- Text Size +

Chapter 12

            It wasn’t long until every seat in the concert hall was filled and the standing area became packed. Right before the lights dimmed Melina was almost knocked off balance by someone but Heather, who was standing on her right, caught her.

            “What was that?” Heather questioned.

            She looked pasted her friend and saw two women scuffle over something. Security guards came in to the standing area and immediately everyone who witnessed the fight pointed to the two women trying to rip each other’s hair out.  One of woman’s boyfriends was trying his hardest to stop the fight but he needed the help of the big, burly security guard. The two women who were fighting were escorted out of the concert hall and the people who came with them followed. The fans behind them quickly filled in the empty space they left behind in a mad push started from the back of the crowd. As the fighting women were dragged out, Heather noticed that one was the rude smoker that Kelshie almost strangled. Heather chuckled then nudged Jess next to her.

            “Look who is getting kicked out because she was fighting.”

            Jess laughed and pointed it out to Kelshie next to her.

            “Payback’s a bitch!” Kelshie laughed out.

            A few minutes passed and then the voice of an announcer boomed over the speakers, “Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the opening act for this evening, DJ Lani!”

            Melina whistled and started clapping her hands. She leaned over to Heather and informed, “He is really good. He was the opening act back home. He also plays the drums and plays all the music for Backstreet.”

            “Cool!” Heather answered over the noise of the crowd.

            The DJ walked in from backstage and the lights dimmed.

            “Hello to all the BSB fans out there! Welcome to the This Is Us world tour 2010! Let’s get this party started!”

            The DJ set to work playing music that everyone kept dancing to. The concert hall had the atmosphere of a popular night club with the music, light show, and the massive amount of people packed together. DJ Lani was on stage for 20 minutes before he said, “Are you ready for the Backstreet Boys?!”

            A resonating scream rang out from the crowd.

            “You call yourselves Backstreet Soldiers?” the DJ kidded, “I can’t hear you! I said are you ready for Backstreet?!”

            An even louder scream was thrown in the DJ’s direction.

            He smiled and nodded his head, “That’s more like it!”

            The last song finished and there were a few moments of silence until the noise of a filled concert hall started again. Everyone was getting antsy for the show to begin.

            Heather kept getting the strange feeling that someone was watching her. She looked up to find the DJ’s light eyes looking at her. She grinned at him and he smoothly nodded his head back at her.

            “Why does he look so familiar?” she asked herself. She shrugged it off and waited for the concert to begin.

            But DJ Lani kept looking at her. It was like he was hypnotized by her. He tried to focus on his job of setting up the music but he could only focus on the tall, brown haired girl standing right next to the edge of the stage. He had seen her before but he didn’t know where. The fact that this stranger was so familiar was driving him crazy!

            “A lot of girls look like her,” he said in his mind, “Or maybe she was at another show.”

            He kept looking at her and thought about where he had seen her before. He watched as she laughed at something one of her friends said and his eyes went wide when he recognized her smile.

            “It can’t be,” he thought, “Is it really her?”  

            His thoughts were interrupted by his boss’s voice coming from his ear piece, “Get ready the show’s starting now.”

            DJ Lani snapped out of the little trance he was in and watched as the video starting the show was projected onto the huge screen behind him. He could feel the excitement coming from the crowd.

            “Damn! The Boys didn’t even hit the stage yet,” he commented in his head. “This is going to be a really good show tonight.”

            When the Boys did hit the stage the crowd went hysterical! The scream that came from the packed concert hall was deafening and DJ Lani could tell by the way the Boys were acting that they were feeling the energy given off from the crowd right from the start. They were big hams and the more screams, whistles and applause that they heard the better they performed. The DJ himself was a ham. He knew all the noise and camera flashes were for Backstreet but he liked to pretend that a little portion of the noise was for him.

            The Boys started the show off with the ever popular Everybody Backstreet’s Back, and what a great way to start the show off right. The crowd was singing along and dancing and they continued during We’ve Got It Goin’ On and PDA. Then the crowd was hit with two all time favorites: Quit Playing Games with My Heart and As Long As You Love Me.

            Heather got really excited when she heard As Long As You Love Me. She turned to Jess and Kelshie. The three girls started jumping up and down together exclaiming, “Our first song!”

            Melina giggled at her friends. Little did she know that they did that at every single concert they went to.  

            The Backstreet Buds were loving being right next to the stage. It was like they were getting special attention from the Boys because they were so close and in the middle. Heather really loved when the Boys performed This Is Us. Nick came right up to her during his part and made eye contact with her while he sang. Then toward the end of the song he held this incredible note for a full, continuous 10 or 15 seconds! His voice was so powerful and he only took one, single breath before belting out that note. He was standing right in front of Heather and her heart almost stopped. She felt all this energy and passion coming from him it was unbelievable! It was like nothing she had ever felt before and she got every second of that amazing performance on video, up close and personal.     

            Once Nick ended the song the crowd roared! He smiled braggingly but Heather couldn’t blame him. He knew how to show off and a voice like his needed to be shown off. Before he turned to join the other three Backstreet Boys, he looked down at Heather and winked at her. She felt her lips curve into a blushing smile and her face become hot. Nick Carter just winked at her! Out of all the girls at the concert he looked directly at her and winked at her!

            Her mood changed when she heard the next song. It was Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely. She loved that song but it always made her sad. Whenever she heard the touching, deep lyrics and sorrowful music, she would think of her beloved grandparents. Her grandfather died after her high school graduation in 1999 but it was still painful for her to think about him and his agonizing battle with cancer. Her grandmother tried her hardest to keep the family together for four years after the man she loved the most was buried. She became tired of living with a broken heart and lived long enough to see Heather graduate college. There were only two songs in the world that could make her shed tears, Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely and Never Gone, and tonight the Boys were putting tons of emotion into SMTMOBL and it became too much for Heather to handle.

            She sang along silently as she recorded the song on her digital camera. She could feel the emotion rise and her eyes start to swell with tears.

            Melina saw her friend’s tears run down her cheeks. She leaned in close enough for Heather to hear her say, “I always think of someone too when I hear this song.”

            Jess comfortingly wrapped her arm around Heather’s shoulder. She had a feeling that Heather was thinking of her grandparents, and for the most part Jess was right.

            Heather wiped away a few tears from her face and mouthed the words, “I love and miss you both Grandma and Grandpa.” After saying that she couldn’t help but think, “God damn, this is another song that reminds me of Rich. He’s the one who is really missing in my heart.”

            The mood changed once again when All I Have to Give started to play. Nick noticed Heather’s tears and instead of looking out into the crowd as he sang, he zeroed in on Heather as he sang, “I don’t know what he does to make you cry/But I’ll be there to make you smile”.  He flashed a cute, kindness filled smile at her and she blushed back.

            “I must be dreaming! Nick Carter is actually trying to make me feel better!” She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He looked over his shoulder at one point and saw that she was still a little down so he made a funny face. “It’s working!”  

            After All I Have to Give came She’s a Dream. Then after She’s A Dream, AJ announced, “Ladies! It’s time to get a little slower and intimate. To all the guys out there who came with their girls, it’s time to get a little closer and it helps if you know the words to this one.”

            The light show behind the Boys turned to cool, sultry colors and their most romantic song, I’ll Never Break Your Heart, started.

            Jess tapped Heather on the shoulder, “Look around us. We are surrounded by couples. I think we are the only ones who don’t have someone to cuddle with during this song.”

            Heather chuckled. Although she knew how Jess felt. It had been a while since all of the Backstreet Buds had boyfriends. She suddenly felt lonely and she could tell Jess and Kelshie were feeling the same way when she looked at their pouting faces.

            Melina commented, “Why are they looking so sad?”

            “They are feeling lonely because look around us, we’re the only ones who don’t have dates.”

            Melina looked around like Heather said then she pouted at her friend.

            Heather giggled, “See what I mean?”

            It didn’t take long for Backstreet to distract the girls. Each Boy was holding a single red rose that they were going to hand to one lucky fan of their choice.

            The Boys were really putting on the charm and being really sexy with the roses they were holding. Nick was especially hamming it up for the ladies. Heather guessed that he had to find something to occupy himself while AJ and Brian sang the leads.

            The first to give out his rose was AJ. He calmly walked the perimeter of the stage looking for someone to give his rose to. Just as he finished the opening verse, he knelt down directly in front of Melina and handed the beautiful, red flower to her. She was shocked! She wasn’t screaming his name and begging for the flower but she was very grateful for it. Before Brian started the second verse and before AJ returned to his spot with the rest of Backstreet he took hold of Melina’s hand and kissed it.

            Melina was speechless— and so were the rest of the Backstreet Buds for that matter—yet she stayed calm until he turned his back on her and she slowly fell onto Heather.

            “Are you ok?” Heather said in a half laugh.

            “I’m fine,” she answered breathlessly. “I just can’t believe it! I got AJ’s rose!”

            Brian was the second to give his rose away. Jess watched intently as he looked into the standing area. Surprisingly she was calm but her mind was screaming, “PLEASE GIVE ME THE ROSE!”

            Jess’s eyes never strayed from her favorite Backstreet Boy as he looked for his choice. Her heart started to pound faster as he made his way in her direction. Brian looked directly into Jess’s eyes and she smiled sweetly. He bent over and extended his rose toward Jess. She smoothly accepted and he smiled widely at her. After Brian turned away Jess screamed excitedly and jumped up and down! Heather laughed at her friend’s pure joy. Jess had never been that fan girlish before. Heather was usually the most fan girlish out of her best friends.

            Luck was definitely on the Backstreet Bud’s side that night because Kelshie received Howie’s rose. She flipped out! Heather was astonished at how fan girlish Kelshie was acting. She was jumping up and down, and clutching the rose tightly. A woman standing next to her wearing a “Future Mrs. Dorough” shirt tried to take it from her. Kelshie screamed, “Back off bitch!” and ripped the rose away from her. She nearly snarled at the woman and shot her the dirtiest look in the world. The cliché was right; if looks could kill Kelshie would have been convicted for murder at a Backstreet Boys concert. The woman backed away from Kelshie and hid behind her boyfriend.

            Finally it was Nick’s turn to give his rose away. He was the only one who already knew who he was going to give his rose to. During the final chorus, he got off of his stool and walked slowly toward the edge of the stage.

            “He is so friggin’ sexy!” Heather thought as she watched him. “And who is he making a bee line to?”

            Just as the song was finishing Nick knelt down right in front of Heather and sang the last words to her. He stared into her eyes as he did so and Heather froze. She was amazed! He handed her the rose and flashed a shining smile. She blushed and grinned widely back. He once again winked at her and she felt a tingling sensation run up her spine as she cutely sniffed the perfect rose.

            The rest of the concert consisted of the Backstreet Buds’ favorite songs. They all agreed that it was by far the best performance they had seen live. After the Boys’ final bow the crowd started to file out of the concert hall.

            “Melina grab onto my shirt, Jess hold onto Kelshie’s and I’ll grab hold of yours so we don’t get separated. And if we do get separated we’ll all meet in the hotel lobby,” Heather called out to her friends. They did as she directed and Kelshie started to follow the rest of the crowd.

            “Excuse me ladies,” a big, bulky security guard said stopping Kelshie, “Please follow me.”

            Kelshie—like her friends—became confused. She looked at her friends behind her then asked, “Did we do something wrong sir?”

            “Don’t worry ladies. I’m just giving you the opportunity to have your picture taken with the Boys who gave you the roses.”

            The girls looked at each other and nearly screamed.

            The guard lead them back stage where the Boys were waiting to take a quick picture with them.

            “Did you guys plan this?” the guard chuckled. “Thanks if you did because it was easier to pick the group out of the crowd than individuals.”

            “We didn’t plan that out actually,” Nick replied. “Although I did give her the rose on purpose,” he thought silently.

            “It’s nice to see you girls again,” Brian smiled.

            The girls stood by the Boys who gave them the roses.

            After the picture was snapped Nick whispered in Heather’s ear, “I’ll see you at the after party right?”

            “Of course.”

            “Awesome,” he smiled smoothly, “I’ll see you later then.”

            “I’ll see you later,” she said back.

            The girls said thank you for the roses then made their way out the door.

            “That’s the girl you want to get with tonight isn’t it?” AJ asked Nick when the girls were out of sight.

            “Shut up man.”

            “She’s the one you’re holding her concert merchandise hostage right?” Howie pried.

            Nick didn’t say a word.

            “Nick, just try to behave tonight,” Brian said. “Don’t be stupid by having a one night fling and breaking one of your biggest fan’s heart.”

            “Who said I was trying to have a fling tonight? I was being nice.”

            “And the rose was just a coincidence,” Howie said sarcastically.

            “It might have been.”

            “We all saw you go right for her!” AJ exclaimed.  

            Nick didn’t say a thing he just kept walking to his dressing room so he could get ready for the After Party.

            Meanwhile the Backstreet Buds dashed across the street for the hotel.