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“Is this your first time in Virginia?” Lauren asked, as we settled ourselves into the backseat of the cab.

“Yeah, how about you?” I replied, quickly composing my final tweet of the day as Lauren gave the driver the address of the spa.

It was the end of the first month of the tour and we were finally getting a chance to unwind. After the initial meeting with the guys, I had developed a fairly solid routine. The VIP experiences were continuing to go smoothly, and I had definitely gotten the hang of tweeting about a variety of serious and comical behind the scenes experiences. The fans were eating it up. I now had over four thousand Twitter followers who appeared to hang on my every word. As an inside joke with Eddie, I was also doing a ridiculous feature on Howie’s daily breakfast choices (pictures included). True to Eddie’s word, the fans loved it; albeit, Howie was a bit perplexed. I had also just finished my fourth weekly blog post detailing the camaraderie between the guys. It was a relatively safe topic and, so far, it had gotten rave reviews on the message boards.

“Second. I came here once as a kid on a family vacation.” Lauren answered. “I don’t really remember anything about it though, aside from the fact that it rained during our trip to Busch Gardens.”

I laughed heartily as I tossed my phone back into my purse. For all of the negative things that I had seen written about Lauren, she was pretty likeable. We had bonded quickly after our initial meeting. Being close in age, we shared some of the same interests and, like she had said, it was nice to have another woman to share the tour experience with. I still felt slightly intimidated by her perfect figure and her flawless features, but I felt way more comfortable around her then I did around Leighanne.

Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t help but feel that there was a strong disconnect between me and Leighanne. It didn’t help that she had positively freaked out when I had posted a family picture of her, Brian, and Baylee watching Pirates of the Caribbean. She hadn’t opposed to the situation, but to the fact that she was wearing sweatpants and didn’t have any makeup on. Her reaction had caused an argument between her and Brian, and I seriously doubted that she was ever going to let me live it down. In all fairness, the photo had been one of my more popular posts. Eddie had even complimented me on my ability to capture a “real”, unfiltered moment. When I had told him about Leighanne’s reaction, he had shrugged it off and mumbled something about how she had a tendency to blow things out of proportion.

“I see you’ve finally got some haters on the message boards. Welcome to the club.” Lauren joked as the driver manoeuvred his way through the traffic in downtown Williamsburg.

“Yeah. I was definitely expecting to receive some negative attention, but these women sure seem to have it in for me.” I sighed.

Although most of the fans were reacting positively to both my presence and the fan connection experience, there was a small group of women who had been making increasingly negative comments about me on the forums. So far, they had done everything from criticize my appearance, to slam my writing skills, to make up salacious rumours about my past.

“Trust me. They haven’t even gotten started yet.” Lauren said. “Just wait until the ‘real’ rumours start. Do you know that I’ve been married twice, had my boobs AND my nose done, and that I’m refusing to sign a prenup?”

“Really? And here I was thinking that all you’ve had done is a butt implant!” I laughed, handing the driver a twenty.

“You have to joke about it.” Lauren said as we exited the cab. “If you can’t laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole situation, you’re literally going to go crazy. Thank God that Nick is so supportive. I don’t think the fans realize just how hard it is to be in a relationship with a Backstreet Boy. You should actually be thankful that you just work for them.”

“I don’t know how you put up with it all the time.” I agreed, pulling open the door to the spa. “No wonder Leigh, Rochelle, and Kristin tend to keep a low profile.”

“I know they stay away for the sake of their kids, but I don’t know how they manage to go so long without seeing their husbands. I can’t imagine being away from Nick for that long.” Lauren grinned.

“That’s because you two are sickeningly in love.” I retorted, following one of the aestheticians towards the rear of the spa. The woman gestured towards two of the oversized chairs, and Lauren and I both kicked off our flip flops before settling into our seats. I sank my feet into the warm, bubbling water and sighed in contentment. I felt like I hadn’t had a minute to relax for the past thirty days.

“We are. Aren’t we?” Lauren agreed, her smile stretching even larger. “What about you? I’ve never heard you mention a boyfriend.”

“That’s because there isn’t one to mention.” I replied.

“Nobody of interest even?” Lauren pressed.

I shook my head. “I haven’t had much time for dating since I moved to Nashville. Working for Ground(ctrl) has kept me pretty busy. I had been dating someone back home, but that was close to three years ago now.” I said, immediately regretting my decision to bring up my last failed relationship.

“Ahhh. I’m assuming things ended badly then.” Lauren said.

“It’s a long story.” I sighed, as the aesthetician began to massage my feet. “Let’s just say that I was very naive.”

“Trust me. We’ve all been naive when it comes to men.” Lauren said, picking up a copy of In Touch from the table between our chairs. “Have you heard that that I’m pregnant?” she asked, quickly changing the topic. “Because it sure is news to me.” She added, turning the magazine towards me and jabbing at a picture of her holding her perfectly flat stomach.