"So we noticed." Stacie said looking around.
"Well have a seat, make yourselves at home." Howie said. All of them sat on two sofas in the back of the bus. Stacie had a hard time trying not to laugh at the look on Chloe's face when Kevin sat down beside her. Then found herself having a hard time keeping herself calm when Nick sat beside her. They all chatted for awhile as the bus headed towards the arena. Finally, they made it. All of them including the boys stepped off the bus and started walking to the ticket office. "Whew! We made it with two minutes to spare." Said Chloe.
"Yea but look at the line." Said Stacie pointing to the very long line formed outside the office. "Are we going to be able to get through that in two minutes?" Both girls looked discouragedly at the line. The boys too had been looking at the line. They looked at each other and then went into a huddle. The girls looked at each other very confused. "We have an idea." Said AJ as they broke the huddle. "Instead of having to go through the hassles of getting tickets, how about we make you guys our special guests and y'all can view the concert from backstage. And hang out with us before and after the concert." Both girls were speechless. They were getting the opportunity of a lifetime. Getting to hang out with the Boys before and after the concert and watching it from backstage. Of course they said yes.
So now that their fun plans were in order, Chloe remembered she hadn't called her mom or dad to tell them about the accident. "Oh! Stacie! I didn't ever call my parents!" She exclaimed as they drove around the back of the building.
"Are you serious? Well, call them, call them!" Stacie urged turning her attention back to Nick. They had been talking about his hair, or the tour or something. Chloe suspected that Stacie was just trying to keep him talking to hear the sound of his voice. Kevin came back to where they were sitting and told everyone to unload. "Hey Kevin? Will my phone work inside the arena? Cause I just realized I haven't called my parents to tell them what happened."
Kevin smiled and kind of laughed. "I wonder why you could have forgotten? But yea, it'll work. Come on." He said putting his hand out to help her up and escort her off the bus. The moment Chloe put her hand in his she felt warm and tingly all over, and when she looked up into his eyes she was putty in his hands. Luckily, no one was backstage to see them going in. The guys held the door for them and led them to the 'dressing room' area. They had needed to go check in with the manager so they left the girls sitting there till they could come back. "OH my gosh! This is the BEST birthday present I couldn't imagine anything better." Stacie said jumping up to hug Chloe.
"Whoa sista! Hold that thought. I still need to call my dad." Chloe said pulling out her phone. She was on the phone still with her dad trying to explain what happened when the guys come back. Stacie could tell Chloe was on the verge of tears from having to talk to her dad and not her mom. Kevin seemed to notice this too and decided to take up for her. "Hello? Mr. James? This is Kevin Richardson. I'm a member of the Backstreet Boys and it was our bus that hit your daughter. Yea, well see we were letting another member drive the bus and he hadn't very much so he didn't know it takes at least 100 feet for the bus to slow down to a complete stop after you get off the highway and well, we rear ended her. Yes sir, we are taking care of that right now. Okay, no problem sir. Okay here's Chloe." Kevin had handled the situation very well, and gave Chloe a reassuring smile when he handed her the phone.
Chloe finished talking to her dad and got everything straightened out. Her dad was a little wary of letting the girls stay with the guys, but with some convincing (and a little begging), he allowed them to stay. By now, the rest of the guys had wandered into the room. Stacie and Nick were sitting on a couch (rather close I might add) talking about the tour. Nick was describing some of the places they had visited and Stacie was mostly just listening. Kevin and Chloe were chatting about anything and everything. The other guys sat back and talked amongst themselves. "Look at Nick over there with Stacie," Howie said to Brian. "Looks like something could spark between them." Brian looked over at the two whom were leaning towards each other, discussing something eagerly.
"Looks like something might," he said, nodding. "What about those two over there?" he said nodding over in Kevin in Chloe's direction. All three glanced over there. "Hmm... Looks like something could stir up there too." observed Howie. Brian sighed.
"Our little Kevin and Nick are growing up." he said with fake heartache. He pretended to start crying.
A. J. rolled his eyes and then asked Howie, "Hey, what time is it?"
Howie glanced at his watch and said, "Uh, we were supposed to be at the studio for that interview many minutes ago."
"Uh oh. We'd better go," said Brian. He walked over to Nick and Stacie and said, "I hate to break up this chat session, but we were supposed to be at an interview about 15 minutes ago." Nick glanced at his watch.
"Oh, shoot. You're right," he said. He flashed an apologetic smile at Stacie. "Sorry, but we've got to go. When you guys come for the concert, we'll talk again. 'Kay?"
"Okay," said Stacie, smiling at him. After pulling Kevin away from his conversation with Chloe and arranging transportation for the girls, the guys jumped on the bus and went to the interview. Chloe and Stacie waved to them as they drove off.
As they watched the guys drive off Chloe felt like she was about to explode. "OH MY GOSH! I can not believe that this is happening! I mean three hours ago we were rear ended by the Backstreet Boys BUS, which NICK CARTER was driving and now we've been sitting here talking, visiting and getting to know these five awesome guys and totally bonding with Kevin and Nick!"
As Chloe summarized their day Stacie felt totally blown away at the fact that these guys really were so down to earth and sweet. She and Chloe had been watching their careers from the very first time 'We've Got It Goin' On' was released in the US. They'd watched them on so many TV shows and seen so many appearances that they thought they'd be these highly successful guys might have been a little conceited and wouldn't want to meet these dedicated fans. But now those thoughts had been totally diminished and were being replaced by feelings of greater admiration and respect than they'd ever had for a musical group.
"Chloe this is so bizarre, and we were in the car talking about them and listening to them when they hit us! I mean HELLO? What's up with that?" Stacie joked as they walked back in the building.
"I know really it's kinda freaky! Hey, weren't they going to the radio station?" Chloe asked sitting down on the couch by the radio.
"Yea, the one that was gonna give away the tickets." Stacie reminded her.
"Hey everybody out there I'm sitting here with none other than the Backstreet Boys. They're here talkin about their new album and their current tour. And also, y'all mentioned y'all were in a little fender bender this morning? Is that right Brian?"
"Yea, well we were letting young Nicky here drive the bus for only his second time and he didn't slow down enough so we hit some lovely lady's new Toyota 4Runner."
"Oh man? Well, what happened?"
"Well obviously Nick lucked out cause he's not dead and we've taken care of getting it fixed." AJ added. Chloe and Stacie were cracking up listening to the rest of the interview. Even though they'd been with them the last three hours they had forgotten how hilarious all these guys were. Soon after answering a few more questions and taking a couple of phone calls the guys were on their way back. Chloe and Stacie were playing BSB tic-tac-toe when Chloe's phone rang. "Hello?"
"Hey Chloe, this is Brian. Hey listen we were on our way back when we heard a very loud stomach growling and realized we hadn't gone to lunch. We were wondering if you two lovely ladies would like to join us?" Chloe smiled, Stacie didn't know who it was but guessed when Chloe answered with, "Yes of course we'd love too. We'll be waiting for ya."
"Who was that?" Stacie wondered.
"It was Brian. We're going to lunch." Chloe told her getting up to go stand outside in the lovely spring air.
They'd only been waiting a few minutes when the bus pulled up. The door opened up and the girls were about to step on, when the guys come out. They explained that the bus was too hard to maneuver around the streets and tended to attract attention. The guys had called ahead and already rented a van, so the whole group walked over to the nearby rental shop to pick up the van. Stacie and Nick kind of hung back, talking while Kevin and Chloe led the group, also talking. The rest of the guys drifted back and forth between the two groups. When they finally got the car and got everybody piled into it, they were all famished. They decided not to be really picky about the food and made the quick trip over to McDonald's. After ordering, getting the food and piling into several booths, everyone dug in. After everyone had finished eating, they sat around and talked more. Stacie and Chloe were amazed at how easy going and easy to talk to the guys were. They talked for what seemed like hours. Chloe and Kevin were really getting along good; the same for Nick and Stacie. After about an hour of talking, they decided it was time to get the girls home. They all climbed back into the van and headed off in the direction of Chloe's house.
Chapter 3
Chapter 1
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