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Chapter 23.

The next morning came so quickly. Natalie was so nervous. Steve wanted to get footage of the girls’ homes, rooms and families but that meant telling her family. She hadn’t told them anything about her vacation yet. She didn’t know where to start much less how she was going to explain the huge ring on her finger. She was terrified of how her parents were going to react. In an attempt to delay the inevitable, they decided to start at Avery’s house. Avery’s interview went very well. Avery’s parents didn’t exactly know what to say or how to react. They were just happy she decided to include them in her life for once. After a couple of hours, Steve was satisfied with the material he had. Now it was time to go to Natalie’s house.


Natalie was so nervous. Avery’s family was nothing like hers. Her family was slightly crazy. Avery’s family didn’t really know who the Backstreet Boy were. They just kind smiled and went along with it not really understanding what a crazy thing it all was. Natalie’s family, on the other hand, knew exactly who they were and were really going to freak out about it. Natalie was embarrassed already and they had not even stepped inside yet. She stood on the front porch and apologized for what was about to happen. Secretly she just hoped there would be no comments like “Natalie’s obsessed” or “The Backdoor Boys”.

Natalie was relieved to find that when they got there both her sister Robin and brother Jeff were not at home. That made things a lot easier. Natalie was surprised at how well things went when she introduced Steve and Brian to her parents and younger brother and sister. They did their interviews and got all the footage they needed, but Natalie had still not mentioned anything about Brian and her being together, much less engaged. When they had a minute to talk about it, Natalie and Brian decided to wait to tell them about the engagement quite yet. They figured they should start with the term boyfriend. Before they left, Natalie told her parents about Brian being her boyfriend and Steve got the whole scene on tape. Natalie was shocked that her parents were genuinely happy for her. “It’s about time she had a boyfriend.” Her mom said laughing. “We’ve been waiting for her to bring someone home for quite a while now.”

Brian was relieved by the warm welcome and was excited to accept an invitation to have dinner with the whole family that evening. Brian and Natalie told Natalie’s family that they were engaged at dinner that night. That way, if Natalie was asked about the ring while she was in New York, her family wouldn’t find out about the engagement on the news or in a tabloid. Being the hopeless romantic that he is, Brian gave the family one of his speeches about how much he loved Natalie and they were all in tears by the end of it. Beside the family being completely shocked and a little overwhelmed, they still supported them.

Once everything was out in the open, the rest of the weekend flew by. Brian got on a plane Sunday night. He had to be in Florida to start the promotional tour with the guys. Before they knew it, the girls were on a plane to New York with Steve.

Even though they had just spent a week in front of cameras acting for the video, the girls were really nervous about doing the interview. The guys had a way of making them feel like it was all just a job and that it was a completely normal thing, but there was nothing normal about this. The girls flew first class, were escorted by limo and put up in one of the nicest hotels in New York. They were treated as if they were Jennifer Lopez or Madonna. They were given a brief tour and then there was a practice run of the program but the show itself was filmed live. When the show started, Carson Daily told their story before bringing them out and introducing them on the air. They both felt so stupid. He introduced them and then asked them a few questions about their experience, which they had gone over earlier. Then they premiered the video. Once the video was over the interview got pretty interesting. Carson complimented them on how well they did and how great the video was. That was a little embarrassing but they had expected something like that would happen. But, after that he asked them about kissing the Backstreet Boys. They both just wanted to die. They stumbled through their answers trying their best not to blush and look like idiots but they looked like big dorks anyway. Finally they cut to a commercial. The girls thought it was their chance to get out of there but Carson asked them if they wouldn’t mind staying a little longer to answer a couple of questions from the audience. They really didn’t want to but they didn’t know how to say no so they stayed. When they were back on the air, Carson picked a girl in the studio audience to ask a question. The girl must have been a plant because she had a copy of the magazine with Nick and Avery’s picture on the front. “Is it true that you are engaged to Nick?” the girl asked holding up the magazine.

Carson took the magazine from the girl and showed the camera a close up. “No.” Avery said. “He wasn’t proposing in that picture. If you look close enough you can see that he is handing me an earring that I had dropped. So, no, we are not engaged.”

Carson laughed and looked into the camera. He said, “There you have it ladies, Nick Carter is still single.”

“I wouldn’t say that!” Came a voice from off screen. The audience started going crazy as Nick walked into the studio. He came up to Carson and shook his hand. Avery and Natalie were shocked to see him.

“Nick!” Carson said a little surprised himself. “Welcome man! What are you doing here?”

“I thought I would stop by and clear up some of the rumors going around about me.”
“Like the one that you’re engaged?” Carson asked.

“No,” Nick said with a smile, “Like the one that I’m single.”

Gasps swept threw the crowd. Carson looked at Nick confused. “What are you talking about buddy?”

Nick looked at Natalie and Avery who were just staring at him in disbelief. He mouthed the word congratulations to Natalie. She smiled back and mouthed thank you. Then he looked at Avery. She gave him a look as if to say what are you doing? He smiled and then looked at Carson. He took the magazine from Carson and examined it closely. “Avery and I are not engaged,” he said, “Yet!”

More gasps in the crowd. Carson stared at Nick. Nick smiled and then took Avery in his arms and kissed her. The audience went crazy. One girl even passed out. Carson laughed into the camera and said, “Now we’ve seen it all here on TRL. Nick Carter officially off the market! We’re going to take a break but when we come back find out who slid into the number 5 spot on our countdown.”

“60 Seconds!” someone yelled and everyone relaxed.

Nick shook Carson’s hand, “You got time to stick around?” Carson asked.

“Sorry man, I got a press conference in half an hour. Gotta run.”

“Al right. Well thanks for stopping by.”

“30 Seconds.”

Natalie and Avery were directed out of the studio and back to the guest waiting room. Nick went in there with them. He hugged Avery. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“We’re starting our promotional tour here in New York. I have to go to this press thing right now but there’s this charity event we were hoping you would come to tonight.”

The girls nodded. “I’ll call you in a little while.” Nick said and kissed Avery goodbye.

The girls sat down on the couch in the waiting room and watched the rest of the show. During the last commercial break, Carson ran back into the waiting room. “How would you guys feel about signing a few autographs after the show?” he said to the girls.

“Autographs?” Natalie asked. “Who would want our autographs?”

Carson smiled. “Every girl in that room will. Trust me on this one. You guys up for it?”

Natalie and Avery looked at each other and shrugged. They said they would. At the end of the show Carson gave a copy of the Backstreet Boys new album to everyone in the audience. Once the show was over, Natalie and Avery were escorted to a room where they were seated at a table. The fans from the studio audience were lined up outside the door. Avery and Natalie were still not sure why these people would want their autographs. They thought it was so funny. The fans were brought to the tables where they handed Natalie and Avery their CD’s and Natalie and Avery would sign them. The fans asked them all kinds of questions. Mostly about the boys and what they were like in person. Natalie and Avery tried not to laugh every time someone complimented them on how they did in the video. They answered questions, signed autographs and even took pictures. Avery and Natalie were amused by it but couldn’t imagine having to do it all the time like the guys do. “Thank goodness we’re not really famous.” Natalie said once they were done.

Later that night the girls joined the guys at a charity dinner. They had to get all dressed up. When they got back to their hotel there were dresses and shoes waiting for them. There was a note attached saying; we hope you like them. We picked them out ourselves. Love Nick and Brian. There was also a note there with the address of a salon and a time on it. The girls went to the salon where they had their hair, finger and toenails done. After they were dressed and ready to go a limo showed up at the hotel for them. Inside, all of the guys were waiting for them. It was nice to see all of them again.

When they reached the hotel where the banquet was taking place there were photographers everywhere. It was the first time Natalie and Avery were seen in public on the arm of Nick and Brian. Once inside things were a lot calmer. The girls were able to relax a bit. They ended up having a lovely evening, but it went by too fast. In the morning, the girls were on a plane back to Michigan while the guys were on a plane to Chicago. After spending the day in New York both Natalie and Avery did not want to go back to Michigan. “You’re right.” Avery said, “How can we go back home now? Things will never be the same again. Maybe we should leave. I’m not suggesting BYU, but at least quit our jobs or something.”

Natalie smiled and Avery waited for her to say she wasn’t gonna quit, but she didn’t. Instead she said, “Maybe you’re right this time. Maybe we should quit.”

“What?” Avery asked surprised.

“I can’t go back. I can’t work with Paul now that I’m engaged. It would be too weird. I think it’s time to get a new job.”

Natalie’s mom picked them up from the airport. “The phone has been ringing off the hook since yesterday. I think everyone you know has called a few times. Didn’t you tell anybody about all of this?”

“No.” Natalie said, “They wouldn’t have believed us anyway.”

“Well you certainly are popular now.”

They dropped Avery off at her house and then went home. When they got there, Natalie’s friend Brigitte was waiting there. Natalie thought it was strange how she didn’t want to talk to her. She didn’t want to talk to anybody anymore. They weren’t there. They didn’t understand what she had been through. Nothing was the same anymore. She talked to her anyway and told her the whole story. She showed Brigitte the pictures and a copy of the movie that Steve had left with her. As they watched the movie, Brigitte was so excited for Natalie but Natalie could only think about how she wished she was back there. Not that she didn’t like her friends anymore, she just felt like she was a different person now and that there was no way she could go back to the way things were before. She wanted to start over. She had to leave! After Brigitte left Natalie started going through a stack of messages her mom had taken while she was in New York. Her mom was right. Just about everyone she knew had called for her. The only one she wanted to call back was Laura. She was excited to see that Laura had called. At the bottom of the pile of messages, there was an envelope that had arrived for Natalie in the mail. She opened it and stared in disbelief at a check for 10 thousand dollars. She had been paid for the video. James said she would get a check in the mail but he never told her how much it would be for. She picked up her phone and called Avery. “Hey!” she said when Avery answered. “Did you check your mail yet?”

“No. Why?” Avery answered.

“Go see if you got a letter.”

Natalie waited on the line while Avery checked her mail. She could hear Avery opening an envelope. “Ten thousand dollars!!!!” Avery screamed. “Oh my heck!”

“Did you know they were going to pay us that much?” Natalie asked.

“I forgot they were going to pay us at all.” Avery answered.

“We should move.” Natalie said.

“What?” Avery asked.

“This is enough money for us to get an apartment somewhere. We should move. We could be roommates.”

“That’s a great idea. I have to get out of this house. We should go look for apartments tomorrow.” Avery said.

“I was kind of thinking about Florida.” Natalie said.

“Move to Florida?”

“Why not? We have enough money to last us while we find new jobs. I have to get out of here! Plus, if we lived in Florida we would be closer to the guys when they’re home. What do you think?”

Avery barely had to think about it. She loved the thought of being close to her Nicky. Natalie went over to Avery’s house and they formed a plan.