For the remainder of the Backstreet Boys’ time in Germany, Brian and Noelle managed to keep their distance. Brian tried to work himself to the point of exhaustion and for the most part it worked. His theory was that if you’re too tired to move, you won’t want to go looking for sex—no matter how good that sex may be.

Noelle, however, managed to find healthier ways to amuse herself. She went sight-seeing with AJ, Nick and Howie. She worked out in the hotel gym. She even did some online researching into schools that would possible take a home-wrecking wannabe fertility doctor. Either way, the week ended quickly, and soon the tour was moving to its next destination.

It was going to be Noelle’s first time on the tour bus and mortifyingly enough she was excited. Very few people in the world get to travel in the kind of style that the Backstreet Boys do. What’s a better way to ride through the German country-side off to the London ferry rather than a moving hotel?

AJ and Noelle were the first to board on the afternoon of departure. AJ quickly showed Noelle around and then left her alone so that he could finish checking them both out of the hotel. Noelle threw her small carry-on bag onto one of the lowest bunks. She then stood up straight and began to take in her surroundings. Curiously, she began to open the cabinets in the kitchen area. Just as she was pulling opened the small pantry door that was next to the microwave, she heard a soft chuckle behind her.

“Are you hungry already? Or just nosy?” Brian asked softly. An instant thrill shot through him when he climbed onto the bus and found that Noelle was already there.

“I’m just nosy,” Noelle replied. A slight blush crept up to her cheeks. “So, I haven’t seen you around much this week.”

Brian nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’ve been pretty busy.”

“From what I hear, you’ve been working yourself to death,” Noelle probed. She knew that he was working so much in order to avoid her, which was a little bit surprising. She didn’t know that guys like Brian—guys that don’t perpetually sleep around without caring about the consequences—still existed.

“I have to make a living,” Brian replied with a shrug. He was having a hard time meeting her gaze. He wasn’t good at this sleeping-together-and-then-pretending-that-it-didn’t-happen thing.

“The others make a living without having to work 24-hours a day,” Noelle responded. “Look, I didn’t mean to make this tour uncomfortable for you. I can leave if you want.”

Noelle didn’t want to leave. She really liked the people that she had met and in just a few short days she felt like she was a part of the family.

Brian shook his head. “No, I don’t want you to leave and it’s not you. Well, not JUST you, anyway. I told you that this wouldn’t be weird and I really don’t want it to be. I’m just not good at this kind of stuff.”

Noelle nodded slowly. “We can be friends, you know. We can talk. Hang out. Eventually it won’t be weird because we’ll actually be friends and the initial shock of being thrown together with someone who you thought that you’d never see again will be over.”

“Look,” Brian replied, “I know that neither one of us want to say this out loud, but I’m about to anyway. It’s not just that we slept together within hours of knowing each other. It’s so much more than that.”

“Like what?” Noelle asked, though she wasn’t sure that she wanted to know the answer.

“Like what,” Brian repeated, mostly to himself. “How about the fact that I’ve only known you for a week, but I can’t get you off of my mind? How about the fact that I’ve felt more passion with you than I have with my—,” Brian stopped, suddenly. For some reason, he didn’t want to admit that he was still married. He thought that would change things. He knew that would change things. If Noelle knew that he was married, she wouldn’t even want to be his friend even if the fact remained that he was almost legally separated and planning on getting divorced.

“With anyone,” Brian finished quietly.

He took a step closer to her unintentionally. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew that he wasn’t going to. AJ, Nick or Howie could board the bus at any second. He just wanted to be close.

“Brian,” Noelle replied softly. “Even if I couldn’t stop thinking about you too and even if what we shared that night was amazing, it doesn’t matter. One of your best friends is my brother. You travel the world for a living and I go to school and besides, neither of us was looking for a relationship in that bar that night.”

“I’m still not looking for a relationship,” Brian replied. “Not even close.”

Noelle rolled her eyes and sighed. “So you want a booty call? I’m sorry, but that’s one game that I don’t play.”

Noelle turned to walk away, half-disgusted and half-relieved by her assumed revelation.

Brian grabbed her wrist before she could leave.

“No, Noelle. I’m not looking for a booty call either. That’s what makes this so hard. It was one night of drunken fun and the thing is, if you weren’t right here I would still be thinking about you. The difference is that eventually that memory would fade and now—,” Brian paused, hoping that his next statement didn’t freak her out. He grazed his hand against her cheek as he continued, “Now, all I can imagine is the possibilities. I’ve got the who, but the when and the where keeps changing and it’s driving me crazy.”

Noelle shivered at Brian’s bold statement. Slowly, she reached up to her face where his hand was still resting and intertwined her fingers with his. “Brian, I could tell you that I feel the exact same way, but it still doesn’t change anything. Once I go home, we won’t have to worry about seeing each other again, but for now, we have to learn how to put aside that one night no matter how amazing that it was.”

Brian nodded slowly, but he could feel himself moving closer to her. He watched as she tilted her head and slowly parted her lips, despite her previous sentiments. Just as their lips were about the touch, the bus lurched with the heavy footsteps of a boarder.

Noelle and Brian jumped apart from each other quickly. They pretended to scan the contents of the small kitchenette pantry as Howie and his wife, Leigh, walked past into the bus’ living room.

Noelle turned to Brian slowly, making sure to keep her distance. She stuck her hand out to him to shake.

“Friends?” she whispered.

Knowing that she was right for reasons of which she was even unaware, Brian nodded and reached for her hand. “Friends.”

-------------

Hours later, the Backstreet Boys tour bus was quietly making its way through the European countryside. It was now close to midnight. Each boy was closed into their perspective bunks sleeping soundly.

Noelle, however, was up—wide awake. Close to an hour earlier, she had been awoken by a text message from Rob. Groggily and without thinking, she flipped her cell phone opened and quickly read the message:

Went by your apartment today. You either weren’t there or you were ignoring me. Can’t say that I blame you. ILU. I miss you. Come back to me.

Noelle rolled her eyes and slammed the phone shut. She tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep, but anger quickly overcame her. She was gladder now that she was on tour with Alex than she had been the entire week. It’s wasn’t fair of Rob to show up at her apartment. It wasn’t fair of him to tell her that he loved her, or that he missed her. He’d had two years to make things right for them. He stood by and watched while she got kicked out the medical program. He already had a career. He was going to be fine, but now Noelle was left with no options. She wouldn’t deny her own self-responsibility. She had gotten herself into the situation that she had been in with Rob, but it wasn’t fair that he had gotten away unscathed while she had lost everything.

Even if she was naïve enough to believe that he actually meant the things that he said—that he loved her, that he missed her, that she was different—she would have to have a complete lack of self-respect to go back to him.

Now, as she lay awake, her stomach still boiled with disgust. She tossed and turned and tried to fall back asleep, but it was no use. The snoring of the men around her wasn’t helping either.

“Shh,” Noelle whispered as she threw a pillow toward AJ's bunk, which was directly across from hers. The pillow only bounced off of the curtain that held her brother into his bed and onto the linoleum floor.

Eventually, Noelle gave up trying. She rolled from her side to her back in a huff and then swung her legs down to the floor. It was final. She couldn't sleep anymore—not with Rob's stupid text message scrolling through her head. She stood up and stretched. By now, it was just after 1 a.m. She yawned quietly as she tiptoed to the kitchenette and opened the refrigerator door. She pulled out a bottle of water and twisted the white cap off. She took a sip of water and then glanced down toward the front of the bus. Not knowing proper tour bus etiquette, Noelle didn't know what she was technically allowed to do in the middle of the night. Could she turn on a light to read? Could she watch the television in the back?

Noelle shrugged and made her way to the back of the bus. At that point, she didn't give a crap about tour bus etiquette. As she reached the back of the bus, she noticed a light shining from under the door. She started to turn away, figuring that one of the Boys wanted some privacy, but she stopped when she heard a warm voice singing softly along with the hushed strumming of a guitar. She opened the door as quietly as she could without being noticed and smiled to herself when she saw Brian sitting on the small gray couch. His eyes were closed. There was a pencil behind his ear, though the song was strangely familiar.

And all at once, the crowd begins to sing

We’d never know what’s wrong without the pain

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same

Maybe you want it; maybe you need it

Maybe it’s all you’re running from

Noelle cleared her throat softly. She smiled when Brian looked up and blushed slightly. He laid his guitar down gently and smiled back at her. “Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.”

Noelle shook her head. “You didn't. I was already awake. The Fray?”

Brian nodded. “Are you a fan?”

“I used to be until I heard you singing it,” Noelle joked.

Brian rolled his eyes and tried to look offended. “Thanks.”

“So, are you running past anything in particular?” Noelle asked as she walked across the room and took a seat next to Brian.

Brian licked the inside of his bottom lip and then shook his head. “No, not really. I just like the song.”

Noelle nodded. “Yeah, it's weird that you were playing it. It was like soundtrack music.”

Brian laughed softly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Noelle shook her head. “About as much as you want to talk about whatever is bothering you.”

Brian chuckled, though inside he was shocked by how well she could already read him. Either he was completely transparent or... well, he didn't know what else. “Point taken.”

Noelle reached down onto the floor and picked up Brian's guitar. She held it in her lap and ran her fingers across the strings. She couldn't play a lick, but she had always wanted to learn.

“Did you inherit any of the family's musical talent?” Brian asked. He leaned back against the couch cushions and placed his hands behind his head. He loved that they were finally here, together, alone. Friends. Though admittedly, Brian had never wanted to rip the clothes off of one of his ‘friends’ so badly.

Noelle laughed and shook her head. “No. Denise must have the musical talent. That or dad gave every inch of everything he had to Alex.”

Brian smiled and shook his head. “No, anyone can play the guitar. You just need to memorize five major chords.”

Noelle lifted one shoulder in a shrug and smirked. “Then show me. Maybe you can make me work to pay my own way around here.”

Brian laughed. He stood up and walked to the opposite side of the couch. He sat back down behind Noelle and wrapped his arms around her to place her hands on the proper strings.

“That's A,” Brian whispered into Noelle's ear.

Subconsciously, Noelle leaned back against him so that their cheeks were touching. She strummed the guitar and repeated, “A.”

Brian gently repositioned her fingers with the four remaining notes as Noelle strummed along with each one. “D, G, E, C.”

With the final strum, Noelle turned so that she was looking at Brian over her shoulder. Their lips were mere inches apart for the second time that day.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

Brian nodded and leaned in slowly. Suddenly, he didn’t care where they were or who was around.

Noelle's lips immediately responded to the feeling of Brian's soft lips on hers. She raised her hand to rest on his face and kissed him again.

When they pulled away from each other, Brian cleared his throat and stood up from his spot on the couch. “I don't think friends are supposed to do that.”

Noelle laughed softly as she tried to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. “No, not usually.”

“So, we should probably stop putting ourselves in this position,” Brian said. His back was turned, but he was searching for her reaction out of the corner of his eye.

Trying to contain her smile, Noelle nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

Brian nodded slowly. “We should get to bed.”

“That kind of violates that whole 'friends' thing, too. Don’t you think?” Noelle teased.

Brian shook his head and laughed. “Separately.”

Noelle nodded. “You go ahead. I think that I'm going watch a movie or something. I couldn't really sleep.”

“Okay,” Brian replied softly. “Goodnight, Noelle.”

“Goodnight,” Noelle responded. She waited until Brian reached the door and then she called out to him, desperate to hear his voice one last night that night. “Brian?”

Brian turned around and lifted his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“I'm not a very fast learner. I may need you to show me those chords again... sometime soon.” Noelle smiled as she watched Brian's grin spread across his face.

Brian laughed and continued toward the door. He stopped just as he was about leave and turned back to Noelle. “Anytime.”

The grin that was glued to Noelle's face was wide enough to make her cheeks burn. A familiar warm feeling rose inside of her at the memory of Brian's wide smile. Butterflies tickled her stomach and then she groaned. She was falling for Brian Littrell.