"Great party!" I said to Mary-Anne, sitting myself down on one of Nick and Mary-Anne's plush white sofas. "What a way to see in the new millennium!".

"Thanks," Mary-Anne said loudly over the music, smiling as she tucked a strand of chestnut-brown hair behind her ear. "We worked hard on the decorations, food and stuff. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself!".

I was at Nick and Mary-Anne's new year party. It was in their house and quite a number of people were there, including myself. I had not long arrived and I was sitting chatting to Mary-Anne. I hadn't seen Nick yet.

"I made my special recipe lemon cake, have some," Mary-Anne said, taking a slice of it from the coffee table and handed it to me.

I took a bite. "Mmm, delicious!" I said after tasting it. "And you decorated it so well too, almost like a piece of artwork!". She had iced the cake with pastel colored icing and written '2000' all over with icing.

Mary-Anne blushed. "Thanks. Well being an artist, I had to go overboard with the decorations!".

"The dress looks really nice on you," I complimented. She was wearing a really nice black and silver dress which was long with a split up the side. I had been with her when she brought it a few days ago.

She nodded, smoothing down the fabric. "Thanks!" she said, grinning. "Nick loved it too. I like your outfit too, very cool,".

I didn't think I looked anything special myself. I wore a black tank-top and shiny silver pants. I had left my hair down for once, letting it fall to my shoulders. I had a bit of make-up on; I only wore it for special occasions.

"Hey Lila!".

Hearing that familiar voice, I looked up. It was Nick, with two other guys.

"Hey Nick! Great party! Hey Brian and Brent!". I stood up and shook hands with Nick's friend Brent who I had not met yet as he had been on vacation; and the one and only Brian Littrell. I felt starstruck meeting him!

"So you're Lila," Brian said to me when Nick and Brent went to get some pizza. "He told me about you and how you beat him at Playstation!".

I laughed. "Yeah, I beat him sometimes- he gets annoyed!".

Brian was about to say something else but his girlfriend Leighanne came and joined him.

"Hey Leigh, stay and talk with the girls while I grab some of Nick's pizza!" Brian said, rushing off.

Leighanne was holding Tyke, so I stroked him. "Aww Tyke!" I said, going gooey over him. I love dogs!

"I might get Brian another Chihuahua for his birthday" Leigh said quietly so Brian couldn't hear.

"Awww, get a girl one called Tykette!" Mary-Anne said, petting Tyke.

"Aww, that would be so cute!" I said, laughing.

We got into a conversation about dogs, but were then interrupted by the guys coming back.

"Let's go and dance," Brian said, leading us all over to the large sitting room area which had been cleared for dancing. People were already up dancing and enjoying themselves.

Nick didn't really seem keen about dancing but he agreed to. We stepped onto the 'dancefloor' and danced.

I looked around the house. There were about thirty people at the party- not that many really. Nick said it was just good friends of him and Mary-Anne and some of his family; I could see Aaron dancing like crazy and a couple of his sisters. Brian was the only other member of the band there- I think the other three had different plans.

Playing loudly was Livin' La Vida Loca. When that finished, the tempo slowed down for the Britney Spears song Born To Make You Happy. People started slow dancing, including Nick and Mary-Anne.

I didn't have anyone to dance with so I went over to the food table and dug into some Kettle Chips. I felt left out. I would have loved to dance with Nick but he had Mary-Anne- my friend.

Brent came over to the table and smiled at me. "Hey Lila, wanna dance?" he asked, feeling sorry for me. He didn't have anyone to dance with either as his girlfriend couldn't come.

"Yeah, OK," I said. We went onto the dancefloor and slow danced to the song, which was one of my favorites. I quite enjoyed it as Brent was real nice, and pretty cute!

When a faster song came on, I saw Nick slip out of the room. After a couple of minutes, I noticed he hadn't yet returned.

Wondering where he was, I went out of the room and up the stairs. His bedroom door was open a crack so I peeped in. Nick was sitting on the bed, stroking Tyke. I thought he looked very cute; he was wearing a baby-blue colored shirt which brought out the color in his eyes and cream colored combat pants. His hair was slightly gelled and went in his eyes a bit in a cute way.

"Nick," I said, stepping inside the room. "What's up, are you OK?'.

He gave me his cute half smile which made my heart flutter. "Oh, I didn't feel like dancing any more, I have a headache,".

I sat next to him. "Will a game of Rally Car cure it?" I joked, switching on his Dreamcast.

His eyes brightened up. "Yeah!" he said, sitting up and getting the controller.

Time flew by fast as we played game after game of Rally Car. The next thing I knew, Brian came into the room, laughing.

"It's five to midnight, come down to see in the new millennium!" Brian said with a smile, picking up Tyke from the end of the bed.

"Is your headache gone?" I asked Nick as we walked down the stairs.

"Just about, the game must have worked!".

Downstairs, Mary-Anne had opened some champagne and was pouring it out for us all, ready for midnight.

Nick switched off the CD and put the TV on. It was showing all time zones reaching midnight and now it was our turn.

With just moments to go, I tripped over my heals. Clumsy me again! Nick bent down next to me to see if I was OK.

"That's your bad ankle! You OK Lila?" he asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

The clock struck twelve and everybody cheered.

"Nick I'm fine thanks," I replied. "Happy new millennium!". I gave him a celebration kiss on the cheek.

He gave me one back. "Happy new millennium to you too!" he said. Then Mary-Anne found him and they hugged.

I went and sat down, rubbing my ankle. It hurt a bit, as it wasn't long ago I had sprained it. It OK though.

"He kissed me," I murmured to myself quietly. What a way to start the new millennium!

"What a mess!" Lila said, taking off her coat and stepping inside my house the next morning at eleven o' clock.

I nodded with agreement. "I just woke up after not sleeping much, Mary-Anne and I were just starting the tidy-up. Our cleaner is off today so we gotta do it ourselves!".

"That's why I came over," Lila said, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "I wanted to give you two a hand,".

How sweet of her! "Hey you don't have to!" I protested.

But she insisted. And I was grateful.

"Hey Lila, this is great of you coming to help," Mary-Anne said, joining up with a couple of large black bin bags.

"I saw the new video this morning," Lila said as we tidied. "I set the video to record it last night. Wow it's amazing!'.

"I haven't seen it yet!" Mary-Anne said. "But Nick's told me all about it. I guess I'll see it on TRL on Monday,".

"It'll probably be number one!" I said, thinking of how Larger Than Life was almost always number one on TRL.

"You'll win plenty of MTV awards for this video!" Lila said. "It's so amazing, and so sad. I didn't like your hat though!".

I laughed. "Didn't you?!".

I shoved some paper plates in a bin bag then crashed out on the sofa. I hadn't slept much so I was real tired.

"Go back to bed Nick," Mary-Anne said, bending over me, ruffling my hair. "We can manage without you baby!".

"Thankyou girls," I said gratefully. I climbed the stairs and buried myself under the covers of my bed.

The next thing I remember, it was just gone one o' clock. "One-oh-one on the first of the first oh-oh!" I said to myself with a smile, climbing out of bed and brushing down the creases of my football jersey. It seemed weird that we were in the year 00, I was so used to it being ninety-something.

When I got downstairs, I was astounded at how clean and tidy everything was.

"Great job!" I said, going into the kitchen where the girls were talking over coffees.

"OK sleepy head?" Lila asked.

"I feel like going back to bed now," Mary-Anne said with a yawn. "My flu hasn't gone completely yet so I don't feel 100%".

"Go on babe," I said, patting her arm. "The bed is still warm!".

Mary-Anne sleepily went up the stairs. I turned to Lila. "Enjoy last night?" I asked her.

She grinned. "I loved it! The party was really cool,".

"Good, glad you liked it! It's my birthday in about four weeks so your invited to my party. I may rent out a restaurant and have a meal out, what do you think? It'll be a few days before we go back to rehearsals and the tour,".

"Oh thanks!" Lila said, pleased with the invitation. "That sounds nice,".

I took some potato chips from the bowl on the table and put them in my mouth.

"Got any new years resolutions?" Lila asked me.

Mmm, I hadn't given that much thought. "Not really. To eat less and be more positive," I said. "That's all really. You?".

She shrugged. "Every year I make resolutions to try and improve myself and change myself. But it never works. This year my resolution is to just be myself,".

"That's a good one," I commented. "You know, I always say, never be something you're not,".

"Exactly," Lila said. "If people don't like the way I am, tough. I always tried to make myself more pretty, more cool. But it's just not me. I just want to stay as I am,".

I really admired her for saying that. "Yeah, you're fine as you are Li!" I said.

"Thanks," she said, blushing. "Nick, it's great to see you happy again. I heard about what you went through in the summer... you seemed so sad. Mary-Anne has made you happy again, that's great,".

"Yeah, she makes me happy! I love her!". Since dating Mary-Anne I had practically forgotten about my heartbreak in the summer.

Lila smiled. "That's great! She loves you too, she always talks about you,". Even though she was smiling, I saw a kind of sadness in her eyes.

"Are you OK Lila?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she said, but I knew she didn't mean it. Something was up. I didn't like seeing my friend sad.

"No, something's up," I said, looking her in the eye.

She looked down. "I'll be OK Nick," she said softly. "It's real sweet of you to be concerned,".

"I'm always here if you need someone to talk to," I told her.

"Thanks Nick," she said, managing a smile. "You're a great friend!".

>>>>>

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