OF ALL THE CAMPSITES, IN ALL THE WORLD

Chapter 4 

Before we knew it, we were all packing up and heading back to Leduc. The week that we spent with the guys was fantastic. Everything that was said about them being down to earth and honest was true. Sometimes with celebrities, it was rose colored, but not so with them.

It took most of the morning to pack up the site and decide who was going to go with whom. Kevin drove my truck again, with Hani and Nick in the back. AJ and Ally went in one of the rented cars while Brian and Howie went in the other. We were going to go straight to my apartment and shower and everything. I had to have the camping equipment that I rented back to the store the next day, so that was what I had planned. The guys had to have theirs back the following day.

The guys said that they would stay in a hotel while they were with us, but I vetoed that right away. I made a good living and was able to afford a modest apartment. There was room for someone to sleep on the floor in my room. There was a guestroom that also held my computer, but two could sleep in the bed and one on the floor. And the living room was quite large. We could move some of the furniture around and then who ever was left could sleep on the floor in there. I hoped that Kevin would be the one to sleep on the floor in my room, but I didn’t want to bring it up.

We made it to my apartment just before dinner. Kevin parked my truck in the alley, while I went out and told AJ to park his car in my stall and directed Howie on where the visitor parking was. There were a few kids out playing and when they saw that the Backstreet Boys were walking into my building, they converged on the front lawn. I had a balcony that looked out over the front and since everything had been closed up for a week, I had no choice but to open all the windows. Every once in awhile we heard someone calling for one of the guys to go to the window. But they never did. They were supposed to be on vacation and they wanted to just rest after the long ride. They said that they would go out the next day.

I went into the kitchen to get something for everyone to drink and decide what we were going to do about dinner. I decided that we should just order in from one of my favorite pizza places. As I was mixing a huge pitcher of iced tea, Kevin joined me.

“This is a great apartment that you have here.” He commented as he looked for some glasses.

“This one right here.” I said as I pointed to a cupboard just behind me. “Thanks. Now that I have all these people here though, I wish it was larger.” I laughed. “It is going to be a tight squeeze, but I think that I can get everyone in comfortably.”

“Well, AJ and Allyson have all ready called shot gun on the bed in the guest room. And everyone else said that they would sleep in the living room. The guys have graciously given Hani the couch.” Kevin explained with a laugh.

“And what about you? Are you going to crash on the floor with them or with Brian and Howie?” I inquired. I so badly wanted him to be with me, but in reality, we had only known each other a week.

“Actually, I was thinking that I could crash with you.” He said quietly. “If that’s okay.”

My heart dropped to my feet. When there was something that I wanted from him, he knew what it was before I could ask. How was that possible after such a short time? I stopped stirring the iced tea and looked up at Kevin. “I’d like that.”

“Good.” He whispered as he smiled and turned back to the glasses.

We both were lost in our own worlds as Nick called out to me from the living room. “Hey Syd, you are about to become a local celebrity!”

Kevin and I carried the glasses out to everyone, grabbing a menu for Basil’s on the way. “What?”

“Look outside. I think that some media are here.” Howie pointed to the balcony.

Sure enough, there were two camera crews from the local television stations just setting up outside. Just as I was walking over to draw the curtains, my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was from the radio station that I worked at. “Hello?”

“Syd, how’s it going?” Eric asked.

“Fine Eric. What’s up?” I knew why he was calling.

“How’s your holiday going? Your friends doing okay?” He was making nice and I hated it when he did that.

“They are fine Eric. Why are you calling?”

“I take it you want me to get to the point. Well, I heard on the wire that the Backstreet Boys are with you, is that true?”

I looked over at the guys, “Hold on a second Eric.” I covered the phone with me hand, “Guys, my boss is on the phone and he wants to know if it is true that you are here. It is totally your call what you want me to say.”

The guys looked from one to another. It was Kevin that answered. “He is probably just trying to be nice, he all ready knows that we are here. Would he be calling you otherwise?”

“No.”

“Then go ahead and tell him that we are here.” Kevin said.

I stared back at the guys for a minute and then went back to Eric. “Yes Eric they are here. Why do you want to know?”

“Could you get an interview with them? I mean you struck out when they were in Toronto, this would be a good time to redeem yourself.” Eric explained.

I could feel the anger start to build. At times Eric could be a real asshole, for the most part we got along, but every once in awhile he would pull rank on me. “I will ask, but I am not promising anything. And I will be the one to do it. And keep in mind Eric, that I am on holidays, I will call you in a few days.” With that I hung up the phone and went to sit down.

“So, what did he want?” AJ asked.

“He wants to know if I can get an interview with you guys. He thinks that it would be a good way to ‘redeem’ myself since I couldn’t get one when you were in Toronto. I told him that I would let him know.” I told them. “It is your call. I don’t care if it is a chance. I like you guys, you are supposed to be on holidays. I don’t want to intrude on that time.”

The guys looked at each other again, not saying anything, there was a silent agreement that went through them. “We would love to do it Sydney. But only on the condition that you do it.” Brian said.

“That’s what I told Eric. I will let him stew on it for a while. I didn’t like the way that he talked to me.” I picked up the menu for Basil’s and sat back beside Kevin. “So what kind of pizza do you guys like?”

We spent the rest of the night just relaxing. The guys went out to the balcony at one point and made an appearance. They told the press that had gathered that they were on holidays and had met with some friends. They did not tell them that we had only just met. We watched a little TV, no matter what I did, I couldn’t convince them to let me what my soap operas that I taped every day. With Hani being here all ready for two weeks, I was extremely far behind. I had stocked up on videotapes though and was ready to watch them.

It was around one o’clock when I decided that I wanted to go to bed. I got up and stretched and asked anyone if they wanted some blankets. Everyone else got settled, AJ and Ally closed the door tight to the guestroom. If you listened really quiet, you could hear them whispering. I smiled as I walked past the door, returning to the living room with more blankets and pillows.

Kevin was watching from the door way to the living room as Brian, Howie and Nick staked out the floor. Hani was going to sleep on the couch, so Nick wanted to be close to her. Brian chose the spot closest to the balcony doors, leaving Howie almost the whole floor in between.

“Here you go guys. If you need more, there are a few left in the closet at the end of the hall. Help yourself.” I turned to Kevin, I was so nervous. “You ready?”

“You bet.” He replied and reached for my hand.

“Goodnight everyone.” I called out as we walked down to my room. There was a stream of goodnights from around the apartment that followed us.

I made it to my room without falling on my face from nerves. Kevin followed me inside and I closed the door. The bathroom connected with my room, so I gathered my pajamas and quickly went to change. I closed the door and leaned against it taking a deep breath.

“Get yourself under control Syd. Nothing is going to happen. Kevin knows what happened to you, he isn’t going to push you into anything. You are not ready for that. Don’t let him think that you are.” I said quietly as I changed. Since it was summer, I was wearing my usual pajamas. Just an old mans’ dress shirt, that belonged to my grandfather. Looking at it now, I noticed that it was a little revealing and wished that I had thought of it before. I took a deep breath, “Nothing you can do about it now.” I whispered as I opened the door and walked back into the bedroom.

Kevin was standing at the bookshelf that I kept in my room. All he was wearing was his boxer shorts. “Did you want to sleep with me in the bed, or the floor? I can get some more blankets.” I said from the other side of the room.

Kevin shrugged his shoulders, “Which ever you are more comfortable with.” He said as he turned to me. He approached the bed and smiled at me. “Have you read all of these?”

The site of him took my breath away. I had seen pictures of him with no shirt on before, but having him here in my room, was another thing. There was no way that I was going to get any sleep with him on the floor. “Almost all of them. You could join me. That would be fine.” I crawled into bed and waited for Kevin. I didn’t know what he was going to expect.

He pulled the covers back and lay beside me. He lay still for a few minutes and then he reached over and pulled me close to him. I rolled over to my side and cuddled into him. He was so warm and cozy. He trailed his fingers up and down my arm. He never made a move to take things further, for that I was grateful.

“Kevin.” I said.

“Yeah.”

“I really appreciate you guys agreeing to an interview.”

“No problem.” He was quiet for a few more minutes and then he spoke again. “Sydney are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“You’re trembling.” He told me.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered as I backed away from him.

He pulled me back close to him, “Don’t go anywhere.”

“I guess I am just nervous.” I confessed.

“Nervous about what?” Kevin asked.

I chuckled a little, “Well, you are the first man to be in my bed for ... well forever. And I am not that experienced. And you are Kevin Richardson. There are millions of girls that would much rather scratch my eyes out than have me here with you.”

“Well, I will protect you should they come calling.” He laughed as he kissed the top of my head. “And as far as everything else, we will take things as slowly as you want. I am not going anywhere.”

“Are you sure? I mean, there are probably thousands of women that would sleep with you at the drop of a hat. Wouldn’t you rather be with one of them?” I questioned. I guess I was testing the waters a little, to see what he would do.

Kevin sat up and turned to me, “Sydney, I want to be here. With you, not with some women that would have sex with me if I asked. A woman like that has no respect for themselves. I will wait until you are ready, no matter how long. And I can assure you that I have never had sex with a fan. I have too much respect for myself and for women to let that happen.”

I smiled at him and reached for him, my hand resting on his inner thigh. “Thank you. We have known one another for such a short period of time, but you seem to know just the right things to say.”

Kevin lay back down and got comfortable, holding me in his arms. “I love you Sydney.” He whispered just as I was drifting off to sleep.

That first night in Kevin’s arms, was the most peaceful sleep that I had ever had. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like being held by someone all night, but when I woke in the morning, I found that neither one of us had moved. We were still holding onto each other. My bedroom looked out the same as the balcony, so the morning sun streamed into my room. I opened my eyes and looked up at Kevin. He was still sleeping peacefully. I didn’t move too much, afraid to wake him. I moved enough so that I could watch him as he slept. He looked so handsome, his face being framed by the morning sun. His chest rising and falling with every breath that he took. I felt incredible safe with him right there beside me and suddenly wondered how long he would be there.

I reached up and ran my finger lightly against his jaw. He stirred slightly, moving his head closer to me. I pulled myself up more and brought my lips to his. This woke him up further as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me over on top of him.

“Good morning.” I said as he opened his eyes.

“Yes it is. I like waking up to something so beautiful in the morning.” He smiled at me.

“HUH! Aren’t you sweet? Of course you are full of shit, but I love that you think that.” I laughed as I rolled over and got out of bed. I grabbed my robe and walked to the door. “Coffee or tea?” I asked.

“Coffee, please.” He replied.

I quietly walked out to the living to see who else was awake. AJ and Ally were there, Howie and Hani were sitting on the couch, and Nick was still stretched out on the floor, but was playing some Nintendo. Brian was curled up in a ball over by the balcony doors.

“Morning all.” I said quietly so I wouldn’t wake Brian. “Everyone sleep okay?” They all nodded their heads as I made my way to the kitchen to make some coffee and tea for everyone. Within minutes I had everything ready and went back out to the others. Kevin had come out from the bedroom by now and was trying to wake Brian.

“Kevin let him sleep.” I scolded him.

“Forget it. If the rest of us are awake, he has to be awake.” Kevin said as he poked Brian again.

“Kev, if you don’t piss off and leave me alone, I am going to beat you.” Brian warned, his eyes still closed.

“Don’t do that. I don’t want to have to take him to the hospital here. They would probably take out his spleen or something.” I laughed as I sat down on the floor in front of the balcony. Brian was awake now and sitting up, glaring daggers at Kevin.

“What?” Brian asked.

As I told them all of the tales that came out of the Leduc General Hospital, we all had some coffee and tea and decided what we were going to do for the day. Other than taking back the rental equipment that we had, we didn’t have anything planned. The guys wanted to go to West Edmonton Mall, but as soon as we saw the crowd that had gathered outside, we suddenly wondered what we were going to do. We took turns getting ready and then decided that Kevin would come with me to take the equipment back. Once we had a little more room in one of the vehicles we would all squish in together and make our way out. I didn’t think that it was a smart thing to do, them wanting to go to the mall, but I wasn’t going to stop them. They were smart enough and old enough to know what they were doing.

All in all we had a great day. Word had made its way around the city that they were here and every once in awhile a small group of girls would find us and ask for their autographs. Hani, Ally and I were a little surprised that the guys were so open with us. They didn’t shy away from holding our hands or showing some affection. We weren’t going to question it, but we wondered how they were going to answer any questions about us.

By the time that we got back to my apartment, I was exhausted. I hadn’t called my boss to tell him what I was going to do about the interview and when I opened the door, I saw that there were several messages waiting for me. As everyone piled into the living room, I hit the message button.

Syd, it’s Eric here. Just wondering what you had decided to do about the interview. You have become somewhat of a celebrity here. Give me a call. We can decide what kind of questions to ask. This would be our chance to get some dirt.”

I erased the message and looked at the guys. “I would never do that.” I assured them.

The machine went to the next message. “Syd, this is your mother. I have been getting calls all day about you. People want to know what you are doing with the Backstreet Boys? Fill me in on what is going on.”

I laughed as I picked up the phone to call my mom. I sat down in the kitchen and told her everything that had happened and told her under no circumstances was she to give out any information to anyone. The next person that I called was Eric.

“Hey Eric, it’s Sydney.”

“Hey Syd. How’s it going?” He asked.

“Fine. Listen I have decided to go ahead with the interview. But it is going to be on my terms.” I said.

“Sure Syd, what ever you want.” He replied.

“First off, I am going to be the one doing the interview. There will be no dirt found. These guys are my friends and if they wanted their private lives to be known they would tell. We will be in the studio tomorrow at 4 o’clock. We can do it after the four o’clock news and the station is going to donate $10,000.00 to each of the guys’ five charities.” I finished with a wink to the guys. They were sitting there in shock.

“I don’t know about that Sydney.” Eric started. When he called me Sydney, I knew he was going to try and weasel out of it. “I have to check with the higher ups about that. I can’t promise it.”

“Well then Eric, I guess you better make sure they do it. No donations, no interview. Let me know what has been decided.” I said and hung up. “I love messing with him like that.”

“Do you think that they will do it?” Brian asked in disbelief.

“If they want the interview they will. What is $50,000.00 to them? The station can afford it. Besides, you guys are on vacation. And I am too, there has to be something worthwhile to get me into the studio.” I laughed.

“You are great.” Kevin said from across the table. “You want a job?”

“I all ready have one, thanks anyway. So what do you guys want to do now? I still have a mess of tapes that I need to watch.” I said hoping that they would let me get started.

“Well, since you are getting money donated to our charities I guess we can let you watch a couple of tapes.” AJ admitted.

“Goody.” I jumped up and put the first tape in. I only taped three hours a day and for the most part I fast-forwarded through the talk shows. We all got comfortable. Nick was sitting on the floor playing some Nintendo on his game boy. Hani was lying down with her head in his lap. Ally and AJ were cuddled up on the one chair that I had. Kevin was holding me as we cuddled on the couch and Brian and Howie were playing some cards on the living room floor.

“So you watch these show everyday?” Kevin asked as I fast-forwarded through the first show.

“I do. How else do you think that I could keep up with you guys. Other than what Hani sends me from Europe. And I mean, Regis and Kathie Lee is good, I like it. I have been watching Days since I was nine years old and I just love Rosie.” I explained. I got to the end of the hour and stopped the machine. “This is really the only hour that I watch.” I snuggled into Kevin and let the soap opera unfold.

Almost at the end of the show Nick interrupted to ask me a question. “So is that Gina that died or is it Hope?”

“It’s Gina. Hope is in Paris with Stefano and they can’t get out of the castle. But Bo and Hope have this whole connection thing going on. So it is just a matter of time.” I told him.

“And what is going on with that blonde and the Italian looking guy?” AJ questioned.

“Sami and Brandon?” He nodded his head. “Hopefully the show will put them together and she will get rid of this thing she calls love for Austin.”

“Austin? Who’s that?” Kevin put in.

“That is her half sisters ex-husband. She has been in love with him for years. Her half sister, Carrie, had an affair with Mike and they took off for Israel.” I explained as though it happens every day.

“So she’s doing her brother-in-law?” Howie confirmed.

“Kind of. They haven’t slept together yet. But I guess since Carrie and Austin are no longer married it doesn’t matter. Although they have slept together once and thought that Sami’s son Will was Austin’s. But it turned out that Lucas was the father and he married Nicole who is in love with Eric, Sami’s twin brother, just so that he could get custody of Will.” I said quickly.

“Okay, that is enough.” Brian cried, he covered his ears with his hands to stop the noise. “Now I know why I never watched soap operas. They are too confusing.”

“But I understand it just fine.” I countered.

“Yeah, but you know what Sydney, you are female.” Howie pointed out.

“Lucky for me.” Kevin whispered as he nuzzled my neck.

Just then the phone rang. “I’ll get it.” Brian said jumping for the phone. “Good Evening Sydney’s house, how may I help you?” I cracked up laughing.

“This is Eric, her boss. Is Syd there?”

“Just one minute please.” Brian held the phone away and then smiled, “SYDNEY! ARE YOU HERE! IT’S ERIC!” He hollered.

I jumped off the couch and ran to Brian, “Brian you fool, give me the phone.” I laughed. “Hey Eric, what’s up?”

“I think I have lost my hearing.” He whined.

“I doubt it.” I mumbled. Sometimes he just got on my nerves.

“Well, I don’t know how you did it, but everything is ago for tomorrow. They are making out five cheques right now for ten thousand. The guys just have to tell them who to make it out to. So if you want to be here at 3:30, we will get everyone all set up and then right after the news you will go on.” Eric explained.

“Thanks Eric. We will see you tomorrow.” I finished and hung up. I turned to the guys. “Well, I got my interview and you guys got your donations to your charities.” I smiled.

Kevin came up to me, smiling. “You are amazing. Thank you.” He said and kissed me. “Rosie is on.”

“Anyone exciting on?” I asked as I went back to the couch.

“She is repeating the show that she did with N*Sync.” Hani explained.

“Arggg. Do we have to watch it?” Nick groaned.

I looked at Hani and Ally and winked, “Are you kidding, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Those guys are so dreamy.” I crooned, falling onto the couch in a mock faint.

“That guy Lance, wow, he is the best looking. And that hair.” Hani declared.

“Forget it, Justin is the best.” I announced.

“No way. You both don’t know what you are talking about. JC is the man.” Ally affirmed fluttering her hand over her heart.

The guys sat around the room looking at us as though we were insane. “You guys can’t be serious.” Brian said.

“We couldn’t be more serious.” Ally stated as the three of us gathered around the television to watch.

They started out with the new song that was going to be released in a few weeks, Bye Bye Bye. We played it to the hilt and fawned over everything. Squealing with delight. The guys were standing behind us shaking their heads. When things got quiet, we grew worried. We turned around to find that the guys were all gone.

“Well they couldn’t have gotten far, we would have heard the door open.” I stated as I stood up and shut the VCR off.

The three of us walked around the living room into the kitchen and were immediately hit with water. They had found some empty plastic bottles and had quietly filled them up. When we rounded the corner, they let us have it. We all yelped from the cold water and jumped back into the living room, standing in front of my TV. If they tried to get us and ruined my TV and VCR, they would pay.

They all filed into the living room, armed with their bottles. “Now what were you guys saying about N*Shit ... uhm I mean *NSync?” AJ asked.

“Who? Never heard of them.” I said.

“The five guys that you were just drooling over.” Nick cleared up.

Cautiously, I took a few steps over to Kevin. “I wouldn’t seriously drool over anyone but you.” I whispered sweetly as I ran my fingers through his hair. “You know that babe.”

I could see Kevin’s resolve fading. He was softening. “They are our biggest competition you know.”

By this time Hani and Ally had walked up to Nick and AJ. “No one comes close to what you guys do for us.” We all said together. After that we had them. They surrendered their bottles and we sat down to watch the show together, laughing through the whole thing.

After that we all decided to go to bed. Kevin joined me again and this time I wasn’t nervous. I cuddled into him like we had been together for years instead of days. We laid awake for awhile just talking, learning about one another.

“Kevin.” I whispered just as I was feeling myself drifting off to sleep.

“Hmmm.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too Sydney.” He whispered back and held me tighter.

--> chapter 5 

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