Felicity nervously fixed her short jean skirt and matching jean jacket before she rang the doorbell. She didn’t know why she was so nervous about meeting AJ’s friends, they were just people right? But thoughts kept running through her mind. What if they didn’t like her? What would she do then? Could AJ stay with her if his friends didn’t like her? She hadn’t felt like this for a guy since… well let’s just say it was a long time. The night they spent together made Felicity wonder if he may be “the one”. He was so gentle to her, so loving, she defiantly wouldn’t mind spending the rest of her life like that. But that was too far in the future to think about, right now she needed to concentrate on the present and actually mustering up enough courage to ring the doorbell. The bell ringed lightly through the house, almost drowned out by the loud music and the people talking. About five seconds later the door swung open to reveal AJ on the other side. All of Felicity’s fear faded when she saw her man standing in front of her.
“Hey babygirl,” AJ said wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing her lips lightly. “Where have you been? I was worried you wouldn’t show up.”
“When have you known me to be on time?” Felicity asked raising an eyebrow.
“True,” AJ whispered as he leaned down to kiss her again, this time with more passion. Felicity wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. AJ pulled away from their kiss and looked into her eyes. “God I missed you! Are you staying over tonight?”
“Holy shit Alex! I’m not even in the house yet and you’re already asking me to stay the night?” Felicity exclaimed.
“Well, I just had so much fun the other night I thought we could try it again.”
“Mmm, I like the way you think!” AJ and Felicity both snickered and leaned in for another kiss when a woman called out his name.
“Who is that?” Felicity asked looking at AJ with one eyebrow raised.
“My mom,” AJ said and grabbed her hand. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
Felicity’s eyes widened. “Alex! You never said anything about meeting your mother!”
“I didn’t know she was going to be here when you got here. Besides if I did, would you still of shown up?” AJ questioned. Felicity looked at him apprehensively and sighed. “Good, let’s go.”
Before Felicity could even protest, AJ was dragging her into his house. Felicity giggled nervously as he brought her to the kitchen where his mother was. “Mom,” AJ said getting her attention. She turned and a smile immediately crossed her face.
“Oh, this must be the infamous Felicity that I have been hearing so much about,” she said reaching out her hand to Felicity.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you Mrs. Mclean,” Felicity said shaking her hand.
“Please formalities make me feel old. Call me Denise.” Felicity laughed in response. “So, AJ tells me you are an artist. I like to think myself as a big fan of art myself.”
“Oh really,” Felicity said intrigued.
“Yeah, I’ve always found art so interesting.” The two then got involved in a deep discussion about artists and some of their favorite paintings. Felicity’s nervousness immediately dissolved as her and Denise talked. She found her to be very warm and friendly, just like her son. Felicity could tell that the two were very close, which impressed her greatly. Soon enough, AJ stopped trying to keep up with their conversation and left to get Felicity something to drink.
“Good, I thought he would never leave,” Denise said once AJ was out of view. “Now we can talk girl to girl.” Felicities giggled as Denise hooked her arm in hers and led her outside. “So tell me what do you think of my son?”
“Well, he’s a really great guy,” Felicity stuttered, not really wanting to know what to say.
“Oh come on, I’m a woman, tell me what you really think.”
“Truthfully?”
“Yeah, you can trust me.”
“He’s amazing! I mean… I don’t know. It’s just that I haven’t felt this way for a guy in a long time.” A smile that said it all spread across her face and Denise squealed happily.
“That’s so great! AJ seems to really like you too. All I have heard about you for the past couple months is how great you are.” Felicity blushed at the thought. He was too good to be true. There had to be some flaw, everything was going just too perfectly.
Before the two could go further with their discussion, AJ walked out to the backyard with two beers in his hands. “And what are we two lovely ladies discussing?” he asked curiously.
“You, now go away!” Denise said playfully and they all laughed.
“Here you go sweetie,” AJ said handing Felicity a Corona.
“Aww, you remembered the lime! Thank You,” Felicity said giving him a quick kiss.
“But of course.” The two smiled at each other and AJ leaned in to give her a quick kiss.
Denise watched the two, noticing the radiant smile on her sons face. She really liked Felicity; she brought out something in her son that Denise had never seen before. “Well, I better get going. I have somewhere to be early in the morning,” Denise said looking at her watch. “It was so nice to meet you Felicity.”
“Oh, it’s was great to meet you too Denise,” Felicity said giving her a small hug.
“Next time you’re in town you and AJ will have to come over so I can make you dinner.”
“I surely will.”
Denise smiled and turned to her son. “And as for you,” she said in mock sternness, “you better treat her right Alexander! Otherwise I will ground you for a week!”
“Ok mom,” AJ said laughing as he pulled her in for a hug.
“Call me later?”
“Sure thing.” Denise smiled and then left.
“You’re mom’s sweet Alex,” Felicity said smiling up at him.
“I think she likes you.”
“I sure do hope so.” AJ smiled and leaned in to kiss her again, this one with more passion. Felicity wrapped her arms around his neck as AJ wrapped his around her waist. He pulled away and looked deep in to her eyes.
“You want to go meet my friends?” he asked softly.
“Sure,” Felicity replied smiling. AJ grabbed her and hand and led her into his living room where tons of people were hanging around, drinking and dancing. He found Kevin, Howie, and Nick gathered around the keg discussing only God knows what.
“Hey guys,” AJ said coming up behind them. The three turned and moved aside to allow room for AJ and Felicity to join their circle. “Guys this is Felicity. Felicity this is Nick, Howie and Kevin.” As he said each guy’s name, AJ pointed to the corresponding person.
“So you’re the Felicity that AJ keeps rambling on about,” Nick said as he shook her hand.
“Yup this is my girl,” AJ said proudly as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Well I can see what he was bragging about,” Howie said as he took her hand and kissed it sweetly.
“Don’t even think about it D!” AJ said giving him a look. “I told you before, this one’s mine!”
“I don’t think I like being referred to as your property mister,” Felicity said as she playfully pocked his chest making the other three laugh.
“Are you disrespecting me in front of my friends?”
“Yup, and what are you going to do about it?” AJ raised an eyebrow making the guys laugh even more. “You wish,” Felicity said rolling her eyes and slipping out of his arms. AJ laughed and wrapped his arm around her once again, kissing her cheek softly. Felicity smiled and turned her attention to the last of the three men. Looking at him she felt as if though she knew his from somewhere. His tall stature and chiseled features were somewhat familiar.
“What was your name again?” she asked his curiously.
“Kevin,” he replied shaking her hand.
“Really,” Felicity said slowly. “Ya know, I swear I know you from somewhere. You seem vaguely familiar.”
Howie and Nick both laughed. “Probably from the countless albums, CDs, and magazines,” Nick commented laughing.
“No,” Kevin said sternly to the two men, “ I know what you mean. You seem familiar too. AJ said you’re from Kentucky right?"
“I was born there yes,” Felicity replied. “Born and raised in Lexington.”
“Well that’s probably it!” Kevin said smiling. “What high school did you go to?”
“Tates Creek.”
Kevin’s mouth dropped open and a sneaking suspicion of just where he knew her from crept in his stomach. It couldn’t be! Running the possibility through his mind, he came to the realization that all the pieces fit together. But if it was her, why was she with AJ considering what he was involved in? Then he remembered AJ saying something about how she had no idea who he was and who the Backstreet Boys were. If that were so, then a very interesting night lay ahead of them. Maybe he could prevent it.
“Hey Rok come here for a minute!” AJ yelled.
Too late.
Felicity still looked at Kevin, trying to remember where she knew that face. Something about him reminded her of her past in Kentucky that she had tried so hard to forget. She didn’t even notice when a new member joined their group.
“Felicity, I want you to meet the fifth member of the Backstreet Boys,” AJ said breaking her thoughts. She started to turn her head in the direction to where AJ’s attention was, not expecting to hear the next words that came from his mouth. “This is my friend, Brian Littrell.”
Felicity stopped her movement. She felt as though a million knifes had all the sudden been jabbed into her heart. It couldn’t be! She was hearing him wrong! There was no way he just said the name he did. Maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe it was just a guy that happens to have the same name. Suddenly she knew why she recognized Kevin. He was his cousin. It had to be her mind playing tricks on her. She was going to turn towards him and find it is just another friend of AJ’s, no one special. She slowly turned her head, her breathing completely stopped.
It WAS him!
A gasp escaped Felicity’s lips and her hands immediately went to her mouth. There he was, Brian Littrell, standing before her. He had changed much since the last time she had seen him. His hair was lighter than she remembered it and he had more muscles than he once had, but she knew it was him. She could tell by his unique cheekbones and his baby blue eyes. It was him! All she could do was stare. There were a million things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t seem to speak a word.
“Felicity?” Brian said softly. After he realized just exactly who was standing before him, his reaction was much similar to hers. The two stared at each other, a blank expression on their faces.
AJ looked from Felicity to Brian and back to Felicity again, confused by their reactions. “Wait a minute, do you guys know each other?” he asked curiously.
Brian shook himself out of his stare and looked over at AJ. “Ummm… yeah,” he said softly.
“We were friends in high school,” Felicity finished for him. Brian looked back at Felicity and saw the change in her face. The completely surprised look was replaced by hurt and hatred. He couldn’t blame her though, he deserved it. After what happened, he deserved a lot more than a few nasty glances.
“You’re kidding me!” AJ exclaimed, obviously thrilled by the new revelation. “Damn, it IS a small world after all!”
Felicity half-smiled at AJ and then looked back at Brian. She knew things were going too great. Something like this had to poke its ugly head through just to fuck things up. She prayed that any minute she would wake up and find herself back home sleeping in her warm bed. That this was all a dream. But she knew it wasn’t, this was really happening. All the feelings and emotions she had pushed back into the far breaches of her mind were suddenly emerging forward. She wanted nothing more than to leave right then and forget about this whole situation. But this night meant a lot to AJ, and she really cared for him.
A woman with long blonde hair and a radiant smile walked up behind Brian and lightly kissed him on the cheek. “Hey sweetie,” she said softly and Felicity couldn’t help but feel a small tinge of jealousy.
“Felicity, this is Brian’s wife Leighanne,” AJ said introducing the two.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Leighanne said extending her hand to shake Felicity’s. She responded with a polite smile and shook the outstretched hand.
“It seems that Felicity here used to go to school with your hubby,” AJ said pointing to Brian.
“Wow, that’s so…” Leighanne trailed off and looked at Felicity suspiciously. “Wait a minute, are you Felicity Morgan?”
“Ummm… yeah,” Felicity said nervously. Oh God! She knew what happened! Felicity hoped that she wouldn’t say anything; she didn’t want AJ to find out.
“You drew that picture of Brian right? The one that his mother has hanging on the wall?”
“She still has that?” Felicity asked Leighanne; a little shocked that Brian’s mom would keep such a thing.
“Yeah,” Brian answered for Leighanne. Felicity looked at Brian and saw the look in his eyes. He had that soft, sweet look he used to always use on her, almost causing Felicity to puke.
“I’ve seen that picture. You really drew that sweetie?” AJ asked looking down at Felicity.
“Yeah, it was for my final in my life drawling class a long time ago,” Felicity responded.
“That’s my girl. She’s just got so much talent,” AJ boasted as he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her cheek lightly. “I’m telling you guys, you should see some of her newest stuff. It’s amazing! Which reminds me, is your rep still trying to get you a showing of your work?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“When were you planning on telling me this?”
“I just got the news today. I was going to tell you some time tonight,” Felicity replied softly.
“That’s so great baby. I’m so proud of you!” AJ said wrapping his arms around Felicity and kissing her sweetly. Felicity momentarily forgot what was going on and felt herself get lost in his kiss. But she was brought back to reality when AJ broke away from their kiss and looked back at his friends. “You fools gots to come and see her stuff. It’s about high time that I get to show off my girl’s work.”
Brian looked at AJ’s arm wrapped around Felicity’s waist. His girl. The phrase stuck out in his mind. His girl. It was kind of ironic. His girl. Brian could still remember when that title had belonged to him.
Chapter 4
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