The Internship Part 2

written by: Janice Emory

"I love you, too." i climbed out of the car and walked across the lawn to the front door. I opened the door and turned around and waved to him and he pulled away. I walked up the stairs and headed to my bedroom. I peeled the clothes off, making sure to fold his sweatshirt neatly and place it in my suitcase so not to forget it in the morning. I crawled into bed and stared at the ceiling. The next 15 months of my life would be the most enjoyable 15 months that I could ever endure.

"Good morning Orlando, this Kid Cruz with your music news for the day. The Orlando-based group, Backstreet Boys kick off their 15 month tour of the globe tomorrow in Tallahassee. Later this morning they will be holding a press conference. This conference will also be the public debut of the guys' new PR intern, Janice Memory." I shut off the radio and pushed back the covers and threw open the curtains that lead to the balconey to allow the sun to flow in. I ran around my room collecting last minute things that I hadn't yet packed. After I changed I lugged my suitcases down the stairs.

After I got them all down and did a last minute check of my room and was satisfied that I had every little thing packed I went down to have breakfast. Erika was eating when I came down. "So, today's the big day." "Yup." "What time do you leave?" "I really don't know, because I have to be there at 10, but I have a meeting with the head of security and then a press conference after that. So I don't know exactly. What time is your first class?" "In an hour or so. Why?" "I was seeing if you could come down to the studio with me because I need someone to take my car home." "I can be late." "Are you sure? I mean you don't have to if you don't want to." "Trust me it's no big deal. I'll miss the beginning of Theory. No great loss." I grabbred some cereal from the cupboard and some OJ from the fridge. "Last real meal for 15 months." "Why do you say that?" "Trust me hotel food isn't that great and the free food that you get isn't worth what you pay for it." "But it's free." "My point exactly. I wouldn't feed that food to my worst enemy." "Thanks for the warning."

We finished breakfast and lugged all my stuff to my car. We loaded it to the top. Leaving just enough room for the two of us to sit comfortably for the twenty minute ride to the studio. We pulled into the garage. I grabbed my school bag and we walked into the building. We took the elevator to the 5th floor and found Denise talking to two men in the hallway. "Morning Janice and Erika. Are you ready for today, Janice?" "As ready as I'm going to be." "Janice, this is Randy Jones. He is head of the guys' security." "Nice to meet you." We shook hands. "And this men next to him is your new best friend. This is Tim Durand. He is your personal bodyguard. After what happened with Erika during her trip we didn't want to take any chances with you." "Janice, we just have to give you some security buttons to wear. You have to wear them while at the venues and while we are in press conferences. Don't worry cause even the guys wear them too." "Ok." He handed me an envelope full of backstage passes and buttons. "You'll get more as the tour goes on."

As Randy and Tim left, the guys came down the hallway. "Morning," they all said in unison. "Well, we sure do sound cheerful this morning, unlike yesterday when you were half-dead." "Too exciting of a day to spend tired. And we have a press conference in a few minutes and we have to be psyched for that," said Kevin. "Good morning, beautiful," said Brian as he kissed me. "Aww!" the five of them cooed. "Ya know, y'all are gettin' real annoying," he said laughing. "Guys, the press is waiting for you. You better get changed and get yourselves made up. You too, Janice. Your outfit is with the guys' in their dressing room," said Denise walking down the hallway. "Follow us," said Kevin.

We got on the elevator and took it to the 2nd floor. We got out went down the hall and went into this big room that had a ton of clothes in it. "All these clothes are going to be put on a truck that is going to travel with us," said Nick. They walked over to a rack that had PRESS CONFERENCE written on it. It had six garment bags with our names on them. The guys stayed in the big room and I went into a smaller dressing room to change. The outfits they gave us were: a sleeveless white shirt, an Orlando Magic jersey with our names on the back, a pair of black pullaway windpants and a pair of black hightop Nikes. I stepped out of the dressing room and the guys were already dresses and fooling around. We all had different numbers on our jerseys. Brian was 75, Nick was 18, Howie was 25, I was 21, Kevin was 47, and AJ was 69. "Nice number, AJ," I said. "Hey, they know my style," he said matter of factly. "Hey Kevin, why 47? I know Bri's is his birth year and the rest of us got out age. And we won't mention AJ's. But why 47?" "Well on the phone keypad 47 is the letter GR. And they are my father's initials." "Wow, I didn't even realize that. That is so sweet. I think I'm going to cry," I said wiping the tears from the corner of my eyes. "Oh God, she is worse than Mr. Softy over there," said Howie pointing at Kevin, who was also crying. "Alright, now that everyone has to touch up their make-up can we stop," said Nick jokingly. We touched up out make-up.

We then walked out of the room with our garment bags in our hands and took the elevator back to the 5th floor. Denise was in the hallway waiting for us along with some other people. The other people took our garment bags. "Sorry we took so long, Mom. We had a sentimental moment in the dressing room," said AJ. "Let me guess. Kevin told his jersey story." We all nodded. We had reached a door at the end of the hallway. "Are you ready?" she asked. The guys all nodded. "How about you?" she asked me. "I'm nervous but I'll live." "Just tell them the truth and what you want them to know. If they ask you a question that you don't want to answer, don't." Brian came over toward me. "You'll be fine. You are going to sit next to me and Nick so you'll be cool." He hugged me. Then the six of us had a group hug and then headed into the room. Randy handed me and the guys passes to wear around out necks as we came through the door.

As we entered the room I could see the stage with stools on it and a microphone on them. As we entered the room, the flash was blinding. I some how managed to get on the stage without tripping and falling. We all sat down on the stools and had our mikes in our hands and they started asking us questions. They asked tons of questions about the tour and about me being the first intern to work with them. Then one reporter asked the fateful question. "Brian, rumor had it that you are romantically involved with someone. Is that true?" "Yes, I am. But I believe it is up to my girlfriend to identify herself." The same reporter asked the other guys if they were seeing someone and each one replied that they weren't. Then he came to me. "Janice, are you currently seeing someone?" Without thinking for a second I responded, "Yes, I am." "Would you care to identify who he is?" "Yes, he is Brian Littrell," I looked at Brian, he smiled and took my hand. We had gone public with our relationship and we weren't afraid of what would happen. With that final note we left the conference room.

When we were in the hallway I put my back to the wall and slowly slid down it till I was sitting on the floor. I took a deep breath and sighed. I put my head in my hands. I was still shaking. I felt Brian come towards me and squat down in front of me. He put his hand on my shoulder. "You did great," he reassured me. "Don't worry what they think. You told them the truth." I lifted my head. I was looking him in the eyes. "Thank you." I looked down the hallway and saw Erika walking toward us. I stood up. "Hey," she said hugging me, "You did great. Better then I did when I did this. I couldn't remember anything I said," she siad reassuring me. The other four guys came over and complimented me on the way I handled the reporters. Then Denise came from out of the conference room. "You guys were awesome! Janice, you did great. Now, what do you say we get loaded and get out of here?" "Sounds great to me," said Nick.

We all walked down the hall and got on the elevator. Erika got off the 2nd level to bring my car around back to the bus. We all got off the elevator and walked out the back door. Outside was a tour bus that had the bottom compartments opened with the guys' suitcases already loaded. A few minutes later Erika pulled my car around and the guys help load my stuff onto the bus. I got my thre carry-on bags, the garment bag and my laptop computer bag hanging off my arms when I got on the bus and plopped down on the couch. When I sat down and got everything off my arms, I finally got a good look at the bus. It had three sections, the first section had a couch on the left and right with overhead compartments above them, it also had a kitchen set-up with a table and couchs opposite it and a mirror ceiling. The next section had the beds to sleep in. And the final section had a big couch going across the back and had a bathroom and dressing room and seven small closets. Above the couch was a stereo system that was wired into speakers throughout the bus. I went back to the fron of the bus and loaded my bags into the overhead. A few minutes later Denise and the guys got on and sat down and we were off.

As we pulled around the front of the building we encountered a ton of fans that had been waiting all morning to catch a glimpse of the guys before they left. "Let's go up front, so they can see us," suggested Howie. With that they all got up and went to the front of the bus. "Come on you," said Brian dragging me up with him to the front. We stood in the front of the bus waving until we pulled around the corner. We turned around and plopped back down on the couches. We just sat there and talked about the places we would be visiting on tour. After awhile Kevin went into the back to work on some paperwork, AJ went to catch some Zs, Nick went to the front to play some video games, Howie got his laptop and started working on some work for his business, leaving me and Brian alone. We sat on the couch, I had my legs going across his lap and was just relaxing. He leaned down and gave me a kiss, I took my free hand and started playing with his hair. He sat up letting my hand slide down his face. I sat up.

"I have to go do some work." I got up and got somethings from the overhead. "I'll be back later." I leaned down and kissed him. I walked over and joined Howie, who was busy typing on his computer. I pulled my laptop out of the bag and plugged it in. I turned it on and started working on the first of many assignments that had to be sent to my advisor back at Mansfield. I was typing for what seemed like hours, when Brian came and sat down next to me.

"Whatcha doin?" he asked. "For each day I work I have to write down what I do and what I learn. That way my advisor knows that I am actually do something and not just fooling around." "Now why would he think that you are fooling around?" he asked jokingly. I finished typing the last sentence and saved the document to email to advisor later and decided to check my email. "Let's see how popular I am today." I logged on to my email and while I was checking that I also logged on to AOL instant messenger to check for some friends. "Hey Howie, I thought you were doing work for your business." "I am," he said defensivly. "Oh, really." I clicked my mouse and typed something. I leaned over the table and turned up his sound. I turned back to my computer and hit enter. His computer made the bell sound it makes when you receive an instant message. "How did you know my AOL screen name?" "I already told you that I found it on a search engine."

Just then the door that lead to the very back section of the bus flew open. "Guys, we're on TV," said Kevin pulling open two cupboard like doors to reveal a big-screen TV. AJ followed him and sat down on one of the couches. Nick turned on the television. "These home-grown singing sensations, have got it goin' on. And to prove just how much they love their fans, they have official kicked off a 15 month tour of the globe starting right here in the US, and taking them overseas to Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, South Africa, Canada, and finishing back here in America with their final stop in Orlando next November. Making this their first non-stop tour of the world. And along with all these first comes Janice Memory, the Boys PR intern.

Janice, a native of Philadelphia and senior at Mansfield University, was acquired a few days ago by Jive Records. In the few days Janice has been with the group she has sent shockwaves around the world, when the news of her and Brian's relationship was released at a press conference today." It then cut to the part of the conference when the reporter asked me the question. I couldn't believe it, this reporter was blaming me for ruining the hopes and dreams of millions of girls around the world.

By this time I couldn't stand anymore, I got up and went to the back of the bus. I fell onto the couch. The tears were flowing down my cheeks. I buried my face in my hands and just cried. I felt someone come in the room and put their hand on my shoulder and sit beside me. I looked up and saw AJ sitting next to me. For some reason I was glad it was anyone but Brian, for some reason I didn't feel like talking to him right now. AJ extended his arms out and I fell into him crying and sobbing into his chest. A few minutes later, I sat up. "Are you alright? That anchor was kind of tough on you," he said handing me a tissue. "What gave her the right to judge me and blame me for this? She doesn't even know me. I told Brian I wasn't so sure about this dating thing." "Hey, hey. Wait a second. Brian and you love each other. And there is nothing in the world that is stronger then the love you have for each other. I have never seen Brian so happy with a girl, then when he is with you." I looked at AJ, I had never seen him being so serious before. I looke at him and smiled.

Just then the door opened and Brian walked in. "Hi," he said visibly uncomfortable about the situation. "I'll leave the two of you alone to talk," said AJ leaving. "Thanks, AJ," I said. "Yeah, thanks, Bone." "Just being a good friend. Now don't forget what we talked about," he said pointing at me. I nodded. "I'll be seein' ya." He left shutting the dooe behind him. I stood up and walked towards Brian wrapping my arms around him. We stood there for while just holding each other. The tears began streaming down my face. "I'm sorry," I said still holding him. "Why are you sorry?" he said pulling me away but still holding my hands and leading me to the couch. We sat down. "For the way I overreacted to that reporter on TV," I said. "Hey, that's my fault for not warning you about this sort of thing. I forgot that I'm used to putting these things out of my mind but you don't have that tolerance yet." "I love you, too much to let something like this come between us."

Just then the bus came to a stop. "Guys, we're at the hotel," said Howie through the door. "We're coming," Brian said back. "Come on. I bet there is some people outside that are waiting to see us and we can't disappoint them." "Will we be able to get back to the bus?" I asked. "Probably not. Do you need help unloading anything?" "Yeah," I said unloading my bags from the overhead compartment in the front of the bus. "Geez, I thought I packed heavy," said Brian as I handed him my garment bag and a large sports shoulder bag. "What did you pack?" "Well, the garment bag has my clothes from today in it. That shoulder bag has clothes, just in case I couldn't get to my suitcase. It has about four days worth of clothes. That's my laptop computer. This school bag has all my paperwork from school and Jive, plus the security buttons and passes that Randy gave me. And this blue bag is my bus survival kit, CDs, books, cassettes, stuff like that." As we were talking we had gotten off the bus and were walking towards the hotel.

We entered the lobby and found the rest of the gang. "I hope you guys don't mind," said Denise to me and Brian. "But they are completely booked and could only give us six rooms. Janice, you can either stay with me or with Brian it's up to you." I looked at Brian and he smiled. "I'll stay with dork here," I said pointing at Brian. "Dork am I?" he said jokingly as we got on the elevator. "Yeah, but you're a cute dork." "Well, that's different as long as I am a cute one, it's fine by me." He kissed me. "Shut up, AJ." "What? I didn't say anything." "No, but the wheels in your head started spinning." We all got off the elevator.

We walked down the hallway and went to our rooms. Brian and I entered our room. I plopped down on the bed. "Do you want to share or be seperate?" he asked me. "I'm more comfortable with seperate right now, but who knows what we'll be doing in 15 months," I said wrapping my arms around him and pulling him close to me and kissing him. "Alrighty then," he said in his Jim Carrey voice. I giggled. I pulled away and started getting my stuff unpacked. "So, what is on the agenda tonight?" I asked waling to the bathroom to brush my hair. "I don't know, we have to check in with Denise and find out. More than likely we have off and we can go looking around downtown for something to do," he said yelling from the other room. "Are you going to change?" "Yeah, but I don't think I have anything that's going to look good. I have a bunch of grungy shirts that would have been good just to wear around here or on the bus," I said walking back into the room. "Open the closet." "Why?" "Trust me. You'll probably find something to wear in there." "Really?" "Yeah, they keep the closets full for us. So, when we to the next stop just open your closet." "Cool." I opened the closet. "I think this was suppose to be my room." "Why do you say that?" "Unless, you have this freakish hobby of wearing sundresses." I laughed.

He walked over to the closet and looked inside. We found sport jerseys with both our names on it. "They set us up," he said walking away. "What do you mean? They lied about the rooms?" "Yeah," he said sitting on his bed. "Is there something wrong with that?" I said sitting next to him and looking him in the eye. "Cause, if you are uncomfortable with this arrangement. I'll talk to Denise and have her...." "No, I love this. It's just the fact that no one talked to me about it." "Why don't we get them back? Make them feel sorry that they put us together." "I got the perfect idea."

A few minutes later: "You jerk! Let me back in!" I was standing in the hallway banging on the door, screaming at the top of my lungs. And Brian was inside throwing my pillow-stuffed bags out the door. Within seconds Howie, Kevin, Nick and AJ were in the hallway, three of them in their boxers and Howie in just his towel, trying to see what all the commotion was all about. "What the hell is going on?" asked AJ coming toward me. By this time tears were streaming down my face. "I don't know, I said something and he flipped." At that point was when an enraged Brian came to the door and flung it open. He was holding something behind his back. A very scared AJ was looking up at him and the other three were inching their way down the hallway. Brian slowly pulled his hand from behind his back. "BRIAN, NO!" screamed Nick. He pulled a camera out and took a picture of a terrified AJ. And I took a shot of the other three who looked scaried out of their wits. "GOTCHA!" we yelled cheerfully.

I got up off the floor. I turned to look at the other guys, who had just regained the color to their faces. "Man, you gotta see the look on yall's faces," said Brian. "Don't worry they will when these pictures come back," I said. "Well, I guess this is you guys wat to get back at us for the room thing," said Kevin.

We all laughed and went back to our rooms. "I hope they learned their lesson," said Brian changing into a yellow Ralph Lauren polo shirt. "Do the pants go with this or should I change them?" he asked holding the shirt in front of him. "Looks great," I said. "Nice scar. I thought it would be bigger though." "Are you kidding, I was imagining this huge thing and when I saw this," he said pointing to his scar. "I took a huge sigh of relief." "Sorry, I don't have any surgery scars to compare taht to. But I do have a hairline scar that I got when I was like four from a cat." We changed clothes. I put on a sunflower sundress and he had the Ralph Lauren polo and a pair of black jeans and Nike hiking boots.

We went into the hallway and found the other guys waiting for us. Nick was wearing a pair of blue windpants and a yellow Hilfiger windbreaker. Howie was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and an over-sized blue Ralph Lauren polo shirt like Brian's. AJ was wearing a white Nike windbreaker and black windpants. And Kevin had a blue Nike windpants and jacket set on. We were all ready to hit the town in style. Denis came out of her room. "Hey mom, what's up for today?" asked AJ. "Anything you guys want. But, if I were you I'd stick together and take one of the guards for each of you. Someone from the hotel squealed and the fans know where you are staying. The front desk says there is about two hundred girls waiting for you when you come down. Janice, be careful. Attach yourself to one of them. And don't let go." "Okay."

"So what are we going to do tonight?" asked Howie. "We could go shopping. Scope out the locale. Do some lite sightseeing," suggested Nick. "Sounds cool to me," said Brian. "Me, too." I chirped in. "Sounds like a plan to me," remarked Kevin. We took the elevator to the ground floor. As we got off the elevator we were met by the bodyguards who were going to protect us when we walked out. As we rounded the corner we could hear the fans yelling and screaming. I grabbed hold of Brian's hand and we walked out the door. They went nuts. They had placed barricades up so they couldn't touch us. But, a few of the girls must have recognized me from the press conference adn they started booing me and yelling obsenties. "Well, it looks like your the woman of the hour," remarked AJ over all the noise.

As we made our way to the van that was waiting for us. We all hopped in and it pulled away. "Where to guys?" asked the driver. "John, take us someplace quiet where we can shop," said Howie. "Righto, D.," he said as we turned left and went down some road and came out to this little shopping square. "I'll be back for you in two hours. If you need me, you know what to do," said John. "We know," said Kevin patting his pocket. And John pulled away. "What was that?" I asked pointing at Kevin's pocket. "It's a small device that when I push this button. It makes John's pager go off telling him where we are. And he comes and gets us," answered Kevin. "Cool," I said.

"Where do you guys want to go first?" asked Brian looking down the long line of shops. "Let's just walk until we find something," suggested Howie. We started walking, when we came across a music store. "Let's stop here," said Nick. We went in the empty store. Behind the cashier there was a huge poster of the guys advertising their new single "I'll Never Break Your Heart." The cashier just watched us walk in. The guys started looking though some CDs. I walked over to the posters adn started flipping through them. Brian walked over. "Any good ones?" "Not really."

Just then the cashier walked up to us. "Are you the Backstreet Boys?" she asked Brian. "Yeah," he remarked putting his arm around my waist. "Wow, could you guys sign something for me? My sister is a huge fan," she asked. "I think I have something even better," I said reaching into my purse and retriving an envelope. "Here, Denise gave them to me in case I ran into a friend." The cashier opened the envelope. "Front row tickets!? The concert has been sold out for months and my sister has been dying to go, she'll love these. Thanks!" "Hey, could you get us some markers? We'll sign that advertisement for you," said Howie. She ran behind the counter and grabbed some markers and the guys signed the poster. Nick bought a Journey CD and we left. "That was real nice of you," said Brian grabbing my hand. I looked at him, smiled and kissed him. "Man, I need to get myself a girl," said AJ, " I can't go 15 months watching you, two." We laughed.

We kept walking around for two hours, by the time we got back to the van, our hands were loaded with bags of stuff. "Where to fellas?" asked John when we got back into the van. "Know any good places to eat?" asked Nick. "I could really go for some Italian, if you know a place," I said. "I know the perfect place," said John as we pulled away. I was sitting next to the window, watching the scenery go by, when I felt Brian looking over my shoulder and place his head on my shoulder. "Whatcha thinking about?" he asked. "Nothing, just how lucky I am. I get to work with you guys, and have the best boyfriend I could ever have. This couldn't get any better," I told him, he smiled and gave me a long kiss. "Yo liplockers, enough tonsil hockey! Let's go eat already!" yelled AJ from outside of the van. We pulled away and I started blushing.

We climbed out of the van and made our way to the entrance. Kevin went up to the hostes and asked for our table out of the way, because the restaurant was fairly busy. The hostess recognized who we were and took us to the very back of the restaurant away from everyone. As we made our way we passed a table of teenage girls. They started nudging themselves and whispering to each other. I nudged Brian who looked at me and I pointed at the table. He smiled at the girls and waved. I thought the one girl was going to pass out right there. We finally got to our table and sat down. We opened our menus and started reading. I shut my menu and put it on the table. "That was quick," remarked Kevin. "I found my gnoucchis. It's pasta filled with potato. They totally rock." The waitress came over to our table not even looking at us and asked us if we wanted our drinks. "I'll have an iced tea, no lemon," said AJ. The waitress stopped writing when she heard AJ talk. She looked up. She then proceeded to drop the tray she had in her hand. "You're the Backstreet Boys," she said in disbelief. "Shhh!" we all said at once looking around to make sure that no one had heard her. When we realized no one had heard we relaxed. "Sorry," she said. "My daughter is a huge fan, she has worn out theCD twice already. She's going to the concert tomorrow." The guys all looked at me. "What?" I asked. "Do you have something for her?" asked Nick. "Actually I do, but after this I have nothing." I pulled two passes on lanyards out of my purse. "Here, they're backstage passes," I said handing her the lanyards. "Thank you, my daughter will love it," she said.

After that the waitress took out order and left. We just sat around talking about nothing. "Janice, have any siblings?" asked Nick. "My sister, Danianne and my brother Robert." "How old are they?" asked Kevin. "My sister is a senior in high school and my brother is a sophomore. My sister absolutely adores you, AJ. Especially in the new video." "The part where I say, 'Baby, Baby.'?" he asked taking off his sunglasses to do the face. "How did you know?" "Everyone likes that part," replied Howie. "My favorite part is the end when the camera runs in between you and stops at Kev and Nick and it fades. But I don't get to see you for too long," I said to Brian looking him in the eye. He smiled and kissed me.

I leaned into him and listened to the others talk about the other videos that they had done The food arrived and the conversation turned to our food. We ate, paid the bill and left. We climbed bck into the van. This time when we got in our bodyguards were in the van. "What's up guys?" asked Kevin. "More fans showed up at the hotel," said Jeff. "How many more?" asked Brian. "About 5,000," said Lonnie. "5,000?!" I said. "Yup, the local police have the place secured and the entrance barricaded. Do you want to go in the back or walk in the front?" asked Jeff. The guys looked at each other. Normally they wouldn't have minded walking through the front, but after this morning press conference. We decided to go in the back. More for my own protection than the guys. We arrived in the back of the hotel and went in.

We walked to the elevators and then to our rooms. When I got in the room. I dropped all my bags onto the bed and kicked my shoes off. Brian was in Nick's room so I decided to get changed. I turned on the television and laid on the bed watching until Brian came in. "Anything good on?" he asked laying down next to me on my bed. "Not really," I said clicking through some channels. I shut off the television. "Did you hear that?" I asked getting up off the bed. "Hear what?" he asked followi

The Internship Part 3