CHAPTER 26
NICK NARRATING
“I don’t want you to leave.” I said.
“I’m not going to Germany.”
“Why not?” I complained.
“Because I’m American. I don’t leave my country. Ever. I won’t do it. If God wanted me to have been German I would have been born in Germany.”
“Why don’t you leave the country?”
“Because, what if something happened and we could never get back in.”
“That would never happen.”
“You don’t know that. Lots of unexpected things happen.”
“Bullshit. Like what?”
“You’re right. When I was growing up I totally expected to fall in love with a Backstreet Boy. It was my lifelong goal.”
“Fine. Point made. But I still wish I didn’t have to go.”
“You have to go.”
“I know. But I’m gonna miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too. But even if you weren’t going to Germany I’d have to go home.”
“Why?”
“Because believe it or not I do have a job.”
“Oh yeah.” I really had forgotten about that. “That sucks.”
“Uh huh. Now, have you packed yet?”
“No.”
“You leave tomorrow.”
“Yeah. That leaves a whole day to pack.”
“Not really. You should just do it now.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Do you want to do anything?”
“Yeah.”
“Really? What’s that?”
“You.”
“I walked right into that one didn’t I?”
“Pretty much yeah.”
DANIELLE NARRATING
“Haley, are you coming home ever?” The rest of us had been home for days, but she had decided to stay with Nick. They were freaking me out. They barely knew each other, but they were already serious. I knew Kevin was worried about it too because he’d given me his cell phone number in case he did anything stupid and I could have Haley yell at him over the phone. Seemed like a good idea.
“I’m coming home tomorrow morning.” I thought I heard Nick mutter something about not if I can help it, but I couldn’t really tell. That boy muttered all the time. It really makes you wonder what the fuck he could possibly be saying.
KEVIN NARRATING
“Guess who’s late.” I said to Brian.
“Well, Haley left this morning, so I bet Nick.”
“How’d you know?”
“Lucky guess. We should just keep Haley here to get him everywhere on time.”
“Yeah, especially now that he figured out we always tell him half an hour earlier. He never believes us anymore.”
“Yeah. That sucks. I think I liked it better when he was like sixteen. Then we could at least yell at him.”
“You never yelled at him. You always left it for me.”
“Well, you were the oldest. And he liked me, so I didn’t wanna kill that.”
“I’m here guys.” Nick said.
“You know you’re forty minutes late right?” I said.
“Yep.”
“We could have missed our flight.”
“Did we?”
“No.”
“Then back the fuck off.”
“You know I’m not going to.”
“Still waiting for the day.”
NICK NARRATING
I missed her. We were only on the plane and I missed her. She’d only been gone for like six hours and I missed her. How was I gonna get through two weeks? I was gonna go nuts. I had to do something. What could I do? Throw things at Howie while he slept? Nah. Make fun of Kevin. Nah. But I could go fuck with AJ’s head a little bit. That came out wrong, but you know what I mean.
“AJ.” I called.
“What the fuck do you want? I am in the middle of a very important movie on my DVD player.”
“What?”
“For your information I am watching a highly educational program entitled Bring it On. I believe you’re a fan? I have recently started a fan club. I’ll give you the pamphlet later. Now please leave me to my business.”
“I guess I’m not surprised you’re into things like Bring it On after your display at the photo shoot the other day.”
“You do realize that photo shoot was almost a week ago right?”
“Yeah, I’ve just been pretty busy, so I haven’t had time to appropriately harass you. So what the fuck man? Are you gay and didn’t tell me?”
“Nick I am so not in the mood.”
“So you are gay.”
“Fuck you man.”
“In your dreams.”
“Seriously man. I’m too tired for your bullshit.”
“Then just answer, why did you serenade that photographer?” I asked sitting in the seat next to him.
“Why not? I was bored and figured it was a good way to pass time and freak you out at the same time. Win, win situation.”
“That’s still pretty fucked up man.”
“Listen, I am comfortable enough with my sexuality to,”
“Shut the fuck up man. You are totally making this no fun.”
“You’re just not comfortable with yourself like I am.”
“Really. Then tell me again who has the hot new girlfriend.”
“You do Nicky. And I dream about her every night.”
“You’re a fuckhead you know that right?”
“I’ve heard that once or twice.”
“You know you’re really pissing me off.”
“I figured.”
“You realize I’m about eight seconds away from punching you in the face.”
“Yeah. And since you’re about three times my size I’m gonna hide behind Kevin. So, uh, bye.” With that he just took off running. What a pussy. What a fucking pussy. He knew I wouldn’t really beat him up. He just didn’t want to deal with my shit anymore. I am so fucking bored it isn’t even funny.
MELISSA NARRATING
“Let’s do something.” I said.
“Let’s go shopping.” Danielle said.
“You don’t even like shopping.”
“That’s because none of us have any money. But now Haley has a rich boyfriend.”
“You know just because she has a rich boyfriend that doesn’t mean she’s rich too.”
“I know. But it does mean that she has to look hot all the time. He could just break it off next week if she doesn’t satisfy him.”
“Do you think he will?”
“If he does I’ll kick that little pussy’s ass. I could take him.”
“Yeah. He’s only like twice your size.”
“He’s all talk. Besides look at these guns.” She was insane.
BRIAN NARRATING
We got off the plane and I could tell Nick was going to be a pissy little bitch until we got home. He tended to do that a lot. We all figured he’d grow out of it, but since he’s still doing it at 25 I think that ship has sailed.
“I don’t want to do this guys.” Nick said.
“Do you even know what we’re doing?” Howie asked.
“No, but I figure I don’t want to do it.”
“This is going to be a long trip isn’t it?” Howie said to me.
“I think this trip is only the beginning.”
MELISSA NARRATING
So, we’d decided not to go shopping partly because it was ten o’clock at night and everywhere was closed, so we just rented movies and bought a ton of food to eat until we passed out on Danielle’s floor. The place would be a freaking pig sty by tomorrow, but it wasn’t my house so I didn’t care.
“What do you want to watch first?” Haley asked. No one answered her. “Thanks for answering guys. I really appreciate all the feedback.”
“No one cares Haley. We’re gonna end up watching them all anyway. Just pick one.” Jen said.
“Fine. How about Happy Gilmore?”
“That’s fine. Just put it in. I’m gonna go get ice cream.” About ten seconds later Jen came out of the kitchen with two pints of ice cream.
“Are you gonna eat all of that?”
“Hell yeah. It’s been a really long day. It could be worse. I could be doing drugs.”
“Whatever.”
The movie started and since we had all seen it six or seven times we just started talking through it.
“Do you guys remember the first day we met the guys and Nick couldn’t stop staring at Haley?” Danielle asked.
“Yeah. He just stared at your boobs the whole time.” I said.
“No he didn’t!” I loved making her feel uncomfortable. She always turned so red. That was probably kinda mean, but oh well.
“You’re right.” Jen said. “He sometimes stared at your ass.”
“I hate you guys you know that right?”
“Yep.” We all answered.
HALEY NARRATING
They were totally doing this on purpose. I guess I’ll have to get back at Danielle. “Hey, do you guys remember the time Danielle got drunk for the first time?”
“We don’t need to tell that story again Haley.”
“I think we do.”
“At least it’s not as bad as Nick’s.” Jen said.
“That’s true.” Danielle said. “You are the one who fucks a guy that cried in an elevator.” Yeah, that totally came back to bite me in the ass.
“At least I never got drunk and decided to go on the monkey bars at a school playground.”
“Hey, how would I have known they would snap in half?”
“It was a preschool playground! And after you snapped the monkey bars you decided it would be a good idea to go on the little plastic slide?”
“It was very tempting okay?”
“Alright, fine. How about the swings? Was it tempting to break those too?”
“Well, by then it had become personal. I couldn’t let the playground win.”
“But you did.”
“Well, at least I broke everything in the process. So, new topic.”
“Okay. Fine.”
“So, what’s your boyfriend doing in Germany?” Jen asked.
“No idea.” I said.
“How do you not know?”
“Well, it’s promotional stuff and shit. I don’t know.”
“You knew more about them before you met them.”
“So?”
“I will never understand you Haley.” Danielle said.
AJ NARRATING
So I’d been working on my laptop for six days now trying to make this look official. And I’m not exactly a computer whiz so I had to fuck around with all these buttons before I could even begin to do anything. I had finally finished and it was totally perfect. And besides the picture of boobs on the back it looked very official. It was exactly how I wanted it.
I got it printed out in some business room at the hotel. I never knew how difficult it was to hook computers up to shit. I was so fucking confused some old lady had to come help me. She must have been like fifty. I am fucking 27 years old and I can’t work the computer. What an asshole.
I walked down to Nick’s hotel room all stealth and ready to give this to him. I finally reached his door and knocked on it. I knew he was in there, but he wasn’t answering so I knocked again.
“Who is it?”
“Your best friend.”
“Fuck you AJ. I’m fucking tired. Just leave me the fuck alone.”
“Nah. That’s boring. Open the door and I’ll be gone in two seconds.”
“I’m gonna regret this aren’t I?”
“Probably.” He came to the door and opened it. I just kinda shoved my way in.
“What do you want?”
“Well, I know you were interested in the Bring it On fan club. And I promised to give you a pamphlet, but I never did. I was feeling bad about that so, here it is. All the information you need to join the fan club.” I handed it to him and he read it out loud.
“Join the Bring it On fan club. You won’t regret it. Kirsten Dunst is hot as fuck and you get to see her cheer. And…” he opened it to read the inside. “It’s the only movie the hot Backstreet Boy has watched with a girl in the back of a limo that a)he didn’t have sex during, b) made him late to his concert, and finally c)almost ruined his chances at one of the hottest girls he’s ever seen. Basically he just got lucky that she had a momentary lapse in judgment and didn’t say no when he asked her out again.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. It sounded even funnier out loud.
“Get the fuck out of my room and take this piece of shit with you.”
“You could at least be a good sport about it. Maybe now I’ll have to show Haley.”
“You show Haley and I’ll fucking kill you.”
“You wouldn’t kill me.”
“Don’t fucking test me.”
“Why are you so pissy? We’re going home tomorrow. You get to go see her then. Calm the fuck down.”
HALEY NARRATING
“Haley, when do they come back?” Melissa asked.
“Today.”
“When will you see him?”
“I have no idea. They’ll be in New York and then Tuesday the album comes out, then they go to LA, and then to Canada. Then I think they go to China, and then they start the tour.”
“Are you gonna go see him when they’re in New York?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Just wondering.” At that exact moment my cell phone rang and I picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Haley?”
“That’s usually who uses this phone.”
“Very funny.” I missed him. This was fucking pathetic.
NICK NARRATING
I missed her. This was fucking pathetic. I didn’t even know when I’d be able to see her again. We were going to Canada soon, and then Japan, and then the tour starts.
“So, I was wondering, are you gonna come to New York while we’re here?” Please come.
“I don’t know. Aren’t you busy?”
“Probably, but I’ll have some time. And if you don’t I won’t see you until like, after the tour. And between like, the tenth and thirteenth we don’t have much to do.”
“Well, I have to be there Tuesday anyway, so yeah I guess I could come out that weekend.”
Thank God. “Why do you have to be here Tuesday?”
“Because we have two interviews to do.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. You probably should know that.”
“I can’t even keep track of myself. How do you expect to know what you’re doing a whole like six days from now?”
“I guess I didn’t.”
“Alright. Well, Kevin’s yelling at AJ, and I think I’m next, so I have to go, but I’ll see you soon right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Bye.”
“Bye.”
“So,” Melissa said, “I guess you’re going to New York on the tenth. That’s Saturday right?”
“Friday.”
“Did he want you to come?”
“I don’t know.”
“He did. You know he did. He misses you just as much as you miss him. Trust me. He probably misses you more actually.”
“No he doesn’t.”
“Yes he does. He loves you Haley. You two work together. God knows why, but you do.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
sorry i havn't put up another chapter. i'm having some writer's block, but i'll try and get one up soon. and, after the middle of march i'll have a lot more time, but hopefully i'll have one up before then.
