* * * Chapter 14 * * *

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ A Few Weeks Later ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ AJ ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

We drove down the freeway in the limo that the hotel had arranged for us to use while we were staying there. We had a day off while we were in Denver so Liz decided to pay a visit to her parent’s house. She leaned her head against my shoulder with a smile on her face as the cool breeze blew in the open sunroof. She watched the scenery as we headed north on the freeway out of Denver. Tina, Arti, Meg, Bri, D, Kev, and Nick were also coming along even though only Nick and Tina were the only other ones in the limo with us. The others were following us in another limo so that we wouldn’t be all crowded and uncomfortable.

"I can’t wait to get home!" Tina exclaimed with a huge smile.

"Mmmmhmmmm," Liz mumbled as her eyes watched the cars in the other lane behind her blue tinted sunglasses.

I knew she was a little excited, but she also seemed a little nervous ‘cause she hadn’t seen her parents and brothers for almost two years if not longer. I smiled at her when she looked up at me with a tired smile on her face before she rested her head on my shoulder again. Tina and Nick were talking about something (I couldn’t really tell what) so I just sat and waited. I was as nervous if not more than Liz was, but I tried not to let her see it ‘cause I knew it would only make her more nervous than she already was. If the rest of her family was as nice as Tina was, then I knew I wouldn’t have a problem. Liz had called Court a few days prior to us coming into the state and she let me talk to her too.

This whole visiting the family thing was supposed to be a surprise and hopefully Liz’s family wouldn’t mind all that much. I mean, it’s not like we were going to stay the night or anything, but we didn’t want to intrude on their home. Liz insisted that we go and Tina chimed in that their parents wouldn’t mind so we gave in.

"Oh my gosh!!!!" Tina squealed. "We’re almost there!"

We pulled off the freeway and started to drive down a highway that was surrounded on both sides by cornfields. There were small country type houses every so often and after driving for a couple of miles, the houses started to get closer together.

"Now don’t be alarmed or anything...this is probably going to be one of the smallest towns you’ve been in for a LONG time," Liz said as she sat up a little and put her hand on my knee.

"Yeah...it’s got a whole 2 traffic lights in town," Tina chimed in with a hint of sarcasm.

"You’re joking right?" Nick said with raised eyebrows.

"Well, let’s see. Count with me," Liz said as we drove over the railroad tracks on Mountain Avenue (equivalent of hick-town Main Street).

We passed a Subway, tanning shop, tack shop (horse stuff), and a few other little shops on one side of the street with a bank, drug store, realtor’s office, and a church on the other side. That was only one city block of the main street. The next block was a little similar to the last with a few less shops.

"There’s one," Liz said as we drove under the first set of traffic lights.

We passed a few more city blocks until we came to the next set of traffic lights and turned left.

"That’s two," Tina said with a smile.

We passed a big building that Liz said was a bank, a small shopping plaza that contained the small local grocery store, a video rental place, a dry-cleaner’s, an optical office, a restaurant, and a PizzaHut. We drove down the windy road a few blocks, passing neat houses along the way. When we came to the point where we couldn’t drive anymore, we turned right.

"Is that your High School?" Nick asked as we passed a building that was only slightly larger than the Jive buildings back in Florida.

"Yep," Liz and Tina replied in unison.

"Small huh?" Liz asked with a small smile. "My class had a total of about 150 seniors and when we graduated, the student body was up to about 730-740."

We were silent for a few minutes as we observed the building while we drove by it. The lot that the building was on certainly wasn’t small. The football field was set on the right back side of the building with practice fields behind the school. There were parking lots on both sides of the building and in the back as well. On the left side of the building were a soccer field, a little playground and then a couple of baseball diamonds. On the other side of the street was a community of houses that were obviously built within the last 5 or 6 years.

"It sure was a transition from the High School that I went to before...a whole lot smaller in size. The one I came from before was almost three times that size," Liz explained as we took a left on a street across from the school.

Within two minutes we were turning around in a culdasack on one of the streets and pulled up in front of a light tan colored house with a portable basketball hoop set up at the end of the slanted driveway. Our limo pulled up to the curb in front of the small lawn, taking up all the space in front of the house, so the other limo had to park behind us, blocking the driveway.

"They probably won’t need to go anywhere anyway," Liz said as Tina opened the door and jumped out.

Before the rest of us could get out, she was already standing on the porch with the screen and door open.

"Mom?! Dad?!" Tina hollered into the house as we all gathered on the lawn and followed Liz to the door.

Tina was already off in the house looking for whoever was home so Liz led us into the front room inside the door on the left and told us to make ourselves comfortable on the couches and chairs. The room was filled with little knick-knacks, old furniture (along with new) and it obviously had a country-ish woman’s touch with the warm country pink and country blue hues that it was decorated in. There were cross-stitches and needlepoint pictures all over the walls along with photographs of the family from different occasions. The nice country feel went well with the hardwood floor that went from the inside of the door down the hallway on the right side of the stairs, through the kitchen, and over to the dining room that was only separated from the living room with a section of wall that was about 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide (it was covered with green plants).

"Court!!!!" Liz hollered after she walked over and stood at the bottom of the stairs (that led upstairs) that ended right inside the front door.

There was no response but we could hear music playing from somewhere on the upper level.

"COURTNEY!!!!" Liz yelled a little louder.

A door opened.

"Who’s calling me?" a voice hollered.

"Come here girlie!" Liz called out.

"Els?!?" Court exclaimed as she ran down the hallway from her room and practically jumped down the stairs.

She tackled Liz in a huge hug when she got to the bottom of the stairs.

"I missed ya!" Court said when she pulled away a little to look at Liz.

"Ditto," Liz said as Court hugged her again with tears glistening in the younger sister’s eyes. "Hey, hey! Don’t go cryin’ on me...you know I’ll start cryin’ too!"

"Courtney?" a woman’s voice called from the basement.

"Yeah mom..." Court hollered back as she walked down the hallway into the kitchen to where the stairs were.

"What’s going on?" the woman asked.

"Mom! Guess who’s here?!?" Court exclaimed like she was going to explode if she didn’t spill the news soon.

"Who?" the woman asked as she climbed the stairs to the kitchen.

"Hi mom," Liz said when the middle-aged woman walked into the kitchen to find two of her daughters there instead of one.

"Liz! Wow! You look...so...so...skinny," her mom was at a loss for words. "You’ve changed a lot since you left home."

"Yeah. Listen, I want to introduce you to some friends of mine ok?" Liz said as she led her mom towards the packed living room.

We all smiled when the three of them walked into the room that was filled with people. Court came over to where I was standing by the stairs wall looking at some of the pictures. Her mom was a few inches shorter than Liz (so cute!) and she had light honey brown hair that was well down her back...just about as long as Liz’s.

"Mom, this is Arti," Liz started by pointing to Arti who gave the woman a warm smile. "And Kevin...Brian, Kevin’s cousin...Howie D...Meg..."

"So this is Meg?!" her mom asked in a warm friendly voice.

"Yep, that’s me," Meg replied with a smile.

"It’s nice to meet you," her mom said before Liz continued with the introductions.

"This is Nick...and I think you know her," Liz joked as Tina walked down the stairs holding a book and a few binders.

"Funny," Tina said with a face that made her mother give her a stern look in return.

"And this..." Liz said walking over to me. "This is AJ."

She took my hand in hers as her mom came over and shook my other hand.

"Ladies and germs, this is my...I mean...our mom," Liz told us all.

"Well, your father is at work," her mom told her.

"How come you aren’t at work?" Liz asked with curiosity.

"I finally decided to take a day off," her mom replied.

"Good for you. You deserve it," Liz said with a smile. "So, where’s the little squirt?"

"Uh...I’m not sure...he said he was going to play some basketball or something with one of the neighbor kids I think..." her mom explained before the front door opened.

All eyes turned to the door.

"Hey mom..." the boy’s voice called out as he opened the door. "What’s with the limos?"

When he looked up from the basketball that was in his hand, his mouth fell open and he froze in the doorway.

"Shut the door already," Tina teased him. "And don’t forget to shut your mouth...you’re drooling.

"Shut up!" the kid hissed at his sister.

"Lyal! Tina! Both of you stop it right NOW!" their mother said sternly.

"Guys...this is the youngest of the family. Lyal (pronounced Lyle)..." Liz said as he gave us a sheepish wave before he headed up the stairs. "Wait dork! Don’t you wanna play some b-ball with the guys?"

"I dunno," he replied after he turned around slightly to look through the wooden rails of the stairs at the guys who were all smiles.

"I’d love to get a good game goin’," Bri said.

"Me too," Nick added with a sly smile.

"Count me in," D chimed in.

"I wanna play too!" Liz exclaimed. "Do you mind mom?"

"No...go ahead. I’m going to fix something for lunch," she replied before she went into the kitchen.

We all headed outside to do whatever. We had the limo drivers pull up a little bit so we could play b-ball in the street. Art, Tina, and Meg sat down on the swing that was on the front porch while the rest of us played for a little while. Liz left to go help her mom with the food while the rest of the guys, Lyal, and I continued to play our game.

When the food was ready, we ate and talked and talked and ate until we were done.

"Hey mom...we’re going to go to that Aspen Family Center place or whatever it’s called. Wanna come with?" Liz asked after we all sat back down in the living room.

"No that’s ok hun. I’ve got a few things I need to get done before your dad comes home," her mom replied with a smile.

"Ok. Well...we’ll be gone for a couple of hours and we’ll take Court and Lyal with us," Liz explained.

"That’s fine," her mom said.

When we heard that it was ok, we headed out to the limos. This time Court, Tina, Lyal, Nick, Liz, and I were in one limo with Kev, Arti, Bri, Meg, and D in the other one. We drove north on a small highway for about 10 miles before we came to a city that was a lot bigger than the one we had left a few minutes before. We drove through town and continued driving until the limos pulled into a parking lot of a family fun center. There was a go-cart track, some water skeeter things, bumper cars, a miniature golf course, and a building that had large windows. From the parking lot we could see a bunch of foam stuff in the windows of the building.

"Let’s go," Liz exclaimed as she opened the door and hopped out.

When we walked in the door, I saw that the building was fairly empty of people for being a nice summer day. A few smaller children were playing in what was known as the ‘Foam Factory’ that was a portion of the building filled with the foam walls, balls, and other play stuff. We walked under a foam walkway and went over to a counter to pay for our activities.

"May I help you?" the male behind the counter asked Liz when she walked up to the counter, soon followed by the rest of us.

"Yes...just a second," she said before she turned around to count heads. "Can I talk to your manager?"

"Uh...sure..." the guy replied hesitantly.

"Don’t worry...you didn’t do anything wrong," Liz assured him before he walked away to get the manager.

The guy led her to a small office behind the counter and she walked in. She was in there for a few minutes before she came out all smiles followed by a middle-aged woman.

"Thank you again," Liz said when she stopped next to me by the counter.

"No...Thank you," the woman replied with a smile.

"Here guys...sign this," Liz instructed as she walked over to one of the ‘Aspen Family Fun Center’ posters that hung on the wall with a black sharpie marker in hand.

She signed it ‘Ellz H’ before she handed the pen to me. I signed it and passed the pen to Kev, who signed it and then passed the pen to Howie. Howie did the same then gave the pen to Meg, who signed it and then passed it on to Nick. When all the guys had signed it, the woman beamed a huge smile as she stamped a ‘VIP’ stamp on our right hands before she turned to talk to Liz.

"You can do the rides as many times as you’d like and the drinks are on the house, but you’ll have to pay for the food and other stuff," she explained.

"Ok. Thanks again," Liz replied with a smile.

We followed her out the door that led to the activities.

"Schweet!" Lyal exclaimed as he inspected the stamp on his hand. "You got us in for free!"

"No...they got you in for free," Liz said with a sly smile as she pointed to the fellas and myself.

He smiled before he told us that he was going to go to the laser tag building. We watched him take off down the path towards a building that was obviously pitch black inside so people could play laser tag in the middle of the day.

"We’re going to race the go-carts," Meg said as she grabbed Liz’s and Arti’s hands and pulled them over to the line that only consisted of a few people.

"Wait for me!" Tina called out as she followed them.

"I’m going with them," D said as he followed.

"Me too," Nick added.

Kev, Bri, and I all decided to just go along with them so we joined them in the line.

"Let’s all go in the double ones!" Arti said with excitement as the attendant let us in to get in the go-carts. "Liz...you’re with me!"

Meg and Tina got in a red one. Nick and Bri got in a blue one. I got in a yellow one and pulled Howie along with me. Kev and Court hopped into a green one. It was obvious that these go-carts were hand made and not the expensive kind that you could buy in a store that cost an arm and a leg, but that’s what made them fun.

"Here’s the rules..." the attendant said over the intercom. "Five laps around the track. No running into the walls...No bumping other carts...and as always, HAVE FUN! Go on the green!"

As soon as the light turned green, Liz and Arti were the first ones out on the track followed by Kev and Court. Nick drove like a maniac (as always) so everyone tried to stay clear of them. Meg passed Howie and I as we went under a bridge and she stuck her tongue out and laughed as her and Tina sped off.

"Hey!!!!" I yelled to them as we gained on ‘em.

I stuck my tongue out at Meg as we passed them around a corner. She laughed at us when we got stuck behind a crowd while they easily sailed past them on the outside of the track. When the red light came on, we knew that our five laps were up so we continued until we got to the small covering where the next few people were already waiting in some other carts. We parked the carts, hopped out, and all met on the outside of the gate.

"HAHA!!!! We beat all of you!" Arti squealed in delight as she gave Liz a high five.

"Yeah...with a crazy driver like her driving it’s no wonder," Kev replied sarcastically.

"Hey! I’m not that bad," Liz said in defense.

"Uh huh," Kev teased her a little more.

We did the go-carts a few more times, but in the single ones for a better race. After about the fifth time in the carts, we met outside the gate again. It was about 4:30 so we decided to go find Lyal and then head back to their parent’s house. When we found him, we thanked the manager again and went into the building.

"Yeah! Mary said that they were here!!!!" we could hear a girl squeal as we walked in. "OH MY GOSH! There they are!!!"

She pointed to our group of 11 people and then tried to walk over to us casually. She looked like she was about to faint or something. A few other girls walked up after her and smiled with the same ‘celebrity-crazed’ smile.

"Hi," Liz said with a friendly smile.

"Hi," the girl replied plainly before she walked around Liz and went straight over to Nick.

Nick smiled at the girls as they smiled at him.

"Hi!" the girl said sweetly. "Can we have your autograph?"

"Sure," he replied as he took the pen and paper from her.

All the fellas and myself signed their papers before they turned to Meg. She signed them too and then the girls left.

"Fine...I didn’t want to sign them anyway..." Liz said with a fake pout. "Psh!"

Court laughed at her sister’s silliness and hooked elbows with her.

"So...tell me...what’s life like on the road?" Court whispered to Liz.

"It’s fun! Tiring, but fun," Liz replied with a smile before she climbed into the limo.

We headed back down the same highway that we had come on. A cell phone rang and everyone jumped to see if it was theirs like it was a competition or something.

"Haha! Mine!!!!" Liz exclaimed as she held up her phone before she pushed the send button and put it up to her ear. "Hello? *pause* Hey mom! *pause* Yeah, we’re heading back right now. *pause* No, you don’t need to fix something fancy...as a matter of fact, we’ll pick something up. *pause* Naw! It’s fine. *pause* No! I insist! We’ll be home in about 15 minutes with food. *pause* K! Bye."

She pushed the end button, dialed another number, and then put the phone back to her ear.

"Hey QT! *pause* Snuggles to you too... *laughs* Listen, I need you guys to do me a flavor. *pause* Psh! I can’t believe you said that! *laughs again* Ok...I need you to do me a FAVOR... *pause* Yeah...go to the grocery store and pick up a few bags of chips and some cottage cheese and that sort of junk..." Liz told whoever she was talking to. "Yep...when you’re done with that, meet us back at the house. *pause* Ok. Thanks! *pause* Mmmhmmm. Bye!"

She pushed the end button and then put her phone back into her pocket.

"Snuggles?" I asked with a curious smile.

"Yeah...Arti has this thing with ‘snuggles’..." she replied with a giggle.

"Oh."

She got up and moved over to the seat that was next to the window that separated us from the driver. I watched her as she rolled the glass down and told the driver to pull over to the left after we crossed the railroad tracks. She rolled the glass back up and came back over to where I was sitting. When we came to a stop on the side of the Subway building, she hopped out and motioned for a few of us to follow her. We went inside and I couldn’t help but to chuckle at the confused expression on the single person behind the counter when all 6 of us walked in.

"I’ll...uh...be right with you..." the teenage girl said as she went on helping the woman that she was making an order for.

"Ok. We’re not in any hurry," Liz told her.

The woman that was being helped turned around a little and stared at Liz for a few seconds.

"Liz?" the blond woman asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Liz replied slowly before she turned to see who had called her name.

When she saw the woman’s face, a smile crept up on her face and she walked over and gave the woman a huge hug.

"Jesi!!!!" Liz exclaimed as they embraced.

"Hi!" Jesi replied with a smile. "You look great! I barely recognized you!"

"Thanks," Liz said before she turned and motioned for me to come over.

I walked over and gave both women a smile.

"This is AJ," Liz said as I shook the woman’s hand. "AJ this is Jesi. We were really good friends in High School."

Jesi greeted me and gave me a smile.

"So, are you still with Adam?" Liz asked.

"Yeah...he’s in the jeep," Jesi replied.

"Well, tell him I said hi ok?"

"I will!" Jesi said as she paid for their food.

"It was great to see you Hesi Jesi!" Liz exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was great to see ya Lizard," Jesi said with a laugh before she started to walk towards the door.

"Hey Jess?"

"Yeah," she replied as she turned around a little.

"Are you and Geiger (Adam – her beau) busy tomorrow night?" Liz asked with a hopeful voice.

"Nope," Jesi replied with a smile.

"Wanna go to a concert in Denver?" Liz asked with a sly smile.

"What kind of concert?"

"Mine..." Liz said with the same smile. "And theirs..."

She gestured to Nick and me casually.

"Wait a sec...Aren’t the...oh my gosh Liz...don’t tell me that...oh goll...why didn’t you tell me?" Jesi said in a rushed voice when she realized what Liz was trying to tell her.

"Yes, the Backstreet Boys are performing there tomorrow night and yes, that’s what I’m talking about. Will you two come? Will ya will ya will ya?!?" Liz exclaimed.

"Of course we’ll come!" Jesi squealed with a smile before she turned to look at Nick and I with teasing eyes. "Even if we don’t exactly like their music...but since you asked."

She gave a big dramatic sigh and Liz started giggling.

"Cool!" Liz replied. "Just go to the ticket booth and give them your name...everything else will be taken care of."

"Cool! Thanks Liz!" Jesi said before she headed back towards the door. "Bye!"

She waved to us before she walked out the door. The girl at the counter was kind of shocked at who she was looking at...Nick and I, part of the BACKSTREET BOYS, and of course Liz, part of our opening act. She seemed kind of scared at first, but she gave us a nervous smile as she waited for us to order.

"Ok...We’ve got a HUGE order for you," Liz told her and watched the girl as her eyes got big. "Don’t worry...we’ll be VERY patient."

"Ok. What is it that you need?" the girl asked.

"We will need...uh...let me count...13 foot longs..." Liz said after she mentally counted everyone.

The rest of us sat down at a few of the tables until Liz called us over individually to decide our sandwich toppings. When all the sandwiches were done, Tina and Court grabbed the bags and headed out to the limo while Liz paid for them. I thought that it was nice of the girl to be so kind even though we had an immensely large order so I took one of the papers off the window and signed it. I had Nick sign it too before I went up to the counter to have Liz sign it. She did and then handed it to the girl who gave us a huge grin in return.

"Have a great night!" Liz told her as we headed towards the door.

"You too!" the girl called out just before we walked out.

We climbed back into the limo and headed for the house with the food. The other limo wasn’t there yet, even though we were gone for quite a while longer than it should’ve taken them to go to the grocery store, so we went inside and waited for them. When they finally pulled up, Liz greeted them at the door and told them to go in. I watched her out the window as she talked to the limo drivers and invited them inside to have some food too.

"Your dad is downstairs working on his computer," Liz’s mom told her when she joined us in the kitchen and dining room area.

"Ok," Liz replied. "I’m going to go say hi."

I watched her walk down the stairs to the basement and when she was out of view, I turned my attention back to the sandwich that was on my plate. I sat down next to Court at the table and didn’t notice when Liz came up the stairs followed by what I guessed was her dad. After another round of introductions, we all went back to whatever we were doing, whether it was playing the PlayStation that was setup in the family room area, eating our dinner, or just talking. Liz’s family was really nice...as a matter of fact, I don’t even know why I was nervous on the way down here. They’re great!

"So, are you and my daughter dating?" Liz’s dad asked me as he pulled a couple of pops from the fridge.

He came into the dining room that was now empty besides me, sat down at the end of the table, and handed me one of the cans.

"Yeah...Thanks," I told him as I opened the can and took a sip.

"That’s great. Just promise me one thing," he said.

"What’s that?" I asked.

"Promise me you’ll take good care of her," he said in a low quiet voice. "She needs someone that will be there for her when we, her mother and I, can’t."

"I promise I’ll take care of her the best I can," I replied.

"Thanks...that’s all I can ask...is for your best," he said as he patted my shoulder a few times before he stood up and went into the kitchen.

I watched as he gave his wife a hug and a kiss before he let her go and then went back down to the basement. ‘Man...why can’t everyone love each other like that?’ I thought to myself with a small smile.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Liz whispered as she took a seat next to me on the bench.

"You," I replied as I gave her a loving hug.