Chapter Eighteen

"Let's watch Austin Powers, baby," Shannon suggested from her position by the movies. The girls had moved the slumber party to the family room to watch movies. They had invited the guys but they had suddenly become busy with some things. The girls had just shrugged and gone on with their night.

"Sounds good," Morgan said as she sat in one of the chairs, arranging herself until she was comfortable.

"Hey, how about some popcorn?" Ryan asked and the others nodded.

Kendall got up. "I'll make it. Don't start the movie until I come back," she said as she went into the kitchen. She took the old time popcorn popper out and poured the seeds in along with the oil, putting it on the stove.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a flash of light and she turned her attention to the outside. Through the patio doors, she could see lights coming from inside the maze and at first she couldn't figure out what it was. But combining the lights with the fact of the boys' disappearance, she quickly figured out that they were in the maze.

"The guys are in the maze," she called out to the rest of the girls in the family room, as she continued to watch the bobbing of flashlights against the night sky.

"What?" Colleen asked as she and the rest came into the kitchen. Kendall pointed to the maze.

"The guys decided to take on the maze at night. How stupid is that," she said. "I told them that it was really hard to solve, but I guess they thought that they were special enough to not only solve it, but to solve it at night," Kendall told them.

"Should we let them suffer a little?" Ryan suggested with a smile.

Morgan shrugged. "How long ago did they disappear to do their separate things?" she inquired. Shannon thought about it.

"Well, after we finished eating, which was about a half hour ago," she stated.

"I think that is long enough for them to be stuck in the maze," Morgan said as she went and grabbed some flashlights from one of the kitchen drawers, handing them out. They went and grabbed their sandals and headed out to the maze. They reached the wooden gates and pushed them open.

"Everyone, meet at the center of the maze, okay?" Shannon said as they all shook their heads yes and wondered off in separate directions in search of Backstreet Boys.

"Kevin? A.J.? Nick?" Colleen called as she went left, aiming her flashlight at the ground so as not to trip on anything.

"Colleen?" came the response as Colleen recognized Brian's voice. "Is that you?"

Colleen laughed. "Yeah, we've come to rescue you. Just stay put and keep talking so I can find, okay?" she asked as she headed in the direction of his voice. Brian responded okay and started talking about nonsense things.

Meanwhile, Shannon had run into Nick who had come to a dead end and had been trying to figure out what to do.

"Hey Nicky," Shannon said as she walked towards him with a grin. Nick looked at her and grinned sheepishly.

"Hey Shannon. Um, why are you out here?" he asked as Shannon reached him.

"Well, we saw the flashlights from the kitchen and came to rescue you. Why in the world did you think that you could solve the maze at night?" she asked as she started leading him to the center of the maze, shining her flashlight so they could walk around the potted plants and stone statues that were placed throughout the maze. They passed a stone bench that had been built into one of the walls of bushes and continued on to reach the center. They kept walking as Nick explained what the guys had been thinking.

Over in the north end of the maze, Ryan had just run into Kevin, literally. They fell to a heap on the ground, Ryan falling onto Kevin.

"Well, hi," Ryan said, laughter in her voice. Kevin smiled.

"Hi, fancy running into you," he replied as he stood up and pulled her up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he searched for his flashlight that he had lost when he fell.

"Well, I was out for a leisurely stroll in the maze and ran into to you," Ryan joked as she handed him his flashlight that she had just stepped on.

He turned it on.

"Oh, well. Shall we continue to the center of the maze?" he asked and Ryan nodded.

"Why not?"

Meanwhile Morgan was following footsteps over in the east end of the maze.

"A.J.? Howie? Is that you?" she called as she kept after the pattering of feet on the grass.

"Come on, guys, I can hear you. Would you just stop?" she said as she started running after the sound of breathing. "Guys? Come on." But no one answered. Morgan continued on after the running until she reached the center of the maze. She walked in to be greeted by everyone waiting for her as Kendall had found Howie and A.J.

"Hey," Morgan called out. She stopped as she took count. "Okay, who was it that kept running from me?" she asked as she approached the group. Everyone gave her a confused look.

"What are you talking about Morgan? Everyone was here waiting for you," Colleen said. Morgan gave her a strange look as she wondered who she had been chasing. She got an uneasy feeling but shook it off.

"Oh well. It had probably just been one of you running somewhere else and the sound carried," she said as she walked towards the group, suddenly needing to be close to a lot of people. They all nodded, accepting the explanation.

"So you guys reached the center, of course we had to lead you there but oh well," Ryan said. Shannon went over and found a switch that turned on tons of colorful Chinese lanterns that cris-crossed over the top of the maze. Trees circled a stone fountain that spouted water out of copper dolphins that had turned green with age. Wicker chairs were situated throughout center, with candles everywhere that were unlit at the moment.

"Wow," A.J. murmured as he took in the sight. "This is awesome." The guys agreed.

"This is where Colleen and I like to read whenever I'm here," Ryan told them. Colleen shivered.

"Well, I'm cold. Let's go back inside, okay?" she asked as she started to leave. Kevin went with her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms, trying to warm her up as the rest followed them back to the house.

"Okay, now can we watch Austin Powers?" Shannon asked as she reached the patio doors and entered the house.

"Austin Powers? I love that movie," Brian cried excitedly. The girls look at each other.

"Do you want to watch it with us?" Shannon offered to the guys, who agreed as they all trooped into the family room, flopping down throughout the room. Colleen sat down on the couch, next to Kevin, leaning against him. She grabbed a blanket, suddenly remembering the first night they did this.

"Deja vu," she said softly. Kevin looked down at her.

"What?" he asked. Colleen smiled.

"Remember the first time we did this?" she asked. "When we watched Spaceballs?" Kevin grinned.

"Yeah," he replied as he pulled her closer and the movie started.

An hour and a half later, the movie ended and Shannon turned off the movie as she yawned.

"Well, I'm tired," she informed the gang. She looked around and everyone was nodding in agreement. They all stood up except for Kevin and Colleen who were sound asleep on the couch.

"Should we wake them?" Howie asked tiredly. Morgan shook her head.

"Just let them sleep. Let's go do the same," she said softly as she headed for the stairs to her bedroom. The rest followed as Shannon turned off the TV and the lights, leaving Kevin and Colleen sprawled on the couch.

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