Another day, another city, another meaningless charge for a separate hotel room for Noelle. Minutes earlier, Noelle watched as Brian walked into the hotel room that she would be sharing with him next door. With a smirk, she used the hotel-issued key card to let herself into “her” room and then, she waited. Within seconds, there was a light tapping at the door that joined the two rooms.

Noelle threw her bags down into a corner of the room and then walked over to the door where Brian was knocking. She unlatched the door and opened it slowly.

“This is really stupid,” she said with a smile as Brian entered.

Brian smiled and pulled Noelle into his arms. He kissed her softly and then dragged his bags into the bedroom portion of the suite. Noelle followed behind him with her bags in tow.

“It’s worked, hasn’t it?” Brian finally replied.

Noelle pretended to pout about the minor inconvenience at every hotel where they stopped, but Brian knew that she wasn’t really bothered much by it at all. Noelle simply hated that AJ was right, especially when AJ made it a point to explain how right he was whenever he was around.

“I still don’t really get it,” Noelle answered. “Didn’t you have to pretend not to have girlfriends for years? You didn’t manage to get caught back then.”

Brian took Noelle’s hand into his and sat down on the edge of the bed. He pulled her close until her knees buckled and she was sitting on his lap. “Are you really going to complain the entire time we’re on tour?”

Noelle smiled. “I’m not trying to be a pain.”

“I know,” Brian replied. “This is a different industry than it was when we were at the height of our careers. It was easier to hide the things that you wanted to keep private from your fans or the media or whoever. Now, there are cameras everywhere.”

“It’s really fine, Brian,” Noelle started slowly. “I don’t know why I’m making a big deal of something so silly.”

Brian took Noelle’s hand into his. He hated that he and Noelle had to be so much more careful and calculating with their relationship that he would have had to be under normal circumstances. He wanted her to understand that all of the measures he was taking to insure their privacy—separate hotel rooms, keeping physical and even emotional distance while in public—was all to keep her safe and happy. If she wanted the world to know about their relationship, he’d shout from the rooftops how much he loved her, but he didn’t think that she wanted that either.

“Listen, if you still think I’m trying to hide you. I’m not. We can go public with this relationship tomorrow if you want. All we’d have to do is—“

“No,” Noelle squeaked, terrified about the possibility of her relationship being gossip fodder for his fans and haters alike. She was fine without sharing her relationship with Brian with the whole world. She didn’t know why she got insecure about it all sometimes. “We decided to wait until your divorce is final and we should wait.”

“Okay,” Brian said with a sigh, reading the trepidation in her voice. “Then what’s the matter?”

“Nothing’s the matter,” she paused and then decided to be honest with him. “Kentucky is coming up.”

“Right,” Brian replied, dragging the word out. He hoped that she would continue without his urging.

“Well,” Noelle continued slowly. “You said that you’re really close with your mom and she probably loves Leighanne, right? And she probably doesn’t know that we’re dating and—I don’t know. I just wish that this relationship was the slightest bit normal.”

“My mom knows all about the divorce. She wasn’t happy about it at first,” Brian paused and took Noelle’s hand into his.

Silently, he went back to the first conversation that he’d had with this mom about his marriage ending. She hadn’t been happy that Brian was giving up, but as time passed Jackie had realized that maybe Brian knew what he was doing, especially after he started opening up about how Noelle made him feel.

Now that the divorce discussion with Leighanne was through, it was easier for Brian to open up to his mom about Noelle. Within the first few days of getting back on the tour, Brian had called his mother and broken all of the news.

Hey Mom. It’s official. I’m getting divorced. And by the way, I’ve met someone really amazing in the mean time.

Like everyone else, his mother originally thought that Noelle was a distraction from everything else that was going on in his life. She said that he needed to take his time and that the relationship would never work. It had taken his mom a little while to get used to the idea, but over the weeks that followed she had started to see a change in Brian and realized that he really was in love with someone else and it was making him into a happier human being. Suddenly, Brian’s mom was calling to make plans for when Brian would bring Noelle by when they were in Kentucky.

“I told her about you and --” Brian continued, but was cut off when Noelle started to speak.

“You told her about me?” she interrupted, surprised.

She knew that Brian spoke to his mother on a semi-regular basis. During the times that his mother had called when Noelle was around, she opted to stay quiet or leave the room to give him some privacy.

From the beginning, Noelle and Brian had conversations about the religious family that he’d grown up in. Personally, Noelle had a strong belief in God—especially strong considering her medical background and how doctors were more likely to believe in science rather than faith—but she didn’t grow up going to church every Sunday with her family. Brian had grown up singing in the choir and going to Sunday school.

Noelle knew that it couldn’t have been easy for his mother to accept that her son was committing such a big “sin” by getting divorced. And then for him to get into another relationship so quickly? Well, Noelle thought that might have been his mother’s breaking point. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Brian had wanted to wait to tell his mother about them until his divorce was finalized.

“Of course I told her about you,” Brian replied with a smirk. “You seriously think that I didn’t notice you booking it out of the room every time someone from my family called? Honestly, I’m kind of tired of trying to convince you of where you fit into my life. I figured that we’d just get to Kentucky and I’d show you.”

“You were seriously just going to spring your family on me?” Noelle questioned, laughingly. “I need to prepare!”

“You’re crazy,” Brian laughed along with her. “There’s no preparation needed when meeting my parents.”

“I’m nervous,” Noelle replied honestly. “It’s been a while since I’ve met the family and they didn’t want to chase me around with a butcher knife because I was sleeping with her husband.”

Brian couldn’t help but to crack up. He was glad that Noelle was finally able to poke fun at her situation with Rob—and with himself too, kind of. He hoped that he had a hand in her newfound attitude. At least, he hoped that the way that they felt about each other had a hand in it—real love versus the illusion of love and all that.

“Don’t be nervous. Mom is excited to meet you,” Brian replied as he leaned in and kissed her softly. Then, he tapped her leg lightly, urging her to get up. “We’ve got to get going. We’re supposed to meet everyone downstairs for dinner and rehearsal.”

Before getting up, Noelle leaned into Brian and kissed him passionately. “You know I love you?”

Brian smiled and pecked her lips again lightly.

“You promise?” he joked.

Noelle shrugged one shoulder and rolled her eyes playfully. “I guess.”

“I love you too,” Brian laughed and scooted her off of his lap so that they could both get changed and ready to go. 

***

“Brian!” Nick yelled happily when Brian and Noelle walked into the dining room, the last to arrive. “We were just talking about you!”

Brian smiled. He pulled out a chair for Noelle at the table and then sat down next to her. “Do I want to know?”

“Probably not,” Noelle laughed.

“Hush you,” Nick replied playfully.

Brian eyed Nick curiously. He didn’t think that he could have been at dinner long enough to have a buzz yet, but there was an empty glass of wine in front of him, so who knows?

“Okay,” Brian continued. “I’ll bite. Why were you talking about me?”

“We wanted to know what was taking you so long in your hotel room! But I think that we already know.” Nick shot a look at Noelle and wiggled his eyebrows. Noelle just rolled her eyes.

AJ decided to break in and save his sister from the embarrassment of a ‘Nick Assault’. It was like sexual assault, but with words. It was way less violent, but could still leave you feeling pretty dirty.

“That’s not what we were talking about,” AJ said. “Some of us don’t want to hear the first detail of your sex life and don’t automatically assume that every time you’re the last one in the room it’s because of that.”

“He always has to ruin my fun,” Nick said to himself. “No, we were wondering—“

“Not we,” Howie spoke. “You were wondering.”

“Fine,” Nick amended. “I was wondering if your mom was going to cook us a big country dinner when we get there this weekend.”

Brian laughed and shook his head slowly. In the past, his mother had wanted the Boys to have at least one home cooked meal while they were on the road. Every time the tour rolled through Kentucky, it would be like Thanksgiving. Back then, it didn’t matter if it was April, they made sure to be thankful. Those dinners were probably the closest thing to Thanksgiving dinner they were allowed.

“Not this time,” Brian answered. “I’ve got other plans for my Mama.”

“Foul!” Nick yelled. “Major, major foul!”

Noelle couldn’t help but to laugh. Nick was usually silly when they were eating dinner, but tonight he was in rare form. When Brian told him that there would be no Kentucky dinner, there was a genuine sadness in his eyes. It made Noelle a little sad to think that she could have been the reason for that.

“Brian,” Noelle spoke. “Why can’t they come? It’ll take the pressure of meeting the parents off of me.”

“Not really,” Brian answered. “It’ll just give you a meet-the-parents audience.”

“You can’t deny Nick dinner,” Noelle argued. “He was looking forward to it.”

“Yeah!” Nick agreed. “I should be able to come at least.”

“And Alex too, because he’s family,” Noelle said, then rushed to add Howie. “And of course Howie, because what’s the group without him?”

“Thanks for the afterthought, Noelle,” Howie laughed.

Noelle smiled at him. “You were not an afterthought. You just didn’t have the same connection Alex did.”

“Are you taking over my mama’s house, Elle?” Brian interrupted Noelle’s exchange with Howie with a grin. He loved how well she fit in with the guys. From the beginning, Leighanne’s relationship with the other Backstreet Boys had been tumultuous. Over the years, she’d become family, but no one would say that they were close.

“Oh,” Noelle stopped and thought for a second. She was completely derailing whatever night Brian and his mother had already planned. “You’re right. Sorry, Nick.”

“Booo!” Nick yelled. “I need another glass of wine!”

Brian rolled his eyes and laughed to himself, and then he turned his attention to AJ, who had decided to put in his two cents.

“I have to admit that Littrell family dinner sounds like a good time,” AJ added. “We haven’t been back to Kentucky for a while.”

Brian didn’t want to feel like he was disappointing them or reneging on an unspoken promise or plan. Brian’s mother had originally invited all of the Boys over for old time’s sake, but Brian had wanted a quiet dinner where his mother and Noelle could get to know each. However, if he was honest with himself, he’d admit that he missed the times when they all used to goof off at his parent’s house like they were old high school buddies and not international superstars.

“Fine,” Brian relented with a sigh. “I’ll talk to my mom and see what we can do.”

“All right!” Nick called, raising his glass to the roof. “That calls for another glass of wine, after all!”

Brian laughed at Nick and took comfort in how easy everything was with the other guys lately. He turned to Noelle and stole a kiss while no one was looking.

“You sure this is okay?” Brian whispered as he pulled away.

“It’s perfect,” Noelle replied. “It adds to the family atmosphere. Your mom and I can get to know each other without there being pure silence ringing in the background. It will take some of the attention off of me.”

“So, your motives for agreeing with Nick were strictly selfish?” Brian laughed.

“Mostly,” Noelle replied with a smile. She kissed his cheek and then squeezed his knee affectionately under the table. “No, you guys need this—family, normalcy, good food. If your mom is okay with it, it seems like it’ll be good for everyone. Unless you’re not okay with it?”

Brian shook his head and laced his fingers with hers. “No, I think it’ll be good too. You’re probably right. It’ll take off the pressure and truth be told, I kind of had them uninvited in the first place.”

“That was awesome of you,” Noelle laughed. She rested her head on his shoulder lightly. “I’ll admit I’m kind of excited now.”

“Good,” Brian replied, still smiling. With Noelle with him, it was hard not to smile. He kissed the top of her head and she sat back upright again.

Noelle picked up her wine glass and sipped the dark contents slowly. She was completely content in the joyful surroundings that enveloped her. Nick was talking about Jackie’s homemade pumpkin pie. AJ jumped in agreeing that the pie was good, but there was nothing like her homemade mashed potatoes. Howie argued that she made the best roast beef. Brian watched on beaming with pride at the love for his mother.

And for once in her life, Noelle felt that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.