She sat down at the keyboard and looked at the screen. She didn't feel like starting anything new. She clicked Explorer open. She opened her favorite news site and read the daily headlines. She checked out the sports page to see how the Reds were doing. Her fingers moved idly over the keyboard and she realized that she had typed something in the Search line - Backstreet Boys. Her hand hovered over the mouse. Should she? Click! Holy Mother of God! Look at them all. She started scrolling down - there was an official site, information sites that promised photos, bios and discography. And fan sites - hundreds of them. She spent the next couple of hours wandering around the Backstreet part of the web. Not much wonder they were afraid of weirdos. There were people out there devoting their lives to these men.
Grace had always been a fan of the music, but this went way beyond that. Some of these people had adopted them into their daily lives, knew every move they made, had special newsgroups to inform them of any mention of them. And fanfiction! Grace couldn't even go there! She wondered if the Boys knew what was out there!
At four o'clock, the phone rang.
"Style and Grace."
"I like that - the way you answer the phone."
"Well, it's the name of my company," she said, a little overwhelmed by the swarm of butterflies in her stomach.
"It's Nick. I'm sorry we got cut off earlier. AJ can be such a goof sometimes."
"That's okay. I know you had to work."
"Yeah, we got a lot done. How was your day?"
"No crutches have been thrown through a window yet, but it was a close thing once or twice."
He laughed. "Now don't be doing that. You have a lot of windows. Maybe you should stay on the other side of the room."
"Oh, sure, the kitchen," she retorted. "There's a plan. Just sit and eat for three weeks."
He recalled the feel of her in his arms. Maybe it wouldn't hurt her to eat for three weeks. She was a bit skinny. "Well, do you need any groceries or anything? I could pick some up for you."
"No, I'm good. I have a delivery service."
"Oh, okay." The disappointment in his voice thrilled her.
"But...um...I do need a couple of pieces of furniture pushed around...to make it easier to get around."
"I'll come over and do that for you."
"Are you sure? You've done so much."
"No problem. And I'll bring dinner. Not pizza. What about Chinese?"
"Sounds great. I like everything."
"Terrific. I can even do chopsticks. I'll see you around 7:00."
******************************When Nick arrived, Grace had set out plates and chopsticks. He insisted that she sit down and let him serve. He had beer and she had water again. They sat on the stools at the kitchen counter and chatted amicably about his day. She asked questions about the technical side of things. He guessed that shouldn't surprise him. She seemed to be into that kind of thing. He explained that the meetings they were having this week were more about business than music. They had their own company, KBNHA, as well as Backstreet to think about. He said that it was hard being in charge of your own company and he asked about hers.
Grace told him that she had set it up six months ago. Before that, she had worked for someone else, but she didn't feel she was getting enough credit for her work or enough say in the final decision. Even when she worked for someone else, she had worked from home, though.
"So does it bother you to work and live in the same place? Do you ever get sick of it?" Nick longed for the day when he could stay in the same place long enough to get sick of it.
"No, I go out a lot. It works out great. Most people work all day and at the end of it, they can't wait to get home and stay there. At the end of my work day, I'm ready for a change too, and that means going out. I love the movies, theatre, all kind of music, sports.
"What sports? Football? Basketball?" Nick perked up at the mention of sports.
"I like all sports. But I love baseball. Cincinnati is my team - the Big Red Machine."
Nick dropped the chopsticks on his plate. He had enjoyed the food and was glad to see that Grace had eaten a plateful as well.
"Now, where's that furniture that needs moving?" Nick stood up and looked around the room. He hoped it wasn't going to be a bookcase. He had never seen so many books in one place. Grace pointed out a table and armchair that needed to be moved back a few inches. They didn't really. That was just her excuse for seeing him. She thought the ploy terribly transparent, but he didn't seem to mind.
He moved the furniture and then wandered over to her work area. Wow! This was impressive. He didn't even know the names of half the - what were they called? - peripherals. "I'd like to see your work...one of your websites," he said to her.
"There's a list on the bulletin board. It's kind of like my resume. I'm always on-line, so just type one in. I'll be right back." Grace headed for the bathroom.
Nick sat down at the keyboard. He looked at the list. Typing was not his best thing. He always goofed up on a web address - forgot a dot or a slash or something. He went to the History icon. Maybe she had already been at one of these sites today. He clicked and his stomach dropped. Oh no! Line after line of Backstreet Boys. He scrolled down. There must have been fifty of them.
"How do you live with it?" she asked. He jumped. She was standing behind him. Oh, for Pete's sake, Nick. What do you think - she's a stalker?
"What do you mean?" he asked. He swiveled the chair around to look at her.
"I looked up your official site today, just to check it out, from a professional point of view, and I found...this." She waved her hand at the screen. "Doesn't it make you nervous?"
"They're our fans. Where would we be without our fans?" He shrugged.
"Fans, yes...but Nick, some of these people want to own you, and some of them think they do!" Shut up, she told herself. What are you trying to do, scare him?
"We don't look at most of it. Our publicists have that awful job. They track all the crap and the rumors so that we can be ready to deal with it. The fan sites always have the news before the real media, so it kinda gives us a heads up."
"I guess, but...how do you know when someone is real...and not, you know, just a fan?"
Nick smiled up at her. "Sometimes good things leap out in front of you."
Grace laughed and ruffled his hair. "You're sweet." Then she sighed. "I guess you're used to it. Today was the first time I'd seen it and it was very shocking."
Nick felt a surge of relief wash through him. He stood up and ushered her to a couch. "So what did you think of our website - professionally speaking?" He took the crutches from her and leaned them up against a pillar.
Grace wrinkled her nose. "It isn't very good. It's difficult to get into and to move around in. But it's not you guys, is it? It's the record company."
"Yeah, they have control of it. And we can't set up our own. It's in our contract."
"Well, maybe there's something you learned for when you negotiate your next contract. I mean, when you signed this one, websites were just becoming the thing to do. If you even had one, it was amazing. Now, you really have to have a good one to make it work." She braced her weight on her hands to shift herself to a more comfortable position. She winced.
"Are you okay? Is it your leg?" he asked.
"No, my leg is fine. It's my hands, from the crutches. I guess they're not toughened up yet."
Nick picked up her hand and looked at her palm. He stroked it lightly with his fingertips. "Yes, it's very soft," he said, half to himself.
Grace's mouth went dry. The sensation in her hand raced up her arm to her brain and froze it. Nick looked at her face.
"Hey, you're beat! I'll get going. Do you need any help getting to bed? I mean..." he blushed.
"No, no. I can do it," she answered. She thought her voice sounded funny, but he didn't seem to notice.
Nick grabbed the crutches from their spot on the pillar. He held them in one hand and reached the other to her. Grace grabbed it and Nick pulled her up on her good foot. She swayed forward too far and lost her balance. He let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her.
"Steady there," he whispered. They stood together for a moment. Then she broke away from him and reached for the crutches.
She walked him to the door. "I seem to spend all my time thanking you, but once again..."
"There's no need. Again, I enjoyed it. Now you take care and get a good night's sleep. I'll call you tomorrow." Nick brushed his lips across her cheek and was gone.
Grace closed the door behind him and leaned against it for a moment. She put her hand up to her cheek where he had kissed her. Then she looked over at the computer. No, she didn't feel like it tonight. She was going to bed early. She laughed to herself. Wouldn't Matt be surprised if he knew that?
******************************Nick drove over to Brian's place. He phoned when he left Grace's to see if Brian was home. Yeah, said Brian. Leighanne is out with the girls and I'm minding the dogs and watching the game. Come on over.
Nick was relieved to hear that Leighanne wasn't home. He liked her and everything and he was really happy for Brian, but...well, Brian was a different person when she was around. Not in a bad way, just more subdued, less fun.
Brian got Nick a beer and they watched the game for awhile, exclaiming over certain plays and arguing with the referee. At a commercial, Brian went to get them another beer. "So were you over at Grace's?"
"Yeah, I helped her rearrange some furniture and we had some dinner - Chinese."
"You like her, don't you?" asked Brian softly. He loved this young man more than anyone but Leighanne and his mother. He wanted Nick to find the happiness that he had. Brian would give up the whole Backstreet thing in a minute if it meant losing one bit of what he had with his wife and it was his sincere wish that all his Backstreet brothers could find the same thing, especially this one.
"Yeah, I do," sighed Nick, "but..."
"But?" Brian urged gently.
"But...I don't know if I'm just getting a kick out of taking care of her, you know, be on that side of it for a change, instead of being the one that's looked after. Because I have to say, I'm getting a huge charge out of it. I love doing stuff for her. I mean, I'm sorry she's hurt and all..."
Brian understood. He'd been there. "Well, maybe you have to see her in another situation. Not at her place. Get her on your turf. See how she does there."
Nick nodded. That sounded like a good idea.
