Chapter Six: Sundreams

I’m in delusion every minute every hour
My heart is crying out for you
I feel in heaven when I look in your eyes
I know that you are the one for me

The next three weeks passed by like a storybook dream, with only a few minor appearances by the villainess, or in this case, Michelle. Rylee was having the time of her life. They went to the beach; they went shopping, and even went to Disney World. Basically, they just hung out and had a good time, enjoying each other’s company.

The day they got back from Disney World, Rylee, Brian and Nick were relaxing in front of the TV watching a movie. From his position perpendicular to the couch Brian and Rylee were sitting on, Nick made a few interesting observations.

In the days following their "talk," Brian and Rylee seemed to get closer than they already were and become more affectionate. For example, right then, Brian had his head resting against Rylee’s shoulder and his arms around her waist. Rylee’s arm rested on his back and her hand was absentmindedly stroking his hair. Nick smirked. To the outside eye, these two platonic friends would be misinterpreted as a loving couple. They would walk around holding hands and even kiss frequently. Of course, these kisses were only received on the cheek or forehead, but still. The close relationship of his two friends always amazed Nick. The way they were always there for each other and in turn relied upon each other for strength and comfort, spoke volumes to Nick. To them, the kissing and hugging was just a way for them to communicate their affection towards each other. Nick really had to admire Rylee. Despite her deep love for Brian, she had decided to ignore that, and just be what Brian needed her to be: his best friend. Although, Nick had his own reasons for disagreeing with her decision, he had to admire her for putting Brian’s feelings before her own. He knew it must be hard for her, but she stayed strong, and to Nick that was the best indicator of how much she really loved Brian.

Nick smiled at Rylee, and she gave him a puzzled look. Nick just shook his head and went back to watching Keanu Reaves dodge bullets, and Rylee did the same. Although she had no idea what weird thoughts were going on inside Nick’s mind, she was too comfortable and relaxed to question him about it. She stroked Brian’s hair softly, smiling at how content Brian seemed. A month ago, she wouldn’t have pictured being this happy unless she and Brian were together. But now, everything was going right. Or at least it appeared that way. Although sometimes it still hurt a little, just to see him and to not actually be able to be with him, but she was doing all right. She wasn’t sure if time would heal all her wounds, but she was sure it would help. So in a way, she was waiting for him to see what he wanted and what she wanted. But in the meantime, she was just enjoying their friendship and the new closeness that they shared.

Brian looked up and caught Rylee’s eyes as she smiled at him. He returned her soft smile with a cheeky, little boy grin of his own, before Rylee turned her attention back to the movie. Brian let his eyes linger curiously on Rylee’s face for a couple of seconds. She had a small smile on her face as she watched the movie, and Brian’s curious expression softened to one of admiration. He knew Rylee well enough to see that she had been struggling a little with whatever was going on between them. But she hid it so well. Whatever inhibitions that were holding her back in the beginning, she let go and whatever was causing her pain before, she overcame. Although Brian didn’t like feeling powerless to help his best friend, he was proud of her. It was sometimes hard for him to step back and realize that he couldn’t always fix whatever what wrong with Rylee, but he wished he could. He sighed deeply and shifted into a more comfortable position against Rylee’s shoulder, and went back to watching the movie.

Nick, who had been paying more attention to the actions of his friends than the movie, smiled as he remembered their reactions to slow dancing together when they all went clubbing. After seeing Rylee and Brian dance to "This I Promise You" at the JIVE party, the other guys made sure that the song was played at every club they visited. Nick fought to hide his smile, remembering the look on Rylee’s face at the club two nights ago. He could’ve sworn she was going to melt right in Brian’s arms. He chuckled out loud, unable to control his mirth.

Brian and Rylee pulled their eyes from watching Keanu Reeves’s character die onscreen to give their friend a strange look.

"Sorry," Nick said, quickly schooling his features and trying hard not to laugh.

From Rylee’s point of view, that last night at the club would go down in her memory as the day she almost kissed Brian. True to the tradition of previous nights, Nick had gotten the DJ to play "This I Promise You" and Brian had led her onto the dance floor once again. She had wrapped her arms around his neck and his hands spanned her waist. She smiled up at him as she looked deep into his eyes. Brian held her gaze, the two best friends almost communicating without words. Rylee kept looking straight into his eyes, feeling like she was suicidally drowning in sparkling azure waters. Although she had decided already not to press Brian about taking their friendship to the next level, watching him, she felt that she could easily identify with the thousands of girls across America who were obsessed with him. What a beautiful face to be obsessing over. Her emotions were doing strange things to her heart, giving her a feeling of exhilaration that left her breathless. She concentrated on keeping her eyes on his, not trusting herself to look anywhere else. Especially involuntarily dropping down to his lips. She knew if she did, she would lose self-control and kiss him. Concentrating didn’t seem to be helping much. In her mind, she could vividly picture the exact shape and contour of his lips. She could almost feel the sensation of his lips touching hers. She subconsciously tucked her bottom lip between her teeth, in desperation to hold on to her sanity.

"What?" Brian had asked.

"Huh?" Rylee said, snapping out of her reverie.

 "You were biting your lip. You only do that when you’re thinking," Brian stated matter-of-factly.

 "I do?" She didn’t recall anything other than trying not to kiss Brian.

"Yeah," he said softly. He brought up his hand to lightly run one finger over the now slightly swollen edge of her lip. His gaze followed the path his finger traced, then he slowly raised his eyes to smile at her.

Rylee couldn’t take her eyes off him. She was vaguely conscious of the fact that they were still dancing across the room. But other than that she couldn’t have told you the date or even where the heck they were. All she saw was Brian. Her senses were starting to go into overdrive. Just from one look and one touch. She felt as if the world was moving at hyper-speed, while she and Brian stood still, suspended in time. She had memorized exactly how he looked that night. He was wearing a light gray woven cotton shirt and dark khakis. His hair was slightly damp from partying for several hours. But his eyes shined brightly from excitement, and easy smile was in place on his face. He had half the girls in the club drooling over him that night. The dance ended too soon for Rylee. Although forever would have seemed too short for her as well. But life went back to normal speed, and Rylee pushed the beautiful image of Brian out of her mind.

Unbeknownst to Rylee and Nick, Brian had more on his mind than just the movie. Like Nick, he was thinking about that night, and that dance, at the club. He liked how he and Rylee became more direct in showing their affection for each other. He liked hugging her. She fit perfectly into his arms. And the increased kissing. Well, that was nice as well. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he felt like something was different. As much as he thought about it, he still couldn’t figure out what it was. In a way, he was starting to realize that Rylee wasn’t a little girl anymore. In the beginning, he tried to deny it, which accounted for his blowup at the JIVE party. But he was enjoying the changes in their friendship. That night at the club was like the culmination of all the unknown things he was feeling. He was incredibly confused. And the dance…well, it wasn’t just a normal dance, that’s for sure. He remembered staring into her eyes and feeling like he could get lost. And when she held his gaze, he could see an unidentifiable expression shining out of her eyes. He had seen it before from her, but he didn’t know what it was. If anything, it only made him curious to discover what her expression meant and why she had been displaying it towards him more and more. He wondered if she even knew that she was doing it, like she hadn’t known that she was biting her lip while they were dancing. Brian smiled as he remembered. That action, although so slight and seemingly insignificant, left such an impression on him. She looked so young, so vulnerable. When he questioned her, she looked different to him, with her wide eyes, curious expression and pink lips. Then, without really knowing what he was doing, he had reached up to trace her bottom lip. He surprised himself again by the direction his thoughts were moving. Her lips felt so soft, and he wondered why he hadn’t noticed how soft they were against his skin when she kissed him before. He had wanted her to kiss his cheek again, just to see if he was right. But Brian, startled by these new thoughts, pushed them out of his head after only a moment’s reflection. Brian sighed deeply. He was still confused.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

And I’ll be waiting
Until you face the truth
And when the light is fading
You know what I wanna do
I wanna be with you

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Rylee and Brian moved through the crowd, wanting to give Leighanne their congratulations. Rylee and the rest of the guys had arrived in Georgia the previous day. Finally, Rylee made it to where the bridal party was. After speaking briefly to several attendants that she didn’t know, Rylee reached to give Leighanne a big hug.

"Rylee! I’m so glad you could make it!" Leighanne smiled at the younger woman.

"I’m so happy for you, Leigh!" Rylee said, smiling back.

 "This is so great that you’re in the South this summer. We have to get together sometime."

"You mean AFTER your honeymoon, right?" Rylee teased with a smile.

Leighanne laughed. "Of course! Oh I’m so glad you’re here!" she repeated.

Suddenly, Nick rushed up to them. "Hey again, Leigh," he said quickly, before turning to Rylee. "Ry, you gotta see this! The DJ is totally kickin’!" He grabbed her hand and started pulling her away.

"But…" Rylee protested.

"You can talk to Leigh later! Sorry, Leigh!" he rushed, before Rylee had a chance to continue.

"I’ll see you both later," Rylee said, giving Brian’s hand a squeeze before Nick dragged her away.

Leighanne laughed at Nick’s antics, before turning to Brian with a smile. "Bri…"

"Youngsters today," he said slowly shaking his head. "No sense of propriety."

She laughed at his choice of words. "Brian, I think you’re starting to sound like JC. That can’t be good. One eccentric white boy is enough for the pop world."

Brian laughed along with her. "It’s so great to see you, Leigh. Congratulations. I couldn’t be happier for you," he said sincerely.

"Thanks, Bri. It means a lot to me that you’re here. Actually, that you ALL came. I know y’all are busy."

They talked a little, but Leighanne soon noticed that the little sparkle in his eyes flashed more brightly when Rylee held his hand. She decided to question him about the change. "So, Bri," she said, choosing her words carefully. "Are you and Rylee having fun?"

"Yeah, it’s been great," he replied, not picking up on the meaning in Leighanne’ s tone.

She shook her head at Brian’s naiveté. "Uh-uh…" She decided to forget hinting, and just be blunt with Brian. "Rylee looks a lot older than the last time I saw her. I mean, she was cute when she was younger. But now she’s grown up, she’s rather stunning, don’t you think?" she asked, innocently.

"Yeah…" Brian replied, only half listening to what Leighanne was saying. Once he heard Rylee’s name mentioned, he turned to find her while she was dancing with Nick. He was pretty much staring at her, a fact that didn’t escape Leighanne’ s notice. Brian watched Rylee as she laughed while Nick spun her around crazily. She was wearing a light yellow dress that flowed as she moved. The dress’s v-neck and back made her look older, but that was offset by the halo of matching yellow beads crossing her forehead. She looked so happy, his little Angel.

Leighanne smiled at the expression on Brian’s face. Had there been a mirror handy, she was sure he would have never expected to see this particular expression caused by a girl whom he only considered his best friend. "So, Bri…" she questioned, slyly. "What’s up with you two?"

"What?" Brian jerked his head back around as Leighanne’ s voice broke through his thoughts.

She laughed at his surprised look. "You and Rylee…what’s going on between you?"

"What?" Brian repeated. "There’s nothing going on between us. It’s just the same as it always has been."

"This little clueless thing you have going on is cute, Bri. Real cute. But I know you’re smart, so start talking. It looks like you’re starting to get a thing for Rylee."

"What?" Brian said for the third time. "I’m not getting a thing for Rylee."

Kevin, who was passing by at the time, interjected, "Dawson’s Creek flashback!" He put his arm around Brian’s shoulder. "And I hate to break it to you, Cuz, but you are!"

"Thanks, Kevin!" Leighanne told him. "I knew I could count on you to be blunt and to the point!"

"Anytime I can be of service!" Kevin said with a bow.

"Hold up! This is very touching that you two are in cahoots about this, but I’m telling you, I’m not falling for Rylee!" Brian insisted.

"’Cahoots?’ Dang, Bri! You REALLY have to stop hanging out with JC!" Kevin said, giving his younger cousin a strange look. "And, like I said before, I hate to break it to you…"

"But you are!" Both he and Leighanne finished together. They both laughed at their timing.

Brian just shook his head. "Whatever, you guys," he said. He was back to staring at Rylee. This time she and Nick were dancing like normal people. She looked up and saw Brian looking at her. She smiled and waved to him, and he gave a small wave back. He watched as Nick saw him as well and turned to say something to Rylee that made her laugh.

Meanwhile, Leighanne and Kevin were whispering about Brian. "Suuuuuuure, Brian," they both said together. "Not falling for her. Uh-uh, we can TOTALLY tell."

"Thanks, I appreciate your sincerity," Brian told them sarcastically.

They just laughed. "Oh, I just remembered why I came over here in the first place," Kevin said, suddenly. "You new husband is looking for you, Leigh. He was asking me if I had seen you."

"Oh. Well, I’d better go find him then. I’ll catch you guys later." As she was leaving, she stopped and turned back to Brian. "Don’t fight it so much, Bri. It could be the best thing that’s ever happened to you." Then with one last smile, she turned and walked away. Kevin nodded in agreement, before heading off to who knows where.

Brian turned away from his two friends, and his eyes immediately went back to watching Rylee. He watched her for a moment before deciding to go and cut in.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

See I’ve been watching you
And I think I’m a little sprung
Can’t seem to get my mind off ya
I’ve been thinking about ya
And I think that you’re the one

"May I cut in?"

Nick made a weird face as Brian smiled at him and Rylee. "No, you may not. Go find your own partner!"

Brian stepped back, caught off guard. "What? Hey, man, back off! I’m dancing with her!"

"No! I am!" Nick retorted, giving Brian a small shove.

"You did not just push me, you little punk!" Brian threw back, taking a step closer to Nick.

Nick also took a step forward, so he was toe to toe with Brian. "Who are you calling ‘little?’"

"You! So, what are you gonna do about it?"

"I’m about to throw it down, that’s what I’m gonna do!" Nick threatened, shoving Brian again. Brian pushed him back, which started a pushing war between the two. Several other dancing couples around the trio stopped to watch in amazement as these two supposedly grown men appeared to be on the verge of a major brawl.

Rylee, who had stepped back from the first shove, stood with one hand massaging her temples as she watched them in mild amusement. She was far from surprised, as this little "fight" of Brian and Nick’s was a common tradition stretching back several years. Each time they went to a club or a party, someone would cut in on Rylee and whichever Boy was her partner, and the two guys would pretend to "throw it down." They all thought it was great fun, and on one occasion they switched off and "fought" at least a dozen times. However, usually this happened at a club where they were surrounded by young people or at parties where they knew pretty much everyone, not at formal weddings in the company of grandparents, relatives and countless dignified members of the medical community. "You guys!" she stage whispered. "Stop! People here don’t know you’re just kidding!"

The two guys stopped shoving each other and looked up at Rylee’s words to find that everyone around them was staring at their behavior.

"Sorry!" Nick said sheepishly, apologizing to the crowd.

"Yeah," Brian added. "We’re just kidding. We’re really friends." He placed his arm around Nick shoulder as if he was offering proof that they WERE indeed friends, and not about to start throwing punches during the wedding banquet.

Rylee just laughed as people gave them strange looks and resumed their dancing. She shook her head. They would never learn.

Nick patted Brian on the shoulder, and motioned to Rylee. "She’s all yours, Bri!" Then he added under his breath while he was walking away, "Hopefully, in more ways than one."

Rylee’s eyes narrowed at Nick’s retreating figure. But a quick glance at Brian’s smile assured her that he hadn’t heard Nick’s parting remark.

The music was slow as they danced, all love songs as were appropriate for a wedding.

"This was a great day, huh?" Brian said conversationally.

Rylee was inclined to agree. "It was really nice to see Leigh again. She looked so happy."

"Yeah, almost makes me want to get married!" Brian said teasingly.

Rylee laughed but also agreed again, "Me, too! I remember when we were little, my sister and I used to pretend we were getting married all the time, using our little blankets."

"Oh, that’s why you guys used to walk around with those things on your heads! I never figured that out. I thought you guys were just being weird."

"Oh the joys of childhood!" Rylee said with a dramatic sigh. "Remember playing ‘Star Wars?’"

Brian gave short laugh. "What do you mean playing ‘Star Wars?’ WE never got to play remember? It was always just Kevin, Jerald and Harold. ‘There aren’t enough characters,’ they said. ‘We only have Luke Skywalker, Hans Solo and Darth Vader, and y’all are too young!’" Brian said, mimicking his older brother.

Rylee laughed at his imitation. "Yeah, but then they let Blake be Princess Leia," she said, referring to her older sister.

Brian’s eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah!" he said, remembering. "And that always made me mad cuz she’s only like five months older than me!"

"Yeah, but they let her play when Harold was Luke Skywalker, cuz ‘she was sooooo pretty!’" Rylee said, inserting her own imitation of Harold. They both giggled like little kids, remembering their childhood antics.

Suddenly, the music changed, and they both stopped, recognizing the beginning chords of "This I Promise You."

"I didn’t think Nick would be able to pull it off this time." Rylee said, looking around for him.

"Me neither. He must have tipped the DJ really well. Either that or Nick’s got him bound and gagged in some closet somewhere while taking control of the equipment," Brian responded dryly. "Well, dance with me, Miss Kwan. I believe they’re playing our song!" he finished in an aristocratic tone.

"I guess," Rylee said with a small laugh. "But only cuz I feel sorry for you!" she replied, taking his hand.

"Ouch!" Brian said, as they began dancing again. "You really know how to hurt a guy’s ego!" They were silent for a moment until Brian broke the pause with another "remember when." "Remember when we ran away from home?"

Rylee’s face brightened into a huge smile. "Oh yeah…that was pretty…"

"Stupid?" Brian finished for her.

"Well, yeah. But we were like, what? Five and eight?"

"I think you were six. But why did we run away again?"

"You don’t remember?" Rylee asked in surprise. "Um, I think what happened was that we were playing in my yard, and we decided we wanted a tree house, somewhere we could keep everyone else out of. So-"

"Oh yeah!" Brian interrupted, as he remembered. "We climbed that one tree that our parents told us we were never allowed to climb, the one over the pool, right? And then you fell in!"

They both laughed at the memory.

"You know, I don’t know why we’re laughing." Rylee said, still chuckling. "Cuz that was really scary for me!"

"Me, too! I thought you were gonna die!" Brian exclaimed. "And then I jumped in and pulled you out. That was the weirdest thing. Like I was so scared, and I didn’t really know what I was doing. Ah! We almost DIED!!!" Brian said, his eyes wide.

Rylee laughed at his dramatics. "We did not almost die! Man, we got in so much trouble for that! Once my parents saw that I was okay, I got totally spanked!"

 "No kidding! And then, after that, we weren’t allowed to play together for like three days."

"And that’s when we decided to run away." She paused for a moment, thinking. "You’re right. That was pretty stupid!"

"Yeah, especially since we lasted all of three and a half hours before we decided to go back home. And THEN! We had to go and get lost for another two hours! But luckily, I had provisions!" Brian stated in a self-satisfied tone.

Rylee couldn’t stop the burst of laughter that overflowed. "You call your teddy bear, a little blanket, and two Snickers bars PROVISIONS?!?!"

"Hey, the Snickers were a good move!" he said in his own defense. "Especially since we got lost!!!" He added pointedly.

"It wasn’t my fault!"

"Well, it wasn’t my fault!"

They both burst out laughing again.

"Well, it wasn’t that bad." Brian said. "At least we got a tree house out of it!"

"That was an awesome tree house!" Rylee said, remembering. "Is it still there?"

"It was last time I was home." Brian informed her. "I loved that tree house. We spent so much time there. Those were great times. Those memories, man. That’s one of the things I think of when I get homesick on the road," he told her, wrinkling his nose a little in embarrassment.

Rylee smiled up at him. "Aw, Bri! That’s so sweet!"

"I know," Brian responded breezily. He looked down at her, remembering the innocence of their childhood and wondering just when Rylee suddenly grew up on him.

They continued to dance with the ease and familiarity of two old friends, which they were. Only in this case, one person had just gotten over hoping for more from this deep friendship, and the other was slowly coming to realize that there was the potential to be so much more.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Oh how I know
Summer days are getting longer
Oh how I know
That my love is getting stronger

Nick made his way over to Rylee, who was taking a sip of lemonade at one of the many tables scattered around the room. "So, what happened to your permanent dance partner?"

Rylee smiled at his description of Brian. "I needed a break, and he went over to talk to Leighanne." She motioned to across the room, where Brian was talking animatedly to Leighanne. From the looks of it, the conversation was mostly one-sided, as Leighanne just appeared to be laughing at whatever Brian was saying.

Rylee watched him, the memories of dancing still fresh on her mind. This "just be his friend" thing was really working rather nicely for her. She was still a little unsure of what she exactly felt. In fact, there seem to be a lot of unsureness in this situation. Any more and she would be hopelessly confused. But for the most part, everything was all right. The world seemed to be spinning in perfect motion, just this once. And so she continued to watch him. He waved his hands around emphatically, and as far as Rylee could tell Brian was trying to convince Leighanne of something. It didn’t seem to be working very well, despite Brian’s exaggerated motions and expressions, as Leighanne just kept laughing and shaking her head. Rylee smiled as she watched Brian’s shoulders slump in resignation, and he nodded at something Leighanne said to him. There was something about Brian that drew Rylee to watch him. Maybe it was the way his eyes sparkled and flashed with the different emotions he felt. Or maybe it was the way that his whole face lit up when he smiled. Or maybe its just cuz he’s hot. Rylee smiled. Oh that was definitely a possibility. He had a sort of All-American boy thing going on, with his blond hair and shining blue eyes. Not to mention the strong and cut physique that a lot of guys would kill for. And of course the voice! You could not neglect to mention the voice, the perfect harmony and the smooth blended notes. Yeah, he was hot. Rylee tried to hide her spreading grin by biting on her bottom lip. It didn’t help much. She found that her thoughts put her on the same level as many girls in the world who would give anything to catch that boy alone somewhere. Definitely.

"Now that is a curious expression." Nick’s voice broke through Rylee’s thoughts. "What are you thinking about?" he asked with an evil grin.

"Well, Nicky," she replied, mysteriously. "I’m afraid if I told you, I’d be completely shattering this angelic perception y’all have of me."

"Whoa! Dang, girl! I knew that whole innocence thing was a front!" Nick exclaimed, seeing Rylee’s smile. "There’s just a hormonal teenager under all that angel-dust, huh?"

She smiled. "We all have our little secrets."

"And yours is how you look like you wanna jump…" he followed her gaze, until it settled on Brian. "My best friend?"

Rylee just laughed and glanced sideways at Nick, before singing, "What a girl feels, what a girl likes, what a girl needs, what a girl wants…"

"Dang!" Nick exclaimed in surprise. "Come on over here, baby!" He reached for her hand to pull her closer to him. "You’re taking a walk on the wild side!" he said, raising his eyebrows. He slipped his arms around her waist as they laughed together and started to dance.

They moved quickly across the room, Nick leading as if he was on a mission. And he was. Soon enough, Nick spun her around in one turn, and she crashed into Brian. He looked at them curiously, but smiled just the same.

"Sorry, guys." Nick said, sounding strangely unapologetic. He winked at Leighanne, who laughed at what he was doing.

Brian just shook his head as the three of them laughed, before Nick and Rylee were off again. He had just about given up to trying to understand what was going on around him, and more importantly, what was going on inside his heart.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

(Disclaimer: Just keep in mind that although Rylee is mostly around the Backstreet Boys, she is a MAJOR *N Sync fan. The little song thing is from *N Sync’s VMA.2000 performance.)

The day after the wedding shined bright and sunny as the group and Rylee prepared to return to Florida. Rylee stowed her backpack above her seat as she looked around first class. She sat down by the window, her eyes still on her surroundings. "This is sweet!" she exclaimed to AJ who was next to her.

He smiled at her over the top of his sunglasses. "Just one of the perks of being a Backstreet Boy, baby!"

"Yeah, too bad we don’t have that jet we used in the ‘I Want It That Way’ video." Brian quipped from across the aisle.

AJ looked up from magazine he was reading to glace first at Rylee, then at Brian. He looked back at Rylee and asked, "How the heck did I end up sitting between the two of you?"

Rylee just shrugged. "You’re just lucky like that!"

"Oh, heck no! There is no way I’m sitting between the two of you throughout the whole flight! You guys are gonna be talking nonstop the whole time!" AJ exclaimed.

"Oh, come on, AJ! We're not THAT bad!" Rylee said, looking skeptically at AJ’s pained expression. "It’s only like a two hour flight!"

"No!" he insisted. He turned to Kevin, who had made the plane reservations. "Please, Kev! Don’t make me! I’m sorry for whatever I did to you! I take it back! Just don’t make me sit between them!" He stretched out his hands to accentuate his plea. "It’s worse that sitting between Nick and Aaron!"

"Hey!" Nick exclaimed. "I can hear you from here!"

Kevin just ignored them and rolled his eyes.

Seeing that his plea to Kevin went unanswered, he turned sharply to Brian. "Rok, get up." He demanded. "You’re switching seats with me!"

"Oh, I am, am I?" Brian said innocently. "No, I think I’m just fine where I am, thank you." He smiled at AJ who had risen up to stand next to him.

"No, you’re not!" AJ retorted. "Will you just switch?"

"Nuhuh! I’m all comfy!" Brian said with a shake of his head.

"Brian Littrell! Get up!"

"Alexander McLean! No!"

Kevin, who had enough, finally interrupted. "Brian, just switch with him! You know you want to anyways. So just switch, and stop being so childish!"

"Thank you, Kevy!" AJ said, as Brian got up reluctantly.

Brian’s answer was to stick his tongue out at his cousin as he sat down next to Rylee.

Rylee settled back in her chair. "It’s so nice to know that y’all love me!"

Brian just grinned at her. "Well, yeah, but we love messin’ with AJ better!"

Rylee’s grin slid sideways at him, as she just shook her head and slipped her headphones. About a minute into the song, a hand suddenly reached out and pulled them off. She turned her head to look at Brian. "Yes?"

"Are you gonna listen to music the whole time? I switched seats just for you!"

"Yup!" She reached for the headphones he held in his hand, but he pulled them back out of her reach. She looked at him pointedly, ignoring the sad puppy dog look he was giving her. She reached for the headphones again and grabbed it out of his hand. She smiled as she resettled her headphones back on. "If it makes you feel better, I’m listening to you guys."

But Brian wouldn’t be satisfied. "Why do you have to listen to a CD when you have the real thing right here? I’ll even sing for you!"

Rylee looked at him, an interesting thought running through her head. "Okaaaay..." She continued before he could celebrate. "But, only if you sing that thing I was talking about yesterday!"

Brian looked surprised, like he wasn’t sure if he should agree or not.

AJ, who was listening to their conversation, interrupted "Don’t do it, Bri! Don’t give in!"

"Are you serious?" Brian asked Rylee.

She nodded her head emphatically "yes."

Brian sighed in resignation. "Fine." With that he started singing quietly under his breath.

"What was that, Bri?" Rylee said. "I couldn’t hear you. I know you can sing louder than that!" She grinned at him impishly.

Brian sighed deeply, then took a deep breath and started singing louder. "One, two, three to the four. I think it’s time ta get down on the floor. If you’re lookin’ for a hot boy, I tell you girls, it’s gonna be me!"

"Ooooh!" Rylee said, smiling brightly at him. "That was VERY impressive! The CD player is off! But only cuz we’re taking off and I can’t listen to it anyways."

Brian covered his face with his hands. "Ah! I can’t believe I just did that! The lengths I go through for you, Angel."

"Hey, just be happy I didn’t ask you to sing the whole thing, and do the choreography!" she teased him.

AJ shook his head in mock disappointment. "You are so whipped!"

 Brian just shook his head sadly. Rylee smiled at him, giving him her full attention. "So you wanted to talk, let’s talk. I’m all yours."

Brian looked up quickly. "All mine, huh?" he said slowly. "That sounds so…" he paused as if he were thinking. "Promising." He flashed her a cheesy grin.

She raised her eyebrows. "I don’t think so!" she said with a quick shake of her head.

"But think of the benefits, Angel!" Brian reasoned. "You could…" he counted on each finger as he spoke. "Do my laundry, clean my room, cook for me…" he paused trying to think of more tasks. "You could balance my checkbook! And give me a massage." He paused again. "Why, yes, Rylee! I would love a massage right now!" And he turned in his seat, so she could reach his back. "My muscles are too tense!"

Rylee rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, that strenuous walk down the terminal, just about did me in too!" she told him sarcastically.

"Hey," Brian protested, over his shoulder. "You're talking to a man who has had open-heart surgery! I think I deserve a break!"

Rylee looked at him strangely.

"Okay, okay, sorry," Brian said, turning around and understanding her look. "I know I scared you, and you don't think it's that funny." He gave her a quick grin. "In that case... I’m sorry, Miss Kwan, but I have no choice but to let you go. This company needs people who are dedicated and devoted," he added snootily.

"You’re such a dork, Bri!" she said, the corners of her lips curving into a grin.

"I know," he admitted. "But that’s why you love me so much!"

Rylee’s grin broadened. "Yeah," she said softly.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

*chapter five*

*chapter seven*

*back to novels*