“About time!” Carmen exclaimed as I opened the apartment door.

I jumped, wondering how in the world she’d managed to get right behind the door that quickly. I threw my purse on the kitchen island and waited for my heart rate to go back to normal.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been waiting all day for you to get home!”

She hadn’t been scheduled to work today. So, while I’d risen with the sun and was exhausted from getting back from my date relatively late, she’d gotten to lounge around the house all day. Carmen hadn’t even gotten dressed. Instead, she was sporting her pajamas, much cuter than mine I had to admit. When Brian had stumbled upon me in my pjs, I shuddered to think of the sight before him. But if Nick were to walk in right now? He’d be drooling just as much as he always did when she was around.

I sat down on the couch, noticing the big smile on her face. “You going to tell me what’s going on?” She jumped into the seat next to me. Giddy, I noted incredulously. Carmen was giddy. There was an elementary school child sitting in front of me. She never acted this way. Whatever it was, it had to be good.

“Guess what!”

“Umm… I’ve already asked a million times.”

“Nick took me out last night…”

She trailed off, expecting me to guess. Carmen had still been out when I’d returned to the apartment from the park with Brian. I never even heard her come home, no doubt too far into dreamland by that point.

“And he professed that he, too, was an N’’Sync fan?” I joked.

“You know what? Not even your sarcasm can bug me today.”

I waited a few more seconds. She was obviously drawing this whole thing out for effect.

“Nick asked me to be his girlfriend!”

“What?”

I was shocked. How many dates had they been on? How well did they know each other? I suddenly recalled that Brian had mentioned something about Nick and Carmen last night. This must’ve been what he was being so cryptic about. Nick had already told Brian what he was going to ask Carmen.

“Nick Carter is my boyfriend,” she gushed, still smiling.

“Wow, Carmen! That’s great!” I didn’t think I was too convincing, but she wasn’t able to tell from her perch on Cloud Nine. She just sighed, leaning back on the couch and staring at the ceiling, dreamily.

“I couldn’t believe it. I mean, he did it out of nowhere…”

I’ll say, I thought. “So what does this mean? You going on the tour with him or something?”

“Well I can’t bail out for a semester. But we were looking at our schedule’s… like where he’ll be during fall break. And once I start classes, I’ll know which ones I can afford to miss. He said he’d fly me out for a long weekend. Isn’t that wonderful? I’ll get to do a little bit of traveling! I’ve hardly ever been anywhere!”

Carmen’s family was from Florida. For family vacations, her father had always said, “Why go anywhere else? The rest of the country is always coming here for a reason!” Therefore, though she’d explored every inch of the state, she was long overdue to broaden her horizons.

I told her I was happy for her. I was mostly telling the truth.

Apparently, Nick had been acting nervous all night. He waited until they got to the apartment door before he found the courage. After blurting it quickly and quietly, Carmen needed to ask him to repeat himself. She had no idea what he was talking about. He took her hand and asked her again…

She, of course, answered yes.

“That is just so great,” I said again.

Carmen glanced at me. The excitement from telling me was wearing off enough for her to detect the hint in my voice I was trying to cover up. Luckily, the phone rang, saving me from furthering this conversation.

“Hello?... Well, hi boyfriend,” Carmen said into the phone.

Yup. Giddy as a schoolgirl, I retreated to my room.

I realized with regret that I was jealous. Brian and I had known each other longer, after all. Part of me felt that they shouldn’t be allowed to take that next step until we did, as stupid as I knew that was. It obviously hadn’t crossed his mind. That’s what made it worse. Brian had brought it up so casually last night. Fully aware of what Nick was planning to say, he wasn’t jealous at all.

We’re not anything.

But I knew even as I thought them, those words that haunted me, that they weren’t true. Brian had said that once out of anger, and it was time that I let it go. He’d proven to me last night that that was anything but the case. I trust you.

This only managed to make me feel worse. I thought of his eyes, his voice, his smile when he’d said that. Such bittersweet sincerity. I didn’t deserve to be his girlfriend. Brian shouldn’t trust me because I was lying to him. Not purposefully, at least not initially, but it was a lie nonetheless. How could I expect our relationship to move forward when I’d built such a crappy foundation?

“Hey!” Carmen came in and literally hopped onto my bed, jumped a few times, and then sat cross legged.

“What did Nick have to say?” This was her night. The last thing she needed to hear about was my latest worries about Brian.

“He was just calling to say hi. They’ve gotta work late tonight, so I won’t get to see him until tomorrow. They’re done with rehearsal, but they had some PR to do.”

“Oh okay,” I said. “Well,” I said, noticing again how happy she was and wanting to be a good best friend, “I say we go get some ice cream to celebrate. I’ll treat.”

“Looking like this?” said the cover girl for beautiful. “Give me an hour to get showered and dressed and then we can go.”

I laughed. “Deal.”

She started to leave and ran back in to give me a quick hug. “Thanks!” She left for a shower. I smiled again, really happy for her this time.

With an hour to kill, I grabbed some strawberries to munch on and sat at my desk. I decided to check my e-mail, expecting to hear from my parents and one of my high school friends. While my family hadn’t responded (they were taking their time adjusting to the internet, and didn’t get online regularly), but my friend had sent me an e-mail. There was a link, and I clicked on it without thinking twice.

I knew something was wrong instantly. I tried moving the mouse, but the cursor was frozen. After a minute, I restarted it. When the screen came back on a message appeared as soon as I tried to click the Microsoft Word icon, figuring that would be an easy task for the computer to achieve. I was wrong.

The message said: Have a cupholder.

The disc drive tray popped out. I pushed it back in and tried to get to “My Computer” to figure out how to fix the problem, but every time I clicked I was simply offered another cupholder.

I yelled at the computer, resisting the urge to kick it. My luck, I’d break it even worse. I was cursing the contraption when Carmen finished her shower. She came in, a towel still wrapped around her head.

“What is your problem?”

“This,” I showed her my computer.

She laughed. I glared.

“Well, you have to admit. That is kind of funny. If you have to have a virus, at least it’s harmless.”

I didn’t agree. Yes, everything else seemed to be on the system still, but what good was that if I couldn’t get to anything?

Carmen patted me on the shoulder. “We’ll just have to get someone to look at it. I’m sure it’ll be fine. You can use mine if you need to.” She started to leave and paused. “Just watch what e-mails you open!”

I glared at her again.

“I still get ice cream, right?”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Yeah. But you lost your second scoop option.”

“Aww… that’s harsh.”

“Will you finish getting ready before I can do anymore damage?” I smiled.

I shut off my mess of a computer and went to hurry Carmen along.

~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

I yawned, leaning my head on Nick’s shoulder. My bed was waiting for me. But it seemed so far away.

I opened my eyes long enough to see Kevin glaring at me. The interviewer was finishing up with her questions. I’d answered every one directed at me, and been personable and witty, if I did say so myself. I was too tired to even remember what magazine this article was going to be featured in. We’d had a photo shoot this afternoon. We’d gotten done with rehearsal and I’d had just enough time to change clothes, take a shower, and then the camera was being shoved in my face and make-up applied.

Deciding it was easier to comply than get into an argument later, I sat up straight again.

The woman asked one more question. We talked about how excited we were for the impending tour and then thanked her for her time. A short while later, we were outside and heading towards our vehicles.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to look bored in front of an interviewer,” Kevin was telling me.

“Chill, Kev,” AJ came to my aid. “She didn’t notice. I wouldn’t have noticed anything, either, if it wasn’t for your token look. That was a good interview. Don’t stress.”

Kevin didn’t listen to the last remark, which was a shame since it would have done him some good. AJ was right: Kevin was worried about opening night. He could be a bit of a perfectionist, a trait that ultimately strengthened our group, but I was too sleepy to appreciate it right now. I was as ready as I was ever going to be for Into the Millennium. I just wanted to get up on stage and feel the energy from the fans. That energy would get me through each and every show, I was sure of it.

“Someone needs to find himself a woman,” AJ whispered, making sure that he was just loud enough that Kevin would hear.

“Excuse me?” Kevin raised his eyebrows.

“What?” AJ feigned ignorance.

“I think you guys should spend a little less time thinking about girls and a little more time thinking about work,” Kevin replied.

“Said like a true single guy,” AJ flashed a smile.

Kevin looked up to the sky as if making a silent plea.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who needs some sleep, huh, cous?” I decided we should be a little nicer to him, noticing how tired he, too, looked all of a sudden. The last thing we needed was to be on each other’s nerves before the tour even started.

He nodded. “You can say that again.”

“Am I the only one who’s not sleepy?” Nick said.

The four of us stared at him. I wanted to be the one to wake him up early tomorrow morning and ask him how awake he was then. I laughed inwardly, knowing how cranky he was before the sun was up.

“That’s right, Carter has a girlfriend now, doesn’t he?” AJ caught on.

“Really?” Kevin looked from AJ to Nick for a confirmation. “How cute, Nick’s first girlfriend…” he said, truly acting like an older brother.

“She’s not my first girlfriend!” Nick exclaimed.

Kevin just ruffled his hair.

Nick had been different today. A good different. His vocals had that extra punch in them, and he was really getting into the dancing. Of course, the interviewer had had to repeat a few questions more than once in response to him gazing dreamily into outerspace, but that had been too amusing to criticize. His happiness was contagious. He was currently sporting a lopsided grin.

Nick’s new relationship status seemed to effectively give Kevin something else to think about besides work, and he seemed more relaxed already. Howie hopped in his car after saying a quick goodbye. He was hoping he still had time to call Diana and say goodnight. I looked at my watch, but I knew that by the time I got back to the apartment, it would be too late to try and call August. Besides, my bed was still waiting for me.

“What is wrong with your gene pool that you can’t get girlfriends? Everyone’s officially off the market except for the two of you,” AJ commented.

“Not according to that interview,” I laughed. “As always, we’re all single! Imagine that.”

“Oh, right,” Nick laughed.

“How convenient,” AJ smiled, too. “I wonder how long we’re going to have to go with that answer. The five of us have been single for years now… it’s getting pretty pathetic. The fans are going to wonder what the heck is wrong with us.”

“We’ll have wedding rings on our fingers. Our wives will be sitting next to us, the kids running around… ‘Nope, none of us have girlfriends,’” I put on blank expression. “’Why do you ask?’”

I couldn’t remember the last time we’d laughed that hard. The absurdity of the music business could be rather amusing. Still, I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.

“Alright,” Kevin said finally. “I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to come too quickly. Don’t stay out here too late.”

“Yes, pop,” Nick grinned.

The parking lot was soon empty except for the three of us.

“Well, Kevin’s right. We should all get some sleep,” I said. “Have a good one.”

“Alright, B. Peace out guys,” AJ did a corresponding peace sign and strolled to his car. When I finally reached my apartment, I managed to stand long enough to brush my teeth and register that Howie was still awake. I could hear him talking through his bedroom door, to Diana no doubt. He was just like Nick, I realized. Nick still hadn’t looked at all sleepy when I’d left him. He was probably still daydreaming about Carmen. Howie, too, couldn’t go to bed until he’d talked to his girlfriend. It was sweet.

For them, anyway.

I was a little uneasy about depending so much on another person for happiness. People weren’t that reliable, after all. Then I thought of August and couldn’t imagine her making me anything but. Still in my clothes, I laid down on top of my comforter, glad I’d switched the light off when I’d come in my room. I knew I wouldn’t be getting up again tonight.

Exhausted but in a good mood, I drifted off to sleep, dreaming of concerts and getting to sing the new music to all of the fans. When I looked into the audience, I could see August in the front row, looking up at me. For just a second, the screams faded away. The lights faded away. I could hear a pin drop. She and I were alone in the stadium, but the energy of the sold-out crowd was still present. I rolled over in my sleep, smiling.