Not so long ago, Nick Lachey used to stake out a spot on the roof of a parking lot garage across from L.A.'s famed Shrine Auditorium to watch his favorite stars arrive from the Grammys and the American Music Awards. Theses Days, as a singer with pop sensation 98*, the 25-year-old's got a much better view. Wit the AMAs just one day away, he and the rest of the group - Nick's younger brother Drew Lachey (pronounced Le-SHAY), 22; Jeff Timmons, 25; and Justin Jeffre, 26 - are in the back of a stretch limo, heading to the Shrine for a rehearsal for the awards show. "I used to go to USC, which is right across the street," recalls Nick, who also used to deliver chinese food in this same neighborhood. "So it's kind of weird years later to come back and be [performing] in the Shrine. It's come full circle, and that's pretty cool." 

Starting To Sizzle 
Full Circle and then some, considering the band's recent rise - both on the charts and in the hearts of fans. With a plantium single ("Because Of You"), at press time, a soon-to-be-plantium album (98 Degress and Rising), a tour in the works, and a Grammy nomination (for their Mulan soundtrack hit "True To Your Heart" with stevie wonder), it's no wonder that AMA's executive prducer Dick Clark invited the group to appear in his star-packed show. 

But the Ohio-born foursome's popularity extends well beyond their primary young, female fan base to include their contemporaries - and even the compitition. As the clean-cut quartet strolls into Shrine, fellow popsters 'N Sync - rehearsing their own part for the AMAs - suddenly break into chorus of "Because Of You." Says Jeff, 98*'s foundering member, "We've been friends since we went on tour with them in England about a year and a half ago. They're very down-to-earth, very talented guys." Just thin night before, three members from 98* stopped in for a backstage visit after 'N Sync's performance at L.A.'s Universal Amphitheatre. "We were all in their, just chilling," recalls 'N Sync's JC Chasez. "The fact of the matter is, we can all be friends. You know, we're above that kind of simplemindedness." 

But as much as 98* may connect with their supposed rivals, they consider themselves a breed apart from the average boy band. Refer to them as such and they'll be sure to set you straight. For starters, We're not the greatest dancers," admits Justin (their show dosen't featre a lot of complicated choreography). Instead, they're a male vocal-harmony group, "like Boyz II Men," says Drew. "That's who we modeled ourselves after." Unlike "N Sync or Backstreet, theres no teenage heartthob in 98*'s midst: All four members - who went for a sophisticated suited-up look at the AMAs - are in their twenties. And there was no enterprising manager around to pull them together. They formed the group themselves in 1995, after a mutual friend introduced Jeff and Nick. Nick then recruited his brother Drew and longtime friend Justin. 

"They're balladeers," sais their manager, Paris D'Jon, who discovered the group singing together backstage at a Boyz II Men concert in 1995. Within months, 98* has a deal with Motown Records. In concert, sais Paris, the act is "more emotional, more theatrical" - not unlike his former client. singer Montell Jordan. "You would go to a Montell show abd people would actually cry during some of the songs," he says. 

Real Romeos 
That emotional honesty sets them apart offstage as well. Not only do two of the guys in the group have girlfriends, they're willing to admit it. (What they wont do, however, is reveal any names, for privacy's sake.) "When we first started, our old label really didnt want anybody to know [if] we had girlfriends," say Jeff. "They thought it would take away our teen audience - like, if all of us sudden were taken, girls wouldn't buy the records anymore. Taht's not just the case. I mean, we'v had girlfriends. We're real guys and romantic guys." 

He's not kidding. After hours of AMAs rehearsal and an endless photo shoot, Jeff still remembers to buy the object of his affection a huge bouquet of flowers for their one-year anniversery. :This girl is very special to me, and i absolutely love her with all my heart," he says. Amd while the relationship was stop-and-go for a bit, Jeff now says he hopes someday to marry the 19-year-old Southern Californian. "And I want her to have my childeren," he adds. "That's something im proud of, and i dont wan't to hide it." 

His mom, homemaker Trish Timmons, says that Jeff hass always been the "sensitive" son. (The singer has an older brother, Michael, 29, as well as a younger sister, Tina, 24; dad James is a vice president at a computer company). "Jeff was going with a girl in high school - he really liked this girl," recalls Trish. When they broke up, she recounts, "He cried. He didn't go out with anyone for a while. He said his heart was really broken." 

Nick endured his share of the heart-break too. This past year, he split for good with his on-again, off-again girl-friend of almost eight years. "When you're with somebody that long, they become noninterchangeable part of your life, like your right arm," he says. But he is dating again, even though he says that he's hesitant to get physically involved with just anyone. "Some people are able to have aone-night stand and say, 'okay, that's it,' and they walk away," says Nick, "For me, if I'm intimate with somebody like that, I can't just walk away from it. I'm emotionally involved at thins point." 

But with such a crazy schedule, in which he begins almost every ay in a new city, how does Nick manage to find potential love matches? Sometimes, he needs to look no further than his fans. If a girl at his show caught his eye, "I would try to find a way to meet her," he says. "She could end up being your wife one day - you never know!" 

Sweet Dreamers 
Justin is currently a single guy as well, and he concedes that for him, life on the road can get a little lonely. "When i see [Jeff] with his girlfriend, or even when [I] hear a song," he says, "sometimes it will trigger that memory of maybe an old, old girlfriend, or somebody [I've dated], and I'm like, 'Man, I wish I coulb be around her.'" 

Drew, the youngest member of the band, actually does have a specail someone who he can reach out to whan he's on tour, but he dosen't want to talk about her just now. Instead, the former Army combat medic (he once saved a woman's life aboard a commercial jet) says that his current priority is to stay focused on his career goals, which include winning a Grammy. "I've actually had dreams about walking down the aisle, about who i would thank," he says. "I could see my family at home watching it on TV." 

For almost all of the group, home is still back with their families in Cincinnati. Only Jeff has moved away, to Orange County, Calif., to be near his parents. (They left Massillon, Ohio, for the West Coast last year when his father moved for work.) When the and's in Californina, they'll sometimes hang out at Jeff's parents' place - the location for TEEN PEOPLE's photo shoot - to grab a home-cooked meal and watch a little football. 

The band has practically become a family itslef. Drew can easily remember the first time that he felt as if he had three brothers, not just one. "Six months after I'd been in the group, we were hangin out in a restaurant, and some guy started picking a fihgt with me," he says. "Of corse, Nick was there and stood up for me. But then Justin stepped in too - and Justin isn't a fighter in any way. The Jeff came out of the bathroom and saw the three of us engaged in a situation, and without hesitating, he was in there. It wa a bad situation, but it united us." 

The bond won't be easily broken. "Even if the group [eventually] breaks up, it's had a dramatic effect on all four of our lives and who we are as people," says Drew as their limousine drives away from the theatre following the AMAs rehearsal. "98* has occupied our entire lives for the last three years, and hopefully, it will for years to come."