March 21, 1998 Daytona, Florida

Nick smoothed out the front of his shirt for what seemed like the hundredth time. He’d gone through a half dozen outfits, all nearly identical, before finally settling on a pair of black board shorts and a bright blue Hawaiian shirt splashed with yellow flowers.

“You went through all of that to choose the ugliest outfit ever created?” Brian teased with a laugh. He’d been sitting cross legged on the bed watching the show since they’d gotten back to the room after filming an MTV appearance earlier in the day. Watching Nick get ready for anything when he was nervous was possibly the most entertaining thing Brian had ever witnessed, so he would never pass up the opportunity to watch.

They had been in Daytona for three nights taking part in a Spring Break concert series for MTV. Daytona was full of college co-eds and sexed up high school seniors having their final hoorah before adulthood and of course a slew of celebrities to keep them all entertained. Hotels all along the waterfront had been holding beach parties every night to capitalize on all the kids that had bum rushed the beaches. The Backstreet Boys were being put up by MTV at a ritzy resort called the Plaza Ocean Front that, because of the number of young celebrities staying there, had made their parties more exclusive and for hotel patrons only. It gave the regular people staying at the hotel the opportunity to brush elbows with famous types and the celebs a chance to meet some normal people for a change.

Brian was a little jealous of his young friend if only because he was old enough (and attractive enough) to pick up the college girls and young enough to pick up the high school girls and not get in trouble for it. It had resulted in Nick picking up double the number of girls that any of the other Boys had been able to since they’d been there. He didn’t really have to do anything and the girls were hanging all over him. Being more attractive than average and the most popular member of their group did have something to do with his luck though.

Something had changed the night before though and Brian couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Nick had been reluctant to go to the beach party, wanting to stay in and play video games instead of being mauled by pretty girls for once. They’d managed to convince him to go and by the end of the night they couldn’t get him to leave. Now, less than 24 hours since he had complained about going down, it was Nick that was pressuring them to hurry up and get ready so they wouldn’t miss the start. He could only assume it had something to do with a girl. Little else was able to motivate Nick to move with any kind of haste.

“Does it look really bad?” the younger blonde asked self consciously, “I thought if I dressed up too much it would look silly since it’s a beach party and all.”

Brian laughed and shook his head at the teen, “This,” he motioned to his friend, “What you’re doing right now, this is silly. Are we ready to go or not?”

Nick nodded taking one final look in the mirror. He fixed his hair again; making sure it was properly parted in the middle for his trademark ‘curtain’ cut, a style that drove him nuts but drove all the girls wild. At least, it did for the usual girls. There was one girl in particular that he was pretty certain wouldn’t be impressed by his hair, or his dimples, or how many other girls wanted him. He had seen her briefly their first night in Daytona and although he had distracted himself with other girls, he really just wanted to spend some time with one in particular.

There was just something about her that Nick was drawn to that went beyond her looks. It had been her pretty face and perfect body that had first caught his eye but as he watched her interact with her friends through the evening he couldn’t help but wish it was him she was talking to. His plan for that evening was to find out her name. He wasn’t even sure if she was aware of his existence but he had made himself a promise that he would talk to her.

The other guys were already mingling with hotel guests when Brian and Nick walked through the doors out to the beach. Heads turned as they made their way through the crowd, and Nick could hear people whispering his name. He wished more than anything that this party was in Europe so that he could at least have a drink but being 18, in a place crawling with fans, it was impossible to even sneak alcohol. He scoped the place out for a few minutes before finally seeing her. She was sitting by herself on a piece of driftwood next to the bonfire. She was wearing a long peasant skirt and a conservative bikini top, hardly as skimpy as most of the girls around the party were wearing but he didn’t think she needed to try very hard to look sexy. He noticed immediately the Hawaiian hibiscus flowers on her skirt and new immediately what the ice breaker would be.

He walked over to the bonfire nonchalantly, stopping next to the log she was sitting on to stare into the flames as if he hadn’t noticed her there. He was quiet for a few moments before finally breaking the silence.

“We match,” he said and she looked up in surprise, her brown eyes wide once she realized who had stopped to talk to her. Nick noticed her nervous expression and motioned between his button up shirt and her skirt, “We must shop at the same places.”

“I doubt that,” she laughed, turning back to look at the fire. His immediate thought was how cute her laugh was.

“Do you mind if I sit?” he wondered, not waiting for a response before sitting down near her on the log.

“It’s a free country,” she said nonchalantly, trying to hide the smile that was creeping onto her face.

Nick noticed the twitch at the corner of her mouth and grinned, moving a bit closer, “If only we had some marshmallows.”

“I love marshmallows!” she exclaimed excitedly, laughing at herself for overreacting, “Sorry it’s just I was saying the same thing to someone else before. To be honest these parties have been kind of lame.”

“I know,” Nick agreed, “Can’t get drunk because I’m too young, there’s nothing but over the top fancy hors d’oeuvres when all I could really go for is some hot dogs and s’mores.”

She smiled, turning slightly towards him so he could see her better. Her brown hair was hanging loose around her shoulders and she tugged on the ends slightly, a nervous habit, “I guess maybe you should consider staying at the Holiday Inn next time. It sounds like it might be more your style.”

“Nah,” Nick waved her off, “If it were up to me I’d be on a boat sleeping out on the ocean, under the stars. I love sleeping outside. There’s just something about being able to look up and see the constellations...”

“I can name all the constellations,” she told him and Nick’s eyebrows rose with curious interest. She blushed and hid behind her hair slightly, “I took an astronomy course last semester. It was an elective. Do they offer that kind of stuff at your school?”

This time it was Nick’s turn to blush, “I don’t go to school. I was being tutored but it was so hard to keep up with all of it since I’m pretty busy so I didn’t bother taking the final tests.”

“You should take them,” she encouraged him; “You never know what might happen down the road. Plus, how will you ever encourage your future children to finish their education when you didn’t finish yours?”

Nick let out a sputtered laugh, hoping he wasn’t offending her, “I’m not going to have kids. Not any time soon anyway! You’re right though, I should probably graduate. I wonder if I can take a course like astronomy or maybe something to do with the ocean.”

“You really love the water, don’t you?” she observed, watching his attention get drawn out towards the waves that were rushing over the beach, “This week was the first time I’d ever seen it. I’ve never been out on a boat or anything.”

His eyes went wide and he looked at her in mock surprise, “You haven’t?! Well I’ll have to fix that. Someday you’ll have to come out on my boat! Where are you from that you’ve never seen the ocean before?”

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah right, I probably won’t even see you again after tonight because I’m going back to Ohio in a few days. I don’t even know your name.”

He was fairly certain that she knew perfectly well who he was, and what his name was, but he was enjoying the act she was putting on. It made him feel normal to not be recognized which was a rarity, even if it was false. After all, if she didn’t know who he was she should have questioned why he didn’t go to school like other teenagers.

“It’s Nick,” he told her, reaching his hand out to shake hers, “Nick Carter. What’s yours?”

“Tina,” she smiled, letting him take her small hand in his larger one, “Tina Mulligan.”