I awoke the next morning at five-thirty; my body thought it was eight-thirty. I poked Brian.

"Hum?" he asked, moving away from me slightly.

"You awake?"

"I'm talking aren't I?"

I rolled my eyes. "How long have you been up?"

"A few minutes, what about you?"

"The same. I'm going to go out and get the paper."

"Sure."

I slowly rolled off the bed and walked slowly towards the door. I undid the locks and opened the door. My eyes were bombarded with flashing light. My ears were overwhelmed with the sound of dozens of people trying to talk at once. It didn't take my mind too long to figure out what had happened. I quickly shut and locked the door again.

"Something wrong?" Brian asked, sitting up in bed.

"You could say that," I said to him. I then walked to the foot of the stairs and yelled, "Someone has some explaining to do!" I wasn't sure if anyone had heard me. I sat down at the kitchen table.

"What is it?" Brian asked, coming up behind me.

"Someone told someone who told the media."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah. And heads are gonna roll," I added loudly. Slowly, my family started coming out of their rooms. "What's going on?" Stacy asked coming down the stairs. Once everyone was within earshot, I said, "Okay, who told?"

"What?" asked Clayton, groggily.

"Someone told someone that Brian was here, who was it?" I looked at Ashley.

"Couldn't be me, I'm grounded from the phone," she said innocently.

"Tiffany," I said flatly.

"What? I didn't tell anyone..."

"Except?"

"Kiera," she told me reluctantly.

I sighed. "I'm not mad, Tiffany. This just makes things more complicated." I turned to Brian. "Do you know if Pat's up?" I asked. Pat was the Boys publicity agent. She practically had all their interviews and public appearances scripted.

"She should be. She got into the office at eight I think."

"Get her on the phone please. I'm sure you know what to say, but I don't."

"I can tell you what she'll say."

"What's that?"

"Be yourself and tell the truth."

"Easy for you to say." I walked over to the front window and peeked out. There were literally hundreds of people outside the house. "What are we going to tell them?"

"What they want to hear. You knew this was coming. We couldn't avoid them forever."

"I know," I said walking back over to the family. "I'm going to go get dressed. We need to figure out what to say."

"I'm going to call Pat and get some things in order for a press conference. Is nine okay with you?"

"I guess. That's what, noon back East? You should call the guys and let them know."

"Pat'll take care of it. She'll also get national news guys out here."

"What for?"

"MTV mainly, but there are other stations that'll want to know this."

"Like who?"

"I dunno, but there always is. Now go get dressed. I want the public to see how beautiful my girl is." He came over and kissed me on the forehead.

I chuckled. As I walked to the laundry room to dig out what I was going to wear, the phone rang. Tiffany was closest, so she answered. "Hello?" I heard her say. "Hello? Is anyone there? Hmm." I heard her hang up the phone. A chill went down my spine. "Wrong number, I guess," she told the family.

I dressed quickly and went back out into the kitchen. Brian was sitting in a chair talking on the phone. Everyone else was off in their rooms getting dressed or crawling back into bed. He was wearing a white tee shirt, blue pajama bottoms and white socks. His cellular phone was sitting out on the table. I walked over to the coffeepot on the counter and poured myself a cup. I looked at him and he nodded. I got down another cup and poured coffee in it. I brought the two steaming cups of coffee over to the table and set them down. Brian was listening intently to what was being said on the phone.

I sat down and began sipping my coffee. It was barely six-thirty and I could hear the screaming coming from outside. Brian's side of the conversation consisted mainly of the phrase "uh huh."

"Alright, thanks Pat," I heard him say, and hang up the phone. He reached over and took my hand in his. "The press conference will take place at nine. There should be police outside setting up barricades and shortly a crew will be setting up things up for the conference. The guys will be called and should be calling us to make sure everything is okay. Are you okay with this?"

I sighed. "I guess there's no better place to have a press conference than at home with your family, huh?" He smiled at me. "So what do you think they'll ask about?"

"Well, you're the mysterious one. They'll probably want to know all about you. But be selective in what you tell them. Don't tell them everything."

"Do you think they'll ask about the stalking?"

"I don't know. But I doubt it. If it comes up, just answer truthfully."

Stacy and my dad came down the stairs. Stacy was dressed in a business suit and my dad in his blue coveralls. Both had to go to work; Stacy at an office and my dad at the family owned machine shop.

"So what's going on?" my dad asked.

"Press conference at nine on our front lawn," I told him.

"How fun. I'll try to be home for it."

"You don't need to Dad. We'll be fine."

"Okay." He and Stacy opened the front door and attempted to make it to their cars. I heard screaming and the clicking of cameras. I guess everyone wanted to know where Brian was. A few minutes later, I heard the two cars drive away.

"You should go get dressed, Hon." I told Brian.

"But it's my vacation!" he protested.

"It's mine too. Unfortunately we aren't allowed to go back to bed now. I'm already wide-awake and fully dressed. Now come on," I said grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet. "I'm gonna go do my hair and stuff." I walked into the bathroom and reached in my flowered travel bag for my brush. In the mirror, I saw Brian head into the laundry room and close the door. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was wearing black jeans and a white button down shirt. It was tucked in and I had a black belt on. I turned on the curling iron and then started brushing my teeth, since it would be a moment or two before the curing iron was hot enough to use. When I finished brushing my teeth, I picked up the curling iron and began curling the ends of my chin length brown hair. I put in my contact lenses before I hair sprayed my hair in place. I then began applying my make-up. I was about half way done, when Brian entered the bathroom. I watched him comb his light brown hair and then I headed back out into the kitchen. I sat down and stared at Brian's cell phone. I jumped when it rang.

Brian turned around and pointed at me. He had his toothbrush in his mouth so he didn't say anything. I laughed, and hit the send button on the phone. "Brian's answering service. Brian's brushing his teeth right now, may I help you?" I said into the phone.

I heard Nick laugh on the other end. "Well tell him to hurry up," Nick said to me.

"Nick says hi," I said to Brian. Brian just waved.

"I did not," Nick said.

"Whatever. What do you want?"

"Well, I just wanted to wish you guys luck at the press conference today."

"Gee. Thanks Nick. Now what'd you really call for?"

"That is what I called for. But while I have you on the phone, where's Mario Kart?"

I laughed at him. "I don't know Nick. You had it last."

"Just testing. But seriously, we all wanted wish you luck at the press conference. We know it's your first. Just remember to smile big and it'll all work out."

"Thanks Nick."

"No prob. Now is that boy done brushin' his teeth?"

"Uhh. No," I replied looking at Brian's back.

"Well don't let him stay in there too long."

"Don't worry, I won't. Thanks again Nick."

"Anytime. Now go have fun. See ya."

"Bye," I said and hung up the phone. Brian came out of the bathroom a few moments later.

"What'd Nick want?"

"Just to wish me luck and to remind me to smile."

"That's good advice."

"I know." I looked at the clock. "It's only seven-thirty!"

"Yep."

"Oh, I don't think I'll survive till nine."

"Sure you will."

"I don't think so. What do you do when you're nervous?"

"Sing."

"Um, well, that's just great. That's what you do for a living."

"Well, that and I bite my nails."

"Oh."

"So now what?"

"I dunno," I whined.

"Well, let's see what's on television."

"I'd rather not."

"Okay."

I spent the next hour and a half coming up with things to say. Brian was filling me on what was going to happen. The press would want pictures for a bit and then they'd start asking questions. "Any idea of what they might ask?" I asked Brian.

"No. Every conference is different. It could be any number of things."

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