* Chapter 6 *

"That’s a wrap," said the tech guy. "Thanks guys...and girls," he said as he waved at us.

We all took off our headphones and I sat and watched as both Kev and Bri got up and stretched a little. I ran my fingers nervously through my hair as I heard Nick let out a sigh. ‘Poor guy,’ I thought to myself. ‘It’s got to be hard for him being only 20 years old and constantly being chased by teenage girls.’ I looked over at him and noticed that he was looking at me, so I gave him a friendly smile. He smiled back and quickly looked the other way like he had a lot on his mind.

"Great job everybody," Kev said. "Now let’s go get something to eat. It’s 2, so we’ll call it a late lunch."

"Sounds like a plan," Howie said as the rest of us got up from our chairs. We were all hungry, so we moved towards the door in a hurry.

"Where are we going?" Court asked as we walked down the hall, turned the corner, and walked towards the front desk.

"Good question," Nick said as we walked into the lobby area.

Kev stopped at the desk and made a quick phone call while we waited for him by the front doors. After he was done, he came over to where we were and noticed that we were looking out the glass to see a group of about 15 girls standing outside the gates on the perimeter of the grounds. I looked over at AJ and saw him wave his arms above his head like he was trying to get their attention or something.

"Oh my gosh!" Court said. "Look at those girls just sitting out there waiting for you guys! They don’t even know for a fact that you are here."

"Kind of funny, huh?" D said as he looked at Court and I.

"Yeah," I said as we all looked back out the window to notice the girls pointing at AJ and screaming.

"Smooth move Bone," Nick said. "Now we’re going to have girls following us all day."

"Aawww, come on! You are no fun," AJ said in reply as he made a funny face that made Nick chuckle to himself. "Besides, there’s the limo," he said as he put his glasses back on and pointed out the window at the limo that was pulling through the gates.

As we went outside, the screaming got really loud so we quickly made our way to where the limo was parked in front of the building. The seven of us piled into the limo thinking it would hush the screaming girls, but they only screamed louder as we started to pull away from the curb. Just before we got to the gates, AJ popped open the sunroof and asked if any of the rest of us wanted to join him. D was the only one that replied affirmatively, so they both stood up and started waving at the group of teenagers. The driver sped up a little bit as the gates were being opened so they wouldn’t have too many problems. We were all laughing at AJ and D when we heard a loud thud. Kev instinctively jumped up and stuck his head out the sunroof to see what happened.

"What in the heck was that?" Nick asked. "I hope no one got hurt."

"No one is hurt," Kev said as he pulled his head back into the limo and sat down. "Some girl tried to jump onto the back of the limo. Didn’t work very well though," he said laughing.

"That’s not the first time that’s happened either," D said as he laughed while sitting back down next to Court.

"Yeah. It’s kind of nice when you go somewhere and people have no idea who we are, but that’s not very often anymore," AJ said as he sighed while closing the sunroof. "I guess I shouldn’t complain too much though."

"So where are we headed for lunch?" Court asked enthusiastically to quickly change the subject as I watched AJ sit back down next to me. I saw that he was looking out the window and I could tell that he was in deep thought, so I just waited for someone to answer Court’s question.

"Where would you like to go?" Kev asked. "We could go to J’s favorite, Micky D’s. We could go to a restaurant or we can get take out. Whatever you guys want is what we’ll get."

"Oooh! Elsa! You know what sounds good right now?" Court asked. "Fuddruckers! Except I bet that they don’t have one around here," she said in a sad voice.

"What is Fuddruckers?" Nick asked in a very confused voice. "Never heard of it."

"They probably don’t have any of them around here. It’s a restaurant in Utah that specializes in American food like their famous ½ lb. hamburgers, steaks and fries," I explained to everyone. "They have the BEST taco salad!"

"That sounds really good right now...I could sink my teeth into a good old American burger anytime," Bri said.

"Me too," Kev said very excitedly.

"I say that we go wherever AJ is thinking about," I said as I looked over to see if I got his attention. I didn’t. "I said, I think that we should go wherever AJ is thinking of," I said louder.

He finally broke his concentration as he continued looking out the window and said, "Huh?"

"Do you have any preference as to where we eat?" I asked.

"I’m not really that hungry right now," he said as he turned his head, took off his sunglasses and looked me in the eye. "Sorry about that. I have a lot on my mind."

"It’s ok. I understand," I replied as he went back to looking out the window.

"Hey, I have an idea," Court exclaimed.

"Let’s hear it," Howie said.

"Why don’t we go get some stuff to make sandwiches or something and have a picnic," Court explained. "There’s bound to be a park around here somewhere."

"That’s a great idea," Nick replied.

Kev rolled down the glass between the driver and us, told the driver that we wanted to stop at a grocery store for a few minutes and to pull over at the next one that he spotted. We drove for a few minutes before the limo came to a halt in front of a local grocery store. Court and I got up and made our way towards the door, crawling over the guys’ legs. We would be going in so that girls and parents wouldn’t bombard the boys. We went in and bought some hoagie sandwiches from the deli, fruit, chips, sparkling cider, pop, plates and cups. We paid and walked out the doors of the store to see AJ using one of the payphones with his head kind of hidden so that hopefully no one would recognize him. We walked over to ask him who he was talking to, but before we got that far, he hung up the phone, pulled the black baseball hat that he put on before he got out of the limo further over his eyes, and started walking to the curb.

"Hey you," I called out to him, not wanting to reveal who he was. He looked up and noticed that we were there, so he motioned for us to follow him.

"Hi girls. That didn’t take long," he said as we caught up to him and continued walking to where the limo was parked.

"We are going to have a really great lunch," Court said to AJ excitedly as we approached the limo.

Someone inside opened the door for us as Court walked around to the driver’s window and asked him to open the trunk so we could put the food and stuff in it. He did open the trunk, so we quickly put the food in and got into the limo with the others. Just like before, Kev rolled down the glass and told the driver that we wanted to stop and eat at a park. The driver nodded and continued on driving as Kev rolled the glass back up. I was a little tired, so I closed my eyes and laid my head on Court’s shoulder (she was sitting on my right side). I was laying that way for a few minutes until she shrugged her shoulder a few times, signaling that she didn’t want me to lean on her. I opened my eyes a little, lifted my head, and leaned over to my left as I set my head lightly on AJ’s shoulder.

I could hear him chuckle as I said, "What?"

"Nothing," he said in reply.

"Don’t get too comfortable," Howie said. "We’ll be at a park in a few minutes."

"Hmmm?" was my only response. I was already too comfortable, but I knew I had to move the second that we got there, so I sat up while leaving my eyes closed.

I could feel the limo go up a small incline and then come to a subtle stop. I opened my eyes, leaned over AJ, and looked out the window to see a deserted parking lot. No one was around to bother us! This is going to be great. Court and I told the guys that they had to stay in the limo while Court and I found the perfect spot to set up the picnic.

"Why do we have to stay in here again?" Nick asked in a questioning voice.

"Because we want it to be a surprise," Court replied as we made our way to the door and got out.

"A surprise huh?" we heard Kev say to himself as the door shut.

"This is going to be great!" I said to Court as we were getting the food and supplies from the trunk.

"Yeah, it is," she said as we walked across a small bike path and up a little grassy incline.

When we got to the top of the little hill, we looked out at the park. We saw that it was in the shape of a huge donut sort of thing, with the inside walls sloping to a flat surface at the bottom. It must have been about the size of a football stadium, because on the bottom there was a soccer field. There was also a bike and running path that ran around the field and up around the top of the circle shaped hill.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "This park would be great for sledding in the winter!"

"Yeah," Court said. "Great for ice-blocking too!"

"No doubt!" I said in response.

I looked around and saw a big boulder to my left a ways, so I motioned Court to walk over to it with me. We went over and started to walk around it when we saw a small pavilion hidden by the big rock and some trees. This was the perfect ‘hiding’ place. Court and I looked at each other with pleased looks, then walked to the little pavilion at the same time.

"This is a cute little place to hide," Court said as we laid the plates, cups, and eventually the food out on the small table. We arranged the plates and then took the food out and placed it in the middle of the table. Next we placed the glasses above each plate and set the drinks with the other food.

"Ok," I said as we finished getting everything ready. "Let’s go get the guys."