"Hey, Brian! Have you seen AJ? He's been gone for about an hour now," Howie Dorough questioned as he approached Brian and Tessa. The two of them had been happily cuddling in the corner not paying any attention to time.
Tessa was the one to pull away first. She checked her watch, and her blue-green eyes widened. "It's almost one o'clock!? When did that happen?" she asked as she looked up at Howie. He smiled at her and shrugged.
"I'm sorry. I haven't seen AJ anywhere. Have you seen Zoey?" she continued.
"One o'clock?" Brian questioned as he joined into the conversation. He smacked his forehead and shut his eyes. "We have to be in South Carolina by tonight, don't we?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm worried, B. I haven't seen AJ anywhere, and, to answer your question, Tessa, I haven't seen Zoey either," Howie said. Anxiety was slowly creeping into his brown eyes.
"Okay, let's not panic," Tessa said. She then looked around the room. "Has everyone else already left? Where are Kevin and Nick?"
Howie ran his hand through his shoulder-length dark curls. He had just recently taken down his ponytail and his curls were cascading past his shoulders. "They went to the bus to see if they could find AJ," he answered.
Brian stood there thinking for a few minutes. He had been quiet for most of the conversation. "Well, the last time I saw Zoey, she had asked me where the bathroom was," he said, slowly piecing the situation together.
"She did, didn't she? I remember that," Tessa said. Her eyes grew wide as she remembered. "You don't think she got locked in there, do you?"
"I don't know. We could check," Brian suggested.
The three of them walked through the now-quiet backstage area and pushed open the back door. They walked down the hallway until they found the bathroom. The door was closed.
Howie leaned over and knocked on the door. "Zoey, are you in there? Have you seen AJ?" he asked.
"D?" AJ's deep voice questioned from the other side.
Howie's brown eyes widened in surprise. "AJ? What are you doing in there? Is Zoey with you?"
He could hear someone move. "Yeah, I'm in here, Howie. Can you get us out of here? Is Tess with you?" Zoey's higher-pitched voice asked. Judging by how far away her voice was, Howie figured that AJ was closer to the door.
Tessa stepped in front of Howie and leaned towards the door. Howie stepped back. "Zoe, I'm here. I'm not going to leave without you. What happened? How did you and AJ get locked in the bathroom?"
The other side was quiet for a minute. They heard some shuffling and some low bickering, then Zoey's voice answered. It was closer to the door. "Well, lamebrain here scared me, and I backed into the door. It closed, and now we're locked in here."
"Lamebrain?" AJ asked, the insult evident in his voice. "If you had knocked instead of just walking on in here, we wouldn't be in this mess."
"Wait a minute! If you hadn't have tried to come onto me, then I might have made it to the ladies' bathroom before the line got too long. Then, I wouldn't have walked in on you," Zoey defended herself.
"You still think that was a pick-up line, don't you?"
"Yes."
They continued to argue as Tessa, Howie, and Brian exchanged looks. They decided that they needed to get Zoey and AJ out of there as soon as possible. Tessa went to find a phone and see if there was a locksmith open. Brian went to try to find something to open the door with. Howie stood by the door. Eventually, he couldn't take the arguing anymore.
"Well, if you hadn't…" AJ began.
"If you weren't so…" Zoey started at the same time.
"Guys! Stop it, will you? You might be stuck in there for quite a while, so you might as well try to get along," Howie interrupted.
"D," AJ said. "You don't know this woman. She's rude, sarcastic, and, well, she's just plain bitchy."
"Oh, hurt me. You're just as mean. You keep calling me all kinds of names," Zoey returned.
Howie sighed and repeatedly knocked his head against the door. It was going to be a long night.
Zoey sighed as she sat down on the floor. She was tired of arguing with AJ, and her eyes were beginning to hurt. She took out her purple contacts to reveal beautiful brown eyes. Well, there was another ruined pair of perfectly good contacts, she thought as she tossed them into the trashcan. Without solution, there was no way she could salvage them.
When she was finished, she looked up to see AJ staring down at her. "Yes?" she asked.
"Your eyes are brown," he answered.
"Yeah, I hate to disappoint you, but they're not purple."
"No, I like them better brown. They're prettier."
Zoey looked away, trying her hardest not to blush. She absolutely could not let this guy get to her. She had never had any luck with guys; they had all turned out to be jerks. Why would this one be different? She cringed at her memories.
"Are you okay? You don't look so good," AJ commented. He apparently must have seen her cringe.
She composed herself, then turned to look at him. She flashed him one of her best smiles. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just ready to get out of here and go home."
They were quiet for a minute. Eventually, there was a knock on the door. "Zoey? AJ? You guys alright?" Howie asked.
"Yeah, why?" AJ returned.
"It got quiet in there. I was afraid you had killed each other."
Zoey and AJ smiled. "No, we're okay. Besides, I don't think we really have anything in here to do that with," Zoey said.
"Well, unless the papers read, 'Woman Found in Bathroom, Killed by Sunglasses,'" AJ chuckled. Zoey playfully hit him in the arm.
"Hey, guys! Tessa and Brian are back," Howie announced.
AJ offered Zoey his hand. She took it and stood up. Both leaned in towards the door to hear what was going on.
"Well, I called every locksmith I could find," Tessa said, leaning into the door, "but no one will be open until seven in the morning at the earliest."
"Are you sure?" Zoey's voice asked from the other side of the door.
"I'm sure," Tessa answered.
"Brian, did you find anything?" AJ asked hopefully.
"Other than Nick and Kevin, not much," Brian answered, indicating the two tallest Backstreet Boys on either side of him.
"Maybe we could try slipping a card of some sort in between the door and the frame. Maybe it'll unstick the door," Nick suggested.
Howie looked up at him. "Where did you get an idea like that?" he asked.
"I think I've seen them do that in the movies once or twice."
"I guess we could try it. Got any old cards?" Brian asked.
"Here, let me try my old bank card," Kevin said, pulling out his wallet.
"You still have your old bank card?" Tessa questioned.
"Yeah, I just never seem to find the time to throw things away." Kevin pulled out his bank card and out his wallet in his back pocket. He kneeled down to the doorknob and placed the card in between the door and the frame. He wiggled it back and forth, but the door wouldn't budge. He wiggled it harder until, all of a sudden, it snapped in two. Kevin held up one half of the card and looked at it in amazement.
"What's this door stuck with? Superglue?" Nick queried. He, too, was staring at the card in shock.
"What? What happened?" AJ asked after a moment of stunned silence.
"The card snapped in two," Howie informed him.
"Are you serious? What kind of cheap card did the bank give you, Kev?" AJ said hysterically.
"Ah, great! Now what are we going to do?" Zoey sighed, exasperated.
"Crowbar?" Tessa suggested, shrugging.
Kevin stood up. "I don't think that'll work," he said.
"Okay, we can go search the Colisseum and see if there's a custodian or a night cleaning crew," Howie suggested.
"I'll go call Zoey's and my roommates and tell them that we're not coming home tonight. That way they won't get worried," Tessa said.
"Yeah, I'll tell everyone on the bus what's going on. We also need to let the people in South Carolina know that we're going to be late," Brian said. He took Tessa's hand, and they began to walk out of the hallway.
Nick's voice stopped them. "Now, remember that this is an emergency situation. No smooching on the side," he grinned.
Brian stuck his tongue out at his best friend. Tessa just laughed. Together they made their way out of the hall.
"Well, come on, guys. Let's see what we can find," Howie said. He knocked on the door. "Hang in there, guys! We'll be back as soon as we can."
"Alright, just hurry, please. I'm hot, irritable, and hungry," AJ complained.
"Should we bow now or later?" Zoey deadpanned.
"Shut up. I'm trying to get us out of here faster."
"We'll try to hurry," Howie interrupted. With that, he, Nick, and Kevin walked down the hall.