A Whole New Life by elsabeth99
Summary: Liz is back, and she gets a chance to follow her dreams!
Will everything turn out for the better? Or for the worse?
She learns that with the good times come the bad,
but will she handle everything in stride?
Categories: Fanfiction > Backstreet Boys Characters: AJ, Group
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Humor, Romance
Warnings: None
Challenges:
Series: FANatic
Chapters: 14 Completed: No Word count: 39239 Read: 22849 Published: 07/10/06 Updated: 09/21/06

1. Chapter 1 by elsabeth99

2. Chapter 2 by elsabeth99

3. Chapter 3 by elsabeth99

4. Chapter 4 by elsabeth99

5. Chapter 5 by elsabeth99

6. Chapter 6 by elsabeth99

7. Chapter 7 by elsabeth99

8. Chapter 8 by elsabeth99

9. Chapter 9 by elsabeth99

10. Chapter 10 by elsabeth99

11. Chapter 11 by elsabeth99

12. Chapter 12 by elsabeth99

13. Chapter 13 by elsabeth99

14. Chapter 14 by elsabeth99

Chapter 1 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 1 * * *

I stepped out of the cab and paid the driver after he pulled my two bags out of the trunk. After I adjusted my sunglasses, I picked up my bags and walked up the sidewalk to the front doors of the large building. The Florida sun was warm and its rays warmed everything in sight. ‘Good thing I brought summer clothes’ I thought to myself as a nice man that was coming out of the building held the door for me.

"Thanks," I said to him before I walked in to the air-conditioned building.

It had been a little over a week since they had left, but it had only been a day since I’d talked to Jane. She was the one who had arranged the plane ticket for me to get here once I told her that I had made up my mind about the tour. It took so long because I had to explain everything to my boss at work...and to my landlord...and of course to tell friends and family that I wouldn’t be around for a few months. Then I had to go to the administration office at school and explain my situation to the dean. He told me that he understood and I could enroll in classes again when I came back. Jane told me that she was going to keep this a secret so I could surprise the guys myself.

Once I was in the building, I took my sunglasses off and held them in my hand and set off to find where I was supposed to go. Music could be heard coming from down the hall so I followed it and ended up at the door of a dance room. I looked in the small glass window of the door and giggled at the sight of the guys goofing off while Fatima was trying to get them to pay attention. ‘Larger Than Life’ was blaring from the stereo that was sitting on the floor in a corner of the room. The dancers were standing in front of the door in little groups while Fatima refreshed the guys’ memories of how the dance went. I opened the door quietly and put a finger up to my lips when I saw Meg, Arti, and Jane looking at me with surprised faces from their sitting position by the stereo so they would keep quiet. The door clicked shut behind me because I forgot to hold onto it and I immediately walked up to a group of four of the dancers and pretended to mingle. Nick and AJ turned around to see who had come in, but turned back around when they didn’t see anyone. When I quietly explained who I was and what I was doing there, one of the dancers gave me a smile and introduced herself.

"My name’s Stephanie, but everyone calls me Gilli," she whispered with a smile.

"Hi," I replied with a smile. "Guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other for the next few months."

"That’s what makes it fun," she said with a little laugh.

"I guess I’ll see ya around," I said before I quietly backed up a few steps and set my bags down up against the wall.

Fatima started the music again and the guys were doing their dance so I knew they wouldn’t exactly see me right away. I shot Arti and Meg a sly grin before I tiptoed up behind AJ. He was concentrating on the dance and didn’t notice that I was there until I came up behind him and gave him a huge hug.

"Did ya miss me?" I whispered in his ear.

He turned around and I giggled when his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

"Liz!!!!" he exclaimed happily before he wrapped his arms around me and swung me around a few times.

"I’m taking that as a yes," I teased him when he put me back down.

"That was a definite YES!" he replied with a grin. "I tried to call you, but you changed your number...how come?"

"Ja..." I almost told him before I caught myself.

He must have known what I was going to say because he gave me a questioning look before he said something.

"Jane told you to?" he asked with a knowing smile.

"Yeah...she said that I should so I did," I replied timidly.

"So she knew you were coming and she didn’t tell me?" he asked with a fake pout.

"Hey...it was her idea not mine."

He smiled at me again before he pulled me into another warm hug.

"GROUP HUG!" Nick yelled out before he crashed into us and wrapped his arms around AJ and I.

Curly, Bri and Kev did the same thing.

"Aaaaaahhh! Help me! I’m suffocating!" I hollered from the middle of the ‘huddle’.

When everyone finally let go, I let them get back to their rehearsal while I went over and said hi to Arti, Meg, and Jane. They all stood up and gave me hugs after I walked up to them all smiles.

"So, how long do we have to rehearse the show?" I asked after we all sat back down.

"You’ve got a week to learn all the routines, costume changes, and all that jazz," Jane explained with a smile. "Then we’re on the road again."

"Coolios!" I replied happily.

We chatted for a few more minutes while the dancers joined the guys in their practicing.

"I love the dance to this song! It fits the mood of the song perfectly," I said as we watched.

Before I could finish talking, Meg hopped up, walked over to the back of the room by the door and started doing the dance along with them. I laughed at her ‘cause she knew every single step as if she were one of the dancers too. The song finished and as we heard AJ sing the last note, she ran towards us and fell to her knees so she slid across the polished wooden floor until she stopped at our feet.

"Nice moves Slick," I teased her while I stood up.

She jumped from her knees to her feet and then stood up with ease.

"Thank you...thank you very much," she tried to say like Elvis.

"Five minutes! Be back here and ready to go in FIVE!" Fatima yelled after she stopped the music.

A redheaded dancer turned the radio on and a few of the other dancers got up and started grooving to the music that was playing.

"Come join us girls!" Gilli hollered to us from the middle of the room.

Meg looked at me and I looked back at her with a sly smile. The guys had gone out to get a drink so we shrugged our shoulders at each other and joined in on the fun. Arti followed and Jane sat there and watched us having fun.

"Hahaha," Arti laughed as we danced crazily with the dance-crew. "This is sooooo much fun!"

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Meanwhile... ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"She’s great! Don’tcha think?" I asked Howie as we both reached into a cooler in the hall that was filled with ice-cold drinks. "I mean...coming with us and all..."

"Yeah. I’m sure it was a hard decision for her to make," he replied while he opened the water bottle that he had picked up.

"Look at her," I said as I pointed through the glass window on the door. "She’s gonna love it...being on the road with everyone."

"She looks like she’s having a pretty good time with the dancers..." Kev said with a laugh before he opened the door and walked in the rehearsal room to join the ‘party’.

"Yeah man...just think, she’s gonna be here with you 24/7 for the next three months," Bri said with a sly smile as he patted my shoulder and followed Kev inside.

I smiled dreamily at the thought of us being together for the next three months. Of course she’d be riding on Meg’s bus most of the time, but I still knew that things would work out just fine.

"Bone...just don’t do anything stupid or else I’ll have to hurtcha...ok?" Nick said with a smile.

"Yes mother," I replied with a laugh.

"I’m serious AJ. If you hurt her, I’ll be here to give you crap and you know it," Nick said in a totally serious tone that freaked me out.

"Ok. I got it. Geez."

I walked around Nick and opened the door to the studio. Liz was dancing around and being silly with Gilli so I stood by the back and watched with a smile on my face. She always had a way of making me feel happy whenever she was. And when she’s hurt I just want to put my arms around her and make everything right again.

"AJ...AJ!!!!!!"

I looked up to see Liz waving me over to her.

"Come on! It’s fun!"

She beamed a smile that melted my heart in an instant. I walked over to where she was and smiled happily as she took my hand in hers and pulled me over to a where a group of the dancers had formed a circle. Kristin (the redhead) and Dylan were in the middle ‘copy-catting’ each other with funky dance moves. (author’s note ~ think Britney Spears’ music video to Drive Me Crazy-stop remix during the dancer’s ‘war’) Dylan is one of the more free-lance dancers of the male crew and Kristin was known for her ballet expertise, but when those two paired up, they were absolutely astounding to watch. I put my arms around Liz’s waist and watched her watching the dancers having fun during their own turns in the circle. Her entire face lit up every time she saw a move that she liked or when someone did something funny. Her cheerfulness was so infectious that I couldn’t help but smile because she was smiling too.

"I wish I could dance like that..." she whispered softly in my ear as she watched two new dancers in the middle.

This time it was Gilli and Ricky. Ricky’s real name is Frederick, but he insisted that we called him Ricky instead. He’s the only Latino dancer on our crew for this leg of the tour, but man could he dance! Gilli was one of the best dancers that I’d seen in a long time and I personally requested her after I saw her in one of the videos that Fatima had used her in.

"All it takes is a little practice," I whispered back.

"Is that an offer?" she said as she turned her head and gave me a sly smile.

"Only if you want it to be."

She turned back to watch the dancers until Fatima walked in the room and broke the circle up.

"Sorry guys...time’s up. Back to work...we’ve got a lot of rehearsing to do," she said as she walked over to the stereo and turned it off. "Anyone in Meg’s crew is to go with her to the other room to run through your songs a few times before you come back to learn a few new steps."

"That’s me," Liz said as she led me over by where her bags were sitting up against the wall. "Have a good practice. I’ll see you in a little bit."

She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and then leaned over to get something from one of her bags. I walked back to where the guys were lining up and waiting while Fatima cued up the music again.

"Here we go...and 5...6...7...8," she yelled with the intro. "Show some attitude guys...AJ, you can do better than that!"

I couldn’t help it! My thoughts were on other things...namely a girl...with long blond hair...and a beautiful smile...

"Aaaaahhh! AJ WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING!!!!!" Kev hollered angrily as I ran into him, causing both him and myself to tumble to the ground.

Chapter 2 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 2 * * *

When I looked up and saw AJ run right into Kev, I couldn’t help but laugh. It looked soooo funny to see him run into someone ‘cause he usually never had a problem with his dance moves.

"Ready to go girlie?" I heard Meg call to me from where she was standing by the door.

"Yeah...I’m comin’," I replied as I stood up and put my hair into a sloppy bun.

I followed Meg out the door, down the hallway, and into a room that had a piano and some stools set up around it. A girl and a guy were sitting on two of the stools so there were two empty ones for Meg and I. She led me over to the stools and said hello to the two on the other stools before she turned and said hi to the man at the piano.

"This is Liz. She’ll be doing back-ups and leads with me," Meg explained to everyone.

"Hi," I said with a smile as I sat down next to Meg.

After the introductions were over, we got down to business. We went through a bunch of the songs that were on the CD and then moved on to some cover tunes.

"I’m not exactly sure which songs we’ll be doing yet so we thought we’d be safe and practice them all," Meg explained before we sang the last song...our duet.

While we were singing the first chorus of the song, the door opened and none of us noticed when people walked in and listened.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When I heard the music coming from the room down the hall, I instantly wanted to know what it was so I followed the faint sounds.

"Yo Bone...where ya goin’?" Nick asked as I started to walk away.

"SSssshhhhh!"

He followed me quietly down the hall until we came to the door where the music was coming from. I turned the handle and pushed the door open to find Liz and Meg standing and singing their duet while a man played the music on the keys of the grand piano in front of them. No one noticed when I quietly slipped in the room so I motioned for Nick to follow. He walked in and stood by me. Kev, Arti, and Jane soon followed us. They both sang effortlessly while we stood there and listened.

"And that’s why..." Meg sang.

"That’s why..." Liz joined in.

"I love you still," they both sang the last line together, just like on the album.

When the guy at the piano finished playing the song, we all clapped for the two girls. When everyone around the piano turned around to find us there, they doubled over laughing.

"Hey...what’s so funny?" I asked with a fake pout.

"Nothing," Meg said as she tried to keep a straight face.

"Fine...be that way..." I said in return. "We were sent to tell ya that Fatima’s ready for ya now."

"Ok...thanks," Liz said with a smile.

I gave her a smile back as she headed over to where I was standing, or so I thought.

"Sorry...gotta go..." she said with an apologetic look that made me smile at her innocence.

"I’ll see ya later," I called out to her before she and Meg walked out the door.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Meg ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

‘Things are going soooo well’ I thought to myself as Liz and I walked back down the hall to the studio so Fatima could teach us a few dance steps to some of our songs.

"This is going to be a great three months!" I said happily before we walked in the door to find Fatima standing by the stereo waiting patiently for us.

"Yeah, it is!" Liz said in agreement as we walked to where Fatima was waiting.

We practiced and learned dances for about four hours until we thought we’d pass out. Fatima finally thought that we knew the dances ok for now so she told us that practice was over for the day.

"We’ll polish things up tomorrow and run them through with the music. Then on Wednesday we’ll do the dances with the vocals," explained as she fiddled with the stereo.

"Sounds like a plan," I said as Liz and I walked to the back of the room and sat down against the wall by her bags.

"I’m sure gonna sleep soundly tonight," Liz said with a silly smile as she pulled the scrunchy out of her hair and ran her fingers through it a few times.

Before I could say anything in return, the door flew open and AJ, Nick, Kev, Arti, and Curly ran in. They were all chasing Arti around the room as she dodged behind chairs and dancers to get away from them. Liz stood up so I followed her lead and stood up too. Arti ran over to us and ‘hid’ behind us.

"Save me!" she exclaimed as she ducked her head down.

"What’d you do?" Liz asked like she was confused.

"Nothin’...oki, somethin’...I told ‘em that they sounded like a bunch of prepubescent boys high on helium," she said with a laugh. "They were goofing around singing like the chipmunks...I couldn’t help it!"

I burst out laughing when Nick and Kev walked up to where we were standing.

"Can we help you boys?" I asked sweetly.

"Yeah...could you like move for a second?" Nick asked, mocking my sweet tone.

AJ walked up and stood next to Nick.

"Sorry...no can do," Liz said with a laugh. "We’ve been sworn to protect the outnumbered female population in situations like this...one for all and all for one..."

"Well in that case..." AJ said as he reached out and picked Liz up in his arms.

"Aaaahhhh! Put me down!" she yelled playfully.

"Sorry...no can do," AJ replied.

‘They look so cute together’ I thought to myself as I stood there watching their little ‘encounter’. Nick tried to walk around me to get to Arti so I turned a little and laughed when Arti safely slipped out the door. I backed up to the door and held it shut so Kev and Nick wouldn’t be able to get out.

"A promise is a promise," I said while I shrugged my shoulders.

I knew that she would probably head to the nearest ladies room so I stood there for a few minutes so she at least got a good head start. When I stepped away from the door and sat back down on a chair, both Kev and Nick made a mad dash to get out. AJ and Liz were sitting against the wall on the other side of the room as they talked quietly. I smiled to myself knowing that Liz was finally getting some happiness into her life.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"How was your flight?" I asked Liz softly.

She looked me in the eyes and gave me a smile before she said anything.

"It was good. I couldn’t help but think of how things were going to be...ya know...on the road and all," she replied as she played with her hair.

I reached out and brushed back a piece of her long blond hair that had fallen into her eyes.

"Everything’s going to be just fine..." I told her in a reassuring voice. "We’re going to be just fine."

"Yeah, I know," she said with a smile.

I watched her as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and glanced in Meg’s direction. I almost couldn’t believe that she was sitting here next to me getting ready to go with us on tour.

"So, what made you change your mind about coming?"

She turned and gave me a warm smile as she looked into my eyes.

"You know when I called my dad?" she asked.

"Yeah...how could I forget?"

She let out a little laugh when she saw me roll my eyes.

"Well, he has always told me that he thought music was NOT what I should be doing in life to make money ‘cause he says it wouldn’t get me anywhere. I mean, my dad loves music as much as I do, but he knows that unless you’re a big star, it’s a given that you’re not going to make much money," she explained. "He always used to tell me that computers were the way to go whenever I told him that I wanted to be singer. It was almost like he wasn’t taking me seriously or something...but when I told him what you told me about going on tour, he said something that really surprised me."

"What’s that?"

"He told me that he would support me in whatever I chose to do. That was a big surprise in itself, but what surprised me even more was when he told me that he thought I should go. I never in a million years expected him to say that."

"It sounds like he trusts and loves you a lot," I told her as I took her hand in mine.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said with a smile like she was slightly embarrassed.

She looked down at her hand in mine and watched as she took her other hand and lightly rubbed the skin on the back of my hand with her manicured finger. Her nails were a little longer than they were in LA, but she still had the French manicured tips that made them look nice.

"So...I was wondering..." I said softly as I leaned closer to her. "Would you like to go out to dinner with my mom and me tonight?"

She looked up at me for a second and then laid her head on my shoulder with her eyes closed. I didn’t know whether to be scared that she’d say no or what so I just sat there and waited for an answer. She was silent for a few seconds before she spoke again.

"I’d love to," she whispered softly.

"Great!" I whispered back.

I smiled to myself when she wrapped her arms around me and I did the same to her. We sat there for a little while until we heard someone calling Liz’s name.

"Liz...do you know where you’re staying until we leave next week?" Meg called out.

Liz opened her eyes and stood up before she took my hand in hers and helped me up too. We walked over to where Meg and Howie were sitting next to each other.

"Actually, I have absolutely no idea where I’m staying...I’ll go talk to Jane and see if she arranged anything," she said before she let me go and headed towards the door.

I watched her happily walking towards the door to go in the hallway to find Jane and I smiled to myself knowing that she was going to meet my mom in a few hours. ‘Mom’s going to love her!’ I thought to myself before I sat down on an empty chair.

Chapter 3 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 3 * * *

"Jane?" I called out her name when I saw her walking down the hall the opposite way.

She turned around and when she saw me walking towards her, she stopped and walked back to where I was.

"Yes," she replied.

"I was wondering...did you make any arrangements for somewhere that I can stay?" I asked timidly.

"Oh yes...I’m sorry that I forgot to tell you," she said apologetically. "Aaron and I will be staying at Nick’s and there is an extra bedroom if you’d like to stay there with us you are more than welcome to."

"That sounds nice," I said with a smile. "Thanks."

"You’re welcome," she said before we both went our separate ways.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"You’re gonna be stayin’ at Nick’s place?" I asked Liz when she came back, told us about the plans, and sat beside me.

"You’re not jealous are you?" she teased with a sly smile.

‘If only you knew...’ I thought to myself.

"Naw...I’m not jealous," I replied as casually as possible. "I just wish you were staying at mine."

My attempt to lighten the mood of the moment worked when she giggled and then poked me in the side.

"Hey!" I yelped out in surprise that just made her laugh even more.

"You’re such a goof," she told me before she stood up and held out her hand for me.

I stood up too and held her hand while she led me over to where her bags were sitting. I reached over to pick up one of her bags for her but she playfully slapped my hand away.

"Hey! That’s mine!" she joked with a teasing smile. "I can get it...besides, you have yours to carry," she said, pointing to my duffel bag at the front of the room.

She let me go so she could pick up her bags so I took the opportunity and went to pick mine up too. I watched her slip on her sunglasses and then walk over to the door. She pushed it open, walked out, and held it for me.

"Hey Liz..." Gilli called out from where she was walking down the hall towards us with something in her hands. "I’ve got something for ya."

"Oh great..." I said under my breath.

Liz smacked me playfully in the stomach when she heard what I said. Gilli smiled as she walked up to us. She handed Liz a pastel purple cowboy hat along with a notebook.

"Everyone on the Backstreet crew gets a hat...I know, I know...you’re technically not on the Backstreet crew, but I have a feeling you’ll be spending most of your time with us so I’m givin’ ya one anyway," she explained with a grin. "And the notebook will be self-explanatory when you open it...alone," she said as she emphasized the word ‘alone’ while looking at me.

"Thanks," Liz said with a toothy grin before she put the hat on her head.

"Hey Gilli? Where’s mine?" I asked jokingly as I looked at the hat on my girl’s head. "Wait a sec...that looks like one of my hats that I’ve been looking around my house for..."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Gilli said with a sly smile. "Anyway, you don’t need anymore hats...you’ve already got too many to keep track of, as you stated before."

I gave Gilli a puzzled look. Liz leaned over and whispered something in Gilli’s ear and I watched Gilli’s face light up. Then Gilli leaned over and whispered something in Liz’s ear. They both laughed for a few seconds before they turned back to me.

"I’ll see ya tomorrow Steph," Liz said to Gilli.

"Likewise," Gilli replied before she walked in the door we had just come out of minutes before.

I turned my eyes to Liz and she smiled before she started walking to the lobby of the building. We had rented this building so it was basically empty except for the dancers, band members, or tech crew. I pulled my sunglasses out of the pocket of my bag and slid them on when we walked into the lobby. The sun was shining brightly and the warm rays flooded the white tiled floor of the lobby area where we were standing, making it hard to see.

"Hey Els..." Nick called out to Liz as he walked over to us.

I put my free arm around her shoulder as we stood and waited. Nick walked up to where we were standing and stopped in front of us.

"Ready to go?" Nick asked with a cheesy smile that made Liz laugh a little.

"Yeah...can you give me a second? I’ll be right out," she replied as she set down one of her bags.

"Sure thing...I’ll just take these out for ya," he said while he took her bags from her hands and walked out the door.

Liz turned to me and placed her hands on my sides as she looked in my eyes with a smile on her face. Just the sight of her smiling face made me smile too.

"I’ll see you in a few hours then?" she asked with an innocent face before she smiled again.

"Yeah...I’ll pick you up at 7 at Nick’s...wear something nice," I told her before she gave me a hug.

"I’ll be waiting," she said as she pulled away.

She brushed her tender lips against mine in a gentle kiss before she let go and walked out the door. ‘How did I get so lucky?’ I asked myself as I watched her walk away. She turned and waved after she walked a few steps before she continued on to Nick’s truck.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Nick ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"And here we are..." I told Liz as we pulled into the driveway.

I stopped long enough to let the gate open all the way before I pulled forward, watching the gate close behind us as I pulled up the driveway.

"Wow..." Liz said in a hushed voice. "This place is...*pause*...it’s huge."

"Naw...it’s smaller than mom and dad’s place," I replied with a laugh.

"It’s certainly FAR more than I could ever afford," Liz said as she looked out the window for a few seconds before she realized we were stopped and she could get out.

Mom had already helped Airboy out, so I popped the trunk and pulled Liz’s bags out before shutting it again. I led her up to the front door and she stopped on the top step to look at the size of the building that she was standing in front of.

"Come on," I said with a laugh. "Trust me...it’s more interesting inside..."

When we were inside, I shut the door and then started up the stairs.

"Come on...I’ll show you your room and give you a tour of the house," I told her as she followed me upstairs.

AC ran up to us when we reached the top.

"You’re room’s right next to mine! We can play video games while we’re not at rehearsals," AC exclaimed happily as he took Liz’s hand and led her down the hall.

She turned and gave me a shrug with an apologetic smile as AC led her away. I smiled back to let her know it was ok before I followed after them. They went into Airboy’s room so I put Liz’s bags down on the Queen size bed in her room and went to see what they were doing. When I got closer to the door to Airboy’s room, I could hear screaming and laughing coming from inside the room. I looked in the open door and found Liz and AC sitting on the floor in front of the TV, playing a game.

"Noo!!! Aaaaahhh!!!" Liz exclaimed as she concentrated on the screen. "I’m gonna getcha!"

"Nu uh...I’m gonna get you first," AC said back with a teasing smile.

They played for a few more seconds like that until he threw his hands up in victory.

"I won!!!!! I’m ‘da man!" he exclaimed happily.

"Fine, fine...you won, but only ‘cause I haven’t played MarioKart for a while," Liz gave in with a sly smile.

Mom walked up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder. I turned and gave her a smile and she did the same in return.

"Anyone ready for dinner?" she asked, looking in the room at Liz and Airboy.

Liz stood up and started to walk over to where we were standing in the doorway.

"Actually, I’m going out to dinner with AJ and his mom if that’s ok with you guys," she said with a hopeful smile.

"Oh hun...that’s perfectly fine!" mom said in return.

"Thanks," Liz replied before she walked out the door. "So, where’s my room again?"

I turned around and led her to the room next to Aaron’s that was closest to the stairs. I opened the door for her and she just stood in the doorway for a few seconds while she explored the room with her eyes. She looked at me with a huge grin before she slowly walked in.

"Wow! This is all for me?" she asked like she was surprised.

"Yeah," I replied.

She walked up to the oak dresser on the far wall and looked at all the ‘girlie’ things that my mom had put there for her. She smiled when she finally saw the framed group picture of her and us guys from the hotel sitting on the other end of the dresser. The picture was my idea and I smiled when she looked up to me with a happy face. Mom told me that she would be staying here this morning before we left. She walked over to the large bed and sat down on the pastel purple, blue, and pink plaid comforter before she took the hat off her head. She glanced around the room again, still taking in everything that she would be living with for the next week.

"The busses are going to be ready in a few days so you don’t have to unpack if you don’t want to," I told her from my spot in the doorway. "It’ll probably be easier that way."

"Ok," she replied as she stood up again.

"Oh...the bathroom’s right there," I said pointing to the door on the wall that was shared with AC’s room. "It’s all yours."

She gave me a smile before she walked over to where I was standing.

"Thanks Nilo," she said as she came up to me.

"My pleasure...or should I say, my mom’s pleasure," I replied with a laugh.

She laughed too. I walked out into the hall and she shut the door behind me so she could get ready for her ‘date’ that was in an hour. I walked down the stairs and sat down on the couch that was in the sitting area at the bottom of the stairs right inside the front door. I leaned my head back on the couch and closed my eyes. I didn’t realize that I dozed off until I heard the doorbell ring.

"I’m coming," I called out as I got up.

I opened the door and found AJ standing there. He was wearing a very nice outfit so I kinda figured that they were going somewhere nice...nice and probably expensive.

"Hey Bone...come in," I told him before I turned around and walked up the bottom step.

AJ walked in and shut the door behind him. He stood there in the entryway while I called up to Liz.

"LIZ! AJ’s here..." I hollered up to her.

"I’m coming," she yelled back.

I walked over to the couch and sat back down, only to stand back up again when I saw Liz coming down the stairs. She was wearing a long dark green silky dress that complemented her eyes perfectly. Half of her hair was pulled back into a barrette with the ends curled so that they curled under. She held onto the railing with one hand and her dress in the other as she carefully walked down the stairs towards where we were. She looked absolutely breathtaking as she reached the bottom step and gave me a smile.

"Would you both like towels or something to wipe your chins off with?" she said sarcastically as she walked past me to where AJ was waiting.

I turned towards the door and watched AJ gawk at how she looked.

"Don’t be too late," I said to them as AJ opened the door.

Liz laughed a little before she turned to look at me. "We won’t mother."

"Funny," I replied with a slight glare.

She shot me a sweet smile that made her seem as innocent as a little child.

"Don’t worry...she’ll be back by 11," AJ said as Liz walked out the door.

"See ya," I called out before he shut the door behind him.

I walked over to the couch and slumped down onto it as if I wanted to crawl under a rock. I didn’t sit there for long before mom came in and told me that it was time to eat. AC came running down the stairs at the mere mention of food. ‘Man...he’s just like me...’ I thought to myself with a laugh as I stood up and took off towards the dining room.

Chapter 4 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 4 * * *

"I had a great night," I told AJ when we stopped on Nick’s front porch.

"Yeah, my mom loves you ya know..." he replied with a smile.

"Your mom’s a sweetie! I can’t believe she’s going to take Arti and me shopping on Wednesday after rehearsal!" I whispered happily after AJ put his arms around me in a hug. "Does she do that with all the new people on tour?!?"

AJ laughed a little and then pulled away so he could look me in the eyes.

"Only the special ones," he whispered with a smile.

I gave him a smile back. He gave me a short goodnight kiss before he turned to go to his truck.

"See you tomorrow," he turned around and called to me after he walked a few steps.

"Ok..." I replied with a little wave. "Drive carefully."

"I will," he said as he opened his car door.

I stood there on the top step of the lighted front porch and watched him drive away until he was out of sight. I smiled to myself as I remembered what a great time we had at dinner with Denise, his mom. ‘This tour is going to be great!’ I thought to myself as I stepped up to the door and turned the handle. When I walked in the door, I saw Nick on the couch in the sitting area with his head back on the cushion. His eyes were closed so I assumed he was asleep. I shut the door quietly before I walked over to where he was.

"Nick," I whispered as I leaned over his sleeping body. "Nick!"

Nothing.

"NICK!" I whispered louder as I shook him a little.

"Wha...huh?" he mumbled as he shifted a little.

"Nick...wake up!" I whispered again.

He stirred a little before he lifted his head and opened his eyes.

"What time is it?" he asked in a sleepy voice.

"10:27," I replied as he sat up. "Come on...let’s get you to bed."

When I held out my hand to help him up, he took it and gave me a sleepy half smile as he stood up. He stood there for a few seconds and he looked like he wanted to fall back onto the couch and go back to sleep, so I tugged his hand a little.

"Come on...upstairs," I said as I led him to the stairs.

He slowly followed me up the stairs and I got to the door to my room, I turned around and watched him as he continued to his room across the hall. He opened the door and sleepily walked in before he plopped down on his bed. I walked in my room and left the door open a little before I went in the bathroom and changed in to my pajamas and got ready for bed. I didn’t hear any noise coming from any of the other rooms so I figured everyone else was in bed too. After I crawled under the covers of the huge bed, I rolled onto my side and stared out into the empty room. I closed my eyes after a few minutes and fell into a deep sleep.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Nick ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of my room when I woke up in the middle of the night and opened my eyes. I heard noises coming from one of the rooms across the hall so I got out of bed and went to see what it was.

"No...No...NO!..." a voice said softly and then got louder until it was screaming. "NO!!!!!"

The door to Liz’s room was open a little so I walked over to it, pushed it open a little further, and looked in. She was lying on her back screaming in her sleep as tears rolled down her cheeks. I walked over to her bed and tried to wake her up, but she didn’t open her eyes. Her hands were a little cold to the touch and when I looked at her face, I saw that she was crying with sweat on her forehead. I didn’t exactly know what to do, so I pulled the blankets back a little. She was lying towards the middle of the bed, so I sat on the bed next to her and picked her up so I was cradling her in my arms.

"Ssshhhh...it’s ok," I whispered softly as I pulled the blankets up over her a little.

She calmed down after a few minutes and when I felt her hands, they were warm again. Her breathing had returned back to its normal deep pattern so I knew she was asleep still. When I felt like she was ok, I laid her head back down on one of the down pillows and pulled the blankets up over her sleeping body.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ The Next Morning ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The early morning rays of the sun shone through the white curtains that covered the window across the room from the bed. I slowly opened my eyes to a squint and found myself facing someone else laying next to me...actually I was facing his bare chest. I looked up and saw Nick with his head leaned against his hand that was propped up on his elbow. He was already awake and watching me when I finally woke up. I closed my eyes again and kept them closed, hoping that he wouldn’t be there when I opened them again.

"Why are you in my bed?" I asked in a slightly groggy voice when I opened my eyes to see him still lying there.

He laughed a little before he brushed back a few pieces of hair that fell into my eyes as I pulled the blankets up to my chin.

"You had a bad dream last night...I woke up and heard you screaming at the top of your lungs in your sleep," he explained with a serious face.

"Awww crap," I said as I rubbed my eyes a little.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothin...I’ve been having bad dreams for the last 6 months...since I first came here to Orlando..." I replied as I rolled over. "They keep comin back and I can’t make ‘em go away."

I rolled out from under the blankets and walked over to the chair where one of my bags was sitting. After rummaging through it for a few seconds, I pulled out my towel and some clean clothes.

"Hey...if there’s anything I can do, let me know ok?" Nick said after he got up.

"Sure thing," I replied as I headed towards the bathroom.

Nick walked out the door and shut it behind him so I went into the bathroom for a shower before I got dressed. When I walked into the kitchen downstairs, Jane, AC, and Nick were all sitting around the table eating their own choice meals for breakfast. They were all dressed and ready to go to rehearsal for the day.

"Good Morning," Jane said to me as I walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," I replied with a half smile. "What’s for breakfast?"

Nick stood up and walked over to the counter and then opened one of the upper cabinets.

"Whatever you feel like," he said as he gestured to the cupboard that was filled with cereal boxes, spices and flavorings, and drink mixes among other things.

I looked at the counter and saw that a package of pancake mix was open, but I wasn’t in the mood for pancakes.

"Have any oatmeal?" I asked with a smile.

"Oatmeal?" he asked with a scrunched-up face. "You want oatmeal?"

"Yeah...I love the stuff," I replied as I walked over to the cupboard door that he held open.

"Sorry...no oatmeal...mom’ll have to pick some up for ya," he replied with a shrug before he went back to the table to finish his bowl of cereal.

"We’ll go to the grocery store later today," Jane said as she stood up and set her dishes in the sink. "You can come with and pick up some stuff if you want."

"Ok. That sounds great," I replied as I pulled out a box of Cheerios from the cupboard. "Where’s the dishes at?"

Nick pointed to one of the other cupboards as he drank the milk from his bowl. I pulled out a bowl and poured myself a bowl of cereal before I sat down across the table from Nick. He was reading a newspaper so I didn’t bother trying to make conversation with him. AC had already left so it was only us two in the kitchen. I hurriedly finished my breakfast and put the dirtied dishes in the sink.

"So, when do we need to be to the studio?" I asked Nick as I put my foot up on one of the chairs around the table and tied my shoelace that had come undone.

"9. We need to leave in about 5 minutes," he replied before he stood up.

I followed him out of the kitchen, but when he turned to go upstairs, I sat down on the dark green couch in the sitting area. Jane, AC, and Nick all came down a few minutes later so we all went to the door and headed out. I saw my reflection in the mirror as we walked past it on the way out. ‘Man...I look like death warmed over...’ I thought to myself as I walked out the door towards the truck.

Chapter 5 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 5 * * *

"Hey Els!" Meg called out to me when she saw my blond head of hair come in the door.

I heard her gasp quietly when she saw how pale my face was. I really did look bad ‘cause AJ rushed up to me from where he was leaning up against one of the walls in the dance room.

"Hi," I called to Meg as cheerfully as I could so she wouldn’t worry, even though I knew she would.

"Liz? Are you ok?" AJ asked as he grabbed my hand and pulled me aside.

"Sort of," I replied with a little sigh that I tried not to let him hear.

"Did you get something to eat?" he asked with genuine concern in his voice.

I was truly touched at how much he cared.

"Of course," I replied with a small smile. "I just didn’t get much sleep last night."

He didn’t ask anything further. I assumed that he’d just asked Nick later anyway. Fatima walked in the door and told the guys to sit or stand or whatever while she went over our dances with us to make sure we remembered. Meg, our ‘borrowed’ dancers from the Backstreet crew, and I all spread out on the floor to stretch. Gilli would be dancing with us as well as Sherri. Sherri, also known as Cher, had shoulder length curly blond hair that was always cute no matter what she did with it. She was about the same height as me, but she was definitely tanner than I am. For the dances that needed a pair, she’d be dancing with Beau. Everyone calls him BoBo. He’s got short wavy brown hair and he was very muscular for a 22-year-old dancer. Gilli would be dancing with Dylan, the blond hair brown eyed guy that everyone called Pickles.

"Let’s start with just Meg and Els going through this one for now," Fatima told the other dancers before she cued up the music.

We didn’t really do much dancing while we sang, mostly just snappy little moves here and there. In the new dance mix of the song we were practicing, there was a pause in the middle of the song where the ‘bridge’ was supposed to be. Meg and I stopped in the front center while two dancers were on her left and the other two were on my right. We looked up to the each other for one count, to the sky for another count before we looked at the ground and then both did back flips, landing on our feet before the music started again. The bass was loud and thumping, but that was the way I liked it. When we were done doing our back flips, I did a little dance that was then mimicked by the two dancers on my side while Meg did the same with ‘her’ dancers. The whole dance routine for the song was rather cute, yet it was also very easy for anyone to pick up. We had a lot of fun doing this dance and it was easily both our favorites so far. After that song was done, we went on to our other songs. We pretty much had everything down, besides needing a few pointers here and there, but that was expected. When we were finished, Fatima said that she wanted us to do ‘All For You’ (the first song that we practiced) again so we did. This time when the back flip came, I felt myself go weak just as I bent over backwards and when I landed, my foot slipped and I landed hard on the ground with a thud. Everyone rushed around me to see if I was ok. AJ started freaking out when he saw me fall.

"PLEASE...I’m fine...Just let me finish OK?" I yelled at everyone as I pushed their hands away and stood up by myself.

It made me a little annoyed that none of them thought I had the capability to get back up and finish the dance. We did the rest of it perfectly and when Fatima told us we were finished, I turned around and quickly headed for the door. ‘I might be tired, but I’m definitely not incapable of finishing one stupid dance’ I angrily thought to myself as I slammed the door open and briskly walked out the door. When I was out in the hall, I walked out to the lobby and wandered outside for a few minutes. I slid my sunglasses on and yanked my hair up into a sloppy bun. I sat down on the warm grass and looked at the people walking by on the sidewalk outside the gates that surrounded the building’s perimeters. When I was a little more relaxed, I lay back on the grass and closed my eyes while I let the suns rays turn my skin a nice pink color from the heat.

"Hey Liz...you better come in before you get burnt," I could hear Arti hollering to me from the front door of the building.

When I didn’t move, she walked out to where I was sitting and took a seat beside me.

"What happened in there?" she asked gently.

"I slipped...that’s all," I answered. "I’m sorry for yelling at everybody, but I’m tired of everyone treating me like the underdog here. I might not be as experienced in the whole ‘touring’ scene, but I do know what my limits are and I know what I can and can’t do."

"I know you were going to finish," she said as she put a hand on my shoulder. "You just need to show them how good you are."

"How can I show them how ‘good’ I am if they won’t give me the chance?" I asked as I pounded the ground a few times in frustration. "I’m not a baby...I might be younger than all of them, but I’m NOT a baby!"

"Come on. Let’s go inside," she said as she stood up and then held out her hand for me.

"Thanks for being here to listen to my whining," I said with a half smile. "I know it’s not what you’re paid for, but I’m glad I got to talk to ya."

"And don’t ever hesitate to talk to me," she said as she gave me a little hug. "I’ll always be here if ya need me."

She pulled the door open for me and I walked into the air-conditioned building. I left my sunglasses on, but pulled my hair out of the bun.

"Hey Cher..." I called out to Sherri down the hall a little ways. "Can you French braid?"

"Nope," she replied with an apologetic shrug. "But you might wanna ask Chauntellle. I think she knows how."

"Thanks," I replied before I walked into the dance room.

The dancers were lounging all over the place and the guys were right there lounging with them. Chauntelle was another one of the female dancers. She’s got long dark brown hair with piercing green eyes.

"Hey Chaun," I hollered to where she was sitting and talking with Cassidy (another female dancer), Damian (male dancer), Nick, and AJ.

"Yeah," she yelled out, not sure who had called her name.

I walked up behind her and played with her long hair that was in little braids. She tilted her head back and when she saw it was me, she gave me a smile.

"Hi Els," she said as she put her head back to its normal position and turned around a little to look at me. "What’s up?"

"Nothing really. Do you know how to French braid?" I asked her without looking at anyone else.

"Yeah! You want me to braid your hair?" she asked happily.

"Umm...just come with me K?"

"Ok..." she replied in a confused voice before she stood up and followed me to the door.

"Liz!"

AJ was calling my name as he stood up.

"Sorry...I’m busy. Take a number," I called out before walking out the door.

Chauntelle followed me until we got to the small lounge setup at the end of the hall. No one was there so I plopped down onto one of the comfy leather chairs and waited for her to do the same.

"So..." she said. "What’d ya need?"

"I was just wonderin how much you’d charge me to put my hair into little braids like yours..." I told her.

"Oh hun, I wouldn’t charge ya. Hey! We’re gonna have a girlie party on our bus Wednesday night when the busses come. I’ll do it then k?" she said with a cute smile.

"Ok. Thanks!" I exclaimed happily. "So...I guess you can braid my hair right now so it doesn’t look like we just took off. And don’t tell anyone about our braiding session on Wednesday k?"

"K."

When she was done, I thanked her before she went back to the dance room. Fatima was going over dances with our dancers (Gilli, Cher, BoBo, and Pickles) so the rest of us had a little free time until we had to go back to work on vocals.

"Hey," AJ said as he walked in and sat down on a chair that was across from me.

"Hi," I replied with a little halfhearted smile before I turned and stared at the tree next to me that suddenly became rather interesting.

"What’s wrong?" he asked as he leaned a little closer so his elbows were resting on his knees.

He stared at me for a few seconds before I answered.

"Ya know, I’m not comfortable with how everyone treats me like I don’t know what’s going on. I know that things aren’t all fun and games, but I’m tired of people trying to make things ‘easier’ for me...like I can’t handle it," I said as I stared at the tree’s leaves. "How does anyone know what I can handle but me?"

He obviously didn’t know how to react to that and I didn’t want to hear his answer. He sat there silent for a few minutes and I got tired of the silence so I stood up and walked down the hall.

"Don’t bother following me either," I hollered back to him. "You won’t find me."

I passed by Nick, Damian, Preston (male dancer aka Pres), Red (Kristin), and Dee (Cassidy) sitting in the hall along the wall. They were sitting next to the table that was setup and covered with the food that the caterer had dropped off. I stopped for a few seconds at the table and picked up a few handfuls of green grapes. I munched on a few as I turned my head to look in the direction where I had come from. AJ was walking my way so I turned back the other way and walked down the hall, munching the last grapes that were in my hand. When I came to the door at the end of the hall, I turned around and leaned up against it as I watched everyone having fun.

"ARTI!!!!!" I hollered as loud as I could.

I knew she was sitting in the hall talking to Kevin so she had to have heard me.

"ARTI!"

This time she looked up and saw me way down at the other end of the long hallway.

"COME HERE FOR A SEC!" I hollered to her.

When she jogged up to me, I grabbed her hand and pulled her outside with me. She gave me a weird look as I led her to the gate that surrounded the building’s lot.

"I need you to let me back in when I come back," I explained before I walked out the gate and watched it lock behind me. "Be back in a few."

She gave me a puzzled look as I ran down the street. I normally don’t run very often, but when I feel like I need to burn off some anger, I run for as long as I can stand it. Arti was still standing there inside the gate when I passed her by the first time.

"One more," I called out as I ran past her and continued down the street.

I ran around the block twice before I stopped and Arti let me back in.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"No."

She looked at me like I was crazy before we started walking back to the doors of the building.

"I still feel like crap except now I feel like really tired crap," I said with a small smile.

She laughed at my silliness as she pulled the door open and held it for me. Kev was watching her when we walked in and he was about to say something smart-alecky so I didn’t give him the chance.

"She was with me so don’t bite her head off," I snapped before I walked off, leaving Arti behind.

I could tell he was giving me a questioning look as I walked away, but I didn’t really care at that point. I walked past the guys and girls sitting in the hallway and went into the dance room. Fatima was done for the moment so a few of the dancers had the radio on again. ‘Candy’ by Mandy Moore was blaring from the speakers as Red, Dee, BoBo, Damian, Howie, Meg, and AJ danced to the music in the middle of the floor. Pres was sitting down leaning up against one of the walls by himself so I walked over to him and sat down.

"Hey," I said as he looked at me for a split second before he turned his eyes back to the group of dancing people in the middle.

"Hi," he replied as he watched Howie and Meg goofing off as usual.

"How come you’re not dancing with ‘em?" I asked.

He looked at me again, but this time he gave me a little smile.

"I’m waitin’ for a call," he replied as he held up his cell phone.

"Oh...I see," I replied as I stood back up. "Well, I won’t bother you anymore then."

I waved at him a little before I walked to the other side of the room. Someone’s bag was sitting against the wall so I sat down by and laid down so my head was sitting on it. It was rather comfortable, being that it was probably filled with clothes, so I closed my eyes and listened to the music that came from the stereo.

Meg walked over to me after a few minutes and crouched down to talk to me. I opened my eyes and saw her beside me so I gave her a smile.

"Did you get some food?" she asked with a smile.

I shook my head. I’d had a few grapes, but that was hardly enough for a meal.

"I’m going to get you something," she said as she stood up. "Be right back."

I closed my eyes after she walked away. It was a few more minutes before she came back with a plate that had a turkey sandwich, some baby carrots with ranch dip, a few bunches of broccoli, and half an apple that was cut into slices on it. She set the plate down next to me and then shook my arm a little to let me know she was back.

"Eat up," she told me before she went back to the crazy people in the middle of the room to find Curly.

I sat up and picked up a carrot and munched on it for a few seconds before I noticed that I was being watched. When I looked up and locked eyes with AJ, I picked up the plate and turned around to face the wall. I never really like people to watch me while I ate and it was no different when it came to him. I’m fine when we’re both eating at the same time, but when someone just sits and stares at me while I’m eating I can’t stand it. I ate most of the sandwich and munched on the broccoli as I listened to people laughing every once in a while. Arti and Kev had now joined in on the fun. By the time I was done eating, I had finished most of the food on the plate so I set it aside and laid back down on my side. I must’ve fallen asleep ‘cause the next time I opened my eyes, the room was a lot quieter than it was before and instead of music, I could hear people talking in hushed voices.

"You’re awake," AJ said when I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "Guess you weren’t kidding when you said you were tired."

I didn’t say anything. I looked into his face from where he was sitting next to me on the floor. He had a small smile on his face, but I could see the concern in his eyes.

"You slept through our rehearsal...with the music blaring and all," he explained a little further.

I rubbed my forehead a little as I sat up and let my eyes adjust to the light of the room. I gave him a smile as I sat there still waking up. I felt better now that I at least got a little bit of sleep, even if it was only an hour long.

"Did Nick tell you about what happened last night?" I asked AJ with a straight face.

He nodded slowly as he looked me in the eyes.

"What happens in the dreams?" he asked in a soft voice.

"I don’t think you want to know," I replied with a small sigh. "One of these days I’ll tell you, but now is not the time."

"Ok."

I felt horrible at how I’d talked to him earlier so I decided to make it better.

"I’m sorry for being kinda grouchy earlier," I said as I reached out and patted his hand a few times.

"No. I understand where you were coming from," he replied as he held my hand in his.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes until everyone started leaving. AJ helped me up and we walked out the door hand in hand.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Nick ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Aaron...be quiet," I loudly whispered to him from the driver’s seat of my truck.

We were driving back to my place and Liz was sleeping in the front seat. She seemed dead tired after last night and I didn’t blame her. ‘Man...she looks so cute when she’s sleeping’ I thought to myself as I stole a glance at her when we were at a red light. Mom had already gone home so I was driving AC and Liz home after rehearsals ended a little bit early. When we pulled into my driveway, I put the truck into park and then turned the engine off. Liz was still asleep so I got out and went around to her side and opened the door. I gently picked her up and carried her upstairs to her room. I laid her on the neatly made bed and covered her with a spare blanket before I walked out and shut the door behind me. ‘Poor girl. Hope she sleeps ok tonight’ I thought to myself before AC ran past me to his room, probably to play a video game.

Chapter 6 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 6 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Nick ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

I sat on the edge of the bed and watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful as she slept like a baby on the soft bed in her room. Her hair cascaded down on the pillow around her head and it was so cute how she pulled the edge of the blanket up to her chin to keep warm. I reached out and stroked her hair a few times as the sunlight from the window made it shine like gold. She had been sleeping ever since we got home and we let her sleep because we knew she needed it. Her head was slightly turned to face me and a small smile played at the corners of her mouth. I knew that I shouldn’t do anything, but the temptation was so strong that I couldn’t help it. When I leaned over and lightly kissed her, I felt my whole body tingling at the touch of her lips against mine. They were sweet from the lip-gloss she was wearing and when she kissed back a little in her sleep, I pulled away and looked at her for a few more seconds. I felt like I was in heaven.

"Nick," mom called out from downstairs.

She had sent me up here five minutes ago to wake Liz up for dinner, but I was so mesmerized by her that I totally forgot what I’d come up here to do. She looked absolutely perfect lying there in front of me.

"I wish you were mine," I said softly to her sleeping body. "If he ever hurts you again, I’ll be here to pick you up and carry you on."

She stirred a little and I smiled to myself as she rolled over so she was facing me. I let her lay there for a few seconds before I tried to wake her. When I placed my hand on her upper arm and rubbed it a little, she slowly opened her eyes and gave me a tired smile.

"It’s time to eat," I said quietly.

"Ok," she replied before she sat up and peeled the blanket off.

"Feeling better?" I asked as I stood up from the bed.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied in almost a whisper as she stood up too.

She followed me down the stairs and into the dining room where mom and AC were already sitting and waiting for us.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Liz ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Hi," I said in a quiet voice with a smile as I sat down at the table next to Jane.

"Sleep ok?" she asked with a warm smile from her seat at the end of the table.

"Yeah. I feel much better," I replied as she looked at me.

I did feel a lot better than before and I’m almost positive that I looked a lot better. I could feel the color on cheeks again so I knew I wasn’t as pale as earlier. The food tasted wonderful and we made light conversation while we ate. When we were done, Nick and I excused ourselves and went downstairs into the large entertainment room. I sat down on one of the couches while Nick went over and sat down at his drum set. I watched him play for almost 45 minutes until Jane hollered down for him to stop playing because she was talking on the phone.

"Fine,’ he replied with a sigh.

He stood up and sat down on the other end of the couch that I was sitting on. I couldn’t help but stare at all the awards and things that hung on the walls. It was almost surreal that I was even here...going to be touring with THE biggest act in pop history. I broke my gaze at the wall when Nick stood up and walked over to the grand piano that sat in the corner behind the couch. He started rummaging through some papers that were sitting on the closed lid of the piano.

"Whatcha lookin’ at?" I asked as I stood up and walked over to where he was.

"Just some music that we’re supposed to look through for the new album that we’ll be working on when the tour’s over," he replied as he picked up a piece of paper and looked at it more carefully.

"Oh. Mind if I?" I asked while I pointed to the pile of sheet music that he’d already looked through.

"Naw, go ahead," he said as he set the sheet from his hands on the pile that I was pointing to and picked up a new paper to look at.

I picked up the pile and sat down on the piano bench to look over the sheets. Occasionally I would come across a song that would catch my eye so I played a few of the notes on the keys to give myself a better sense of the music. After about the fourth song, I found one that I really liked. I set the pile of music on the piano, but kept the music to the song that interested me on the piano stand so I could play through a little of it. I hummed the melody as I played through as much of the accompaniment that I could. The music was occupying all of my concentration so I didn’t notice when Nick walked up behind me and began singing the words as I played the music. I instantly sang the words too, not really realizing that I was singing. When I started singing the melody, he sang a harmony part that made the song sound even more appealing. After I finished playing, I looked up and saw Jane standing at the bottom of the stairs listening to the music that was coming from our direction.

"That was beautiful," she said with a smile. "Sing it again for me."

She walked across the room and stood on our side of the couch as she leaned on the back of it.

"Hold on...just a second," she said before she walked over to the stereo system that was in the corner opposite of the piano.

She played with the stereo for a few seconds before she turned back around.

"Ok. Go ahead," she said with a smile.

I played the music and we both sang along just as we had done before, but this time it sounded a little bit better because it was our second time singing it through. She thanked us when we were done before she took a tape out of the stereo and walked towards the stairs.

"Jive is going to looooove this!" she said happily before she rounded the corner and climbed the stairs.

"Ok...whatever that was..." I said with an unsure voice.

"I think I know what she’s up to," Nick replied before he went back to the music that he was looking at.

"I think I’m going to go upstairs and find something to do," I said as I stood up and pushed the piano bench back into its original position.

"Ok," Nick replied, keeping his eyes on the music before him.

When I got up to the top of the stairs, I could hear Jane talking excitedly on the phone in the front sitting area. I could hear what she was saying as I passed the room and headed up to the top floor to see what AC was doing.

"Oh my...Julia, it was perfect! You’ve got to hear this," Jane exclaimed into the phone. "You’ve got to sign this girl before someone else does!"

I laughed at her enthusiasm as I climbed the stairs and passed my room while I walked down the hallway.

"Hey blondie," I said to AC from his doorway. "Whatcha doin?"

"Workin’ on my N64 skills so I can beat Nilo," he replied with a huge grin. "Wanna play?"

"Sure!"

I joined him in his MarioKart game after he started it over. We had fun playing until it was time to go to bed.

"Good night," I said to AC when I stopped at the door and turned to face him.

"Night Liz," he replied with a smile before he stood up to get his pajamas.

I shut the door behind me as I walked out into the hallway. Just as I started walking towards my room, Nick came up the stairs and smiled happily at me before he disappeared into his room. ‘Wonder why everyone’s so happy all of a sudden?’ I wondered as I walked into my room and shut the door behind me. I changed into my pajamas and hopped into bed, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

Chapter 7 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 7 * * *

"What a girl wants, what girl needs...Whatever makes me happy sets you free," I sang loud and obnoxiously as we walked down the hall towards the dance room.

I was in a VERY good mood today and I was determined that nothing would change that. Everyone that we had passed in the hall so far was all smiles, so I figured they were in good moods too.

"Hey Els," BoBo and Red called out at the same time.

"Jinx on you both!" Gilli exclaimed with a sly smile.

I laughed a little as I passed them. They were sitting on the floor so I playfully patted all three of them on the head before I walked to the dance room door. Nick was walking in front of me and when he opened the door and turned a little to look at me, he rolled his eyes and walked into the room.

"And I’m thanking you for knowing exactly what a girl wants, what a girls needs...whatever keeps me in your arms. And I’m thanking you for giving it to me," I continued singing as I made my way into the middle of the room and did a little CA dance move.

I laughed a little when Meg started singing too. She got up and started dancing with me in the middle of the room. Pretty soon all the girl dancers joined in on the fun. Nick walked out into the hall with an annoyed look on his face.

"There was a time I was blind, I was so confused. I ran away just to hide it all from you, but baby you knew me better than I knew myself. You say if you love something let it go. If it comes back it’s yours, that’s how you know it’s for keeps...yeah it’s for sure."

"And you’re ready and willing to give me more than what a girl wants, what a girl needs," Meg sang.

Curly stood up from where he was sitting and started dancing with Meg. Arti walked in and laughed when she saw and heard what was going on. I waved her to come join us so she did. Kev followed her and danced too.

"What a girl wants, what a girl needs...somebody sensitive, crazy, SEXY, cool like you," I sang loudly while pointing at AJ who had just walked in the door.

He gave me a sly grin and walked over to where I was dancing and singing.

"You let a girl know how much you care about her I swear you’re the one who always knew, ya know," I sang to him when he stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

By the time we were done singing the song, everyone was dancing and joking around except one person.

"NO MORE CHRISTINA WHATEVER-HER-NAME-IS...PLEASE..." Nick screamed as he walked in the door.

Everyone turned to look at him and gave him weird looks. He knew that I was the one that started it so he threw me a ‘crusty’. I couldn’t help but giggle at how funny his face looks when he ‘tries’ to give people ‘crusties’...frankly, he’s NOT very good at it! I looked back at him with my eyebrows raised and a challenging smile on my face.

"Don’t even think..." he started to say before Meg cut him off.

"I feel like I’ve been locked up tight for a century of lonely nights, waiting for someone to release me," she sang loudly and laughed when everyone joined her.

"About it," Nick finished while everyone sang.

Even AJ, Kev, Bri, Curly, and all the other male dancers were singing along which made it even more funny. Jane walked in with a Polaroid camera and started taking pictures of everyone being silly. AJ and I made faces at the camera and laughed when she took the picture. She handed me the film before she took off in the other direction. I waved the picture in the air as if it would help the picture develop faster while everyone was having a blast. Nick was sitting by himself leaning up against the wall on the floor with his head in his hands. He looked absolutely miserable and I felt bad so I told AJ to keep dancing while I went to talk to Nick.

"I’ll be right here when you get back," AJ said with a smile before he let me go.

"Ok. I’ll be back."

I walked over to Nick and when we didn’t look up when I called his name, I got a little worried. I crouched down to look at him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You ok?" I asked.

He lifted his head and gave me a weak smile.

"Come on...let’s talk," I said as I took his hand and helped him up.

I led him out into the hall and down to the lounge at the end of the hall. He followed me in and took a seat in one of the plush leather chairs.

"So, what’s up?" I asked.

I hoped that he’d tell me what was wrong, but I wasn’t so sure he would. I mean, I was only a friend...he’d probably rather talk to Bri ‘cause he’s his best friend.

"Just don’t like her music," he answered with a slight shrug as he stared at the ground.

‘Ok...so he won’t tell me...at least I tried’ I thought to myself as I looked at him.

"Well, we’re supposed to be starting in a few so let’s go back," I said as I stood up.

He followed me back to the dance room and he sat with the other dancers while the opening acts ran through their dances with the vocals.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"What’re ya going shopping for?" I asked my mom as we walked down the hall towards the dance room.

Liz and Meg were practicing their songs with the mics and dancers one last time before we headed to the arena the next day that we rented so they could practice a little on an actual stage.

"Girl stuff," she replied with a smile as we walked up to the door and stopped for a second.

"Do you think she’ll be ok on tour?" I asked honestly as I pointed to Liz through the glass window of the door.

"She’ll be fine! Don’t worry so much," she replied as she gave me a hug.

"Thanks mom."

"That’s what I’m here for," she joked before she pulled the door open and walked in.

Liz and Meg were singing one of their up-tempo songs as the dancers danced around them in the steps that Fatima had choreographed for them. They were having so much fun that I just knew they’d love it when they got to perform in front of a ‘real’ audience. I leaned against the wall right inside the door and watched them doing their routine. It was virtually flawless and they did it all with tons of energy. I couldn’t help but remember what she looked like when I picked her up the other night for dinner. The dress fit her body perfectly and her hair was only pulled back into a barrette, but it still looked very elegant. When I first saw her at the top of the stairs, my breath got caught in my throat and I forgot to breathe for a few seconds. Mmm, she looked good! But then again, she always does.

"Hey," Liz said in a low voice that brought me out of my little trance.

She leaned up against the wall beside me and turned her head to give me a smile.

"What’s up?" she asked.

"Not much...thinkin’," I replied with a sly smile.

"’Bout me?" she asked excitedly.

"Maybe."

"Goof," she said with a laugh as she tickled my stomach a little.

I place my hand over hers when she rested it on my tummy for a few seconds. She looked up at me and gave me a warm smile so I gave her one in return. Mom walked up a few minutes later with a content look on her face.

"Hi mom," I said when she stopped in front of us.

"Hi," she replied happily. "Sorry to bother you, but I’m taking her away from you for a few hours."

She grabbed Liz’s free hand and playfully took a few steps back.

"Come on hun...Arti’s waiting," she said to Liz with a sly smile.

Liz gave me an apologetic smile before she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"See ya later," I called out to the two most important women in my life as they made their way to the door.

They both turned back a little and waved at the same time. Liz giggled at how they did it simultaneously and at that moment I knew that they would love being in each other’s company. Just knowing that her and my mom were getting along so well soothed the lonely feeling that I felt when I watched them walk away.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Arti ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"This is going to be such a blast!" I exclaimed when I saw Denise and Liz walking my way.

I gave Kev a warm hug before I rushed up to where the two ladies were walking. Liz gave me a friendly hug before we continued walking down the hall to the door. The ride to the local mall was full of interesting stories about the guys and a joke or two every so often.

"You and my mom would get along perfectly," Liz said happily after Denise told us a few embarrassing stories about AJ. "I think it’s one of her hobbies to embarrass at least one of us when she’s talking to someone new."

"That’s what the mother’s job is!" Denise replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Aaaaahhh! Whatever!" I exclaimed as I lightly hit Denise in the arm. "Admit it...you LOVE to embarrass the boy."

"Well, ok. I’ll only admit it to you girls...but you can’t tell anyone," she teased back.

Liz burst out into a fit of laughter that made us laugh too.

"So, how many people are in your family?" Denise asked out of the blue as we drove into the mall parking lot.

"Who...me?" Liz asked.

"Yeah you."

"A lot!" she replied with a laugh before she took a big breath. "Naw, I have three sisters, two brothers, one brother-in-law, two parents, one niece, one nephew, about 11 aunts and uncles not counting their spouses, and an endless number of cousins."

"Wow...big family," Denise said in reply.

"You’re telling me..." Liz said as she playfully rolled her eyes. "I have cousins that I’ve never met before...come to think of it, I have aunts and uncles that I’ve never met before either."

We hopped out of the car and excitedly headed for the nearest shop once we got inside. It was a rather hip clothing store. I nudged Liz in the side as Denise walked in behind us.

"We’ve got to find a cute outfit for her," I whispered as I nodded my head in Denise’s direction.

"Sounds like a plan, Stan," Liz replied with a knowing smile.

We walked around the store for a few minutes looking at racks of clothes. Liz picked out a navy blue leather sleeveless shirt that she wanted me to try on so I set out to find something for her to try on.

"Yes! Found it!" I said happily when I found a pair of leather pants for her to try on that matched the shirt she had picked out for me.

"Eeeewww! I like those!" Liz exclaimed after she walked up behind me and saw what I chose for her to take to the dressing rooms. "Now we just need something for Denise."

We both continued looking through the racks of clothes, but didn’t find much of anything that we thought she’d like. We continued on to the back of the store where they had backpacks and accessories decoratively adorning the walls and displays.

"Think she’d use this?" Liz asked as she picked up a navy blue bag that looked like a mix between a computer bag and something a teenager would carry books to school in.

"I like it! Do you?" I replied with a smile.

"Yeah. Very chic, yet classy," she replied with a satisfied look.

We walked to the middle of the store where Denise was looking through a rack of T-shirts. She looked up and smiled when she noticed that we were standing next to her.

"We’re going to try these on...they match!" Liz explained enthusiastically. "And we picked this out for ya so you would match us to!"

She handed the bag to Denise who smiled in return.

"You like?" I asked.

"Yeah, it’s nice," she replied with a smile.

"Good!" I said before she followed us to the dressing rooms.

Liz took the pants from my hands and I grabbed the sleeveless shirt from hers. We went into stalls that were side by side and when we were done changing, we walked out at the same time to model for Denise.

"I’m soooo good!" Liz exclaimed when she saw the shirt on me. "You look so cute!"

"And you don’t look so bad yourself Miss Foxy Lady," I replied as I gave her a sly smile.

She twirled around and stopped with a grin on her face.

"I’m going to get ‘em!" she exclaimed. "We should all get them...that way we can always remember this little ‘shopping spree’!"

"I’m with you," I said with a happy smile.

"Sounds fun," Denise finalized the deal.

Liz picked out a navy blue long sleeved leather shirt for Meg. We changed back into our normal clothes, paid for our selections, and went on to the next store. Just as we walked in the entrance of the accessories store, a cell phone went off. I chuckled at the site of Liz and Denise both reaching for their phones. I didn’t budge because I knew full well that it wasn’t mine.

"Mine!" Liz exclaimed as she pulled her purple phone from her backpack that she brought along. "Hello?"

She followed us towards the back of the store to where the hats and hair stuff was.

"Yeah...we’re shopping! Come on! You of all people should know that when it comes to women and shopping, there is to be NO rushing...that means no time limit whatsoever!!!" she said into the phone with a laugh.

I decided to tease AJ a little so I walked up next to Liz and gave her a sly smile before I said anything.

"Hey Liz...don’t ya think AJ’ll like this hat?" I said loud enough so that he could hear through the phone. "Maybe not...I can’t get something for someone that won’t leave us alone during our ‘girl’s only’ time..."

Liz slapped me five and then laughed at AJ’s reaction. I didn’t really have a hat and I wasn’t really going to get him anything.

"HEY! I heard that!" he said loudly.

I grabbed the phone from Liz’s hand.

"I know you heard it...so what’s up? What’d ya need?" I asked him.

"Nothin...just wanted to talk to my girl," he said.

‘How sweet!’ I thought to myself as I looked at Liz. She was looking at some earring studs that were her birthstones...purple alexandrite for the month of June.

"Eeeeewww! Are ya gonna get those?" I asked her excitedly.

"Get what?" AJ asked.

"I’m thinkin’ ‘bout it," she replied with a smile. "It’s about time for a few more holes."

She lifted her hair and pointed to her ear lobes. She already had one hole in each ear so I gave her the thumbs up before I turned my attention back to AJ. He was having a fit about what he’d just heard her say.

"Time for a few more HOLES?!? What’s she talking about...a few more holes?" he asked in a worried voice.

I laughed a little before I tried to explain to him what she meant without telling him exactly what it was she was talking about.

"Oh geez! Settle down! You’ve got more holes in one side than she does in both!!" I said with a little laugh.

I don’t think he understood what I’d said so I handed Liz her phone back.

"That boy’s a lunatic..." I told her before I went over to see what Denise was looking at.

"I know," she replied before she held the phone up to her ear.

She finished talking to him and then hung up her phone. I gave her a smile as she took the studs off the hook on the wall and walked up to the counter.

"I’d like to pay for these and have them put in my ears," she told the girl behind the counter.

She paid for them and Denise and I watched as the clerk put them in the stud-gun to ‘shoot’ her ears. Liz merely winced after they were in before she thanked the clerk and went about asking us if we were going to get anything. When we were done, we stopped in a few more shops (like Bath and Body for lotion and good smellin’ stuff) before we decided to head back. Everyone who was staying in one of the busses for the night had brought their stuff to the studio and everyone who wasn’t simply went home. Meg, Liz, and I would be joining in on the girl’s party on the dancer’s bus for the night. On our way back, we stopped at a corner store and stocked up on lots of ‘slumber party’ goodies to share with everyone.

"Tonight’s gonna be a blast!" Liz said right as we pulled into the parking lot at the studio.

"Yeah...yeah it is!" I agreed with a smile.

Chapter 8 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 8 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Meg ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"AAAaaaaaAAaaaahhhhhh!!!! I LOVE this movie!!!" I exclaimed when the beginning credits played.

I knew that Liz had picked this movie to watch and I was totally LOVING it! Mike Meyers appeared on the screen and everyone burst out laughing.

"This is your favorite movie?!?" Chaun asked as she braided Liz’s hair.

"OMG...you don’t even know!" Liz exclaimed. "If she got dumped by Curly, she’d probably go hook up with Austin..."

Everyone burst out laughing at Liz’s comment.

"You know me all too well," I replied with a sly smile from where I was sitting on the couch.

Red, Chaun, Gilli, and I were all squished onto the comfy couch that faced the TV in the entertainment room of the large tour bus that the female dancers would be calling home for the next three months. Liz was sitting in front of Chaun so she could braid Liz’s hair during the movie (she was already about half done). Cher, Arti, and Dee were all spread out on the floor and everywhere else that wasn’t already occupied. Popcorn, chips, licorice, chocolates, crackers, and skittles were being passed around as we had been watching movies for the last three or fours hours. Who knows what the guys were doing...and who cared?!? This was a total girl’s slumber party and nothing was going to ruin it for us.

"Careful...my ears are still a little tender," Liz told Chaun when she started braiding the hair by her ear.

"Ok," Chaun replied. "By the way, those are some WAY cute studs."

"Thanks," Liz said with a smile. "They’re my birthstones...alexandrite for June."

"I wish mine looked like that...my birthstone is orange..." Dee exclaimed.

I giggled at her outburst. We were all getting to know each other pretty well and I could already tell that this was going to be the best three months that I’d ever have for a long time to come. It seems as though Liz, Arti, and I instantly bonded with the female ‘Backstreet’ dancers. They were a very sweet bunch of girls! The male dancers even seemed to enjoy having us around, which was also very comforting to know because we weren’t exactly sure how they’d all react to us at first.

"I’m not even tired yet!" Red said enthusiastically when the movie was over. "How ‘bout we go TPin' or somethin..."

I smiled mischievously at her suggestion.

"Or...how ‘bout we get some of the food from the fridge and create a culinary masterpiece out of the Boy’s bus..." I said with a sly smile.

"EeeeewwWW!! Let’s!" Liz exclaimed with the same sly look in her eyes.

We all jumped up and ran towards the front of the bus to see what sorts of ‘goodies’ Jane had bought for us. She was the one who had gone shopping and stocked all the busses with the proper food that we needed for the first few days. Cher squealed in delight when she pulled bottles of ketchup and mustard out, handed Dee the mustard, and then moved so someone else could find a ‘treasure’ to decorate with.

"We are soooo naughty!" Arti said with an insidious look in her eye.

"That’s what makes it fun!!!!" Gilli replied with a smile as she pulled a fresh bottle of Mayo out of the fridge door.

"Ooooooo this stuff is going to be a real wronch to get off tomorrow!" Liz said as she eyed everyone’s ‘weapons’ before she leaned over to find something in the fridge.

Red grabbed the new bottle of strawberry jam from the bottom shelf and then moved towards the bus door. Arti grabbed a few of the bananas that were sitting in a bowl on the table along with a bag of Oreo’s and followed Red. Chaun grabbed the bottle of maple syrup that we WERE going to use for pancakes in the morning. Liz took the single yuckiest thing that could’ve been used, the bottle of tartar sauce that someone had requested to go with their fish.

"I hate fish anyway," she said as she pulled the bottle out and gave me a sly smile with a shrug.

I picked up the loaf of bread that was on the table and waited while the other girls filed out of the bus. I grabbed the key from the hook that was inside the door and locked the massive bus behind us. After I shoved the key into my pocket, I joined the group of girls that were surrounded one of the luggage compartments of the bus. They put the food in the compartment. They told me that we were going to go get some more ‘supplies’ from the 7/11 at the corner so we quickly walked to the small store and bought a few boxes of pudding, a can of Cheez-Whiz, a bag of large Marshmallows, Ritz crackers, a small bottle of vegetable oil, a container of molasses, a few pre-packaged tubes of cake icing in some girlie colors, a handful of individually wrapped fruit roll-ups that were in a few bright colors, a jar of crunchy peanut butter, a container of six eggs, and a dozen (two count) packages of pink SnowBalls.

When we were done getting everything ready at our bus, we made our way past the band bus, the male dancer bus, the security personnel’s bus, the crew bus, the 2 opening acts busses, and there at the front of the line was THE bus that we were looking for. We weren’t really sure if they guys were in it, but who cared? As long as they didn’t come out while we were having our fun, it didn’t matter whether they were in there or not.

"Hold up girls," Red loudly whispered.

Everyone stopped in-between the Boys’ and AC’s bus. The shades were pulled shut in the front of AC’s bus, so nobody cared about being seen by him. No one spoke as we all huddled there in the small space between the two massive vehicles.

"Ok...here’s what’s going to happen. We have to make this fast and we HAVE to make it good! Dee, you work on getting the pudding in the balloons and set them right inside the door if it’s open. Gilli! You make huge Mayo circles on the front windows for eyes. Meg’ll give you a piece of bread to put in the middle of the circles to complete the eye look," Red explained her plan.

She shooed us off before she told the rest of them what to do. She then sent Cher to go work with Dee to make a mouth...yellow mustard teeth with red ketchup ‘blood’ dripping from the evil smile. Arti was putting the bananas on the top front corners of the bus so they stuck up in the air like devil horns. I just about died laughing when I watched Gilli open the jar of Mayo and spoon out a glob into her bare hand. She smeared it onto the window into two large circles and when she was done, I handed her two slices of bread, as planned. Chaun was busy putting maple syrup on the mirrors. Liz was smearing tartar sauce all over the place, minus the back of the bus. When she was done with that, she opened the bottle of oil and smeared it all over the handle, making sure that Dee had already put the balloons inside. Red wiped jam all over the bare spots where Liz had missed with the tarter sauce, leaving the back of the bus clean. I put crunchy peanut butter on the tires. Everyone started biting marshmallows in half, licking them, and them sticking them to the sides of the bus that was now almost totally covered with food. Liz and I broke open the cheese and Ritz crackers and began squirting cheese on each cracker before we stuck them all over the sides. Gilli, Arti, and Red worked on taking Oreo’s apart and sticking them everywhere. Chaun unrolled the fruit roll-ups and stuck them on the lights so that when they were turned on, they cast colorful shadows. The front of the bus looked like a devil’s face with the bananas sticking up and the sides looked like total messes. When we were done with the sides and front, we all met in back of the bus and watched as Red started to write out a saying followed by ‘our’ symbol.

We may be pensive, but we’re not as innocent as we look!

You’ve just been bombed by

10 ~ SheDevils

The 0 of the 10 was one of the pink SnowBalls with a little squiggly symbol inside of it that Red had put there that looked like a rose bud. We had all come up with the name ‘SheDevils’ and boy did it fit! When we were satisfied with our job, we hurried back to our own bus. I unlocked the door and we all started laughing hysterically once the door was safely shut behind us. We talked and laughed at what we had just done and we all made a pact that when we wrote notes, memos, or letters to each other, we’d sign them with our SheDevil names. Mine was MSD for Meg SheDevil. Then we discussed what our next strategic ‘war’ tactics would be before we all went to sleep.

When we finally decided to roll out of bed the next morning, we got dressed before heading to the building for our catered breakfast before we left for the rented arena. We all fought to keep straight faces as we joined the crowd that consisted of crewmembers, security, Jane and Denise, AC, and the male dancers as they all marveled at the sight of the Boy’s bus.

"Woah! What happened?" I asked Pickles after I walked up next to him, followed by the other girls.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Yo fellas! Let’s go!" I shouted from where I was standing next to the table in the front of the bus waiting for them to follow.

Bri walked out of the bunk area first and was soon followed by Howie. Kev strolled out a few seconds later so all we were waiting on was Nick.

"NICK!" we all yelled simultaneously.

He stumbled out looking like he’d just woken up, but he instantly perked up when he heard the song on the radio. ‘Locomotion’ was playing on the local oldies station so he turned it way up and began doing the ‘train’ dance as he passed us. He beckoned us to join him so we did, even if we did look like complete idiots. Nick began to walk down the stairs to go out the doors when he stepped on something. We heard a pop, but we all continued to follow him anyway, not noticing that he had stopped.

"Aaaaaaahhh!!! STOP!" he screamed as he grabbed onto the railing.

We didn’t hear him until it was too late. Bri ran into Kev who ran into Howie. Howie fell on me and I in turn landed right on top of Nick. We heard a few more pops, the door flew open and we all tumbled to the ground, covered in some brown goopy stuff.

"What the heck?!?" Nick said with a moan as we all tried to get up.

Everyone in the observing crowd burst out laughing at how silly we looked. I’m sure that sight wasn’t nearly as funny as what our faces looked like when we saw the condition of our bus.

"Hey guys...come look at this," Damian called from where he was standing in front of the bus.

We slowly walked up to where he was standing with the crowd following close behind us. When we saw the front, our mouths dropped open and the crowd began laughing again. A few of the people wandered off towards the building to eat breakfast, but Kev, Bri, Nick, D, and I walked around our bus and surveyed the ‘damage’ so to speak. When we stopped in the back, Kev read the message aloud.

"We may be pensive, but we’re not as innocent as we look! You’ve just been bombed? Pensive?" Kev said out loud.

"What’s pensive?" Nick asked as he admired the handy work of whoever had done this. "Shedevils...Is that a word?"

"I dunno...but whoever did this is going down!" Bri said with a sly face. "We’re going to find them out and get them back ten times over."

"And then ten times over that," I added with a smug laugh.

We carefully went back inside the bus and changed. Then we set out on the tedious task of washing the bus off. It took us three hours to get it clean again and by the time we were done, everyone was patiently waiting for us so we could leave for the arena to practice. Liz walked up to me as I was picking up a garbage bag full of slimy food and junk that we’d taken off the bus so I gave her a tired smile. She was wearing a pair of well-worn jeans and an old faded T-shirt, but she still looked nice. I laughed when I saw the dark pair of purple slipper socks that adorned her feet.

"You going to practice in that?" I asked sarcastically as she walked with me to the dumpster.

"No...I’m going to change when we get there," she said with a cute little smile. "I slept in the dancer’s bus and I didn’t bring anything to change into."

She stood there as I threw the bag in and I could feel her eyes watching my every move. When I had gotten ready before, I was wearing a white sleeveless shirt with baggy jeans, but that didn’t last long. My white shirt was now covered with brown ‘stuff’ and my pants were dirty from landing on the ground. Now I was wearing a gray wifebeater tank with a pair of dark jeans and black shoes along with my all time favorite sunglasses.

"Want something to eat since you didn’t get anything for breakfast?" she asked as we walked back towards the busses.

"Like what?"

"I dunno...what’dya have a hankering for?" she asked with a smile.

I didn’t want to tell her, but I wasn’t exactly that hungry after cleaning up all the disgusting food from the outside of our bus.

"How bout a muffin or somethin’," I suggested.

"Ok. I’ll be right back," she replied before she walked off towards the door to the building.

She was gone for a few minutes before she came back with a packaged muffin in hand. She handed it to me with a smile.

"Thanks," I told her as I took her hand in mine.

"LIZ! Come on...we’re leaving in like two minutes," Meg called to her from where she was standing outside their bus.

"I’ll be there in a sec!" she hollered back before she turned back to face me. "I’ve gotta go."

"I know," I said as I gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I’ll see ya in a few minutes when we get there."

"Ok," she replied before she pulled away and walked back towards their bus.

I watched her open the door and step into the massive vehicle before the door shut again. When I saw her figure retreating back into the bus through the windshield, I turned back to the door of our bus that Nick had so appropriately named ‘Big Willy’ (solely inspired by the blue’n’gray metal on the outside...or so he said). When I got to my bunk, I pulled the curtain open, tossed the muffin in, and continued walking to the back of the bus. I sat down with Howie on the couch and watched some stupid show on the TV until we finally pulled into the arena parking lot about twenty five minutes later. I hopped up and ran to the door before Jeff, our driver, even had the bus stopped. Anxious to see my girl again after twenty measly minutes? Nah! I jumped out of the bus and walked down to where M.E.’s (Meggie and Ellz) bus was pulling to a stop. The door opened and I stood there waiting for a few minutes and when they didn’t come out still, I stepped up onto the first step.

"D’ya think they’d mind if I came in?" I asked Harry, their driver.

"Naw...go ahead," he replied as he motioned for me to go back.

"Thanks man."

I patted him on the shoulder after I walked up the steps and walked up to the closed door that led to the bunks. I knocked on the door when I heard shuffling and some sort of packaging crinkling from behind the door. I could hear their voices, but I couldn’t exactly hear what they were saying.

"Uh...hang on..." Meg called through the closed door.

"We’ll be a few minutes...you might want to wait outside," Liz added.

Ok...that was strange...they just basically told me to wait outside. Wonder what could be going on. Maybe they were just doing girl stuff...who knows. I went back outside and turned around so my back was facing the bus while I talked to Nick.

"Do you have any ideas of who did that to our bus last night?" I asked.

"Naw...I don’t think it was the girls...maybe it was BoBo and Pickles. I don’t know though..." he replied. "Whoever did it is going to regret it though."

"Straight up! They’ll be sorry," I said with a laugh.

Nick laughed with me for a few seconds before he became silent. His eyes were looking at something over my shoulder so I instinctively turned to see what it was he was staring at. Arti had just walked off the bus wearing a navy blue leather sleeveless shirt with khaki shorts and sandals...doubt he’s looking at her...she’s Kev’s. Liz was walking down the steps of the bus wearing a pair of hip-hugging navy blue leather pants with a white sleeveless shirt and a pair of black Doc Martin boots to match. She looked absolutely yummy and I couldn’t take my eyes off her...apparently neither could Nick.

"Hey guys!" she said with a sideways smile as she walked up to us. "Come on...the stage calls."

‘Oh goll...How am I supposed to keep my hands off now?’ I asked myself as she grabbed my hand and led me towards the stage where the crew was setting up a few mics so that Meg and Liz could get the feel of the whole performing thing even if there wasn’t a ‘real’ audience.

"I love the outfit!" I whispered into her ear when we stopped in a small private corner backstage. "Very stylish..."

‘And sexy’ I thought as I pulled her closer to me. She loosely put her arms on my sides and looked up at me.

"Arti picked them out...but of course I had to get them ‘cause I know how much you like leather," she teased with a flirtatious smile.

I couldn’t help myself from stealing a kiss from this amazing girl standing in front of me. My lips lingered on hers for a few seconds before she started to respond, as if trying to record it in her mind. She kissed back even if the kiss was a little unexpected. She broke away after a few more seconds and gave me a smile that melted my insides on the spot. She leaned in and gave me a small kiss again before she took a step back.

"I’ve got to go practice...I’ll come find you afterwards," she said as I held her hand in mine.

"Ok," I told her before she walked away towards the stage.

Chapter 9 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 9 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Nick ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The sound of Meg’s voice rang out over the sound system in the huge arena as I sat there about fifty rows up in the chairs of the stands. The football field was still covered in grass without chairs, so I wandered around and found a seat in the stands on the opposite end of the stadium. I knew that they didn’t know I was watching, though I doubt they cared at all. A bunch of the crew people were gathered on the lawn in front of the stage relaxing and watching the girls having fun singing and dancing with Gilli, Cher, BoBo, and Pickles.

"Keep it crisp! Do it again," Fatima yelled from where she was standing at the fifty yard line watching them do their songs.

"Yes Drill Sergeant Ma’am!" Meg replied playfully into the mic as the music was rewound and started over.

They did again, making it flawless and at the end when they threw their hands up in the air on the last beat, pyrotechnics went off and fireworks shot into the sky. That was the signal that their act was over. Everyone that had gathered on the field clapped and hollered their approval and I watched as Meg and Liz did silly bows and then made a few funny comments into the mics. Their back-up singers left to get some drinks while Meg sat down at the edge of the stage so her feet dangled off the side and I watched with intrigue as Liz walked to the back of the stage and walked out one of the doors. ‘Wonder where she’s going...’ I thought to myself as my attention turned back to AJ and D walking over to Meg on the stage. AJ took the mic that Liz had given Meg and started singing weird little songs with Meg joining in with him every so often. Meg made a comment to D about getting to swim with the dolphins a week ago and that led AJ to start singing a song from ‘The Little Mermaid’ in a funny Jamaican accent like the crab did when he sang it in the movie.

"He’s always gotta be the center of attention..." I said to myself with a sigh.

"Does that bother you?"

I turned around a little and saw Liz walking down the steps towards me. She gave me a warm smile that matched the soft voice that she spoke with.

"Uh...no..." I said as I turned back to look at the stage, not knowing how to respond.

She piled her hair up on top of her head in a bun, wrapping the ends tightly under the rest hoping it would stay, and then walked down the row where I was sitting and sat down in the seat next to me. She slumped in the chair and leaned her head back on the hard plastic with her eyes closed behind her dark purple tinted sunglasses. She looked drained, both physically and emotionally, from the rehearsal that lasted all afternoon. It was about four times longer than their act really was, so it was understandable that she would be tired afterwards. Her cheeks were a little pink, along with her shoulders and arms.

"Tired?"

"Yeah...I feel like I could fall asleep right here even if these chairs are the most uncomfortable things on earth," she replied with a half-hearted smile as she put her feet on the chair in front of her.

"You want me to get you something to drink?"

"That would be nice," she said as she turned her head to look at me.

"I’ll be right back," I told her as I stood up and walked away.

I didn’t have to go far when I got to the hallways of the large building before I found a pop machine, a vending machine, and a machine that sold bottled water. After I had a bottle of water in hand, I went back out the ramp to the stands. I saw her sitting in the same spot that I had left her, with her head back on the seat and her feet propped up onto the chair in front of her. She looked a little more relaxed and she seemed to be sitting there soaking in the sun.

"Here ya go," I said as I walked up to her and sat down in the chair next to hers.

She didn’t say anything and I got worried when she didn’t move either. I put my hand on her arm and gently nudged it, but she still didn’t move. ‘Crap!’ my mind screamed.

"Liz? Wake up...it’s not funny anymore...wake up. Liz...LIZ!" I started to panic a little. "LIZ!!!!!"

I picked her up and hurriedly ran up to the hallway as carefully as I could, knowing that someone had to have heard me yelling. Her hair came out of the bun and limply fell down around my arm that cradled her head. My other arm was underneath her knees as I carried her into the hallway and then set her down on the floor as gently as possible. Her head limply rolled to one side when I pulled my arm out from underneath it. I checked for a pulse and found it beating normally.

"Good...now wake up...Please!" I pleaded as I looked at her lifeless face.

I could hear people running down the hall towards where we were so I knew that they knew something wasn’t quite right. When she moved her head a little, I instantly became alert and kneeled over her to see if she was awake.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Liz ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

My body was really warm and I knew that I should have asked for a break from the rehearsing, but I didn’t nonetheless. I moved my head a little and then forced my eyes open. There, staring down at me with worried eyes, was Nick.

"I’m fine..." I told him before he could say anything.

He reached out and touched my arm.

"Ow!" I said with a moan at the touch of his skin to my burnt arm. "Look’s like the sun got me."

"Yeah...next time you should drink LOTS of water too," he replied.

I was kind of surprised at how red my arms were. They weren’t burnt that bad, but they were going to be a little sensitive for at least a couple of hours. My skin would be back to normal, a little tanner kind of normal, in a few days. I slowly sat up and when I heard people coming towards us down the hall, I quickly stood up.

"Oh...um...tell Arti and Meg that I...uh...went back to our bus..." I told Nick in a rush before I turned the other way and ran down the hall.

I knew that as soon as he told them that, they would know where to find me. I’d be waiting for them by the gates of the parking lot, ready to go. I ran all the way there and waited behind the trunk of a large tree in the shade. After about five minutes passed, they walked up, right on time.

"Oh geez...let’s get some lotion on that burn," Meg said as she squirted some cold white stuff onto my arms. "By the way, nice job! Nick was seriously about to have a heart attack when you ‘passed out’ back there."

"Yeah! I couldn’t have done it better myself," Arti said with an elusive face.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile as they smeared the gunk into my skin. "Ooooooo...that feels a LOT better already."

They both giggled. Our little plan had worked just exactly like I knew it would. We all looked up when we saw the cab pull up outside the gate.

"You ladies the ones that called for the cab?" the driver asked through the passenger window.

"Yes...thank you," Meg answered as we walked through the gate, propping it open with a rock so we could get back in.

Once we were all in the cab, we told the driver the address of one of Meg’s friends houses and off we were. Her friend worked at one of the local zoos and we were going to talk to her and make arrangements for our next ‘battle’ in the bus war. Even if it wasn’t going to be done for a few days, we still needed to talk to her and confirm that she could get us what we needed. When we pulled up to the small house, we jumped out, paid the cabbie, and headed for the door. Her friend welcomed us in and told us that she would definitely help out.

"What are you going to use it for?" she asked curiously.

"Oh...uh...we...uh...we’ll be playing a practical joke on...uh...a few of our...uh...friends," Meg tried to come up with an excuse without giving away too much information.

"Yeah," I chimed in.

"Ok. I’ll give your names to some of the people at the zoo and they’ll let you into the sheep stalls while they’re feeding," she replied with a confused look. "But you’ll have to tell me what it’s for."

"Ok. We’ll tell you later...and we’ll even send you some pictures," Meg bargained.

"Deal," her friend said with a smile.

We thanked her and left before everyone at the arena figured out that we weren’t there.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When I got to M. E.’s bus, I read the note that was posted on the door in Meg’s sloppy handwriting.

We’re in the Girl Dancer’s bus if you need anything.

Chapter 10 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 10 * * *

"Sssshhhhh!" I whispered loudly as Meg helped me carry the huge bag of sheep turds to the Boy’s bus.

We had finished rehearsals for the day about an hour and a half ago so we went to the zoo and got our little ‘donation’. Red and Dee were smearing maple syrup on the whole bus (including the tires) and then covered the tires with grass clippings. Gilli, Arti, and Cher were throwing handfuls of white down feathers on the sticky bus. We had each asked Jane for an extra pillow to ‘sleep with’ so we would have plenty of feathers for our 2nd attack. I started pulling sheep poop out of the large black garbage bag with my glove covered hands and put it in a large circle around the entire bus. When I was done, I joined Chaun, Dee, Meg, Red, and Gilli who were throwing feathers, some of the guys’ old stinky socks, and cotton balls everywhere. I took a bunch of the cotton balls and completely covered the back of the bus with them. Meg had been in their bus earlier that morning with Curly and on her way out, she took one of the keys to their bus so we’d be able to get in. Meg went in and took a pair of shoes from each guy and brought them out. She handed me one shoe of each pair and told me to put them in the luggage compartment. She took the others, put frosting on the bottom, and stuck them to the front windshield for all to see. Red handed me a tube of the cake icing and I spelled the note out on the door to the bus.

Other people see you as cute and keen,
but we know how you really are!
We’re Baaaaaaaad!
10 S.D.

I put little ‘baaaaas’ all around the note with the infamous pink coconut covered SnowBall with the rose bud as the 0. We all backed up so we were standing outside the poop circle and watched with sly smiles as Arti put a white beanie baby lamb on the row of poop in front of the door. Gilli took a few pictures of our masterpiece with us before we quickly took off to our own busses. I took a quick shower with TONZ of scented shower gel, knowing that I probably smelled like the sheep crap. When I stepped out of the small bathroom with my clothes already on and my hair wet, Jane and Denise were just coming onto the bus. I fought to keep a straight face when I heard them talking about the guy’s bus. I ran my fingers through my braided hair while I walked up to where they were sitting at the table in the front.

"Hi," I said as I turned towards the sink, still ‘combing’ my hair.

They greeted me with smiles as I put my brush down and filled a cup with water. I drank the water and set the cup in the sink before I walked back into the bunk section, making sure to leave the door open wide enough that I could still hear what they were talking about. Meg peeked out from behind the curtain of her bunk and I put my finger up to my lips to keep her quiet. She pointed to the door with a questioning look and I nodded. She got out of her bunk and stood next to me by the door.

"You know what? I saw some of those pink coconut things underneath one of the blankets in the empty bunk underneath Meg’s," Jane said to Denise.

Meg looked at me with wide worried eyes and I looked at her with the same expression. ‘Crap!’ I mouthed to her.

"You think those three could be in on it?" Denise asked.

"Who knows...but you have to admit, it was quite good!" Jane replied with a laugh.

"Yeah! Whoever it was certainly has my respect...pulling something like that off not once, but twice!" Denise said.

Meg swung the door open, walked out into the front, and stopped in front of the table.

"Look...we know who did it..." Meg said with a totally serious face. "I’ll tell you if you SWEAR not to tell."

Jane and Denise exchanged looks and then turned to give Meg a nod. I walked out and stood next to Meg.

"We are part of the SheDevils. The female dancers and the three of us have formed a sort of alliance so to speak," I told them when Meg didn’t know exactly how to tell them. "Since you both know about our little ‘secret society’, would you both like to join us in reeking havoc in the Backstreet world?"

I gave them a sly smile and waited for their answer. They gave each other looks and we could tell that they were debating whether or not to just by the looks they were giving each other. Denise won in the battle.

"We’d love to," Denise said with the same sly smile that I was giving them.

"Great!" Meg exclaimed. "Welcome to our little party world!"

We all laughed at Meg’s outburst and then went on to explain everything from the first bombing on the night of our estrogen-only slumber party to the pink SnowBalls that were hiding in one of the extra bunks.

"You guys are simply evil..." Denise said with an ambiguous smile on her face. "And we get to be part of it..."

I laughed with her for a few seconds before I excused myself from the ‘kitchen’ area to go back to my bunk. I crawled in and pulled out my leather bound journal.

Today we, the SheDevils of course, attacked the Backstreet bus once again. It was simply ingenious, from the sneakers right down the cute fleece lamb beanie baby. I heard AJ talking to Bri about who he thinks it is (the band), but man is he wrong! If only he knew that it was us...they’d have gotten us back already. Meg says that Curly’s getting suspicious though...that’s not good! We’ve now got Jane and Denise on our side and I’m going to go convince AC to join us...bribery always works when it comes to men...LOL! I can only imagine AJ’s face when he finds out that I’m in on this too...I just hope he finds it kind of funny rather than getting mad ‘cause that wouldn’t be good. Afterall, we only meant it to be a joke! A rather funny joke at that! :o) Well, the guys are supposed to be back in a little while so I guess I’ll go talk to Meg until they get back. Toodles for now!

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Oh no...they did it again..." I whined as I saw the condition that our bus was in. "Whoever is doing this is going to get it SOOOO bad!"

We had gotten back from the interview a few minutes early. We walked towards our bus and instantly were overwhelmed from the wronchy smell of the crap that was surrounding our bus.

"Aaaaaaawww man! They really got us this time," Bri said as he walked up and saw the circle of poop around our bus.

"Look at the cute wittle wamb," Nick said in a voice that sounding like he was talking to a baby as he picked up the beanie baby that was sitting on top of the crap.

Kev walked up with his nose plugged and Howie soon did the same. I walked over by the door and read the message aloud.

"Other people see you as cute and keen...true," I said with a little laugh before I continued. "But we know how you really are! We’re baaaaaaad!...that’s for sure..."

I shook my head at the sorry sight of how they had totally covered our bus with feathers, cotton balls, grass on the tires, our own socks, and even our own shoes on the windshield. ‘Wonder how long it took ‘em to think of that’ I wondered to myself as I reached up and pulled my shoe off the window.

"Whatdya suppose S.D. stands for?" I asked Kev when he walked up next to me and pulled his shoe off the window.

"I dunno," he answered before he made his way to the door and went inside.

I went inside and cleaned off the gunk from the bottom of my shoe before I went back outside and joined the other guys in cleaning off our bus yet again. My mind was thinking about what mom had ‘accidentally’ told me a few minutes before when she passed by our bus on the way to the building to make some phone calls. She laughed a little as she hinted to me that the girls had at least had a helping hand in creating the mess on our bus. I didn’t take her seriously, let alone believe her so I just shrugged it off. I already had my doubts about the guys in the band so I didn’t think anything of it. I picked up a couple of full garbage bags and headed for the dumpster to throw them away. Nick and Bri both had hoses and were squirting the bus to get the sticky stuff off, but they mostly ended up spraying each other more than the bus.

"AAAAaaaaaaHHHhhhhhhh!!!!! I’M GONNA GET YOU BLONDIE!!!!!" I heard Liz screaming from the direction of our bus.

Nick ran around the corner of the bus and after a few seconds, Liz ran after him.

"I didn’t mean to! I didn’t see you coming..." Nick hollered back as he ran to the guy dancer’s bus.

I laughed at the scene that was playing before me. Nick ran onto the bus and slammed the door shut behind him. Liz ran up to the bus dripping wet and pounded on the door while she yelled for him to come out. She gave up after a few minutes and when she saw me walking back towards our now clean bus, she came over to where I was. She met me by the back end of the bus.

"Can you believe him?" she asked with a disgusted face. "He got me ALL wet!"

"Yeah, you could say you’re wet," I answered with a chuckle as the water rolled off her braids and onto the black pavement. "But you still look good to me."

I pulled her into my arms in a tight hug. She obviously wasn’t ready for that, but after a few seconds, she softened up and wrapped her arms around me in return. She leaned her head against my shoulder and gave me a big bear hug before she pulled back again with her hands still sitting on my sides.

"You sure know how to brighten my day," she said with a smile.

"Likewise."

I gently took her hand in mine and we walked towards the building to wait for the huge mandatory ‘staff’ meeting that was supposed to be held in about ten minutes. The dance room was still pretty empty, minus a few of the dancers sitting along the wall, so we stood in one of the corners with our arms still wrapped around each other as we waited for everyone else to show up. Kev and Arti walked in hand-in-hand and came over by where we were standing. They both leaned against the wall so they were facing each other and continued their conversation. Meg and D were the next ones to come in, followed by Gilli, Damian, Fatima, and Jane. When the room started to fill up a little bit, Liz turned around so her back was against my chest so I wrapped my arms around her stomach and smiled when she rested her hands on mine. When everyone else was there, the meeting started with explanations of the schedule for the first few days. We’d be leaving the next morning and traveling to New York for a few TV appearances (Rosie O was the first followed by MTV) and then start with the first show at Madison Square Gardens. While we did our appearances, Meg and Liz would be working on a music vid for a song that Meg’s management had chosen for their next single. Their act is now known as M. E. because her manager insisted that Liz joined up in the ‘front line’ for the tour instead of just back-ups since she did sing on most of the songs that Meg had recorded. Even though Liz wasn’t signed with anyone (yet) she accepted the challenge when she decided to come on tour with us...and we are all happy she did! Next they told us that there had been a few dates that had been changed, but that was almost normal for at least a few of them to be modified. After that, they told us the usual ‘pep talk...this is going to be a great tour’ mumbo jumbo and then let us go back to whatever we were doing before. Liz told me that she was going to do some last minute shopping with the other ‘2/3 of the three’. She walked out the door with Meg and Arti so I took the opportunity to talk to mom and Jane. They had already left the room so I headed off towards their bus...they were in the same bus as the ‘three amigos’ as the fellas called them.

"Mom?" I called out as I opened the door to the bus and walked up the steps.

There wasn’t an answer so I walked through the kitchenette and headed for the bunks. They weren’t there either so I decided to try the back room...no such luck. As I was walking down the small aisle towards the front of the bus, something through the open curtain of Liz’s bunk caught my eye. I picked up the dark maroon suede covered book and opened it to the first page. It had her full name (Elizabeth Ann Holder) written neatly in the upper right-hand corner, but the rest of the page was blank. I turned the page to reveal lined pages that were covered in writing. ‘This must be her journal’ I thought to myself as I scanned over her handwriting, not really paying attention to any of the words. Her script changed when her mood was different and I was drawn to the way that telling about one of her days took up two pages, sometimes three. I flipped to the last few pages that she had written on and started reading. Ok, ok...I know it’s wrong to read her journal, but I was curious as to what goes on inside that pretty head of hers. I read quietly out loud to myself.

"Today was a REALLY great day! I finally got here early this morning and practically had a nervous breakdown on the cab ride over here from the airport. I was so nervous that things wouldn’t be quite right and that I’d just turn around and leave again, but things are more than wonderful! The look on AJ’s face was priceless when he turned around and saw me standing there in front of him. He looked so happy and content, maybe almost as happy as I was to be there..." I read with a smile at how she described that day.

I skipped the rest of that entry and turned the page. I scanned the page again until something interesting caught my eye. I began reading out loud to myself again.

"Today was fun, but the best part was the slumber party with all the ‘giols’. We gathered in the female dancer’s bus and watched movies, talked, and bonded, but most important of all, we all made a pact...this pact isn’t any ordinary pact though. We swore to always have each other’s backs in times of need or even in times of happiness. We also came up with our own little ‘Societal Name’ so to speak for our ‘group’. We call ourselves the ‘SheDevils’ and to finalize the deal between us, we all have S.D. names. Well, it’s really late so I guess I’ll go to sleep now!

Chapter 11 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 11 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

My eyes bolted open when I heard loud screaming and hysteric laughing coming from behind the closed door of the back room. I rolled out of my bunk, knowing that I wouldn’t get much more sleep than I already had, turned the handle of the door and pushed it open to find Liz tickling and playfully beating Nick. I chuckled at the sight of my girlfriend beating up one of the guys, especially Nick. He squirmed around on the floor while Liz victoriously tickled him ‘til I thought he was gonna turn blue from lack of oxygen. She only let up long enough to let him get a big breath before she continued in the torture session.

"I told you I was going to getcha didn’t I?" she asked with a sly smile as Nick laughed under her tickling fingers.

He nodded and then squirmed again. He looked like a fish out of water...I couldn’t help but laugh at how funny he looked. They didn’t seem to notice that they had an audience so I just kept quiet and watched from the doorway. She let up after a few more minutes, but kept him on the ground. He lay on his back on the floor and tried to catch his breath as Liz kneeled beside him. She bent over so she was about 4 inches from his face.

"Consider this a warning..." she said in a serious, low voice. "Don’t EVER do that again."

And with that, she stood up and turned to face me. She gave me a smile that said she’d taken care of ‘the problem’ as she led me into the hall before she shut the door behind us.

"Come with me," I told her as I took her hand and led her off the bus.

"Where’re we goin’?" she asked as I led her to where D had parked his purple ‘Vette convertible.

"Somewhere," I replied with a sly smile as I opened the passenger door for her.

I’d made a bargain with Howie to make sure that he’d have some time to spend with Meg if he let me use his ‘Vette’. Of course, he’d said yes so here we were, driving down the freeway towards the airport with the top down and music blaring from the speakers. I knew that Liz had no idea where we were going and I was determined to keep it that way. When we were almost to the right exit, I pulled off the exit ramp and stopped the car for a few minutes. She gave me a confused look as I bent over and retrieved a black blindfold from the glove box.

"I sure hope you don’t expect me to put that on," she said when she saw what I had in my hand.

"Please?" I asked as I stuck my bottom lip out and gave her a cute ‘puppy dog’ face that I knew she couldn’t resist.

"Aaawww...don’t do that!" she said as she turned to look the other way.

I leaned over and turned her head back so she was looking at me and gave her a soft kiss on the lips to let her know that I really wanted her to do this for me.

"I only do it ‘cause I know you can’t help givin’ in," I teased her as she looked at me with a weird look on her face.

"Fine..." she replied after a few more seconds.

She turned around a little bit so I could tie the scarf around her eyes before we resumed our way to the airport. She sat there silently until the car came to a stop in the short-term parking lot. I helped her out, put the top up on the car, and then took her arm in mine as I led her into the airport and towards the right gate. I wasn’t exactly sure how she’d react when she saw who was going to be walking out of the terminal, but I did know that she hadn’t seen this person in quite a while. I took the blindfold off of her eyes when we were standing in front of the door to gate B9 where the flight from Denver International Airport would be unloading in a few seconds. She didn’t know that the flight was from DIA, but she did know that we were here to pick up Lyndsay’s replacement.

"Wha..."

"Sssshhhh! No questions," I whispered into her ear as she watched the first few passengers exit the plane.

She had sunglasses on over her blue-green eyes, but I could see her scanning the crowd in front of the open terminal door. When I talked to her on the phone, she told me what to look for so I’d know it was her...and there she came, walking out the door with a BRIGHT yellow backpack on that had a self-designed Winnie the Pooh insignia on it. I noticed her right away, but it took her a few minutes to notice us in the crowd. I was wearing the usual ‘disguise’ of dark sunglasses and a fisherman’s hat pulled way over my eyes. The long sleeves of my shirt helped a little too, blocking the view of my tattoos from the eyes of any fans. Obviously Liz didn’t see her as she made her way over to us.

"LIZ?!? Oh my gosh!!!" the girl squealed with excitement as she quickly walked up and threw her arms around Liz. "I haven’t seen you in FOREVER!"

I could tell that Liz was a little puzzled at who it was because she didn’t really get to see the girl’s face before she was bombarded.

"Umm...ok," Liz mumbled before the girl let go.

Once she saw the girl’s face, a smile grew on her face and then she turned and gave me a grin. I smiled back as Liz reached out and gave her sister a bear hug.

"Oh goll...it’s been like two years," Liz said as her sister hugged her back.

"I know. And you’re soooo...*paused to find a word* skinny. You’ve changed a lot."

Liz became quiet at her sister’s comment.

"You’re not anorexic are ya?" her sister joked.

"No," Liz replied before she wrapped her right arm around my waist and leaned into me.

I knew that she was uncomfortable with her sister’s question, but decided not to say anything.

"By the way, this is Alex," she said as she put her hand on my stomach.

I had told her to call me that in public so we didn’t have any people mobbing me in the middle of the airport.

"Hi," the girl replied as she stuck out her hand. "I’m Tina."

"It’s nice to finally meetcha," I said with a smile while I shook her hand. "Well, we’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, so let’s go get your bags."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Nick ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When AJ and Liz came back from the airport, everyone was introduced to her sister. Her name was Tina and she’d be taking over for Lyndsay as Meg and Liz’s back-up singer. She had brown hair that fell halfway down her back with reddish blond highlights. She was a little shorter than Liz was. Everyone, including AJ left them alone for a few hours so they could ‘catch up’ on what was happening on the home front.

‘I would’ve done it if AJ wasn’t there watching us’ I thought to myself as I remembered when Liz had warned me earlier. If he wasn’t standing in the doorway, I would’ve reached up and kissed her right then and there until she was totally breathless...and speechless for that matter. ‘Oh well...there’s always next time.’

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Liz ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"We’ve got to try this out before we actually use it on them," Tina told me as we sat in my bunk looking at the contraption she had brought along. "I mean, I know it works, but I still wanna make sure it’ll suit your needs."

"Ok. We can try it on AC," I replied with a sly smile. "Let’s go."

She followed me out of the bus and over to AC’s bus. Jane was in the entertainment room playing and miserably loosing to Airboy. Tina stayed outside and watched through the window for the signal. I waited for AC to go into the bathroom for a few minutes before I nodded out the window, letting Tina know that she was clear to push the button. I almost died laughing when I heard the flatulent noises coming from the receiver end of the device. I had stuck it above the bathroom door on the outside so he couldn’t see it, but he could definitely hear it. I physically fought myself from laughing out loud when I saw Jane making faces at the noises coming from the bathroom area. Little did she know, it was all coming from a machine. I stood up and walked out to the bunks and then ducked into one of them. AC walked out of the bathroom with a VERY red face before he went back into the room to resume his game with his mother. I nonchalantly retrieved the small device above the door and exited the bus to give Tina a full report of the efficiency of the machine.

"This thing is ingenious! It’s gonna be sooooo good!" I exclaimed as I pulled her by her arm towards the girl dancer’s bus. "We’ve got to show them."

After a full service demonstration to the other SheDevil members, they unanimously agreed to use it in our last and final war battle. We had already gotten ready for our next battle and we all voted that we’d do it the next morning during the final run-down practice that Fatima had scheduled for the guys and their band. Everyone else (Jane, Denise, and AC) would be helping us so it wouldn’t be a problem at all. Tina and I decided that we were going to go to bed so we left the dancer’s bus and headed for our own. When we got there, we explained the whole ‘fart machine’ device to Jane, Denise, Arti, and Meg before we all had a good laugh. We settled down when Jane and Denise went to bed, so we just decided to go to bed too.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Arti ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When I opened my eyes for about the billionth time since we had gone to bed last night, I rolled over and slid out of my bunk to see who else was up. The truth be told, I was not only VERY anxious about our last ‘bombing’ of the guy’s bus, but I was also a little excited bout the tour officially getting under way today. Meg pulled back the curtain of her bunk and Liz did the same when they heard me walkin’ around. They both rolled out of bed at the same time and we all walked to the back room in our pajamas. I was wearing a pair of pajama shorts with a pale pink tank top. Meg was wearing about the same thing, but with a white tee. Liz looked the most comfortable though. She was wearing baggy satin pajama bottoms (they actually looked pretty cool to wear in this hot weather) and an oversized white v-neck tee. Her hundreds of tiny braids were pulled back in a scrunchy and she was wearing glasses instead of her usual contacts. ‘How does she look like that every morning...I can’t even get my hair to look like that ANYtime...’ I thought to myself as I studied her features.

"Everyone up and at ‘em?" Jane called from the kitchenette in the front.

"Yep," Meg called back.

We all walked to the front of the bus to see Denise, Jane, and AC sitting at the table waiting for us. They were all in their pajamas too, so we weren’t feeling a direct obligation to change into some real clothes. When I heard Liz’s cell phone ringing, I walked back to her bunk and picked it up.

"Yep...we’re ready and waiting," I told Dee. "We’ll meetcha inside their bus."

I told everyone up front that it was time to strike, so we all headed out and quietly went towards the guy’s bus. When we got there, Gilli and Red were carrying pumpkins in the doors to put in Kev’s bunk (‘cause his nickname is Pumpkin). Cher was headed towards the Security’s bus with Tyke in hand...they’d be ‘dog-sitting’ him for a few days...or until Brian found him there, whichever came first. Jane and Denise carried the three large bowls of spaghetti that we had preordered from an Italian take-out restaurant last night and began splattering it all over the outside. AC rushed inside and took all the controllers and games for Nick’s video games systems and went to stash them in his bus. Meg grabbed the two gallons of severely diluted red Kool-Aid (minus the sugar) in milk jugs and began pouring it into the water tank of the guy’s bus. They wouldn’t be stained pink or anything, but they’d know someone had done something to their water supply. Chaun retrieved the blankets from the guy’s bunks and stashed them in the luggage compartments underneath the bus. I took the liberty to take the feathers out of Bri’s pillow and then filled it back up with dried macaroni noodles. Then I took ALL of the light bulbs out of the sockets and put them in the bottom of the garbage can in the bathroom, not wanting to be TOO mean...LOL. Red came in and took AJ’s suitcase full of his sunglasses and gave it to AC so he could stash it in one of the empty bunks on his bus. Dee took the silverware from the guy’s kitchenette and put it in the band’s bus. That’s one thing with these busses, all the busses have their own things...silverware, dishes, and stuff like that. No bus had the same ones as any of the other busses so you could tell whose was whose. Liz worked on getting the baby monitor into the heating vent in the ceiling while I put the receiver for the ‘fart machine’ sort of underneath the mattress in Howie’s bunk so he wouldn’t be able to see it even if he was looking for it. When I was finished with that, I went into the bathroom and exchanged all of their colognes to different bottles...so when Nick went to put on his cologne, he’d actually be wearing AJ’s and so forth. By the time everyone was done, it had only taken us about fifteen minutes total. We all met inside and Liz wrote the message in red lipstick on the large bathroom mirror.

3’s the charm!

Everyone except AC put lipstick on and then kissed the mirror to leave our prints. Each person signed their SD names next to their mark. ‘ASD’ I signed next to mine with a heart. We all quickly cleaned up any evidence that would lead this back to us and headed back to our own busses before the guys came back out. Liz went to the back of the bus and put a CD in the stereo before she turned it WAY up so we all could hear it. You could probably hear it from the building it was so loud. Everyone began jumping and dancing around. Liz was burst out in the words because the rest of us only knew the words to a few of the Dixie Chicks songs.

"Ready, ready, ready to run. All I’m ready to do is have some fun! What’s all this talk about love?!?" we all sang.

If someone were to walk in and see us, they’d probably tell us that we’d had too much sugar and that we’d need to go visit the funny farm.

"I feel the wind blow through my hair...I’m gonna be ready this time. I’ll buy a ticket to anywhere...I’m gonna be ready this time. Ya see it feels like I’m stuck in a cage...I’m gonna be ready this time."

"I didn’t like that movie...Runaway Bride..." Liz burst out as the song ended and shuffled to the next one. "Too predictable."

This time, the song was a more upbeat, fiddle type song that made ya wanna get up and dance. Liz started singing the words with a sly smile on her face as she pulled her hair out of the scrunchy that was holding the braids back.

"Can’t push me ‘round now, I’m drawing the line. He left his life now I’m gonna go live mine. I’m sick of wastin’ my time. Well now I’ve been good now way too long. Found my red dress now I’m gonna put it on. ‘Bout to get too far gone. Praise the Lord," she sang while she threw her hands in the air like the evangelists do on TV. "And pass the ammunition. Need a little bit more of my twelve-ounce nutrition. One more helpin’ and what I’ve been havin. I’m takin’ my turn on the ‘Sin Wagon’." (Sin Wagon ~ Dixie Chicks)

We danced and goofed off for the rest of the song while Jane and Denise made some breakfast. We ate with the music still blaring, but it didn’t bother us. When ‘Earl Had To Die’ started playing, Liz jumped up, threw her dishes in the sink, and opened all the windows so everyone outside could hear the music too. She pulled her hair into a ponytail at the top of her head, slid on some of her slipper socks, and took off outside when she saw the guys heading past our bus.

"Come on girls...we’ve got to go double check the building for things that got left behind," Jane said after Liz shut the door.

Meg, Denise, and I followed Jane to the building. Liz was running around the parking lot singing to the music that was still playing from our bus.

"Wait up ladies!" she yelled to us before she ran in the bus and turned the music off.

She joined us and then we went to scour the building for things that people left.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I’ll be right back," I told Howie when all the busses stopped at a small gas station along the freeway for a few minutes.

We left about six hours ago, of course after we cleaned up the spaghetti mess all over our bus. It was sort of funny when we came inside after we were done with that...Kev’s bunk was piled with pumpkins. Bri’s pillow was filled with macaroni noodles. Nick just about had a heart attack when he found out that they had taken his games and controllers. My case of sunglasses wasn’t anywhere in sight, but that didn’t really bother me. All the light bulbs had been taken out of the sockets and we didn’t find them in their hiding place until after Nick had broken half of them. They were sitting in the bottom of the bathroom garbage can and Nick was mad so he threw a shoe and it broke all but a few of them. They’d also taken our silverware so we were reduced to buying a box of plastic utensils at the gas station. Howie seemed to have gotten off in this ‘attack’, but we all knew that we’d find out what they’d done to him by the time we got to New York.

I had remembered where I’d seen ‘SheDevils’ before right in the middle of practice this morning and I was bound and determined to find out if my theory was right. I had seen Liz, Arti, Meg, Jane, and mom go into the building for something so I took this opportunity to go in their bus to find out some information. I climbed the steps with a ‘Hi’ to Harry (their bus driver), walked through the kitchenette, and went straight to Liz’s bunk. I pulled the curtain back and climbed in. I lay on my stomach so I was propped up on my elbows and opened the same suede covered book that I had seen before. When I read from this before, I didn’t bother reading the last entries. This time I flipped to the last page that she had written on and began to read her handwriting to myself.

"Today we, the SheDevils of course, attacked the Backstreet bus once again. It was simply ingenious, from the sneakers right down to the cute fleece lamb beanie baby. I heard AJ talking to Bri about who he thinks it is (the band), but man is he wrong! If only he knew that it was us...they’d have gotten us back already. Meg says that Curly’s getting suspicious though...that’s not good! We’ve now got Jane and Denise on our side and I’m going to go convince AC to join us...bribery always works when it comes to men...LOL! I can only imagine AJ’s face when he finds out that I’m in on this too...I just hope he finds it kind of funny rather than getting mad ‘cause that wouldn’t be good. Afterall, we only meant it to be a joke! A rather funny joke at that! :o) Well, the guys are supposed to be back in a little while so I guess I’ll go talk to Meg until they get back. Toodles for now!"

It felt like my eyes popped out of my head when I read the last few sentences. ‘Mom was right’ I thought to myself as I closed the book and put it back in the position I took it from. I had to let the other fellas know that we had been totally humiliated by a bunch of women...A BUNCH OF WOMEN! I mean, it would’ve been funny if the band had done it, but we didn’t even consider that the girls would do something like that to us. I quickly left their bus before they came back out of the building to continue down the freeway towards New York.

"Dang!" I mumbled to myself as I shook my head at how they’d totally outsmarted us all.

"Hey Babe," Liz playfully called out as she walked out the door of the gas station with a ‘grab’ size bag of pretzels in her hand.

"Uh...hi," I replied as I looked up while I was walking and saw her coming over to where I was headed.

"What’s up?"

"Nothin’," I said as casually as possible.

"Everything ok with you and the guys? You seem sorta out of it," she said as she stopped in front of me.

"Naw...naw...everything’s fine," I replied with a half-smile.

"Good. Hey...you should come ride with us for a while," she exclaimed with a happy smile. "You look like you need some cheering up."

"What’re you talking about?" I joked with a silly smile.

"Aaaahhh...there’s the McLean that I know and love," she replied with a grin. "Just needed to see that smile."

She sure had a way of being cute sometimes...and now is one of them. She put her free hand around my back and walked me back to our bus.

"You should ride with US for a while," I said before she let me go.

"Serious?" she asked with a questioning look on her face.

"Yeah."

"You really want me to ride with you guys? I won’t like be invading on your ‘male bonding’ experience or anything?" she asked.

"Psh! I think we bonded a looooooooong time ago...we’ve been together for the last 7 years...And yes! I do want you to come with us," I replied.

"Ok...just let me go get a few things real quick."

I nodded with a smile and watched as she walked away in the opposite direction. Now was my chance to relay the word to the fellas about the SheDevils...it was now or never.

"Howie?" I called out as I walked up the steps of our bus.

"Yeah..."

"Anyone else in here?"

"Just the guys..." he called from the back room.

"Good...I need to talk to all of you," I said as I walked past the bunks and through the open door to the back room.

The listened as I began to explain the whole situation. I told them to just play it cool...as if we didn’t know so that we could think of a good way to get them back. Just as I finished explaining, we heard a knock on the front door. Jeff opened it and we could hear him welcoming the person that had knocked. The door was closed, but we could still hear him.

"Come in...he’s back there," we heard Jeff say as the person climbed the steps and walked through the kitchenette.

It was silent for a few seconds, so I decided to go and see what happened with our visitor. I walked out into the bunk area and shut the door behind me. It was quiet so I decided to go find out who it was from Jeff.

"Hey Jeff. Who was at the door?" I asked casually.

"One of the girls...she went back there. Didn’tcha see her?" he asked as if nothing was wrong.

"Nope...but thanks," I replied before I turned back and shut the door between the kitchenette and the bunks.

I decided to lay down in my bunk and wait for Liz to come so I pulled the curtain back and sat down to pull my shoes off. I spread out on the bed and pulled the curtain halfway shut so it was kinda dark. My heart skipped a beat when I felt a hand being set on my stomach.

"Don’t worry...I’m not gonna kill ya or anything," Liz whispered in my ear.

I didn’t even see her when I sat down to take my shoes off...how’d that happen? Oh well...it didn’t bother me ‘cause at least she’s here with me to put up with Nick’s whining, Kev’s psychology (he’s been really into deep thoughts ever since he and Arti hooked up), Bri’s nervousness over Tyk, and Howie’s constant gushing over the phone with Meg. I rolled over onto my side and leaned my forehead up against hers as she stroked my cheek a little. Her braids were draped over her shoulder so I brushed them away so they hung down her back onto the bed as I put my arm around her side.

"You having fun on the tour so far?" I asked in a low voice.

"Mmmmhmmm."

"Good," I whispered.

She leaned her head into my shoulder and closed her eyes. We both soon fell asleep in each other’s arms as the bus gently rocked us back and forth.

Chapter 12 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 12 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Liz ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

I smiled as we walked down the walkway through the park on the bright sunny day. The flowers were in bloom and the trees provided shade on the nice cobblestone path. Every once in a while someone would rollerblade or bike past us, but we weren’t bothered one bit. We were too far into our own little world to let anyone or anything pull us out of it. Birds were chirping happily in the leafy treetops and every so often one could hear the faint squeak of baby chicks from the nests of the proud parents. We stopped and watched a happy mother teaching her small toddler how to walk across the freshly cut green grass.

‘I’d like to have children some day...’ I trailed off as the toddler took a few steps towards her daddy kneeling a few feet away.

‘Yeah. Me too’ AJ added with a smile.

We continued walking towards the pond in the middle of the park that was occupied by ducks and even a few swans here and there. I snapped my gaze at the handsome man next to me when I heard screaming and a gunshot echoing in the stillness of the park. People started running towards us...running in the opposite direction of where the shot was coming from. Just when we were about to turn and run with them, a man wearing black yelled out to us, pointing a gun in our direction.

‘Don’t move or I’ll blow your brains out’ the man yelled at the two of us as he slowly walked towards us.

AJ tightened his grip on my hand as we stood there motionless. The man cocked the gun to let us know that he wasn’t kidding as he continued nearer.

‘I want you to run’ AJ whispered to me.

‘NO! I won’t go without you’ I answered in the same quiet voice.

‘NOW!’ he instructed as he gave my hand one last squeeze and then pushed me behind him so I could run.

I ran for a few seconds, but came to a halt when I heard a gunshot. It seemed like things were happening in slow motion as I turned my head back and saw AJ falling to the ground with blood covering his once white shirt.

‘NNNNNOOOOO!’ I screamed as I turned back around and ran towards where he was laying on the red stone path.

I knelt down beside him on the ground and cradled his head in my arms. He opened his eyes for a split second, but couldn’t say anything before his body went limp right there in my arms. The wound in his chest oozed blood all over my clothes as I pulled his body closer to mine.

‘No...no...’ I whined over and over again as I held him.

Rage built up inside me as I realized that he was gone...for good. I set his body down before I stood up with anger showing in my eyes. The anger took over my senses as I started running to where the man was standing and laughing evilly. When he saw me coming towards him, he raised the gun again. I didn’t care. I’d rather die than go on living without AJ by my side. The world around me began spinning as a bullet hit me in the leg...and then another in the shoulder. I fell to the ground in pain before the final bullet hit me.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

My eyes bolted open when I heard Liz screaming as she covered her face with her hands. I didn’t have time to react before she climbed over me and stumbled out of the bunk. Her body shook with each sob that escaped her mouth as she looked around the bus with a panicked look in her eyes. At first it looked like she was heading for the bathroom, but then she turned around and ran to the front of the bus where Jeff was driving.

"Pull over for a minute please," she cried as tears fell down her face.

Jeff told the other busses to pull off on the shoulder over the radios that they used to keep in touch before he pulled off the side of the road with the other busses behind us. He opened the door and watched with a confused expression as Liz ran down the steps and started running up the side of the road.

"Where’d she go?" I asked as I ran up to Jeff after I slid my shoes back on.

He pointed to her retreating figure out the windshield so I ran down the stairs and followed her. She ran down the road with all her energy as if she was trying to escape something that was obviously bothering her. After following her for a few minutes, she stopped and collapsed to the ground as she let all of her emotions out. She was bawling when I finally ran up to her out of breath and crouched down next to her. When she didn’t look up to see that I was there, I reached out and pulled her shaking body into my arms. She buried her face into my chest and sobbed as I tried to comfort her.

"Ssshhhh," I told her until she finally calmed down. "It’s ok."

She pulled away a little and looked at me with teary eyes.

"No, it’s not ok," she said in a shaky voice as she let me go and stood up.

Meg, Arti, and Tina were all running towards where we were and I watched with confusion as Liz walked away. I stood up and saw Meg wrap her arms around Liz as the three of them led her back to their bus. I watched with worried eyes as I walked back to where the busses were parked. Instead of going into our bus, I walked onto M. E.’s bus and ignored the protests of Jane, mom, Meg, and Arti as I walked past them to the bunk area. The door was shut but not locked so I opened it and walked in, noticing that it was empty. I shut it behind me and then continued walking towards the door leading to the back room. It was locked so I knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Yes...I need to talk to him anyway," I heard Liz’s voice through the door.

"Fine...but if you need anything, we’ll be up front," Tina replied as she unlocked the door handle.

She gave me an emotionless stare as she walked past me towards the front of the bus.

"Tell Harry that we can go now," I called out to her before she walked through the door to the kitchenette.

I turned my attention back to the door that was now open and saw Liz sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest and a blanket was wrapped around her shoulders. Her eyes were red and she looked sad as she set her chin down on her knees. After I shut the door behind me, I didn’t know what to say so I just walked over and sat down next to her. She was quiet for a few seconds before she turned her head a little and looked at me.

"I had another one...but this one was worse than the others..." she said softly as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. "I dreamt that we, you and I, were walking through a park on a beautiful day...and then...and then..."

She couldn’t finish her sentence so I wrapped my arms around her in a comforting hug. When she was ready, she continued.

"You...you got...you got shot...and then I got shot too..."

She lowered her head again and let the tears fall down her cheeks. I stroked her hair as she let all her frustrations fall along with her tears.

"The other ones...I never actually got hurt...but everyone else did...I had one that night in my apartment when you left that note by my computer..."

She looked up at me with her red eyes.

"We were in an alley and these men came out of nowhere and started shooting us...except they missed me so I ran into a building and ended up on the roof. I stepped onto the ledge and when I looked over, I could see everyone’s bodies...covered in blood," she said before she looked away. "Then I got shot and fell off the edge but I kept falling and falling until I woke up."

"I’m sorry...you shouldn’t be telling me this..." I said with sadness welling up in my heart.

"No. I needed to tell someone or else they’ll never go away," she whispered before she turned her face back to look at me. "I don’t think I can handle them anymore."

She leaned into me and put her head against my shoulder as we sat there in silence for a while.

"Liz?"

"Hmmm."

"I just want you to know how much I love you," I whispered to her. "We’ll get through this together."

"Thanks," she replied as she put her arms around me.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Nick ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

My eyes wandered over the various pictures that I had put up in the top of bunk and every time I did, they’d stop on the picture of Liz and I. I guess it’s finally setting in that she’s happy with AJ, but at least I knew I was still her friend...and that’s all I can ask of her right now. I rolled over and closed my eyes, but the picture was burned into my memory so I kept seeing it in the back of my mind even after I’d stopped looking at it.

"Nick?" Bri called out.

"Yeah...I’m in here," I replied without moving.

"Come on bro," he said as he pulled back my curtain. "The game’s on."

I rolled out of my bunk and followed Bri to the back room where a basketball game was already underway on the TV. I sat down on the couch, but the game was the last thing that I had on my mind.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ Liz ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I’m ok now," I said after a little while of sitting in the ‘Bored’ room (that’s what the girl’s called the entertainment room) with AJ by my side.

"You sure?" he asked with concern written all over his face.

"Yeah," I replied as I rubbed his cheek with the palm of my hand. "Thanks for being here to talk."

"You’re welcome," he said with a smile. "Besides, you didn’t think I’d leave you alone to talk to those crazy loons out there did ya?"

I laughed at his lame attempt at a joke before I stood up and flipped the stereo on. Britney Spears was playing on the fuzzy radio station so I quickly changed it to the CD instead of the radio. I flipped the selection to disc number 4...Mandy Moore...and skipped through the shuffling tracks until it was on song number 8. When the music started playing, I opened the door and walked out to the bathroom. After I was done and I went back into the ‘Bored’ room, I laughed out loud when I saw Meg doing a little dance as she sang with the music. I decided to join her in all the fun. AJ just sat back and watched with a silly grin on his face.

"I see the sadness in your eyes. Don’t you get lonely for me sometimes? Lonely for the love that we had. I’ll be waiting when that day comes...you need somebody won’t you let me be the one? Come to me...Put yourself in my hands..." we both sang happily.

I grabbed AJ’s hand and pulled him off the couch so that he had no choice but to join in on our little dancing session. I put my hand on his arm just below his shoulder and danced with him. Meg giggled as she grabbed Howie from where he was observing our silly behavior so he was dancing too. ‘He must’ve joined us when we pulled over before’ I thought to myself as I watched Meg and Curly over AJ’s shoulder.

"Let me be the one!" Meg and I happily sang the last line before we both broke down into a fit of laughter.

AJ and Curly gave each other silly looks that just made us laugh even more. When ‘Walk Me Home’ started playing, AJ grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms. I put my hands around his neck as we started to slowly sway to the music. When AJ’s back was to them, I looked over his shoulder and saw Meg and Curly totally making out.

"Eeeeewwww! Get a room!" I called out before I leaned my head on AJ’s shoulder.

"Déjà vu..." Meg called out with a little laugh. "Remind you of anytime?"

I laughed as I remembered the last time I’d told both of them that. "Yeah..."

AJ gave me a confused look with a small smile.

"Trust me...you don’t wanna know," I whispered to him as we danced.

He nodded as he slipped his arms around my back and pulled me closer. I softly sang the words as he rubbed his hands up and down my back a little.

"I hold your picture next to my heart all the time. You’re my dream come true, so glad you’re mine. And I wondered how it would be if I was your lady and you were my friend. I would put my heart in your hands, and it would never end. Baby would you walk me home? I don’t wanna go all the way alone. Baby would you take my hand? Come with me now to a special land. Baby would you walk with me home?"

We didn’t even notice that Curly and Meg had left and shut the door behind them until after the song ended and we stopped dancing, but stayed in each other’s arms. He leaned his head forward and gave me a little kiss on the lips before he pulled back and looked at me. I gave him smile and then pulled away before I dragged him to the door. We walked into the kitchenette where everyone else was hanging out (minus Tina and Jane ~ they were in their bunks) and playing games. The air smelled yummy and I leaned over to check the display on the bread-maker machine that Meg and I had bought to bring along. I had started making a loaf of bread before I ‘hopped’ busses and it smelled good since I was a little hungry.

"No fair! You ladies get fresh baked bread whenever you want it?" AJ asked in a whiny voice.

"Yeah," Meg and I said as we shrugged our shoulder like it was no big deal.

"You gonna make a loaf for us?" Curly asked with a cheesy smile that made both Meg and I laugh.

"Only if we feel like it...and maybe flowers and cute little poems and stuff like that will help propel us in the right direction...maybe," Meg teased with a wink.

"Uh huh...sure..." AJ said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "Mommy’ll make me some."

I watched him sit down on the small couch next to Denise.

"Will not," Denise replied with a look that said ‘Did I just hear my son say that I’ll do something for him when he’s fully capable to do it himself?’.

"Fine...then my girlfriend will," he said with extra emphasis on the ‘girlfriend’ part.

I laughed at how silly he was being. He grabbed my hand, pulled me over to where he was sitting, and then pulled me onto his lap with a smile.

"Won’tcha?" he asked me with one of his cute ‘puppy dog’ faces.

"Psh! That face isn’t going to work this time!" I replied with a smile.

"Ok..." he trailed off before he gave me a little kiss on the lips right in front of everyone. "How ‘bout now?"

"Nice try," I told him with a sly smile. "But NO."

Meg laughed along with Denise.

"Guess we’ll just have to convince them the old fashioned way Bone," Curly said with a shrug.

"You do that!" I told them with an insidious face.

Chapter 13 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 13 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ One Month & 22 shows Later ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I am soooo beat," I told Meg with a sigh before I plopped down onto the spacious couch next to her in our ‘dressing room’.

Even though they had converted an empty office into our dressing room, we were happy that we at least got our own. The scented candles that the assistant decorator had lit around the room for us gave it a nice relaxed feeling. Yes, the guys do have a person that comes and ‘decorates’ their dressing rooms...and actually gets paid to do it. We kind of took the assistant (Kristian) under our wing so she started doing little things in our dressing room that made us feel a little more comfortable and relaxed after our show...the candles were one of them.

"Vanilla...one of my favorite scents.." I said slowly after I closed my eyes and leaned back into the soft cushions. "Where’re we heading to after this is over?"

"Uh...Texas? I’m not sure..." Meg mumbled back.

She was leaning on the arm of the couch with her cheek on the cushion so I couldn’t really understand what she said, but I wasn’t that interested in an answer anyway.

"How much longer until we get to go back to the busses?" I asked in a tired voice.

"I dunno...A few..." she started to answer before she was so rudely interrupted.

Someone threw the door open without warning amidst hollering and yelling.

"AaaaaaAAAaaaaaaHHHHhhhhHHH" AJ and Howie both yelled in a mock-Tarzan call as they ran in and jumped on our couch.

"Holy crap...what are you doing?!?" I hollered after AJ excitedly jumped onto my lap.

"Just wanted to say ‘Hi’..." he replied with one of his ‘innocent’ looks.

"LIKE I WAS SAYING..." Meg called out loudly before Curly started tickling her. "Aaaaaahhhh! Stop!"

He finally stopped after about five minutes.

"Like I was going to say, we get to leave as soon as the meet and greet thingy is over..." she explained to me as if we were the only ones in the room.

"Oh great," I said playfully as I rolled my eyes for the full effect. "We get to be ignored by more prepubescent girlies trying to attack a bunch of goofballs."

"Hey...I’m sure you’ll have a few fans to see you too," Curly said with a smile.

"Yeah right," I replied as I pushed AJ off my lap and stood up. "Sorry to make this little meeting short, but we’ve got to get changed...and so do you. Both of you."

"You mean I can’t stay and watch?" AJ said sarcastically.

"Not funny," I replied with a small glare. "Out!"

"Fine, fine...we’re goin’," he called out as Howie stood up, gave Meg a quick kiss, and followed him to the door. "Hey...where’s mine?"

"Where’s your what?" I asked with my back turned to them while I rummaged through my duffel bag for some fresh clothes to wear.

He didn’t answer so I turned around a little, keeping my eyes on my bag until I was fully turned around. When I swiveled my head around, my lips met his in a short kiss.

"That."

He gave me a smirk before I could say anything in return. I gave him a blank stare and waited for an explanation while Meg sifted through some of her clothes to change into.

"I just...Howie got one from Meg..."

"And I’m not Meg either," I countered.

"I know that," he replied with a look that said ‘do I look like I’m stupid or something?’ that kind of freaked me out a little.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be cranky...I’m just tired and I want to go to sleep."

"I guess I’ll see you later then," he said before he left the room.

As I pulled a shirt from the bottom of my bag, I accidentally knocked over a mug that was sitting on the table.

"Aaawww...dang!" I mumbled as I picked up the mug and all the pens and pencils that spilled all over the floor. "This just isn’t my day is it?"

"I dunno..." Meg trailed off as she finished pulling on the jeans that she was changing into.

She was fully dressed and ready to go before I even got my clothes out of my bag. After I changed my shirt, I saw her walking over to the door.

"Don’t worry about me...I’ll meet you in there," I called out to her before she walked out into the hallway.

When I was done changing, I walked out the door and motioned to a few of the crewmembers telling them that they could start ‘disassembling’ our dressing room. I walked down the hallway towards a conference room where the meet and greet would be held and I could already hear the fan’s commotion going on inside the closed doors. I opened the door slowly and walked in to find at least a hundred girls inside the room swarming the guys. There were a few older girls here and there, but the majority of them were probably under 14 years old. Nick was totally swamped. AJ had the next biggest crowd. I couldn’t even see Howie or Bri in the crowd, but I could see Kev ‘cause he was at least a foot taller than the circle of fans that surrounded him. Meg was talking to a few girls and Denise. Before I got far in the door, a young girl with shoulder length brown hair came up to me.

"Hi," she said with a smile. "Will you sign this for me?"

She held up a copy of Meg’s CD for me to see.

"Sure. What’s your name?" I asked with a smile as I took the CD to sign it.

"Jacqueline."

"Thanks for coming to the concert Jacqueline," I said when I handed the signed CD back to her.

She looked at me for a few seconds with a quizzical look before she said anything.

"Are you AJ’s girlfriend?"

I was kind of taken aback at her question, but I tried not to let it show too much.

"I guess you could say that," I replied with a small smile.

"Can I have a picture taken with you?" she asked.

"Sure."

Denise offered to take the picture and when it was done, the girl hurried off to what I assumed was a bunch of her friends. They pointed at me every couple of minutes as they took their turns waiting to talk to the guys. The meet and greet wore on and I stood against a wall and waited for it to end. When I finally got to the point where I couldn’t stand the boredom anymore, I walked out the door and went back to our dressing room. Our bags were neatly set on the floor inside the door so I picked mine up and headed out to the bus. Once I stepped out the back door to where the busses were waiting, high pitched screams and yelling overwhelmed my ears from the crowd of overexcited fans that were waiting outside the gates for the Boys. Ezekiel (AKA Zee ~ bodyguard) escorted me to our bus and I waved to the fans before I climbed the steps and Harry shut the door behind me.

"How’s it goin’ Harry?" I asked.

"Pretty good," he replied with a smile when he looked up from the daily crossword puzzle he was working on.

"The others’ll be along in a few minutes," I called out as I made my way to the bunks.

I threw my bag into the empty bunk above mine and pulled my Discman and headphones out. I turned it on, put the headphones on, and crawled into my bunk. I laid on my back and listened to the music with my eyes closed as I dozed off into a very light sleep with ‘Don’t Wanna Lose You Now’ playing on repeat.

Even though I was half-asleep, I could sense that someone was watching me so I opened my eyes a sliver and saw Nick’s blond head poking inside the curtain to see if I was awake.

"Hmmm..." I mumbled as I took the headphones off, but left the song playing on repeat.

"Mom’s got some news for ya before we leave..." he said with a smile before he pulled the curtain open the rest of the way. "Come on...she’s in our bus."

He grabbed my hand and helped me up from the bunk before he led me to the front of the bus and down the steps.

"What’s the news about?" I asked as he led me to their bus.

He only shrugged his shoulders before he opened the door for me. I told him to go first, so he did and I followed him in. He sat down on the couch next to Kev and Arti. Denise, Meg, Howie, and AJ were sitting at the table. Bri was standing in the doorway to the bunks and Tina was sitting in the chair that was directly behind the divider between the driver’s seat and the rest of the bus. I just stood there in the walkway by the steps and waited for Jane to show up. ‘Wonder what all the hype is about...’ I thought to myself before I saw Jane walk out from the bunk area.

"So...what’s the big deal about?" I asked as I scratched a spot in my head where one of the tiny braids itched a little.

"Would you like the good news or the bad news first?" she asked.

I gave her a blank stare ‘cause I didn’t know what to expect.

"Just kidding...there is no bad news...it’s all good," she said with a little laugh. "First of all, we’re about half done with the tour and everything is great! Second of all, I need to talk to you."

She pointed at me.

"Can’t you just tell me whatever it is right now?" I asked.

"Ok, if that’s what you want. I am very happy and extremely excited to say that I have personally gotten messages from 4 different record companies and they are interested in YOU!" she exclaimed. "They’ve sent their scouts out to see the concerts and apparently, they liked what they saw."

She paused when everyone burst out in excited cheers and hollers...everyone but me. I just stood there speechless.

"Did you just...*quick breath*...say that record labels...*another breath*...are interested in me?" I asked as my heart started racing.

"Uh huh," she replied with excitement written all over her face.

"Ohhhhhhh myyyyyyyyy..." I moaned with my quivering hand over my mouth before I started to take a deep breath to calm my racing heartbeat.

I shouldn’t have taken that breath, ‘cause I started to hyperventilate instead. Everyone looked at me with concern as I bent over so my head was down by my knees so I could try and breathe normally.

"I’m fine..." I coughed out before I stood up again. "Oh goll..."

The realization started hitting me and I sort of lost it momentarily. I turned around and sped down the steps. After I fumbled with the door for a few seconds, I finally got it open so I ran. I had no idea where I was going, I just ran.

"AAAAaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhHHH!" I screamed with delight as I headed for our bus.

When I was inside, I grabbed my cell phone from my duffel bag and went to the ‘bored’ room to sit on the couch. That’s where I was when everyone found me about fifteen minutes later. I had this glazed-over look in my eyes as I stared off into space while I was thinking about what I’d just heard from Jane.

"Liz? Are you ok?" Meg asked as she walked into the room and sat down next to me.

"Yeah...yeah I’m fine," I answered. "Tell me...did Jane say what I think she said or was I just imagining that whole conversation?"

"She said it...believe me, she said it!"

"Ok," I replied before she stood up and walked out.

I only sat there alone for a few more seconds before I was joined again, this time by AJ.

"Hey babe...you ok?"

"Yeah. I...uh...I’m just a little surprised," I said as I stared off into space.

"This is definitely some exciting news! I’m so happy for you," he said with a genuine smile that made me smile too.

"Thanks," I replied.

The door opened and Jane walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to explain a few things to you," Jane told me before she shooed AJ out of the room.

She made everyone go to the front of the bus and then she shut the door up front, followed by the ‘bored’ room door as well. She mumbled something about a little extra privacy before she handed me a large manila envelope. I opened it and pulled out four different folders from the different labels.

"I know that this is kind of sudden, but they’ve already sent contracts for you to look at. I would have your attorney or lawyer look them over before you decide which is the best for you," she explained. "Some of them have expiration dates on them for sometime after the tour, so you’ll at least have a little while to think this through as much as you need to."

"How did these people hear about me anyway?" I asked her.

"Well, you remember the day that you and Nick were playing around in the basement with all that music?"

"Yeah."

"I taped you two singing that song and I kinda sent it to a couple of places...I didn’t think you’d mind," she said.

"Think I’d mind!?! I’m going to get signed!!!! Of course I don’t mind!" I exclaimed. "I still can’t believe this!!"

As I looked at the folders for the different labels, I noticed that two were in California, one was in Florida, and the other was in New York.

"Just remember, this business can be harsh, but it can also be very fun. And when you sign your name on the dotted line, you’re basically giving them your life so choose carefully," she advised.

"Thanks Jane," I told her before she went to the front of the bus to tell everyone that we needed to head out onto the road already.

I stood up and carried the folders back to my bunk. Just as I was pulling back the curtain to put the folders under my pillow, someone spoke to me.

"Whatcha got?" AJ asked as he walked up to where I was standing.

I quickly shoved the folders into my bunk and pulled the curtain closed so he couldn’t see what I had put in there.

"Nothin’."

"Oh...well, congrats. And for our celebration, we’re going to watch a movie..." he said with a smile as he took my hand and pulled me to the ‘bored’ room. "’She’s All That’...’My Best Friend’s Wedding’...’Ever After’...’Austin Powers’...’Austin Powers’ again...Geez! Who picked out these movies?"

"Hey!" I said as I smacked his arm.

I knew he was kidding and he knew I was kidding too. He picked out a movie and without telling me what it was, put it into the VCR to play. We sat down on the couch opposite the TV and waited for it to play. When the first few seconds of the movie played, I knew exactly which one it was...one of my favorites.

Chapter 14 by elsabeth99

* * * Chapter 14 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ A Few Weeks Later ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

We drove down the freeway in the limo that the hotel had arranged for us to use while we were staying there. We had a day off while we were in Denver so Liz decided to pay a visit to her parent’s house. She leaned her head against my shoulder with a smile on her face as the cool breeze blew in the open sunroof. She watched the scenery as we headed north on the freeway out of Denver. Tina, Arti, Meg, Bri, D, Kev, and Nick were also coming along even though only Nick and Tina were the only other ones in the limo with us. The others were following us in another limo so that we wouldn’t be all crowded and uncomfortable.

"I can’t wait to get home!" Tina exclaimed with a huge smile.

"Mmmmhmmmm," Liz mumbled as her eyes watched the cars in the other lane behind her blue tinted sunglasses.

I knew she was a little excited, but she also seemed a little nervous ‘cause she hadn’t seen her parents and brothers for almost two years if not longer. I smiled at her when she looked up at me with a tired smile on her face before she rested her head on my shoulder again. Tina and Nick were talking about something (I couldn’t really tell what) so I just sat and waited. I was as nervous if not more than Liz was, but I tried not to let her see it ‘cause I knew it would only make her more nervous than she already was. If the rest of her family was as nice as Tina was, then I knew I wouldn’t have a problem. Liz had called Court a few days prior to us coming into the state and she let me talk to her too.

"Hey Court! It’s been a while...how’re ya doing?" I asked into the phone.

"I’m doing great! Things are going really well for me. What about you?" she asked in return.

"Everything’s great!" I told her as I gave Liz a smile.

"That’s good to hear. How’s my big sis?"

"Which one?" I teased.

"You know who I’m talking about," she replied with a little laugh.

"Yeah, I do. Like I said, everything’s great," I said.

"She’s sitting next to you isn’t she?"

"Yep," I replied.

"You’re not going to tell me anything while she’s sitting there are ya?"

"Nope."

"Fine...I’ll just get it from you later then," she teased back. "So, where are you guys headed now?"

"I can’t tell you that!"

"Why not?" she whined.

"’Cause."

"Psh! Be that way then!" she said with a laugh.

"Yep...you know me!" I told her. "Anyway, here’s Liz back..."

This whole visiting the family thing was supposed to be a surprise and hopefully Liz’s family wouldn’t mind all that much. I mean, it’s not like we were going to stay the night or anything, but we didn’t want to intrude on their home. Liz insisted that we go and Tina chimed in that their parents wouldn’t mind so we gave in.

"Oh my gosh!!!!" Tina squealed. "We’re almost there!"

We pulled off the freeway and started to drive down a highway that was surrounded on both sides by cornfields. There were small country type houses every so often and after driving for a couple of miles, the houses started to get closer together.

"Now don’t be alarmed or anything...this is probably going to be one of the smallest towns you’ve been in for a LONG time," Liz said as she sat up a little and put her hand on my knee.

"Yeah...it’s got a whole 2 traffic lights in town," Tina chimed in with a hint of sarcasm.

"You’re joking right?" Nick said with raised eyebrows.

"Well, let’s see. Count with me," Liz said as we drove over the railroad tracks on Mountain Avenue (equivalent of hick-town Main Street).

We passed a Subway, tanning shop, tack shop (horse stuff), and a few other little shops on one side of the street with a bank, drug store, realtor’s office, and a church on the other side. That was only one city block of the main street. The next block was a little similar to the last with a few less shops.

"There’s one," Liz said as we drove under the first set of traffic lights.

We passed a few more city blocks until we came to the next set of traffic lights and turned left.

"That’s two," Tina said with a smile.

We passed a big building that Liz said was a bank, a small shopping plaza that contained the small local grocery store, a video rental place, a dry-cleaner’s, an optical office, a restaurant, and a PizzaHut. We drove down the windy road a few blocks, passing neat houses along the way. When we came to the point where we couldn’t drive anymore, we turned right.

"Is that your High School?" Nick asked as we passed a building that was only slightly larger than the Jive buildings back in Florida.

"Yep," Liz and Tina replied in unison.

"Small huh?" Liz asked with a small smile. "My class had a total of about 150 seniors and when we graduated, the student body was up to about 730-740."

We were silent for a few minutes as we observed the building while we drove by it. The lot that the building was on certainly wasn’t small. The football field was set on the right back side of the building with practice fields behind the school. There were parking lots on both sides of the building and in the back as well. On the left side of the building were a soccer field, a little playground and then a couple of baseball diamonds. On the other side of the street was a community of houses that were obviously built within the last 5 or 6 years.

"It sure was a transition from the High School that I went to before...a whole lot smaller in size. The one I came from before was almost three times that size," Liz explained as we took a left on a street across from the school.

Within two minutes we were turning around in a culdasack on one of the streets and pulled up in front of a light tan colored house with a portable basketball hoop set up at the end of the slanted driveway. Our limo pulled up to the curb in front of the small lawn, taking up all the space in front of the house, so the other limo had to park behind us, blocking the driveway.

"They probably won’t need to go anywhere anyway," Liz said as Tina opened the door and jumped out.

Before the rest of us could get out, she was already standing on the porch with the screen and door open.

"Mom?! Dad?!" Tina hollered into the house as we all gathered on the lawn and followed Liz to the door.

Tina was already off in the house looking for whoever was home so Liz led us into the front room inside the door on the left and told us to make ourselves comfortable on the couches and chairs. The room was filled with little knick-knacks, old furniture (along with new) and it obviously had a country-ish woman’s touch with the warm country pink and country blue hues that it was decorated in. There were cross-stitches and needlepoint pictures all over the walls along with photographs of the family from different occasions. The nice country feel went well with the hardwood floor that went from the inside of the door down the hallway on the right side of the stairs, through the kitchen, and over to the dining room that was only separated from the living room with a section of wall that was about 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide (it was covered with green plants).

"Court!!!!" Liz hollered after she walked over and stood at the bottom of the stairs (that led upstairs) that ended right inside the front door.

There was no response but we could hear music playing from somewhere on the upper level.

"COURTNEY!!!!" Liz yelled a little louder.

A door opened.

"Who’s calling me?" a voice hollered.

"Come here girlie!" Liz called out.

"Els?!?" Court exclaimed as she ran down the hallway from her room and practically jumped down the stairs.

She tackled Liz in a huge hug when she got to the bottom of the stairs.

"I missed ya!" Court said when she pulled away a little to look at Liz.

"Ditto," Liz said as Court hugged her again with tears glistening in the younger sister’s eyes. "Hey, hey! Don’t go cryin’ on me...you know I’ll start cryin’ too!"

"Courtney?" a woman’s voice called from the basement.

"Yeah mom..." Court hollered back as she walked down the hallway into the kitchen to where the stairs were.

"What’s going on?" the woman asked.

"Mom! Guess who’s here?!?" Court exclaimed like she was going to explode if she didn’t spill the news soon.

"Who?" the woman asked as she climbed the stairs to the kitchen.

"Hi mom," Liz said when the middle-aged woman walked into the kitchen to find two of her daughters there instead of one.

"Liz! Wow! You look...so...so...skinny," her mom was at a loss for words. "You’ve changed a lot since you left home."

"Yeah. Listen, I want to introduce you to some friends of mine ok?" Liz said as she led her mom towards the packed living room.

We all smiled when the three of them walked into the room that was filled with people. Court came over to where I was standing by the stairs wall looking at some of the pictures. Her mom was a few inches shorter than Liz (so cute!) and she had light honey brown hair that was well down her back...just about as long as Liz’s.

"Mom, this is Arti," Liz started by pointing to Arti who gave the woman a warm smile. "And Kevin...Brian, Kevin’s cousin...Howie D...Meg..."

"So this is Meg?!" her mom asked in a warm friendly voice.

"Yep, that’s me," Meg replied with a smile.

"It’s nice to meet you," her mom said before Liz continued with the introductions.

"This is Nick...and I think you know her," Liz joked as Tina walked down the stairs holding a book and a few binders.

"Funny," Tina said with a face that made her mother give her a stern look in return.

"And this..." Liz said walking over to me. "This is AJ."

She took my hand in hers as her mom came over and shook my other hand.

"Ladies and germs, this is my...I mean...our mom," Liz told us all.

"Well, your father is at work," her mom told her.

"How come you aren’t at work?" Liz asked with curiosity.

"I finally decided to take a day off," her mom replied.

"Good for you. You deserve it," Liz said with a smile. "So, where’s the little squirt?"

"Uh...I’m not sure...he said he was going to play some basketball or something with one of the neighbor kids I think..." her mom explained before the front door opened.

All eyes turned to the door.

"Hey mom..." the boy’s voice called out as he opened the door. "What’s with the limos?"

When he looked up from the basketball that was in his hand, his mouth fell open and he froze in the doorway.

"Shut the door already," Tina teased him. "And don’t forget to shut your mouth...you’re drooling.

"Shut up!" the kid hissed at his sister.

"Lyal! Tina! Both of you stop it right NOW!" their mother said sternly.

"Guys...this is the youngest of the family. Lyal (pronounced Lyle)..." Liz said as he gave us a sheepish wave before he headed up the stairs. "Wait dork! Don’t you wanna play some b-ball with the guys?"

"I dunno," he replied after he turned around slightly to look through the wooden rails of the stairs at the guys who were all smiles.

"I’d love to get a good game goin’," Bri said.

"Me too," Nick added with a sly smile.

"Count me in," D chimed in.

"I wanna play too!" Liz exclaimed. "Do you mind mom?"

"No...go ahead. I’m going to fix something for lunch," she replied before she went into the kitchen.

We all headed outside to do whatever. We had the limo drivers pull up a little bit so we could play b-ball in the street. Art, Tina, and Meg sat down on the swing that was on the front porch while the rest of us played for a little while. Liz left to go help her mom with the food while the rest of the guys, Lyal, and I continued to play our game.

When the food was ready, we ate and talked and talked and ate until we were done.

"Hey mom...we’re going to go to that Aspen Family Center place or whatever it’s called. Wanna come with?" Liz asked after we all sat back down in the living room.

"No that’s ok hun. I’ve got a few things I need to get done before your dad comes home," her mom replied with a smile.

"Ok. Well...we’ll be gone for a couple of hours and we’ll take Court and Lyal with us," Liz explained.

"That’s fine," her mom said.

When we heard that it was ok, we headed out to the limos. This time Court, Tina, Lyal, Nick, Liz, and I were in one limo with Kev, Arti, Bri, Meg, and D in the other one. We drove north on a small highway for about 10 miles before we came to a city that was a lot bigger than the one we had left a few minutes before. We drove through town and continued driving until the limos pulled into a parking lot of a family fun center. There was a go-cart track, some water skeeter things, bumper cars, a miniature golf course, and a building that had large windows. From the parking lot we could see a bunch of foam stuff in the windows of the building.

"Let’s go," Liz exclaimed as she opened the door and hopped out.

When we walked in the door, I saw that the building was fairly empty of people for being a nice summer day. A few smaller children were playing in what was known as the ‘Foam Factory’ that was a portion of the building filled with the foam walls, balls, and other play stuff. We walked under a foam walkway and went over to a counter to pay for our activities.

"May I help you?" the male behind the counter asked Liz when she walked up to the counter, soon followed by the rest of us.

"Yes...just a second," she said before she turned around to count heads. "Can I talk to your manager?"

"Uh...sure..." the guy replied hesitantly.

"Don’t worry...you didn’t do anything wrong," Liz assured him before he walked away to get the manager.

The guy led her to a small office behind the counter and she walked in. She was in there for a few minutes before she came out all smiles followed by a middle-aged woman.

"Thank you again," Liz said when she stopped next to me by the counter.

"No...Thank you," the woman replied with a smile.

"Here guys...sign this," Liz instructed as she walked over to one of the ‘Aspen Family Fun Center’ posters that hung on the wall with a black sharpie marker in hand.

She signed it ‘Ellz H’ before she handed the pen to me. I signed it and passed the pen to Kev, who signed it and then passed the pen to Howie. Howie did the same then gave the pen to Meg, who signed it and then passed it on to Nick. When all the guys had signed it, the woman beamed a huge smile as she stamped a ‘VIP’ stamp on our right hands before she turned to talk to Liz.

"You can do the rides as many times as you’d like and the drinks are on the house, but you’ll have to pay for the food and other stuff," she explained.

"Ok. Thanks again," Liz replied with a smile.

We followed her out the door that led to the activities.

"Schweet!" Lyal exclaimed as he inspected the stamp on his hand. "You got us in for free!"

"No...they got you in for free," Liz said with a sly smile as she pointed to the fellas and myself.

He smiled before he told us that he was going to go to the laser tag building. We watched him take off down the path towards a building that was obviously pitch black inside so people could play laser tag in the middle of the day.

"We’re going to race the go-carts," Meg said as she grabbed Liz’s and Arti’s hands and pulled them over to the line that only consisted of a few people.

"Wait for me!" Tina called out as she followed them.

"I’m going with them," D said as he followed.

"Me too," Nick added.

Kev, Bri, and I all decided to just go along with them so we joined them in the line.

"Let’s all go in the double ones!" Arti said with excitement as the attendant let us in to get in the go-carts. "Liz...you’re with me!"

Meg and Tina got in a red one. Nick and Bri got in a blue one. I got in a yellow one and pulled Howie along with me. Kev and Court hopped into a green one. It was obvious that these go-carts were hand made and not the expensive kind that you could buy in a store that cost an arm and a leg, but that’s what made them fun.

"Here’s the rules..." the attendant said over the intercom. "Five laps around the track. No running into the walls...No bumping other carts...and as always, HAVE FUN! Go on the green!"

As soon as the light turned green, Liz and Arti were the first ones out on the track followed by Kev and Court. Nick drove like a maniac (as always) so everyone tried to stay clear of them. Meg passed Howie and I as we went under a bridge and she stuck her tongue out and laughed as her and Tina sped off.

"Hey!!!!" I yelled to them as we gained on ‘em.

I stuck my tongue out at Meg as we passed them around a corner. She laughed at us when we got stuck behind a crowd while they easily sailed past them on the outside of the track. When the red light came on, we knew that our five laps were up so we continued until we got to the small covering where the next few people were already waiting in some other carts. We parked the carts, hopped out, and all met on the outside of the gate.

"HAHA!!!! We beat all of you!" Arti squealed in delight as she gave Liz a high five.

"Yeah...with a crazy driver like her driving it’s no wonder," Kev replied sarcastically.

"Hey! I’m not that bad," Liz said in defense.

"Uh huh," Kev teased her a little more.

We did the go-carts a few more times, but in the single ones for a better race. After about the fifth time in the carts, we met outside the gate again. It was about 4:30 so we decided to go find Lyal and then head back to their parent’s house. When we found him, we thanked the manager again and went into the building.

"Yeah! Mary said that they were here!!!!" we could hear a girl squeal as we walked in. "OH MY GOSH! There they are!!!"

She pointed to our group of 11 people and then tried to walk over to us casually. She looked like she was about to faint or something. A few other girls walked up after her and smiled with the same ‘celebrity-crazed’ smile.

"Hi," Liz said with a friendly smile.

"Hi," the girl replied plainly before she walked around Liz and went straight over to Nick.

Nick smiled at the girls as they smiled at him.

"Hi!" the girl said sweetly. "Can we have your autograph?"

"Sure," he replied as he took the pen and paper from her.

All the fellas and myself signed their papers before they turned to Meg. She signed them too and then the girls left.

"Fine...I didn’t want to sign them anyway..." Liz said with a fake pout. "Psh!"

Court laughed at her sister’s silliness and hooked elbows with her.

"So...tell me...what’s life like on the road?" Court whispered to Liz.

"It’s fun! Tiring, but fun," Liz replied with a smile before she climbed into the limo.

We headed back down the same highway that we had come on. A cell phone rang and everyone jumped to see if it was theirs like it was a competition or something.

"Haha! Mine!!!!" Liz exclaimed as she held up her phone before she pushed the send button and put it up to her ear. "Hello? *pause* Hey mom! *pause* Yeah, we’re heading back right now. *pause* No, you don’t need to fix something fancy...as a matter of fact, we’ll pick something up. *pause* Naw! It’s fine. *pause* No! I insist! We’ll be home in about 15 minutes with food. *pause* K! Bye."

She pushed the end button, dialed another number, and then put the phone back to her ear.

"Hey QT! *pause* Snuggles to you too... *laughs* Listen, I need you guys to do me a flavor. *pause* Psh! I can’t believe you said that! *laughs again* Ok...I need you to do me a FAVOR... *pause* Yeah...go to the grocery store and pick up a few bags of chips and some cottage cheese and that sort of junk..." Liz told whoever she was talking to. "Yep...when you’re done with that, meet us back at the house. *pause* Ok. Thanks! *pause* Mmmhmmm. Bye!"

She pushed the end button and then put her phone back into her pocket.

"Snuggles?" I asked with a curious smile.

"Yeah...Arti has this thing with ‘snuggles’..." she replied with a giggle.

"Oh."

She got up and moved over to the seat that was next to the window that separated us from the driver. I watched her as she rolled the glass down and told the driver to pull over to the left after we crossed the railroad tracks. She rolled the glass back up and came back over to where I was sitting. When we came to a stop on the side of the Subway building, she hopped out and motioned for a few of us to follow her. We went inside and I couldn’t help but to chuckle at the confused expression on the single person behind the counter when all 6 of us walked in.

"I’ll...uh...be right with you..." the teenage girl said as she went on helping the woman that she was making an order for.

"Ok. We’re not in any hurry," Liz told her.

The woman that was being helped turned around a little and stared at Liz for a few seconds.

"Liz?" the blond woman asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Liz replied slowly before she turned to see who had called her name.

When she saw the woman’s face, a smile crept up on her face and she walked over and gave the woman a huge hug.

"Jesi!!!!" Liz exclaimed as they embraced.

"Hi!" Jesi replied with a smile. "You look great! I barely recognized you!"

"Thanks," Liz said before she turned and motioned for me to come over.

I walked over and gave both women a smile.

"This is AJ," Liz said as I shook the woman’s hand. "AJ this is Jesi. We were really good friends in High School."

Jesi greeted me and gave me a smile.

"So, are you still with Adam?" Liz asked.

"Yeah...he’s in the jeep," Jesi replied.

"Well, tell him I said hi ok?"

"I will!" Jesi said as she paid for their food.

"It was great to see you Hesi Jesi!" Liz exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was great to see ya Lizard," Jesi said with a laugh before she started to walk towards the door.

"Hey Jess?"

"Yeah," she replied as she turned around a little.

"Are you and Geiger (Adam – her beau) busy tomorrow night?" Liz asked with a hopeful voice.

"Nope," Jesi replied with a smile.

"Wanna go to a concert in Denver?" Liz asked with a sly smile.

"What kind of concert?"

"Mine..." Liz said with the same smile. "And theirs..."

She gestured to Nick and me casually.

"Wait a sec...Aren’t the...oh my gosh Liz...don’t tell me that...oh goll...why didn’t you tell me?" Jesi said in a rushed voice when she realized what Liz was trying to tell her.

"Yes, the Backstreet Boys are performing there tomorrow night and yes, that’s what I’m talking about. Will you two come? Will ya will ya will ya?!?" Liz exclaimed.

"Of course we’ll come!" Jesi squealed with a smile before she turned to look at Nick and I with teasing eyes. "Even if we don’t exactly like their music...but since you asked."

She gave a big dramatic sigh and Liz started giggling.

"Cool!" Liz replied. "Just go to the ticket booth and give them your name...everything else will be taken care of."

"Cool! Thanks Liz!" Jesi said before she headed back towards the door. "Bye!"

She waved to us before she walked out the door. The girl at the counter was kind of shocked at who she was looking at...Nick and I, part of the BACKSTREET BOYS, and of course Liz, part of our opening act. She seemed kind of scared at first, but she gave us a nervous smile as she waited for us to order.

"Ok...We’ve got a HUGE order for you," Liz told her and watched the girl as her eyes got big. "Don’t worry...we’ll be VERY patient."

"Ok. What is it that you need?" the girl asked.

"We will need...uh...let me count...13 foot longs..." Liz said after she mentally counted everyone.

The rest of us sat down at a few of the tables until Liz called us over individually to decide our sandwich toppings. When all the sandwiches were done, Tina and Court grabbed the bags and headed out to the limo while Liz paid for them. I thought that it was nice of the girl to be so kind even though we had an immensely large order so I took one of the papers off the window and signed it. I had Nick sign it too before I went up to the counter to have Liz sign it. She did and then handed it to the girl who gave us a huge grin in return.

"Have a great night!" Liz told her as we headed towards the door.

"You too!" the girl called out just before we walked out.

We climbed back into the limo and headed for the house with the food. The other limo wasn’t there yet, even though we were gone for quite a while longer than it should’ve taken them to go to the grocery store, so we went inside and waited for them. When they finally pulled up, Liz greeted them at the door and told them to go in. I watched her out the window as she talked to the limo drivers and invited them inside to have some food too.

"Your dad is downstairs working on his computer," Liz’s mom told her when she joined us in the kitchen and dining room area.

"Ok," Liz replied. "I’m going to go say hi."

I watched her walk down the stairs to the basement and when she was out of view, I turned my attention back to the sandwich that was on my plate. I sat down next to Court at the table and didn’t notice when Liz came up the stairs followed by what I guessed was her dad. After another round of introductions, we all went back to whatever we were doing, whether it was playing the PlayStation that was setup in the family room area, eating our dinner, or just talking. Liz’s family was really nice...as a matter of fact, I don’t even know why I was nervous on the way down here. They’re great!

"So, are you and my daughter dating?" Liz’s dad asked me as he pulled a couple of pops from the fridge.

He came into the dining room that was now empty besides me, sat down at the end of the table, and handed me one of the cans.

"Yeah...Thanks," I told him as I opened the can and took a sip.

"That’s great. Just promise me one thing," he said.

"What’s that?" I asked.

"Promise me you’ll take good care of her," he said in a low quiet voice. "She needs someone that will be there for her when we, her mother and I, can’t."

"I promise I’ll take care of her the best I can," I replied.

"Thanks...that’s all I can ask...is for your best," he said as he patted my shoulder a few times before he stood up and went into the kitchen.

I watched as he gave his wife a hug and a kiss before he let her go and then went back down to the basement. ‘Man...why can’t everyone love each other like that?’ I thought to myself with a small smile.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Liz whispered as she took a seat next to me on the bench.

"You," I replied as I gave her a loving hug.

This story archived at http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=7929