All the guys were in their rooms when Nick went to Megan. She smiled at him and said, “Hey honey, what up?”
He smiled back. “Nothin, just wanted to know if you would like to go for a walk,” he asked.
“Sure, but I’ve got to be back soon,” Meg said.
“Okay.” They headed off down the beach, holding hands, Megan holding her shoes in the other hand.
“Are you having fun so far?” Nick asked her.
“Oh, definitely, this is so cool. But one thing was bugging me,” Megan said.
“And what would that be?” Nick replied.
“Why you and Justin hate each other,” Megan said.
“Oh, not him. Can’t we just have a conversation without mentioning his name?” Nick said, exasperated.
“What are you talking about?” Megan said defensively.
“Ever since you met him, it feels like you’ve been pulling away from me or something,” Nick said accusingly. “And I don’t like it.”
“Look, Nick, I have no clue what you are talking about.”
“Well, just look at this morning!”
“What happened this morning?” Megan said loudly as they stopped walking. She dropped his hand.
“You guys walked in to the restaurant together, all giggling and stuff, and I didn’t like it,” Nick said, his eyes narrowing.
“WHAT? Well, the only reason that I was walking into the restaurant with Justin this morning was because HE was the only one nice enough to wait for me. And I don’t care if YOU didn’t like it, because YOU are the one who left me there! And excuse me if we were talking! He’s my friend! And besides, you are the biggest hypocrite!” she yelled at him.
“I’M a HYPOCRITE? I don’t have any clue what you are talking about!”
“Oh, yes you do! I saw you flirting with Samantha this morning at the breakfast table!”
“So, I smiled at her! Am I not allowed to smile at her? She’s my FRIEND, remember? What’s the point?” Nick yelled, mocking her. Just then it started to rain.
“The point is, Nickolas, that you should be able to trust me and I should be able to trust you! And if you don’t get that, then this is NEVER going to work!” Megan threw up her hands and tossed her wet hair. She turned and ran away.
Chapter 11 Meanwhile, Sam and AJ were on the beach with Howie, Jen, Kevin, and Aaron. Just then, it started to rain. “Ahh!” Samantha yelled as the six of them ran laughing into the hotel. They were all soaked by the time they got into Howie and AJ’s room. Jen and Kevin went back to Kevin’s room.
“Ha! That was awesome! Let’s go back outside!” Aaron yelled as he headed for the door.
Samantha put her hand on his head to stop him. “Let’s not,” she said. “It was time to come in anyway.”
“Oooooh, okay,” Aaron said.
“C’mon, let’s go get changed,” Sam said. She gave AJ a quick peck on the lips and took Aaron’s hand. They headed out the door towards Sam’s room, almost running into Nick, who was going full speed into AJ’s room. “Woah, Nick, what’s wrong?” she asked, seeing the expression on Nick’s face.
Nick walked over to the bed. He sat down, looking thoughtful. Then he started punching the pillow. He got up, without saying a word, and sat in the armchair, and he buried his head in his hands. Megan, Howie, AJ and Aaron just sat there and looked at him, astonished.
“Um, Nick, are you okay?” Aaron asked, stepping cautiously toward his older brother.
“Nick, what happened?” AJ said as he went over and kneeled next to Nick.
“I’m so STUPID!” he replied, getting up and walking over to the sliding glass door, his eyes red. He leaned his forehead against the glass. “Meg and I had a big fight, and it was ALL MY FAULT!”
“Oh, dear,” Samantha said. She sat on AJ’s bed. “What about?”
“Well…it was really stupid. I was just a tad jealous when Meg and Justin came into the restaurant together, and we got into this big fight about it, and she ran off. I went and looked for her, but she’s not in her room, and I think she’s still outside, soaking wet.”
“Oh goodness…well, I guess I’ll go look for her,” Sam said as she got up and walked out of the room.
“Hey, man, don’t worry, it’ll all work out. Just aplologize and do something really sweet for her,” AJ said, patting Nick on the back.
Nick sighed. “Man, and tomorrow’s her BIRTHDAY! Don’t I feel like a total ass now!”
* * *
Megan got up from her spot under a little cove on the beach and started to walk back towards the hotel. I must look like crap, she thought. She was soaking wet, and her eyes were red from crying. I really don’t want to go back there, but I guess I have to. It’s time to meet with Fatima for Aaron’s dances.
She walked into the entrance of the hotel, and walked slowly to her room. She tried to hide her face from the teenage girls who were hanging around, waiting for the Backstreet Boys or N Sync to come out of their rooms and into the lobby. She walked past Mrs. Carter’s room and went into her brother’s room, making sure that there was no sign of Nick in there. She heard Brian in the shower. Then she flung herself onto Brian’s bed, tears pouring down her face.
Just then Brian came out of the bathroom. He saw Megan laying face down on his bed, and he walked over to her slowly. “Um, Meg?” he asked tentatively. “Is everything okay?”
Megan sat up slowly and shook her head. “No, everything’s NOT okay! Your friend Nick is a total bastard, that’s what’s not okay!”
“Um, okay, what happened?” Brian asked, looking surprised.
Megan told him about their fight. “Oh, poor thing,” Brian said, giving her a hug. “Don’t worry, these things always work themselves out.”
Megan started crying again. “Brian, I just want to go home!” she said as she leaned on his shoulder.
“Shh, don’t worry,” Brian said as he rocked her back and forth.
* * *
“MEGAN,” Sam yelled as she ran around the pool area, looking for her friend. She sighed. She had been looking for 20 minutes, and she still hadn’t found Megan. She grudgingly turned around and headed for her room. Maybe B rok’s seen her, she thought to herself as she opened the connecting door to his room. “Hey, Brian, have you seen Meg~” she stopped when she saw Brian holding Meg, who was crying. “Oh, dear,” she said. “Meg, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just want to go and get this dance thing over with,” she said, taking a tissue out of the box on the table. “I’m going to get changed.” She walked into her room and went into the bathroom to wash her face. Samantha and Brian looked at each other and shrugged. The she walked into her room and shut the door behind her. Ten minutes later, Megan, wearing a sports bra, warm up pants, and a LOT of concealer, and Sam, wearing the same, walked into Brian’s room once more. Nick and Aaron were in there, too. Tears swelled in Megan’s eyes when she saw him sitting there talking to Brian.
Sam saw Megan’s knees go weak and she grabbed her friend’s hand. “Aaron, are you ready to go?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m coming,” he replied.
Megan got a hold of herself, and ignored the fact that Nick was staring at her. “Brian, we’re getting ready to leave,” she told her brother.
“Okay, see ya later,” Brian replied.
* * *
The limo pulled up to the dance studio 20 minutes later. Mrs. Carter, Aaron, Sam and Megan all walked through double glass doors, through a waiting area, and back into a big dance studio surrounded by mirrors. They saw a tall, attractive, thin woman fooling around with a stereo in the corner. She turned around when they came in. “Hi!” she said with a grin as she walked over to them. "Hello, Jane and Aaron. I haven’t seen you for awhile. And two must be Samantha and Megan. I’m Fatima Robinson, the Backstreet Boys and Aaron’s choreographer,” she said.
Megan and Sam stuck out their hands. “Nice to meet you,” they said with a grin.
“WELL! Shall we get started here?” Fatima asked. For the next two and half-hours, the girls went through rigorous dance training. About and hour into it, JC and Justin came into the studio and watched the girls rehearse. They shouted out catcalls, but they had to leave soon to go to their own rehearsals. At about four o’clock, they took a break. Then they ran through Aaron’s three numbers, “Crazy Little Party Girl,” “Shake It,” and “Crush On You” one more time. Then they said goodbye to Fatima and packed up their stuff to leave and go back to the hotel. Then they went back to the hotel, where Megan met up with her brother.
“Well,” Brian said. “Meg, tomorrow is your birthday.”
“Gee, you’re a quick one,” Megan said teasingly.
“AH HEM, as I was saying, tomorrow’s your birthday, and it’s also your last day here. What would you like to do?”
“I don’t know…I guess I just wanna hang out, it doesn’t matter,” Meg replied.
“Oh, okay, well, let’s go out to dinner,” Brian answered, looking at her funny.
“Okay, well, where are the other guys?”
“I don’t know, but let’s just quickly run out somewhere. I think we need a little sibling bonding time,” Brian replied.
Megan laughed. “Okay, let me go change.”
* * *
“Hey, so, what’s up with Megan and Nick?” Sam asked AJ as she walked into his room.
AJ sighed. “I don’t know. She’s still mad at him, I guess. But right now I’m more concerned with MY love life than theirs.” He walked over and gave her a big hug and kiss on the cheek. “How about dinner?”
“Sure,” Sam replied. “But how about a REAL kiss first?”
AJ smiled her and kissed her passionately. “Better, mademoiselle?” He asked, pressing his forehead against hers.
“Oui, monsieur,” Sam replied, smiling. “Now let’s go get something to eat.”
She and AJ went to find the other guys, and they found Justin, JC and Lance hanging out by the pool. “Hey, guys,” Sam said to them as they toweled off. “Let’s go grab a bite to eat.”
“Okay,” Justin answered. “Let us go change first.” When they were done, the five of them went out to the monorail and headed to the restaurant. * * *
“So, where we goin’?” Megan asked her brother as they stepped off the bus. “I was thinkin’ Planet Hollywood.”
“Sounds good to me,” Brian replied.
There was no line, so they walked right in and got a table. They had ordered their drinks when Brian said to Megan, “So, when are you and lover boy gonna make up?”
“AH HAH! I knew there was a reason for this ‘sibling bonding’ thing. Nick persuaded you to come and convince me that he was right and I was wrong. Well, B rok, it ain’t gonna work, so you might as well give it up now.”
“Oh, come on Megan. I just think that you guys are fighting over things that make no difference in the long range and-“
“Make no difference? He doesn’t trust me. Brian, hun, that does make a difference.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like you trust him either. He would never do something with Samantha. He’s not that kind of person. And, anyway, she’s taken.”
“Oh, so now you think this is all MY fault. Well, I would never do something with Justin. And HE’S not even taken!”
“I never said it was your fault. It takes two to tango, and you guys are fighting over stupid things. You’re supposed to be happy, it’s your birthday tomorrow. Why don’t you guys just make up and go on with your lives?”
* * *
AJ and Samantha, along with Justin, JC and Lance, headed for a really cute ice cream parlor on Main Street for hamburgers and milkshakes.
“I feel like I’m in Pleasantville,” Justin whispered to Lance as they sat down in a booth in the back where no one would notice them.
Sam sang softly, “Uptown girl, she’s been living in her uptown world. Bet she’s never had a-“
“BACKSTREET guy. I bet her mama never told her why,” AJ finished with a smile. The rest of them laughed.
“You mean a guy who’s N SYNC!” Lance said jokingly.
“You guys need to stop competing with each other. Boy George and New Kids on the Block were the best bands ever and ya’ll know it” Samantha remarked with a smirk.
“Do you really want to hurt me, do you really want to make me cry,” AJ, Justin, Lance, and JC broke out in song.
“Come on everybody, do the New Kids dance,” Samantha suggested as they all got out of their seats doing the New Kids signature dance.
“OoOOO, OoOO, The right stuff! You got the right stuff, baby, I love the way you turn me on, you got the right stuff, baby, you’re the reason why I sing this song,” Justin sang, getting up and using his spoon as a microphone. Sam, JC, Lance, and AJ all started cracking up as Justin did dance moves in the middle of the restaurant. Then, when he realized that everyone was looking at him, he sat down and his face turned red. Sam was laughing so hard she was crying and her makeup was running, which just made everyone laugh harder. Finally, they had all settled down and ordered their meals.
“So, what are you guys getting Megan for her birthday?” Sam asked the guys after they had started eating.
“I don’t know,” Justin said, and JC and Lance nodded in agreement.
“Maybe the five of us will get together and get her something really kewl. I don’t know what though,” JC said.
“I think me and Kev and D are gonna give her a surprise party in the hotel room and then treat everyone to dinner,” AJ said.
Sam nodded. “Yeah, Megs would like that. I think I’m gonna give her a really kewl dress that I saw in one of the shops on Main Street. It’s a sundress and it has sunflowers and Pooh Bear on it. I loved it, and I bet she will too.”
AJ smiled at her. “What’s Nick gonna do?”
Justin frowned. He didn’t enjoy talking about Nick and Megan’s fight. He thought it was his fault. Even though he liked Megan, he knew that she loved Nick and he respected that. It made his blood boil to think that Nick would think that he would steal his girlfriend. But he was glad that Megan trusted him.
Sam sighed. “Oh, I don’t know. I wish she would just forgive him. He’s such a sweetheart, and him and Megan are so perfect together. I don’t know. Megan can be pretty stubborn, and she doesn’t forgive and forget easily. I wish she would, though.”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” AJ said. “Nick’s been looking pretty down in the dumps. He needs to do some serious begging to get back into her life.”
By that time, they were all done eating. Lance called for the check, (“My treat,” he said) and they all headed out. The guys all put sunglasses and hats on to try and not draw any attention to themselves, but still, some fans recognized them and asked for autographs. The guys good-naturedly signed them, and they went about the rest of the day happily, spending the day bonding and having fun.