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Chapter 9.

Kevin walked up to the lodge and saw a man standing on the porch screaming into a cell phone. “James?” he said to the man. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the city?”

The man flipped his phone shut. “I was. I held castings all day yesterday and all through the night. I think I’m going to have to go back to Los Angeles this afternoon.”

“What?” Kevin asked concerned. “What’s the problem? I thought there would be plenty of girls in Florida.”

“Oh, there are tons of girls in Florida. I must have seen over 500 in the last 24 hours.”

Kevin looked confused. “It’s not like we’re competing for an Oscar. It’s just a music video. There had to be a couple that worked.”

“Every single one of them was a six-foot tall, anorexic, bleach blonde with fake boobs! Don’t get me wrong, that’s totally hot, but it’s all wrong for this video. I just want a couple of extremely pretty, yet down to earth looking girls. I can’t use Barbie!”

“Alright, well, the guys are all inside. Come have breakfast and we’ll make a plan.” Kevin said.

Just then Avery and Natalie came around the corner. They were so completely engrossed in Natalie’s story that neither of them noticed Kevin and James standing there. “There were actually tears?” Avery was saying.

“I know. I’m such an idiot! But you know me, I’m always a little crazy when Paul’s involved.”

“But it wasn’t Paul standing there last night, it was Brian.”

“Don’t remind me! You should have seen the look on his face. I swear he thinks I’m crazy! I can’t go in there.” Natalie said starting to get really nervous.

She turned around to walk away. Avery grabbed her arm. “I think you’re crazy!” she laughed, “But you’re not getting out of it that easy! You’re going in there.”

The girls turned back around. “You have got to stop doing this to yourself.” Avery said.

Natalie sighed. “Look at me! I’m a train wreck! Man, I have got to get my emotional crap together!”

“That’s an understatement.” Avery laughed and looked up to see Kevin and some guy staring at them. She stopped dead in her tracks and nudged Natalie with her elbow. She forced a smile at the guys.

“You really should have seen the look on his face.” Natalie continued. “I felt so stupid.”

Avery elbowed her harder and she looked up. She forced a smile. “Kind of like I do right now.” She said.

Kevin smiled trying his hardest not to laugh. The other man just stared at them. “Ladies!” Kevin said cheerfully.

They both forced smiles again. “Hi.” Avery said.

“This is James.” Kevin said pointing to the guy next to him.

Avery waved and Natalie shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.” she said.

“Everyone’s inside.” Kevin said to the girls, “Would you tell them that I’ll be there in a couple minutes?”

The girls nodded. When they went inside, they found A.J., Nick, Brian, and Howie all sitting at a table. They saw the girls and they all stood up. “Good morning!” A.J. said to them pulling out the chair next to him.

Nick pulled out the chair next to him as well. Avery sat down next to Nick. A.J. smiled at Natalie. She glanced nervously at Brian and then sat down. She was a little relieved that A.J. asked her to sit by him, but she was still sitting directly across from Brian. She was so nervous; she tried not to make eye contact. Avery, on the other hand, wasn’t nervous at all. She happily sat down next to Nick who then put his arm around her. “It’s been a while.” He teased.

Howie and A.J. watched them a little surprised. Nick whispered something in Avery’s ear and they burst into laughter. “You two seem to be getting along just fine.” Howie said. Avery and Nick both just smiled.

“Where’s Kevin?” A.J. said. “He’s never the last one here.”

“He’s outside.” Natalie said, “Talking to someone named James.”

“James is here?” Howie asked confused.

“I think that’s what he said his name was.”

“Isn’t he supposed to be in the city right now?” Nick asked.

“Do you think he found somebody already?” Brian asked.

“I hope not. I’m looking forward to a day off!” A.J. said.

“I’ll go check it out. Howie said, standing up.

“Look who I found.” Kevin said walking into the room with James. James was staring at Avery and Natalie.

“Hey, man! What’s going on?” A.J. asked.

“Uh, well,” Kevin said, “Something’s come up.”

All the guys looked concerned except for Nick who was talking to Avery. “Um, do you guys need a minute?” Natalie asked noticing the looks on their faces.

“Actually,” James said hesitantly, “Uh, we’d like you to stay, if you don’t mind. I’d like to talk to you.”

This time everyone but Kevin looked confused. “Ok.” Natalie said wondering what on earth they could possibly want with them.

James and Kevin sat down at the table. Everybody waited for them to explain but the waiter came and so they ordered breakfast first. Natalie and Avery sipped on chocolate milk when Kevin finally decided to explain their situation. “Where do I begin?” He said trying to find the right words. “We’re not here on vacation.” He began, “This was supposed to be a business trip but we had some complications.”

Everybody was starting to wonder where this conversation was going. “You see, we are, um we…”

“You’re Backstreet Boys?” Natalie said figuring that’s what he was trying to say.

Howie, A.J. and Kevin looked at the girls surprised. “Yeah.” Kevin said.

Brian turned to his cousin sitting next to him and said, “Oh, by the way, they know.”

“Yeah they knew all along.” Nick said.

The other guys couldn’t believe it. “You didn’t say anything?” Kevin asked.

Natalie shrugged, “You didn’t either.”

“Well that may be a first.” A.J. said.

“That helps make this a little easier to explain.” James said.

“Makes what a little easier to explain?” Avery asked.

Kevin and James laughed nervously. “We need your help.” James said.

The guys all exchanged strange glances starting to figure out what he was up to. “Can we do that?” Nick asked.

“Why not?” James said smiling.

“It could work.” Howie said.

“Genius!” A.J. said.

Natalie looked at Brian. He was staring at her curiously. He smiled. “It’s a great idea.” He said.

“What’s a great idea?” she asked.

Kevin took a deep breath and then just said it. “We want you to be in a music video that we’re supposed to be filming this week.”

Avery and Natalie were stunned. He did not just say that! The girls exchanged looks of shock. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Avery asked.

“To make a long story short,” Kevin said, “The models that were supposed to be here, aren’t. James thinks you guys are perfect for the part. Well, not just James, I think he’s right.”

All the other guys chimed in words of encouragement. “It’s unanimous.” James said.

“Um, we’re not models.” Avery said trying not to laugh. She couldn’t believe what was happening.

“You could be.” A.J. said.

“You should be.” Nick said smiling at Avery. She blushed.

Natalie reached into her pocket and pulled out a package of gummy bears. Brian smiled to himself as he watched her pop a couple in her mouth like they were asprin. The guys waited for some kind of response. “I’m afraid it would cut your vacation short, but you would be paid of coarse.” James said starting to get nervous that they would say no.

“So what do you think?” Kevin asked.

They all stared at the girls. “Can you excuse us for a minute?” Avery said standing up and pulling Natalie up with her. “We’ll be right back.”

Avery and Natalie calmly found the nearest ladies room. Once the door was shut they started jumping up and down. “Oh my heck!” Avery said. “I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I had to freak out!”

“Can you believe that? They just asked us to be in a music video with them!” Natalie said.

“I know! We so get to be those girls. The ones that all BSB fans hate!”

“I know! I hate us already!”

The girls danced around the bathroom like idiots for a couple of minutes and then managed to calm down. They came back and sat down at the table. Nobody said a word. They just waited. “We’ll do it.” Natalie said.

“But we can’t promise we won’t suck.” Avery added.

“You’ll be great!” Nick said Kissing Avery on the cheek.

“Thank you girls so much! You have no idea how much this helps us.”

The food arrived and everyone relaxed into normal conversation. Natalie asked James which song they were making a video for. “It’s for a new song. You’ll like it.” He answered.

“So does this mean we don’t have the day off after all?” Howie asked.

“Yes, you can still have the day off. We’ll have the cast and crew kick-off tonight and we’ll start first thing tomorrow morning. So enjoy the day while it lasts because we’re going to have to make up for lost time.”

“What’s the cast and crew kick-off?” Avery asked.

“It’s a Backstreet tradition.” Howie said.

“We throw a party for everyone involved whenever we shoot a video, record an album or start a new tour.” A.J. explained.

“It’s fun.” Nick said.

“Kind of good luck to start things off with a bang.” Kevin said smiling at Natalie. She smiled back.

James said. “The crew should start trickling in late this afternoon. Party starts at 8:30, so until then, I don’t care what you do. Just don’t kill yourselves doing it!”