Chapter 29: Boys and Belches

February 14th, 1997

“Hey, look what day it is,” Howie said as he glanced at the calendar on the bus’s wall.

“A Wednesday?” Kevin guessed without looking up from the book he was reading at the table. Nick sat across from him, bored, pulling at a rubber band that was on his finger and thumb and let it go, causing it to slap against his palm.

“No,”–AJ leaned over Howie’s shoulder–“It’s Valentine’s Day.” AJ exchanged a look at Howie before they both turned to look right at Nick. Nick was too busy pulling back the rubber band to pay attention to them. Only when Brian let out a scream of pain when the rubber band hit his neck did Nick laugh and turn to look at the two, his smile instantly fading.

“What?” He asked.

“You know what you have to do,” Howie replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

Nick blanched. “I…I don’t want to,” he muttered, looking at his hands, acting like the young boy he could be sometimes.

“Why the hell not?” AJ demanded, glaring at him.

“It’s…it’s not fair to her,” he replied, slowly. “Kev and Bri will back me up on this,” he added, looking at them desperately.

“He’s right, we’re dealing with someone’s emotions here,” Kevin said, finally putting down his book. “It’s not fair for her or for Nick.”

“And it’s not fair that Johnny decided to abandon us and take on that new group! It’s not fair that they are riding on our coattails whenever we turn down an appearance. And it’s definitely not fair that we’re being left on the backburner! All’s fair in war and business,” AJ growled, slapping his palm against the wall of the bus. The others must’ve been used to it because they didn’t jump, didn’t even flinch. “They’re taking over our territory, what we worked hard for and I’m not going to stand for that! Now, do it unless you want to be kicked out of this band!”

“You can’t kick me out!” Nick said, jumping to his feet and standing in front of AJ. Nick was only one inch taller than the other but it felt like he was towering over him. “I’m not going to mess with her feelings just because you’re insecure!”

AJ merely stared at him. “You like her, don’t you?”

Nick blinked. “No! I don’t even know her!”

“So what does it matter if a heart gets trampled in the process?” AJ asked stoically. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Call her,” he ordered.

“I don’t have her number,” Nick replied.

AJ pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, not taking his eyes off of Nick. “Got it from Johnny. Now call her.” He held the paper out to her but Nick didn’t budge. AJ smiled a small, sadistic smile. “If you don’t I’ll just get Lou over here and–”

At the mention of Lou’s name Nick’s hands flew out, grabbing the phone and the paper, and he rushed off to the back lounge. Howie laughed and slapped AJ on the back while Kevin and Brian sighed.

“What?” AJ snapped.

“Nothing,” The cousins replied in unison.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“Where are we now?”

“Don’t you pay attention to anything at all?”

“Everything looks like a blur we’re moving so fast.”

Mack sighed as she listened to Lance and Chris start to argue. It seemed like that’s all they were doing lately. Since their tour kicked off two weeks ago it seemed like tension was rising between them and she was caught in the middle. Justin seemed to snap at JC almost every time he opened his mouth, Lance would jump down Chris’s throat for not being serious, and so on. It must’ve been the close quarters, she decided, they haven’t been stuck with each other this long ever.

Johnny seemed to have caught on as well because he had to stop a few fights before they started over something as simple as eaten food or a book that had been moved to sit down. Seriously! JC went ballistic when Justin moved his Diary––correction––“Thought Journal”. And she thought girls were bad.

What was worse was that her mother called her every night just to check in and make sure she was ok or if she needed anything. She saw through it in a second. She could tell that her mother was grasping at strings that she didn’t have. Her father, on the other hand, didn’t talk to her much which made her worried, especially because of the role-reversal. Her father used to call her all the time jus to hear her voice, even just to tell her she got a letter in the mail. Now she barely caught him. She didn’t want to believe what her mother said but maybe she was right…?

She was pulled out of her thoughts when her phone started ringing. Her eyebrows slid together at the number she didn’t recognize. JC looked at her, tearing his eyes away from the game that Justin and Joey were currently engrossed in. She ignored it and tossed it onto the couch. Probably her dad calling from some random hotel or something. Her mother said he was traveling lately…

“Hey Space Cadet.”

A soft voice brought her back to reality. She blinked and looked over at JC, smiling slightly. “That’s the name I use for you. You can’t give me that one.”

“I figured it called for it because of the circumstances,” he replied, shrugging. “What would you rather me call you?”

“Uh, my name?”

“No, you need a special name. Like, Munchkin, or Shrimp, or Smallfry or–” he stopped when she threw a pillow at him. He caught it easily and lightly tossed it back.

“I can see where this is going,” she grumbled.

JC looked shocked. “What, no comebacks? No smartass remarks? Nothing?” She shrugged. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s not wrong?” She replied, glumly, propping up her head on her palm and let out a little sigh. She turned her attention to the TV, chuckling a bit when Joey and Justin made a mistake in the game they were playing as they cursed under their breaths.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked quietly. She shook her head. She turned her attention to Little J and Oreo who had jumped onto her lap and licked at her free hand. “You can’t just keep avoiding this…”

“I’m not avoiding anything,” she said, scooping her dogs into her arms and standing. “Do you think the driver will let us stop somewhere for a bit? I need to walk these guys.” Without waiting for an answer she left the back lounge and closed the door behind her.

“Geeze, I hope she perks up by tonight or else the surprise will be ruined,” Justin muttered.

“Justin you can’t just expect her to be fine with the way her parents are dealing with their marriage,” Joey commented, not taking his eyes off of the screen. “You know you’re being kinda selfish.”

Justin paused the game with a jab of his thumb. “How the hell am I being selfish? I didn’t even do anything.”

“All you care about is the party you’ve planned. You don’t even care about what she’s doing trough. I mean, you know she hates this holiday so why are we even celebrating it on her behalf?”

“’Cause she needs to be happy,” Justin replied without looking at them. “Listen, I get it, her parents are getting divorced. I had to go through it too, although back then I didn’t get what it meant but that doesn’t mean I don’t still suffer from the effects now. I’m just trying to help her tae her mind off of it.”

“Maybe that’s not what she needs. Maybe she needs to talk about it,” JC spoke up finally.

“You two are acting like you know her better than I do,” Justin said hotly.

“This isn’t about you, J, so stop acting like we’re attacking you!” JC snapped. Justin whipped his head around and glared at his so called best friend. Justin clenched his hands into fists. Just ‘cause JC was older didn’t mean that he could treat Justin like a baby. “God, you can be such a damn baby sometimes.”

In a flash Justin was on his feet. “You take that back!” He snarled.

“No,” JC said firmly. “I’m not taking back the truth, especially when you know it’s the truth.”

“I am not a baby. Don’t call me that! Ever!”

JC was on his feet now. “Then stop acting like one! Stop being so damn selfish and stop acting like nothing is wrong! Her world’s falling apart and all you care about is a stupid party!? Grow some fuckin’ balls, Timberlake, and grow up!”

“Guys!” Joey jumped up and pushed the two away with his hands. “I think we all need to get out and take in some fresh air. Fresh air will do us some good.” Still standing between JC and Justin he pulled out his cell phone.

“What’re you doing?”  Justin asked, not taking his eyes off of JC.

“I’m calling Lou to see if he knows a place we can go without being attacked. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.” He glanced back and forth between the two and spoke softly incase the other line was suddenly picked up. “It’s the close quarters, guys. You don’t really hate each other. This is all just getting to our heads. The fresh air is what we need.” He turned away when Lou had picked up the other line.

Justin glared at JC before flinging open the door of the back lounge and stomped up the aisle of the bus. How dare JC treat him like a kid still! He was sixteen! Sixteen! Two years away from being an adult, five from being able to drink legally (not that he wanted to; he’s tried drinking before and hated the taste of it. Just don’t tell his mother).

“What’s up?” Lance asked, looking up from the papers that were sitting in front of him. He kept his green eyes on the ‘N Sync Baby as he plopped down on the couch, arms crossed over his chest.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he grumbled. He grunted when Oreo catapulted himself onto Justin’s chest. A small smile formed on Justin’s face as he scratched the puppy in between his ears. “Where are we?” He asked, looking out the window. That was always his tactic to get out of a problem, changing the subject to something so ridiculous they had to follow along with it.

“Ha! I told you I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know where we were!” Chris said happily, jabbing his finger in Lance’s face.

“Hey guys,” Joey called as he walked to the front of the bus. “I called Johnny explaining how we can barely breathe the same air as each other and not get annoyed. He gave me an address to this restaurant we could go to for lunch that’s about fifteen minutes away from here if you’re interested.”

“I’m interested in food that doesn’t come out of a freakin’ box,” Chris grumbled.

“Hey! If it weren’t for those boxes you wouldn’t even have edible food,” Mack said as she glared at him. Chris smiled sheepishly as she rolled her eyes and lazily scratched Little J’s ears. “What about these two? I can’t leave them here by themselves,” she said, nodding to Little J and Oreo.

“I’m sure the driver would watch them,” Joey said.

 “What kind of food does the restaurant have?”

“Seeing as we’re in Germany? My guess is hot dogs, hot dogs, and more hot dogs,” Chris replied.

“Don’t be ignorant,” Lance said. “They have more than hot dogs in Germany.”

“Yeah, they have pretzels!” Mack added.

“Pretzels are Dutch.”

“What!?” Chris and Mack exclaimed in unison, causing Lance to jump in surprise.

“Yeah, you didn’t know?”

“No!”

Lance chuckled.

After repeating directions to the driver they finally arrived at the restaurant. The bus driver took the bus to the back of the place so it would be easier to get away in case some fans found out where they were. Their bodyguards stuck close to the boys as they got off the bus and kept them in the center of their circle as they walked towards the restaurant.

“I feel like the President,” Justin commented.

“No one would be stupid enough to elect you president,” Chris said with a roll of his eyes. “We want to save the United States, not rip us apart.”

“What’re you implying, Old Man?”

“Knock it off, guys,” JC called from the back of the group. Justin shut his mouth but glared at Chris who smirked back at the curly haired teen. As soon as they walked into the restaurant they were greeted by the sight of a smiling Lou Pearlman. Justin immediately brightened when he saw the large man who, in turn, was smiling at the large group. “Hi Lou,” JC said slowly.

“I thought I told you that you can call me Poppa Lou,” Lou said with a smile, his eyes trained on JC.

“I’d rather not,” JC declined politely trying to keep himself from making a face. Something about that name he begged them to call him freaked him out but he couldn’t say anything, of course. Not with their careers on the line. He wasn’t that stupid.

“Can we just find our table all ready? I’m starving!” Mack shined and JC squeezed his eyes shut. How he wished she had a filter on her mouth, or a muzzle, that would work better in this case..

“Right this way, I’ll show you were it is,” Lou announced as the group started walking but Mack didn’t budge.

“You’re eating with us?” She questioned.

“Yes,” he replied as  if the answer were obvious.

“I gotta go to the bathroom,” Mack announced suddenly, rushing away.

“I don’t get her,” Chris said.

“And you never will, she is a girl after all,” Justin replied before following Lou through the maze of tables and chairs. He stopped so suddenly that Lance had walked right into him. Justin’s smile faded instantly and he stared blankly at the table that was in the back of the restaurant. There, five pairs of eyes were staring back at them, all blank.

“I figured this would be a good time to finally introduce you all,” Lou said, beaming as if it were the best idea in the world. “Backstreet Boys, this is ‘N Sync: Justin, Chris, Joey, Lance, and JC. ‘N Sync, the Backstreet Boys: Kevin, Brian, AJ, Howie, and Nick.” He pointed to each person in turn as he said their names. No one said anything, they just stared at each other. Lou cleared his throat so they all looked at him. “I took the liberty to, I guess, assign you guys a place to sit. JC, you can sit across from Kevin, Joey across from Howie, Lance across from Brian, Chris across from AJ, and Justin across from Nick.” None of the guys moved, they just continued to stand there as if they were glued to the floor.

“You can sit down,” Johnny said as he sat down at the table next to Nick. He seemed to break their trance and they slowly pulled back their chairs and sat down, looking everywhere else but at the boys across from them.

“What about Mack?” Justin asked Lou, noticing out of the corner of his eye that AJ had sat up straighter when Justin mentioned his friend’s name.

“She can sit next to you, of course,” Lou replied with a smile, nodding at the empty seat in between them and across from Johnny.

Justin smiled and relaxed a bit as he lifted his menu and stared hard at the words in front of him. He frowned and turned the menu this way and that as if it would help him figure out what was written on the laminated page. “Dude, what is any of this stuff?” He whispered to Chris.

“Beats me, I figured I’d just order something that sounded better than something else. Or something I can pronounce, whichever comes first,” Chris whispered in response.

“So Johnny,” AJ spoke up, folding his hands on the table. Chris made a face at the black painted nails and looked at Justin who shrugged. “Where’s this dancer girl you’ve been telling us about?”

“She has a name,” Justin snarled. AJ turned his eyes to the curly-haired boy but didn’t say anything. He merely turned his eyes back to Johnny and lifted his eyebrows.

“She’ll be back shortly,” Johnny replied, looking over the menu himself. “Boys, er, Backstreet Boys, why don’t you tell them what you have planned for the future?”

“Do we have to?” AJ groaned under his breath. Brian elbowed him in the side and AJ glared at the Kentuckian. “We’re on tour for a month and then we’re going home,” he said gruffly.

“Man, I wish I could go home,” Joey muttered, spinning his straw in his cup.

“Why?” AJ grinned maliciously. “You tour prudes getting homesick all ready?”

“AJ!” Kevin scolded from the other end of the table.

“Who ya callin’ a prude?” Justin bristled.

“Justin!” JC hissed.

“The angel sitting across from me,” AJ said with an eye roll.

“AJ!” Kevin sighed.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing!” Justin barked.

“Justin!” JC said in a warning tone. JC glanced at Lou and Johnny to see why they werne’t doing anything. They just sat quietly at the head of the table, talking to each other and glancing at the boys every now and then. Joey, Lance, Chris, Howie, Nick, and Brian just sat there looking back and forth

“If the halo fits…” AJ sang.

“Why I oughtta–” Justin started.

“Hey!” Mack snapped so suddenly it caused everyone to jump. She had her hands shoved into her pockets and she was standing stiffly. “I need to borrow someone’s jacket,” she muttered through clenched teeth.

“What took you so long? Were you peeing a river?” Justin asked, suddenly switching back to his upbeat self, ignoring her question. Howie chuckled and quickly switched it to a cough when Brian turned to him and lifted an eyebrow.

“Just give me the damn jacket!” She growled.

JC pushed back his chair and took off his jacket. As he handed it to her he asked, “Are you ok?”

“Well, let’s just say picking red as a color for Valentine’s Day can be ironic,” she replied, hastily tying the sleeves of the jacket around her waist. She glanced around and tried not to make a face when she noticed she had to sit next to Lou. He looked up at her at the moment and smiled the smile that made her skin crawl.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” JC asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged it off. “Yeah…” She dropped down in her chair and looked up when she noticed everyone was looking at her. “What?”

“So you’re the dancer girl,” AJ spoke up.

“Whatsitooya?” Mack asked defensively.

“Just askin’, girl, since Johnny can’t shut up about you and how wonderful you are.” His words were added with massive amounts of fake enthusiasm as he rolled his eyes. Brian hit AJ again and he sucked in his breath and slumped in his chair a bit.

“You’ll have to excuse him,” Brian finally spoke up turning his attention to the young girl. “It’s the jetlag.” AJ grunted but didn’t say anything. “You have a pretty big rep for being only…sixteen?”

“Fifteen,” Mack corrected. “I, uh, turn sixteen in September.”

“Oh, so you’re still a baby,” Howie said, tilting his head slightly. He flinched when she glared at him.

“I’m no baby,” she hissed.

“I don’t think he meant it like that,” JC spoke up quickly.

“What he means is he thinks it’s, um, impressive how much you’ve done choreography wise and you’re only fifteen,” Kevin filled in. A silence fell over the table and everyone glanced at each other as if daring them to speak. The only sound that filled the nearly empty restaurant was the sound of Nick resting his glass back down on the table. A few seconds later that silence was shattered.

“Sorry,” Nick apologized as the rest of the Backstreet Boys whipped their heads in his direction. “It slipped out.” He glanced at Johnny and Lou, then across the table at Mack, before blushing and looking down at his lap. Joey and Lance had made a face; JC seemed to ignore the loud belch, whereas Justin and Chris were cracking up.

“Wow, how’d you get enough force behind that one?” Justin asked with shining eyes. Nick looked at him in confusion as Justin and Chris waited for an explanation eagerly.

“I think it was how he took in air,” Chris replied, elbowing Justin. “Let’s try.”

“Don’t. Even. Think. About it!” JC said from the other end of the table.

“Gosh, you don’t have to be so freakin’ uptight,” Justin muttered to the table. “Just ‘cause you’re older…”

“My manners fill more than a teaspoon, unlike you.”

“Stop treating me like a baby!”

“I would if you’d stop acting like one!”

Please let the waiter come. Please let the waiter come. Please let the waiter come, Mack chanted in her head as she stared down at the table. It was bad enough she was forced to eat random crap she didn’t know but now she was forced to talk to the Backstreet Boys and sit next to Lou Pervert Pearlman? If Johnny wasn’t sitting across from her or the others weren’t there she’d have jumped up and bitch slapped him for smiling at her the way he was or “accidentally” nudging her foot with his. But she had to sit there and be quiet like a good little girl or risk embarrassing them or JC.

Finally the waiter came by and took their orders. Johnny and Lou started talking to the two groups about the success of NKTB and how they were shaping up to join them in boyband history. It was as if mentioning NKTB brough the two bands together for one small moment in time because they sat there listening as if their lives depended on it. Mack was bored to say the least. That’s the only thing she hated about travelling with them, everything was about work, work, work. They rarely ever got to do anything fun and because of that she had to suffer too. She wished she was with Lynn who was shopping at the very moment, and she hated shopping.

“Mackie!” Justin shouted, snapping his fingers in her face.

She jerked and looked at him. “I hate it when you do that,” she muttered, shoving his hand away.

“If you actually pay attention I wouldn’t have to,” Justin replied. “Johnny was asking if you’d want to take on a new gig.”

“Doing what?” Mack asked, looking at Johnny.

“Choreographing for them,” he replied, tilting his head in the Backstreet Boys’s direction. They all lifted their heads to look at her, then Johnny, and back again. “It’ll be good exposure to a different type of dancing.”

“What about them?” She asked, glancing at ‘N Sync who had mixed looks of alarm on their faces.

“It’s not going to take you away from them permanently. I was thinking maybe you could work with them over the summer? That way your school work isn’t in jeopardy either,” Johnny said. “Also, you would like to build up your choreography resume, don’t you think? Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty impressive all ready, but choreographing for both of the biggest up-and-coming boybands would really help you out in the future.”

“I have time to think about this, right?” She asked slowly.

“Yes although I don’t see why you would pass up on such a great opportunity,” Lou replied, shifting his left foot slightly so it lightly brushed against her ankle. She jumped up from her chair so suddenly that it fell over backwards.

“What’s wrong?” Johnny asked in alarm.

“Cramps,” she muttered, keeping her head down and rushing into the bathroom. As soon as the door was closed behind her and she checked that she was by herself hot tears poured down her cheeks. She sank to the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest. She was breathing heavy, her head felt stuffy, and the tears were an endless flow.

Finally, through red, stinging eyes, she grasped the edge of the sink above her and pulled herself to her shaking feet. She faced the mirror and winced at the sad sight that was looking back at her. turning on the water, she splashed her face with the cool water. After drying her face she carefully dug around in her right pocket before pulling out the folded cloth. Carefully unwrapping it, she laid it out on the edge of the sink. Finally the cloth lay flat on the edge of the sink and she picked up the small, metallic object that lay in the center.

Gently picking it up and holding it between her forefinger and thumb the razor blade shone brilliantly in the light of the bathroom. Carefully rolling up the sleeve to her shirt she unfastened her watch that hid the single small, puffy, scratch on her wrist. Taking a deep breath she pressed the tip of the blade against her pale skin.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

She jumped and cursed under her breath as blood seeped to the surface where she knicked herself. She carefully placed the razorblade back onto the cloth and brought her arm up to her mouth. She rolled her eyes when the knocking continued. “What?” She called in what she hoped as a calm voice.

“Are you ok? Do you need anything? I can go and get Momma,” Justin’s voice called through the door.

“I’m fine!” Mack called back, turning on the water and sticking her arm under the tap. “I’m feeling better.”

“Ok, the food’s on the table.”

“I’ll be there in a bit.” She stood there, waiting for his footsteps to fade before turning off the water and sighing a bit at the stinging on her arm. She dabbed at it with a paper towel, making sure the bleeding stopped before putting her watch back on to cover up the new scratch. She rolled down her sleeve and then folded up the razor once more and shoved it into her pocket. She glanced in the mirror telling herself that she could go back out there and if anyone asked about her red eyes she’d just say someone was smoking.

Simple as that.

Making a face at her off colored dye, she pulled open the door of the bathroom and went back to the table. Almost automatically every conversation stopped as she sat down. She ignored it and stared at the food that was sitting on her plate. Or what she thought was supposed to be food, to her it looked like a pile of crap but she knew better than to say anything. The combination of having to sit next to Lou and the state of the food made her lose her appetite so she just pushed her food around her plate and listened to them talk. Suddenly a loud belch interrupted all speech. Chris and Justin cracked up once more while the Backstreet Boys, minus Nick who was blushing, groaned. Lou and Johnny stopped whispering behind their hands and turned to look at them.

“Geeze Frack, keep a lid on it!” Howie said as he waved a hand in his face.

“I’m sorry, it just slipped out,” Nick apologized, turning redder.

“I’m sorry, it just slipped out,” AJ mocked. “Keep a lid on it next time. I’d rather you blow up than let one of those out again.”

“At least it didn’t come out the other end this time,” Kevin groaned, holding his face in his hands.

“Sorry,” Nick sighed, looking down at the table.

“Well, then, I guess it’s time for everyone to get going. Boys, you have a plane to catch don’t you?” Johnny asked, looking over at the Backstreet Boys after looking at his watch.

“Can Nick get his own plane? I don’t want to smell those fumes the whole ride,” AJ said as he backed up his chair and got to his feet, causing the others to follow his lead.

“Shut up,” Nick snapped, punching AJ on the shoulder. AJ immediately shot his arm out and punched Nick back.

“Why’re you so embarrassed anyway?” AJ continued, a smirk on his face. Nick, if possible, turned redder as he turned his back on the tattooed man. “Oooh, is wittle Nicky getting embarrassed ‘cause he burped in front of a girl?”

“I said shut up!”

“Can we just go?” Mack asked impatiently, tilting her head back and rolling it forward in annoyance.

“Did you eat anything?” Lance asked, looking at her plate which was still full and sitting on the table.

“I wasn’t hungry,” she replied, shrugging.

“But you were hungry before we came in,” Joey pointed out.

“A girl can change her mind. We do it all of the time. Get off my back,” she snapped, instantly bristling under everyone’s gaze. She could feel Lou’s eyes boring holes into the side of her head. She really just wanted to run to the bus and hide under her sheets but then she’d be questioned for leaving so suddenly. She sighed. How did she always find herself in a lose-lose situation? She practically jumped five feet in the air when she felt something brush her arm. She jerked her head to the side when she noticed Nick standing there. His face wasn’t beet red anymore but it was tinged as if he had sunburn.

“I guess they treat you like the baby too, huh?” He asked with a goofy smile on his face.

“More like I’m fragile,” she replied, shoving her hands into her pockets and glaring at the group that was by the door. Lou and Johnny were standing by the cashier trying to figure out how to pay the bill.

“Um, about what Johnny said, about choreographing for us, I think that would be really cool. I-I mean, uh, being able to work with someone new would…be…cool…” he stammered as Mack eyed him as if he were crazy.

“I haven’t agreed on it yet,” she pointed out.

“I know,” he said quickly. “I’m just saying that it would be cool if you did agree to do it.”

“Somehow I don’t think your merry band of bullies over there feel the same way.”

“It’s just ‘cause they don’t know you.”

“And you do?” She asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Not that I do, I mean, it’s just harder for them to trust new people. Not that we don’t trust you, it’s just that–”

“You might want to stop before you stick your other foot in your mouth,” she said, holding up her hand and smiling slightly. He stopped talking and gave her a goofy grin.

“You must think I have diarrhea of the mouth now,” he said as he kicked at the ground.

“Nooooo, I don’t think that at all,” she said, shaking her head. He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

“Nicky, come on, we’re leaving!” AJ called from the door where the rest of the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync were waiting.

“So you guys are going on tour now?” Nick asked as they walked to the front of the place.

“Yup, I finally get my money’s worth,” Mack replied, joking a bit.

“Well, um, if you ever get bored or don’t have anyone to talk to…you could give me a call. If you want to, I mean, I’m not pressuring you or anything…”

She laughed as he smiled shyly at her. The guy was laying it on thick and it would be mean if she didn’t even acknowledge it. “Lucky for you I get bored easily so I might take you up on that offer.”

“Really?” He looked shocked for a second but then covered it up. “Cool. I guess…I’ll just talk to you later then.”

“Right.”

He beamed as the Backstreet Boys pushed open the door. “Bye, then.” He turned to leave as soon as the door closed and walked right into it. Justin and Chris pointed and started laughing as Nick blushed once more, rubbed his forehead, and quickly followed his friends out the door and across the parking lot.

“So boys, what do you think of them?” Lou asked as ‘N Sync made their way out the back with their bodyguards.

“They’re kind of weird,” Justin replied. “I mean who burps that much?” He paused and let out a loud belch.

“Gee, I wonder,” JC muttered sarcastically.