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Chapter 17.

As the crew packed up all the equipment the boys decided to sign a few autographs for the group of fans that had gathered. Natalie and Avery were amused by the way the guys acted when they were dealing with their fans. It was like they flipped a switch and went into Backstreet Boy mode or something. They were so professional yet you could tell they really were thankful for their fans. They smiled and hugged and posed for pictures and signed autographs. Natalie and Avery sat there talking about how cute it was when one of the girls asked them for their autographs. Natalie and Avery exchanged weird looks and tried not to laugh. They both signed a poster the girl had of the Backstreet Boys. Natalie signed under Brian’s picture and Avery under Nicks with little hearts around him. The girl smiled, said thank you and then told Avery how lucky she was that she got to kiss Nick. “Is he a good kisser?” she asked.

Nick heard the girl ask and smiled when Avery didn’t know what to say. He came over to them and said, “I don’t know about me, but she is an excellent kisser.”

Avery and the girl both blushed. Nick signed her poster and Avery said, “He’s pretty good.”

The girl smiled. “Pretty good? Just pretty good?” Nick said.

Avery shrugged. She didn’t know what to say to some strange girl. Nick grabbed Avery and said, “I know I can do better than pretty good!”

He dipped her backwards planting a long passionate kiss on her. All the fans went nuts when they saw him. The girl they were talking to almost hyperventilated. AJ came up to them and pulled Nick off of Avery. “That’s enough Nick. We don’t want to have to call an ambulance now do we?”

Nick laughed and Avery blushed. She looked at the girl and said, “Ok, he’s a really good kisser.”

Nick gave her a challenging look. She looked at him and said, “Great?”

He still wasn’t satisfied. She rolled her eyes, turned to the girl and sarcastically said, “Best Kisser in the whole world. Makes you feel like your heart is exploding, nothing will ever come close to it. Ever.”

Natalie laughed. Avery looked back at Nick who smiled satisfied, “Was that so hard?” he laughed.

The guys waved goodbye and everyone got on the bus. They drove to the hotel where they were staying for the night. It was so big and nice. When they pulled up, James stood up and said thank you to all the guys. “Except for Natalie and Brian you are all free to go. Since it’s the girls last day in town, take the night off. You’ve earned it!”

The guys all cheered and the girls were impressed at how fast everyone disappeared. Natalie, Avery, Brian and Nick sat on the bus waiting while James said goodbye to Kevin, AJ and Howie. He looked at Nick and Avery, “Are you guys going to come with us?” he asked.

“You don’t have to.” Natalie said to Avery.

“Go and play. Make Nick show you around the city.”

Avery looked at Nick. They smiled at each other and then left. “Call us when you’re done.” Nick said to Brian as he stepped off the bus.

Then it was just Natalie Brian and James left on the bus. James’s phone rang. “Perfect.” He said and hung up the phone. He looked at Natalie and Brian and said, “Why don’t you guys go ahead and check in get your stuff to your rooms and then meet me in the lobby in like 20 minutes.”

Twenty minutes later Natalie and Brian met in the lobby. “So do you know what we’re doing?” Natalie asked him.

Brian shook his head. “Everything’s different now because we had to come into town. I don’t know what James has planned.”

James found them and he showed them to a small banquet room that opened to the outside. Laura and George were waiting to get them into make-up. Brian smiled at Laura and said, “You should put her in that little dress she tried on earlier.”

Laura held up a sweat suit. Brian shrugged. “Or that.” He said disappointed.

Natalie gave Brian a weird look and he shrugged. “What? It looked great on you.”

Laura laughed, “Been spending time with AJ again?” she said teasingly.

“Not that I want to wear the dress, but who am I supposed to be, the poster child for Nike?”

“James said work out clothes.”

“And a pony tail.” George said frowning. “Pity. Hair like yours should never be thrown back.”

“I like pig tails.” Natalie suggested.

“I can do that.” George replied spinning his chair around. Natalie hopped in.

When both Natalie and Brian were dressed and ready to go, James walked in “Hurry, hurry, hurry!” he said, “I want the sunset.”

“They’re all yours.” George said.

James took them outside to a basketball court. Natalie frowned. “What is it with you and making me play basketball?”

James smiled. “You did so well last time.”

Brian laughed. “Thanks.” Natalie said sarcastically.

“It’s not that bad. You don’t even have to shoot this time.”

Natalie waited for the bad news but there didn’t seem to be any. “You play a little one on one for a minute. Brian takes the shot but misses. You get confused because he’s somewhere else in his mind. You’ll sit down on the bench grab a drink from your water bottle. Brian misses again. You offer him some water. He sits don next to you, takes the water bottle, you bend down to change your shoes. …” James stopped there.

“And then?” Natalie asked.

“And then that’s it. No more playing basketball.”

“But what happens after that?” Brian asked.

James shot him a look. He smiled nervously at Natalie who was waiting for him to answer the question. She had a feeling she knew what was coming. “Then,” James said hesitantly, “You kiss.”

He waited for a response but Natalie just looked at him. “It shouldn’t be that difficult. You did it earlier.” James said, “This is the same thing.”

“It’s totally different.” Natalie said starting to get nervous. “That was like a quick little kiss. Just playing around it was funny. No pressure.”

“There’s still no pressure. And, there will be a lot less people there.”

“All that build up and he just kisses her? Seems a little anti-climactic.” Brian said not helping the situation. James glared at him again.

“Well there’s a little more too it than that, obviously. As she’s changing her shoes, she notices you staring at her and recognizes the look in your eyes. She realizes you love her. There’s defiantly going to have to be some kind of moment and you don’t just kiss her, she kisses you back.”

George sighed. “It’s true love’s first kiss.” He said, “It has to be scary and exciting and passionate and romantic!”

Natalie turned pale and pointed at George. It took a minute for the words to escape her mouth. “That’s what I’m talking about.” She said stuttering over the words. “I can’t do that. Not an actress, remember?”

James hugged her, “I have faith in you.” He said and walked away.

She looked at Brian who smiled awkwardly. “It won’t bad. You’ll see.” Laura said.
“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Natalie said.

Natalie didn’t actually throw up, but her stomach was in knots. She was so nervous. She didn’t know exactly why. After all, she had kissed him before. And, she wanted to do it again. She just wasn’t sure that kissing him like that again wouldn’t break her heart. Seeing how nervous she was made Brian feel nervous too. James decided to just get the basketball part out of the way and give them a break after that to try and calm down. This time the basketball parts seemed to be over too quickly and the break James gave them didn’t help at all. Steve kept asking Natalie questions for his documentary. Was she nervous? Did she ever think she would be going through this? He was not helping. All the questions were making it worse. Finally James yelled, “Places!”

Natalie and Brian sat down on the bench. Neither said a word. Natalie was so nervous she was actually shaking. James shook his head, “Natalie you can’t look quite so scared honey. Why don’t you guys practice it once first.”

Natalie looked at James and then back to Brian. “It’s just a kiss.” She thought.

She took one last calming breath and then kissed him. She tried her best to think about the cameras and the people watching. She wanted to remember that they were only acting. She felt a lot better. “Good. Now let’s try it for real.” James said.

After five or six takes, James stopped them and said, “I need more passion.”

Natalie and Brian looked at him confused. He bent down next to Brian and looked at Natalie. “Look at her,” he said to Brian. “Think about the words to the song. Be the character.”

Brian looked at Natalie. James continued his speech. “You have been waiting for this for so long. You want it. You need it.”

Natalie could feel herself blushing and looked down. Brian stared nervously at her listening to James. James lifted Natalie’s chin up forcing her to look at Brian. “She’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.” James whispered in Brian’s ear, “You’ve just realized that you love her. Show her how much you love her.” James quietly backed away from them. “And don’t stop kissing her until I say cut.”

James stepped back by the cameras. Brian stared into Natalie’s eyes with such concentration that Natalie wasn’t even sure he was seeing her. He seemed to be somewhere else. Lost in his thoughts. Natalie took a slow deep breath and waited for James to say action. She looked at Brian as he stared into her eyes. He smiled. He was so beautiful that Natalie couldn’t help but smile back. “You really are beautiful.” He said.

Natalie smiled nervously. “It’s just a kiss!” she repeated in her mind.

“Remember, don’t stop kissing until I say cut!” James said one more time and then yelled, “Action!”

Brian smiled again and slowly moved in closer. Something felt different to Natalie this time. It was just like the other night when he kissed her. His lips touched hers and she trembled. She started to pull away but Brian reached up brushing his fingers against her cheek and kissed her again. She forgot about everything and everyone around her and gave in to his touch. Natalie could feel her heart flutter and she knew there was no stopping what she was feeling. With a single kiss Brian had stolen her heart forever. The kiss was so passionate that even James got caught up in the moment. Finally he said, “Cut.”

His voice startled Natalie bringing her back to reality. Brian pulled away still looking at her. She nervously turned to James. “That was the one.” He said in awe. “That’s a wrap.”

He came up to Natalie and threw his arms around her. “That was absolutely perfect! He said. “You are most defiantly an actress. If you ever feel like doing it again, you just call me. I would love to work with you again.”

Natalie blushed. “I don’t know about that.” She said.

“Well, you were brilliant anyway.” He said a little disappointed. “We should celebrate. Why don’t we get everyone together for dinner tonight? Get all dressed up and go to the nicest place in town.”

“That sounds nice.” Brian said. “I’ll call the guys.”

“I’ll make the reservations.” James said and ran off.

Brian smiled at Natalie. “It’ll give you a chance to wear that dress.”

“I want to do her hair!” George said jumping up and down excitedly.