|
ANYONE FOR DINNER Chapter 2
The day finally arrived for the guys to come for dinner. True to his word Howie called earlier in the day and I gave them directions to get to my apartment. I was lucky that the concert was on a Sunday that meant that they were at my place for dinner on a Saturday. I wouldn't miss any work. I had spent Friday night cleaning, there was no point in having them come to my house and see it messy. Saturday I got up and went right to the kitchen to make sure that I had the lasagna ready. It was the one that took the longest. I threw in Millennium and cranked it. Singing along I made the lasagna. I wanted to have everything ready to be thrown into the oven. If the guys got here on time, I could put the lasagna in at five and dinner would be ready at six. The cheesecake was easy, it was a no bake, I loved those kinds. By lunchtime I was done with everything. All that was left was to cook the lasagna and toss the salad. I jumped into the shower, used everything that I could to make my skin glow and my hair shine. Another hour later I was ready for my guests. The outfit was perfect. My hair was pulled into a French Braid with little ringlets framing my face here and there. I checked to make sure that the drinks were ready to be poured. I set the table, with my good dishes and silverware. I had forgotten to get some fresh flowers so I had to make due with candles. I was sure that they wouldn't mind. By three in the afternoon I was
completely ready. Now I just had to wait for them. I was going to read,
but I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to keep my mind
on it. I put in their second album, cranked that and went to my
computer. Checked my e-mail, went to my friend Tracy's site to see if
she had any new stories and then played some Hearts. I was deep into the
game and didn't realize that it was just after four o'clock when I heard
the buzzer. "We are all here." they all said. With shaking fingers I buzzed them in. This was it. The moment that I had been preparing for, for a month now. I hadn't moved from the buzzer. When there was a knock at the door I jumped at least ten feet in the air, I am sure. "Okay, Ror, get a grip. These are just normal guys." I whispered to myself as I managed to get my feet working in the direction of the door. I reached my hand out for the doorknob and took a deep breath as I turned it. I opened the door and there stood Howie holding a bouquet of wild flowers. Next to him was Brian, who was holding a bottle of wine. Behind Brian was AJ, then Nick and finally Kevin. My heart dropped to the floor. "Hi Aurora." Howie said. I couldn't speak. I stood in front of the guys for a minute, "Can we come in or are we going to eat in the hallway?" Howie asked. I snapped back to reality, "Oh God. I'm sorry, yes, of course come in." I said stepping aside. Howie walked in, handed me the flowers and kissed me lightly on the back of my hand. Brian followed, handing me the wine and kissing me on the cheek. AJ was next, he handed me a small envelope and kissed me on the other cheek. Nick followed AJ, kissing me as well. Kevin was last through the door, he had a bottle of wine as well, since my hands were all ready full, he held onto the bottle but kissed me on the cheek. I managed to get the door closed and
walked into the kitchen to get the wine into the fridge and the flowers
into a vase. "Make yourselves at home. Get comfortable." I
said from the kitchen. I was suddenly thankful that my kitchen opened up to the rest of the apartment, I would be able to converse with the guys while in the kitchen. "So, I don't know where to start. I have never had celebrities of your statue in my house before." I laughed as I rearranged the table to fit the flowers. "I don't think that you could put us on a pedestal, but let's start by saying that we really appreciate this." AJ said for all of them. I set myself down on the only spot left, right between Howie and Brian. Oh what a place to be! I was still in lust with Howie but after him, right now it was Brian. "This is my pleasure. Imagine, how many fans of yours can say that they cooked dinner for you? I would be the envy of them all if they knew." It was decided that we were going to keep this a secret, for now. No need for the press to find out. "So, Aurora, why did you write that letter?" Brian asked. "Actually," I could feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment. I had hoped that they would think I was just a fan that wanted to meet them and wasn't going to have to explain it. "I was at a party that my best friend was having. One of the guys that she invited stated that you were all gay. I had to defend you guys. So we got into this discussion. I set him straight. He then dared me to write the letter. I have to confess that I was a little drunk, so that is why I agreed to write it." I explained. "Well, thank you for defending us. I don't know why all the guys think that we are gay." Nick wondered. "I think it is because you guys don't talk about your girlfriends. You've managed to keep your private lives private. And well, you travel all around the world together with no one but yourselves for company really." I said. "Although, I never believed any of that stuff. I learned a long time ago never to believe what you heard in the press. Ninety nine percent of the time it is wrong." "Yeah!" Nick called out. "Finally someone who has their head on right. We should hire you for PR." He laughed. I laughed uneasily with him, he had no idea how much I would have enjoyed that. "Look at this, I am being a terrible hostess. Would you guys like something to drink?" I jumped up and turned to look at the guys. I went down the line and got everyone's orders when I got to Nick, I paused. "Nick, what about you?" He looked around at the guys, "I don't know." It looked as though he would like to have something with alcohol. "Well, just to let you know, you are legal to drink here. The age is 18. So what would you like?" I said hoping to make it easier for him. "Surprise me." He said with a smile. I decided on my usual, vodka and orange juice. It took me a few minutes, but I got everyone's drinks right and settled down again. The guys fired questions at me, wanting to learn more about me. Throughout the next hour, I found myself cuddled into the nook of Howie's arm. I didn't mind, I just hoped that he didn't. "Well gentleman, if you will excuse me for a minute, it is time to put dinner in the oven." Without even thinking about it my hand went right for Howie's knee to push myself up. I managed to keep my cool as I walked toward the kitchen. Just as I was putting the lasagna into the oven my phone rang. I decided to let the answering machine get it. Forgetting that I had put some of the guys' songs on there. Throw your hands up in the air, wave 'em
around like you just don't care. I was bent over the oven, "Oh My God." I quickly shoved the pan in and ran for the phone, but it was too late. "Hey Ror, just me. Wondering how things are going, did your guests show up? Have you gotten Howie into bed yet? Have a rocking good time and remember don't do anything that I wouldn't do. Which leaves you with a lot! HA HA HA!!! Call me when they leave." Carie said. I could have crawled into my oven along
with the lasagna. I walked over to the answering machine and erased the
message. I took a deep breath before turning to the guys. They all had
smiles on their faces, but Howie was red. I decided to just go with the
flow. I sat back down between Howie and Brian, "Well dinner will be
ready in an hour." "That was a friend of yours I hope?" Nick asked. "For now, I may have to kill her in a few days." I laughed. I turned to Howie, "She knows that you are my favorite, that was why she said that. I don't really want that." I explained and then realized that was a lie, "Well, not yet anyway." "I'm flattered." Was all Howie could say. We all just sat in silence for a few minutes, "Well, what a way to ruin an evening." I got back up and took my glass intending to have a nice stiff shot of vodka. Getting drunk was the only way to deal with this. "I wouldn't blame you guys for leaving." "Hey Aurora, don't sweat it. In the years that we have been doing this, we have heard a lot worse." Kevin said from my side. "Why don't you go back and sit down, I'll fix this for you. Vodka 0J?" I glanced up at Kevin, which was easy, he was easily over six feet, where I was just about five eight. "Thanks Kevin. Yeah Vodka 0J, make it a good one." I laughed. Once we were all seated with another round of drinks, Brian turned to me, "So I am going to assume that you don't buy the magazines and all that, so where do you get your information from?" "Actually I get it all off the internet. You would be amazed at the people that I have met. Mostly from the States, but there are a few in Europe. It blows my mind." I explained. "There is one really good site for info and to reach out to other fans." "Where is your computer?" Howie asked. "Come on, I'll show you." I said getting up, again using Howie's knee for leverage. I led them all down to my bedroom, which also had my computer in it. I was glad that I didn't have any pictures by my bed. There was just one really nice group shot, in a frame by my computer. "This is it. The hub of my Backstreet life. I am working on getting a website done, but it isn't getting done too fast." I chuckled. I hooked up with the net and heard that beep, "You've got mail." I went in and checked it out. It was another e-mail from a pal in Europe. She was sending me another fan fiction story that I was going to put on my site. I quickly filed it away, "That you can't see. Hanka would kill me." I laughed. I pointed the cursor to take me to a site that I had found the day before that I thought the guys would like to see. "Why? What was it?" Nick asked. "Oh, uh, honestly, it is a story
about you guys. Once I get my site going, there is going to be a special
site for fan fiction." I said. "Have you written any?" Howie wondered. "I have, but you can't see those either. You guys should read this. Nick, you may find it interesting." I got up and allowed Nick to sit in my chair. I chuckled to myself as I thought that no one was ever going to sit in that chair again. The site that I had found had a story about Nick mostly. In this story it said how Nick was harboring feelings for Brian and how he and Howie had actually been close, very close. It wasn't long before I heard the timer go off in the kitchen. "I'll be right back." I couldn't believe that I had actually left them alone in my room, with my stories right under their noses. I knew that I hardly knew these guys, but there was just a little gut feeling that I knew that I could trust them. I pulled the lasagna out of the oven and set it on the counter to cool. This was when I got the salad together. Once everything was ready, I went to get the guys. "Well, gentlemen, dinner is served." I announced. "Just hold on a second. Nick is sending an e-mail to this person." Brian said. "Yeah I didn't think that it would be something that would go over very well. Even before I knew that it was fiction I e-mailed her and told her she was out of her mind. And that for her sake I hoped you guys never found it." It suddenly occurred to me that I may have upset Nick by showing it to him. "Hey Nick are you okay?" "Oh yeah. I have heard this before. It just kind of bounces off of me now." Nick hit the send button and then stood up, "Now, I smell lasagna. Let's go." He finished heading toward the door. Everyone followed Nick, I held Howie back, "He is okay right? I didn't think about what I was showing him until after." Howie reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. I felt a bolt of electricity run through me at his touch. "He's fine. We are all used to this kind of stuff. It hurts for about two seconds and then we realize that it is just someone who doesn't know any better. Now let's go have some dinner, it smells fabulous." Howie led the way to the kitchen, not letting go of my hand. I wasn't going to voluntarily take it back. "Aurora, this looks great." Brian said from the kitchen as he opened the bottle of wine that he had brought. "I just hope that you guys like it." I said "As long as there is lots of cheese on it that is good enough for us." Nick and Brian both said. We all laughed and then sat down to dinner. Everything was perfect, they polished off the whole pan of lasagna and the salad. Both bottles of wine were gone by dessert. We sat around and talked for a few more hours and then I announced that I had to do something with the dishes or I was going to be scrubbing for days. "Let us help with that." Kevin said starting to clear the table. I tried to stop him, but Howie gently pushed me aside, "It's the least that we can do Aurora. That was a fantastic meal." He took his own plate to the kitchen. "No offense guys, but you are the Backstreet Boys and I can't let you do my dishes." I stated as I beat them all to the kitchen and stood in front of the sink. Nick walked up to me, placed his hands on my waist, lifted me up and placed me back down on the counter next to the fridge. "Sit there and watch us." What could I do? How was I going to
stop them when there was five of them and only one of me? I had no
choice but to let them wash the dishes. By the time that they had
finished and had everything put away it was late, just after midnight. I
had an absolute blast with them, it was going to be hard to say goodbye.
They were a good bunch of guys. All the bad stuff I had heard was so not
true, where as all the good things, couldn't have been more true. I
figured that once they were done, they would leave. I had gotten eight
hours of their precious time. "Of course not, I just, well, I've never had music stars to my house for dinner. I don't want to keep you from something. I am sure that there is something more important that you could be doing." I stated as I sat down beside Howie. I was becoming very comfortable with him. "Nope, we are yours for the evening. What else is there to do?" Howie asked. I glanced up at the clock, "Well there is no point in going out. Most of the bars close in a couple of hours." I tried to think of something that we could do. Then it hit me. "Oh wait, I got it!" I jumped up and ran over to the TV. I opened up the cabinet in the bottom and pulled out my Nintendo. I had gotten hooked on it from an old boyfriend. The six of us could all play together. "All right, my kind of girl." Nick announced as he came to check everything out. So that is what we did for the rest of the time that they were at my house. I had fed them, entertained them and played Nintendo with them. I was in heaven. It was around three o'clock that they finally said they should go. I was disappointed but then once AJ asked me about the envelope that he had given me, I cheered up. Inside was a backstage, all access pass for the concert. That meant I was going to be with them again. I couldn't wait.
|
