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* * * Chapter 13 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ One Month & 22 shows Later ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I am soooo beat," I told Meg with a sigh before I plopped down onto the spacious couch next to her in our ‘dressing room’.

Even though they had converted an empty office into our dressing room, we were happy that we at least got our own. The scented candles that the assistant decorator had lit around the room for us gave it a nice relaxed feeling. Yes, the guys do have a person that comes and ‘decorates’ their dressing rooms...and actually gets paid to do it. We kind of took the assistant (Kristian) under our wing so she started doing little things in our dressing room that made us feel a little more comfortable and relaxed after our show...the candles were one of them.

"Vanilla...one of my favorite scents.." I said slowly after I closed my eyes and leaned back into the soft cushions. "Where’re we heading to after this is over?"

"Uh...Texas? I’m not sure..." Meg mumbled back.

She was leaning on the arm of the couch with her cheek on the cushion so I couldn’t really understand what she said, but I wasn’t that interested in an answer anyway.

"How much longer until we get to go back to the busses?" I asked in a tired voice.

"I dunno...A few..." she started to answer before she was so rudely interrupted.

Someone threw the door open without warning amidst hollering and yelling.

"AaaaaaAAAaaaaaaHHHHhhhhHHH" AJ and Howie both yelled in a mock-Tarzan call as they ran in and jumped on our couch.

"Holy crap...what are you doing?!?" I hollered after AJ excitedly jumped onto my lap.

"Just wanted to say ‘Hi’..." he replied with one of his ‘innocent’ looks.

"LIKE I WAS SAYING..." Meg called out loudly before Curly started tickling her. "Aaaaaahhhh! Stop!"

He finally stopped after about five minutes.

"Like I was going to say, we get to leave as soon as the meet and greet thingy is over..." she explained to me as if we were the only ones in the room.

"Oh great," I said playfully as I rolled my eyes for the full effect. "We get to be ignored by more prepubescent girlies trying to attack a bunch of goofballs."

"Hey...I’m sure you’ll have a few fans to see you too," Curly said with a smile.

"Yeah right," I replied as I pushed AJ off my lap and stood up. "Sorry to make this little meeting short, but we’ve got to get changed...and so do you. Both of you."

"You mean I can’t stay and watch?" AJ said sarcastically.

"Not funny," I replied with a small glare. "Out!"

"Fine, fine...we’re goin’," he called out as Howie stood up, gave Meg a quick kiss, and followed him to the door. "Hey...where’s mine?"

"Where’s your what?" I asked with my back turned to them while I rummaged through my duffel bag for some fresh clothes to wear.

He didn’t answer so I turned around a little, keeping my eyes on my bag until I was fully turned around. When I swiveled my head around, my lips met his in a short kiss.

"That."

He gave me a smirk before I could say anything in return. I gave him a blank stare and waited for an explanation while Meg sifted through some of her clothes to change into.

"I just...Howie got one from Meg..."

"And I’m not Meg either," I countered.

"I know that," he replied with a look that said ‘do I look like I’m stupid or something?’ that kind of freaked me out a little.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be cranky...I’m just tired and I want to go to sleep."

"I guess I’ll see you later then," he said before he left the room.

As I pulled a shirt from the bottom of my bag, I accidentally knocked over a mug that was sitting on the table.

"Aaawww...dang!" I mumbled as I picked up the mug and all the pens and pencils that spilled all over the floor. "This just isn’t my day is it?"

"I dunno..." Meg trailed off as she finished pulling on the jeans that she was changing into.

She was fully dressed and ready to go before I even got my clothes out of my bag. After I changed my shirt, I saw her walking over to the door.

"Don’t worry about me...I’ll meet you in there," I called out to her before she walked out into the hallway.

When I was done changing, I walked out the door and motioned to a few of the crewmembers telling them that they could start ‘disassembling’ our dressing room. I walked down the hallway towards a conference room where the meet and greet would be held and I could already hear the fan’s commotion going on inside the closed doors. I opened the door slowly and walked in to find at least a hundred girls inside the room swarming the guys. There were a few older girls here and there, but the majority of them were probably under 14 years old. Nick was totally swamped. AJ had the next biggest crowd. I couldn’t even see Howie or Bri in the crowd, but I could see Kev ‘cause he was at least a foot taller than the circle of fans that surrounded him. Meg was talking to a few girls and Denise. Before I got far in the door, a young girl with shoulder length brown hair came up to me.

"Hi," she said with a smile. "Will you sign this for me?"

She held up a copy of Meg’s CD for me to see.

"Sure. What’s your name?" I asked with a smile as I took the CD to sign it.

"Jacqueline."

"Thanks for coming to the concert Jacqueline," I said when I handed the signed CD back to her.

She looked at me for a few seconds with a quizzical look before she said anything.

"Are you AJ’s girlfriend?"

I was kind of taken aback at her question, but I tried not to let it show too much.

"I guess you could say that," I replied with a small smile.

"Can I have a picture taken with you?" she asked.

"Sure."

Denise offered to take the picture and when it was done, the girl hurried off to what I assumed was a bunch of her friends. They pointed at me every couple of minutes as they took their turns waiting to talk to the guys. The meet and greet wore on and I stood against a wall and waited for it to end. When I finally got to the point where I couldn’t stand the boredom anymore, I walked out the door and went back to our dressing room. Our bags were neatly set on the floor inside the door so I picked mine up and headed out to the bus. Once I stepped out the back door to where the busses were waiting, high pitched screams and yelling overwhelmed my ears from the crowd of overexcited fans that were waiting outside the gates for the Boys. Ezekiel (AKA Zee ~ bodyguard) escorted me to our bus and I waved to the fans before I climbed the steps and Harry shut the door behind me.

"How’s it goin’ Harry?" I asked.

"Pretty good," he replied with a smile when he looked up from the daily crossword puzzle he was working on.

"The others’ll be along in a few minutes," I called out as I made my way to the bunks.

I threw my bag into the empty bunk above mine and pulled my Discman and headphones out. I turned it on, put the headphones on, and crawled into my bunk. I laid on my back and listened to the music with my eyes closed as I dozed off into a very light sleep with ‘Don’t Wanna Lose You Now’ playing on repeat.

Even though I was half-asleep, I could sense that someone was watching me so I opened my eyes a sliver and saw Nick’s blond head poking inside the curtain to see if I was awake.

"Hmmm..." I mumbled as I took the headphones off, but left the song playing on repeat.

"Mom’s got some news for ya before we leave..." he said with a smile before he pulled the curtain open the rest of the way. "Come on...she’s in our bus."

He grabbed my hand and helped me up from the bunk before he led me to the front of the bus and down the steps.

"What’s the news about?" I asked as he led me to their bus.

He only shrugged his shoulders before he opened the door for me. I told him to go first, so he did and I followed him in. He sat down on the couch next to Kev and Arti. Denise, Meg, Howie, and AJ were sitting at the table. Bri was standing in the doorway to the bunks and Tina was sitting in the chair that was directly behind the divider between the driver’s seat and the rest of the bus. I just stood there in the walkway by the steps and waited for Jane to show up. ‘Wonder what all the hype is about...’ I thought to myself before I saw Jane walk out from the bunk area.

"So...what’s the big deal about?" I asked as I scratched a spot in my head where one of the tiny braids itched a little.

"Would you like the good news or the bad news first?" she asked.

I gave her a blank stare ‘cause I didn’t know what to expect.

"Just kidding...there is no bad news...it’s all good," she said with a little laugh. "First of all, we’re about half done with the tour and everything is great! Second of all, I need to talk to you."

She pointed at me.

"Can’t you just tell me whatever it is right now?" I asked.

"Ok, if that’s what you want. I am very happy and extremely excited to say that I have personally gotten messages from 4 different record companies and they are interested in YOU!" she exclaimed. "They’ve sent their scouts out to see the concerts and apparently, they liked what they saw."

She paused when everyone burst out in excited cheers and hollers...everyone but me. I just stood there speechless.

"Did you just...*quick breath*...say that record labels...*another breath*...are interested in me?" I asked as my heart started racing.

"Uh huh," she replied with excitement written all over her face.

"Ohhhhhhh myyyyyyyyy..." I moaned with my quivering hand over my mouth before I started to take a deep breath to calm my racing heartbeat.

I shouldn’t have taken that breath, ‘cause I started to hyperventilate instead. Everyone looked at me with concern as I bent over so my head was down by my knees so I could try and breathe normally.

"I’m fine..." I coughed out before I stood up again. "Oh goll..."

The realization started hitting me and I sort of lost it momentarily. I turned around and sped down the steps. After I fumbled with the door for a few seconds, I finally got it open so I ran. I had no idea where I was going, I just ran.

"AAAAaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhHHH!" I screamed with delight as I headed for our bus.

When I was inside, I grabbed my cell phone from my duffel bag and went to the ‘bored’ room to sit on the couch. That’s where I was when everyone found me about fifteen minutes later. I had this glazed-over look in my eyes as I stared off into space while I was thinking about what I’d just heard from Jane.

"Liz? Are you ok?" Meg asked as she walked into the room and sat down next to me.

"Yeah...yeah I’m fine," I answered. "Tell me...did Jane say what I think she said or was I just imagining that whole conversation?"

"She said it...believe me, she said it!"

"Ok," I replied before she stood up and walked out.

I only sat there alone for a few more seconds before I was joined again, this time by AJ.

"Hey babe...you ok?"

"Yeah. I...uh...I’m just a little surprised," I said as I stared off into space.

"This is definitely some exciting news! I’m so happy for you," he said with a genuine smile that made me smile too.

"Thanks," I replied.

The door opened and Jane walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to explain a few things to you," Jane told me before she shooed AJ out of the room.

She made everyone go to the front of the bus and then she shut the door up front, followed by the ‘bored’ room door as well. She mumbled something about a little extra privacy before she handed me a large manila envelope. I opened it and pulled out four different folders from the different labels.

"I know that this is kind of sudden, but they’ve already sent contracts for you to look at. I would have your attorney or lawyer look them over before you decide which is the best for you," she explained. "Some of them have expiration dates on them for sometime after the tour, so you’ll at least have a little while to think this through as much as you need to."

"How did these people hear about me anyway?" I asked her.

"Well, you remember the day that you and Nick were playing around in the basement with all that music?"

"Yeah."

"I taped you two singing that song and I kinda sent it to a couple of places...I didn’t think you’d mind," she said.

"Think I’d mind!?! I’m going to get signed!!!! Of course I don’t mind!" I exclaimed. "I still can’t believe this!!"

As I looked at the folders for the different labels, I noticed that two were in California, one was in Florida, and the other was in New York.

"Just remember, this business can be harsh, but it can also be very fun. And when you sign your name on the dotted line, you’re basically giving them your life so choose carefully," she advised.

"Thanks Jane," I told her before she went to the front of the bus to tell everyone that we needed to head out onto the road already.

I stood up and carried the folders back to my bunk. Just as I was pulling back the curtain to put the folders under my pillow, someone spoke to me.

"Whatcha got?" AJ asked as he walked up to where I was standing.

I quickly shoved the folders into my bunk and pulled the curtain closed so he couldn’t see what I had put in there.

"Nothin’."

"Oh...well, congrats. And for our celebration, we’re going to watch a movie..." he said with a smile as he took my hand and pulled me to the ‘bored’ room. "’She’s All That’...’My Best Friend’s Wedding’...’Ever After’...’Austin Powers’...’Austin Powers’ again...Geez! Who picked out these movies?"

"Hey!" I said as I smacked his arm.

I knew he was kidding and he knew I was kidding too. He picked out a movie and without telling me what it was, put it into the VCR to play. We sat down on the couch opposite the TV and waited for it to play. When the first few seconds of the movie played, I knew exactly which one it was...one of my favorites.