“Umph!” I said pushing a large wooden crate. It wouldn’t budge and I had to push it over to the west side of the stage. I was helping some of the guys set up. “Here, let me help you.” Howie said putting his hands on the crate. He had amazing strength and helped me push the crate over to the side in no time. “Thanks! I don’t think I would have made it over here in time for the concert if I did this myself.” I said jokingly. Howie laughed.
Howie wore a white t-shirt and track pants. He looked really great and his muscles showed through the tight tee. “We really appreciate you and Clarice being so supportive and helpful. We haven’t met any girls like you before. All the rest only want to do is just hang out and look pretty for the cameras. You are willing to help do the dirty work! Which is great! I think you would make a great wife and mother.” He said sincerely. I blushed and replied, “You think so? Wow, thanks so much!” Howie and I continued to chat while the boys did their sound checks on their mics.
I looked at my watch. 5:00. “Hey, isn’t time for you guys to meet that guy for that interview?” I reminded. “Oh ya! Thanks for reminding me! I gotta go!” Howie said and rushed off to tell the others. I surveyed the arena and sat on the wooden crate I had moved earlier. One of the Backstreet Boys’ roadies told me that I should go back to the green room to chill, cause it was getting dangerous with the guys setting up the lights and stuff. I nodded and headed back towards the room.
I casually walked into the room and noticed that Clarice and Justin were sitting on the couch together. Extremely close to each other I must add. I quickly ducked behind the wall and peeked in. ‘What’s going on?’ I wondered. The two were obviously flirting with each other. ‘This is so weird. I thought Clarice hated him!’ I strained to hear their conversation. “Hey, why don’t you come on tour with us? That would be cool! We could get to really know each other. Me and you would have a lot of fun together.” Justin said. Clarice smiled. “Sure, that would be great! Lots of fun! Maybe you and I can do some of the things AJ and I did together?” Clarice answered. ‘What?’ I thought. ‘Are they... a couple?’ I was incredulous. ‘This isn’t happening. They probably are joking around or something....they aren’t going out.’ I thought to myself, pushing away the negative thoughts. I heard people coming from around the corner and I hopped back into the room.
“Oh hey Lucy!” Clarice greeted me as soon as she saw me enter. “Hi.” I said suspicially eyeing Justin. “Justin and I were just talking about going on tour with N Sync!”
“Oh yah? That sounds interesting.” I said with mixed emotions. “It would be awesome! We could even meet 5ive!” Clarice said excitedly. “Don’t get too excited Clarie! I still have to talk it over with some people, but I think it will still work.” Justin said. ‘Clarie? AJ doesn’t call her that. Even I am not allowed to call Clarice that. What has gotten to her?? One minute she hates him, the other she is best friends with him?’ I wondered while getting some water to drink.
“Excuse me miss, are you... Lucy?” I turned around to see who it was. I nodded and asked, “And who are you?” The young man smiled and extended his arm for a handshake. “I’m Mark Stanford. I work for Teen People magazine. And I would really like it if I could interview you.” he answered politely. I looked at my watch and answered, “Sure!” He gave me a huge grin and asked me whipped out a note pad.
It was during the concert and I could hear the boys singing ‘Get Down’ upstairs. I had decided to hang out by myself this night.
“So what’s it like to be a Backstreet Boys girlfriend?” He asked me. I looked hurt for a moment. “Look, I don’t want to be known as ‘A Backstreet Boy Girlfriend’ because I am much more than that. But its great. I get to travel and meet wonderful people! I also get a chance to see what this business is like without actually being involved directly.”
“Isn’t it hard to keep up with the boys and their schedules?” He asked.
I nodded. “Yah, its quite hectic, but its still great. Right now I am going on tour with them, so I see Nick all the time, but I don’t know how it will be when I cant go with them....”
“I see...” Mark murmured as he quickly scribbled down my answers.
“I know a lot of girls out there would love to be you. Do they really want to be you though?” He asked.
I laughed. “Sure! I mean, Nick is great. He is a wonderful guy and I couldn’t ask for more. He treats everyone with respect and is very fun to be around. Plus, he is a romantic, and I just love that! Plus, he is very very playful!”
He grinned and said, “You must be a very happy girl.”
“Oh I am. Indeed!” I said laughing.
“So, tell me, how did you meet Nick and how did the both of you fall in love?”
I giggled as I thought back to those days. “Well, its a long story, but to make it short, both Clarice and I got to go backstage and meet the boys and then we clicked! There were problems at first, but soon, I was hooked up with Nick and Clarice was with AJ!”
Soon, the Boys got back from the concert and was sweating heavily. Nick saw me and greeted me with a kiss. I grabbed a towel and mopped up some sweat from his forehead. “Phew!” he said.
“Oh Nick, Mark here was doing an interview with me, you want to contribute some stuff?!” I asked and kissed him again. “Sure! Ask away!” he said to Mark.
“Um...what do you love about Lucy the most?”
“Hm...that’s a hard one, cause I love all of her!” he said looking into my eyes with that sparkle of life he has. “I’d have to say her heart. She has a huge heart and she brings so much joy to me. Her laugh is so cute too!” Nick answered. I sighed and pressed my head against his chest. I heard his heart thumping and he wrapped his arms around my waist. The two kept on with the interview as I closed my eyes and thanked God for giving me the chance to be with such a wonderful guy.
Later on that night, we checked into our hotel. Tonight, I was going to share a room with Nick, cause the managers were running out of money to keep Clarice and I in hotels! *Uh oh!* The rest of the guys and Clarice decided to go clubbing for the night, but Nick and I wanted to stay and have our own little party! We decided to have a ‘dance’ in our room! Nick had popped in some cds in the stereo and let them play randomly. We had so much fun!! We were dancing to Ricky Martin, TLC, Christina Aguleria, 98 Degrees, everyone!!
While taking a break, I pulled the curtains apart and peered out into the dark sky. The night sky was dotted with bright stars and I was amazed. As I peered out into the wonderful horizon, Nick came behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. We just stood there for a while, admiring the stars. All of a sudden, I noticed a couple of people below us in the parking lot. “Hey, isn’t that Clarice and Justin?” I wondered out loud. Nick looked down. “Hey, it is!” I gasped. It seemed like they were kissing! I tried to get a better view by moving to another angle. It didn’t help. I recognized Justin’s curly hair right away, and it sure looked like Clarice. And they were kissing....
I sat down on the bed and looked at Nick. I gave him a puzzled look. “What’s going on?” I asked. He shrugged. “I don’t know....I want to know what’s going on, cause I don’t want AJ or Clarice to get hurt.” I sat and thought. “But, I don’t want to tell AJ, cause, he just got out of the hospital...and I don’t want to get him excited again...” I said. “Oh I know baby,” Nick said kissing me on the forehead. He sighed. “You know what? We should just get to sleep and think about this tomorrow ok?” Nick suggested.
“It is almost 12 o’clock...ok, fine. I’m gonna have a long talk with Clarice tommorow.” I murmured and fell back onto the bed. I pulled the covers up and got comfortable. Nick snuggled in close to me and put his arm around my waist. “Good night sweetie.” he whispered. “Sweet dreams.” I replied and soon after, we both were sound asleep.
“Ah hem....can I talk to you Clarice?” I asked. Clarice was with Justin again. ‘I wonder where AJ is? He is out of the hospital...’ “Sure!” She answered getting up out of her chair. We left the room and I closed the door behind me so that Justin couldn’t hear. “Uh...I don’t know how to say this...but where were you last night? Did you go clubbing with Justin?”
“Yah, I did. What’s up Lucy? What’s wrong?” She asked. “Um... look, I saw you and Justin kissing yesterday and -” I was abruptly cut off by Clarice.
“What?! What are you talking about? Kissing? I never did!” She said offensively. She raised her voice as she kept talking. “What? Are you jealous? Trying to break me and AJ or something? What are you trying to do!?!!” She practically yelled.
“Jealous? Jealous of you and AJ? I am perfectly happy with Nick! I just don’t want AJ to get hurt! And besides, I saw you with my own eyes!!!!” I yelled back. “I don’t want AJ to get hurt! You’ve hurt way too many people and I have a chance to stop it now!”
“Are you calling me a liar!!!?” She hissed back. The door opened suddenly and Justin said, “What’s going on?! What’s with all the yelling!?”
“Nothing Justin.” and with that, she walked away.
“Lucy? What’s wrong? Why is Clarice mad at you?”
“I shouldn’t have even asked her. I cant believe this.” I said to myself, not looking up at Justin. “Look, I saw you and Clarice kissing yesterday. And I don’t want to see you around her anymore!” I said angrily.
“What are you talking about? I wasn’t kissing Clarice!” Justin replied, his eyebrows furrowing together.
“I saw you two! In the parking lot! Last night!” I replied.
“The parking lot? That wasn’t Clarice! That was the girl I met at the club!” Justin explained. All of a sudden, my anger faded away and instead, it turned into guilt. “Oh my gosh, so are you saying that it wasn’t Clarice? Oh no! I feel so bad for accusing her! What am I supposed to do!?”
“I don’t know, but you owe her an apology!” He answered.
“I’m going to find her!” I said running towards the direction that Clarice had gone.
“Nick, have you seen Clarice anywhere?!” I asked, gasping for air. I had been running around the hotel, looking for Clarice, but she was no where to be found. “What happened!!?” He asked with concern. “Clarice wasn’t the one who kissed Justin! It - it was some other girl!! We mistook Clarice for this girl Justin was with!!!” The words tumbled out of me.
Nick’s jaw dropped. “So, it wasn’t her? Uh oh....”
“Uh....please don’t tell me you told AJ already?” I said with some hope. Nick’s eyes lowered and he slowly nodded his head. “Yah...I already told him.” He said sheepishly.
“Oh no!! This isn’t happening!! AHH!” I threw my hands up in frustration. I sighed and leaned against the wall. Deep in thought, I bit on my fingernails, trying to figure out a way how to fix this.
AJ appeared from around the corner. “AJ! Oh, am I ever glad to see you!” I said with newfound hope.
“Look, if this has to do with Clarice, I do not want to talk about it. I have had enough with this crap! I ain’t puttin up with this anymore! Either she goes with Justin or me!” he said peeved.
“It was a mistake! I accused her of nothing! It was really some other girl Justin was with!” I tried to explain. But AJ was being so stubborn.
“Don’t you go trying to make excuses for her! I know you are good friends and all, but I can’t take this anymore.” he said, crossing his arms infront of his chest.
“Look man, it was a mistake, Lucy just spoke to Justin, it was really some other girl.” Nick tried telling him. AJ shook his head. “I don’t want to hear anymore. Clarice and I are breaking up...” his voice trailed off.
“AJ, don’t do this. I am telling the truth, it’s for real. Don’t break up with Clarice!!” I pleaded with AJ.
Without a word, AJ sauntered off. “What are we going to do now? I screwed everything up....” my voice trailed off as I feared the worst was about to happen.