Double Exposure by BeTheStage
Chapter 1 by BeTheStage
Double Exposure

Part One

~ New Years Eve 1997 ~

"Five, four, three, two, one, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"

People all around me were smiling, laughing, hugging, and kissing as Auld Lang Syne rang out through the crowded party. A pair of familiar arms wrapped around me from behind and I felt his lips graze my neck eliciting a grin from me as I turned to face him. He smiled down at me through sunglasses, "Happy New Year, Kel baby."

AJ McLean can also be known as the best friend I’ve ever had. We met in middle school and quickly decided that we were inseparable despite the fact that I was two years older than he was. He had the heart of the kindest, most gentle person I’d ever known and to top it all off was just as crazy as I was. From the time he was eleven years old and I moved to Orlando with my parents we spent most of our waking hours, and many sleeping hours together. Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t "a couple." Well yeah, we’d posed several times as boyfriend and girlfriend to get out of dating horrors, went to my prom with each other, and made it a habit to pretend we were a couple when we were in public just for the hell of it. But despite that, we were just friends, best friends. When he left high school in his freshman year to focus on his career as a Backstreet Boy I was proud, happy and sad all at once. I missed him horribly when they spent a few years over in Europe, but every time that we could manage to get together, we did. And despite his growing fame, we never lost touch.

I reached up and took his sunglasses off of his face, "Happy New Year, AJ..." He smiled as I put his sunglasses into my back pocket knowing that I wasn’t fond of the sunglasses-on- indoors look that the record company had hooked him on. I was forever telling him to let me see his eyes. "Got a New Years kiss for your bestest friend in the world?"

"Nah... I already kissed Howie a second ago..." he teased and pulled me into his arms pressing his body against mine. "But I do have a kiss for my bestest girl..."

"Oooh baby, I’m your girl now?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me and then dipped me while moving his face toward mine slowly. "No tongue or I’ll bite it off!" I laughed.

"Mmm hmm..." he mumbled and pushed his lips against mine. I held onto his body and reciprocated the kiss as he nibbled on my bottom lip gently. When he pulled us into an upright position and pulled away from the kiss he was grinning, "No tongue."

I laughed and fanned myself, "Remind me to ask you for kisses more often..."

"You know you want me... don’t fight it..." he chuckled.

I hugged him tight and kissed his cheek, "Happy New Year, Age... this is going to be a good year for you honey, I can feel it."

"You can feel what?" I heard an unmistakable voice ask from behind as I was pulled from AJ’s arms into another pair of strong arms. "I know what you should be feeling, Kel..." he smirked and pressed his hips against mine. I laughed and he dipped his face to mine kissing me gently, "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Kev..." I grinned.

Kevin Richardson was a whole other story. The eldest Backstreet Boy and by far the sexiest piece of man I’ve ever met. Somehow in the midst of getting to know him we’d begun flirting with each other and to an innocent bystander you’d think that either we were screwing and were really bad at hiding it, or that we hated each other. He was constantly hitting on me and I was constantly hitting him upside the head. Then the next moment I’d be sitting in his lap teasing him about something. It was a strange relationship that we had, but we enjoyed it. He too, turned out to be a great friend to me over the years, hell all of the Boys were, but Kevin definitely earned his badges for concerned listener over the years. We got along so well in fact that people often wondered, especially back in the early days why we didn’t hook up as a couple. It wasn’t that I didn’t find him extremely attractive, he was a beautiful man. Very sexy, and frankly I enjoyed all of the dangerous flirting that we engaged in. The last thing I needed though was to get involved with a musician who was on the verge of super stardom. It was hard enough being the childhood best friend to one.

"So, sexy, you ready to let me love you yet?" he asked pulling me tighter to his body.

"Kev... you’re such a horndog! How many times do I have to turn you down before you get the point?" I giggled as I half-heartedly struggled to push my way out of his arms.

He held me from escaping his embrace and whispered into my ear, "Until you stop turning me down..."

"Keep trying, big guy... maybe someday I’ll see the light..." I grinned and kissed his cheek before he let go of me.

"At least dance with me tonight?" he pouted flashing me his green eyes. "Let me grind up against that nice ass of yours..."

We all laughed and I nodded, "Okay, Train, as long as you don’t step on my feet... but first I want to find the rest of the Boys and get some kisses."

"Making the rounds eh, Kel?" Howie asked as he joined our group and laughed.

There wasn’t really much to say about Howie Dorough. He was AJ’s best friend when they were on the road and I wasn’t around. We sometimes butted heads when we got together because we both loved AJ so much that we didn’t want to share. But eventually we worked things out and he truly fit his nickname Sweet D.

"Just call me The Original Backstreet Slut..." I laughed.

"But if you’re our slut then..." Kevin began and I slapped my hand over his mouth before he could shoot out some vulgar comment.

"Come here, Howie... kiss..." I smiled with my hand still over Kevin’s mouth. Howie smiled and gave me a sweet kiss. "Thank you... ewwwww Kevin!" I said pulling my hand away from Kevin’s mouth. He stood there grinning and I looked at the AJ and Howie, "He licked my hand..."

The three of them cracked up and I shook my head as I wiped my hand on my jeans, "How was it?" AJ asked Kevin with a grin.

"Yummy..." he smiled and licked his lips. "Next dance is mine, don’t forget..." he reminded me before walking off to get himself another drink.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Howie and AJ, "How do I get myself into trouble with him all of the time?"

"You’re a flirt, girlie," AJ laughed.

"True," I shrugged. "So where are the two blondes of the bunch? I’ve still got two kisses to get..."

"Brian was in the kitchen, but I haven’t seen Nick in a while actually," Howie said.

"Okey dokey..." I smiled and went off in search of Brian.

Brian Littrell was dangerous, but in a good way. The fans and media somehow marked him up to be the angel of the group, and I admit he had his moments... but Brian was no angel. He was wild just like the rest of us and loved to have a good time... he just knew when and how to turn his wild side down a few notches. A little less than two years older than me, he was the closest to my age and because of that we got along pretty well. His only major fault though, he couldn’t hold his liquor. I could drink him under the table, and usually did, every time.

"Kellie Kel!" Brian called out, obviously drunk, as his eyes settled on me.

"Hey, Rok..." I chuckled. "I was coming to get my kiss from you, it’s 1998 you know?"

"Heck yeah..." he drawled and I chuckled. "Cummere..."

He put his hands on either side of my face and placed a bruising kiss on my lips, "Geesh, Brian... a little less power next time okay?" I laughed.

He giggled, "Sorry... I’m drunk."

"I know you are honey," I said taking his drink from his hand. "Go eat something why don’t you?"

"Okay!" he yelled and quickly left.

I shook my head and took a drink from his glass and quickly spit it back into the cup, "Holy shit... no wonder he’s drunk," I muttered as I put the cup down and grabbed an ice cube from the bar trying to wash the tequila taste from my mouth. I rubbed the ice on my tongue and walked around the party looking for Nick.

Little Nicky Carter. Stunning blue eyes, silky golden blonde hair, tanned and toned skin, and taller than I was even when he was thirteen and I was a senior in high school. It was no wonder he was the original heartthrob of the group, he was the All-American kid. Kid... sure he was only four years younger than me, but that was enough for me to earn the right to call him a kid. Nick was special. He literally grew up in the band, and because of it suffered a lot. It’s not very easy going through puberty with literally the world watching you. There were times over the years when I wondered if he was going to make it through the storm, but somehow, with the support of us all he did. We’ve all seen some pretty hellish things over the years, but especially when it came to Nick, things were complicated, to say the least.

When I was about to give up on my search for the Blonde Wonder I glanced outside and saw someone sitting near the pool. I knew right away it was him and I quietly made my way out to him. "Hey, Nickers," I said as I plopped down next to him smiling.

"Hey..." he replied somberly as his eyes stared into the pool.

I frowned and tilted my head trying to look into his eyes, "You okay, kiddo?" He shrugged silently. "Where’s your little girlie girl you had running around with you earlier?" I asked noticing that his girlfriend Maria was nowhere in sight.

"Gone."

"Gone? Like as in left the party gone, or gone to piss gone?" I chuckled trying to make light of the situation.

"Gone."

I sighed and bit my lip wondering what type of stance to take with him. Humor, or Mama Mode. "Sweetie, did you two split up?" I asked choosing the motherly route. He nodded still not looking at me. "You want me to leave you alone?" I asked cautiously. I watched as he paused for a minute and then his eyes slowly rose and met mine as he shook his head no. I smiled and reached out grabbing his hand in mine squeezing it gently. He smiled a half smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and then looked back into the lit pool. "So..." I said looking at a dark spot in the pool wondering what the object was that had fallen into the pool.

"So..." he sighed.

"You trying to figure out what the hell that black thing down there is too?" I asked quietly.

He began to chuckle and nodded, "Yup..."

I laughed and watched him laugh, "Good to see you smiling, Nicky... you’ve got a great smile."

He rolled his eyes and blushed, "Shut up..."

"Nope," I grinned. "So listen, it’s New Years, it’s after midnight, and we’re both lonely and sober. You’re too young to drink, and I’m not drinking by myself... whatever should we do? Aside from our intense study of the black thing in the pool of course..."

"Of course..." he chuckled. "Wait, it’s after midnight?"

"Yeah, honey..." I smiled and looked at my watch. "12:15 actually..."

"Oh that’s just great..." he mumbled as his shoulders visibly slumped.

"What?" I asked with a smile.

"Nuthin’..."

"What?" I persisted shaking his arm.

He looked at me with a pitiful look and sighed, "Promise you won’t tell anyone? Not even AJ?"

I nodded and smiled, "Promise... now what is it for heaven’s sake?"

"I..." he sighed and looked at me for a second before looking back into the pool. "I never... Well I was hoping that Maria would be my first real New Years kiss."

"And now she’s gone and you don’t have anyone to smootch for the New Year..." I finished. He nodded and continued staring into the pool. "Do you know why I came out here?"

"Because you felt sorry for me?" he mumbled.

"Hell no... I was looking for a kiss. My goal is to get a kiss from all five of you tonight or else my year is going to suck, I just know it."

"Bullshit..." he chuckled.

"No I’m serious. You can ask them yourself... well not Brian, he’s probably passed out by now..." We both laughed. "Seriously though... I came for a kiss."

"Yeah okay but it’s not the same."

"Why?"

"Because you don’t kiss me like THAT..." he groaned and looked up at me.

"Like what?" I teased with a grin.

"You know..." he blushed.

I chuckled, "No I don’t... teach me..."

"Bite me..." he laughed.

"Not til you’re eighteen next month..." I laughed.

"Kel!" he laughed. "God, you’re a pain in my ass..."

"Yeah I am, but it’s such a nice ass, Nicky..." I joked. "So you gunna kiss me or what?" He looked at me with curious eyes and I smiled turning sideways with my legs crossed Indian style between us to face him. I raised my eyebrows and nodded slowly, "Come here, kid..."

"Rob the cradle much, Kel?" he laughed nervously.

"Never... and you’re almost legal... close enough. Do you want to kiss me or not?"

"Yeah..." he said timidly looking down again.

I smiled and grabbed his face gently with my hands making him look at me, "Then come here..." His eyes were nervous and he unconsciously wet his lips sliding his tongue out over them which, despite the fact he was a mere seventeen years old, was utterly sexy. I couldn’t believe I was about to kiss him, ‘like THAT’ but I didn’t want the whole night to be a drag for him. Just when our faces were close enough that I could feel his breath on my lips I whispered against his lips, "Happy 1998 Nicky..."

"Happy..." was all I let him speak before my lips touched his and I drew his bottom lip into my mouth nibbling on it gently before pushing my tongue past his lips and into his mouth. He let out a soft moan as my tongue slid across his and explored his mouth. At first he barely moved, but before I knew what hit me he responded to the kiss and his tongue danced with mine in an erotic duel. I felt myself scooting closer to him on the pavement and his hands found my waist pulling me toward his body. My heart was beginning to race and my head was swimming as Nick, my Little Nicky, was kissing me like no one had before. I began to pull away from the kiss much to his distress and placed numerous gentle kisses on his lips before completely pulling away. "... New Year.."

I smiled and nodded, "Happy New Year." We were both flushed and breathing heavily. I looked back to the pool trying to calm myself back down from the kiss, which had left me visibly shaken, and took a deep breath.

"Kel?" he asked cautiously.

"Hmm?" I replied chewing on my bottom lip.

"Um... I..." he fidgeted and bit his thumbnail. "Can... can we..."

"Nicky, I..." I interrupted trying to avoid things going any further with us.

"No... I just want to know... if..." He sighed and pulled my hand into his and I looked into his deep blue eyes. "Can we please?"

I sighed and ran my fingers over the smooth skin of his hand, "Please what?"

"Please find out what the hell that black thing is at the bottom of the pool?" he grinned.

I began to laugh and smacked him in the head. "Race you to the bottom?"

"Oh yeah..." he smiled. "You go first..." he laughed and pushed me into the pool with one good shove and then jumped in after me.

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