"Eight...nine," Kimberly said as two more couples passed by. "We are so pathetic," she said laughing.

"Yeah, I know."

Counting couples was something the two girls had been doing since the eighth grade. They were now both nineteen and had been friends since the second grade. Since then they had dragged three other girls in to join they're group. Darla, Ashlee, and DaLena, had come along and now all five were best friends.

"Come on. We better go meet everyone. I don't want them to get mad like last time," Kimberly said walking towards the mall exit.

"Yeah, I know. I thought Lena was gonna bite our heads off!" Amy said laughing.

"Where are they?" Darla asked looking at her watch.

"They're always late," Ashlee replied.

"I swear Amy's going to be late for her own funeral," Lena added.

Just then they walked through the door.

"Where have you been?" Ashlee asked.

"Sorry, we've been at the mall," Amy stated.

"Well. Can you guys try to be on time every once in a while?" Darla asked aggitated.

"Sorry," Amy said rolling her eyes.

"Okay, well let's just discuss the trip," Kimberly said trying to change the subject.

They were planning a trip to California. They were gonna drive from the East to the West coast. Once they got there they were gonna spen all summer there and in different states coming back.

"Okay, so we're taking mine and Darla's cars and we'll switch off with who rides with who?" Kimberly asked making sure she had it all straight.

"Right," Darla answered.

"Okay, see you in a couple of days," Kimberly said walking out the door.

"Bye."

"Okay, are we packed?" Darla asked closing the trunk to her car. She was in an unusually good mood.

"Yep," Kimberly answered. "Whose riding with who?"

"I'm riding with you," Ashlee said getting in the passenger side of Kimberly's mint green Volkswagon Beetle. Then Amy and Lene got in Darla's blue Mustang Convertable.

"Are we ready?" Kimberly yelled to Darla.

"Yep."

"Okay," Kimberly said as she turned on her engine. She followed Darla down the road.

"Turn on the radio," Kimberly said to Ashlee not liking to take her hands off the wheel. She wasn't a very confident driver.

"Okay..Oh!" She turned it up when it was "Quit Playing Games," an older song of they're favorite group.

That's how Ashlee, Darla, and Kimberly had became close friends. They all shared a love for the Backstreet Boys. They used to be completely obsessed, but since have calmed down a bit, but they still love the songs and use they're old inside jokes.

"Those were the good old days," Kimberly said laughing at how they used to be. She could still remember Darla at the concert in Lexington,as she looked for hr camera in the trunk, "Sadly these will be the best days of our lives."

"I know. I still think Nick is the hottest guy I've ever seen though," Ashlee replied thinking of old pictures.

"Yeah, I know. That hair." They both sighed, then cracked up laughing.

"Wow, this is like in the middle of nowhere," DaLena said looking around.

"Yeah, but it's a nice beach," Ashlee replied.

"Yeah."

"It's weird. You know the beach still reminds me of Nick," Kimberly said laughing.

"Oh for Pete's sake," Darla mummbled.

"Me too," Ashlee stated.

They checked in, grabbed they're bags and headed towards they're rooms.

"I'll be by myself this time," Kimberly said.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Okay."

Kimberly went into her room and threw her stuff on the bed. Then she heard "Oh my gosh, Kimberly, come here!"

She ran to Lena and Amy's room. "What is it?"

They showed her something really weird that they called "generc" in they're hotel room. She wasn't sure what they were talking about though.

"We're going to that little restraunt we saw on our way in. Are you guys coming?" Darla asked peeking into Amy and Lene's room.

"Yeah," Amy and Lena both replied.

"What about you?" Darla asked Kimberly.

"No, I want to straighen up my room, besides I don't think I'd like anything there," she said laughing. She watched the others leave then went back to her room.

When she got to the door, she discovered that she had left her key in her room. She went to the front desk to see if they had another copy but no one was there. She went back to her room and then it started to poor. Finally, she remembered seeing a connecting door in her room. Maybe if she knocked on the room next door the person might be nice enough to let her go through. She decided to take a chance considering she didn't like getting wet in her clothes.

She knocked on the door and at first there was no answer. She almost gave up when suddenly it opened.

"Yes?" asked a guy with blond hair.

When she realized who it was she almost lost it. The first thing that went through her mind was if this had been a few years ago I would have either fainted or started bawling. I definatly would have screamed. Luckily, she didn't do any of that.

"Um, I got locked out of my room and there was no one at the front desk. I saw that we had connecting doors, and I was wondering if I could go through?" she managed to get out calmly.

"Oh, sure," he said smiling.

"Thanks a lot," she replied. "My name is Kimberly," she said offering her hand.

"Nick," he said returning the hand shake. "Where are you from?"

"Well...your gonna laugh," she said embarrased of her state that was still thought of as the western part of Virginia.

"No I won't," he said with that smile.

"Okay, West Virginia."

He laughed, "Man, that's worse than Brian," he said not thinking.

"Brian?"

"Oh..um...my friend. He's from Lexington, Kentucky."

"Oh well, I don't live too far from there about two hours, and yes even though I'm not wearing them now, I do wear shoes!"

He laughed. "I would hope so!"

Just then someone walked through the door. "Hey Nick, will you...Hello, who's this?" the guy said seeing Kimberly.

"Um, this is Kimberly. She's staying next door. She got locked out so she's going in through the connecting door."

"Oh."

"Kimberly this is my friend, A..Alex," Nick said catching himself.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," AJ said shaking her hand.

There was a short pause.

Then, "Well, I better go," Kimberly said turing towards the door.

"Okay, well I guess I'll see you around," Nick said looking kind of disappointed she had to leave.

"Yeah," she replied smiling.

"Let me know if you need help with anything else, or decide to lock yourself out in the rain again," he said laughing.

She laughed. "Don't worry you'll be the first one I call. Same to you."

He laughed. "Okay. See ya."

"Bye."

She walked trough the door. "Oh my gosh. This is so weird," she thought. "I would have totally freaked a few years ago, but he's just like a normal person. (A really hot normal person)," she said laughing to herself. "I have to tell everyone. Wait I can't. They'll make a big deal out of it, and I don't want him to know I used to be a big fan. Not yet...Uh, like he's gonna wanna see me again anyway. I mean all I did was go through the connecting door and talk to him for a couple minutes. "Oh please God," she prayed, "let me get to talk to him once more without looking desperate. He seems so nice and he's real. He's really here. Thank you for everything. Amen."

She didn't know what God had in mind for her, but when people say that prayers aren't anwsered or they take a really long time to be, they're wrong. Just then they're was a knock on the connecting door.

She answered it. "Hey," she said as she saw Nick standing there in a t-shirt and swimming trunks.

"Um..I was going down to the beach and I was wondering if you had a towl I could borrow. Alex like used all of ours, and still there's no one at the front desk."

"Oh sure. You know they really need to do something about that," she said turning to go get a towel.

"Yeah, they do."

"Here ya go," she said handing it to him.

"Thanks."

"Sure...I think I'm gonna go down in a minute."

"Oh, well do you want to go down together? I mean unless you want to be by yourself or something."

"No, that would be fun, if you don't mind waiting on me to put on my swim suit?"

"No, not at all."

"Okay, I'll be right back." She grabbed her suit and headed toward the bathroom.

"Um," Nick started.

"What?" she asked noticing that his eyes had grown wider. She had on a dark green and blue bikini and a long wrapp around tied around her waste which almost matched Nick's shirt.

"Nothing. Are you ready?"

"Yep." She followed him out the door.

"Can you swim?" Nick asked taking off his T-shirt.

"Yeah," she said looking at him. He looked so cute!

"Okay, then come on," he said as he jumped into the water.

"In the ocean?" she said surprisingly cause she had only stood in it where it came to her waste.

"Yeah, I do it all the time."

"Well, is it safe?"

"Would I take you somewhere that wasn't?"

"I don't know. We just met."

"Well, it is come on."

"Okay," she said as she followed him, but she could tell it wasn't going to be easy.

"Whoa," Kimberly said as she looked back at how far they had gone.

"Yeah, isn't it weird from out here?"

"Yeah, all you can hear are the waves."

"Yeah, have you ever been on a boat before?"

"Yeah, like a big boat not a sail boat yet not a ship."

"Well, do you want to go on my boat?"

"Sure."

"Okay, then we better head back."

"Okay, but I think I'm gonna collapse," she said laughing.

"Come here."

"What are you.."

"I'll carry you on my back."

"Nick, I don't want you to..," but before she could say anything else he took off.

"Can you make it stop going up and down?"

Nick laughed. "Um..not really are you getting sea sick? Cause we can go back if.."

"No I'm fine."

"Look," Nick said pointing towards the sunset.

"Wow, it's so pretty."

"Beautiful," he said looking at her. Then realizing what he did laughed. Kimbely laughed too. "It really is beautiful. I love watching the sun rise and set on the ocean," he said softly

"Yeah, me too." As they spoke they leaned closer together. Finally there lips touched. As he wrapped his arms around her waist, Kimberly forgot the rest of the world existed. At last they pulled away.

"Well, I better go. My friends will wonder where I am," she whispered.

"Okay. I'll drive the boat back in," he said sadly.

They reached the shore.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your room?" Nick asked.

"That would be nice, but I'm gonna go to the restraunt my friends went to."

"Well, do you want me to walk with you there?"

"No, that's okay."

"Okay," he said confused.

"I just don't want them to see me with you."

"Um..ok," he said looking even more confused.

"It's not you. It's just, well, I haven't many boyfriends or anything and I know if they saw us together they'd make a big deal out of it."

"Which isn't a lie. They would. I just didn't mention the fact that I haven't told him I know who he is yet....But, then again, he hasn't told me who he is yet either."

"Oh, it's okay. I understand."

"Good."

"Well, I guess I'll go back and play Nintendo."

She laughed. "Nintendo. I miss that. I haven't played in years."

"Well, knock on my door when you get back and we can play. If you want."

"Okay, I will."

They kissed quickly. She smiled. "Bye."

"Bye," he said walking towards the hotel.

On her way to the restraunt, she was sure she had died and gone to Heaven, but when she arrived her friends were there and everything seemed normal. She was dying to tell them. Especially, Ash and Darla because they had been obsessed too.

"So what have you been doing?" Ashlee asked her.

"Um..nothing much."

"Girl, you should have been here. There was this guy and he was so...," Amy went on with her story, but Kimberly wasn't listening. All she was thinking about was Nick. "...You should have been here."

"Sorry."

"Twenty-six," Amy said looking at two people walk in the door.

"Twenty-six?" Kimberly asked amazed. They hadn't counted that high in a long time.

"Um hm."

"Goodness."

"Well, I'm getting tired. Are you guys ready to go?" Darla asked.

"Yeah." They paid and left.

"Come in our room for awhile," Darla invited Kimberly.

"I will tomorrow. I'm really tired," she lied wanting to play Nintendo with Nick.

"Well, okay. Good night."

"Good night." She went into her room (this time having not forgot her key), changed her clothes and fixed her hair, and then knocked on the connecting door.

"Hey," he said as he opened it.

"Hey."

"So do you still wanna play Nintendo?" he asked laughing.

"Yeah, what game are we gonna play?"

"Well, that's up to you. What kind of games do you like?"

"I don't know. Nothing violent."

"Okay, how about this?"

She had no idea what it was so she just agreed.

"Goodness, my fingers hurt," Kimberly said after playing five differet games, which of course Nick won each time.

"Yeah, I'm getting tired too...I beat you," he said smiling.

"I let you win."

"Sure you did."

"Hmph," Kimberly said crossing her arms, then they both started laughing.

Then there was silence. She looked up into his eyes and they moved closer together. Then there it was again, Heaven on Earth. As she put her arms around his neck and he put his around her waist, she couldn't even remember thinking of him as Nick Carter the Backstreet Boy. All she could remember was last night and all she could think about was how wonderful it felt to be in his arms. Then, unfortunatly, the door opened and AJ (Alex) walked in.

"Hey, I...Oops."

"Hi, Alex," Kimberly said embarrassed.

"Hi, sorry, I'll leave..."

"No, that's okay. I should be leaving now anyway. It's getting really late," she said getting up off the floor.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she said as Nick got up to say good-bye.

"Let me walk you to your door," Nick said smiling.

"Oh thank you. It's so far away." She said sarcastically. They laughed.

"When can I see you again?" Nick asked.

"Tomorrow."

"I'll meet you by those rocks we saw at eight."

"Okay. See you then." They kissed quickly and she went back to her room.

"Arg," Kimberly grunted as she turned off her alarm clock. Then she remembered why it woke her up. She smiled and got up. She got in the shower and all she could think about was seeing Nick. Was this really the same guy she had been obsessed with a few years before?

She dried her hair and got dressed. She picked out her favorite outfit. It made her look slim and she thought it would be perfect.

"Okay, time to go," she said to herself opening her door.

"Hey, where are you going?" Darla asked as Kimberly walked out of her room.

"Um..just down to the beach for a little while. I want to get sea shells before it gets too..crowded," Kimberly said stuttering.

"You know you havn't spent much time with us lately."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I just want to be by myself."

"Okay?" Darla went back inside.

"Shew that was close," Kimberly said to herself.

She walked to the rocks, but Nick was nowhere to be found.

"I figured he'd be late," she said to herself. Just then she was surprised by someone putting their arms around her waste. Of course it was Nick. "Finally," she said like she had been waiting for hours.

"Sorry, I had to stop to get something on my way," he said kissing her neck.

"What?" she asked.

"Nosy aren't we?" Kimberly smiled. "I stopped to get this." He handed her two tickets for a tour of the beach she'd been wanting to go on.

"Who's the other one for?" she asked innocently.

"Well, one's for me and I was going to take a certain girl, but I dunno who," he said smiling.

"Err," she laughed. "So when do we go?"

"Who said it was you?" he said innocently.

She pushd him playfully.

Now."

He took her hand and pulled her to where the tour began.

"Oh my gosh," Kimberly said quickly and trying to hide behind Nick.

"What is it?" he asked confused.

"Nothing just don't move."

"But the line's moving we have to." Nick moved forward, but Kimberly did her best to hide behind him.

"Oh..my..gosh," Ashlee said.

"What is it?" asked Lena.

"That is Nick Carter," she said amazed her old obsession was standing in front of her.

"Oh snap," Amy said knowing how much she and Kimberly used to love him.

"Where is Kimberly? She really needs to be here," Lena said.

"Yes..She does," replied Ashlee. "It looks like there's a girl hiding behind him." she said laughing.

"Yeah it does," Darla said with a weird look on her face.

Ashlee moved trying to see the girl better."She looks a lot like Kimberly, but I can't see her face," she said laughing.

Darla moved to see too. "That is Kimberly." All four mouths opened wide.

"With Nick? Are you sure?" Ashlee asked.

"Yes, that's what she was wearing when she left today."

"What on....Well, we have to go talk to her," Ashlee said quickly. "Why didn't she tell us."

"I don't know."

They began to walk over to Nick and Kimberly.

"Those girls that were looking over here are actually coming over here now," Nick said.

"Oh no."

Just then Kimberly heard Ashlee go boo.

"Hi," Kimberly said smiling acting like nothing was unusual.

"Don't you um want to introduce us?" Darla asked.

Nick looked confused. "Um...Darla, Ash, Amy, Lena, this is Nick. Nick my best friends, Darla, Ash, Amy, and DaLena."

"Nice to meet you," Nick said shaking hands with them.

Ashlee and Darla pulled Kimberly over to the side while Amy and Lene talked to Nick.

"Why on earth didn't you tell us?" Darla asked.

"Because he doesn't know I used to be a fan yet,and I don't want him to."

"Still you could have told us. It's not like we would have been like hey Nick she used to be obsessed with you," Ash said.

"I know, I just..I dunno. I'm sorry.

"Well tell us next time," Darla said smiling.

"Especially when it's a Backstreet Boy!" Ashlee said. "Hey, whatever happened to the sharing thing?" They laughed.

"So I changed my mind."

They walked back to the hotel and Kimberly went to Nick's room.

"Hey Nick, can I talk to you for a sec?" Alex asked as they entered the room.

"Sure." They walked outside leaving the door open.

"Have you told her yet?"

"No."

"Tell her."

"Why it's not like we tour still."

"No, but you still have to deal with the media and when people start asking her crap you don't want her to be like what on Earth are you talking about."

"Whatever,I'll tell her."

Nick walked back inside the room as AJ left. "Tell her!" AJ yelled.

"Err," Nick growled.

"Tell me what," Kimberly asked once Nick had shut the door.

"Um..well..have you ever heard of he Backstreet Boys?"

"Yeah, I used to listen to they're music a lot."

"Well, I'm the blonde one."

"What?"

"I'm in the Backstreet Boys, or was or whatever. But I'm sorry I didn't tell you before but if we're gonna keep seeing each other they're some things you need to know."

"Wait...Nick, I know."

"What??" he asked confused.

"I did't tell you before because I didn't think you'd see me the same."

"What?" Nick asked knowing what she was about to say.

"I knew who you were. That's why I didn' want you to meet my friends I knew they'd tell you. I used to be a huge fan, but I'm not anymore. I mean I still like your music, but I've grown up and...I know the real you now."

"You knew?? You were a fan. I.."

"Nick."

"I can't trust you now."

"What?!"

"Too many people can't see past the being a Backstreet Boy."

"But Nick I can," she said pleading.

"I think you should go now. I need to spend sometime with Alex, or nevermind, A.J.," he said opening her door.

"You know you didn't tell me either. I could not want to be with you because you're a Backstreet Boy. But you know I could care less. I don't care if you're a Backstreet Boy or a..a..trash man. I like YOU! But since you can't see that I'll leave." She walked through the door.

"Man," Nick said as he through himself onto his bed.

Kimberly through herself onto her bed too,except she was crying.

Knock-Knock

Kimberly went to answer her door. "Hey,..what's wrong?" Ashlee said as she saw Kimberly's tear filled eyes.

"I told him. It's over."

"Ki," she said as she hugged her.

"I don't know why he took it as he did. I mean he wasn't going to tell me he was a Backstreet Boy either."

They sat and talked for a long time.

"Yep," Amy replied.

"Okay, wait where's Kimberly?"

"She won't come out of her room," Ashlee answered.

"See why I wouldn't switch to Nick?" Darla said laughing.

"Come on Kimberly!" Lena yelled as she knocked on her door. Finally, Kimberly came out. "Let's go."

"Okay, but I don't feel like driving." She threw her keys to Ash.

"Alright." They went to the cars.

"Hey, I counted 6 already!" Amy said as she approached Kimberly.

"Good for them," Kimberly replied. "Seven..Eight.."

"What are you doing," a voice said behind her. She didn't realize who it was.

"Nine..ten.."

"Counting couples," Amy replied for her.

"Um, ok," Nick replied. Kimberly was still dazed.

"Eleven...twelve.."

"We made it up a long time ago don't ask."

"Thirteen..fourteen.."

"Fifteen," he said grabbing her hand. "That is if you can forgive me."

"What?" she said coming back to reality and letting go of Nick's hand.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way. I hid something from you too. Will you forgive me?"

She grabbed Nick's hand. "Fifteen." Was all she had to say.