Chapter One

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" An ear-piercing scream came from the entertainment room in the back of the Lavish tour bus.

Jane Ebanks, Tasha Nickelson, Becky Jefferson, and Michelle Taylor rushed to the back of the bus to see what had happened. They opened the entertainment room door to find their fifth group member, Melissa Gibson, sitting noiselessly on the floor, staring trance-like at the TV.

"Mel, what happened?" Tasha, the eldest of the five girls, asked her best friend.

There was silence for a while but then Melissa spoke, "We’ve been nominated for a Grammy." She said it so quietly that the other hardly heard it.

All of a sudden, she leapt up screaming, "WE’VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY!!!!"

It took all of a second for the news to finally hit the other girls and, soon, there was a huge onslaught of incredulous screaming on the bus!!

After only being out for a year, Lavish was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2001 Grammy Awards!!

---

"Guys, did you hear the news?! The girls are nominated for a Grammy!" Nick Carter called to his best friends across the room as he chatted on his cell-phone with Melissa. He smiled to himself as he saw Kev and AJ on their cell-phones as well, no-doubtedly talking to Tasha and Michelle.

It had been a little over a year since he had met his girlfriend Melissa on the Generation X-cellent tour where he and the other Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Aaron Carter, and Lavish had performed together. That had been the best four months of his life. He had completely fallen in love with Melissa from the first time he saw her.

The girls had released their self-titled debut album in the fall of 1999 and had just blown up over the US and Europe. Now they were nominated for a Grammy! This was unbelievable! A few days earlier, Nick and the other Boys had been informed that they were nominated for six Grammy’s for their newest album "Forever Yours".

Soon, the guys got off the phone with their girlfriends and sat down together. AJ grinned. "Well, this should be a very interesting Grammy’s." he commented.

---

Meanwhile, Jane and Becky had called their boyfriends, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake of *NSYNC. The guys were overjoyed to hear about the girls’ nomination. *NSYNC had been nominated as well for their new album "No Strings Attached". It was going to be fierce competition between them and the Boys at the Grammy’s but they all knew that winning wasn’t everything and everyone was cool with it.

JC echoed AJ’s thoughts when told his friends, "This is gonna be one interesting Grammy’s."

Chapter Two

While the guys were thinking of the endless possibilities of what would happen at the Grammys between the two "boy-bands," the members of Lavish were deciding on what they would wear, and fantasizing what would happen if they did win.

Everybody knew that Lavish was an awesome group, and the news was buzzing around all over the internet for those pop fans all over the world. It was favored that the award would be going to them. But the competition was tough. They were up against singers such as DoubleA, a duo of a 14-year-old male named Parker and his friend Jean, another 14-year-old; ForeverPure, consisting of 4 girls all in the ages of 14-18 named Staci, Beverly, Gabi, and Sam; and solo artist Mandy Moore, who just turned 18.

"Michelle! Get your booty off the phone with AJ already! The bill is huge enough as it is!" yelled Tasha from the front of the bus, where she was busy trying to figure out a lyric for a new song she was writing.

"Hang on! Five more minutes, I swear!" Michelle replied.

Tasha groaned inwardly and got back to her writing.

"Hey, Tash, what ya got there?" asked her friend and co-singer Becky.

"Oh, hey Becky! I'm writing a new song for the up-coming album, but I can't figure out what should go next." Tasha told her.

"Bummer. Maybe I can help. How does it go?"

"Well, the lyric I'm on goes, 'You were my strength, you were my hope...Boy'...duh-duh-duh...help."

Becky stood up and thought for a minute, til her face brightened up. "How about, 'You were my strength, you were my hope...you released the knot in my rope...Boy, tell me that you'll be here for me, tomorrow..! I know that I can't live with hu-aaaalllllllllllllllll this sorrow... Be my hope, be my strength, tell me you'll be all that again...'" sang Becky.

"Wow, Becky, that was amazing! Ya know what? You're singing that part!"

"It came from the top of my head, I don't think the rope line was too good though."

"It fits the feel of the song perfectly; it stays!" said Tasha firmly.

"So you think it's OK?" Becky questioned

"Totally! The way you belted out that lyric was nothin’ but awesome!" Tash replied, giving her a high five.

"Guys! Guys! Guys! LOOK!" screamed Melissa from the entertainment room. The others quickly rushed to the back just as before.

"What is it now?" asked Jane.

"We're...on...TV...WE'RE ON TV!"

They all tuned in as they saw themselves being talked about on MTV. "Hi guys, this is Carson Daly, and I'm here with one of the world's most hottest groups, *NSYNC! Hey guys, how's it goin’?"

"Hi Carson. Things are great. We got the Grammy’s comin’ up, "No Strings Attached" still goin’ strong, friendly competition between us and the Backstreet Boys, yeah, everything's good," answered JC.

"Speaking of the Grammy’s, I hear Lavish, the group that two of your girlfriends are in, they're nominated for a Grammy?"

"Yeah, yeah! We're all really happy for them, and I know the Backstreet Boys are as well," filled in Justin.

"The Backstreet Boys..." Joey sang theme to the Twilight Zone and screamed comically.

All the other guys laughed. "Yeah, exactly," joked Chris.

"Nah-nah! We cool with that. We're all friends, and we've gotten closer since the whole Generation X-cellent tour; it's all good," said Justin.

"Yeah...to the public eye, but what really goes on?" asked Carson mischievously.

"We beat each other up every time we meet," said Joey nonchalantly.

"I KNEW IT!" Carson cried.

"Um, O...K. Anyway, where were we?" cut in Lance.

---

Meanwhile, at the Backstreet place...

"Hey AJ! *NSYNC's on TV!" yelled Nick from his groove in front of the TV. The guys were all chilling at AJ’s house in southern Orlando.

"So?" AJ questioned from the kitchen.

"They're talking about Lavish!" was Nick’s reply.

"Why didn't you say so?" exclaimed AJ, running to the room. Unfortunately, *NSYNC just had left, and Carson was now interviewing Christina Aguilera. AJ grabbed the remote and turned it off. "What did they say?"

"Just some stuff on the girls and joking around about our little predicament at the Grammy’s."

AJ grinned. "And what a Grammy’s it will be."

They both shared a chuckle.

"I know, man. We've both been nominated for all the same categories; it's gonna be a fierce one." Nick agreed.

"I wonder what the polls on the internet will be about?" said Howie sarcastically, walking into the conversation.

Just then, the bell rang, and Kevin got up to get it. When he opened the door, his jaw literally dropped at who he saw.

"Guess who?" asked the person at the door.

"Gia! What are you doing here?" Kevin exclaimed, grabbing the young teenage girl up in his arms.

"Is that little G?" Nick asked with a playful smile and wrapped his arms around Gia.

"Nice to see you too, boys!" she laughed.

Gia was a friend of Melissa’s and had been introduced to both sets of guys some months ago. They had hit it off great and the girls had even flown Gia out to some of the shows on the Generation X-cellent tour. She was an awesome singer and song-writer; she and Mel had even written some songs over the phone on the bus.

After all the hello’s were said and done, the guys led Gia into the living room.

"You didn’t answer my question," Kev stated as he sat down, "What are you doing here?"

"I am here," began Gia, "To work on some stuff with the girls for the new album."

"But they aren’t back in FL yet." Brian told her. He and the other Boys had been off for the past three weeks and wouldn’t tour again for another two weeks. The girls were due home in three days.

"I know they aren’t here. I was hoping that you guys would help me out with this new song I’ve been working on for them. Mel and Tasha helped with the lyrics. It’s called "All To You." Here, take a look!" With that, Gia passed some sheets of music to Kevin.

The other guys clamored around and looked over what she had so far. "This is awesome, G!" AJ commented, "But you have parts written here for a guy’s voice."

"Well, that’s where you all come in. I want you guys to do a collaboration with the girls on this song. Kind of like "Music of My Heart", you know?"

"So the girls haven’t seen it yet?" was Howie’s question.

"No, they haven’t. That’s the beauty of it! They never intended for it to be a collaboration piece, but I know that they’ve wanted to do one with you guys for a while. I thought this song just fit."

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. We’ll do some work on it before the girls come home and then we’ll hop into the studio before we leave and see what it sounds like."

"Great!" Gia exclaimed, happy at the progress of her plan.

They talked for a while more and then Nick jumped up. "I’m hungry! Let’s go get somethin’ to eat, guys." he said.

Gia giggled and playfully poked his stomach. "Gaining a little weight, are we, Kaos?" she asked jokingly.

Nick gave her a semi-dirty look; he hated it when people teased him.

"I’m just kiddin’! You look fine. Besides, Fatima will trim any extra weight off you like that!" she said, snapping her fingers. Then she added under her breath. "Not to mention all the calories you burn makin’ out with Mel when she gets home."

AJ laughed. "You can say that again!"

"Oh, like you can talk! We can hardly get you and Mich to come up for air sometimes!" Nick retorted, giving his bud a playful shove as they walked out the door.

The guys all got into their cars, and Gia opted to ride with AJ in his Expedition.

Soon, they reached MacDonald’s. They had all just sat down to eat when a high-pitched voice called out, "Nick!"

Against his better judgment, Nick turned around to see a tall, brown-haired girl coming towards him. He groaned inwardly. It was Mandy Willaford.

"The LAST person I ever wanted to see." he mumbled.

Gia felt the other guys bristle up and their demeanors change. It was obvious that none of them liked Nick’s ex-girlfriend Mandy. But who would?

"Here we go," Nick sighed as she got closer the table.

Mandy ran over to their table and smiled sweetly, though giving Gia a dirty look. "Since when do you guys date 14-year-olds?" she smirked.

Gia was about to get up and show Mandy a thing or two but AJ held her down.

"Feisty too, I see." Mandy commented curtly.

"Amanda, what are you doing here?" asked Nick, gritting his teeth.

"Can't a girlfriend visit her guy, nowadays?" she asked coyly.

"Mandy, you are not my girlfriend! We called it off a long time ago! I am totally dedicated to Melissa, so just leave the rest of us alone."

"And after what you did, you expect him to welcome you with open arms? Get a clue!" added Gia, still steamed at Mandy’s remark.

"Listen, little girl, nobody was talking to you so I suggest you butt out!" shot Mandy.

"Nuh-uh, I know Miss ManDUH, or Willa, or whatever the heck her name is, did not go and call me ‘little’!" Gia started to get up once more and, this time, AJ nor the other guys tried to stop her.

"What is your problem?" Mandy asked, obviously annoyed by Gia’s presence.

"As of now, you're my problem, so I suggest you take a step and recognize." Gia retorted.

"And what are you gonna do? Bitch me to death?" was Mandy’s challenge.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to take your job." Gia replied with a sweet yet poisonous smile

The guys tried not to laugh at that comment to no avail.

"What's so funny?" asked Mandy.

"I dunno...you?" supplied Gia.

"Why, you...." Mandy raised her hand to strike Gia across the face but Howie jumped up and cut in.

"Ladies, ladies, ladies, would you please quiet it down? We're gonna be kicked out of here pretty soon!" he said, looking in the direction of the manager.

"I'll be glad to take this outside," brought up Gia, not showing the slightest trace of fear.

Mandy glared at Gia then the rest of the guys. "You're not worth my time."

"I was just about to say the same about you," Gia said, sitting back down and eating a fry.

Mandy stormed out of the MickeyD's, and the guys went to recollecting what had just happened.

"Jeez, girl, calm down!" proposed Brian, handing Gia a coke.

She looked at the guys’ shocked faces. "What?"

"What happened to our sweet little Gia?" Kevin asked.

"Please! You guys knew this girl had fire." said AJ as if it were obvious, giving her a high five.

"Thanks, Gia, but I have a feeling she won't be giving up too soon," added Nick, sighing once again.

Chapter Three

"JC! Would you please calm down!" Lance laughed as he tried to get his goofy friend under control.

"Lance, dude, we can’t help it! We go home tomorrow and I get to see Janie!" JC danced a little happy-dance, producing laughs from his friends again.

Justin just grinned as he walked around, singing quietly to himself.

"Oooo! Somebody’s thinkin’ about Becky!" Chris teased as Busta and his little brother Korea chased each other around the room, barking and yelping.

"Leave Curly alone, Chris. He’s entitled." Joey said with a smile.

Soon Lance got his friends to focus and they began practicing for their concert that night.

Suddenly, simultaneously, JC and Justin’s cell-phones rang!

"Hello?" they said.

"Hey, baby!" It was Becky!

"Hi, love!" And Jane!

Lance threw his hands up in their air with a smile. "That’s it! I hope you girls are happy! I’ll never get them to practice now!" he yelled so the girls could hear.

Jane laughed. "Did we upset Lancey-poo?" she asked JC.

"Nah! We didn’t wanna practice any more anyway." he replied. "So how’s my Jay Cee?" He called Jane "Jay Cee" because Mel had once teased them that, if they ever got married, they’d have the same initials. So, since then, they had become JC and Jay Cee.

"How’s my Becks?" Justin asked his girlfriend after he had escaped into the next room for privacy.

"I’m good, Justy? How about you?" Becky replied.

Just then, the door opened and JC started to walk in. "Sorry, dude, this room’s taken!" Justin told his friend.

JC grinned. "No prob, man!" he said and closed the door again. He wandered around backstage, holding the cell to his ear and chatting lovingly with Janie.

Suddenly, in the background, he heard someone start saying, "Janie and JC, sittin’ in a tree..." They didn’t get very far, though. There was a "Be quiet!" and a sudden "thump"!

"What was that?" JC asked Janie.

"Oh, nothing. Michelle’s being an idiot again! Melissa just tackled her."

"Go, Mel!" JC laughed.

"Yeah. All right, you guys! Get out!" Jane shooed her friends out of the room. Only when they were gone did Jane speak again. "JC, love, can you keep a secret?" she asked.

"You know I can, sweets!" he replied. This sounded serious. "What is it?"

"Well, you’ve gotta promise not to tell any of the other guys or the girls that I told you this. The girls would kill me if they found out. But I really need to talk to someone about it."

"OK, love! Go ahead."

"Well...it’s like this. Are you listening?"

"Uh-huh!" JC nodded and paid close attention to Jane as she told him her little secret. His jaw slowly dropped, but then curved up into a grin as she explained the entire thing to him.

"Oh...my...God...you didn't!" he exclaimed when she was done.

"You can't tell them yet, not ‘til the surprise." Jane reminded him.

"So, you actually got her a deal?" he asked for the millionth time.

"Yup, yup! But do you think she'll go for it?"

"Gia? Sure!"

"But she always says how all this stuff is just for fun with her. I remember when she sang Aaron's song "Have Some Fun (With the Funk)" just to prove the point," she replied, bringing up some old and fun memories.

"Oh, jeez. That was a good performance, but she didn't have to go and sing a

song to state it."

"I thought it was cute. She's so young, yet so talented!" she complimented.

"Yeah, sorta reminds me of me." JC stated with a smile.

"Haha, funny Mr. Chasez!"

"I was only playin’. She's the most adorable thing. But I think she's growing up too fast."

"Is that good or bad?" was Jane’s question.

"I think a little bit of both. But I was also referring to physically as well. I've seen how guys look at her."

"JC, love, you're not her dad. Let the girl live."

"But I was a teenage guy once, I know how the mind works." he said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, really? And how exactly does it work?" Jane asked playfully.

"Well, the average male's favorite words would be ‘sex’, ‘TV’, and ‘food’." came JC’s reply amidst laughter.

"Oh, JC...what am I going to do with you?"

"How about you kiss me?"

Jane sighed, trying to act like she was tired of doing that, and then she groaned.

"Uh....You don't want to kiss me?" JC asked, acting hurt.

"No...I’d rather do it in person than over the phone. But that will have to wait." she implied suggestively.

JC laughed. "Can't wait..."

"Anyway, not a breath to anybody, OK, love?"

"Scout's honor!" JC promised.

Meanwhile with Becky and Justin...

"Oohhh...! Don't you sound like a father?" she cooed.

"What? No, I don't," he answered defensively.

"Hey, what's wrong with being a father?"

"Nothing, it's just that this face is a little too young to be one at the time being."

"But you'd make a great one." Becky interjected.

"Are we trying to indirectly imply something to us?"

"No, we are not!" she replied curtly.

"Uh-huh. I think I like what you're not indirectly implying."

Becky giggled. "Shut up! Just stop being overprotective. AJ almost overprotected her to death!"

"Well, he IS going to be her brother when the paperwork goes through."

"I know, poor little thing..."

"Why is being with AJ bad?" Justin asked, utterly confused.

Becky couldn't help but laugh. "No! I mean, losing her family and all. It was such a horrible accident..." she murmured.

"Which reminds me, how come she didn't stay with his mom or something during the time between, the...thing? I mean, this was like, 2 months ago -- do you know where she was?" Justin asked.

"Um, actually, no. But she seems happy and is starting to act like her old self again. So just let her be." was Becky’s reply.

"Yeah, I'm sure wherever she went, it did her some good." Justin said.

"I sure hope so." his girlfriend sighed.

Chapter 4

"Hey AJ!" called Howie.

"What?" AJ called back, still thumpin’ to his music.

"Has a Hailey called or dropped by recently?" he asked hopefully.

"Hailey? Hailey, Hailey, Hailey..." he mumbled to himself, trying to think. "Um...not that I know of."

D's face fell.

"Oh! Wait! Yeah, she called a while ago, but I told her to call back ‘cause I was on the phone." AJ suddenly said.

"What?!" Howie practically screamed, "Why didn't you use your cell phone?"

"I ran dead on batteries, sorry."

Howie sighed. "Dude, did she leave a number?" he asked in one last attempt.

"Um...yeah," AJ answered, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket, "Here ya go!"

Howie took it and breathed a "Yes!"

AJ raised his eyebrow suspiciously. "D.? D.?!"

"Yeah?" Howie snapped back to reality.

"Would this Hailey be a certain someone?"

"What do you mean by a certain someone?" Howie asked, grinning broadly.

"Um, I dunno, a girlfriend maybe?" supplied AJ with a smirk.

"I don't know where we stand right now. Get back to me in about 20 minutes; if you see me on the phone still, wait ‘til I get off and then bombard me with questions, OK?"

AJ kept his grin. "All right, whatever you say D."

Howie dialed the number on the crumpled piece of paper and someone answered on the 2nd ring.

"Hello?"

Howie’s mind suddenly went blank! Finally he managed to stammer, "Uh...Is this Hailey Crowe?"

"Yes, this is she." the bright, female voice replied.

"It’s....it’s Howie Dorough. Do you remember me?"

"Of course I do! How are you, Howard?" she asked.

"I’m good, and you?" Howie smiled; it was different to hear someone besides his family call him "Howard".

"I’m great! I called earlier for you but your friend was on another call."

"Yeah, AJ. He’s a goof. Don’t mind him." Howie said.

"Is that him singing?" Hailey asked. AJ was indeed belting out Brian McKnight’s "Back At One" in the other room.

"Yes, that would be AJ." Howie laughed, "He’s a born performer, a really talented guy."

"Well, so are you." Hailey replied sweetly.

"Thanks! Listen, me and the guys are going to the opening of that new club Energy next Friday when Kev, AJ, and Nick’s girlfriends get home. Would you like to come with us?"

"Friday? Ummm...let me think."

Howie’s heart practically stopped as silence reigned on the telephone line for about ten seconds.

"Great, I don’t have to work! Sure, Howard! I’d love to go!" came Hailey’s enthusiastic reply.

Howie sighed. "Awesome!"

He and Hailey talked for a while more and then said good-bye. When Howie strolled back into the other room, AJ looked up from his sit-ups.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Howie asked, trying to act nonchalant. But his happy smile betrayed him.

"Ahhhh. I’m guessing it went well." AJ concluded, resuming his sit-ups.

Howie grinned to himself as he looked at his cell-phone. "You could say that."

Chapter 5

BRRRRRRRRRING!!

"I’m coming!" Melissa ran into the room and grabbed her cell-phone. "Hello?"

"All right! Listen to me, you little tramp! Nick was meant to be mine and I don’t care what is supposedly going on between the two of you, but there is no chance in hell that you are taking him from me! Got it? Stay away from Nick or you’re gonna get burned!" a furious female voice spat.

BANG! Melissa cringed as the receiver was slammed down in her ear.

Coming out of the bathroom, Howie spotted his friend staring at the cell-phone in her hand. "Mel? Are you OK? What happened?" he asked.

Melissa just looked at the phone, her brown eyes full of anger and fire as her grip around it tightened like a vise. "Mandy."

---

"She did WHAT???" Brian and Gia heard Nick exclaimed angrily and ducked just in time to avoid the water bottle that Nick through against the wall with all his might as he stalked into the room!

"Nick, man! Calm down! Your blood pressure’s probably through the roof!" Brian warned his friend, "What’s wrong?" Soon he and Gia got the whole story as Nick relayed what Howie had told him of Mel’s call from Mandy.

Mel had refused to tell Nick herself because she didn’t want him mad, but Howie thought his friend should know what Mandy was doing.

Nick’s ice-blue eyes flashed fire as he slammed his fist down on the table furiously. "She can’t do this! Mandy is NOT going to ruin things between Mel and I! I won’t let her!"

He grabbed his cell-phone and quickly started dialing.

Gia started to worry when she realized who he was calling. "Whoa, Nick. Maybe this isn’t a good idea right now. Why not wait until..."

"Back off, G!" Nick cried, pulling away from her, "This has gone too far already."

Startled by their friend’s behavior, Brian and Gia could do nothing but just stand by as Nick listened to the phone ring once....twice....

"Hello?"

"Mandy...."

"Oh..." she faltered but recovered quickly. "Hi, Nicky!" she replied.

"Don't you dare 'Hi, Nicky' me!" he yelled.

"Why, baby, what's wrong?" she asked sweetly.

"You know damn well what's wrong!"

"Oh I guess you heard about my earlier call, huh?"

"Look, Mandy, you come within 500 yards of me, my family, my friends, Melissa, or her friends and family, and—well, let's just say you won't be happy with the outcome."

"What are you gonna do? Stick that little twerp on me?" she asked sarcastically.

"No, I don't want you to get hurt...bad."

She was shocked and appalled by his remark. Her nostrils flared in anger. "Be careful what you say or that little darling of yours won't be in very good condition. Either of them, for that matter."

"You stay away from them! I already have a restraining order from you. Come near Gia or Mel and you're dead, you got it?!" he screamed.

"Oh, calm down, boy. I just wanna have a little fun," she stated.

"Just keep the hell away from me and everyone else!" he shouted into the phone.

Mandy said a few last words before she hung up, "Watch out’ boy, I'm comin’ for you..."

Nick slammed down the phone and walked over to Melissa, who came into the room when she heard the yelling. "Nicky, what’s goin’ on?"

"I'm so sorry, baby. I won't let her come near you," he promised, embracing her tightly.

She graciously returned it. "It’s OK, love."

"Don't worry, I got cha back. You hold, and I'll punch," piped Gia, trying to lighten the mood.

The others laughed.

"Maybe you and Mel should spend some down time together. Just the two of you," suggestion Brian.

"Yeah, that would be nice," hinted Melissa.

Nick nodded. "Totally."

In unison, Brian and Gia started singing "Just The Two Of Us" by Will Smith. "Just the two of us...we can make it if we try! Just the two of us...! For the sake of you and I..."

"That's about a dad and his kid!" interrupted Melissa with a smile

They both shrugged. "It seemed to fit."

Nick and Mel rolled their eyes.

"Ooh...y'all so compatible. I remember this one time, when I was dating...never mind who he was. Anyway, we kept doing everything in unison, it was so eerie!" Gia commented

"Who was this guy?" asked Nick in a brotherly tone.

"No one, I swear!"

"Does no one have a name?" he persisted.

"OK, Godly, it was Danny from No Authority, OK?"

"He's 19 years old now!" Brian and Nick screamed.

Gia shrugged, "So? He's only like...3 years older than me."

"Are you still going out with him?"

She looked down at the ground.

"Gia?"

"Um, yeah..."

"GIA!" they scolded.

Mel mouthed 'Oh, please!' and laughed. "Come on, guys! Give the girl a break! He’s cute!"

"It's no deal." Gia agreed.

"Yes, it is a deal! A VERY big deal!"

"Mel, please, please take your guy away from here!" G pleaded.

"What about Brian?"

"Have you seen Tyke or Litty Leigh anywhere?" Gia brought up.

"You didn't." Brian said.

"Better go find them. Round one of Hide-n-Go-Seek!" said G in a sing-song voice.

Rok groaned and left the room.

"OK, buh-bye!" With that Gia skipped off behind him.

Melissa led Nick out to the balcony and the two began to talk.

"Mel, I’m really sorry about Mandy. I regret ever getting involved with her in the first place. She’s been nothing but a royal pain in the butt since the beginning." he sighed.

"Then why did you stay with her even though she treated you so badly?" Mel asked candidly.

"Well, it’s kinda hard to explain..." Nick let his voice trail off.

Melissa turned to him with a gentle smile. "Try me," she said.

Nick took a deep breath and began. "I guess I stayed with her because, in some weird way, I felt special when she was around. Like I’d found something that was missing, like I’d accomplished something. Forever I’ve been little single baby Nicky. Now that I had a girlfriend, I felt like I’d finally grown up in a way. She was awesome at first but soon that illusion disappeared. She got worse and worse as time went by and, every time I’d start to break up with her, she’d go into this whole "I thought you loved me-you were just using me" crap, when in fact it was the other way around. I was just too blind to see it. I didn’t want to see it. I wanted to believe that there was actually someone who would love me for me."

Mel nodded, seeing what he was getting at.

"But," Nick went on, "I did find what I was looking for eventually." He slipped an arm around Melissa’s waist and drew her close. "I found you."

Mel smiled up at him and touched his cheek gently, letting her long slender fingers trace his jawline.

Nick’s heart leapt up inside him! That was how he wanted to be touched: with love, true love. Leaning down, he touched his lips softly to hers.

Mel circled her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. She determined within herself that, as long as they were together, he would never feel unloved or used.

---

CRASH!!! Mrs. Willaford jumped as she heard glass breaking in the living room! "Amanda! What is going on?" She hurried into the next room. She saw Mandy standing over a magazine that lay underneath a broken vase. The magazine was shredded, undoubtedly by the letter-opener Mandy held in her right hand. Looking closer, Mrs. Willaford saw that the page had been a picture of Nick and Melissa together at the MTV Video Music Awards a few weeks ago.

Mrs. Willaford crossed her arms over her chest. "Things not going the way you’d like?" she questioned her daughter.

"He’s not giving up, Mom. I thought I’d have broken him by now." Mandy growled, throwing herself into an easy chair.

Now Mrs. Willaford was as ruthless and selfish as her daughter and would gladly have moved Heaven and Earth to get Mandy back with Nick. There were just too many advantages to being the mother of a girlfriend of one of the Backstreet Boys. She glanced over at the 5x5 big screen TV that they had taken from Nick when he had broken up with Mandy a year and a half ago.

"I want that little tramp and her squirt friend out of my hair permanently!" Mandy seethed, clenching her fist. "But how?"

Silence reigned for a while, but then Mrs. Willaford smiled. "I have an idea, sweetheart..."

"Why, Mother! You want to kidnap the little girl?" asked Mandy, pretending to be shocked as her mom revealed her plan.

Mrs. Willaford nodded, smiling evilly. Amanda soon joined her, and they worked up a plan to capture Gia.