April 17, 1993
The next morning, Emma felt different. She felt like she was holding a secret. She grinned, the page of legal pad folded carefully and tucked into her purse. The school hallways felt flurried, but they reminded her of the confetti and excitement of Times Square on New Years Eve, and she felt light inside. Brian walked with his arm around her shoulders, whispering love-yous into her ear all the way to her locker, where he kissed her gently.
Emma grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him close. "You're still planning on making me an honest woman tonight, right?" she asked, smirking.
Brian laughed, "I love you, Mrs. Littrell," he replied under his breath.
She released his shirt and he winked, "I'll see you at lunch."
"Love you, Brian," she called after him as he walked away.
Molly grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her aside in the girls' locker room during second period. The other girls filed around them, heading out to the tennis courts. "What's up with you?" Molly demanded. When Emma flushed, she added, "And don't try to deny anything's up with you; I'm not blind. Dish."
Emma waited for the last of the girls to go by, then she said, "I slept with Brian."
Molly's eyes widened, "But I thought you said --"
"We're getting married."
"What?" Molly's breath was caught in her throat. "Married? What?!"
"Brian and I... we're.." Emma hesitated. "Okay look you can't tell anyone this okay? It's a secret. We're going to Tennessee tonight. Instead of Prom. We're going to Nashville and we're getting married in Nashville. Well technically I guess we're married now - we -" Emma glanced out the door and, deciding they wouldn't be missed, waved Molly back into the locker room where Emma had placed her purse into one of the lockers. She pulled out the legal pad's sheet and unraveled it and stuck it out to Molly.
Molly's eyes filled with tears as she stared down at it, "Oh my God," she whispered. "It's beautiful." She looked up at Emma, and her voice caught in her throat, "Oh Ems, you're so lucky."
Emma grinned, "I know."
Molly wrapped her arms around Emma and squeezed her tight. "I'm so happy for you, Emma."
"I'm so happy for myself," Emma whispered, squeezing Molly back.
Emma was counting moments down 'til lunch. There were only thirty left. She was listening to the most boring history lecture ever given, and twirling her hair around the tip of her pencil. Her teacher's monotone voice washed over the classroom, droning on and on and on, and she found her mind prancing happily over the plans she and Brian were ready to embark upon that night. She imagined the air rushing through the windows, rustling her hair, and the Nashville skyline coming into view...
He was sitting across the room and kept sneaking glances back at her. She could tell the way Chris was smirking her direction that Brian had told his best friend, just as she'd done, and their eyes met more than once. I love you, Brian mouthed to her with a wink.
Suddenly the speaker cackled and a voice interrupted the lecture. All eyes turned to the speaker. "Excuse me, Mr. Morrison," came the secretary's voice, "I need to ask you to send Brian Littrell up to the principal's office. He's got a phone call."
Mr. Morrison glanced Brian's direction. "Go on, son," he said.
Brian's eyes clouded with worry. Emma sat up straighter, and was tempted to follow him but he shook his head, and ducked out the classroom door.
See, to Backstreet Boys fans, the phone call that Brian received that day was the beginning. It was a historical time marker of when Brian became a Backstreet Boy... but for Emma Harris of Lexington, Kentucky, that phone call was the end of the dreams they'd shared together. It was the annulment of a marriage that had never really happened.
