By: Arlet Schmidt
"How ‘bout we do something for all of them? I mean, I’m pretty sure they’ll be just as gracious as Arlet. If they are anything like her, then I think we should do something for them." Brian replied.
"Yeah but we’ll just have to wait and see. They might not be like her." Kevin said.
"That is true but I’m sure they’ll be somewhat like her."
"Hey guys, do you really want to go to a hotel?" Nick asked meekly.
"Why Nick?" Brian asked, smirking. "Do you have little crush on our host?"
Nick blushed. "No…" He said unconvincingly.
"You do, don’t you?" AJ said, teasingly.
"Well, we could ask her. I’ll just have to call the hotel and tell them we’re not coming. " Howie stated.
"Ask me what?" Arlet said sluggishly, walking into the kitchen. She yawned, rubbed her eyes, wrapped her blanket around and let it drag on the hard ground behind her.
"Well, Nic—Ouch!" Nick punched Brian on the arm. "I mean we, yeah we had an idea." Brian recovered as he massaged the spot where Nick hit him. Arlet smiled at him as Nick turned pink.
"What’s the idea?" She asked.
"This may be a little bit forward since, you know, we met last night but uh…could we maybe, possibly stay here for the holidays?" Brian asked. "I think I speak for all of us when I say that I think you are a very nice person. Someone we would like to be friends with and get to know better." The other guys nodded in agreement.
"Really?" Arlet asked, quietly. "Well, I don’t see why not. I’m pretty sure my friends wouldn’t mind the extra company."
"Great! I’ll call the hotel. You mind if I use your phone" Howie asked.
"Yeah, sure. Go ahead. I thought you guys had your own phones?"
"We do but we didn’t bring them. We didn’t want our label or management to bother us. They don’t know we didn’t bring them." Arlet laughed as Howie grabbed the phone next to Kevin.
"Oh, one of your friends called a little bit ago." Kevin said.
"Uh oh. Really? Who was it?" Arlet asked, amused.
"I’m not sure but she was shrieking pretty loud. I had to pull the phone away from ear."
She chuckled. "Yeah, I’m not surprised. What did she say?"
"She wanted me to tell you that they should be home soon and that they are sorry for not calling last night."
"Oh OK. Cool, you guys get to meet the gang."
"You know what?" Brian asked, looking at Arlet.
"What?" She responded.
"I think we should make you a nice hot bowl of chicken noodle soup for that cold you have."
"Are you serious? You want to make me soup?" Arlet asked, surprised at the offer.
"Yeah totally! It’s the least we could do since you got our luggage for us."
"Oh, no. You guys don’t need to make me soup. I just thought you guys would want some clothing that weren’t cold." She told them.
"No, don’t be silly. We’re gonna make you soup if you like it or not. So, you just sit here and rest while we serve up some nice hot soup." Brian insisted.
"Um, OK. If you insist. The soup is in the pantry over there."
Brian shot her a disgusted look that made her laugh. "You haven’t had soup until had my homemade soup. My dear Auntie Ann’s recipe. Kevin’s mama." He said in a deep Southern drawl.
"OK then. Can’t wait to taste it." She responded, excitedly.
Brian walked around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients he needed while Kevin prepared the stove. Arlet looked around at Howie, AJ and Nick and saw that they were setting the table with bowls, spoons, napkins and glasses in the dining room where her and her friends had only special occasions. Well, this is a special occasion. It’s not everyday that you have the Backstreet Boys make you soup, Arlet told herself.
Arlet looked up and saw Brian in one of their "Kiss the Cook" aprons they had and a chef hat. Arlet burst out laughing.
Brian smiled mischievously as he pretended to model it off. "Where did you get these? I’ve been trying to look for one for ages!"
"Oh, they were gifts from our parents. They thought it would be funny if they gave us an apron and hot." Arlet returned after she calmed down.
After a little while later, all the guys were gathered around the stove, each of them cutting up vegetables, opening cans, putting in the ingredients, stirring the pot or washing the veggies.
"Hey! We’re home!" Came the voice of Sarah as the door leading to the garage opened. Sarah, Michelle, Carrie and Kim walked in and stopped.
The Boys looked up from what they were doing and gave the 4 of them a smile.
The girls completely froze. They couldn’t actually believe they were looking at the 5 men they have praised for years in the flesh. Arlet saw their faces and laughed.
"Hi! I’m Brian. What’s your name?" Brian said walking up to a motionless Sarah. He wiped his hands on the apron and reached out for Sarah’s.
"Hi. My name is Sarah." She replied. As Brian grabbed her hand, Sarah eyes widened and stared at the shaking hands.
"I’m Howie. You must be Kim, right?" He said walking up to Kim.
"Right." She squeaked.
"Hey, I’m AJ. You’re Michelle, I’m guessing. Or should I say the Bonette?"
Michelle blushed furiously. "Yeah, I’m the Bonette. I mean Michelle."
"Hello Carrie. I’m Kevin. I think you’re the one I talked to on the phone. Am I right?"
"How’d you know my name?" She asked shaking his hand.
"Well, I slept in your room last night and I saw some pictures of you. I hope you don’t mind." Kevin said, smiling.
Carrie blushed. "No, I don’t mind at all." She answered, not looking at him.
"Hi! I’m Nick." He said, standing next to Arlet. He winked at her.
The girls looked over and again, were speechless. After everyone was introduced, the girls joined Arlet at the island. They each took a stool next to her and watched in awe as the Boys continued to make soup. Arlet just smiled at her friends.
Nick and Howie sat 4 more places at the table and ran back into the kitchen to help Brian.
"Why didn’t you tell us they were here?" Sarah whispered to Arlet.
"Cause I wanted to surprise you guys. It worked, didn’t it?" Arlet whispered back.
"Oh yeah."
"Can you guys believe this? Can you believe who’s in front of us, making soup?" Michelle asked quietly to her friends.
"I certainly can’t! They slept in our rooms too! Oh my God! I hope I cleaned it!" Kim responded.
"Oh me too! Why did you make them sleep in our rooms?" Carrie asked, looking at Arlet.
"What? Did you really expect me to put them in the basement or the living room when there were 5 perfectly good beds vacant? I don’t think so! This is the Backstreet Boys we’re talking about!" Arlet told them. "They’re not just 5 strangers! These are the guys we dream about every night!"
"All done! Let’s head into the dining room!" Brian announced, cheerfully. The girls looked at each other and giggled.
The girls walked into the next room and walked over to their gigantic dining table. Before the girls could sit, the girls beat them to it as they each pulled out a chair for the girls. They were spaced out with 1 seat between each of them. Kevin sat next to Carrie, AJ next to Michelle, Nick by Arlet and Howie next to Kim. Brian walked back into the kitchen and returned with a steaming pot of his homemade delicacy. He poured some soup in everyone’s bowl, placed the pot in the middle of the table and ran over to the head of the table where a seat waited from him by Sarah.
"I’ll say grace." Brian offered. He took a hold of Sarah’s hand as everyone followed and grabbed hands. Brian winked at Sarah, which made her heart flutter, before he dropped his head.
"Lord, you have been so amazing to us. We thank You for everything You have blessed us with. Thank You for our families who love us unconditionally. Thank You for our friendships that we couldn’t live without. And thank You for our new friends You have brought into our lives. You could of stopped our car anywhere so we thank You for landing us in the presence of these 5 beautiful women." All the girls could feel their cheeks getting warmer. Arlet felt Nick squeeze her hand teasingly. Her heart skipped a beat. "And also, thank You for blessing us with this food. You are too good to us, Lord and that is why we thank You for our lives. Amen." Everyone repeated the "Amen", lifted their heads up and let go of each other’s hands. "Let’s eat!"
"This is so good! You’re right, I guess I’ve never tasted soup until I tasted this. You have got to give me the recipe." Arlet said, praising the work of Brian Littrell.
"Yeah, she’s right! Not only can you sing, you can cook too!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Why thank you." Brian replied with that famous grin that always looked like he was up to something.
The 10 of the continued to talk and eat. The Boys learned a lot about the girls and their friendship while the girls learned stuff about the Boys that magazines, book and the Internet couldn’t tell them. Every single person in the that room knew that Christmas was going to be an unforgettable experience.
CHAPTER SIX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MY STORIES
HOME