Chapter One
Dusk
"Hey, Chloe, flip it to Much! It’s that funny video again – quick!"
Chloe Woodward shifted the telephone receiver to her other ear, and reached for the television remote control on her bedside table. Grinning, she changed the channel to Much Music, and a song filled the room before the images appeared on the screen. "Quit playin games with my heart…"
"Oh yah, you look sooooo sexy with no shirt on," Jen mocked, referring to the group member on screen now, with curly dark hair and authentic Latino features. Chloe laughed out loud, but was paying no attention. One of the members had caught her attention. She’d seen him for only a fraction of a second, and all she could distinguish about him was his blonde hair, parted down the middle, but there was something about him. Something she couldn’t quite place. She continued to watch the blonde boy, and found
herself actually enjoying the song. I wonder what this group is called, she thought aimlessly.
"Chloe? You there?" came the voice on the other end of the phone.
"Oh yah, sorry Jen!" I was just waiting for this vid to end, so I could figure out the group’s name!" As soon as the words left her mouth, Chloe cringed, knowing that her best friend was about to laugh at her.
And laugh she did. "Some teeny bopper band, no doubt!" she commented sarcastically. "Sorta like New Kids On The Block. I just watch em cause I like to make fun of em!"
Chloe, concentrating on the video, mumbled an inaudible response. The video was almost over, the name of the group should be coming up soon. She never would have admitted it to her snobbish friend, but she was falling for the song. It had a good tune…and that mysterious blonde boy was so cute! With a closer look, Chloe took notice of this particular singers beautiful blue eyes. I wonder what his name is. This frame of the video showed the guy dripping wet, his hair draped over his eyelashes, his white sleeved shirt clinging to him, and Chloe could feel herself smiling at how perfectly attractive he looked.
"Earth to Chloe!" Chloe jolted back to reality with her friend’s harsh bark into the receiver. "Omigod, I’m sorry Jen!" she fumbled, looking for some excuse, anything that would avoid Jen’s consequent accusation of liking a teeny-bopper band. "Um…my mom was calling me! I gotta go help her with dinner, I’m sorry." She felt horrible for lying, but she was desperate to get off the phone, desperate to duck from her friend’s ridicule.
"Oh." Jen sounded confused, but raised no questions. The two friends said their good-byes, and, relieved, Chloe turned her attention back to the TV screen. As she’d predicted, the video was coming to an end, and the credit box appeared in the lower left hand corner of the screen.
"Quit Playin Games (With My Heart) by Backstreet Boys," she muttered aloud, reading the caption and storing the information to memory. She’d seen the video numerous times before, and yet fear of Jen’s ridicule had prevented her from pursuing an attraction to this group before now. But this time, she’d noticed the blonde boy. There was something about him – something hidden in his smirk and his golden locks. Committing the name Backstreet Boys to the back of her mind, Chloe vowed to find out more about this group (and that boy!) as soon as she got a free moment.
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It wasn’t until a few weeks later that Chloe had some time to herself. Caught up in school-work, and her modeling classes, she couldn’t find any time, or any resources to learn about this new group! It was her father that first introduced her to the idea of exploring the Internet. Chloe was aware that her family had access to this "world-wide-web" but had never personally experienced it. So it was a rather exciting moment when she found a moment to position herself in front of the family computer and log onto the Internet. Her determination to find out about the Backstreet Boys drove her forward through this intimidation, and it wasn’t too long before she’d entered an unofficial website, and was exploring her way through unknown territory. With the intent of a hunter searching for deer, she learned all she could about the formation of the group, and their previously released songs and videos. The most satisfying moment, however, was to click on the "biographies" link and learn that her beloved blonde haired boy’s name was Nick Carter. With excitement, Chloe dug into Nick’s biography, learning all she could about him, and intriguing herself even more with each new bit of information. There’s got to be more, there’s something MORE about him! Chloe was frustrated to discover that what she wanted to know about Nick was unavailable. She still couldn’t place her finger on it, but she wanted to know what it was about him that made him so attractive and
appealing. No boy had ever gotten this type of reaction out of Chloe, and it was rather dumbfounding. She was appalled when she looked at her watch after what seemed like minutes, and found that it was 10 o’clock! Groaning, Chloe was about to log off the Internet and go to bed, when she saw a link to "chat." Mystified by this new discovery, Chloe pointed her mouse at the link and was immediately taken to a chat room, asked to enter in a nickname, and proceed to "chat" with whoever was online at that time. Smiling, Chloe typed Frackette into the nickname box, naming herself after Nick’s pet name, Frack. She entered the chat room, expecting no one to be there, and to simply log off and go to bed. To her surprise, however, there were a few people in the room! Surveying the user names in the chat room, Chloe nearly jumped out of her skin to find someone online under the name of Nicky. Her pulse began to race, as her brain warned her that Nicky was yet another of Nick Carter’s nicknames. Panic rushed through her; she wasn’t ready for this, what would she say? Was it really him?
Striking up the courage to speak, Chloe typed "hey y’all" into the chat box. No one responded at first, all involved in their own personal conversations. She waited, wondering if she should say something more, or just leave. It wasn’t long, however, before a reply from Nicky came back to her.
"Hi, what’s up?"
Chloe stared at the screen, dumbfounded. She couldn’t think of anything to say, and ended up replying "Ummm…nuthin." Groaning as her words appeared on the screen, Chloe vowed to act more "normal" in her next message. As the conversation went on, Chloe found herself easing up, and the thought that this might be Nick Carter had soon passed. It was nearly another hour later when Chloe glanced at her watch again. She knew she’d better go to bed, it was Monday tomorrow, and she had to be up by 5:30am. Groaning, she began to type a goodbye to Nicky, then stopped.
"One quick question," she typed, holding her breath as she sent the message to Nicky.
"Sure, go ahead," came the reply.
Chloe’s wrists tensed, and she felt her fingers begin to shiver, as they always did when she was nervous. "Are you Nick Carter."
The following minutes passed slowly, more slowly than she’d ever imagined 60 seconds to pass in. She almost thought that maybe Nicky had left the chat without answering her question, until a long paragraph manifested itself on the screen in front of her.
"If I tell you, will you promise not to change? I’ve gotten to know you tonight, and I like talking to you. I don’t want that to change. Yes, I am Nick Carter. But please don’t let that alter anything, because I like being your friend. I’m a person inside, and this person wants to be
normal for once, instead of famous."
Chloe stared at the message in front of her, convinced, yet unbelieving. This was happening to her…and yet it wasn’t. It was almost as if she were outside of herself, watching the events unfold from some place of higher power. Chloe felt herself robbed of all emotions then, discovered her inability to scream, even if she’d wanted to. It’s him, she thought. I’m talking to Nick Carter. She became lost inside herself, and consequently completely forgot to respond to Nicky’s confession. She was feeling something deep inside her. Something new and frightening, and altogether overwhelming. She was unaware of what it was, but it was
making her smile.
"Chloe?" came a sudden message from him, thrusting Chloe back into reality.
She smiled whole-heartedly then, and wrote back to Nick Carter. "Of course this doesn’t change anything, Nick. I’m glad I got to know you before knowing any of this. But wow, thank you for trusting me this much to tell me. And I would still love to be your friend!"
"I have to go, I’m sorry," was Nick’s response.
Chloe felt her hopes sink, exposed to the knowledge that she would probably never see him again. Despite "wanting to be friends," what was the likelihood of actually talking with him, late into the night like this, ever again? "Oh," was her response. "OK then, talk to you later."
"Can I email you Chloe?" Nick asked.
Chloe went bug-eyed, watching the screen. "You’re so smart!" she answered. "Of course you can! My email address is jacksrose4ever@hotmail.com."
She could almost see Nick’s smile, judging by the few pictures she’d seen so far. "Thanks sweetie," he answered, and was gone.
For a moment after, Chloe sat there, staring at the screen in front of her, lost in her own world. What she’d wanted to know about Nick was coming at her in full force, and she didn’t know how to stop it. The odd thing was, she wasn’t sure if she WANTED to stop it! It was a strange feeling, but she liked it! Fear of the unknown had transformed into the exciting prospects of a new beginning, and Chloe was ready to dive right in. Smiling, she logged off the Internet, went upstairs, and entered her room. Surveying her empty walls, Chloe soon decided that tomorrow would be the day to gather some posters of the Backstreet Boys to put up on her walls. Changing into her pajamas and crawling into bed, Chloe fell asleep to the tune of Quit Playin Games (With My Heart) dancing in her head. With a subtle smile on her face in reference to the evening’s events, Chloe drifted off into a place in her head where dreams came true, and where happiness was her only reality.
