They were in the middle of recording and Nick and Kevin were in the middle of yet another argument,
"Or we could try it like-" Kevin stood up and sighed,
"It's fine just like that." Nick looked over at him briefly before shaking his head,
"See?" Kevin turned to look at him,
"See what?!" Nick shook his head and looked down as he mumbled and played with his hands,
"Nothing." He was so tired of this, tired of recording, tired of being ignored, tired of whining. Howie sat next to Nick,
"Come on Nicky, you're up." Nick got up and was about to go into the sound booth when AJ stopped him and pointed at the television,
"Hey, we're on Entertainment Tonight. Turn it up B." They all sat around and watched,
"This looks like when you guys went bowling Saturday." They briefly spoke of the group, but it was apparent the story was Nick and Lexi,
"...just days after partying it up in New York, he was seen bowling with the beautiful blonde in Los Angeles." They showed pictures of the blonde in New York, her hat made it hard to see her entire face and they made it seem like she and Lexi were the same person. They switched to the footage of Nick giving Lexi bowling lessons,
"What girl in her right mind wouldn't love to get a few of these one on one lessons from the Backstreet babe and it looked like his tips paid off." They showed Lexi bowl her strike then jump into Nick's arms, the camera zoomed in and caught Lexi lick her lips and wink at him. Suddenly there were three pictures on the screen. One of the two pictures in the background was of Nick and Ashley, the other was of Nick standing behind Lexi his arm wrapped around her in the bowling alley and in the front was a picture of Nick and Shayna,
"Is it quits for Nick and his long time live-in girlfriend Shayna? It sure looks that way." Nick threw a bottle of water against the wall,
"Damn." AJ shook his head,
"How in the hell you and Shayna breaking up hasn't been reported yet.?" Nick shrugged and stood in the middle of the room. Kevin shook his head,
"If you two weren't so lovey-dovey in public this wouldn't be a story." Nick was about to argue that point until Brian jumped in,
"Well, it's no big deal. It's not like he was cheating on Shayna, they're over. Next time someone in the media asks Nick about it he can say they broke up a long time ago and that will be the end of it." Howie smiled and shook his head,
"Man, once they start keeping track of who you're dating and what you're doing that's when you're a big time celebrity." Nick shook his head,
"Well, I don't want to be a big time celebrity and it's nobody's business." AJ shrugged and patted him on the back,
"Hey when you get attention we get attention. So keep it up." Nick sighed as he stood in the middle of the room not sure what to do or where to go his hands on his hips as his eyes were fixated on a piece of paper underneath a chair,
"Are you ok?" and felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Howie,
"Yeah, just God damned pissed." His eyes widened slightly and he looked over at Brian who shook his head and smiled,
"I know you're mad...but just for my reputation...Nick, watch your mouth!" Nick smiled as they all turned when the door opened and their manager walked in,
"Hey guys." Steve was the perfect manager, he treated them like porcelain but was a real asshole when he fought for them,
"Hey Steve, what are you doing here?" He held out a manila envelope towards Kevin and as he took it Steve addressed the guys,
"We received a letter from Anna Kournikova's manager, Anna recently heard one of your songs and wants to meet you guys." AJ jumped up,
"Hell yeah." Howie looked at him,
"AJ...you have a girlfriend." AJ frowned at him,
"Damn D, I'm not blind and paralyzed from the waist down." Kevin looked at Steve,
"One of our songs? We put out our last single like what...eight months ago and finished the tour like six months ago. She's a little late isn't she?" Steve shrugged,
"I'm sure there are some people who didn't become fans until this year." Howie nodded,
"Yeah, guess that's true." AJ walked over to Nick and put his arm around him,
"So, when do we meet? I can hear the Nick and Anna love rumors now." Nick rolled his eyes and Steve smiled slightly as he looked at Nick,
"Yeah, I saw the stories. I've already talked to PR to make sure they stay up on all the TV and gossip reports just in case we need to say something." Nick shook his head,
"Nobody needs to say nothing, I'm not talking about it." Kevin sighed,
"I wish you would grow up, sometimes you have to say something-" Nick looked over at him,
"Why? What the hell did you say about Kristin that you didn't want to when you didn't want to do it?" He didn't give Kevin a chance to answer,
"Never, that's when. Just that you were a damn turtle and you met her at Disney and then you announced you were getting married. That's it, so don't tell me I gotta say something." Everyone was quiet until Steve interrupted broke the silence,
"So, let me tell you what I want to do before you guys meet Anna."
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Chapter 72