God, what am I doing here? Lauren Jennings asked herself as she leaned over the steering wheel of her car, searching for an end (or beginning) to the twisting line of cars waiting for parking spaces in the small recreation center parking lot. Maybe I should just turn around and go home. This isn't going to bring me any closer to Nick.
She blew out a stale puff of air in frustration and swerved out of the line, bursting through a nicely trimmed lawn and back on to the side street, muttering curse words under her breath and knowing that today was the day that was so not meant to be.
As she (somewhat) patiently waited at a never-ending stoplight, something caught her eye. It was a parking lot-- an empty one. In front of John's Mattress Blow-Out. She began to wonder if John might let her park there for a few hours. She decided it was worth a shot, so Lauren once again swerved out of the line of cars and bursted over the median.
She threw open the small glass door to John's Mattress store and tried to catch her breath. A young man reading a newspaper looked up and seemed shocked to see somebody there. He bounded up from his chair and practically flew over to her.
"Can I help you, miss?" he asked with excitement.
"I hope so. There's an event at the rec center this afternoon and I have been circling the parking lot for the last 45 minutes trying to find a place to park. Obviously I had no luck. Would it be okay if I parked here? I should be out by about 9:30 or so." Lauren said, exasperated.
His eyes seemed to light up, having this dumb look on his face like he was star-struck by her or something. She kept waiting for him to answer.
"I-It's fine." He stuttered. "Usually we d-don't let people p-park in out lot," he gulped. "But we can make our exceptions for people like you. M-may I have your autograph?" He asked nervously. She stared at him blankly. Why the Hell does he want my autograph? She wondered to herself.
"Ummm..." she started off. "I can guarantee that I am not who you think I am." She said, thoughts racing through her mind of who he might think she was.
"M-Miss Holmes? I know it's you, Katie. I've been a fan for years. You can park here, but I really want your autograph!" he exclaimed. She gave him a blank stare for a moment, her brown eyes peering into him, but then burst into laughter.
"You're crazy," she said, grinning and pulling a slip of paper out of her purse. "What's your name?" she asked.
"John. John Nelson." He supplied. Lauren scrawled on the paper:
John-- You should really see somebody about that stuttering problem. If you actually were to meet Katie Holmes, she might not find that charming. Thanks for letting me park. :-)
--Lauren
She handed him the slip of paper with a smile and made her way out the door, not too excited about having to walk 2 blocks in those awful heels. For the Backstreet Boys though, she could put up with it.
"Okay," Nick said in a huff. "So whose bright idea was this anyway? I mean, I finally get one night off...but instead of spending it with my family, I have to go do some whack publicity promo." He was pacing back and forth across the dressing room he shared with the other boys.
"Mom, can't we just do this later?" AJ questioned seriously. "Or how about we just sign a couple of pictures and give those away instead?"
"I'm sorry honey," Denise said sympathetically. "We've been advertising this for weeks. A date with a Backstreet Boy! What more could any fan want? You can't imagine the crowd this is going to draw."
"Yeah, but I CAN imagine the crowd I don't want it to draw," Nick said sarcastically.
"Come on guys, just focus," Kevin said, rising from his chair and starting to pace back and forth. "So we do this tonight. Then we get an entire week off. Let's just do it."
"Ok. I'm down wit that." AJ agreed. "How bout you, D?" He asked, turning to Howie. Howie smoothed a hand over the top of his hair and looked up from a stack of contracts unexpectedly.
"Hhmph?" he asked. When given a couple of blank stares from around the dressing room, he said, "Oh, whatever you guys decide to do is fine with me. I've known about this promo for a while, it's ok with me."
"Nick?" AJ asked.
"Whatever." Nick said indifferently. "Just don't spring something like this on me again."
"Okay," Kevin said, rubbing his hands together. He looked around the room for a bit. "Hey...um where's Rok?"
Howie looked up from his contracts again. "Oh, he's out with Leighanne. They're looking for rings or something. I don't know when he'll be back."
Brian came bursting through the door right at that moment. "Sorry I'm late, guys." he said, trying to catch his breath. "First she wanted princess cut, then she wanted square cut...it was a nightmare. We're Gonna have to go back tomorrow."
Denise lifted her eyebrows at him and gave a slight grin. "Well come on over here so I can explain what's going to be happening in the next couple of hours."
"Alright," Brian pulled up a chair next to Nick and sat in it backwards.
"Okay boys, let's get down to the details of this." Denise began. "There's going to be a crowd of roughly 1,000. That's all this dinky rec center will hold, unfortunately. Be prepared to encounter MANY others outside. Only the thousand inside will be entered in the drawing for tonight's events." she paused for a moment, looking around the room. "And judging from these confused looks, I'll bet you have no clue what 'tonight's events' are. Well, each of you will pick at random the name of one of the fans who is in the rec center today. The names will be announced, and that girl will receive a half-dozen roses from each of you, along with a limo ride to and from the Forster's Club restaurant where all five of you, and the winners, will be dining together tonight. That's all. Just have dinner with a couple of fans, that's all you have to do." Denise looked around once again and spotted Nick with a mischeivious grin growing on his face. "Nick, be good." She added.
Nick threw his hands in the air. "Aren't I always good?" he asked, grinning broadly.
Lauren squeezed her way through hundreds of people standing in the doorway of the rec center. "Scuse me," she mumbled over and over, pushing past people and trying desperately to get in. She finally squeezed her way into the seating area, searching hopelessly for a place to sit. Her eyes scanned around and found only one empty seat: in the very back row, all the way in the corner. Lauren made a beeline for it.
"Hi," she said politely to the young girl next to her. As she settled into her seat, the house lights began to fade, and the doors to the lobby closed. "Shhhhhh" could be heard all around the auditorium.
The curtain rose to reveal five stools and mic stands, each occupied by a boy. They broke into "I Want It That Way" and the crowd went wild. The show was wonderful; they sang most of their slower songs, as dancing to an up-tempo song on this stage would be quite impossible. The music was electric, and Lauren was sooo happy that she went. The one hour show set ended all too quickly for her. As the curtain fell once again on the stage and people began to rise from their seats, a woman with a microphone suddenly came out.
"Wait a moment, please!" she said, once again grabbing the attention of the fans who were exiting, "My name is Denise Mc Lean, I'm AJ's Mom and manager of fan club relations. As many of you are aware, all of your names have been entered in a very special raffle drawing to win a date with one of these five handsome guys!"
Shrieks could be heard throughout the auditorium as Lauren sat on the edge of her seat. So that's what that little slip of paper was for, she thought to herself, thinking of the small questionnaire they had her fill out before entering. Oh my God...a date with Nick... She smiled to herself. I know I would faint!
"First, I'll start off with the lucky young lady who will go with my son," Denise said with a motherly smile as AJ came back onto the stage, holding roses in his hand, and hugged her. AJ waved to the crowd and hundreds of girls screamed. Denise reached into the crystal bowl of names and pulled one out, unfolding it and reading it several times.
"Is there a Lauren Jennings present this evening?" she asked, looking throughout the crowd. Lauren's jaw hit the floor as she froze in her seat. Her hands began to tremble.
"Lauren Jennings?" Denise asked with an inquisitive look on her face. Lauren slowly rose from her seat on the very last row in the back corner. A few fans began to scream and clap for her, and she slowly worked her way down the row to the aisle. I can't believe this, she thought, on the verge of tears. I just can't believe this. As she approached the stage, she was helped up by a security guard. AJ greeted her with a hug.
"Hi Lauren," he whispered in her ear. "These are for you," he said, handing her the flowers when they broke apart.
"Thanks," she said, her heart beating a thousand times a minute. "It's so incredible to be up here." Denise backed away from the microphone for a moment and whispered to Lauren, "You better take good care of him, ya hear?" AJ couldn't help but grin and Lauren laughed too. They stood side by side as Kevin came onto the stage next.
"And next is one hunk of a man...our very own Kevin Richardson!" Kevin waved and a couple of girls whistled. "Kevin will be dining tonight with a Miss...Nicole Cox! Please come forward, Nicole." Denise announced.
Nicole turned out to be a young girl of about 14, wearing a tube top and an inch of make-up. Kevin gave her the roses and she smugly blew it off, nonchalantly tossing her long dirty blond hair over her shoulder. AJ laughed as he watched Kevin attempt to pretend like he hadn't just gotten dissed by a 14 year old.
"I'm glad that's not you," AJ whispered in Lauren's ear, grabbing her hand with a grin as a gesture of friendship. Lauren smiled meakly in return, coaxing her legs to hold her up on the stage as she watched his large hoop earrings sway hypnotically back and forth. A thousand thoughts began to run through her head: Oh my God! AJ McLean is holding my hand! Does this mean that I'll get to meet Nick? What will Nick think if he sees me holding AJ's hand? Arrrrgggh!! She gave up as the thoughts began to scramble in her mind. Howie was the next one to come walking on to the stage as Denise announced him.
"And the name of Howie's date is...Melissa Sanchez! Come on down, Melissa!" Denise exclaimed.
A shout was heard from the first row as a tall latina girl, who looked to be in her early twenties, jumped up and down excitedly, smiling broadly at her friends. She bounded on to the stage and grinned up at Howie, who couldn't stop winking at her. He handed her the roses and once again winked.
Melissa laughed excitedly and linked her arm through his as they stood next to Lauren and AJ.
"Continuing on, the next date will be with Brian," Denise said as Brian leaped onto the stage, pretending to shoot the roses into some imaginary basketball hoop. Hundreds of girls screamed.
"Now calm down ladies, he's taken!" Denise announced. A chorus of "awwww"s could be heard throughout the audience. She continued on, "But Sara Miller will be having dinner with him tonight!"
A young woman with curly light blond hair stood up and high-fived her friends, who screamed like maniacs. Sara dashed onto the stage and met Brian, who kissed her hand. The crowd "awwww"ed again.
Everyone was still busy checking out Sara as Nick came out from behind the curtain. The small stage was filling up quickly, so he stood next to Lauren.
"Hi," he leaned over and whispered in her ear.
"Hi," she whispered back.
"And finally, the very last one, we have our youngest boy Nick." Denise announced. The crowd went wild, and the entire room seemed to shake.
Nick raised a hand to the crowd. "What a bunch," he said to Lauren under his breath. She giggled.
"And the winner is...Jennifer Kaiga! Jennifer, congratulations! And thanks to the rest of you for coming out this afternoon. On behalf of the boys, it's truly been a pleasure." Denise said, trying to wrap things up.
As Denise rambled on, Jennifer came up onto the stage. She was strikingly gorgeous with shiny long blond hair and of course a tiny waist. She threw herself at Nick and Lauren turned away. After all, she thought, AJ is my date.
Nick seemed a little surprised and threw Brian a "help me, God" look. And as Nick began to peel Jennifer off of him, Lauren noticed that AJ hadn't taken his eyes off of her since her name was announced. A thousand pangs of envy shot through her heart as Nick jokingly presented her with the roses and AJ looked on.
I was right, she thought. This really is the day that was soooo not meant to be.
