Chapter One
I slung my worn out duffel bag over my shoulder and took a hold of the handle on my luggage. As I walk down the hall of the hotel towards the elevator I sighed in relief at the thought that we only had five more shows and two weeks left of this tour. Then I would be home in my own bed for Christmas... I couldn’t wait.
So lost in my train of thought, I almost didn’t hear Joe, the tour manager, calling for all the dancers.
“Joe, what’s up?” I questioned.
“Nothing, I just wanted to go over the schedule for the next two weeks, so listen up everyone!” Joe waited patiently for the rest of the dancers, band, the guys, and the rest of the staff to gather around. “All right, we’re on our way to New Jersey today and we will be there for four days. Then we leave for Philadelphia for a day, next Virginia for two days, four more days in Kentucky, one day in North Carolina, two days in Georgia and we have our last show in Florida.”
Immediately, everyone erupted into cheers at the mention of the last show and I must admit even I, who loved going to different places and seeing the world, had a huge grin on my face. Don’t get me wrong now, I love touring with the Backstreet Boys, especially since one has a crush on me, but I seriously missed my home.
“Sorry, to ruin the party but the tour picks up again January 30, in case y’all forgot!” Joe’s Tennessee accent coming in full force as he talked.
“Joe, you can’t put us down no matter how hard you try because we have two weeks left before a month long vacation!” laughed Kevin from his spot in the middle of the crowd.
Once the laughter submerged, bellboys came to take everyone’s luggage to the lobby and out to tour buses. Half the crew piled into the elevator while the other half waited for the next one. I stood waiting with the other half when Nick Carter approached me. With me being five years his senior, he always looked up to and out for me.
“What you doing for Christmas, Chelley?” he asked.
“Just going to my mom’s house, you?”
“Same, but I was thinking about inviting AJ and his family to my house. What do you think?”
“That’d be nice...it’d get his mind off his pain for a while,”
“Oh, do you want me to go now? Howie’s coming this way!”
I playfully slapped his arm. Everyone knew Howard Dorough had liked me since the beginning of the tour but was too shy to do anything about it. I wasn’t interested in him, but Nick constantly teased me on the subject. Honestly, I never looked at any person on tour in that way not saying that no one on the tour looked good. I’d been on the road with five gorgeous guys; not counting the others on tour, for months and I never gave too much thought into dating one of them. Lately, as I began to watch everyone --Kevin and Brian talking to their wives, counting off the days until the end of the tour, the crew members also with their wives and girlfriends and huge families, and random couples on the street so in love, I began to think of how lonely I actually was. No doubt there was an attraction between Howie and I, but neither of us ever made a move and it’d probably stay that way.
“I hate to interrupt your daydream about Howie, but the elevator is here,” said Nick. I shook my head and scolded him.
“Nick! You know one day I’m going to get you back!”
Nick only grinned and gently pushed me into the elevator.