Chapter 3 One Epic Game of Lazer Tag
Exactly an hour and a half later Kelshie and Jess walked through Heather’s front door. They didn’t need to be let in because they knew where Heather hid her extra set of keys.
They tried to sneak in quietly but Shep, Heather’s German shepherd heard them coming and rushed to the door protectively before they could enter. Lacey and Hunter, Heather’s husky and beagle, followed Shep and started barking.
“Shep it’s us, Aunt Kelshie and Aunt Jess!” Rich, Melina and Heather heard Kelshie say from the hallway.
“I’ll go rescue them from the vicious guard dogs,” Rich got up and headed toward the door.
“But the Pups, as you call them Heather, aren’t vicious,” Melina commented a little confused.
Heather gave a little giggle, “Rich is just being sarcastic. Shep gets really protective of Rich and I and anyone in the house. Lacey and Hunter just follow him. Once they realize its Kelshie and Jess they’ll be all excited.”
“And did I hear someone say Aunt Kelshie and Aunt Jess?” Melina questioned with a laugh in her voice.
Heather smiled, “Jess and Kelshie are like my sisters and the Pups are like my kids so it’s fitting to call Jess and Kelshie Aunt Jess and Aunt Kelshie. And if you like you can be called Aunt Melina.”
“I would love that!” Melina smiled.
“Hermie!” Kelshie exclaimed as she walked into the living room with a very excited Hunter right at her heels.
“Kelshie!” They hugged each other tightly then Jess squeezed Heather.
“And Melina! It’s so good to see you in person!” Jess smiled. “Facebook is a great way to meet people but I’m so excited to meet you in person!”
“Yes it’s great to finally meet you Melina!” Kelshie agreed.
“And it is so nice to meet the both of you!” Melina hugged both Jess and Kelshie.
“Now all we need is Carly and all five Backstreet Buds will be together,” Heather commented.
“Will I meet Carly while I’m here?” Melina asked.
“Of course! She’ll be coming with us to the concert but also you’ll meet her tonight. She’s a part of The Group I was telling you about.”
“Oh ok. I can’t wait for tonight,” Melina smiled.
“Me either!” Jess added, “I haven’t seen any of The Group in a while.”
“Ditto,” Kelshie agreed. “Do we know what time we are meeting everyone?” Kelshie directed the question to Heather.
Heather replied, “John called me just after I got off the phone with you two and he said we are meeting at Space Odyssey by 4:30 and our reservation is at 5 but he might be able to get us in a little bit earlier.”
“Oh good I have time for a mid-morning nap!” Kelshie smiled widely.
“Yay!” Jess agreed.
“Mid-morning nap? Do I want to know what time you two went to bed last night?” Heather giggled slightly. She knew Jess and Kelshie too well and already knew their answer would involve the un-Godly hours of the morning when people like herself would still be asleep or waking up for a normal day of work.
“I don’t think you want to know,” Kelshie laughed.
“Well we weren’t too bad. We got enough sleep to take turns driving up here,” Jess defended herself and her best friend. “But we got up really early to beat traffic.”
Heather just shook her head and grinned. “Did either of you sleep in the car?”
“No,” they answered in unison, “We wanted to keep each other company and we were listening to Backstreet the whole way up.”
“Go ahead pick which couch you want to nap on while the rest of us get ready.”
Kelshie and Jess picked the couches they normally vacated while staying at Heather’s house. Hunter, Heather’s beagle, looked up at her Aunt Kelshie with confusion in her eyes. The beagle had her favorite tennis ball in her mouth and she dropped it in front of the couch waiting for Kelshie to pick it up and start an intense game of fetch like they always did.
“Awe Hunter,” Heather rubbed the beagle’s ear, “Aunt Kelshie is taking a little nap right now so she won’t get killed in Lazer Tag tonight. She’ll play with you when she wakes up.”
“I’m going to do the dishes,” Rich said walking into the kitchen.
“Can I help?” Melina asked.
“No I got it but thanks for offering,” Rich smiled back at her.
“If you want to Melina, you could help me with getting the sheets on the guest beds,” Heather commented.
“Ok I’ll be happy to help.”
It didn’t take long for Rich to finish the dishes and the girls to finish making the guest beds and as the time rolled closer to 4 o’clock Rich, Heather and Melina took showers and got dressed fairly quickly. Soon enough it was 2:30 which gave Jess and Kelshie just enough time to wake up and get themselves ready and for Kelshie to fit in a round of fetch with Hunter.
“Hunter go wake up Aunt Kelshie,” Heather commanded with an almost babying voice.
She jumped onto the couch and started licking Kelshie’s face as her tail wagged a mile a minute.
Kelshie started to giggle then said, “Ok! Ok! I’m up.” She patted Hunter on the head and smiled, “I know what you want to do.” She grabbed the tennis ball and threw it toward the hall way. Hunter bonded off the couch and Kelshie got up.
“You can take her outside if you want to. You can take all three of them out in the back if you want,” Heather suggested. “I figured we’d let Jess get ready first while you play with the Pups because Hunter was going to have a fit if you didn’t play fetch with her before we left for lazer tag.”
Kelshie laughed, “I’ll be more than happy to take them in the backyard. Just let me know when Ms. I Can Take Hours To Get Ready is finished.”
Heather laughed hardily then replied, “I’ll let you know.”
“Hey!” Jess woke up just as Kelshie was about to walk out of the living room, “I heard that! And it doesn’t always take me hours to get ready.”
“Do you want to rephrase that sentence? I don’t believe you my dear,” Kelshie looked accusingly at Jess.
“Oh just go outside and play fetch!” Jess retorted back.
Heather and Melina chuckled at the playful bickering before them.
“You two are funnier in person then you are over Facebook,” Melina giggled.
“Why thank you,” Kelshie nodded her head and Jess just laughed.
After Jess and Kelshie were finished Heather packed a lunch for on the go and everyone hopped in Heather’s car to start the half hour ride to Space Odyssey.
By the time they found a parking spot and met the rest of The Group it was exactly 4:30.
Everyone in The Group was so excited to see each other. It had been months since Jess and Kelshie traveled back up north to visit and everyone rushed to greet them.
Once everyone said their excited hellos Heather introduced Melina to The Group, “Melina these are my best friends, John, his girlfriend Marcy, Tommy, Rose, Anthony, Mason, and last but not least our Backstreet Bud Carly.”
“It’s so good to meet you face to face Melina!” Carly gave her a hug.
“It’s good to meet you too!”
After The Group welcomed Melina to the United States Tommy said, “So how are we dividing into teams?”
Anthony replied, “Well there are twelve of us.”
“How about we do two teams of six,” John said taking control of the situation like he usually did.
“Boys against girls?” Rose suggested.
“Agreed,” The Group said together.
“And the girls call the purple lasers!” Heather and Jess both said then laughed.
“Ok then now that that’s settled let’s begin the battle,” John clapped his hands together and led the way inside.
Once The Group sat through the introductory video, the teams’ home bases were established and everyone was handed their censor vests and laser guns the lights were turned off and all the obstacles, vests, and guns glowed in neon colors. The game was intense! People were diving for cover and running in all different directions. Some hid behind obstacles and ambushed the opposite team. Everyone was having a blast!
“This is like we’re back in high school again!” Heather said to Jess, Melina, and Rose when they were hiding behind an obstacle close to the boys’ home base. They were waiting for the right moment to ambush Mason who was protecting the boys’ target. Once either the boys or girls home target was hit the game ended.
“This game is intense!” Rose said looking around with laser gun ready. The light show from the two teams’ lasers was quite the spectacle.
“Look at Kelshie!” Jess pointed.
Kelshie was running for cover as John and Rich were chasing after her. They were aiming for her but she ducked behind a wall just in time. The two boys looked at each other and laughed.
Rich called out, “You gotta come out sooner or later Kelshie.”
He didn’t know that Kelshie had crawled closer to the target and they also didn’t know that the other girls were close to the target either.
Rose motioned for Kelshie to crawl over to the rest of them then she whispered, “On the count of three Kelshie you aim for Rich, Hermie you aim for John. Jess you take out Mason and me and Melina will try to hit the target.”
“Hey why does Kelshie have to shoot my boyfriend? He tried to aim for me earlier and I want payback,” Heather said half jokingly and half serious.
“Fine then you aim for Rich and she’ll aim for John,” Rose compromised.
The girls waited for Rose’s count quietly and once she said three they executed the plan as quickly as they could. Kelshie and Heather hit John and Rich at the same time and both boys were shocked by the vibration their vests made once the laser beam hit them. Mason was confused and slightly stunned by Jess’s hit leaving the home target wide open for Melina and Rose to shoot it. Once the target was hit the ending buzzer sounded and the game ended.
All 12 friends made their way back to the check in counter and Tommy said to Jess, Melina, Kelshie, Rose and Hermie, “I give you girls credit for that. That was a great ambush.”
“Rosie was the master mind behind that one,” Jess said.
Tommy laughed, “Well that was the best ambush I have seen.”
“Thank you,” Rose smiled.
Rich came right behind Heather, “Why were you the one who shot me?”
She giggled, “It was payback for almost shooting me in the first two minutes of the game!”
“Key word there was almost,” Rich defended himself.
“But still you tried to shoot me! And I was still trying to get my gun to work correctly!” Heather’s voice got a little louder but there was still a giggle in it.
“Oh would you too just stop fighting,” John chuckled. “Kiss and make up already.”
Rich wrapped his arms around Heather’s waist, “Gladly.”
As they kissed their friends whistled and they heard Anthony say, “Oh get a room.”
Heather blushed slightly as she and Rich parted lips.
“You two are such a cute couple!” Rose said with a smile on her face.
Rich squeezed Heather a little tighter and they both replied, “Aren’t we?”
The Group headed toward their favorite home town hang out spot, The Chit Chat Dinner. As usual the food was delicious and The Group caught up on old times telling Melina and John’s girlfriend Marcy hilarious stories from years ago.
“So Jess, Kelshie,” Mason started, “Dating anyone?”
“Yes!” the both answered excitedly.
“Oh really how long?”
“Garret and I have been dating for six months,” Jess answered showing a picture of her boyfriend which was on her phone.
“And Jason and I have been dating for five months now,” Kelshie said.
“Good for you two,” Mason grinned. “Why didn’t they come up with you guys?”
“Because Backstreet concerts are not to be shared with boyfriends,” all five Backstreet Buds recited together.
“Damn have you guys practiced?” Tommy laughed.
“No it’s just that we have all decided to leave our boyfriends at home and have a girls night out whenever we go to a BSB concert,” Heather explained.
“But Rich will be at the concert,” Anthony commented.
“That’s different. He won’t be with us in the audience. He’ll be working.”
“Besides guys don’t have as much fun at BSB concerts as we Backstreet Buds do,” Carly commented, “That’s why I’m not taking you with me Tommy.”
“How do you know if I wouldn’t have fun or not?” Tommy asked.
“Do you like Backstreet?”
“I do admit that they are talented.”
“Would you really want to be stuck in a concert hall with hundreds of fan girls screaming almost every second over a rich guy your girlfriend wishes she was with?” Kelshie questioned.
“No,” Tommy said with the face of defeat.
“That’s why boyfriends are not allowed at Backstreet concerts with the exception of Rich,” Heather said.
“My boyfriend asked me the same thing when I told him why guys weren’t allowed with us,” Melina added in, “And he had the same reaction as you did Tommy when I explained to him.”
“Well he could have come with you to visit Melina,” Rich added in. “There is enough room at the house for the both of you. Plus he could have stayed home with The Pups while we were gone.”
“He actually couldn’t come with me because he was hit with work last minute,” Melina explained. “But thank you for being willing to include him.”
“It’s no problem. The more the merrier.”
As they were finishing up dessert a news flash come up on the TV about the impending hurricane.
“Hurricane Irene appears to be traveling toward our area. The storm hasn’t made land fall in the southern states on the east coast but it looks like it will make landfall in New York City by Saturday,” the weatherman informed.
“Saturday?!” Carly nearly screamed. “What are we going to do about the concert on Saturday? Do you think it’ll be canceled?”
“I don’t think it would be,” Rich commented. “I mean unless it gets really bad then yeah it would but as of now it’s not canceled. I’ll call the tour manager tomorrow morning and ask. But I have a feeling this hurricane isn’t going to be horrible. And if worse comes to worst I’ll take you girls to the next concert.”
“Ok,” Carly answered, “Just let me know what the manager says.”
“I will don’t worry,” Rich smiled.
When everyone was finished and the check was divided up, The Group went on their separate ways. The night ended fairly early to everyone’s dismay but it was a Thursday night and almost everyone needed to go to work the next morning.
