October, 2000
Sarah looked at her friend pleadingly, "Britt, please! You can help me - I have to meet him!"
Brittany sighed, "Sar, how am I going to help you meet Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys? I'm just a 21 year old chick. I don't know anyone."
"You don't know anyone?" Sarah gasped. Sometimes her friend could be really ... clueless. "Brittany, your brother's famous!"
"Famous?!" Brittany scoffed, looking towards the staircase in the direction of her brother's bedroom. "He's a baseball player."
"Britt, he's Derek Jeter, shortstop for the New York Yankees. He's famous, okay? Trust me. You just don't feel like he is 'cause he's your big brother and to you that's all he's ever been."
"And what is Derek supposed to do for you?"
"Britt, isn't Der opening a club with that Lance guy from NSync??" she paused as her best friend nodded. "Then he can get me to Nick somehow! If you have connections with one boy band, you have connections with all of them."
Brittany sighed before laughing, "Isn't Justin good enough?"
"No!!"
"Fine ... I'll talk to Derek."
~ * ~
"Hey, Jeter," Brittany greeted her half-brother as he walked into the kitchen while she was cooking dinner.
Brittany and Derek shared a house in Tampa, Florida, but she had the house to herself during baseball season (which was often), when he lived in Manhattan. "What's up?"
"Nothing much," he stepped over to her and kissed her cheek, peeking over her shoulder at the stove, "What's for dinner, sis?"
"Pasta."
Derek nodded and grabbed the orange juice from the refrigerator. "Sounds good. Did Alex call while I was upstairs?" He was of course talking of his best friend, Alex Rodriguez, who had just recently left the Seattle Mariner's for the Texas Rangers (BLAH!) for a ten-year, two hundred fifty-million dollar contract.
"Yeah, I told him not to call here anymore."
Derek smiled, knowing his little sister was joking. Brittany and Alex were as close as close could be, having actually dated at one point in time. "Ohhh, how I've missed your sarcasm," he grinned at her.
"I've missed you too," she laughed and gave him a hug.
Baseball season had recently ended, so Derek had just gotten home from Manhattan. Brittany had of course gone to visit him over his time of absence, but she had a job and was going to college in Florida and wasn't able to see him very often. "No, seriously though, we talked for a bit and then I told him you would call him back later."
Derek nodded and got two plates from the cupboard, "I'll call after dinner. You know how we were against the Mariner's in the World Series? Olerud, Gipson, and Edgar told me to tell you 'hi' and they were asking how you were doing. They say they 'miss their little Jeter.'"
"Oh that was sweet!" Brittany smiled, tossing the salad with her hands. "I'll have to give them all a call to say hi."
"Yeah," her brother leaned against the counter, facing her with a smirk playing across his face. "Well, guess who else asked how you were doing," he rose his eyebrows up and down.
Brittany felt the blush creeping to her face as Derek laughed at her. She glared at him, "We're friends, Jeter."
"Uh huh, sure. That's why you blush every time I mention his name! 'Freddy,'" he whispered in her ear, cracking up as her face turned brighter. "You are so sprung. Freddy Garcia is the only man you can think of. I see it!"
"Jeter, shut up. You're mean. Speaking of crushes, Der. I need your help with something."
"You want me to book a hotel room for you and Garcia so you can have his baby?"
"Arghhh!! I'll talk to you during dinner."
~ * ~
Brittany glanced up at her brother as they ate dinner, twenty minutes later. He had finally finished teasing her about her baseball crush, Freddy Garcia, and now it was time for her to ask him for that favor for Sarah.
"Jeter? Have you ever met the Backstreet Boys before?"
"Ran into them in a few clubs, so yeah I guess so. Why?" he looked at her warily. "What is it you want this time, Ritt?"
She sighed, "It's actually not for me. It's for Sarah - you see, her 21st birthday is coming up-"
"Her birthday isn't until December."
"Fine! You don't have to be such a jerk about it!"
Derek laughed, "Defensive much? Just tell me what she wants, be honest about it, and if I want to do it I will, if I don't I won't."
"All right. She wants you to get her connections to meet Nick Carter."
He looked at her for a bit, leaning back in his chair, "Look, Little Jeter, she's a beautiful girl, but what am I s'posed to do? Go up to Nick, 'Hey, man, I know I don't really know you, but I want to fix you up with my little sister's best friend'?"
"Sounds good to me!"
"I don't think so, Ritt."
"Derek!!"
"Brittany!!"
Brittany groaned, "Look, isn't there anything you can do?"
"How 'bout this ... you bring her to the opening of the club, and I'll make sure that the Backstreet Boys are invited."
"And you'll make sure they come," Brittany looked at him hopeful for a positive reaction.
Derek sighed, "Yeah ... that too ... I guess."
