I didn’t have long to consider the implications because once I closed the door and leaned my back against it, Amelia came marching into the entryway with her hands on her hips. “Where have you been?” she interrogated.

“Um...out?”

“With who?”

I bit my lip nervously. This was Amelia. Of course, I could tell her about Howie. “Howie.”

Amy narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously. “You were out all day with Howie and came home with smeared lipstick?”

My hand instinctively went to my lips, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah.” I shrugged out of my jacket and sauntered over to the kitchen with Amelia hot on my heels.

“You and Howie?”

I poured two glasses of orange juice and handed her one. “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t I know about this before?”

“It just kind of....happened.”

“You and Howie.”

“YES.”

“Hmm...” Amelia sat down at the kitchen table and took a sip of her orange juice. “Does Kevin know?”

I sighed and set my glass on the table, studying its contents. “Why does it matter?”

She shrugged. “I just imagined you two would end up together eventually.”

“He’s with Kristin.”

“And you’re with Howie.”

“Exactly.”

_________________________________________________________________________

Amelia, Chrissy, and I sat together in the second row for the Backstreet Boys’ New Year’s Eve show in Orlando. It was the show they’d done on tour for months, so they were pros at it by now, and it was just awesome. Howie made a point to cast most of his smiles, winks, and waves in my direction, and I allowed myself to revel in the experience of watching the concert from a “Backstreet girlfriend’s” perspective. Of course, I got one of his roses when he sang his “My Heart Stays With You” solo, and I gave him my best scream when his shirt came off. However, I also caught myself fanning my face when Kevin shot a smoldering glance in my direction while he sang “Nobody But You.” When they slowed things down and sat on five stools to sing “I’ll Never Break Your Heart,” Howie’s eyes caught mine, and it was then that I realized he was singing to me. My breath caught in my throat and I smiled. Every single word was to me.

After the show, Kevin grabbed me by the elbow and lead me down the hallway and into an unused dressing room. “I need to talk to you about something,” he said as he pushed the door closed.

“Okay...what’s up?” I hoped this wouldn’t last long, because I knew Howie would be looking for me after he showered. Though, knowing Howie, he could be a while,

He ran his fingers through his hair and stared into my eyes. “There’s a ring.”

“Oh?” Undoubtedly, he was talking about an engagement ring for Kristin.

“Yeah. I had the jeweler wrap it in shiny green paper with this ridiculous glittery red ribbon, and I planned to give it to her on Christmas.” Planned? He said planned. It was nearing midnight on New Year’s Eve and he still hadn’t given it to her? Why? “I decided that giving it to her as a Christmas present was too cliche` and unromantic, so I was going to give it to her the day after. Then, Amelia called and we rushed back to Orlando, and I wanted to just forget about it for a couple days, but there’s damn red glitter everywhere and I have to think about it. We were in bed last night, and there was red glitter on her nose.” I couldn’t help but stifle a giggle. “So anyway, I was thinking about doing it tonight. I mean, after tonight, the Christmas season is going to be over and I’m going to have to take the red and green wrapping off of it. Then, she’s never going to know where all the red glitter was coming from.” He was rambling, and I had to wonder why he was telling me all of this. Was I one of the guys now?

“Kevin, why are you telling me all of this?”

He sighed and took a deep breath, placing his hands on his hips. “Kris and I love each other. We’ve basically been together for six years. She wants a ring, and she’s ready to be the wife of a Backstreet Boy. She’s even kind of excited about the baby. There isn’t any good reason why I shouldn’t propose to her, unless...” He took his hands off his hips and rested them on my upper arms, then stepped closer to me. My heart started pounding. “Unless you want to give me one.”

Oh wow. I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t breathe. This was like a dream come true. If Kevin had said that to me a year ago, there was no doubt that I would be jumping into his arms and covering him with kisses. Instead, I thought of Howie. I thought of how he’d held me so tightly that night I found about Danny. He showed up on the anniversary of Danny’s death knowing how I liked my coffee and shoving eclairs in my mouth. He took care of me the night Joey cheated on me. He reminded me of Danny. I thought back to that night in the hotel room in England after I’d gotten back from Danny’s funeral. I was so heartbroken, and Kevin had assured me that while I thought Danny was “the one,” he was probably part of God’s way of leading me to the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Then, I’d thrown myself at him, and he’d turned me down. But Howie, Howie had always been there. Maybe he was exactly what I’d been looking for all along.

“Kevin....” I stiffened and shrugged out of his grip. “I--I think you should give her the ring.”