| Chapter 53: The Tour The girls arrived at their hotel, through the back entrance, as Mario and the other bodyguards led them to the rooms. The girls left most of their belongings in the van that followed them, which was to be brought to their tour bus. Mario, making sure the floor was clear, led the girls inside. They knew their rooms already, as they were staying with their boyfriends. Lauralee wheeled her suitcase to the door, put her card in the slot, and went inside. “Alex?” Lauralee put her suitcase on the floor and put her bag on the chair. She looked around the room. The room was a mini-suite, with a small living room and a door that obviously led to the bedroom. “Alex? You here?” she said again, walking into the doorway that led to the bedroom. “Alex, where are…” she was starting to feel annoyed by this point, when she saw a piece of paper taped to the bedroom wall with an arrow pointing to the door of the bathroom. She opened the door and gasped at the sight. “Oh my God,” Lauralee put her hands to her mouth and giggled. “I was waiting for you to show up,” he mused. He was sitting in the bathtub, rose petals floating in the water, and candles lit all over the place. “Have a nice flight dear?” “Very nice,” she smiled. “First class all the way.” “Good to hear,” he nodded. “Um, are you gonna stand there and stare, or are you gonna join me?” “That bath does look inviting,” she said as she took off her shirt. ~*~ They all arrived at the arena, where Riley was waiting for them. “Hey all, right on time,” Riley opened the door of their limousine. “Ready to see your home for the next couple of months?” “Yup,” said Lauralee. “Lead the way,” Laura extended her arm. Riley walked them out to the parking lot. “Your stuff is all inside, but you girls claim your own bunks.” “I get the top!” Bianca yelled. Riley laughed as he led them to the second bus in line. “Welcome home!” He stood aside as he let the girls in ahead of him. “Wow!” Elizabeth exclaimed as she saw the sight. The bus was truly equipped. The front had a living area, with a small kitchen; the middle had bunks lined up with a curtain for privacy. They walked to the back, which had a bathroom, then a couch lining around the bus, with a television, VCR, stereo, and DVD player. “This is gorgeous!” Veronica exclaimed. “You gotta make it a little more comfortable when you have 5 females on a bus,” Riley laughed. “The TV’s got a satellite, as well as Playstation and Nintendo hooked up.” “Thank God I brought my video games,” Bianca mused. “You got about an hour to unpack, then you need to do sound check and get ready.” Riley walked off the bus. ~*~ The girls stood below the stage, hearing the crowds roar so loud it vibrated the floor. They wrung their hands in anticipation, did a vocal warm-up as their stylist did her finishing touches on their outfits: cropped black velvet shirts in various cuts, with matching black pants. Holding their microphones tightly, they said a group prayer and waited for their intro, which Alex was going to do, but only for the first night. “You girls ready?” Alex looked on to the shaking girls. Laura swallowed hard. “This is nothing like a TV show.” “Just relax, you’ll be absolutely great,” Alex gave each of the girls a hug. He stopped in front of Lauralee. “Ready?” “Every inch of my body is trembling.” Alex caressed her cheek. “This is what you were destined to do. You’ll remember this night for the rest of your life, so enjoy it and make it the best you’ve ever made it.” Lauralee nodded as Alex gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “I love you.” “I love you too,” she whispered. “OK, it’s ShowTime!” Alex walked up the platform as the girls listened to him. The crowd ruptured with screams as Alex walked on stage. “Hello Los Angeles!” More screams emanated from the crowd. “How y’all feeling tonight? Now I know that we’ll be on in just a little while, but before we hit the stage, I want to come out here to introduce an act that is a little nervous because this is their first performance in an arena. This group is very near and dear to my heart as well as the rest of the fellas,” he paused as the crowd once again cheered. “So, I want you to give it up for Lauralee, Veronica, Bianca, Elizabeth and Laura… Elegance!” He ran off stage as the girls ran up the steps and faced the crowd for the first time. Taking it all in, they stepped on to the stage and started to perform their first song “You Feeling Me?” which was upbeat. They concentrated on the moves, hoping they weren’t out of key, as the noise was so deafening that they could not hear themselves in their in-ear monitors. When they stopped in their final poses, the crowd erupted. They couldn’t help but smile as they finally looked at the crowd. There was an endless sea of people so far up, you could barely see the top sections. They broke from their poses as Laura stepped to the front of the stage. “Hello LA! We’re Elegance, and we are so, so excited that we could perform for y’all at the Backstreet Boys Into the Millennium Tour!” Just hearing the boys’ names made the crowd squeal with delight. “I’m Laura, and if you must know, OK, I’m with Kevin.” The crowd laughed at her remark. “The girls and I are gonna do a couple of songs for ya to get you ready, is that cool?” The crowd cheered as the girls each took their positions at one of the sides of the hexagonal stage and performed the song “These Arms,” which was a ballad. The girls touched hands with the crowd as they saw the gleaming of lighters swaying to the beat. The girls did about 2 more songs, as Lauralee stepped in front of the girls. “OK ladies, I think it’s time that they hear what they’ve been wanting to hear.” “I agree,” smiled Bianca. “Y’all ready?” Lauralee looked on to the girls as they nodded. She stepped back in line. “Let’s show them about the time on ‘The Roof.’” The crowd screamed as they performed their single with the most energy they had ever performed. This time, they could be a little freer with the dance moves, and took in the crowd’s rush as they sang along. They finally finished the song, and Elizabeth cut in. “Thank you LA, and we’ll be seeing ya soon! Your boys and ours will be on in a little while! We love you!” They took their bows on all ends of the stage and walked downstairs. They all screamed in delight as they all gave each other a hug, by this time crying their eyes out. “What a rush!” Veronica wiped the tears from her eyes. “Did you hear that crowd?” Elizabeth smiled. “It was so loud!” Bianca took a deep breath. “God, what a feeling!” Laura closed her eyes. “It was a dream come true,” Lauralee put her hand to her forehead. The guys ran to them, enveloping them in a hug. “You girls were fantastic!” Brian smiled as he gave Elizabeth a kiss. “Unbelievable, you were absolutely unbelievable,” Kevin smiled. “I told you, you could do it,” Alex kissed Lauralee’s forehead. “Wow, it was so surreal,” Lauralee remarked. “And this is more to come,” Howie informed them. “Hopefully,” Veronica smiled. “Well, now let’s see you do your thing,” Bianca put her hand on her hips. “Think you can top that?” “It’ll be hard, but I think we can try,” Nick grabbed her up as she giggled. ~*~ Alex was massaging Lauralee’s shoulders in the room. “Ooh, right there,” Lauralee winced as Alex found a knot in her back. “Did you guys stretch?” Alex concentrated on the knot. “Yes.” “You’ll get used to it,” Alex smiled. He took his hands off of her. “Feel better?” Lauralee nodded as Alex turned around. “My turn.” Lauralee began rubbing his back. “Call your Mom?” “From the arena and Grandma. I think I talked a mile a minute.” “I bet they got the gist of it,” Alex laughed. “Ooh, right there.” Lauralee rubbed the kink from his shoulder as he finally turned around. “I was so proud of you tonight.” “Me too. I love the new show.” “You girls were so good, I thought you guys were gonna hear us yelling.” “Not quite,” Lauralee laughed. They climbed into bed. “Lau?” “Hmm? “This is only the beginning… Lau?” All Lauralee felt was his lips on her forehead as he snuggled next to her. Chapter 54 Contents Chapter 52 |