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My name is Rhea Grace McKenzie and I grew up in Tampa Bay, Florida. I had lived on the same street my whole life and nothing exciting ever happened, until the day Nick Carter and his family decided to move into the house right across from me. I was 13 years old and about to embark on the adventure of my life. You see, the day I met Nick Carter all those years ago, everything changed. It didn’t all happen at once of course, but if you would have told me exactly what I was in store before I made those fateful steps up to his front door that day, I may not have ever rang his doorbell in the first place. But I did, and that is where my story begins.

Nick and I hit it off right away. He was only a year older than me and glad to gain a new friend in town. At first we did normal things any friends do. We hung out at each others houses watching movies and playing video games. We would go see movies and hang out at fast food restaurants. We attended the local High School and it seemed like we were spending every second we could together. I didn’t know it at the time but looking back, I think Nick was trying to do as many normal things as he could before he took off for stardom.

It was only about three months after I had met Nick and we had formed such a great bond that he revealed to me why he had moved to town in the first place. He had landed a gig in new singing group and they had been working on getting the group going this whole time. At first I was shocked when he told me because I had absolutely no idea any of this was going on and I was sure Nick told me everything so I was a little hurt that there was something he was hiding from me. But on the other hand I understood why that could have been something he was nervous to tell me, or anyone for that matter, considering there weren’t many boy bands around at that time. Nick had told me before he could sing and he had a couple times in front of me but I was still surprised that he enjoyed it enough to actually peruse something professional with it.

I didn’t have much time to process the whole situation because soon Nick was telling me he wanted me to meet the other guys that were in the group with him. I remember that day very well! It was a Saturday and Nick’s Dad dropped us off at a recording studio. The guys were already in the process of recording their first album and had some work to do. Nick had been asking me for a while to come by the studio because he wanted me to see him in “action” as he liked to call it. I was really starting to understand why Nick was so excited about the group. He really did love singing and it seemed like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders once he told people about everything he was doing. It seemed like he was really proud of himself and the group. I just hoped that he didn’t get hurt or disappointed somewhere along the way.

He hadn’t told me much about the other guys in the group except that they were all really nice and that were almost like his older brothers. I knew they were all older than Nick but needless to say when I saw the other four guys walk up to meet us I was thrown for another loop. I hadn’t spent much time thinking about what they might look like but I definitely wasn’t expecting this. My first thought was that these five guys couldn’t be any more different! And that didn’t seem like a good thing considering in a group you are supposed to mesh. But I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and Nick seemed to think that they were a great match so it couldn’t be that bad right?

Kevin was the first one to introduce himself and I was a little nervous at that point considering he was almost 10 years older than me! But he was really nice and after a while I learned that he really was like an older brother just like Nick had said. Next was Howie and from my first impression he seemed like the one least fit into the group but I was quickly proven wrong when I saw just how well he got along with the other guys. Then there was Alex. Back then he wasn’t referring to himself as AJ yet so meeting Alex wasn’t as intimidating as you might think. Actually, I don’t think he even had one tattoo yet! A couple piercing yes but from first glance he looked like a normal guy. That was until he decided to open his mouth and throw me some cheesy pick up line. I think he said something like “Hey, doll. You got any milk, because I could do you’re body good” while dramatically looking me up and down. He was quickly scolded by Kevin to knock it off and apologized by saying “I’m only playing, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you” followed by, “good job Nicky” and giving him a pat on the back. I think Nick’s face turned about three shades red in a second. I just laughed it all off. That was my first sign of what I was in store for with Alex. Finally I met Brian and this is where my story begins to get complicated. I bet you never would have guessed but Brian and I actually had a really strong connection back in the day. Of course we still do today, but the moment I saw him walk through that studio door I was in for. He was beautiful. Or at least that was the first thing that popped into my fifteen year old head. At the time he was nineteen and I officially had my first crush.