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Chapter Six

"There you are. What are you doing?"

My brand new car was parked in the garage. I was in my PJ's behind the wheel just absorbing the amazingness of having my own transportation. Dad was standing in the doorway looking at me like I had lost my mind.

"I'm admiring my birthday present," I said. I ran my hand over the wheel. Dad laughed.

"Well, I hate to break you two up, but we're leaving for breakfast in about twenty minutes so..."

"Seriously? It takes me longer than twenty minutes to decide what shoes I'm going to wear."

Dad smiled. "It's only breakfast."

That was easy for him to say. I was under the scrutiny of zoom lenses whenever we went anywhere. I hopped out of the car and ran upstairs.

"You're not ready?" Noah asked. He was wearing his Celtics jersey and ratty jeans.

"Ugh, not now No," I said. I ran into my room.

I flipped through my clothes and picked out a vintage t-shirt and some low-slung black pants. I rooted through my jewelry. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail.

"BROOKE!"

Crap.

"HOLD ON!"

I applied a thin layer of lip gloss.

"We're leaving without you!"

I put the gloss down and grabbed my purse. I ran barefoot down the stairs.

"Where's your shoes?"

I glanced at what we called Mt. Ve-shoe-vius. All of us had a bad habit of just tossing our shoes in a pile. I dove in. I found one black flat.

"Peyton help!"

She started looking. Landon dove right into the middle of the pile. Seconds later, his arm shot up from the stack, waving the match.

"Thank you!"

I slid on my shoes, tugged at my ponytail, and smiled.

"Ta-da!"

Mom looked amused.

"Alright, let's roll."

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

"French toast and powdered sugar. It's the way to go."

Dad had reserved a private room at IHOP. There were twenty four of us gathered around the table, including my Aunt Angel and her son Logan. I had only got a glimpse of them at my party the night before.

I adored Aunt Angel. She was an ex-model and did hair and makeup now behind the scenes. Her son Logan was a model for Abercrombie and Fitch. He was drop-dead gorgeous. Our waitress wasn't any older than nineteen and with Logan and Noah sitting side by side, she was practically pulling her neck muscle every time she walked by.

"I'm glad you guys stuck around for breakfast," dad said. Brian, Kevin, Howie, and AJ glanced around at each other and smiled.

I was sitting next to Kay. She was avoiding any eye contact at all with James. I nudged her foot. We shared a look.

"We're going to the restroom," I said.

"Okay, what do you guys want to drink?"

"Orange juice," I said.

"Coffee. Two creams, one sugar," Kay said. Leighanne looked at her. Kay stifled a sigh.

"Orange juice," she said sullenly.

We headed to the bathroom. I didn't have to go, but I was dying to know what happened last night.

"What's going on with you and James?"

Kay propped her purse on the sink and rifled through it. She pulled out a tube of mascara and unscrewed the cap.

"Nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing."

Kay widened her eyes and ran the wand over her lashes. She smiled.

"We were just fooling around. No big deal. It's in the past."

"That's it?"

Kay paused before she did the second eye and turned to me. "Of course that's it. We didn't really 'spark' y'know?"

It looked like they were doing plenty of sparking.

I licked my lips. It was a nervous habit. I felt my lip gloss disappear. I reached in my bag and pulled out my tube.

"How far did you go?"

Kay finished up with the mascara and put it back in her bag. She leaned against the sink. I couldn't help but remember her actually sitting on the sink last night. I began to roll a new layer on.

"Not all the way. He was a little small for me."

My gloss tube dropped into the sink. I coughed.

"Excuse me?"

Kay laughed. "He didn't pass the size test. I figured it wouldn't be worth it to go all the way."

I so didn't want to know her standards for the 'size' test. She may have been my best friend, but some things were better not shared.

"I'm hungry. Are you hungry? Let's go order."

I walked past her and she tugged on my ponytail.

"Oh Brooke, you need to just lose it already so we can go guy hunting together."

I didn't answer. I was in no hurry to lose 'it.' Dad always said good things were worth the wait.

Of course then he looked at mom with puppy eyes and it got a little gross for me, but still...

I liked to think I was a good thing.

And I was going to wait until I found someone good enough.

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

"She was crying so hard I almost couldn't understand her," AJ was saying as Kay and I sat back down.

"Who was crying?" I asked.

"Shelby," Kevin answered. Brenna was sitting between him and AJ. She had a huge bib tied around her neck and was trying to balance a spoon on her nose. Her eyes was crossed trying to focus on it.

I finally realized who was missing.

"Where is she? And Mason? And Dan?"

"Well, Dan's in Canada at the Stratford Festival in Canada for drama club. Mason and Shelby made the move to Kentucky this week. They've been busy getting unpacked. Addy and I brought Brenna with us. And," Kevin paused. Ally was bouncing in her chair. She didn't wait for Kevin to continue.

"And Mason took her up in a hot air balloon and when they floated over the lake he had spelled out 'Will You Marry Me?' in roses all around it and he PROPOSED!"

I was pretty sure that was the most romantic thing I had ever heard.

"Really?"

Ally nodded. "And I'm going to be maid of honor!"

"There's no fishies in the lake!" Brenna squealed. The spoon landed on the table with a clatter.

"Another Backstreet wedding!" Brian said with a smile. "And speaking of weddings, keep July 24th open. That's Baylee and Claudia's wedding day."

Mom asked how things were going and Brian and Leighanne launched into a long description of all of the wedding plans that they were involved in for Baylee's wedding. Kayleigh scooted down in her seat.

After the wedding talk, Howie bragged about James' going to USC in the fall. And after that...

"Brooke's going to be recording her next album in a couple weeks," dad said proudly. I smiled.

"Maybe we should record some new music and be her opening act," AJ said. Kevin laughed.

"No, I'd be your opening act," I said. I could never imagine the Backstreet Boys opening for anyone.

"You do realize it'll be thirty five years right?" Howie asked. "1993..."

The dads looked at each other.

"I'm not really doing anything," Howie added.

"No one would want to see us," Kevin complained.

"Our old fans aren't dead," AJ said.

"After the wedding, my schedule's open," Brian said.

Dad looked at me.

"You'd seriously want to open up for five old guys?"

I smiled. "You're not old. The Rolling Stones toured into their seventies. Paul McCartney toured until the day he died," I pointed out. "Plus, the young people will come see me and their moms will all come see you! Or their grandmas!"

The dads groaned.

"You guys should go for it," Angel said. "You're not that wrinkly yet, bro."

"I'm sure you guys have a couple more love songs left in you," mom said. Dad kissed her. Noah rolled his eyes, then he looked over at Kay. He took a sip of his OJ as he peered over the rim. Kay caught his gaze and ran her tongue along the sausage link that was speared onto her fork. The orange liquid came spurting out of his nose.

"DO IT AGAIN!" Brenna shouted.

I didn't know why, but I had a feeling I had started something. Not with Kay...she was a whole different pile of 'something.' But there was a look in all of the dads' eyes. I just wasn't sure exactly what it meant.