* Chapter 23 *

"Hey!" AJ said happily after I opened the door. "Ready?"

"Yeah," I said as I walked out the door and followed him to his truck.

"Sorry that I’m a little early," he said as he opened the door for me. "I thought traffic would be bad, but it wasn’t."

"That’s ok," I replied with a smile as I hopped in.

"I like your outfit," AJ said to break the silence after a few minutes of driving.

"Thanks," I replied while I turned to see him smiling as we pulled up to a red light. "Where are we going anyway?"

"I can’t tell you that," he said with a sly smile.

"Fine," I said as I stuck out my tongue playfully.

"Don’t worry. We’re almost there," he said as the light turned green again.

"Oh jeez!" I said rather disappointed. "Turn it!"

N*Sync came on the radio and I can not stand the song that they were playing. I can’t stand much of their music.

"You don’t like them either," he asked as he turned the station to one that was playing Smash Mouth.

"I can only stand a few of their songs," I said as we pulled into the right lane.

I watched him flip the turn signal on as we approached a Mickey D’s. What? Mickey D’s?

"We’re going to Mickey D’s for lunch?" I asked as we pulled into the parking lot.

"I have a hankering for some real gourmet food," he teased while we pulled into a spot.

After he turned the car off, he walked around and opened the door for me. We went in and ordered. When we had our food in hand, we found a quiet little booth off in one corner and sat down to eat.

"So, what are we doing after this?" I asked after taking a few bites of my quarter pounder with cheese. "Wait...let me guess...it’s a secret?"

"Ding ding ding...we have a winner," he said in one of his funny voices before he took another bite of his burger.

I sipped on my Mt. Dew for a few seconds before grabbing a few of his fries. I didn’t order anything but a burger and a drink because normally I hate Mickey D’s food. I didn’t tell him that cause I didn’t want him to feel bad about coming here. He watched me dip the fries in his ketchup before munching on them while he took a sip of his coke. After I was done eating the fries, I picked up the remainder of my burger and wrapped it back up in the paper before placing it on the tray with the other trash. I folded my arms loosely and rested them on the table in front of me as he continued eating his burger and fries. Every once in a while he would glance up and catch me looking at him. When he looked up, I would instantly turn my gaze to the wall...or the window...or the table...or whatever was around, hoping that he didn’t notice me staring. One time he looked up and caught me off guard. I just sat there and smiled as if I was playing some sort of hide-and-seek game with my eyes.

"You are silly," he remarked before he took a swig of his drink.

"So I’ve been told," I said with a smile as I wiped my hands on a napkin and placed it on the tray.

He laughed a little before finishing his drink and setting the empty cup on the tray.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I replied as I scooted to the edge of the booth.

He dumped the garbage and tray off before we headed out to his truck in the parking lot. We got in and sat there for a few minutes before he turned to me with a weird kind of smile on his face.

"Before we leave, I need you to promise me something," he said.

"What?"

"Promise me that you’ll close your eyes and keep them closed until I tell you to open them," he explained.

"Ok."

"No. That’s not good enough," he said with a smile. "Say it...say you promise."

"Ok," I replied. "I promise."

"Good...now close ‘em," he said as he started the truck.

I did as told before leaning my head back on the headrest. I let my thoughts wander while I listened to the radio playing through the big speakers in the back. ‘I wonder where he’s taking me. Maybe it’ll be somewhere fun...maybe somewhere that we could be alone’ I thought as ‘Every Morning’ by Sugar Ray played. I could hear AJ singing along softly as we drove down the road to the place that I was wondering about. ‘I wouldn’t mind getting to say goodbye to the other guys, but they’re probably off doing something fun at the moment. Wonder what Meg’s doing’ I thought to myself as AJ turned down the radio a little bit.

"We’re almost there," he said like he was taunting me.

I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying. I was too consumed in thinking about the occurrences that happened over the last week. ‘Oh jeez! I bet Nick thinks I’m a real witch after how I treated him.’

"Hello?" AJ said, sounding worried. "You alive?"

"Huh?"

"I was talkin’ to ya, but there wasn’t any response...I thought you fainted or something," he said with a little laugh.

"Nope. I’m still alive," I said with a slight sigh, still keeping my eyes shut.

"Good cause it’s only a little further," he replied.

"Ok."

Once again, thoughts began to run through my head. ‘Kevin had been so nice to me. No wonder they all call him the ‘big brother’. Howie...well Howie hooked up with Meg! They are such a cute couple. Brian was a really nice guy. I had a lot of fun recording with Meg. I hope her CD does really well cause she deserves it.’

"We’re here," AJ burst out as he turned off the ignition.

I just sat there and waited for him to come around and help me out. He opened the door and took my hand as I turned and slid out of the seat. When I was standing on the ground, he gently pulled me aside and shut the door.

"Don’t open your eyes yet. I just wanted to tell you that ya can’t laugh when you see where we are," he whispered in my ear as he guided me across the pavement. "Sidewalk...step up," he instructed.

He led me to what I could tell was a door that we went through before stopping momentarily.

"Hang on. I’ll be right back," he said before leaving me standing by myself.

I heard another door open and shut after he walked away. I could hear music start playing in the other room as I stood there and waited. The music got really loud when the door opened and AJ grabbed my arm again.

"This way," he said as the music overwhelmed my ears. "Remember, keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them."

"I know," I said as we continued walking.

We walked a few more feet before he stopped again.

"There’s a bench here," he said as he held out my hand so I could feel it. "I need you to sit down."

He held my other hand for balance as I sat down. I sat there for a seconds when I felt someone untying my shoes.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m taking these off," he said. "You won’t need ‘em."

"Oh."

I could hear someone else let out a little laugh as I sat there letting him take my shoes off.

"9’s," he said to someone else as he stood up and walked away.

I could hear someone shuffling a little in the distance, so I knew we weren’t alone.

"What’s going on?" I asked when he came back and sat down beside me.

"Why don’t you take a look for yourself?" he said.

I slowly opened my eyes to look at my feet first. My shoes were sitting by the bench and there was a pair of roller skates sitting in front of my feet. I slowly moved my gaze across the brightly colored carpet and saw 5 pairs of feet that already had skates on them. When I saw the skates, I knew where we were. ‘We’re at a skating rink’ I thought to myself as my gaze moved from the skates to the faces of the people standing about 20 feet away from us.

"Whatcha waiting for?" Meg asked. "Put ‘em on!" she said pointing to the skates by my feet.

I leaned over and grabbed the white skates with silver laces as I noticed AJ putting his skates on too. After I got them laced up tight, I stood up and skated effortlessly over to where Meg and the others were standing.

"You guys did this all for me?" I asked as I looked around and saw balloons scattered around and a few tables with snack food and drinks set up.

"Yep," Kev replied happily.

"You guys are the best!" I said with a huge smile as I skated past them to hunt out the mixer’s booth to request some music.

When I found it, I saw a guy that looked about 25 sitting in the little booth playing with a bunch of switches.

"Hi," I said after watching him for a few seconds. "Will you play a song for me?"

"Sure. Whatch wanna hear?"

"’Allstar’ by Smash Mouth."

"Will do," he replied with a smile before I skated off towards the rink in the middle of the massive building.

No one else was skating on the rink yet, so I decided to be the first. The lights dimmed and a bunch of colored spotlights started moving around on the ceiling to cast weird colored shadows on the rink floor. I stepped out onto the rink and began skating around the floor as the music played loudly over the speakers. As I picked up speed and passed everyone still standing on the carpet, I turned my head to see everyone watching me.

"Come on guys!" I yelled as I kept going.

I turned around to see Nick and Bri coming onto the floor as I skated backwards around half the rink. When they got a little closer to me, I turned back around and sped off. They were way too slow because by the time they finished one lap, I had done two.

"Slowpokes!" I teased them as I passed by them effortlessly.

By the time I got around the oval shaped floor again, everyone was skating on the floor and having a good time. I stepped off the floor for a few seconds and headed for the table with the drinks.

"So you were in on this whole thing?" I asked Meg when she skated up beside me.

"Yeah. They wanted to have a little goodbye party for ya and I couldn’t refuse," she said with a smile as she grabbed a can of pop. "I’m gonna miss having you around too ya know."

"I know," I replied as we set our drinks down at the same time.

We started to skate off towards the rink, but stopped at the edge of the carpeted floor.

"So," I said quiet enough that only she could hear. "Wanna play with their heads for a little while?" I asked in an evil voice that made her laugh.

"Sure!" she replied in the same evil tone.

We both stepped onto the rink at the same time as the boys passed by. Howie was lagging behind a little bit, so we decided to help him out a little. Meg grabbed his left hand while I grabbed his right.

"Let’s go," Meg said to me excitedly.

We started pulling Howie along in-between us for a little while until we caught up with the other guys.

"Howie...put your hands on my shoulders," I heard Meg say as I let go of Howie’s hand and skated in front of the two of them. "And hold on tight!"

I made my way in front of Meg so she could grab onto my shoulders. I pulled them amongst the other guys.

"Skating Snake!" Meg screamed loud enough for the other guys to hear.

They turned their heads one by one. Nick was the first to notice what was going on. He skated over to me and tried to join at the front, but I shooed him to the back.

"This Snake’s mine!" I shouted.

Bri noticed second. He followed after Nick and grabbed onto his shoulders. AJ was next and Kev was last. After a few fun filled minutes of skating back and forth and watching the end of the line get lost a few times, Meg whispered to me that it was time. She let go of my shoulders and I skated away before the rest of them realized what was going on. After I was a ways away, she pried Howie’s fingers from her shoulders and bolted in the same direction that I had gone. We watched as the guys skated for a few more seconds just fine until someone slipped. Meg grabbed a camera that she brought and snapped a few pictures as they all came tumbling down on each other.

"Oh my gosh!" I burst out laughing. "Did you see that?!? It was hilarious!"

"Yeah," Meg said between laughs. "And I got the proof!" she said holding up the camera.

"Right on!" I replied happily and gave her a high five.

I looked out at the pile of guys sitting there on the floor. They were all tangled up and we could see hands and legs sticking out everywhere. Seeing that sight only made us bust out more.

"Get off my foot!" we heard AJ scream as he tried to sit up.

"That’s my hand you’re on," Kev hollered to no one in particular.

"Who’s sitting on me?" Nick asked loudly.

Meg shoved the camera into her jeans pocket and we watched them struggle to get up. When they were somewhat untangled, they looked at us, then at each other, and back at us.

"Oh crap!" I said to Meg. "That’s our sign to head to the little lady’s room."

"I agree!" Meg replied as the guys started to get up.

We skated as fast as we could to the girl’s restroom and locked ourselves in the biggest stall (which just happened to be the handicap stall).

"Maybe we shouldn’t have come in here," I whispered to Meg as the guys’ voices got louder.

"I think they went in there," we heard Bri say outside the bathroom.

I put the seat down on the toilet and sat down on it. I swung my legs up onto the railing so that they couldn’t see my legs under the door. Meg jumped up so she was sitting in the corner on the railings and rested her feet on them.

"I’m going in to check," Nick said.

"But it’s a girl’s room," we heard Bri say.

"Why in the world do you think we rented this place?" AJ asked.

"Oh...gotcha," Bri replied as if he understood.

"I’m coming too," we heard Howie say as his voice got closer. "You guys wait out here."

We sat still, making sure to make as little noise as possible. I could see their feet from under the door of the stall. They must have thought that we weren’t in here, because after a few seconds of checking under the stalls, they left.

"Didn’t see anything," Nick said as they reached the other guys.

After another couple of minutes, it sounded like they were gone, so I stood up quietly and motioned for Meg to follow. I made my way towards the door, but pushed Meg forward to go out first. She opened the door slowly and didn’t see anyone there, so she proceeded to skate out the door. I figured that the coast was clear when I didn’t hear Meg having any problems. As I skated out the door and to the left a few feet, someone grabbed me from behind.

"I’ve got her!" Nick yelled out.

I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he had his arms wrapped tightly around my body and arms just above my elbows.

"Uh oh," was all I could say as I heard Meg laughing her head off a few feet away. "Please don’t tickle me!" I pleaded as Meg continued to laugh uncontrollably under the guys’ torturing fingers.

"Don’t worry. We won’t hurt you," Nick whispered in my ear using the same evil tone that Meg and I had used only a few minutes before.

I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck as he held me tightly against his own body. My head and shoulder flinched a little as his breath tickled my neck.

"I think I’m going to be sick," I lied.

"That one’s not gonna to work this time," Nick whispered in my ear again. "I’m not letting you go."

"Dang!" I exclaimed as I stopped struggling.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get away so I decided to just give up. When Meg finally stopped laughing, I could see the guys get up and make their way over towards where Nick was holding me hostage.

"Please don’t tickle me! Please don’t tickle me! PLEASE DON’T TICKLE ME!" I pleaded as they came nearer.

They just looked at each other with sly smiles before Howie grabbed one of my hands and AJ grabbed the other. Nick let go as Howie and AJ held my hands out to my sides in the air.

"No!" I screamed as Nick walked around to stand in front of me face to face. "Please don’t tick..."

I was too late. Nick leaned over and tickled me so much that I almost started to hyperventilate right then and there. I could tell that he was having fun watching me laugh as if I was loony. When he finally stopped, I was laying on my back on the ground with AJ and Howie still holding my wrists. Nick was sitting to the left of me before he stood up and helped the other guys up as well. I just lay there on the ground as they gave each other high fives.

"Hello?"

They didn’t even seem to hear me.

"HELLO?"

This time they turned to see that I was still sitting on the ground.

"Think I can get some help up? I’m kind of wearing a skirt ya know," I said as they stared at me for a few seconds before they stretched out their hands to help me up.

"Sorry," they said in unison.

"It’s ok," I said after they pulled me up. "I need a drink," I said before I skated slowly to where the drinks were set on the table.

They followed me over to the table, where I grabbed a can of Mt Dew and then headed to a booth that Meg was sitting at.

"That was so worth being tickled to death!" I said quietly after I took a seat next to her.

"I know!" she replied. "And look," she said as she pulled the camera out of her pocket. "I still have proof!"

I laughed at her as she shoved the camera back in her pocket before any of the guys could see it. We sat there in the booth and watched the guys as they skated around, making fools out of themselves.

"Come on," I said to Meg as I stood up and threw my empty can in the trash. "Let’s show ‘em how it’s done."

She grinned widely as she stood up and followed me to the slick floor. The colored lights were off and black lights were on so that anything bright in color or white glowed.

"Hang on," I said to Meg as I stripped off the Gap sweater that I was wearing so that my white button-up was showing. "Ok. Let’s go."

The second I took the sweater off, my shirt was glowing along with my skates and laces. Meg was wearing white jeans and a midnight blue Old Navy shirt so she glowed too. We quickly skated to where the guys were on the other side of the rink before passing them by. After we passed them, I turned around to skate backward and watched them try to catch up with us.

"You guys are too slow!" I exclaimed before turning back around and skating off towards Meg.

She was only a few feet ahead of me, so it didn’t really take all that long to catch up.

"Hey Meg," I said as I skated alongside her. "You wanna confuse ‘em again?"

"By doing what?"

"Nothing serious...let’s skate around so they’re going one way and we’re going the other. They’ll be like ‘what the?’...It’ll be funny."

"Ok," she replied as we both stopped and turned around to go the other way.

"Guys?" we heard Howie say like he was confused.

"What the?" AJ burst out.

"Bye guys," Meg said sweetly as we passed them going the opposite direction.

"What was that about?" Kev said rather loudly as we continued in the ‘wrong’ direction.

When we got around to where the arcade and prize games were, we skated off the rink and over to a ‘Claw’ machine that was filled with cute little stuffed animals.

"That one’s so cute," I pointed to a white medium sized fluffy teddy bear with a light pink fuzzy nose.

The inside of the ears, bottom of the feet, and the palms of the hands were all made of pastel pink silk material.

"I like that one better," Meg said, pointing to a light purple bunny with floppy ears at the back of the machine.

"That one’s cute too," I replied. "You have any change?"

"Yeah," she said as she dug into her pocket. "I have six quarters and like 12 dimes."

"Can I have two quarters?"

"Sure."

"Thanks," I said as I put the two coins in the slot.

I put my hands on the maneuvering stick and waited patiently as the machine got ready. There was a little green light on the claw that came on, so I knew that it was ready for me to direct it to my desired destination. When the claw was above the teddy, I pushed the button on the joystick and the claw fell.

"Dang it!" I yelled out in disappointment. "I was so close."

"What’s the problem?" I heard Kev say from behind me.

"Oh nothing. I’m just trying to get that bear," I said as I pointed to the fluffy white mass.

"Let me try," he said before putting coins in the machine.

I watched as the claw came back empty.

"Sorry. I tried," he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

By then the others were standing around watching. They all tried one by one, but failed every time.

"What’s going on over here?" the guy from the music booth said as he walked over to where we were.

"We’re trying to get that bear," Nick said as he pointed to it.

The music guy chuckled as he walked up to the machine.

"All ya had to do was ask," he said as he pulled out some keys, opened the front, and grabbed the bear before locking it back up again. "Here ya go," he said as he handed me the bear.

"Thank you," I said with a smile.

"No problem," he replied before walking away.

I hugged the bear against my chest as we skated to where the tables were. Meg grabbed a plate and put food on it while I set the bear on the 50’s style snack bar to mark our seats. After grabbing a small container of popcorn, I went back over to where Meg was now sitting on the swivel tools and sat down beside her.

"So what’s going on between you and Howie?" I asked her quietly so that the guys wouldn’t hear.

"Well, he asked me for a date on Friday night," she replied happily in the same quiet tone as she looked over my shoulder and saw Howie and the others sitting in one of the booths.

"Really? That’s great," I replied in-between bites of my popcorn.

"Yep! He’s a great kisser too," Meg said.

"Don’t forget...I witnessed your little tonsil hockey game last night," I teased.

"He’s probably the best kisser of them all," she said sarcastically.

"AJ’s the best kisser," I said without thinking about what I was saying. "Oh my gosh! Did I just say that?" I asked, totally embarrassed.

Meg took one look at my red face and let out a little chuckle.

"I figured that you two already kissed," she said with a silly smile.

"Well, it was great..." I trailed off while my mind got lost in my memory of the night before.

"I have an idea," Meg said, breaking into my thoughts. "Follow me," she said as she got up from the stool and walked away.

I got up and followed her over to a nearby vending machine that was filled with various candy bars and other goodies. She handed me a dollar bill that she had retrieved from her pocket.

"Get those," she said, pointing to a yellow package of Starbursts.

I put the bill in the machine and pressed the button for the package Starbursts. After reaching in the bin to get them, I stood up and held them out to Meg.

"Ever heard of the ‘Starburst Challenge’?" she asked with a sly smile.

"Yeah," I said as if it were no big deal. "Oh my gosh Meg! We’re not gonna..." I said after a few seconds as my eyes got wide.

"You betcha!" she cut me off as she grabbed my arm and pulled me back to our seats at the bar.

Instead of sitting down on the stools, she stood there and ripped the package open. She handed me seven of the candies and shoved the rest in her pocket before turning and walking to the table where the guys were.

"Hey guys," she said to get their attention as I made my way to where she was standing.

Once they were all looking at her, she began to talk.

"Can you guys do me...I mean...us a favor?" she asked.

"Good," she said after they all said yes. "I need you all to stand up in a line side by side from oldest to youngest."

After they were standing like she told them to, she went on.

"Ok. Liz is going to give you each a starburst candy...but you can’t eat it. Got it?"

They all nodded their heads.

"When I say go, you all have to put the WRAPPED candy in your mouth...and unwrap it in your mouth...which means NO HANDS," she explained as Kev, Bri and Nick gave her funny looks. "Got it?"

They nodded once again as I placed a candy in each of their hands, starting with Meg.

"One for Kev...one for Howie...one for Brian...one for AJ" I said as I progressed down the line.

Before I could give one to Nick, AJ grabbed my arm and whispered in my ear.

"I’m gonna win cause I’m the best," he said flirtatiously.

I smiled as I pulled away and handed Nick his candy.

"I wonder if they know what it means..." I whispered to Meg when I got back to where she was standing.

"Doubt it," she replied.

‘AJ knows what it means’ I thought to myself with a smile.

"Ok, go," Meg said before we all put the candies in our mouths.

I could see Bri and Kev having a hard time with theirs when they started making funny noises as if it would help them or something.

"Done," I said as I held up the wet wrapper a few seconds after we started.

"Me too," AJ said as he did the same.

"Me three," Meg said as she held her wrapper up for the rest to see.

When I saw the other guys struggling to unwrap theirs, I burst out laughing. Meg looked at me with raised eyebrows so I nodded my head in the guy’s direction. After she saw the distressed look on Nick’s face, she burst out laughing too.

"I give up," Howie said after a few more minutes of trying.

"Me too," Kev said.

"Same here," Nick added.

"I did it!" Bri exclaimed as he held up his wrapper.

"Took ya long enough," AJ teased.

"Be quiet," Bri replied as he threw his wrapper away in a nearby trash can.

"How come you had us do that?" Nick asked after we got rid of the wet wrappers that were in our hands.

"Oh, no reason," Meg said with a mischievous smile.

She looked at me and let out a little chuckle when she saw me shrug my shoulders at Nick’s question like I had no idea either.

"So AJ...Looks like you’re not the best after all," I said sarcastically.

"Guess not," he replied as we all sat down on some benches.

I was sitting next to Kev and Bri on one bench and AJ, Meg, Howie, and Nick were sitting so they were facing us on the other bench.

"Oh, before I forget," Meg said as she stood up and pulled something out of her back pocket. "This is for you."

I took the envelope that she held out to me and looked at it for a few seconds with a confused expression on my face. It was a plain white business sized envelope with my name written on the front in small elegant letters.

"You can open it if you want," she added as she sat back down next to Howie.

Right as I heard those words, I turned the envelope to the back and carefully ripped it open. I pulled the contents out and studied it carefully. It was a check written to me from Meg’s record company and management.

"What’s this for?" I asked as I looked up to see her smiling.

"That’s for your time recording...and it’s also your first royalty check," she replied happily.

"Oh."

I was speechless. First royalty check? There were going to be more? ‘Wow! I could get used to this’ I thought to myself as I put the check back in the envelope and put it in the pocket of my skirt. The guys changed into their shoes while Meg and I talked about the details of her album.

"Speaking of things for you...," Howie said before the others got up as if on cue. "Hold on," he said with his index finger pointed at me in a ‘one’ shape. "We’ll be right back, so don’t go anywhere."

"I won’t," I replied as the guys walked off towards the carpeted counter where you’re supposed to exchange your shoe for skates.

I watched them walk around the mixing booth and down a small hallway before they disappeared into the shadows. Meg was changing out of her skates so I decided I’d change out of mine too. I leaned over, untied my skates, and put on my shoes before sitting up again.

"I’m really going to miss having you at my place," Meg said as she came and sat next to me.

"I’m going to miss you too," I said as my eyes started to tear up.

I blinked back the tears as Meg wrapped her arms around me in a friendly hug.

"Thanks for everything," I said as the guys started to walk back to where we were.

"Awww...isn’t that cute," AJ said before Meg and I pulled apart.

"I hate good-byes," I said out of the blue.

"This isn’t good-bye...yet," Kev said as he sat down next to me.

Meg stood up and sat down next to Howie on the other bench. This time I was sitting next to Nick and Kev while Howie, Meg, AJ, and Bri were sitting across from us.

"I’ll go first," Bri said as he handed me a flat square package with shiny purple wrapping and a light purple bow.

"You guys didn’t have to get me presents ya know," I said with a little laugh as I took the gift from Bri. "Want me to open it now?"

"Sure...go ahead," he replied.

I carefully took the cute bow off and placed it on my leg before I ripped the paper off to reveal a CD. It wasn’t any ordinary CD though. I turned the case over to see the front and saw that the handmade jacket had a picture of the guys on it. I opened the case and looked at the other side of the jacket. ‘This CD is for you Liz. These are some songs that we’ve done in the studio...a few that you did with us, ones that we (the fellas) had done but never released, and we also managed to get a few of Meg’s on there. Hope you like it!