Brian’s point of view

We came out of the building all very excited. The award show was supposed to take place in three weeks in Paris, France. This of course meant that I, along with the rest of the guys, had to find a date for the event. I thought about asking Liz, but not as a date date, just a friend date. I looked over at her as we were all walking back to our cars; she was talking animatedly to Kevin and AJ about something. I figured that then would be the best time to ask her so that this way she would have time to get ready for it and stuff. Whatever it was that girls did when they were getting ready.
“Liz, can I talk to you for a moment?” I asked.
Liz turned to face me. “Sure,” she replied and started walking beside me. “What’s up?” she asked.
“Well, I was wondering if you would like to go with me to the awards show, you know, as friends,” I said and waited for her answer.
Liz smiled widely. “I’d love to go with you,” she replied and I felt a smile spreading on my face.
“Great!” I exclaimed and Liz laughed.
“What’s so exciting?” asked AJ joining in.
“Bri asked me to go with him to the awards show,” said Liz.
“Oh he did, did he,” said AJ curiously. “So you’re his date?” he asked.
“No, we’re going as friends,” corrected Liz.
“Sure you are,” said AJ smirking.
“AJ, are you ever normal?” asked Liz laughing.
“Hmm, let me think, guys am I?” he asked and turned to the rest of us. We quickly shook our heads. “I guess there’s your answer,” said AJ shrugging.
I laughed. “So Liz you know that you’re supposed to dress up for this event right?” I asked.
“Yeah I know Bri, I have a dress don’t worry,” replied Liz.
“What kind?” I asked. Yeah, I knew very little about women’s clothing but I figured that I would be able to tell if the dress Liz had was the right kind of dress for the awards show.
“Well, it’s made out of black velvet and it’s short and sleeveless,” said Liz. She then frowned. “That’s not the right kind of dress is it?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Probably not. Why don’t we go shopping tomorrow and help you find a dress?” I suggested.
“Okay sure,” agreed Liz. “Who wants to come?” she asked turning to the other guys.
“I’ll come,” volunteered Howie.
“I’ll definitely come,” I said grinning. AJ, Kevin, and Nick all stood there looking at each other back and forth.
“Anyone else?” asked Liz. No one replied. “Okay then, it’s just me and you two,” she said pointing to Howie and myself.
“Okay, so how about we pick you up tomorrow around 10?” I suggested.
Liz nodded. “Cool, I’ll be ready,” she said.
“Great, so what does everyone want to do now?” asked Howie.
“I’m going home, I gotta take care of some stuff,” replied AJ.
“Yeah, in other words, he needs to go find a date for the awards show,” said Nick cracking up.
“Funny Nicky, but don’t you need a date too?” shot back AJ. The rest of us started laughing.
“I’ll have no problem finding a date,” informed him Nick.
“Right, okay, so anyone have any ideas about what we could do now?” asked Howie again.
“Me and Liz have a tennis game that we need to finish,” I added grinning. Liz smiled too.
“That’s cool, then I’m gonna go do some stuff around my house,” said Howie shrugging and got into his car. “Later everyone!” he yelled out and drove off.
“How about doubles for tennis?” suggested Nick.
“But you suck at tennis,” I said laughing.
“So? It’s still fun to play,” said Nick.
“Yeah, we can beat you and Liz easily,” added Kevin.
“Sure Kev, whatever you say,” replied Liz laughing.
“So are you guys up for it?” asked Kevin.
“Sure,” Liz and I said.

Liz’s point of view

We got to Brian’s house and went out back to the tennis courts. Brian and me were on one side, and Kevin and Nick were on the other. We played for about two hours and Brian and me won five out of the six games that were played.
“Ready to give up yet losers?” asked Brian laughing.
“No we can still win,” said Nick stubbornly.
“Yeah sure, that’s what you think,” I said cracking up.
“Okay, let’s do this, 15 serving 40,” yelled out Nick and served the ball. Brian hit it back quickly but Kevin got to his shot and hit it back softly, just above the net. I ran towards the net at great speed to try and reach Kevin’s shot but I realized too late that I was running too fast and wouldn’t be able to stop in time so that I wouldn’t crash into the net. I prepared myself for my collision with the net. But as I reached it, the net stretched and I felt myself flipping over the net and onto someone.
“Ahh!” I yelled as both me and the person I crashed into fell to the ground. I turned around and found myself looking at Nick.
“Hey,” he said with a crooked smile. “It was nice running into you,” he added laughing.
“Thanks, if I hadn’t crashed into you, I’d be in big trouble,” I said as both me and Nick got off of the ground.
“Are you guys okay?” asked Kevin rushing up to both of us.
“Yeah, we just had a small run in with each other,” I said laughing. “Pun intended,” I added.
“Good, but I think it’s time to wrap up this game cause frankly, I’m really tired,” said Kevin and put down his racket on the ground.
“Okay, but we still won,” said Brian putting down his racket also.
“Fine, but we’ll beat you next time,” said Nick good-naturedly.
“Sure, just name the time and place,” I said laughing.
“I’ll let you know,” said Nick. I kept laughing. “Oh, so you think it’s funny?” asked Nick. I managed to nod. Before I knew it, Nick picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. “We’re going home now!” he announced to Kevin and Brian, who were laughing uncontrollably.
“Nick, put me down!!!” I yelled but it didn’t help. Nick walked over to his Durango and I really thought that he was gonna just throw me in the car. Thankfully, he carefully placed me into the front seat.
“Keep teasing me, and you really will be walking home,” he said grinning and walked over to the other side of his car. I started laughing because I knew that there was no way that he was going to carry out that threat, or so I hoped.

THE NEXT MORNING

“Liz wake up!” I thought I heard Brian’s voice but that was impossible. I turned over to my right side and covered my head with my comforter.
“Liz!” Now it sounded like Howie.
“Come on, it’s after 10:30 already, you were supposed to be ready by 10!” exclaimed Brian’s voice. I felt my comforter being pulled off of my head and a few seconds later I was looking at Brian and Howie who were apparently in my room.
“Go away, I’m trying to sleep!” I whined trying to pull back my comforter over my head again but Brian didn’t let go.
“Liz, shopping remember?” reminded Howie.
“But I wanna sleep,” I whined again.
“Liz, if you don’t get up, I’m going to physically lift you out of your bed and throw you into the shower and turn on the cold water,” warned Brian. “Or better yet, throw you into the pool,” he added.
I opened my eyes and squinted at both guys. “You wouldn’t dare,” I said.
“I would and I will if you don’t get your butt out of your bed,” said Brian. “What time did you go to sleep yesterday?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said getting up and swinging my legs out of bed, “Maybe around three or something. Me and Nick were playing some video game and I was trying to beat him, unsuccessfully,” I explained and pulled on my robe.
“I see, but you still have a shopping date with us so go get ready,” replied Howie. I shot both guys an annoyed look and dragged myself into the shower.
After I came out fifteen minutes later they were still in my room. “Excuse me,” I said stepping past both of them and towards my closet. “I need to get dressed you know,” I said and pointed at the door.
“Fine, we’re leaving, but you better be downstairs in twenty minutes,” said Brian and then him and Howie left.
I managed to find my favorite spaghetti strap summer dress and put it on. The dress was a pale lavender color with small flowers sewn into it. I did my hair, put on shoes, grabbed my purse and went downstairs. There I saw the guys talking to Nick, who was once again playing some video game.
“Hey sleepyhead,” he greeted me cheerfully.
“How come you’re up?” I asked. “You went to sleep later than me!”
“Yeah, but I’m used to getting up early,” replied Nick and went back to his video game.
“Ugh, pop stars,” I muttered.
“What?” asked Nick not turning his attention away from the game.
“Oh, nothing,” I replied and turned to Howie and Brian, “Can we go now?” I asked.
“Yep, come on,” said Howie and held the door open for me.
“Later Nick!” I called out and heard a muffled ‘uh huh’ reply from him.
When we arrived at the mall and Brian found a parking space, we tried to decide where we would go to first. We finally chose some clothing store that looked really expensive but the guys insisted that we go in there.
I was looking at a dress trying to figure out if I should try it on or not. It was a midnight blue color and went all the way down to my feet. It was sleeveless and dipped very low in the back, almost down to where my underwear would be. The dress had sparkles all over it and it kinda reminded me of the sky at night.
“Trying it on?” asked Howie coming up to me.
“Maybe, I’m not sure yet,” I replied and looked at the price tag. “Damn! Six hundred dollars for a dress? No way!” I exclaimed and put the dress back to where I found it. “Let’s go to a different store,” I said and turned my head to look for Brian. I waved over to him to come to Howie and me.
“What?” he asked. “Did you find something?”
“No, this store is way too expensive, let’s get out of here,” I said and started heading towards the exit. The guys followed me and we spent the next four and a half hours going from store to store finding absolutely nothing. We finally took a break and went to get a bite to eat. After we ate, we went to several more stores but with no avail. I couldn’t find one dress that I actually liked, or one dress that I liked that I could afford.
“Okay, let’s make this our last store,” I said as we walked into yet another clothing store. We were all exhausted and pretty much ready to give up.
As I was looking through the dresses, something caught my eye. I took out the dress and looked at it. It was a sleeveless knee length dress. It was silk and an ivory color and the straps were made of rhinestones. In my eyes it was so simple yet so gorgeous.
“What do you think?” I said holding up the dress and showing it to Brian and Howie.
“Very nice, try it on,” urged Brian. I nodded and slipped into the dressing room. I came out a few minutes later and looked at the guys for some opinions.
“Wow,” said Howie.
Brian nodded. “Liz, this is the dress,” he said.
“You think so?” I asked looking at myself in the mirror.
“Definitely, it’s perfect for you, and you look absolutely beautiful in it,” replied Howie. I blushed slightly and made up my mind.
“Okay, I’ll buy it,” I said and went back into the dressing room to change back into my clothing.

PARIS, FRANCE
THREE WEEKS LATER, THE DAY OF THE AWARDS SHOW

I was in my hotel room putting the finishing touches on my make-up and hair when I heard a knock on my door. I opened the door and saw Brian. He looked great. He was wearing brown pants, a beige turtleneck, black shoes, and a brown jacket on top.
“You look breathtaking,” complemented Brian when he saw me.
“Thank you,” I said shyly. “You look pretty good yourself,” I said and saw a hint of a blush on Brian’s face.
“Thank you, shall we go?” he asked holding out his arm to me. I linked my arm through his and together we went downstairs to meet the other guys. We saw AJ, Howie, and Kevin already there in the lobby with their dates. AJ was wearing brown pants, a black turtleneck, black shoes, and a beige jacket. His date was a girl named Allison. She was 5’4” with brown hair and green eyes. Howie was wearing a gray sweater, black pants, black shoes, and a gray jacket. He was with a girl named Trisha, who was 5’5” and had light brown hair and brown eyes. Kevin was wearing gray pants, black shoes, a white turtleneck, and a black jacket. His date was Crystal who was 5’6” and she had black hair and hazel eyes.
The guys all complemented my dress as we waited for Nick to show up with his date. She was named Stacey and she was 5’8” with black hair and blue eyes.
We were all waiting for about ten minutes when we finally saw Nick and Stacey coming down the stairs. I had to admit, Nick looked great. He was wearing black pants, black shoes, a very pale blue shirt, and a light-blue jacket.

Nick’s point of view

Stacey and me were walking downstairs when I saw Liz. She looked more beautiful than I could’ve possibly imagined. Her dress fit her in all the right places and her hair was pulled into a French twist and secured with a sparkling clip.
“Nick?” I heard Stacey calling my name. I turned my attention away from Liz and to my date.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“I asked if we were all riding in the same limo,” repeated Stacey.
“Oh, no we’re not. You, me, Brian, Liz, Trisha, and Howie are gonna be in one limo. Kevin, Crystal, AJ, and Allison are going to be in the other,” I replied distractedly.
“Okay great,” said Stacey smiling. I smiled back and tried not to stare at Liz as we made our way over to the guys and their dates.
“Are we all ready?” asked Kevin. Everyone nodded and with that, we all got into the limos and were off to the awards.
An hour and a half later we were seated and waiting for the awards to begin. The award for ‘Best Pop Artist/Group’ was coming up first and I knew that all the other guys, as well as me, were very nervous. As the show began, I waited with anticipation for the first award.
Finally we all heard, “And the nominees for Best Pop Artist or Group are Backstreet Boys ‘The Call’, *NSYNC ‘It Makes Me Ill’, Britney Spears ‘What You See (Is What You Get), 98 degrees ‘Dizzy’, and Christina Aguilera ‘Somebody’s Somebody’” The presenter then reached for the envelope with the winner inside. “And the winner is…”

chapter 6 chapter 8