“Well thanks Ali, Jade,” says Joey as the guys follow us out of the building.
“Do you need us for anything else?” asks Chris.
“No, that’s it,” says Jade.
“Ok, cool,” Justin says hanging up his phone. “We still on for lunch?”
“Lunch? Oh shit J, I totally forgot,” she exclaims.
“Charming,” he rolls his eyes. “I only asked you two hours ago!”
“Sorry,” she lays a hand on his shoulder. “Would later be ok? I kinda promised I’d meet Brian for lunch.”
“Later? Sure,” he agrees. “I’ll meet you at your hotel.”
“Okies. It’s the Royale. Come by about 3?”
“Sure thing. Meet you in the lobby,” he says and follows the other guys out into the parking lot.
“Want to go get a drink Ali?” Jade asks me.
“No. I’m just gonna go for a walk on my own.”
“I can come with you?”
“No, I’d rather be alone. I kinda need to think this through.”
“Ok,” Jade reaches out to hug me. “If you need me, just call.”
“Sure.”
“Ok, see you later then,” she smiles and climbs into a taxi as I walk away slowly.
She waves as the car passes me and I smile. Once the car is out of sight, my smile disappears and I stop walking. I have no idea where to go. I need some time alone to deal with the fact that I’m pregnant. I can’t understand how it happened. We always used protection. And why me? Why now? Just when my life had finally hit this plateau where everything was great along comes this to fuck it all up again. I suddenly remember a café Nick had taken me to on our stolen day in Houston and I walk in its direction.
“Sorry I’m late,” I tell Brian as I walk into our hotel room at 2pm.
“But I have to go at 3,” he moans and I sigh.
“Brian, I need to tell you something and it has to be in TOTAL confidence,” I sit down on the couch next to him and he looks at me seriously.
“Ok.”
“You can’t tell ANYONE – swear?”
Jade,” he sighs. “How many times do I have to tell you…”
“Ok, ok,” I cut him off with a quick kiss. “Ali’s pregnant.”
“Wha?!”
“Exactly.”
“It’s Nick’s?”
“Of course!” I say angrily. “You KNOW she’s faithful to him.”
“Sorry, I didn’t think.”
“You got THAT right,” I mutter and lean back on the couch. We sit in silence for a few minutes.
“Jeez, pregnant…” Brian mutters.
“Yeah,” I agree.
“When’s she going to tell Nick?”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t even know how SHE feels about it yet. I left her wandering the streets.”
“Was that advisable?” Brian looks worried and I shrug.
“She seemed ok. And it’s understandable her wanting to be alone.”
“Would YOU?” he looks at me. “If you found out you were pregnant, would you want to be alone?”
“Yeah I guess I would,” I admit after thinking for a while.
“You wouldn’t wanna be with me?”
“It’s a pretty HUGE thing to get your head around Brian.”
“You wouldn’t be happy?” he says a little defensively.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I guess it’s one of those things you don’t know until it happens.”
“Well I already know how I’D feel Jade,” he stands up and heads into the bathroom.
“And how is that?” I stand up and follow him. He’s splashed water on his face and is leaning on the sink, looking into the mirror. I stand behind him and our eyes meet in the mirror.
“How do you THINK I’d feel Jade?” he asks. “The woman I love would be carrying my baby. I mean…” his voice tails off and his eyes brighten with unspoken emotion.
“I know,” I wrap my arms around his body and kiss his neck. “And I want that too. Just not yet. I wanna be selfish for a while and just enjoy having you all to myself.”
He leans back against me, “So you’re not anti-babies?”
“Definitely not,” I giggle.
“Even if you were, I would still be here with you,” he says turning around to hold me tight. “I mean, sure I want children but I want YOU more.”
“Y’know somethin’?” I ask and kiss him. “Even though we’re not gonna be addin’ to the world’s population just yet, there’s nothin’ wrong in practising…”
“Just to make sure?” he asks with a slow grin before he kisses me deeply, swings me up into his arms and carries me to the bed.
Nick strolls into the interview room and sits on the couch, casually stretching his long legs out on the coffee table. All the other guys are already there, except for Brian.
“Isn’t he with you?!” asks Kevin with a touch of annoyance.
“Who?” Nick looks at him.
“Brian!” Kevin sys irritably.
“Nup, haven’t seen him.”
“Damn! What’s he doin’?! He knows we got this interview now.”
Before anyone can respond, a woman walks into the room. She sits opposite the guys and pulls out a notepad.
“Hi, I’m Sara Gray from Cosmo.”
“Hello,” Howie smiles. “Good to meet you. I’m Howie Dorough.”
“I’m AJ McLean,” AJ supplies, giving her the once-over and deciding she wasn’t his type.
“I’m Nick Carter.”
“I’m Kevin Richardson and I must apologise for…” His apologies are cut off by Brian’s out-of-breath arrival. “Him,” Kevin says shooting his cousin a glare as he sits next to him.
“Sorry,” Brian tells him before looking at the interviewer. “Hi, I’m Brian Littrell and I’m sorry I’m late.”
“I’m Sara Gray and we haven’t gotten started yet so it’s fine.”
“Cool,” Brian gives her a wide smile.
“Ok, Cosmo is a women’s magazine and I wanna concentrate on your relationships. Like how good a partner you are. It’s kinda like a new man test,” she chuckles as the five guys immediately look scared.
“Okies,” says Brian slowly.
“First off, do you all have partners? If ya do, could you tell me a little about them and how you met. Starting with you Howie.”
“Sure. I don’t have a regular girlfriend right now but I’m definitely dating,” he laughs. “Should I just leave now?”
“No, you can answer the questions thinkin’ of your last relationship,” she smiles. “AJ?”
“I’m single right now too.”
“I’m married,” says Kevin with a smile. “Her name is Kristen and I met her around eight years ago when we both worked for Disney World in Florida. I just saw her across the staff cafeteria and she lit up the room. We’ve been married almost two years now.”
“I have a serious girlfriend,” volunteers Nick with a dippy grin. “Her name is Ali and we’ve been together almost two years now. I met her through AJ cos she’s his cousin.”
“I’m married also,” grins Brian playing with his wedding band without realising it. “Her name is Jade and I met her two years ago, also through AJ cos she shared a place with Ali. We’ve been married for just over eight months now and it’s just perfect.”
“Great. Ok, how do you decide when you first love somebody?”
“Straight away I guess,” AJ says and the guys look at him curiously. “Not that I would know,” he adds with a sharp laugh.
“Me neither,” agrees Howie. “I think there’s only one person out there for everybody and when you find them… Well, that’s it. The future right there.”
“Howie’s the group romantic,” AJ says fondly and Howie blushes slightly.
“I remember when I first realised I had fallen in love with my wife,” Brian says dreamily. “I took her to a barbecue at Kev’s house cos I wanted her to meet the other guys. And Kevin split us all up to get the barbecue started. I looked out of the kitchen window and I saw her with Ali giggling about these chairs that they couldn’t put up. I just fell in love with her there and then.”
“I fell in love with Ali after I played this dumb joke on her. I kinda covered my shirt in red food colouring and played dead when she was watchin’ a real creepy film. I scared her half to death and she was SO mad with me. It made me realise that I’d fallen for her.”
“Ok…” Sara mutters giving him an odd look.
“I can’t explain it,” he shrugs.