What can I do here? Pretty much a whole lotta nuthin', nuthin' fun. Alex is in the recording booth and I have Nick on one side of me and this new guy that Kevin says he's related to, Brian, on my other side. I'm almost sure he said they're cousins somehow. I turn to my right, sliding my leg onto the couch till I'm sideways and face Brian. "What do you do for fun?"
"Um, play sports, basketball more than anything. What about you?" he responds nervously, his hands twitching in his lap and fiddling with the hem on his shirt. Give the guy a break, he's here less than 24 hours and forced to be around 4 people he doesn't know to sing and dance with three of them and put up with me.
I don't exactly have relaxed clothes on-form fitting bell bottoms and a backless tank top with sandals on my 5'5", 125 pound frame. "Basketball, jet-skiing, rollerblading, cheer squad, soccer and hanging with my friends." I give him the reassuring Kirkpatrick grin, the one that declares peace and that I don't bite. Hahaha! Sense of humor required when you know any of us Kirkpatricks.
"So you're AJ's girlfriend?"
"Yeah, he's a good guy inside and looks tough. He'd help you out of a jam, trust me," I assure him of Alex's heart of gold.
"How do I gain that?"
"Just be his friend, become mine, just the usual." I playfully wink at him as Alex comes out, eliciting a chuckle from him.
"Brian, you're cool in my book as long as you don't screw me over. I've known these two," he explains, indicating Howie and Nick, "since I was 11 or 12, a couple years now. I met 'Drya through Nick and Howie, I'd say five or six months after."
"How did you meet?"
"Chris and Howie go to college together and Nick was with Howie when her and Chris ran into them at the mall. Nick couldn't shut up about her and I demanded to meet her."
I smile and giggle. "Of course within a week of meeting Howie and Nick, I was dragged to meet Alex and I tripped and tumbled into love. Chris arranged it all."
"With my help," Howie adds, giving himself the credit you could claim he deserves.
I jokingly roll my eyes and a smirk stretches over my lips. "Yeah, yeah, Dorough!" Brian laughs. "Aha! He laughs!" I tease, pointing at Brian's blushing face. He has beautiful strawberry blonde locks, gorgeous blues and lightly tanned skin. His smile? Handsome. He's very shy, but you could say we've been slowly forcing him out of his hermit shell.
A few hours, a couple meals, an audio demo and a video demo later, they're told that they just have to figure out what to call themselves and have a week to do so. "Where do you want to go, 'Drya?" Kevin asks me only because I'm the only girl.
"Why not the Backstreet Market?" It dawns on me. "The four of you are almost always there, why not call yourselves something to that effect?" I suggest, trying to be as casual as possible about it.
"We should have Brian check it out first and see if he likes the fit for it first," Howie observes, getting affirmative nods from the other four members.
We get there and they start throwing names around half an hour into the visit there. They've gone through Backstreet Guys, Backstreet Dudes, New Kids On The Backstreet and the only thing I can think of is- "What about Backstreet Boys?" Brian throws out there.
"Either you're telepathic or you just so happen to be on my wavelength," I laugh.
"I like that, it sounds right," Howie thinks out loud.
"At least it'll be easy to recall where we started," Alex jokes.
"Yeah, like I could forget," Nick retorts.
"Three of you are under 21, therefor 'boys'," Kevin justifies.
"It just came to me," he says with a shrug.
"Yup, he's telepathic," I tease. "Stay outta my brain!" I hold my head between my hands and act like I'm being invaded mentally. The six of us share a quick fit of giggles, Howie calling Johnny and Lou after to confirm their group name. Once he disconnects the call, I hurriedly realize that we've been standing in a circle and I put Alex's hand in the middle. "Hands in the middle for the first ever Backstreet Boys chant," I declare.
They look at one another, shrugging and do it anyway. "Backstreet's alive!" they calmly say.
"Go, Backstreet Boys!" I call out at the same time.
Nick, Brian and Kevin all give me a strange glance, Alex recognizes it immediately. "Yes, she's on the middle school cheer squad here in Orlando," he confirms, pulling me closer to him by lightly tugging on my side belt loop with one hand and taking a step forward to meet me partway.
I let out a surprised squeak, blushing right after while trying to cover my face. "Look! She blushes!" Brian teases me.
"Whatever!" I loudly say, pushing his hand down with a grin. "All I know is I better be there for every one of your firsts-first performance, first recording session, first music video, first number #1, first album in any and all countries, first tour, first interview, first live everything, first award show, every public first," I demand.
"First recording session was today, first day as the Backstreet Boys and first full day with Brian here," Howie informs me.
"You're expecting the moon and stars of us," Kevin observes.
"Somebody has to do that and have massive amounts of faith in your upcoming success, I'm perfect for that position!" I remind them, dropping my arms on Alex and Nick's shoulders as I lean back.
"She has enough pep in her step, no doubt about that," Nick kids.
Two more days of vacation and then it's back to the prison most people call school, a place where I excel because I want to finish on time only for the simple reason that I want my freedom for a couple years before furthering my education at Rollins College like Chris. He's a Psych major, I'd be a History major and minor in middle and high school education. I've told Alex, Chris and Howie and they say do it, just make sure it's what I absolutely want out of life. I might go to a vocational high school, seeing as Alex is seriously considering dropping out of high school to pursue this possible profession. The only thing I can do is stand behind Alex's decisions, standing by as moral support and a helping hand to pick himself up off the ground.
A few days have passed and I'm chilling with Nick and Alex in Tampa, being pestered by Aaron until a few minutes ago. "What if you guys had to go to like Canada to get your big jump start?" I ask, scared and wanting to know Alex's honest response.
"I'd call, write and visit as much I can get away with," he tells me, kissing my forehead as we lay on a blanket and discuss the possible scenarios if they do get the deal. I'm scared I'll lose Alex to some ditz halfway around the world.
Nick leans on his side, an arm used to prop himself up on the other side of Alex and gives me a cool grin, looking behind me. I turn around and the two of us get a smirk from Aaron and a bucket of bone chilling water flung at us, prompting a shriek to pass over my vocal cords. Nick and Aaron laugh like a couple hyenas as I jump up and chase after the 6 year old brat. I grab hold of his A shirt with the tips of my fingers and pull him to my body, lifting him as I strut to the pool rapidly. He fights tooth and nail, his escape failing as I throw him in the pool that just got water added to it a little bit ago. He surfaces and climbs out of the cold water, yelling for his sister BJ. I'm too busy laughing to care she's being summoned by the baby of the Carter clan. I hear Alex talk her down as my laughter dies down, Nick confirming everything until he gets slugged. I'm on my knees, holding my abdomen with tears streaking my cheeks from laughing so hard. Today has been a good day, only one thing could make this day better-if they get this deal.
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