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“Bedtime is at 9:00. Try not to make it much later than that or he’ll get overtired and actually get up earlier in the morning. He only gets his pacifier at bedtime and naptime. Remember that he’s allergic to kiwi, and the EpiPen is in the blue diaper bag if, God forbid, you should need it. You have Brian and Leighanne’s numbers just in case you can’t get through to me, and you wrote down the number for the cruise line, right?” Annie racked her brain for any other last-minute instructions she needed to tell her parents as she walked out the front door of their Florida vacation home in Boca Raton.

“Annie, sweetheart, you forget that we’ve done this before,” her mother told her reassuringly. “We have thirty-three years of experience. He’ll be fine.”

“Now, shoo!” her father chimed in. “Go have fun with your Backyard Boys.”

“Daddy, you know it’s Backstreet Boys,” she scolded playfully.

“Eh.” He flicked his wrist nonchalantly. “I thought you were over these little fantasies of yours by the time you went to college.”

Annie blinked at his obvious chastisement and bent down to give Drew yet another goodbye kiss. “Be good for Nana and Papa, okay, baby?”

“Tay!” Drew answered happily.

“Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.” She gave both parents quick hugs and kisses on the cheek and marched down the sidewalk to her rental car. Once inside, she plugged her cell phone into the car charger and opened up the list of mp3 files saved on her phone. First up was “Everybody,” then “As Long As You Love Me,” then “Quit Playin Games,” and so on.

When she pulled into the parking lot at Port of Miami, she kept the engine running until “This Is Us” had finished playing. Then, as she was tucking her phone and charger into her tote bag, the received a text from Brian. “Psst....black limo near the loading docks. There’s a guy named Q on the way to help you with your bags.” Annie surveyed the area around her and her eyes settled on a black limousine parked about a hundred yards away, and sure enough, there was a large man, who she hoped was Q, walking towards her car. How had he seen her pull in from so far away?

“How did you see me from so far away? Are u stalking me?” she texted back.

His next text said simply, “Nick saw you.” Feeling a little unnerved by that, she reluctantly stepped out of the car and allowed the man, who did actually turn out to be Q, to carry her luggage to the waiting limousine. As she reached for it, the door swung open, and Brian peeked his head out with a little grin. “I’m glad you made it early so you can board with us. They’re swarming,” he said, referring to the fans. For some reason, she really didn’t expect to find herself climbing into a limousine that had all four Backstreet Boys, their manager, Jen, Leighanne, Leigh Dorough, and a bodyguard crammed into it. Though, in retrospect, she might have found it a little odd if they weren’t all crammed into that limo.

In her bewilderment at suddenly being pulled into a car full of her former teen idols (former because she now called two of them her friends), she could only think of one thing to say. “What, no Kevin?”

AJ immediately started cackling. “Oh, I like her already, B-Rok. Nice to meet you, Annie, I’m AJ.”

Annie shook his hand and smiled shyly. “Nice to meet you, too, AJ.”

Howie held his hand out next. “Howie, and this is my wife, Leigh. Kevin really is just showing up for our beach party in the Bahamas tomorrow. He and Kristin are taking a little vacation there.”

“Kevin’s her favorite,” Nick pouted from the corner.

“Yep,” she answered with a wink. “And you’re my second favorite.” Howie beamed while Nick sank lower into his seat.

Brian continued with the introductions. “Annie, this is Jen Sousa, our manager. You’ll be rooming next to her and across the hall from us, and this is Mike, Nick’s bodyguard. Now that Nick’s single again, he’s gonna have his work cut out for him this cruise.”

“Don’t remind me,” Mike chuckled.

“Aw, come on. I’m not that bad,” Nick chimed in.

“It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s the fans who now think they might have a chance with you now.”

“Trust me, Mike. You don’t need to worry about me getting with any of the fans.” Then he flashed a little smile in Annie’s direction. “Well, not most of them, anyway.” Annie blushed uncomfortably while Brian turned to look at Leighanne with wide, questioning eyes. Leighanne just shrugged and smiled.

Jen checked her watch. “Okay guys. Time to board. Get some lunch. Life boat drill is at 1:00. Sail away party at 2:00. Game show at 4:30. Got it?” All the guys nodded in agreement. “Ladies, I’m going to need your help getting these guys ready for 80’s night tonight, and that includes you, too, Annie, if you’re up for it.”

“Um...sure!”

“We’re going as Sphyntker. It’s going to be epic,” Brian informed her.

“Hence, I need people who are good with hair and makeup to help with the epicness,” Jen deadpanned. “We only have one stylist on the boat with us, and he’s going to be spread pretty thin. Okay, so who’s going first? AJ?”

“Sure.” He nodded and started climbing out of the limo. The rest of them followed suit. Annie hung back, intending to wait for everybody else to board, but after Nick climbed out, he turned to her and held out his hand.

“Come on, Annie. You can walk with Mike and me.”

“Oh, that’s okay. You go ahead. I think I just want to board with the rest of the fans.”

“Annie, don’t be silly. You’re more than a fan.”

“I know, but...I just don’t want to start any rumors, okay?”

Brian interrupted. “You know, maybe she’s right. How about you board with Jen?” Nick sighed and Annie nodded in agreement.

An hour later, she found herself stuffed into a life vest and squeezed in between Nick and AJ on deck as they went through the safety drill. Later, she stood next to Leighanne and thoroughly enjoyed the boys’ antics during the sail away party. Afterwards, Nick (and Mike) insisted on walking her to her state room. “So, how many times have you called your parents to check on Drew?’ he asked.

“Just twice,” she answered. “I should probably do it again before we’re in international waters and my cell signal is sketchy. So, are you doing okay? Peeing okay and everything? Did you have your labs checked again? You brought your Zofran in case you get seasick, right?”

He rolled his eyes. “Annie, I’m great. My serum creatinine was 1.3 before I left for Japan a couple weeks ago and 0.9 yesterday morning. Everything’s back to normal. And yes, Doctor Morgan, I did bring my Zofran. I got it refilled before I left Tampa yesterday morning, and I still had a few left from the prescription you got filled for me in Kentucky.”

“Good to hear. You seriously can’t afford to get sick again so soon. So, be sure you’re washing your hands a lot, too. Cruise ships are notorious for spreading stomach bugs.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He gave her a little salute.

She used her keycard to unlock the door to her cabin and turned to face him. “I’ll see you later, okay? I really am going to call my parents and check on Drew.”
Nick nodded. “See ya, Annie. Maybe you can help me with my wig tonight.”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t miss it.” A few minutes later, it was actually Annie who started to feel a little queasy, so she quietly opted out of going to see the guys make fools of themselves playing “In it to Win It,” and instead decided to lie down and rest up for later that night.

“So, where’s Annie?” Nick asked later that evening at dinner as he unfolded his napkin and placed it in his lap. He’d looked for her from the stage while playing the game show, and hadn’t seen her with Leigh and Leighanne, but assumed maybe she was watching somewhere in the crowd with the fans.

“Oh, she wasn’t feeling very well, so she’s in her room resting up before tonight,” Leighanne answered casually.

Nick paused, his hands in mid-air holding the napkin over his lap. “Is she okay?”

“I think she’s fine, Nick. Just a little seasick is all. The boat is kind of rocking,” Jen answered. “I talked to her before I came here, and she said she just wanted to try to rest up a little bit before tonight.”

Nick gulped and twisted the napkin in his hands for just a moment before dropping it back on his salad plate, pushing his chair away from the table and standing up. “I’m going to go check on her,” he said quickly before rushing away.

“Nick! Wait!” Jen looked to the end of the long table where they were all sitting and motioned for a bodyguard to go with him. Mike jumped up and jogged after him.

“Mike, I’m good,” Nick insisted as he raised his fist to knock on Annie’s door, a prescription bottle clenched in his other hand, a couple of minutes later. “Go on back to dinner. I’ll call if I need you.”

“Jen would kill me for that, you know.”

“Well, Annie would kill me if I brought you into her room while she’s sick, and Annie trumps Jen right now.”

Mike raised an eyebrow. “Annie trumps Jen, huh? So you like this woman.”

“Of course I like her. She’s great,” Nick replied nonchalantly. “Now come on, Mike. Give me some space.”

“Okay, fine. I’m going back to dinner, but you are not to leave this wing of the ship without someone with you.”

“Deal.” Nick knocked on the door and watched as Mike strolled away. He didn’t get an answer, so be knocked again, louder this time.

Finally, Annie’s muffled voice called out. “Just a minute!” Just as he was getting ready to knock a third time, the door swung open, and Annie stood just inside looking literally green. “Nick, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I heard you were sick. I just wanted to come check on you.”

“I’m fine, just-” She clamped her hand over her mouth and ran into the bathroom.

“Seasick?” he finished for her. He closed the door and followed her into the bathroom, his own stomach turning a little at the sounds of her retching and gagging. Yet, he dutifully sank down to his knees behind her and pulled her hair away from her face.

“Oh, Annie,” he soothed as she finished and collapsed back against his chest. “Feel better?”

She gulped and looked up at him. “Yeah. You can go, Nick. I’m f-” Then she scrambled back up to her knees and heaved into the toilet again. Again, he pulled her hair away from her face, then gathered it into one hand while he used the other to pat her back soothingly.

“You’re fine?” He taunted. She rolled her eyes, but allowed him to pull her into his lap and wipe at the sheen of sweat that had broken out across her forehead with one of the pristine, white washcloths. “I brought these.” He held up the bottle of Zofran she asked if he’d brought for himself just a few hours earlier.

“Oh, God bless you,” she breathed.

“Let’s get you to bed, and I’ll get you some water to take one with, okay?” Nick stood up slowly and wrapped an arm around her waist, then led her to the queen-sized bed in the suite that was the mirror image of his. He walked to the mini-bar and pulled out a bottle of water, then handed it and the pill bottle to her, walked back into the bathroom, and returned with a trash can. “In case you get sick again,” he told her. “I’ll be right back.”

“Nick, you should go back to dinner, I’m fine,” she insisted.

“You took care of me. Now let me take care of you,” he said simply, brushing a piece of hair out of her eyes. He waited for her to argue, but she didn’t. “So, like I said, I’ll be right back.” He walked towards the door, and swiped her key card off of a dresser on the way out so that he could let himself back in, then called Mike once he was in the hallway and out of earshot. “Mike, man, I need a favor.”

He returned to Annie’s room a few minutes later with a large glass of Sprite from the dining room and several small packs of saltine crackers. “Here. Try to drink this. No dehydration allowed on the BSB cruise.”

Annie snorted. “Well, so much for that. There’s drinking on this ship, right?”

“Yes. Lots of drinking.”

“Well, the dehydration’s going to happen regardless, then.”

Nick smiled. “True. Do you think you can eat something?” He eased down onto the foot of her bed and held out a pack of crackers towards her. “If it’s really just seasickness, it might help to settle your stomach.”

“Thanks,” she hesitantly took the Sprite and crackers and took a sip of the drink before placing it on her nightstand.

“Did you take a Zofran?”

“I took two.” She grinned sheepishly. “I don’t want to miss Sphynkter tonight.”