CDNOW

My Fan Fic

I haven't come up with a title yet, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.

“He’s so gorgeous!” I gushed to my best friend Rachel. We were sitting in my cluttered bedroom surrounded by tattered teen magazines, scissors, cut-out pictures of young heart-throbs, and one huge plastic bucket of minced pictures and articles about the stars we just couldn’t stand.

I held up my most prized and recently acquired possession: a life-size poster of pop-sensation and my latest crush, Nickolas Gene Carter, know to most of the world as simply “The Blonde One”, or Nick, from the Backstreet Boys. I must say that Nick is looking mighty fine in this particular picture; he’s wearing a blood red sweat shirt and his gorgeous long blonde locks are hidden away from his face by a backwards navy blue hat, revealing the biggest, brightest pair of blue eyes I have ever seen. It had been a long time since I’d set my sights on any celebrities, since Hector had taken up so much of my energy. What a waste of time that turned out to be! I had thought I was in love with him, and that he actually cared about me. It turned out that he bad-mouthed me behind my back while flirting constantly with me when I was around! The last thing I needed was another let down like him.

“Aren’t you a little too old for the ‘teen idol’ thing, Sarah?” Rachel asked.

“Too old?” I scoffed, “Nah, I’m 18. I mean come on, he’s only 21. We have the perfect age spread. And besides, he’s a MATURE guy, nothing like Hector. I need someone mature after that experience.”

“Anyway,” I sighed, pointing to Nick’s poster image, “you can NEVER be too old to adore this sweet smile and those piercing blue eyes. And his hair...I could go on forever. He’s the to-die-for kind of gorgeous!”

Rachel laughed. “Whatever you say, Sarah. I swear, you’re so obsessed!”

“If you think this is obsessed, you should see me when they’re on T.V.,” I laughed.

“Wasn’t BSB on Rosie yesterday? I thought I heard hysterical screaming from your house all the way down at mine!” All the way down consists of about 10 or 11 houses down the street.

“Aww, come on Chel, I’m not that bad!”

“I don’t know...”

“Are you done with that mag?” I changed the subject quickly to avoid a fight. We’re both so stubborn when we’re sure that one of us is right and the other is wrong.

“Yep,” she answered, “No BSB in it, but there might be some Hanson pics I missed.”

Don’t worry, the Hanson pics join the Spice Girls and ‘NSYNC pictures and articles in being shredded and torched. You can take a deep breath now. Remember, I love BSB, so I’ve gotta have good taste, right?

“Look at this pile!” I exclaimed as I let a handful of scraps run through my fingers and slowly float back into the old plastic Halloween candy bucket. “It’s going to take forever to burn all of this!”

“I know,” Rachel said. “Here’s the ‘NSYNC cover off of ‘Teen People’. I can’t believe you want to burn this! Justin looks so hot in this cover shot!”

“Sounds like somebody has a thing for, gasp, a TEEN IDOL,” I sang tauntingly.

“Please, I have a boyfriend. Hello? Remember Kevin...?”

“...Richardson? Oh, of course, he’s so hot...What a fine body!” I teased. Then I ducked to dodge the entourage of pillow-bullets from across the room.

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry Chelly!” I called from behind my bed-sheet shield as a stuffed dog flew past my ear and hit the wall. “Truce!!”

“All right, truce,” she agreed. “Let’s get back to the...”

“Shhhh!!” I exclaimed. I jumped up and ran to my stereo to turn up the radio which had been playing softly in the background the entire time.

Just as I had thought, “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” had just begun to play. I have this weird gift of being able to pick up only the first few notes of a song, even if it’s background music, and know what it is and who it’s by. I’ve been doing it ever since I was a baby. My aunts always tell me stories of how they’d take me shopping and I would hear a Culture Club song playing so softly they hadn’t even known a new song had started. That is until I made it known that my then favorite artists were on.

“Baby, I know you’re hurtin’.” I repeated the lines I knew so well after Kevin’s deep, sexy voice. “I just love this song,” I sighed.

“Sarah, put something with a beat on!” Rachel called over the blaring music. “I feel like dancing. And turn down the music a little bit. You’re going to blow your speakers out!”

“I will,” I yelled, “After this song is over, I’ll put on the entire CD!” Turning around, I scooped up the remote control to my CD player and began to serenade the poster of Nick I had just finished tacking to my all ready BSB picture filled wall.

The last few notes of the song were interrupted by the energetic voice of the DJ. I started to protest, but the next few words he uttered had me completely speechless.

“Listeners! Be the 21st caller at 1-800-232-1045 to win an all-expense paid trip to Tampa, Florida. While there you’ll stay at a luxurious beach front resort condo for three whole weeks!”

“Oh my gosh Chel!” I screeched, “Florida! I’ve always wanted to go there! Throw me the phone! Hurry!!”

Rachel dove across the bed and searched frantically for the cordless phone. Shoving aside a pile of magazines, she found it and tossed it to me. Quickly punching the keys as fast as I could make my fingers move, I dialed the number and held the receiver up to my ear. Holding my breath, I waited for a ring.

“It’s busy!” I cried.

“Hit re-dial!” Rachel exclaimed.

“It’s ringing!” I screamed, “Rachel, it’s ring...!”

“Hello, this is K-POP and you’re our 21st caller!” the voice on the other line said enthusiastically. “What’s your name?”

“Sarah,” I answered, “Sarah Shepardson.” Thinking about it, I can’t believe I was even able to make my vocal cords work, I was in such complete shock.

“Well, Sarah, you and a friend are on your way to FLORIDA!”

But believe me, my vocal cords were working, and quite well at that. After Rachel and I stopped screaming hysterically, the DJ asked me to stay on the line so he could get all of my information. He put me on hold while he started a song, and then came back on the line to get my age, mailing address, and all that other important stuff.

“Ok, Miss Shepardson,” he said, “You and Miss Carr will be leaving on the first of July. Thanks for being so patient. My song wasn’t cued up like it was supposed to be.”

“No problem, but my thanks goes to you and the radio station,” I replied. “This is going to be the best graduation trip ever!”

“It’s my pleasure,” the DJ answered. “Have a great time in Florida. Bye!”

“Bye!” As soon as I had hung up the phone, Rachel grabbed my wrists in disbelief.

“Are we really going to Florida?” she asked dazedly. “Or did I just dream that whole thing up? Because, if I did, it was a really awesome daydream...”

“We’re really, truly going!” I smiled, and got a warm, fuzzy feeling that something really spectacular was going to happen on this trip. This has got to be one of the best things that has ever happened to me, I thought to myself.

“What about this store?” Rachel called, snapping me back to reality. It’s May 30th and we have officially graduated from high school. The ceremonies were yesterday, and since our plane is scheduled to leave from Las Vegas on the 1st of July, Rachel and I both decided to come to Las Vegas a couple of days early, get a hotel room, and do some last minute shopping. I figure this is a good plan, that way we won’t be rushed when it comes time to actually leave. Right now, we’re at this huge mall looking for some last minute supplies, like sandals and bathing suits.

“Yeah,” I answered, after I located her standing in front of a store called Beach Haven. “Looks like they might have some awesome bikinis in here.”

As we wandered through the store doors, we were immediately overwhelmed by the smell of coconut sun tan lotion. We looked at each other, both realizing that the smell had reminded us of our upcoming adventure.

“We’re only two days away from the Sunshine State,” I whispered.

I think the sexy twenty something store clerk could see the pure excitement on our faces.

“What can I do for you two fine ladies?” he asked dreamily.

“Well...Ryan,” I said, reading his name from the silver badge he wore pinned to his purple shirt, embroidered with the Beach Haven logo, “we’re looking for some bikinis. Could you show us where they are?”

“Sure,” he replied. With a flourish, he pointed left to a row of brightly colored swim suits. “If you two need anything else, just let me know. I’ll be glad to help you in anyway possible.”

“Thanks,” Rachel called from the other side of the store. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, and she was in no mood to deal with men. “Come on Sarah.”

I folded my tongue back into my mouth, flashed the handsome clerk one last flirtatious smile and hurried over to her and began leafing through row upon row of bikinis. “Chel, you better get over this man-hating thing, ‘cause we are going to find you a super fly guy in Florida. But if you think men are the scum of the Earth, you’re gonna scare him off!” I laughed.

“I will, don’t worry,” she mumbled. “What do you think about this one?”

“It’s not you, try this one instead. It’s cute,” I laughed. “but my butt is too big for it. You’d look great in it though. I think this one will be perfect for me,” I added. “I’m gonna go try it on.”

We loaded our arms full of rainbow colored nylon suits and headed toward the dressing rooms. I must have tried on about fifty different suits until I found one that was perfect for me: a slivery metallic looking bikini with a “bustier” top, which looks to me more like a clingy spaghetti strap with a low v-neck and regular bottoms, like you’d find in any bikini. I also found a sheer, matching, ankle-length sarong. Rachel found a white crocheted bikini, with a matching sarong as well. We decided that we needed new matching sandals and a couple new outfits to wear around Tampa, so our next stop was a Sketchers’ outlet.

The Sketchers’ store was extremely crowded with people taking advantage of their clearance sale to make room for the newest styles. I found a pair of clear, platform, plastic slides that were sort of translucent. They looked really cute with my new bikini, and showed off the pedicure my mom gave me before we left. Rachel found a pair of translucent thongs in a pretty, shimmery purple color. I figured I’d get a pair of shoes, too, so I picked up a really cute pair of platform sneakers.

After our shoe spree, we stopped at The Gap to get some new jean shorts and a couple of tank tops. My dad, the weather man, spent a ton of time preaching to me how dangerous the humidity can be in Florida. Even though you’re used to extreme heat, he cautioned me, the humidity can sneak up on you and you’ll be having a heat stroke before you know it. Keeping his advice in mind, Rachel and I decided to spend most of our time in Tampa wearing as little clothing as possible! I found the most adorable spaghetti strap sun dress, and a couple of cute tank tops with scoop necks; one blue, one green and one purple.

Even though we were tired out from all of the shopping, Rachel and I decided to do some sight-seeing and then get some dinner at a nice restaurant before we headed to our hotel and called it a day. We still had a good three hours for doing the tourist thing, and then we would have a couple hours for dinner, which would probably bring the time to about ten, at least that’s what we figured. We didn’t want to stay out too late, because, after all, it was only the beginning of our vacation. What fun would going clubbing in Florida be if you’re already tired out by eight? Our next few hours were planned out, but where to have dinner? I suggested, since this was the only part of the trip that was costing us any money, that we go to The Dive. The atmosphere there is so great, complete with a big screen showing underwater footage, and the food is really good too. Rachel said that we should check out Planet Hollywood or the Hardrock Cafe. Since I had never been to either of those places, I decided, being the music fan that I am, we should go to the Hardrock Cafe.

Our first, and what turned out to be our only, sight-seeing stop was the MGM Grand. We roamed through the casino part of the hotel as quickly as we could so we didn’t get yelled at by the “casino police”. I guess we really didn’t have to hurry since no one even suspected we were only 18, but we did anyway.

“Look Chel! There’s the Wizard of OZ thing...let’s go check it out!”

Together, we wandered over to a statue of Dorothy holding Toto. Suddenly, the statue began to speak to us! It scared me so badly, I jumped about 10 feet into the air!

“Sarah, this is too creepy,” Rachel whispered, “Let’s go to the amusement park.”

MGM’s amusement park is so tiny, it’s almost not even worth your time. Of course, Rachel and I didn’t know that then, so we decided to get wristbands for the rides, since we still had a good 3 or 4 hours before we’d have to go back to the hotel and clean up for our dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We spent all of the rest of our time at the amusement park. I think we went on each individual ride a total of 10 times each, and I could feel the beginning of a sunburn. I’m gonna need a lot of sunscreen while we’re in Florida, I thought to myself.

Before too long it was five o’clock and time to get ready for dinner. I took a warm shower and slipped into a little red and black flowered, lace mini-skirt with a lacy, low cut black top that rose to just above my belly button. To add to this ensemble, I slipped on a pair of black three inch platform Mary Jane’s. Surveying myself in the mirror, I decided that I looked fantastic. And with Rachel looking equally gorgeous in an outfit similar to mine, we were going to be turning a lot of heads in downtown Las Vegas.

Dinner at Hard Rock wasn’t as fabulous as I had hoped, but we had a good time anyway. The food was expensive, but I think it was worth it. And our waiter was really handsome, which is always a plus. Don’t you agree?

But why am I boring you with this stuff? I know, I know, you’re like “Come on, Sarah. Get to the good stuff already. Tell me what happened in Florida!” Well, I’ll do just what you want...besides nothing more interesting happened in Las Vegas, or even on the plane trip. So, re-join Rachel and me in the Orlando airport...

“Thanks for flying with us!” the captain boomed over the loudspeaker. He had to have been yelling, because even I heard him over “Let’s Have A Party” booming into my ears from my headphones. Rachel leaned over and pulled the headset off my ears. Her eyes were sparkling with pure energy and excitement.

“We’re here, we’re finally here!” she exclaimed.

“Thanks, Chel,” I retorted sarcastically. “I needed you to state the obvious for me. I’m a little slow sometimes.” I was pissed that she had interrupted my private concert for that pointless comment. But she was too excited to even notice my tone. We stood up and tested our jello legs. The flight had taken longer than we had expected; we hadn’t stood up for a good 4 or 5 hours. I reached up and pulled down our bags from the overhead compartment and tossed Rachel’s to her, since the plane was almost empty now. We headed towards terminal, waving and smiling at the flight attendants.

Stepping into the plane terminal in Orlando was like stepping into another world. I could feel the humidity clinging to my arms in little droplets. Apparently Rachel could as well, because she was mimicking my actions of frantically trying to brush away the non-existent water on her arms. Coming out of the terminal was another story as well. It can only be described as chaos. And we’re not talking about Nick.

The airport was buzzing with activity. People stood around with their families, asking about the plane trip and planning out their time together. Desk attendants pushed dazed passengers away from the mouth of the terminal, preparing to begin the boarding for the next flight. They were already behind schedule. According to the radio station, our time in Florida was completely up to us. Besides having pretty much everything paid for, including meals, our condo and admission fees to all the major theme parks and museums in the area, the radio station also promised us a limo ride to our condo, where an executive from the radio station would greet us, snap a pic with us, show us our sweet little rental car and then turn us loose to reek havoc on the streets and beaches of Orlando.

Rachel latched on to my arm and dragged me to a tuxedoed chauffeur holding a sign with our names printed on it in big bold letters. He greeted us with a warm smile and a friendly handshake before leading us to the baggage claim. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for our luggage, the gray haired chauffeur led us through the airport and out to the waiting limo. He opened the door and motioned the two of us to step in.

The chauffeur informed us that the ride would take about a half an hour, and he advised us to make ourselves comfortable, put our feet up, and enjoy the assorted snacks and sodas in the little mini-bar, all totally free of charge, or course. I looked around in pure wonder at the sheer richness of our surroundings. We even had a cell phone, but with no one to call, it was pretty useless. Two red rosebuds sat in a crystal vase fastened to a console directly across from me. Reaching out, I picked up one of the flowers and held it to my nose, breathing in deeply. The smell intoxicated me; I have never smelled so sweet a rose, except for...Well, you’ll see, I’m getting ahead of myself.

After what seemed like an eternal ride, we arrived at the condos. As we pulled up a long driveway, Rachel stood up to poke her head out of the open moon roof as I opened my widow and leaned out to inspect our new temporary home. The scene that met my curious eyes was breath taking. The condos were several large, white Spanish style, pink tiled roof two story buildings, each with four to five little “houses” in each one. All of the condos opened to the outside, just like little houses, and each building was shaped somewhat differently by the arrangement of each small apartment. Climbing vines covered the sides of the buildings and snuck close to the windows and surrounding the buildings were greeneries of every sort, giving the buildings a rain forest atmosphere. In the immediate back of the buildings, you could see a flawless white sand beach that met with the clearest blue-green water I had ever seen. It was my dream, and I couldn’t see myself ever leaving this paradise.

“We must be in heaven,” I breathed to Rachel. “I can scarcely believe what I’m seeing. It’s more beautiful than I ever imagined, or even hoped!” If I had only known then what my paradise would soon bring me, I would have found better words to describe it.

The driver pulled up to a small white house set apart and in front of the other buildings. He stopped the limo, removed our bags from the trunk, set them on the ground for the porter, and then came back to open the door for us. Rachel practically climbed out over top of me in her excitement to stand up and get a full view of our habitat for the next three weeks. We were escorted into what we discovered to be the lobby by a richly dressed doorman, who explained the set up of the condos to us.

“You get all the services of a hotel,” he assured us, “with the comfort, freedom, and convenience of home. Welcome to Oceanside Resort!”

“Thanks!” I cried enthusiastically, “My name is Sarah, and this is my friend, Rachel. We won the radio contest. You’ll be seeing a lot of us in the next three weeks!”

“Ah, yes, so you are the two lovely young ladies,” the doorman mused. “I’ve heard a lot about you two. I look forward to seeing you and getting to know you better.”

“You too!” Rachel called over her shoulder as she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the tall reception desk where the radio station representative was waiting for us.

A middle aged woman with long dark hair showing the first hints of going gray, the radio rep looked like she was becoming concerned that her two winners had not arrived yet. She was talking animatedly to the receptionist when she looked up and spotted Rachel dragging me toward the desk. The worried frown on her face immediately dissolved into a warm, welcoming smile. She extended her hand towards us.

“You must be Sarah and Rachel,” she said in a satiny, radio-like voice. “My name is Marcy and I’m here to welcome you young ladies, give you some information about your trip, show you your rental car, help you get settled, and turn you loose.”

“Great!” I said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I can’t believe how beautiful this place is. You guys sure know how to treat your contest winners. It’s like I’m in a dream, and this trip’s only begun.”

“I’m so glad you are enjoying everything so far,” Marcy said. “I think you’ll enjoy it here. Tampa is a becautiful city, and it’s not too far from Orlando and Walt Disney World. We’ve already paid your admission, and we’ll provide gas money for you girls as well so you can make a trip up there.”

“Wonderful, I’m such a Disney freak, among other things,” I explained. “My little sister will be so jealous when I tell her about my trip.”

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