Chapter 16
The next day after having breakfast in the hotel lobby, the Backstreet Buds packed Heather’s car and headed home.
The girls were greeted by three happy dogs, and Stephanie and Rose, who had just started to cook dinner for everyone, when they walked through the back door.
“Fancy seeing you two here!” Heather said as she walked in the door petting Shep, Lacey and Hunter who were jumping all over her.
“We figured we’d surprise you guys when you walked in,” Stephanie hugged her sister. “Besides I knew you wouldn’t want to cook.”
“That’s when I call out for Chinese food,” Heather laughed.
“Nah,” Stephanie shrugged. “I think you would agree that Mom’s chicken parm is better than Chinese.”
Heather’s eyes lit up, “Yay! My favorite! Melina, I have to tell you that this is the best chicken parm you’ll ever eat. And it’s a good thing that Mom taught us how to make it her way.”
“Besides we wanted to hear all about the concert right away,” Rose added in.
“We have a lot to tell!” Jess exclaimed.
“Oh really?” Rose raised her eyebrow. “I’m guessing the concert was good then?”
“Are you kidding me?!” Melina almost screamed. “The concert was AMAZING!”
Kelshie giggled, “Yeah what Melina said.”
The girls took their seats and as they dug into huge helpings of chicken parm they retold all the events that happened before, during and after the concert.
“I can’t believe you guys got the roses from BSB and became their dates for the night!” Stephanie exclaimed. “I’m very surprised you didn’t have a heart attack when Nick gave you the rose.” She threw her words at her sister.
“Oh I forgot how to breathe a few times,” Heather laughed.
“And I’m really surprised that we didn’t get a call from you four asking to bail you out of jail for rape charges,” Rose commented almost in disbelieve with a joking voice.
“Someone came pretty close though,” Kelshie chuckled.
“Kelshie shut up!” Heather retaliated.
“Oh come on Hermie! You have to admit that it would have been hysterical if that did happen,” Jess lightly slapped Heather’s arm.
“I can see it know!” Kelshie stared into the distance setting up the scene like she used to do in drama class in high school. “The four of us sitting in a jail cell all because Hermie couldn’t control her raging hormones when it came to the man of her dreams…”
Heather finished for her with a huge smile, “Nickolas Gene Carter!”
“Yes that’s right,” Kelshie continued, “Or the other scenario, she tried to stowaway on Nick’s tour bus.”
“If it was only Hermie trying to stowaway or trying to rape him, why were Melina, you and I arrested with her?” Jess seriously asked.
Heather chuckled her response, “Because when one of the Backstreet Buds goes down we all go down!”
The girls laughed out loud and Jess nodded her head, “That makes sense.”
“And is it just me or can anyone else see the big ass grin forming on Hermie’s face as she clutches the shirt she gripped off of Nick?!” Rose questioned as she envisioned the scene.
The Backstreet Buds and Stephanie exploded into laughter.
“Yes I can totally picture that!” Jess was laughing so hard that she almost squeaked out her answer.
“That would have been a story to tell my friends and family back home,” Melina added, “How I got arrested during my first visit to America!”
Everyone laughed again and Steph shook her head, “You girls are too much.”
“But that’s not all that happened,” Kelshie interjected.
“Oh?” Rose questioned.
“Hermie didn’t tell you the best part of the night,” Jess said with a huge grin on her face.
“Ok this sounds juicy,” Rose shook Heather’s shoulders, “Spill!”
“Nick Carter asked me out on a date,” she replied nonchalantly.
“Are you serious?!” Rose’s eyes went wide.
“I’m dead serious,” Heather said as calm as could be. “You know me and my policy about not lying to my closest friends and family.”
Steph placed her hand on her sister’s forehead as if she was checking her temperature, “Are you sick or something?”
“No I feel fine. Why’d you ask?” Heather pushed her sister’s hand away from her head.
“There is got to be something wrong. You of all people can’t be this calm about getting a date with Nick Carter for God’s sake!”
“I guess it just hasn’t sunken in yet,” she shrugged.
“Well when is the date?” Rose asked.
“I don’t know yet. He is going to call me when he gets a chance to and we’re going to set something up then.”
“Did he seem reliable?” Steph asked becoming a little leery of the Backstreet Boy. “Are you sure he’s going to call you?”
“He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her the entire night!” Kelshie blurted.
“And he was heavily flirting with her,” Jess added.
“He looked into my eyes while I talked to him and he actually listened to what I had to say Steph,” Heather looked up at her sister as she answered. “We had intelligent conversations sis.”
The sisters had this philosophy about guys stating that if they made eye contact and were able to hold intelligent conversations, the guy was worth giving a chance. Once Heather said Nick looked her directly in the eyes Stephanie eased up a bit.
“Alright. You better be careful though. Correction be very careful.”
Heather grinned, “Since when have I not been careful?”
“When is he going to call you?” Rose asked quickly.
“I told him he could call anytime.”
Just as she said that her cell phone rang. Everyone’s eyes got wide as they watched Heather calmly check who it was.
She saw the expressions of anticipation on the faces around her and said rather hurriedly with excitement mixed in, “It’s Nick, stay quiet!”
She took in a deep breath before she answered, “Hello?”
“Hey Heather, its Nick. Is this a bad time for me to call?”
“Hey Nick! No it’s not a bad time. You have perfect timing actually I just got finished with dinner. What’s up?”
“I just called to ask if you are still interested in going out with me sometime when we’re both free.”
“I’m still interested and I’ll be free all the rest of the week except for tomorrow.”
“Same here actually. How about I take you out for dinner Saturday night?”
“That’s fine with me.”
“I’ll pick you up around 7:30 and take you into the city to one of my favorite restaurants?”
“Ok.”
“Oh I was wondering, do you like the ventriloquist Jeff Dunham?”
“I love him! He’s my favorite comedian.”
“Would you like to see him live? My manager won tickets to see his show on Saturday and he offered them to me because he wasn’t interested in seeing the show. He said I could use them if I wanted to. Would you like to come with me?”
“Of course I would! I tried to get tickets but they were all sold out.”
“Alright then, how about I pick you up at 6:30 instead this way we can give ourselves more time to eat before we need to be at the comedy club.”
“That sounds perfect to me.”
“Awesome. I’ll see you Saturday then.”
“I can’t wait,” Heather said smoothly.
“Me neither,” Nick replied in the same fashion. “Bye Heather.”
“Bye Nick.”
Heather hung up the phone and looked up at the five faces staring at her. She just smiled and clutched her cell phone as her sister and best friends screamed and hugged her excitedly.
“I still can’t believe you have a date with Nick Carter!” Melina blurted out.
“I can’t either to tell you the truth,” Heather breathed out. “I just can’t believe this whole experience! I get to spend time with my number one celebrity crush, he asks me out on a date, Rich and I reconnect…”
“Whoa!” Rose stared wild eyed at Heather, “What did you just say?!”
“Sis did you just say what I thought you said?” Stephanie became puzzled.
Heather nodded her head, “Rich is alive! He’s the DJ for Backstreet. He found me after the concert. We’re going to all have lunch together so we can hang out.”
“When?” Rose asked, “I’d love to see him again although I’m in total shock that he’s alive.”
“I’m still shocked too. But I don’t know when we’re going to hang out. He’s supposed to call me so we can set something up.”
Her phone rang again and once again the girls huddled around her as she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey Bud.”
“Hey Rich! What’s up?!”
“Nothing really. I was wondering when you are free to hang out?”
“Anytime except for Saturday.”
“Ok then how about I come over Friday? I have a gig with BSB tomorrow in the morning and then I’m meeting up with some buddies from rehab.”
“What gig do you have?”
“BSB is performing for the Good Morning America concert series.”
“Oh I didn’t know that. Now the Backstreet Buds have something to watch tomorrow morning before they leave.”
“There you go. So when should I come over Friday?”
“Any time after two because I have to drive Melina somewhere.”
“That works for me. Oh and the reason why Nick didn’t tell you he was going to be on Good Morning America tomorrow is because he’s really humble about being the Backstreet Boy that he is. He doesn’t like to brag about himself.”
“How did you know I was talking to Nick?”
“He and I are buddies. We talk. I told him about you and when he said he was going out on a date with a girl fitting your description I told him that we were more than likely talking about the same girl and I was right. But anyway is it ok that I come over at 2:30 Friday?”
“Yeah that’s fine. Unless you want to come over tomorrow after your gig so you can see Kelshie and Jess before they go back home.”
“When are they leaving?”
“They’re not sure but before rush hour. Definitely before 4 o’clock.”
“Ok I’ll try to make it but I’m not making any promises on that but I will promise you that I will see you Friday around 2:30.”
“Alright Bud. I’ll see ya then.”
“I can’t wait Heather.”
“I can’t wait either Rich.” Heather smiled as she hung up her cell phone.
“Girl you are so lucky,” Rose said.
The next day the Backstreet Buds woke up just in time to watch the Backstreet Boys on Good Morning America. Before they performed Straight Through My Heart, Bigger and a few of their most popular older songs, the Boys sat down for a quick interview with Robin Roberts.
Robin Roberts asked the basic interview questions and then she asked a few questions that they had received via email from fans who knew they were going to be on the show that day.
“Now this next question is from one of your fans in Colorado,” Robin said as she read the email, “Your fan wants to know what was the strangest thing you were asked to sign?”
The Boys simultaneously laughed.
AJ was the first to raise his microphone, “We did a concert in the Hammerstein Ballroom the other night and at the meet and greet a group of four girls asked us to sign popcorn buckets.”
The Backstreet Buds all jumped to their feet off of the couches and chairs they were sitting in and excitedly screamed, “They’re talking about us! Backstreet is talking about us!”
Robin looked at Backstreet and asked with a slight laugh in her voice, “Popcorn buckets? Why popcorn buckets?”
Brian answered, “The theme of our tour this year is A Night Out At The Movies so they told us that they wanted to have us sign something that went along with the theme of the tour.”
“Nobody has ever gone with the theme of the tour before,” Howie added.
“That does sound very unique,” Robin nodded her head with a gracious smile.
“Yeah they really did stand out in the crowd,” Nick said. He then looked to his band mates, “I don’t know about you guys but I’ll never forget them and their popcorn buckets.” He chuckled.
“No you can’t forget them,” Brian replied with a smile. Howie and AJ agreed as well.
The Backstreet Buds grabbed each other’s hands and screamed, “Backstreet will never forget us!”
“Please tell me you recorded this Hermie,” Kelshie blurted out.
“I did! I did!”
“Good! I’ll teach you how to save it onto a DVD so we can each have a copy of this.”
After the Boys performed, the girls made the DVD copies and continued on with the last full day they spent together.
After dinner someone rang the doorbell.
“Who could that be?” Jess asked.
“I have no clue,” Heather said as she walked toward the front door.
She opened the door to see a very pleasant surprise, “Rich!”
“Hey! May I come in?”
“Of course! Come on in make yourself at home. We were just about to sit down and watch one last movie before we have to get some sleep. Come on into the living room and don’t be afraid to dig in. We have a buffet of all different sweets and you can’t watch a movie without popcorn.”
As the girls and Rich watched the movie everyone tried their hardest to stay awake. When the credits rolled everyone yawned loudly.
“I don’t want to move,” Jess moaned.
“I still have to pack my bags,” Melina commented.
“So do Jess and I,” Kelshie added.
“It’s too late to pack now. We all need our rest before we hit the road tomorrow,” Heather yawned.
Rich questioned, “Where are you going Hermie? I thought Kelshie and Jess were the only two leaving tomorrow.”
“I’m driving Melina to her cousin’s house in Pennsylvania. I’ll be home by 2:30 though like we originally planned.”
“Ok. I was just curious. Would you mind if I stayed over tonight Hermie? I didn’t realize how late I was going to stay and I’m pretty tired.”
“Stay here. Please stay here. I don’t want you falling asleep at the wheel. The girls and I sleep upstairs so you have the whole down stairs to yourself. There’s a guest room next to the bathroom and your choice of two couches and the arm chair. Plus there’s an air mattress in the closet if you want to sleep on that.”
“Wow. You have a lot of room to entertain don’t you?”
“I do actually. I have one guest room down here and two unused rooms upstairs and a den like room with bean bags and a couch upstairs too. I always have friends over and you remember how big my family is. A lot of them stay over at holidays now that I have so much space to have everyone over. So where ever you want to sleep is up to you.”
“I’ll take the couch,” he said slapping the space he was sitting on. “It’s really comfortable.”
“Ok. The blankets are in the closet and in the ottoman.”
“Thank you Bud,” Rich looked up at her and smiled as she started upstairs with the girls. “I greatly appreciate it.”
She smiled sleepily back, “Don’t mention it.”
“Good night girls.”
“Good night,” Melina, Jess and Kelshie replied.
“Good night Rich,” Heather said in a soft, tired voice.
“Good night Bud,” Rich grinned as he watched Heather follow her best friends up the stairs.
