~*~Brian’s point of view~*~

I’d borrowed some of Nick’s clothes so that I didn’t look like I shopped at yard sales. I’d also slammed my head getting into the car. This sudden growth spurt was going to give me a concussion.

“So, um, what do we do when we get the skull?” Nick asked.

“What do you think?” I tried to pull off an incredulous look, but failed.

Nick saw right through it. “You don’t know what we’re going to do?”

“Nick, contrary to popular belief, I have never switched bodies with you before! This wasn’t in the Backstreet manual, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to share!” I said sarcastically.

The car ride wasn’t too long, but this had been the most time we’d spent together, especially alone, in quite some time. And we were about ready to kill each other. Of course, if I murdered him at the moment, it would sort of be suicide.

The sun was shining, and the air wasn’t too humid. But the good weather was lost on us.

Nick was adjusting his seat forward. “Man, Brian, how do you reach anything?” He turned on the radio and started adjusting stations.

I decided to be the older, mature one and ignore that comment. This ordeal wasn’t exactly a picnic for me either.

“I was this tall when I was like in middle school,” he continued. A Journey song came on the radio, and he started singing along.

“Oh, wow!” I said, faking astonishment.

“What?”

“Listen to your voice! For the first time in your life, you can actually sing!” I said. “Wonder why that is… Oh, that’s right! You’ve got my voice right now.”

Nick glared at me but apparently couldn’t come up with a suitable comeback. Deciding I wasn’t done with the joke, I sang along with the chorus, making my voice as nasally as possible.

We finally made it to AJ’s house, and I rang the doorbell.

“Alright,” I said, “let’s do this. Maybe if we hold the skull, it’ll do something. I mean that’s all I was doing last time.”

“Had to pick up the skull, didn’t you, Brian?”

AJ had opened the door and was staring at Nick. “Talking to yourself?” he looked amused.

“Yeah, you know me. Just a little off,” Nick said.

I glared at him. He smiled and walked past me into AJ’s.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“Um,” I said, “just wanted to say hi.”

He glanced back and forth several times. “You two make up already?”

No, we simply turned into each other. I was reminded of yesterday again. “Yeah, we’re working on it. That’s why we dropped by. We can’t wait to get back in the studio and record together again. Just like old times. Right… Brian?”

He looked confused for a second. I elbowed him.

“Right, Nick!”

AJ raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Well that’s good to hear.” He went into a conversation he’d had with Kevin and Howie about the CD, but I wasn’t listening.

We’d walked into his living room, and I was searching. The skull was where he said it’d be: on the coffee table.

“Oh, this is what you had last night?” I interrupted him. I walked over to it and picked it up. I examined the skull more closely. Was this really what had caused this freak accident to occur? Now that I looked at it more closely, it was slightly smaller than a regular human skull. The eye sockets were smaller and closer together than I would have expected, too.

“What were you saying about skulls? Magical powers and whatnot?”

“Huh?” The question caught AJ off guard.

“You were saying stuff about the skull yesterday,” Nick joined in.

AJ was obviously wondering about our sudden interest in it. “Yeah, other cultures have different beliefs about them. Like in Mexico, they have the Day of the Dead. There’s a lot of skull merchandise with that. Like what we have with Halloween, although it’s more religious for them.”

“But you didn’t get this from Mexico,” I said. “You said South America.”

AJ nodded. “The dude I bought it from lives in Peru. I guess that’s where the skull’s from, too. I’m not really sure. I did it through this shop downtown.”

“What shop?” Nick asked him.

“I think I still have the card around here somewhere,” AJ shrugged.

I waited, but he didn’t seem to understand or belief our sudden interest. “Well, can we have the card?”

“Why? You going to get a skull of your own?” AJ laughed.

“Umm…” I remembered that I was, for all intense purposes, Nick at the moment. “Yeah. You know me. Skulls are very… rock star. It’ll help with a… cooler image.”

AJ gave me a look, but told us to hold on and went into his kitchen to find it.

“Rock star?” Nick asked me.

I shrugged.

AJ returned a moment later. “Here you go.”

“Thanks. I thought you said you got it on ebay?”

AJ sat down on the couch. “Yeah, but I don’t have my own account. They do it for you there and helped me find the one I wanted and everything. It’s a cool little store.”

I glanced at the card, and my heart sunk. They weren’t open on the weekends.

“So we were thinking of scheduling some studio time this week,” AJ continued to his original subject. “Just like a few hours to see what happens. What do you think, Rok?”

“Sounds great,” I responded, still looking at the business card and only half listening to him.

“I was asking him. You were there when we discussed it last night, man,” AJ laughed.

“Um, okay by me,” Nick said.

If any of the Backstreet Boys would’ve believed us about this cruel twist of fate, it would’ve been AJ. He was into the whole motif, after all. But there was a difference in interest in other cultures beliefs about skulls and actually believing that those beliefs were real. AJ would think it was some sort of practical joke on him for buying the skull. He barely believed that our interest in the skull was genuine.

“Well good,” AJ said. “The record company mentioned several demos that sounded promising.”

“Yeah, we’ll see what happens,” I said, faking interest. Music was the last thing on my mind right now. I picked up the skull again and stood next to Nick. I kept hoping it would shimmer. That some hocus pocus would occur.

But today it seemed like it was… simply a skull.

We made excuses about having to be “somewhere.” AJ was forced to accept our vague answers and waved us goodbye.

“You mean I have to be you for the rest of the weekend?” Nick groaned, once back in my jeep.

“Oh, and I was so looking forward to a 48-hour Nick Carterfest,” I rolled my eyes. I glanced at the clock. Two o’clock. Even Saturday afternoon was going by slowly. Tomorrow was going to be horrible.

I was so frustrated, I wasn’t paying attention to the speedometer. Who knows how much over the speed limit I was going when I saw the blinking lights of a cop car.

“Great,” I muttered.

Nick crossed his arms. “What are you worried about? I’m the one who has a freaking ticket now!”

“Oh yeah,” I said. I felt relieved. And then guilty. He was right; my mistake was going to be on his record. “Sorry!”

The cop started walking up to the car. “License and registration?”

I pulled the registration out of the glove box and handed him what he’d asked for.

The cop didn’t look amused. “Your license.”

“Oh. Right.” I turned to Nick, and he begrudgingly passed me his license.

The police officer went to his car and came back with the ticket. I made sure to follow the speed limit the rest of the way home.

“So Brian,” Nick said as he walked into his home, “if you could refrain from any more trouble with the law while you’re me, that would be great!”

“I said I was sorry!” And I meant it. Too bad he didn’t believe me.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a soda. He didn’t offer me one. “So now what?”

I shrugged, getting annoyed. “It’s your turn to come up with a plan. I’m all out until Monday, when we can check that place out.”

Nick didn’t say anything.

“So just lay low the rest of the weekend, okay?”

He tilted his head. “What gives you the right to tell me what to do? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m an adult now.”

The way he was acting, that sure fooled me. “We both have to until we get this whole mess sorted out.”

“What if we never get it worked out?”

“We will.”

“Well, I don’t feel like being you and sitting around with no life,” Nick said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded.

“Besides,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken, “payback wouldn’t hurt either.”

“Payback for what?”

This time he acknowledged my question. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess my materialistic rock star brain can’t remember. I’ll try to think of it as I’m driving downtown to pay my speeding ticket!”

“It’s just one ticket! I’ll give you the stupid money.”

“That’s not the point,” Nick said. He was being stubborn, and his rebuttal sounded like that of a three year old.

“Don’t be stupid, Nick.”

“And now I’m stupid?” he shouted.

“That’s not what I meant!”

“You know, I think I need a drink.”

“You’ve got one,” I gestured to his soda.

Nick sighed. “I mean a drink drink. In fact, I might go hit some clubs. Meet up with some girls. I hope people don’t think I’m a partier… Oh, wait! It’ll be perfect Brian of the Backstreet Boys having a wild night out on the town.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Wouldn’t I?” My mischievous smile was being used against me.

“Nick, seriously. I’m not going to go around ruining your image.”

“There’s nothing to ruin,” Nick smirked. Then he sighed. “Look, I’m not going to through myself in front of the paparazzi or anything. Promise.” He started heading up the stairs. “Geez, you act like I’m going to kick a kitten or something.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get changed.”

“Nick!” I yelled after him.

“Stop worrying. So Brian Littrell is about to get a little makeover? What’s so wrong with people thinking you’re still actually a fun person? It’s for the better. And it’s past time, if you ask me,” Nick smiled one last time before disappearing down the upstairs hallway.