I Need You Tonight
Part VIII

"Okay, up you go!" Brian helped me into the Boys’ van. It had been three months since the dog accident and I did end up going with them on the trip. I slid into the seat next to AJ and Nick slid up next to me on my other side, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

"Hey, Frack." I said, and leaned over to kiss his cheek. Nick and I still weren’t going out but we were almost there. His nickname is Frack because since him and Brian are such good friends, the guys named them Frick and Frack. Brian’s Frick.

"Hey, Dani. Hey, AJ." He and AJ had both forgotten what had happened a few years back and were still really close friends.

"Hey, Frack." AJ called. "Come on ya’ll, we’ve gotta get to the air port soon or else we’ll miss our flight!" We were flying to New York to do some shows to promote the guys’ career even more. It was still in the beginning of 1998 but already the guys were hitting it big. But they wanted to do these shows anyways.

Brian helped his girlfriend, Leigh Ann, who I would be sharing a room with, into the van and then got in and slammed the door shut.

"Let’s move!" Kevin called from the back, and the driver took off.

Thirty minutes later we were at the airport, running through the big crowd of fans that had gathered there. They had probably heard on the internet somewhere that we would be taking off today.

Once at the gate, Brian said, "Gosh, I hate flying!" We all laughed. Brian was afraid of heights and really did hate flying. His lucky thing that he did before getting on a plane each time was to kiss his fist and then tap the side of the plane. Which he did before getting on.

The flight went well (Brian credited it to his lucky fist kissing routine), and we went straight to the hotel before doing any sightseeing or partying.

"So, are you and Nick an official couple yet?" Leigh Ann asked me when we were alone in the hotel room we were sharing.

"No, not yet." I sighed. "I kinda wish that he would just hurry up and ask me. But then again, I’ve already been hurt by him so I don’t really want to rush into it, you know?" I looked at Leigh Ann and she nodded. She was really nice and her and Brian made such a cute couple.

"It’s better not to rush into it, that’s true." She set her suitcase on the edge of her bed and opened it up. "But it depends on how long you two have been at the ‘almost going out’ stage."

"Almost 6 months."

"Oh!" Leigh Ann looked at me, surprised. "Then he should ask you out, unless he’s just not ready." She walked over to the closet to hang up some of her clothes. "I’m sure he’ll ask you out soon." She said reasurringly. "Is it alright if I take this side of the closet? You can take the other one or you can have this one."

"Oh that’s fine." I walked over to hang some of my clothes on the other side. "I just hope he does it soon! I want to get back together with him again. I really like him. No," I turned to get some more clothes. "I love him."

"Ready to go?" Brian popped his head in the room.

"Oh!" I jumped. "Brian! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear you say you love Nick, but I won’t tell if you don’t want me to."

"Thanks!" I sighed with relief.

"I’ll be out in a minute, ‘k baby?" Leigh Ann answered.

"Okay," Brian moved towards the door again. "I’ll be waiting in the hall." He shut the door behind him.

"He’s so great!" Leigh Ann gushed. "I hope you have as much luck with Nick. And don’t worry about it!" She called as she was walking towards the door. "He’ll come around!" She left me alone in the room to unpack. I finished unpacking and sat down on the bed and tried to fingure out what I should do for the rest of the day.

Knock knock!

"Come in!"

"Hey, Dani." Nick walked in and shut the door behind him. "How are you?"

"Fine. What’s up?" Nick sounded a little worried, or maybe it was nervousness, I couldn’t tell.

"Well, I have a problem." He pointed to a pimple on his forhead. "I need to cover it up because we have a photo shoot this afternoon and they said they wanted the pictures to be natural and show our personalities, but I can’t have this big zit showing!" He sat down on the bed next to me. "Will you help me?"

I laughed. "Yeah, I’ll help!" I grabbed the chair from the desk that was in the room. "Sit." He obeyed. "Now let me go get some makeup to cover that thing up with." I went into the bathroom where I had left my makeup kit and makeup bag. I grabbed both and walked back over to where Nick was still sitting.

"Is there any way that you can do it without anyone being able to tell that I have on makeup?" He asked nervously.

"Can you tell that I have a pimple on my chin?" He shook his head. "Can you tell that I’m wearing makeup over it?" He shook his head again. "Then relax and let the master go to work!"

I took my time on his blemish since I had nothing else to do and plus I liked having Nick with me. I covered it up pretty well and when I was finished, you couldn’t see anything at all.

"There!" Nick got out of the chair and moved to the mirror next to the bathroom.

"Hey! It’s gone!" He turned and gave me a big bear hug. "Thanks, Dani! Hey, after the photo shoot let’s go out and just hang, okay?"

"Okay! I don’t have anything better to do anyways!"

"I’ll meet you in the lobby at five o’clock and then we’ll go. But I have to get going. The photo shoot starts pretty soon." He gave me a quick kiss. "See ya!" He closed the door behind him and I was once again left alone with nothing to do but watch TV.

Five o’clock rolled around and Nick met me in the lobby. We went sightseeing and just hung out, but it started to get late so we came back to the hotel. We went to his hotel room since everyone else was out clubbing and Brian and Leigh Ann were still out doing who knows what.

"Let’s just watch TV in here," Nick said as he led me into his room. I made myself comfortable next to Nick on the floor leaning against the bed. "I think this hotel gets the movie channels." He flipped through the channels and we settled on watching Austin Powers.

Twenty minutes into the movie Nick said, "Hey, I’m going to get something to eat out of the little refridgerator thing. Want anything?"

"No, thanks." Nick opened up the fridge and looked around, trying to find something that he could munch on. "Hey, Dani! Look what I found!" He brought out a six pack of beer. "Catch!" He threw one at me and closed the fridge, keeping out the six pack.

"Nick! We’re not old enough to..."

"I know!" He interrupted. "But it’s not like anyone’s here to stop us. Plus, the next time we see the guys, we’ll be sober!" He opened up a bottle and took a long gulp. "Just try it!" He took another gulp as I opened up my own beer bottle.

"Hey, it’s not that bad!" I said after taking a sip. I ended up going through two and a half beers and Nick had three and a half. We split the last one. But afterwards, we were dead drunk.

"And you know what he said to her?!" I laughed out, trying to take a drink from the bottle but spilling it on me instead which made us both crack up even harder. "He- he said, ‘Cause you’re underage’!" I thought that was the funniest thing and we both cracked up, even though the joke made no sense and wasn’t even funny.

"Hey, let’s do something real fun!" Nick said, drinking the last of the bottle.

"Like what? Hey! You drank the rest of the beer!"

Nick laughed. "I know! Let’s do something crazy!"

"Like what? Go skinny dipping in the pool?" I laughed.

"No, something even crazier than that." Nick pulled his knees up to his chest and then let them fall back to the ground.

"Like what? This?" I stood up, turned off the TV, and sat down on Nick’s stomach, leaning back against his knees. He was still leaning against the bed. I leaned forward and kissed him, pressing my lips hard against his.

"Mmm, that was nice, but no, that’s still not crazy enough." He smiled and kissed me.

"Something like this." He said when he ended the kiss. He pulled off his shirt and then motioned for me to do the same and then pulled my head down towards his face and kissed me again. He put his hands on me and I ran my hands on his chest.

"Now what?" I asked when we were finished kissing.

"Shh." Was his only answer as he kissed me again. I pressed deeper and deeper into his kiss, not wanting it to end. But, to my dismay, it always did. He went back in for another kiss, this time standing up and pulling me up with him.

"Now, the bra." He pointed at my bra. If I hadn’t been so drunk I would have stopped there, but of course, I wasn’t sober enough not to stop, so I took it off. He kissed me again, this time pressing his body against mine. He moved me towards the door.

"Let’s just use this little ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign." He opened the door and I pressed against him so that nobody out there would see anything. He shut the door and turned off the lights, kissing me as he did so. He led me back over to the bed but we didn’t get in it.

"Baby, you’ve still got your pants on." I whispered through a kiss.

"So do you." He whispered back. But neither of our pants stayed on for long. I slipped into the bed, getting under the sheets, bringing Nick down with me.

"Wait," He said, and pulled his lips away from mine. I kissed his neck instead while he talked. "Do you really wanna do this?"

I answered him with a kiss on the lips.

"Do you?" I asked.

He answered me with a kiss.

And so we did.

When it was over, Nick slid his hand over my stomach and scooted closer to me. He rested his chin on my shoulder and fell asleep. I slid my arm over his, rested my head against his, and fell asleep too.

Later, I woke up and looked at the clock. The red numbers flashed 3:43 at me. Our position hadn’t changed much. I was now on my side curled up in Nick’s arms and he had his chin resting on my head now. I slid away from him, feeling more sober than I had when I fell asleep.

"I’m sorry, baby, but I have to go," I whispered, and kissed him on his forhead. I ran my hand through his hair once and turned away from the bed. I stumbled in the dark, grabbing any clothes that I could find. I pulled on a pair of shorts which happened to be mine and slipped into a shirt that was probably Nick’s since it was so big and long. I made my way to the door as quietly as I could through the dark.

"Ow!" I whispered, leaning down to see what my foot had run into. A beer bottle. "You’re what started this in the first place." All of the sudden I had an urge to use the restroom, so I made my way over there, bringing the bottle with me.

I twisted the bottle in my hands nervously as I went. "Wait," I whispered. I looked at the bottle closer and sure enough, what I had seen was true. "A non-alcoholic beverage?" I read aloud. "Then why did we act so drunk?" I didn’t have time to think about that. I finished in the bathroom and made my way to the door and ran down the hall to the room that Leigh Ann and I shared.

I burst through the door and went to the bathroom. Leigh Ann was asleep so I closed the door and turned on the light. I didn’t need to go again but I needed to look at the bottle. A non-alcoholic beverage. I guess we acted so drunk because our brain thought that was how we were supposed to act. So then we were perfectly sober when we had sex.

I turned out the light and made my way to the bed. I tried to get some sleep and resolved to think things out in the morning.

"So, Nick. I saw your ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign hanging last night and Leigh Ann told me that Dani wasn’t in the room when she got there." I stopped. I was ready to knock on the door and tell Nick what I had found out about the beer when I heard Brian talking to Nick about what happened last night.

"Yeah, she, um, slept over." Nick mumbled.

"Yeah right!" Brian’s voice was full of amusement. "Do you really expect me to think that? I see all those beer bottles laying around and not to mention, a bra!" I had forgotten to put it back on as well as underwear. I had just slipped into shorts and a shirt.

"Okay, so she did more than just spend the night." Nick paused and I guess Brian gave him a look because Nick said, "Alright! So we had sex. But I love her, Brian. I really do."

I raised my fist and knocked.

"Come in!" Nick called.

I opened the door and stepped in.

"Before you can say anything, I heard you two talking. And Nick I have something to tell you." I walked towards where Nick still lay naked under the sheets.

"I guess I’d better leave." Brian got up and walked towards the door. "I’ll see you guys later," he called, and shut the door behind him.

I picked up a beer bottle and sat down on the bed.

"Why did you leave?" Nick asked, sounding hurt.

I sat there for a second, not knowing what to say. "I don’t know. I really don’t know. I guess laying there naked with you scared me, but I really don’t know." We both sat in silence for a while.

"Do you feel uncomfortable around me now that we’ve..." His voice trailed off.

"No. I still feel the same way about you that I did before, except now the feelings are stronger. Nick I..." I was about to say "I love you" but the words just didn’t come out. "Do you feel uncomfortable around me?"

"No." He smiled and leaned on his elbow. "I still love you." I leaned down and kissed him.

"Nick," I said after the kiss ended. "Look at this bottle and tell me what you see."

Nick took the bottle from me and looked at it. "Is this some kind of trick question?" I shook my head. "Okay, I see a label."

"What does the label say?" I asked. He was almost there.

"It says.." Nick read it, then reread it, and then reread it again. "Dani, it says it’s a non-alcoholic beverage!" He finally said, just as shocked to find that out as I had been.

"So that means when we had sex we were perfectly sober. Nick, we weren’t drunk!"

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He asked.

"I don’t know," I answered, just as confused. "If we were drunk then we would have done it just because we were drunk, but if we were sober we would have done it because we loved each other." I stopped.

"So I guess that means it’s a good thing." Nick smiled. "I already knew that I loved you."

"I love you too." We kissed for a minute, then Nick ended it.

"But why were we acting so drunk?"

"I thought about that too and I finally decided on the fact that our brains know that when we drink beer, we’re supposed to get drunk, so I guess we just thought we were drunk."

"Dani, I know it’s taken me a long time to just come out and ask you, but will you get back together with me. Wait, let me rephrase that. Will you go out with me?" Nick’s cheeks flushed.

"Yes." I leaned down and kissed his nose. "But I’ve got to go. Me and Leigh Ann are going shopping today." I sat up and smiled. "I’ve earned over two hundred dollars just by baby-sitting alone, plus money from my parents and from my part-time job, so I’m really going to enjoy this little shopping trip." I got up from the bed. "So, go put on some clothes, sexy, and then maybe later we can go to the movies or something." I leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips and then turned to leave.

"Dani?" Nick called just as I was about to open the door.

"Mmm?" I turned to see him getting out from under the covers, but then he remembered he was naked so he stayed put.

"Do you think that maybe the next time something like that happens you’ll stay with me?" I smiled and walked back over to the bed. I sat down and slid my legs up ontop of the covers. I kissed Nick, this time it was a long one.

"There’s your answer." I got up from the bed again. "I hate to leave but I have to, I promised I’d go with Leigh Ann. But I also promise that we’ll do something tonight, okay?" I blew a kiss. "Bye!" I walked down the hall to my hotel room and walked in.

"Oh!" I called out in surprise. Brian was there with Leigh Ann talking about something quietly. "I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were in here." I started to close the door but Brian grabbed it and opened it up.

"It’s okay." He said, and motioned me in. "It is your room. But to tell you the truth, we were talking about you and Nick. We were just trying to guess when he would finally ask you out, after what happened and all I thought that would make him come around."

I went to the mirror and went to put on some makeup. "Well, tell me what you guys guessed and when it happens I’ll tell you who was closest." I spread some cream all over my face so my skin wouldn’t dry up.

"Well, I guessed that he would ask you in a day or two-" Leigh Ann was interrupted by Brian.

"But I thought that he would ask you today." He was sitting on Leigh Ann’s bed watching the both of us apply our makeup.

"Well, Brian," I said, looking at him in the mirror. "If you really want to know, he asked me out just now." I smiled.

"That’s great!" Leigh Ann squealed and gave me a big hug. "You two make such a cute couple!"

"Dani! That’s awesome! Maybe later we could do a double date or something." Brian gave me a hug.

"Well, you’re going to have to talk to Nick about that ‘cause we already had plans to go out but we still don’t know where. And that sounds like fun." I put on some foundation and then went over it with some loose powder.

"Okay, I’m gonna leave you two girls alone so you can finish getting ready so you can get to the mall." He got up, walked up behind Leigh Ann, rested his hands on her hips, and put his chin on her shoulder. "And I’m hoping that no guys hit on you." He kissed her cheek. "Love you. Bye, Dani." He waved and left.

"You two are so good for each other! I mean, it’s so sweet how he treats you!" I finished my eyes and started on my lips.

"I love him so much! And he’s really great." Leigh Ann had already finished her makeup and was working on her hair. "I just can’t seem to get my hair right! Do you think it looks alright?"

I turned and looked. Her hair looked great. "Leigh Ann, you’re hair looks gorgeous! I wish I had hair like yours." I had mine pulled up in a ponytail. "This is about as stylish as it gets."

"Well then, it’s settled. We’ll just have to go to a hair salon. We’ll tell the guys that we want to go somewhere formal and we’ll have a great time getting all decked out. We can even buy new dresses!" We both giggled and headed out the door.

At first we just shopped around at the little outdoor markets and headed for the outlet malls and small boutiqes. But after a while, we went to the mall and went crazy with our money. I bought nearly eveything that I liked and even found some really sexy loungeret and an amazingly beautiful dress. Leigh Ann found some really cute clothes and stuff too, but after a while we headed for the beauty salon.

I had my hair done in a bun type thing but my hair was curled in little ringlets and two slightly curled strands of hair hung down the side of my face. I had my nails done in a French manicure and got a peticure. They even gave me a free makeover since it was my first time there. When I was through, I don’t mean to sound conceited but, I looked absolutely breathtaking. And so did Leigh Ann. She had her hair done in a French braid and she had also gotten a manicure, peticure, and a free makeover.

When we got back to the hotel, we both added the final touches by slipping into our dresses and the new shoes that we also bought to match. We looked at each other and squealed. We both looked awesome.

"Wait till the guys see us!" Leigh Ann exclaimed excitedly, and just then, there was a knock on the door. We both squealed again. My stomach filled with butterflies.

"You know what this feels like?" I whispered. "The senior prom. I never got to go to mine but this has got to be what it’s like!"

We answered the door and the guys stood in front of us, also decked out. Nick and Brian were both wearing tuxedos and both had their hair done perfectly.

"Wow!" Nick breathed as he looked at me. "Dani, you look amazing!"

"So do you!" I sounded just about as in awe as he had and we both laughed.

"So, let’s go eat!" Brian held up his arm and Leigh Ann took it and Nick and I did the same.

We waltzed out of the hotel and into the street. We knew that there would be some risks about Brian and Nick walking down a New York street but we weren’t prepared for what happened.

When we rounded the corner we were bombarded by fans. They were screaming and were grabbing at Nick and Brian. I was pulled by my hair and my dress was being clawed at. Leigh Ann was also being pulled away from Brian. The boys got it worse. The fans pounced and then the boys were gone.

"Nick!" I screamed, but was drowned out by the fans. He disappeared and so did Brian.

Finally a security gaurd for the hotel came running and managed to get us ushered back into the hotel.

"How in the heck did they know we were going out tonight?!" Brian yelled, rage seeping in his voice.

"Well, they’ve been waiting outside of the hotel for you guys for hours, just so they could catch a glimpse of any of you fellas," The security gaurd answered. "I guess they saw you two and just went crazy."

"Crazy’s right!" Nick sounded just as angry.

He had all of the reason in the world to be angry. His suit had been torn and shredded, his hair was messed up and a gold chain that he had been wearing had been torn from his neck.

We all looked pretty torn up. Brian looked about as battered as Nick did. Leigh Ann had scratches all over her face and her dress was torn. Her beautiful blond hair had been pulled out of the gorgeous French braid that it once was. Her makeup was smeared and some of her jewelry, I saw, was missing.

I looked down at myself and gasped. The expensive dress that I was wearing was torn to pieces, torn so bad that in some places you could see my skin. One of my shoes was missing and so was some of my jewelry, even the bracelet that my mother had given me before I left. I lifted a hand to my hair. It had been pulled out of the bun that I had it in. I looked at my arms and saw scratches.

"Well," I said through clenched teeth, tears welling up in my eyes, tears of rage and not pain. "There goes our perfect evening." Everyone just looked at me, the look in their eyes turning from rage to sadness. I felt one tear slide down my cheek and I swiped hard at it, so hard that the slap echoed through the lobby. I was not about to cry.

"Let’s try this again," I said. Leigh Ann and I stepped out of the hotel. It had been only yesterday since we had been bombarded by the pack of frenzied fans. We were going to go shopping and try to relax.

"Well, so far so good!" Leigh Ann whispered, excitedly. We had made it around the same corner where we had first seen the fans and we were on our way to the market.

The market was in sight and we were about to reach it when someone called, "Hey!"

Leigh Ann and I both turned. We saw five tall teenage girls come walking toward us.

"I don’t like how they look." Leigh Ann whispered. "Look at the way they’re walking." I looked. I saw. They walked with attitude. When they came closer I saw how muscular they looked. I don’t know if I should say muscular or tough, probably tough, but they looked menacing.

"Hey." A tough-looking Mexican girl said, not sounding too nice. The five girls surrounded us.

"You’re those two girls we saw with Nick and Brian," Another one, this one with long black hair, sneered.

"Yeah, we are." I answered, sounding tougher than I really felt.

"Are you their girlfriends?" A short blond girl asked.

"Yeah." Leigh Ann sneered. "Gotta problem with it?"

"Yeah, we do." The Mexican chick stepped closer to us. The rest of the group did too.

"What’cha gonna do about it? Try and steal them from us?" I asked sarcastically. "Get real. You girls don’t have a chance." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Actually," Another blond one said. "We’re gonna beat you." She smiled a wicked smile. "Just for the fun of it."

Let me tell you, two girls from the suburbs against five tough girls from a big city is a bad match up. Needless to say, Leigh Ann and I got our butts beat. We were beaten up so bad that both of us went to the hospital. We both blacked out before it ended so we actually don’t know when it ended or who took us to the hospital.

"Oooh." I groaned. I opened my eyes. Everything was white. I hate hospitals. There’s something about the way the smell and about how white they look.

"Dani? Are you up?" I looked over and saw Leigh Ann laying in the bed next to mine.

"Yeah." I rolled over, but stopped when I felt a sharp pain in my side. "That’s SO maddening! We can’t go anywhere! And what did we get beat up for anyway? For going out with someone?! That’s ridiculous!" My voice was tight and shrill.

Nick stood in the doorway.

"Nick!" I was surprised to see him standing there. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Even before you woke up." He walked into the room and stood beside my bed.

"Nick, I don’t know about us anymore. You know maybe it’s just not going to work. I don’t want to get beaten up everytime that I’m seen with you." I reached for his hand.

"I know." His face was tired and sad. "I’ve been thinking about it too. Maybe we should just.." His voice trailed off.

"I know that it would be better that way but Nick," I choked on the lump in my throat. "Nick, I love you. I’ve never loved anyone like I love you." I turned away from him as I started to cry. He leaned down and hugged me in the best way he could manage. We were still hugging when Brian came in to see Leigh Ann.

"Hey guys." He greeted solemnly.

"Hey, Brian." Nick let me go and lowered his voice. "Dani, do you want to call it off?"

"No, not completely." I sighed. "Let’s just have a sort of trial period. Afterwards we’ll see if it’s really worth it." Nick nodded.

"Just for a little while." He said before leaving.

But "a little while" felt like forever. When I got back home from the trip was when our trial period started. Nick left overseas to start their 1998 tour while I stayed home with my parents.

I always go everywhere with the Boys and the time with my parents was nice, but I missed everybody. I missed having Kevin as my sort of "father figure", him being the dad of the group. I missed Howie’s friendship, having him always be there to talk to and to have fun with. I missed Brian’s humor, his jokes and his personality. He’s always there to cheer me up and he can always make me laugh with his antics. I missed AJ’s bad boy attitude. He was so fun to be around and he made me laugh too.

But most of all I missed Nick. I missed his jokes, the ones he used to play on everyone, any chance he could get. I missed the sound of his voice. Of course I had all of the Backstreet Boys CDs and I listened to those nonstop, but I missed his voice, not his singing. I missed his warmth when he hugged me and the goosebumps that he gave me when he kissed me. I missed just hanging out with him, lounging around and having fun together. To say the least, I was miserable at home.

"Dani, why don’t you get together with some of your friends and go have some fun?" My mom’s suggestion reminded me that besides the Backstreet Boys, I had no friends.

"Oh Mom!" I threw my arms around her neck and gave her a hug. "Why don’t we just go out?" I hadn’t seen my mom for a while so a night out with her seemed fun.

And it was, but I couldn’t keep my mind off of Nick. Two weeks later, I was even more miserable than I was that day when I went out with my mom. I slept later than usual and when I was up, I sat in my pajamas and watched TV.

"Dani, I hate to see you like this." My mom smoothed my greasy hair away from my face. I hadn’t really bothered to take a shower since the only thing that I see all day is the television screen.

"Dani, why don’t we-" My mom was cut short by the ringing of the telephone. "Stay right here!" Like I was going to go anywhere else.

"Oh, hi!" I heard my mom’s voice say from the kitchen. "How are you? Oh that’s great!" I figured that it was my aunt so I turned the TV volume up louder so I could drown out my mother’s voice.

"Dani! Dani!"

"What?" I muted the television and turned towards my mom who was holding out the phone.

"The phone’s for you." I got up reluctantly from the couch and walked to the phone.

"Hello." It came out more of a statement than a question.

"Dani?" Came a voice on the other end.

"Hi."

"Hey, Dani!" My heart skipped a beat. Then raced.

"Nick!" I screamed into the receiver, than burst out with hysterical laughter. "Nick! Nick I’ve missed you so much! How are you? Where are you?"

"Dani, I’ve missed you too! I’m fine and I’m in Germany right now. How have you been? I’ve been so lost. Nothing’s the same when you’re not here."

"Me too." I answered sadly. "Nick?"

"What?"

"It wasn’t worth it."

And that was all it took. By that night I had a plane ticket to Germany and I was bouncy for the last week at home.

The ride there seemed endless. All I could think about was seeing Nick again. My stomach was tied in knots and I could barely sit still through the entire ride. I was wiggling and bouncing in my seat, tapping my foot and tapping a beat on my knees. When we finally landed, the tunnel that we walked through to get to the air port seemed a mile long. Finally, I just got so anxious that I started running.

Nick had planned to meet me in the parking lot, so I was surprised to see him waiting for me at the gate. I sprinted the rest of the way, Nick was running for me too. I literally jumped into his arms and he held me so tight that I could barely breathe. I was laughing and crying in all of the excitement.

"Nick!" Was all I managed to say before he kissed me.

"Dani!" Nick exclaimed when he had broken the kiss. "I’ve missed you!" He wrapped me in a big hug. He wrapped one arm around my waist and he led me out of the tunnel. We picked up my luggage and started for the exit.

"So far so good." I leaned up gave him a quick kiss. He knew that I had meant fans.

"Dani, it’s so good to have you here!" Nick said, and just as he did a scream pierced the air.

"It’s Nick!" We heard more screams and pounding footsteps. We exchanged glances and started to run for the parking lot. I was grabbed by the shirt before I made it out of the door. I looked and saw Nick being pulled too.

Needless to say, our clothes were stretched out and ripped by the time a security guard got the girls off of us and we made it out to the car. We sat in silence, catching our breath, for a long time. It was me who finally broke the silence.

"Nick, I came down here because-"

"I know," He interrupted, and turned to face me. He put his hand under my chin and turned my face towards him. "I’m sorry, Dani. I really and seriously am. But I have no control over what happens with the fans. But Dani, I’m asking you for another chance." He dropped his hand and gripped the steering wheel. "Dani, I love you too much to let you go. Give me another chance. I’ll make it worth it." He smiled, leaned over the seat and kissed my lips softly. "Please?"

"Alright." I kissed him back.

We finally got to the hotel where the Boys were staying and stopped about a hundred yards away.

"Oh my gosh," I breathed. We had both seen it from that far away. The crowd of hundreds of screaming, cheering people surrounding the hotel. Well at least there were only a couple hundred on the side of the hotel that we saw. For all we knew there could be thousands surrounding the entire hotel.

"Nick! There’s hundreds of them!" I slumped in my seat and groaned.

Nick started up the car. "Then we’ll just have to stay at another hotel." He turned around his Dodge Durango and started driving around to find another hotel. "Here," he handed me his cell phone. "Dial this number.." I dialed in the numbers that he called out to me and pressed "Send".

"Who am I calling?" I asked, listening to the ringing of the cell phone.

"Brian’s hotel room."

"Hello?" Came a staticy voice from the other end of the line.

"Hello? Is this Brian?"

"Yeah, who’s this?" He asked uncertainly.

"Hey, B-rok, this is Dani."

"Hey! How are you? Where are you?"

"Well, me and Nick are outside of the hotel, but we’re trying to find another one to stay at. There’s just too many fans... Well anyways, I guess I just wanted you to know where we are going to be. Oh wait, Nick wants to talk, hang on." I passed the phone to Nick.

"Hey, Rok, I think we’re going to stay at this hotel. The Hilton." Nick gave Brian directions to the hotel and then said good-bye as soon as we had pulled into the hotel parking lot. Nick got my suitcase from the trunk and I carried my backpack.

"Nick, what are going to wear? You don’t have any clothes or anything here."

"I asked Brian if he could bring me my suitcase and all of my other stuff. He said he’d drop it by late tonight when there’s less people out. Late like in the middle of the night. So we can go and get me some pajamas and I’ll be set until Brian comes." We checked into the hotel, settling on one room since Nick didn’t have that much money on him. It cost more to have two beds so we just got a king size bed for the both of us.

"This is a pretty nice room for that small amount of money," Nick said when we had reached our room.

"It is." I laid my suitcase down on a chair and sat down on the bed. I bounced softly a few times and then laid down on it. "The bed is nice!"

I closed my eyes and lay there for a few moments. I opened my eyes and sat up. "What are we going to do? Do you want to try to go out?"

"Well we could go to some of the unpopulated stores or something, you know like the doozies. Or we could go to an R-rated movie. Most of the fans aren’t allowed to go into those." He smiled.

"Let’s go to the movies!" I answered. I got off of the bed and walked over to my suitcase. "Let me change first. My clothes are all wrinkly from sitting on the plane for so long." I opened up the suitcase and fished around for a comfortable shirt. I settled for a spagghetti strapped white shirt and a pair of my blue board shorts.

Nick was sitting on the bed watching TV. "If I change over here, you promise you won’t look?"

"I can’t promise that I won’t look, but I can promise that I’ll try not to look." He smiled and I shrugged. At least he was honest about it. I waited until he had turned back to the TV to take off my shirt. I was pulling it over my head and trying not to get any makeup on it when I felt Nick’s hands wrap around my waist.

"Nick!" I pulled my shirt off quickly. He pulled me in for a kiss. I kissed him back and then said, "There’s plenty of time for that at the movies, just let me get changed first."

Nick reluctantly went back to the TV and I finished getting dressed. We drove to the movies and I was so relieved to find that no fans had followed us. We had a perfect evening, complete with a romantic dinner. Once we got back to the hotel, we waited up until we heard a knock on the door.

"That’s probably Brian," Nick said, getting off the bed, leaving me still on it watching the I Love Lucy Show.

"Hey, B-rok!" Nick said, letting a very tired-looking Brian into the room.

I jumped off the bed and gave Brian a tight hug. "Ga-lee! I missed you so much!"

"Dani, you’re looking good! How are you?" Brian looked me over.

"Pretty good. How are all the guys?" I asked.

Before Brian could answer me, we heard another knock on the door. Nick walked over to answer it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The room was drowned in screams.

There was a lot of grabbing and scraping and scratching. What makes it even worse was that there was also a lot of stealing. By the time the hotel manager got everyone out, Brian, Nick and I were each pretty pissed off.

"Hey!" I was outraged. "My clothes are gone! And my makeup!" I slumped down onto the bed.

"Dani," Nick kneeled down on the floor in front of me and held me by my arms. "We can replace everything. I’m sorry you had to be mixed up in this. Again."

"Nick," I snapped, pulling away from him, ignoring the hurt look on his face. "We were already trying to replace something special. A relationship. But maybe this is just not going to work out." I turned towards the manager who was still there standing next to a very uncomfortable Brian. "I think I’m going to need a cot for tonight."

"No we’re not!" Nick looked at me, pleadingly. "Dani, just one last chance. Just one!" The look in his eyes was so sad that I couldn’t help smiling.

"Fine," I said, the edge gone from my voice. "Just one."

"I think we’re fine in here now," Nick politely dismissed the manager. He left, closing the door behind him.

"I guess, I should be leaving too." Brian walked towards the door.

"Wait!" Brian turned to look at me. "I’m sorry that you had to be here for the mobbing of the fans and that you had to hear me and Nick arguing."

"It’s okay," Brian grinned. "I’m glad you decided to give him another chance, though. You two were so meant to be together." And with that he left.

We told the manager not to bring the cot and Nick and I decided on how I could give him another chance. And now I was going to be the fan. I was going to merge into the same crowd and converse with them. Nick gave me front row tickets to their concert. And it was for tomorrow.

"So are you ready?" Nick asked, four hours before the actual concert.

"Ready!" We had decided that I would pretend to be really obsessed over the Backstreet Boys, talking non-stop about them to anybody who would listen and claim that I had front row seats, but not show them the tickets. I had to also claim that I had gotten backstage passes, and not show them those either. I don’t know why Nick didn’t want me to show anyone my passes and tickets but I just listened to his instructions. Oh yeah, I also had to be waiting until the gates opened for four hours. Pretty obsessive, huh?

Nick handed me the backstage passes and the tickets and got me settled into his brand new Dodge Durango. I could tell it was hard for him to let me drive it since it was so brand new so I gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I’ll be careful." I promised. "And you’ll get your car back in one piece." I shut the door, started the engine, and rolled down the window. Nick leaned in.

"You know where it is?" I nodded. "Okay. Be sure to remember to drive on the opposite side of the street. We’re not in the US anymore." He leaned in furthur and gave me a quick kiss. Then gave me a longer one.

"See ya!" I vroomed away and was on my way to the concert stadium.

Less than thirty minutes later, I was surrounded by a group of huge BSB fans.

"Oh my gosh!" One screamed. There was only about twenty of us, and we had all gotten to know each other pretty well. I knew a few names. I think the girl who shouted was Kristie.

"You won’t believe what I heard about Nick!" Hearing Nick’s name, I paid closer attention. "I heard that he’s going out with this really pretty girl named Diana or Danielle or Denise or Deanna... well, I don’t really remember that girl’s name but I know it started with a ‘D’."

I tried to hide the smirk on my face. Some of the girls said, "Aw man!"

I decided to act angry. "Man! I hope he breaks up with her fast! She’s probably just using him for his money." All the girls nodded.

We talked a little more about the Boys and then we talked for a long time about just plain old girl stuff. More girls arrived, a few joined in our conversation, but mainly, our "group" stayed the same.

Before we knew it, there was only two more minutes until the gate would be opened. The realization of this sent chills down my spine and a flock of butterflies swarmed through my stomach. I had heard the Backstreet Boys many times before, was there when they recorded their first album, was present during every photoshoot, music video taping, rehearsal, I had even watched several concerts. Yet every concert that I had watched was from backstage. Still I had watched during rehearsals. So was I so nervous?

Loud, shrill, excited chatter buzzed around me now. The crowd of preteen and some teenage girls started a chant of "Backstreet Boys! Backstreet Boys!" I joined in, hoping that it would calm my stomach somewhat.

"Hey," One of the girls, Sarah, from our group suddenly said to me. "Weren’t you supposed to go backstage?"

"Yeah!" I said, flashing her the pass. "But not till after the concert. It’s more like a meet and greet."

"Hey," said another, Kristie. "You told me your name, but I completly forgot. What is it again?"

At that instant, the gate was opened. The mass of girls screamed and rushed forward.

"Danielle!" I shouted over the noise.

"Somebody told me that you’re not my kind so have I lost my mind?" Nick sang perfectly while doing the dance moves. It was the opening act and, despite myself, I was jumping and screaming and basically was acting like a groupie.

The girls next to me were screaming their lungs out and taking pictures every five seconds. Okay, maybe not every five seconds but just about. I didn’t know them, but I guess they accepted me as a friend for the reason that I was a BSB fan. We screamed our lungs raw for the first few songs until Howie came out and asked us to quiet down.

I had seen it a million times before, so many times that I could pratically say Howie’s monolouge. He introduced himself and the rest of the Boys. Then went into his solo song. Through the whole thing he threw out roses. He looked at me, smiled when he recognized me, and handed me a rose. The girls that were once singing along with me now glared at me. Oh well, I thought. Go figure that I’m the one that’s lucky enough to actually date Nick Carter and know the rest of them.

We swayed through Brian’s solo, screamed through AJ’s, and danced all through Kevin’s. Soon it was the solo that I had been waiting for. My very own Nick’s solo. After Kevin left, the stage went black and the first soft melodic notes to Nick’s solo filled the now almost silent air. My heart skipped a beat and my stomach flipped. This was my Nick!

But wait! Wasn’t Nick’s solo supposed to be something else? I’ve been to his concert rehearsals and he’s never sang this song before. I’ve never even heard it.

"Open up, your heart to me." He sang softly with his eyes closed. His golden hair looked so perfect. "And say what’s on your mind." The words seemed vaguely familiar. "I know that we have been through so much pain, but I still need you in my life this time." He took the microphone out of its holder and started to make his way to the edge of the stage. There was something so familiar about the words that he was singing. "And I need you tonight. I need you right now. I know deep within my heart. It doesn’t matter if it’s wrong or right. I really need you tonight."

A chill slithered down my spine and my arms and legs were covered in goosebumps. Now I know why those words had sounded so familiar. It was the poem. The one that Nick had written me so many years before.

He was making his way slowly towards the end of the stage while singing, "I figured out what to say to you. But sometimes the words, they come out so wrong. And I know in time that you will understand

Then what we have, is so right, this time." He was directly in front of me now. He started the chorus again.

"And I need you tonight. I need you right now," he sang, motioning me to come on stage. Even I was surprised. I went to the side stairs and made my way towards Nick, and he met me in the middle.

He took my hand in his and began to sing. "All those endless times we tried to make it, last forever more. And baby I know I nee-ee-eed you," and at about that time, I started to cry. He wrapped me in his arms and finished the rest of the song.

He pulled me away from him so he could look me in the eye. "I really need you, Dani." He whispered into the microphone, and kissed me right in front of thousands of people.

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