“Kassy!!” Before she could turn, Kassy was tackled from behind and thrown down on the couch, a huge body on top of her.

“Hi, Kevin,” she groaned, trying to push him off her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, the tall, dark-haired man pulled her up off the couch after him and swung her around, hugging her tightly to him. Giggling, she kicked until he finally put her down. Turning to face him, she looking up at his big grin. Grinning being contagious, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“How have ya been?” Kevin asked, kissing her cheek as well. Shrugging, Kassy shifted her notebook to her other arm.

“Not too bad,” she admitted. “How ‘bout you?” Many people they met thought that Kevin and Kassy were siblings. They laughed at the same things, liked many of the same things, and basically thought exactly alike. They’ve had their share of fights, though. The two of them have a good amount of patience, but are extremely hot tempered when it came down to it. Not to mention that the two of them had the heaviest Southern accents out everyone they knew. Like they say, “You can take the gal out of the west, but you can’t take the west out of the gal.”

“Not too bad,” he said, smiling. “When was the last time we talked? It feels like I haven’t seen you for ages!”

“I was at home the last Christmas you were there,” Kassy said, “but the last time we talked was way over a month ago. I think about three months, actually.”

“Wow, long time,” he said, letting out a low whistle.

“Of course, that’s a lot less than the last time I talked to Brian,” she said, her voice slightly hurt and Kevin understood why.

“Hey, Kev!” Kassy peered around Kevin – since she was too small to look over his shoulder – to see the Latino coming towards them. He was around 5’7 with nice, shoulder length black hair and gorgeous, wide-set brown eyes. “And just who would this lovely young woman be?” Kevin smiled at her.

“D, this is Kassy,” Kevin. “She’s a close friend from Kentucky. She’s like family to me.” Holding out her hand to shake his, Kassy didn’t expect the Latino to tilt her hand palm down and kiss it. It was a soft kiss, but a nice kiss nonetheless. “Kassy, this is Howie.” Kevin winked at her. “The sweet talker of the group.” Kassy laughed as the Latino shot Kevin a look, then turned back to her.

“Hey, Kev! Who’s the babe?” Howie laughed as a guy with his hair slicked back and his sunglasses still in place on his nose came bounding down the hall.

“This ‘babe,’ AJ,” Kevin said, “is Kassy, one of my good friends from Kentucky. She’s like family to me.”

“Maybe we should count how many times he has to say that,” Howie whispered to Kassy, causing her to giggle.

“Hey, babe, my name’s AJ,” AJ said, jumping directly in front of her and landing practically in her face. He looked down at her hands. “What’s that?”

“Uh, just some notes,” Kassy said, her grip tightening on the notebook.

“Notes on what?” AJ asked, curiously, trying to peer into the notebook, which wouldn’t really of worked since it was snapped shut. Kassy flushed, trying to find a delicate answer that might distract them from the notebook.

“Wait, you work for Rolling Stones, don’t you?” Kevin remembered, his question being more of a statement. Kassy nodded, thankful for the change in subject. “That’s what you're doing here. You were here to write an article, weren’t you?” Defeated, Kassy nodded.

“Yeah,” she admitted as a tall blonde came strutting up to the group.

“Cool. Hey, Nick? This is Kassy,” Kevin introduced them. “Kassy, this is Nick. He’s the youngest of the Backstreet Boys.” Nodding a “hello” at the boy, she turned back towards Kevin.

“Look, it’s really been nice meeting you all, but I really must go-“

“Not until we catch up.” Her anger practically erupting within her, Kassy turned on heel to see Brian standing behind her, grinning, fully showered and clothed.

“Why should I stay?” she asked, her tone baring an icy edge to it. Brian was taken aback, but remained calm.

“Because I think we need to talk,” he said. Kassy could feel the fire burning up inside her, but she wasn’t about to argue with him in front of everyone she just met.

“Fine,” she growled. He opened the door to his dressing room and motioned for him to follow. She took one step, but someone grabbed her arm.

“Hey, can we looked at your notes while you’re in there?” AJ asked, his eyes unable to mask his excitement. Kassy thought about what she had written.

“Please?” She looked up at Nick. It was the first time he had spoken in her presence. Smiling, she handed AJ the notebook. She laughed as he cheered and rushed over to the couch, Nick and Howie close on his heels.

“Kas?” Sighing, she turned back to Brian and walked past him into his dressing room.