“Okay. Who’s ready for a girl’s night in – no boys allowed? Just five girls, eating junk food, talking about boys, singing and dancing,” Paige explained, looking around at the other four occupants currently taking up space in her tiny hotel room. Her best friend from Colorado, Izabella, or Belle as everyone called her, had flown in for a week to check up on Paige and keep her company. Belle had actually been married Shawn’s firefighter brother, Jacob, before the tragic fire that had taken his life. Even after Jake’s death, though, Belle had remained close with the Scott family – especially Shawn.
“I can’t believe I’m actually on the Backstreet Boys’ tour! We’re definitely going to have fun tonight. I want to hear all about what’s been going on during this tour. I hear you and Brian have quite the interesting relationship, Paige?” Belle asked, everyone’s attention suddenly focused on the woman being questioned.
“We have a… unique relationship,” Paige cautiously answered. “Basically, he snaps at me about some stupid little thing that doesn’t really concern me. Then I’ll get pissed and yell back at him, telling him to get his head out of his ass. Then he gets angry and storms out – but not before he throws in one last insult at me,” Paige explained to Belle, noticing the curious looks the other girls were giving her. “What? Don’t pretend you guys don’t know what’s going on,” Paige told Erica, Casey and Serine. “You’ve seen how he’s been treating me. I know he hates me. I just can’t figure out why. I mean, he apologized to the Boys last week – why can’t he be nice to me?” she wondered, still confused by the latest turn of events involving her favorite Backstreet Boy.
“I don’t know, maybe he likes you,” Belle suggested, receiving a glare from both Serine and Casey for her comment. It was obvious to Paige that the other two women knew more than they were telling. Even Erica seemed to be avoiding her gaze.
“What? What aren’t you guys telling me?” Paige wondered out loud, looking from face to face in an attempt to get an answer. “Guuuuuuuyyyyyyys!” she whined, trying to break their resolve. “What do you know that I don’t know?”
“Well…” Erica began, deciding that the woman in front of her had a right to know what was being said about her when she wasn’t around. “Brian has been talking to AJ and Nick a lot over the last week, and it may have slipped out more than once that he might be just a tad bit attracted to you.”
“He said that?!” Paige exclaimed, looking from face to face for any sign of jest.
“Well, according to Nick, he’s got it bad for you, girl. He thinks you are one of the prettiest women he’s ever seen. But he’s scared of moving on with his life without his wife. He still loves her and he’s not ready to admit that he has a crush on you – or anyone else for that matter. So he finds it easier to hate you than to let you in,” Casey informed Paige.
“He thinks I’m pretty?” Paige questioned, still unable to comprehend the newest revelation that had been exposed to her.
“Absolutely! Haven’t you ever caught him staring at you or shifting his gaze away when you turn around and catch his eye?” Serine asked, adding to the conversation. “He is crushing on you, hard, girl. He just won’t admit it. But what about you? I mean, I know you’ve always been attracted to him as a fan, but what about now that you’ve seen him in person? Are you still attracted to him?”
“Are you kidding me? Of course I am! The man is drop-dead gorgeous in person. Even when he is pissed or scowling at me, he still looks as sexy as ever! I’m really starting to like the pissed off, mean look on him. It suits him well,” Paige admitted, turning a dark crimson at her embarrassing confession.
“Oh my God! This is too cute!” Casey squealed, loving the chemistry that was obviously budding between their two feuding friends.
“Well what about you, Casey? What’s going on between you and Nicky boy? Any exciting news?” Paige questioned, watching a faint blush creep up her cheeks at the mention of her boyfriend’s name.
“Actually, I do have some news. Nick and I went out to dinner last night and he was talking about how lonely he gets when I’m not around and how he misses me dearly whenever I can’t be on tour with him. I told him I missed him too and that I loved being able to spend time with him. Well, he told me that he had been thinking about something for awhile now and he felt it was the right time to ask me,” Casey said, pausing to let everyone process her story before continuing. “He asked me to move in with him! And I said yes! As soon as the tour’s over, we’re going to be moving in together!”
“Oh my God! Why didn’t you tell anybody?!” Paige gasped, reaching across the table to give her friend a congratulatory hug. “This is huge! Especially for Nick! I don’t think I’ve EVER seen him so domesticated before! Next thing we know, he’ll be proposing and you’ll be walking down the aisle!”
“Not before me, she won’t,” Serine finally spoke up, flashing her newly acquired engagement ring at the rest of the room, a huge, mega-watt smile spreading across her face. “Howie proposed last week and I accepted. We’re getting married in September, during the mini-break between legs of the U.S. Tour. We want all of you to be there! He’s got everything planned out. He said he knew I would say yes, so he went ahead and set everything up ahead of time!”
“Oh my God, girl! I can’t believe you kept it to yourself for a week! Why didn’t you tell anybody?!” Paige screeched, grabbing her hand to get a closer look at the ring. “Oh my! This ring is gorgeous! Howie went all out!”
“I know! He surprised me by buying the exact ring I told him I wanted – TWO YEARS AGO! I couldn’t believe he remembered, let alone went and picked it up for me! I was so shocked, I didn’t even answer him for the first 5 minutes after her proposed,” she admitted, blushing at her own reaction.
“Oh wow! That ring is gorgeous, Serine. I’ve never seen a ring sparkle so much! He must have spent a fortune on that ring,” Belle commented, taking a closer look at the ring that currently held the attention of the whole room. It had a platinum band with three diamonds in the middle. The largest diamond was obviously at least a four-carat, emerald-cut diamond, and the two stones surrounding it were at least two-carats a piece, cut into the shapes of hearts.
“I never imagined he would actually get it for me when I told him how much I loved it,” Serine modestly told the group. “He just completely amazes me sometimes, and it’s during those times that I realize I am one of the luckiest girls in the world. He is the sweetest man I have ever met, and I love him so much! He’s always looking for ways to make me smile, and I don’t think I could ever find another man as wonderful as he is,” Serine gushed, looking at her ring with starry, love-filled eyes. “He’s absolutely perfect.”
“I felt the same way when I married Shawn,” Paige wistfully remembered. “I still remember the day he proposed like it happened 20 minutes ago. We were standing by the Continental Divide in Colorado, and he was telling me that he felt like his life was just beginning. He told me he felt like someone had finally awoken him from the life-long haze he’d been living in for years now. And then he turned to me and said I was the reason he kept fighting. He told me I gave him the will to keep living. I was why he was so determined to beat the disease that had been ravaging his body for years. Then he got down on one knee, looking up at me with so much hope and love in his eyes, and he asked me. I had never felt so full of love in my life. He meant everything to me – and we’d only been dating for six months. I couldn’t ever imagine not having him in my life, loving me like he had been for the last six months. It was only two months later that we were married and then nine months later we had Tristan,” Paige recalled, getting lost in the memories of her husband, unaware of the tears that were now streaming down her face. “Oh God, I miss him so much,” she cried, finally letting her guard down and releasing the tears she’d forced herself to hide since Shawn’s death.
“Oh Honey, Shawn was an amazing man and he loved you and Tristan more than anything. It’s okay to cry because they’re gone. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. In fact, you’re the strongest person I know. But even you can’t handle this all by yourself. Just let it out,” Serine encouraged, pulling the broken, crying woman into her arms in a comforting manner.
“I loved them so much. I just… I felt like my whole world had lost its meaning. I didn’t know what to do or where to go. For the last 11 years, my whole life has been about Shawn and TJ. I felt so lost without them – like I had died with them,” Paige explained, wiping the tears as they rapidly fell from her swollen eyes.
“What changed?” Casey asked, referring to the complete one-eighty she’d done since joining the tour a little less than a month prior.
“Baylee. It was all because of Baylee. That kid is so full of life, and so much like Tristan. He gave me a reason to live again. He was so upset when I first met him because his father had yelled at him. I just had to comfort him. And then I got attached to the little guy. He reminded me that I was still alive. And so I decided it was time I started living again,” Paige answered, her eyes drying up at the thought of the kid who had stolen her heart in just a few short weeks.
“Baylee does have that power, doesn’t he?” Erica smiled, relating to the older woman’s tearful confession. “That kid actually helped me, too,” Erica admitted, looking shyly at her hands while she spoke. “Remember how I told you about my boyfriend?” she asked Paige, who nodded in response. “Well, I finally left him.” She looked around the room at the other confused faces, deciding she had better fill them in on her situation. “See, my boyfriend proposed just before I left to be Baylee’s nanny. It turns out it was just his way of trying to control me – trying to keep me with him instead of ‘gallivanting all across the country with a group of middle-aged pop stars,’” Erica quoted, scoffing at the words. “So after I left, it was like he had never proposed. Whenever I brought up marriage or wedding plans, he would ignore me or yell at me. So I gave him an ultimatum last week, telling him that if he didn’t pick a wedding date, I was gone. He told me he never wanted to marry me, he just wanted me to stay. So I told him it was over.”
“I’m so proud of you, Erica!” Paige announced, embracing the other woman in a comforting hug, immediately evaporating the tears that had appeared in Erica’s eyes at the thought of her boyfriend’s harsh words. “Baylee really is an amazing kid. He got us both to start living life again.”
“Yes he is,” Erica agreed, pulling back from the hug and laughing at herself.
“What about you, Belle? You’re the only one who hasn’t said anything yet,” Casey pointed out, putting the spotlight on the only remaining member of the group.
“Well, that’s because my life isn’t nearly as exciting as you girls. I don’t have a man. I don’t have a child. I don’t even have a real, steady job. I’m just waiting to meet Mr. Right – again,” she said, referring to her first husband, Jake.
“Don’t worry, honey. It’ll happen before you know it,” Paige promised, smiling at her somewhat sister-in-law.
“I hope so. I NEED a man!” she laughed, causing the whole room to erupt into giggles.
“Hey girls, I’ve got an awesome idea,” Serine mentioned, gathering everyone’s attention. “Why don’t we forget about girl’s night in and make it girl’s night out? I saw this awesome karaoke club right across the street that we could go to. We could get some drinks, watch people make fools of themselves and maybe even get up there and sing a song or two ourselves. What do you say?”
“I say ‘Hell yes!’” Paige readily agreed, intrigued by the idea of possibly being able to sing on stage again for the first time in 10 years.
“I’m in,” Belle agreed.
“Me too,” Casey announced.
“Count me in, too, I guess,” Erica reluctantly added, intimidated by the fact that she might have to perform in front of an audience.
“Alright. Everyone go get ready and we’ll meet back here in 20 minutes!” Serine delegated before heading off to her own room to get changed.
“20 minutes,” they all agreed, splitting off in separate directions to get ready for a night out on the town.
“Alright! Now that I’ve had a few drinks in my system, let’s do this thing! What song are we going to sing?” Casey wondered, looking at the other anxious faces gazing back at her from around the table.
“I’m sorry, girls, but I can’t do this. I can’t sing… not in public, anyway,” Erica declined, upset that she was letting her group mates down. “I’m really sorry. I’m just terrified of being in front of big crowds. If there weren’t so many people here, I would, but… I just can’t. Not tonight.”
“It’s okay, Erica. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. You’ll just have to be our cheering crowd,” Serine told her, trying to ease her worry.
“Yeah, girl. It’s okay. It’s supposed to be a fun night. We don’t want to make you feel like you HAVE to do anything,” Paige added, smiling at her friend. “We’ll just split up the parts between the four of us.”
“Thanks guys.”
“So what song should we sing? If we’re going to do Backstreet, we have to pick a song where all of us sing…” Belle stated, bringing the group’s attention back to the topic at hand. “I was thinking we could do old school Backstreet.”
“Yeah! Like ‘Everybody’ or ‘Quit Playin Games,’” Casey shouted, her excitement growing by the second. “I call Nick!”
“Howie!” Serine claimed.
“AJ!” Belle exclaimed.
“I guess that means I get Brian, since Kevin doesn’t really have any solo lines and Brian practically dominates all their old school songs,” Paige shrugged, not really caring who she got, just as long as she was able to perform.
“So what song, guys?” Casey pressed, trying to get everyone to agree on one song.
“How about we do ‘All I Have To Give,’” Paige suggested. “I mean, all the guys sing in it, and they each have at least one solo.”
“You just want that song because Brian basically sings the whole thing by himself,” Belle objected good-naturedly, giving her friend a knowing glance. “Seriously, though, I agree with you. That song is perfect for us.”
“I think it’s good,” Serine agreed.
“Me too,” Casey added, putting the entire group into agreement.
“Alright! Then let’s go!” Paige shouted, anxious to get on stage.
Five minutes later, they were on stage, waiting for their cue to perform. “Next up, we have a group of girls who decided they wanted to bring us down memory lane, back to the nineties when boy bands were taking over the airwaves. Put your hands together for Paige, Serine, Belle and Casey with ‘All I Have To Give’ from the Backstreet Boys,” the MC announced, handing the microphone over to Paige as he exited the stage.
The music faded in, causing the crowd to grow silent with anticipation. The lights went down and the entire room watched as Casey began to sing the opening lines, wavering slightly from her lack of professional training. She may not have been a professional singer, but she could at least carry a tune. “I don’t know what she does to make you cry, but I’ll be there to make you smile. I don’t have a fancy car. To get to you I’d walk a thousand miles.”
However, when Paige began her verse, she took over the stage like she was born to perform, the audience entranced by her heavenly voice. She was in her element, and she was going to take advantage of the opportunity she was suddenly given. She had almost forgotten how passionate she had once been about singing, and she wasn’t going to take this chance for granted. “I don’t care, if she buys you nice things. Does her gifts come from the heart. I don’t know, but if you were man, I’d make it so we’d never be apart. But my love is all,” she sang, her whole heart going into this performance.
“I have to give,” the rest of the girls joined in.
“Without you I don’t,” Paige continued.
“Think I can live.”
“I wish I could give the world to you. But love is all I have to give,” Paige finished, causing the audience to cheer. It was obvious to anyone in that room that this was where her heart lay. Singing was her passion, and everyone, including the four familiar figures who had just entered the club, could see how happy she was on stage.
“When you talk, does it seem like she’s not, listening to a world you say. That’s okay, baby, just tell me your problems. I’ll try my best to kiss them all away,” Serine sang, her voice a lot edgier than her boyfriend’s original smooth vocals.
Suddenly, with just as much passion and heart as Paige had put into her performance, Belle took over for AJ’s raspy, somewhat dark, rich voice. “Does she leave when you need her the most? Does her friends get all your time? Baby, please, I’m on my knees, praying for the…”
“Day that you’ll be mine,” they all joined in, adding a harmony behind Belle’s still dominating vocals. “But my love is all, I have to give.
“Without you I don’t,” Belle sang above the others.
“Think I can live.”
“I wish I could give my world to you,” Belle sang.
“But love is all I have to give,” they harmonized.
“Ohhh, ohhh, to you,” Belle completed, turning the stage over to Serine to sing Howie’s high pitched, “Hey boy.”
The group sang the remainder of the song with just as much energy as they started with, fueled by the applause of the audience in front of them. Never in their lives had they felt such a high, and Paige was glad they had decided to come out that night instead of staying in.
“Paige, I think you should sing another song by yourself,” Serine suggested, amazed by the look of pure and utter joy on her best friend’s face. “This is your time to shine. Don’t let it escape you again,” she advised, walking off the stage behind the other two girls.
Paige made a quick decision, letting the MC know which song she had chosen before returning to her position under the scorching lights. “Thank you for being here tonight. I hope you’re enjoying your night so far. If it’s alright with you, I’m going to sing one more song tonight, and I hope you all like it as much as I do. This song puts into words perfectly the way I think we’ve all felt after losing someone we cared about. After losing our first love. It’s called ‘Cry,’ and I hope you like it.”
She sat down on the provided stool, getting comfortable as the opening music began to play, leading the crowd into the melodic trance the music seemed to place over the crowd. “I’m not the type to get my heart broken. I’m not the type to get upset and cry. Cause I never leave my heart open. Never hurts me to say goodbye. Relationships don’t get deep to me. Never got that whole in love thing. And someone could say they loved me truly, and at the time it wouldn’t mean a thing.
“My mind is gone. I’m spinning around. And deep inside, my tears I’ll drown. I’m losing grip. What’s happening? I stray from love, this is how I feel.
“This time was different. Felt like I was just a victim. And it cut me like a knife. When you walked out of my life. Now I’m in this condition. And I’ve got all the symptoms. Of a girl with a broken heart. But no matter what you’ll never see me cry.”
As she went into the second chorus, a single tear ran down her cheeks as she felt the words down to her very core. Before Shawn, she had never let anyone in. She had always hidden away in some secret part of her heart, waiting for someone to care enough to try and get her to open up. Shawn had been the first and only man to get into her heart so far, and she had her doubts that any man would ever be able to tear down her defenses again. It’s not that she was cold-hearted or anti-social. In fact, she was the most caring and friendly person you could meet. It’s just that she was cautious, never wanting to leave herself defenseless.
“She’s really good,” a deep, raspy male voice said into Serine’s ear, causing her to jump and turn around to face her friend’s mystery admirer.
“Alex! What are you guys doing here?” she questioned as the rest of the boys made their way over to the girls’ table. “I thought you Boys were having a poker night back at the hotel.”
“We were, but then we got bored, so we decided to check out this karaoke club AJ saw. We got here just in time to see you girls performing ‘All I Have To Give,” he added, winking at the girls’ blushing faces.
The guys each pulled up a seat to the girls’ table, turning the attention back to the stage where Paige was currently singing her heart out with every note, holding the audience in the palm of her hand. “Where did she learn to sing like that?” Howie wondered out loud, not expecting an actual answer, but getting one nonetheless.
“She actually used to be a professional singer a long time ago. Ten years ago, to be exact. It was actually just after she met Shawn when we moved to Los Angeles to launch my record label. She was supposed to be my first signed artist. We never got that far, though, because she ended up getting engaged before we could record any of her music or establish the label enough to garner any recognition. She would have been huge. There is no doubt in my mind about that. She was the whole package. She could do it all. But she chose her family over her career, and I don’t think she’s ever once regretted that choice. She loved her family so much that she was willing to give up her biggest dream for them. I really admire her for that. I don’t think very many people would have had the courage to walk away from their biggest dream in search of another dream that was just as important. She knew what she had to do to keep her family, and she did it,” Serine explained, watching her friend continue to sing with a passion unmatched.
“She’s beautiful,” Brian whispered quietly to himself, entranced by the sight on stage.
“I can’t believe she can sing like that,” Nick added, watching her belt out a high note with very little effort. “Amazing.”
“She’s one of a kind,” Serine agreed, smiling at her best friend as she finished the last chorus of the song, leaving the crowd in a standing ovation. She knew that Paige could have gone far if she had chosen to pursue music, but seeing her with her husband and son, anyone could tell that she made the right choice by choosing Shawn and TJ. She had never been happier than when she was with her family, making them happy. Sure, music was her passion, but her family had been her life. And suddenly, everything began to make sense to Serine. It made sense why Paige had been so lost for the last few months. She had lost her entire life when she lost her husband and son. And it made sense that it would take the innocence of a child to bring her back. Only through the eyes of a child could Paige rediscover who she was before her loss. Baylee was her saving grace. Now if only they could get Paige to open her heart to love again. That was her next challenge – and she knew she had her work cut out for her.
