Chapter 14

I looked back to see him reading the note. Then I continued to walk out.

Kevin looked up to see her walking away. He knew from her walk that it was his Janel. He realized he had to catch her before she left, again.

"Wait! Please, wait!" Kevin yelled.

I heard him yelling, but I continued to walk. I walked faster and faster towards the exit. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I slowly turned around to face Kevin.

"Janel?" Kevin asked.

"Yes," I said.

Then he wrapped his arms around me in a great big hug. I melted at his warm touch. Then all of a sudden we were surrounded by a bunch of fans. They began to pull me and Kevin apart. They were angry that he had left them.

"Hey Tim!" yelled Kevin.

Tim looked over to Kevin and saw what was happening. He made his way through the crowd. Then he pushed me and Kevin into a room. Tim stood outside covering the door, while Kevin locked it. Then he turned around and looked at me. We stood there staring at each other. I began to cry, thinking of how much I had missed him. He came up and hugged me again.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, happily.

"Because I've missed you so much," I said while smiling, trying to stop myself from crying.

"I know, I've missed you so much!" Kevin said while smiling.

Knock! Knock!

"Hey, Kevin! You better get your ass back out here before these fans break down the door!" Tim yelled.

"I have to go back out there, but I really want to talk to you. Actually no, I need to talk to you," Kevin said.

"That's okay. I understand. I'll just go back to my place. You can call me tomorrow," I said.

"Oh, no you don't. I'm not letting you get away this time. You can stay in here and wait for me. I'll make sure Tim stays with you," Kevin said.

"No, that's okay. I don't want to bother you," I said.

"Janel Elizabeth Evans, you are staying here," Kevin said while pushing me down to sit on the couch.

"Okay," I said.

He unlocked the door and let Tim in.

"She's not to go anywhere. She is a personal friend of mine," Kevin said to Tim.

"Will do, Kev," Tim said.

Then Kevin slowly went out the door to the screaming fans.

I looked around the dressing room. There were racks of clothes for each guy and for the dancers. They had a table set up with all sorts of food on it. There were also chairs and a couch to sit on. Tim sat down on a chair across from me.

"Sorry about that," I said.

"Oh no, it's okay. It's my job," Tim said.

I continued to talk to Tim about his job. He told me about some crazy things the fans had done, and what he had to do about it. He said he enjoyed his work very much. Except for the minor bruises that he got every once in a while. Then someone walked in. It was Lou Pearlman, and he looked pissed.

"What the hell are you doing in here?! This is a restricted area! And Tim you're just letting her sit there?!" Lou yelled.

I got up and walked over to Lou. I planned on introducing myself and explaining to him why I was in here. I stuck my hand out to shake his. He just looked down at my hand like I was dirty or something. Then he continued to rant and rave. Then the guys walked in, except for Kevin. They all had already had their showers.

"Hey, Lou. What's the problem?" A.J. asked.

"Yeah, we can hear you yelling all the way down the hall," Howie said.

I was standing there shocked at Lou's reaction. He didn't even give me a chance to explain. Then I could see Brain staring at me. He was trying to decide whether or not it was me. So I decided to say something to him.

"Hey, musketeer. Long time no see?" I said, smiling at him.

He smiled at me and nodded his head.

Lou continued to yell and then he turned and pointed to me.

"That little slut over there has somehow managed to convince Tim that she could be in here!" he yelled.

Brian was coming over to hug me, when he heard Lou yell this. He immediately turned red.

"Don't you ever say anything like that to her again!" yelled Brian.

I had never seen him so mad before. Then Kevin walked in hearing what Brian had said.

"What did you say to her, Lou?" Kevin asked, angrily.

I decided to go over to Kevin and Brian before things got out of hand.

"Oh, nothing. It's okay Kevin. He thought I was some psycho fan stalking you guys," I said while glaring at Lou.

"Come on Brian. I haven't seen you in years and I don't even get a hug! What the heck is up with that?" I said while smiling at him.

He smiled and then he came over and gave me a big hug. Kevin continued to talk to Lou.

I whispered, "Thank you," to Brian.

"Didn't she and Tim tell you that I told him not to let her go anywhere?" Kevin asked.

"No. They didn't," Lou said, angrily.

I let go of Brian and said, "Maybe we could have told you if you didn't flip out on us. Then you could have actually gave us a chance to explain ourselves."

"But. Well. . .," Lou began, but he got frustrated and stormed out of the room.

"Oh, it's such a wonderful surprise to see you!" Brian said, excitedly.

"Isn't it though?" Kevin said, happily.

"Yeah, it's so great to see you two again," I said.

Then Nick interrupted.

"Okay. Question. Who is she?" Nick asked, confused.

"Yes, who might this sexy little lady be?" A.J. asked.

Kevin turned to him and gave him a deadly glare. I playfully hit Kevin in the arm.

"Oh, don't mind Boo. I'm Janel Evans or otherwise known as Pumpkin or Shorty," I said, happily.

"This is Janel. The Janel?" asked Howie.

"Yep, the one and only," I replied.

I shook each one of their hands and they introduced themselves.

"You would not believe how much Train and B-Rok talk about you. But mostly Train though," Nick said.

"So why did you leave?" A.J. asked.

I looked over to Kevin, shocked at what he had asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blurt that out," A.J. said. "It's just that. . .well. . .it doesn't make sense."

"Nice one, Bone. Go and ruin the happy reunion," Howie said, jokingly.

"Shut up, D!" A.J. said.

"It's okay. But that's between me and Kevin right now," I said.

"So where have you been?" asked Kevin, trying to change the subject.

"Here in New York. I live with a friend of my cousin's, Lauren, and another friend, Stacey. Oh, I guess I better call them to let them know that I'm okay," I said.

"Are they single?" Howie and A.J. asked at the exact same time.

Everyone began to laugh at them.

"Yes, they're single," I said while laughing. "They're also a little obsessed with you two. Howie, you and Lauren would probably go good together. And A.J., you and Stacey would go to together pretty well, but she's a couple of years older."

"All right an older woman!" A.J. said, jokingly.

"Oh, no. There goes Janel again. Matching up couples," Brian said.

"What? Did you and Ashley turn out that bad?" I asked.

They immediately began to burst out with laughter.

"Bad? She's the other half to Brian when they're together. She takes away from my play time with him," Nick said.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you and Ashley are still together! That's so cool!" I said, excitedly.

"Yeah, we were together for a while, then we broke it off. And now we're together for good," Brian said happily.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you," I said.

"Hey Pumpkin, the guys and I are going clubbing tonight. How about you call your friends and ask them if they want to come," Kevin suggested.

"Sure, sounds great," I said, happily.

"Oh yeah, and we can talk later, okay," Kevin said.

I nodded my head and then pulled out my cell phone.

"Okay, you guys have to be quiet for a second," I said.

I dialed the number and waited for one of them to answer it. It didn't take them long.

"Hello," Stacey said.

"Hi, Stacey. It's me," I said.

Stacey pulled away from the phone and yelled, "It's Janel!" Then Lauren came on.

"So where are you?" Lauren asked.

"Yeah, how did things go?" Stacey asked.

"Okay, I'll tell you if you let me talk. Well, the guys and I are going out clubbing and I just wanted to know if you guys wanted to come," I said, calmly.

"Of course we do!" Stacey exclaimed.

"Okay, hold on one second. Someone wants to speak to you, Stacey," I said.

I covered up the phone and told A.J. to say something to her.

"Hey baby. This is A.J.. I was hoping you'd go out with us tonight," he said.

"Aah!" Stacey screamed.

I grabbed the phone and Lauren was saying, "Hello? Janel are you there?"

Then I gave the phone to Howie.

"Hey, Lauren. This is Howie. I'd really like it if you'd join us tonight," he said.

"Aah!" I heard Lauren scream.

Then there was the dial tone. All of us were laughing hysterically.

"I take it that means they're coming," Nick said while laughing.

"What?" both A.J. and Howie asked, pretending to be deaf.

"Sure, like you haven't heard girls scream like that before. They scream like that every night at all of your concerts," I said, smiling at them.

"Okay. We better get going," Kevin said as he reached for my hand to help me get up.

"Thank you, Mr. Richardson. You're such a gentlemen," I said smiling.

We walked out into the parking lot. Then we got into their rental cars. Kevin and I were in a truck, while Brian, Nick, A.J. and Howie were in a car.