"Good morning."

"Morning, Kevin."

"Where's Fatima?"

"She's with Tristan."

"Oh, so I guess they'll be a while. They never shut up."

Tristan was a photographer and a close personal friend of Kira, Roni, and Fatima's. They often got together to talk or party. There were a lot of late nights when the group all got together.

Kevin and Kira talked while she waited for Fatima to come back to the main practice room. Kira felt someone hit her in the back of the head and she spun around to face Fatima and Tristan.

"What the hell?"

"Hey girlie," Tristan said, poking her in the ribs and making her squeak, "I see you're the same as ever, Squeaky."

"I told you not to call me that anymore." "Whatever, Tristan. By the way, this is Kevin Richardson."

"I know, we've met before."

"Really? Where?"

"I took-"

"Some pictures of my god-daughter."

"You've met Madison?"

"Uh...Yeah."

Kevin pulled Kira away from them.

"There's something important that I need to tell you."

"Okay..."

"Actually, there's two things that I need to talk to you about. The first thing is that I really like you and I'd like to go out with you again tonight."

She smiled, "I like you too and I'd love to go out with you again."

"The second thing is about my job."

"Okay..."

"You see, I'm in this group-"

"Kira! It's time!" Fatima shouted.

"Hold on, I'll be there in a minute. I'm sorry Kevin, can we finish this after practice?"

"Yeah, sure."

She kissed his cheek and took off. He didn't tell her about the Backstreet Boys and his hectic touring schedule. After practice, Kira had to go pick up Mary and by the time they went out that night, she'd totally forgotten that he'd never told her what he was going to say.

Over the next month, Kevin and Kira spent most of their time together. They became close friends and developed their friendship from there. Roni called it "friends with benefits."

Kevin told her one night that he had to go away for about three months or so and that he'd be back. Kira wanted to know where he was going, but she didn't ask. They weren't dating officially or sleeping together, so she felt that she shouldn't pry. If he wanted her to know, he'd tell her. They talked either by phone or e-mail every night. Their relationship seemed to strengthen in the first month, but by the second month, Kira had grown distant. Her e-mails were very short and she never had time to talk anymore.

Kevin talked to Brian about it, but he didn't have anything constructive to say. When he talked to Howie and A.J., they didn't help at all. He finally went to Nick to ask for help. Surprisingly enough, Nick had some good advice for him.

"Kevin, she probably misses you a lot and, more than likely, it hurts her too much to talk to you. Tristan gets the same way when we're gone for a long time. It'll be okay, I promise."

"Thanks, Nick."

"No problem, Kev. Now get out of my hotel room and let me call my girlfriend."

"All right, tell Tristan that I say hi."

Nick and Tristan had been dating for about three months now, and, though they had their share of problems, they were happy.

One night during a conversation with Kira, Kevin realized why he was so distressed about her behavior. He was in love with her.

He stopped in mid-sentence and dropped the phone.

"Kevin, what's wrong?" Brian asked from a chair across the room.

Kevin didn't answer. He couldn't even move much less talk. Brian picked up the phone and told Kira that Kevin would call back later.

"What's wrong, Kev?"

"I love her, Rok."

"So, what's wrong with that?"

"She's my best friend. What if it's Beth all over again?"

"That won't happen. This girl really cares about you, I can see it in her eyes. You've got to learn to trust people again. Not everyone is going to end up hurting you. She's not Beth."

"I know, but loving her scares me."

"So don't tell her. Just keep things the way they are now and drive yourself crazy because you love her so much you can't see straight, but you can't tell her."

"Brian-"

"I'm not finished. Roni and I are very happy. Diane makes A.J. happier than we've ever seen him, Howie beams when he even thinks about Renee, and Nick...well, you've seen him when Tristan is around. They're deliriously happy. You're the only one who doesn't have a girlfriend, and loving her is making you miserable because you think that you can't be with her. She obviously cares about you, I think that you should go for it, cuz."

"Fine, I will. As soon as we get back."

"Two weeks is a long time..."

"As soon as we get back," he repeated.

Chapter 5
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