Chapter 2

 

"This is Mark Roberts, reporting live for Miami’s WJOE News at Noon.  Early this morning, the body of nineteen-year-old Sarah Delap was recovered from the outskirts of a Miami park. Delap had been missing from her college dormitory at the University of Miami since Thursday night.  She was found with a fatal contusion to the head and stab wounds to the chest and stomach. Disturbingly, the wounds formed the pattern of a smiley face, leading police to the conclusion that her death is connected to the death of twenty-one-year-old James Murphy, whose body was discovered Wednesday afternoon near Daytona Beach with the same pattern of stab wounds to the chest…”

 

Bianca shuddered.  “What kind of freak would do that,” she said aloud, changing the channel of the television in the hotel room she was sharing with AJ.

 

“Did you say something, honey?”  AJ stuck his head out of the bathroom.  His face was covered in shaving cream, and his bright red hair was still wet from his shower.

 

“They just said on the news that some girl was found dead this morning with stab wounds that look like a happy face, just like that guy in Daytona they found the other day,” Bianca told him, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

 

“Oh. Sick,” AJ agreed and ducked back into the bathroom to finish getting cleaned up.  He had to be at the arena in an hour to start rehearsing for the concert that night.

 

Forty-five minutes later, he finally emerged from the bathroom, dressed and cleaned up, his goatee shaved to perfection, his hair gelled and spiked. 

 

“You wanna come with me to the arena now, or are you going to come later?” AJ asked, as he dug through his sport bag, making sure he had everything he wanted packed in it. 

 

“I’ll come with you now,” Bianca replied.  She was interested in seeing all the behind-the-scenes things that went on before the concert.  And she had never seen them run the show with all graphics on the giant screen they were going to have behind them and all the pyrotechnics and other special effects they had planned.  They would run through everything that afternoon, hours before the concert, to make sure everything was in working order.

 

“Okay.  Well, we’re supposed to be on our buses in like five minutes.  You ready?”

 

“Yup.  Just have to get my shoes on,” Bianca replied, sliding off the king-size bed and pulling on her Adidas tennis shoes.  She quickly ducked into the bathroom to check her appearance in the mirror, tucked her coppery hair behind her ears, and came back out.  She slung her purse over one shoulder and turned to AJ.  “Ready,” she said.

 

“Okee dokee.  Let’s go,” AJ said, linking his arm through hers.  Together, the couple left the hotel suite.  They were met in the hall by several bodyguards, who were waiting to escort them out of the hotel. Despite all efforts to keep where they were staying a secret, some fans had found out what hotel they were staying in, and the lobby was now filled with a large crowd of eager fans, according to the bodyguards.

 

Bianca’s heart fluttered with excitement.  “Are we going through the lobby or taking a back way out?” she asked, hoping they would go through the lobby.  Just a year ago, she had been just a Backstreet Boys fan like the girls downstairs; she knew exactly what they were feeling right now and wanted the Boys to go down and sign some autographs for them.

 

“Lobby,” said Marcus, one of the bodyguards.  “If we can keep the crowd under control, you guys can stay a few minutes and sign autographs or whatever.”

 

Bianca smiled, and AJ nodded.  Moments later, doors down the hall began to open, and other Backstreet Boys came out to join them.  Finally, all five Boys were there, along with Brian’s wife Leighanne, Kevin’s wife Kristin, Krystle, and Bianca. 

 

Nick was alone, the only member of the group currently without a girlfriend or wife.  Bianca couldn’t say she really felt sorry for him.  She had bonded with Howie, Kevin, and Brian, but Nick was a different story.  For some reason, she and he had never really connected.  He had distanced himself from her when she had first started dating AJ and become a part of their group, and even now that she and AJ had been going out for a year, he still hadn’t made much of an attempt to be friendly to her.  It was kind of like Bianca and Krystle’s relationship – she and Nick got along okay, but she doubted they would ever be friends. But unlike Krystle, Bianca didn’t dislike Nick.  She really did not know him that well, but he always seemed very personable around his fans and the other guys.  What he had against her, she did not know. 

 

She had always thought that maybe he resented her for taking away AJ, who was closest to Nick’s age and had been one of the last single Backstreet Boys remaining before he had met her.  She knew how uncomfortable it was to be the third wheel and have a best friend whose life revolved around her boyfriend, so she could relate to how Nick felt, if that was how he felt.  For a long time, she had made an effort to include him and have conversations with him and try to show him that she wanted to be friends with him, but he had avoided her.  So she had stopped trying.  Now she and Nick were nothing but two people who shared mutual friends.  They talked to each other occasionally, but more as acquaintances than friends.

 

“Okay, everybody ready?”  Marcus’s voice interrupted Bianca’s thoughts. 

 

The group nodded in reply.  Surrounded by security, they made their way to the elevator.  Their hallway and the inside of the elevator were nice and quiet, but they knew that the minute the elevator doors slid open in the lobby, it would be mass chaos.

 

Sure enough, when the elevator had jerked to a stop on the ground floor, and the doors opened with a ding, they found the large, fancy lobby filled with young girls.  Some were bouncing up and down, some were crying, many were screaming and squealing.  Some had their faces painted and hair dyed, some had plastered pictures of the boys all over their clothes, some had posters.  When they caught sight of the Backstreet Boys, a collective high-pitched screech filled the lobby, echoing off the walls and high ceilings. 

 

From across the room, Bianca saw the people behind the main desk grimace and put their hands over their ears.  She grinned, filled with euphoria, and stepped off of the elevator, gripping AJ’s hand. 

 

“Excuse me!”  Marcus’s booming voice rose over the fans’ screaming.  “Excuse me!  Can I have your attention, please?  Quiet, please!”  It took a few minutes, but finally the girls all shut up and listened to the hulking bodyguard.  “Thank you.  Okay, the Boys only have a few minutes before they have to get to the arena, but if you all can be calm, they can sign some autographs, take some pictures, whatever.  But please, you have to stay calm and not push and shove, or they’ll have to leave.”

 

More screams and squeals rose from the girls, but they stayed in place and did not charge the Boys.  Marcus and the other bodyguards led the Boys and the girlfriends and wives out into the lobby, and the girls poured forward in a great rush, surrounding the small group eagerly, thrusting CD booklets, pictures, and pens out to the boys to get autographs and holding up cameras to get pictures.

 

Bianca let go of AJ’s hand and stayed back with Leighanne, Kristine, and Krystle, while the five guys hurriedly started signing autographs, trying to get as many done as they could. 

 

“Excuse me, Bianca?”

 

Bianca heard her name and felt a tug on her t-shirt and turned to find a girl that looked to be about thirteen or fourteen standing behind her. The girl timidly held out a picture of AJ and said, “Could you sign this for me?”

 

Bianca’s heart swelled, and she grinned widely.  “Of course!” she said and quickly scrawled her signature on the back of the picture with the marker the girl handed her.  She had been asked to sign autographs several times before, but it was not a common occurrence, so she was thrilled that someone cared enough to want her autograph.  She knew some of the fans hated her guts for “stealing their AJ away”.  She had even once found a hate site about herself online.  She smiled ruefully, remembering how she had cried over it.  AJ had just rolled his eyes and told her that was one of the cons about being a Backstreet girlfriend.

 

It’s nothing against you personally, he had said.  All of our girlfriends have had hate sites made about them by the teenyboppers.  They don’t really hate you; they’re just jealous.

 

Bianca knew this already, but it was still somewhat frightening to see death threats against yourself online.  She was glad that the majority of the fans out there were mature enough to be happy for her and AJ.

 

“Thank you!” the girl said happily, and Bianca was so touched, she grabbed AJ and pulled him over so that he could give the girl his autograph as well.

 

Finally, Marcus announced that the Boys needed to leave, and the fans all sighed and moaned.  There were still many of them who had not gotten their autographs, but the Boys apologized and promised to try and sign more autographs when they got back after the concert.  Then, the security guards clearing a path to the door, the bodyguards escorted them all out of the hotel and to their herd of tour buses, which were parked right outside the hotel doors.

 

“Whew,” AJ sighed, as he and Bianca climbed onto his bus.  “I love the fans, but they tire you out quick.”  He sank down on the couch, pulling Bianca down with him, and flipped on the TV.

 

A few minutes later, the buses pulled away from the hotel, and they were on their way to the arena.

 

***

 

“It’s time to go to work, y’all.  What kind of work?  Hard work, huh!”

 

The large group consisting of the five Backstreet Boys, their four girlfriends and wives, their dancers, bodyguards, and all their other crew members, clapped and cheered as they finished their pre-show chant.

 

“Good luck, Bri,” said Leighanne, kissing her husband’s cheek.  “I’ll be in the front row.”   Kristin and Krystle both wished Kevin and Howie good luck as well.

 

“You’re going to do great,” Bianca told AJ, grabbing him and kissing him quickly on the lips.  “I’ll be watchin’ ya.”

 

“Love you, Bean,” AJ said, grinning.  “I’ll see ya after the show.”

 

Bianca returned his excited smile and followed Leighanne, Kristin, and Krystle, who were being escorted by security guards to their front row seats.  The four of them had seats for every show at one end of the front row, so as to not take the very best seats (front and center), but still be able to be close to the stage.

 

Their entrance into the arena caused quite a stir with the fans sitting near them.  The girls all wanted pictures and autographs and then immediately started bombarding them with questions about the Boys.  They answered what they could (without giving away too many personal details).  Bianca enjoyed all the attention, but was relieved when the arena darkened, and the fans all turned their attention to the stage, waiting for the Backstreet Boys to come out.

 

“Backstreet Boys!  Backstreet Boys!” came the familiar chant, and Bianca, suddenly taken back in time to the many Bsb concerts she and her best friend Brianna had gone to, joined right in, a huge grin on her face. From beside her, she saw Krystle roll her eyes, but she ignored her and shouted even louder.  She was not at all embarrassed – she was still young, only twenty-two, and she was a fan herself, so she could yell if she wanted to. 

 

Leighanne and Kristin were smiling, but she could see that they were not quite as enthusiastic as she was.  But then again, they had been doing this kind of thing for years.  This was Bianca’s first concert as AJ’s girlfriend, her first concert in the front row.  She had a right to be excited.

 

From below the stage, AJ grinned as he heard the fans chant, “Backstreet Boys!  Backstreet Boys!”  The sound was greatly muffled by the headset he was wearing, which played the music in his ears and blocked out most of the sound of the crowd, but they were loud enough that he could still hear them.  The sound was music to his ears.  It gave him a high nothing else could.

 

Suddenly, the screaming stopped, and AJ knew that the opening special effects had begun.  It would only be a couple more minutes before it was time for the podiums he and the others were standing on to rise and lift them up to the stage. 

 

“All right, guys, you’re on in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…” came a voice through their earphones.  As he got to one, the lighted podiums they stood on slowly began to rise through trapdoors in the stage above their heads.  As the top of their heads poked up through the trapdoors, the screaming of the fans intensified.

 

Standing on his podium, looking out into the huge audience, into the bright lights, the flashes of cameras continually going off in every direction, was one of AJ’s all-time favorite moments.  The feeling he got when he was standing there, listening to the wild screams, was completely indescribable. 

 

AJ could really only make out the faces of the fans in the first few rows of the arena, so he focused his gaze on those rows, panning across the rows until he reached the far left end of the front row.  He spotted Kristin first, then Leighanne, and then his eyes stopped to rest on Bianca, who was sitting in the second seat from the end, her face aglow, screaming like a teenybopper.  He grinned at her and gave her a quick wink, making a mental note to tease her about being a teenybopper later on.

 

The music for their opening number began, and right on cue, AJ, Brian, Howie, Kevin, and Nick leaped off of their podiums and landed on stage.  Amid the wild screams of the fans, they began their choreography, just as they had practiced.

 

The first concert of the tour had begun.

 

***

 

 

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