The Frack and Frick Switch by ForeverFrick
Past Featured StorySummary:

The Backstreet Boys have reunited, after a several year break. They're interested in returning to the studio, but old resentments die hard. Brian and Nick remain contemptuous towards each other, and their fighting is hindering the group. Unexpectedly, they are forced to put themselves in each other's shoes... literally.
Categories: Fanfiction > Backstreet Boys Characters: Brian, Group, Nick
Genres: Dramedy, Humor, Supernatural
Warnings: None
Challenges:
Series: None
Chapters: 18 Completed: Yes Word count: 34323 Read: 39811 Published: 02/08/09 Updated: 01/23/10

1. *Chapter One* by ForeverFrick

2. *Chapter Two* by ForeverFrick

3. *Chapter Three* by ForeverFrick

4. *Chapter Four* by ForeverFrick

5. *Chapter Five* by ForeverFrick

6. *Chapter Six* by ForeverFrick

7. *Chapter Seven* by ForeverFrick

8. *Chapter Eight* by ForeverFrick

9. *Chapter Nine* by ForeverFrick

10. *Chapter Ten* by ForeverFrick

11. *Chapter Eleven* by ForeverFrick

12. *Chapter Twelve* by ForeverFrick

13. *Chapter Thirteen* by ForeverFrick

14. *Chapter Fourteen* by ForeverFrick

15. *Chapter Fifteen* by ForeverFrick

16. *Chapter Sixteen* by ForeverFrick

17. *Chapter Seventeen* by ForeverFrick

18. *Chapter Eighteen* by ForeverFrick

*Chapter One* by ForeverFrick
Author's Notes:
Please let me know what you think of the first chapter. I'd appreciate it! :)

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

I didn’t want to be here. Which was ironic considering it was sort of because of me that we were meeting in the first place. I’d made that call to AJ, asking if he were ready. In doing that, I’d gotten the ball rolling again.

It had been a long time since the five of us had been together in one place. And so much had changed since then. Who knew what type of music we’d record, if we did follow through with this plan to put out another CD? The music scene had changed drastically since we were topping the charts. Who knew if our fans had remained faithful to us, had been patient for us to come back? How many had outgrown us?

Everything was simply overwhelming. I hadn’t realized how much so until today. We were at Kevin’s house, firing up the grill in the backyard. There was a nice breeze and a clear blue sky.

Originally, Howie had suggested having this at my place. “It was your idea, after all,” he’d said. But I didn’t want the responsibility of hosting; rather, I wanted the freedom to leave if need be.

Howie was pouring himself some soda. AJ was smoking a cigarette. Kevin put some burgers onto the flames.

He was the only one who wasn’t here yet.

AJ stood up and his knee popped. “Ouch!”

Howie laughed “Maybe it is time to change our name to Backstreet Men. Do we still have those canes from Yes I Will? I think AJ’s going to need one.”

“I’m sorry, but which one of us has reached his thirties?” AJ raised an eyebrow.

He’d changed, but for the better. There were more tattoos (and counting), and he hadn’t lost the sunglasses or unique fashion sense. But when you looked into his eyes, AJ was looking back at you, not the downfalls of fame that had stolen him from us for a time.

Howie had passed the thirty mark. I didn’t want to think about how soon I’d be following him. He was consistently… well, Howie though. Ever the peacemaker, which I was sure would come in handy before this day was done. He’d lost the “Jesus” hair and was dressing more businesslike these days.

Then there was Kevin. He’d also lost the long hair. We’d been looking more like Hanson than the Backstreet Boys for awhile, which I’d mentioned. I remembered hanging out with them- all of them- one night, before we’d gone our own ways. Howie had mentioned our trademark song. He started singing I Want It That Way as I broke out into the chorus of MMMBop.

Things were already getting tense at that point, so the only one who thought it was funny was me. But oh, well.

“You look thrilled to be here,” Kevin observed, when Howie and AJ had gotten into their own discussion, about some random collection of AJ’s. Howie was laughing about whatever it was.

I didn’t answer.

Kevin looked at his watch, seeming a little annoyed himself.

“Think we’re ready to do this?” I asked after a moment.

He smiled wryly. “You should’ve thought about that before telling us we were.”

I’d called AJ. Kevin was family, so it was no problem to call him. And Howie, of course. He was as easy-going as ever. Which was why I’d gotten him to call the final member of our group.

“Yeah, Kevin, you’re probably right.”

He shrugged. “Well, I usually am.”

“And as modest as ever,” I rolled my eyes. I turned around to see what in the world Howie and AJ were talking about when I heard the latch of the wooden gate beside the house being lifted. It swung open, and there was the youngest member of the Backstreet Boys.

Nick Carter.

It was a household name, as was our group name. It was weird that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him. We’d spent a decade traveling the world, seeing each other daily. And then… it changed.

Nick was still tall, his blonde hair a little shorter and a little darker. He was wearing a rock band t-shirt and baggy jeans that should’ve been a size smaller.

“Hey,” he said, awkwardly.

“Hey man,” he and AJ did a special handshake.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up,” Howie said, but with a friendly smile.

“Just making an entrance. Save the best for last,” Nick joked.

Without thinking, I let out a grunt of disagreement. The record company had certainly agreed with that statement. They’d thought as highly of him as he thought of himself.

Nick heard and looked over at me. “Hey, Brian,” he said uncertainly.

“Burgers are done,” Kevin saved me. “Last one here gets to serve.” He handed Nick the spatula and gave him a pat on the back.

It was a small gesture, but Nick didn’t miss it. He looked surprised, but gratefully went over to the grill to do as he was told. Kevin was accepting him back into the group, no questions asked. He was looking towards the future.

I was surprised at this development, too. Howie wanted to get along with everybody; he’d even visited Nick on his solo tour. AJ had created other problems during Black and Blue, causing us to postpone tour dates so that he could straighten his own life out. He probably considered it hypocritical, therefore, to judge Nick for what he’d had a part of, too. Besides, AJ wasn’t the fan of confrontations.

But Kevin? As the oldest member of the group, and just a strong-willed personality in general, I’d counted on him being with me on this. When did he miss the opportunity to scold the baby of the group?

I felt completely outnumbered now. I wasn’t ready to simply let everything go.

We sat down at the patio table under a huge umbrella, although the sun was already lowering itself in the sky. The conversation stayed away from music for awhile, instead focusing on catching up on other aspects of our lives. But inevitably, we circled back to why we were here.

“You know,” AJ said, “I’m getting sick of hearing about how we’ve broken up. Heck, people tell me we are. I’m like, ‘Wouldn’t I be one of the first to know?’” he laughed. “And they’re like, ‘It’s been such a long time.’ Um, not really!”

Kevin agreed. “We were touring throughout 2001. Then we released Drowning and the Chapter One CD. No, it really isn’t long when you think about it.”

“That break’s an eternity in the music business,” I interjected, breaking the silence I’d kept throughout the meal.

“Yeah, but we need to prove to people that it was just that- a break,” Howie said. “The media acts like none of us have spoken this millennium.”

“Hey, that reminds me of a CD. It was a pretty good one,” AJ joked.

Meanwhile, I’d shot a glance at Nick. He was looking at me, too.

Breaking the eye contact, he stood up. “Who wants another burger?”

AJ and Kevin did, so he returned to the grill.

“We’re going to be facing a lot of questions about where we’ve been,” Kevin said practically. “Everyone knows we’d gone back into the studio. I mean, we sung If You Stay at some of the shows last tour. And we’ve got the new record company now.”

I was astonished to see what lengths he was going to in order to avoid bringing up certain facts. But I kept my mouth shut.

“We’ll work out what to say,” Howie said. “Nothing we haven’t gone through before. The important thing is that we’re all on the same page now.”

I wanted to laugh. Were we all just going to pretend that everything was peachy in boy band land, and jump right back into singing ballads?

Nick nodded eagerly. He was getting off easy, and he knew it. I wished he’d wipe that smug look off of his face.

No, Brian, I told myself. I wasn’t the type to start fights.

“The sooner we jump back into the studio, the better,” Howie continued. “We could have the CD out as early as next summer if we work hard enough.”

“Yeah,” Nick agreed. He’d also been staying silent, manning the grill. “And I was thinking we could go with more of a rock direction this time. You know, something we’ve never really done before.”

“That might be cool,” AJ agreed.

I looked around incredulously. Nick finally came back around, and now he was calling the shots?

“You mean make it sound more like your CD?” I couldn’t stay quiet anymore. This was the Backstreet sound, not his sound.

“No,” Nick looked flustered. “I just thought it would be an interesting way to change it up a bit. We don’t want to do the same thing over and over.”

“‘If it ain’t broke,’” I quoted.

The air tensed, so AJ quickly spoke up. “So Howie, I never got to show you.” He went over to where his stuff was and returned with a small cardboard box. “This came in the mail today, right when I was leaving to come here.”

He pulled out a small skull, in a glass display case.

“What is that?” Kevin asked, eyes wide.

“Looks like he finally got tired of hearing Justin Timberlake on the radio,” I said, a joke though my tone remained annoyed. I crossed my arms and refused to look at Nick.

“Last time we were in South America…” AJ started.

“It was years ago!” Howie said. “You just now getting this?”

“Yeah, they deliver by pack mule. No,” AJ laughed. “But I saw some cool stuff like this when we were there and have wanted one ever since.”

“So did you go back there?” Kevin asked.

“Nah,” AJ said. “Ebay!” He said this with an implied ‘duh.’

Kevin said, “Then it’s probably not even real.”

“Looks real to me,” AJ shrugged. “Anyway, looked cool. Like something I can put on my coffee table.”

“Nothing says ‘welcome to my home’ like a skull,” Howie rolled his eyes.

“Well, I think it’s cool. And down there, people say they have magical and healing powers and stuff.”

“Well, here in America… we know they don’t,” Kevin smiled.

“What’s that burning smell?” Howie sniffed the air.

“Oh, crap,” Nick said, returning his attention to the grill. The burgers looked blackened and rock-solid. “I wasn’t paying attention. Sorry, guys.”

“Yeah, cancel my order,” AJ said.

Kevin got the burnt burgers , threw them in the trash, and turned the grill off. He threw another bag of potato chips on the table for everyone to munch on instead.

“I wonder which songwriters we can go back to working with,” Howie returned his thoughts to the CD.

“Max Martin’s never let us down in the past. And he worked with me on my CD,” Nick said. “Like I Got You.

“I liked that song,” Howie said.

Nick glanced at me.

“Never heard it,” I said.

His face dropped.

“Anyway, this is a group CD. Not Nick’s solo album part two,” I said.

“Jeez, Brian, could you get off my back for two seconds? You’re just jealous you don’t have a solo CD!” Nick snapped.

I glared at him. “Yeah, I put the group first. Not really a concept I would expect you to be familiar with.”

“Oh, please. What about when all of you went into the studio? You’re just mad you realized you couldn’t make a CD without me.”

“Yes, we could’ve!” I shot back. I could out sing him any day of the week.

“Guys,” Howie said gently. We ignored him.

“What would this group be without me?”

“Happy?” I laughed. “Besides, we’d save a lot of money on gas, not having to take all the ego trips.”

AJ laughed, and Nick turned to him.

“What? That was funny,” AJ shrugged, putting on his sunglasses to hide behind.

“You wouldn’t have lasted without me,” Nick returned to our conversation.

“Please,” I said. “The only reason you came back was because you realized you couldn’t make it without us! The burgers are a perfect example. You’re pretty good at screwing up, aren’t you?”

“What?” Nick stood up. “I was in this group long before you came around! ‘Hey, ya’all. How are ya’all doin?” he did an exaggerated impersonation of my Kentucky accent.

“You tried to go solo, and your career was as dead as this guy!” I picked up the skull.

“Careful,” AJ said.

“You know, you know nothing about me,” Nick shouted.

“And whose fault is that? Like you know me anymore,” I added.

“I wish you two would consider each other’s points of view,” Howie added, not pleased with our outbursts.

“Yeah, what happened to Frick and Frack?” AJ asked.

“I don’t know. They aren’t here anymore,” I muttered.

Suddenly, I realized my hand was hurting. A sudden heat was rushing through the display case. I dropped it on the table.

“Watch it!” AJ said.

I stared at it. The sunlight, despite not being that bright, was glinting off of it; it shimmered.

I noticed Nick was staring at it, too.

“What the hell was that?” Nick asked.

“What?” Kevin looked at him confused.

“Nothing…” Nick threw his hands up. “I’ve gotta go,” Nick glared at me and started to grab his car keys.

I shook my head. “For once, you don’t get to be the one to walk out.” I quickly got past him, retrieving my own things, and headed towards the gate. Without glancing back, I shut it behind me, got in my car, and headed home.

Backstreet wasn’t back. And “alright” was anything but what we were anymore.

*Chapter Two* by ForeverFrick

It took me forever to go to sleep that night. I couldn’t believe how out of hand yesterday had gotten. And I was well-aware that I was partly (well, perhaps mostly) to blame. When I woke up, sunlight was streaming through the window. I tossed and turned, wanting to go back to sleep. But I was still frustrated.

I hadn’t realized how much I’d been building up. It was hard being in the spotlight. Other people could get mad, and then everyone would forget about it. Meanwhile, I was constantly quoted by fans and the public for things I’d said that dated back to 1993. That forced me to be constantly careful about everything that came out of my mouth.

Usually.

I threw the pillow over my face, trying to block out the light. I stretched in my bed, which wasn’t, for the record and speaking of outdated quotes, a fifty dollar waterbed that I’d purchased at a yard sale. Goodness gracious. If I hadn’t made enough money off of Millennium to at least purchase a new bed, then I needed a new manager.

As I stretched my legs, the bed seemed a little smaller. I guess I was further from the headboard than usual; I could reach the foot of the bed.

Maybe I’d gotten even less sleep than I’d thought. And I’d dreamt that N’SYNC had reunited. They’d recruited Nick, and he was singing lead with Justin Timberlake.

Talk about a nightmare.

I would be hearing from Kevin today. That was inevitable. Hopefully through the phone, as opposed to a visit. I groaned. I supposed I should get a start on this day. The morning was pretty much gone already. I stood up and tried to adjust my boxers, but they felt a little snug. That was weird. Sure, I wasn’t working out like during the Backstreet days of two-hour long, high-energy shows. I’d gained a few pounds, but that wasn’t recently. And I’d left long before seconds at the cook-out yesterday.

I finally got out of bed and opened the door to my walk-in closet. As I stepped in, however, I slammed my head.

“Ouch!” I yelled, clutching my forehead with both of my hands. The closet entrance was shorter than regular doorways, but I’d walked through it countless times before without a problem. What was wrong with me?

I angrily grabbed my towel and was more careful on my way back out. I was having an off day. To make matters worse, I almost tripped stepping into the bathroom. Simply over my own two feet.

I hadn’t had an ounce of alcohol, so why did I seem hungover? I rubbed my still half-open eyes and trudged into the bathroom. I so wasn’t a morning person. I didn’t have the brainpower at the moment to try to answer that question. Throwing my towel over the shower curtain, I turned the water on. I ran my fingers through my hair; it felt different than normal. Huh. I shook my head at myself. Now I was just being ridiculous.

I walked over to the toilet, unbuttoning the front of my boxers. Before I could pee, however, I jumped back in surprise.

That was not mine.

What the heck was going on here? The jump had positioned me in from of the bathroom mirror. I opened my mouth, wondering what Nick was doing breaking into my home and hiding out in my bathroom. But before I could say anything, I noticed that the person in the mirror moved his mouth, too.

“What in the world…” I trailed off in astonishment. My voice wasn’t my own. My hint of country twang was gone, and I sounded slightly higher pitched.

I didn’t know how it was possible, but…

I was Nick Carter.

~*~*~*~*~

I checked every mirror in the house, but each yielded similar results. Was I losing it? People just didn’t turn into the teen heartthrob of the Backstreet Boys. This was bad. This was so bad.

I tried to think of a plan. I didn’t have any experience to go from, of course. After all, no one I knew had ever randomly turned into Nick Carter.

I went downstairs and drank a cup of coffee. That didn’t help any in making me less blonde, but at least I could think a little straighter now.

I needed to find Nick. I went to pick up the phone, but the doorbell rang.

“Crap,” I said, looking around. I decided not to answer it. What was I supposed to say?

I peeked out the living room window to see Kevin’s car parked out front. The doorbell rang again. I waited for him to get the hint and leave.

He didn’t. I heard keys jingling.

Crap. Kevin had a key. Darn family ties.

I ran to the door, deciding to cut him off. I went to shut it, figuring that it would be at least a little better to speak to him through the door. Maybe he wouldn’t notice my voice too much if it was muffled.

But I was too late. He opened it.

“Hey, Kevin,” I said, pretending that my heart wasn’t racing as I stood in the doorway. I didn’t move to allow him inside.

“Nick?” Kevin asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Umm…”

He looked down. “And why are you wearing Brian’s boxers?”

“How do you know their mi- uh, Brian’s?”

Kevin glanced at me, clearly questioning my intelligence. “They’re a bit small to be yours. Besides, aren’t you the one briefs Backstreet Boy?” he teased.

“I… slept here last night.”

“And borrowed Brian’s pjs? Is there something we need to know about you two? I didn’t realize that Frick and Frack were actually pet names.”

“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically. “It’s… a long story. And I’ve… gotta go.”

“Well, where’s Brian?”

“He’s not here,” I stuttered.

“Where is he?” Kevin asked.

“Who do you think I am? His mother?” I shrugged.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “I just can’t believe you’re over here, after what you said last night.”

What did Nick say? I wondered. Now wasn’t the time to find out.

“Yeah, well. It’s a new day. We’ll talk later,” I said, grabbing the door. “Have a peachy day!” I smiled and shut it in his face.

I went upstairs to get dressed. I found a t-shirt and sweatpants that sort of fit. The pants were too short, but I couldn’t be picky at this point.

I’d half wanted to ask Kevin if it was really him. For all I knew, he was Howie or AJ. Or Nick, for that matter.

Maybe I should’ve just stayed in bed all day after all.

~*~Nick’s point of view~*~

I slammed my hand into the dresser three times before finally hitting my alarm clock. I could still hear the ringing. I groaned as I sat up in bed. I really hoped today wasn’t going to be as dramatic as yesterday.

I rubbed my eyes and slowly got out of bed.

Whoah! Head rush. I felt like I’d fallen for a second before hitting the ground. Weird.

It was almost noon. I’d been at Kevin’s pretty late and then come home to watch a movie and try to calm down.

The nerve of him!

I’d come yesterday, hadn’t I? Did Brian think it was easy for me to face all of them? I’d expected him to be the one to understand. But he was the one who didn’t seem to at all. It was my decision to do a solo album. What was his freaking problem? That project had nothing to do with him.

He hadn’t even bothered to call me to tell me we were getting together, to start talking and plan some studio time. Instead, Howie was the go-between.

I groaned, putting on some basketball shorts. I went downstairs to the kitchen. I grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV. The living area was right next to the kitchen, and my big screen was mounted on the wall.

“Jeez,” I said, pulling up my shorts. They were looser. Maybe all that working out was finally paying off. I’d lost some weight. “Score,” I said to myself.

Starving, I pulled some milk out of the fridge. Hmm… Lucky Charms or Cinnamon Toast Crunch? I tried to decide. I opened the cabinet and went to grab it from the top shelf. That was weird.

I had to jump to get it. Scratching my head, I poured a bowl of Lucky Charms.

“They’re magically terrific!” I had with a horrible Irish accent. I cleared my throat. I sounded strange today.

Must’ve been the lack of sleep. I hoped I wasn’t getting a cold. I sat down on the couch and watched Comedy Central. They were doing a special with different comedians. After awhile, one of my favorites came on. He was about to tell the punch line of a joke when the doorbell rang.

Darn it! I got up, annoyed. I went to the door and opened it.

“Wha…” I lost the ability to speak. Everyone had always told me all the video games were going to have an effect on me one day. It was finally happening. I was staring at myself. I simply stood there, confused, unable to blink. “But you’re… me.”

“You think!” he- well, me- said. He stepped inside.

“What is going on?”

“I don’t know, Nick. I just woke up like this! What about you?”

“What about me?” I stared at him. He wasn’t making any sense.

The other Nick tilted his head and stared at me. “Are you serious? You haven’t even noticed!”

“Noticed what?”

“Unbelievable,” he muttered, pushing my shoulder and directing me down the hall. “Only you would turn into another person and not have a clue.”

I found myself in the bathroom. He turned on the light, and I was staring in the mirror. Brian and Nick were staring back at us. I looked from him to the reflection several times.

If he was Nick, then I was…

“There it is,” he said impatiently, noticing my light bulb had finally gone off.

“Brian?”

Brian nodded, and we went back into the living room.

“What are we going to do about this?” I screamed, following him and pacing back and forth in front of the couch.

“You don’t think I’ve been asking myself the same question?” he demanded.

It was an odd sensation to find myself being yelled at by myself.

I’d lived a pretty abnormal life. My childhood had been cut short by my musical aspirations. I’d never known high school, had endured family drama, and had lived through a period of time where I couldn’t leave my house without a bodyguard. And even then I’d get chased down by fans. The “lifestyles of the rich and famous” were definitely unique.

But this one took the cake.

“We could go back to sleep!” I said.

“What good would that do?”

“Well, maybe it would reverse itself. Or maybe this is a dream.” I liked the sound of that. It was really the only sane possibility.

“Nick, since when have me and you ever shared a dream?”

That stopped me for a moment. He hadn’t killed the idea yet, though. “That’s just what a dream Brian would say.”

He pinched me.

Okay, maybe now he’d killed it.

I rubbed my arm. “You know, you were a lot nicer when you were younger.”

Brian ignored me. “Think, Nick! What happened yesterday?”

“You yelled at me,” I commented.

He was about to cast my sarcastic comment aside when he stopped. I started to ask me what he was thinking, and he shushed me and sat down hard in the recliner. A moment later he finally spoke.

“Do you remember the skull?” he asked. “Did… did you notice when it-”

“Flashed?” I finished for him. I’d thought no one else had noticed that but me. A shimmery light had washed over it, but the sun wasn’t in the position to have caused that to happen. And… well, there had been a glittery quality to it. At the time, I’d dismissed it as a trick of the eye. But after today’s events I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“AJ mentioned that it was said to have… powers. Or that skulls were… I don’t really know.” Brian threw his hands up in the air, frustrated.

“B, are you seriously telling me that you think a skull that AJ bought off Ebay caused us to switch bodies?” I couldn’t help but laugh.

He sat there, my face staring back at me with a serious expression on it. “Do you have any better ideas? A more logical explanation?”

I didn’t.

“Alright, so what do we do?” I asked him.

“We find AJ.”

*Chapter Three* by ForeverFrick

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

I’d borrowed some of Nick’s clothes so that I didn’t look like I shopped at yard sales. I’d also slammed my head getting into the car. This sudden growth spurt was going to give me a concussion.

“So, um, what do we do when we get the skull?” Nick asked.

“What do you think?” I tried to pull off an incredulous look, but failed.

Nick saw right through it. “You don’t know what we’re going to do?”

“Nick, contrary to popular belief, I have never switched bodies with you before! This wasn’t in the Backstreet manual, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to share!” I said sarcastically.

The car ride wasn’t too long, but this had been the most time we’d spent together, especially alone, in quite some time. And we were about ready to kill each other. Of course, if I murdered him at the moment, it would sort of be suicide.

The sun was shining, and the air wasn’t too humid. But the good weather was lost on us.

Nick was adjusting his seat forward. “Man, Brian, how do you reach anything?” He turned on the radio and started adjusting stations.

I decided to be the older, mature one and ignore that comment. This ordeal wasn’t exactly a picnic for me either.

“I was this tall when I was like in middle school,” he continued. A Journey song came on the radio, and he started singing along.

“Oh, wow!” I said, faking astonishment.

“What?”

“Listen to your voice! For the first time in your life, you can actually sing!” I said. “Wonder why that is… Oh, that’s right! You’ve got my voice right now.”

Nick glared at me but apparently couldn’t come up with a suitable comeback. Deciding I wasn’t done with the joke, I sang along with the chorus, making my voice as nasally as possible.

We finally made it to AJ’s house, and I rang the doorbell.

“Alright,” I said, “let’s do this. Maybe if we hold the skull, it’ll do something. I mean that’s all I was doing last time.”

“Had to pick up the skull, didn’t you, Brian?”

AJ had opened the door and was staring at Nick. “Talking to yourself?” he looked amused.

“Yeah, you know me. Just a little off,” Nick said.

I glared at him. He smiled and walked past me into AJ’s.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“Um,” I said, “just wanted to say hi.”

He glanced back and forth several times. “You two make up already?”

No, we simply turned into each other. I was reminded of yesterday again. “Yeah, we’re working on it. That’s why we dropped by. We can’t wait to get back in the studio and record together again. Just like old times. Right… Brian?”

He looked confused for a second. I elbowed him.

“Right, Nick!”

AJ raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Well that’s good to hear.” He went into a conversation he’d had with Kevin and Howie about the CD, but I wasn’t listening.

We’d walked into his living room, and I was searching. The skull was where he said it’d be: on the coffee table.

“Oh, this is what you had last night?” I interrupted him. I walked over to it and picked it up. I examined the skull more closely. Was this really what had caused this freak accident to occur? Now that I looked at it more closely, it was slightly smaller than a regular human skull. The eye sockets were smaller and closer together than I would have expected, too.

“What were you saying about skulls? Magical powers and whatnot?”

“Huh?” The question caught AJ off guard.

“You were saying stuff about the skull yesterday,” Nick joined in.

AJ was obviously wondering about our sudden interest in it. “Yeah, other cultures have different beliefs about them. Like in Mexico, they have the Day of the Dead. There’s a lot of skull merchandise with that. Like what we have with Halloween, although it’s more religious for them.”

“But you didn’t get this from Mexico,” I said. “You said South America.”

AJ nodded. “The dude I bought it from lives in Peru. I guess that’s where the skull’s from, too. I’m not really sure. I did it through this shop downtown.”

“What shop?” Nick asked him.

“I think I still have the card around here somewhere,” AJ shrugged.

I waited, but he didn’t seem to understand or belief our sudden interest. “Well, can we have the card?”

“Why? You going to get a skull of your own?” AJ laughed.

“Umm…” I remembered that I was, for all intense purposes, Nick at the moment. “Yeah. You know me. Skulls are very… rock star. It’ll help with a… cooler image.”

AJ gave me a look, but told us to hold on and went into his kitchen to find it.

“Rock star?” Nick asked me.

I shrugged.

AJ returned a moment later. “Here you go.”

“Thanks. I thought you said you got it on ebay?”

AJ sat down on the couch. “Yeah, but I don’t have my own account. They do it for you there and helped me find the one I wanted and everything. It’s a cool little store.”

I glanced at the card, and my heart sunk. They weren’t open on the weekends.

“So we were thinking of scheduling some studio time this week,” AJ continued to his original subject. “Just like a few hours to see what happens. What do you think, Rok?”

“Sounds great,” I responded, still looking at the business card and only half listening to him.

“I was asking him. You were there when we discussed it last night, man,” AJ laughed.

“Um, okay by me,” Nick said.

If any of the Backstreet Boys would’ve believed us about this cruel twist of fate, it would’ve been AJ. He was into the whole motif, after all. But there was a difference in interest in other cultures beliefs about skulls and actually believing that those beliefs were real. AJ would think it was some sort of practical joke on him for buying the skull. He barely believed that our interest in the skull was genuine.

“Well good,” AJ said. “The record company mentioned several demos that sounded promising.”

“Yeah, we’ll see what happens,” I said, faking interest. Music was the last thing on my mind right now. I picked up the skull again and stood next to Nick. I kept hoping it would shimmer. That some hocus pocus would occur.

But today it seemed like it was… simply a skull.

We made excuses about having to be “somewhere.” AJ was forced to accept our vague answers and waved us goodbye.

“You mean I have to be you for the rest of the weekend?” Nick groaned, once back in my jeep.

“Oh, and I was so looking forward to a 48-hour Nick Carterfest,” I rolled my eyes. I glanced at the clock. Two o’clock. Even Saturday afternoon was going by slowly. Tomorrow was going to be horrible.

I was so frustrated, I wasn’t paying attention to the speedometer. Who knows how much over the speed limit I was going when I saw the blinking lights of a cop car.

“Great,” I muttered.

Nick crossed his arms. “What are you worried about? I’m the one who has a freaking ticket now!”

“Oh yeah,” I said. I felt relieved. And then guilty. He was right; my mistake was going to be on his record. “Sorry!”

The cop started walking up to the car. “License and registration?”

I pulled the registration out of the glove box and handed him what he’d asked for.

The cop didn’t look amused. “Your license.”

“Oh. Right.” I turned to Nick, and he begrudgingly passed me his license.

The police officer went to his car and came back with the ticket. I made sure to follow the speed limit the rest of the way home.

“So Brian,” Nick said as he walked into his home, “if you could refrain from any more trouble with the law while you’re me, that would be great!”

“I said I was sorry!” And I meant it. Too bad he didn’t believe me.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a soda. He didn’t offer me one. “So now what?”

I shrugged, getting annoyed. “It’s your turn to come up with a plan. I’m all out until Monday, when we can check that place out.”

Nick didn’t say anything.

“So just lay low the rest of the weekend, okay?”

He tilted his head. “What gives you the right to tell me what to do? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m an adult now.”

The way he was acting, that sure fooled me. “We both have to until we get this whole mess sorted out.”

“What if we never get it worked out?”

“We will.”

“Well, I don’t feel like being you and sitting around with no life,” Nick said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

“Besides,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “payback wouldn’t hurt either.”

“Payback for what?”

This time he acknowledged my question. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess my materialistic rock star brain can’t remember. I’ll try to think of it as I’m driving downtown to pay my speeding ticket!”

“It’s just one ticket! I’ll give you the stupid money.”

“That’s not the point,” Nick said. He was being stubborn, and his rebuttal sounded like that of a three year old.

“Don’t be stupid, Nick.”

“And now I’m stupid?” he shouted.

“That’s not what I meant!”

“You know, I think I need a drink.”

“You’ve got one,” I gestured to his soda.

Nick sighed. “I mean a drink drink. In fact, I might go hit some clubs. Meet up with some girls. I hope people don’t think I’m a partier… Oh, wait! It’ll be perfect Brian of the Backstreet Boys having a wild night out on the town.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Wouldn’t I?” My mischievous smile was being used against me.

“Nick, seriously. I’m not going to go around ruining your image.”

“There’s nothing to ruin,” Nick smirked. Then he sighed. “Look, I’m not going to through myself in front of the paparazzi or anything. Promise.” He started heading up the stairs. “Geez, you act like I’m going to kick a kitten or something.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get changed.”

“Nick!” I yelled after him.

“Stop worrying. So Brian Littrell is about to get a little makeover? What’s so wrong with people thinking you’re still actually a fun person? It’s for the better. And it’s past time, if you ask me,” Nick smiled one last time before disappearing down the upstairs hallway.

*Chapter Four* by ForeverFrick
Author's Notes:
Thanks very much for the comments so far! I love to hear what you guys think. And thanks for reading. :)

~*~Nick’s point of view~*~

It was night by the time I made it to downtown Orlando. This club was one of my favorites. There was loud music, lots of people, and a talented bartender. After I’d showered, I’d headed to the mall to get some clothes. Everything I owned was either too big, too tall, or just didn’t look good on the Sprite body I was currently sporting.

I felt a little guilty. Brian had looked so mad when I’d left him. Of course, I’d been mad, too. I knew I wasn’t on his list of favorites these days; I probably never would be again. But I hadn’t realized until being around him these last few days just how worthless he seemed to think I was.

Just like he thought I was going to ruin the public’s view of him. I wouldn’t stoop that low! But it had been a stressful day. I didn’t see anything wrong with calling up Howie and going out for some fun. He’d been planning on hanging out with AJ tonight, so it ended up being the three of us meeting here.

“Hey, guys,” I said, a little awkwardly. They’d taken the break much better than Brian, but our relationship was still a little rocky. More so with AJ, anyway; Howie and I had kept in touch the most. He’d even come to see one of my solo shows. He couldn’t possibly know how much that had meant to me.

But we were making progress and getting things back to where they needed to be if we were going to be a group again.

“Hey, man,” AJ said. “I thought Howie was lying when he said you’d invited him out to a club tonight.”

I was momentarily confused, then remembered: I was Brian. I didn’t have to worry about any awkwardness at all! I could just sit back and relax, like old times.

“Oh, yeah. Well, I thought it’d be a fun change.”

We headed inside. Howie and I each ordered a beer; AJ, too, but the nonalcohol kind.

“So you think that you can manage a studio session on Monday without flipping out on anybody?” AJ teased.

I shrugged, forcing a smile on my face. Then I got an idea. “Well,” I cleared my throat, “I just saw Nick and kind of lost it.”

“Well,” Howie laughed. “We were there. We know.”

“What do you guys think about him these days?”

AJ cocked his head to the side. “Not this again! You were asking us that when we planned the cook-out.”

“Well, that was before the get-together. This is in… retrospect.” Wow, I didn’t even know that I knew that word.

Howie paused. “I know you don’t like my opinion on the subject, but I think you guys have been too hard on him. It’s not easy growing up in the spotlight.”

I silently thanked Howie.

“But that’s the point, isn’t it?” AJ added. “He should be done with that by now. He’s well into his 20s.”

“I think he’s grown up a lot. More than you guys give him credit for,” Howie continued. “And anyway, look who’s talking.”

“Yeah, you look like a toddler mistook you for a coloring book,” I joked, still thinking about the immaturity comment.

AJ shrugged. “Not my fault you don’t appreciate art. Besides, I never said I was perfect.”

And I had? What I really wanted to know was what Brian had been saying about me, but there was no way to ask it. “Hey, guys. What do I think about… myself?” Yeah, that wouldn’t sound crazy at all.

“Anyway, Brian,” Howie said.

It took me a second to realize he was speaking to me.

“We’re all ready to move on with it. Even Kevin, which… is saying something. I know you’re a little mad about that, like we’ve gone too easy on him.”

Brian thought I’d had it easy? Seriously? Barely speaking to them for years, having fans mad at me and disappointed in me, knowing they’d gone back in the studio! I could still remember the day I’d found that out; it was like someone had taken a knife, stuck it in my back, and turned it. Just because I’d stayed with the label as a solo artist, that suddenly made me not a Backstreet Boy anymore? That was crap, as far as I was concerned.

It had taken me a long time to get over that. I was so relieved the day I found out that that plan had been scrapped. Brian, for whatever reason, had shut down the production on the CD that would have been created without me.

“They said you guys were spending time together this weekend,” Howie motioned to AJ. He must’ve talked to Kevin, too. “I think that’s good you’re ready to jump on board.”

I covered my mouth so that they couldn’t hear me laugh. Brian wasn’t choosing to spent time with me again. He was stuck with me. Twenty-four seven, in a manner of speaking.

“Alright, ladies,” AJ said finally. “You guys can sit here and have chick chat all night if you want to. But I’m going to go talk to those beautiful females over there. You in?”

I should’ve said no. Brian wouldn’t have wanted to go talk to random women in a club. But Brian wasn’t here… in that manner of speaking again. And I was even more annoyed at him, having heard some of his thoughts on my “absence” from the group, for lack of a better word. The man never cut me any slack.

“Hello ladies,” AJ said, standing next to a brunette. Her two friends, both blonde, were smiling at the three of us. They were at a tall table near the bar, sipping on martinis and looking like they’d walked straight out of a Sex in the City episode.

“I’m AJ. This is Brian and Howie.”

AJ had looked surprised when I’d followed him over, but his thoughts were solely on the girls now.

I sent one of the blondes a seductive smile. “Is there a ninja in your pants?”

“Huh?” she looked confused.

“Because your ass is kicking.”

Howie stared at me, and AJ laughed.

No, I wasn’t evil enough to kick Brian to the paparazzi curb. But I was still going to have some fun being him.

The girl who I’d directed the comment towards didn’t appreciate the pick-up line one bit. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. The taller blonde next to her, however, obviously had more of a sense of humor.

“You wanna dance?” AJ asked the brunette, after finding out that her name was Suzanne. The rigid blonde was Amanda, and the other Leah.

I wasn’t going to remember a single one of those, but I supposed that was part of the protocol for introductions. I took… I’d already forgotten who she was. Sarah? Susy? Close enough. Anyways, I slid into her seat. I was just getting into a conversation when I happened to see who was just coming into the club.

Uh-oh.

I tried to duck behind her, but I didn’t move quickly enough. He spotted me and headed over, his brow furrowed and a frown etched into his face.

“Nick? What are you doing here?” Howie followed my gaze.

“Oh my God,” Amanda (go figure I remember the annoying one’s name) exclaimed. “You’re Nick Carter!”

I rolled my eyes. Weren’t that appreciative of me a moment ago, were you? I thought. Still, the scene was satisfying. My face was the only one she’d recognized as that of a celebrity.

“Uh, yeah, hi,” Brian said to her without changing his annoyed expression. “Brian, can I talk to you?”

“I’m actually already talking to somebody right now,” I grinned.

I saw Howie mouth “oh, boy.” He decided to follow suit with AJ and take Amanda on the dance floor. For a second, she looked like she was going to decline the offer. When she realized that “Nick Carter” was ignoring her, though, she sulked off after Howie.

“I’m a Backstreet Boy, too, you know,” I bragged to whoever this was who was left at the table. I took another chug of beer, letting the fact sink in.

“Really?” she looked skeptical.

“I know. I’m not really the memorable one,” I laughed. I couldn’t believe Brian was checking up on me. I guess I’d given him reason to, with my last comments to him. But still.

Brian sat down across from me, fuming. “Well,” he said. “You take the good with the bad. I’m the most easily recognized, but I’m also the dumb blonde one. Nobody’s perfect.” He smiled for the first time since entering the club.

I glared at him. I had no come-back ready, so I simply took another swig of beer. He leaned forward and rested his arms on the table.

“I think it’s time to go home.”

“How’d you even know I was here?”

“This is your favorite club. Didn’t take a rocket scientist,” he answered.

“But I wouldn’t have been able to figure it out, right?”

Brian sighed. “You started this. Let’s go! Can’t you wait until we sort this out to go out and party?”

I shook my head. “All I’m doing is sitting here and talking to… her.” Hopefully she hadn’t realized my lack at remembering names. And I was trying to make him look like a dweeb, but that was harmless fun, really. And he didn’t need to know that.

I snuck a glance at her. She hadn’t noticed a thing. From the looks of it, this hadn’t been her first martini. And she didn’t weigh enough for it to take many drinks to knock her out.

“Right, like you’ll leave it at that.”

There was that lack in faith in me again.

I’d finished off the beer by now. Alcohol, even in smaller amounts, and anger don’t mix together too well. “Come on, ‘Nick.’”

He raised an eyebrow but didn’t bother with an answer.

“Ignore him,” I turned back to the girl. “I’m like that movie. You’ve gotta help me out.”

I noticed Brian staring at me intently, wondering what I was talking about. This was going to be good.

“What movie?” she asked. She seemed sympathetic, and obviously wanted him to leave so that we could get back to our discussion.

The 40 Year Old Virgin. That’ll be me in ten years!” I said dramatically.

Brian dropped his mouth.

“You’re a… a thirty year old…” she couldn’t finish. Her eyes were wide.

“Well, yeah, but that’s not important, is it? And, I mean, size isn’t everything.”

“Um,” she stuttered.

I glanced at Brian; he was about to explode. I decided to ice the cake. “Besides, the doctor says I’m not contagious anymore.”

It was about this time that she excused herself to the little girl’s room. I knew she wasn’t going to come back.

“Oh yeah,” I said, feeling proud of myself. “I can be clever, too.”

“Yeah,” he rolled his eyes. “I love how I’ve never slept with anyone, yet I magically have an STD. You’re a modern-day Sherlock.”

Darn it. I could hear the Homer Simpson in my head scream “D’oh!” Still, the look on his face was priceless. I’d gotten him, and I’d gotten him good.

“I’d wipe that smirk off of your face,” Brian said. “It’s on now.” And, having accepted the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to get me to leave, he stormed back out of the club, his threat still lingering in the smoky air.

*Chapter Five* by ForeverFrick

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

Sunday had been a long day. I hadn’t left my house, since I had no desire to be Nick in public. Well, I had some desire to do so. But so far my threat was an idle one. Maybe I’d be able to calm down enough before I saw him today to be able to keep from strangling him. And hopefully we’d be able to solve the switch issue today.

“Wow, you’re not the last one here for once,” AJ teased when I came in the studio.

For once, I remembered that he thought he was talking to Nick, so I didn’t give him a puzzled expression. I sat down across from him, already wanting this session to be over.

“We were just listening to a demo,” Howie said, coming back into the room with a cup of coffee. It appeared that we were the only three here so far.

“Oh, yeah?” I said, pretending to be interested. “What song?”

“It’s written by the Five for Fighting guy. Some great piano,” he answered. “It’s called Weird World.”

It certainly is, I thought, liking the title immediately.

Howie played it for me. It was a little more rock than our usual stuff.

“What do you think?” Howie asked. “I thought I should play this before Brian got here.”

“Why?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you were the one wanting to go in this direction. I’ve already listened to two other songs, and they are a little more R&B.”

“No one said we had to stick with one sound,” AJ said. “You know we’ll record several dozen songs before starting the elimination process. I’m sure we’ll end up with a little bit of each.”

“Yeah, but we can’t have an album that goes in a million different directions,” I countered. And when had the sound of Backstreet become Nick versus Brian?

“Hey,” Nick walked in wearing my body, a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt. He seemed a little out of breath. “Sorry I’m late.”

Howie glanced at his watch. “Well, you still beat Kevin.”

“Only because he cut me off in the parking lot. Probably for that exact reason,” Kevin appeared right behind him, looking a little annoyed. “You and Nick switch bodies or something?”

Nick and I stared at him. Before I had any time to react, I heard AJ laughing. I let out a breath. Of course, them realizing that we had, in fact, switched bodies would make life a whole lot easier.

Howie played Weird World again. Nick loved it.

“Really?” Kevin asked, surprised at the smile on his face. “Well, we’re off to a good start. I didn’t expect you two to being able to agree on anything. One song down.”

“And a dozen to go,” I mentioned.

We spent the morning talking about songwriters and listening to demos. We could already start pulling out the ones we were sure that we did, or didn’t, want to record. The selection given to us, though, wasn’t as good as it had been last time around. I wondered how much faith the record company had in our next album. Like they were thinking our time as musicians had expired.

Today was only meant to be a short session, to get our foot in the door. So as lunchtime approached, we decided to call it a day. I was coming back from getting a Coke out of the drink machine when I heard Kevin talking to Nick.

“Remember that girl I’ve been telling you about?”

“Um… yeah,” Nick lied.

I groaned inwardly. Kevin’s girlfriend had a best friend who he was convinced was my “perfect match.” He had only met her once, but Kelly talked about her all the time. Kevin had been dating Kelly only for a few months, and they’d been trying to find a time for the four of us to get together.

“I just talked to Kel, and she said that her and Madeline are going to lunch. She was wondering if we could go.”

“Madeline?” Nick repeated. “Go out… like a double date?”

I smacked my forehead.

Kevin stared at him. “Yeah. Like we’ve been talking about all month.”

“Oh, right, right,” Nick responded, unconvincingly.

“Great, so you’re coming?”

“Well…”

I walked over to them. “N- Brian and I had plans today.”

“You two see each other all the time,” Kevin said. “Well, you will be now that we’re recording again. Can’t you guys push back your plans? Kelly is really excited about meeting Brian.”

“Sure,” Nick said. “Lunch sounds like fun. We can hang out later, right?” Nick turned to me.

Unbelievable. He was postponing the reversal of whatever the heck was going on for a girl. A girl he’d never even met.

A girl Kevin thought he was setting up with me.

I shook my head. “It’s kind of a pressing matter.”

“What is?” asked Kevin.

Both Nick and I responded “nothing.”

“Come on,” Nick said. “A few hours isn’t going to kill us.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know what? I’ll go by myself.”

He was the most immature person on the face of the planet. Like a date to him was any big deal. Like it was hard for him to find a date. I wondered if it was simply because Kevin was trying to hook me up with her. That probably added a thrill to going out with her. He’d probably tell her his 40 Year Old Virgin story, too. And who knows what else he’d said pretending to be me. Maybe by tomorrow, I’d have one week to live, be a long-lost brother of Justin Timberlake’s, or have an illegitimate child who lived in Bulgaria.

Of course, that would counteract his virgin story, but Nick didn’t seem to think his pranks through. And heck, I’d rather be a virgin with a Bulgarian child than be related to Justin Timberlake, I thought with a wry smile.

I pulled out the business card AJ had given me and headed to downtown Orlando, hoping that I’d be back in my own body by nightfall.

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

I found the store without too much difficulty. It was on the corner, with a huge, glass window depicting the store name in colorful, painted letters.

Mystic Illusions.

Well, that sounded about right. I was sure there’d be someone in here crazy enough to at least believe my story. I headed inside and scanned the store. There was a display case with wands, huge crystals tied to the end. The wall was lined with book shelves, with topics ranging from crystal healing to voodoo dolls. Some tapestries were hanging above them on the wall. I looked up to see a spiral staircase leading to a loft area.

What in the world? I thought.

I wondered who would buy a wand expecting it to wield magical powers; then I remembered why I was here. Who was I to judge what was possible?

There was a girl standing behind the counter. She must’ve been into the story, because she didn’t seem aware of my presence. She wasn’t too tall, with shoulder-length brown hair falling in layers around her face.

I walked up, expecting the book to be something like the ones sold here. Or maybe Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. Something in the fantasy genre. When I leaned forward to look at the cover, though, it said Emma by Jane Austen.

She let out a cry of surprise, dropping the book on the counter and jumping back. Putting her hand over her heart, she said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize anyone had come in.”

“Oh, no, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snuck up on you,” I said, with a smile on my face. “Good book?” I picked it up and handed it back to her.

“Huh?” she seemed to be attempting to get her heart rate back to normal. “Oh, yeah. You can’t beat Austen.”

I simply nodded, having never read any of her works myself. Although I was fairly familiar with the Pride and Prejudice storyline.

“What can I do for you?”

“Well…” I said, suddenly realizing that I didn’t really know where to start. “I’m friends with the guy- AJ- who just ordered a skull through you all. From South America?”

She thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I remember what you’re talking about.”

“Well… I was wondering if you could tell me anything about its origins?”

She tilted her head, not understanding my question. “What about it?”

“Like… he mentioned that it was rumored to have magical powers.”

She laughed. “Oh, sorry,” she added quickly. “I keep forgetting where I am.” She motioned to the store around her. “I think those are just legends, though. It seemed like it was just a skull when it came in.”

“So you don’t really believe all this stuff?” I asked incredulously.

She looked like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that…”

“No, it’s okay,” I responded, although disappointed. So maybe I wouldn’t find someone here who would believe me.

“Um… I’m Kate,” she introduced herself. “My grandmother is the one who owns the store, and who’s usually running it. I’m filling in while she’s on vacation. She’s actually in South America, although not the part where the skull came from.”

“I’m Nick,” I said. I didn’t even stutter with my own name. That was a sure sign that I’d been walking around as him too long.

“I can see if we’ve got anything here about skulls,” she offered, trying to make up for her lack of magical interest.

I nodded. “That would be great.”

Kate scanned the bookshelves by the door, but didn’t find whatever she was looking for. I followed her up the spiral staircase.

There were white Christmas lights strung in circles along the stair rail and then the banister in the loft. Some bean bag chairs of different colors were on the floor, surrounded by more books.

“Wow,” I said. “This is like a library.”

Kate laughed, and she pulled out several books for me. I sat in the beanbag chair, while she returned to the counter, to continue reading Austen or to help other customers.

“Hey,” she came up much later. “Sorry, but we’re closing in a few minutes. Monday is our short day.”

“Oh,” I said, looking up. I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late. “Okay.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked.

“Not really,” I said, honestly. “But there are a lot of books I haven’t checked yet.”

Kate gave me a sympathetic smile. “Well, then I guess I’ll see you again sometime? I’ll try to find some books with more information. Those didn’t have too much about skulls. We get a lot more requests for crystals and love potions,” she laughed.

I managed a laugh, too, and thanked her. I’d really been hoping to find some answers today. I simply felt lost now. I told her goodbye, and left the shop, trying to figure out what to do next.

*Chapter Six* by ForeverFrick

~*~Nick’s point of view~*~

Brian had a knack at bringing out the worst in me. I was about to tell Kevin myself that I couldn’t go to lunch. That I had plans with Brian that were too important to miss.

But he’d tried to step in and make the decision for me. It was kind of ironic that, because he was treating me like a child who couldn’t make his own decisions, I’d acted like one. It was only a few hours delay, though; he could’ve waited, instead of acting like it was the end of the world. When had Brian become like a Mr. Doomsday?

I tried to put it out of my mind. I followed Kevin into a sandwich shop. And I’ll admit: I was curious to see who Kevin had pegged as Brian’s soulmate. Did she play professional basketball? Burst into song at odd moments? Crack herself up with her own jokes?

The interior was decorated with colorful tables and framed pictures on the walls of celebrities who’d eaten here. The chairs were on the small side. I was about to groan at the thought of having to cram my legs under the table and hunch on the chair when I realized whose body I was in.

Not a problem. Heck, I could probably fit in one of the highchairs.

There were two girls sitting at a corner table, and they greeted Kevin.

“Brian, this is Kelly,” he said, and I nodded my head towards her. “And this is Madeline.”

“Hi,” I said. I took the empty seat next to her and Kevin on my other side.

Kelly was tall and slender, with thick, blonde hair cut above her shoulders and a very sophisticated look about her. This was a casual eatery, and a casual lunch, but she wore a khaki skirt and a small pearl necklace.

Her friend Madeline was a little shorter. Perfect for Brian, I thought smiling. She also had blonde hair, although hers was long and straight. Her eyes were a light shade of green, and she was dressed sportier than Kelly, with tennis shoes, shorts, and a simple tank top. Still, there was an indescribable beauty about her.

“Have you guys ordered yet?” Kevin asked.

“No, we were waiting for you,” Kelly answered. She glanced meaningfully at Madeline, who was looking out the window. “Why don’t you and I go on up? Maddie already told me what she wanted.

Kevin took the hint and nodded. “You want the usual, Brian?”

I had no idea what that was; I hadn’t known he and Brian had ever been here before. Nevertheless, I nodded. Madeline and I were left to ourselves.

“Umm…” Well this was awkward. I wasn’t used to meeting girls in such quiet settings. What was I supposed to say to her? Especially since this was the potential future Mrs. Brian Littrell. I had to make the first impression for him.

“Wussup?”

Crap.

I hadn’t meant to slur the words. Actually, I hadn’t meant to say that at all.

Madeline gave me an odd look but laughed a little. “The ceiling? Wussup with you?” she asked with a laugh.

She was quick like Brian, too. I smiled sheepishly.

“I hear you guys are back in the studio. Making another CD, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“It was a pretty long break. Although I guess when you guys come together, it’s like no time has passed at all, right?” she prompted.

“Mm-hmm.” What was wrong with me? Speak, Carter, I commanded myself. Was it so hard to have a simple conversation?

“So… you’re best friends with Kelly? How long have you known her?”

Phew. That was better. But I didn’t even listen to her answer. I was trying to think of what Brian would say, were he here, as she went through the story. Finally, I came up with something. He’d probably be making her laugh.

“Do you wanna hear a joke?”

She paused, and I realized that she’d just finished speaking. Transitions weren’t my forte today. “Sure. Lay it on me.”

It was then that I realized, of course, that I didn’t know any jokes. Not off the top of my head. Luckily, Kevin and Kelly returned. Kevin handed me half a sub and a drink. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was sweet tea. Man, Brian and his southern version of it, drowning it in sugar. I was hoping Kevin was going to hand me the other half of the sub, but he’d only gotten me the six inch. Oh, well, free meal.

And they couldn’t have come back sooner. I tried to give Kevin a look that said “don’t ever leave me again.” Which was not something I ever thought I’d say to him.

“Do you have something in your eye?”

Attempt at nonverbal expression? Fail.

We started eating. I managed to take a few sips of the grossly over sugared tea- which most places didn’t even serve in Florida. No wonder Brian liked this joint. Madeline worked in retail at the mall- she was an assistant manager at a clothing store. She lived near the store, on the outskirts of downtown Orlando.

“Did you finally kick your roommate out?” Kelly was asking Madeline when I zoned back into the conversation.

“Yeah. Thank goodness! She was crazy,” she explained to Kevin and I, rolling her eyes. “The one thing I can’t stand with people is dishonestly. This girl loved to come up with stories on why she couldn’t pay the rent. Every month it was something different.”

“Oh,” Kevin laughed, “tell her about the aunt. That was my favorite excuse.”

Madeline smiled and said, “Brian, you should’ve heard her go on about her sick aunt. Maria, that’s my roommate, was telling me how she’d had to take several days off work to go take care of her. Her paycheck was small from all of the time she was nursing the aunt. Blah, blah, blah. She needed a break on her rent because of helping family. Wouldn’t I do the same thing in her position? Especially since her aunt might not have a lot of time left.” Madeline mimicked the girl’s overly dramatic voice, making appropriate gestures throughout the story.

“What’d her aunt have? Or, supposedly have?” I asked.

Scoliosis.”

I forced myself to laugh. Kevin whispered in my ear scoliosis was, and then I sincerely laughed. “Are you kidding?”

Madeline shook her head. “I don’t know what disease she’s mixing it up with either. Maria’s not the brightest crayon in the box.”

I laughed. “Well, at least she’s gone now.”

“Not a moment too soon. I think I’m going to turn her room of the apartment into an office. I can’t deal with any more crazy people. You wouldn’t believe these girls I’ve lived with.”

“You’re telling us you have to deal with crazy girls?” Kevin raised an eyebrow, smiling.

“Oh, right,” Madeline laughed. It was infectious. “I forgot who I was talking to for a second!”

“Her mom sure could cook though,” Kelly pointed out. “I’ll miss the leftovers she’d bring to us.”

“Yeah,” Madeline agreed. “The Italian? That’s my favorite kind. What about you guys?” she tried to bring us back into the conversation.

“Anything my mom makes,” Kevin said. “There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal. Especially in the days when we were on the road all of the time.”

I realized they were all waiting for me to answer. It was such a simple question, too. What was Brian’s favorite food? She’d just said she hated dishonestly, too. Who knew a double date could be so stressful?

I stared. Man, Madeline was going to think that Brian was retarded.

“Um, is there a restroom here?” I abruptly turned to Kevin.

His eyes widened. No transition, once again. “Yeah, to the left of the register.”

I headed that direction. They were sitting by the front door, so they were out of sight. Maybe I could just feign food poisoning and head home? No, I decided. Madeline would think Brian had water butt or something. That was only going to make my, and therefore his, first impression worse.

If that was even possible at this point.

Just then, my prayers were answered in the form of a teenybopper. I heard the familiar melody of Quit Playing Games. A preteen was sitting at a table by herself, texting.

“Hi!” I said, sitting down next to her without thinking.

“Oh my gosh,” she breathed. “Brian Littrell? I was just…” she held up her phone, blushed, and shoved it in her purse.

“Yeah. Hey,” I said. “Listen, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure!” she said eagerly.

“What do you know about me?”

She stared. “What do you mean?”

“Anything. Favorite color? Food? Vacation spot? Whatever! I’m… it’s a long story. But please. Just keep talking.”

I didn’t know Brian very well anymore, not since the break. And I’d never paid attention to the little things that fans seemed to cling to. Why did I need to ask his favorite color when we were working out pranks on the stage crew? Or his favorite TV show when we were working on harmony?

I started soaking in the facts she was throwing at me. It took a little convincing, and she still looked confused, but just as I’d hoped, she seemed to be a Backstreet encyclopedia. Sandra Bullock was my favorite actress. I slept in a waterbed I’d purchased at a yard sale. Blue was my favorite color. My favorite show was The Fresh Prince of Bel-air.

“Hasn’t that been off the air for like a decade?”

“Well, yeah…” she said sheepishly. “Then what’s your favorite show now?”

“Um. Desperate Housewives.” I don’t know why that was the first show that had come to mind. Did guys watch that show?

“Brian? What are you doing?” Kevin demanded.

“Oh,” I said. “Just talking with a fan. Here,” I grabbed a napkin, and she dug a pen from her pocket. I had to cross out the “N” I’d written in my haste, but finally handed her Brian’s autograph.

“Your handwriting’s different than it used to be,” she commented.

Jeez, the fans could recognize our handwriting?

I returned with Kevin, wondering how much more I could screw up Brian’s date.

“Macaroni.”

Madeline looked up from the conversation she was having with Kelly.

“My favorite food,” I added. “Macaroni and cheese.”

*Chapter Seven* by ForeverFrick
Author's Notes:
Thanks for all the reviews so far, and thanks for everyone who's been keeping on me about writing more! You helped me get through some writers block. :)

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

“Have fun on your date?” I asked, arms crossed, when Nick answered his front door.

“Um…” I had obviously caught him off guard by my sudden appearance.

I walked past him into the living room without waiting for an invitation.

“Well, Brian, come on in. Make yourself at home! I’m good, thanks, and how are you?” he said.

“Well that’s just great man,” I rolled my eyes. “You’re already in another person’s body, but now you’re going to start having conversations with yourself, too? What a stable popstar you’ve turned out to be.”

Nick decided not to respond to that. “Look, Brian, I’m sorry.”

“A little late for that. While you were up making puppy dog eyes at the girl Kevin is trying to set me- the real me- up with, I was actually working on this little problem we have going on. Or do you want to stay me for forever?”

“It would certainly be an improvement for you. I don’t know what you’re complaining about. If you go to Universal, you’re actually tall enough to get on all the rides now,” Nick smirked.

“Because the short jokes aren’t getting old,” I shot back. “Very original.”

We sounded like three year olds, I realized.

“Look, Nick. Believe it or not, I didn’t come here to fight.”

“Could’ve fooled me. You’re the one who showed up and started…”

I raised my hands in the air as a form of surrender.

“Well I was trying to tell you that I didn’t mean to go out on your date.”

“Nick, how do you accidentally date someone? You just happened to trip and stumble inside the restaurant they were eating at?”

“No, but…”

“Especially when you were supposed to be helping me!”

“I know but…”

“Whatever. I went to the book store today,” I said, trying to get us back on topic. A blind date was the least of my problems right now.

“Well? Did you get us switched back?”

I raised my eyebrow incredulously. “Does it look to you like we’re switched back?” After making fun of his repeated short jokes, I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from adding a blonde one to the end of that statement.

He just made it too easy.

“I mean,” Nick looked frustrated, “do you have it sorted out for when we wake up tomorrow. You know- zap! We’re back.”

“Backstreet’s back,” I said wryly. “Us? Not so much. The person who owns the store is on vacation. South America, ironically enough.”

“That’s just our luck,” Nick said, flopping onto the couch.

“I’m going to spend some more time there this week. Her granddaughter’s running the place while she’s gone, and she’s ordering some books for me. And I’m still hoping I can maybe find something in the books they already have, although I didn’t get anywhere today. I don’t know that we’ll get any help besides that until the owner comes back. And I don’t know how soon that’ll be.”

“So, what? We’ve gotta do this for another… how long? Week? Two weeks? A month!”

I sat down in the recliner opposite him. I wasn’t looking forward to that either. This whole predicament was crazy.

“I can’t do this anymore. Everyone has noticed something is off. My date today? Horrible! Madeline thinks I’m a whack job. Being you makes me lame!” Nick said incredulously.

“Yeah it was my fault you were a dork,” I said. Then, “Wait a minute. So she is going to think I’m lame? Great!”

“You’d like her, too, man. She’s pretty and funny. Great laugh.”

“Yeah,” I said, “that makes me feel better.”

Nick seemed to be day dreaming for a few seconds, but snapped himself out of it. “What about the person AJ bought the skull from? I don’t know he didn’t have the information, but maybe they have records. The chick keeping the shop should know how to access those without waiting for her grandmother to get back.”

That was actually a good idea. Where was he today when I was at the shop? That was the kind of help I needed. “I’ll ask her about it tomorrow,” I promised him. “I didn’t find anything out about that yet.” “So… you basically came to tell me that we’ve gotten nowhere today?”

I’d momentarily felt indebted to him, but that feeling quickly passed. “We nothing. I got nowhere because I was the only one trying. I spent hours reading in vain!”

“Dude, why don’t you just try Wikipedia? Or Google, for that matter?”

“What?”

He went to get his laptop from the dining room table.

“This is an ancient skull. It’s bound to be in some dusty old book,” I said, getting annoyed because he was typing away instead of listening to me. “You can’t just find stuff like that on the internet. There’s going to be lots of bogus stories on there. We need actual facts about magic. Nothing there seemed to have it. This is going to take a lot of research.” I groaned, unable to take the clicking on keys any longer. “Are you even listening?”

“Yeah,” Nick said. “And if you’re done, I found some stuff on South American skulls.”

“Oh.”

Well I’ll be darned.

He yawned as he started to read. “It’s a lot of boring stuff.”

Had I not stressed to him enough how many books I had gone through today? And he was tired of reading after a paragraph? I resisted the urge to throw the lamp at him.

“I’ll email you the page,” Nick said. “It mostly has some suggestions on books. You can get that chick to order these for you.”

“Thanks,” I said, a little begrudgingly.

I looked at the clock. It wasn’t even 9:30 yet, and I was exhausted. Being Nick Carter took a lot out of you.

“Brian, just take a break until tomorrow, okay? You can check the message then. You’re stressing me out.”

I had the feeling I’d be looking through those books by myself once more, when they came in. We used to make such a good team. And now we could’ve even get through a single conversation without bickering. I didn’t think it was going to get any better between us, either.

Nick looked deep in though. “Man, I have some stuff planned for later this week. I guess I need to cancel. Oh, and a dentist appointment. Hey, I wonder if you get the filling for me as me, do you think it’ll stay that way when we get back into our own bodies?” He looked hopeful.

“Not a chance, Carter.”

He shrugged. “Worth a shot.”

There was that saying about walking in another person’s shoes to see life from their point of view. Well, I had been walking in Nick’s Adidas for days now, and his point of view hadn’t changed my opinion of him one bit.

The Frick and Frack days were obviously dead and gone. And I didn’t think the Backstreet Boys would be able to function successfully with two of the members unable to be in the same room for long periods of time.

If Nick thought I was stressed, then he was right. As if this hocus pocus ordeal wasn’t enough, I had other things I was going to need to think about.

The fact of the matter was, there wasn’t room for both of us in the group anymore.

*Chapter Eight* by ForeverFrick

~*~Nick’s point of view~*~

“What’s wrong with your voice?” Kevin asked me.

“Um, what do you mean?” I replied.

We were in the studio, and we were recording our first possible song for the album. Brian was already looking at his watch, wondering when we were going to get out of here and make it back to the Skull Shop- which I’d dubbed it, since

A. It sounded cool and was fitting since the skull was the reason why we’d be wasting a day there, and

B. I kept forgetting the actual name.

I wanted to be singing the chorus, since that was where the song picked up. It was catchier and had more of a “rock” beat. Perfect for me. Which was exactly why they’d given it to…

“Me.” Only I was reaping the benefits at the moment. I’d been given a verse, and it was softer and higher than I was used to. As Brian, it should’ve been easier for me, I suppose. But I was trying to sing… my way with his voice. It wasn’t coming out pretty. And Kevin had no problem pointing it out.

“You sound like you stabbed your voicebox with a number two pencil.”

“Well, as long it was a number two. Imagine what a cheap number one pencil would’ve done?” I shot back. I was tired of standing in the booth recording, and then getting criticized for my efforts.

Brian came to my aid, if only for ulterior motives. “We’re all bound to be a little out of practice. It’s been awhile since we’ve been in the studio. And we don’t want N-Brian hurting his voice…”

“Like he could sound any worse,” Kevin muttered.

“So maybe we should call it a day?”

Howie stepped in, “We’re never going to get anywhere if we keep cutting it short. We haven’t worked a full day yet this week.”

“Yeah,” Kevin agreed, turning to the producer and giving him the nod.

“Um… how about we try AJ’s verse?”

“Sounds good,” AJ nodded, and went into the recording booth.

The producer turned his attention to him.

“You know,” Kevin commented, “I’m usually on his case.” He jerked his head to Brian, meaning Nick. Figures that even in a different body I couldn’t escape the wrath of Kevin. I managed a weak laugh and promised I’d start working harder to getting my voice back into shape.

I was looking forward to watching Brian get the same treatment when it was his turn, but to my dismay, he didn’t seem to have any trouble adjusting to my singing voice.

“Sounds good Nick,” Kevin sounded surprised. The producer agreed. We were talking to him through the speaker at this point. He pushed the button again and said, “You can come on out of there, Nick. I got what I needed.”

“Thanks for your work today, Andy,” AJ told him.

“No problem, man. I’m just going to work on some mixes today, if you guys want to head on out of here.” Brian looked relieved. Almost two hours had passed since he’d suggested that. “Come on,” he said to me.

On our way outside, I asked, “How come I had so much trouble being you, but you flew right through the chorus?”

Brian shrugged. “I imitate you guys all the time. This was extra easy.”

“Oh,” I said, then thought about what he said. “You imitate me?”

“All four of you,” he said. Then he added, “And… everybody else on the planet. It’s nothing personal.” He opened the door and headed out into the parking lot.

I put on my sunglasses. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the heat was beating down on us. “What do you do when you’re me?”

Brian raised an eyebrow, motioning to his body. “Just about everything right now.”

“You know what I mean!”

He just laughed, but he wouldn’t tell me. A little pouty, I followed him to the car. “I still don’t see why you had to pick me up this morning. I’m not a little kid.”

Brian gave me a look, and I knew what he was thinking. He didn’t trust me not to bail on him again. We had already not been able to go the last two days; while we hadn’t worked the full days in the studio that Howie had wanted, we’d had meetings and had needed to deal with the “business” side of the record. As Brian unlocked the doors and started to get into his jeep, AJ came out.

Looking at me he said, “You’re letting Nick drive your car? You never let anyone drive it. You’re so paranoid something will happen to it.”

A wicked grin spread my face. “You’re right, AJ. What was I thinking?”

Brian tilted his head and gave me a look. “Brian.”

“No, sorry. No exceptions. Not even for you, Frack.”

I walked over to the driver’s of the side and wrenched the keys from his hands. Lowering my voice, I said, “This is my impression of you driving.” I grinned. Brian angrily went to the passenger’s side. “Thanks a lot, AJ.”

AJ quickly retreated to his own car, and Brian gave me directions to the Skull Shop.

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

“I cannot believe you!” I shouted. “Look at that!”

“It’s microscopic,” he argued. “I am really, really, really sorry.”

“Yeah, so you’ve said.”

We had made it through the entire ride here, though I didn’t think I’d breathed the whole way. It wasn’t until we were parking that it had happened. I heard a slight bump. Nick’s “oops” soon followed.

He’d pulled into the space too far, while singing along to the radio, trying to better imitate my voice better, but still sounding off. The music distracted him so that he didn’t hit the brakes fast enough.

“Brian, I’ll pay for it. I’m sorry,” he said, looking sincere. “And hey… we’re even now.”

“Even? Even for what?”

“For…” he tried to think of something. “You insisting on driving me! And for doing impersonations of me. And… well, other stuff. I just can’t think of them at the moment.”

I was too angry to say anything else about it. “Come on,” I said, heading across the street. “That’s the store right there.”

“Hey. Had a good week?” Kate looked up.

“Yeah,” I said. “Listen, there’s a book I was wondering if you could order for me?”

She nodded and headed back behind the cash register, logging into the computer. I dug the piece of paper with the information out of my pocket and handed it to her.

Kate started doing a search on the computer. “You do like your skulls, don’t you?” she gave me a half smile.

“Long story.”

“So you’ve said,” Kate answered. “I do have some good news, though.”

“Really? I could sure use some at the moment.”

“I talked to my grandmother yesterday. She’s cutting her trip short. Gran should be back sometime next week.”

I looked at Nick to make sure he’d heard. “Did you hear that?”

“Thank God.”

Kate was looking from me to him and vice versa, trying to figure out where she’d seen us before.

“This is Nick,” I said, still thinking about the news.

“You mean Brian.”

“What?”

Nick raised his eyebrows. “You’re Nick.”

“Oh, right. This is Brian,” I said. “Is the book coming up?”

“Um…” Kate was looking at me like I was crazy. “Yeah, it’s in stock in a warehouse nearby, actually. It won’t take long to come in. Can I have your phone number?”

“Huh?”

She laughed, and said, “To put into the system. So I can call you when the book gets here.”

Nick was snickering behind me.

“Oh, right,” I said, and gave it to her. Speaking of numbers, my phone rang. “Sorry, one minute,” I told Kate and answered it. “Hello?”

“Hey… Nick? Can I talk to Brian?”

“Right,” I said. “Nick, it’s for you,” I threw him my phone.

When I turned back around, Kate was studying me again. “I thought you were Nick?”

“Excuse me?”

“Nick Carter, right? At least I thought. No offense, but I get you guys confused sometimes,” Kate said. Then quickly added, “But I love the music! You have some great songs… sorry,” she said again.

I laughed. “No problem. And you’re not… well… Brian, Nick. I’ll answer to either these days.”

She laughed. “I didn’t mean that you guys look alike or anything. I’m sorry, I just talk before I think. All the time. It’s a real problem I have.”

“So is apologizing,” I laughed.

“I’m sor-” she laughed again and caught herself. “I’ll add that to my list of flaws. Anyway,” she turned back to the computer. “Like I said, the book shouldn’t take too long to come in.”

I nodded happily. Between that and her grandmother coming back next week, things were looking brighter than they had all week. I would read the book, talk to her grandmother. There was finally a plan.

“Thanks so much, Kate,” I told her, looking to see if Nick was off the phone with AJ.

“No problem. I’ll talk to you soon.”

I nodded and headed toward the door.

“We’re not going to play librarians today like you did last time you were here?” Nick wondered, handing back my cell phone.

“No need to, if that book has the information we want. I’m being hopeful. What did AJ want?”

“He says you borrowed a pair of sunglasses from him, and he needs them back tomorrow for a date.”

“That man has how many pairs of sunglasses and he needs the specific ones that are at my house?”

“I asked him the same thing. AJ said they match his outfit the best.”

I laughed at the absurdity and made a mental note to bring them with me tomorrow.

“Hold up,” Nick stopped dead in his tracks as we were about to cross the street.

“What?”

Nick pointed to a girl on the sidewalk, walking in our direction. I guessed by the look on his face that he knew her, and she seemed his type. Tall, blonde, skinny and wearing a short skirt and halter top.

“That’s Janie.”

“Who?”

He shook off my question. “No one you know. I met her through some friends a few times. I’ve been wanting to go out with her, but she had a boyfriend. They broke up recently though,” he sounded hopeful.

“Well now isn’t the best time for you to start dating her, unless she’s blind,” I pointed out. “And as there’s no seeing eye dog leading her, I’m guessing that’s not the case. Let’s go before she sees us.”

Nick grabbed my arm to stop me again. “I’m not saying to ask her out. Just say hi and be nice. Please.”

It wasn’t long before she spotted us. “Hey Nick,” she said. She was chewing a huge piece of gum, so her voice sounded chompy.

“Hey,” I said, attempting to sound nice, but I could hear the apathy in my voice.

“Hey, listen,” she said. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Janie eyed Nick, obviously wanting a minute alone.

“Um,” Nick looked disappointed in having to leave. “I’ll be over here.” He went to stand on the corner, gazing purposefully at a shop across the street. I could tell that he could still hear us though.

“I guess you heard that I broke up with Steve?”

I nodded.

“Does that offer to go out sometime still stand?” she asked curiously, twirling a strand of long, blonde hair between her fingers.

I grinned. “Sure does.”

“Really? Great?”

Nick had wanted to see me impersonate him, my smile widened. “I think you made a good choice.”

“Over Steve, you mean?” she tilted her head to the side.

I nodded and said, “If you want it to be wild, gotta know just who to dial, baby.”

She stared at me for a second. “Excuse me?”

“If you really like it hot, someone who hits the spot,” I shrugged, mustering up an overly confident expression.

“Look at the time,” she glanced at her wrist, which only had a bracelet on it. “I have to get going.”

“But you didn’t get my number,” I said as she walked away.

“Seven digits. Start guessing and maybe you’ll get there eventually.”

I laughed, not expecting her to have any wit.

Nick looked exasperated. “What was that?”

“For the night club, and for my jeep. Oh, and for that date you went on as me. Now we’re even.”

*Chapter Nine* by ForeverFrick
Author's Notes:
Let me know what you think. :)

The next day at the recording studio was about the same as yesterday. Nick was getting it from Kevin for not sounding like how Brian- I- normally sounded. When I went into the sound booth as Nick, he glared at me the entire time, assuming that I was doing an impression of him.

Which I was, but it wasn’t in a malicious way. They wanted Nick’s vocals on the CD; at the moment, I was the only one who could give that to them.

We weren’t speaking, though. I was mad about my jeep still, but I’d been ready to come in here and get to work. Nick, however, wasn’t letting go of what I’d said to that girl.

When I came out and asked him to move over so that I could get to my seat, he ignored me. I shoved it aside.

Howie was the first to pick up on our fight and, after seeing this interaction, apparently decided it was time to say something. “Is everything okay?”

Nick and I both said “yeah,” but not very convincingly.

“What the hell? You guys just made up! We’re back to this again?” AJ joined in the conversation.

We both shrugged.

“Well I don’t really care what your little problem is,” Kevin said with authority. “Get over it. We have an album to make. If you two want to act like little kids, there’s an elementary school down the street. Go enroll there, and send some ten year olds in your place. I’m sure they’ll be able to handle the responsibility better than you guys are.”

Nick rolled his eyes. Not for the first time, Kevin looked between the two of us. And not for the sure time, he was probably wondering when “Brian” had been the one to give him so much attitude.

“Seriously,” Howie said. For once, he looked almost as annoyed as Kevin. “You two aren’t the only ones in the group. We’re a team. Don’t you think the fans are going to notice if two of the Backstreet Boys can’t stand the sight of each other?”

Nick shrugged. “We’ve hidden stuff from them before.”

AJ laughed. “Like my drug and alcohol problem? Yeah, that never got out.” He was trying to lighten the tension.

Nick said, “Yes, but not until we announced it. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t worry, Howie. We’ll go out there and do our jobs.”

I secretly agreed with Howie, though. I hadn’t forgotten my thoughts from the other day. The Backstreet Boys weren’t couldn’t function with both of us anymore. I couldn’t go out there and pretend like everything was okay when it wasn’t. I’d wait until we got the body switch sorted out and then…

I couldn’t even finish that sentence. I’d deal with it when the time came.

“That’s not good enough,” Kevin said simply. “We have fans who have been waiting a long time to hear our music and see us in concert again. We aren’t giving them anything but the best.”

We weren’t in the studio much longer after that. Everyone’s moods had been affected by Nick and me not speaking.

“Where are my sunglasses?” AJ asked Nick.

“Uh,” Nick looked at me.

“Did you forget them, Brian?” AJ looked at him.

Yes, I had. Nick glanced at me and saw that answer on my face. He scowled, thinking it had been on purpose.

“I’m sorry, AJ. I meant to grab them.”

“Fine, we’re going to get them,” AJ said. “Come on, let’s go to your place.”

Crap. Nick looked at me, and I realized I had no choice but to give him my keys. He’d be driving my jeep two days in a row.

Kevin had been the first to leave the studio, rather angry and not speaking to anyone. Howie had followed him to try and calm him down.

A man walked in who I didn’t recognize, and I saw Nick’s eyes widen.

“Nick? You haven’t been calling me back this week!” he scolded me.

I looked to Nick, not knowing what to say. He pointed to the man in the business suit and mouthed “manager.”

“Um, yeah. I’m really sorry. Some things have been going on this week.”

“Well, I don’t care. You have places you need to be today.”

“Martin, I- uh, he- told you that he’d have to reschedule,” Nick joined the conversation and the man looked confused. He was also probably wondering how “Brian” knew his name.

He ignored him and turned back to me. “You have obligations. I know you’re back with Backstreet now, but you’ve been flying solo. You can’t bail out on your appearances alone.”

Nick had scheduled appearances? Seriously? I didn’t see how he could love himself anymore. So now I was going to get to spend the day doing what? Probably talking about myself and my first solo album, even though it had been out for quite some time. Oh, joy.

“But…” I started.

“I don’t take no for an answer. You should know that by now. You’re ride’s out front. You’ve got five minutes, got it?” Martin left without waiting for an answer.

“Nick! You didn’t tell me…”

“Weren’t you listening to him? I’ve been ignoring him… well, trying to. Then I told him no.”

“Great.” I started.

AJ looked confused. “Why would Brian be handling your business with your manager?”

“Long story,” Nick said quickly.

“Guess I’m not going with you guys afterall,” I said, mostly to myself.

AJ looked even more confused now. Afterall, why would I be going to “his” house when the two of us were fighting?

“AJ, I’ll meet you at the car, okay?” Nick said.

AJ took one last glance at each of us, but nodded and told me goodbye.

“Look, I know you could care less about any women I’m interested in. But could you possibly handle my career with a little more care? Seriously.” He looked stern.

I rolled my eyes, in a very Nick-like fashion. “Whatever. We’re going to get all of this straightened out, then we won’t have to deal with each other anymore.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, sensing the severity in my tone.

“It means that the group isn’t big enough for the both of us. You bailed last time. I guess it’s my turn.” With that, I headed out the door to meet up with the driver and figure out what I was supposed to be doing today.

This was crazy. I had to make an appearance as Nick Carter?

At least the ride didn’t take too long. I spent it wondering what ridiculous thing I was going to. An autograph signing? Because how could Nick deny letting fans adore him and beg for his signature?

Please.

I felt especially immature today. I was mad, that was true, but I didn’t really have the right to be this mad. He had tried to get out of this. And he genuinely didn’t know that his manager was going to show up.

But I didn’t care. I was just mad.

“Where are we?” I asked when we stopped.

Martin turned around from the passenger seat. “Nick, the playing dumb thing is really getting annoying.”

He doesn’t have to play it, I thought.

We were at an elementary school, oddly enough. I followed them inside. We headed to an area of the school that said “third grade” over one of the doors.

“Hi, I’m sorry we’re late,” Martin told the teacher standing by her desk at the front of the classroom. “Nick, you remember Mrs. Charlton.”

“Of course,” I lied and shook her hand, smiling and trying to figure out what was going on. There was a news reporter and camera man standing in the back of the classroom, interviewing two students, a girl and a boy.

“Nick, I’m so glad you agreed to do this. When Marissa told me she was writing you a letter… well, to be honest, I didn’t think there was a prayer of you actually writing back.”

“Aw, well, I can’t always. I do when I can though,” I said vaguely. I started listening to the news reporter, hoping for a clue. Luckily the kids in the classroom were focused on the newscaster, too, so they hadn’t noticed my entrance.

“… Charlton’s third grade class decided to take matters into their own hands when the school board decided that they could no longer fit the music program into the budget. They decided to turn trash into money. How? The area was also in need of a recycling program. Trashcans were donated, and the students spent a Saturday painting them and setting up a recycling center outside of the school. The community has shown an overwhelming support for this program since it started last week, and although each can is only worth a few cents, every little bit helps. Please show your support by bringing not only your soda cans but paper and plastic bottles as well.”

The newscaster saw me, smiled, and signaled to the cameraman to follow the lead. “Who was it who donated the trash cans that could be used as recycling bins? Not to mention got the attention of the program that agreed to donate for every can and bottle. You might recognize the name and face of Nick Carter.”

Suddenly I was in the eye of the camera. The kids turned around and there was some “oohing” and “ahhing.”

“Yes, one of the Backstreet Boys took the time to respond to a little girl’s letter. Do you want to tell us why you stood behind what some might consider an unimportant cause?”

Oh, right. Time to speak. I tried to think like Nick.

“Well, I’ve always cared about the environment. And as a musician, I obviously think music programs are important. As a kid, I loved music, and without those programs, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I want the next generation to have the same opportunity. When I got the letter from Marissa, I was really impressed with her idea and wanted to support it in any way I could.”

“The class wanted to thank Mr. Carter personally,” the newscaster smiled to the camera, though her voice never left its professional inflection. “Marissa, would you like to give it to him?”

She was the little girl who’d been on the camera a moment ago. Although she hadn’t been shy then, apparently the thought of meeting Nick was too much for her.

I dropped down on my knees and smiled reassuringly, and she slowly walked over. She presented me with a crayon-colored picture that I assume she’d drawn herself. There was a tall blonde figure and a little girl with the same pigtails that she had. The whole class had signed the picture.

I smiled again. “This is for me? Thank you so much.” I held it up to the camera.

The reporter turned back to the lens one last time. “This is Kaitlyn Stevens. Have a good evening.”

I spent an hour with the students, letting them show me the trash cans. One had the handprints of each student. On another, they’d painted flowers. Each one was artsy and beautiful in a way that only children can capture.

I was stunned. Nick didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d respond to the letter of an eight year old. Then again, what I’d told the camera was true. Music programs and environmental awareness were both issues that he an interest in.

I took a group picture with the class and eventually climbed back into the car with Martin and the driver. The only thing left on my agenda as Nick Carter today was a business meeting. But I’d sit through it, and I’d play the part well. I couldn’t get the little girl’s smile out of my head. Nick had really come through for Marissa, as well as the elementary school.

I’d long since forgotten what a good guy he could be when he put his mind to it. I walked into the meeting prepared to be bored out of my mind, but I was going to do it with a smile nevertheless.

*Chapter Ten* by ForeverFrick

~*~Nick’s point of view~*~

“You’re kidding,” AJ said.

“Umm…” Why hadn’t Brian just remembered to bring the stupid sunglasses?

When we’d gotten to Brian’s house, AJ had gone to the bathroom. I’d used the opportunity to call Brian and ask him where they were, which showed how desperate I was. He was the last person on the planet at the moment I wanted to speak with. But of course, he hadn’t bothered to pick up his phone.

Now I was looking around the living room in vain. His house was cleaner than mine, but there was still a lot of crap to sort through.

I headed into the dining room. Yes! “Here you go!” I handed them to AJ.

He looked at them and back to me. In a tired voice, he said, “Those are yours.”

“Oh, right.”

“What is wrong with you lately?”

“Nothing,” I murmured and continued to scan the room.

AJ gave me a look. “You keep saying that. Same with Nick. Both of you are just… off. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Join the club. This line of questioning was getting redundant. Couldn’t he just leave it alone?

“What is it?” AJ asked again. “I don’t get why you just won’t tell me.”

No, I guess he couldn’t.

The phone rang just as we went into the kitchen to continue the search.

“You going to get that?”

I’d walked right by it, scanning the countertops. “Nah, the answering machine will pick it up.”

“Dude, I don’t mind if you answer the phone. Just look for my sunglasses while you’re on it!” AJ laughed.

I started to make another excuse, but he was already suspicious enough about our behavior. “Hello?”

“Hey, Brian. What’s up?”

“Nothing. Looking for AJ’s sunglasses.” Great, I was already dealing with one Backstreet Boy at the moment. Time to add another.

“Listen…”

“If it’s about today, I don’t really have the time to hear about it at the moment.”

He paused. “Actually, it’s not. Although believe me, all of us are going to be having a long conversation about it in the studio tomorrow.”

“Oh, I believe you,” I muttered.

“How can the group function if you and Nick…”

“Kevin,” I interrupted him. “What’d you call for?”

He sounded annoyed that I’d interrupted him, but his mood lifted when he got onto his next subject. “Well Kelly’s birthday is Saturday. She’s turning the big 3-0. Madeline wanted to throw her a surprise party, and I think it’s a great idea. We’re doing it at my place Saturday night at six.”

No, sounds like a bad idea, I thought. “Um, sure. Sounds great,” I said.

As if I hadn’t made enough of a fool of myself last time. She just… made me uneasy. I didn’t know what to say. Whenever Madeline looked at me with those eyes and that smile, I froze. I’d never felt like such a loser. Simply pah. Theh. Tic.

“You said AJ was there, too, right?”

I told Kevin that he was. I was to relay the message. “Alright, I’ll see you Saturday then.”

“We’ll be recording tomorrow…”

“You know what I meant.” I finally got him off the phone and told AJ about the party.

“Do we have to get her a present?”

“I guess.”

“I don’t know her that well. What do you think she wants for her birthday?”

I shrugged. “Get her candles or something. Girls like candles.”

“Brian, it’s a billion degrees outside.”

“Alright, get her some popsicles then!” I snapped, wanting a few moments of peace so that I could find the stupid sunglasses.

“Thanks for your help, Nick,” he said.

“Excuse me?” I paused my search and stared at him.

“Just kidding,” he raised his hands up. “See, this is what I’m talking about. You’re touchy lately.”

I didn’t answer. I spent another few minutes looking around the downstairs, as AJ continued to get frustrated.

“Look, I have some errands to run. If I come back this afternoon, do you think you can find it them by them?”

“Can’t you wear a different pair of sunglasses? I mean, it isn’t a big deal.”

“I’m sorry, Brian. Have you met me? I want that pair, not a pair. It makes all the difference in the world.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Keep looking.”

Which I did. Well, eventually. After AJ left I went to grab something to eat. I rummaged through Brian’s refrigerator first, but apparently he hadn’t found time to go grocery shopping lately. So I ran out to Subway and ate there. And… then I might have popped in the video game store that was next door to it for a little while.

I kept thinking about what Brian had said. I’d bailed out last time, so now he was going to quit? Right after he’d put us all back together? I felt guilty, even though half the stuff he was blaming me for wasn’t my fault. If Brian couldn’t get over me choosing my solo album over the group, then why had he bothered with this? When he’d decided it was time for us to record again, he should’ve thought everything through.

What would happen when he quit? Would the break be… permanent this time? They’d gone back into the studio without me, which still hurt more than they’d ever know, but I couldn’t imagine being there without him. Brian had been fun, in the older days. Before my betrayal, anyway. He was always making jokes and learning the lyrics faster than the rest of us because he was always singing.

The Backstreet Boys without Brian? That didn’t seem possible. But I didn’t see how the situation was going to get any better. I’d tried, whether he recognized my efforts or not. If we could’ve met me in the middle early on…

I didn’t know what I was going to tell AJ if he returned while I was gone, but he hadn’t called and I didn’t see his car when I pulled into Brian’s. I headed upstairs this time. I went to his bedroom. No sign of them. Bathroom? No sign of them, not that I had expected them to be there.

Finally, I headed into his office. After a few minutes, I found them stuffed behind some stuff on his desk.

“About freaking time,” I muttered.

I hadn’t wanted to spend the day taking a long tour of his home. I was about to leave the room again, when I noticed a CD tower next to his desk. The Backstreet Boy albums were together at the top of one row. Right below them?

Nick Carter: Now or Never.

I paused, nearly dropping the sunglasses. Brian had told me he hadn’t purchased the CD. And the time I’d mentioned I Got You, he said he’d never heard of it. I checked the CD to make sure that it had been opened.

It had been.

“Hey.”

I jumped and spun around.

“Sorry, the door was unlocked. You find them?”

“Yeah, AJ. Here,” I handed the sunglasses to him, praying that this was the right pair. He looked content. Phew.

“What were you looking at?” asked AJ, curiously.

“He bought my CD,” I said absent-mindedly.

“Which CD?”

Now or Never.”

AJ stared at me. “That’s Nick’s CD. You didn’t remember owning it? Dude, you bought it the day it came out.”

I stared at him in surprise. “Really? I can’t believe Brian…”

“You are Brian!”

“Oh, right,” I snapped back into reality.

“You guys up here?” I heard a voice.

“Yeah,” I called, confused. Brian appeared in the door a few seconds later.

“What are you doing here?” AJ demanded.

“Umm… I came to talk to… Brian.”

AJ crossed his arms. I could tell that he wasn’t going to let it go this time. “You guys were fighting earlier! What are you two hiding from everybody? I’m tired of asking. This is getting ridiculous! If you don’t tell me, I’m going to buy you both a pair of white jackets, lock you in a room, and let Bye, Bye, Bye blast through speakers on repeat.”

I started to make up excuses again, but I couldn’t believe when Brian interrupted me.

“We switched bodies. I’m really Brian. That’s Nick right there.”

“Dude!” I exclaimed.

Brian shrugged. “What was I supposed to tell him?” He’d blabbed the secret, after we’d decided not to. That was something I normally would’ve been the one to do.

Although, I guess I hadn’t been pulling it off that well, either. Still, I hadn’t come out and said it. I deserved some credit for that. AJ would never have come to such an out of this world conclusion himself.

“What we’ve been telling him for the past week: lies!” I said.

AJ stared from one of us to the other. Finally, he said, “I don’t know whether to go ahead and order those jackets or just laugh.”

“I’m not lying. It’s true, AJ. That freaky skull thing you bought had some sort of magic.”

“Right. A little head I got on Ebay has magical powers,” he rolled his eyes. “I bought a gnome for my mom’s garden from the site just the other day. You going to tell me it’s actually one of the seven dwarves? It’s going to come alive and introduce himself as Happy or something?”

“No,” Brian looked at him like he was the one who was crazy. “Why would a gnome be one of the dwarves?”

Now he was really sounding like me. What a weird day.

“Nick, I think you’re missing the point!”

“No, you are. I’m Brian.”

“Right,” AJ said, clearly not believing a word of it. “Just forget it.” He started to march out of the room, but Brian blocked his path.

“How can I prove it to you?”

“You can’t prove something that isn’t real,” AJ said.

Brian thought about it for a moment. “Fine. Who’s the only person you’ve ever told about your golfing injury?”

AJ looked at him uncertainly. “Brian, but…”

“Yep. So only I would know that your one… side,” he nodded to a certain part of AJ’s body, “is lower than the other.”

“What?” I exclaimed. I looked back and forth between AJ and his crotch. “Eww!”

“Shut up, Nick!” he yelled. “I mean, Brian. I mean…” He returned his gaze to Brian, as if staring at Brian hard enough would reveal the truth to him. “Holy crap.”

*Chapter Eleven* by ForeverFrick

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

I’d gotten a call around noon from Kate. The book had finally come in. Hopefully it would shed some light on our little predicament. I needed the hope, at least. I wanted there to be an end in sight to being Nick.

I got to Mystic Illusions and tried to open the door. It was locked, but I spotted Kate behind the counter. From the looks of it, she was finishing that Austen book.

She looked up and I could see her mouthing “sorry,” referring to the door. I laughed at her apologetic tendency. “Hey! Come on in. I’ve got the book right over here.”

“Great,” I said, following her inside.

As she went behind the counter to grab it, I thought about the first time I’d read AJs card for this store.

“I thought you guys weren’t open on weekends?”

Kate tried to lean lower behind the computer, but I could see a faint blush. “We aren't, but I had to come in and get a few things done. I want everything in perfect order for when my grandmother gets back. And I knew you were really wanting this book,” she held it up. It was rather thick, with a faded skull on the cover. Her expression read that she still didn’t understand my fascination with this subject.

Well, that explained the locked door. The store already seemed like it was in perfect condition, though. I wondered if she’d really come in to give me the book. I smiled to myself as she rang it up. I handed her my credit card.

“Alright,” Kate said, putting it in a bag. “Here’s your receipt. When you see my grandmother, just give her your name. I’ve already told her about you, so hopefully she’ll be able to answer all the questions that I couldn’t.”

“Thanks so much,” I said, then realized that the next time I came in the store, Kate probably wouldn’t be here. I’d almost forgotten that her working here was temporary.

“Well… see you later.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Bye.” I made it three steps before I stopped and turned around. I don’t know where it had come from, but a surge of confidence had come through me. “Hey, Kate?”

She looked at me quizzically.

“Are you doing anything tonight?”

“Um… not really. Why?”

“Well, my friend is throwing a surprise party for his girlfriend. You wouldn’t want to come, would you?”

Kate thought about it for a few seconds. “Sure. Sounds like it could be fun.”

I left the store, but not before getting her address and promising to pick her up at five thirty.

*****

My palms had been a little sweaty when I’d picked her up, which wasn’t like me. But I’d wiped them off and laughed at myself. This wasn’t even really a date; just a casual get-together. I didn’t know why I was nervous. She only lived about fifteen minutes from Kevin’s, so we were the first ones there.

“Wow, this house is beautiful,” Kate breathed as we got out of my car. “And he lives all by himself?”

I nodded.

“Makes my place seem like a dollhouse,” she laughed.

We headed inside. Kevin and a girl I’d never met before were hanging streamers in the living room.

“Hey guys,” I said.

“Hi,” Kevin turned around. “Nick, have you met Madeline?”

So this was Madeline. Had fate worked out differently, I would’ve already been out on a double date with her. As far as looks were concerned, I could see why Kevin thought she would be a good date for me. She had long blonde hair and, well, she was pretty well-endowed for her petite frame. Madeline was wearing a sporty dress and smiled at Kevin’s introduction.

“Hi, Nick. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too. This place looks great,” I motioned to the decorations around the room. Everything was purple and pink, probably Kelly’s favorite colors.

Madeline must’ve read my mind because she said, “Yeah, I know. The colors are a little too Rainbow Bright, aren’t they?” She laughed. And it was a great laugh. “I tease her all the time about being a girly girl.” Madeline winked.

I laughed, too. “And this is Kate,” I finished the introductions. “That’s Kevin.”

He walked over to shake her hand.

I noticed that Kate was, in some ways, plainer than Madeline. She had a quieter presence and was dressed a little more conservatively. She’d probably take a book over a basketball any day. As far as the usual “checklist” went, Madeline should’ve been the girl for me.

But I was mostly interested in getting to know Kate more tonight. There simply wasn’t a spark with Madeline. Yes, I’d only just met her. And yes, she seemed like a wonderful person. Nevertheless, my heartbeat hadn’t sped up.

“You guys are a little early,” Madeline observed. “Would you mind setting up some food and stuff in the kitchen?”

“Sure,” Kate said to her and Madeline led the way.

“As you can see,” Madeline said, “Everything is still in the grocery bags! If you could just set it out and get everything out of the refrigerator real quick, I’d appreciate it! Kevin and I have been running around like crazy. Everyone else should be here in a few minutes, and then Kelly is supposed to come at six thirty. But she’s usually early.”

Kate made a face at the idea of being early all the time.

“I know, right?” Madeline laughed again before rejoining Kevin in the living room.

We started laying stuff on the counter. They’d gotten almost every 2-liter of soda known to man. Kate put those by the sink as I grabbed the tray of cheese and crackers from the fridge.

“Do you see cups anywhere?” she asked.

“Oh, they’re in the basement,” I told her. Then I did the “walking down stairs” trick since I was on the opposite side of the counter. When I disappeared from her view, I grabbed some from the cabinet, closing the door as softly as possible, and “walked” back up.

Kate had a huge grin on her face.

I threw her the cups. “Phew,” I wiped my forehead dramatically. “Those are steep stairs.”

“Alright, Mr. Funnyman, what about napkins and silverware? Those in the basement, too?” she raised an eyebrow.

“No, silly! Those are in the cabinet!” I bent over and grabbed those out of the same spot the cups had just been.

“Oh, you’re right. What was I thinking?” she laughed.

The other guests trickled in, and Kevin closed the blinds when he squeezed everyone into the living room. He’d periodically peek through the window when six thirty approached. Finally, he said that Kelly’s car had pulled into the driveway. Hopefully, she hadn’t noticed the higher car population. Most of us were parked down the street, but a few people in cars she wouldn’t recognize were in front of neighbor’s houses.

Kelly walked in a moment later and everyone yelled “surprise.” She looked as if she were about to have a heart attack. Madeline went up and hugged her.

“I can’t believe you guys did this!” she told Madeline and Kevin.

I heard the music turn on a minute later. Looking in the direction of the stereo, I spotted AJ playing DJ. I hadn’t seen him come in tonight.

“Um, hey,” Nick came up awkwardly. We hadn’t spoken outside of the studio since telling AJ. We were both acting very cordial towards one another.

“Hi Brian,” Kate said.

“Hi Kate,” he responded. I was impressed that he’d remembered her name. He was usually bad with them. And we were getting pretty good at answering to each other’s names now. Another sign that we had been swapped for way too long.

“Is there a restroom anywhere?” Kate asked.

“Yeah, go past the stairs and take a left.”

“Thanks. Be back in a minute.”

“So,” Nick said. “Have you talked to AJ?”

I shook my head. I’d just been wandering if he was avoiding me. I guess the answer was yes, since he hadn’t spoken to Nick either. He had left my house rather suddenly, and hadn’t spoken to us while recording any more than was necessary.

Kevin and Howie were at wits end. First Nick and I were fighting. Even now it was a strained relationship. They’d noticed that AJ had something going on with us now, too. And they were totally clueless.

AJ had still claimed that he didn’t believe us. But if that were true, I couldn’t see why he would’ve ignored us. And the look on his face when I’d… well, said some evidence had shown otherwise. I guess he was still processing how this could be happening.

I whispered to Nick my suspicions, about AJ trying to sort it out.

“I guess. I sure wouldn’t have believed you if I were him. So you here with Kate on a date?”

“Umm…” I said. “Sort of. I saw her at the bookstore…”

“Isn’t it closed on weekends?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But our book came in.”

“Oh, yeah?” he said, eyes wide. “What’s it say?”

“I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Nick folded his arms. “Couldn’t you have started reading it this afternoon?”

Yes was the correct answer. I’d had a little time, but I’d gotten distracted by a baseball game on ESPN. Oops. “Well, I wouldn’t have gotten far. Not since we had to be here tonight.”

Nick looked at something behind me and then switched places with me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said.

I looked behind where he was standing now. Madeline was talking to Kelly. “Do you not want to talk to her?” He sure didn’t want her to see him.

He shrugged, looking a little nervous. “I just didn’t know what to say last time.” He stopped when Howie walked up.

“Hey guys. So what happened with you two and AJ?”

Nick and I exchanged a look. He’d obviously just come from taking to him. I couldn’t think of what to say.

Nick said, “I don’t know. He’s just being kind of anti-social. If you find out, we’d love to know.”

Howie nodded, still thinking on it. I wondered what AJ had told him.

“Hey, Nick?” I whispered. “I think Madeline is coming over here.”

“Oh. Gotta go!” he said, and without another word, he headed into the crowd.

Howie and I laughed. I thought about all the things going on, and all the people brought together tonight.

This was going to be an interesting party.

*Chapter Twelve* by ForeverFrick

~*~Nick’s point of view~*~

I escaped, so I thought, to the kitchen, and pour myself a glass of soda. Then I laughed at myself. I was a Backstreet Boy, for goodness sake. Nick Carter (or Brian Littrell depending on how you looked at it), and I was hiding from a girl at a birthday party? How immature was that.

Taking a deep breath, I walked back out into the living room. Madeline happened to be near the door and wasn’t talking to anyone. Without letting myself second guess the decision, I walked up to her. “Hey, Madeline. How are you?”

“A little stressed, but otherwise good.”

“Stressed?”

She shrugged, smiling slightly. “Just trying to get all of this together. Well, Kevin, too. But I just wanted everything to be perfect for her and I was up late last night getting some food ready… How sad will be it if I fall asleep halfway through?”

“I’ll make sure to poke you every once in awhile to make sure you’re still awake.”

Madeline laughed. “I may hold you to that.”

“And you shouldn’t stress. Look around. Everyone is having a good time. The food looks great, the decorations look great… This is the part where you’re supposed to enjoy yourself.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Do you want a drink? The caffeine might wake you up a little.”

She looked surprised. “Sure, that’s really nice of you.”

I told her I’d be back in a minute and headed back into the kitchen, rather proud of myself. This was going much better than last time. When I handed her a Coke, she was talking to Kevin and Kelly. Kelly was still thanking her profusely for the surprise party.

Within a few minutes, the subject had changed to the album.

“Bet you guys are glad it’s Saturday,” Kelly told us. “Sounds like you had a long week in the studio.”

Kevin shot me a look. Although he obviously had multiple things to say, he simply nodded.

“Aw, come on, Kev,” I said. “We give you a hard time because we love you.”

Kevin’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, yeah?”

“No,” I said with a completely serious look on my face and shaking my head.

There was an awkward silence for about two seconds. Then, despite herself, Madeline started to laugh. Kelly and I soon followed and even Kevin had given a small chuckle by the end of it.

“Ok,” Kevin tried to shush us. “That really wasn’t this funny.”

“You’re at a birthday party, Kev. You don’t need to be worrying about work. At least take an hour or two off from thinking about the CD.”

“Well, Brian, you’re just de-stressing everyone tonight, aren’t you?” Madeline commented.

Kevin sighed. “Alright, I won’t say another word about the CD tonight.” Not that he had during this conversation, but his expression seemed less tense now. If he could put his thoughts on other things, he’d no doubt enjoy himself tonight.

“Do you hear that?” I said.

Kevin looked at me, puzzled. “No.”

“Really?” I put a hand up to my ear. “You honestly can’t hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Hmm… it sounds like,” I paused for effect, “The Full House theme. Whatever happened to predictability? The milkman, the paperboy…”

“Evening TV,” Madeline join in, bumping Kevin with her hip to try to get him into the music.

“What is in that cup?” Kevin inspected my soda.

I hummed a little more of the song. “This music just puts you in a huggy kind of mood, doesn’t it?”

“No,” Kevin said.

“Aw, don’t lie,” I held out my arms as he tried to back away. But I was quicker and wrapped him in a bear hug.

“Seriously, Brian. What are you drinking?”

“Coke.”

“There a special ingredient in there?” Kelly joked.

I nodded. “Love!” and I gave Kevin another hug, ignoring the stern look on his face.

Madeline and Kelly continued to laugh as Kevin denounced me as his cousin.

We talked awhile longer and got some snacks to eat. As the sun began to set, some of the guests wandered outside to the deck.

“Want to shoot some hoops?” Kevin suggested.

“Sure, sounds good,” I said.

“Ooh, I’m in,” Madeline said.

Kevin bent down to pick up the basketball from beside the back door. “We need a fourth then.” He looked around. “I was going to say Nick, but I don’t see him. Kelly?”

“What? Oh no. No, no, no. You know I’m horrible.”

“It’s just a game,” Kevin assured her. “We aren’t playing for the NBA, just for fun.”

Kelly shook her head, but I grabbed her hand and led her out to the court. Madeline and Kevin followed. “Alright, Kelly and I get ball first.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“Because my team has a handicap,” Kevin did a stage whisper, pointing at Kelly from behind her other hand.

“What?... Hey! It’s my birthday, you have to be nice to me!”

We started the game. Kelly was as bad as she’d said. I wasn’t used to being so short playing this game. My usual jumpshots were being blocked by Kevin and his tall frame every single time. Brian had always been so good at this. I mean, he was “B-rok” for a reason. How did that midget handle it?

I got the ball and tried to pass it to Madeline. Kelly was slowly catching on to the game and had her blocked. I went in for a lay-up instead. Quick and light, I managed to fly by Kevin and sail into the air, putting the ball safely in the net.

“Great shot!” Madeline gave me a high five.

“Thanks,” I said, beaming. This had been the most fun I’d had in weeks. For once I wasn’t thinking about the skull and being stuck as Brian. This was the first night I hadn’t looked at it as a bad thing.

It got too dark to play and Kelly and Kevin went inside to grab some water bottles. I heaved a dramatic sigh and sat down on the court, wiping my forehead. Madeline sat next to me.

“We kicked their butts. Sure, I was up against Kelly and the only sport she’s good at is Poker… but still. A win is a win,” she winked. “I used to play with my sister all the time, and she was just as bad as Kel.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you have a sister.”

“Yup. She got married last fall and is living in Arkansas right now.”

“Arkansas?” Why would anyone want to move there?” Then, worrying my tone had expressed my thoughts and I’d offended her, I started to backtrack.

“No,” Madeline smiled, “I said the same thing. I would never want to leave Florida, personally.”

“Me neither.” I’d miss the water too much.

“Do you have any siblings?”

I nodded, relaxing next to her. “Oh, yeah. It’s like the Brady Bunch. I have a brother and three sisters. There was never a dull moment, believe me.”

“Wow. I love my sis, but we used to fight all the time. I can’t imagine having more… Are you oldest, or… ?”

I nodded, glad that it was so much easier to talk to her now that I knew her more. “Yeah, which was nice. I could boss everyone around. Although actually I was on the road so much with the Backstreet Boys, when some of them were growing up I was in Europe and touring around the world.”

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to travel that much. I…”

“Hey, Brian?”

I turned to see Howie walking towards me.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve kinda got some bad news.” He looked worried.

“What?”

Howie looked as if he were searching for the right words. Finally, he simply said, “I think I’d better just show you.”

*Chapter Thirteen* by ForeverFrick

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

I couldn’t believe it. I watched Nick’s expression as he walked around the side of the house. He was as astounded as I was.

One of Kelly’s friends had had to leave early, and I’d been asked to move my car—well, Nick’s car. I’d been the first one here, but everyone else had parked too close to each other. It was my jeep, Nick’s car, the friend’s car, and then someone else’s right on her bumper; it wasn’t a car I recognized, so it probably belonged to someone else in the neighborhood. Four cars in a row, I was asked if I knew how to parallel park, which of course I did, to be able to get out from in between, since the other girl couldn’t.

I was a good parallel parker. Usually. A few moments ago, though, I’d managed to put a long scrape not only in Nick’s car while driving it but… against my own jeep. Of course.

“What did you do?” Nick exclaimed. “My car! Why were you driving it?”

I lowered my voice. “Because they asked me to move it, and how would I have explained it to them when I pulled out my keys to the jeep? I saw your keys next to the couch…”

I should’ve just rented a car for this whole ordeal.

“I put one microscopic indent in your jeep, and you…”

“You think I did this on purpose?” I asked astounded. “Look at my jeep!”

Nick took this as a satisfactory explanation for it having been an accident. What he couldn’t believe was how I could have messed up. “After that big lecture you gave me about my driving skills,” he muttered. Nick let out a sigh. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and seemed to get his temper under control. “Well, nothing we can do about it now.”

He was taking this much more calmly than I would have expected.

I just wanted to go home. I knew this was going to be quite an evening, but I hadn’t been expecting such a bad one. This was the first I’d spoken with Nick since the start of it. He’d been hanging out with Madeline and then… Kevin of all people. And they looked like they’d had a good time. Who’d have thought?

I wonder what Kate thought of me after my car incident? She’d watched it from Kevin’s front yard. Not that things were going well with her before that, either. Several times, there had been awkward pauses in our conversations. I was just freezing up, which wasn’t like me. I was so nervous, my sense of humor, something I could usually rely on completely, was failing me.

Nick cut our conversation short and went back inside, his hands balled into fists over the car, but his composure otherwise neatly intact.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Kate asked me when I walked up to her.

I nodded, managing a weak smile. A little voice in the back of my head was saying, You are a loser.

“Come on,” she said, guiding me inside.

We ended up going on the back deck though, where it was quieter. The sun had almost set, so there was an orange glow in the sky. Kate offered to go get us each a soda.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a drink out of her hand and thinking that it would’ve been more gentleman of me to offer to do that instead of making her go. “So are you going to miss working at the shop when your grandmother comes back?”

Kate didn’t look like she knew how to answer this question. “Um… in some ways. I mean, I’m not sure where I’ll end up now. I haven’t really found my dream job anywhere. It was interesting though.”

“What was?”

“Just seeing all the people come in there. A lot of them know my gran personally, and they just take everything that’s in there to heart. All of the magic stuff. It’s fun to talk with them. They are nice people, just a little cra…” she stopped herself suddenly, and took a big gulp of her soda.

I laughed. “Crazy, huh?”

“Well, not you,” she blushed.

“How am I any different than them?” I laughed.

“I don’t know. That kind of thing doesn’t seem to be one of your normal interests. And I don’t know how much you believe in everything. You and Brian just have the weird fascination with the skull,” Kate raised an eyebrow inquisitively. She trailed off, obviously hoping for an explanation.

“I, uh, um…” I stuttered. And we’d finally had a conversation that was going smoothly. “Just need to do the research on it, figure out what exactly it is. So,” I said, wanting to hear more from her, “Why are you so skeptical on it? I thought magic was like a girl thing.”

“A girl thing?” she started laughing. “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Doesn’t it go hand in hand with all the happily ever after stuff? Every chick flick is full of magic.”

“Yeah, well,” Kate suddenly looked off in the distance, at the fading traces of sunlight. “My Prince Charming never showed, much less on his white horse. Just because you grow up watching those movies doesn’t mean you don’t eventually get real. I honestly don’t know if I pity or envy those people who come in, wanting ingredients for love potions and tarot cards to figure out their futures. They really think that the mercandise is going to come in and fix their life. I guess it comes down to whether or not you think ignorance is bliss.”

I listened carefully, not expecting as much cynicism as I was hearing, although she kept her voice as light as she could.

“It’s just not up to that stuff to do anything for you. I think everyone is responsible for themselves,” she shrugged. “And,” she added, “I let it go, but don’t think I fell for your ‘oh, it’s just research’ line you keep giving me or that I didn’t notice the quick subject change back to me.” Kate grinned.

I smiled sheepishly. “You’re too smart, you know.”

“I know,” she said.

Kelly was opening a few gifts, so we joined everyone in the living room. Kevin handed out pieces of cake. Nick looked like he was having a blast with Madeline. We didn’t really speak to each other as Kate and I came in. I couldn’t believe my bad luck getting the car out. I’d misjudged the distance and then I hadn’t reacted quickly enough.

Kate went over to Kelly, to help her unwrap a present that was tied in ribbon. The knot wouldn’t come out. Kevin went to try and find scissors. I spotted AJ and walked over to him, realizing this had been my first opportunity tonight to talk to him.

“Hey,” I said.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing. You?”

“Nothing.”

“Cool.”

Okay, this had been a meaningless conversation so far. I wondered how to broach the subject. He beat me to the punch.

“Looks like you and Brian got over your little prank.”

“What prank?”

Nick heard mention of his name. Well, my name, but he knew by now who AJ was talking about. He joined us, as Madeline was next to Kelly on the couch, giving Kelly the gift that she’d brought.

“What are you guys talking about?” Nick asked.

“Our ‘prank,’” I repeated for Nick. Turning back to AJ, “I thought you believed us.”

AJ hesitated. He opened his mouth and then closed it. When he finally spoke, the words were different than whatever he’d been about to say. “Of course I don’t. It just doesn’t make any sense. That cannot possibly happen.”

“And yet it has,” Nick said.

“Well, if you’re still trying to keep it up, you’re doing a poor job of it. You’re finally starting to act like yourselves again,” AJ crossed his arms, looking a mixture of emotion, including uncertain and annoyed.

“We are not trying to do anything!” I said.

“AJ,” Nick said. “Would we lie about something that important? And what do you mean, acting like ourselves again?”

“Both of you have been off since the group got back together,” AJ answered. “We’d all noticed.” We were still staring at him. Realizing he was going to have to spell it out for us a little better, AJ continued. “Come on. Like Brian, you and Kevin had been fighting like Nick and Kev usually do. But tonight you were playing basketball and talking and, you know. Just stuff like that.”

“Hey, AJ, come here,” Howie was with a different group people, laughing at a joke we weren’t privy to. AJ looked relieved to be saved from this conversation. He bolted without another word to us and joined Howie.

I was simply annoyed. It seemed to me that AJ did, almost, believe us. He just didn’t want to admit it to himself. Nothing he’d said about us going back to normal made sense. We weren’t back to normal; that was the problem.

Nick had sighed and taken a sip of his drink when AJ left. All of a sudden, he stopped, staring at the cup in his hand and then back at me. “Oh my God.”

“What?” I asked.

“You get what’s going on, don’t you?”

I stared. “No.”

Nick looked past me for a few seconds, thinking hard and shaking his head in disbelief. “I’m drinking sweet tea.”

“So?”

“I hate sweet tea.”

“Okay.” What did that have to do with anything?

Nick waved an arm in the air impatiently. “Didn’t you hear what AJ said? Don’t you get what it means? We’re turning into each other.”

“Duh, Nick. That’s nothing new.”

“No,” I thought he was going to wring my neck. “We switched bodies before. Now, we’re literally turning into each other.”

Funny how it wasn’t that he was drinking tea that made me finally understand and believe him. Or that I’d shown Nick’s driving skills this evening. Or that he’d been getting along with Kevin.

That’s not why it dawned on me. We were actually becoming each other. The epiphany came when I realized that Nick had figured it out before me.

“Oh God,” I said. What were we going to do now?

*Chapter Fourteen* by ForeverFrick
Author's Notes:
Sorry its been so long. This summer has flown by! Hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

Kate and I left soon after that. The party was still in full-swing, but I couldn’t be around all the people with my mind swirling. It was easier to calm down and focus once we were back in my jeep (despite its newest accident). And it was even more important now to give that book I’d ordered from the store a proper reading.

We arrived at her place shortly after, and I walked her to the door. I didn’t want to blow the evening (well, not anymore than I already had) by saying anything too Nick-like. You’re Brian, I would remind myself. Deep down, anyway. Brian. Brian. Brian. Brian. Brian.

“Thanks for coming with me,” I told her. “Even though I’m a crazy person who comes into the shop,” I smiled.

“You aren’t crazy!” Kate laughed, shaking her head. “You’re… interesting.”

“Uh-huh,” I said. It was good to know that I intrigued her, though. I wondered what she would say if I told her the truth about everything that was going on.

Well if AJ, who had known me for half his life, didn’t want to believe me, I couldn’t expect someone I’d only known a short while to.

“Oh,” Kate said. “I almost forgot. Tuesday, that’s when my grandmother will be back. She called while we were at the party, but you were talking to Brian. So gran can help you finish your ‘research.’” She had the skeptical look on her face again.

I felt so relieved to have a more exact time frame on this now. “Really? Great,” I let out a breath. “You have no idea how great that news is,” I reiterated.

“Well, maybe just a smidge crazy,” she conceded. Her eyes were sparkling though.

I smiled back at her, still staring into them, not saying anything. She paused, and something flickered on her face. Kate looked back and forth as if searching my eyes. The hesitation soon disappeared, and I leaned forward, slowly, and gave her a kiss. I paused, looking at her again. When I saw that there was no objection, I kissed her again, framing her face in my hands and letting all my other worries wash away.

*****

It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized I hadn’t looked at the book last night as I’d intended. Now was the time to do it… well, after breakfast. I ended up going to the store first because I had a strong craving for chocolate milk and Eggos. Boy, were those tasty.

I was watching TV when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I yelled, taking another bite of potato chips.

“Hey,” Nick said, looking around the living room. It was a little messier than usual, I realized. “What are you watching?”

I shrugged. “Just flipping channels.”

“Oh. Well have you looked at that book yet?”

I smiled sheepishly. “No, but I will before the morning’s over.”

“Brian? It’s two o’clock.”

I looked at the clock. Oops. Where had the day gone? I muted the TV, wondering when I’d gotten so ADD about everything. I grabbed it off the coffee table. The Skull Prophecies. I’d looked at a variety of book options from the link Nick had sent me, but this had seemed like it would be the most helpful.

Nick sat down next to me on the couch as I started going through the beginning. I skimmed the first few pages, but I found my attention being drawn back to the TV. A commercial with a cute puppy running around was on.

“Give me the book,” Nick said impatiently, rolling his eyes.

I turned the volume back on, although not high because he was trying to concentrate. When the sitcom I found went to commercial, I muted it again and turned back to him, to see if he’d found anything out.

“It talks about crystal skulls and the belief of having unlimited knowledge…” He stared at me and motioned to me by pretending to wipe something off his cheek.

I felt my own face in that spot. It was a crumb from one of the Eggos I’d eaten for breakfast. I stuffed it in my mouth.

“That’s definitely not what we’re dealing with,” Nick said pointedly. “Some cultures also believed that skulls had healing powers.”

To get him back, I punched him in the arm.

“Ouch!” he looked up.

“Let’s see if that leaves a bruise or not,” I laughed.

He ignored me and flipped forward a few more pages, and I could see his eyes scanning the page. “Hmm…”

“What is it?”

“This says something about switching bodies.” Nick read for another minute before finishing his explanation. “Look. Doesn’t this look like AJ’s skull?”

I looked. The answer was yes, it did. But a skull was a skull, so it probably looked like a lot of other ones, too. I didn’t see a significance.

“It says ‘of one body, of one mind.’ And then… this looks like a different language. I don’t really know what it says.”

“I wonder if Kate’s grandmother could read it? I don’t know how much time she’s spent in South America before.”

Nick looked surprised that I’d actually contributed something to the conversation. “When does she come back?”

“Tuesday.”

He nodded. “The way this part is written in the book, it almost looks like an incantation. Maybe, if she can read it, she can just… switch us back?”

I nodded, looking at the page. That seemed like a definite possibility. And just what I wanted to hear. “Just just two more days as each other then.”

Nick turned the page and finished reading the chapter. Suddenly, he looked panicked.

“What else does it say?”

I had to ask a second time before Nick answered. “It says that this is a rare kind of skull because it was considered to be one of the most dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?”

“The transfiguration was advanced magic. Sometimes people let it go for too long and the switch became… permanent. It talks about how the body was switched first, and then the minds started doing the same. Slowly at first, and then faster and faster.”

“Which… is where we’re at now?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think Tuesday will be too late?”

“I don’t know. I hope not.”

~Nick’s point of view~

I wasn’t that bad, I’d thought to myself after leaving Brian’s house yesterday. He hadn’t been able to concentrate on the book at all with the TV on. It was as if all I would need to do to distract him was dangle something shiny in front of his face.

It was a good thing I’d come over and actually gotten the reading done. Who knows when he would’ve gotten around to doing it, he was so irresponsible.

But it was hard to worry about that right now. I was in the recording studio, and nailing the vocals for another song on the record. When I set my headphones down, I was smiling from ear to ear.

“Great job, Brian,” Kevin said. “You sounded really focused today.”

“Thanks, cous,” I said.

I, I mean Brian, was really talented with his music. I had always admired that about him- he put his heart and soul into the music. That was something I’d forgotten about. I hadn’t paid as much attention during this album, given all the problems going on between us, even before the switch had taken place.

The work day passed by pretty smoothly. I was in a good mood. We ended early afternoon, and I was starving. We had skipped lunch today because we didn’t want to stop working on the song. I walked out with Howie and spotted Kate.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Brian called me a little while ago. We’re going to get an early dinner,” she blushed a little.

It was really cute, I thought. I hadn’t noticed how pretty she was before.

“Do you know where the studio is?” I asked.

“No, I’ve never been here before,” Kate admitted.

“Howie, I’ll see you later, okay? I’m going to show her how to get inside.”

“No problem. You guys have a good one,” Howie smiled and headed over to his car.

I slid my card, which gave us access to the building. “Alright” I sang and I held the door open for Kate.

She laughed and followed me to the studio.

Brian was already rushing down the hall. “Sorry! I didn’t realize it was already four. I was about to come find you!”

“That’s fine,” Kate said. “Can I see the studio?”

“Sure,” Brian said. We gave her a quick tour around and then headed back outside again.

“Where are you guys going to eat?”

Brian shrugged. “We were thinking Mexican.”

My stomach growled. “That sounds good. I’m starving.”

Just then I heard another familiar voice. “Hey guys. Did Kevin already leave?”

It was Madeline. I saw Brian smile a little at the sight of her.

“Yeah,” I said. “You just missed him. Anything we can do?”

“No, I just wanted to get him his key back. I borrowed his spare when we were planning the party. Maybe I can swing by tomorrow before work.”

“Or else I can give it to him. Once we get rolling on a CD the five of us are practically tied by the ankles.”

Madeline laughed. “That would be wonderful.” She pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to me.

“You guys threw a great party. That was nice of you to do it for Kelly,” Kate told her.

“Oh, it was fun. I’m glad we got it past her. It can be hard to surprise her sometimes! Thanks for coming. We’ll all have to get together again sometime.”

We all agreed.

“Alright, well… I guess I’ll see you guys later?” Madeline said after a short silence that followed. “I’ve gotta run to the grocery store and grab something for dinner. My cabinets are pretty bare right now.”

“Oh, well we’re about to go grab some Mexican if you want to come?” Brian offered.

Kate looked surprised, but quickly covered it up. As though she was trying to sound convincing, she said, “Yeah, you’re more than welcome.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?” Madeline asked. “I don’t want to intrude if it was just the two of you…”

“Well, it can be the four of us,” Brian offered. “You said you were hungry, didn’t you Brian?”

I had never gotten to spend a lot of time with Kate, oh and of course I was excited to see Madeline more, so I quickly agreed and the four of us headed to Brian’s jeep for what was, I realized, sort of a double date.

*Chapter Fifteen* by ForeverFrick

~Brian’s point of view~

We met a few minutes later at the restaurant and, with the time being so early, we were seated almost immediately. I noticed after a few minutes that Kate was being unusually quiet.

“Are you excited to see your grandmother tomorrow?”

“Um, yeah, I’ve missed her. Not as excited as you seem to be about her coming back though,” she laughed.

Madeline looked confused. “Oh, do you know her grandmother?”

I paused. “No, I haven’t met her yet, but I need her opinion on some research I’m doing.”

“Research about what?” Madeline continued.

“A skull. One that AJ purchased, actually. It’s from South America.”

“Really?”

She seemed impressed, so I continued. “He got it from ebay, but there’s actually some fascinating history to go along with it.”

“What kind of history?”

I started to answer, but I felt a kick under the table. I shut my mouth again.

Madeline realized what had happened and looked at Nick. “What was that for?”

Nick looked at a loss for words, but Kate saved him. “Don’t worry, it’s not just you. Nick’s… well,” she added giving it another thought, “usually pretty secretive about this whole thing. I’ve been trying to figure it out all month.”

Kate sent me a look, wondering why I’d been so close to pursuing the conversation with Madeline when I never gave her straight answers about it.

“Ok?” Madeline still looked confused. “Let’s talk about something else then.”

“What are you going to do now that you don’t need to run the store anymore?” Nick asked Kate.

She shrugged. “I’ve been looking in the want ads. I still haven’t figured out what I want to do. It’s frustrating. By now, I should really have a career, at least that’s what I feel like.”

“Mmm,” I said, “The tacos look really good.” I noticed there was sudden silence, and I looked up from the menu.

Kate was staring at me.

I realized she’d been in the middle of something. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

Kate finished telling Nick about her occupational worries, and I noticed how pretty Madeline’s hair looked with the sunlight pouring in through the window.

We ate a quick meal, during which Madeline and I talked about basketball.

“And we all know how much you love it,” Madeline tried to pull Nick into the conversation. “Isn’t that where the whole B-rok nickname came from?”

Nick nodded. “I rock on the court,” he said superiorly, with a grin on his face. Madeline started to reply, but he had turned to Kate. “What about you? Are you into sports?”

Kate shook her head. “Not really. I mean, they are fun to play sometimes, but I’d fall asleep if I tried to watch it on TV or something.” She laughed. “I’m usually the one in the corner reading a book at Super Bowl parties.”

“That’s football,” I said.

“What?”

“Football, not basketball.”

“I know, but I was just talking about sports in general,” Kate said. Then she added, with a weak smile, “And, no, I didn’t know what the equivalent was called in the NBA.”

“It’s ok, my older brother is the same way. I’m all about the Kentucky Wildcats, and he couldn’t tell you the names of any of the teams they play. He’s not good at playing, either, but since it was just us growing up, I always made him come outside, anyway.”

I’d been staring at Madeline again, and I noticed her eyebrow raise.

When the check came, Nick offered to pay for it.

“Are you sure?” Madeline asked.

He nodded. “It’s no problem.”

“Thanks for dinner,” she said.

“Yeah, thank you,” Kate added. “That’s really nice of you.”

We began to head to the door, but Nick excused himself to run to the restroom. Kate must’ve decided that that was a good idea because she followed him to the back of the restaurant.

“We’ll see you outside,” I called to them and held the door open for Madeline. “I’m, uh, glad you came to eat with us,” I said sheepishly.

Madeline stared at me, a little inquisitively. “Me, too,” she finally decided. “It was… interesting.”

“Listen,” my palms were sweaty. “I was wondering… what are you doing this weekend?”

Madeline paused. “I don’t know. What’d you have in mind?”

“Well, if you were free Saturday… maybe a movie? Grab some coffee afterwards or something?”

“You and Kate…”

“What about us?”

“You aren’t dating?”

I shook my head. “No, I just know her through the shop downtown because she was filling in for her grandmother. We’re just friends.”

“Oh, ok. I thought… well, lots of things I thought didn’t turn out to be true today,” she said, more to herself. With sudden resolve, she said, “Sure. A movie would be great.”

I started to save her number in my cell phone. As I finished, I noticed that she was looking behind me.

I turned around and saw Nick. I started to say hello, but he looked annoyed for some reason.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked Madeline.

She agreed, and they headed towards Nick’s car. It was then I noticed that Kate was also there. She must’ve been beside him, half-hidden by some bushes lining the walkway to the front door of the Mexican restaurant.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey? Is that all you have to say to me?” she asked quietly, disbelieving.

“Umm…” I was confused.

“Did you just ask her out?”

“Yeah, we’re going to the movies Friday.”

Kate crossed her arms and looked at the sky. “I thought today was… and the party… never mind.”

A part of my brain suddenly reawakened. “Oh, yeah…”

“I must be an idiot.”

“You are not…” I began, suddenly feeling horrible.

“I had started thinking… stupid white horse…” she muttered to herself. Kate turned and started walking away.

“Wait, do you want a ride back to your car?” I asked. We’d ridden together from the studio.

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine on my own. I always have been.”

I tried to follow her, but when I caught up to her at the sidewalk, she shoved me away. I headed back towards the parking lot. What could I say to her? Nothing that would make the situation better. I was falling in love with Madeline.

~Nick’s point of view~

“Gracias,” a waiter said to Kate and me as we exited the building.

I nodded and said “God Bless.”

“Sure. A movie would be great.”

I heard Madeline saying this as I stepped outside. Then, I saw her telling Brian her phone number. What was going on?

Madeline saw me, and I was stunned. What was Brian thinking?

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I said.

“Sure,” Madeline said without feeling, and she followed me away from him.

“You’re going out with him?”

“Yes. Do you have a problem with it?” Madeline asked, her hands on her hips.

“Well, I thought…” I suddenly realized how feeble my case was. She and I weren’t dating. We certainly weren’t a couple. Still, I thought there’d been a connection. “We…”

“We what? Do you remember what I said about liars?”

“Liars? What are you talking about?”

“Honesty is important to me. You’ve known that from the get-go. And that’s the one thing you haven’t been able to be.”

“What did I lie about?”

“It’s so stupid!” Madeline said. “At the party the other day, we were talking. And, well that conversation meant something to me, but apparently I’m delusional. You said you were the oldest. That you had younger brothers and sisters.’

“Yeah,” I said. “I am the oldest.”

Madeline looked at me skeptically. “Then how come as of fifteen minutes ago you have an older brother? And just one at that. I mean, who can’t keep track of their siblings?”

I realized the blunder. I’d said that today without even thinking; memories that shouldn’t have been mine had come into my mind. “Oh, well I can explain…”

Madeline waited to hear me out, but I realized that I couldn’t.

“I didn’t mean to lie. Please believe that.”

“Right,” she said. “Just an accident that you can’t keep track of what story you’re feeding to what girl? Am I old news already? You couldn’t stop staring at her in there.”

“It was just one…”

“What about the thing with ebay? You wouldn’t let Nick tell me about it… I don’t even know. But I don’t have the time to play mind games, alright?” Madeline stormed over to her car and was soon leaving the parking lot.

I walked over to Brian, thinking about what Madeline had told me. I had ignored her at lunch today. I’d been a little preoccupied with what Kate had been saying.

“Hey, Brian,” Brian said as I approached him.

“Dude, no one’s around. Why are you calling me Brian?”

“Because that’s your name, duh,” he said. I recognized the look on his face. Well, I should, it was my face. I was usually the one wearing the expression. He was in a goofy mood, probably because Madeline had just agreed to go out with him, and he was happy about it. I wore that look when someone else was having a blonde moment, since that’s what I was so often accused of.

“Very funny, Brian.”

“Nick,” he corrected me.

“This is no time to be joking around,” I told him. “How could you go behind my back and ask out Madeline?”

The smile faded from his face. “I know that Kevin found her for you, but you know how much I like her.”

“Kevin found her for you!”

“Are you feeling ok?” Now Brian simply looked concerned.

That feeling was mutual. “You promise you aren’t kidding around?”

“About what? I’m sorry about asking Madeline out, I didn’t know it would bother you so…” he looked past me. “Whoah, check out that boat.”

I could see a car passing, with a brand-new boat being pulled behind it. It looked like the newer model of the one I’d purchased a few years ago. I’m not that bad! I assured myself once again. Could he not stay focused for five minutes?

He turned back to me. “I think I’m falling in love with her.”

“What?” I raised by voice. “You barely know her! That’s impossible.” I stoo there for a few seconds. “Brian,” I said again, dread filling me.

He looked at me without any comprehension on his face.

“You don’t know who you are, do you?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’m Nick.”

Tomorrow suddenly seemed so far away. Was it going to be too late?

*Chapter Sixteen* by ForeverFrick
Author's Notes:
Hopefully it was worth the wait! Please let me know what you think. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! :)

By the time my alarm clock went off, I’d already been awake for a good hour. The little time I had spent sleeping last night had been ruined by horrible nightmares. In one, I came out on stage singing one of the new songs, and I realized all of the fans were pointing at me, some snapping photos, others staring in disbelief. I turned and saw the other guys staring, also, shocked expressions on their faces. When I looked down, I realized that I wasn’t wearing any clothing.

In another dream, I was looking into a mirror. I was still in Brian’s body, but I was myself- Nick- in the reflection. My reflection wasn’t mimicking me, though. Nick was pounding on the mirror, trying to shatter the glass and break through from the other side. But no matter how hard he tried, the mirror remained intact.

Finally, I stopped trying to go back to sleep. I’d been too afraid that when I woke up this morning, I wouldn’t know who I was. That I’d be lost, possibly forever. Why had this happened to Brian already, but not to me?

Just in case, I’d taken a post-it note and placed it on the bathroom mirror: You are Nick!

I grabbed a cup of coffee at a drive-thru on the way to Brian’s. It had taken a lot to make him go home last night. He kept wanting to know why he couldn’t go to his “real” home. I somehow convinced him that it would be fun to house-sit for each other. We were supposed to be in the studio in an hour, but I knew that neither of us would be there. I couldn’t take any chances, work would have to wait. I hadn’t even called Kevin because I didn’t know what to say.

When I pulled up to Brian’s house, I groaned when I saw a car parked in the driveway behind his. The front door was unlocked, so I let myself in. Both of them were in the living room, one lying on the couch, and the other on the recliner.

“Brian,” I whispered, shaking his shoulder. “Wake up.”

He didn’t budge.

“Brian!” I screamed again.

“Mmm,” he turned away from me.

I rolled him off of the couch.

With a thud and an “ow,” he slowly stood up, rubbing his butt.

“Dude! What are you doing?”

“Me? What is my brother doing here?”

Brian looked around. “Your brother? I don’t see Harold.”

I groaned. “What were you and Aaron doing?”

He looked a little guilty. “Well, you’ve got some pretty cool video games… And some of them are better with two player. You’re not mad, are you? We didn’t trash your place or anything.”

I looked around at the empty soda cans and chip bags. The space did look rather messy, but Brian didn’t realize he’d done this to his own house.

“Come on, we need to get downtown.”

“For what?”

“You don’t even remember the skull?”

“What skull? I could use an extra, considering you just broke mine by shoving me off of the couch!”

“I’ll explain on the way there,” I said, half lying. “Come on.” I expected him to request taking a shower first, since he smelled of Doritos and Coke, or at least want to change clothes, but he simply grabbed his house keys.

“Should I wake Aaron?”

“No, he’ll be fine,” I responded.

Aaron was drooling slightly, his head flopped to one side. I closed the door on the snoring blonde and drove Brian to see Kate’s grandmother.

Sure enough, when we arrived at the shop, there was a kindly old lady standing where Kate usually was behind the counter. She had Kate’s sparkling eyes, though wrinkles crinkled her face. There was a sense of strength to her, despite the fact that she had to be in her eighties, as well as a sharpness.

“Hi, I’m Nick,” I said, setting the book on the counter.

I’m Nick,” Brian corrected me, laughing. “This is Brian,” he introduced me.

Kate’s grandmother smiled at me, but she looked Brian up and down. I had been in such a hurry to get here when the store opened that I hadn’t given a second thought to what Brian was wearing, which was a bathrobe over smiley-faced boxers and a t-shirt with Mario on it. He was even in slippers instead of regular shoes.

Great, he looks like he just escaped from a mental hospital, I thought. When she looked at me questioningly, I said, “He’s not a morning person,” as if that answered the question. “Did Kate tell us we’d be stopping by?”

I prayed that Kate hadn’t spoken with her since her falling-out with Brian.

“Yes, I’m Faye, it’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard quite a bit about you, Nick,” she said with a half-smile, turning to Brian.

I was relieved that she was simply questioning his sanity, but didn’t seem to harbor any resentment. She hadn’t spoken to Kate afterall. Finally some good luck.

“I have some questions… they are going to seem a bit odd.”

“My specialty,” Faye said, motioning at the shop surrounding her.

“What are we here about, Brian?” Brian asked, still confused. I’d avoided his interrogations in the car by turning on the radio and distracting him with things we were driving by.

“Shh,” I said in the same tone that someone would use to scold a toddler. “Do you remember the skull my friend AJ purchased?”

She nodded. “It’s very rare. Quite a piece to have in one’s collection. I wouldn’t be surprised if its hundreds of years old. And it has been wonderfully preserved.”

“What do you think about skulls having magical powers?”

Faye looked down at the book. “Well, some cultures certainly believe magic takes a more predominant role in our lives than our country usually acknowledges. We are a young nation, and most of the history tends to get lost or turned to fairytale.”

“What do you mean predominant role?”

“Well, personally, I believe that magic can come in all forms, great and small, and that it guides us when we’ve fallen off the path. Perhaps that is a product of, like I said, our society associating magic with children’s stories. Still, I think the universe sometimes has a way of pushing us in the right direction.”

“Well how can you get it to… stop pushing you?”

Faye looked at me more closely. “What exactly is your predicament?”

“Well…” Where should I begin? “AJ showed us the skull when he first got it, and…”

Faye’s expression suddenly turned to one of understanding and realization. “You’re souls have changed places,” she said. Her voice sounded slightly eerie, almost like what I expect a physic would sound like.

I looked down, hoping to somehow be back to my old self, but I was still Brian. “How can you tell?”

“A body is only skin deep,” she said cryptically. “A soul is endless.” Faye was now staring only at Brian. “His is very weak, though. Come,” she said, walking from behind the counter. “You must tell me everything.”

She could see- or sense- our souls? Wow. What was crazy was that nothing really surprised me anymore.

“What do you mean my soul is weak?” Brian demanded. “Who are you again?” he asked Faye.

I shushed him again, and we followed Faye to some bean bag chairs upstairs, but not before she changed the sign on the door to “Closed.”

I related all of the important facts to her, how we’d woken up the next morning in each other’s bodies, how we’d visited AJ with the skull but had no success, and, finally… how we were now becoming each other.

“I mean, I like sweet tea now! …And then Brian lost it yesterday,” I said. “He thinks he’s really me now.”

“Of course I’m me!” he said. “This is all crazy!”

“Please,” I said, with a sudden desperation. “You have to believe me!” I’d just realized that, now that Brian was this far gone, no one did.

Faye nodded comfortingly. “Of course I do. But we have to act quickly. This transformation has been in place for far too long.” She grabbed the book from me. “Give me a few minutes to read, now that I understand your situation.” She headed down the stairs to be able to concentrate.

“Brian,” I said, pleading with him.

Nick,” he said. “Stop calling me Brian.”

I remembered how we had tried to convince AJ and had failed. I now had three missed calls from Kevin on my cell phone. And more and more memories were seeping into the edge of my consciousness. A Christmas in Kentucky with my parents and grandparents, performing in Grease at Tates Creek High, and…

Finding out that I- Nick- had decided to remain with the old record company to record a solo CD. I could feel Brian’s pain, a feeling of betrayal. He’d considered me like a brother, and I’d deserted not the group, it wasn’t about that to him. I’d abandoned him. Never in this whole body-switching experience did I ever feel totally and wholly in his shoes until now. His perspective was crystal clear.

“Brian, I never meant to hurt you,” I said, snapping out of my reverie.

“What do you mean? You’re just making me more confused.”

“We were best friends for a long time,” I said. He nodded. “Yeah, I know.” He seemed a little sad, knowing how things changed.

There was so much I wanted to say, but I couldn’t explain right now. I could only hope that I’d have the chance to talk to Brian again. “You’ve known me for most of your life, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I know everything that I just told Faye seems unbelievable, but would I ever lie to you about something this important?”

Brian thought for a moment. “No, but…”

"Please, I need you to think as hard as you can. Just think that there’s a possibility that I’m right. That you’re really Brian, and I’m really Nick, and you’ve just gotten lost in my head.”

He sighed. “Ok,” he looked off and looked as if he were clearing his mind.

That’s it, I thought. I waited.

And waited. “Well?”

“What?”

“What were you thinking about?” Did he remember who he really was? He’d ben thinking hard.

“I was just wondering…” he trailed off.

“Yeah?”

“Were French Fries invented by the French? I mean, is that why they’re called French Fries?”

I suppressed the urge to cry. Then I suppressed the urge to punch him.

“So… nothing about being Brian?”

He began to laugh. “I’ve never seen you go so far for a prank.”

I stared at him, momentarily holding his full attention. “I swear, Brian, I’m not lying. I promise you that I’m telling the truth.”

His smile faded and he was staring back.

“Well,” Faye said. “You two have quite the predicament.”

“Is there any hope?”

She hesitated. “Yes, I think there is.”

I let out a sigh. As Brian stared off at some books behind her, I asked Faye another question I’d been wondering. “Why is this affecting him more than it is me? I mean, I have his interests and some of him memories now, but it’s happening gradually. He’s like Nick Carter 4.0. I mean, I don’t act like that!”

“Well, I think it’s that you took to his body more easily than he did yours. His body rejected it, and so the magic pushed him harder on the path that it wanted him to take. Does that make sense?”

I thought again of the memory I’d relived of Brian finding out about my solo record. And about how mad at me he’d been the night of the cookout. Finally, I remembered how he was planning to quit the group as soon as we had this sorted out. Yes, she had to be right.

“So how exactly did all of this happen in the first place?”

“You say you were fighting when you felt the energy from the skull?”

“Yeah.”

“It seems there was a second where your thoughts… connected, I think is the best word to use. And that was somehow transmitted into the skull. A very old spell was then placed on the two of you. To become of one body and, essentially, one mind. The problem is that, after a certain period, when the spell is not completed, the magic takes on a more literal meaning.”

“But how do we fix it?”

“You’ll need the skull, and you’ll need to connect thoughts again,” Faye explained.

I sensed the hesitation. “But?”

“It will only work if you two are able to connect as before, as Brian and Nick.” She glanced at Brian. “His soul has to be present for that connection to be recreated.”

My heart sunk.

“I believe you, Nick.”

“You called me Nick!”

“That’s your name, moron, isn’t that what you keep telling me?”

“So you believe me?”

“You’re not a liar. If you say this is what’s going on, what choice do I have? So what do we do now?”

“We go get the skull from AJ.”

**********

And AJ was not very happy when he answered his door.

“Where the hell have you guys been? You didn’t show up at the studio! Kevin’s about to explode.”

“Yeah, well, when is Kevin not stressing about something? At least I give his life meaning,” I walked past him inside.

“Nick, why are you dressed like that?” AJ was taking in Brian’s odd clothing choices.

“He’s coming up with outfit ideas for the tour,” I said sarcastically. “Listen, I’m on a really tight schedule here, where’s your skull?”

“My what?”

“Your skull!”

“Which one?”

“Lou Pearlman’s… what do you mean which skull? Do you have extras lying around?”

“Umm… you guys said it had weird powers.”

“Yeah, not that you believed us. But I need to borrow it. This is really important, AJ. I can’t even begin to explain. Please just give it to me.”

“I can’t.”

“AJ, I’ll do anything you want, just let me borrow it.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” I was practically screaming now.

“I sold it.”

*Chapter Seventeen* by ForeverFrick
Author's Notes:
Not quite as long between updates this time. :) Hope you like it!

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

What a weird day. Aaron and I had been up late playing video games, and then Brian—or “Nick”—had been dragging me around Orlando since waking me up, bright and early.

Now he was telling me that I was really Brian Littrell. What in the world was he talking about? He seemed so passionate about it, though. So adamant. I was trying to be supportive.

“Can I use your bathroom?” I asked AJ.

He’s just told Br… Nick that he’d sold a skull. Nick looked like he was about to freak.

“I… what? Yeah, sure,” AJ let me past him.

I used the restroom and slowly meandered back. AJ had some pretty cool artwork on the hallway walls. Some of them were rather creepy, to be honest, but they caught your attention all the same.

Nick seemed in a slightly better mood when I got back. “Come on, Brian, let’s go.”

“That’s… nevermind,” AJ said. He’d started to correct him but apparently didn’t see the point. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“At this rate he will be Nick pretty soon,” Nick said sadly.

He said goodbye to AJ, and I followed him outside.

“If I’m actually you, then how come I don’t even remember switching?”

Nick shrugged.

“Where are we going?”

“To get the skull. Hopefully.”

“Can we get lunch on the way? I’m hungry. And thirsty.”

“No,” Nick said sternly. “If I get you a soda, you’ll just have to pee again… jeez, it’s like babysitting a four year old.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry,” he muttered as we got back into the car. He passed me a piece of paper. “That’s the address we’re going to. Any idea where it is?”

Something slowly registered. I didn’t know why, but I’d been to that street before. “Yeah, actually. Take a right once you get out of the neighborhood.”

We arrived at an apartment complex fairly quickly because of my navigating.

“Cross your fingers,” Nick said. “Ok, I think it’s this one.”

We climbed a set of stairs and he knocked on the door.

“Be there in a second!” I heard a female voice respond.

Nick took a deep breath, and he seemed nervous when the door opened.

“Hel.. oh. What are you doing here?”

The girl was looking at me for some reason.

“Kate, can we come in for a minute?”

She started to shake her head.

“It’s an emergency,” Nick said.

Her look of annoyance lessened suddenly. “Are you ok?” Again she was looking at me.

“Not really… can we please come in?” Nick answered for me.

“Fine.”

We sat down on the couch. It was a spacious living room and very tidy. There were two huge bookcases and purple curtains hanging in front of a window. A comfy chair was in the corner under a light. I imagined that was her favorite place to read.

“What’s the emergency?”

“We need the skull.”

“Why?”

“Because… you wouldn’t believe me. But we really need it. I’ll pay whatever you want for it,” Nick said.

“This isn’t about money,” she looked offended. “Are you ignoring me?”

“What?” I asked.

“I can’t believe that you’re acting like you don’t even know me!”

“Have we met?” When she stared at me, I decided to be polite and introduce myself. “I’m Nick… er… Brian.”

Nick elbowed me.

She raised her eyebrows, stood up, and starting pointing towards the door.

“Kate, he doesn’t remember you. That’s part of the emergency.”

“What? Does he have amnesia or something?”

“Sort of…”

She stared at him, silently demanding more of an answer.

“He thinks he’s me.”

“Huh?”

“I’m Nick, and he’s Brian.”

“Wait, what?”

“We switched bodies. The skull is really magical.”

“Did he put you up to this?” she asked. “You have a lot of nerve.” She poked a finger into my chest. “I told you I didn’t believe in all the magic stuff, and now this is some sort of a joke. I don’t appreciate it.”

“This is not a prank! Please,” he said again. “I didn’t think you’d believe me. I’m sure he never did either, which is why he wouldn’t tell you about the skull. But it’s really magical, and now he’s gotten… lost. If I can’t figure out a way to switch back now then he’s going to be lost forever.”

Kate stood in front of me, and I stared back at her. I was confused, but what else was new? This day was getting freakier and freakier.

Again I had the feeling of déjà vu. Like I’d stared into her beautiful eyes before. I could see several images, though they seemed far away and cloudy. Her reading a book in the shop where we’d just met Faye. Her smiling at one of my jokes.

Kate had looked like she was about to open the door to show us the way out. Now she faltered and sighed. “Hold on.”

She disappeared and Nick and I exchanged looks.

“Where’s she going?” I asked.

He didn’t have time to answer though. She gave back with a gift bag. I knew that inside of it was the skull. Nick embraced her in a friendly hug.

“Thank you!” he exclaimed.

She looked surprised. “You’re welcome.” Now she really did walk us to the door. She gave him a quick goodbye and simply gave me a sad look as we left. We went back to my house… or was it his house if he was me and I was him? I started to ask, but Nick looked like he was deep in thought. And I didn’t want to distract him while driving. He managed to nearly take out two dogs and an elderly woman on a walker during the short drive because he was in such a rush. Now he was running inside.

“Come on, Brian. Time to switch!”

“What’s the hurry?” I asked. I was still a little bummed he had refused to buy me a Happy Meal.

“I keep having to suppress the urge to say ‘ya’all.’ I’m this close to being you,” he held his fingers so that they were nearly touching. “It’s time… time to look where we are and what we’ve…” he began singing one of our songs and then shook his head. “See, there’s the you slipping in. Focus, Nick,” he told himself. “Although it’s true,” he mused. “Look at what we have been through… Oh, It’s True, that’s another one…”

Once we were in the living room, he pulled the skull out of the bag.

“Ok, you really believe me, right? That you’re really Brian?”

“Um… yeah,” I said, attempting to sound convincing. I was trying as hard as I could, but it was such a ridiculous idea.

“We have to connect thoughts… what are we going to think about? It has to be the same thing,” he said.

“Umm… The Mario Brothers.”

“All the things in the world, and you want to think… fine. Mario,” he said.

He held up the skull and commanded that I close my eyes. Mario. Mario. Yoshi. Mario theme song. Luigi in the green outfit.

I opened my eyes. “Now what?”

He opened his, too. “Darn it! Brian, you’re Brian. You have to find your soul or whatever… can’t you remember anything?”

I thought of Kate’s eyes. That had brought back something, but I still couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“Here, grab the skull again,” Nick said.

As much as I called him that- Nick- in my head, I could also see him. And in seeing him, he was short with brown hair and blue eyes. Brian Littrell. I’d known him since before I could drive. I’d looked up to him. He’d seemed so cool. Though he was five years older than me, the age difference hadn’t come between us. He’d been the Backstreet Boy to not treat me like a kid.

“Come on, Brian. I know you’re in there somewhere. You were always the brains of this operation,” he laughed a little. “Now you leave me to try to fix something this major? I can’t do it.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s the truth… I screwed everything up. You know the reason I came to the cook-out?”

I didn’t remember the event he was talking about. But now didn’t seem the time to point that out. “Why?”

“It wasn’t about the group. I mean, I wanted to see everybody. And I wanted to make new music and reconnect with the fans. But mostly, the real reason… I wanted my best friend back. I wanted you to believe in me again.”

I saw the look on my face when I found out I was leaving the group. Then, instead of looking at Brian, I was Brian. And Nick was leaving. I felt the swirl of emotions. I wanted to punch something. How could he ditch us like that? We were all going to leave the record company together. They didn’t have the group’s best interest at heart. But… he’d stayed. He didn’t have the group’s best interest at heart, either. Nick didn’t care that he was leaving me.

Then I was back to being Nick. I thought again of my memories of Brian. I’d wanted to make him proud. To show him that I could be like him- grown-up and could handle things on my own. Yes, I was doing a solo CD, but I was still coming back to the group. But I didn’t want to make anymore music with them until I could prove myself.

Nick sighed. “You know, if I have to spend the rest of my life as someone… there’s no one I’d rather be than you, Bri.” He took the skull back and threw it on the couch.

“What now?”

“Nothing,” he said.

“But… we didn’t switch back… did we?”

Nick shook his head. “Who are you now? Are you still the same or did you change somehow?” he sang, narrating the situation with a song we’d just recorded. “It was too late… Man, listen to me. I sound more Kentucky already.”

“So… what do we do?”

“Do you wanna play some video games? You’re right, they are better with two player.”

*Chapter Eighteen* by ForeverFrick

When I woke up in the morning, I had a terrible headache. I sat up slowly, holding my forehead, trying to get the room to stop spinning. It felt like the worst hangover I had ever had. I tried to remember last night, but it was fuzzy. All of yesterday was, actually. As well as the day before.

I stood up slowly, and I felt a dropping sensation right before my feet hit the ground. Maybe I had picked up some sort of virus. I headed into the bathroom. I closed my eyes when the light came on and stumbled to the toilet.

Right before I used the bathroom, a strange thought entered my head. It’s mine again. Since the room was still spinning, I had more important things to worry about than whatever the heck that meant.

I moved to the sink to wash my hands. As I was getting soap, I looked up to the mirror. Crinkled blue-eyes and wavy brown hair were staring back at me.

“Oh my God,” I said. I reached up and touched my face. “Ugh!” they were covered in soap, so I grabbed a wash cloth. I had never been so happy to be staring at my own image in the mirror.

I tried again to remember yesterday, but it was as if I’d been watching life through someone else’s eyes. And from a distance. I hadn’t been myself by the end of it, that much was clear.

I ran downstairs, ready to head over to Nick’s. As I opened the door, though, he was standing on the other side.

“Figure it out a bit quicker this time, did we?” I joked.

Nick had a huge grin on his face and gave me a hug. “I thought for sure it hadn’t worked yesterday… but I guess it was just like last time. The switch didn’t take effect immediately. Both times, we woke up after the fact.”

“What did we do yesterday? Why can’t I remember?”

“You don’t?” Nick said. “Well, that’s not really surprising…”

He told me about our visit to see Kate’s grandmother. And then about going from AJ to Kate, trying to find the skull.

“We saw Kate yesterday?” I said. Oh, no.

He gave me an overview of our visit to her apartment.

“Listen,” Nick said. “I wanted to tell you… if you want to date Madeline, then go for it.”

“I thought you…”

He shrugged. “It’s not worth it if it’s going to be one more thing to come between us.”

“Nick, don’t you get it? I was already losing it by then, and I was a… Nick Carter on Red Bull version of you. I was crazy in love with her because I was you.”

“I’m not in love with her,” he defended.

Maybe not yet, I thought. Having been him, though, I knew it was only a matter of time. But I didn’t think I should point that out to him. He’d figure it out on his own.

“It makes sense what you’re saying,” he said after a moment’s contemplation. “You liked her as me only because I like her…”

“No need to repeat everything,” I rolled my eyes. “We’ve established that.”

“She thinks I’m crazy, though. I don’t have a shot with her now.”

“No,” I smiled again. “She thinks I’m crazy. You have a date with her.”

His face lit up. “That’s right! You don’t think I should tell her…”

“That two of the Backstreet Boys were walking around as each other because of a South American skull that a third Backstreet Boy purchased? Not unless you want to make her rich when she sells the story of how crazy we are to TMZ.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Nick said. “Anyway, I was going to have the guys over tonight. A little burial.”

I understood his implication and nodded. “Sounds like a great idea.”

I didn’t spend the day doing a great deal. I checked my email, called my mom, and watched a movie on TV. Eventually, I took a shower and got dressed to go over to Nick’s. I was about to grab my keys when there was a knock on the door.

“Kate,” I said, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“Um…” she stared at me, seeming unsure of what to say.

“Come on in,” I offered, my heart racing. “Thanks for yesterday. Nick said you gave us the skull.”

“Ni… Bri… do you remember yesterday?”

“Bits of it are coming back to me. It’s hard to explain,” I shrugged. “And I know you don’t believe in any of this stuff…”

“I talked to my grandmother,” she interrupted. “So you’re… you again?”

I nodded.

“And you were in Nick’s body before?”

I nodded again.

“Why didn’t you tell me? All the time you came in the shop and were doing that research…”

“Would you have believed me?”

Kate laughed uneasily. “No, I guess not.”

“What made you yesterday?”

She stared at me. “The day we…” she blushed. “You know, kissed… it was really weird. Your eyes sort of… changed. It’s hard to explain.”

I laughed. “Was that your impression of me?”

“Yeah, and I thought it was pretty good.” Finally, she smiled a little bit, too.

“Listen, Kate. The whole thing with Madeline, that wasn’t me. I mean, that was me, as in I was still Nick, but I was sort of really Nick at that point, and so I wasn’t me. That was him liking her, and…”

“Okay, okay!” Kate said. “I know what you mean. Not because of what you said because who could understand that? But I figured it out on my own.”

“Oh,” I said, impressed.

“I did! Hey, I do a lot of reading. I know how the stories go.”

“So where does the story end for us?”

“With you asking me out and never pulling any of this crap again,” Kate said matter-of-factly. She laughed, and it sounded like music. “I mean, I always thought Nick was the cute one when I’d see posters, but it’s not about the looks, right?”

“Ha. Ha.”

“You sure you couldn’t just switch back again?” she teased.

“No, I was thinking of trying out AJ next time. Live life on the wild side,” I shot back.

“Well, he was my second favorite…”

“Ouch. Touché. I’m going to stop talking now,” I said.

“Good idea,” she said. “Brian,” she added.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and gave her a kiss.

*****

“Hey, man,” Nick said. “Do you want a piece of pizza?”

I’d been expecting a cook-out. The rest of the day had had an odd feeling of déjà vu, after all. Howie was already there, and Kevin and AJ arrived a short time later.

“How are you guys feeling?” AJ asked hesitantly.

“Great,” I said.

“Did you get the skull?”

Nick held it up, and AJ took an automatic step backward.

“What? Scared?” Nick teased. He threw it to me, and it sailed over AJ’s head. He ducked and moved out of the way.

“Not funny! I mean, are you guys back to normal?”

“As normal as we get, anyway,” I laughed.

“What’s the hole for?” Kevin asked, pointing to a spot in the corner of Nick’s yard. His arms were crossed. He still wasn’t pleased with us, but he had still come when Nick had invited him. I was sure he’d get over it in a few days, once we proved to him that we were ready to work on the album again.

“This,” Nick held up the skull.

“You can’t just bury that,” AJ said.

Howie looked completely confused, but he didn’t say anything.

“You’re right,” Nick answered. “It is missing something.”

I was about to ask Nick what when he ran inside. A moment later he returned with a sharpie. “You’re autographing it?” I laughed.

He didn’t answer, but he passed me the pen a moment later.

As I added my own name, I said, “You know you’re a pop star when…

We put the skull in the ground and covered it with dirt. The other guys were still on the deck, chatting and pigging out on pizza.

“I still don’t get exactly how we switched back,” I said. “We were supposed to connect thoughts, but I wasn’t really myself to do that.”

Nick shrugged. I was impressed at all he’d been able to accomplish without me. He’d really come through for me when I hadn’t been able to help at all.

“I just remember thinking that, if I had to live my life as someone else, I was glad that it was you,” he said this nonchalantly and was still using the shovel to cover the hole. He was sincere, though.

“I was thinking the same thing,” I said with sudden clarity. All of the memories of us I’d been having as Nick had stirred up something in the back of my brain. A little piece of me had still been me.

We smiled at each other for a second, but didn’t say anything else.

“There. Think that’s good?” Nick asked.

I inspected the ground and nodded.

“You’re not really going to quit the group, are you?”

I shook my head. “I can’t have you hogging all the solos in my absence.”

“What? Who’s on this album more, me or you?”

“You,” I said. He started to smile, but I continued. “Who was the one doing all of those parts?”

Nick’s face was overcome with the realization.

“I even sing you better than you, remember?” I grinned.

Nick held the shovel up and grabbed some of the dirt off the end, launching it towards my face. I managed to duck from most of it, but he grabbed more. I ran towards the deck, and Nick was close behind me.

We ran through the middle of their discussion, almost causing the pizza box that AJ was passing Howie to go flying.

“What are you guys doing?” Kevin called after us. “You’re acting like four year olds, the both of you!”

“Frick and Frack,” Howie said simply.

It summed up the scene rather nicely.

End Notes:
Thanks so much for all of your comments throughout the story! I really do appreciate hearing your feedback. I hope you guys enjoyed it. :)
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