We got to Tropicana field about 15 minutes before the gates opened to let us in, and Brian went to pick up the tickets while Roz and I waited.

"So you think it will be who we think it will be?" She said it almost like she was afraid to say his name. She was really hoping.

"I don't know. You don't think Brian would tell us if that's who it was?" I had a hard time believing that he wouldn't, but who knew. We hadn't known him that long. "So, let's say it is. How hard a decision is it for you? Who do you pay more attention to?" I couldn't resist teasing her a little.

"Wouldn't really matter. B spends more time talking to you anyhow." I shrugged; I hadn't noticed. I noticed Brian coming back towards us followed by a tall blonde. I tapped Roz's shoulder and held out my hand for five.

"We got it girl! Nicky!" Roz glared at me for calling him �Nicky', and we laughed at how predictable the situation seemed to be. Luckily, we contained ourselves as they joined us. I was shocked as Roz spoke first.

"Hi Nick. I'm Roz, this is Lex." Nick looked puzzled.

"Lex?" He looked at Brian and mumbled, "thought it was Lisa." I sighed.

"Oy..." Brian motioned for me to explain. "Here we go again. Lex, is a nickname. Actually, to make the story short it used to be my screen name on the internet, but since I met Roz over the internet initially she refuses to give it up. My real name is Lisa. You can call me whichever, I respond to both."

"Call her Lex, she hates Lisa anyway." I rolled my eyes.

"Thank you, Roslyn." She stuck out her tongue at me for calling her by her full name.

We got inside and I instantly dragged Roz down to the field level. Brian and Nick took their time following us. "There's Hil. You don't mind meeting her right?" I asked, but I didn't wait for her response. "HILARY!" I saw her flinch from her position at the batting cage beside Carlos Delgado, but she didn't look until I yelled again and Carlos bumped her. I waved to get her attention as she looked in our direction and she started to walk toward where we were.

"Hi," we both said as we hugged. We hadn't seen each other since she started working in Toronto, and at one time we had been almost like sisters.

"How are you?" I asked, thinking about all the time that had passed.

"I'm alright. I didn't know if I'd see you or not. I was going to call you tonight." I smiled and remembered Roz beside me.

"Like I'd miss a chance to see our boys." I realized I needed to introduce Roz, who was fidgeting beside me. "Hil, this is Roz. You remember, from Calgary. This is Hilary, Rozzie."

"Cool, hey are you guys here by yourselves?" I glanced up the aisle to spot the guys.

"Not exactly. You would never in a million years guess who got the tickets for us. It is SO strange." I waved my hand in the direction of where Brian and Nick were and as Hil spotted them, she leaned toward me.

"Isn't that the gay boy from that group, Backstreet Boys?" Somehow I had known she would say that. I saw Roz's eyes widen.

"Yeah, " I gave Hil a look that said I wanted to laugh, but I wouldn't, "that's Nick and Brian's the one who got the tickets. It's quite a story, but it's long so you don't want to hear it now. Suffice it to say that I'm liking this journalism thing more and more everyday."

Hilary nodded in affirmation, "I have no complaints," as she looked over her shoulder toward Shawn.

I glanced out at the field, scanning for familiar faces. "How long are you here for?" I expected her to say something about going back to Toronto tomorrow.

"I'm here for the whole series actually. We took this as our family trip. The kids are around here somewhere. Last I saw Casey she was in the dugout. She claims she's bored, but Carlos keeps her pretty busy, you know how he used to tease me. And Shawn's off wandering around showing off his little wonder son. You'd think he doesn't need batting practice or something." I laughed, remembering all the fantasy stories we used to make up about her and Shawn and me and Alex. At least, her half of them came true.

"Does Shawn still hear from Alex?"

"I knew you'd ask that! Shawn got a call from him yesterday actually. They're thinking of getting together somehow since we're so close this weekend. Apparently, the marriage isn't well, even though he's able to be at home more now that he's playing with the Marlins. But, as Shawn explains it, Alex won't give up, and it's affecting his game." I shook my head. It was so sad. He had finally become the offensive player that everybody wanted him to be, and his personal life was ruining it for him. I sighed.

"Oh, well, I hope it works out for him. You better get back to work I suppose. Call me and maybe we can get together before you leave." We hugged again and Hil smiled.

"Definitely. I'll give you a call. Or you call Shawn's cell. Nice to meet you, Roz."

"Uh huh, you too." I sighed as Hilary walked away and Roz and I headed over to where Nick and Brian were. "You miss her a lot, don't you?" Roz noticed my melancholy look as we walked up the stairs.

"Of course I do. But there's not much either of us can do about it. Just have to take the opportunities when they arise. We each have our separate lives now." I sighed again, as we reached the guys.

I was kind of surprised at how little attention they received. I figured since they were actually from that area that they'd at least still get a few nutty fans who freaked when they went out in public. It hadn't been that long after all, and they had been a phenomenon. But so far all I'd seen were a few double takes, a couple strange glances and one or two stares. Nothing major.

I glanced around the stadium for a minute and then spoke. "Okay, so Brian, where are our seats?" He still hadn't let me see the tickets, and I wanted to know.

"Um . . . they're behind the plate. About 3 rows back." I nearly screamed; that was the closest I had ever been to the field.

"Thank you thank you thank you." Roz was laughing at me making such a fuss over seats. "Stop laughing at me, Roz! How excited would you be, if you had gotten third row to a ... um, let's see, a BSB concert?" If looks could kill I would have been SO dead. I heard Nick and Brian laugh. "This is my version of that." I stopped to look at my watch. "But we got like half an hour till the game starts. Let's go do something." I grabbed Roz's arm and dragged her up the aisle. Brian and Nick followed behind.

The game was tied at the end of the eighth inning and for the past three innings, since the Devil Rays had tied it, Nick and I had been squabbling about who was going to win. Roz seemed to be getting annoyed, unlike Brian who realized it was all just out of competitive fun. I was fiercely loyal to my team, and I think Nick was willing to root for whoever I wasn't. I also noticed him glancing at Roz frequently although he never said much to her.

We laughed when they played �N SYNC's "I Want You Back" during the 4th inning, and again in the sixth when they played "Get Down." Roz was even surprised to catch me singing along.

As Carlos stepped up to the plate with two men on, I turned toward Nick. "Here is where the final runs are scored. Carlos is gonna crush one." Nick laughed.

"There's NO way that's gonna happen. You're dreaming."

"Hello. This is what Carlos does best. 2 on, 2 out, HOME RUN, baby! You just watch!" I paused to take a breath and then yelled, "C'MON CARLOS! OUT OF THE PARK!" I could hear Nick laugh as Brian cringed at the strength of my voice. But I had warned him. I turned my full attention to the game as Carlos swung and missed.

"Strike one!" I heard to my left.

"Sh!" He laughed. Carlos hit the next pitch foul two sections to our left.

"Strike two!"

"Sh," I said, "Let him concentrate." More laughter. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. Then the pitch, and that beautiful crack of the bat. I watched with a smile as the ball sailed in a high arc past the outfield fence. I couldn't help myself, I had to scream. Then gloat. "I told you. Do I know my team or what?" I grinned.

"There's still a half inning. It's not over yet." I looked at him and laughed.

"You keep believin' that."

At the end of the ninth inning, the score proved me right. The runs ended with the Jays final three off Carlos' home run. I decided that I'd done enough gloating though and left it alone. As we walked out of the ballpark, Nick grabbed my shoulder.

"So, where's the gloating? You won, why not take advantage of it?" I shrugged.

"No need, you know I won. That's the important part."

"Believe me I know." He rubbed his ear, and laughed. "So, you really know baseball, huh?" I nodded.

"Oh yeah. I've been watching baseball basically all my life."
"That's cool. You know we should do this again. The group of us. It was fun." I rolled my eyes.

"You're kidding me! I just totally kicked your butt, and you want to do it again?"

"Sure, as long as it's not Toronto. I can't take that again." I laughed.

"Okay, that's a deal. How about when the Tigers come in?" I paused. "Oh wait. They're my second team, that wouldn't be much better. For you anyway." He grinned.

"We'll work something out. It was nice to meet you." He looked towards Roz. "You too, Roz." She only nodded, as we all stopped before going to the parking lot. Nick looked a little puzzled at the brush off. Then he turned to Brian. "Give me a call, Bri. We got stuff to discuss."

"You got it."

"Well, I'll see ya." Nick turned and walked in the other direction as we started towards Brian's car. "You were definitely right about being loud. My ears are ringing. You alone, were as loud as being at one of our concerts." Brian laughed, and shook his head.

"Oh please, I wasn't that bad. 20-30 thousand screaming teenagers. Me, " I said making the motion of weighing the two options." .....I think not." I sighed. "I am sorry about that though. I always try to be quieter but I just can't. It's a habit I guess." I noticed Roz wasn't talking and that she was walking several steps behind us. So I dropped back to her and threw my arm over her shoulder. As she shrugged it off, I said, "What's up? You don't look happy." She didn't look up and almost seemed like she was ignoring me. I looked at Brian and shrugged. He dropped to her other side and started humming. I held back a chuckle as I realized what song it was. If I had enough confidence in my ability to carry a tune I would have joined him, but then I heard Roz start.

The two of them got to the chorus of "Larger Than Life" and started singing, in the middle of the parking lot. Roz's eyes brightened a little. At the end of the chorus, Brian stopped.

"Okay, okay, stop. I haven't had to sing that in a while, It's hard." I made the most sympathetic face I could.

"Aw poor Brian." He unlocked the door to the car.

"Alright, just get in the car."

When we got to my apartment building, Brian stopped his car in front, but he wouldn't come in. So Roz and I got out of the car and said goodbye. "I had a great time, Brian. Thanks for getting the great seats."

"No problem. It was fun, except for the screaming. Let me know if you want to do it again sometime." I could see Roz gradually inching away from the car. Brian noticed too. "Night Roz." She waved. "I'll give you a call alright?" I nodded.

"Sure, cool."

"Awright. Night." I waved as he drove away from the curb, then I turned and met Roz at the door. "Okay, what's with you?" I knew there was something wrong, but I couldn't imagine what it would be. She still hadn't spoken as we walked down the hall. "Come on, Rozzie. I can't do anything unless you tell me what's wrong. What's up?"

"Nothin'. Just leave me be. You can't change it now anyway." I thought about that as I opened the door to the apartment.

"What do you mean? What did I do?"

"UGH! Why do you make me explain? Not only did Brian talk to you all the time, but you kept Nick involved too. I was left out, alright?"

"I'm sorry, hun. I didn't know. Why didn't you just butt in? Either of them would have been glad to talk to you at any time. I can't help that Nick and I talked about the game, and Brian and I have a lot in common because of our age."

"I know, and I hate that I'm mad about it, but ... ugh!"

"Don't worry about it. If it were reversed I'd probably feel the same way." I gave her a minute to realize what I'd just said. "So, anyways, was Nicky anything like you expected?"

"How can you still call him Nicky? He's so ... oh ..." I laughed. Roz was speechless over Nick.

"I guess he was everything and more, huh?" I started to walk to my bedroom then turned to walk backwards. "Oh, and he will always be Nicky. That will never change. Just be glad I didn't say it to his face."

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