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Chapter Fourteen – December 8

The next morning was an absolute continuation of the day before. It had been a late night; by the time the guys had mastered the choreography and AJ had his scene shot, it was pushing eleven o’clock at night. Leigh and Leighanne had taken the boys back to the hotel; I stuck around with my camera on as tired delirium hit the guys. At one point during AJ’s shoot, Nick and Brian snuck behind the fake ATM and began to throw coins out like it was a slot machine. Howie was practically beside himself with frustration.

“Dude, you’re taking over where Kevin left off,” Nick said, not for the first time. “Relax.”

“You won’t be saying relax when we’re back here in a few hours and you’re dog tired,’ Howie had warned.

He was right. Nick was a complete grump as we walked back into the warehouse the next morning.

I noticed right away that Brian was watching Baylee and Leighanne was nowhere to be seen. After discovering the mysterious origins of her Starbucks cup, I was dying of curiosity. Leighanne had been the one to introduce me to ginger tea as I battled first trimester morning sickness. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but the thought of a new edition to the Littrell family was exciting.

“Where’s Leighanne?” I asked Brian as Nick hustled right over to the breakfast spread. Brian rubbed his neck.

“We forgot to pack a few things. Leigh’s getting some stuff this morning.”

I wanted to ask him what stores would be open at 5 a.m. for shopping, but I thought better. If I was going to be nosey, I thought I’d rather bug Leighanne.

Unlike the other three guys, Howie was ready to go. Wesley quickly had him go through his scene. Howie’s was trickiest. His part involved throwing a suitcase off the cruise ship to a girl on dock. I had a feeling that the design crew had built up a good proximity to the front bow of the cruise ship we’d be on, but I knew that they’d probably try to get takes tomorrow on the real deal.

The guys were in the middle of shooting the chorus dance steps when Leighanne walked in. She looked worse than the day before. I got up and walked over to her.

“Hey, how was shopping?” I said. She looked at me blankly.

“Shopping?”

“Brian said you guys had forgotten a few things so you went shopping.”

Leighanne looked in Brian’s direction. I could almost see her thinking ‘Is that the best he could do? Shopping? What stores are open at 5 a.m.?”

She looked back over at me. I pulled her into a corner.

“That wasn’t coffee yesterday,” I whispered. She smiled wryly.

“I knew I wasn’t going to fool you,” she said.

“You did a pretty good job. But I sipped it,” I admitted. She laughed.

“So…?” I said. The suspense was killing me.

She made a rocking motion and nodded. “Yup. July 9.”

I stifled a squeal and hugged her tightly.

“But we’re not telling anyone else,” she said. I nodded and made a lock motion with my mouth.

“Did you tell Baylee?”

“Yeah, we told Baylee. We explained the importance of keeping a secret. We’ll see how that works.”

“Was Brian excited?” I asked.

Leighanne nodded and threw a friendly arm around my shoulders as we walked back on set. She whispered to be conspiratorially.

“I will give you one word of warning. If Nick ever asks for Vick’s vapo rub and honey, run.”

I looked at her in confusion, but something told me that it was better not to ask. She laughed at the look on my face.

“It’s a long story,” she said.

------------------------------

Production wrapped up for the day right before dinner. Once again, the biggest decision was where to go for dinner. AJ was looking at a list of the top ten restaurants in Miami.

“Hey Nick,” AJ said pulling him over. He pointed to restaurants as he talked. “Look, they make a story. You’ll get all up on Shorty’s BBQ and then get lost in her Azul eyes. Before you take her home, you’ll light one up at Tobacco Road and then Porcao night long.” He pronounced Porcao as 'pork all.'

Howie groaned. “You are a detriment to the Spanish language, McLean.”

“What? Come on I’m a flippin’ creative genius.”

A half hour later we ended up going to Joe’s Stone Crabs. I must admit, I’m not much of a fish person, so I was glad to see fried chicken on the menu. Howie got incredible excited about the soft crab with pickled mango kimchee. After the waiter disappeared with our orders, Nick looked around and then placed a big bottle of Evian water in front of me. I looked over at him.

“What’s this?”

“Bottled water,” he said.

“I ordered bottled water here,” I explained.

“The doctor said to bring bottled water with us,” Nick said.

“I think she meant that more on the cruise ship and Cozumel,” I replied.

As we were talking, I saw a moment of panic cross Brian’s face. He glanced over at Leighanne; she shook her head. She, like me, knew that Nick was over-reacting.

He was out of his mind, and I loved him for it.

I stuck the bottle of Evian in my purse as the water returned. He placed an identical bottle in front of me. I gave Nick a look, he made a face.

“How’s married life, AJ?” Leigh asked. AJ grinned.

“Pretty good. She hasn’t killed me yet.” he replied, looking over at Rochelle. She rolled her eyes.

“No honeymoon bambinos?” Howie teased. AJ choked on his soda.

“No way,” Rochelle replied for the both of them. She took a sip of wine. “The world’s not ready for another Alex.”

“Agreed,” Brian and Nick said at the same time. AJ slid his sunglasses down his nose, giving both of them a look with his big brown puppy dog eyes.

Little conversations erupted all around the table as we waited for food. When it finally arrived, plate after steaming plate was set down before us. The guys dug in greedily. The fried chicken melted in my mouth.

Everyone was half-way through their food, except Leighanne who picked at a salad, when I heard loud excited whispering.

“We have company gentlemen,” AJ said.

In moments the table was bombarded with fans coming up asking for autographs and pictures. The guys were fantastic as always. Leighanne was almost as popular as the guys. In a way, I think she was thankful for the pictures; I had been in her shoes not long ago and I knew how hard it was to keep food down when a baby had other plans.

“You are so gorgeous,” a fan said as she posed with Nick for a photo. He smiled modestly.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” another fan said as she hung onto AJ’s arm.

“I saw the video with your newest song,” another girl said as she approached Nick. “It’s beautiful.”

Nick smiled. “Well, I needed a beautiful song for my beautiful lady. I felt his warm hand wrap around my shoulder. I looked over at the fan. Her smile seemed to momentarily freeze in place.

“I can’t wait to see pictures of your little girl,” she continued. “I hope she looks just like you.”

“Well everyone always told me I’d make a cute girl,” Nick replied lightly. “But hopefully her best qualities will come from her mommy.”

After another fifteen minutes, the fans died away. Leftovers were put in carryout boxes.

“Anyone want dessert?” the waitress asked. My mouth began to water; the dessert menu had looked to die for. Even so, I kept quiet. I had a feeling everyone wanted to leave before more fans learned the whereabouts of the Backstreet Boys.

“Can we have a piece of key lime pie and a slice of your peanut butter cup cake to go?” Nick said. I could have kissed him.

The guys waved to the fans that were salivating more over them then over their food. We climbed into a van that took all of us back to the hotel.

“See you guys in the morning,” Howie said. “Meet in the lobby at six.”

Several of us groaned. With a chorus of ‘good nights’ we drifted to our rooms. Baylee and Mason had stayed at the hotel with a nanny; I had a feeling they were already fast asleep. Nick swiped our keycard and we walked into the room. I sat down on the bed and kicked off my shoes, falling back into the soft mattress. Nick did the same; his head slowly turned towards me. I leaned over and kissed the tip of his nose. His arm pulled me closer. I rested my leg across his lap and kissed him softly.

He kissed back, his hand slid across my leg. A little moan escaped my throat as his tongue darted into my mouth; I slid up farther on the bed. Nick didn’t miss a beat; he followed me like a stalking panther. His hands rested on my hips, I leaned up to nibble his bottom lip. When his hands traveled from my hips under my shirt, I paused.

“We’re not in Cozumel,” I whispered.

Nick groaned. He rolled over on his back and stared at the ceiling. It seemed silly to say it, but I actually felt sorry for him.

I stood up and picked up our dessert carryout containers and then sat back down beside him. He looked over at me as I opened the lid. My fingers scrapped off the heavy layer of whipped cream for the key lime pie. I met Nick’s eyes.

“Take it off Carter,” I said. I saw a little glimmer sparkle in Nick’s eyes.

“I’m giving you dessert. I’ll wait for mine in Cozumel.”