The Concert

~*Jana*~
“AJ!” she opened the door and hugged him as hard as she could, “I can’t believe you’re finally here!”
“I know Jana! I thought it’d never get to be today!” He walked in with her pulling his luggage behind him.
“Just leave your stuff in the living room for now, we can move it later.”
“Alright, what’re the plans for tonight?”
“I thought we could call Nick and Lilly over.”
“Nick? He’s here?”
“Yeah, he’s staying at Lilly’s house.”
“Oh really? Since when?”
“Since yesterday I think. I only saw him for about ten minutes, there was a… scene.”
“What happened?”
“I’m not really sure… but I guess we’ll find out tonight.” She grinned, “And I for one want all the details.”
“What time is it?”
“Its only like 4:30, I’ll call Lil in a half an hour and ask if they wanna come at seven?”
”Hey Jana! I’ve got a surprise for you!”
“What?”
“I quit smoking! Its hard… but I did it!”
“That’s great AJ!! You’re lucky too, because, no smoking in my apartment.”
“That’s cool. I’m so glad to see you!”
“Same here AJ, same here.” But would I be happier seeing Nick? She thought.

~*Nick and Lilly*~
“What the hell?” I asked myself waking up, “Where am I? Oh…” I looked over at Nick sleeping peacefully, “Hmm…” my sleepy face was replaced with an evil grin. I slowly climbed onto Nick’s tummy, sat down softly, stared him in the face and,
“WHAT’S MY NAME BITCH?” that woke him up,
“What?! AHH!”
“SAY IT, SAY MY NAME!”
“HOLY SHIT!” he screeched and dumped me on the ground,
“Owww,” I said, “That hurt.”
“What the hell was that?” I started laughing,
”Scare ya?”
“Of course not,” he said wryly.
“Ha ha, gotcha!”
“What time is it?” he asked, he still had the drowsy look on his face.
“It is now… 4:58 exactly.”
“Wow, I slept a total of about eight hours.” Then, out of the blue, the phone rang,
“Hello?”
“Hey Lilly!”
“Jana! Hey what’s up?” Nick gave me an inquiring look, but I ignored him.
“Guess who flew in! AJ! He’s here now, and we were wondering if you and Nick wanted to come to dinner.”
“Um, let me ask him, hold on.” I put a hand over the phone, “Its Jana, she and AJ want to know if we want to come to dinner.”
“I don’t know… whatever you want to do.”
“I don’t care.”
“Well?”
“I want to see AJ…” I grinned,
“Shut up,”
“Lets go,” I went back to the phone, “Sure, we’ll come, what time?”
“How’s seven?”
“Seven is perfect.”
“Alright, see you then!” I heard the phone click and then I placed it on the cradle.
“Okay, we’re going to Jana’s house at seven.”
“Does she know what happened last night?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
“Yup… we better get ready.”
“No way! I wanna ask my question first!”
“Fine, what is it?”
“This is in response to one of your answers earlier… who’s a better kisser, me or Scott?”
“Depends, how good of a kisser do you think I am?” I grinned, then I jumped up and ran out the door before he could say anything except,
“Hey!” I was ready by about 6:30, so I went down to see how Nick was doing.
“Nick, you done in there?” I said through the door,
“Yeah! You can come in.” I walked in,
“Wow…”
“Wow what?”
“Wow, you look hot!” I quickly covered my mouth, he just grinned,
“Thanks,” he did indeed look great, black slacks, black shirt, black shoes… can we say, debonaire?
“You look good too.”
“Gracias… but, we better be going if we’re going to make it on time.”
“Hey, AJ knows I run on ‘Backstreet Time’.” He smiled,
“Yeah, but I don’t. Come on!” I pulled on his arm,
“I’m not ready yet!”
“What do you have left to do?”
“Cologne, duh.”
“Oh, then let me leave first, because when a guy first puts it on he smells to high heaven.”
“Just for that, you’re staying.”
“Nooo, I’m not.” I made for the door, but he got in front of it before I could and sprayed the Cool Water cologne, “Great, now I smell like a guy.”
“Maybe it’s a turn for the better?”
“No! You out-scented my Sunflower perfume! Now we have to wait at least fifteen minutes before I can change it.” He just starting giggling. “Somebody’s gonna get their ass kicked,” I threatened,
“Yeah, uh huh, sure…”
*fifteen minutes later*
“Finally, done.” I strapped on my shoes and went downstairs. Kat stopped us on our way out,
“Hey Lilly?”
“Yeah?”
“We’re leaving tomorrow, right?”
”Yeah…”
“Um, does mom know?”
“I knew I forgot something!” I cried out.
“We’ll talk to her when we get home, don’t worry about it.” Nick rationalized.
“Alright, you heard that Kat?”
“Yeah, bye guys, have fun.” She winked,
“What did she mean by that?” Nick asked on the way to the car.
”I don’t know. She’s a kid, what could she mean by that?”
“I’m asking you.”
”I have no idea.”
“Dammit!”
“What?”
“I forgot to call Brian…”
“Okay, call him on the way over… I’ll drive.”
“Aiight.” We got inside the car, and I started her up. Nick picked up his cell phone and punched in like ten numbers, “Hey Brian?”
“Yo Nick, whassup bro?”
“Just figured I’d call you back about… you know.”
“Oh, how’s it going? Is she there right now?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’ll ask yes and no questions, did anything happen?”
“No.”
“Do you want something to happen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you like her?”
“Yes!”
“Then is there something wrong?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Um…”
”Oh yeah, yes or no… um, is it because she’s saying no?”
“No.”
“What are you guys talking about?” I demanded.
”I’m not telling.” Nick grinned, covering up his uneasiness.
“Nick… call me back when you’re alone, where are you now?”
“In the car on the way to see AJ and Jana.”
”Oh, talk to AJ about it!”
“Um, I can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“Long story.”
“Just try.”
“Aiight, if you say so Bri. Later.”
”Good luck Nick.” They both hung up,
“What was that all about?”
“I’m turning on the radio.”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“No I’m not, we didn’t talk about anything.”
“I’m sure…” I had us there in record time, as soon as we pulled up to the apartment complex Nick jumped out of the car,
“You’re NEVER driving again.”
“Why?”
“You drive too damn fast! Holy shit, I thought you were gonna crash like five million times.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“No… I’m not.” He breathed in deeply, “Whew, I’m driving back to your house.”
“Yeah, okay Nick, whatever. Come on, we’re already late.” He followed me to Jana’s apartment, I knocked on the door. She opened it right away.
“Hey Guys! Come on in!” she welcomed us in. AJ was right behind her,
“Yo what up?”
“AJ!” I said purposefully looking at Nick. I gave him a hug and he returned it,
“Hey Lil, its great seeing you again, I gotta get used to this now.” He laughed, “I mean, for like three years we don’t see at all, and now we all are coming and visiting you.”
“That’s the way I like it.” I grinned. Nick and AJ looked at each other and starting laughing,
“What’s so funny?”
“That’s our song.”
“Oh, I knew that.”
“Uh huh… sure you did.”
“Alright, I’m hungry, when do we eat?” Nick rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
“Down Skippy,” I said, “Jana you need some help?”
“No, I got it, its all ready. We can eat now if you want.”
“That would be kickin.” She lead us over to the table,
“This is beautiful!” I exclaimed, and it was. It was all decked out in lace, and everything was home cooked and she had put all the food in nice serving dishes, “We’re not ever dressed to the occasion.”
“Don’t worry about it, like me and AJ are.”
“True… just kidding!”
“You know guys… you can simultaneously eat and listen.”
“You’re really hungry, aren’t you Nick.”
“Well lets see what I’ve eaten today… an orange.”
“What?!” AJ said with a sharp intake of breath, “Dude, the least I’ve ever seen you eat in a day was two meals, and that’s when you were being sparing!”
“AJ… zip it.” Me and Jana just giggled softly. “Alright, sit down people.”
“Okay okay Nick, calm down, we’re sitting.” We all did sit down and to Nick’s delight began eating. For a couple minutes everyone was too engrossed in the food to say anything to begin talking, but finally Jana started,
“So, Lilly, Nick… what happened last night?” Nick almost choked on his food, I cleared my throat.
“Last night? Oh, nothing at all.”
“Come on, you can tell us.” AJ teased.
“No really, we were just watching a movie and that’s it.”
“Okay.” The rest of the evening was quite uneventful actually. So, me and Nick stayed until about 11 then we left to go home. Nick did end up driving,
“Hey will your parents be awake when we get home?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because we have to talk to them about going with me tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah,” I said absent mindedly.
“You seem kinda out of it… what’s up?”
“Hm, I don’t know?” I didn’t say anything for the rest of the ride… there really wasn’t anything to say. As soon as we got back to my house I went up to my room, Nick followed me.
“Okay, now I know something’s wrong, you haven’t said a word in twenty minutes.”
“Are you saying I talk a lot?”
“In a word… yes.”
“There’s nothing wrong! I’m fine!”
“Okay sorry…”
“Come on, we have to talk to my parents.” The two of us went downstairs together and talked to them… they actually said yes! I personally couldn’t believe it, I was so happy. I mean, sure it took them a while to think about it, but they did say yes, which was awesome. We ran back to my room and acted like little kids by jumping on the bed etcetera. “I get to go to California, I get to go to California.” I sang while dancing around.
“Lilly… you’re officially insane.”
“Am not!” I replied grinning like an idiot.
“Okay, so can I have my ring back now?”
“No, we didn’t talk for 24 hours straight yet… which means its still mine.” I said happily, after all, it was a nice ring.
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to go to sleep!”
“You’re the one who said ‘twenty four hours’.”
“Fine, fine. Don’t you have to pack anything…”
“What time’s the flight?”
“1:00 I think.”
“Alright, then I’ll pack tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! I just have to pack for tomorrow night and day after.”
“But…how long would that take you?”
“Not long!”
“Uh huh…sure.” He grinned,
“Nerd…” I teased affectionately.
“We better get some sleep…”
“I’m not tired at all! I mean, I just woke up like eight hours ago.”
“Same here! We could finish our… game.”
“I don’t know…”
“We never really talked about what we set to talk about.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t get stupid with me.” He laughed.
“I am not!”
“Now who’s changing the subject?”
“Not me!”
“Girls… can’t ever admit when they’re wrong.”
“That’s because we never need to.” I smiled.
“Rrrright… okay, we’re off the issue at hand again!”
“Which is?”
“And you said I was stupid.”
“I’m not stupid!”
“Do I just have to come out and say it?”
“Yes.”
“Fine… you know what, wait here, I have to go make a couple phone calls…”
“Come again?”
“I have to make two phone calls and I’ll be right back.”
“Didn’t you just say that we had to talk about something?”
“Yeah, but I realized that I had forgotten to do something else, so I’ll be back.”
“Alright…” he went down to his room and sat on the bed. Then he picked up his cell phone and called Brian,
“Hey Rok,”
“Nick, hey, how’d it go?”
“Well… I didn’t talk to him”
“Why?”
“Because, me and Lilly… a while ago, before I figured out that I still liked her, I thought I like Jana-“
“AJ’s girlfriend?”
“Yeah… and well, I did something really really really mean…”
“What’d you do this time?”
“Hey! Anyways, I got Lilly to agree to pretend she likes AJ so that he’ll go for her and I could you know, talk to Jana…”
“Lilly’s a great friend…” he chuckled.
“Yeah, but anyways, now AJ thinks Lilly likes him and Jana likes me (according to Lil who did that too) and I don’t know what to do!”
“That’s quite the predicament you’ve gotten yourself into…”
“Help!” he said desperately.
“I don’t know… just try talking to AJ… don’t tell him about Jana or anything… just say that Lilly never actually said that she liked him, you just assumed that she did and that you like her and ask him what he thinks you should do.”
“If you say so… here, I’ll call him right now… then I’ll call you back okay?”
“That’s cool, later Frack.”
“Bye Frick.” He hung up and then dialed the number he had written down in his book, “Hey, AJ?”
”Nick? Its like 12… what do ya want man?”
“Um, well, I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
“You remember how I said that Lilly likes you?”
“She doesn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I could tell by the way she was acting tonight. Like a sister… not too much of a turn on.”
“Well… I have to ask you something,”
“You like her and you don’t know what to do, she likes you to and you both don’t know how to say it because she’s going out with Scott and you obviously have someone liking you that she helped with, I know who it is, don’t worry about it… and you are both very confused.”
“How the hell did you know all that?!”
“I’m just good like that.”
“Wait, you said you know who it is?”
“Yeah, Jana obviously, we talked about it tonight, she was all worried that she liked you better and stuff, ha like that would ever happen, but then she saw how you and Lilly acted around each other and…”
“You ARE good AJ…”
“Thank you, thank you.”
“But what do I do?”
“Lets see… tell her dumbass.”
“Yeah, okay… like I haven’t tried that, I have told her. We just don’t know how to… um, take the next step.”
“It’ll happen Nick… hey, and don’t worry about the Jana thing… no hard feelings. I’ll pretend it was your revenge for me partially causing the Shaving Incident.”
“Oh God…” Nick cringed, “Please don’t bring that up! I just thank God that there isn’t a scar.” “As do we all Frack, as do we all.”
“Thanks man, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye Nick.” Nick hung up once again and called Brian back.
“Brian?”
“Hey, what happened?”
“Nothing, he knows everything… how he knows? I have absolutely no clue, but AJ is good. Anyways, he told me that ‘it would happen’.”
“Which means?”
“I don’t know! I’m right back where I started.”
“Just go with the flow Nick… something’s bound to happen… and if I know Lilly… she’ll be the one making it happen.”
“Ha ha, well Brian, I’ll let you get back to sleep, bye man.”
“Hey Nick… wait… I gotta talk to you about something too.”
“Yeah?”
“Its about Leighanne.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well…I think I’m going to either break up with her… or ask her to marry me.”
“WHAT?!”
“Yeah… ‘cause well, I wanna break up with her ‘cause I never get to see her… but I want to marry her because then I’ll get to see her.”
“Wow… you… married… I don’t know what to tell you Brian.”
“I know, I just thought I’d tell you first… I’m still trying to figure it out.”
“Okay man, just call me as soon as anything happens.”
“Alrighty, I’ll make sure and do that.”
“Later Brian.”
“Bye Frack.” Then Nick, cell phone in tow, went back to my room. I jumped as he came in,
“Woh, well, what’s up?”
“Nothing, nothing at all…”
“Um, okay…”
“Yeah… okay, no.”
“What?”
“Truthfully, I just went downstairs, called Brian, then I called AJ, then I called Brian again.”
“And?”
“AJ knows everything.”
“What? You told?”
“No! He just knew… it was weird…”
“Wow…”
“Yeah, anyways, I kinda asked him something.”
”What?”
“I’ll tell you some other time.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Yes it is, anyways, there’s another thing. You can’t tell anyone.”
“What?”
“Brian’s either going to break up with Leighanne or marry her.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, but I don’t know which one he’ll choose.”
“Woh…”
“I know right… you know, I think I will go to sleep after all… I’m more tired than I thought.”
“If you say so.” So he went ahead and went to his room, I stayed up a bit longer and called Bree,
“Hello?”
“Hey Brina, what’s up?”
“Hey! Its late…”
“Yes it is.”
“What’re you doing calling me at this time when Nick Carter is staying at your house?”
”I thought you were over the whole Nick thing.”
“Not quite.” She laughed.
”Well, I’m bored and he said he was tired but I bet you anything he’s in the guest house writing or reading right now.”
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Paradise is hardly what I would call it.”
“Oh yeah, that’s me and Nick in my mind.” I had to start laughing when she said that, “Now, why are you calling me?”
“Because, I’m bored, I said that already.”
“Okay… so what’s up?”
“Nothing… well, what would you do if you were in my shoes?”
“I’d be downstairs with Nick right now.”
“No stupid, I mean… like, you have a boyfriend okay?”
“I’ll pretend that I do…”
“And your extremely gorgeous friend (previous boyfriend) is staying at your house.”
“Depends on who I liked more.”
“Um… the person, say at your house right now.”
“Then I sure as hell would be with him, I’d tell my boyfriend at the time that I was sorry but my feelings for this ‘previous boyfriend’ as you say, have never actually changed.”
“Thanks, I gotta go.”
“What?”
“Bye Bree.”
“Huh?” I hung up and went to sleep.

~*The Next Morning*~
“LILLY, WAKE UP! WE’RE GONNA BE LATE!” Nick yelled
“What?”
“WAKE UP!” I looked at the clock 11:30, “SHIT!” I ran to my sister’s room, “Kat!”
“Wha-huh?”
“Wake up dude! We have to leave in an hour!”
“What?!”
“Get up, get ready and hurry!”
“Okay okay,” she got up quickly and was in the downstairs bathroom in no time. I walked out on to the landing,
“Nick, go get ready, me n’ Kat’ll be done soon.”
“Aiight,” he almost ran back to his room. Then I finally went for a shower, I was done in twenty minutes, a record for me, then I had to pack everything.
“Okay, I have clothes for tomorrow, for tonight, toothbrush, Kat’s got the toothpaste, hair brush, make up, purse, money, what am I forgetting?” I looked around the room and saw, “Dawson!” I picked up my stuffed dog and threw it in my bag, “Anything else?” I did a quick check list and saw that I had everything and hoped I wasn’t forgetting anything. “Kat!”
“What?”
“Are you done packing?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have everything?”
“Yup, everything I need.”
“Alright… where’s Nick?”
“Uh…”
“You don’t know… can you call him please?”
“Fine, fine.” She went and got him and he came back with his bags and everything.
“Aiight, everybody ready?”
“Yeah, let us just go say bye to our mom.” We went to my mom’s room and said bye and everything and that we’d be back tomorrow and since we were taking my car she wouldn’t need to pick us up. She gave us instructions about not talking to strangers and everything, like the usual parent, but finally we left just in time.

~*Brian*~
Brian picked up the phone for the fifth time and decided that this time, he would go through with it, whatever the outcome. “Hi, Leighanne?”
“Brian! Hey!”
“What’s up?”
”Just planning your surprise”
“What?”
“You’ll see, it should be there, right… about… now.” He heard the doorbell ring.
“What’re you doing?” he laughed, “What’d you decide to pull?”
“You’ll see,” he went and got the door and on the stoop was Leighanne,
“Leighanne!” he hugged and kissed her as only he knew how, apparently it ws good enough because she was startled as he pulled away.
”Wow,”
“I still got it,” he grinned. She made him unbelievably happy, what was he waiting for? “Leighanne,”
“What?” he bent down so he was kneeling in front of her, “Oh my…”
“Will you marry me?”
“Brian…”
“Well?”
”I… I will! I’ll marry you!” he put the ring on her finger and jumped up ecstatic.
“Yes! I love you!”
“I love you too!” the rest of the day they spent together, they decided not to tell anyone until the next day, they’d call everyone and hope they could make it.

~*Nick and Lilly*~
“We’re extremely lucky that we made it on time, you know that, right?”
“Yes Nick… I do.” I grinned,
”How’s Kat holding up?”
“She’s sleeping it off, she doesn’t usually get air sick, I don’t know why she threw up.” He looked over me at my sister who was fast asleep,
“I know why,” he grinned,
“I doubt its because of Aaron…”
”I don’t know… you mean you didn’t throw up when you moved from Tampa?” truthfully, I did, but it had nothing to do with him, so I didn’t see why he needed to know.
“No way, why would I, I don’t get car sick.”
“Okay,”
“When are we gonna land.” Then as if the captain heard me, the loudspeaker came on,
“We’ll be descending in ten minutes, I’ve turned on the fasten seatbelt signs and would request that everyone remain seated. Thank you, we should be on the ground with in twenty minutes.” Those twenty minutes flew by, and in a half an hour we were on our way to Nick’s house. “Katrina, you may wanna brush your hair and stuff…” Kat looked in the mirror,
“I look like crap! AH!” she pulled out a brush and began furiously brushing her hair.
“Calm down… its just Aaron.”
“Yeah Kat, besides, he’s a nerd.” Nick grinned,
”No he’s not! He’s Aaron Carter.” She argued. Nick just shook his head grinning. We finally made it to his house not long after,
“We’re here, come on!” Nick jumped out of the cab,
“Nick! Our bags and the cabbie,”
“Oh yeah,” he paid the guy and we got our bags out of the trunk. Nick pulled out a key and opened the door, “I’m baaaaaack,”
“Nick!”
“Hey Mom, I brought some friends,” he gestured to me and Kat.
”Hi,” Kat and I said shyly,
“Hey girls… Llynia?”
“Yup,”
“Lilly! How are you?”
“I’m fine, Jane.” She smiled,
“At least you didn’t call me Mrs. Carter like some of Nick’s friends… makes me feel old… and who’s this?”
“This is my sister Katrina.”
“Oooh, so this is who Aaron talks about.”
“Moooom!” Aaron came downstairs and went over to Kat, “Hi, I’m Aaron.”
“I know… I’m Kat.”
“Wanna go upstairs?”
“Yeah.” They went up together followed by his mom cooing,
“Aw, how cute.” Me and Nick just stared for a minute and then began laughing,
“I should’ve known… alright, you wanna go up to my room,”
“Sure,”
“I don’t think Leslie, BJ, or Angel are home right now… apparently they were going shopping today.”
“That’s fine,”
“You’ve met them, right?”
“No, I met your mom and Aaron a couple times but that was when they came to get you from rehearsals and stuff.”
“Oh yeah, well, you’ll meet ‘em at dinner probably.”
“That’s cool,”
“Lets go,” I ran up the stairs after him and we went to his room,
“Wow Nick…” I looked around, “Not exactly… uh…”
“Clean?” he grinned,
“Yeah… that’s the word I was looking for.”
“Hey, I ask my mom not to clean it while I’m gone and I don’t have too much time myself, she just leaves the door closed when people come over.” I started laughing, “What’s so funny?”
“My mom does that with my brother’s room too.”
“Ooh, well, anyways, what do ya wanna do?”
“I don’t know,”
“Okay… I can introduce you to Brent.”
“Who?”
“My best friend…”
“Isn’t Brian your best friend?”
“In the group… but no, I mean like, out of the group best friend.”
“Alright… lets go.”
“Awesome,” he called to his mom that we were going out but she was too busy with Kat and Aaron, “Come on, we’ll take my truck.”
“Don’t you have a prowler?”
“Yeah,”
“Can we take that?”
“Nope,”
“Why not?”
“I don’t drive that.”
“Oh, you suck.”
“Yeah, well, what can I say?”
“Okay, okay, lets get in the truck.” I crinkled my nose in disgust at the word,
“Hey, it’s a nice truck!” I giggled at his praise for his rugged old truck,
“Come on, I wanna meet this guy!”
“Alright,” he laughed, we got in the truck and left for Brent’s house, ten minutes later we reached it. “Okay, we’re here.”
“Here?” I looked around the street, it wasn’t exactly as I imagined…
“Yeah, I know, a bit run down, but he likes it.”
“A bit?” it looked like what I would label as ‘The Bad side Of Town’.
“Just don’t mention it when you meet him, alright?” we walked upstairs of a really really ratty old building and Nick knocked on one of the doors. A very good looking guy opened the door, “Nick! Yo, what up dawg!”
“Brent, hey man, how’s it goin?” they guy-hugged and Brent gestured for Nick to walk in, he hadn’t seen me yet, “This is my friend Lilly, Brent. Lilly, this is Brent.”
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Hi,” he said while raising his eyebrows at Nick. This guy was really hot, not in the way Nick was, but all the same, he could hold his own… wasn’t it just like yesterday when I said I was swearing off men? I really need to stop this…
“Lilly’s a friend of mine from Tampa, we’ve known each other for a long time,”
“Awesome, so Lilly, what brings you to California with this nerd,” he joked,
“You know, I’ve always had a liking for nerds.”
“Excuse me,”
“No offense Nick,” I smiled,
”None taken, I just wanted you two to meet.” I think he was trying to tell Brent something in like guy-talk or something,
“So, how long are you gonna be here?”
“I’m leaving tomorrow, I just came for a day.”
“Why so short?”
“I gotta get back home and I don’t think my mom would enjoy me staying longer than that.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Yeah,”
“Well,” Nick interrupted trying to get back into the conversation, “Brent, you wanna come back with us?”
“I’d love to,” he said,
“Aiight, cool.” We headed back down to Nick’s truck, “Anyone wanna sit in the back?”
“Not in this neighborhood.” The three of us laughed at that together… though it was probably true,
“Okay, then we’re packing it in,”
“Um…”
“That means I drive, and you two decide who’s in the middle.” His eyes danced in merriment.
”No offence man, but there is no way in hell that I would have less than three inches between us.” Brent grinned,
”Don’t worry about dude, I feel the same way… which means…” he trailed off, they were both looking at me.
“Aw dude… come on, can’t you guys swallow your manly egos for once and sit together?”
“Lilly, get in.” Nick said coaxingly,
“Guys suck.”
“Aren’t girls supposed to do that?” Brent asked innocently,
“That’s exactly what I said!” Nick exclaimed,
”Yeah, you two can shove it.”
“Sure, if it was you.” Brent smiled mischievously,
“Any time, anywhere.”
“OKAY guys,” Nick said trying to gain control of the situation again. “Lilly, get in the middle!”
“God, calm down. I’m going, I’m going.” I leaped up to the seat, “Happy?”
“Very, your turn bro.” Brent jumped up right beside me and Nick went around to the driver’s side. “Okay, where to now?”
“Your house, I haven’t eaten a good meal in two weeks.”
“What’ve you been eating?”
“You know, McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, the stuff you eat on tour.”
“True… true… now you’ll be able to eat a great meal… maybe even pizza!” Brent groaned,
”Please oh please make it home cooked.” He prayed while looking up. “I beg you.”
“Why don’t you ever just go over even when I’m not home, my mom would feed you.”
“I know, but I feel like I’m imposing… besides, I don’t wanna run into you-know-who.”
“My sister doesn’t care anymore dude, that was like six months ago.”
“I know, but still.” I was feeling thoroughly ignored through-out this entire conversation, but I didn’t want to say anything and seem rude, so I kept my mouth shut… they talked for the rest of the ride and when we finally got to Nick’s house they quit. He parked his car in the garage and we went inside,
“Aiight, lets go to my room.” We dashed up the stairs and went to his room, “Who’s up for the 64?”
“I’ll watch,” I said, I wasn’t in the mood for video games.
“I’ll play dude.” Brent grabbed a controller and they went at it… Nick of course was winning, from what I remembered no one ever beat him, except maybe Brian occasionally. The game was actually more interesting to watch than to play, before I knew it, it was 4 o’clock and Nick’s mom was calling us all for lunch. We went right back down and ran into Kat and Aaron,
“Hey guys, how’re you two doing?” I asked them, Nick and Brent had gone on ahead. The two of them looked at each other and started giggling. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing”
“Like I believe that, oh well, whatever.” I stifled a yawn, the traveling was starting to set in. “Shall we?” me and my sister each took one of Aaron’s arms and went into the dining room,
“Well, if it isn’t the little pimp-in-training” Nick grinned as his brother walked in with me and Kat,
“If I’m not mistaken Nick, he’s more of a pimp than you two right now… see, he’s got two ladies on his arms and both of you have… none.” I grinned,
“Ooh, diss.” Kat added,
“That won’t last for long…” Nick grinned evilly looking at Brent,
“What’re you two guys thinking?” his mom asked as she walked in with the food,
“Oh, nothing mom, nothing at all.” Nick put on his best ‘I’m a little angel’ face and sat down to eat. The food was excellent and I told Mrs. Carter so,
“Thanks Lilly, I’m glad you liked it.”
“You’re welcome, it really was excellent.”
“Yeah Mom, I’ve missed food like this.” Nick grinned, Brent patted his tummy appreciatively,
“Mrs. Carter,” she looked at me pointedly, “You have no idea how much a happier man you’ve made me today.”
“Thank you Brent, now you guys go do what ever it is you do and I’m going out to dinner with Nick’s dad.”
”Alright,”
“So, I’m going to go get ready, you’ll have to fend for yourself. Nick, BJ, Leslie, and Angel should be back within the next two hours.”
“Okay Mom,”
“Don’t pick on BJ okay? And make sure Aaron, Angel, and now Kat are in bed by ten-“ she was then interrupted by Aaron,
”C’mon mom, can’t it be 11 today?” Nick went over to his mom and whispered how they would probably be out by ten anyways, so she said yes.
“Now, let me finish, they can be in bed by eleven, but I want Leslie in bed by 11:30, BJ by 12 and you guys… Brent are you staying tonight?”
“I guess,”
”Alright, just as long as you guys sleep some tonight, then its fine.”
“Awesome,”
”Okay, now I’m going to go get ready, I’ll be home by about one, and I want over half the kids in this house asleep by then.”
“Yes mom,” Nick and Aaron said. She left to go to her room then and the five of us stood there for a minute before dispersing towards the steps. For the next hour and a half Nick and Brent did nothing but play video games, it wasn’t too bad, but after a while it got boring. So when I heard feet coming up the stairs I was rather happy,
“Nick,”
”What?” He asked without looking away from the tv,
“I think your sisters are home,”
“Oh yeah!” he turned off the game and opened the door, “Beej!”
“Nick? Oh yeah, you were coming today! I forgot!”
“Thank you oh loving sister,” then he turned to me, “Lilly, come out here, I want you to meet the rest of the Carter clan,
“Alright,” I laughed, I walked out and saw BJ, Leslie and Angel standing in the hall way,
“Les, Beej, Angel, this is Llynia, a friend of mine from Tampa. Lilly, this is BJ, Leslie, and Angel.”
“Hey,” I smiled,
“Hi Lilly,” Leslie said
“Hey,” BJ added
“What’s up?” Angel replied last,
“Okay, her sister Kat is with Aaron right now, she’s your age Angel, she’ll be 12 in like Feb. or something,”
”Cool,”
”BJ, Lilly’s your age.”
“Then why is she your friend, she should know better.” She grinned,
”What’s up with this, everyone trying to diss me?”
“Yes Nick,” Brent yelled from within the room,
“Shut up dude… and Lilly’s my friend because she knows that I’m awesome.”
“You just keep telling yourself that Nick,” BJ laughed, Leslie and Angel had gone off together to meet Kat.
“I intend to, I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.” He grinned. Me and BJ straight out laughed at that, Nick pretended to be hurt but couldn’t stand it and was bustin up laughing with us two seconds later.
“Well Lilly, it was nice meeting you, but I’m off to my room to call my friend Joe.” “Friend… or friend with benefits.” Nick grinned,
“Shut up!”
“It was nice meeting you too BJ, and Nick stop bothering your sister, I hate it when my bro does that,” I grinned,
”Aw man, now you two are gonna gang up against me, aren’t ya?”
“No! Of course not…” but I winked at BJ and made sure that Nick saw it,
“Hey!” we laughed and a couple minutes later she went to her room and we retreated back to Nick’s room. Brent was sitting on the floor reading an old comic book,
“I remember that book!” I said, “I got that for you for Christmas of like ’95 or something.”
“You’re right!”
“What? You mean this has sentimental value Nick? You told me you kept it ‘cause you liked the story,”
“I do, but I also kept it ‘cause it was the first year…” he didn’t finish what he was going to say,
”What?”
“Nothin, come on, put it back in the case man.”
“Alright…” Brent gave him a weird look, “So Lilly,”
”Yep?”
“You and Nick together or what?”
“Brent!” Just then Nick’s phone rang, he picked it up, “Hello?” then he got a weird look on his face, “Yeah… she’s here, just a minute.” He turned to me, “Its for you…” I took the phone, who would call me here?
“Hello?”
“Lilly?”
“Yeah,”
“Hey babe, its Scott! Where are you?”
“I’m at my friend’s house…”
“In California?”
“Yeah,”
“I called your house Lil, how come you couldn’t come to Hawaii with me unattended, but you can go to California with Nick Carter with out any adults?”
“Because I’ve known the boy for almost seven years.”
“That’s a good reason?”
“Yeah…”
“Whatever…” Nick and Brent were looking at me so I turned around, they got the idea and actually left the room.
“Look, Scott… we need to talk.”
“I don’t like the sound of this.”
“I’m sorry Scott, but I think we need to call it off.”
“You’re breaking up with me?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Why?”
“Because,”
“Of Nick.” He finished for me, “He’s the one you went out with longer, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah…”
”I thought so.”
“I’m really sorry Scott.”
“Well, I’m glad of that much. At least you’re sorry you played me.”
“Excuse me? You’re the one who wanted to get back together okay? You wouldn’t leave me alone. You remember that? I didn’t want to at first, you remember that too?”
“Yeah, but you said yes.”
“You asked me!”
“Still, that doesn’t give you the right to play me.”
“I didn’t play you! I haven’t done anything!”
“You said you’re leaving me for nick!”
“I didn’t say that! I’m not! I breaking up with you because I don’t feel right doing this okay?!”
”Fine.”
“Bye Scott.” I hung up. Then I opened up the door, Nick and Brent toppled out onto the floor,
“Heh heh,” they grinned sheepishly,
“I’m done now.”
“I’m sorry Lilly,” Nick said, he put his arm around me, “It’ll be alright.”
“I know, he’s such a jerk!”
“Who is this guy?” Brent asked, “Want me to beat his ass?”
“Thanks,” I giggled, “No, its okay… he’s now my ex-boyfriend. That means I’m single again.” I said looking at Nick meaningfully.
“That’s true,” Nick said stroking his chin.
“Yes it is,” Brent said, he nudged Nick with his elbow. Nick didn’t say anything. I sat down on the bed,
“Alright, then what do you two boys want to do now?”
“Lets,” Brent started,
”No way Brent, you’re NOT picking what we do.” Nick cut him off.
“Why can’t he choose?” I asked,
”Because he chooses weird stuff.”
“Nick, give the boy a chance. I say we do what Brent wants to do.”
“Yeah man, give me a chance. Lets play truth-or-dare.”
“That’s great!” I said and at the same time Nick said,
”No.”
“Nick!” I exclaimed,
“Lilly, you don’t know how Brent plays truth-or-dare”
“Nick, shut up, lets play.” Brent grinned,
“We’re gonna regret this.” Nick said painfully,
”Do we all swear that we will answer all the questions truthfully and fulfill all the dares completely?”
“I swear,” I said solemnly
“I don’t.”
“Nick!”
“Fine, I swear.”
“I do.” Brent said lastly.
“Okay, who’s first?” I asked,
”Ladies first,”
“Okay, Brent,” I picked him because I didn’t have any good dares and I already knew most of the stuff about Nick, “Truth or dare?”
“Eh, I’ll play it safe, truth.”
“Okay, um, what’s the hardest illegal substance you’ve used?” I’m almost positive he’s had to have used something,
“Lilly!” Nick said surprised,
“Sh, let him answer.” Brent was fiddling with his shirt, “Well?”
“Okay, I’ve tried acid, but that was it. And it was a long time ago.”
“Fine, your turn Brent.” He turned to Nick,
“Truth or dare dude,”
“Truth.”
“Okay, same question to you.” Nick glared at him. I didn’t think Nick had done anything, I mean, its Nick. But, he mumbled something, “What was that Nicky boy?”
“Acid.” He said a bit louder.
”NICK!” I almost yelled,
“Sh!”
“When was this?”
“Years ago!”
“Okay, I was about to say, if it was any time… wait a minute, when?”
“Like five years ago!”
“When you were 14?!”
“Everyone was doing it! And I only did it once, calm down…”
“Okay okay… your turn.” He turned back to Brent,
“Truth or dare buddy?”
“Dare.”
“I dare you to go tell BJ when the last time you… well, you know.”
“That’s disgusting!” I said,
“Fine,”
“I don’t wanna know, I’m staying here.”
“Alright,” Nick got up and followed Brent out of the room, moments later I heard a shriek and a big boom and then Nick and Brent ran back in the room and shut the door. “Okay new rule, no getting family members involved.”
“You should’ve known better,”
“Aiight, its my turn. Lilly, sweetie, truth or dare?” I wasn’t sure which to choose,
“Um…” I didn’t want to tell this guy any secrets so… “Dare.”
“Alright, brave choice my dear. I dare you to,” he glanced at Nick and grinned, “make out with me.” I don’t think so. No way in hell. Sure he’s hot… Nick was looking at him painfully, “Okay, I was just messin, seriously though-“
“I think its time for you to go Brent.” Nick got up,
“Alright, alright, I know when I’m not wanted.” Nick laughed,
“I’ll give you a ride home, you comin’ Lilly?”
“No, I’ll stay here.”
“Suit yourself.”
“I have no desire to sit crunched in that truck between the two of you, but it was nice meeting you Brent, and since I didn’t make out with you as you wished, here.” I gave him a peck on the cheek, “Maybe we’ll keep in touch.”
“That’s cool, it was nice meeting you too Lilly. Later.” They left then, Nick would probably be back in like twenty-thirty minutes or so, until then… hm, I figured I’d look around his room, I mean, what could he be hiding here? I walked around, which was kinda hard to do considering how messy his room was… I wonder what I could find under here, I wondered as I looked under the bed.
“Ew…” I let the covers fall, maybe I’ll just sit on top of it and not touch anything. That’s exactly what I did. I just sat and thought for a couple minutes and then I yawned, I hadn’t realized just how tired I was. Maybe I would just lie down for a little bit… not too long.

~*Nick*~
“Finally dropped Brent home, I wonder how Brian’s doing…” he picked up his cell phone, and started dialing Brian’s number, “Well, on second thought, if he is with Leighanne right now, I don’t want to interrupt…” he drove back into the garage at his own home and went inside. When he got to his room he was surprised to find me fast asleep on his bed, “Alright…” he tried to walk in quietly and of course made much more noise than usual, so I woke up,
“Oh Nick, sorry dude.” I said groggily, I shook my head to clear the drowsiness away,
“Hey, if you’re tired you can go back to sleep.”
“No, really, its fine.” He sat down on the bed next to me,
“If you say so… since you’re up now… lets talk.”
”About?”
“Your new found bachelorettism.”
”Yes?”
”Would you be interested in-“ just then his phone rang. Again. He let out an aggravated humph, “Hello?”
“Hey Nick!”
“Brian? What’s up?”
“Well… I thought I’d wait until tomorrow till I called, but I had to tell you… I did it.”
“Did what?”
“I’m getting MARRIED!”
“AWESOME! Dude, I’m so happy for you! Wait, tell Lilly!” he held out the phone to me,
“Hello?”
“Lilly! Guess what?”
“What?”
“I’M MARRYING LEIGHANNE!”
“That’s great Brian! I better be something in that wedding!”
“I promise you will be at least a brides maid,”
“Okay, I’ll be happy with that.” I laughed,
“Okay, I gotta go now, just tell Nick he better be on the plane back with you tomorrow.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Bye Lilly!”
“Congrats Brian, say hi to Leighanne for me!” I hung up, “You are going to be coming back with us tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“Brian isn’t telling anyone else yet, he’s going to gather us all in a room and tell the rest together and he wants us all there. So you’re coming back with me.”
“Um, okay…”
“Good, now what were you saying?”
“I was saying,” he moved down to the floor next to my feet, “what do you think of ?”
“getting back together?” I finished, he looked at the floor and blushed,
“Eh, you gotta remember, that I’m just a singing, scuba diving, six-foot tall over all clutz.” “I like the sound of that…”
“Is that a yes?”
“You haven’t asked me a yes or no question.”
“Fine, would you like to finish what we started four years ago?”
”Yes I would.” I grinned,
”I knew it!” he looked up at me and smiled happily. And then, for the first time since I was a skinny little kid in Tampa with a just up and coming pop star, he kissed me.