Chris watched the Meet & Greet in awe. She was sitting next to Julia, whispering to her the entire time. "Just look at the way the guys handle the fans...sheesh, there goes the girl with Brian..." The women watched as a 14 year old girl stopped dead in her tracks in front of Brian and let out an ear-splitting scream, staring at him. Brian couldn't help but laugh and pulled the girl into his arms for a hug. He handed her off to her friend, shaking and in a daze, with a kind smile.
"You know you've done the same thing in the past, Chris, don't act like you're better than them." Julia said firmly.
"I know, Jules, I remember full well screaming in Joey McIntyre's face. It just feels different. Joey was 15 for one thing, I remember I was so concerned because I was 11 months older than him or something like that. Not in my mid twenties."
"The fans are the same age as we were."
"Yeah. I just can't imagine how it must feel to Kevin, or any of them, really, to have teenagers dropping like this...I mean, look at Nick..." She pointed as yet another girl burst into tears when Nick hugged her.
"They get used to it, I guess," Julia shrugged. "You'd be amazed how well they take it all, well, you'll see soon enough. This kind of stuff just doesn't have any visible effect on them anymore."
"You girls should get out to your seats before the opening act finishes," Allen, head of security for the tour, came over to warn us. "Fans are going to figure out who you two are soon enough, you might as well enjoy your privacy while it lasts."
Chris and Julia nodded. The first episode of the show would air in 4 days. Chris would be on camera in it, her anonymity would be over. Right now only the most hard core of MTV watchers recognized her, she'd been on camera for maybe 5 minutes a day for the last few years, blink and you'd miss her. Backstreet Boys fans everywhere would see her now.
They headed out to their seats, pleasantly surprised to find themselves sitting in the front row. A short wait later, a bang, and the show started.
Chris found herself dancing around despite her attempts to act 'professional', knowing full well cameras were on her, and giggling and whispering with Julia about how cute the guys looked.
When AJ's solo came up, Chris and Julia both sat, mouths hanging open, as he was good to his word truly seduced the audience with his song and his body...they were mesmerized by his hips, swinging... thrusting...
As he made his way off stage, Julia giggled, "I need a cigarette. And my god...it's amazon man again..." she grinned as Kevin danced onto the stage.
Chris wanted to watch more of AJ. She laughed at herself and looked up at Kevin, gyrating on stage. "They're all so amazing," she whispered to Julia. "They are so NOT 5 normal guys."
Julia just nodded, eyes glued to the stage.
And then Nick came out to sing "I Need You Tonight." Chris didn't remember hearing Nick sing, just one minute he was singing, and the next she had tears pouring down her face.
"You ok, Chris?" Julia shook Chris.
She looked at her friend, startled by the moisture on her face, "oh, sheesh..." she wiped her eyes, looking at Nick dancing on stage. "His voice...the emotion in it..."
Julia nodded, looking back towards the stage.. "He has an incredible voice."
"...and the lyrics...just brought up a lot, I guess." Chris said softly, watching Nick's every move, not wanting to miss a thing.
The girls stood, mesmerized, until the concert ended. Spell broken, Julia headed back out to the production truck, and Chris went backstage to join the guys.
"So? You want me?" Chris felt someone spin her around and looked up at AJ.
Chris just took a deep breath, looking AJ up and down. "Can't mix work with pleasure, sorry baby."
AJ laughed and kissed Chris' cheek. "Can't blame a man for tryin."
"Great show," she hugged him tight. "It was truly incredible."
"I'm glad ya liked it." He led her into the reception area, where the other guys were gathered. "We gonna go out tonight!" He howled as he walked into the room, arms up in the air.
"I dunno, I'm feeling pretty beat," Nick was sitting in a chair in the corner, his blond hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. He held a water bottle to his face, cooling his cheeks. "I just wanna shower and bed. And maybe some dreamcast..."
"I'm up." Howie nodded his assent, as did Kevin.
"Brian? Chris?" AJ looked at the two of them.
"I'm beat, sorry," Chris shook her head. "I'm just going to grab some dinner somewhere and go to bed, I think."
"Dinner, where?" Nick's ears perked up.
********************************************************
Day in the Life Of... Day Four
"Jesus, what time is it?" Chris squinted at the digital clock across the room, her eyes unable to focus after staring at the TV for so long.
"2 or so, I think" Nick offered as his team sacked her team's quarterback. They'd been playing NFL2k for 3 hours or so, whenever it was that Brian had left. They'd ordered up a room service dinner and reruns of Buffy on TV, which had served as adequate entertainment for the night.
"I ever mention I hate football games?" Chris muttered.
"A few times, I think," he laughed, and looked over at her. "Why are you hanging out with me?" He asked.
Chris looked at him, startled by the question. "What do you mean?"
"You're like, well, doing a job here. This isn't part of it.." he gestured to the tv, to her lying on her stomach.
She sat up, looking down at him. God, he was so beautiful lying out like that, his perfect features making way to a long, lean body, she shook her head. Bad thoughts. "I'm having fun, for one thing."
"I thought you said you hate football games." He retorted.
"What about just the pleasure of your company?" she teased.
Nick sighed and rolled onto his back. "Been a while since anybody was much interested in that."
"I sincerely doubt that, Nick..."
"Why, because I'm Nick Carter?" He put his arms behind his head and stretched. "That's not real."
"This is real?" The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she'd said.
He abruptly sat up and glared at her. "I'd thought it was, guess I was wrong..."
"Wait, I didn't mean the way that sounded," she quickly stammered, "I just mean...how is the other stuff fake, you know? Isn't a friend a friend?"
"You'd think, right? People change once your name means something...." he started gathering the dreamcast parts and shoving them onto the floor for the night. "You'll find out soon enough."
"Yeah, I guess I will." Chris slid to the side of the bed, stood up and stretched, yawning. "I should let you get to sleep."
"I hope it doesn't change you." Nick looked up at her, blue eyes full of sincerity.
"You won't let it, right?" She looked at him and her heart went out to him. She was learning Nick had many moments like this...when he looked so unimaginably young and innocent that you just wanted to comfort and protect him. Then you'd pull back and realize he was an adult, and...well, that's where the bad thoughts would come in.
"Naw, 'course not." He smiled and stood up.
Chris hugged Nick tight, trying not to concentrate on how nice she felt in his arms, how comfortable. "Sleep well."
"You too." He walked her to the door, and she went to her room, where she did sleep well.
**************************************
"Have fun last night, did you?" Julia slid into a seat next to Chris, who was watching a photo shoot that involved the Backstreet Boys, 2 models, and a can of whipped cream, somehow.
Chris looked at Julia, "What are you talking about?"
"You and little Nicky...I saw this morning," Julia grinned. "Man, the tension in that room.."
"You're imagining things," Chris smacked her friend playfully. "As you said, little Nicky. I'd never even think of it...we were just hanging out."
"Well, it's good to see that the two of you get along. He talks to Brian some, but doesn't really seem to have anyone he can totally confide in, unlike the other guys, who all seem to call someone."
"How's the show looking?"
"Great...we're cutting a promo with some of the footage of you and Nick last night along with some b-roll we got at the concert.."
"Oh no you don't.." Chris raised her voice and was hushed by one of the photographers' assistants nearby. "You know what that's going to look like.."
"Of COURSE I know what it's going to look like. We want ratings, don't we?" Julia smiled. "Nicky lying on his bed with another girlie, that'll do it."
"Julia, I'm telling you no. Use it on the show, but do not tease with that bit. It sends the wrong impression, and we swore we'd tell the truth."
"So what should we tease with??"
"Something that appropriately describes the show as it is so far. Me meeting the guys, them first seeing the cameras, I understand Nick and Howie dug for their cameras their first night...show some of that, first night with the cameras kinda thing, the Nicky incident in the water, some of the guys goofing around, some of your fan b-roll, the guys traveling, you know what to tease with. We'll start with the confessions next week, if you need voice-over for this episode, just let me know."
"That might be a good idea, we'll see how the rough cut looks. I think I may be able to get enough voice off of your conversations with Nick, and the one the guys had in the airport before leaving for LA. I'll know better tomorrow."
Chris watched as AJ unloaded the can of whipped cream on Nick's head, prompting Nick to turn and tackle the smaller man, throwing them both to the ground. "Yeah, they're not boys, sure.." she laughed.
Julia watched, eyes wide for a second, before breaking her trance and looking to see where her camera crews were. "Please god tell me we're getting this."
"I see 3 crews here, and that photographer's still snapping away." Chris pointed out, as Howie grabbed AJ's foot and yanked him away from Nick.
Julia pulled out her little camera and walked over to take some footage of Brian and Kevin calmly watching the others fight, smiles on both of their faces.
Howie made a fuss of negotiating a truce between AJ and Nick, the two hugged, and the show was over. The models had run far away when the guys started fighting, and were watching, waiting to see what would happen next.
"We done?" Nick flicked some whipped cream at the camera, grinning.
"No, get back into makeup. I need solo shots." The photographer replied gruffly. He knew he'd just gotten some great shots, but he didn't appreciate the wasted hour while Nick and AJ got whipped cream out of their hair and changed.
Chris watched, amazed at how genuine all of the guys were. That was probably the best way to describe what she had been seeing for the past few days...it was just...genuine. The goofy nature of the guys that the fans adored...was real. Kevin the father figure...AJ the sex nut...Nick the slightly slower, angrier younger brother to them all...it was all very real. She gave a start as her cellphone vibrated against her hip, and, waving to Julia as she left, headed out the door to the street. Once outside, she flipped the phone open, "Hello?"
"Chris, Mike Riley. How are the Backstreet Boys?"
"Oh, quite entertaining." Chris laughed, as she dug in her purse for a cigarette. "What's up?"
"You have an appointment tomorrow afternoon. Photo shoot with the guys, sorry," he said quickly, anticipating her reaction.
Chris sat down on the curb, lighting her cigarette, carefully phrasing her reply. "A photo shoot for what."
"Publicity photos."
"What publicity?"
"Chris, don't be an ass, you're going to be a star of a series on MTV. What did you think was going to happen?"
Chris sighed. "I'm a supporting character."
"I'm not going to listen to any more of this." Mike said sternly. "You know the business. You'll be doing interviews just like the guys are, soon enough."
"Don't go there."
"You'll see. So tomorrow at 4, Julia has the details. Just stick with the guys, they'll be heading there too."
"Right." Chris hung up the phone just as AJ walked outside, lighting a cigarette before his body was fully out the door.
"Aaah, nicotine." He inhaled, before spotting Chris sitting on the curb and joining her.
"What's up, beautiful?"
"I'm doing a photo shoot with you guys tomorrow."
AJ laughed, "oh, this will be fun."
Chris looked at AJ. "How do you feel about them, the constant photo shoots, people always wanting your picture? I've done, I dunno, a handful of them, always hated them."
AJ shrugged. "They're not so bad, it all really depends on the photographer. I've had a lot of fun at them before, goofing around."
"I saw," Chris grinned.
"Yeah, Nicky and stuff." He smoked in silence for a minute, then, "It's all part of the job."
"Yeah.
"And as for people always wanting my picture...who wouldn't love this face!" he shouted to the rooftops.
"I knew I'd find you out here," Brian walked out, his hair wet.
"What'd they do to you? I thought you were whipped cream free?" AJ looked at his friend in shock, standing up.
"My solo shot." He frowned. "I hate that cheesecake crap."
"Call it shit man, won't kill you." AJ patted Brian on the back. "And it's beefcake, not cheesecake."
"Whatever. I don't like it." He looked at Chris. "You smoke too?"
She smiled meekly, "yeah."
Brian shook his head. "I won't bother with the speech,"
"Thank you," Chris said softly.
"I'm out of here, I'll see you guys at the Arena later, I got some shopping to do." Brian waved to his bodyguard and walked off towards the parking lot.
"Cya man" AJ called after him.
"Beefcake?" Chris raised an eyebrow, looking at AJ.
"Yeah. The sexy wet come hither shit." He nodded. "Nick looking angry, Brian looking sweet, each of us has our thing. Dunno how it happened, just kind of did."
"Gotta admit, most boy bands can't do sexy."
AJ growled and glared at her. "We're not.."
"I know" she raised her hands, laughing. "I'm just teasing you."
"Yeah, well."
"But it's interesting. You guys are classified as a boy band, yet, look at you. None of you are exactly childlike, maybe Nick used to be, but jesus, in some of your videos?"
"You like?" He grinned.
She shrugged. "A bit overboard, but definitely eye candy for teenagers, Kevin pouring water over his naked body, the sex faces...."
"Aah, Quit Playing Games With My Heart. Can't stand that video."
Chris laughed. "I love it, I'm sure most women do. But I can see why you guys don't like it."
"It's just not who we are."
"I know. That's what I want to show the world."
*********************************************************
Chris and Julia took their seats at the concert, same seats as the night before, right in the front row.
"How many times do you think we're going to watch the show before we get sick of it?" Julia whispered to Chris as they waited for the show to start.
Chris shook her head. "I have no idea...I'm sure we're going to find out, though."
"I think once we have a week or so of concert b-roll, I'm going to set the cameras on an individual guy for a week. Follow Kevin through each show, every day, every angle for a week...we'll have an interesting side-by-side of the ways the show changes from day to day."
"Great idea," Chris smiled. "Do a montage of AJ's pelvic thrusts."
"Only if we want to melt television sets around the globe," Julia laughed.
"Jules....you're not planning on using the footage of us here last night, are you?" Chris asked cautiously.
"Just a little," she replied, "and mostly you, your voice. One shot of you watching Nick, I HAD to Chris..."
"Oh please, don't..."
Julia looked at Chris. "You know you can overrule me, but I'm telling you, for the sake of the show, leave it in. You look so sweet, watching him with tears on your face, and we're not showing more than 3-5 seconds or so."
"Yeah, alright." She looked up as the lights flashed off, and the screams began. "And another show begins.." Chris whispered.
They both tried a bit better to control themselves than they had the night before, but weren't overwhelmingly successful. After the show was over, Chris once again headed backstage, while Julia ran off to oversee the first show's editing...they had 48 hours until they had to show it to the guys.
"Have fun?" Howie asked as he spotted Chris walking into the reception area.
Chris smiled, "Loved it. I think 9 months of watching this is going to be just fine with me."
Howie laughed and hugged her, "Good, hate to think we were torturing you every night."
Everyone in the room stopped and looked up as AJ flew into the room and once again announced he was going out. He looked around the room as everyone gave their yes or no, until he got to Chris. "Coming out, baby?"
She couldn't help the blush that started as she shook her head no. "I have to go back to the hotel and get some work done, unfortunately."
"You EVER gonna come party with me?" He made across the room and started dancing around her.
Chris laughed and shook her hips a little. "I promise, once we get into a routine with the show, I'll party."
"Aight, I'm keeping you to that." AJ kissed her cheek and ran off, with Brian, Howie and Kevin in tow.
She looked up and saw Nick was still in the room. "Not going out?"
He shrugged. "Naw. I haven't been feeling so good, I wanna take it easy."
"Back to the hotel, then?" Chris gestured towards the door.
"Yah, we out." The two gathered up the security guards and cameras, and made their way to the limo waiting in the basement garage.
"Fans had blocked the exit when AJ and crew tried to get out," Nick's security guard Toby, turned around from the front seat to warn them. "I sent someone ahead to clear the way, but it might be a slight wait."
Chris saw Nick wince as the screams from outside were heard inside the car. "Are you ok?"
"Just a headache," he mumbled, staring out the window into space.
"Ok.." Chris pulled out her palm pilot and went over her schedule for tomorrow.
Tomorrow night she'd be editing with Julia, seeing her show for the first time. "So, I'm doing a photo shoot with you guys tomorrow."
"Really?" Nick barely said the word, his face still against the window..
"Yeah, PR for the show."
No response.
Chris gave up and sat clicking through her pilot until they reached the hotel. The two made their way into the service elevator without much incident, and parted on their floor to go to sleep.
Back in her room, Chris pulled out her laptop and started replying to e-mail she'd been ignoring. Press contacts begging for confirmation of the rumor, MTV's PR Department requesting a one-sheet on the show, friends she'd forgotten to tell she was leaving town.
"Hotties in LA." Nick grumbled as he got back to his room, turning the TV on. He flopped down on the bed and flicked around, frustrated with the lack of choices. "Where are the fucking hotties, huh Brian." He felt his cell phone under his back and groaned. "No damn hotties because Nicky's alone in his room, idiot." Pulling out the phone, he called his friends to find out where they were.
Kevin made his way back into the hotel, sleepy after the full meal they'd all had at some fancy restaurant Howie had heard about. The rest of the guys were heading out to a club, where Nick was to join them, apparently, but he was beat. Walking past Chris' room, he noticed the light was on, and knocked.
Chris opened the door, dressed in a pair of extremely oversized flannel pajamas and big floppy Mickey Mouse slippers. Kevin burst into laughter at the sight of her, "you always wear that to bed?"
Chris laughed and looked at her outfit, embarrassed. "Well, yeah..." she waved Kevin into the room and shut the door behind him, following him into the room. "I hate being in hotel rooms, and I'm always cold in them, so, yeah, these are my travel pj's."
"Very attractive." He finished his laughter fit and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Been working?" He looked at her laptop pointedly.
"Yeah, I had really been neglecting some stuff just hanging out with you guys."
"So how do you like us so far?" Kevin asked, all seriousness. "Was this a horrible idea?"
"No, not at all!" Chris exclaimed. "Exactly the opposite, this was an incredible idea. The more I see you guys, the more I don't know if we could, or should ever do this with another group. But with the 5 of you, the dynamics between all of you, and the strength of you as individuals, it's going to be fantastic."
"You have good stuff for the first episode?"
"No question." Chris nodded. "I should be able to show you guys a promo tomorrow, and you know you'll see the first episode in 2 days."
"Cool." Kevin stood up to leave. "Just wanted to make sure everything was ok, you're getting along with everyone?"
"Oh god yes, you guys couldn't be any more accommodating, I know this has got to be hard for you," she reassured him. "I can't imagine this going any better than it has, so far," she laughed and knocked on the dresser. "Knock wood, of course."
"Of course." He smiled. "Have a good night."
"You too." Chris locked the door behind Kevin and went to sleep.
A Day in the Life Of Day Five
"Chris!" Julia ran up to her, breathless, as she opened the door to the production truck.
"Hey! I was just coming to see you, got a promo for me?"
"Yeah, but I need to put some stuff in," she grinned. "AJ, Howie and Nick had fun last night."
"Oh really?" Chris looked at Julia, smiling. "And just what did they do?"
"Went to some club, got drunk, danced with all these women. The girls they were dancing with, what twits, believed the guys were part of the Real World after they saw the MTV stickers on the cameras."
"Just danced?" Chris asked, smirk on her face. "You wouldn't be grinning like this unless you got something else on tape."
"Yeah, Nick." Julia's smile grew larger. "Well, AJ was making out with some girl too, but Nick got pretty hot and heavy."
"We really want to air this, Julia?" Chris couldn't help but wonder who the girls were, what their names were, where they were now...and she was NOT going to think about how lucky the girls were...
"Definitely. You'll see what happened, it's actually kinda sweet. You end up feeling sorry for Nick...poor guy."
"Sweet." The disbelief dripped off of her voice. "How are one night stands sweet?"
"He didn't do it, that's why...he threw her out." Julia's voice fell. "Good thing the girl thought he was on the Real World, the fans outside asked her if she'd seen Nick as she was leaving. Idiot said no."
Chris chuckled. "He knows how to pick them. I've told the guys all to talk to you if they don't want anything aired, so I guess now you wait to see if he tells you to pull it."
"I'm thinking he might not, given the way it turned out." Julia jumped up the stairs to the truck. "I promised you a promo...."
*****************************************
"So why'd you bring her back here, Frack?"
"I dunno." Nick was lying flat on his back on his bed, a pot of coffee on the nightstand quickly being consumed in gulps. "I was lonely, I guess."
"But you threw her out."
"It wasn't right. I couldn't talk to her."
Brian laughed and punched Nick lightly, "that's pretty much what happens when you're drunk, and you pick up a girl who's drunk, and you lie about who you are..."
"Yeah, but she wouldn't have been herself if I told the truth."
"Nick, do you really think it would have made that much of a difference on this girl's personality?"
He stared at the ceiling before answering. "No. But how else am I gonna meet anyone....I shouldn't have broken up with Mandy..."
"Don't go through this again." Brian cut him off before he could go any further. "You don't stay with a girl because you're scared to look for another one, we've been through this. And 'specially not a girl like...that." he spit out his final word.
Nick bit his lip and started counting ceiling titles.
"Nick."
"You don't understand, Bri, you have Leighanne."
"I didn't always have Leighanne, Nick, of course I understand what it's like."
"I hate touring."
"No you don't." Brian stood up. "Although we have to go, photo shoot."
Nick sat up in bed and ran his hands through his hair. "Another one?" He grinned, "more whipped cream?"
"We'll see, Nicky,"
******************************************************
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