*The Next Day*
Shayla had just stepped out of the shower and was still in a towel when she heard a knock at the door. "Just a sec," she called out through the security monitor. She quickly threw on a pair of shorts and a tank. She removed the towel from her long chestnut hair and combed it with her fingers as she ran downstairs to the door. She smiled and waved, feeling her heart skip a beat when she saw it was Brian.
"Lose your ball again?" Shayla asked with a big smile as she opened the door.
Brian chuckled. "No, not yet," he said. I was just wondering, we're having a party tonight cuz we're gonna be gone out of town for a little while. I was wondering, since you mentioned you needed to meet people, if you'd like to stop by? You can meet Leighanne."
"Oh that would be nice and I'd love to meet your fiancee. Should I bring anything?" Shayla asked feeling excited and nervous at the same time about meeting people.
"Nope, just bring yourself and your swimsuit if ya wanna swim. Oh, and if you have a boyfriend or friend or something, you can bring them too," he said.
"Nope no boyfriend, but it sounds great. I'll see you then," said Shayla closing the door as he took off down the driveway. "Oh my god, I've got to find something to wear," she said aloud to herself.
She ran back upstairs to dry her hair, then got back to unpacking boxes. She popped that CD in that she'd listened to and liked so much last night and got to work. She tried to clean as she unpacked. She began to realize just how large this house was. It wasn't quite as big as some of the other houses on the street but it was still big for just her. It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a huge kitchen with a sitting room off of it that looked out onto the grounds and the beach, living room, dining room and a spare room which she would turn into a dark room and a rec room that came with a pool table that the previous owner had left behind rather than try to move it. It was right on a beautiful stretch of the Tampa, FL beach, with beautiful grounds and lots of privacy. It didn't have a pool but it did have a hot tub on the back deck. Most of the homes on the street had pools but Shayla figured with the beach right there she didn't need a pool.
Once she figured out what she would wear to the party, she went into the dark room to develop the pictures she'd taken last night of the sunset. She place them in some frames and hung them in the hallway.
Before she knew it, it was going on 6:00pm. It had taken her all day but the house was finally starting to look like a home with some personality. She loved how just about everything was white. The floors, the walls, carpets, cabinets and there were so many windows. It gave it such an open airy feeling. She looked at the clock again and decided she'd better start getting ready for the party.
Shayla slipped into a little purple sundress and wore a pair of strappy sandals. A little bit of jewelry and she decided on her hair being down so it looked a bit more casual. She didn't want to be overdressed. She wore her make up light and added just a hint of color to her lips. She let the dogs out one last time before she left.
She was very nervous as she knocked on Brian's door. She wasn't going to know a soul here. But she had to start somewhere. There was plenty of loud noise and music coming from inside. She figured there was so much noise no one could here her knock so she range the bell. It seemed to be playing a song and the song seemed familiar but she couldn't place it. A pretty blond girl answered the door.
"Hi, you must be Shayla," the girl said almost making it sound like a question. Shayla nodded that she was. "I'm Leighanne Wallace, Brian's fiancee. Please come on in. I've heard quite a bit about you," she said.
"It's nice to finally meet you," Shayla replied. She was a little surprised. She had just assumed Leighanne would be closer to her age, because Brian looked around her age. Maybe Brian is older than I thought, she thought to herself.
"Come on into the kitchen, that's where most everyone is and we'll introduce you to everyone," Leighanne said leading the way. Shayla noticed the home was impecibly decorated and very lavish. One of the rooms they walked past was dark but Shayla could tell there were several frames hanging on the walls with something sparkly in them but couldn't tell what they were.
"Shayla hi, glad you could make it," Brian said as she entered the kitchen. Shayla smiled. Everyone in the room was suddenly starting at her and she felt very nervous.
"Brian, why don't you introduce all the guys to Shayla," Leighanne said as she got another bottle of wine from the frig.
Brian took Shayla's hand and pulled her next to him. As if some spark had surged through them they looked at each other oddly. Brian squeezed her hand and smiled and began the introductions. "Shayla, these four guys here are my best friends in the world. This is Kevin Richardson, he's also my cousin." The tall, handsome, dark one nodded as he shook her hand. "This is Howie Dorough," Brian pointed as the one with the curly long ponytail shook her hand and said hello. "This is AJ McClean, he's the wild one, so watch out."
"Hey now, why don't we let her judge for herself," AJ said kissing her hand as his eyes looked up at hers.
"And this is Nick Carter," Brian said as Nick shook her hand.
"Hello," the cute blond one said politely.
"Guys, this is Shayla Starks. She just moved in next door," Brian also told them about her dogs names Taco and Belle which made them all laugh.
"It's very nice to meet all of you," Shayla said beginning to feel more at ease. She noticed how they all seemed to vary in age. Especially Nick, he seemed much younger than the others.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to some of my friends," Leighanne said taking her to the living room.
"Wow," said AJ. As Leighanne led Shayla away he continued checking Shayla out. "Kinda gives new meaning to the phrase, 'The girl next door', huh."
"I'll say," said Howie.
"I am so glad I didn't bring a date to this party," AJ said devilishly.
"AJ chill out. Don't go molesting my new neighbor," Brian warned him.
"Well, it's not like you can do it buddy. You're kept on a tight leash," AJ said teasing Brian and grinning from ear to ear as he kept his gaze fixed on Shayla.
"So who is she? What does she do?" Kevin asked Brian.
"I bet she's a model or something," AJ said.
"I don't know," Brian told them. "I didn't ask. Hey don't you think it's kinda strange how she doesn't seem to know who we are?" Brian asked the other guys.
"Maybe she's just normal and isn't going to go nuts like a typical fan," Howie said.
"Maybe," said Brian.
Shayla was having a good time. Everyone seemed very nice and friendly. Especially AJ, who flirted shamelessly with her all night. "So what do you do? If you don't mind my asking? Are you a model or something?" AJ said as they were all sitting around a bonfire on the beach.
"No I'm not a model," giggled Shayla. "I'm a freelance photographer," she told them. "I've been in Africa for the last year working, but now I'm so glad to be back in the US. I want to settle down in one place for a while. I have some worked lined up with some magazines based here in Florida. So we'll see how it works out. I'll be doing some flying back and forth to LA and New York, but mostly working here."
"Wow, so you've been away for a whole year?" Brian asked.
"That explains why she doesn't know us," Nick whispered to Brian.
"Mm-hmm. I'm so glad to be back. I love my work but, I missed my family and friends so much, so I wanted to come back and work here," said Shayla.
"You must do pretty well?" Kevin said. "I mean you seem awfully young to be so established already."
"Yeah, I'm only 23. I guess I do ok. I enjoy it and that makes it easy. What do you all do?" she asked them.
The five guys looked at each other and there were some snickers from some of the other guests. "Well Leighanne is an actress," Brian said smiling at his fiancee. "She actually is working on a movie right now. And me and the guys are," he paused a moment. "We're all in the entertainment business together," he said. The other guys looked at each other confused as to why he didn't tell her. Brian was trying to see if it clicked with her who they were.
"Oh sounds interesting. What exactly do you do? Are you like producers or writers or managers or something like that?" Shayla asked. To her they didn't seem like they'd be in a band. She thought they seemed too normal. And have been away, she knew nothing about what a boy band was. Now the other guests laughed out loud. The five guys chuckled and blushed.
"You really don't know do you?" Brian asked.
"Know what? What's so funny? What are you like strippers or something?" she asked knowing that's probably not it.
This time everyone burst out laughing so hard they rolled in the sand clutching their stomachs. Shayla blushed with embarrassement at not knowing what was so funny.
"Well what then?" she asked again.
"Actually we are a music group called "The Backstreet Boys", Nick said. "We have a couple albums out and we've been touring in the US for the last year."
"We were in Europe touring for 4 1/2 years before that. They like to call us a boy band cuz we sing and dance and drive teenage girls crazy. But we prefer to be called a harmony group," AJ said.
Shayla felt real embarrassed. She had no clue really what they meant and had never heard of them. "I'm sorry but with being gone so long, I know nothing about what's going on with music over here anymore. But wow, that sounds incredible."
"We have a lot of fun and we love to sing and write our own music," Brian said.
"I'd love to hear some sometime," Shayla said.
"Believe me, if you turn on your radio or even the TV, you will," Leighanne said. "They're everywhere." The others nodded in agreement with her.
"So you guys are like really a big deal then huh?" she asked.
"Our last CD sold so many copies the first week that we broke the record and our tour sold out all over the US in less than 20 minutes," Nick told her.
Shayla's jaw dropped. "You really could try to be a little more modest Nick," Kevin said.
"Well, this is really exciting. I guess I should be careful not to tell anyone I live next door to a.....Backstreet Boy.....did you call it?" Shayla said trying to remember the name of the group.
"Oh no, please don't do that. You'll have people following you and all kinds of crazy stuff. We can't go anywhere. Our homes are pretty much the only place we get any privacy," Brian told her with a panicked look.
"And even there, they seem to find us somehow," AJ said.
"I never would've guessed. You all just seem like normal people to me," Shayla said. They all seemed to like and appreciate that.
Brian got out his guitar and played some and the guys sang a little bit for everyone. Shayla thought they sounded great, but also familiar. She couldn't place it though. She'd heard those voices somewhere. And Brian, he was wonderful. He sang like an angel.
As the guests began to leave, Shayla said goodbye and thanked Brian and Leighanne for inviting her. She invited them over for dinner one night once she got settled. AJ asked if he could come too. Shayla laughed and told him of course he could, they all could if they wanted. He was a crazy one.
"Actually we're leaving to go back on tour tomorow night so we'll be gone for a while. And Leighanne has to go back to the set of her movie, although she'll be back and forth," Brian said but promised when they got back they would come over. Shayla gave Brian and Leighanne her number and told them to call when they returned and they'd set something up. Leighanne's movie was being filmed in Orlando, which was only about 3 or so hours away so she invited Shayla to come visit the set one day.
"That'd be great! I'd love it," Shayla said smiling. "Call me and let me know," she said as she walked down the drive towards home. AJ offered to walk her home before going to his car.
After finally saying goodbye to AJ, he was a talker, Shayla relaxed on the sofa thinking about the evening. Brian and his friends seemed so nice. And they were all so cute in their own way. She could see why all the girls would go crazy over them. Although, she still couldn't picture them singing and dancing on stage. But that AJ was a real piece of work. She giggled to herself thinking about him. She picked up the remote for the stereo and flipped it on. That same CD began playing again. Familiarity of the voices singing sounded in Shayla's mind. She got up to go to the kitchen for a soda. She stopped suddenly in the hallway. That voice, she thought to herself hearing the music. That voice is just like AJ's. And that sounds like Brian's voice. And now Nick. Shayla ran back to the living room, looking for the CD case. She found it and ripped off the note attached to the front from McKenzie.
"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, seeing the picture of Brian, Kevin, AJ, Nick and Howie on the cover. She sat down in amazement and started laughing at herself. She'd been listening to the Backstreet Boys for the last two days and didn't even realize she lived next door to one and now knew them all. She decided to call her sister, McKenzie. McKenzie was 17 and would surely give her the scoop on the Backstreet Boys. If anyone knew it would be McKenzie. Oh, but it was too late now. She'd have to wait until tomorrow. "Might as well go to bed," she muttered heading upstairs.