~*~Nick’s point of view~*~

I escaped, so I thought, to the kitchen, and pour myself a glass of soda. Then I laughed at myself. I was a Backstreet Boy, for goodness sake. Nick Carter (or Brian Littrell depending on how you looked at it), and I was hiding from a girl at a birthday party? How immature was that.

Taking a deep breath, I walked back out into the living room. Madeline happened to be near the door and wasn’t talking to anyone. Without letting myself second guess the decision, I walked up to her. “Hey, Madeline. How are you?”

“A little stressed, but otherwise good.”

“Stressed?”

She shrugged, smiling slightly. “Just trying to get all of this together. Well, Kevin, too. But I just wanted everything to be perfect for her and I was up late last night getting some food ready… How sad will be it if I fall asleep halfway through?”

“I’ll make sure to poke you every once in awhile to make sure you’re still awake.”

Madeline laughed. “I may hold you to that.”

“And you shouldn’t stress. Look around. Everyone is having a good time. The food looks great, the decorations look great… This is the part where you’re supposed to enjoy yourself.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“Do you want a drink? The caffeine might wake you up a little.”

She looked surprised. “Sure, that’s really nice of you.”

I told her I’d be back in a minute and headed back into the kitchen, rather proud of myself. This was going much better than last time. When I handed her a Coke, she was talking to Kevin and Kelly. Kelly was still thanking her profusely for the surprise party.

Within a few minutes, the subject had changed to the album.

“Bet you guys are glad it’s Saturday,” Kelly told us. “Sounds like you had a long week in the studio.”

Kevin shot me a look. Although he obviously had multiple things to say, he simply nodded.

“Aw, come on, Kev,” I said. “We give you a hard time because we love you.”

Kevin’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, yeah?”

“No,” I said with a completely serious look on my face and shaking my head.

There was an awkward silence for about two seconds. Then, despite herself, Madeline started to laugh. Kelly and I soon followed and even Kevin had given a small chuckle by the end of it.

“Ok,” Kevin tried to shush us. “That really wasn’t this funny.”

“You’re at a birthday party, Kev. You don’t need to be worrying about work. At least take an hour or two off from thinking about the CD.”

“Well, Brian, you’re just de-stressing everyone tonight, aren’t you?” Madeline commented.

Kevin sighed. “Alright, I won’t say another word about the CD tonight.” Not that he had during this conversation, but his expression seemed less tense now. If he could put his thoughts on other things, he’d no doubt enjoy himself tonight.

“Do you hear that?” I said.

Kevin looked at me, puzzled. “No.”

“Really?” I put a hand up to my ear. “You honestly can’t hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Hmm… it sounds like,” I paused for effect, “The Full House theme. Whatever happened to predictability? The milkman, the paperboy…”

“Evening TV,” Madeline join in, bumping Kevin with her hip to try to get him into the music.

“What is in that cup?” Kevin inspected my soda.

I hummed a little more of the song. “This music just puts you in a huggy kind of mood, doesn’t it?”

“No,” Kevin said.

“Aw, don’t lie,” I held out my arms as he tried to back away. But I was quicker and wrapped him in a bear hug.

“Seriously, Brian. What are you drinking?”

“Coke.”

“There a special ingredient in there?” Kelly joked.

I nodded. “Love!” and I gave Kevin another hug, ignoring the stern look on his face.

Madeline and Kelly continued to laugh as Kevin denounced me as his cousin.

We talked awhile longer and got some snacks to eat. As the sun began to set, some of the guests wandered outside to the deck.

“Want to shoot some hoops?” Kevin suggested.

“Sure, sounds good,” I said.

“Ooh, I’m in,” Madeline said.

Kevin bent down to pick up the basketball from beside the back door. “We need a fourth then.” He looked around. “I was going to say Nick, but I don’t see him. Kelly?”

“What? Oh no. No, no, no. You know I’m horrible.”

“It’s just a game,” Kevin assured her. “We aren’t playing for the NBA, just for fun.”

Kelly shook her head, but I grabbed her hand and led her out to the court. Madeline and Kevin followed. “Alright, Kelly and I get ball first.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“Because my team has a handicap,” Kevin did a stage whisper, pointing at Kelly from behind her other hand.

“What?... Hey! It’s my birthday, you have to be nice to me!”

We started the game. Kelly was as bad as she’d said. I wasn’t used to being so short playing this game. My usual jumpshots were being blocked by Kevin and his tall frame every single time. Brian had always been so good at this. I mean, he was “B-rok” for a reason. How did that midget handle it?

I got the ball and tried to pass it to Madeline. Kelly was slowly catching on to the game and had her blocked. I went in for a lay-up instead. Quick and light, I managed to fly by Kevin and sail into the air, putting the ball safely in the net.

“Great shot!” Madeline gave me a high five.

“Thanks,” I said, beaming. This had been the most fun I’d had in weeks. For once I wasn’t thinking about the skull and being stuck as Brian. This was the first night I hadn’t looked at it as a bad thing.

It got too dark to play and Kelly and Kevin went inside to grab some water bottles. I heaved a dramatic sigh and sat down on the court, wiping my forehead. Madeline sat next to me.

“We kicked their butts. Sure, I was up against Kelly and the only sport she’s good at is Poker… but still. A win is a win,” she winked. “I used to play with my sister all the time, and she was just as bad as Kel.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you have a sister.”

“Yup. She got married last fall and is living in Arkansas right now.”

“Arkansas?” Why would anyone want to move there?” Then, worrying my tone had expressed my thoughts and I’d offended her, I started to backtrack.

“No,” Madeline smiled, “I said the same thing. I would never want to leave Florida, personally.”

“Me neither.” I’d miss the water too much.

“Do you have any siblings?”

I nodded, relaxing next to her. “Oh, yeah. It’s like the Brady Bunch. I have a brother and three sisters. There was never a dull moment, believe me.”

“Wow. I love my sis, but we used to fight all the time. I can’t imagine having more… Are you oldest, or… ?”

I nodded, glad that it was so much easier to talk to her now that I knew her more. “Yeah, which was nice. I could boss everyone around. Although actually I was on the road so much with the Backstreet Boys, when some of them were growing up I was in Europe and touring around the world.”

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to travel that much. I…”

“Hey, Brian?”

I turned to see Howie walking towards me.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve kinda got some bad news.” He looked worried.

“What?”

Howie looked as if he were searching for the right words. Finally, he simply said, “I think I’d better just show you.”