Bob (Nicks dad) asked me how I wanted my burger. I told him well done. He handed me a burger and Nick took it out of my hand and said "Now I'm going to make you a traditional Backstreet Boy burger" He smiled devilishly and I was dreading what he would do to my burger. He put on it, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. He handed it back to me and I took a bite, it was actually really good..a little hard to chew cause it was huge and my mouth isn't as big as the guys'. " I like it." "Good, now you are officially one of us" he said smiling with pleasure. Within the time it took me to finish that one burger, the guys had eaten three a piece, they basically inhaled food.
I spent some time talking to Nick's and Howie's moms. They were so nice to me. We talked about school, art (Nick's mom knew a lot about art), how much guys can be a pain in the rear sometimes. Basically we had fun and I think they licked me. They started telling me really cute and funny stories about when the boys were little, like the one time Nick was 1 and he got up on the stage in his dad's club, he was in his diaper, and he started dancing.
I started to laugh, and suddenly I felt two hands on my shoulders. I turned around and there was Nick "Aww ... mom, not with the baby stories.. you'll bore her to death!" "Actually I was having fun Nick." I said to him "Plus we are going tubeing..." He looked down at me-wanna come?" "Yah I'd love to I just have to put my bathing suit on, unlike last time.." we both started laughing. Mrs. Carter showed be the little pool house and I changed to my bathing suit.
We all went on the boat, me the guys, Aaron and Nick's siblings and dog, and Bob. We spent 2 hours tubing on the lake. At one point me and Aaron were on the tube together and Bob decided, after the guys suggested it, that it would be hilarious to make us fly into the water, so he made a really sharp turn. Me and Aaron weren't expecting it and next thing we knew we were in the water spitting out lake water. The rest of them on the boat were laughing so hard they might have had a heart attack. Me and Aaron vowed that before the end of the tour we would get them back REALLY good. We eventually went back to the pic nic, we were all physically exhausted but we wanted to do more stuff.
We decided to go see a movie. After we all showered (individually in different bathrooms) and changed into dry clothes we looked in the paper and decided to go see the latest 'Alien' movie. Me, Aaron, the guys, and Angel piled into the car and headed for downtown Tampa, since we were at Nick's house it was closer. Even to the movies the guys had to wear some kind of disguise, me, Aaron, and Angel didn't so we teased the the whole time about it. Basically in the last 48 hours I hadn't had a single sad or depressed moment, I was constantly laughing.
Before the movie even started we had a popcorn and gummy bear fight in the movie theater during the previews. Me and Howie left to get more. This time we ate it, some still got on the floor though. The movie was pretty good, but two hours later we all regretted having chosen it because that's the only thing Nick talked about for hours. The guys had jokingly told him to stop or they would jump him. An hour later in the parking lot of the restaurant they all jumped on him. Everyone in the families and the rest of us went to dinner at this Italian restaurant. We were all so exhausted it was a pretty uneventful, except for when half of the female staff came over one by one and asked for autographs, and quiet dinner. The guys didn't feel like spending their only night off for the next 2 months together so we split up. Brian, Howie, AJ, and Kevin wanted to go clubbing but me and Nick were too exhausted from the boat. The guys went clubbing and me ,Aaron and Nick went back to Nick's house with his parents and sisters. It was 9:30 PM when we got there so we decided to have desert in the living room. I spent half the night playing with the dog.
Unfortunately I'm allergic to cats so his mom was nice enough to keep it in the kitchen. The four of us played video games for another hour and a half or so. We were playing Super Mario Cart. Me and Angel against Nick and Aaron. We beat them twice. During the third game we all fell asleep in front of the TV in the living room, sitting on the floor leaning against the couch. Nick's mom woke us up at around midnight when she noticed the game running by itself and no loud laughing coming from the living room. Nick and Aaron walked to their rooms like zombies, and so did Angel and I. Angel was nice enough to share her room with me. I understood why Nick loved his family so much.
Angel and I woke up at 7:30 AM, before anyone else, or so we thought. We made the whole family breakfast. I made cappucinos, the italian way, for everyone, we made toast and fruit salad for everyone. We didn't even have to wake them up, the smell of the coffee and toast brought them like flies to honey. Nick and Aaron looked absolutely exhausted. Everyone was dressed for breakfast and no one was wearing their pajamas-darn I thought- but Nick did look pretty good in khaki shorts and a white tee.
"Boy whatever the too of you made sure smells good, it woke me right up." Bob said examining breakfast and taking really long sniffs at the smell of coffee. "You guys did this?" was Jane astonished and pleased question. Angel and I looked at each other knowingly, turned to the four of them standing at the entrance to the kitchen and bowed saying in an english accent trying not to laugh "Your breakfast is served...". "You really shouldn't have.." was Jane's reply, " I wanted to" I said "All of you have been so nice to me that I just wanted to say thanks the best way I knew how....now sit down or the coffee and toast will get cold" I replied.
Angel and I had already had the same breakfast so we stood watching as they ate. The Carter's kitchen is incredible, its an eat in kitchen and it has everything you could possibly think of to cook any meal. There was complete silence as they ate. "Sooo... mom what do you think?" Angel asked eager to hear a pleased answer. "You guys ..humph...humph..are the best breakfast..hmph cooks.." Aaron said while he was trying to wash a piece of toast down with cofee. We all laughed. "This is really incredible..I never knew coffee and toast could taste this good.." was Bob's comment. "Old family tradition." I answered as my face beamed with appreciation. "Nick you haven't said a word in the last 20 minutes, is something wrong?" Jane asked Nick as she looked at him across the table. He had scarfed down four pieces of toast and was almost finished with his coffee. "I know but this is really good mom, just trying to get it in so I can remember it in four weeks when all we've had is dry donuts and luke warm coffee for breakfast.." Nick said smiling finishing a last bite of toast. " Speaking of which is there any more..?" Nick asked. "Seriously Nick your such a pig.." Angel said half laughing. He and Bob handed me their cups and I made them more coffee.
Twenty minutes later we all cleaned up the kichen and it was already 8:45 AM. We all changed into more human clothes and hung out in the back yard by the water. At 9:30 we packed our bags into Nick's car and headed for the studio. It was still pretty early so we made a pit stop at the beach. It was beautiful, the sun in the velvety blue sky with a light cool breeze moving the fluffy white clouds towards the east. We didn't have much time left so we went to the studio. When we got there AJ and his mom, Brian, and Kevin were already there along with the band and everyone else. Everything had already been lugged onto the buses. Just then Howie pulled up with his parents and all of his stuff. By now it was 11 and everything was in the bus including all of Aaron's things also. We said goodbye to everyone and I thanked Mr. and Mrs. Carter several times for their kindness and hospitality. "It was no problem dear, we loved having you over, come back any time you want.", " We would love to have you over for breakfast again.." Bob laughed and me and all the Carters laughed , everyone else looked at us as if we were nuts. "Oh man I forgot to call, I promised I would call before we left. Darn.." I said to my self in a low voice when I realized that we were about to leave and I hadn't called my mom yet, I had promised I would call before leaving the State. Mrs. Mclean overheard me and said "Don't worry you can use my cell to call her from the bus, you can use it any time you want to talk to your family..tell you what I'll get you your own..." Before I could thank her and object she had gone into the studio and brought back a cell and handed it to me. I smiled her my thanxs. There was another round of hugs and goodbyes, including one between me and the Carters again. We got on the bus and waved from the rolled down windows.
I remembered Jane having told me that she or Bob usually traveled with Nick and Aaron but since Mrs. Mclean would be traveling on this tour they would meet up with us in 2 weeks. We pulled out of the parking lot and 10 minutes later we were finally settled down for the 3 hour drive. I went to the far end of the bus and pulled out my new cell. I hesitated at first but then decided to go for it. I dialed my home phone because I knew my parents would be home waiting for me to call. The guys were all sitting at the front chatting with the driver. Kevin, Brian, AJ, and Howie looked exhausted and I could tell they had been out clubbing all night. They must have noticed that I wasn't there because slowly they all ended up sitting around me watching me talk to my mom. Aaron had been the first to notice and he sat in front of me and as I listened to the phone ring was telling me of how he misses his parents when he's on tour. I thought to myself that he was one of the sweetest boys, and part of it must have been from hanging out with those five big sweeties over there.
My mom picked up the phone and we said hi, I looked up feeling eyes watching me, and I found myself looking at Howie and Brian, the other three were next to me and Kev was behind me. "What..?" I said laughing " "No scusa niente, si sto bene.." I said to my mom in Italian realizing she had heard me. I talked to her for about 6 more minutes and I promised I'd call her back before the next show.
I hung up and asked the guys again laughing what happeened...?" "Nothing, we were just intrigued when we heard you speak in Italian.." Kevin said "Why?" I asked bewildered. "Cause we never thought you did. How did you know it?"," I speak it at home every day..." and so I went into my 5 minute spell of all the languages I speak. "Very cool.." was Nick's comment and the rest of them agreed. "You know when we were in Italy for the San remo song festival 2 years ago they taught us some italian to say, but we had no idea what we were saying.." Howie said " We could have been insulting them and we wouldn't have known till it was too late.." Brian said laughing. We all chimed in to his contagious laugh. "I could teach you guy if you want.. then you would know what you are saying when you go back.." I said smiling. So we agreed that I would teach them a new phrase or couple of words every day.
It was one O'clock and we were starving so AJ pulled out some juices turkey sandwiches from the fridge and gave them out to everyone. After lunch the guys decided to practice for about an hour and a half, Aaron joined them in their a-cappella harmonization. I curled up in a corner of the couch and listened quietly. Today's choices for practice were again up to me so I asked them to sing 'I Swear' by All 4 One, the song has a lot of sentimental value for me. The were more than happy to oblige. Then they sang 'Like A Child', 'Christmass Time'(we laughed at that one since it was the middle of the summer), "10,000 Promises", "Everybody" "I'll Never break Your Heart", "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss", and a few others including "On Bended Knee"," The End of The Road", and "Waters Run Dry" by Boyz II Men, and a couple of Aaron's songs.
I was in complete and utter heaven. The guys all crashed down on the couches and drank tons of OJ and fruit juice. "So where are we going next?" I asked when they regained their voice. "First, we have to do an autograph session this afternoon just outside Tallahasse at a bookstore, then we have at the children's hospital near the FSU campus, then we hit the hotel(for you guys who don't know that's Florida State University right on the line between Florida and Georgia).