Chapter 46

About 7 o'clock Stacey woke me up.

"Janel, wake up. We've got shopping to do," Stacey said.

"Uh, huh. I'll be up soon," I said as closed my eyes and held Kevin.

"Janel Elizabeth Evans. Get your lazy butt up," Stacey said as she pulled me away from Kevin.

"Okay, okay. I'm up," I said as I sat up still half asleep.

"We're waiting," Lauren said as she stood in front of me all ready to go.

"Geez, we're in a hurry to spend money this morning," I said as I stood up.

"Yep. Now get in the bathroom and take your shower," Lauren said.

I made my way through the living room and into my room. I quickly grabbed some clothes and then jumped in the shower. Once I got out I put my hair up in a bun and barely put any make up on. I went into my room and grabbed my purse. Then I went into the kitchen where the girls were.

"Took you long enough," Stacey said.

"Terribly sorry I wasn't up at the crack of down getting ready," I said.

"You should have been," Stacey said.

"Now all the people will be at the stores," Lauren said.

"It's 8 o'clock in the morning!" I exclaimed.

"You can never be too early," Stacey said.

"Whatever, let's just go," I said.

We wrote the guys a little note telling them we had left. We told them not to expect us back any time soon. We left Stacey's car keys so they could go somewhere if they wanted to.

We went straight to the mall. We decided that we were going to go in every store there was. We had lots of gifts to buy for all different people so we figured that would be the easiest way to find something.

"Guys, I have no idea what to get Rick," I said. "He's done so much for me. I want to do something for him."

"Well, what does he like?" Stacey asked.

"I don't know," I said.

"You don't know? You've know the guy forever," Stacey said.

"Oh, he collects baseball cards," I said.

"Well then, get him a baseball card," she said.

"Well I want to do something more for him, but we'll check it out," I said.

"Hey guys, look!" Lauren said as she pointed to a store.

We looked to where she pointed. There was a beautiful silver dress in the window. All three of us walked over to it.

"That's beautiful," Stacey said.

"It's gorgeous," I said.

"Let's go inside," Lauren said.

We walked into the store and went to look at it better. The other girls went to look at the other dresses. I stayed and found my size. I went in the dressing room and tried it on. It was a sequin top and flowy skirt. It hugged my body tightly.

"Wow you look beautiufl," Lauren said as she looked at me.

"Oh, you have to buy that dress. It fits you perfectly," Stacey said.

"I think I will," I said as I looked at myself in the mirror.

Then I went back into the dressing room to change. I went up to the cashier and paid for it.

"Now I have to buy shoes to match," I said.

"All right! I love shoe shopping!" Lauren said.

"I thought we were shopping for the guys and our family," Stacey questioned.

"We are. I just couldn't resist buying that dress," I said. "Now I'm just going to buy myself some shoes and that's it."

We walked out of the store and went to a shoe store. I picked out shoes that matched my outfit. Then we continued to shop for everyone else. Once we were through, we went home.

We left the bags in the car because of the guys. We walked in to the house and the guys were lounging on the couch with pizza. They looked like they hadn't moved all day.

"It's about time you girls got home," Kevin said.

"Oh, were you missing me?" I asked as I stood in front of Kevin.

"Yes, I was," Kevin said as he pulled me close to him. I sat on his lap and began to kiss him.

"Baby, your mom called," A.J. said.

"What'd she say?" Stacey asked as she walked over to A.J..

"She just wanted you to know that she made it in safely," he said. "And she asked who I was."

"What did you tell her?" Stacey asked.

"I told her that I was a friend of yours here for graduation," A.J. said.

"Oh okay," Stacey said. "I haven't talked to her lately, so I haven't told her about us."

"You plan on telling her Thursday night at the graduation?" A.J. questioned.

"Well I was hoping we could go have dinner with her and my dad tonight," she said.

"That's fine with me," A.J. said.

"So what'd you girls buy?" Howie asked.

"None of your business," Lauren said.

"Something for me?" Howie asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Lauren said.

"So what have you guys done today?" I asked.

"Nothing. We got some quality t.v. time though," Kevin said.

"Well do you guys want to go out to dinner?" I asked.

"We're going to visit my mom," Stacey said.

"Howie and I will go with you two," Lauren said.

"Okay good," I said.

Stacey got up and went to call her parents. The guys got up and changed into more decent clothes. While they got ready Lauren and I went to get all the bags. We took all of them into my room and then shut the door.

"Bye guys!" I said to A.J. and Stacey as we left.

"See you later!" A.J. said while Stacey waved good bye.

Lauren got in the drivers seat and we drove off.

"So where to?" Lauren asked.

"Where ever you guys want," Howie said.

"Somewhere with good food," Kevin said.

"Oh, how about Maxim's?" I suggested.

"Oh yeah, they have the best food. We went there for a business meeting one time. But we need reservations," Lauren said.

"Oh, that's right," I said.

"That's okay. I'm sure we can get in," Kevin said.

"We have connections," Howie said.

"Oh, that's right we have two of the Backstreet Boys. Might as well use their fame for something," I said.

"Exactly," Lauren said.

"Glad we could help," Kevin said.

We got to the restaurant and got out. We went inside and there were all sorts of people waiting to get in.

"Howie! Kevin!" yelled a young girl.

We all looked at her as she came up to the guys with another girl. She got to us and gave Kevin and Howie a hug. Lauren and I just looked at each other. She had wavy red hair. She was about 5'9" and very thin.

"Hey Amanda!" Kevin said.

"What are you doing here?" Howie asked.

"Oh, just came here to meet some friends. I'm here in New York to work on a new video," Amanda said.

"Um, excuse me Manda, aren't you going to introduce us," her friend said as she eyed Kevin. She was about 5'11" with long slinky legs. She had bright blue eyes with long blonde hair.

"Oh sorry," Amanda said. "Guys this is Ariana, my best friend."

"Hi," Howie said.

"Hello," Kevin said.

"Nice to meet you," she said as she shook Kevin's hand.

"This is my girlfriend Janel and Howie's girlfriend, Lauren," he said as she introduced us. "And this is Amanda one of our dancers and her friend Ariana."

"Oh yeah. I've seen you we've just never been introduced," Amanda said to me.

"It's nice to finally meet you," I said.

"So what are you guys doing here?" Amanda asked.

"We're here for Stacey's graduation, A.J. is girlfriend," Howie said.

"Oh really," Amanda said. "Well we better go meet our friends in the bar. It was nice talking to you. Bye."

"Bye," Ariana said as she stared at Kevin.

Once they left we went to get a table.

"Excuse me. We need a table," Kevin said.

"Last name," the guy said as he looked at the book.

"I don't have reservations," Kevin said.

"I'm sorry sir, but we can't. . .," the guy began. "Oh, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Dorough. It'll be about five minutes."

"Thank you," Kevin said.

"Well, that was easy," I said.

"The poor guy looked afraid if he didn't give you a table," Lauren said.

"Yeah, we always make Kevin do that. He's best at it," Howie said.

At the bar

"Wow! You get to work with Kevin. I wish I was you," Ariana said.

"Yeah, he's really nice," Amanda said.

"Nice!? Damn girl! Are you blind? That man is absolutely gorgeous. I'd like to work with him," Ariana said.

"Wow, I never knew you liked Kevin like that," Amanda said.

"I've always liked Kevin. But now that I've seen him in person. . .," Ariana said.

"And his girlfriend, Janel," Amanda said.

"Oh yeah, her. How long have they been going out?" Ariana asked curiously.

"A little over a month, why?" Amanda responded.

"That's not too long. I've still got a chance," Ariana said.

"Sure you do," Amanda said as she rolled her eyes at her friend.

In front of the restaurant

"Did you see that girl looking at Kevin?" Lauren whispered to me.

"You noticed that to? I thought maybe it was just me turning into the jealous girlfriend," I said quietly.

"No, she was definitely checking him out," Lauren said.

"That girl better keep her paws off my man. I might have to whoop her ass if she doesn't," I said jokingly.

"I know you would," Lauren said, laughing at me.

"What are you girls talking about?" Kevin asked as he came up behind me and put his arms around me.

"Just girl stuff," I said.

"Yeah, nothing to interesting," Lauren said.

"Excuse me, Mr. Dorough and Mr. Richardson, this way please," a lady said as she led us to a table.

We were seated and given our menus.