"What's wrong?" Brian asked sitting down next to me and putting his arm around my shoulder. "That reporter from earlier." "Don't worry about her. I know there are tons of fans that are thrilled that I'm dating someone. Then there are the ones that are plotting your death. But it all comes with the territory. We can't please everyone." He leaned in and started kissing me. We fell back onto my bed. His hand slide down my cheek and down my side, he grabbed the end of my shirt. "Stop," I said sitting straight up. "I'm sorry that was just too fast." "Alright, I'll slow down until you are comfortable." He kissed me again for reassurance.
He got up and went over to his suitcase to get out a shirt. He changed his shirt and took off his pants, wearing just his boxers and climbed into bed. I did the same and shut off the light and went to sleep.
"Rise and shine, honey." I stirred in my bed rubbing my eyes. The curtains to the windows were drawn open and the light was flooding into the room. I shielded my eyes. Brian leaned in to kiss me. "Don't even think about it," I said turning my head. "I need toothpaste and scope, pronto." He laughed I went into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and cleaned up. I looked over the counter around the sink. It was covered with junk. Facial cleansers, foundation, blush and other light make-up. None of it belonged to me. I walked out of the bathroom. Brian was putting stuff into his practice bag. "I'm ready," I said walking over to him. He turned around and kissed me. "There's enough stuff in that bathroom to open a Health and Beauty store," I said walking over to the closet to find something to wear. "Casual or fance?" I asked him with my head in the closet. "Casual, make sure it's light-weight, cause it gets hot in the arenas. Ask Nick," he said. I pulled a white T-shirt that advertised a local radio station on the back and had EVENT STAFF printed on the front with my name on the right breast. I grabbed a pair of windpants, and Nikes from the closet and laid them on my bed. I got changed and packed everything into my bags.
We headed out and headed to the bus that was parked around back that would take us to the arena. We got on the bus everyone was on the bus, but Kevin. "Did someone make sure he was up and moving?" asked Denise. We all looked at each other. AJ looked like he got up ten minutes ago and dressed in the dark. His outfit completely mismatched and his hair was everywhere. Howie was dressed all spiffy, hair slicked back and everything. Nick was dressed all nice but his hair was another story. Brian looked great. Hair perfect and not a blemish on his face. "I'll go get him," Howie said getting off the bus.
"Hey Kaos, dude chcek out that zit on your nose," AJ laughing. Nick ran to the nearest mirror. "AAAAH!" he screamed. "Come here," I said rummaging through my bag for some zit cream. I put some on his nose. "That's what you get for eating all that greasy food." Howie got on the bus followed by Kevin. Who looked like something that stepped out of the movie, "The Night of the Living Dead." "None of you are morning people." "Get some caffeine in them and they'll be fine," said Denise laughing. They all plopped on the couch, falling asleep on one another. We pulled out. I sat next to Denis and we talked the whole time to the arena. Trying to overtalk Howie's snoring.
When we arrived I pulled the chair, that Kevin was leaning on, out and they did the domino effect to the floor. "I don't want to go to school today, mom," said Nick. "WAKE UP!" I yelled. They all sat up and got up. They gathered their bags. They all had identical bags with Backstreet Boys World Tour 1998 printed on the side and their nicknames embroidered on the other. They also pulled on their windbreakers with the World Tour printed on the back and their nicknames on the front.
We got off the bus and headed towards the entrance. We walked in. The first thing the guys saw was food and they were gone, inhaling as much sugar and caffeine as they possible could. I went with Denise to talk to the person in charge. I had my little reporter notebook handy to take notes. They guys went off with Fatima to clean up some of the dance moves in the show. About an hour or so later I was done with Denise so I took myself and sat down in the front row to watch the guys practice and write stuff down. I had just sat down when my cellular phone rang. "Hello?" "Whatever happened to calling you mom?" "Hi, mom. How did you get this number?" "Denise gave it to me when I called last night." "You called last night?" "Didn't Denise tell you?" "No," I looked up to see what the guys were doing. But no one was on the stage but the crew setting up for the show. "Hey, Janice," came a voice from behind me. "Hold on, mom. What?" I turned around in my chair and Brian was standing there with the other guys surrounding me. "Don't even think about it!" They all laughed and then hugged me. They were all gross and sweaty from working hard. "Eww! Get off!" I screamed. They let go. I picked the phone back up. "Mom, still there?" I asked shooting a glare at Brian. "Yeah, what happened?" "Let's just say I have been slimed," I said disgusted. Brian sat behind me and started tickling me. "Stop it!" I yelled. "No, not you mom. Will you guys go bug someone else for fifteen minutes." They all gave me those sad puppy dog eyes. "Alright, you can stay but don't bother me." "What are they doing to you?" "Tickling me, and hugging me after they have been dancing for two hours." I said looking at them, while they were smiling ear to ear.
"Let's go guys, breaks over," Fatima called from the stage. They all groaned as they walked up the steps to the stage, "So when will you be here?" "Um," I rummaged through my bag and found the intnerary. "September 26th, it's a Saturday. Denise has all the front row tickets for anyone that wants them. And of course backstage passes for all." "I won't tell Dani about the backstage passes." "Good idea."
"Janice!" yelled Brian from the stage. "I gotta go, Brian's calling." "Go to your boyfriend." "I see someone saw the press conference." "The reporters are sitting on the front lawn." "Really? Well I better be going." Brian came running down the steps, grabbing my hand. "Bye." I threw the phone into my bag. He dragged me up the stairs. "What's so important?" I asked when he slowed down on the stage. He stopped and looked around. "Where is everyone?" He pulled a bandana out from his back pocket. "Put this on," he said. I put the bandana on. He took my hand and lead me around the stage. It was completely silent. Every now and then I heard a few muffled voices. He stopped, he put his hands on my shoulder, he went to remove the bandana. As he pulled the bandana up he whispered I love you into my ear. I felt my cheeks turn bright red.
He removed the bandana, everyone was sitting around a huge table and on the table was a huge cake with "Welcome to the Backstreet Boys family, Janice!" "Surprise!" they yelled. I started crying. Brian turned me around and started hugging me I never felt so happy in my life. "Thank you," I said removing myself from Brian's shoulder. "Speech, speech!" they chanted. "I can't thank yall enough for making me feel so at home. I hope the next 15 months are the greatest months of my life. And I hope to stay with yall as long as I can." They all stood up and hugged me. I cut the cake and we ate and chatted about the big show that night.
By this time it was 5:00pm, time for the guys to start warming their voices. They disappeared into their dressing room to change and warm up. I was standing around talking with Obie and Billy when Denise walked up to me, she had a huge present. "Here, from us to you." She handed me the package. "You shouldn't have," I said taking the package. "Don't stand there looking pretty, open it!" said Obie. I tore open the paper and opened the box. It was the World Tour windbreaker with my nickname on it and a bag just like the guys. "Thank you! How did you know my nickname?" I asked. "Your sister's a chatterbox," Denise said laughing. With that the guys came out of their dressing room as I slipped the windbreaker over my head. "Nice," said AJ coming toward us. The guys were dressed for the show, wearing black windpants with red stripes down the side, black muscle shirts. AJ and Howie had gray-colored jackets on and Kevin, Brian and Nick had on black. They all had batting gloves on and red Nikes.
Just then security brought back the radio contest winners and those that had backstage passes. Amongst them was the waitress from the restaurant. I waved as I walked past. I stopped at my bag and picked up my security badge that was on a chain. I hung it around my neck and decided to go check out the front row. Tim followed me, but he stayed on the inside of the fence, as to not draw attention to me. I heard a few girls whispering, I turned in my seat. "Hi," I said. "Hi, aren't you Brian's girlfriend?" the one girl asked. "Yes, I'm Janice Memory. Who are you?" I asked. "Lynelle Mak." "Hi Lynelle, where are you from?" I asked. "Tampa, I flew up here just for the concert. So your traveling with them?" "Yep, for the next 15 months." "Wow, your lucky!" Just then Tim tapped on my arm. I turned around. "Denise, wants you backstage," he said. "Well I gotta go. It was nice meeting you."
I got up and followed Tim backstage. All the guys were standing around. "Group prayer," Brian yelled when he saw me coming. We prayed for the sudience and the guys. We broke out of the circle. It was ten minutes till they went on. Aaron wasn't there, so they didn't have an opening act. Aaron would be joining us later in Virginia. The guys walked around backstage not talking to save their voices. A few minutes later Greg gave them their warning. I hugged Brian and left to watch the concert. Tim followed me and he stayed behind the fence. The arena went dark and the concert started.
The energy that they had was awesome. The second they hit the stage they were completely different guys, who were performing for their fans. They were dancing and singing around the stage. Making the girls in the arena go nuts. They were singing I'll Never Break Your Heart, when Brian spotted me. Jeff, his bodyguard grabbed me and pulled me over the fence. Brian grabbed my hand and hoisted me onto the stage. The audience went crazy. I could feel my face turning beat red, partially from the hot lights and also from pure embarassment. He got on his knees singing the song to me, and the song finished. He stood up. "I would like yall to meet the love of my life, Janice Memory," he said holding my hand. The arena went nuts with cheers. I was smiling, he kissed me on the cheek. "Aww!" said the guys and the entire audience. I waved and walked off the stage.
The concert continued and the guys came back twice for costume changes, and then the concert was over. They came off the stage quietly, thery were tired and sweaty. They went directly into the dressing room to shower and change. They came out of the dressing room one by one, looking extremely tired. Brian came out, he smiled when he saw me and gave me a kiss. We walked hand in hand to the stage door that lead to the parking lot were the bus was. Tim and Jedd opened the doors to protect us from the sea of fans. But when they opened the doors we found just six girls. Brian gave them each a hug, a kiss and an autograph. Even though he was extremely tired he didn't let it show. He was smiling and chatting with them and asking if they enjoyed the concert and acting like he had been friends with them for years. After he posed for some quick pics with them. We contined to the bus, we hadn't said two words to each other, but I didn't care. I could see that he was tired. We got on the bus and walked all the way to the back. We sat on the couch. He leaned against me, I ran my fingers through his hair, we just sat there. I heard the other guys come on the bus, but I didn't move. A few minutes later he drifted off in my arms.
Just then the bus started. AJ popped his head in the door to check to see if we were on the bus. He smiled and I smiled back, he shut the door behind him as he went back to the front of the bus. The bus started moving and we pulled out heading to Atlanta. A few minutes later I, too, drifted off. I woke up the next morning in a hotel bed. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I saw Brian's stuff on the other bed and heard the shower running. I went over to the window to see the city. The view from the window was awesome, you could see the Coca-Cola Museum and the Underground from the window. I heard the shower shut off and a few minutes later Brian, came back into the room. "Ah, someone finally woke up. You sleep like a rock," he said laughing. He still had only a towel wrapped around his waist. He walked over to his suitcase and pulled some clothes out of the bag. "I'm going to hop in," I said grabbing my stuff for the shower. "We have two hours till we have to be on the bus, so take your time," he said as I shut the door.
I turned on the water and got in. I got out toweled off, put the clean change of clothes on. I brushed my hair and my teeth. I walked into the room to find Nick and Brian in a rousing game of Mario Kart. "Morning Janke," said Nick keeping his eyes glued to the screen. "Morning Kaos." "Winner and still champion," Brian yelled jumping on the bed. "Ah, I let you win," Nick whined. I shook my head. I was looking in my bag for something to do. I then decided to pull out my laptop. I pulled it out and started working on my website. Nick and Brian were watching over my shoulder as I added more quotes from them onto the site. "Wow, that's pretty cool. I can't do that, I don't know any of that computer language stuff," said Nick. "It's a cinch. Here I'll start you off," I said. We signed Nick on and started working on the basic things for his site. By the time we had some pics and links and he wrote a message it was time to leave.
Nick went back to his room to get his things and his bodyguard. Brian and I packed somethings from the closet into our bags and headed for the elevator. Tim and Jeff escorted us out, as the bus was in the middle of the entrance and anyone could see us. Brian pulled on a hat and shades. I pulled on my Mansfield University hat and we walked out the door. We made it to the bus unrecognized by anyone. Nick, Howie and AJ were on the bus already. "Where the heck is Kev?" asked Brian. "Well since his watch runs like twenty minutes behind the rest of the world. I'm assuming my mom is pulling him out of the shower as we speak," said AJ with a grin while looking at his watch. A few minutes later Kevin came on the bus followed by Denise. Kevin looked like he had just hopped out of the shower. He plopped on a couch. The rest of us were already sitting.
"When we get to the stadium, Nina, has called a meeting about TV appearances for the next couple of weeks," said Denise as we pulled away. We just sat on the couches just talking. I sat next to Brian. A few minutes later he grabbed my hand and lead me into the back of the bus. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Nothing, I just have been waiting all day to do this," he said pulling me in close and kissing me. We pulled away. "I love you," he said pushing the loose strands of hair out of my face. "I love you, too."
The bus stopped and we all got off. We walked into the arena and we all sat at a long table for the meeting with Nina. We had just sat down when Nina came over. "Morning everyone. Ok, you all know that tonight is our first tour bus night of the tour. Since we head to Raleigh. Also TV appearances during the tour, we have booked so far, MTV Summer Share, Regis and Kathie Lee, David Letterman, Jay Leno, The View, and tons on the west coast including local television and radio stunts. That's all I have for you. Janice could you stay I need to talk to you." Everyone got up to leave. Brian gave me a hug and a kiss and followed the guys for the sound check. "What's up, Nina?" "How's it going with you and Brian?" she asked. "Ok." "Well, I just wanted to let you know that every show has requested the guys and you. So you are going to appear with them." "That's great. Is that everything? I have paperwork for school coming out of my ears." "Yeah, I'll see ya."
I grabbed my school bag and went down to the seating and pulled out some homework to do. The guys were on the stage with the pyrotechnic crew. They were going to add some more pyro to tonight's show, so they were explaining to the guys what would happen. I got a lot of paperwork done by lunchtime. AJ walked out to where I was sitting busily working on something. "Whatcha doing?" he asked looking over my shoulder. "Just some school work," I answered. "I'm still technically in school ya know?" "You got all this stuff from talking to my mom?" he asked thumbing through the twenty page report that I had written from the first discussion with his mom. "Yup, your mom is alot of help with this." "Wow, I never knew she knew stuff like this. I didn't know you could talk like that. What do half these words mean anyway?" he asked looking extremely confused. "They are just analysis words. It's to explain to my professor that the techniques I learned in class I'm putting to good use."
The other four joined us and we decided to to get some lunch. We ordered from a pizza delivery place. Our food was delivered and we sat around the long table talking and eating. We finished eting and the guys had some dance rehearsal and then we just sat around. They got so bored they had races around the arena. I think they were just wearing off the extra sugar that was making them super hyper. I was standing watching them run around like a bunch of wild me when Brian walked to me with a devilish grin on his face. "What are you going to do?" I asked him trying hard not to laugh. "This!" he said slinging me over his shoulder and running down the main aisle. "Put me down!" I screamed banging my fists into his back. He stopped and put me in a chair. The others came over laughing.
"If you all keep running around you're not going to have any energy for tonight," yelled Denise from the stage. "That's what sugar is for," AJ yelled back. She shook her head laughing and walked backstage. They sat down in the seats around me. I sat there looking at all the empty seats in the arena. "Is it hard to imagining that this place is sold out?" I asked. "What do you mean?" asked Howie. "That in like four hours this arena will be filled with thousands of screaming fans." "Yeah, we never thought this would happen. We hoped it would," said Kevin. We all looked around the arena. "What's it like to have fans screaming your name?" I asked. "It's this rush," he paused for a second looking around the arena. It seemed like he was searching for words. "I can't explain it." AJ said. "Yeah, it's this chill tht doesn't go away," said Howie.
"Wow, it's 4 o'clock we better get backstage," said Kevin. We all got up and headed for the stage. Brian and I walked hand and hand up the stage steps. They went to the dressing room to warm up and get dressed. Denise came over to me. "Can you help with stuffed animals tonight?" she asked. "Sure, just point me in the right direction." "Go over to Tom, he'll show you what to do." "Okay." I walked over and Tom showed me what I had to do. Basically in between sets it was my job to run out and collect the stuffed animals off the stage. The guys came out of their dressing room. We had our group prayer. Brian and I just stood embracing each other. I had my head on his chest and just listened to his heartbeat. We just stood there ignoring the chaos going on around us. "Five minutes," said Greg as he ran by. I pulled my head off his chest and looked him in the eye. He went to say something, but I put my finger in front of his mouth. "Save your voice." He smiled and nodded. I kissed him. "You better go."
He went behind the curtain. I followed Tom to the side of the stage, I couls see onto the stage. I had changed into a completely black outfit. As not to be seen when I collected the stuffed animals. I also had to wear a headset so that I knew when I was to go out and when to get out of the way. "Stand by for entrance," came a staticy voice over the headset. "In 5, 4, 3, 2," I covered my ears anticipating the pyro. There was a loud explosion then screaming. From where I was standing I could feel the heat from the pyro. I was 15 feet away from the base of the stairs. As Brian came down the stairs he winked at me, I smiled back. They sang the first set and ran out for their first costume change. "Debris crew stand by in 5, 4, 3, 2,...Now!" came the voice over the headset. I made a mad dash out collecting. I ran up and down collecting animals and flowers off the stage. "Clear now!" I ran off kicking a stuffed dog with me. I deposited the animals into the trash cans off stage. This went on for the legnth of the concert. The concert ended and I did the final sweep of the stage while the guys were changing. A few fans stuck around hoping to catch a glimpse of them but all that was onstage was me and a few of the crew members who were striking the stage to get ready to move to North Carolina for tomorrow night's perfomance.
I went backstage just as Brian appeared. He walked over to me and kissed me. He broke away, smiling. We left taking Jeff and Tim with us. They circled in front of us to push through the crowd as we made our way to the bus. "Are you alright?" Brian asked me when we reached the safety of the bus. It was then that I felt the sharp piercing pain in my right foot and fell onto the couch. "What's wrong?" "My foot," I said wincing in pain. "I think I caught it on something. I felt something go." The other guys got on the bus followed by Denise. They saw the pain on my face and came running towards me. "She needs to go to a hospital," said Howie. "That doesn't look good." He said pointing at my foot. I tried to lean forward to see but Brian held me back against the couch so I couldn't see. "Greg, nearest hospital now!" Denise yelled. I was breathing hard from crying and was in excrurating pain. The closest hospital was minutes away. We pulled in and the guys helped me up. When they realized I couldn't walk, Brian picked me up and carried me in. I began crying again but this time I buried my face into his chest. I heard Kevin talking to the nurse and the nurse showed Brian to a bed to put me in. He went to leave. I grabbed his hand. "Don't leave me," I said through sobs. He grabbed my hand and smiled. "I won't," he said leaning over to kiss my forehead.
The doctor came in the room. "Hi Janice, I'm Dr. Lewis. I'm going to give you a shot that should lessen the pain that you are feeling." He stuck the needle in and I flinched. "Now we are going to take you up to radiology to see what your foot looks like." I gribbed Brian's hand tighter. "You can come with us if you like," he said to Brian. Brian nodded. He squatted down to me. "Do you want me to stay with you?" he asked. "Please," I whispered my voice was shaky. He stood back up and nodded his head. "Let's get her to radiology," the doctor said.
They rolled the bed into the hallway. The other four were in the hallway. "Denise is on the phone right now with your mom," said Kevin. They stopped the bed and the four were lined up along the side. They each leaned over and hugged me and we left. We got on the elevator, I watched Brian as we moved and could tell he was very uneasy with the whole hospital thing. I held his hand tighter and he looked down at me and I smiled. He saw that I could tell he was uncomfortable and he smiled back. We got off the elevator and went down a long corridor into a dark room. They lifted me on to a table and positioned the x-ray over my foot. Brian left the room because of the x-ray but he stood in the glass-enclosed room. They took several different shots and then they came back in. They took me back down to the ER. They put me in a room. I was tired and hungry. They finally sat me up and brought me what looked like food but I was too sure.
Everyone came into the room and hugged and kissed me. "Hey good news, your not pregnant!" said AJ with a smile. We all laughed. We were sitting around talking when the doctor came in. "Well I have good news and I have bad news," he said, "The bad news is your foot is broken. It's broken in three places. Twice by the ankle and once further down in your foot." "And the good news?" I asked. "You'll have servants for eight weeks," he laughed. The guys groaned. "We just have to get it casted and we'll have you out of here." They casted my foot and gave me some crutches. They also gave me a prescribtion for some pain killers. I crutched my way to the door, but then saw the fans. "Ah, guys. I ain't going to be able to get through there," I said motioning to the doors. "Give me the crutches," said AJ. AJ took my crutches and Kevin picked me up the other four made a circle around Kevin and the guards and everyone else around them. We made our way to the bus, Kevin put me down when we got to the door and I hopped up the steps. AJ handed me the crutches and I crutched myself to a couch and sat down. I looked at the clock on the wall it read 3am.
Brian sat down next to me and we pulled away. No one talked. And as time wore by the guys disappeared to catch some sleep in the beds, but Brian stayed with me. Finally I layed down with my head in his lap and fell sleep. I awoke the next morning to throbbing in my foot. We were just sitting on the bus. They had stopped during the night to get my prescribtion filled and Denise gave it to me. Howie handed me a glass of water and I swallowed the pill.
While we were talking my cell phone went off. Kevin rummaged through my bag, found it and threw it to me. "Hello?" "So you can't wait two weeks. You have to get hurt now." "Hi, Erika." "What happened?" "I don't know. We came out of the arena. I was walking I thought I caught my foot on something. I thought I felt something. Got on the bus and my foot is out of whack. And now I'm sitting here in a cast." "You're a klutz," she laughed. "Thanks!" "Hey, is that Erika?" asked Nick sitting next to me on the floor. "Yeah." "Can I talk to her?" he asked. "Yo, psycho girl someone wants to talk to you." I handed the phone to Nick. "Hey Erika!" he said. He took the phone and made himself comfortable on the couch. We still had another hour or so till we had to be in Raleigh.
I was sitting on the couch with my foot on a table in front of me. "Grrr," I grumbled. "What's wrong?" Brian asked. "I have an itch right there," I said pointing to a part of the leg that had a cast on it. He laughed. "Oh, so you think that's funny do you?" I said throwing a pillow at him. He dodged it and it nailed Howie square in the face. "PILLOW FIGHT!" yelled AJ, who clobbered Nick, who was still talking to Erika. "Hey!" he yelled. Pillows were flying. One nailed Brian in the back of the head knocking him back onto the couch. I started laughing. The guys stopped and looked at me. They put the pillows down and started walking towards me. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Guys? What's going on? Guys?" "Tickle her!" yelled Kevin. "Noooo!" I yelled. They jumped on me tickling me but being careful of my foot. "Stop! Nooo!" They stopped and we were sitting there laughing. Nick handed me the phone. "Alright what did I miss?" "One good pillow fight," I laughed. The guys all started laughing.
"McDonalds anyone?" asked Greg. "McDaddies, where?" asked AJ flying to the front. "If we eat there more than once a week. I'm going to kill you Bone!" said Howie. Greg pulled the bus into the parking lot. Brian handed me my crutches and we got off the bus. AJ tore off to the door yelling something about Daddy I'm home. The others were close behind. Brian stayed behind with me, as I crutched my way across the parking lot.