*Before the release of “Never Gone”*

“I can’t believe this.” Nick stated in a exasperated tone.

“What is it?” Brian asked, walking up to Nick, who was seated at a desk in their hotel room, surfing the net on his laptop.

“This!” Nick replied, pointing to the computer screen. “How is it that they our material before we even release it?”

Brian leaned in closer to the computer screen, seeing that he was on livedaily.com. “Nick, Jive has always had a snitch in their staff, that’s nothing new.”

“Yeah, but to have this?” Nick questioned again, not wanting to believe. Their latest recorded song, “Beautiful Woman”, was leaked over the internet in it’s entirety. “This is just ridiculous!”

Brian chuckled and shook his head, “You know, Kevin’s normally the one to throw a conniption fit about every little damn thing, lets leave that job to him.”

Nick sighed heavily, not meaning to be so angry about it, but it was a brand new song they recorded, something fans wouldn’t expect to hear from the Backstreet Boys, and they wanted to keep it a secret until the album was released. “Yeah… well, at least we’re getting good feedback about it.”

“Really?” Brian asked, leaning over Nick’s shoulder to look at the computer again. As he continued to read the responses, he began to grin. “Well I’ll be damned.”

“Then, of course we have our casual bashers…” Nick said, scrolling the cursor down so Brian could see the negative responses. “Here’s one stating how we’re now becoming a wannabe rock group, here’s another saying *NSYNC is better, but this is the one I just can’t get over.” he scrolled down to the bottom of the page, where he seen a response typed all in caps. “Go figures that the Backstreet Boys would release a song titled “Beautiful Woman”, because that’s exactly what they are… beautiful woman. They should change their names to the Fagstreet Boys.”

Brian sighed, shaking his head, “You would think those people would come up with something… I don’t know, original? It’s getting really old now…”

“What, the fact that he’s saying we’re beautiful women or changing our band name to some other ridiculous name?” Nick asked, laughing. “The whole thing about us being beautiful women is a first for me.”

“Me too, I was talking about our band name. I mean, first there was the Backdoor Boys, the Whackstreet Boys, Frontstreet Boys…”

“Time to add Fagstreet Boys to that list…” Nick mumbled, “What do you think our band name would be if we were a group a of women?”

“The Backstreet Girls.” Brian simply replied.

Nick laughed and cringed, “Doesn’t have a nice ring to it like Backstreet Boys does.” He scrolled up the page, scanning through the rest of the reviews. “How the hell did we go from talking about the song to talking about what AJ said?” he asked, more to himself.

As he continued to read on, he began to laugh, causing Brian to stop unpacking his stuff from his suitcase which was situated on his bed. “What’s so funny now?” Brian questioned, walking up behind Nick again.

“Do you remember when AJ said for one day he would love to get into the head of a woman to see what they’re thinking?”

Brian nodded, “Yeah, okay?”

“They’re calling him a fag!”

“And that’s funny to you because…?”

“I can actually picture AJ being a beautiful woman.”

“What?!” Brian choked out. “Dude, you are truly disturbed if you can picture… AJ being a beautiful woman.”

“No, it’s because… well, he has big eyes and remember how we used to always tease him because his eyelashes were long? I don’t picture or fantasize him being a beautiful woman or anything you dork. Man, I should do that at an interview.”

“Do what?”

“When they ask us how we came up with the song “Beautiful Woman”, say that AJ inspired it because he could pass as a beautiful woman, if he ever was one.”

“You’re lame Nick, you know that?”

“Nope, I’m blond.”

“My point exactly.”

Nick continued to toss and turn that night, feeling uncomfortable for some reason. When he woke up the next morning, he felt very groggy and agitated, probably from the lack of sleep he had throughout the night. He got up out of his hotel bed, walking blindly to the bathroom.

“Shit!” he seethed, a slight pain coursing through him because he just walked into the wall. He didn’t even seem to notice that his voice a pitch… higher for some reason.

When he finally reached the bathroom, he pushed the door open and groped the wall, looking for the light switch. Once he found it he switched it on, not bothering to look up into the mirror. He kept his eyes close, not wanting to feel the pain of the bright light shining into his disoriented eyes.

He turned the faucet on, cupping his hands together and allowing the water to collect up. Once he did, he splashed it on his face, rubbing it over his eyes to wake himself up. He stopped rubbing the water over his face when he felt strands of hair in between his face and hands. Puzzled, he brought his hands away from his face and glanced up into the mirror for the first time, which caused him to gasp.

“Holy shit…” he whispered, hearing that his voice did not belong to him, but to that of a female. Suddenly, he began screaming, releasing a high-pitched blood curling scream.

Brian jolted awake from his deep sleep, forgetting for a moment that he was at a hotel and not at home with his wife. As soon as he heard the sound of a female screaming, he automatically thought it was Leighanne and jumped out of bed as quick as he could, making his way to where he heard the scream coming from.

“What is it Leighanne?” Brian asked out of breath, but stopped when he noticed that he was still in the hotel and that the female that screamed wasn’t Leighanne, but some blond lady he didn’t know.

“Who are you?” Brian asked confused, wondering how a fan could have possible got into his room. “How’d you get in here?”

Nick turned to see a woman with long, curly sandy hair standing before him. He started to scream again.

“Okay honey, you need to stop with the screaming.” Brian replied, covering his ears.

Nick stopped screaming when he noticed something familiar about the lady‘s voice. “Brian?!” Nick squealed, crying even harder when he heard his voice sounding more and more like a woman’s.

Brian smiled warmly, trying his best to comfort the shocked young woman. “It’s okay, do you want an autograph or something sweetie?”

“No!” Nick snapped, causing Brian to jump a little. “I’m not… I’m not…” for some reason, he couldn’t get out what he was trying to tell him.

Brian, still disoriented from his sudden wake, failed to notice that his southern twang took on a feminine twist. He was suddenly scared of the lady, the way she snapped at him. “Look, why don’t we talk about this outside…” Brian said, reaching for the door, not wanting to be locked in this room with this… mad woman.

“NO!” Nick shouted again. “I’m not a fucking woman Rok, I’m Nick!” he finally blurted out.

Now Brian was staring at her as if she was crazy. He reached for the doorknob again but was roughly pulled away and pulled into the bathroom.

“What the hell!” Brian yelped.

Nick didn’t say anything. He simply closed and locked the door, turning Brian and facing him to the mirror.

“Do you believe me now?” Nick asked as Brian continued to stare at himself in the mirror in complete and utter shock.

Brian’s mouth was hanging agape. He slowly brought his hands up to his face, rubbing it over his new features. Both he and Nick still had their blue eyes, and the same colored hair, the only difference was that they were both in female bodies. Brian raked his fingers through his now long, golden locks, feeling tears welling up within his eyes.

“What the hell happened?” Brian cried out, wondering why he was all of a sudden crying.

Nick sighed heavily, sitting down on the closed toilet. “I… I don’t know. I woke up, walked into the bathroom to find this lady in the reflection of the mirror.”

Brian scanned his body over, noticing that both he and Nick were still in the same clothes they fell asleep in last night, which was a pair of boxers and a wife beater.

“Shit.” Nick cried out, looking down at his arms and realizing for the first time that he didn’t have any tattoos. Brian did the same, looking down at his left arm to find that he also didn’t have his tattoo.

Brian wiped away the tears that was cascading freely down his face. “Do you think…” he choked out. “Do you think Kevin, Howie and AJ are still normal?”

Nick glanced up at Brian, “There’s only one way to find out…”

Nick cracked the door open, peering the small opening. Brian poked his head out over Nick, peering out as well. Once they realized that the coast was clear, the quickly but silently made their way over to the room next to them, which happened to be Howie and AJ’s room.

While Brian looked around to keep guard, Nick began knocking on the door. He waited for a while to see if anyone would answer, and when nothing came he continued knocking on the door.

“Have you forgotten that you’re knocking on the door of two people that could sleep through a damn atomic bomb?” Brian whispered harshly.

But Nick ignored him and his emotional ways. He continued pounding on the door, but making sure not to be too loud to cause anyone else to emerge from their rooms, especially their bodyguards.

After what seemed like forever, they finally heard a voice come from the room. “Who is it?” a voice roughly replied.

Nick couldn’t tell if that new female voice belonged to Howie or AJ. Nick cleared his throat, “It’s Nick.” he responded, trying to sound like a man.

Brian glanced at him and for once throughout the whole ordeal, busted out laughing. Nick looked over at him as if he was crazy and signaled for him to be quiet. “Smooth one Nick…” Brian whispered.

They waited for a while for someone to answer the door and stood off to the side incase AJ/Howie decided to look through the peephole. They heard someone at the door, unlocking it and opening the door.

Both Brian and Nick stood and stared at the lady standing in front of them, she was hot. She had long, brown hair cascading past her shoulders. Her eyes were big and her lashes were long, fluttering every time she close and opened them. Although she had just woke up, you couldn’t tell she was groggy at the moment; they were at a loss of words.

AJ stood there in shock, staring at the two females. He glanced out of his room, past the two ladies to find that Nick was nowhere around. He began to smile, wondering if he had ordered them some strippers or something. The two women standing in front of him didn’t look like fans wanting his autograph, but more like porn stars wanting to ravage his body.

“Excuse me one moment ladies…” AJ said, turning back around to face Howie, who was still wrapped up in his covers on his bed. “Howie, I think Nick got us strippers!” he said in excitement.

Confused, Howie rose up out of his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Once he looked over towards the door, his eyes widened and his brows crinkled in confusion as he saw three young women standing in front of his door.

“What’s going on?” Howie asked.

AJ turned towards Howie once again, finding that it wasn’t Howie in his bed, but some random female with long, curly brown hair. He started to scream, wondering what the hell was going on. First he had a knock on the door that woke him up, saying that it was Nick, only to find two beautiful ladies standing outside his room, now when he tried to wake Howie, he finds a female in Howie’s bed instead.

Both Nick and Brian quickly pushed AJ into the room and closed the door before anyone emerged to see what the screaming was about and find them standing there.

“What the fuck is going on?!” AJ squealed, only to have one of the females, the tall, blond one, place her hand over his mouth.

“Can you stop screaming and being absolutely loud and obnoxious?”

AJ nodded, actually being scared for the first time in his life of a woman. He didn’t understand what was going on, wondering if these women were actually kidnappers or something. His hormones didn’t find anything wrong with being kidnapped by three beautiful women, his hormones actually found it sort of erotic, but his mind was screaming with fear.

“What’s going on?” Howie asked, wondering why the tall, blond chick was covering the mouth of the brunette girl.

Brian made his way further into the room, sitting down on the edge of AJ’s bed. He clasped his hands together in front of him, wondering how he was going to come out and tell Howie what was going on.

“Howie…” he started, silently thanking god that at least his still had his southern accent with his new female voice. “I want you to be quiet and listen to everything I am about to tell you.”

From behind, AJ’s brows knitted in confusion while Nick still kept his hand over AJ’s mouth. AJ was wondering why that dirty, blond chick was calling the brunette chick Howie.

“I’m not a… woman.” Brian simply stated, which caused Nick to laugh.

All three of them glanced back at Nick. “What’s so funny?” Brian asked him.

“I’m sorry dude…” Nick said, still laughing. “It just sounded weird and funny the way you said it. You sound like a transvestite coming out of the closet or something, you know like that Maury show with that one episode where…”

“Nick…” Brian interrupted, “shutup.”

Now, both AJ and Howie grew equally confused as to why she had just called the blond haired girl who was still holding her hand over AJ’s mouth Nick. Brian looked back over at Howie, who was now looking confused and scared.

“Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted…” he glanced back at Nick when he said this. “I’m not a woman. I’m Brian, and that over there is Nick…”

Nick took his hand off of AJ’s mouth for a moment to wave at Howie. “Hi.”

“What the fuck…” AJ began to scream, but was only muffled out when Nick placed his hand over AJ’s mouth again.

“And that’s AJ.” Brian jabbed his thumb back at the brunette chick, rolling his eyes.

Howie remained silent for a while, mouth agape. He thought these women were crazy, obsessed fans, and he needed to get out of there, away from them, but he was trapped, so he decided to play along.

“So…” he drawled out slowly. “You mean to tell me that you…” he pointed at Brian, “and them,” he pointed towards Nick and AJ, “are… no, you’re crazy!”

“Not only us.” Brian replied, matter-of-factly.

“That’s impossible, I don’t know where you guys…” Howie stopped in the middle of his sentence, really and truly hearing his voice for the first time. Without saying another word, he sprung up from his bed, pushing past the three women and walking right into the bathroom, turning the light on to find a brown haired chick staring back at him in the mirror.

Brian had walked up towards the bathroom, standing against the doorframe. Nick had walked up as well, still holding his hand over AJ’s mouth. Howie looked like he was on the verge of crying as he threaded his fingers through his long, curly brown hair.

“Just look at it this way, you’re a pretty hot Latina chick.” Nick said.

“Shutup!” Howie snapped, letting his tears spew from his eyes.

Nick rolled his eyes, “Why do we always end up crying?”

“Because estrogen replaced our testosterone.” Brian replied.

Nick chuckled, “Wow Bri, you’re pretty smart now that you’re a chick!”

“Mnfnmnfnmmfn…” AJ muffled.

“What did you say AJ?” Nick asked, taking his hand off of his mouth.

“I said you guys are a bunch of fags…”

“Speak for yourself!” Nick said as he pushed AJ into the bathroom, revealing AJ to his reflection.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” AJ screamed, staring at himself in the mirror. He grabbed at his long, brown hair, pulling it in front so he could get a good look at it. He held his arms out in front of him, no longer seeing the tattoos that decorated his arms. He pulled his wife beater forward, looking down his shirt.

He too, started to cry. “What the fuck?!” he asked no one in particular.

Brian sighed heavily, “What is it now AJ?”

“I HAVE BOOBS!!” AJ cried as he grabbed his chest to emphasize his point.

“Wow, that’s great sweetie!!” Nick cooed as if he was talking to a child. He bent down a little so he was eyelevel with AJ. “You know what else you have, a vagina!”

AJ began crying even harder. “Why are you crying?” Nick asked, getting irritated with the fact that they had all ended up crying in the end.

“I don’t know…” AJ sniffled. “I can’t help it, it’s just… I want... I want…” he broke down crying again. “I want to be a man again, I want my tattoos, I want a morning erection, I want to stop crying like a goddamn pussy!!”

That caused both Brian and Nick to laugh. Howie scowled, “Why does it seem like it’s perfectly okay to you two that we are… trapped in a female’s body?”

“Because we had our tear fest back at our hotel room.” Brian replied. “And we realized that crying isn’t going to help our situation. We just need to think… rational about all this.”

“Oh yeah Brian, think rational when we look like women and have estrogen raging through our bodies!!” Howie snapped.

“That’s it!” AJ exclaimed.

Nick, Brian and Howie looked over to AJ to find him taking out a pair of scissors from the bathroom drawer and preparing to cut his hair.

“What the hell are you doing?” Nick asked as he grabbed AJ’s arms and pulled the scissors from his grasp.

“There is no fucking way I’m walking out of this damn room looking like this!” AJ cried.

Howie bitch slapped him, a light slap but enough to make him fall silent. “Pull yourself together Jay… you’re not the only one that’s going through this you know. If you haven’t noticed, we’re ALL in this predicament, okay?”

“Speaking of all, we didn’t check on Kevin yet…” Brian stated.

Nick stared at all of them with a mischievous grin on his face. “Ladies… I have an idea.”

Brian gave Nick the extra cardkey to Kevin’s room. When he told them the plan to mess with Kevin, Brian and Howie were a bit skeptic at first, but Brian finally gave in while Howie vowed to take no part in Nick’s little plan. Again, they checked to see if the coast was clear before they made their way out of AJ and Howie’s hotel room, into the hallway and over to Kevin’s room.

“Shh…” Nick told all of them as he silently slid the card through the slot, immediately unlocking the door.

They pushed the door open, the four of them filing slowly but quickly in. AJ and Nick made their way over towards Kevin’s bed while Brian stood behind and Howie closed the door. Both AJ and Nick continued to saunter over towards the large body that was wrapped up in blankets in the middle of the bed.

“I guess he’s the only normal one…” Nick whispered to AJ.

AJ closed his eyes and nodded, “Dude, this is sooo wrong!!” he whispered back.

Nick snickered, but quickly covered his mouth to keep him quiet. “Yeah, but it’ll be sooo funny to see his face.”

Kevin was situated perfectly in the middle of the bed, wrapped up tightly in his blankets. Both Nick and AJ crawled slowly into his bed, both of them of either sides of Kevin, and began to touch him. Nick began caressing his covered head while AJ ran his hands up and down what he presumed to be Kevin’s arms.

Kevin tossed a little, but didn’t wake up. He was dreaming that he was at home with his wife, in his own bed, and the hands that were touching him made him believe that it was his wife.

AJ bent down towards Kevin’s ear, “Do you like it when I touch you like that?” he whispered in his new female voice, trying to sound seductive.

Nick quickly put his fist in his mouth, trying to suppress the laugh that was threatening to come out. AJ glanced up towards the door to find Brian hunched over, silently laughing and Howie standing there giggling, looking quite amused.

It was Nick’s turn to mess with him. He bent down towards his ear and whispered, “You’re all the man I’ll ever need Kevin… your so big, strong, tall, dark and handsome… I love it when you say my name, I want you to scream it.”

From under the covers, Kevin began to grin as the sultry voices continued to whisper in his ear. He was semiconscious, wondering if the lovely voices he was hearing was a dream or reality. He didn’t care to find out, it was music to his ears.

Both AJ and Nick began to snicker when Kevin began tossing under his covers. “Watch this…” AJ whispered to Nick as he got up from the side of the bed and moved to sit on Kevin, straddling his waist.

“Touch me Kevin Scott Richardson!” AJ cried out in his feminine voice, beginning to rock back and forth on Kevin’s waist.

At this point, Nick was completely off the bed and sitting on the ground, trying to keep his laugh in and clutching at his stomach. Both Brian and Howie were busy chuckling in the back, wiping the tears from the corner of their eyes.

Kevin decided it was time to wake from his dream, so he pulled the covers down from his head only to find a woman actually straddling his waist. As soon as Kevin pulled down the covers, AJ’s mouth dropped to find a woman with long, black hair and bright green eyes staring back at her. They both started screaming simultaneously.

AJ quickly jumped off of the woman he was straddling earlier, falling off the bed and landing on his butt in the process. Nick rose up from the ground to see why AJ was screaming only to find that Kevin did change, just as all of them.

“Who the hell are you guys?” Kevin asked, bewildered at the fact that four young women were in his room.

AJ didn’t even bother answering his question, “I’ve never felt so violated in my life!” he exclaimed as he began wiping furiously at his arms as if something was on them.

Nick started laughing, “Yet, you were the one to go along with my plan, saying it was the best plan ever.”

“Yeah, if it was still Kevin!” AJ fought back.

“Seriously,” Howie started, crossing his arms across his chest, but quickly unfolded it when he felt how weird it was to cross his arms across his now-bulged chest. “You guys didn’t think Kevin would remain the same if four out of five of us woke up as females did you?”

Four out of five of us... Kevin wondered to himself. It couldn't be... no, these four women couldn't possibly be his four bandmates.

“Well, he looked the same under the covers,” Brian replied, “he was pretty huge.”

Kevin glanced back and forth between the talking females. “SHUTUP!!” he snapped, causing the four women to fall silent. “Everyone just shut the hell up. What the hell did I wake up in, the Twilight Zone?”

“That’s exactly what I thought dude…” AJ said.

Kevin looked over at the brunette chick that was still sitting on the ground at the foot of his bed, wondering why she just referred to him as “dude”. “What did you mean ‘if I was still Kevin’?” he asked the girl that just called him a dude. “I am Kevin!”

“You sure about that?” Nick asked this time, leaning against the side of Kevin’s bed.

“Yes I’m sure about that!” Kevin snapped back. “I’ve never been more sure in my life!”

“You really sure about that?” Brian asked again.

Kevin was growing agitated by the second. “I am really sure about that, and you guys are getting on my last nerve for a couple of women!”

“Is that your final answer?” AJ cracked this time, causing the three of them to break out in a laughing fit.

“THAT’S IT!!” Kevin roared as he ripped the covers off his body, but stopped when he did. He looked down at his legs to find that they were cleanly shaven and… slimmer, still thick, but slimmer than normal.

For the first time since he woke up, he seen strands of black hair dangling in front of his face. He brushed it away from his eyes, finding his hair to be super long, past his shoulders length.

“What the… what the hell?” he choked out as he looked down at his hands, finding them to be a bit smaller and he had long nails.

“Would you like a mirror?” Nick asked.

Kevin completely ignored him, continuing to observe his new features.

“Just thought I’d let you know what you’re gonna do ahead of time,” Nick said as he pushed himself up from off the ground and sat down on the edge of the bed, next to Kevin. “you’re gonna spring up off your bed by the time I finish you telling you what’s gonna happen, you’re gonna run into the bathroom, look into the mirror with your mouth agape, probably ask one of us how the hell this happened and then breakdown crying.”

Again, Kevin ignored him but did completely what he said. He got up from his bed and made his way into the bathroom. Once he turned the light on he just stared into the mirror, not wanting to believe that the woman staring back was now him. Just as Nick predicted, he began to cry.

Nick groaned, “Okay, now that we’re through with that, does anybody else wanna cry?”

Kevin slammed his hands down on the counter sink, “HOW CAN YOU GUYS TAKE THIS SITUATION SO LIGHTLY?!”

“Kevin being angry don’t go well with each other now that he’s a woman.” AJ whispered to Brian.

“We’re not taking the situation lightly Kev,” Howie started, “It’s just… we know sitting here, bitching and crying about it isn’t going to fix it.”

“What are you trying to say Howard?” Kevin asked, “That all I’m doing in bitching and crying?!” he started to cry again. “I don’t like being like this!!”

“He just called Howie ‘Howard’” AJ snickered.

“Get out of here!” Kevin bellowed, pushing them all out of the bathroom and slamming the door shut in their face.

They all remained silent for a while, staring at the closed door. “That didn’t go over the way I expected it.” AJ finally broke the silence.

Brian sighed and walked up to the door, gently knocking on it.

“Go away.” Kevin grumbled.

“Isn’t it too early to be getting PMS?” Nick questioned no one in particular.

“What the hell do you know about PMS, Carter?” AJ laughed.

“It was always Mandy’s excuse on why she always beat me up.”

Brian continued to knock on the door, “Kevin, please…”

“I said go away!”

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the hotel door, causing the four of them to jump a little. “Kevin!!” Marcus bellowed from behind the closed door.

Kevin finally opened the bathroom door, staring at his closed hotel door, and then glancing back at his four younger broth… four younger ladies, who had a look of shock and fear on their faces.

“Kevin, you up man?” Marcus asked again, continuing to knock.

“What the hell do we do?!” AJ whispered harshly, not directing the question to anyone in particular.

Kevin cleared his throat, “Yeah man, I’m up.” he replied in his best possible way in trying to sound like a man, but he failed. His voice came out low but scratchy, couple octaves higher than his normal voice.

“Dude, what the hell is up with your voice?”

Kevin’s eyes widened, “I, uh…” he trailed off, trying to think of a good excuse. “I have laryngitis.”

“Shit man, want me to call Johnny and tell him what’s up?”

Kevin continued to cough, “Yeah, that’d be great Marcus. Thank you. And while you’re at it, could you bring me up a bottle of water?”

“Sure thing man.”

“How the hell are we gonna get outta here?” AJ continued to ask no one in particular, and once again getting no responses.

Kevin walked over to his balcony and looked down, they were on the 18th floor of the hotel. He glanced back at the four of them, raking his hand through his hair, but quickly pulling his hand away when he felt the long strands of hair. He glanced over the room, trying to think of something, anything they could do, and his eyes landed on the hotel’s phone. “I think I have a plan…”

Kevin picked up his phone and dialed down to the main desk. He waited impatiently as the phone continued to ring and ring, but finally someone picked up. “Sheraton lobby, this is Marge speaking, how may I help you today?” an older female’s voice answered.

Kevin sighed, he couldn’t believe he was actually going to do this, putting his feminism to work. “Hello Marge, this is Kristin Richardson calling from Kevin Richardson’s hotel room.”

“Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson?”

“Yes.”

“Okay Mrs. Richardson, how can I be of service to you today?”

Kevin cringed at being called Mrs. Richardson. “My husband just called me to let me know that he and his four bandmates are outside of the hotel. Could you please inform the staff that the Backstreet Boys need assistance downstairs, outside of the hotel.”

“Oh, of course my dear. Will do. Is there anything else I could do for you?”

“Could you also please call a cab and instruct them to park and wait in the back of the hotel, they will be picking up five young women.”

“Is that all Mrs. Richardson?”

“Yes, thank you Marge.”

“My pleasure dear.”

Kevin hung up the phone, trying to shake the Mrs. Richardson title from his mind. He glanced back at the four women, who looked like they were trying to hold their laughter in, but they finally released it, laughing in a high-pitched tone.

“SHH!!” Kevin told them. “The staff are heading down right now and your laughs are beginning to get on my nerves.”

“So what now?” Nick asked, trying to cease his laughter.

“We wait until the coast is clear,” Kevin explained. “Once it is we make our way downstairs and to the cab that should be meeting us at the back of the hotel. Grab whatever you need to take with you.”

“Um, Kevin…” Howie called out. “What could we possibly grab that we need to take with us? We can’t take anything of ours with us, it’s no use to us.”

“I mean cell phones or something.”

“All team, assemble and quickly make way down to lobby outside of the hotel.” they heard a voice say from outside the door.

They all clattered to the door, pressing their ear against it to hear what was going on. They literally heard the whole staff assemble on their floor and heard them make their way over to the elevator. Once everything fell quiet, Howie slowly and quietly opened the door, poking his head out through the crack and peering left and right to see if the coast was clear.

“They’re gone…” he whispered to them, opening the door completely and walking out into the hallway.

“Fuck, I feel like we’re fugitives on the run.” AJ grumbled as he stepped out of the room after Howie.

“Some very hot fugitives!” Nick cracked, but no one laughed.

“Okay, hurry up and go get whatever you need and meet me at the elevator.” Kevin instructed.

The four of them nodded as they dispersed and went back into their own rooms to get whatever they needed. They all met Kevin at the elevator as he instructed and waited impatiently for the elevator to reach their floor. Once the doors slid open, they heard a “ding” sound, which indicated that the second elevator had reached their floor.

“Shit,” Kevin muttered, pushing them inside the elevator. “I think they’re back, get in!”

They all quickly boarded the elevator, Kevin repeatedly hitting the close button to make the doors close.

“The front desk lady said she got a call from Kristin…” Marcus explained to Big T, one of their other security guards.

Big T shrugged, “Must’ve been a prank or something, you know how crazy their fans get…” he glanced back and seen an elevator full of young, beautiful women.

The five of them stared at Big T in shock, their hearts stopping in fear that he would catch on or something.

“Why heelloo ladies.” Big T remarked, winking his eye at them.

They all smiled and waved, trying to look innocent. Once the doors closed, they all relieved a heavy sigh.

“That is highly disturbing in every way.” Nick said as he shook his head, trying to get what Big T said to them out of his head.

“It’s even more disturbing actually having to respond to it.” Brian added.

They all fell silent for a while, waiting for the elevator to reach the lobby. “You guys…” AJ said, finally breaking the silence. “Who’s bright idea was this?”

“Kevin’s.” Howie, Brian and Nick replied in unison.

Kevin glanced back at all of them, not being able to decipher which girl was who. “Why are you saying that in a sarcastic manner? I thought it was a pretty good last minute idea.”

“Yeah,” AJ said, turning around so that he was now facing Kevin. “except for the fact that we all must’ve forgotten what we went to bed in last night and are now standing in a damn elevator wearing nothing but boxers and a wife beater.”

“I always thought it was hot if a girl was to wear boxers and a wife beater…” Nick muttered.

“That’s just it Nick!” AJ snapped. “I don’t want to walk off this damn elevator looking hot or odd and having strange men hit on me.” he fell silent for a while, feeling tears well up in his eyes again, but refusing to let it spew. “These damn boobs are ripping my freaking shirt dude…”

“You guys,” Howie spoke up for the first time. “We really didn’t think this through… like AJ said, we’re standing here in an elevator and about to board a cab in nothing but a pair of boxers and a wife beater. I don’t know about you guys, but I only have a little bit of money in my wallet and our credit cards are out of the question…”

“What are you getting at D.?” Nick asked, confused as to where he was taking this.

“We’re girls… as much as I hate to say this, we’re gonna have to start acting like it. Which means, we’re gonna have to go out and shop for… clothes, we’re gonna have to change our names, and do whatever else a girl… normally does.”

They all remained silent, they really didn’t think things through, or at least not as thoroughly as Howie had. The doors slid open, breaking them all out of their trance.

When no one made a move, Nick took it upon himself. “Screw this.”

The four of them stared at Nick as if he was crazy as he just freely walked out of the elevator as if nothing was wrong. They all eventually made their way out of the elevator as well and caught up with Nick.

“Are you fucking crazy Nick?!” AJ whispered harshly once he caught up with Nick and was walking beside him.

“Just act normal.”

AJ scoffed, “Sure, act normal when we’re fucking walking around the hotel lobby in a wife beater and men’s boxers.”

They continued to walk, making their way to the back exit of the hotel. They could feel people’s eyes on them, but they continued to walk past them. Once they made it outside, they seen a cab Kevin requested.

“C’mon you guys, lets go…” Kevin said as he began walking to the cab, the rest slowly following.

“You guys, wait!” AJ suddenly exclaimed, causing the four of them to stop walking and turn to look at him. “Do you even know where the hell we’re going? I mean, I know we can’t go out shopping looking like this.”

They all remained silent, contemplating that question over. Nick finally came up with an idea, it was crazy and a long stretch, but a risk they would just have to take. “I only know of one person I could possibly convince that we are who we are and they would be able to help us and keep it on the down low.”

Nick pulled out his cell phone and started typing on his keypad. They all looked over to see what he was doing. “What are you doing?”

“I’m texting my brother.”

“Oh great one Nick, what the hell are you gonna text him? Hi Aaron, this is Nick and me and the fellas need help because we somehow became girls?” AJ asked.

“No, you dumbass. I’m telling him to meet me at my house, nothing more, nothing less. Okay, lets go.”

They all walked over to the cab that was waiting for them. Nick, Brian, AJ and Howie squished into the back while Kevin sat up front with the driver. The driver didn’t even bother to acknowledge them. “Where to ladies?” he asked as he looked over to the woman who was sitting next to him, only to fall speechless.

Nick leaned forward towards the back of the driver’s seat, “Take us to this address please.” Nick asked him as he handed him his cell phone.

Once they reached to Nick’s house, they waited while Nick fished out his keys to unlock his house. Once he did, they all filed in, greeted by darkness and silence.

“Now what?” AJ asked no one in particular.

Nick sighed heavily, “We wait for Aaron to come.”

Everything fell silent as they made their way into the foyer. Howie stopped when he heard heavy breathing and growling, “You guys, what’s that sound?”

They all stopped in their trek to the foyer. They fell silent, trying to listen for whatever sound Howie was talking about when they finally heard it too, heavy breathing and growling.

“Shit.” Nick muttered, closing his eyes and scared to turn around to face where he heard the sound.

“Nick…” AJ drawled out slowly, none of them turning to face the sound as well, “please tell me that you lock your dogs up when you’re not home…”

“Okay, I lock up my dogs when I’m not home… it’s what you wanted to hear, but it’s something I don’t do.”

Finally, they all turned around slowly, to find one of Nick’s pugs standing there, snarling and licking it’s choppers.

“Aren’t pugs suppose to be friendly?” Brian whispered to them, not wanting to make any sudden movements.

“Oh yeah Bri,” AJ rolled his eyes, “him standing there growling at us is his friendly way of saying hello.”

The pug suddenly lunged, taking them all by surprise. He went for Howie, tackling him down to the ground and just started to lick his face while he tried to hump him. AJ was the first to snap out of their state of shock and just busted out laughing, “Dude, your dog is a horny little bastard! He has the hots for the Latino!”

“Pumpkin!” Nick shouted, going up to his dog and grabbing him by the collar, pulling him off of Howie. “Bad dog, you don’t do that! Go to your room!”

Ironically, the dog sat there with his tail between his legs, head hanging down and silently crying. He listened to what the female instructed him to do, as if he could still sense that somewhere in that female body, his master still existed.

“Does your dog normally just listen to anyone like that?” Brian asked as he turned to watch the dog walk silently to his room.

Nick shook his head as he too watched his dog walk away, “No…”

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. The five of them turned around just in time to see someone opening the door and pushing it open.

“Yo Nick… you here man?” Aaron called out as he walked in the house, only to find five, very beautiful women standing near the foyer.

As soon as Aaron stepped into the house, he was hypnotized by the beauty of the five women, rendering him speechless. They were all, for some reason, dressed in wife beaters and boxers, which he automatically thought his brother might have gave them, but he observed each girl, starting from the left side of the room. The first girl stood at a height of 5’7 and had curly, brownish-blond hair that flowed down past her shoulders. Her blue eyes were radiant, and the freckles that adorned her face stood out prominently. The next girl was a blond bombshell, her ocean blue eyes gleamed like jewels, and her straight blond hair complimented her creamy complexioned face. She was tall, but had a body of a model. He then locked eyes with the girl that was in the middle of all of them. She was a short, Latino looking girl, who had brown, curly locks and brown eyes. The woman standing next to her was simply a goddess, her frame was petite but accentuated; she had chocolate brown eyes that were hid behind long lashes that seemed to flutter at him. Her amber colored hair was down to her back, she was just a sight to behold. The last woman seemed a bit odd to him, but beautiful nonetheless. She was the tallest out of all of them, and her built seemed a little to masculine for a woman, but he had to admit that she was WELL defined. Her black hair cascaded freely down her shoulders, which brought out her green eyes almost painfully; she had a mysterious beauty to her.

When he finally found his voice, he choked out “Ha… have you guys seen my brother?”

Nick was the first to acknowledge him, “Aaron… you might want to sit down for this…”

“What happened?” Aaron suddenly asked, concern growing within seconds. With the way the blond woman sounded, it was almost as if she was going to tell him that something happened to his brother.

“Aaron, I just need you to sit down and listen to everything I have to say without interrupting.” Nick said sternly, his older brother mode kicking in.

Aaron stared at her like she was crazy, for a beautiful woman she sure gets angry fast. “Look, I just want to know where the hell my brother is, that’s all. He texted me and told me to come here, so here I am.”

“We’re the reasons why Nick wanted you to come over.” Howie finally spoke up.

Aaron continued to stare at them, not really registering what they were saying. Finally, a small smile broke out and just continued to grow. “No… way…” he said as his smile got bigger, “Nick got me strippers? I knew there were reasons to still love my brother!”

“No dipshit, I am…” Nick snapped, but froze when he found Aaron staring at him in shock and fear. “I am your brother.”

Aaron remained silent, just staring at the five, beautiful women before him. Finally, he released a chuckle, “Good one sweetie, now what the hell did you guys do to my brother? Tie him up? Handcuff him to the bed? Strap him down to a…”

“Aaron!” Nick snapped, getting irritated with how he was acting right now. “We are not strippers… ask me something, anything only you and I… you and Nick would know.”

Aaron fell silent, thinking of something only he and Nick knew. He finally came up with a question and walked over to the blond woman, whispering his question into Nick’s ear, who in turn whispered his answer back to Aaron.

“HOLY SHIT!!” Aaron exclaimed, backing up far away from the five women. “You’ve got to be shitting me, right?!” he glanced over the four remaining women, “If you… you’re Nick, then who the hell are they?”

“Brian, Howie, AJ and Kevin.”

“No fucking way!” Aaron all of a sudden shouted, “There is no way in hell that you guys can be… no, just fucking no! Dude, I’m fucking outta here, once you see Nick, tell him I’m done playing his fucking sick games.” and with that, he started towards the door.

“Aaron!” Nick shouted, running towards him before he could open the door all the way and walk out, “Get back here.”

“FUCK YOU!” Aaron shouted back, upset at the fact that his brother made him drive all the way out there just to pull a stupid prank on him.

“I do not have time for this.” Kevin growled in his feminine voice, brushing past Nick and walking out towards Aaron.

Aaron turned to see the tall, green-eyed woman that was supposedly Kevin making his way over to him. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” Aaron screamed as he now began sprinting to his car.

Kevin broke off in a sprint as well, tackling Aaron into the car before he could even get the door open. He wrapped his arms tightly around Aaron to keep him from fighting back and began to drag him back into the house.

“LET GO OF ME!” Aaron cried out, struggling against the grasp, “SOMEONE HELP ME, THESE WOMEN ARE TRYING TO RAPE ME!” he screamed out at the top of his lungs.

“Please Aaron, keep dreaming.” Nick scoffed as he closed the front door to his house.

“LET ME GO DAMNIT!” Aaron demanded, still trying to dislodge himself from the woman’s grasp.

Kevin sighed heavily and released his grasp, pushing him away from him in the process. That move sent Aaron reeling into the nearest chair, and once he turned around he found the five women crowded around him, blocking him from running anywhere.

“Look,” Nick started, placing his hands on either side of the chair’s armrest, trapping Aaron in. “I told you to come here because I knew that you were the only one that I could turn to for help and that I could trust. I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna have to do to convince you that I am Nick, and I really don’t have time to contemplate it over. I already answered something that both you and I only know, I don’t know what other proof you need. But we need your help… desperately.”

“What the hell do you want me to do?” Aaron questioned back. “It’s not like I wake up every morning helping people… change back to their original sex.”

“I’m not asking you to do that, hell, we don’t even know how the hell we changed in the first place. Believe me, we all want to be our normal selves again, but until that time we’re just gonna have to…” he fell silent for a while, not believing that he was coming out to say this to his brother, “we’re gonna have to act like the chicks we became, and that’s where we need your help. We need to get clothes, girl necessities, whatever. Can you just believe me and help us, please?”

Aaron continued to stare at the blond chick in front of him, who had became suddenly calm and sincere, but as he continued to stare into her brilliant blue orbs, he could see a part of his brother deep inside. At that realization, he began to freak out. “Oh my god…”

Nick backed away, wondering why he was acting odd all of a sudden, “Wh… what? What is it?”

“I can’t believe that I just…” he looked up Nick, who was now a blond woman. “Dude, I can’t believe I was just checking you five out… that’s just…” he began to gag, “freaking gross dude.”

Nick chuckled and folded his arms across his busty chest, “Who do you think was the hottest?”

Aaron snapped up to look at Nick, not actually believing that question just came out of his mouth, but that only proved to him that the blond woman standing before him was indeed his brother… somehow. “Honestly, I thought she was hot…” he replied, pointing to AJ.

“Dude, fuck off Carter!” AJ said, flipping his middle finger at Aaron.

“Yo man, it ain’t even like that anymore.” Aaron told him, a look of disgust crossing his face. “So…” he drawled out slowly, “who’s who?”

“Well, the chick that brought you back in the house is Kevin, the latino shorty over there is Howie,” Howie scowled at how Nick decided to describe him, “goldilocks is Brian, and your secret lover is AJ.”

“Dude, I can’t believe this…” Aaron said shaking his head. “So, no one knows about this?”

Nick shook his head, “Of course not. You’re the only one who knows, we had to fucking sneak out of our goddamn hotel rooms just to get where we are now.”

“Wait, so you mean to tell me that your management has no idea where you guys are?”

“Well, technically they have no idea where the Backstreet Boys are.” Howie spoke up for the first time.

Aaron stared at them, still in shock. “I can’t believe this…”

Nick rolled his eyes, “I think that’s been established already, we get the fact that you can’t believe it, hell we can’t believe it ourselves. But, you’re the only one who knows because you are the only person I knew I could turn to and trust. Please Aaron, help us with…” Nick paused, looking down at his female features, “this!”

Aaron stared at the blond women before him, her words playing through his head… Nick actually felt that he could turn to his younger brother and trust him. “Yeah…” he sighed, “I’ll help, but I don’t know how the hell I’m gonna do it.”

Nick squealed and grabbed his brother in a tight hug. Aaron’s eyes widened when he heard the high pitch squeal release from his brother, he pushed the woman away, “Dude… don’t ever do that again, it’s just… it’s weird.”

Nick blushed, embarrassed by the fact that he just squealed like a little girl. “Sorry…”

Aaron rose from his seat, “Okay… I guess I’ll take you guys shopping or whatever.”

“Dude, like this?” AJ asked, gesturing down to their attire. “We are not walking through that mall wearing boxers and a wife beater, no way in hell dude.”

“Well, what… did you guys expect to change into Nick’s clothes or something?” Aaron asked them. When he didn’t get an answer, he looked down to the ground and sighed, “Okay, I’ll take you guys over to… BJ’s house or something, ask her if she could lend you guys some clothes for now.”

“Why isn’t she picking up?” Aaron asked out loud, talking more to himself as he hung up his cell phone and placed his hand back on the steering wheel.

“You aren’t suppose to be driving and talking on the phone.” Nick stated matter-of-factly.

“Nick,” Aaron sighed, “this is my car, don’t tell me what to do. Plus, I’m trying to help you guys, I really don’t think BJ would appreciate me just showing up with five beau… five women, asking her to borrow clothes.”

Aaron’s phone started to ring, and he took his one hand off the wheel again to grab it. “It’s her.” he said, talking more to himself again as he picked it up. “Hey BJ, why didn’t you answer when I first called you?”

Nick began to adjust the passenger seat, wondering why he was seated so close to the dashboard.

“Hey Nick,” AJ said as he leaned forward towards the back of Nick’s seat. “Put on the radio or something man…”

Nick nodded and looked over his brother’s sound system, wondering what all the buttons were for and how the hell you were suppose to turn it on. He finally pressed a button he assumed would turn it on, only to have one of Ludacris’ songs blast through the speakers.

Aaron almost lost control of the vehicle, the sudden blast of music scaring the hell out of him. He balanced the cell phone between his ear and shoulder while he placed both hands on the steering wheel, trying to ease his racing heart. He glanced over at his brother, seeing that he was covering his ears, as was the rest of them.

“HOW DO YOU TURN IT DOWN?!” Nick screamed over the music, not taking his hands off his ear.

Aaron reached over to his radio and had turned the volume down. “Leave the radio alone Nick…” he seethed before he turned his attention back to the road and his cell phone. “Sorry BJ, what were you saying?”

“Nick…” AJ whispered, leaning forward into the back of Nick’s seat again. “Turn the station.”

“Man, you just heard my brother tell me not to touch the radio.”

“C’mon man, stop being such a pussy. Who’s the oldest?” AJ began to smile when he saw Nick ponder the question. “Now stop being such a wuss and change the station, he ain’t gonna do anything to you.”

Nick glanced over at his younger brother, seeing that he was wrapped up on driving and talking to BJ on the phone. Sighing heavily, he reached over to the radio and began to flick through the channels.

From the corner of his eye, Aaron could see Nick messing with his radio again. “Hold on BJ…” he took on hand off the steering wheel and slapped Nick’s hand, stopping him from touching his radio. “Nick, didn’t I say not to touch the radio. Damn, you’re worse than a kid.”

Ironically, the station they landed on was playing a Britney Spears song, and Aaron refused to change it, he simply went back to talking to BJ on the phone. AJ huffed and sat back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest, not happy with the fact that they were now stuck with listening to one of Britney’s songs. Nick just stared at the radio, itching to just change the station once more, change it to something, anything else than “Lucky”.

As the song continued on, Nick noticed something different about him… something absolutely weird about him… he was actually digging the song for some reason. Something deep inside him was telling him to belt out a line from the song, but when he glanced back to his fellow female bandmates, they didn’t look too pleased with the fact that they were now stuck listening to Britney’s song. He bit his lip, slowly chewing on the bottom lip, willing the urge to belt out the song to go away.

Nick looked down at his hand, realizing for the first time that his long, slender finger was now tapping it’s nail against the car door. What the hell is going on? he wondered to himself as he now found his foot tapping to the beat. Now his head was swaying a little to the beat, he felt the urge getting stronger. AJ watched Nick as he began to bob his head to the beat of the song… no fucking way.

“Isn’t she lovely, this Hollywood girl…” Nick whispered. He couldn’t believe that just came out of his mouth, it slipped out through a whisper. He bit his lip harder, in hopes that it wouldn’t happen again, but he realized that it wasn’t so bad… he fell deeper into the song.

“And they say she’s lucky, she’s a star, but she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart thinking… if there’s nothing, missing in my life, then why do these tears come at night.” Nick sang a little louder.

AJ’s eyes grew wide, he couldn’t believe that he just heard Nick sing the chorus of that song. He looked at the other three and noticed that they were just as equally shocked as him. He couldn’t believe it, but at the same time he didn’t think it was bad either.

Nick broke out into a smile when he finally built the courage to belt out the song, regardless of the fact that his brother and fellow bandmates would find him awkward. “A standing image in a dream, but there’s no one there to wake her up…” he paused when he heard a new voice joining him; he turned to find Howie whispering along. “and the world is spinning and she keeps on winning, but tell me what happens when it stops…”

Brian glanced between Howie and Nick, watching them sing along to Britney’s song on the radio, wanting to be apart of it all too. “They go…” Brian smiled when he started to sing along with Howie and Nick, discovering that he was actually having fun singing along. “Isn’t she lovely, this Hollywood girl, and they say…”

AJ and Kevin were the only ones who weren’t singing as they continued to stare at Nick, Howie and now Brian as if they were crazy. The three of them were smiling, singing along to the words of the song, acting like… a chick.

“She’s lucky, she’s a star, but she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart thinking…” the three of them continued to sing, smiling at each other. “C’mon AJ and Kev…” Brian said, “I know you know the words…”

AJ chuckled and looked away, he DID know the words. “If there’s nothing, missing in my life, then why do these tears come at night…” he whispered, staring out the window, hoping that no one saw him whispering the words to the song.

But Kevin saw him, and couldn’t believe that all four of them were now singing the song. Nick was looking back at them, singing with a wide grin while Howie, Brian and now AJ were singing along with him. Aaron was still talking on the phone, oblivious to the fact that four out of five of them were now belting out Britney Spears’ song.

A small grin grew on Kevin’s face and he finally built up the courage to let it all out as well. “She is so lucky, but why does she cry… if there is nothing, missing in her life, why do tears come at night… AND THEY SAY!!”

“Sorry, hold on again BJ.” Aaron turned his head to see his brother and his four bandmates singing along to “Lucky”. “Nick, do you mind? You see me on the phone with BJ!”

Nick ignored him and just sang to him instead, “She’s lucky, she’s a star, but she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart thinking…”

Aaron sighed heavily, “Let me call you back BJ, on second thought, I’ll just see ya when we get to your house… yeah, we’re almost there… okay… bye.”

“C’mon Aaron… you know you wanna sing along…” Nick cracked.

Aaron glanced up in the rearview mirror and seen the rest of them smiling and singing along. He couldn’t help than to laugh at their antics, it’s funny how a catchy a song becomes good when it’s your friends belting it out.

“… then why do these tears come at night.” Aaron finished the song off quickly, followed by an eruption of laughter.

“Okay you guys…” Aaron sighed as he stopped them right in front of BJ’s door. “Please, please, please could you guys act civilize for once? Act as you would a woman, not yourselves, okay?”

“Since when did we stop acting civilize?” Nick asked.

Aaron rolled his eyes, “Since you guys became women. Just, let me do all the talking, okay?” and with that he began to knock on the door.

They stood there waiting for a moment, until they finally heard BJ’s voice on the other side of the door. “Hold on, I’m coming.”

As soon as the door opened, Aaron smiled. “Hey sis…”

“Oh my gosh, Aaron look at you!” BJ exclaimed as she grabbed her younger brother in a tight embrace. “You’re getting bigger every time I see you.”

Nick, totally forgetting that he was a girl, approached BJ next. “Hi BJ, it’s so nice to see you…” he went forward and grabbed his sister in a hug.

BJ’s eyes widened, startled at the fact that this complete stranger would approach her like that. She tried her best to smile as Aaron finally pulled the blond woman off of her.

Aaron glared at Nick and that’s when he realized why Aaron pulled him away from her. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” he apologized.

BJ grinned, “It’s okay honey…” she looked out past the five women, “Where’s Nick? I thought he was with you guys?” she asked Aaron.

“Oh…” Aaron completely forgot that he mentioned Nick’s name when he was on the phone with her. “Um… he wanted me to drop him off somewhere before we came here.”

BJ scoffed, “What, is he too good to see his own goddamn sister?” Nick’s heart dropped at that statement. “You know, I know things aren’t going too well between him and mom, but he doesn’t need to be avoiding his siblings as well.” she sighed and looked over to the five women. “I’m sorry for venting like that, where are my matters? I’m BJ…” she held out her hand to the blond woman who hugged her earlier.

Nick stared at his sister’s outstretch hand for the longest, letting her words settle into his heart. Aaron glanced over at Nick, noticing the frown on his face. “Hi.” Nick muttered, grabbing BJ’s hand and shaking it.

Aaron quickly stepped in, “This is Nicole, or you can just call her Nicky.”

BJ smiled as she continued to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you Nicky.”

Howie was next to introduce himself and forgot that they all didn’t think of female names to go by. He decided to settle on the first female name that came to mind without having Aaron cover their backs. “I’m Holly.” Howie introduced as he shook BJ’s hand.

BJ smiled “Hi Holly…”

Brian was next, “Hey BJ, I’m Briana.”

“I’m Alexandria…” AJ introduced himself as he shook BJ’s hand.

“Beautiful name…” BJ replied with a smile. She glanced over at the last woman, who seemed a bit odd to her.

Kevin realized that he was the last person to introduce himself, and he didn’t even think of a female name. He noticed that Nick, Howie, Brian and AJ all had female names similar to their original male names, but he couldn’t think of one that would be similar to his name. “Hi BJ, I’m Kevana.”

“Ke… Kevana?” BJ repeated in a question, wondering if she pronounced her name right.

Aaron and Nick were staring at him as if he completely lost it, Howie was busy looking away while both Brian and AJ were trying their best to fight of the laughter that wanted to come out.

Aaron came to Kevin’s rescue. “She’s not from here… she came from Colombia, and we just call her Karen so we don’t… butcher her real name.”

BJ slowly nodded, “Okay, it’s nice to meet you Kevan… Karen. Please, come inside and make yourselves at home.”

As the five entered the house, BJ stayed behind and pulled Aaron to stay behind with her. “Who are these girls Aaron?”

“They’re friends of mines, why?”

“Why are they wearing… male boxers and a wife beater?”

“They were kicked out of the hotel they were staying at and had to borrow some clothes. I gave them my clothes to wear so we could come here.”

“You mean to tell me they were naked when you picked them up?”

“No, they were just in… panties and bras.”

“Aaron, are they strippers?”

“BJ, look at them… do they look like strippers to you?”

They both turned and looked at the five women who were making themselves comfortable in the living room.

“Yeah.” BJ simply replied. “Maybe not so much the chick with the green eyes, she looks like a bodybuilder to me.”

“Look, could we they just borrow some clothes to go shopping. I’ll return them to you wash and everything when we’re done.”

BJ continued to stare at the five women, wanting to know exactly what was going on, but decided not to push her questioning further. “Okay…” she said, walking away from Aaron and over towards where the five women were. “Ladies, we’re gonna make our way over to my closet right now for you guys to pick an outfit to wear to the mall, okay?”

When she saw them all nod, she nodded as well, “Great, lets get you gals some clothes…”

AJ, Brian, Howie and Kevin got up and followed BJ to her room. Nick lagged behind, watching as Aaron turned to follow suit.

“Hey Aaron…” Nick called out.

Aaron looked back at Nick to find him just standing there. “Yeah?”

Nick waited a while for the rest of them to get out of ear distance. “Could you do me a favor?” he asked, almost in a whisper as he slowly approached his younger brother.

Aaron nodded, “Yeah, sure thing bro… what is it?”

Nick looked up and stared at his brother once again, but this time tears were brimmed to the top. “Could you let BJ know that I love her very much and I would never, ever treat you guys like I do with mom?”

Aaron stared at the bawling woman before him; in that moment he could see his brother, not the female he was trapped in. “Nick…” he whispered as he grabbed him in a hug. “BJ knows you love her very much… you know she tends to just say things without thinking…”

“It’s just… you know how it is with mom, I don’t like what she did to you, I don’t like what she did to the family… she caused us to drift apart. I love mom very much, but I won’t be able to ever forgive her for all the pain and torment she made us… you, me, BJ, Leslie and Angel go through. It’s not like I don’t care about you guys, nor am I trying to run away from you guys, it’s just… we’re all living separate lives now, and I just want to give you guys all the space you need.”

Aaron pulled away from the hug, “Nick… you’re our big brother… you’re not dad. We don’t expect you to be there for us all the time, hold our hand and guide us through every single little thing. BJ just wants you to be the big brother we’ve always looked up to all these years when mom and dad was nowhere to be found. She loves you man… we all do.”

Nick smiled and wiped furiously at his face, getting rid of the tracks of tears left staining his face. “Thanks Aaron… didn’t mean for this to get all emotional.”

Aaron laughed, “Better get used to it… now that you’re a chick, you’ll be getting emotional about everything!”

Nick laughed as well and playfully pushed Aaron away, “Shutup man…” They both began walking towards BJ’s room. “I wonder if she’s got something simple like a pair of jeans and a Journey t-shirt.”

Aaron chuckled, “Dude, this is not your closet, we’re looking for clothes in BJ’s closet.”

Once they stepped into the room, it seemed like BJ had chosen an outfit for the four women that were already there.

“Nicky, there you are honey…” BJ said as she approached both Aaron and Nick who were standing in the open door of her bedroom. “I chose this outfit out for you, I think it’ll look very cute on you.” she said as she handed him the outfit on a hanger.

Nick grabbed the hanger and hung the outfit up, observing what his sister chose out for him. “What’s this?” he had to ask.

“It’s like jeans, but they go down to right above your knees. You have long, slim legs so these petal pushers should accentuate your lower half. And as for the top half, I decided to go with a traditional white v-neck fitted shirt because your bust size is not too big, not too small, but actually just right.”

Nick nodded and held the outfit up to him, it wasn’t that bad… wasn’t bad at all. “Thanks.”

BJ smiled, “No problem hun… now that we got you situated, there’s one more to go.” she turned and faced Kevin, who was just standing there, watching the rest of them try on the outfits BJ gave them. “I’m having a hard time finding Karen an outfit because she’s… well, she’s rather broad and busty.”

“You don’t just have a regular shirt she could borrow?” Aaron questioned.

“Actually…” BJ turned and walked over to her dresser and began rummaging through the drawers. “I still have that one shirt Nick got me a while back…” she pulled up a white shirt that had the saying “Like what you see?” printed on the front and “Call 1-800-YOU-WISH” printed on the back. “I never got to wear it because it was too big for me. Here sweetie, try this on.”

Kevin grabbed the t-shirt and slipped it on, but his head got stuck and wouldn’t come through the hole while he could only get his forearms through the holes where the arms go.

“Okay, hold on honey…” BJ grabbed the shirt and began yanking it down, trying to get his head through the hole. “Aaron, you wanna help me?”

Aaron stared at her as if she was completely nuts, but decided to help her anyway. They both grabbed onto the shirt and began to force it on Kevin, trying to get his head and arms through the shirt’s openings.

“Um… you guys are hurting me.” Kevin voiced out when he felt them trying to force a shirt that obviously wasn’t going to fit him on.

“I’m sorry sweetheart,” BJ apologized. “We almost got it on, just one… more… tug…”

And one more tug was all it took. Kevin’s head finally got through the hole, but when it came to his arms the shirt completely ripped. While the others broke out in snickers, Aaron and BJ tried their hardest to contain their laughter.

BJ chewed on her bottom lip to keep her from laughing, “Um… if you want to just stick with the wife beater, you could borrow my boyfriend’s basketball shorts… or something.”

Kevin took off the ripped shirt, or at least what was left of it. “I’ll take the basketball shorts…” he hesitantly handed the ruined shirt back to BJ. “Um, sorry about that.”

“No problem, let me go get those basketball shorts…”

Aaron sighed and shook his head, “Okay, lets see what my sister hooked you guys up with…”

He looked at Brian first, who was wearing a pair of long jeans and just a normal t-shirt, which made him look normal and descent enough. Next he looked at Howie who wore short shorts and red laced tank top, so far so good. Finally, he looked at AJ who was wearing… “Oh my god, BJ!” Aaron exclaimed.

BJ came running back into the room with the basketball shorts. “What is it?”

“Why?” Aaron asked as he turned towards her, pointing at AJ. “Of all things for her to wear, why did you give her… that?!”

“What, you don’t like it?” BJ asked her brother as she handed the basketball shorts to Kevin. “I think she looks great in it.”

“BJ, I don’t want attention drawn towards them. The last thing they need is for guys to be hounding them, and I know I definitely don’t wanna be dealing with that shit. Why couldn’t you just give her an outfit like Briana’s, or even short shorts like Holly’s would be nice. But… a skirt?”

BJ rolled her eyes. “You can tell men have no sense in fashion. Alexandria has a perfect proportioned body. She stands at an average height and she has perfectly toned legs that should be shown off. She doesn’t have too much junk in her trunk, and her hips are perfectly shaped. A skirt brings out her full figure while the corset highlights her top half. Briana is a little shorter than her, so I thought a pair of jeans would look great on her and her body is more relaxed and she just has this carefree, comfortable attitude towards her, which is why she’s wearing something simple, yet sexy. Holly, on the other hand, is the shortest out of the ladies, and she has the perfect height to be wearing shorts. I decided to go with the red tank top because with her curly, brown hair and brown eyes, anything that’s red on her brings out her Latino flair.”

“Holly and Briana look fine, but Alexandria… with the skirt… I mean, the corset is fine, but don’t you have another pair of jeans you could give her to wear?”

“Actually, I like the skirt.” AJ spoke out, twirling around so he could see himself. “I think what she picked out is cute.”

BJ looked over at her younger brother and smiled triumphantly. Aaron continued to stare at AJ as if he lost it, but decided not to press it any further. “Fine, whatever… don’t come crying to me when guys starting hitting on you. Now that you’re all settled, can we go now?”

The five women thanked her and kissed her goodbye. As they began to file out the house, Aaron turned towards his sister and smiled, “Thank you… for all of this.”

BJ smiled as well, “No problem… anything for my bro and his stripper friends.”

Aaron laughed and grabbed her in a hug, remembering what Nick had asked him to do. “You know…” he whispered. “Nick would never, ever abandon us like mom had… he loves you BJ… he loves us very much, he’s simply giving us time and space to live our own lives is all. I mean, after living a hectic life together and going through what we had gone through, he is being the big brother by letting us live our own lives.” he pulled away from the hug and just stared at his sister, who still looked doubtful. “He’s not dad BJ… he’s our big brother, and he’s trying… give him credit for that.”

A slow grin crept up on BJ’s face, and she simply nodded her head. “Yeah… when you see him again, tell him I love him very much.”

Aaron nodded and grabbed her in a hug once more, “Thank you. Love ya sis.” he said as he turned and began walking towards the car.

“Love you too, you little squirt. Don’t get into trouble now!”

Aaron approached Nick just as he was about to get into the car. “She said to tell you that she loves you very much…” he whispered to him, and then began walking to the other side of the car.

Nick let the words his brother just told him settle within his mind and heart. He looked out at BJ, who was still standing in the open doorway. He smiled and waved at her, which in return she smiled and waved back.