* Chapter 2 *

"Liz! Liz! Wake up!" Courtney whispered loudly in my ear. "We’re here!"

"Sorry. We’re here already? How long was I out?" I asked in a slightly groggy voice.

"I’m not sure exactly how long you were asleep, but you missed dinner and your favorite movie," she said as we got our bags out of the overheard compartment.

"Oh. That would explain why I’m kind of hungry."

"We can get you something when we get off of the plane. I’m sure they have better food in the airport than they do on the planes," Court said as we walked down the aisle to the front exit door of the plane.

As we walked out of the plane gate, we walked down the hallway and noticed a cute little taco shop. We quickly made our way to the shop and I ordered for the both of us while Court found us some seats. I ordered two hard tacos and two bean burritos and waited for our food. I grabbed our food and made my way to where she was sitting. The food smelled so good and we were so hungry that we scarfed it down in like 5 minutes. We hurriedly threw our trash away and made our way towards where the signs said the baggage claim would be.

"Liz! Courtney! HEY LIZ!" I heard someone scream towards us.

I whirled around, but couldn’t see anyone that I knew. I instinctively walked a few feet more and to my surprise, I saw AJ waving at me! Oh my gosh! Was he really waving at me?!? I turned around to see if anyone else responded, but everyone around me just kept on walking the other way. He really was waving at me.

"Look who’s waving at me!" I said as I grabbed Court’s arm and pointed. "Look!"

We hurried over to where AJ was standing. He quickly introduced himself and explained that Nick, Bri, Kev and D were out in the limo waiting for us. He said that he knew who we were because the MTV execs gave them the tape that Court made. I blushed so much when he told us that. We talked as we swiftly moved towards the baggage claim. I still couldn’t believe that this was happening.

"Hey AJ. Would you pinch me?" I asked sort of jokingly.

I shouldn’t have said that because when I wasn’t expecting it, he reached over and pinched my arm.

"Ouch!" I complained. "I was only kidding!" AJ and Court both laughed at my whining.

"Would you like some cheese with that whine?" Court said. This statement made AJ totally crack up.

"Better be careful what you ask for," warned AJ in an old wise guy voice.

"Raspberry!" I exclaimed as I stuck my tongue out at both of them.

"Well fine! Be that way!" he said rather sarcastically as he lifted his purple tinted sunglasses and gave me a funny look back.

"Fine, I will!" I said as I lightly smacked him on the arm.

"Ouch!" he said as we all laughed.

We quickly walked over to where the elevators were and patiently waited for one to get to the floor we were on. The elevator dinged so we knew it was there. It took us a few seconds to pile onto the elevator with all of our stuff trailing behind us. I couldn’t help but pick at the side of the elevator because I was so nervous. AJ sure seemed to be enjoying himself as he hummed along to the music that played in the background. When the elevator opened on the floor that we needed, we scooped up our stuff and headed to the curb where the passengers (that’s us) were to be picked up.

"Wow!" I said softly as the double stretch limo pulled up in front of us. "Is this for us?!?"

"Yep," AJ replied as he walked around to the driver’s door and asked him to pop the trunk.

Just as I was about to say something to Court, the sunroof of the limo opened. Out popped Nick, Bri, and Kev. I smiled at them as I lugged my stuff to the back and hurled it into the trunk. Court did the same.

"Hi guys. Where’s D?" I asked.

"He’s in here with us. The sunroof isn’t big enough for the four of us," Nick said while he watched us.

After we got all of our stuff into the trunk, AJ opened the door for us. What a gentleman, I thought to myself. I waited for Court to get in and then I followed her. AJ then got in and shut the door behind him.

"Guys, this is Liz," he said pointing to me. "And this is her sister Courtney."

"Hi," they all said in unison.

"This is so cool! This morning Bo said that we wouldn’t be seeing you until tomorrow, so I was totally not expecting for you to pick me up here!" I said nervously.

"Well, we actually got a call from MTV about the plans, so we asked them what time you two were flying in. We didn’t exactly have any plans so we all decided to surprise you," Howie said smiling.

"I really appreciate you all doing this just for me!" I exclaimed.

"That’s what we’re here for," Brian said jokingly.

"Do you guys mind if I call a friend of mine? She made me promise her that I’d call when I got off the plane," I said.

"I think we need to huddle on this one, guys," Kev said sarcastically. They all leaned in and pretended to talk about it. I could see that they were trying to make me feel as comfortable as possible. This attempt at humor made me relax a little bit.

"We, as a group, have found that the party in question, that’s you, should be granted her request," Nick said authoritatively.

I giggled and then said, "The party in question thanks you very much," as Kev reached over and handed me the phone.

"You guys don’t mind if it’s long distance do you?" I asked. I looked up to see them shaking their heads.

"I don’t think we should mind, since it’s going to be on MTV’s tab in MTV’s limo," said AJ as he smiled. I quickly dialed the number and waited while the phone rang. I could feel all eyes on me as I looked out the window while waiting for Mel to pick up the phone.

"Hello. Mel speaking." I was relieved to hear Mel’s voice on the other end of the line.

"Hey Mel! It’s me. We made it," I said as everyone in the limo laughed at a joke Nick had just told.

"Wait a sec. Who is that in the background?!? Is that them?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes! Can you believe it? I wish you could be here too! You would love this. Hang on ok?" I said. I put my palm over the receiver and asked if everyone would say hi to Mel. They all agreed as I held up the phone.

"Hi Mel," they all said.

"Isn’t that cool? Uh huh. Yeah. I’ll take pictures and stuff for ya. Yeah. Well, I’m calling on MTV’s tab so I don’t think I should run the bill up too high. I’ll call you from the hotel, ok?" I asked.

"Ok," she said. "I’ll be waiting for your call!"

"Ok. Love ya. Bye-bye," I said before I hung up the phone.

"That was quick," AJ said jokingly. "I would have been on the phone for forever!"

"I told her I’d call her later from the hotel," I explained.

"She was so excited. And she’s not even here!" I whispered in Court’s ear.

"Hey, hey! No secrets in this limo!" exclaimed Brian in a funny voice. "Spill the news."

"Well, she said that she wishes she were here and she wants me to take lots of pictures. That is if it’s ok with you guys," I said with a hopeful voice.

"I think we can come to some kind of compromise," Nick said as he pulled out a disposable camera and snapped a candid picture.

"Wait! Let us at least pose!" I said as both Court and I looked at Nick and made funny faces. Everyone laughed as he took a picture of us and then told us all to scrunch in so he could take another picture.

"Let’s take another one when we get out at the hotel so we can all fit in," said Nick while he put the camera back into the pocket of his warm-ups jacket and adjusted the bill of his hat. That’s what he wears when he doesn’t want to be recognized in public.