Chapter Four
"You make the phone call."
"No, you!"
"Howie! You do it."
The boys were arguing about who would make the call to Dana McClaren.
"Look. Nick should do it!" Suggested AJ.
"Why?" Nick asked.
"Because she's Drew's mom, and Drew's your girlfriend!" he explained. That comment was met with a chorus of agreement from Howie, Kevin, and Brian.
"Fine, I'll do it. But I don't think that she likes me very much." Nick grudgingly assented.
"But at least she knows you!" Howie said. "Do you really think that she'd give the address to just any old guy who called her up?"
"He's got a point there." Kevin turned to Nick. "Now call!"
"Okay, okay." Nick punched in the phone number. "?Hello? Mrs. McClaren? It's Nick Carter. I was wondering if you could do me a favour?"
"Okay. Now for the clothes. We can't waste these amazing new looks on jeans and T-shirts!" Tanna said in a lull in the conversation.
"True! Pull out all your clothes, girls! We're gonna mix and match!" Mackenzie dumped her clothes on the bed as the other two girls did the same.
After an hour of picking, choosing, changing their minds, and doing it all again, they finally were ready.
Drew wore a pair of dark forest green hip-huggers and paired them with a light green, short sleeved blouse that had a v-neck.
Tanna wore a cotton knit skirt and blouse combo. The skirt was blue with a slit in the back. The blouse was baby blue with pearls sewn on, which hung below her waist, with long sleeves and a high scooped neck.
Mackenzie's dress was navy blue, floor length and clinging. It had spaghetti straps and a small train at the back.
As they were admiring each other, they heard the doorbell ring. Tanna quickly turned off the Backstreet Boys CD that was playing so that they could hear better.
Rachel ran down the stairs to the front door. She was expecting her friend Heather, so she flung open the door with "I'm coming, jus?" She broke off and her mouth fell open.
"You, you, but?." She stopped when Kevin put a finger to her lips.
"Is this the house of Tanna Thompson?" he whispered.
"Uh, yeah." Rachel stuttered.
"You must be Rachel then. I'm Kevin, this is Nick, Brian, AJ, and Howie." He pointed out each one in turn. "Can we come in?"
Speechless, Rachel opened the door and let them in.
"Can I ask you a favor?" Nick asked quietly. Rachel nodded. "Could you not tell the girls that we're here. We want to surprise them."
Rachel was opening her mouth to say yes when Tanna called up. "Who's at the door Rachel?"
Kevin gave her a glance. "It's just Graham to pick me up." Her voice was a little faint.
"Okay. Have fun!"
"Thanks!" Brian flashed a charming grin. "Could you do us another favor? Could you ask them to come upstairs for a moment? But not right away." Rachel agreed. Then the boys proceeded to explain what they wanted to do.
"I don't know about you, Tanna, but that sounded like more than one guy up there. And who's Graham?" Mackenzie asked.
"I didn't notice. But Graham is her friend's dad." Tanna casually dismissed Mackenzie's comment about multiple males.
They were just about to start the music again when Rachel called down asking them to come up. They looked confused, but filed up anyway.
When they got upstairs, all the lights were out except for the two in the living room. They assumed that was where Rachel was. They walked in and looked around. No one was there.
Just as they were looking at each other, wondering what was going on, they heard a sound like someone clearing their throat. Then ?
"Like a flower to a tree,
That's how close I wanna be
To your heart, baby to your heart?"
As they sang, the five guys walked out of the shadows from the sunroom. The girl's eyes widened and their jaws dropped. They were so stunned, that it wasn't until Nick sang the lines
"So lonely is the night,
Without you to hold me tight?" to Drew, did they snap out of it. Tanna sat down, Mackenzie put her hands to her mouth, and Drew broke into a huge grin.
When the song was finished, Drew shrieked and launched herself to hug Brian, while Mackenzie hugged Kevin. Then they switched. Drew hesitated for a moment before hugging him, but then she gave him a warm hug. She then went on to embrace Howie and AJ. After letting go of AJ, she just stared at Nick. When he moved toward her with his heart in his eyes, she opened her arms.
Meanwhile, Tanna was still sitting on the couch, watching. Since she didn't know the guys as well as Drew and Mackenzie did, she felt somewhat uncomfortable in the big reunion scene. She looked down at her hands.
"You must be Tanna." She looked up to see AJ standing before her, holding out his hand. When she took it, he pulled her up.
"Come on! We basically know you already." He hugged her. So did Howie, Kevin, and Nick (once he had let go of Drew). Then Brian hugged her.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Drew demanded, smiling.
"We decided to surprise you for Tanna's birthday. Besides, we got an extra two days off, so why waste it?" Howie said.
"This was the only time that we were positive that we could get all three of you in the same place at the same time." Kevin added.
"But how did you know where I lived?" Tanna asked.
So they told the girls how they had found out that one of their concerts had been cancelled, and about the two extra days off. They then went on to tell how Nick had called up Drew's mom and asked for Tanna's address.
"But that doesn't explain how you got in here. My dog didn't even bark!" Tanna said incredulously.
So, the boys told how they had convinced Rachel to help them. As they were finishing, they heard the door close and saw Rachel hurry across the lawn to a waiting car.
"Seeing as how you girls are already fancied up, what do you say we go for dinner?" AJ held out his arms to Tanna and Mackenzie.
"That sounds like a fabulous idea, Mr. McLean." Mackenzie said as she and Tanna both took one of his arms.
"Mrs. Carter?" Nick held out an arm to Drew.
"Certainly, Mr. Carter." Drew took it.
They all laughed as Brian held out his arms to Howie and Kevin, and they walked out of the room theatrically arm in arm.
"Where to?" Brian asked to group.
"How about the Westin?" asked Howie.
"Oh, we can't! My parents are there for a banquet, and are spending the night there." Tanna looked apologetically at them. "It's not that I'm ashamed, or anything, it's just that they expect me to be here all night. What about Hotel Mac?" she suggested hopefully.
"Brilliant suggestion, Sherlock!" AJ agreed and they all nodded.
"But how are we going to get there?" asked Drew.
"Our driver is outside, of course!" Brian nodded out the window. "Shall we go?"
The girls collected their bags, shoes, and coats, and walked outside.