Karaoke had never really been Annie’s “thing,” mainly because she couldn’t understand the allure of watching and listening to people who knew they couldn’t sing stand on a stage and do it anyway. Even worse were those who thought they could actually sing but couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, as was the case currently. Still, she couldn’t help laughing in spite of herself as she watched Howie grin and bear it through Elton John and Kiki Dee’s “Don’t Go Breaking my Heart” with a girl who very obviously had no idea she sounded like a dying cat. Not being a karaoke fan, she had found a little bistro table tucked into a corner on the upper deck, far enough away that she wasn’t in the lower deck, standing room only madness, but close enough that she had a decent view of the boys, though from several yards away. Plus, she was actually sitting, her elbows propped up on the table as she sipped hot tea from a styrofoam cup.

Though they were in the Bahamas, the air was only lukewarm, with a cool drizzle falling from the sky, and she’d opted to wear jeans and an oversized UK sweatshirt, attempting to keep a low profile. She giggled as Howie cringed through the final note and the guys fell back into the witty banter they’d been exchanging throughout the afternoon in between songs. It was Nick’s turn to draw a singing partner’s name out of the fish bowl and he gave Annie a wink as he pushed his large hand into the small opening and grabbed one of the colored pieces of paper with a fan’s name on it. He momentarily got his large hand stuck underneath the fish bowl’s rim, which caused the crowd to erupt in laughter, then pulled it out with a dramatic flourish and handed a little red slip of paper to Q.

“They tell me this is going to be the last karaoke act this afternoon so that the guys have time to get ready for the concert tonight,” Q rumbled into the microphone he was holding as he fumbled with his free hand to unfold the paper. “So I hope Nick picked a good one.”

“Oh, I’m sure I did,” Nick mused confidently. AJ stifled a laugh while Brian rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Alrighty then. Let’s see who the lucky lady is.” Q looked down at the paper, mainly to appease the crowd since he already knew the name he was going to be reading, and read the name written across the slip of paper in Nick’s characteristic scrawl. “Annie Morgan!”

Annie’s mouth dropped open as the cup of tea she was holding clattered onto the tabletop below it. She thanked her lucky stars that at least it was almost empty and didn’t make much of a mess. Had she just heard that right? Was Q really calling her name to come on stage and sing karaoke with Nick?

“Where are ya Annie?” Q asked with enthusiasm as he and the other guys searched the crowd for Annie. Nick, however, had already found her soon after karaoke had started was now looking on with a bemused smirk as she hid her face behind her hands. A low murmur buzzed across the sea of fans as they discussed who this “Annie Morgan” must be, since she didn’t immediately squeal in delight and rush the stage at her opportunity to get up close and personal with the Backstreet Boys. It may have been a first in Backstreet history.

Nick grabbed the microphone from Q. “Annie Morgan, get your booty up here and sing with me!” he bellowed lightheartedly in her general direction.

Annie rolled her eyes and shook her head. She looked down at the new tea stain on her sweatshirt and blew a loose curl out of her eyes with an exasperated sigh. “I’m going to kill you,” she mouthed at him as she stood slowly.

“Oh here comes the lovely lady now!” Howie declared, pointing towards the upper deck.

As Annie made her way down to the stage, Nick beamed proudly, knowing that getting her on stage was more than half the battle. He was actually impressed with how easy it had been. Meanwhile, Annie grumbled under her breath as she made her way towards the stage. “I didn’t sign up for karaoke. How the heck did my name even end up in that bowl? What was I supposed to do? Refuse to go up there?” She shot a glare in Brian’s direction, and he simply shrugged and shook his head in response. Nick, on the other hand, grinned widely and gave her yet another wink as she trudged up the stairs and had a microphone thrust into her hand.

The guys went into performance mode, making sure to have the fans think this was the first time they’d laid eyes on Annie Morgan.. “Looks like we have a Kentucky girl!” Brian crooned, eyeing her sweatshirt. “I like Kentucky girls,” he said with a wink.

“Dude! Your wife’s right over there!” AJ quipped, pointing in Leighanne’s general direction. “And she’s from Georgia.”

Brian grinned sheepishly and gave a little finger wave in Leighanne’s direction. “Hi honey,” he squeaked. Leighanne crossed her arms over her chest and shot daggers at him with her eyes, though he already knew that wasn’t about the “Kentucky girl” remark. It was about his allowing Nick to bring Annie up on stage.

Nick held his hand out to Annie and she played along, giving it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you, Annie. What are we singing today?”

Annie’s face dropped and her eyes widened in horror. The other fans had pre-chosen their song selections in the event that they were picked to participate. She, of course, hadn’t done so since she hadn’t even signed up for karaoke at all. “Well, um...” She stammered into the microphone she was holding and shifted back and forth on her feet nervously. “I didn’t really imagine that I would make it up here, so..... I didn’t pick anything. You choose something,” she insisted.

Nick grinned like the Cheshire cat. “Well... there is one duet I’m really liking right now...”

“So, let’s sing it.”

Nick turned to the DJ operating the sound and video equipment. “Do you have ‘Run’ by Matt Nathanson and Sugarland?”

“I’m not sure I know that song....” Annie told him as the DJ set to work preparing the song.

Nick smiled and put a friendly arm around her shoulders. “So I guess it’s a good thing we have the words on the screen, huh?” he said as the first notes of the song blared through the speaker above their heads. “So, just look right here.” He pointed to the small screen on that had been set on the stage near their feet with his microphone and began singing.

Annie groaned. “Nick, I---” She totally knew the song. It was one of her favorites. She just wasn’t so sure it was appropriate to be singing it with Nick.

“I wanna watch you undress...” Nick crooned, his arm still draped over Annie’s shoulder.

“Well that’s not suggestive at all,” Brian thought to himself. Then across the stage, AJ said it-- directly into his microphone for the whole ship to hear. Brian slapped his palm against his forehead and closed his eyes, laughing to himself while he shook his head. Leave it to AJ.

“I wanna watch you glow.” Annie shrugged Nick’s heavy arm off of her shoulders as he sang the second line. He turned to face her and touched the end of our of her auburn curls ever so gently with the fingertips of his free hand.

“Let your hair down all around and cover us both.”

“You come in waves....”

“Like I said, not suggestive at all,” AJ interjected. A few whoops and cat calls came from the audience.

“We crash and we roll.”

Howie elbowed him hard in the ribs. “Ow!” AJ hissed, pulling his mouth away from his mic. “What was that for?!”

“Look at that,” Howie whispered, nodding his head toward Nick and Annie. Annie was biting her bottom lip nervously and staring directly into Nick’s eyes as he sang to her.

“You surround me, pull me, drown me, then swallow me whole.”

“Suggestive!” AJ mouthed at Howie.

Annie gulped and licked her dry lips before joining him for the chorus-- with a scared vibrato, but in perfect harmony.

“You turn, turn, turn, turning me on.
Like a slow fire burn. I know that it’s wrong.
Still I run, run, run, run right into you.
Yeah I run, run, run, run right into you.”

Howie led the crowd as they burst into applause then silenced quickly as Annie

picked up with the third verse.

“You pull me in close...” Nick grinned wickedly and hooked his arm around her waist,

 pulling her towards him.

“Buckle my knees...” And her knees literally buckled. Nick let out a little laugh.

“And I shake, and I shiver just to feel you breathe.” She shuddered at the feeling of Nick’s breath hot on her left ear.

Annie pulled the microphone away from her mouth. “What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed quietly through clenched teeth. Nick just gave her a little shrug, loosening his grip on her waist slightly.

“You trace my lines.”

“I trace your lines,” Nick echoed as he let go of her waist and ran his index finger up her spine.

She jumped and took a step backwards, faltering just slightly on the next line.
“Stirring my soul.
Shoot sparks at the heart of the world
And I watch it explode.”

Nick’s voice took on that raspy quality she loved so much when he echoed her with

“I watch you, I watch you,” as they went back into the chorus. His face contorted with

passion as it always did when he really got into a song he was singing.

“You turn, turn, turn, turning me on...”

AJ darted across the stage behind them and whispered into Brian’s ear. “The ship probably has a waterhose, right? Like for fires and shit?”

Brian furrowed his brows in confusion. “Um, yeah. I’d say so... for fires and stuff. Why?”

“Well, in case we have to hose them down!” He cackled and trotted back across the stage to stand beside Howie, where he presumed he was much safer. “Yo, B-Rok! Let’s give them a little back-up!”

“O-oh, o-oh, o-oh...” Brian, AJ, and Howie chimed in at the bridge, with Howie even leading them in a little Temptations style backup dancing

“I’m amazing.
When you’re beside me.
I’m so much more!” Nick belted.

“And I feel your fingers...” Annie clenched her eyes tight as Nick ran his knuckles

down her cheek.

“Pound like thunder.
And I am so much more.”

Nick took in a deep breath and let it out, his hand literally shaking as he pulled it

away from Annie’s cheek. “I’m so much more....” He took in the sight of her. Rain dripped off her messy curls and little rivulets of water ran down her forehead and across her cheeks and nose before spilling onto her gray sweatshirt with the faded blue ‘UK’ symbol emblazoned across the front. He watched a drop of water spill down one of her closed eyelids and hang onto her eyelashes before splashing onto her cheek. He swiped at it with the pad of his thumb and she opened her eyes to meet his as they sang the chorus together one more time while the music faded into the background.

“You turn, turn, turn, turning me on.
Like a slow fire burn. I know that it’s wrong.
Still I run, run, run, run right into you.
Yeah I run, run, run, run right into you.”

Nick smiled genuinely at her, his hand still resting on her cheek, as she sang.

“You’re turning me on.”

“Like a slow fire burn.” He finished with panting breaths, never tearing his eyes away

from her as the rain poured steadily around them. Throughout their performance, it had turned from a slow drizzle into a downpour. The first few seconds after they hit the last note together were filled with dead silence except for the drumming of their own hearts in their ears and the pitter patter of the rain on the deck. Then, finally, someone started clapping, then someone else joined in, and someone else until the entire ship roared with the shouts and cheers in appreciation of their performance.

Nick discreetly turned off his microphone and dropped it to his side. “You’re shaking,” he whispered.

“The rain’s cold,” she whispered back with a shrug.

“Is that all?” he taunted.

“I’m going to kill you.”

“I’d prefer you kiss me.”