Today is the day of Brian’s MTV appearance. They are filming in Florida as part of the Spring Break series and Brian arranges to meet them at the beach. I go along to watch Brian cos afterwards we have a few houses to see.
“Hey Brian,” greets the show’s producer Martyn. “Good to see you’re still alive!”
“Yeah,” Brian chuckles and shakes his hand.
I hide my distaste for that particular brand of humour with a fake smile. I can’t stand people joking about Brian’s heart. It’s too real to me. Every time he complains of feeling out-of-breath in the future, I’m going to get scared.
“Ok, well you can go on in five minutes after the commercial break. It’ll be Carson and Mandy Moore interviewing you.”
“Ok,” Brian nods. “So I just walk on and…?”
“Yes…”
I leave the two of them discussing the interview and walk away to sit on the sand behind the camera crew. I can see Carson and Mandy Moore standing waiting for the cue to start talking again. Mandy is a real pretty girl but she looks young without her make-up and still has a girlish figure. I idly wonder how old she is as the producer gives them a signal and they burst into life Minutes later, they introduce Brian.
“We have a real special guest today,” says Mandy with a smile. “He’s been at home in Florida these past few days and decided to come say hello.”
“Please give it up for Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys!” yells Carson and the audience cheer as Brian walks onto the makeshift platform in the middle of the beach.
“Hey y’all!” he grins and waves at the audience.
“You’re lookin’ real good Brian,” compliments Carson. “This break is obviously doin’ you good.”
“Oh yeah. Definitely,” Brian grins.
“You wanted to come on to put a few rumours straight?” asks Mandy and Brian nods. “Ok, I guess we’ll just hit you with them and you can say yes or no.”
“It’s mainly gonna be no,” says Brian wryly.
“Are you dead?” asks Carson with a cheeky grin.
“Uh no, I think I’m alive,” says Brian sarcastically. “Don’t I LOOK alive?”
“Yeah!” Mandy giggles.
“Pinch me – I’m real,” grins Brian and Carson obliges. “Ouch! Dude!” Brian says rubbing his arm. “I’m gonna have bruises!” he grins widely to show he was just joking and Carson looks relieved.
“Ok next rumour – you’ve had surgery.”
“No, I haven’t had any surgery since three years back. I had a check-up on my heart last week and everything was totally fine and, God willing, it will remain that way.”
“So, was it your heart causing you to get ill?” asks Mandy.
“Kinda, in a way. Y’see, I have to be careful with eating properly and gettin’ enough sleep and bein’ on tour for so long kinda whacked that up. I was runnin’ around doin’ promotions and rehearsals and stuff and I would forget to eat or not have enough time to sleep. Like, after shows we usually get on a plane or a bus and go on to the next city and I’m pretty bad at sleepin’ on the move. So it just all got on top of me and I was tired and emotional…” Brian sighs, “I just needed a little time off.”
“I can totally understand,” says Mandy.
“Ok, rumour three – you took the time off to go on honeymoon.”
“That’s not true,” Brian chuckles. “I wish more like. But I gotta take this time to confess somethin’. I DID get married but it was four months ago in Vegas and we still haven’t had a honeymoon.”
“Whoa, you’re MARRIED?” Carson’s shock echoes the look on the audience’s faces.
“Yup. I got married to my girl Jade.”
“Wow. How long have you guys been together?”
“Almost two years now.”
“Were you married by Elvis?” chuckles Mandy.
“No, we got married in a chapel just outside Vegas and there were no Elvises in sight. But we got married at 1am so I guess they were all either asleep or gamblin’,” Brian jokes.
“1AM?!” exclaims Carson.
“Yup,” Brian grins. “Well I had a show that night and we thought it would be kinda cool to get married around that time. And it was. Best night of my life.”
“Wow. Well, congratulations Brian!” Mandy says. “Any little Littrells on the way?” she adds, stammering slightly and Brian laughs.
“Try sayin’ THAT quickly! No, not right now but definitely one day.”
I grin to myself. Hearing Brian talk about us having children one day has had a weird effect on me. A year ago it would have terrified me BIG time but not now. I guess I’m more settled now and secure in who I am and in the fact that Brian loves me. Being married has a lot to do with that. I’m not saying that I’m ready to start adding to the world’s population but I’m certainly not running screaming at the thought. My cell phone rings and I answer it quickly, speaking quietly so that I don’t disturb filming.
“Hello?”
“You bitch!” cackles Justin Timberlake. “I am watching MTV right now and I cannot BELIEVE you got married without telling me!”
“Sorry,” I laugh. “We didn’t even tell our families.”
“You didn’t? Whoa, why not?”
“We just didn’t want to wait and organising a family wedding would’ve taken too long. Plus with Brian’s tour schedule…”
“Oh I know,” he laughs. “Well, congratulations Jade Littrell!”
“Thank you,” I giggle. “We’re having another ceremony soon for our families and you are most definitely invited.”
“Aw, thanks babe. I will be there for sure.”
“Cool. So, how are things with you?”
“I’m good. Our tour ends next month and I am so looking forward to going home for a while. Just gonna chill out and stuff. Then we’re all in Florida for our next CD.”
“Maybe we’ll have our new house by then. You have to come stay!” I tell him excitedly and he chuckles.
“Love to.”
“So, how’s Britney lately?”
“I wouldn’t know. You’ve probably seen her more on MTV than I have!” he mutters.
“Well, YOU dumped her, remember?”
“Oh do I?!” he groans. “I keep apologising and sayin’ how dumb I was and she’s just having none of it!”
“You gotta get on ya knees and beg,” I tell him.
“Yeah, I know. Ah well… Jeez, I gotta go do a radio interview. But congratulations again and call me soon.”
“Ok, thanks Justin. Bye,” I hang up and go back to watching the interview as it winds up. Brian walks over to me and reaches out his hands to pull me up. “You done?” I ask him, brushing the sand off my clothes.
“Yeah, all done. How’d it look?”
“Real good,” I smile. “You sure sorted out all those rumours!”
“Cool,” he grins as Mandy and Carson join us. “Guys, meet my wife Jade.”
“Hi Jade, I’m Carson.”
“I’m Mandy.” We all shake hands. “I was kinda interested to see who Brian married.”
“Really?” I smile at her.
“You’re not what I expected,” she confesses.
Carson and Brian shoot her confused looks.
“What DID you expect?” Brian asks.
“Oh, just like an all-American girl with blonde hair and blue eyes,” she says before looking at me worriedly. “But you two totally fit together. You just LOOK right.”
Brian and I exchange amused glances. As far as I’m concerned, we look like total opposites. Him with his golden curly hair and blue eyes, and me with tousled black hair and black eyes.
“Well, thanks,” Brian says. “Now if you’ll excuse us – we have a house to see.”
“Wow,” Jade claps her hands excitedly as Brian parks the car in front of a house.
He glances across at her and reaches across to take her hand in his. They both stare at the house in front of them. It is the third one they’ve seen today. The first one was too small, the second too big, but this one looks perfect from the outside. It is part of a gated community so the security is excellent. They have already had a friendly chat with the guard on the gates. They climb out of the car and walk down the sandy path to the front door. The mailbox is Kentucky blue which Jade points out to Brian with a giggle. There is a grass lawn alongside the path and flowers in front of the house. The realtor opens the large front door to them with a smile.
“Hello Mr and Mrs Littrell. I’m Tom Jagers, the agent for this property.”
“Hi,” Jade shakes his hand. “Good to meet you.”
“Hello,” Brian shakes his hand and then follows him inside.
The hallway is very light due to a big window above the staircase. The floor is wooden. Doors lead off into a kitchen, a games room, a study, two lounges, a dining room and the garage. From the kitchen, a door leads out into the rear garden. There’s a huge swimming pool and a shaded veranda. Upstairs there are five bedrooms and three bathrooms.
“I’ll leave you two to think about it,” says Tom. “I need to make some calls outside.” The agent leaves them alone in the main lounge.
It looks just perfect Brian thinks as he turns to pull his wife into his arms.
“Do you like it?” he asks her and she smiles.
“I love it. Do you?”
“Totally,” he grins. “All I could see as we looked around were things that we would do. Like, I looked at the pool and thought about going for a midnight swim with you. And the bedrooms are amazing… There’s ours and then we have one for our families to come visit, or one of the other guys. And then we have one for OUR family one day.”
“Mm, I know,” Jade kisses him softly and wraps her arms tighter around his waist. “I do love you baby.”
“I should hope so,” he looks at her with a touch of amusement and she giggles before eyeing him seriously.
“I mean it honey. I know I’ve done things in the past that made ya doubt it but I love you so much. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. And I never will.”
“Wow,” he kisses her. “What brought that on?”
“Almost losing you,” she admits. “And now I have you here again and your heart is doin’ real good, and we’re standing in our future home and just hearin’ you talk ‘bout our future. It’s like I don’t deserve all this and I just hope nobody finds out and goes ‘Jade, we made a mistake. THIS is your real life’.”
“Baby, you could never lose me,” he kisses her deeply. “And I don’t deserve all this either so maybe we’ll get thrown outta this world together and that would be ok by me cos we’d still be TOGETHER.” Jade looks at him and laughs. “So, we gonna buy this place?” he asks with a grin.
“Definitely,” she responds and kisses him.