Brian couldn’t help but to cringe at the unharmonious chord that was reverberating from his guitar. It was a chord that shouldn’t have ever existed in the musical universe. On paper, it didn’t exist, and now he knew why.

Brian smirked at Noelle and shook his head slowly from side to side. She was looking up at him with the same cringing expression that he was trying to hide.

“Well, that about settles that,” Brian laughed, taking the guitar away from her. He put the guitar back into its case and settled back against the couch in the back of the tour bus.

Brian and Noelle had taken to staying up late and hanging out together in the living area of the bus while they were on the road. The others would be sleeping and Brian and Noelle would be up playing guitar, watching movies or playing video games that they both more or less sucked at.

Despite the un-reconciled sexual tension between them, Noelle had proven to be good company. They had been good about keeping their sexual distance. Their lips hadn’t touched since the night a couple of weeks before, but a chill still ran through Brian when he thought back to the tenderness of her soft lips touching his. In ways, it felt wrong, but in other ways nothing had ever felt that right.

“That settles what?” Noelle probed. She smiled up at the gorgeous man she was trying really hard not to have feelings for. His clear blue eyes always pulled her in and made it hard to look away.

“You were right,” Brian replied, trying to hide his smirk. “Your dad gave every ounce of musical talent he had to AJ.”

Brian flinched when Noelle slapped him playfully on his arm.

“Shut up, you. It’s the rule of two. I can’t help it,” Noelle shot back with a smirk.

Internally, she had to admit that Brian was right. He had been trying to teach her those damn guitar chords for the last two weeks and she just wasn’t getting it. It was time to start grasping at straws.

“The rule of two?” Brian questioned. He understood that he was falling into a trap and probably should have let it go, but the damage was done. His curiosity was piqued.

“Yeah,” Noelle smiled. “There’s a list. Brains, beauty and talent. You can only have two.”

Brian glared at her playfully. “I’m afraid to ask, but which two did I get?”

“Talent and beauty,” Noelle laughed, “duh.”

“Oh, right, duh,” Brian replied sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. “I did go to school in Kentucky. You know what they say about us country boys.”

“They say that you’re lucky you even have two,” Noelle quipped. “Usually that whole missing teeth thing takes away from the beauty.”

Brian bumped into her with his shoulder. “Excuse me, these teeth are all mine, thank you very much.”

“Like I said, you’re one of the lucky ones.” Noelle smiled and bumped him back. “So, tell me about life in Kentucky country boy. Do you go back often?”

“No, not anymore. I used to go back as often as I could. I’m pretty close to my family and… I don’t know. It’s harder now.” Brian wanted to go on to tell her all of the reasons that made it hard—his difficult wife, the fact that he was living a lie that his mother would easily see though. “The tour is going to be stopping there when we get back to the states. If you’re still around, you’ll have to meet my Mama.”

Noelle smiled at the playfulness in Brian’s voice. She turned to lean against the wall where the arm of the couch would have been on a normal living room sofa and slung her legs over Brian’s lap. Brian slowly ran his hands over the smooth skin of her legs.

“Well,” Noelle replied slowly. “I don’t think I’ll still be around, first of all. Alex is definitely likely to get sick of me hanging around by then—“

“There’s three other Backstreet Boys on this tour,” Brian argued. “If you want to stay, you’re in.”

Noelle laughed and continued, “Secondly, it gets kind of cold in Kentucky around that time of the year. Does it snow in September?”

Brian paused for a second and looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Is that a serious question?”

Noelle laughed out loud. “No, it wasn’t serious. But here’s something serious for you. I’m getting off of this tour before there’s any chance for snow in the American northwest. I don’t do cold and though I’ve never seen snow, I don’t do snow either.”

“You’ve never seen the snow?” Brian questioned. Noelle simply shook her head. “So, there’s never been any sledding, no ice skating, no snow ball fights?”

“Brian,” Noelle replied seriously. “I grew up in Florida. Where would I have gone to play in the snow?”

“Well, they do have ice skating rinks in Florida,” Brian argued. He knew that there were plenty of people who had never played in the snow, but Brian couldn’t help but to want everyone to have the experience. Some of his fondest childhood memories were of snowball fights with his brother and sledding down the slope in his backyard with his father.

“You do remember that whole thing about me not liking the cold, right?” Noelle interrupted his thoughts.

“That’s why you’ll have to dress warm,” Brian replied. “You rollerbladed as a child, right?”

“Yeah,” Noelle answered. “But you do that on the street.”

“Think of it this way. If you fall on ice skates, chances are that you won’t end up bleeding,” Brian argued. He really didn’t know what point he was trying to make. He didn’t know when he’d have the time or the opportunity to prove to Noelle that ice skating was fun.

“You’ve got me there, I guess.” Noelle shook her head, letting the topic of conversation drop. “So, what was life like before the Backstreet Boys for you? Besides ice skating and snowball fights?”

“Normal,” Brian answered quickly. “I went to school. I came home. I played sports. I was going to go to college and then I got that fateful phone call.”

“That’s really how it happened?” Noelle pushed. “You really got a call from your non-existent Backstreet cousin and your mom just let you fly away off to Orlando?”

“More or less, yeah,” Brian nodded. He was tired of talking about himself. He always talked about himself. He decided to change the subject so that he could learn more about the beautiful woman that was sprawled over him on the couch. “What about you? What was life like for you before med school?”

Noelle paused so that she could choose her words carefully. She hadn’t yet indulged Brian—or anyone for that matter—on all of the reasons she was really following AJ around the world.

“Just like you, I was a normal kid. I don’t know who I’m kidding. I still am a normal kid. I’m getting too used to this rich and famous lifestyle. I need to remember that I’m not a Backstreet Boy.” Noelle stopped for a second and smiled at Brian who rolled his eyes back at her playfully. Then she continued, “I hated Alex for the longest time. It wasn’t a secret that he and I were brother and sister—at least where I grew up—and Alex didn’t make it a secret how much he hated my dad so I got a lot of crap from the Backstreet Boys fans I went to school with.”

“Our fans can be pretty overzealous,” Brian cautioned.

“Yeah,” Noelle replied with a smirk. “I never noticed. Anyway, once Alex went to rehab he decided to work things out with dad. It never really worked out that well, but he and I got closer in the process. If it wasn’t for Alex being a Backstreet Boy, maybe I would have had more friends and less time to study, right?”

“Well that’s really sad,” Brian replied as he expelled a chuckle in a huff of air.

“I’m exaggerating,” Noelle said laughing with him.

“I’m surprised he never brought you out here before, honestly. After rehab, AJ constantly had family touring with him.” In Brian’s mind, he went back to a dark time in the Backstreet Boys career. Drugs and alcohol plagued his friend and because of it, Brian’s career was circling the drain. It was another one of those things that Leighanne had been there for.

“That was my own decision,” Noelle answered softly. “I was getting ready to start school and I didn’t want to follow him around and get caught up in all of this. I’d probably be sleeping on Alex’s couch by now if I had started touring with him back then. I’m kind of already sleeping on Alex’s couch.”

Brian observed Noelle curiously. He could tell that there was a sadness in her eyes as her own memories began to arise, but he didn’t know what that sadness was about. He just hoped that he didn’t have anything to do with it.

“And medical school?” Brian continued questioning. “How did that start?”

As if on cue, a yawn escaped Noelle’s body. Medical school wasn’t something that she wanted to get into that night. She didn’t think that Brian was the judgmental type, but in case he was, she wanted to wait to regale him with all of the stories of her seedy past.

Noelle sat up and stretched. “That’s going to have to wait until next time, Sir. I’m beat.”

Brian nodded and tried to ignore the sense of loss that he was starting to feel. He wasn’t tired yet and he always hated when Noelle left him alone to the thoughts that he was trying to avoid. He wished that he could open up to her, but something told him that they both had secrets that they were trying to hide.

“I’m right behind you,” Brian lied. “Sleep well.”

Noelle smiled. She squeezed Brian’s knee affectionately and then got up off of the couch. “You too. I’ll see you tomorrow for more guitar lessons.”

Brian laughed. “We’ll see.”

Noelle smiled back at Brian and left the room feeling like she was forgetting something. She wished so badly that Brian could come with her and cuddle up in the bunk that she had claimed as her own. Somehow, though, she knew that wouldn’t go over well with the other men that were sharing the bus.

The simple feeling of her wanting Brian so much was starting to scare her to death. Moving on from her last relationship was terrifying, especially with someone who was one of her brother’s best friends. Still, the thought of possibly moving on with Brian excited her. She just wondered if she’d ever really be able to make the leap.