Chapter Four
“Arlet, honey? It’s your mom.” The voice of her mother poured out of the phone.
“Mom?” Arlet said somewhat surprised. “Mom, why are you calling me this early in the morning? Is something wrong?”
Her mother laughed. “No, nothings wrong. I just wanted to make sure you’re up cause the Carters’ plane is arriving in a hour.”
“What?! In a hour?!” Arlet sprang into a sitting position in her bed.
“Yes in a hour. They’re arriving at six. Did you forget?”
“No. I just thought they weren’t coming until this evening.”
“Nope. In the morning. So you better hurry up and get there.”
“All right.” She threw off her covers and hung her feet over the side. “How many people are there exactly in this family?”
“Seven.”
“Seven? Mom, I can’t take them all in my 4-Runner. I can only fit four more people.”
“I know. Three of them will ride with you and the other four are going in a rental.”
“So, wait. Why do I have to go there if they’re renting?”
“So they can find the house easily. They might get lost and we don’t want that to happen.”
“Okay then. Well, I better go if I want to make it there on time. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you too Dear. Bye.”
Arlet hung up the phone. She let out a frustrated groan and slowly got out of bed to change.
“I haven’t even showered yet.” She complained to herself as she looked in the mirror. She shrugged and her mirror image did the same. She quickly smiled then ran downstairs. On her way out to the garage, she found a note next to her bag written from Sarah. She grabbed the note and her bag and rushed out to the garage where her beloved black 4-Runner stood. She smiled at it and jumped right in. Arlet started the engine, backed out of the driveway and headed towards Denver International Airport.
Meanwhile, on the plane, Nick and his family were talking about what they would like to do in Colorado for Christmas.
“I want to go snowboarding. That’ll be so much fun!” Aaron exclaimed.
“Maybe Arlet could take you.” Jane responded.
“That’ll be cool.”
“I want to check out some of the stores there. Maybe I could find some really nice pairs of shoes.” Leslie said.
“That would be nice.” Angel agreed.
“Maybe Arlet and her band will have a show while we’re there. I want to see them in concert. I heard some of their stuff and they’re really good.” Nick told them. That night when he came home, after dinner he went onto the computer and went onto their official web site and checked out some of their songs. He was very impressed.
“That actually would be really nice to see. When we get there, you could ask her.”
“Isn’t she the one who’s going to pick us up?” BJ asked.
“Yeah. But I have a feeling she doesn’t know it’s us that’s she waiting for. All she knows is that she’s here to pick up the Carter Family. Her mom didn’t tell her about Nick, Aaron or any of us.” Bob answered
“Why?”
“Well, it turns out Arlet is a Backstreet Boys fan. Not a huge one but a fan nonetheless. Anyways, her favorite is actually Nick. So, Arlet’s parents wanted to surprise her. I guess it’s an early Christmas gift.”
“Well, this’ll be interesting.”
“So, Nick, BJ and Aaron, you’ll ride with her in her car and mom, Leslie, Angel and I will ride in the rental behind her. Is that OK with everyone?” Every nodded. “Good. Well, we’re almost there. I guess we should get our seatbelts on.”
Denver International Airport, or DIA to most people, is usually crowded and busy; just like any other airport. But when Arlet pulled up to the parking lot, she noticed it seemed to be more crowded than usual.
I guess it’s the holiday rush, she thought to herself when she turned off her car and got out. As she walked up to the entrance, she noticed a lot of teenage girls running around everywhere with signs in their hands and shrieking with their friends.
“Do you know what gate they’ll be at?” Arlet heard on girl say when she walked into the airport.
“I don’t know. But look for one that’s coming for Tampa or Orlando.” She heard another one answer.
“I wonder who’s coming?” Arlet asked aloud. She just shrugged and continued to proceed to the gate that the mystery family would be coming out of. When she got there, she sat down at one of the vacant seats and waited. “Gees, I look like crap. Maybe whoever’s staying with us won’t mind if we stop by my house so I could take a shower.” She said looking into a reflection of herself from a nearby window.
Minutes flew by as Arlet continued to wait for the mystery family’s plane to arrive. She checked her watch; 5:57 a.m. She groaned.
“It’s too early for me to be up. I can’t believe my mom’s making me do this.”
It was now passed six and Arlet was getting impatient. Not only because of the late flight but also because teenage girls like the ones she saw coming into the airport were arriving and standing next to the gate, shrieking.
“I thought they would be coming in from Florida?” One girl said.
“I guess not. I bet they came in from a different flight so no one would know they were coming. But we always find out somehow.” Another answered.
Arlet looked at them confused from afar. She looked up at the sign by the door the passengers would be coming out of soon. The flight was coming in from Chicago. I thought the Carters’ were from Florida? she thought. She sat in her seat and thought about it herself. Then she remembered when she went to Nebraska a long time ago. Her family couldn’t get a flight straight to Nebraska so they had to fly to Houston, Texas then hop a flight to Omaha, Nebraska. She nodded to herself as the mob of teenage girls began to increase.
“6:30 a.m.” Arlet said to herself after she looked at her watch for the tenth time. “Where the hell are they?” She got up from her seat and started to pace. She paced for awhile before the mass of teenage girls started to shriek, loudly. Arlet turned around and looked outside the window. The plane was coming up to the terminal. Who is on the plane that all these girls are shrieking this loudly for? she thought to herself.
Arlet walked towards the front of the entrance way and waited. Many different people stepped off the plane and walked to their loved one. Arlet waited patiently on the side and waited for the mystery family to show up.
“How will I know it’s them? Are they going to find me? Do they know who I am?” Arlet asked herself as a family of four walked off and ran to hug an old couple just a few feet away.
The teenage girls started to become antsy. Some began to leave while others stayed.
“Where are they?”
“I thought they were on this flight?”
“How come they’re not here yet?”
“I thought you knew what their flight was?”
“Maybe they got a later flight?”
Those were some of the questions Arlet heard from the teenage girls as she continued to wait. People kept coming off the plane and it seemed like it would never end. Finally, Arlet saw a group of seven people step off. She couldn’t see their faces though. It seemed like they were trying to avoid the group of girls but the group of girls didn’t seem to take notice of them at all. Arlet smiled and gave a sigh of relief and walked up to them.
“Hi. Are you the Carter Family?” She asked politely.
All seven of them looked up at her and smiled. Two of them grabbed her and gave her a hug bear hug. Arlet, shocked by the sudden gesture, returned the hug and pulled away.
“I’m guessing you are. Hi, I’m Arlet; Lolita and Gary’s daughter. How are you guys?” She smiled at all of them. I have a feeling I’ve seen these people before, she thought to herself.
“Great. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Nick said.
Arlet turned to look at him. His voice sounded so familiar to her. She smiled as he returned it. Then it hit her. She had seen that smile so many times and she knew who it belonged to. She admired it for so many years and wished many times it would be directed to just her. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped.
“Oh my God.” She said quietly and slowly.
Chapter Three
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