Some weird techno music was playing as they entered the club. AJ was immediately dancing away. Nick scanned the crowd for the other guys. He saw Howie and Kevin at a table in the corner. He waved and smiled down at her. "Howie and Kev's over there."
She smiled softly, "Kay." And they headed over there.
Kevin stood up and hugged her, "Hey Lesh. Nice to see you again."
"Hey Kevin. Thanks for inviting me." Alesha smiled at Howie. "Hello D. Nice to see you again."
He stared at her, eyes wide. He finally stood up and hugged her and whispered in her ear, "You look beautiful." She blushed at the compliment and hugged him back. "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden started as they slowly pulled apart.
He had a strange look in his eyes, but before she could put a finger on it Nick pulled her away. "Leshangel. I want to dance." So he took her on the floor and they slow-danced very closely. Howie was soon forgotten as Nick had her laughing with another of his crazy alien stories.
The song ended and they went back to the table to see that Brian and Leighanne were sitting there chatting with AJ. Kevin had left already, having previous plans with some friends of his. Howie was dancing away with a cute blonde on the other side of the club.
"Hey Darlin'," Brian said in his soft southern drawl, getting up and hugging her and kissing her softly on the cheek. "You're right," he whispered to her softly, "shoulda kept my big nose outta the way. Ya'll are cute together." Alesha laughed and sat down next to Nick. Brian introduced her to Leighanne. "Leah, this is Alesha, Nick's...girlfriend?" he asked looking at Nick, who just grinned. "Girlfriend, then. Lesh, this is my baby, Leighanne."
"Nice to meet you," Alesha said softly, uncomfortable under the ice-cold scrutiny of Leighanne's stare.
"Mmmm..." Leighanne said pursing her lips and she looked at Nick. "Where'd you find HER?"
Alesha looked down at the table, then at Nick, "I'm going to get something to drink. Want anything?"
"Nah, I'm okay," he said shooting a confused look at Leighanne.
"Kay, I'll be right back," she said getting up and walking to the bar. She ordered an icewater with lime and sat down to watch the crowd.
Howie seen her and walked over. "Hey you," he smiled.
"Hi," she said grinning at him. "What're you doing over here? Don't you have some beautiful young vixen swooning all over you?"
Howie grinned, "Sure. Plenty of them. But alas," he said putting his hand over his heart, "they left me."
Alesha laughed, "Aww...poor D. Oooohhh!! Dance with me, please?" she asked as they DJ started playing "The Girl on TV" by LFO.
He chuckled, "I don't know the moves."
"I'll show you," she said grinning. She loved LFO and had learned all the steps to all their dances, just as she knew all the steps to ALL of her favorite bands. She quickly showed him the basic steps knowing he'd catch on to the rest.
"Where'd you learn to dance like that?" he asked as they walked back to the bar.
She shrugged, "All started with Loverboy."
"Loverboy?" he asked confused.
She laughed, "Yeah. You know, the band...Loverboy. Their song "Loving Every Minute of It"? Me and my cousin use to dance to it all the time. Then of course, there was all the wonderful teen pop idols of my childhood: Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Paula Abdual, New Kids, Perfect Gentleman, Bell Biv Devoe, Bobby Brown..."
Howie laughed, "A music lover, eh?"
"Oh yeah," she said with a wink. "Helped get me through most of my life." Sighing she looked over at the table where Nick sad fidgeting with a paper napkin and looking around nervously. "I guess I'd better get back to the others."
"I'll walk you over," Howie said.
"Okay," she smiled at him.
They walked back over to the table. "Look who I found sitting all alone," Howie said with a wink.
"Not too alone," Leighanne smirked. "Ya'll seemed to be having fun on the dance floor."
Howie grinned, "She was showing me the steps to that LFO song. Man Nick," he said, "your lil lady can MOVE."
"I'm sure she can," Leighanne murmured taking a sip of her soda.
"What the hell?" Alesha asked suddenly. "What have I done to you? I don't even know you. What is your PROBLEM?"
Leighanne's eyes grew wide, "Temper temper. Must come with the hair color. You do move quickly don't you?"
"Excuse me?" Alesha asked confused.
"Here today, gone tomorrow. Back two weeks later and sleeping with Nicky." She clucked her tongue in disapproval and shook her head. "And now hanging all over Howard. What IS one to think?"
"Excuse me?" Alesha repeated.
"Oh, you know you want him, too. Tell me you don't. A woman knows these things."
"Well, you'd better have a sex check lady, because I do NOT want Howie. I want Nick," Alesha said as Nick slid his arm around her.
"What is your problem Leah?" AJ asked.
Leighanne glared at him, "Oh shut up Alex. You wouldn't understand. It's a woman issue."
"Is that it?" Alesha asked finally understanding the problem. "I'm stepping into your territory? You're the "Queen of Backstreet" how could I forget," Alesha said referring to the title of an article a teen magazine had wrote about Leighanne. "You think I'm going to steal your limelight. God how superficial you are." Alesha looked at Brian, "And you were worried about ME?" Brian looked down at the table. Leighanne looked like she wanted to scratch Alesha's eyes out. "Forget it. I'm leaving," Alesha said as she ran out of the club.
This particular club was situated in the center of a strip of clubs, shops, and various eating establishments along the beach. Alesha walked down to the beach and stood staring out at the water. The waves were as choppy and troubled as her mind. Sighing, she started slowly walking, singing "Don't Want To Lose You Now".
o~/I never thought that I would lose my mind/That I could control this/Never thought that I'd be left behind/That I was stronger than you/Baby/Girl if only I knew what I've done/You know/So why don't you tell me/And I/I would bring down the moon and the sun/To show how much I care//Don't want to lose you now/Baby/I know we can win this/Don't want to lose you now/No,no/Or ever again//I've got this feeling/You're not gonna stay/It's burning within me/The fear of losing/Of slipping away/Just keeps getting closer/Baby/Whatever reason to leave that I've had/My place was always beside you/And I/Wish that I didn't need you so bad/Your face/Just won't go away//Don't want to lose you now/Baby/I know we can win this/Don't want to lose you now/No,no/Or ever again//~o
Nick walked up behind her and put his arms around her and started singing softly with her.
o~/Don't want to lose to loneliness/Girl I know we can win/Don't want to lose to emptiness/Oh no/Never again/
"Hey sweetie," he said softly.
"Hey," she mumbled leaning against him.
"I'm sorry about that, baby. I don't know what's wrong with her. She's usually a really sweet person."
"She doesn't want to give up being the solo girl of the Backstreet Boys. I can understand. It's a prime position." Alesha smiled. "I'll just have to let her know that I'm not here because I want any type of title."
"You're not?" Nick grinned. "Not even "Alesha Blacketer, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter's, girlfriend?"
"Nick who? I thought I was dating Nick Carter. They adorable guy who came all the way to Daytona Beach from Tampa so I could fix his mother's watch." Alesha sighed. "I try not to think about you being in a band. Do you want to know why? Because if I think about that then I have to think about you leaving me in about a week. I have to think of you being gone for a long long time. Then I have to think about will you want to come back to me when you get home. As selfish it sounds, I don't want to have to think about sharing you with the rest of the world. That's something I wasn't prepared to deal with at the mall, it's something I'm not sure I'm prepared to deal with now."
Nick looked at her confused, "Are you saying that you don't want to deal with me and my career? Are you saying that you want to end this now?"
Shaking her head and looking at him, the tears shining in her eyes. "No baby. That isn't what I'm saying. That isn't what I'm saying at all. God. I'm just saying that I don't like to think about you as a pop superstar. That isn't who you are to me. You're Nick...MY Nick. That other Nick," she said softly, "the one that gets on stage and sings and dances to thousands of adoring fans...that is the Nick that I have to share with the world. And as much as I love that Nick as well, he's not MY Nick. He's the worlds Nick."
"I'll always be your Nick...be it the mallrat Nick or Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys. I'm still yours...all yours...always," he said softly kissing her gently.
They started heading back to the club when they ran into Brian. He was headed over to them, walking quickly. "Hey guys," he said smiling softly. "I just wanted to catch you before Leah and I left. Alesha, hon, I'm so sorry about earlier. I don't know what came over her."
"It's okay Bri. I'm gonna work on making it better. I'm gonna try to be her friend. I don't want to put you through the terrible ordeal of your girlfriend hating your best friend's girlfriend," Alesha smiled at him.
"Thank you Lesh," he said hugging her. "I have to go. Leah's waiting."
He waved goodbye and walked off. Nick put his arm around Alesha and they walked back in the club. "You don't really want Howie, do you Lesh?" he asked quietly as they walked over to the table.
"What?" she looked at him. "No," she shook her head slowly glancing over where Howie was laughing at something AJ said. "No, baby. I don't," she smiled up at Nick.
"Good," he said kissing her on top of her head. When they walked up to the table Nick looked at AJ and said, "Bone, we're ready to go."
"Here," AJ said throwing Nick his keys. "D'll take me home. Right?"
Howie nodded, "No problem. AJ has his eye on that brunette over in the corner. I'm telling him to go over there and talk to her, but he won't. We're gonna see how this plays out."
Alesha and Nick laughed. "See you two later," Nick said as they waved to the guys and walked out of the club and got in AJ's truck. "Time to take you home so you can go to sleep. You have work tomorrow."
Alesha groaned. "Work. Bleah..." she stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes.
Nick laughed, "You are too cute. Too cute."
