“This is Emily Hudson with Channel 7 News. The body of twenty-two-year-old James Murphy
was found late yesterday afternoon on a private strip of beach outside
Daytona. The results of the autopsy
performed on his body this afternoon show that Murphy died of a massive head
injury. He was also stabbed in the chest
multiple times, in a pattern that looked like a happy face, but the autopsy
showed that these injuries were obtained after Murphy was already dead. Murphy
was last seen at his apartment late last Saturday. He-”
With a click of the remote, Bianca Parker quickly changed the
channel. “Ugh, that is so freaky,” she
said with a shiver. “Somebody stabbed
him in the shape of a happy face? How
sick!”
“There’s some sick people out there, baby,” said her boyfriend, AJ
McLean, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to him. “But don’t you worry. Bone’s here to protect
you,” he cooed, kissing the top of her head.
“My hero,” Bianca replied sarcastically. “What would I ever do
without you?” She rolled her eyes and
grinned at him. Glancing at the clock on
the wall, she said, “Howie and Krystle will be here to pick us up any minute
now.”
AJ’s best friend and fellow Backstreet Boy, Howie Dorough, and his
girlfriend of several months, Krystle Moore, were going out to dinner with AJ
and Bianca that night at one of Orlando’s hottest new restaurants. The foursome often did things together when
the Backstreet Boys were not touring. Bianca suspected that AJ and Howie were
just trying to get her and Krystle to become friends.
Fat chance of that happening anytime soon, Bianca
thought. She had known Krystle for three
months now, ever since she had moved in with Howie, and she still didn’t like
her. No amount of time spent with her
was going to change that.
Krystle wasn’t a bad person; she just grated on Bianca’s nerves. She was a busty, black-haired beauty who knew
just how pretty she was and milked it for all it was worth. Bianca would never tell Howie, but she had
always thought Krystle was just using him.
On the outside, the couple seemed happy, but Bianca sensed that they
really weren’t. It seemed like Krystle
was only dating Howie because of his money and fame, not because she really
loved him. She pretended all right, but
her love was not true. Whether Howie was
really interested in Krystle or just her Krystle’s looks was a
mystery. Bianca personally couldn’t see
how anyone could love Krystle for her personality. She acted sweet enough, but she had a
shiftiness about her that made Bianca wonder.
Also, she had no sense of humor.
While Bianca and AJ loved to tease each other, Krystle got offended any
time Howie tried to play around with her.
She obviously did not understand the concept of a joke. And then there was her opinion of
Bianca. While Krystle had never actually
put it in words, Bianca had always gotten the impression that Krystle did not
like her much. Bianca did not know why,
but the looks Krystle sometimes gave her and the tone of voice she sometimes
used made it evident. That was fine with
Bianca though because she didn’t like Krystle either. The two women tolerated each other, for their
boyfriends’ sake, but it was laughable to think they could ever become friends.
“They’re here,” AJ said, standing up, as Howie’s SUV pulled into
the driveway.
Bianca followed AJ out of the living room, through the foyer, and
out the front door. AJ checked that the
door was locked and the security alarm was on, then led Bianca out to the car.
“Hey, J. Hey, Bean,” Howie
said, turning back to grin at AJ and Bianca as they climbed into the back of
the SUV. Over the past year, he and
Bianca had gotten to be good friends, so good that he now called her “Bean,”
the nickname AJ and her friends all called her.
“Hey, D. Hi, Krys,” AJ and
Bianca replied.
“Hello, AJ. Bianca,”
Krystle greeted coolly from the front passenger seat, not bothering to turn
around to look at them.
The drive to the restaurant was fairly quiet. AJ and Howie carried on a conversation, with
Bianca joining in every now and then, and Krystle examining her long, burgundy
nails and ignoring them.
When Howie parked at the restaurant, the four of them tried to
hurry in unnoticed. This was never
possible though, and AJ and Howie had to stop in the lobby to sign a few
autographs before going on to the small private dining room Howie had reserved
so they could eat dinner uninterrupted.
The four of them sat down, and Krystle commented, “Bianca, did you
cut your hair?”
Bianca fingered the curled-out ends of her auburn hair, which had
been cut into a layered, chin-length style, and nodded. “Yeah, I just got it cut Wednesday. Do you like it?”
Krystle shrugged. “It’s
alright,” she said, “but I think you should have it longer, with your face
shape.” She ran a hand through her long,
shiny, black hair, as if to accentuate her point.
Bianca bit her tongue, plastered a fake smile on her face, and
replied cheerfully, “Well, it’ll grow back in no time. And besides, I like it.”
Krystle raised her eyebrows and gave Bianca a look of distaste,
but said nothing.
AJ, obviously sensing tension between the two girls, slung an arm
around Bianca’s shoulders and said casually, “I think Bean’s hair is
cute.” He smiled at his girlfriend,
giving the back of her hair a playful flick.
Bianca returned his smile with gratitude, shot Krystle a
triumphant grin, and turned her attention to the menu in front of her.
***
Bianca checked her watch for the third time in the past five
minutes and sighed. It was the next
afternoon, and her shift at the local Barnes and Noble was over in fifteen
minutes. Then she could go to watch the end of AJ’s rehearsal.
Normally, Bianca didn’t mind working. She loved the atmosphere at Barnes and Noble,
the smell of new books and coffee and the quietness of the store. But sometimes, she just wanted to finish her
shift and get out of there. This was one of those times.
It was her last shift before the Backstreet Boys tour started the
following day. She would be touring with
them for the next three months, taking a long vacation from her job. She was lucky her boss was letting her leave
for so long and still promising to give her her job back when the tour was
over, so she mentally scolded herself for complaining about having to work and
forced herself to focus on her work.
A woman came up to Bianca’s cash register, carrying two paperback
romance novels. Bianca rang them up
quickly, and the woman paid and left.
Bianca checked her watch again.
Twelve minutes left.
“Next!” she called down to the line of customers waiting by the
row of cash registers. A grizzly old man
at the front of the line started slowly towards her register, carrying two
large hardbacks. Bianca recognized him
at once.
“Hello, Mr. Gunzenmeier,” she said politely.
Rudy Gunzenmeier was a regular Barnes and Noble customer. He stopped into the store usually about once
a week and bought large hardback books, usually biographies, historical books,
or medical books.
“Always wanted to be a doctor,” he had told Bianca one afternoon
when she had looked at the medical books strangely. “Just never had the money to go to medical
school. I’m still interested in medicine
though.”
Today he was buying a biography of Edgar Allen Poe and a book
about the Tower of London. Why someone
would want to read such a large book about a building was beyond Bianca, but
Mr. Gunzenmeier was sort of strange like that.
“Yeah, he’s pretty weird.
We just kinda stay away from him,” Howie had told her once. It just so happened that Mr. Gunzenmeier
lived next door to Howie, in a brick mansion that resembled a castle. Based on the books he bought, Bianca assumed
he had an interest in castles too.
“How is he weird?” Bianca had asked Howie curiously.
“I don’t know. He just…
is. There’s just something about him
that’s not quite right,” Howie had replied.
“Ask Krystle – she’s completely freaked out by him.”
Bianca had just laughed.
Mr. Gunzenmeier was indeed a bit odd, but he was harmless. He was nothing but an eccentric old man, as
far as she was concerned.
“Hi,” Mr. Gunzenmeier grunted in reply now, sliding his books
across the counter to her. Bianca rang
them up.
“Your total is $29.87,” she said, putting the books into a
bag. Mr. Gunzenmeier paid her in cash,
took his bag, and left, disappearing through the gold double doors.
Bianca glanced at her watch yet again. Eight minutes.
***
“Alright, great job, guys.
Take five, and then we’ll move on to the choreography for ‘Get Another
Boyfriend’,” said Fatima Robinson, the Backstreet Boys’ choreographer.
It was late in the afternoon, and the Boys were almost finished
with their last rehearsal before the opening night of their tour the following
night in Miami. After a year-long break
from touring, the five guys were all excited about getting back on the road to
promote their new CD, which had just been released two months earlier, in late
September. The CD had done tremendously
well so far, and it looked like the Backstreet Boys were truly back.
AJ grabbed a bottled water and a towel from his sport bag and
wiped his sweaty face. He twisted open
the cap on the water and drank half of it in one long gulp. He looked up as the doors to the studio they
practiced in opened, and Bianca walked in.
“Bean!” he cried happily, jumping up and hurrying over to
her. He outstretched his arms as if to
give her a hug.
Bianca squealed and pushed him away. “Ew, get your sweaty, stinky ass away from
me!”
“Aw, c’mere, baby, don’t you want a hug?” AJ teased, playfully
lunging at her. Bianca darted away from
his grasp, giggling.
“Dude, you have way too much energy, Bone,” Howie said, shaking
his head tiredly. Sprawled out on the
floor on their backs, the other three Boys grunted in agreement.
AJ smiled and sank back down onto the floor, pulling Bianca down
with him. “So, how was work?” he asked.
She shrugged and answered, “It was fine.”
“You all packed for tomorrow?” he asked her. “We’re leaving bright and early for Miami.”
“Yup, I’m all set,” she replied.
“I can’t wait.” She grinned
excitedly at him.
AJ returned her smile, excited as well. This was Bianca’s first time touring with
them (he hadn’t met her until shortly after the last tour), and he couldn’t
wait. It was going to be so wonderful
having her with him for the next few months.
“At least someone’s prepared,” Howie said. “Knowing Krystle, she’ll be up half the night
packing all her stuff.”
Bianca groaned inwardly, remembering that Krystle was coming along
with Howie. Oh well, at least each of
the guys gets their own bus. I won’t
have to see her too much hopefully, she told herself.
“Y’all ready to get going again?” asked Fatima, clapping her hands
to get their attention.
Sighing, AJ dragged himself up.
“Almost done,” he told Bianca, who sat back eagerly to watch him. She had already watched several of the Boys’
rehearsals, and she knew she’d be seeing all their shows from the front row,
but she never grew tired of watching them, especially AJ, perform. She had been a Backstreet Boys fan since
before she had met AJ, and even though she had been dating him for almost a
year now, she still couldn’t believe it sometimes.
This is one of those times, Bianca
thought, grinning as the music to “Get Another Boyfriend” started up, and the
five guys started their choreography, singing softly along to the music as they
danced. She felt like the luckiest girl
in the world, having AJ as a boyfriend.
But unfortunately, her luck would not last forever, and being AJ’s
girlfriend would soon become more of a curse than a blessing.
***