“Leave me alone!” Raffaella screamed. “Get away from me you creep!”

“Never!” Donny shouted. “You’re my Princess and you are forbidden to ever see that guy again!”

“But he’s my best friend!” Raffaella cried. “You can’t control my life!”

“Oh, but I can,” Donny sneered, “and I shall.”

“Get out!” Raffaella shrieked. “I hate you!”

Donny smiled evilly. “We’ll never be through…”

Brian was walking through the park when he thought he heard a sob. He looked around trying to locate the source of the sound. What he spotted broke his heart; there curled up on a bench was a girl, who looked to be about seventeen, sitting there, crying her heart out. He slowly approached the bench and sat down next to her.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

The girl looked up at him and gasped. “Oh my God.”

Brian looked at her clearly puzzled. “What? What’s wrong?”

"N…nothing,” she stammered. “I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?” Brian queried, noticing that she as trying to keep her face hidden from him. “You seem pretty upset.”

“I…I just broke up with my boyfriend of two years,” she answered. “I’ll be fine, it’s just a broken heart.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why’d you break up?”

“It just wasn’t working out anymore,” she replied.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Brian riposted. “Um, I know this is kind of soon and all, but I was wondering, would you like to go to the donut shop around the corner with me?”

“Don’t be sorry,” she responded. “Yes, I would like to go to the donut shop with you.”

“Shall we go then?” They both stood up; it was then that he noticed that her face was all bruised. “Holy shish kebobs! What happened to your face?”

“I got into a fight with some girl,” she lied. “Now, can we please go get those donuts? If you don’t want to be seen with me now that you’ve seen my face, you don’t have to go with me though.”

“Why would I leave you because your face is all bruised?” Brian questioned. “Despite how bad this will look when we first walk in, I really would like to get to know you better.”

“Really?” She watched him nod. “Well, my name’s Raffaella.”

“My name’s Brian.”

He took her hand in his, then they headed off to the donut shop. When they first went in people gave them weird looks, but said nothing as the couple sat down to eat their donuts and drink their hot chocolates. They sat there and talked for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality, it’d only been four hours. They decided to leave then, for it was late and the donut shop was to be closed in a few minutes. Brian walked Raffaella home, gave her his phone number and address, hugged her good-night, and then he headed back to his place to get some well deserved rest.

Raffaella and Brian soon became really good friends, and after knowing each other for a month, Brian told her that he was a Backstreet Boy. She’d laughed and told him she’d known from the moment he’d sat down next to her on the bench that he was a BSB. They continued to hang out a lot; it eventually got to the point where you very rarely saw the one without the other. Everything was going great until the one day they happened to run into Donny.

“Hey Raffaella!” Donny called, as he came over to where her and Brian were standing. “Is this your new boyfriend?”

“No. He’s not my boyfriend,” Raffaella replied. “He’s just a very good friend.”

“Sure he is,” Donny began, “and I’m the Tooth Fairy. Whatever happened to your best friend? You know, the guy that you were seeing behind my back while we were dating. What’s his name, A.C.?”

“It’s JC,” Raffaella riposted. “For the last time, I wasn’t cheating on you, you were cheating on me.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Donny retorted. “You were the one who got hurt in the end, not me.”

“What’s he talking about?” Brian asked suddenly. “Raffaella, is he your ex-boyfriend?”

“Yes, I am,” Donny answered for her. “I’m also the one who gave her what she deserved.”

“Wait a minute,” Brian gasped. “You’re the one who beat the crud out of her, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” Donny smirked. “She deserved it too, being the little no good two timer that she is!”

“Why I ought to…” Brian trailed off as he took a step towards Donny, more than ready to deck him one.

“Brian, don’t!” Raffaella cried, grabbing onto his arm. “He’s not worth it!”

“I think we need to talk,” Brian stated. “C’mon, let’s get out of here before I seriously hurt him.”

He took Raffaella’s hand in his, as they quickly left the amusement park. Brian drove back to his place, where they went inside and sat down in the living room to talk.

“Raffaella, why did you lie to me that night?” Brian interrogated. “Why didn’t you tell me that he’d been the one who’d beaten you up?”

“I was scared and didn’t really know you,” she admitted. “I was afraid you’d get all mad and leave me sitting there all alone or something like that.”

“I’d never do that to you,” Brian verified. “Was that the first time he’d ever beaten the crud out of you?”

“No,” Raffaella said quietly. “But it was the last.”

“Did you ever call the cops on him?”

“No. He said if I did he’d kill me.”

“Well, I promise that he will never ever hurt you in any way ever again,” Brian guaranteed her. “I will never let any man hurt you ever again, for I love you and will do everything in my power to protect you.

“You love me?”

“Uh, yeah,” Brian rejoined sheepishly. “I’ve been wanting to ask you out since we first met, but never had the guts to do it until now. So, will you go out with me?”

“Brian, I really like you and all, but I’m afraid I go out with you,” Raffaella informed him gently. “I’m still not ready for another relationship.”

“Okay,” Brian replied a little hurt. “But don’t think I won’t be anxiously awaiting that day.”