𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ─ new kids on the block

𝒙𝒙𝒊𝒊.

JUNE 23, 1990
→ E M I L Y

✦

ONCE WE ARRIVED at Lake Placid, it was around 2PM as it had taken us about five hours to get there. We were dropped off at the back of the venue, and we left all of our suitcases and other unnecessary stuff for the day on the bus.

Dick Scott greeted us at the venue entrance. "How was the ride?" he asked us as Jon had already wrapped his hands around him.

"It was alright. Quite a bumpy ride, I must say, but it was fine. Thank you for asking, my good sir," Jordan said, attempting a really bad British accent. The only ones who found it funny were me and Joey.

On our way to Lake Placid, me and Jordan were watching a British movie tape we had found on the bus, and after the movie, we both started speaking in British accents with each other, just for fun. For some odd reason, it was just so hilarious that we couldn't stop laughing for the rest of the bus ride.

"You guys ready to kick off the first show of the tour?" Mr. Scott asked as he led us the way.

"Hell yes! I think the crowd will be amazed. It's definitely a show that they've never seen before," Donnie said, getting all hyped as he jumped up on Danny's back but then quickly slid off.

"When are we eating? I'm starving," Jordan said, placing his hand under his white tee as he rubbed his stomach.

"You're such a Taurus," I said to him, laughing a little.

"And why's that?"

"Because for crying out loud, Jordan—we stopped at Burger King on our way here and you ordered the largest meal, and basically ate Jon's meal, and yet you're still hungry..."

Jordan smiled at me and put his arm around my shoulder, shaking his head as we continued walking, eventually making it to the New Kids' dressing rooms.

✦

Right then, we met up with the New Kids' stylist, Rob Coleman—or as they called him—Uncle Rob.

"What's up, Uncle Rob?" Danny greeted him, giving him a fist bump.

"And who have you brought with you? She's gorgeous," Danny said as his eyes drifted off to a pretty girl across the room who was talking to Maurice.

"That's my cousin, Anaiyah. I brought her with me on tour this summer. She's going to help me out," he answered Danny's question. Without hesitation, Danny walked over to the girl and interrupted her and Maurice's conversation.

I wish I could've heard everything that Danny said, because there was quite a lot, but I could only hear the last part which was: "so, would you like to go out with me sometime?"

Me, Jordan, Tinnie and Joey were all trying our best to overhear the conversation between Anaiyah and Danny because it seemed quite pleasant. Well, in our eyes anyway.

For all we knew, Anaiyah could've been dying inside at that point. But about two seconds later, we saw the girl smile at Danny and give him a green light.

"Oh wow, she really agreed to go on a date with him—just like that?" Tinnie was surprised.

"Why do you sound so surprised? Don't you know that Danny's a smooth flirt?" Donnie responded, checking out the girl himself, "and oh my, did Danny win with that one"

We all just laughed.

✦

Before any of us could even blink, it was already 7.20PM and the guys were about to hit the stage in about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, me and Tinnie had become friends with Anaiyah, who—for the record—was the sweetest girl we'd ever met. She was a little bit older than us, about to turn 18 in December, and she was from New Jersey. When we asked her why she had decided to come on tour with her cousin, she just said that it seemed like a lot more fun than what she'd have back in Jersey, as all her friends were out of town. Our personalities clicked the moment we started talking to her, and we were so excited to have another girl on tour with us this summer. It was going to be an absolute blast.

Whilst Tinnie and Joey had been busy making out with each other and doing God knows what, but not that, me and Anaiyah had spent some time chatting, just the two of us, and I had realized that she was literally the other half of me. We listened to the exact same music, we shared the same outlooks on certain things, and so on and on. It was pretty cool.

We were all currently in the big dressing room where the New Kids' whole entourage was gathered. The whole room was filled with a lot of excitement and happiness.

All the New Kids had invited their families to the big opening night—the guys were performing in an arena for the first time in their careers which was pretty huge.

For an unknown reason, Danny was holding up a big boom box and blasting Last Night I Saw Santa Claus at the highest volume. It was so out-of-the-blue yet so hilarious. Next to him was Donnie, brushing his teeth just like he always did before a show—or so we were told—jamming out to the 'funky groove' that was playing from the boom box.

The boys huddled together, which started out by them saying a prayer. After that, they started hyping each other up. a lot. They then finished up their little huddle by shouting "fuck you!" to each other in a very aggressive manner. What they seemed to mean by that was "have a great show and break a leg" as none of the guys got offended by it.

"See you girls out there!" Donnie said to me, Tinnie and Anaiyah as him and the rest of the guys gave us big hugs.

"Have a great show, babe," I told Jordan, placing a kiss on his lips that tasted like Cherry-Cola, "are you wearing chapstick?"

"Yes. Tastes great, doesn't it?" he said before winking at me and then heading off with the group.

We were lead to the front of the stage by Maurice, who told us to "just try to blend in with the rest of the fans" if we didn't want to get harrassed by them. Had all the Blockheads known that we were friends of the New Kids, we would have probably been killed the second after making it there. So we tried our best to not cause any suspicion, which worked like a charm.

✦

We stood there for about five minutes or so, trying to talk to each other over all the noise made by the screaming pre-teen girls in the crowd. It was quite a challenge.

Then, a spotlight hit the stage and the band started playing. We all turned our heads to the stage and saw the guys appear on a stage lift. They were all standing still and looking like dolls. The first beat of Call It What You Want started playing and the guys jumped down from the higher stage that the band was placed on.

They started dancing in unison as Jordan picked up his microphone and sang the first line of the song. "I can tell you've been watching me... Girl, I've been watching you too. Got the feeling you want my love—I must admit, I want your love, too!" he sang in that angelic voice of his as he checked out the crowd, smiling at a few girls in the audience and making their day.

The whole arena was filled with tens of thousands of fans who were all having the time of their lives in that very moment. The atmosphere in there that night was something I'd never been a part of before—it was the coolest thing ever.