Nikki picked through the clothes in her closet and placed them in her suitcases. Howie sat on her bed watching her fold the clothes.
"Do you think I should bring my bathing suit?"
Howie nodded. "You might wanna go swimming at one of the hotels."
"I don't like this swim suit much though."
"Then buy a new one."
"I can't, I spent the last of my money at the mall yesterday."
"I'll buy you a new one then."
Nikki sighed and tossed the swim suit aside. "Alright, we'll buy one after I lose some weight."
Howie stared at Nikki with wide eyes. "Lose weight? Why would you want to do that?"
"To look better," she said, avoiding his eyes.
"Honey, you look fine the way you are."
Nikki rolled her eyes and walked to the bathroom. She began gathering up her toiletry items when Howie came in. He wrapped his arms around her from behind.
"I'm no model, you know," she mumbled.
"What?"
Nikki turned around and stared at Howie. Her eyes were wet with tears. "I'm not skinny like a model. Or one of the dancers in your show."
Howie held her close and kissed her forehead. "Nikki, you're beautiful the way you are. I fell in love with you the first day I laid eyes on you, and nothing could make me change my mind."
Nikki smiled. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Howie said then kissed her.
"It's nice to know you fell in love with me when you were two," Nikki said with a chuckle.
Howie laughed. "Well, you were the cutest baby in the crib."
Nikki laughed again. "You're so full of it, I swear," she said then lightly slapped him on the arm.
"I know," he replied with a smug grin.
"Come on, help me finish packing."
"Alright," she said as he followed her back into her room.
The two of them were packing when Howie's cell phone went off. "It's Denise," he said as he looked at the screen. "Hey, Denise what's up?" Nikki walked over to Howie and listened.
"Uh huh...I see...wow that's pretty bad. Alright we'll see you in a little bit. Bye," he said then hung up.
"What is it?" Nikki asked nervously. "It's not Amanda, is it?"
"No, Denise just found out some news about the tour. They postponed the first two shows."
"Are you serious? Why?"
"Hurricane Floyd is headed our way. They want us out of Florida. We've leaving for North Carolina tonight. They‘re having the van come pick us up at my place within the hour."
"Well, I'm done packing. So, I guess we should go get your stuff."
"Yeah, let's go," Howie said as he grabbed one of her suitcases.
The two of them left the apartment and went to Howie's. An hour later, the van arrived. Howie said his goodbyes to his family and they rushed out to the van. Denise came running out with her umbrella.
"Hurry up, guys. Everyone else is waiting,” she said as she grabbed a bag and threw into the back of the van. “When we get there, you guys will be in the second bus. Once we get to North Carolina, we’ll have separate buses for everyone.”
“Sounds good,” Howie said as he shook the rain out of his hair.
As soon as they arrived at the location of the buses, Nikki and Howie rushed into the bus, drenched from the rain. Nick, Kristin, Rachel, and Brian were sitting at the table. Kevin and Sarah were sitting on the couch at the back of the bus. A.J. was sitting in one of the seats by the bus driver.
"Look at you two, you're soaked," Kristin said.
"And freezing," Nikki commented. "I'm gonna change," she said as she grabbed some clothes from her bag and went into the bathroom.
Howie changed his shirt and waited for Nikki. She came out in her pajama pants and a sweatshirt.
"Ooh, sexy!" Howie joked.
Nikki smacked him on the arm. "Go change out of those wet jeans!" she laughed. Howie went into the bathroom and Nikki took a seat next to A.J. "Where's Amanda?" she asked.
"Sleeping," A.J. replied while gesturing to the bunks.
"How is she doing?"
"Better, she‘s just real tired."
"That's good. So, does everyone else know about the baby?"
A.J. nodded. “Everyone‘s been real supportive so far.”
“Good,” Nikki said with a straight face. “What about Amanda? How is she taking the news?"
"Better than I thought she was going to. She's still in shock right now. It's probably best if we didn't mention the baby for a few days."
Nikki nodded in agreement. “That’s probably a good idea.”
Just then, Howie came out of the bathroom and sat down next to Nikki. Placing his arm around her shoulders, he looked over at A.J. and smiled.
"Think the U.S. is ready for another tour of the Backstreet Boys?"
A.J. grinned wickedly and slapped Howie a high five. "Let's knock'em dead."
