"Lauren...you know I love you, will you marry me?" he said and everyone backstage looked at the couple with surprise. Lauren nodded and kissed Nick, he stared at her and began to sing again, everyone came out and started screaming in delight, then the concert was over and they headed back to the hotel.
"I CANNOT believe that you did that!" Brian exclaimed, looking at Katie with a sad look on his face like he wished that it was him proposing to her, instead of Nick to Lauren. "I can't either," Lauren said looking at Nick and then looking at the diamond cut into the shape of a heart, she loved it. "Well, she excepted and that is all that matters," he said as he kissed her gently on the lips. "What do you guys want to do tonight?" Brian asked. "Nothing!" Everyone, but Katie and Brian, exclaimed. It was already 10:30, but they hadn't eaten dinner yet. "Katie, want to go to dinner?" he said as he sat across from her in the limo on the way back to the hotel, hoping that she would finally go out with him. "Sure!" she said, without really thinking about it. He smiled at her and then they got out of the limo and went to their rooms. Katie took a quick shower and blow dried her hair and then put on a short black dress, leaving her brown hair to cascade down her shoulders. She walked over to Brian's door and knocked.
"Hello..." he said as he opened the door and looked her over approvingly. "You look great," he said as she gave her his arm and she excepted. "So do you," she said happily as she looked at the black pants and jacket that he was wearing. That night they went to a small, but elegant, restaurant. They talked about the concert and some songs that Brian had planned to write for the groups next album. They finished and decided that they should go back to the hotel. They had one day in L.A. before they had to go to San Francisco and they wanted to look at the sights. He brought her up to her door, which was next to his, and smiled at her. "I had a wonderful time." "So did I," Katie said it as she looked at his blue eyes that looked so much like hers. "Can I ask you something?" "Sure," she answered, wondering what he was going to say. "Can I kiss you?" he asked hoarsely, but she shook her head and tears began to roll down her cheeks and she went into her room without saying anything. Brian stood at her door for five minutes, trying to figure out what he did wrong, but he knew that he would try again, really soon.
That night Lauren and Nick fell asleep in each others arms, dreaming about the upcoming wedding. They decided to wait until after the tour, which would be another year and a half, to get married, but they were happy to be together and it didn't matter if they had the certificate yet. They just hope the fans wouldn't get upset by his getting married.
That morning Katie woke up at 7 and looked at the newspaper in disbelief. "Oh My GOD!" she exclaimed loudly in the hallway and walked to every ones doors and woke them up. "WAKE UP! You will not believe this!" she exclaimed as she walked around in her bathrobe, not really caring who saw it. Kevin came out first and then everyone else starting popping their heads out. "What is it?" Howie asked sleepily. "Read your newspaper, the 3rd page, under reviews." Everyone grabbed their paper and started to read, Brian read it outloud. "The pop group, The Backstreet Boys, are here to stay. If you don't believe it you need to see the pandemonium they caused last night! The five boys sang beautiful vocals, and the dancing was remarkable. The sold out show mostly consisted of teenage girls who looked wide eyed at the handsome boys getting their groove on! The dancing was unmistakably talented. Two things really stuck out in the show: First, the handsome Brian Littrell danced with a young girl, name still not known, and the chemistry was unmistakable. The two danced together like they belonged together," Brian read as he looked up at Katie with wide-eyes, "she stayed on stage throughout most of the show and was definitely the most talented of the girls on stage, she had got talent! Second, heartthrob, Nick Carter, proposed to his beautiful girlfriend, Lauren Thomas, at the end of the concert, during "I'll Never Break Your Heart" the moment was very touching and when reporters asked the fans what they thought, they thought it was wonderful and very sweet. Some feel bad that they won't get Nick all to themselves, but they are happy that he is happy with is new fiancee. I give this concert five stars! You got to see it!" Brian read, with tears in his eyes. "This is the best review we have ever gotten!" he exclaimed and ran into Katie's arms and gave her a big hug and kiss on the cheek, all the guys were jumping around, waking everyone else up on the floor.
"We got to celebrate," Howie said and then they heard the phone ring in Brian's room, they weren't sure if they were going to answer it, but they decided they had to. "Hello?" Brian answered, "Do we have to?....Oh, come on!...Does she have to come?....Okay...Okay...half an hour....okay, bye." He said and hung up. "That was our manager, he said we have to do a press conference downstairs, in half an hour. Katie has to come, but you won't have to sit with us, he said only to come out if they ask for you." Katie looked at him nervously and they all went their separate ways and quickly got dressed, all wearing casual jeans and t-shirts, Katie wearing a light blue tank-top. The boys went down and then the girls went down, so that it wasn't to obvious that they were with them. The boys sat down at a long table with microphones in front of the flashing cameras and the microphones. The reporters asked about the other concerts that they were going to do, who Lauren was and how long Nick and her had been going out. They answered all the questions truthfully and smiled at the cameras. "Brian, " one reporter began, "who was the young lady you were dancing with?" "Her name is Katie Smith, she is right there," Brian pointed to her and winked. "Can we talk to her?" The same reporter asked and Katie nodded and walked over to Brian's microphone. "Hi everyone!" she said with a smile and a wave as a bunch of flashes nearly blinded her. "Do you have professional dance training?" "No, I practice in my free time." "Will you appear in any music videos?" "Yes, we are filming one next week up in San Francisco, I will be in it, it is a dance song." "How old are you?" "Well," she said with a smile, "yesterday was my 19th birthday. "Are you going out with any members of the group?" "No," she said and shook her head. She knew she should have said yes, Brian, but they weren't really going out, besides, it wasn't any of the reporters business.
They wrapped everything up and they followed A.J. out the door. "Where are you going, Bone?" Brian asked, A.J. looked serious as he walked to the front door. A.J. turned around with a frown and looked at his friends. "I have been missing someone a lot and I need to go visit them." "Who?" Everyone asked, they didn't think he was going out with anyone. "My old pal, Mickey D, I haven't had a burger in so long!" He said with a sad smile on his face, and everyone laughed. They joined him, with their bodyguards, but Katie decided to stay at the hotel, she had a headache and didn't reallywant to hear the screaming fans. "Well, I will stay here guys, I might order room service or something," she told them and they looked at her. "Oh, come on, it won't kill you to go to Mc Donald's," Brian said with a frown, Katie turned around and walked up to her room, she thought that comment was rude.
She sat on her bed and thought. She hoped that no one thought she was looking for pity, but she didn't like the photographers and the fans screaming in her ears, she knew Lauren hated it, they were always screaming over "Her Nicky" as she liked to say. Katie just sat there and watched TV. not really sure what she wanted to do, so she decided to go down to the lobby and eat at the small restaurant that was down there. "Are the Backstreet Boys here?" she heard a girl, who was clearly a fan, scream at her. "I don't think so," Katie said blankly, acting like she had never heard of the group before. The girl ran in the other direction, hoping to find them somewhere, or at least someone who knew where they were. She walked to the restaurant and looked at the menu as she sipped her cup of coffee. She heard someone come up behind her and tap her on the shoulder.
"Hey baby," the man said in a fake deep voice. She knew the voice, but wasn't sure if she should turn around and see who it was, the voice had a hint of a southern drawl in it. The man walked around the table and sat down, Katie was still looking at the menu, but slowly she looked up and saw who it was. "What in the world are you doing here?" she asked with a huge grin on her face. He changed his voice back to what it sounded like before and said, "I would rather be here with you." "Don't be silly, Brian." She looked into his deep blue eyes and saw that he looked really happy. "I'm not," he than took out a single long stemmed red rose and gave it to her. "Oh, thank you," she said and smiled. He then handed her a little box and she opened it and saw that it was a gold L.A., in memory of Los Angeles, she said thank you again and blushed. "I am going to get you one for every place we visit, so that you will never forget the first tour you went on with us." They talked about the other shows that were coming up, and the video that they had to shoot and two days. They had already practiced the choreography, so it wouldn't be to bad.
That night everyone, except for A.J., crowded into one of the hotel rooms and decided to watch television and talk for a little while. Lauren and Nick laid on the bed and just listened, not really saying much. Howie and Katie sat on the floor, Kevin and Brian sat on the two chairs. "Set a date yet, Frack?" "No Frick, but we think that we will do it after the tour." "I guess we will have to rearrange the bedrooms again," Howie said with a smile and everyone laughed. "D., I don't think that will be necessary. I bet Lauren hasn't even spent one night in her bedroom," Katie giggled and Lauren looked at her with fake anger in her face. "Shut up!" she yelled and threw a pillow at her. Katie picked it up and through it back, but accidentally hit Nick. "Ugh oh!" everyone said at the same time, Nick walked over and hit Katie in the head with a pillow, stepping on Howie, who through a blanket at Brian and eventually everyone got involved in the massive pillow fight. They were all lying on the ground a giggling like little kids when they heard the door open.
"I DO NOT want to know what you are doing," A.J. said with a new shade of orange in his hair. "Now that is a different look, a cross between a pumpkin and an orange!" Nick exclaimed and A.J. hit him over the heat with a magazine, starting the war all over again. "Guys," Kevin said as he stood up, "I think we should get some rest, we are going to have a busy day tomorrow." He was right, they had another concert, and an interview. Everyone nodded in agreement and went their separate ways. Katie went into her room and changed, thinking about the lack of sleep she had been getting, it was the strangest thing. When she moved into the house in Orlando she could always hear someone checking up on her, but now with her door locked, that person couldn't do it, causing a lack of sleep on Katie's part. When she though this over she heard a soft knock at her door, coming from the adjoining room. She got up and saw Brian standing there with his t- shirt and short on.
"What are you doing? It is 1 o'clock in the morning!" she said angerly, but she wasn't really angry, just surprised to see him standing there. "I need to tell you something," he said and Katie nodded, letting him in and shutting the door. He sat on the bed and Katie got a chair and sat across from him. "Well, before you moved into the house, I had this terrible dream that someone came into your bedroom and took you away, against your will. So, when you moved in I always came in and checked up on you-" he said, but got cut off by Katie. "It was YOU! She said and giggled. "You could hear me?" He said, looking at her in surprise. His brown hair was a mess, it looked like he had been tossing and turning for awhile, and his eyes were red. She noticed it before, but didn't know why he looked like that, he was probably overtired. She nodded in response and he continued, "Well, I can't come in now and I haven't been able to sleep-" he said and Katie cut him off again. "You can't either?" "No, it is the weirdest thing...so, I was wondering if you would always leave the door unlocked, unless you feel uncomfortable..." "I will," she said and nodded. He gave her a little hug and thanked her and went back into his room. She shut the door, but this time didn't lock it, he didn't come in that night, since they had seen each other already and they were getting up early for the eight hour drive to San Fransisco. Katie was up at three, showered and then got dressed, and decided to wake the guys up.
She opened the door to Kevin and Brian's room. She knew Kevin was a light sleeper so she just shook him and told him it was time to get up, then she walked over to Brian and looked at him with a smile. He looked so peaceful, a little smile on his face, his hair still messed up. She walked over and didn't know how to wake him up. Kevin had gone into the bathroom so it was just Katie and Brian in the room. She shook him and he began to wake up, then she leaned over and kissed him, she couldn't resist, "Train?" he called out and Katie burst out in laughter. "Honey, I don't think Kevin is going to kiss you like that," she said and kissed him again, this time his eyes opened and he looked at her in surprise. "Rise in shine, we got some traveling to do!" She said loudly in his ear making him sit up straight.
She then went to Howie and A.J.'s room and knocked on the door loudly. Howie answered and she told them it was time to get moving, and to wake up A.J. Then she went to wake up Lauren and Nick and then decided to go downstairs and wait for them. They had all backed their bags the night before so they would be able to leave quickly. She went back up half an hour later and saw that they were all ready. The bodyguards brought the luggage down and the group boarded the tour bus.
The tour bus was huge and they were certainly not going to get bored in there. They had a TV/VCR, Playstation, Nintendo, and other games all around the bus. They boarded and were off to San Fransisco.