Chapter
3
“Oh,
my God! Oh, my God! This is so awesome!” Serena cried, literally
bouncing up and down in her seat.
The
girls were sitting in a local Starbucks, near the Stellar Café. They had talked with the Backstreet Boys for
over an hour, after AJ had offered them a record deal with the Boys’ still
untitled new record company. Of course,
they had accepted it. They had even
exchanged phone numbers with the guys so that they could contact each other
later. They were so excited, not just
because of the record deal, but because they had just met the Backstreet
Boys.
“Calm
down, Rena!” Elyssa said, giggling. “You
sound like a freakin’ teenybopper!”
Serena
laughed and took a sip of her cappuccino.
“Sorry, I can’t help but be hyper!”
“Someone
take that cappuccino away from her,” Ashalyn said, laughing.
“Didn’t
AJ look hot?” Jenna asked dreamily. The
three other girls just looked at her, laughing more.
“Where
did that come from?” Elyssa asked.
“Sorry,
I just can’t help thinking about him,” Jenna said, smiling.
Ashalyn
laughed. “Yeah, AJ looked hot, but not
as hot as Brian did.” She smiled.
“Sorry,
hun, but Brian’s married,” Jenna replied.
Ashalyn smiled sheepishly.
“I
know, but a girl can still dream, can’t she?” she said. They all laughed.
“Hey,
but what about Mike?” Elyssa asked. “Did
you suddenly forget about him?”
Michael
Crandall was Ashalyn’s boyfriend of four years.
They had been going out all through high school and were very much in
love. “Of course not!” Ashalyn cried
indignantly, but she smiled. “You know
I love Mikey way more than Brian anyway.”
The other three just smiled and rolled their eyes. Ashalyn was a total romantic. She was careful with the word love, though,
and didn’t throw it around easily.
There were only a few guys in her lifetime that she had declared herself
in love with.
Meanwhile,
Jenna was just boy-crazy. She developed
crushes easily that usually didn’t last long, but she rarely said she was in
love with anyone. She went through
boyfriends quickly and therefore, she wasn’t currently going out with anyone
steadily right then.
Serena,
on the other hand, had not found any guy that was right for her yet. She had had a small crush on Howie for a few
years, but, being realistic, she always told herself that there was no chance
of her ever getting to meet Howie, let alone go out with him. However, she had met him that
night. Maybe there was some hope for her
after all.
Elyssa
was very casual with the guys. She had
had a few long term relationships during high school, but none of them ended up
to be any good, so she was currently single.
She was always friends with a lot of guys, but when she went out with
any of them, it always ended on the wrong note.
She really didn’t care much about boyfriends and falling in love anyway,
maybe because it hadn’t happened to her yet.
But it would, eventually.
***
A
week later, the phone rang at Ashalyn’s house.
She picked it up in her bedroom.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hi
there, may I please speak with Ashalyn?” a male voice asked.
“Sure,
this is her,” Ashalyn replied, wondering who it could be. It certainly wasn’t Mike. She knew his voice.
“Oh,
hi, Ashalyn,” the man on the phone greeted.
“Uh, this is Brian. Brian
Littrell.”
Ashalyn
nearly choked. “Hi, Brian!” she said
brightly, hoping to not sound too excited.
“Hey. I was calling to make sure you and the girls
are still interested in being signed with our company.”
“Of
course we are!” Ashalyn said.
“Great,”
Brian replied. “You guys are all
eighteen, right?”
“Yup,”
Ashalyn said.
“Ok,
then you won’t need to worry about parents signatures or anything. Have you told your parents about the deal
though?” he asked.
“Oh,
of course I have,” Ashalyn said. “They
were a little freaked out at first, but they’re excited too.”
“That’s
good,” Brian said. “Well anyway, the
real reason I called was because I’m going down to Orlando soon, the other guys
have already flown back, and we were wondering if you four would come with me
to Orlando to record a demo tape.”
“Really?!”
Ashalyn cried. “Wow, of course we
would!”
“Ok,
awesome,” Brian said, chuckling at her enthusiasm. “I have tickets for a flight leaving Monday
morning at 10:00 in the morning from the Atlanta airport. Does that sound okay with you?”
“Sure,
that’s perfect,” Ashalyn replied. “Do
you want us to meet you at the airport?”
“No,
I’ll pick y’all up,” Brian said.
“Ok,”
Ashalyn said, her heart soaring.
“Ok,
then. I’ll be there to pick you up a
little before 9:00 on Monday morning, ok?” he asked.
“Sounds
good,” Ashalyn replied. “I’ll see ya
then.”
“Ok. Bye,” Brian said.
“Goodbye,”
Ashalyn replied and hung up the phone, a flutter of excitement rushing through
her. Only four days to go before she
would be on her way to Orlando.
***
