𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ─ new kids on the block

𝒙𝒊.

JUNE 5, 1990
→ J O R D A N

✦

WE HAD FINALLY arrived at Tinnie's house, which was where we were going to pick up the girls at, and before I could even turn around to see the house, they had already hopped in the limo with their friend.

"Hey you guys!" Tinnie greeted us all, kissing Joey on the cheek. Emily didn't say anything but gave us all a smile. Well, to everyone except for me—our eyes were the only ones that didn't meet.

Why didn't she look at me?

No, I couldn't focus on that ris ght now. I had more important things to think about, like going to the Step by Step release party and acting like I was doing more than fine when in reality, I so wasn't.

"Hi, I'm Amanda! It's really nice to meet you all," said the long-haired girl, who was apparently called Amanda.

"So tell me, what have you girls been up to this past week?" Donnie asked them, not being able to take his eyes off of Amanda.

"We graduated 11th grade today, so I guess you could say we're seniors now, but other than school we haven't been up to much because it's been taking up all of our time recently. What about you guys? You must be pretty excited for tonight!" Tinnie said.

"Hell yeah! Man, isn't it crazy that our fourth album came out today? Fourth. We have come so far in such a short period of time—that's insane," Donnie quickly reminisced about our career path.

"Yeah, and now we're on our way to celebrate it with other big stars! Who's even gonna be there?" Danny asked, motioning to Jon because he always knew such things.

"Maurice said that Ronnie, Ricky and Mike from Bell Biv DeVoe might show up, but that's all I know," Jon answered Danny's question.

I was quickly unengaged from the conversation because all I could think about was Emily. The fact that she was sitting right next to me and I couldn't act on it drove me crazy. I couldn't even remember the last time her beautiful face was this close to mine. Probably when the girls came to our slumber party at the hotel three weeks ago. It had already been that long...

→ T I N N I E

✦

I WAS SITTING on Joey's lap whilst the guys, Emily and Amanda were all talking. Jordan seemed kind of quiet compared to the others but having known him for three weeks, I had come to the realization that it was his nature—Jordan was the type of guy who only spoke when necessary. In that sense, he was perfect for Emily because that's exactly how she was.

"I've missed you," I heard Joey's soft voice whisper in my ear out-of-nowhere. I looked at him and smiled.

He was so adorable. His hair was curly as always and his ocean blue eyes radiated pure joy. I could tell he was happy to have me in his presence again. He was definitely not alone in that as I had missed him a lot too. Despite the fact that we both had each other's phone numbers, we hadn't spoken on the phone for a whole week because of our busy schedules so I had really missed him a lot. But now we had the entire summer ahead of us, and we were going to spend nearly every single day of it with each other. I couldn't wait to go on tour with the guys and Emily.