Chapter Eleven: As.Time.Goes.By (The morning of 9/9/99)
"I'm so freaking tired," Brian groaned, stretching as much as he possibly could in his chair. One of his knees hit the table.
"Man, watch out! You almost spilled my orange juice!" AJ exclaimed, lunging to save his drink. The Boys were in the kitchen area of their tour bus, attempting to eat breakfast.
"Slick, Bri," Kevin commented.
"Sorry, Age," Brian sighed.
"Didn't get much sleep last night, did you, Cuz?" Kevin questioned.
"No..." Brian sighed again. "I dunno what was wrong. I just kept turning and shifting positions and-"
"I heard you, Oh Restless One," Kevin laughed. Brian looked like he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.
"Take a nap later, man. You're gonna need some energy so you won't fall flat on your ass for MTV." AJ patted his friend on the back. Brian weakly smiled. They heard a knock on the main door.
"Hey, you guys." Lance stuck his head in.
"Sup, Lance?" AJ greeted him.
"I'm on my way to my rehearsal - lucky you, you get to rest longer...Anyway, I got back last night after visiting the girls-"
"They okay?" Howie asked.
"Yea, man, don't worry. They didn't get killed in the two days you haven't seen them," Lance teased. "Anyway, according to JC's yelling, I gotta go now...But I'm supposed to let you know that they say 'good luck', and they'll try to call before the show." He smiled and left.
"How sweet of them," Howie stated as he poured cereal into a bowl.
"Yeah," Brian stretched again, careful of his knees as AJ gave him a warning glare.
"I'm gonna go get my camera before we meet up for rehearsal." Kevin popped a piece of bread into his mouth and got up. Nick, who had yet to join in on any form of communication, sat and stirred his bowl of cereal, blankly looking out the window.
"You okay, bud?" AJ asked and placed a hand on Nick's back.
"Yeah," Nick cracked a smile and looked up to face everyone.
"Good," AJ said, getting up, "cuz I got to go. The day is calling!"
"AJ, you have 45 minutes to answer that day," Howie commented.
"C'mon, J, I challenge you to some one on one - I need to wake up," Brian suggested, yawning.
"That you do, bro," AJ laughed.
Before anyone could leave the area, though, Nick spoke up and said something that made everyone stop on their tracks.
"Have you guys ever thought you would get together with the girls?" Nick asked, concentrating on his cereal. Everyone looked at each other, then back at Nick, who kept his eyes on his breakfast. AJ elbowed Brian. Brian cleared his throat.
"What do you mean?" he asked, cautiously. All four Boys were now watching Nick. He was stirring his cereal around with his spoon, still not looking at any of them.
"...If the world was perfect," Nick said slowly, trying to answer Brian as best he could, "we'd be all matched up perfectly...You and Jen. Sarah and Kev. Howie and Kat. AJ and Chin..." Nick explained, "...me and Julie..." he sighed, the last part almost in a whisper.
There was dead silence in the room.
Nick looked up and saw his band mates fidgeting. Brian was tapping his fingers on the table and looking around. Howie was picking up bits of cereal and examining them as if nothing was going on, or as if he were in deep thought. AJ was fidgeting with the drawstring on his pants and looking at his shoes.
"We did match up..." Kevin spoke up in a tone as if he was deciding on his choice of words. "Just as friends...That's all..." he avoided eye contact with everyone as he stepped out of the room. As if on cue to disperse, AJ soon left with Brian, both heading toward the entertainment area with their breakfast, forgetting their planned basketball game. Howie sighed, looked at Nick as if he were about to say something, but kept silent and followed them soon after.
Nick shook his head and went back to his breakfast.(around noon)
"We don't ask for much backstage - just a vegetable platter with dip, some cheese, some crackers, a dozen apples, a dozen oranges, two dozen lemons, three cartons of Oasis orange juice and six bottles of water in a cooler. We also like Coke, orange soda and Grape Crush," AJ mumbled, stuffing food in his mouth.
"Not much, huh?" Chin laughed, on the phone.
"Not much at allll...damn, it's so crowded back here."
"There is a live show gonna be put on pretty soon - what do you expect?"
"So different from your peaceful existence."
"Add in college."
"Oh...yeah. Okay, I'll stop complaining."
"Good boy.""Never give Brian a whole lotta ice cream," Nick laughed, into his phone.
"Why?" Jenny asked, curious. She was taking a break from her paper and had decided to call one of the Boys. Nick had picked up the ringing cell phone, and had been talking to Jenny for a good half-hour.
"He mixes together weird flavors of ice cream. Would anyone else put chocolate chip mint on top of pineapple sherbet and then put caramel sauce on it all? Yuck!"
"Well, um...that sounds...interesting."
"I'm so serious. Don't tempt the man. It's disgusting."
"Where is everyone?"
"Running around, stuffing food in their faces, working with Fatima for touchups, getting interviewed, going for costume checks...among other things."
"Busy boys."
"You betcha...speaking of busy, I think I found a person who isn't. I'll give the phone to him cuz I've got an interview in a few minutes." Nick handed over his cell to a clueless band mate.
" 'Ello...?"
"Hey, mister."
"Oh, hey, lil' missy. Whacha been talking to Nicky boy for? I'm the interesting one."
"Well the interesting one was busy when I called," Jenny tried to sound hurt.
"Forgive me?" Brian pleaded. Jenny could just see his puppy dog eyes.
"Yeah, yeah...So-"
"Hang on a sec."
"K." Jenny sighed and spell checked what she had of her paper. She pulled the pencil from her hair, tapped it on her desk while she waited, and practically screamed when Sprite showed up out of nowhere, pouncing on it.
"Jenny? I gotta go. Lindsey's here on her lunch break, and anyway, I'm supposed to meet up with Fatima soon. I'll talk to you tomorrow, kay?"
"K...Bye." Jenny hung up the phone.
Lindsey. Ah, yes, the girl from bowling who had just happened to be a tourist and actually lived in New York. How nice...Jenny scolded herself. She looked at the phone. Brian was happy. That's what mattered. She sighed again and turned back to her computer."One last question, Mister Carter, and I'll be on my way."
"Shoot."
"How is the girlfriend situation with you all? There's been rumors about Brian testing the 'plenty of fish in the sea' saying, if you know what I mean...but what about the rest of you? Your last statements on the subject were around January - have things changed since then?" the reported held out her recorder and awaited Nick's answer.
"Well, I have-" he stopped himself. What was he saying? He wasn't with Julie anymore. "...a very good friend, who's a girl...We, we all do...We all have our best friends, but, uh, that's it."
"Do the girls know each other?"
"Yeah, they're best friends and they live in the same house and-" he stopped himself again. Why was he giving information out? "Sorry, I've, um, really got to get going now." He checked his watch. "It was nice talking to you." Nick stood up, shook the reporter's hand, and headed off in the direction of wardrobe.
"Good information," the reporter smiled to herself. "BOP and BB will kill for this."~*~*~*~
(the next day)"What are you laughing at?" Brian demanded on the phone.
"Nothing...nothing at all..." Jenny laughed again.
"Jenny!" Brian whined.
"Yeah, that's really gonna attract the girls..."
"What?!"
"Your whining..."
"Funny."
"I know," Jenny began laughing again.
"WHAT!?" Chin yelled from across the room.
"Whoa...why is Chin yelling?" Brian, asked surprised.
"Cuz I won't stop laughing at her and her conversation with AJ..." Jenny mused.
"Really..." Brian muttered as he snuck to AJ's bunk where he had been talking to Chin from on his cell.
"You going to listen in, mister? Bad boy!" Jenny snickered.
"Shhh...""Alex, I-I still can't believe what you wore...I can't believe it!"
"Whaaaat?"
"Who let you out of the house like that!?"
"Nobody...Chin, it wasn't that bad..."
"Pfft - AJ!!...It was...I...You are...You have the weirdest sense in clothes. I love your style...but I think..."
"Over did it, huh?"
"Exactly."
"I'll call you for fashion advice next time..." AJ snorted. "Just don't kill me when you see the video."
"Hey! I'm on my way of being a GREAT fashion designer, so you shush. And fine, forget the video, I'll assume you were on crack or something. Just tell me when the next shoot is - I'M dressing you!"
"Look who's being sweet. I can dress my self, thankyouverymuch. Besides, should I really put my looks in your hands?"
"You are sooo mean, Alexander!!"
"I love you too, hon..." AJ retorted...He said it. He really said it. He praised himself for not letting it get to him. They were joking around...and she would never know...
Brian noticed AJ's facial expression change. He sighed and left the vicinity to continue to talk with Jenny.~*~*~*~
(a few days later)"Cathy!!!! Come on! It's gonna be on soon!" Hannah yelled from the family room.
"I love popcorn..." Chin grinned as she plopped down next to Sarah.
"Food!" Hannah scrambled from her seat on the couch to the floor with Sarah and Chin.
"Typical Hannah," Julie laughed and ducked as a pillow came hurdling towards her. Cathy joined the group and sat down next to Jenny, who had been quiet all day.
"And now, the world premiere..." Carson Daly's voice boomed as Jenny turned up the volume over the chatter.
"Oh!" all the girls quieted down as the phone rang.
"AH!" Chin scurried to the phone as Carson finished introducing BSB's new video. "WHAT!?" she loudly whispered.
"Hello to you too," AJ laughed. "We're on a speaker phone... we wanted to hear your reaction to the video..."
"Will you let us see it?!" Chin ran back to her seat and watched the video as the Boys kept silent. Piece by piece things came together. The Boys would hear versions of "WOW" from Julie. "Aw..." from Hannah. "Why is Kevin bleeding!?" from Sarah. "That is soooo cool" from Cathy. "What the hell is Alex wearing that freaking shirt for?!" from Chin, and Jenny laughing in reply.~*~*~*~
(9/13/99)"Dude, ok, chill. Our opening concert is gonna be fine, man." AJ popped his head into the back of the bus, where Brian had been sitting for the past 2 hours. The light had been on, but the curtain pulled. The rest of the bus occupants were asleep, except for AJ, Brian, and the bus driver.
"Why do you think I'd be worried over that?"
"Cuz of the weather reports," AJ sat down on the couch beside Brian, after closing the curtain. "There might be some hurricanes. Management said we might have to reschedule those dates, remember?"
"Oh."
"If you're not worried about the concert, why the hell you up then, anyway? I don't see a guitar, or any paper or pencil, so don't gimmie any bull about you writing more songs." AJ nudged his friend. Brian cracked a smile.
"I dunno. I just can't get to sleep."
"This has been going on for awhile, huh?"
"Yeah..."
"Any idea why?"
"No. I was fine in Europe, and we've been on tour a billion times. I don't think it's the traveling."
"And you were fine at the girls' house, right?"
"Yeah...I actually slept better there."
"Of course you did, buddy. That's like a second home to us."
"Yeah..." Brian was staring off into space. Something was just...missing. His body knew and didn't want to go to sleep without it.
"How's Linds?" AJ asked, laying his head back on the couch, closing his eyes.
"She's great. She has this cute giggle...it's so fun to make her laugh."
"Glad you're happy, dude..." AJ's voice was getting weary.
"Yeah..."Brian sighed. That giggle...it seemed so...familiar to him. He looked over when he noticed it was quiet. AJ had fallen asleep. He shook his head and smiled, then closed his eyes in vain, trying to find some sleep as well.~*~*~*~
(9/30/99)"LET'S GO, GIRLS!!" Cathy yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
"I'm ready..." I smiled.
"Yeah, cuz you started getting ready awhile before the rest of us..." Cathy snorted.
"That's besides the point..." I grinned innocently as the phone rang.
"You get it..." Cathy headed up the stairs, "I have some butt to kick."
I smiled and walked to the phone and picked up mid ring.
"Hello?" I answered. No one replied. "Hell-O???" I asked again. Silence continued and I rolled my eyes.
"SAH-RAH! I NEED YOUR HELP!" Hannah screamed from upstairs.
"COMING!!" I hung up the phone and placed it back on it's base. I shrugged off the odd call and ran up the stairs to a shrieking Hannah.~*~*~*~
(10/2/99)"School is beginning to bother me."
"I'm sorry, hon."
"Don't worry about it. I have little things like Coke and Sprite to help me keep my sanity," Chin laughed, as both kittens played with her toes.
"They bothering you?" AJ asked, smiling as he heard her giggle.
"Nah, I'm used to it. I've been taking a bunch of pictures - by the time you see them next, they won't be so tiny anymore!"
"True, true," AJ laughed. The other line rang in our house. After two rings, it seemed that no one was going to get it.
"Hang on..." Chin muttered and ran to get the phone. She returned a few minutes later. "I hate those kind of calls."
"Huh?"
"Where the people hang up on you or it's all silent and no one answers your 'hello', you know?"
"Yeah."
"It's been bothering the hell out of us. It's like the same idiot keeps getting the wrong number."
"You sure?"
"Does it happen to you once every few months or every other day?"
"Um...every few months."
"Exactly. We get it at least every other day," Chin groaned.~*~*~*~
(10/16/99)
"I can't wait to see their faces," I laughed, as we dodged some backstage crew.
"Seriously - my camera is ready," Hannah held the contraption in her hands.
The six of us had just experienced the BSB in concert, and had pulled strings, by ourselves, to visit them afterwards. Some of the crew recognized us from the Larger Than Life video shoot, and waved as we passed them. We found the Boys' dressing rooms wide open and heard commotion from somewhere else. Jenny pointed them out - they were sitting at desks, drowned in a sea of fans: Meet & Greet.
"So what? They're busy now...Let's just surprise them later!" Cathy evily grinned.
"Now what would you have in mind?" Julie asked.
"We could just wait for 'em...you know...in their dressing rooms-" Chin smiled.
"Or the bus-"Hannah continued.
"Or something," Jenny finished. Julie and I looked at each other, then back at our friends.
"Fine...Tomorrow is Sunday - you'd better let me sleep in or else." I glared at my friends. "So where we gonna go now?"
"I say the bus," Julie piped up. I blinked.
"What is wrong with you people!?"
"Nothing - we just want a nice Kodak moment!" Hannah laughed as she grabbed my arm and pulled me to follow the others to find the bus."Man, I'm beat." AJ slumped in a chair as the Boys boarded the bus. Brian grabbed a soda from the fridge and collapsed on another chair nearby.
"What was with you, Bri? I mean, everyone thought it was SO CUTE that you tripped up the chair routine...but then there was the hat routine...and-"
"I get the picture, Nick. I just haven't been getting much sleep, that's all. I'm tired, man."
"Sorry," Nick apologized and saw Kevin and Howie shoot looks at him.
"Remind me again WHY we have so many concerts in a row?" AJ asked with a weary voice.
"Because everything sold out and being good Boys, you gave your fans more concert dates to attend," I stated, emerging from the bunk area.
"Say CHEESE!" Hannah popped out behind me, and took a picture that we still laugh about to this day.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" the Boys practically jumped out of their skin. Brian almost choked on his soda and AJ fell off his chair.
"Relax, we're not crazy fans or anything," Chin laughed.
"You trying to give us all heart attacks!?" Howie exclaimed.
"Mission accomplished!" Julie and Cathy high-fived.
"Knock, knock - we gotta go," I tapped the walls of the hallway to the bunks. Chin, Hannah, and Jenny's head stuck out of two of the top bunks.
"Now!?" they whined.
"Yeah, the guys gotta leave the venue soon - the crew finished with the stage and lights and stuff. We've gotta go too. It's almost 1:30AM, we'll get back at like 3," I informed them, before heading back to the back of the bus to retrieve the rest of us.
"Pssst - don't tell them we're in here!" they whispered as I left. I looked back and saw Hannah with camera in hand.
"Hate to break up this shin-dig, but we gotta go," I stated, looking at the scene in front of me. Cathy and Howie had fallen asleep, leaning on each other. Julie, Nick, and Brian were still engrossed in an addictive card game she had taught them: Mow. Kevin was capturing all this with his video camera - though AJ kept purposefully getting in the way of the lens.
"Just...one...more...game..." Nick mumbled, trying to concentrate.
"You said that 20 minutes ago!' I complained.
"It seems like someone doesn't wanna be here," Kevin zoomed the camera in on me. I made a face.
"Sorry if I don't wanna be a zombie tomorrow OR keep this bus from getting to its next concert location with it's precious cargo!" I put my hand over the lens.
"Yeah, yeah," AJ pouted. He pulled Brian and Nick by the collars of their shirts and headed towards the bunk area to get to the front of the bus. I grinned and beckoned Kevin to follow me with his camera. We opened the curtain just in time to hear screams as Jenny and Chin pounced on their best friends. Nick ducked as the flash went off from Hannah's camera.
"Don't worry, guys, I got it on tape, too," Kevin laughed.
"Are you trying to TEST the stress my heart can take!?" AJ tried to sound exasperated as Chin got off him.
"If that's what you call it, yes," she grinned, helping him up. Brian hadn't fallen down, and Jenny was hanging down his back, her arms wrapped around his neck. He scooped up her dangling legs from around his back to give her an impromptu piggyback ride. By this time, Cathy and Howie had woken up from the commotion, and had joined us with Julie.
We headed to the front of the bus, and exchanged multiple good-byes. I, of course, being the worrywart, was the first one off the bus, and kept reminding them about what time it was. Nick and Julie had shared an awkward hug and smiles, before she came off after me. Cathy had playfully punched Howie in the arm, and told him not to get killed while flying through the air for the rest of the tour. She also hinted to Nick to make "M.C. D" brush up on his rapping before she left. Chin swung her arms around AJ's neck and he picked her up for one last hug before she exited the bus. Four of the Boys, having said their good-byes to all of us, headed towards their bunks. Five of us were waiting outside for Jenny.
"Your turn," Brian grinned, giving her a warm hug.
"G'nite, mister. Sleep well," she smiled, before leaving the bus.
Brian felt good. Maybe he would sleep well for change.
...He did.
Chapter Twelve: If.You.Wanna.Party...
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