We met up with the guys later that evening. All of us were lazy, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Howie brought his girlfriend, Joanne.  She was cute, funny, smart...no wonder Cathy complained of Howie not being able to stop talking about her whenever they had a conversation. The guys were having fun ratting on Howie, telling Joanne about the times he'd messed up on stage, etc. Hannah was attempting to talk to Lance more. Julie and Nick were hitting it off...as friends.
        They next day, we ended up going to Six Flags. It was seriously like Disneyland all over again, antics-wise. And this time, Chin and Cathy also got to see the guys in a different light...acting like pure children. Cathy and I made sure that Hannah and Lance got put together for most rides...we didn't have this problem with Julie and Nick, it seemed. The guys made it apparent that Julie AND I were the birthday girls...thus we were no allowed to pay for anything, not matter how much we complained.  You should have seen their bodyguards, rolling their eyes at all of us. We ended up leaving late. Before getting to the parking lot, Kevin suggested a race. We sighed, knowing full well the guys would do it, thinking it was basically a run to the car, first one the winner. But then he mentioned the rules. Each guy had to pick up a girl, THEN run to the car. They nodded, and turned...eyeing us.
        "OHHHHHH no you don't," Chin threatened before running. We took her lead and attempted to split from the scene, the guys close at our heels. AJ caught Chin first--we heard her scream--but he got to the car after Nick, who was behind Lance. Cathy tripped and Howie stumbled over her. Jenny was trying to hide behind the other cars, swearing no one would or could touch her or else. Kevin triumphantly put me back on the ground, after winning. We all pretended to be mad at them. How DARE they pick us up without our consent!?
        We eventually found our way back to the hotel. It turned out the guys' room was a floor above us. Jenny made it known that she wanted to actually use our suite for once. Thus, the guys bumbled into ours.  There was talk of a movie but we never got around to it. There were too many arguments over food and whether or not we should head up to the guys' room. At one point, there was an impromptu game of hide n' go seek.

        "Now what?" Nick asked after our fifth consecutive game.
        "We're running out of places to hiiiiiide," Brian wailed.
        "I have an idea," AJ wiggled his eyebrows.
        "I don't like that look, Alex..." Chin said. AJ grinned.
        "Strip poker anyone?" He produced a deck of cards.
        "No way, not me," I said.
        "And why not?" he tuned to me.
        "I...um...don't know how to play poker first of all," I answered...truthfully.
        "What about the rest of you girls?" AJ looked around. They were all fidgeting.
        "Please?" Nick whispered into Julie's ear. She blushed and lightly laughed, but shook her head. Nick tried to pout. She gave him a shocked look and lightly punched him.
        "AJ, how's about we save that thought...maybe some other time?" Lance suggested, seeing that Hannah looked worried.  
        "Aw you guys are no fun!" AJ whined.
        "Yeah!" Nick agreed.
        "You guys are such babies," Cathy commented. Chin gave us a look and motioned for us to follow her into one of the rooms.
        "Jut a sec you guys," Jenny said as we left.
        "You guys, c'mon, let's just play!" Chin said when we were safely in the room.
        "'Scuse me!?" Julie, Hannah, and I asked in disbelief.
        "Look, it'll be easy...let's just put on another layer of clothes and some more jewelry...get it?" Jenny grinned.
        "But I don't know how to play poker in the first place!" I whined.
        "You will, just get on one or two more t-shirts and more jewelry and let's meet back outside," Cathy ordered.  We did as we were told. "Okay, we'll play!" Cathy chirped to the bewildered guys, once we had emerged from the room. They looked at us oddly for a minute.
        "You sure?" Howie asked.
        "Don't ask them! Let's just PLAY, man!" AJ grinned and pulled up the table. The guys helped with the chairs. "See now if you girls were going out with us we might be able to have teams or something...Oh wait, okay Nick and Julie and Lance and Hannah can be together because they WERE couples..." AJ suggested. Nick said a silent "YEAH!" in his head. Julie noticed the grin on his face and smiled. Hannah was trying not to laugh as the look of disbelief came over Lance's face when it hit him that we were actually going to play. We cooed at the four of them.
        "But what about us?!" Jenny whined.
        "Yeah! I for one already MENTIONED I don't know how to play poker. Letting them be on teams isn't fair!" I added. Kevin swung an arm around my neck.
        "I'll be on Sarah's team and help her...if she wants," he grinned. I laughed and nodded. Brian copied his cousin and asked Jenny, who attempted to take some time to think, but agreed. Cathy laughed and swung an arm around Howie, telling him that she wasn't a helpless girl, but she'd be on his team. AJ pretended to groan and complain that since everyone was now on a team he might as well be with Chin. She made a face at him.
        AJ dealt out the cards to each team. It was decided the furthest would be underwear...the guys made it known that they were disappointed. For the 1st game, AJ and Chin won. We blamed it on the fact that he was dealer. But the rest of us, the losers, were forced to take off an item of clothing. We yelled at the guys when they took off a shoe as an article of clothing...but they yelled at us when we took off a necklace or hair tie.  After a few games, we decided the winners would pick the team, or just a person, that had to lose an item of clothing instead of having everyone strip each time. When Nick and Julie won, they picked on AJ and Chin. By now, both of them had lost all their jewelry, shoes, socks, and whatnot. AJ had lost his shirt, but still had his wife-beater, boxers, and jeans on.  AJ grunted and took off his wife-beater.
        "'Bone,' eh? Hmmmmm," Chin laughed, eyeing him.
        "Oh, stoppit. It's your turn!"  AJ retaliated, seeing Chin would have to take off her shirt. Without hesitation, she did. To the guys' surprise, she had another shirt on underneath.
        "AW! No fair!!!!" AJ whined.
        "What a whiner we've got on our hands," she grinned and pinched his cheek. "I guess someone wants to see a bra..."
        "Do you blame me?" AJ grinned back. Chin looked like she didn't know whether to slap him or laugh.
        "Aww, poor widdle Alex," Chin laugh. AJ pouted. "Alright fine, I'll take off this shirt, then will you be happy?"
        "Yup," AJ said, eyeing her.
        "Okay," Chin pulled off her shirt. She had a tight tank top underneath.
        "AWW!" AJ groaned.
        "HEY! You said you'd be happy!" Chin pointed a finger on his nose. AJ crossed him arms and grunted. Most of the time was spent picking on Nick, but leaving Julie alone. He was soon down to AJ's position. This time, Jenny and Brian had won. Jenny looked around at the faces around the table, attempting to find a victim, or a set of victims for that mater. She whispered to Brian, who nodded.
        "Oooooh Ni-kay!" Brian laughed. "Show some SKIN!"
        "Why is it always ME!?" Nick groaned. "What about Julie?"
        "I think you should stop asking questions and STRIP, boy," Jenny giggled. Nick sighed and his wife-beater came off. He pouted, crossed his arms, and frowned.
        "Happy!?"
        "Very!" Cathy laughed.
        The idea of extra clothes and jewelry actually saved us. All the guys ended up in their boxers. Only then did they announce that they were truly sleepy and that they had to go back to their room. AJ complained the whole point was lost, with the girls cheating and all. But then he lit up just before they left.
        "We'll see you in bathing suits tomorrow..." he grinned.
        We went to a water park the next day.  We decided to go to the HUGE pool first. It was practically empty. The guys jumped in right away. We stared at them, and decided that we didn't want to go in for the time being. After awhile, the guys finally noticed we weren't in the pool.
        "You girls gonna get in anytime soon?" Howie yelled.
        "Why should we?" Cathy asked.
        "Umm cuz it's a water park and you're SUPPOSED to get wet..." AJ answered.
        "Naw," Chin said. She was sitting on the edge of the pool.  AJ waded over to her and rested on the side of the pool, to the right of her, with his arms folded out on the edge. "Yes?" she looked down at him and raised an eyebrow.
        "What? Don't look at me like that. Can't a guy rest by the side of the pool, right by his bestest bud!?" AJ asked incredulously.
        "Not with that face, and a mind like yours, no," she smiled back.
        "Now I'm HURT!" he said and looked away.
        "Whatever," Chin grinned. A few moments later, we heard a scream. Chin came up out of the water sputtering. "AJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
        "Did I do that?" AJ put a finger on his lips and grinned.  Chin glared at him.
        "I'm still in my CLOTHES Alex!"
        "But hey, I got you to call me AJ! I've noticed that you only say that when you're pissed though...you're not mad at ME, are ya?" he grinned.
        "Okay, if the rest of you girls don't come in, we are gonna get out and dump you in like AJ did to Chin," Nick warned in a sing song voice. We grumbled and booed and ughed, but finally gave up and got in.
        "YOU guys at least got a WARNING!" Chin whined. She had scrambled out of the pool by now. She had taken off her now wet clothes and was standing in her bathing suit, wringing out the clothes by the side of the pool. AJ waded to the side of the pool again and rested on it with his folded arms.
        "Chin, I'm sorry, kay?"
        "Yeah, yeah..." Chin mumbled, still wringing out her clothes. AJ sighed and hopped out of the pool. He took the clothes from her and began to wring them out for her, he silently showed her that he could do a better job of it. "Thanks, Alex..."
        "There," he stated when he was finished, "Now c'mon...I'm asking you this time...can you please come in the pool?" Chin gave him a look and AJ gave her puppy-dog eyes.
        "OH no, not THOSE! Fine, fine, I'm coming," Chin laughed. After they got in, Chin tried to dunk him, and they started their own little water fight. We were having fun watching. Julie and Nick were the farthest away from our group in the pool.
        "Did I tell you how great you look?" Nick whispered in her ear. Julie blushed, grinned, and turned to splash water in his face. Nick got this look of oh-no-you-didn't on his face and attacked her. We heard the cries for help and soon all of us were entangled in a water fight.
        "Hey, ya'lls hungry?" Brian asked after the fight had died down. He opted to take orders. We told him what we wanted and Jenny accompanied him to get some food.
        "This is sooo fun," Jenny sighed as they walked to the food area.
        "Yeah. It's a good break too. We're gonna be leaving the country soon..."
        "When?"
        "End of May. The European leg of the world tour is going to start..."
        "OH yeah..."
        "Don't worry, we'll bring you presents!" Brian grinned and poked Jenny's stomach as if she were the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
        "And who says we were asking for any?" she giggled. They returned with the food and we all hopped out of the pool. Soon, the guys were done scarfing down their portions and were getting impatient with us "slow" eaters.
        "Aww, c'MON you guys!" Nick whined. We looked at him for a second, and continued eating, but slowed down our pace even more just to annoy him. With more complaints, we soon finished. The guys dragged us to the tube rides. Everyone got a single tube, but I got stuck with a double one. Kevin offered to ride with me. We ended up flipping over. I stood up sputtering (it was in shallow water), trying to get my hair out of my eyes. Next thing I knew, my feet were off the ground. I finally could open my eyes and I saw Kevin grinning at me. I protested and he finally put me down on the pavement. In a huff, I straightened my board shorts and my tangled hair.
        We were soon sitting down, contemplating about what to do next.
        "You hear that?" Lance slowly smiled.
        "Hear what?" some of us asked.
        "The music," Lance replied and turned to Hannah. "Will you dance with me?" he grinned.
        "Oh Lance's laying down those moves," AJ snickered. "OW!" Jenny hit him. "I thought you gave that up," he mumbled.
        "Can't a friend ask a friend to DANCE?" Lance replied. Hannah nodded and he took her hand.  Cathy, Chin, Julie, Jenny, and I all exchanged smiles. Soon, the "music" was over.
        "Ooookay, enough mushy stuff," AJ stated...and dodged Jenny's hit.
        "MORE WATER FUN!!!!!" Brian and Nick yelled in unison, got up, and charged in some direction.

        The rest of the days we had in L.A. were filled with activities. One of the events was when the guys took us to Universal Studios. Just like Splash Mountain, I hated the thought of Jurassic Park: The Ride...with its rumored HUGE drop. But guess what? I was forced to go. After that ride, Chin had dragged us to an area right next to the ride...right by the drop where one could get soaking wet if they stood at the correct spot. She got the guys to join her (Cathy, Jenny, Julie, Hannah, and I retreated), and they stood there and got totally wet after several drops from the ride. The guys soon turned to us, asking if anyone of us lovely dry girls wanted a nice big hug. We tried to run, but they caught us and got us all wet, hug after hug, no matter how much we shrieked and squirmed. Chin was still standing by the drop, watching us in amusement. She knew another drop was coming, but didn't want to get wet anymore, so she began to head towards us. AJ popped up behind her and said "Oh no you don't" and grabbed her and held her there for the next drop. Both of them of course got soaked. We also found some stables one day (of course with Lance and Hannah in mind). We ventured to Knott's Berry Farm and I forced everyone onto the ride "Big Foot Rapids"--so what if we all got soaked in our street clothes? We were getting soaked somehow almost every day now! Howie mentioned he was grateful that the "teenyboppers" were in school for all these activities.

         Soon though, we were at the airport again. Like déja-vu to me it seemed...except we were the ones getting on the plane. Lance and Hannah were definitely closer compared to when we first got to Los Angeles. Nick and Julie were acting like goofy best buds. Howie wasn't at the airport; he had said goodbye to us earlier...he was taking Joanne out for an anniversary lunch; we had already gushed about how sweet that was. AJ was attempting to make a scene...he was pretending to sob because we were leaving him. When we were in the plane, we looked out at the window to see the guys waving at us...both Brian and AJ were making faces on the glass. Jenny made a face back on the window of the plane, which produced five grins from the gate lounge.         They waited by the window till we were out of sight.  
        Hannah was sitting between Chin and Cathy on the plane.
        "So you guys okay?" Chin inquired.
        "Hmm?"
        "You and Lance," Cathy said.
        "Oh..."
        "Well?" Chin asked.
        "I dunno. It's so hard. I sometimes wish it could go back to what it was before they left that week in February, but I'm the one who broke it off."
        "Who says he doesn't want it that way either?" Cathy noted.
        "I think he likes the idea of friends better."
        "Are you sure?" Chin pushed.
        "No...but, I mean, he's making no effort whatsoever to show me if he wanted it to be how it used to be, ya know? He's just acting like a buddy, so I don't think he wants it more than that...even if I do."
        "Well maybe he's thinking the same thing, 'cept vice versa," Cathy mentioned. Hannah looked at her and thought.
        "Maybe..." she muttered. Julie was sitting between Jenny and me.
        "Interrogation time!" I snickered.
        "Huh?" Julie asked.
        "Spill it, girlie," Jenny said. "Now how is it with you and Nicky boy?"
        "It's fine..."
        "Only fine?" I asked.
        "Well, I mean it's good. We're friends...and it's fun."
        "So you don't want to go back to how it was before?" I inquired.
        "The way it is now is fine. He doesn't have to worry about me as a love interest, but I'll still be around," Julie replied.
        "Ju-LIE!" Jenny exclaimed.
        "Jen-NY!" she replied, smiling. "What?"
        "But what if Nick wants it the way it used to be!?"
        "Well how do you know if he does? He seems perfectly fine with the way things are now, so then I am too. Why can't it stay like it is, if both people concerned are happy?"
        "Julie, you are impossible," I sighed.

~*~*~*(in the hotel with the guys)*~*~*~
        Nick was sulking around. So was Lance.
        "Hey, the girls' house is a nice vacation spot, come to think of it," AJ mentioned.
        "Yeah it is," Kevin agreed.
        "It's definitely one of my favorite spots...Totally fan-free--'cept for the girls themselves that is," Howie smiled, "...but it's also reporter-free, photographer-free and smog-free."
        "I bet Roky's having a great time," Brian smiled.
        "We all like it there," Kevin said, "...Just some of you like it in a different way."
        Nick opened his mouth to say something, but Howie interrupted him. "Ah, ah, ah. Don't deny it!"
        "I was about to say, before I was so rudely interrupted, that you seemed to enjoy New York a lot since you met Joanne there!"
        "True, true, but it's fun to bug you about it," Howie messed up his hair. "You being the baby of family Backstreet, and all."
        Kevin slung his arm around Howie's shoulder. "Howie, he's not a baby anymore! Look at him!" He wiped away a pretend tear, "Our little Nicky has grown up."
        "Oh puh-leese. It's bad enough to get this from my mother," Nick rolled his eyes.
        "Whatever happened to that sweet little 13-year-old we once knew?" Howie continued.
        "Sweet?" Brian laughed.
        "Hey, you're saying I'm not sweet and little anymore?" Nick asked.
        "No, you're big and annoying," AJ snickered. "I miss the early days...We had so much fun then..."
        Nick gagged, "Just cue the sappy music why don't ya?"
        "You were our baby Nicky...but now...you're our BIG baby Nick!" Brian snickered.
        "Before you know it, our little Nicky will be getting hitched..." Kevin droned on. "No names mentioned, of course," he gave him a wink.
        "You guys, Julie and I are only friends now...you know that!" Nick stated. It was tearing up his heart to say so.
        "Oh come on, you know that's not true. Julie really cares about you," Lance comforted him.
        "Thanks Lance. I used to think that, but now, well yeah,  I bet she does...just not in the way I care about her..."
        "Don't worry about it, Nick. Julie's crazy about you, anyone can see it." Kevin gave him a reassuring smile.
        "I sure don't see it. But I hope you're right, Kev..."
        "She let you go because she cared, man," AJ said.
        "Yeah yeah..."
        "Same with you, Lance..." Kevin turned around.
        "M-me?" Lance asked, not ready for the conversation to be turned onto him.
        "Yes, you," AJ replied. "You're friends with Hannah, right?"
        "Yeah..."
        "But she wants more than that," Howie said.
        "What? How would you know? SHE'S the one that broke it off guys," Lance reminded them.
        "So?" Nick asked.
        "SHE doesn't seem to want more than friendship...even if I do," Lance stated sadly.
        "ARGH! Why are you both so stubborn!?" Brian threw his hands up in the air.

*Chapter 32 ~ The End?*
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