*At the other hotel*
Brian made his way into his room, trying not to trip over any of Nick’s things and saw that he wasn’t in there so he decided to go check AJ’s room to see if they were still there. He walked down the hall and knocked on AJ’s door. He heard the TV and figured they were there. He heard someone running to the door and saw AJ swing it open.
“Hey man! Nice to see you again.” AJ said with a smile.
“Have you guys been here all day?” Brian asked as he made his way in the room.
“No we went out and got some food. We were going to go out and doing something else but then a whole mob of girls came and we practically had to run for our lives.” Nick answered.
“Oh, sorry I missed it.” Brian said stifling a laugh.
“Oh yeah we decided to go to dinner at six instead is that ok with you?” Kevin asked.
“Oh sure. Do you mind if Teresa comes along?”
“Yeah that would be fine. I don’t think Howie is coming along. He’s still got a hangover.”
“Well then I have to go give her a call. She thought it was for seven.” Brian turned around and left the room, going back to his. He slid the key card in the door almost five times before he could get it to work.
Once inside, he grabbed the phone from off the table and dragged it out to the balcony, the cord almost didn’t make it that far. He sat down in a chair and put his feet up on the edge and dialed Teresa’s number. After about two rings she picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey it’s Brian.”
“Oh hey Brian.”
“I wanted to let you know that the guys wanted to go out at six instead of seven.”
“Oh ok I should be ready by then. How about I just meet you in your lobby this time instead of you coming here.”
“That would be fine.” He answered.
“Hey I can see you.” She said out of nowhere.
“Oh can you?”
“Yeah, look one floor up at my hotel, and two rooms to your right.”
Brian did as he was told and there she was, one floor up and two rooms to the right standing on her balcony waving.
“That’s a nice thing to know.” She laughed. “I have to get ready I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye.”
Brian hung up the phone and gave her a quick wave before she walked back into her room. He walked back into his room and took his time getting ready. An hour passed by, making it six. He started wondering why the guys weren’t pounding on his door. Just after he finished that thought, sure enough someone was knocking on his door. He grabbed his room key and stuck it in his pocket and walked to the door and opened it, revealing only AJ, Nick, and Kevin.
“I take it Howie doesn’t want to come?” Brian said as he closed the door behind him.
“Nope.” Nick answered simply.
“So where’s this girl of yours?” AJ asked.
“Is that all you’re ever worried about?” asked Kevin.
“Yes. Is that a problem?” He didn’t wait for him to answer and went right to his next question. “Does she have a sister?”
The guys all rolled their eyes and started walking down the hall.
“Or maybe a friend.”
They didn’t give him an answer and he just continued talking.
“A cousin? Come on guys!”
They started laughing.
“You just don’t give up.” Nick laughed.
Once they got to the first floor, Brian started looking for Teresa. He found her sitting on a couch looking off into space. He started walking toward her, with the guys following behind him.
“Hey.” He said when he was only a few feet away. She jumped, startled. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Oh sorry I was just thinking. Hi.” Her cheeks grew pink in embarrassment.
~Great way to make a first impression.~ she thought to herself.
“Well I guess I should introduce you to my friends here. This is Nick, AJ, and Kevin.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” She said with a smile. She gave each of them a hug and then went to Brian’s side.
“Sorry Howie couldn’t be here. He’s feeling a little under the weather I guess you could say.”
“Well let’s get going shall we?” Nick said. “I’m starving.”
They all agreed and walked out of front doors. Kevin knew of some restaurant that was supposed to have really good food and he wanted to go there so the others followed behind him, not sure where to go. They all wanted to walk instead of having to take a cab, and they certainly didn’t want to take their limo because that would bring too much attention. They all kind of spread out a little bit to make it a little less obvious that they were there. Kevin and AJ were off at least ten feet in front of Nick, Brian, and Teresa who brought up the rear.
“So Teresa how do you like the whole music business?” Nick asked trying to make conversation.
“I absolutely love it. This is something I’ve been wanting to do my whole life.” She answered.
“I’ve listened to a few of your songs. You really have a great voice.”
“Why thank you. And I’d have to add that yours isn’t all that bad. But, sorry to say, I like Brian’s a little more.” She teased.
“That’s not all of Brian’s you like.” Nick said under his breath.
Brian heard him and kicked him in the back of his leg.
“Hey they’re walking into that building up there.” Brian pointed out.
They walked a little faster to catch up with the other two and manage to catch up to them once they got inside the building.
Chapter 6
They were seated in a table at the back of the restaurant. The whole dinner went really well, the guys really seemed to like Teresa, which made Brian happy. A few times Teresa managed to find Brian’s hand under the table. Nick noticed but managed to bite his tongue. Brian had a really good feeling about Teresa. He had a feeling her would be with her more than just this week. After they were all finished with their meals and swapping stories about almost everything, it was already nine o’clock. They headed back to the hotel and once they got to theirs, they said their good-byes to Teresa and Brian walked her back to her room.
“Thank you. I had such a good night.” She said with a smile across her face. He was beginning to wonder if she smiled in her sleep since she smiled so much. That thought brought a smile to his face.
“Well thank you for coming.”
Before he could say anything else, she slowly got closer to him and closed the gap between them, giving him a kiss. She finally pulled away from him and backed away.
“Good night.” She said softly. She tried opening her door and couldn’t. She looked up at the number on the door.
“Brian, we’re on the wrong floor.”
They both started laughing and then walked back to the elevator.
“We’re on the floor under mine.” She paused. “You’re the one that hit the button on the elevator.”
“Oops.” Was all he said.
They took the elevator up to the next floor and he walked her to her actual room and she gave him a shorter kiss. She went to unlock her door and it opened.
“We have a winner.” She laughed. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye.”
----------
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and Brian and Teresa were still together. Teresa’s fame grew bigger and she was planning a tour of her own that was to start within the next two months. She and Brian had grown very close but haven’t seen each other very much. They kept in touch by phone and occasional letters. If they both had vacations at the same time they would spend them together but it usually didn’t happen very often and they would only get to spend at least two weeks at a time together. The Backstreet Boys were taking a break for at least a month so they could see their families and let them know that they weren’t dead or anything. Teresa was able to get the same month off so she could spend her time with Brian before she went on tour.
“Hey baby!” she exclaimed as ran out of the terminal, and then dodging people as she ran into the airport in Orlando. She stopped just before running in to him and then wrapped her arms around his neck bringing him into a hug. It didn’t last too long, she could tell that people were staring and she wasn’t really up for running away from a mob of people. She got out of his grasp and looked at him.
“I’ve missed you.” Brian said while playing with a few strands of her hair.
“I’ve missed you too. Come on let’s go get my stuff and then we can be alone.”
They started walking toward baggage claim talking about what’s been going on in their lives since the last time they were able to actually have a real conversation. Once Brian got her suitcase for her, they headed out to the parking garage to his car.
“You know, for a girl you really pack light.” Brian said as he put the suitcase in the trunk.
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
Brian smiled. “Yeah you could say that.”
She shook her head and started walking around the car to the passenger side door.
“Hold it!” Brian said. He ran around before she could reach for the handle and he opened the door for her.
“Why Mr. Littrell! You are such a gentleman!”
“I try.”
She got in the car and he closed the door for her and ran back on the other side to get in. He drove out of the garage and sped down the highway toward his house. Teresa actually lived in South Carolina so they’d take turns staying at each other’s houses. Within about a half-hour, Brian pulled in his driveway. He made sure that she stayed in the car so he could get the door for her. She was beginning to really like this treatment. He hadn’t done any of the before but she decided not to ask, but to just enjoy it all.
Once they were inside the door, Brian took her in his arms and gave her a long kiss. She pulled away and pulled him into a hug.
“I’ve been waiting too long to do that.” He said while breathing in her hair.
“You’re telling me.” She replied. “So what are our plans for today?”
“I don’t know, catch up on our lives maybe?”
“Ok I’m fine with that.”
They migrated into the living room and curled up on the couch together to talk.
“So the tour was fine?” he asked.
“Yeah it was great. One of the concerts is going to be on the Disney channel sometime and they’re actually going to put me on there too.”
Chapter 7
Teresa continued to talk about everything that was going on from the first time she heard her single on the radio to when people started recognize her. He found that in some points he wasn’t even listening to her. He just loved hearing her voice and looking into her beautiful green eyes.
“And to top it all off, I’m going to be on TRL next month!” she was all excited now and noticed that she didn’t have his full attention. “Earth to Brian!” she waved her hand in front of his face.
“What? Oh TRL huh? That’ll be great! I’ll try and watch it.”
“You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I just love having you here with me. That’s all. It’s so much better than talking to you on the phone.”
He leaned over and kissed her lightly.
“So what about you? What’s going on in the wonderful world of Brian?”
“Well, you pretty much know everything. The tour went great. We’re going to be recording another album soon. Oh yeah and AJ has another girlfriend who he claims to be the one. But we all know that she’ll end up being the girl of the month and he’ll move on. Come to think of it, it’s already been a month.”
“Wow maybe he’s serious about this one! I think I’m going to have to talk to him.” Teresa said. She had been getting really close with AJ. He was so much fun to be around. When she needed a break from everything she would call him up and they would go on a huge shopping spree and buy out a whole mall. He had a fetish with sunglasses, she had a fetish with shoes, so they would help each other out by finding the perfect pair of sunglasses or the perfect pair of shoes.
She got up to get the phone.
“You’re going to call him now?” asked Brian.
“Yeah I haven’t talked to him in so long I have to see how he’s doing.” She answered. “That is unless you don’t want me to.”
“Oh no go ahead.” He paused. “Well why don’t we just go over there?”
“That’s even better.” She took about three strides and was face to face with Brian. “Thank you.” And with that she gave him a long deep kiss.
Once they broke apart, Brian took a deep breath.
“No, thank you.” He smiled and she laughed at him because it was so goofy.
“Come on Goofball let’s go.” She took his hand and pulled him to the front door.
It took twenty minutes before they got to AJ’s house. Brian pulled up alongside the house since they couldn’t pull into the driveway due to the fact that all of AJ’s cars were parked there.
“Think he’s home?” Teresa asked.
“I don’t know there’s so many cars I can’t tell if there’s one missing.”
“Well let’s find out.” She got out of the car and Brian followed behind her to the door. She rang the doorbell and heard barking that came from at least four dogs.
“Be quite!” they could hear AJ yell.
They both looked at each other.
“He’s home.” They both said in unison.
The door opened to reveal a skinny body covered in tattoos. Once he realized who it was, he grew a big smile on his face and pulled Teresa into a hug while picking her up at the same time.
“How are you doing?” he asked after he put her down.
“I’m doing great now that I’m with my two favorite men!” she answered. “How have you been?”
“Oh I’m hangin’ in there. You guys wanna come in?”
They shook their heads and AJ moved out of the way to let them in.
“Hey Rok.” AJ greeted as Brian made his way in the door.
“Hey J.”
They all sat around talking for awhile until Teresa couldn’t take it anymore. She just had to ask about his girlfriend.
“So AJ I hear that you’re seeing someone now.”
AJ smiled a smile that Teresa’s never seen before. Brian has and knew exactly what AJ was thinking.
“Yeah she’s great.” AJ replied. “She’s so different from the rest you know? And I know this girl isn’t after my fame either. It took me months to get her to go out with me. I really love this girl.”
“Watch out, AJ said the L word.” Brian joked.
“What’s her name?” Teresa asked,
“Whitney. She’s just so perfect for me I can’t even explain how I really feel about her. And I've already gotten heat out of the guys about how we’ve been dating longer then I’ve dated any of my other girlfriends. I think this one’s a keeper.”
“Well I think I’m going to have to meet this girl. You know, give her my approval.” Teresa joked.
“Actually she’s coming over today. She should be here any minute.”
“Well I’m glad you found someone.”
After a few more minutes, the doorbell rang. AJ’s face lit up.
“That should be her.”
He got up to get the door.
“Man he must really love this girl.” Brian said. “I’ve never seen him talk about someone like that before. And when you mentioned her, jeez I don’t think he’d be able to smile any bigger than he did.”
“He’s so lucky to find someone like that.”
“I’m lucky to have found someone like you.”
Teresa blushed and Brian let out a soft laugh and then moved in to give her a kiss.
“Hey none of that in my house.” AJ said as he entered the room with his arm wrapped around Whitney’s waist.
“Guys this is the love of my life Whitney. Whitney this is Teresa, she’s like the sister I never had. And you know Brian.”
“Hi.” Whitney said shyly. “It’s really nice to meet you Teresa. And it’s nice to see you again Brian.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.” Teresa replied. “Ok AJ, Brian, out of the room. Girltalk.”
The guys looked at each other and shrugged. Brian got up but not before giving Teresa a kiss on the cheek.
Teresa was really protective when it came to AJ and the girls he’s dated. In the short time she’s known him, she’s seen him get hurt more times than she ever would in a lifetime and she was tired of the girls who were after his money.
“So you’re the girl who stole AJ’s heart.” Teresa said.
“Yeah I guess you could say that. But it’s an even trade.” Whitney answered a little worried as to where this was going.
“What do you mean?” Teresa asked puzzled.
“I took his and he took mine.” Whitney blushed after she said it. Teresa smiled and nodded.
“You should see the way his face lights up when someone says your name. You are one lucky person.”
“Yeah, I really love him. And I love the other guys too. They are all great. I’ve known them before I started dating AJ. I’m a friend of Nick’s, that’s how I met the rest of the guys. But AJ kept putting his moves on me and I didn’t exactly know what I should do and it took a really long time before I would even go out on a date with him.” She paused for a minute and looked up from the floor to Teresa. She saw a reassuring smile spread across Teresa’s face and she knew she could continue.
“I know why you want to talk to me and I’m ok with it. I do it to Nick’s girlfriends all the time. Trying to figure out if I’m just using him or something. I just want you to know that I love that man sitting in the next room and I wouldn’t do anything intentionally to hurt him.”
Teresa’s smile grew wider. “Whitney, I think we’re going to be great friends.”
“You know I’d really like that.”
“Are you two finished in here?” Brian asked as he and AJ slowly made their way back in the room.
“Yeah for the moment.” Whitney answered.
“Baby we should get going.” Brian said.
“All right.” She got up from the couch and gave Whitney a quick hug. “I’ll be seeing you soon I hope.” She then made her way to AJ and gave him big hug. “Stay out of trouble.”
“Yes mom.” He joked.
“And treat this one right! She’s a good catch. Don’t mess it up.” She teased.
“That would be the last thing I’d do.”
“Just making sure.”
“See you two later.” Brian said while leading Teresa out the door.
Chapter 8
*Two Weeks Later*
With the love that Teresa and Brian had, they didn’t think anything could come between them. But just one day could start to change that.
“Brian!” Teresa yelled as she darted into the front door of the house. “Brian are you here!?”
“Yeah I’m right here.” He said as he walked down the staircase. “What is it?”
“Look at this!” she said with anger in her voice.
She held the tabloids up in his face for him to see. He took it out of her hands and read the cover story title.
“Singer Teresa Stephans Uses Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell to Jumpstart Career.” He read out loud. He looked up at her seeing the hurt and anger in her eyes.
“That’s not all. Look at this one.” She said. She held up another one. “Page three.”
“Singer Teresa Stephans seems to be getting around. Not only is she dating Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell, but seems to be very ‘Friendly’ with other Backstreet Boy member AJ McLean….” Brian stopped reading and threw the magazine on the table. “Why are you reading this crap?” he asked.
“Because I seem to be the talk of every journalist out there!”
“But none of this stuff is true! They’ve done this to the guys and I plenty of times. No one actually believes that this stuff is true.”
Teresa sighed. “Brian you weren’t there when I saw those. Some of the people around me were just standing there glaring at me like I was some horrible person. There are pictures in there that makes it look like the whole story is true. I almost believe it when I read it. What does that say about the public.”
“That they believe anything they read and not what you really say. But that isn’t everyone Teresa.” There was a short silence between the two of them. They just stood there looking at each other.
“This really sucks.” She finally said.
“That’s the price of fame darlin’. You just need to be more careful when you’re out in the public eye now.”
She moved in and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly and he wrapped his around her neck and kissed the top of her head.
“What would I do without you?” she asked after breathing in the smell of his cologne.
About another two weeks have past since the first time Teresa saw her picture plastered on every tabloid from there to Timbuktu. The headlines died down a bit but they weren’t over. There were still stories about her saying that she lip-syncs and she hires someone to record her songs for her. There were more about her and Brian and after awhile, she just couldn’t take them anymore. Every time she and Brian would go out, the next day there would be a story about it and it would be completely false.
She wasn’t completely hated however. There have been magazines and a lot of fan mail saying that she really isn’t all that bad and that she really does sing her own songs. Teresa just seemed to be looking more at the bad things that were said about her than the good things.
Chapters 9-12
Chapters 1-4
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