~*~Nick’s point of view~*~

“You’re kidding,” AJ said.

“Umm…” Why hadn’t Brian just remembered to bring the stupid sunglasses?

When we’d gotten to Brian’s house, AJ had gone to the bathroom. I’d used the opportunity to call Brian and ask him where they were, which showed how desperate I was. He was the last person on the planet at the moment I wanted to speak with. But of course, he hadn’t bothered to pick up his phone.

Now I was looking around the living room in vain. His house was cleaner than mine, but there was still a lot of crap to sort through.

I headed into the dining room. Yes! “Here you go!” I handed them to AJ.

He looked at them and back to me. In a tired voice, he said, “Those are yours.”

“Oh, right.”

“What is wrong with you lately?”

“Nothing,” I murmured and continued to scan the room.

AJ gave me a look. “You keep saying that. Same with Nick. Both of you are just… off. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Join the club. This line of questioning was getting redundant. Couldn’t he just leave it alone?

“What is it?” AJ asked again. “I don’t get why you just won’t tell me.”

No, I guess he couldn’t.

The phone rang just as we went into the kitchen to continue the search.

“You going to get that?”

I’d walked right by it, scanning the countertops. “Nah, the answering machine will pick it up.”

“Dude, I don’t mind if you answer the phone. Just look for my sunglasses while you’re on it!” AJ laughed.

I started to make another excuse, but he was already suspicious enough about our behavior. “Hello?”

“Hey, Brian. What’s up?”

“Nothing. Looking for AJ’s sunglasses.” Great, I was already dealing with one Backstreet Boy at the moment. Time to add another.

“Listen…”

“If it’s about today, I don’t really have the time to hear about it at the moment.”

He paused. “Actually, it’s not. Although believe me, all of us are going to be having a long conversation about it in the studio tomorrow.”

“Oh, I believe you,” I muttered.

“How can the group function if you and Nick…”

“Kevin,” I interrupted him. “What’d you call for?”

He sounded annoyed that I’d interrupted him, but his mood lifted when he got onto his next subject. “Well Kelly’s birthday is Saturday. She’s turning the big 3-0. Madeline wanted to throw her a surprise party, and I think it’s a great idea. We’re doing it at my place Saturday night at six.”

No, sounds like a bad idea, I thought. “Um, sure. Sounds great,” I said.

As if I hadn’t made enough of a fool of myself last time. She just… made me uneasy. I didn’t know what to say. Whenever Madeline looked at me with those eyes and that smile, I froze. I’d never felt like such a loser. Simply pah. Theh. Tic.

“You said AJ was there, too, right?”

I told Kevin that he was. I was to relay the message. “Alright, I’ll see you Saturday then.”

“We’ll be recording tomorrow…”

“You know what I meant.” I finally got him off the phone and told AJ about the party.

“Do we have to get her a present?”

“I guess.”

“I don’t know her that well. What do you think she wants for her birthday?”

I shrugged. “Get her candles or something. Girls like candles.”

“Brian, it’s a billion degrees outside.”

“Alright, get her some popsicles then!” I snapped, wanting a few moments of peace so that I could find the stupid sunglasses.

“Thanks for your help, Nick,” he said.

“Excuse me?” I paused my search and stared at him.

“Just kidding,” he raised his hands up. “See, this is what I’m talking about. You’re touchy lately.”

I didn’t answer. I spent another few minutes looking around the downstairs, as AJ continued to get frustrated.

“Look, I have some errands to run. If I come back this afternoon, do you think you can find it them by them?”

“Can’t you wear a different pair of sunglasses? I mean, it isn’t a big deal.”

“I’m sorry, Brian. Have you met me? I want that pair, not a pair. It makes all the difference in the world.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Keep looking.”

Which I did. Well, eventually. After AJ left I went to grab something to eat. I rummaged through Brian’s refrigerator first, but apparently he hadn’t found time to go grocery shopping lately. So I ran out to Subway and ate there. And… then I might have popped in the video game store that was next door to it for a little while.

I kept thinking about what Brian had said. I’d bailed out last time, so now he was going to quit? Right after he’d put us all back together? I felt guilty, even though half the stuff he was blaming me for wasn’t my fault. If Brian couldn’t get over me choosing my solo album over the group, then why had he bothered with this? When he’d decided it was time for us to record again, he should’ve thought everything through.

What would happen when he quit? Would the break be… permanent this time? They’d gone back into the studio without me, which still hurt more than they’d ever know, but I couldn’t imagine being there without him. Brian had been fun, in the older days. Before my betrayal, anyway. He was always making jokes and learning the lyrics faster than the rest of us because he was always singing.

The Backstreet Boys without Brian? That didn’t seem possible. But I didn’t see how the situation was going to get any better. I’d tried, whether he recognized my efforts or not. If we could’ve met me in the middle early on…

I didn’t know what I was going to tell AJ if he returned while I was gone, but he hadn’t called and I didn’t see his car when I pulled into Brian’s. I headed upstairs this time. I went to his bedroom. No sign of them. Bathroom? No sign of them, not that I had expected them to be there.

Finally, I headed into his office. After a few minutes, I found them stuffed behind some stuff on his desk.

“About freaking time,” I muttered.

I hadn’t wanted to spend the day taking a long tour of his home. I was about to leave the room again, when I noticed a CD tower next to his desk. The Backstreet Boy albums were together at the top of one row. Right below them?

Nick Carter: Now or Never.

I paused, nearly dropping the sunglasses. Brian had told me he hadn’t purchased the CD. And the time I’d mentioned I Got You, he said he’d never heard of it. I checked the CD to make sure that it had been opened.

It had been.

“Hey.”

I jumped and spun around.

“Sorry, the door was unlocked. You find them?”

“Yeah, AJ. Here,” I handed the sunglasses to him, praying that this was the right pair. He looked content. Phew.

“What were you looking at?” asked AJ, curiously.

“He bought my CD,” I said absent-mindedly.

“Which CD?”

“Now or Never.”

AJ stared at me. “That’s Nick’s CD. You didn’t remember owning it? Dude, you bought it the day it came out.”

I stared at him in surprise. “Really? I can’t believe Brian…”

“You are Brian!”

“Oh, right,” I snapped back into reality.

“You guys up here?” I heard a voice.

“Yeah,” I called, confused. Brian appeared in the door a few seconds later.

“What are you doing here?” AJ demanded.

“Umm… I came to talk to… Brian.”

AJ crossed his arms. I could tell that he wasn’t going to let it go this time. “You guys were fighting earlier! What are you two hiding from everybody? I’m tired of asking. This is getting ridiculous! If you don’t tell me, I’m going to buy you both a pair of white jackets, lock you in a room, and let Bye, Bye, Bye blast through speakers on repeat.”

I started to make up excuses again, but I couldn’t believe when Brian interrupted me.

“We switched bodies. I’m really Brian. That’s Nick right there.”

“Dude!” I exclaimed.

Brian shrugged. “What was I supposed to tell him?” He’d blabbed the secret, after we’d decided not to. That was something I normally would’ve been the one to do.

Although, I guess I hadn’t been pulling it off that well, either. Still, I hadn’t come out and said it. I deserved some credit for that. AJ would never have come to such an out of this world conclusion himself.

“What we’ve been telling him for the past week: lies!” I said.

AJ stared from one of us to the other. Finally, he said, “I don’t know whether to go ahead and order those jackets or just laugh.”

“I’m not lying. It’s true, AJ. That freaky skull thing you bought had some sort of magic.”

“Right. A little head I got on Ebay has magical powers,” he rolled his eyes. “I bought a gnome for my mom’s garden from the site just the other day. You going to tell me it’s actually one of the seven dwarves? It’s going to come alive and introduce himself as Happy or something?”

“No,” Brian looked at him like he was the one who was crazy. “Why would a gnome be one of the dwarves?”

Now he was really sounding like me. What a weird day.

“Nick, I think you’re missing the point!”

“No, you are. I’m Brian.”

“Right,” AJ said, clearly not believing a word of it. “Just forget it.” He started to march out of the room, but Brian blocked his path.

“How can I prove it to you?”

“You can’t prove something that isn’t real,” AJ said.

Brian thought about it for a moment. “Fine. Who’s the only person you’ve ever told about your golfing injury?”

AJ looked at him uncertainly. “Brian, but…”

“Yep. So only I would know that your one… side,” he nodded to a certain part of AJ’s body, “is lower than the other.”

“What?” I exclaimed. I looked back and forth between AJ and his crotch. “Eww!”

“Shut up, Nick!” he yelled. “I mean, Brian. I mean…” He returned his gaze to Brian, as if staring at Brian hard enough would reveal the truth to him. “Holy crap.”