“Yo, B!” Brian was shaken from his reverie by Nick snapping his fingers in his face. “Are you awake over there?”

“Sorry, I’m over here daydreaming.” He made a silly face and turned to the young fan that was trying to ask him a question. “Can you repeat your question for me, Sweetheart?”

The fan giggled at Brian’s endearment. “I was wondering what your favorite part of being on tour is.”

Brian wondered if it would be okay to say that his favorite part of being on tour was being away from his home. He shook his head at the thought. You know that your thoughts are getting pretty bad when you become disgusted with yourself.

“Well,” Brian started, “besides getting to perform for all of our amazing fans. I guess that my favorite part of being on tour is getting to see every inch of the world. The good thing about being a Backstreet Boy is that your fans are everywhere.”

The fan seemed pacified by Brian’s answer, and they moved on to AJ’s question.

Before long, the fans were lining up for their picture on stage with the Boys. When all of the fans got a chance for their meet and greet, the Boys said their goodbyes and then went backstage for dinner. Brian was sincerely hoping that he would be able to catch a quick nap, though the chances of that happening were slim to none.

After Brian fixed his dinner plate from the buffet style set-up that was put in place by the venue, he started to make his way to one of the small dressing rooms that were housed in the back of the arena. He stopped when he saw AJ running toward him.

“Hey, Rok. Have you seen Noelle?”

 “Nope. I wouldn’t even know her if I saw her, J,” he replied and then laughed nervously. He was always such a bad liar. Why couldn’t he have just said, ‘no’?

AJ narrowed his eyes at Brian confused by his odd behavior as of late. “Is everything okay with you, Man?”

Brian nodded quickly. “Great.”

“Are you sure?” AJ prodded, hoping to get more than one word.

Brian sighed. “Dude, everything’s fine.”

AJ shrugged, he was unable to get into it with Brian now anyway. “Okay, if you say so. You’ll know Noelle when you see her. If you happen to run into her, tell her I’m looking for her?”

“For sure, Man,” Brian replied as he turned to continue down the narrow hallway to the dressing rooms.

When he finally got to the back of the venue, he bumped the partially opened door with his hip to open the door wider. He stepped over the threshold and placed his plate and drink down on one of the vanity tables. Deciding that he wasn’t very hungry, he stretched and turned toward the couch in the back of the room. He stopped when he finally noticed a thin figure already sprawled out, sleeping peacefully. Noelle had beaten him to his napping place.

Brian smiled to himself and sighed. He wondered how he hadn’t noticed the sweet floral scent of her perfume that was floating around the room before then.

God, he thought to himself, she is so beautiful.

Brian shook his head to clear the thoughts. Noelle was the complete opposite of what would be described as his ‘type’. Brian was used to be attracted to blondes with light features and all-American looks. Noelle had dark hair, piercing blue eyes and exotic features, but Brian could still recognize that she was one of the most beautiful women that he’d ever encountered.

He couldn’t help but to wonder if what he was feeling was real. Was it possible to feel something in less than 24-hours for someone that you met in a bar and shared an intimate moment with? Or was it possible that Brian was just so distraught about the dissipation of his marriage that he was looking for love anywhere that he could find it?

Noelle must have sensed that someone was watching her, because she stirred and then woke a minute later. She smiled when she saw that the only other person in the room was Brian.

“Are you following me?” she asked groggily.

Brian chuckled softly. “No, you just snaked the couch before I could get there.”

Noelle laughed and shrugged her shoulders. “You were just too busy being responsible and working.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Brian replied teasingly. “Were you having sweet dreams?”

“Who needs sweet dreams when you’re around?” Noelle replied and then wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

Brian visibly balked at her openness and then blushed. He cleared his throat and ran his hands through his hair. Then, he smiled. “We should probably have that talk now that we didn’t have this morning.”

Noelle shook her head and started to respond when AJ walked into the room.

“Dude, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” AJ said as he entered the room. “I thought that you had gone off with Hunky again or something.”

Noelle blushed and Brian raised his eyebrows.

“Hunky?” Brian inquired with a smirk, though he knew that AJ was referencing the incident from that morning.

“Yeah,” AJ replied. “Noelle got her a stud last night.”

“Alex,” Noelle finally spoke up. “Seriously? You haven’t even formally introduced Brian and me yet. You don’t have to tell him all of my business.”

“Obviously, you introduced yourselves,” AJ responded. “Either that or you finally learned how to Google.”

Noelle narrowed her eyes at her brother. Though honestly, if she had learned more about this group that her brother was in, she never would have gotten herself mixed up with Brian in the first place. Not to say that part of her wasn’t completely okay with being mixed up with Brian, a bigger part of her hated where this could possibly go.

“Were you looking for me for any particular reason, Alex?”

“Yes, actually,” AJ replied. “I was coming to tell you to get some dinner before there’s nothing left.”

“Okay, thanks.” Noelle sat up from where she was still lying on the couch and tucked her feet underneath her. “I’ll meet you out there in a minute.”

AJ nodded and then looked back and forth between Brian and Noelle. It was impossible not to feel the heat that was radiating between the two. AJ hoped that his sister wasn’t trying to find Hunky number two with Brian. It would suck for her to get attached and then find out that he was married. AJ made a mental note to talk to Noelle about Brian sometime later and then he left the dressing room.

“You really should get something to eat,” Brian spoke up after AJ left. “The people around here really are vultures when it comes to food.”

Noelle nodded and then stood up. She ran her fingers through her hair and slowly walked to the door. Just as she stepped out of the room, she leaned against the doorframe and turned back toward Brian. “This isn’t going to be weird, right?”

Brian shook his head and then bit the inside of his lip to keep his tongue from grazing his bottom lip. He wanted to feel her mouth on his so badly that he could almost taste it.

“No,” he finally replied. “It won’t be weird. We’re two consenting adults. It happened and… what’s done is done. It’s over.”

Noelle nodded and shot Brian a tight lipped smile before slipping out of the dressing room.

Even as he had said the words, Brian didn’t believe them. He was torn in two. A piece of him didn’t want it to be over. He wanted to take Noelle like he had done the night before again and again. The other part of Brian was anguished by how complicated his life had suddenly become.

Brian sighed deeply as he whispered the words aloud to himself, “What’s done is done, Brian. And that’s it.”