“Oh my God.” Lauren moaned as we dragged our carry-on luggage into the lobby of the Park Hyatt. “I can’t actually remember the last time that I felt this tired.”
“I think I may actually be asleep right now.” Nick mumbled, pulling the hood of his sweatshirt towards his face.
“You guys are young. You should be able to handle it. I’m too old for this shit.” Kevin grumbled, yawning widely as we approached the desk. “All I want to do is check-in and have a nap.”
“And when are you planning to do that?” AJ asked. “We have to be at venue in less than three hours to get ready for sound check.”
“I just need a few minutes to rest my eyes ... just a few.” Howie said to no one in particular.
“Dad, is mom going to meet us at the show?” Baylee’s voice interrupted our whiney banter.
The six of us all turned to hear Brian’s response. Leighanne hadn’t been on the flight to Toronto and, as far as we knew, she hadn’t made any attempt to contact Brian. Q had been sent to retrieve Brian and Baylee’s bags earlier in the morning. When questioned, Q had said that Leighanne had told him that she would be ‘catching up with the tour at some point.’ According to Q, she hadn’t even asked if Brian would be taking Baylee with him.
“I’m not sure, bud.” Brian stalled, forcing a cheerful tone into his voice. “I’m sure she’s on her way.”
“She never misses the show!” Baylee countered. “Are you guys still mad at each other?”
Brian shot the rest of us a helpless look. He looked even worse than he had a few hours ago. His face was blotchy, his eyes were still red-rimmed from crying, and the dark circles under his eyes seemed even more pronounced than everyone else’s. Like the rest of us, he had been awake for over twenty-four hours straight. Despite our best attempts, none of us had been able to sleep on the plane and we were all paying the price. To make matters worse, Brian’s voice had taken on a definite raspy quality. For AJ, a raspy voice was sexy. For Brian, a raspy voice was an unmitigated disaster. I had no idea how he was going to be able to make it through a two and a half hour performance in just a matter of hours.
“Your mom and dad are still a little bit upset with each other.” Nick downplayed the situation. “I’m sure that your mom will be there to watch you sing.”
“Okayyyyy ...” Baylee drawled, looking to Brian for confirmation.
Brian smiled at his son as best as he could and gave Nick a look of gratitude. At this point, Q returned from the desk holding our room cards. He distributed them quickly and silently. I had to hand it to Q; he knew how to do his job without getting involved in the drama.
As we shuffled towards the elevator in silence, my phone began blasting in my purse. I sighed inwardly as Drake’s ‘The Motto’ filled the lobby. It was the song that I had assigned to Eddie. Knowing that there would be hell to pay if I let it go to voicemail, I reluctantly pulled my phone from my purse.
“Hey!” I offered, hoping that I sounded relatively chipper.
“Amazing!” Eddie’s voice boomed in my ear. “Absolutely amazing! The fans are going crazy. The media is going crazy. This is the type of publicity that we needed for the Fan Connection to really take off. I’ve been fielding calls all day! Selena Gomez, New Kids ... everyone; they’re all dying to get on board now! You should have heard Selena’s agent going on and on about the Twitter and forum responses.”
“That’s great! I’m so glad you liked it.” I interrupted him with feigned enthusiasm in a desperate attempt to stop his rant.
Not wanting everyone to hear the rest of my conversation, I motioned that I would catch the next elevator and quickly slipped back into the main lobby. I sank down onto one of the couches and stifled a yawn.
“Why do you sound so miserable?” Eddie berated. “Your blog has everyone talking. I don’t know how you got the wives to open up like that, but it made all the difference. You’ve provided the fans with some real insight about just how hard it is to be married to a Backstreet Boy. You should be celebrating!”
“Have you seen some of the forum posts?” I asked. “I understand that you love the positive feedback, but the rumours that are circling about Brian and Leighanne are horrendous. They’ve had a massive fight.” I lowered my voice even though the lobby was completely deserted.
“Again?” Eddie laughed. “I’m not surprised. That woman made my life a living hell every time that I was on tour with them. I don’t know where she pissed off to all day long, but when she was around I got nagged to hell and back. She needs to get over herself.”
“I think that she may be under the impression that some of the stories that are going around are true.” I said, treading cautiously. I didn’t want to reveal too much of the current situation.
“Is she high?!” Eddie cried. He laughed so loudly that I had to briefly pull the phone away from my ear. “She believes that Brian has slept around? Brian? If we were talking about AJ, I wouldn’t be so quick to laugh ... although Rochelle has pretty much put the blinders on him ... but Brian? There’s no way!”
“I know, but she seems pretty upset.” I replied. “I feel really guilty ...”
“Guilty?” Eddie repeated. “You’re crazy! You’ve done great work. I couldn’t be happier! In fact, my happiness will be reflected in your next cheque. So, go out and enjoy yourself! I gotta go, the kid is awake. Say hi to the guys for me.” Eddie rushed to finish and disconnected before I even had a chance to respond.
I stared at my phone in dismay for a few more seconds before summoning the strength to get off of the couch and trudge towards the elevator. I looked at the time as I hit the button for the top floor. I had just enough time to dump my bags and take a quick shower before we had to leave for the venue. So much for a having a nap...
Author's Chapter Notes:
I just wanted to thank everyone for the reviews and the positive feedback. I'm so glad that people are reading (and enjoying) the story so far!
