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"Are you going to Nicks again this week-end?" Brittney asked Thursday morning as she and her step-sister sat at the table eating breakfast.
"Yea," Lee replied. "Probably."
"Who's this 'Nick' guy?" Her mother asked. "I don't think I know him."
"He's the guy I went to see last week-end," Ashley replied.
"The BSB and his little brother?" Their mother asked.
"Well, I'm just going to see the Back Street Boy."
"Brittney's not going with you?"
"I don't think so. Not unless she really wants to."
Brittney shook her head.
"Does this Nick guy live by himself or does he still live with his parents or with some friend?"
"He lives by himself although right now his little brother is staying with him."
"I don't know that I want you going over there by yourself, since you've only met him like one time."
"Mom, how else do you expect me to see him?"
"Can't you meet him in a public place like the mall or a restaurant or something?"
"We'd have to have bodyguards, we'd have fan's all over us and it's possible the press will jump to conclusions and say he's got a new girlfriend and it could just be a huge mess."
"Lee, I don't know. I don't want you going to his house by yourself."
"I could take Brittney with me. Would that be okay?"
"Yes. That would be okay."
"Is that okay with you Brittney?" Lee asked.
Brittney kind of wrinkled up her nose. "I suppose."
The doorbell rang. Nick went to go answer it and Lee followed him. By the time she got there the pizza guy had already left and Nick was holding the pizza's. "Finally! They're here." Lee sighed.
"I know. They were so slow. I'm starved." He walked over and put them on the table. "Aaron!!" He called. "Where are they?"
"I don't know. They might have gone outside." Lee replied. "I can go see." She walked over to the back door.
"Whatcha got?" Aaron asked.
Brittney put her cards down and smiled.
"Brittney, Aaron, the pizza's here," Ashley told them.
"Okay, we're coming." Brittney said.
Aaron quickly gathered up all of the cards after his loss and they got up. They walked in together and found the pizza on the table.
"Help yourselves then leave." Nick instructed.
"Nick," Lee chided, "Don't be mean. You can stay if you want to."
"Na," Aaron replied. "We can go play some more cards. If that's okay with you?" He looked at Brittney.
"Sure." She smiled at him.
"Okay," Lee said uneasily. Then she whispered to Brittney,"Really you could have stayed in here."
"That's okay."
"I'm just worried about you because you weren't real enthusatic about coming."
"I was really just indifferent."
"True. So you're doing okay?"
"Yea. I'm fine. Stop worrying about me." Britteny said as she followed Aaron back to the porch with her pizza and coke.
"Let's not start another card game for a minute while we eat," Aaron said.
"Okay," Brittney replied as she took a bite of pizza.
After eating for a few minutes in silence Aaron exclaimed: "Hey!! I have an idea."
"What?"
"Let's play truth or dare?"
"What?"
"Truth or dare!"
"I don't know. . ." Brittney said hesitantly.
"Come on. It'll be fun."
"I suppose we can."
"Okay. Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Alright, have you ever like had a crush on a celebrity?"
"No," Brittney replied. "I really haven't. I was a little jealous when I learned Ashley was talking to Nick, but I"ve never really had a crush on one."
"Not even me?" He asked acting like he was hurt.
"Nope. Now stop acting like you're hurt. Truth or Dare?"
"Dare," he said challengingly.
"Let me think. . .okay. . . you need the phone. Call somebody, randomly, and ask them how much they have ever done with a guy or girl depending on which it is. Then hang up."
"I don't get the listen to the answer?" He asked.
"Well, you can if you want to," she shrugged.
"I'll be right back," he said as he hopped up to get the phone.
Brittney sat outside by herself eating her pizza searching her heart for the truth. She was finding herself getting interested, but she couldn't tell if it was because of who he was or what is was. Lee was lucky in her opinion. She knew she liked Nick for who he was and she was 18. That meant she could do pretty much whatever she wanted.
Aaron came back out. "Okay," he smiled. He dialed. "Hello. . How much have you ever done with a guy?. ."He hung up the phone. "They hung up. Okay. Truth or Dare?
"Truth." Brittney said hesitantly.
"Okay. Do you or have you ever had a boyfriend?"
"Yes, I have, but no I don't right now."
Aaron just nodded.
"Okay. Truth or Dare."
"Truth."
"Can I ask you the same question?"
"Sure."
"Okay. Do you or have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"No. I don't and I haven't ever."
"You haven't ever?" She questioned shocked
"No. My life's been kinda different than yours. I mean. Nicks been famous for most of my life. I don't go to school. I don't actually talk to many kids my age much."
"That's so sad."
"There's no business like show business. anyway. Truth or Dare?"
"Um. . truth," She sighed.
"Okay. Hey, what's the most you've ever done with a guy?"
"Nothing. I haven't even ever held hands with one."
"You've had boyfriends, but never held hands with them?" Aaron questioned.
"No."
"Is there any particular reason for this?"
"Well, I mean, they've just never been serious boyfriends. Just people I see at school."
"What about talking on the phone?"
"Some of them."
"How many have you had?" He asked in amazement.
"Um, four."
”How long did you go out with any of them?"
"The longest was three months. Most of them were just crushes that my friends hooked me up with. They weren't serious."
"Oh, okay."
"Hey. You've asked me like a billion questions. It's my turn."
"You're right."
"Okay. Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Well, since I assume that since you've never had a girlfriend you've never done anything with a girl. Is that a true assumption?"
"Yea," he sighed.
"Okay. Have you ever had a crush on or done anything with a fan?"
"Yea. I have. I had a crush on a fan, but I've never done anything with one."
"You don't still have that crush on her do you?"
"No! that was a long time ago. She was like a lot of people, the second time I met her she wasn't quite like the first."
"Am I different this time?"
"Yea, but it's not a bad different..."
In the house Ashley and Nick sat talking about various things.
"Ashley," Nick said, "I feel like I hardly know anything about YOU. You don't have a boyfriend, do you?"
"No, no. I don't. You don't, do you?"
"No, no. I don't. Who did you expect to be calling you when I first called?"
"This guy I had met at a part a couple of times that I had given my phone number to."
"What happened to him?"
"I haven't seen him since."
"So he never called you?"
"No. That's okay. It wasn't that important.
"Good. Hey, do you want to go for a walk?"
"On the beach? Sure. Just remember, we have to be home by 11."
"What time is it now?"
She looked at her watch. "Goodness. It's only 9. I figured it was later."
"I don't think we're going to spend over 2 hour walking.” Nick smiled.
"Okay. You wanna ask Brittney and Aaron?'
"Do we have to? I want it to be just us."
"Nick," Ashley explained. "I feel bad. I mean, Brittney had to come so I could, so I suppose I'm just sorta worried about her."
"Aaron's a nice guy. He won't do nothin' bad."
"I know he won't and neither will you, but still."
"I suppose we can offer."
"Nick, I have a question."
"What?"
"Do you ever have girlfriends that you just go out with and never tell the press about?"
"No. I would feel bad if I lied to them for long. But it's usually several months before I tell the press about any girl."
"Okay. Are we going?" She questioned as she stood up."
He stood up too and they walked outside together. "We're going for a walk on the beach. If you want to you can come for one too." Nick told Aaron and Brittney.
"Maybe in a little while." Brittney replied as their older siblings walked on.
"Don't worry about her, Ashley." Nick said after looking at the worry on her face. "My little brother's a pretty honorable guy. She's safe in his hands."
"Nick," Lee sighed. "She told me she didn't like him. Not like that anyway."
"And he told me that he didn't like her. So they're friends and nothing more. There's nothing wrong with a girl and a guy being friends is there?"
"No. There isn't. You're right. There's nothing to be worried about."
"Nope. Not a thing. All we have to do right now is enjoy each other's company while walking on the beach together at sunset."
"I think I can handle that."
"So can I," he smiled looking down at her.
"Have you talked to Ashley Smith again?" Lee asked.
"Not since I got amused by getting both sides of your argument."
"Was us amusing?"
"Quite."
"I thought it was stupid."
"From what you said it was very odvous that she had made it all up."
"She changed her story every five minutes!" Lee exclaimed.
"Did you know that was who I was trying to call the first time I called you."
"Yea. She came to school and told everybody that you had asked for her phone number, but we all thought she was lying."
"She was."
"What?"
"She was lying. She asked me if I wanted her phone number and I was just nice enough and taken in by her hotness enough to say yea."
"So you didn't even want to see her again?"
"I did, but I wouldn't have asked. It is extremely rare that we go out with fans. We usually go out with other celebrities."
"I'm not either of those."
"I know. you have to be mean and not like our music."
She didn't reply.
"Aren't you going to say anything about that?"
"No comment."
"Alright then. No. Seriously, Lee. Can you stand our music?"
"I can stand it."
"Why don't you like it?"
"Different people like different types of music."
Brittney and Aaron still sat up on the porch playing truth or dare.
"Truth or dare?" Aaron asked.
"Truth," Brittney replied.
"You have to do a dare sometime."
"It wont be anything bad will it?"
"No," Aaron replied casually.
"Okay. Dare." Brittney sighed.
"Go skinni-dipping with me."
"What?"
"Go skinny-dipping."
"Skinny-dipping? With you?"
"Sure!"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Because."
"I'm just kidding Brittney."
"I'm not going skinny-dipping."
"You don't have to."
"I'm just not."
"Okay."
"You can't make me."
"I don't want to."
"What?" Brittney asked confused.
"I don't want to make you go skinny-dipping," Aaron said slowly."
"But you said you did."
"Well, I don't."
"How come?"
"I never did."
"Then why did you tell me that?"Brittney interrogated.
"It was a joke, Brittney," Aaron sighed. "come on. Let's go for a walk."
"It was a joke?"
”Yea."
”Oh, I suppose that's kinda funny. Even though it wasn't very nice."
"Oh, Brittney," Aaron half laughed getting to his feet and pulling Brittney up. "You're crazy, you know that?"
"I'm not crazy,"she replied very seriously. "I'm quite normal. I think it is you who is crazy."
"Me?" Aaron asked. "I'm not crazy! You're crazy."
"No, you are."
"No, you are."
"No, you are."
"No, you are."
"I'm not crazy," Brittney stoutly denied.
"We're both crazy."
"No. Neither of us are crazy."
"That works too, I suppose."
"It's dark, " Brittney complained. "I can't see."
"Are you scared of the dark?"
"No. It's not that. I'm just worried I'm gonna step on something."
"You are not going to step on anything and even if you do it won't hurt because you are wearing shoes."
"But I might step in the water."
"Will that hurt you?"
"Yes. I'm so sweet that if I get wet I"ll melt."
"Oh, shut-up!"
"What if I don't want to?"
"Then I'll make you."
"You can't make me do anything I don't want to."
"I can and I will."
"I wanna see that!"
"You do?" Aaron questioned doubtingly.
"I don't know. What are you going to do to me?"
"I could kiss you. That would shut you up."
"You have to get me first." She laughed.
He reached for her but she ran off. He chased her and chased her until final when she was so tired she couldn't run anymore that she stopped.
"I've caught you!" He exclaimed breathing hard. "Now I get to kiss you."
"I'll shut up," she begged.
”Nope. Won't do. I'll just have to kiss you. That'll keep you quiet for longer than if you just told me you'd be quiet." He said moving closer until they were almost hugging.
Brittney's heart pounded and she couldn't breath. She didn't know that she would be unhappy if she got her first kiss from him. She knew lots of girls that would die for a chance to be kissed by Aaron Carter, but she wasn't like them. To her, this wouldn't be a kiss form Aaron Carter the famous singer, but Aaron Carter - the guy...she...knew...