Chapter
22
“Everyone,
please welcome the Backstreet Boys and JADE!”
The
audience filled with piercing screams and applause, as the five Backstreet Boys
and the four girls of JADE entered the MTV studio.
It
was Saturday afternoon, and it was time for the two-hour long live special that
the Backstreet Boys and JADE had agreed to do together for MTV.
“Hey,
guys, how are you doing?” Carson Daly, who was hosting the special, asked, once
they were all seated, and the screams had died down.
“Pretty
good, Carson,” AJ said. “How about you?”
“I’m
doing good too,” Carson said. “But
enough about me. This show’s about the
nine of you.”
The
crowd cheered again.
“First
of all, we’ll start with a question from one of the audience members,” Carson
said. He motioned to a girl in the front
row. “Tell us your name, where you’re
from, and your question.”
“Hi,
I’m Katie from Pittsburgh, and I’m a big fan of both of you. I heard you’ve all been spending a lot of
time with each other lately, and I was just wondering, are any of you going out
with each other?”
They
all chuckled lightly. Serena glanced at
Howie, not knowing what she was supposed to say. Howie smiled reassuringly at her and cleared
his throat. “Well actually, yes, Serena
and I a couple now,” he said. Serena
smiled nervously. Then she glanced down
the line to see what the others would say.
She knew there had been some things going on between the others, but as
far as she knew, none of them had officially hooked up yet.
“The
rest of us are just friends,” Brian said finally. Ashalyn and Kevin both nodded, backing him
up. AJ glanced quickly at Elyssa, then
looked away. Elyssa and Jenna exchanged
wary glances, and Nick just looked confused.
Things
went on like that for the next two hours.
The girls of JADE and the Backstreet Boys talked about everything, from
their new albums to the car accident that had taken their loved ones.
When
it was over, Ashalyn was relived in a way, but also a little disappointed. She had had a better time than she thought
she would, even though she still didn’t feel comfortable talking about the
death of her boyfriend and the wreck that had killed him. She didn’t think talking about it would ever
come easily to her, but now that she had done it in public once, maybe it
wouldn’t be quite as hard the next time.
***
The
next day, the two groups took some down time to go sight-seeing in New York
before they went home the next day.
They
decided to split up in the morning and meet back up for lunch later. Brian, Nick, Jenna, and Ashalyn went off
together, while AJ, Elyssa, Howie, and Serena went a different direction
together. Kevin headed off on his own.
Surrounded
by their bodyguards, Brian, Nick, Jenna, and Ashalyn walked along the streets
of New York, stopping to check out all the different stores along the way. Jenna and Ashalyn both loved to shop, and
they found themselves stopping at nearly every store to browse.
Around
noon, they headed towards the restaurant where they had planned to meet the
other five. Brian and Ashalyn followed a
few feet behind Nick and Jenna, deep in conversation. Up ahead, Ashalyn noticed Nick put his arm
lightly around Jenna’s waist. She
watched as Jenna stepped casually aside, out of his grasp. Nick let his hand drop.
Ashalyn’s
eyes narrowed. What was Jenna doing to
Nick? Ashalyn had heard from Elyssa
about Jenna and Nick kissing in the hall.
But from what she had seen, it seemed a little one-sided. It was obvious that Nick liked Jenna, but she
still didn’t seem to have much interest in him.
But if that’s true, Ashalyn thought, then why did she let him
kiss her? Is she just playing with him?
She
didn’t know the answer, and it was really none of her business. Still, Nick was a nice guy, and Ashalyn
didn’t want to see him get hurt by her friend.
***
