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“Looking good there, cuz.” Brian commented in the doorway where he watched Kevin getting ready for his wedding. Kevin was really excited to finally be married to his fiancé Kristin after being together for so many years and he was ready to make her his forever. 


“You clean up pretty damn good yourself, cuz.” Kevin chuckled as he fixed his tie. He wasn’t feeling very nervous but more so excited. All the guests were there and everything was set for the big day, well except for one. 


“Is everyone here?” Kevin asked when he and Brian had left the room and started walking down the hall towards the main room where the wedding was taking place. 


“Well, funny story about that….you see…” Brian chuckled nervously. Kevin sighed because he already knew. Something was going wrong already. 


“Nick isn’t here. Nobody knows where he is and he’s not answering his phone.” Brian said. Kevin was disappointed but he kind of expected something like this to happen because Nick was always late. He always had some sort of excuse, and Kevin wondered what the excuse would be this time. They’d talked a couple of days ago and Nick had promised he would be on time, but Kevin didn’t hold his breath. He hated that he felt that way about Nick, but as he had gotten older the worse it seemed he had gotten. He’d fallen into a bad crowd and was starting to get some questionable habits. The other guys all noticed him changing and it wasn’t for the better. Kevin and Brian just exchanged looks because they both had the same thoughts. The two of them went into the hall and walked up towards the front of the aisle where the other two present members of the Backstreet Boys all were sitting wearing suits. AJ looked up at Brian when he saw him come over. 


“Did you tell him?” AJ blurted. Brian and Howie looked annoyed. 


“You weren’t supposed to say anything! Don’t you listen?” Howie whispered angrily, elbowing AJ in the arm.


“Tell me what? That Nick isn’t here? I think I would have figured it out eventually, Jay.” Kevin sighed, laughing as he rolled his eyes. 


“Has anyone heard from him? He promised me that he was going to be here. I don't know what is so hard for him to just keep his promises, I've had it with him!” 


"I think you're being a bit hard on him. I don't think he did this on purpose." Howie said. Kevin looked at the others but nobody said anything. Brian shrugged and so did the other two. 


"Nick's notoriously late to everything, Kevin….but that doesn't change the fact that you're not perfect either. You've been late to things too lots of times. You can't hold him to that when you don't even do it yourself." Howie added. Kevin hated that he was right. 


The ceremony was about to start, so Kevin told them to go ahead with it even though Nick was unaccounted for because he didn’t want to hold everyone else up. It was a beautiful ceremony and Kristin looked breathtaking, so beautiful that when she walked down the aisle towards him he couldn’t hold back his smile. He teared up during their vows to each other and by the time they kissed, he was full on crying. There was not a dry eye in the room. Kevin and Kristin left the church and went out to their limo that was to take them to the reception nearby. 


“I didn’t see Nick there, I am guessing that he didn’t make it? Leighanne was telling me when she helped me get ready.” Kristin asked in the limo. They shared some champagne during the ride. 


“I’m kind of pissed at him, actually, he promised he'd be here and he's not here." Kevin said with a sigh. He took a drink of champagne and rubbed the corners of his eyes along his nose. 


"Don't be too hard on him, honey. I'm sure that it isn't his fault." Kristin said, rubbing his shoulder. She put her head on his shoulder and smiled as he kissed her on the top of her head. 


"Howie said the same thing. I just don't understand why he does shit like this all the time, though. Is he ever going to grow up?" he wondered. 


Kristin laughed and he gave her a confused expression. 


"He's only 21, Kevin. I think you forget how young he is sometimes. You aren't always perfect either. Remember our first date? You were an hour and a half late and I almost left." 


Kevin hated that she was right and he was being a hypocrite. 


“I wasn’t that late.” 


Kristin gave him a skeptical look and the two of them laughed as the limousine pulled up to the reception hall. 


"All right, I was pretty late." Kevin laughed as he kissed her again. He and Kristin went inside and they were announced as husband and wife. Everyone cheered and the music started playing. 


"Have you heard anything from him yet?" Kevin asked Brian when he saw him by the buffet table looking over the spread.


"He's over talking to AJ. He rode here with me and Leighanne. I think something about missing his plane. He was really upset about missing the ceremony, he thinks you are pissed at him so try not to yell at him too much." Brian whispered as he piled some food on his plate. 


"I wasn't planning on yelling at him. However, when he commits to something I expect him to honor his promises. I don't think that's too much to ask." Kevin argued before privately feeling bad that he was so angry at Nick for being late. 


"I'm just asking, take it easy on him. Don't make him feel worse than he already does." Brian cautioned. 



Nick seemed like he was out of place, because he was wearing shorts and sneakers. He saw Kevin and started panicking. 


"I already know what you're going to say. I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry for being late…." Nick started when he saw Kevin. He immediately started to stumble over his words apologizing because he was flustered. Kevin almost laughed. 


"You're…you're not mad?" Nick said suddenly when he saw Kevin smiling. Kevin hugged him and offered him a drink. 


"No. Things happen, I am just glad you are okay Nick. We were all worried about you. What happened?" 


"I overslept and missed my flight. So I had to book a private plane just to make it here, because there were no other flights that I could have taken." 


"A private plane? How much did that cost you?" Kevin laughed. Nick laughed and took a drink of champagne. 


"You don't wanna know." he muttered, following Kevin to where Kristin was so he could greet her as well. The party went on pretty late and Kevin and Kristin flew to Italy for their honeymoon. 


"I'm glad he made it. It wouldn't have been right not to have all of your friends there." Kristin said thoughtfully. 


"As much as he pisses me off, you're right. It wouldn't have been the same without him. I guess I just give him a hard time because he's like family and we practically raised him." Kevin chuckled. He kissed his new wife and smiled. 


"I suppose raising him was good practice for the children we are going to have?" Kristin laughed. 


"I guess you are right about that."


The two of them laughed and kissed again, as their plane continued on to Italy where they'd start the first night of their marriage and hopefully many more to come after.