The Story is now called "Just To Be Close To You!" * At AJ’s House, him and his girlfriend, Christy, are talking. It’s June 15, the Backstreet Boys are about to embark on yet another world tour in a month * Christy lay sprawled on AJ’s couch. She was tired after attending another of AJ’s recording sessions. Things seemed to be getting tenser by the minute between the couple. It seemed every time Christy just wanted to go out with AJ, he was busy with the new album or he was tired. She was getting tired of everything, the press would follow her places, her and AJ would always be photographed together whenever they went out, the next morning the picture would be in the papers. She found it difficult to live her life like that and didn’t know how much longer she could continue. Then there was AJ himself, he was a wonderful guy. She would always love him but things seemed different between them lately. Christy guessed it was because he was about to go on another world tour. He seemed to have a habit of breaking up with his girlfriend at the time, before he left for tour. Just then AJ walked in with a can of coke in his right hand and a beer in his left. “I brought you a coke, would you like it?” AJ asked Christy who now sat up slightly. “Sure, thanks Age.” Christy replied, took the can from his hand, opened it and took a sip. “We need to talk” AJ said solemnly. “Yeah I was just thinking about ‘us’ now” Christy agreed. “I love you Christy, you know that, You will always have a place in my heart, but things seem different between us now, I don’t know if it’s because you’ve changed or I have or we both have or it could just be the stress of the upcoming tour but whatever it is, things are different now... so I think we should see other people for a while, and if we get back together sometime on the future that would be great.... but for now I think it’s better if we take some time apart.” AJ said somewhat sadly,he had to stop a few times and take a deep breath to maintian his composure, he had been thinking about breaking up with her for a while now but could never find the right time to do it. As much as he knew it was best for them both if they were apart, he still really did love her, he had meant every word he said and she knew it. “I know, I’ve been thinking the same thing and as hard as it is for me to say... I agree.” Christy said softly as she fought back tears. AJ got up, he walked to the couch and pulled her on her feet, He then hugged her, it was their good-bye hug and they both knew it. Christy couldn’t help the tears that rolled down her face, AJ managed to contain his but you could see his eyes were watery. “Even though were no longer together, I’m here for you anytime you need me just call” AJ whispered in her ear as they rocked lightly back in fourth, holding each other close. “I know, same goes for me, thank you AJ, for everything” Christy said as she finally broke the hug and pulled away. AJ wiped the tears off her cheek with his thumb. Christy got together all her stuff she had at AJ’s and left later that night. AJ lay alone for the first time in the last 3 months. He couldn’t sleep, he thought about his life, the upcoming tour, Christy and other things. He was excited about the tour because performing was his favorite thing to do, but he had a lot to get organized, leaving for 3 months was a long time. * June 16, Saturday, the first audition to be a dancer for the BSB on their upcoming tour. * There were over two hundred people in the huge Orlando studio. Some had come from as far as Canada or Mexico to try out for a spot on this prestigious tour. The competition was stiff. Most of the people were between 17 and 30. You had to be 18 to tour, but if you turned 18 in the next 2 months then you were allowed to audition. Early that day Fatima, the choreographer, had broken everyone into groups of about 20. She showed them all a 5 minute routine. They then had a couple hours to practice it. Eventually she watched each group perform there routine, she called over the ones that she thought had potential and said good-bye to those who didn’t. Finally after 8 hours there were 20 dancers that remained. They all sat on the floor, exhausted after a long day of practice and audition. “O.K. you all did a fantastic job today! It wasn’t easy, I know, but that’s the way this business is, here’s the deal, I need 10 dancers to go on tour, 5 girls, 5 guys. But in case anything happened to any of the on tour dancers, I want 10 back-ups. So all of you will attend practice and get paid for the next month, then at that time I will select the 10 best to practice with the boys for another month then go on tour, whereas the remaining 10 will be backups. Do you all understand?” Fatima asked them. A collective ‘yeah’ came from the group. “Alright guys you wan go home now, I suggest you get a good night’s sleep cause I want to see you all here again at 9 am.” Fatima said then dismissed them. * 1 month later, at the dance studio* All right, first of all I would just like to congratulate all of you on your excellent work thus far, you should all be very proud of yourselves, but now I am sorry because your all great, I have to pick 10 and say good-bye to 10 of you. So to those of you who aren’t picked, there’s still a chance you may get called and I’m sure you’ll find many other opportunities because your all great dancers. O.K. here goes: I’ll start with the guys names first, those of you who aren’t picked can pick up your checks on the way out, in no particular order: Shaun, Brad, Tyler, Justin and Greg your in so come over here” Fatima said as she checked there names off on a list then asked them if they had any reasons why they couldn’t be on tour out of the country for the next 3 months, they all said no, she handed them a contract to look over and sign, they were all extremely happy, everyone knew this was the chance of a lifetime! “O.K. and now for the girls: Kim, Natalie, Taylor, Emily and Lauren your in, come over here, to the rest of you I’m sorry!: Fatima said. All the girls jumped up and down and hugged each other. Fatima asked the same thing to them as she had to the guys, then handed them the contract. “all right guys congratulations to all of you, your all fantastic, so go home, relax, get a good night’s sleep and come here tomorrow for 10 am where you’ll have your first practice with the guys!” Fatima said. Lauren was extremely excited. She had liked the Backstreet Boys for the last 2 years. But had never meet them, she knew this was the opportunity of a life time. Her newest thought was: what to wear!?! Lauren woke up at 8am the next morning. She showered then got dressed. She wore her favorite gray sweats, they were baggy and flared at the bottom, she put on her Nikes and a black tank top, over that she threw on a gray sweatshirt. She pulled her red with brown hi-lighted hair back into a ponytail. They were dancing all day it’s not like she could dress up! She packed some stuff in her purse. Ate breakfast, grabbed her keys and drove to the studio. She was incredibly nervous at meeting AJ McLean the man she’d adored for the past two years. She was the first dancer there! And unbelievably, to her luck, Fatima was standing around with all the guys. Fatima called to her. “Hey Lauren come over here so I can introduce the guys to you!” Fatima called. “Yeah like I don’t know who they are already!” Lauren called and laughed. “Fine, I’ll rephrase that, so I can introduce YOU to the guys, is that better!?!” Fatima yelled and laughed. “Yeah, O.K.!” Lauren replied. “O.K. guys this is Lauren, she’ll be on tour with you guys for the next 3 months!” Fatima said. The guys were standing in a row, they all shook her hand, except AJ who was last in line, he gently took her hand and kissed the top of it. She shivered lightly at his touch and blushed. “I look forward to working with you!” AJ said as he looked into her eyes. “Believe me so do I!” Lauren replied quickly, then blushed again, thinking maybe she replied too quickly! The rest of the dancers arrived, and they started rehearsal. The morning went great, everyone seemed to be catching on to the dance steps. Fatima released everyone for lunch, an hour later everyone was sitting down on the floor, waiting for some announcement Fatima said she had to make. Lauren was quite awed by how the ‘boys’ had acted all morning, she always knew they were only human but she never believed it until now. They engaged in casually conversation with everyone, they sat on the floor with everyone else and they screwed up the moves just like everyone else! “O.K. Guys, and by that I mean: Shaun, Brad, Greg, Tyler and Justin, you can go home now cause I want to work on a routine between the ‘boys’ and girls! So I’ll see you at 5am on mon, have a great weekend. Now for you girls I'm going to pair you up, so hmm... let’s see your tallest so Natalie you go with Nick, Taylor your with Kevin, Emily you go with Brian, Kim with Howie and finally Lauren you with AJ.” Fatima said. She showed them a dance routine. Lauren’s favorite part was wear AJ would flip her onto his shoulder, she would straddle his shoulders then fall backwards and hold onto his waist so that she could end up standing behind him. Luckily for her this routine involved a lot of contact and touching! Fatima sent them off into separate rooms to practice there routines. “I was hoping I’d get paired with you!” AJ said while breathing heavily from dancing. He said this as he tried to do the flip her over his shoulders move. “Oh my god, ahh” Lauren called out as she fell to the ground because AJ had screwed up the move and dropped her. “Oh are you O.K.? I’m so sorry! I was kinda distracted and well, damn, sorry!” AJ apologized and helped her up. “It’s O.K. I’m fine and I’m really glad I got partnered up with you to, even though you do drop me! hehe” Lauren replied and laughed. The two laughed and talked awhile longer, and then practiced there routine so more. Eventually they had gotten it done pretty good, so they decided to quit for the afternoon. “Hey, before you leave, I was wondering since it’s Friday, I know it’s short notice but would you like to go out tonight?” AJ asked her. Lauren couldn’t believe, the man she had admired forever was asking her out. “Would this be like a date Mr. McLean?” Lauren asked. “Well, it doesn’t have to be but if you want yeah,... it would be a date.” AJ said somewhat bashfully. “Well then, in that case, I’d love to go on a date with you AJ!” Lauren replied and smiled. AJ smiled back at her as if relieved she’d said yes, he grabbed her hand and looked at her. She squeezed his hand as to confirm to him that she liked what he was doing. “O.K. well how about I pick you up at 7?” AJ asked. “Yeah O.K., sounds perfect!” Lauren exclaimed. They then exchanged numbers and Lauren gave him her address. * 6 and a ½ hours later! * Lauren sat on her couch waiting for AJ to arrive. She had on black ribbed flare pants with a silver shirt. The shirt was made of shiny silver material, it was a plain piece of material at the front and then it had ties that tied at the neck and around her back. But other than the ties her back was bare. Then she brought along a black ribbed cardigan in case it got cool outside. Just then the moment she had been awaiting for arrived! Her door bell rang. She took a deep breath, got up and went to answer the door.