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Chapter Fifteen – December 9 (Bon Voyage)

The next morning, everyone piled into three large vans filled with luggage and people. The sun was out; it seemed to be a perfect day to set sail. The cruise ship was docked; it was the most massive ship I had ever seen in my life. Nick rolled down the window and we leaned out together.

"Cool, huh?" he said. I smiled. "You betcha."

"Daddy, that ship is huge!" Bailee said excitedly. His eyes grew wide as we rolled to a stop. I noticed Leighanne was wearing a sea sickness bracelet almost identical to mine. I couldn't imagine going on the cruise the way I felt a few months back; she was certainly a trooper.

Wesley and Lisa were waiting with the film crew as we piled out of the vans. A few members of the ship’s crew came over and introduced themselves before taking our luggage on board. Leigh took James (who was happily chanting 'boat, boat, boat') to their room; Leighanne took off with Baylee to explore, and I daresay, take a nap. The boarding time for fans was noon; I assumed fans would start showing up shortly. They didn't know that the guys were shooting their next video; once they found out I had a feeling pandemonium would occur.

The guys seemed to be thinking along the same lines; they didn't waste any time. After heading on board for makeup and a wardrobe change, Wesley reshot Howie's scene. His video girl stood on dock while Howie flung a pink suitcase time and time again. After that scene was declared a success, the Boys assembled on deck and the chorus was filmed again and again. They still weren't done when the first passengers came towards the boat, suitcases in tow.

"There they are!" a middle-aged lady said, pointing at the guys. The guys were sprawled out on the deck, catching their breath before yet another take. Rochelle and I were sitting a little ways back; Rochelle was already attempting to get a suntan. Nick had plopped a big floppy hat on my head and smeared sunscreen on my nose about an hour earlier. Currently he was lying on his back, mouth open; AJ leaned over and squirted water down onto him. Nick sputtered and spit some of the water back up like a fountain. The girls giggled adoringly. What they didn't see was the water that flew up his nose. He sat up, snorting quietly.

"What's with the cameras?" I heard another girl ask.

"Is that Nick's girlfriend?"

"His fiancee."

"Ugh."

Nick stood up and headed over to me. He leaned down right next to my ear.

"For the record, you're not ugh."

He kissed me softly; if the fans had lasers for eyes, I would have been nothing more than dust. I brushed some water drops off the tip of his nose and smiled.

"Alright guys, I see we have an audience. Let's do one more take," Wesley said. They stood up; a few people came over and fixed hair and makeup. Nick was every makeup artist's worst nightmare. As soon as they got him ready, he seemed to do something that required another application.

As the music started and the guys began their choreography, excited murmurings erupted from the crowd. When Wesley yelled 'Cut!' the fans whistled and cheered. Brian did a low bow, Nick kicked him in the behind and he went sprawling out on deck.

After waving to the fans that had already gathered, we all disappeared to the part of the ship that contained our cabins. The security was high in this part of the ship; each of us had a special lanyard and pass that we had to show to gain access. I was secretly glad; it wasn't like the Boys could duck in a car and take off if the fans got feisty. If Mr. T. had to take down some fans, I wouldn’t pity da fools.

I walked into a beautiful ocean view suite. There was a sitting area with a loveseat that could be curtained off separate from the bedroom. A huge King size bed took up a great deal of room; to the side of the bed a sliding glass door lead out to a private balcony. The bathroom was large enough for double sinks and a tub. While I admired everything, Nick’s eyes focused on one thing, and one thing only.

“CEREAL!” he cried happily rushing to a little dinette table in the sitting area. He picked up several boxes of cereal and looked at them with satisfaction.

“We’re surrounded by all this and you only have eyes for cereal?” I said. Nick grinned sheepishly and looked around.

“I like the bed, too,” he said. I laughed.

By the time that we unpacked our toiletries it was two o’clock.

“Ship leaves at 4:00,” Nick said pulling me close. He held his camera out. “Say cheese!”

I smiled seconds before I heard the click of his phone. He sat down on the loveseat. I leaned over him. He was already sending it to Twitter.

I walked over to the bed and pulled out my video camera. I headed towards the door.

“Where you going?” Nick asked.

I smiled. “I’m going to go do my job. I’m going to go meet the fans and get some video.”

“Take security with you,” Nick said.

“Seriously?”

Nick looked up at me; I had never seen him look so serious. “Seriously.”

I stepped out of the cabin and tapped one of the security guys on the shoulder. Moments later another guard appeared and nodded at me. I rode the elevator up to the main deck.

People were milling around everywhere. I turned on the camera and panned the deck.

“It’s 2:00 on December 9. We’re prepared to set sail in two hours. The guys have spent the last couple days shooting a new music video and they’ll finish the video tonight at their surprise performance,” I whispered.

“Hey that’s Nick’s fiancée,” I heard someone say behind me. I turned around with the camera. Two girls stood there staring at me.

“Are you guys excited about the cruise?” I asked. They looked at each other then back at me. They burst into tears.

I was off to a great start.

-----------------------------------

I found out that filming was a lot harder now that people recognized me. Some of the older fans were mature enough to carry on a pleasant conversation; those around my age weren’t so kind. I had just turned off my camera and was heading back down to the cabin to get dressed for the Welcome Cocktail Party when I felt something hit the back of my head. Two more things hit my back before the security guard spotted the culprit. He took off across the deck while I quickly headed back to our hall. I flashed my pass at the guard and flew into the room. Nick looked up. One look at my face and he was on his feet.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know!” I said, putting my camera down. The whole back of me felt wet and disgusting. I turned around. “I was hit with something.”

I heard Nick suck in a breath.

“What? What?” I said, beginning to panic.

“It could be worse,” Nick replied. I tugged at my hair. My fingers met slime. I pulled the strands around so I could see.

I was covered in egg.

“Who did this?” Nick asked. He sounded pissed.

“I don’t know. My security guy went after them.”

I took off my clothes, the egg had already soaked through the lightweight fabric and my back felt like a gooey mess. I headed to the bathroom; Nick was on my heels.

“You’re not going anywhere without me,” Nick said. I looked at him.

“I think I’m safe in the bathroom,” I said.

“You know what I mean,” he said. He turned the shower on for me and headed back out into the room.

Something told me it was going to be an interesting trip; the Nick brigade was in defense mode to protect the last “single” Backstreet Boy.

I didn’t think we had seen anything yet.

-------------------------------------------------

The Boys and us girls made an appearance towards the end of the Cocktail Party. We stood on a balcony that overlooked the main deck. Baylee introduced his daddy and mommy and then all of his ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles.’ With a big wave and a “Have a good trip!” he handed the microphone to Nick.

I had worried about the motion sickness; at the moment I couldn’t even tell the ship was moving. Nick had beefed up on security; no one was getting at any of us with a ten foot pole. He looked down at the crowd. Cat calls sounded from below.

“On behalf of all of us, I want to say that we are super excited to be here with you guys today. It’s been a long time since we first announced the trip and we never expected such a response. We want you to have a fun, safe trip. With that said, I’d like to remind you that everyone standing up here with me is a member of my family. If you mess with my family, you’re messing with me. My fiancée was egged earlier today; I’m going to let you know that type of thing is not going to be prohibited on the ship. And, if I hear of any of you guys getting egged, me, Howie, Brian, and AJ are going to beat the culprit up.”

He sounded like a dad scolding his children. I looked over at him surprised. His face broke into an amazing grin.

“With that said, enjoy the rest of the party. After dinner we’ll be rockin’ out with a special surprise.”

“Wow,” Howie said as we headed to the Captain’s room for dinner. “I didn’t even know you knew what the word prohibited meant, Nick.”

“Hey, I might not be a high school graduate, but I’m not dumb,” Nick said. I looked over at him in surprise.

“You didn’t get your high school equivalency?” I whispered. Everyone else filed past us into the room.

He looked at me with what looked like regret. “No; mom told the magazines that I did so that we didn’t run into any trouble, but the truth was all of my studying time was filled with interviews, choreography, and touring.”

“Oh, Nick,” I said, touching his arm. He smiled and kissed me softly.

“Well now that I have an amazingly intelligent fiance, I think maybe I can finally go get my GED.”

I grinned. “You’ll have a great tutor.” I assured him as we walked in and took our seats.

“Did you really get egged Liv?” Leighanne asked as I reached for a menu. I nodded.

“Yeah, I think I’m persona non grata right now. At least my hair is shiny.”

“I think half these girls booked the tour thinking they were going to have a giant orgy with Nick,” AJ said with a snicker.

Nick shook his head. “I’m a one woman man,” he stated.

Wesley and Lisa joined us for dinner.

“Do the fans know what they’re coming for tonight?” Wesley asked. Howie shook his head.

“Our actual performance isn’t until our day at sea. We have Q & A tomorrow after the day in Key West,” Howie explained.

“I hope they like Figured You Out,” AJ said. “I’m sure they’re going to be hearing it about, oh, fifty times.”

Wesley laughed. “Hey, you guys might nail it on the first shot.”

The guys shared a look. I didn’t think one shot was in the cards and neither did they.

Towards the end of dinner, I noticed Baylee getting restless. Leighanne kept placing a calming hand on his arm, but he was practically bouncing in his chair.

“Hey Uncle Howie?” he asked as he made a deep crater in the mashed potatoes.

“What’s up, bud?” Howie said.

“How come James is bald like Uncle AJ?”

Nick burst out laughing. AJ rubbed his head and glanced at James. Baylee had a point; both of them had a completely smooth top half. Most of James hair was sprouting in the back, not the front.

James looked around confused. Nick often called him the baby Buddha; he had a point, but it made the little guy even more adorable.

“It’ll grow in,” Howie said to Baylee, ignoring Nick. “Don’t you remember when I had really long hair? Pretty soon, his will grow that fast.”

The answer seemed to satisfy Baylee. He took a big bite of mashed potatoes. The kid reminded me more of Brian every day.

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If I told you that the fans were pleasantly surprised that they were being included in the next Backstreet Boys video, I wouldn’t be describing the scene accurately. The fans freaked out when AJ explained what was happening. I panned the crowd with my camera, capturing the excitement radiating off of their faces.

Even though it took a good fifteen takes, no one cared. I think the audience could have stayed there all night and listened to Figured You Out over and over again. Of course, if I was in their shoes so would I. There was something about four really hot sweaty guys, especially when you’d been a fan for as long as some of us had. It seemed insane that I could claim one of them for my very own.

As I crawled in bed next to Nick I pressed a kiss on his shoulder and smiled. He looked over at me.

“I’m surprised you’re still smiling after getting egged,” he said. I shrugged. He smelled like Lucky Charms.

“I’m still a lucky girl,” I said. His rubbed my bare arms with his hands.

“No,” he said softly. “I’m the lucky one. Those fans only know half of the real me. You’ve seen the whole deal and you’re still here.”

I closed my eyes; I could hear the swish of the water and the ship cruised through the ocean waters.

If the worst I had to deal with was eggs, everything was going to be just fine.