Nick Carter pulled a note off of the door and entered his hotel room. Too tired to care what it said, he threw it on the table next to the bed and plopped down. He was exhausted from the concert. He ordered room service and watched some mindless TV. One entree, two sodas, and some macadamia nuts later, he accidentally grabbed the note when reaching for a napkin.

Yawning, he opened it up. He sat up, suddenly feeling alert.

This was a note from a secret admirer.

Nick immediately started thinking about who would leave this. The handwriting was beautiful, elegant. He soon drifted off to sleep, picturing the shadow of a woman. Her silhouette starred in his dreams, tall and curvy, but whenever he peeked around the corner to see her, the hallway was empty.

The next morning, he showed the note to Howie and Brian over breakfast.

“What’s it say?” Brian was trying to peer over Howie’s shoulder.

“Someone has a crush on Nick Carter, apparently. Like that’s never happened before,” Howie rolled his eyes and laughed. “She said she’s going to ‘reveal herself’ on Valentine’s Day.”

“Oooh,” Brian said. “How very soap opera of her. The suspense of it all!” He laughed.

“Who do you think it is?” Nick asked them.

“Dawn has been smiling at you a lot lately,” Howie pointed out.

She was in charge of their wardrobe on the tour. Nick nodded, agreeing with Howie. Dawn had been going out of her way to speak to him lately. He smiled at himself. He’d been a little down lately with Valentine’s Day coming up. AJ was soon to be married. Howie and Brian were already, although Brian and his wife weren’t spending Valentine’s Day together. But they’d be celebrating when he got back to the States. Nick felt like the odd one out. He’d be the only Backstreet Boy spending the day without... well, a valentine.

He was in good spirits the rest of the day. He saw Dawn later that afternoon.

“Hey,” she smiled at him. Her blonde hair was up in a ponytail, and she looked a little tired.

“Hi,” Nick replied. “You ok?”

“Just a little stressed out,” she said, although her spirits seemed a little lifted now that she was talking to him. “Living out of a suitcase is fun and all, but...” Nick laughed. This was her first tour with them, and it did take awhile to get used to. In fact, Nick still wasn’t sure if he was completely used to moving from city to city, day after day. “We have two days off coming up!”

One of them, in fact, was Valentine’s Day. He was hoping to get something out of her.

“Thank goodness!”

She looked like she was about to say something else, but the tour manager walked up right then and needed her to handle some sort of wardrobe malfunction crisis. He was forced to say goodbye.

Nick received another note that night. This time, it was slipped under his door. He had come out of the bathroom right when it was placed there. He was about to run out to see who it was when he realized he wasn’t wearing any clothes. He quickly grabbed a towel, but it was too late. The only person in the hotel hallway was a maid, who had a huge grin spread across her face when she saw him.

He smiled sheepishly and went back to his room. If only he’d taken a shower just a few minutes earlier, he might have caught her!

The Backstreet Boys had a concert the next night. Afterwards, everyone was backstage getting their things together. AJ and Dawn walked up, talking.

“Yeah, I’m so excited! I can’t believe he’s flying all the way over here just to see me for Valentine’s Day.”

“Who?” Nick interrupted.

“My boyfriend. I wish the visit could be longer, but I didn’t think I’d see him until this leg of the tour was over.” She was looking past him, at nothing at all. A dreamy expression was on her face.

She wandered off to get their outfits packed.

“I heard you had a secret admirer!” AJ said. “Any idea who it is?”

“Not anymore,” Nick said sulkily.

That night, he waited by the door. He heard movement outside and held his breath. Was it the mystery girl?

“Ouch!” he said, holding his head and moving out of the way.

“Dude, what are you doing?” Brian finished opening the door, laughing at him. “Call me crazy, but I usually sit on the bed or the chair.”

“Nothing,” he said.

Brian had a knowing look in his eyes, though. “You were hoping the future Mrs. Carter was going to drop by, huh?”

“Shut up,” Nick crossed his arm.

“Well, you’ll know tomorrow anyway.”

They watched some TV, and then Brian headed back to his own room.

Nick woke up the next morning with the suspense killing him. It was almost bittersweet. Of course he wanted to know who it was, but there was also something nice about wondering. He’d walked around all week in the best mood, knowing that someone out there cared about him.

He had a note waiting for him. The same elegant, cursive writing. This one said to meet him for lunch. There was a fancy restaurant in the hotel. Nick counted down the hours. He even put on a nice pair of pants with a button-down shirt. Finally, it was time to head downstairs.

Why was he so nervous? He’d been on plenty of dates before. Not knowing what to do, he decided to get a table for two. She knew what he looked like, after all. She would be able to find him. Nick, on the other hand, could only wait and wonder.

About five minutes, someone sat down across from him.

“What are you doing here? I’m kind of meeting someone.”

Brian handed him a note. Nick stared at what it said, not quite believing.

Gotcha.

He turned to see Howie and AJ standing in the doorway of the restaurant, cracking up. When Nick noticed them, they quickly fled.

“No way!” Nick said. “You write like a girl!”

“Hey!” Brian exclaimed.

“So it was you the whole time?”

“Aww... is that for me?” Brian eyed the rose on the table.

Nick threw it at him. “Jerk! And everybody was in on it?”

“Nah, I didn’t tell Howie and AJ until this morning. I knew they’d want to see your reaction. Which was priceless by the way!”

Nick called him a jerk again. He felt like a loser. He crossed his arms.

“Wow, someone has lost his sense of humor,” Brian observed.

“Easy for you to say,” Nick sulked. “You don’t have to spend Valentine’s Day by yourself.”

“Yeah because it’s not like my wife and son are across the globe or anything.”

Nick had to give him that. He still didn’t say anything.

“Are you seriously going to give me the silent treatment? You can’t be that mad. It was pretty funny.”

Nick didn’t look at him. Brian got up and sat in Nick’s lap.

“Why won’t you be my Valentine?” Brian said in a high-pitched voice.

“Get off of me!”

“I loooove you, Nick Carter!” Brian took on an even more convincing teenybopper voice.

Nick couldn’t help it. He laughed. The waiter walked up right then.

“Are you ready to order?” he looked at each of them, his eyebrows raised.

“I think we’re going to need a minute,” Brian replied. He accidentally began the statement in the same twelve year old girl voice.

When the waiter left, they cracked up. They ended up having an unromantic lunch and spending the afternoon together, playing arcade games in the entertainment room of the hotel. Brian was certainly not the girl of Nick’s dreams, but it ended up being an unforgettable Valentine’s Day. And Nick was already scheming of payback for April Fools. 6-