Chapter 42
Being back home in my parents house felt a bit strange after living in Los Angeles for the past few months. For one thing, the pace of life was a lot slower and more tranquil and secondly, it was weird to be back in my old childhood bedroom. Thankfully my old posters no longer adorned the walls, I don’t think I would’ve been able to stand Jason Orange’s face glaring at me from every angle of the room like I had done when I was younger. He’d been the guy I’d been hopelessly in love with for years, until I met him and realised that I’d only been in love with an image. The man behind the image was a complete twat. Instead, my Mum had re-decorated it and turned it into a very stylish guest bedroom, not a poster in sight.
“It’s good to be back Mum” I said as I tucked in to a lovely home cooked meal. As far as I was concerned, my Mum’s cooking was the best. But then I suppose we all think that way about our Mum’s cooking.
“Good to have you home, even if it is only for a couple of weeks” my Dad said
“I know your friends are excited about seeing you again, I bumped into Jess with the baby in the supermarket the other day” Mum said. I hadn’t even seen Jess’s baby yet, only pictures sent via email, so I was looking forward to seeing him properly. I was so happy for Jess and her husband.
“Can’t wait to see little Callum” I told Mum
“He really is a lovely baby” she said and then changed the subject “So how are things with Alex?”
“Everything’s great…perfect, in fact, there’s something I need to tell you both” I began
“You’re not pregnant are you?” my Mum asked and frowned.
“No I’m not, but even if I was, there’s no need to frown about it” I said to her, slightly annoyed. One day I might be telling her I was having Alex’s baby, but not just yet.
“Sorry” she said, perhaps realising that I was no longer a little girl but a twenty six year old woman and capable to doing exactly as I pleased.
“Alex and I are getting married” I grinned “isn’t that great”
“Isn’t it a bit too soon, you hardly know the man” my Dad said
“I know all I need to know. When you meet the person you want to be with, you just know it” I answered “can’t you just be happy for me?”
“Listen love, if this man makes you happy, then of course we’re happy” my Dad relented “we’re just worried that you’re rushing into things”. It’s not like they could change my opinion, and besides, we were already married!
“I appreciate the concern, but we love each other and like it or not, we’re getting married” I replied determinedly.
“Have you decided when yet?” asked Mum
“The sooner the better really. But he’s going to be busy with tour rehearsals and then touring for the next few months, so it’s going to have to be after that” I said. AJ and I hadn’t gone into great detail about the kind of wedding we wanted, but I knew he wanted something big, he wanted the works, whereas I would be happy to just have a quiet blessing followed by a party. It should’ve been the other way around. AJ was a big girl when it came to that kind of thing! I smiled as I thought of him.
I knew my parents had accepted that Alex was my boyfriend, they even got on well together the time they’d met in Los Angeles, but I also knew they still had concerns. As far as they were concerned, celebrities were all a bunch of drug taking sex addicts, incapable of holding onto a relationship for any length of time, with the exception of the odd few. But Alex had done all that. He’d gone through that wild rebellious stage which fame inevitably brings. Now he was ready to settle down and I was the one he wanted to settle down with.
“I know we must sound so negative, but really we aren’t. We only want what’s best for you” my Dad said
“I know” I agreed “and I appreciate it. Alex is the man for me though”
We talked some more but then I excused myself upstairs. I was tired from the travelling and knew I’d end up falling asleep where I sat if I didn’t make a move. But before I went to sleep, I had a call to make. I needed to hear his voice before I succumbed to sleep.
“I was just about to call you” AJ said, answering his phone before it had really had chance to ring “hi”
“Hi” I replied “great minds think alike, I was going to call you” I said as I lay there curled up in bed, wishing he was with me “miss you”
“Missing you too baby” he said
“How did it go today?” I asked
“Pretty good, the studio audience went wild, at one point I thought this girl was going to dive on top of Nick” he chuckled “and then y’know, the usual, the host asked us a bunch of crazy questions and then we performed”
“It’s a hard life” I laughed
“You try getting your butt grabbed twenty times a day by crazy screaming fans, I’ve got bruises”
“Are there that many girls outside the hotels and studios then? How do they know where you guys are?” I asked, not at all worried about these girls.
“Fuck knows, but they always find us, it’s like they’ve got some kind of fucking radar or some shit like that” he replied “but it’s not always that bad, today was an exception, they’re always a bit crazy here”
“You poor thing” I consoled him “I’ll have to give you lots of good loving when you get back”
AJ was over in Germany and although they were incredibly busy from morning until night, we still squeezed in a couple of calls a day
“Mmm, sounds good” he agreed “Where are you now? Are you alone?”
“I know what you’re thinking! My parents would hear and I’d be mortified. Anyway, I’ll be seeing you in a couple of days; you’re coming to London to do a few shows aren’t you?” I asked
“Yeah, we’re doing Jonathan Ross, Loose Women, Paul O’Grady and Graham Norton. Then there’s a couple of radio shows we’re doing, like Chris Moyles and I forget who else” he answered and I hoped Jonathan Ross went easy on them, he had a reputation for not always being nice to his guests.
“And you’re fitting all that into two days?” I queried, wondering how the hell they’d do it
“That’s nothing compared to some of the things we’ve had to do in the past” he mused.
I wondered if we’d even get the chance to see each other while he was here, but he answered my silent thoughts and assured me that he’d be seeing me in London.
~*~
I could hardly believe that I was at the BBC studios with AJ and the rest of the guys. They were getting ready to do the Jonathan Ross interview and the other guests that night included Jake Gyllenhaal (even better looking up close, if that were possible) who was there to promote his latest film and Jeremy Clarkson who had a Top Gear related DVD coming out. The boys were there for an interview and then would be performing at the end of the show.
Not wanting to wait in the green room (I didn’t want to be seen on TV, I wasn’t the celebrity and for that I was glad) I was offered a seat in the audience.
“Good luck” I kissed AJ quickly before he was ushered into make-up, and then I went to find my seat.
The audience had a fair few Backstreet Boys fans, some of whom had really gone to town in the effort department in the hope that their favourite boy would take notice of them. I looked plain and pale (despite having lived in LA for the past few months) against these spray tanned, peroxide blonde, false boobed, over made-up bimbos. Rather pale than look like an Oompa Loompa from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory!
My seat was at the end of an aisle about halfway up. I was sitting next to a couple of girls about my age who were obviously there to see the boys. One of them had a Never Gone tour t-shirt on and the other had ‘Future Mrs McLean’ scrawled across her t-shirt. I decided to keep quiet and ignore them; it would be better that way.
“You’re not here alone are you?” one asked, friendly enough.
“Erm, no…I’m with some others but they’re sitting somewhere else” I replied and I was telling the truth, the people I was with were sitting somewhere else; they were backstage in the green room!
“Well, we’ll keep you company” the other girl said “I’m Shelly and this is Adele”
I really didn’t want to talk, what if they’d seen pictures of myself and AJ on the internet? How would they react to me if they knew I was with one of the guys they lusted over?
“I’m Steph” I relented. I couldn’t be ignorant, it wasn’t me.
“Oo AJ’s new girlfriend is called Steph” Adele grinned, but it was the kind of remark that wasn’t meant to mean anything.
“Is she really?” I muttered.
“Lucky cow” she said and then they changed the subject and got on to talking about their home lives, I even joined in a little, obviously keeping quiet about the fact that I now lived in LA and was married to a Backstreet Boy.
Jonathan’s first guest was Jeremy Clarkson and the audience cheered, laughed and clapped in all the right places. Then next up was Jake Gyllenhaal.
“Fuck, he’s gorgeous” Shelly exclaimed and pretended to fan herself down
“Sure is” I agreed (well, I could look!)
He must’ve had most of the ladies in the audience drooling, especially when a clip of his latest movie was shown and he was shirtless in it. I was no exception!
Then the time came for the boys. The audience had all got a little excited every time the cameras turned to them sitting in the green room, so when they actually came out from backstage, there was a huge cheer. I listened all around me as the boy’s names were called. Eventually the noise died down enough for the interview to begin.
“So guys, I hear you’ve got a new CD coming out? Is it any good?” Jonathan asked them.
The boys all gave a polite laugh and then Nick opened his mouth “it’s more than just good, it’s fucking awesome man”
The studio audience cheered and the boys applauded Nick.
“What kind of music can we expect, is it like the last CD which didn’t do so well?” Jonathan asked and I felt like calling him all the names under the sun for his rudeness. But the boys handled him well.
“This CD has something for everyone” AJ said “from classic pop songs to R & B”
“We’re very pleased with the end result” Howie said “a lot of hard work went into it”
“I’m sure it’s great” Jonathan said and they chatted some more.
Eventually, the conversation got around to wives and girlfriends and how they maintained a balance between home life and the pop star lifestyle.
“Well, I still have to take out the trash and all the other man of the house jobs” Brian laughed “when I’m not working, life is very normal in the Littrell house”
“It must be difficult being the only married guy in a group of single men…” Jonathan began and Nick interrupted.
“Actually” he looked out at the audience “he isn’t the only one off the market”
There were a few “oh’s” in the audience and some sad faces.
“Tell me more” Jonathan asked
“Howie has a girlfriend and AJ recently got engaged. I’m still single though” Nick grinned and won the hearts of the audience again.
“Congratulations AJ, who’s the lucky lady?” Jonathan asked
“Thanks. Her name is Steph, she’s English and she’s here tonight. Hey Steph sweetie, love you” AJ said and blew a kiss towards my direction. The camera zoomed in on me and I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. The girls next to me looked at me with shock on their faces and I didn’t even want to try and see the expressions on anyone else’s face, the hushed whispers were enough. I plastered a smile on my face and waved back.
“AJ McLean is marrying you?” Shelly asked
What could I say?
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to everyone reading :)
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for keeping up with the story, only a few more chapters to go I think :)
