Chapter One
I dragged myself into the apartment I shared with my best friend Meredith in Queens, New York. It had been another extremely long, irritating day at work and I just wanted to go to sleep. The bitch who was supposed to work the dinner shift at the diner didn't show up and guess who got to take her place. Yours truly.
As I walked in, I noticed the lights and the TV on. Laughter filtered in from the living room. I rolled my eyes. Must be Rob, her pompous ass of a boyfriend who spends way to much of his time over here, if you ask me. I was tired and in a bad mood. He was the last person I wanted to see at the moment. Maybe if I was lucky he'd go of on a tangent about his underwear modeling days. I swear, if the boy brings that up again I'll sock him right in his precious nose.
"Angela? Is that you?"Meredith called. I rolled my eyes. Who else would it be? The boogie man?
"Yeah Merrie, it's me,"I called as I set my purse down on our kitchen table and shrugged my jacket off my shoulders also leaving it on the table. I wandered into the living room to find Meredith on Rob's lap with them watching I Love Lucy reruns.
"HEY!"Meredith said. Ok she was a little too perky for me right now.
"Hi Mere,"I muttered.
"Don't you say hi to me anymore?"Rob asked with a nauseating smirk.
What I'd give to just pop him one and wipe that stupid smirk right off of his face...
"Angela? Stop being rude,"Meredith scolded.
I swallowed the comments that were already formulating in my mind and forced a smile on my face,"Hey there Robbie."
He frowned and turned away. Mission accomplished. I knew that he hated to be called Robbie. I gave myself a mental pat on the back and settled myself on the couch a safe distance away from the two of them.
"Well babe, I better be going. The ice queen's home. Don't want to invade her space,"Rob said shooting a glare at me. Oh you're breaking my heart...
"Bub bye. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out,"I replied with a satisfied smile.
"Go to hell,"he shot back then gave Meredith a long kiss on the lips.
"Why can't you two get along?"Meredith asked exsaperated.
"Ask Miss Miserable over there,"Rob replied and put his coat on. He gave Meredith another kiss and said good bye then left. What a shame. I missed him already.
"God Ang, you're such a bitch to him,"Meredith complained then tucked a piece of light blond hair behind her ear.
"God forbid someone tells him what he needs to hear. I swear Mere, you can do so much better,"I said.
"Well I love him and it would be really nice for my boyfriend and my best friend to get along once in a while. Just tolerate eachother maybe,"she said then sighed. "So anyway how was work? You're home awfully late."
I glared at her,"A girl didn't show so I got stuck with the dinner shift. I hate being in Manahattan this late. All the looneys are out."
She laughed,"The looneys are out all the time in Manhattan."
"But still. Plus I gotta travel 40 minutes on the subway and there was this guy making bird calls Mere. He had feathers sticking out of his hair and everything,"I whined.
She laughed again then shook her head.
Meredith and I have been best friends since elementary school. We grew up together and have been through so much with each other. Appearance wise, we're like night and day. She has shoulder length pale blond hair with big clear blue eyes, while I have long brown hair and chocolatey brown eyes. But when you get past the exteriors, Meredith and I have so much in common that it's scary. We can even finish each other's sentences.
"So anyway, how was work for you?"I asked. Meredith works in the city also. She works for Bloomingdales. We would both like to live in Manhattan but with our paychecks that wasn't happening anytime soon. I went through four years of college majoring in journalism. Who would've thought I would be a waitress struggling to pay the rent? I'm just doing this until something better comes along.
"Pretty good. Ya know, the usual,"she shrugged then yawned. "Geez I'm tired. I'm gonna head to bed now."
"Alrighty good night,"I smiled.
"Night,"she said and gave me a little hug. When Meredith's door closed I slid off my shoes and rubbed my sore feet. Then I stretched my 5'8 frame out on our couch and turned my attention back to I Love Lucy. My eyes became heavy moments later and I drifted off to a deep sleep.
"ANGELA!"
Why the hell was Meredith screeching in my ear? It was too early to be listening to her...
I went to reach for my pillow and realized that there was no pillow. I opened my eyes to find Meredith hovering over me, fully dressed. I looked around and found that I was still in the living room.
"Why the hell are you still sleeping?? It's 6:15!!"she yelled.
It couldn't be that late, but when I looked at the clock it indeed said 6:15. Shit. I had to be in work by 7. I hopped off the couch and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. I washed, changed into my other uniform, and was out the door in record time. I don't think I ever moved so fast in my life.
As I was sitting in the subway, listening to some lunatic serenading the whole train with a lovely rendition of Endless Love, I took this time to pull my long hair into a tight pony tail and apply some lip gloss and eyeliner. 35 five minutes later I was running into the diner.
I ran into the kitchen where my boss was ranting and raving about one thing or another.
"Angela! You're late!"he screamed.
"I know I'm sorry Bob,"I replied. I wanted so badly to tell him off but I really didn't want to go job searching.
"You better be. The next time this happens you're out Russo. Now get your ass out there. We have a table of special customers in the back room. Be nice,"he warned. Bastard. Thank god today was friday and I didn't have to see him for two days after this.
"Ok, sorry,"I muttered and grabbed my pad and pencil and made my way into the back room. That's where Bob put celebrities who were sight seeing in New York. Every once in a blue moon someone worth seeing would stop by. Our diner was in a very high profile area and it attracted a lot of tourists, sometimes celebrities.
I trudged into the room which was heavily guarded by big burly men who moved aside when they realized I worked here.
I spotted five guys who I immediately recognized as the Backstreet Boys. I wasn't really a fan but Meredith was and I had to listen to their music so much that I could probably sing you every song off of Millennium.
They all looked over and I smiled brightly,"I'm Angela and I'll be your server this morning. How are you guys doing today?"
"Peachy,"the weird looking one with the tattoos said with a cheeky grin. I never said I knew names.
"Great. I hope you weren't waiting long,"I replied.
"No, we're ready to order,"the tall one with the dark hair said. He wasn't looking too great with that hair cut, although he did have nice features.
"Ok,"I said getting my pencil ready. I looked at the blond one. "What can I get you?"
"Um..."he said and looked down at the menu once more. Come on kid, I don't have the patience for this...
"Do you want me to come back to you?"I asked him.
"No I'm good,"he replied his gaze still on the menu.
The weird one snickered,"We don't have all day Nick." Nick...so that was his name.
"Sorry!"he snapped at his friend and looked up at me, giving me a charming smile. I could see why the little girls went for him. He was handsome in a boyish but sexy way, and he had major sex appeal. There was no doubt that this guy was definitely good looking, and I found myself grinning like an idiot at him.
A few minutes later I made my way past the guards. They had ordered enough food to feed Meredith and me for a month. I went into the kitchen quickly, handed my paper with the orders on it to the chefs, and filled up the drinks they ordered. I rushed back to their table and passed Bob on my way back, giving him a fake smile. Bastard.
While I was handing their drinks out, the one with the long hair started a conversation.
"So are you from New York? You don't have an accent,"he asked.
"I grew up in New Jersey and came here when I was 18 for college. When I graduated I moved to Queens,"I replied, handing Nick his orange juice. I noticed he was staring intently at me. Ok my life story wasn't that interesting.
"Do you like it here?"the Keebler elf guy asked as I poured him a cup of coffee.
"Yeah I love it. I would really like to live in Manhattan to shorten the commute to work, but what are you going to do?"I said rhetorically and smiled. "So what brings you fellas into town?"
"Our new album came out today,"the cute one with the brown hair and blue eyes said with a southern drawl, giving me a sweet smile.
"Oh right, my best friend was raving about it. She can't wait to get it. She's a big fan. If she found out you guys came to the restaurant she'd jump me for details,"I said. They all laughed lightly. "Well your food should be out in a little while."
I served a few more tables and went back to the kitchen to find that the Backstreet Boys' orders were just finished and I gathered them on a tray and asked Molly, another waitress, to help me because I sure as hell wouldn't be able to handle all of it myself. After we had the food distributed, we went back to other tables we were serving. I noticed a bunch of girls standing by the entrance. One of them saw me looking and called me over. Oh geez...
"Are the Backstreet Boys in here?"she asked softly her eyes darting around the room.
What do these girls have radars or something? Please God, don't let there be a riot. I don't want to get beat up by teenyboppers. Things could get ugly..."No I'm sorry. I don't know where they are."
They looked disappointed and one of them said,"Ok thank you."
I turned around and rolled my eyes, getting back to my job. At least there wasn't a riot.
*******
I folded up the napkin that they had signed for Meredith and smiled at the insanely large tip the Backstreet Boys had left me. They had just slipped out of the kitchen unnoticed. The tip was a little too generous, but I'm not one to argue when money's being distributed. That's when a piece of paper in the center of the table caught my eye.
I picked up the little, folded paper and carefully unfolded it. The curiousity was eating at me.
Room 3120...the Plaza at 10:00. Security will let you in.
My eyes widened when the reality of it all set it, and a gasp escaped my lips when I realized what he wanted. I had no idea which one left it, but I knew that my curiousity was going to get the better of me.
