Chapter 29
Tiffany spent the whole day with Tyler, Aaron, the Backstreet Boys, and their families. They rode all the rides and played a ton of games. Each one of the guys won a stuffed animal for Tiffany and autographed it.
As the sun started to set, Aaron and Tiffany went on one last ride while the five couples watched.
Kryss said, "Tyler, this was a GREAT day. What do we owe you?"
"Nothing. Everything is on the house."
Tyler lied and Kevin knew it. He had seen her several times sign for the rides or the games. He was standing behind her with his arms around her as he whispered, "I’ll help you pay for it."
Fiona said, "Come on, Tyler! There’s no way the park let you comp all of us!"
"Don’t worry about it! It’s the least I could do after all I’ve put you through. I owe you a HUGE apology, Kryss, Fiona, and Lex. I never meant to come between you and the guys."
Lex said, "We know. It was just the stress of everything that had been going on."
"We really don’t mind the fact that you’re close to them. If you hadn’t been, we wouldn’t have ever had the chance to meet them," said Fiona as she looked up at Nick. Nick hugged her close.
Tyler looked at them all and said, "You guys are the best friends in the world and I don’t know what I’d do without you!"
Tyler gave all her friends a hug as Sonja said, "This has been a FANTASTIC day."
Tyler stepped back into Kevin’s arms as he said, "Definitely!"
Kryss said, "I wish it didn’t have to end."
Howie suggested, "We could all go out to eat before we take off for Vegas."
Kevin shook his head, "Not this time. We’ve got to fly to Vegas. Linda was adamant about us being there tonight."
Tyler was leaning against Kevin’s chest and had her hands on his. She looked down at his watch and said, "It’s almost seven now."
"I know and we still have to take Tiffany home. I’ll fix something on the plane for us to eat."
Sonja said, "One of us can take Tiffany home."
Most of the families had already left except for Aaron and Nick’s parents. Jane offered, "Kevin, why don’t we take Tiffany home for you?"
"Thanks, Jane," said Kevin. "Are you sure you don’t mind?"
"No, it’s not a problem. You need to get going since you have to be back in Vegas tonight."
Aaron and Tiffany rejoined the group and Tyler asked, "Have you had fun, Tiffany?"
"I’ve had the BEST time," said Tiffany as she gave Tyler a hug. "Thank you so much...all of you."
Kevin said, "We had a lot of fun too, Tiffany. When we’re in Orlando for a show, we’ll make sure you get tickets for you and all your friends."
Aaron said, "I can get you tickets to my concerts too."
Nick teased his little brother, "Aaron and Tiffany...sitting in a tree....k*i*s*s*i*n*g....first comes love, then comes marriage...then comes Aaron pushing a baby carriage."
Then all the guys joined in teasing Aaron and tousling his hair. "Aaron’s got a girlfriend."
The girls laughed but Tyler defended Aaron. "Come on, guys. Leave him alone."
Aaron said, "Besides, Tiffany hasn’t said she’d be my girlfriend."
Tiffany blushed and said, "You haven’t asked."
"Well, do you want to be my girlfriend?"
"Are you serious?"
The five older couples watched as the two kids were talking.
Tyler whispered to Kevin, "This is almost as sweet as when you sang to me at the theater."
Aaron said, "Yeah, I’m serious."
Tiffany smiled, "Sure!"
Aaron gave Tiffany a quick kiss on the cheek and then they started to follow Aaron’s parents to the main gate holding hands. The other couples followed them talking amongst themselves.
At the parking lot, Kevin and Tyler said good-bye to Tiffany and promised to keep in touch. Then they went to the limo to wait for the others.
The other four couples were saying goodbye which none of them wanted to do. Kevin leaned against the limo and Tyler stood in front of him holding his hands. They were gazing into each other’s eyes thinking about the fact that they too would have to say goodbye soon.
Tyler looked over at the others and said, "You know, we’re going to have to do that in a couple of days."
"I know. We could avoid it if you want."
Tyler leaned her head against Kevin’s chest. "GOD! I don’t know what I want to do!"
Kevin laughed and let go of Tyler’s hands so that he could lift her chin to look into her eyes. "You’re hopeless!"
"Yeah, hopelessly in love with you."
Kevin kissed her deep and when he pulled back, he said, "Ty, you’re going to fly to Vegas with us, spend a couple days, and then you’re coming home. We’ll decide what to do AFTER we’re married."
Tyler laughed, "Oh, trying to be the man in charge, are we?"
Kevin laughed too. "No, but one of us has to make up their minds and stick to it."
"Okay! Okay! You are ALWAYS right!"
Kevin grinned, wiggled his eyebrows at her and said, "Now you’re getting the picture."
Tyler laughed and kissed Kevin. She said, "Oh, I got the picture last night when you were tickling me."
Kevin hollered to the others, "Let’s go!"
The guys gave their girls one last kiss and then they all piled into the limo. The trip to the airport was quick and quiet.
On the plane, Tyler took a seat by a window and stared out. She was exhausted and in pain but she wasn’t going to admit it, especially to Kevin. She really didn’t have to though because Kevin already knew. Kevin sat down with her and took her hand in his. He kissed the back of it as she looked up at him.
He whispered, "Why don’t you get some sleep?"
Tyler didn’t say a word and as soon as the plane was in the air, she moved to the couch where Howie was sitting. She took off her shoes and lay down putting her head in his lap. Howie pulled her hair back and Nick put a blanket over her. All the guys were quiet so that Tyler could get some sleep while Kevin fixed them some dinner. Brian fixed Howie a plate so that he wouldn’t have to wake Tyler.
Kevin said as they were eating, "Guys, Tyler was paying for today out of her pocket but I offered to help her."
Howie said, "Unless we do it behind her back Ty’s not going to let any of us help."
"Why don’t we call Mr. Burton when we get to Vegas and tell him to send us the bill?" suggested Brian. "If we split it five ways, it won’t be that bad."
"You guys don’t mind?" asked Kevin.
They all chorused, "No, not at all."
"Thanks, guys."
When the plane landed in Las Vegas, Howie woke Tyler gently and they all exited the plane. Linda was waiting for them and she looked mad. Trying to soften her up a bit, Kevin gave her a hug and Tyler asked, "How’s Jaime?"
Linda looked at them angrily. "Don’t try to soften me up! I’m REALLY pissed at you six!"
Nick smiled his sweetest, innocent little boy grin and batted his baby blues at her. "Oh, Linda! You know you can’t stay mad at us."
AJ and Howie turned on the charm too and gave Linda their sweetest puppy-dog looks.
Linda couldn’t stand it and said, "Okay! Stop it! No, I can’t stay mad when you three look at me with those eyes and Kevin’s hug. Okay, Brian! What ARE you going to do?"
Doing his ‘Donald Duck’ impression, Brian said, "Ahhhh...you know you love us."
Linda laughed and said, "Get into the limo. Tyler looks tired."
The limo took the guys to the hotel where Linda took them to their rooms. It was actually a suite that had three rooms off the main living room. Tyler and Kevin would share a room, Howie and AJ, and Brian and Nick. The first thing Kevin did was to order Tyler some dinner since she had slept through dinner on the plane.
While they waited, Linda sat down with them to talk about what had been going on with Joey. She told them that the press wasn’t favorable and several of the talk shows had discussed the ‘NSync/Backstreet Boy feud today. That’s why she had set up a press conference so that the guys could get everything out into the open. A lot of the bad press had come from Lou in the first place.
Tyler said, "Linda, I don’t understand why the guys are being drug into this."
"Because of Lou. The biggest mistake we made was NOT telling our side the first chance we got," said Linda.
"But when would we have done that?" asked Tyler. "I said at the Grammies that Joey and I had broken up."
"Yes, and you confirmed the rumor that you and Kevin were together but there are still all the rumors that Lou started. Then, Nick caused problems by hitting Joey and Kevin by threatening him."
"Joey was about to hit me!"
"Tyler, I know that the guys have done everything possible to defend you. That’s why we need to have this press conference. You’re going to make a statement to the press telling your side of it and in your statement, you’ll tell them that ‘NSync has fired Lou. Someone from the group will be there with you and the guys to answer any questions after you’ve made your statement."
"Who’s coming?" asked AJ.
"I don’t know," said Linda. "For now, I want you guys to relax and get some sleep. You’ve got a lot to do the next couple of days."
Brian said, "No problem."
About that time, there was a knock at the door and AJ answered it. It was room service for Tyler so the guys decided to head to their rooms to call the girls.
Once Kevin and Tyler were alone, Kevin brought Tyler her dinner and said, "I ordered dessert for us too."
"What is it?"
Kevin grinned sexily. "A surprise. Now eat up, beautiful."
