“Guys,” Brian greets as he walks into the hotel lobby with his bags. The other four Boys and Ali are standing by the door waiting for the cars that will take them to the airport.
“Is it true you took Jade back?” Kevin asks straightaway.
“I didn’t take her back. She CHOSE me,” Brian tells him.
“I don’t understand how you could!” Kevin exclaims.
“Actually, me neither,” Nick agrees.
“I mean, she had to THINK about it for way too long!” Howie says.
“I know that,” Brian sighs. “When it happened, I spent a whole night just lying awake thinking about it. I was going to end it with her but then I thought about how much I love her, how I can’t imagine my life without her… And I thought about what Jade is like – she gets so scared of commitment. I decided that I owed it to both of us to try and hang on to what we have. Sure, it hurt like hell… It STILL does, but I have Jade and I will have her for the rest of my life.”
“When you put it that way…” Howie says quietly.
“I love her guys. Please don’t punish her because of what happened,” Brian asks them.
“I won’t, she’s my friend,” Ali says. “And I know how awful she felt through the whole thing.”
“Poor Jade,” Nick says sarcastically and Ali hits him lightly. “Ow!”
“Be nice,” Ali tells him. “Anybody’d think it was YOU she’d hurt, not Brian.”
“Well, I thought she was my friend,” Nick whines.
“She is!” Ali says. “If Brian can forgive, you can.”
“I will!” he exclaims. “I just wanna talk to her first.”
“Uh, hi,” Jade joins them cautiously. She doesn’t make eye contact with any of them and Brian pulls her into his body, wrapping an arm around her.
“You ready?” he asks her and she nods. “Good. I don’t think I ever want to see this place again.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“Hey, it wasn’t a dig,” he murmurs. “It’s in the past.”
“Thank you,” she smiles at him.
“Jade, could I have a word?” Nick asks.
“Not now Nick!” Ali mutters.
“Jade?” Nick ignores Ali and Jade nods nervously. “Take a walk with me,” he takes her arm and walks her outside. “Have you made the right choice Jade?”
“Uh,” she looks at him quickly. “Yes.”
“Really? You’re not going to turn around in a year’s time and say “sorry Brian but I don’t wanna be with you”?”
“Of course not. Nick, I love him. But after he asked me to marry him, I just got scared. And JC kinda offered me a way out.”
“So, you would marry Brian now?” he queries.
“Yes,” Jade nods. “I really would. I can’t imagine my life without him in it. The whole JC thing made me realise that. I will never do ANYTHING to hurt him again Nick. I promise.”
“What happens when you see JC again?”
“IF,” she corrects. “Nothing. He knows I made my choice.”
“You really love him Jade?” he looks into her eyes and she nods.
“Yes, I do.”
“If you EVER do anything like this to Brian again, I will hurt you,” he warns and she nods nervously. “Oh come here Jady,” he pulls her close for a hug. “It is so good to have you back.”
“Thanks Nick,” she smiles and hugs him back.
My cell phone starts ringing just as I stand with the guys waiting for a car to take us to our LA hotel. The flight was pretty uneventful – I fell asleep practically the minute I sat down. I pull out my phone and check the display – it’s Justin and I decide to answer.
“Hey J.”
“Jade,” he responds. “You chose Brian huh? Why didn’t you choose JC?”
“I love Brian. We have so much history. We’re GOOD together,” I neglect to tell him the truth – that I had actually chosen JC but been too late to tell him.
“You couldn’t have decided that BEFORE JC got his hopes up huh?”
“I’m sorry. Is he ok?”
“Not really,” he sighs. “He didn’t say a word all the way here. He’s only talking now if he really has to. He’s really broken up Jade.”
“Oh,” I whisper. I really don’t want to hear that. I want to hear that he’s forgotten me already.
“But I know, you had to make a choice and I bet Brian is real happy.”
“He seems it.”
“He is!” Justin laughs. “You got a good guy there. If I were him I don’t know that I could’ve forgiven you.”
“I don’t know if I would’ve forgiven me either,” I confess.
“Well, be happy Jade,” he says. “And JC will be just fine, don’t worry. I better go, I need to be in Times Square for 4pm and I’m already late. Can I call you tomorrow?”
“Oh sure!”
“I just thought maybe…”
“No way. You’re my friend J.”
I stare up at the ceiling in the semi-darkness of the hotel room. It has been a crazy day – flying into LA. Jade and Brian are back together and I’m real happy about that. Maybe now I can get my best friend back. I can hear the steady breathing of Nick lying next to me. I think he’s asleep. I close my eyes and smile softly. I feel completely satisfied.
“Ali?” he whispers and I smile again.
“Yes?”
“You’re awake?”
“No, you’re dreaming,” I say dryly. “Of course I’m awake. Why do people ask such dumb things? It’s like that whole séance thing. Is anyone there?” I imitate a spooky voice. “Knock once for yes and twice for no. Like you’re gonna hear two knocks and go ‘oh, nobody’s there’…”
“Huh?”
“Ignore me. I always ramble this late at night,” I say.
“Oh ok,” there’s a long silence. “Ali, tomorrow I’d like you to meet my family.”
“I’m sorry. I thought you said the words meet, my and family.”
“I did. Ali, I’m serious.”
I roll over and look at him. “Really?”
“Really. It’s way overdue.”
“But they will HATE me!” I whine.
“Don’t be dumb Ali. They’ll love ya.”
I flick through the TV channels and find MTV. There’s a repeat of TRL and I decide to watch it while I’m waiting for Brian to get out of the shower. The camera pans the audience as they come back from a break and rests on the faces of Carson Daly and NSync. I study JC closely. He looks good.
“Welcome back,” Carson is saying. “NSync are still with us and they’re gonna be hanging around for the rest of the show. Justin, I gotta ask, before we hit the news section, did ya see those pictures we showed earlier this week of you and a Backstreet girlfriend?”
“Yeah,” Justin grins. “We are just friends.” The audience groan and he laughs. “I know, I know! Everybody says that but it’s true in our case! Jade is a real good friend of mine and also of Britney’s.”
“So she is still with Brian of the Backstreet Boys?” Carson asks.
“As far as I know,” Justin shrugs. “You would have to ask him that.”
“And you are NOT with Britney?”
“Nup, we’ve split up,” Justin says.
Brian comes out of the bathroom, towelling his hair and I switch the TV off quickly. I figure he won’t want to see JC so soon, even if it is only on the TV.
“What you watching?”
“Just saw a bit of TRL,” I say nonchalantly.
“Oh yeah? I gotta call in this afternoon.”
“Yeah?” I look at him as he starts to get dressed.
“Yup, I said I’d call in about the new album.”
“Ah.”
I’ve barely got back to the hotel room in LA when there’s a knock on the door. I’ve spent the morning with Brian and Kevin. Kevin treats me a little warily but I guess that’s to be expected. I’m just amazed that Brian seems to have just let it go. I cross the room and open the door to Ali. She walks in, shutting the door behind her.
“Is Brian here?”
“No, he’s with Nick at that studio thing.”
“Oh yeah,” she sighs and sits on the bed.
“Ok, spill it.”
“What?” she looks at me.
“I know you too well Ali, tell me.”
“Oh. Well, Nick wants me to meet his family tonight.”
“Ooh, scary,” I say. “But good.”
“Good?”
“It means he sees ya as long-distance material.”
“Oh yeah but… Kinda stuck on the scary part,” she says.
“I totally sympathise honey,” I sit next to her. “I was TERRIFIED before meeting Brian’s family but they were so welcoming. Ya know his mom calls me now?”
“She does? Even through that whole JC thing?”
“Yup, at least once a week. She’s cool,” I grin.
“Yeah but that’s BRIAN’s mom. She would be cool. Nick’s mom sounds damn scary!” she panics.
“Oh, she’ll be fine. Just be all polite – moms LOVE that,” I giggle.
“Oh GREAT advice Jady. Be polite. Gee, I never woulda thought of that myself.”