The last couple of weeks were the craziest days of my life. My final project was done and I graduated with honors. The graduation party was absolutely awesome and my colleagues surprised me with the coolest farewell celebration ever. It got me bawling for two days after the party.
I was supposed to be heading back to Brazil after my graduation, but Mr. Olsher hooked me up with the coolest job ever, therefore I had to go back to the American Embassy with shit load of paperwork so I could change my visa status from exchange student to temporary worker.
After my visa was granted, I needed to head back to the Rolling Stone Magazine building to run some errands regarding my reporter ID and some last minute meetings.
I was officially an entertainment reporter for the magazine and I was going to spend the next month following the Backstreet Boys on their small farewell promotional tour, writing weekly articles for the magazine.
At first they hesitated a little I mean...I was a foreign and English was not my first language but after seeing some of my work during the interview, they finally gave in.
I've never realized how big my dorm actually was until all my stuff was packed in boxes outside in the hallway. When I found out I was going to be living in a tour bus with other reporters, I freaked out because I just had too much crap, I'd been living in that dorm for two years!
Some jocks helped me to load my little U-Haul truck and after more teary good-byes I headed to Mr. Olsher's house. Alice was kind enough to offer me to leave my stuff in her basement until my return to New York.
After a lunch filled with gravy sauce, Mr. Olsher and Alice drove me to the Hyatt Hotel where Universal Music was having a press conference and the buses were leaving from there as well. As I got out of the car, I felt a lump in my throat “Oh dear, it's just a month and you have to come back to get your belongings, we'll see you soon...” Alice gave me a warm hug when she saw the misty in my eyes. “I'll make sure there's enough gravy sauce and cheesecake for you when you come back, ok?” It was now Mr. Olsher's turn to hug me.
We said our good-byes and I headed to the front desk. A nice gentleman led me to a room next to the Convention Center where the reporters were being given their all access pass. A young man took my luggage and gave me a piece of paper with instructions to the parking lot where the buses were parked.
I entered the empty Convention Center and looked at the small plastic square hanging from my neck, it had a picture of me and “Press – Rolling Stone Magazine” written below it. I let out a very much girly squeal and then I felt somebody poking my arms “You must be Aline from RS. I'm Nancy Dwell from Entertainment Weekly”
Nancy was wearing a nice and preppy suit, she had her non natural blond hair so straightened down that not even a F-8 tornado could move it. I shook her hand and she continued “I guess we'll be sharing the bus, yay for bunk beds” She said and rolled her eyes as I pretended to find it funny “anyway, I'll go take a seat. See you later!”
Take a seat? There's no way in hell I was gonna take a seat. I moved the duffel bag from my back and took out my professional camera to snap some shots during the interview, then I noticed how Nancy had her own photographer.
I looked down at myself and hoped nobody else was as well dressed as Nancy. I was wearing jeans pants, all stars tennis shoes, a black Von Dutch T-shirt and my hair was up in a messy ponytail. As people started to enter the room, I met the other two reporters that were going to be sharing the bus with me, they seemed pretty cool and one of the guys, John, was actually dressed just like me.
Dude, I was relieved. Von Dutch T-Shirts For The WIN!
I heard loud giggles and squeals as a bunch of random girls were taking their seats “Fan Club members” said John. I just smiled and took a couple of pictures. Some time later the room was crowded and the boys would be arriving in a few minutes.
I felt my heart skipping beats as they entered the room and took their seats.
Yes, I was a Backstreet Boys fan. When I took a year off and traveled the world, I was lucky enough to attend a few (OK, a LOT) of their concerts in Asia and Europe. Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch them in New York on the last tour, I had a very important test that week.
Kevin was the first to grab the microphone and make the “Thank you all for being here, we really appreciate it” speech – Such a typical Kevin thing to do... - I laughed at my own thought. He was back and looking better than never. They all were aging pretty damn well I must say.
I had a huge grin on my face but I didn't have time to waste, I had work to do. I held up my camera and started to take pictures, I was all the way in the back of the Convention Center silently walking behind the chairs to get a better view and waiting for my time to ask my question.
Brian was talking about having the family on tour as his son, his year-old daughter and wife were joining him “That's good because I'll have my own bus and I won't need to share with stinker here anymore” He said pointing to Nick and making everybody laugh. I stopped and looked at them. Kevin seemed a little bit tense, he was looking around and surprisingly he wasn't doing all the talk as he usually would.
I pressed the record button on my voice recorder just in time to catch Nick defending himself from Brian's accusation and announcing that he and his wife Lauren were expecting.
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks to my AWESOME friend Tab for being my beta reader and also an english teacher LOL
