As she walked through the casino, Sadie Anderson happily swung her evening bag in her right hand. In her eyes, life was pretty perfect. Though graduation loomed just a couple months in the future, Sadie’s part-time job as a concierge at the MGM Grand almost assured her a full-time gig once summer hit. Having just got off work a few minutes before, Sadie was making her way to meet Melissa for TGIF drinks- with AJ Mclean.

As close as they had been in the Orlando days, AJ and Melissa hadn’t kept in very good contact over the past couple years. But remembering the near-encounter at the Billboards, AJ had tracked Melissa down when he realized he’d be in town for a few dates on the Black & Blue tour. She’d just turned twenty-one the week before, and though she had stopped drinking, how could she say no to a few drinks with AJ?

When Sadie found out about the rendezvous, she invited herself along. Sure, AJ wasn’t Brian, but he was still a Backstreet Boy. Plus, Melissa owed her one. Sadie was still upset that Melissa had torn her away from a conversation with Brian at the Billboards. If the conversation had ended when Sadie wanted it to end, there was no way Brian would have married someone else. At least, that’s what Sadie told herself.

That’s how Sadie found herself walking through the casino in between Thursday and Saturday night Backstreet concerts. Though most performers at MGM stay in the same hotel, AJ had opted for a room at the Venetian. So when Sadie caught a glimpse of Nick playing blackjack at one of the gaming tables, she had to stop and think about the situation. Melissa had asked AJ to stay at a different hotel so she could avoid an encounter with Nick. But there was nothing preventing Sadie from encountering the blonde heartthrob. She worked in the same hotel he was staying in… it was kind of inevitable that they run into each other, wasn’t it?

Sadie knew Melissa would kill her once she found out about the encounter, but that hardly stopped the girl from sitting down next to the gaming table. He barely acknowledged her presence as she placed a bet and her cards were on the table. It was almost funny, how Sadie knew everything about Nick and his relationship with Melissa, and Nick didn’t even know that Sadie existed.

It wasn’t until Sadie won four straight hands in a row that Nick finally took any notice. He pushed his stool away from the table, promptly declaring, “This is out of my league. I’m out.”

“I’ll be leaving as well,” Sadie announced as she began to gather up her belongings (and winnings).

“But you’re on a lucky streak. You don’t want to ride it out?” Nick questioned. As he did so, he let his eyes wander on Sadie’s body. Her muscular legs were accentuated by black leather pants and stiletto heels. Sadie could feel Nick’s eyes and smiled with pleasure. She breathed a sigh of relief for having changed out of her work uniform.

Sadie shrugged in response to Nick. “I’m a Vegas native. When you’ve lived here your whole life, gambling isn’t that exciting.”

“So what made you played the cards today?” Nick questioned.

Sadie smirked provocatively, taking a step closer to Nick. “Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to gamble with a superstar, now could I?”

Nick smiled back in response to her answer. He motioned with his head to the bar a few yards away. “How about joining me for a drink? Maybe some alcohol in your system will let loose some of your lucky Vegas gambling tips.”

“I think I’ll have to take you up on that.”

Across town…

“I wonder where Sadie is,” Melissa wondered aloud. She was staring into the phone in her hands, listening to the endless ringing. “She isn’t answering her cell phone.”

“Maybe she found something better to do?” AJ suggested.

Melissa shook her head. “Obviously, you don’t know Sadie. She would never pass up the opportunity to party with a celebrity- especially when that celebrity is a Backstreet Boy.”

“So does this Sadie have a favorite in the group?” AJ asked with a grin.

“Don’t we all?” Melissa asked back coyly. She could see in his eyes, AJ expected the favorite to be himself. “She’s a Brian fan.”

“Brian?!” That stumped AJ. “What does she see in Brian? From what you’ve told me about this girl, I can’t imagine them having anything in common.”

Melissa shrugged. “I think she wants to corrupt Brother Brian.”

“Hmmph,” AJ pouted. His feelings about this girl he’d never met had changed. “Well, she’s obviously tied up doing something. I think we should go on without her. She’ll call your cell when she’s free, and then we’ll meet up.”

“Impatient much? Its only ten o’clock, we have all night ahead of us.”

“Exactly. Its ten o’clock. I should be getting my drink on by now!” AJ was bouncing around his hotel room in anticipation.

“Honey, you’ve already drained the mini-bar. How much more are you going to drink?”

“A lot,” AJ replied. He pulled Melissa to her feet and placed her purse in her hands. Before she knew it, she was being dragged to the door. “Because you just turned legal, and I haven’t begun to feel tipsy. Because we’ve barely talked these past few years, and because we’re going to make up for it tonight by having a good-ass time.”

Melissa was laughing the entire time she was being led down the hall. “AJ, honey, I don’t know what I’ve done with out you in my life recently.”

“Just because you and Nick aren’t speaking, it doesn’t mean you’ve been banned from the Backstreet camp.” AJ reminded Melissa. “We all miss you, you know.”

“You’re just saying that because you want me to drink with you tonight.”

“Partly.” AJ agreed. That was the thing about AJ you could depend on the most. He was an honest friend. “But that doesn’t mean that it’s any less true. We all think of you as a little sister. We’d like to her from you more.”

“I know,” Melissa sighed. They had moved into the elevator know. She leaned against the mirrored wall, eyes closed. “You and Kevin and Kirsten, you were my role models when I lived in Florida. It sucks not being able to hang out anymore.”

“First of all, honey…” AJ mimicked Melissa’s Texas accent to a tee. “We aren’t role models- myself especially. And second of all, whose fault is it that you don’t chill with us anymore?”

Melissa shook her head, not wanting to get into the argument with a slightly tipsy AJ. It was an issue that had haunted her since she was seventeen years old, and she was sick of continually discussing it with everyone on the face of the planet. “Being around Nick is hard- whether its direct or indirect contact.”

“You’re such a fucking pussy,” AJ accused. Melissa glared at him. Most women didn’t appreciate being called such a vulgar term. “I’m sorry, but it’s true. Yeah, you got into a fight. But it was a million years ago, and no one even remembers what it was about. All I know is it had something to do with Mandy. But she’s been gone for months, so why can’t you two just grow up and move on?”

“You got your wish,” Melissa switched topics suddenly.

“What wish? What are you talking about?” Though he denied feeling the alcohol, AJ was clearly a little sloshed. His brain wasn’t working at quite its normal speed.

“I’ve got to get a couple drinks into my system before I even begin to answer that question.

AJ smiled broadly. He wrapped his arm around Melissa’s shoulders, pulling her frame into his own. Leaning down, he kissed the crown of her head. “That’s my girl.”

Back at the MGM Grand…

“I’ve bought you four drinks. Now will you tell me how you were winning?”

Nick was a whiney drunk, Sadie noticed. It was kind of cute, in that helpless, little-boy way. She leaned in closer to his ear, whispering, “I count cards.”

“People actually do that? People who aren’t retarded?” Nick sat back in bewilderment. Sadie looked at the pop star questionably, not sure whether to be insulted. Nick immediately tried to explain himself. “You know that movie, with Tom Cruise… where his brother is retarded but he’s really, really smart? And they go to Vegas and meet a stripper, and-”

“Oh!” Sadie realized, once she caught Nick’s drunken train of thought. “Rainman! With Dustin Hoffman. Boy, you have to jump into the 21st century. He wasn’t retarded, he was autistic. Autistic savant, to be exact.”

“Well aren’t you Miss Know-It-All,” Nick teased.

“Some of us, Mr. Boy Band,” Sadie pointed at Nick with her martini glass. No cheerleader drinks for her, which had impressed Nick. She carried her alcohol better then he, and to a guy who’d just turned 21, that was a desirable trait. “…actually went to a real high school and are going to graduate college this spring.”

“You go to school? Where?” That comment caught Nick’s attention, and he sat up a little straighter. Having missed out on the school experience himself, he living through it via other people’s experiences.

“UNLV. I’m a Hotel Administration major. And a cheerleader.”

Nick’s eyes glazed over momentarily, as he stared at the beer in his hand. “I know someone who goes to that school. She’s a dancer.”

“Why aren’t you hanging out with her tonight?” Sadie had to be careful with what she said, so as not to give away her relationship with Melissa.

“Well, we’re not really friends… anymore.” With that, Nick chugged the last half of his beer. “It sucks. Vegas is such a cool place to chill, yet somehow I’ve gotten ditched by everyone I know.”

“Where are the other Boys?”

Nick shrugged. He motioned for the bartender to bring him another drink. “Kevin and Brian are busy with their wives. They’re ALWAYS busy with their wives. Howie’s family is in town, or at least his mom is. And AJ is staying at a different hotel. Said he had some friends to hang out with. Though I don’t know who he knows who lives here. Maybe he flew someone in. Probably.” “But you’ve got me, haven’t you?” Sadie purred.

Nick looked back at Sadie with glum eyes. The flirtatious pop star she’d picked up earlier that night had disappeared. A lonely young man stood in his place. The bitch in Sadie had approached the situation eager to bed a pop star. But any romantic encounter with Nick was shattered when she realized how much he loved her sorority sister. The friend in Sadie, the most caring friend in the world in fact, was about to come out.

“Yeah, I got you.” Nick nodded his head in the relentless fashion of a drunk. “I always have some girl- different in every town.”

“Oh, come on.” Sadie prodded. “A good-looking, wealthy guy like yourself and no one wants to be your steady?”

“Sure, plenty of people want,” Nick nodded his head relentlessly. “But none of them are right. None of them are who I want.”

Normally, Sadie would have been pissed if any guy said that to her. She would have thrown her drink in his face and stormed out of the room. But knowing Nick and his predicament, she stuck around. Finally, after years of hearing Melissa mope around, Sadie got to hear the other side of the story. “So what do you want?”

“Someone who’s fun and funny. Someone who knows the real me, and doesn’t want anything from my fame. Someone who’ll look out for me and take care of me, because God knows I can’t take care of myself.”

“Sounds like you’ve got someone specific in mind,” Sadie commented softly.

“Yeah…maybe.”

“So what’s keeping you from her?”

“Baggage.”

“Hers, or yours?”

“Both.” Nick took a long swig out of his new drink. “I know I love her, and I have pretty good idea that she loves me too. I don’t have any proof or anything- I just have this instinct. But we’ve put each other through so much shit in the past… I don’t want screw up the situation anymore.”

“That’s a horrible outlook.” Sadie declared in her trademark blunt fashion. “What’s that old saying? ‘Its better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all’?”

“Yeah, I guess you have a point.”

“So why don’t you stop being a pussy and snag this girl?” Sadie egged on. She, unlike most girls, could hold her weight with the men, both in drinking and in language.

“That’s the problem,” Nick commented glumly. “I don’t know.”

They both sighed, and downed their drinks. Nick and Melissa? Sadie thought to herself. Hopeless. Shaking her head at their nonsense, she ordered another round of drink- this time it was doubles.

Across town, at another bar…

With such a low tolerance for alcohol, Melissa was wasted by her third hard lemonade. For the last hour, she’d been whining about how much she loved Nick and how they could never be together. AJ, who was probably on his fifteenth drink, cradled his head in his hands. He had a killer headache, he just wasn’t sure if it was from Melissa or the alcohol.

“You love him. He loves you. Why don’t you just get your freak on?” AJ questioned. It was the first time he has spoken up in quite awhile.

“He doesn’t love me,” Melissa commented harshly. Partially, she was telling herself the same thing she had been for years. But she was also raising the statement as something for AJ to elaborate on, and hopefully prove to Melissa she’d been wrong.

“If you believe that, then you’re fucking blind.”

And though she wanted to play it cool, Melissa couldn’t help but smile. This is what she had wanted to hear. But for whatever reason, she kept insisting otherwise. “He does not love me. If he loved me, why would he run around with groupies all the time?”

“Have you ever met any of the sluts that Nick goes around with?” AJ questioned.

“No,” Melissa admitted. “But I’ve seen their pictures. They’re nothing like me.”

“Exactly.” AJ patted Melissa on the arm, as if she’d made some great accomplishment. “He purposefully avoids girls who remotely resemble you.”

“And that’s a good thing?” Even if she weren’t drunk, Melissa wouldn’t understand that remark.

“He dates these tall, blonde bitches, your polar opposite, because he’s trying to tell himself he doesn’t love you. If he started dating short, dark, curvy girls- then you’d be in trouble. Then you know he had moved on.”

Melissa had never thought of it in that way before. “So I love him.”

“Right.”

“And he loves me.”

“Right again.”

“But we’re not together.”

“Really?” AJ faked amazement.

Melissa slugged him in the shoulder before continuing on. “So what am I supposed to do about this situation.”

“I can’t believe you, Melissa Baras,” AJ shook his head in disbelief. “…of all people can’t figure that out on your own. And that you’re asking me for advice?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Melissa asked with narrowed eyes.

“It means that you have always had the most faith, out of any of us. Don’t you trust God to know what’s best for you?”

“Yeah,” Melissa admitted. Her hand had left the drink and went to finger the gold crucifix around her neck.

“And if you and Nick are really meant to be, don’t you think that God will lead you to each other?” All Melissa could do was nod. “Then all you’ve got to do is wait it out until it’s the right time. None of us know how it will happen, but if you’re meant to be, you’ll be.”

Melissa smiled tiredly. “Jay, do you think I’ll ever get to the point where I can be the type of profound drunk that you are?”

AJ laughed at his poor, hammered friend. “There’s only one way to get there- and that’s by building up your tolerance level. So what do you say, another round?”

“ONE more,” Melissa agreed. “But that’s it!”

“Not if I have my way,” AJ cackled evily.

“Lord, am I going to regret this tomorrow.”

The next day, at the sorority house…

“Sadie, get out of the way. NOW!” Melissa demanded, rushing into the bathroom. One hand cupped her throbbing head; the other tried to suppress her dizzying stomach.

“Stop yelling,” Sadie moaned.

“Sadie, I’ve got to throw up!”

“Wait your turn Mel. I was in here first.”

But Melissa couldn’t wait. She loomed for the next closest thing- the sink. Barely able to keep her unruly curls out of the way, Melissa found herself puking. A lot.

“You know right now,” Sadie warned, amidst her own rolfing. “I am NOT cleaning up after you.”

“I’m never drinking again.” Melissa replied miserably.

“That’s what you said the last time.”

Melissa’s stomach calmed momentarily. She wiped her mouth on a Kleenex, looking at her sorority sister curiously. “You never get hung over. What in the world did you do last night and how come you didn’t meet AJ and I?”

“Mel, you don’t want to know the answer to that question.”

But before Melissa could begin pondering Sadie’s murky response, she was hunched over the sink. Again.

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