* Chapter 7 *

"It’s about time," Nick said in a fake whiny voice as we all walked across the parking lot to where the grass was.

"Oh please," Court said as she patted his shoulder gently a few times.

We walked across the grass and up the little incline that Court and I had walked up before. When we got to the top of the hill, we all instinctively stopped and looked at the view.

"This is one of my favorite parks," Nick said as he grabbed Court’s hand and yanked her over to where he was, causing both himself and Court to fall to the ground. Instantly, Nick started intentionally rolling down the side of the massive hill. Court saw this and decided that it looked like fun, so she started rolling down the hill too!

"Don’t hurt yourself," I yelled towards where they were rolling.

"I’m sure they’ll be fine," Kev assured me as I walked towards to big boulder and motioned for the others to follow.

"I can see it in the news now," AJ said. "Backstreet Boy Hurt While Rolling Down Hill in Local Park," he said in one of his funny British voices.

I looked down the hill and saw that both Nick and Court had stopped rolling, so I slowed down a bit and waited for them to catch up. The others must have noticed, because I looked over my shoulder and saw Kev come to a halt behind me.

"Hurry up," I hollered to Nick and Court, who were now starting to walk up the bottom of the hill.

"Fine, fine," Court yelled back. After she started to run up the hill, she turned to Nick and said, "Race ya."

"Ok," he said. "Even though you got a head start, I’m still going to win!"

"Doubt it!" was all we heard Court say loudly as she kept on running.

We all watched as Nick got closer and closer to Court. When he caught up, he stayed behind her until she was too tired to run anymore. Out of the blue, Nick swooped Court up in his arms in one motion and carried her.

"Hey!" Court said as he carried her the rest of the way up hill. "Put me down!"

"As you wish," Nick said as he put her down where we were standing at the top of the hill.

"Gee thanks," Court said. "But I think I was going to win."

"Looked like a tie to me," AJ said as we all laughed.

We walked over to the boulder, made our way around it, and sat down at the table. We had some good conversations during lunch. Court and I got to know the guys a little more on a personal level and the guys got to learn about us.

"We come from a family of eight," Court said. "6 kids, 5 dogs, 4 fish, 3 cars, 2 parents..."

"And a partridge in a pear tree?!?" Bri said jokingly.

"No. A really, really, really big house," I said. "The house that my parents live in now has six bedrooms...our parents had one and there was one for each of us kids, until my brother and I moved out."

"Wait. I thought you said there were six kids in your family," Howie said totally confused.

"Yeah...there are. Our oldest sister who is married lives in a different state with her family," Court explained. "Speaking of her family, I miss Stets so much!"

"I know," I said as AJ looked at us with questioning eyes. "So do I."

"Stets is our nephew. Stets is short for Stetson," Court told the guys. "Stetson Douglas Allan has got to be the cutest kid ever!"

I reached into my little backpack and pulled out my Franklin planner. I looked through all of the pictures that I had stashed in one of the pockets until I came to the picture of Stets and Kalee. I handed it to Kev, who was sitting at the end of the table by me. He then passed it to AJ, who was sitting across from me. AJ then passed it to Court, who then passed it to Bri, who passed it to Howie, then Nick and back to me.

"They are pretty cute kids," Nick said.

"They are adorable," Court replied.

As the conversation wore on, we got to know little bits and pieces of the guys that I’m sure no other fan knew about them. After a while, we noticed what time it was. Court and I declared that we were going shopping and asked if anyone wanted to come.

"I’ll come with you," Howie said excitedly.

"Count me in too," AJ said.

"I have to help my family get ready for my little bro.’s party in a few days," Nick said sadly.

"I’m having company over," Kev said.

"I have a lot of stuff to get done. I wish I could come," Bri said.

"That’s ok. We still get to see you guys tomorrow for Liz’s little interview too, remember?" Court asked.

"Yep," Kev answered Court’s question.

Court and I gathered the garbage and the left over things so we could go. After we got all the stuff picked up, we all headed towards the limo. We still had to drop Nick, Bri and Kev off at the studio because that was where they had left their cars.

It was about 4 p.m. when we arrived at the studio. Court noticed that all of the girls had left that were in front of the gate from before. There wasn’t anyone outside the gate except one of the security guards in the little gate booth.

"Guess those girls didn’t have very much patience," Court said as we pulled up to the curb.

"Some of them don’t, but on the other hand, some of them have way too much patience," Nick said with a little chuckle.

Court and I watched as Bri and Kev made their way to the door of the limo.

"I guess I’ll see you tonight then?" Nick asked Court.

"Yeah. That’ll be great!" she responded.

"I’ll call you later and tell you when I’ll pick you up," he said before he headed for the door.

"Ok," she said. "Bye. I’ll see you later," she told him before he got out and shut the door.

"Well then...where to?" Howie asked.

"I want some new shoes...and a new dress...and some cool sunglasses since I can’t have AJ’s," I replied.

"That’s right," AJ said with a sly smile. "They’re mine!"

"I don’t care where we go," Court said. "Just as long as they have some cool stuff."

Pretty soon we were on our way to a huge department-like store that AJ knew about. He said that they sold all sorts of stuff, from shoes to clothes to jewelry to hats. I couldn’t wait! I wanted to get a new dress for our little date that we would be having that night.

"You know what Elsa?" Court asked out of the blue.

"What?" I replied.

"I think that I’m going to change my hair...maybe while you are shopping," she said to me with a little sly smile.

"To look like what?" I asked curiously.

"Maybe a different color...definitely a different length though," she responded as she held up some of her long brown locks.

"You should get subtle reddish highlights with your brown hair color," AJ suggested with a smile as we drove on.