a bottle of ketchup and started to randomly squirt it. Shelf, food, floor, someone's head, didn't matter. Deb and Roz raced to the dairy section and each grabbed a carton of orange juice and went in search of the group of teenagers. It wasn't hard. They were screaming and laughing and security could be heard yelling in shocked voices.

Opening the cartons as they ran, they turned into an aisle and chucked the orange juice at the unsuspecting teenagers. In retaliation, the teenagers grabbed bags of flour and opened the top. Throwing them forward, Debelah and Roslynn were seen white from head to toe, laughing.

"Hey!" Security yelled from down the aisle. Deb and Roz looked at each other, "RUN!"

They raced towards the front and Deb threw some bills on the counter to cover damage as she ran by. Reaching the street, Roz and her began to run full speed down the street towards the hotel in an elated high. They barely had to dodge people because, as soon as the people saw two white covered people coming, they MOVED. Nobody tried to mug them, attack them, kill them or run them down. There were some creeps in NYC- the city kicked ass, though-, but very little who would attempt to go after two white covered, insane looking people.

Reaching the hotel, they realized they were getting weird looks for their appearance and quickly ran around back. The outside pool offered by the pool glittered in the moonlight, way past closing for the night. Hopping over chairs and plants, they dove in. The flour immediately disappeared and they hopped out of the other side and took the back elevator up to their floor.

"Shh." Roz whispered, raising her finger to her lips comically as the two tip toed down the hallway, soaking wet. Debelah stifled a giggle, covering her mouth with one hand and holding her shoes with the other.

"Crap, my door's locked," Deb muttered as she tried to knob.

"Use your key."

"I don't have my key."

"Why?"

"I forgot it."

"Smart move."

"Shut up."

"Well, why don't we-" Roz was cut off when Debelah's room door was jerked open. They looked up to see Brian, AJ, Nick, Howie and Kevin staring down at them with a look on their face a mixture of exasperation, frustration, anger, relief and accusation.

"Uh oh," Deb muttered. Big trouble was coming.