Chapter Two
"Give her a break," Laura said softly. "You'd probably feel the same way if your boyfriend broke up with you." Laura always knew just what to say to help people, she was considered to be the peacemaker of the group.
Margie thought for a minute, digesting Laura's words. "You're probably right. We need to find her a new boyfriend. Some tall, dark and handsome Spanish guy."
Claire nodded in agreement. "We need to find guys for all of us. Although personally I would prefer a blond."
"A blond Spaniard?" Laura laughed. "There aren't any blond Spaniards."
"Well he doesn't have to be Spanish," Claire said defensively. "Just as long as he has blond hair."
Laura, Margie, and Becky all laughed. Becky's laugh turned into a yawn. "I need to get some sleep." She pulled out her portable cd player and cds. She flipped through them for a minute, before deciding on one and popping it into her cd player.
"Can I borrow one of your cds?" Laura asked Becky.
"Sure," Becky handed the case to Laura.
Laura flipped through them. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "You took the Backstreet Boys!"
"Of course, they're my favorite," Becky replied.
"I wanted to listen to them," Laura grumbled as she went back and chose a different cd.
"You can listen to it later," Becky promised.
"Okay," Laura put her headphones on and leaned back in her seat. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Becky did the same. Claire and Margie talked quietly for a while before they too fell asleep.
Kara woke up first. She looked around her, and saw that many of the people on the plane were asleep. She looked at her watch and saw that it was nine-thirty, US time. She decided to switch her watch to Spain time now, so that she could get used to it before they got there.
Try as she might, Kara could not get very excited about this trip. She loved Spain, she'd been there once before, with her high school Spanish class. But for some reason, she wasn't at all enthusiastic about going. To her, it was an ending, and in a way, it was. This trip had been planned as a final 'fling,' for the five friends to be together before they all went their separate ways in the fall. It was all Paul's fault, her lack of enthusiasm for the trip. If only he hadn't broken her heart so soon after graduation. He ruined her entire summer.
Deciding that she needed to get her mind off Paul, she pulled her cd player out of her backpack. She put in her Backstreet Boys cd, and set it to her favorite song, "As Long As You Love Me." She leaned back and closed her eyes, and watched the video of the song in her head.
This wasn't very difficult for Kara to do, because she loved the Backstreet Boys. The only problem was, she couldn't decide which one she liked the most. They all had their good points. First there was Kevin. He was the oldest, and by far the most serious, but he had dark good looks that drew women of all ages to him. Then there was Nick. He was the youngest. He had a great sense of humor, was always pulling pranks of the other members of the group. He was one of the tallest members of the group, besides Kevin, with white-blond hair and baby blue eyes. Brian was the other comedian of the group, and despite the five year difference in their ages, he and Nick were extremely good friends. Brian was shorter than Nick, and had blue eyes and dirty blond hair. AJ was just crazy, with a really funny, off-the-wall sense of humor. He had a lot of tattoos on each arm. He had a wild sense of style, he always wore a lot of silver jewelry, at least one pair of sunglasses, and every time you saw him his hair was dyed a different color, although the natural color was black. Howie was known as the Latin Lover, being part Puerto Rican. He was kind of shy, and known in the group for his "high-flyin falsetto," in his words.
Her only regret was that she'd never seen them in concert, nor had her four other friends. The Backstreet Boys very rarely went up north to New Hampshire or Vermont, where she lived. She had pretty much come to accept the fact that she would probably never have the opportunity to meet them, which was her dream. Kara sighed at the hopelessness of it and, closing her eyes, drifted back to sleep.
* * * * *
"I am so glad we're finally getting a vacation!" Nick exclaimed, glancing up from his ancient game boy.
"Me too," Brian said in agreement. "I'm beat."
"Spain's awesome," Howie spoke up happily. "It's my favorite country."
"What city are we going to again?" AJ asked.
"Malaga, it's on the Costa del Sol," Howie replied in his perfect Spanish.
"It's on the beach? That's even better. I love the beach," Nick spoke up, grinning at the thought of being on the beach, which he absolutely loved. "I'm glad I remembered to bring my scuba gear."
Kevin looked up from his laptop. "Hey Bri, come here."
Brian walked over to Kevin. "What's up cuz?" he asked.
"Donna wants to know if we'd be willing to do a benefit concert one night while we're in Spain. It'd be at the hotel we're staying at, in the lounge."
"Sure, why not? It's only one," Brian replied easily. "Hey guys," Brian called, getting Nick, AJ, and Howie's attention.
"What?" they asked.
Kevin spoke. "Donna wants to know if we'll do a benefit concert while we're in Spain." Before he could continue, a chorus of protests from the guys. Kevin held up his hands for silence. "It's just one night, and it's in the hotel. It's not going to kill us."
"Yeah, it'll be fun," Brian agreed with Kevin. "It's just one night, and we'll have the rest of the time to ourselves."
"But Kev, it's supposed to be our vacation," Nick whined.
"Yeah," AJ spoke up. "Donna said no concerts, no appearances, no interviews, nothing."
Howie sat back and listened to the argument in silence. He grinned to himself, cause he knew what was coming next.
"Guys, it's not a big deal, it's only one night," Kevin said firmly. "I'm going to tell Donna that we'll do it."
"But..." Nick started, but was cut off by Brian.
"We're doing it Nick," Brian said, then grinned. "Besides, think of all the girls we'll be able to meet that night."
Nick grinned at this prospect, and said, "You know that I don't have any problems with doing the show, I just wanted to complain for a while."
"Yeah, me too," AJ agreed. "Although now that you mention all the girls that'll be at the show, it's beginning to look better and better."
Having finally settled the matter, Kevin sent an email to Donna, telling her that they'd do it. Kevin shut down his computer and stood up. He stretched and walked over to the window of their private jet and looked out. All he saw was the blackness of the night sky. Kevin turned around and yawned. "I'm going to bed, wake me up when we get to the airport." He disappeared to the back of the plane.
"Me too," AJ said in between yawns. He followed Kevin to the back of the plane.
"How 'bout you guys?" Nick asked. "You goin' to bed, or you wanna watch a movie with me?"
"That depends on what you're watching," Brian replied.
"Well, I was thinking Ace Ventura," Nick grinned, knowing how much Brian liked Jim Carrey.
"Allrighty then," Brian said happily, and plopped down on the couch next to Nick.
"You're not going to make impersonations through the whole movie are you?" Nick asked.
Brian grinned. "Maybe."
"If he does, I'm gonna smother him with a pillow," Howie threatened from his spot on the recliner near the couch.
"I'll try to control myself," Brian promised. The movie began. the guys talked off and on during the movie. At one point Brian started saying lines from the movie, speaking with Jim Carrey.
Nick picked up a pillow and threw it at Brian. "Will you stop doing that? I can't hear the movie."
Brian caught the pillow and threw it back at Nick. It hit him square in the face. Brian started laughing, and so did Howie. Nick, with a hurt look on his face, grabbed the pillow and threw it back at Brian. It flew over Brian's shoulder and hit Howie in the face.
"Hey!" Howie exclaimed.
Brian just laughed even harder. "Nice throw Frack."
"Sorry Howie," Nick apologized.
"It's cool don't worry about it," Howie replied with an evil grin on his face. He picked up the pillow that had hit him, and threw it at Nick, and he pulled one from behind his back and threw that one at Brian.
They both looked at Howie in surprise. "Alright this means war," Brian said. That set off a massive pillow fight.
Nick got off the couch and ran down the hall, slowing to a stop by Kevin's bunk. Brian and Howie chased after him. "Shh," Nick whispered. "If you wake Kevin up we'll all be in trouble."
Brian scoffed. "We won't wake Kevin up. He sleeps like a log. He probably doesn't hear anything."
Just then the curtain opened, and Kevin sat up. "Well, I wouldn't, if I was sleeping." Brian, Howie, and Nick looked at Kevin in surprise. Kevin grinned, and pulled something from behind his back. He threw the pillow he'd been hiding at Brian, hitting him in the face.
Kevin started laughing and retreated down the hall to the main room of the plane before Brian had a chance to recover. Nick and Howie followed Kevin, and Brian picked up the Kevin's pillow and chased them down the hall.
Twenty minutes later the four men were sitting in various spots in the living room, exhausted from their pillow fight. Kevin stood up and stretched. "Okay, I'm going to bed now."
"Me too," Howie said, getting up from his spot on the couch. He said good night and followed Kevin down the hall.
"We'd better get some sleep too, Frack," Brian said.
"Yeah, I guess we should," Nick sat up. "Gimme a hand will ya?"
"Sure," Brian pulled Nick to his feet. "G'night Chaos."
"Night Frick," Nick and Brian went down the hall to their bunks and promptly fell asleep.
