“Hi, the name’s Melissa.”

That was how I had introduced myself to the most famous guy in the planet, Brian Thomas Littrell.

But at that time, I had no idea who Brian was, or what his name was.

I was 14, and at that time he was only 19.

I was visiting my great grandmother in Europe when I met him at the hotel.

Brian was covered in thick, dark sunglasses, and a baseball cap.

Of course, when I asked him his name, he paused for quite a while and then said, “Max.”

Anyone could’ve known that he was lying, which just really made me mad.

Were all the people in Europe always this mean?

“Sure....Max.” I said snidely.

He smiled weakly, and turned away.

That was just yesterday.

Today, Brian and I bumped again at McDonald’s.

He was with four other guys, who were all wearing sunglasses.

I had been waiting behind in line of him, when he turned around and I recognized him by his hat and sunglasses.

I also knew he had recognized me by the look of embarrassment on his face.

“Hi Melissa.” He said uncomfortably.

“Hi...” I said.

“Brian.” He finished off for me.

“So, then your name’s not Max.” I pointed out.

“Yeah....”

“So, you just love making up names for yourself?” I asked sarcastically.

“Uh...” He paused for a long long time.

Just then, his group of friends has finished ordering and came back.

Brian turned to them, glad for a distraction, and back to me, “Uh, this is Nick, AJ, Kevin, and Howie.”

I shook their hands, and smiled. “I’m Melissa.”

“Hi.” AJ said, then turned to Brian and back to me. “Care to join us?”

I hesitated. “Uh.....sure, why not?”

After I had order, we all sat down. (I sat between Howie and Brian.)

I waited for Brian to explain why he told me a fake name, and when he didn’t, I decided just to drop the subject.

“So you guys are from USA?” I asked, since their voices didn’t have a hint of an accent in them.

Kevin shook his head. “We’re from Florida.”

“No kidding?” I asked. “So am I.”

“So how did you guys meet?” Nick asked, pointing to Brian and me.

“At the lobby in the hotel.” Brian answered.

After we all ate, we went our separate ways.

I had learned alot about them that lunch, and we had promised we’d meet again, in fact, I’d say Brian and me were actually getting along.

That was just 4 years ago.

Now Brian’s 23, and I’m 18.

Brian and I are best friends.

We phone each other everyday, and my phone bill is extremely large.

I had spent two and a half years in Europe with my great-granny, but we didn’t get along (my granny and me, that is), so mostly I spent time with the Backstreet Boys.

When I left, Brian gave me his phone number, email address, and a hug.

I could’ve sworn there was a tear in his eye, but I was never sure.

Then when I was 16, Brian came back to US, and now we hardly ever spend a day apart without seeing each other.

-Present Day (A week before my birthday)-

I ran up the steps of the apartment and knocked on the door.

I use to never knock (I had my own key), but once I had caught AJ doing...uh...something with a girl, and well.... since then I always tried to remember to knock.

“Hey, Missa.” Brian said. He had given me the nickname Missa, and had called me that so often it kinda stuck to me.

“Hey, Bri.” I greeted him, then glanced around the room. “Um..where is everyone?”

“Well, Nick is at home, AJ’s at the club, Kevin’s at the club, and Howie’s off on a date.” He returned to the kitchen where he was cooking something.

“Brian, since when do you cook?” I asked, and smelled the spaghetti air.

“Moi? I am the king-a-la of cooking!” He said in a phony Italian accent.

I walked over to him and stared over his shoulder.

There was perfect spaghetti, Italian bread, and some Pepsi.

“I thought the only thing you cooked was macaroni in a box!”

Brian pretended to look hurt. “Hmp! Since you’re so mean, you can’t eat any!”

I gave him a puppy dog look.

He smiled, then stuck out his tongue. “You’re still not eating any!”

I shrugged and walked to the couch.

I flipped on the tv, and changed the channel to MTV.

On the screen they showed Kevin talking to Carson from MTV.

“Hey, Bri.” I called out to him to the kitchen.

“Yeah?” He asked.

“I saw you on ‘The View’ today!”

“Uh...okkaay, what’s new with that?”

“I dunno! You were on TV!!! My best friend is on a talkshow!!!!”

Brian shook his head. “You are too weird.”

“Me? You’re the one’s who’s weird!” I defended.

“Well, do you wanna eat?” He sounded hopeful.

“Thought you said I couldn’t eat!” I said, but hopped down to the chair and sat next to Brian, anyways.

I took a bite, and nearly choked on it. It was really good!

“Wow, are you sure you didn’t order this or something?”

Brian blushed, which is something I didn’t see him do very often.

“C’mon, there’s gotta be a special reason you’re cooking like this!” I pleaded for him to tell me.

Brian did a zipping lips movement and grinned. “I’ll tell ya later.”

“When??”

“After you eat.”

Hearing those magic words, I began gobbling down the spaghetti, and in 2 minutes flat I was finished. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Brian laughed. “Toldja you were weird.”

“Okay, Brian, tell me!”

Brian hesitated, then got up, “Okay..... just wait here...”

“Ummm......don’t see I have a choice...”

He left, and was back again.

“Okay, close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“You sound like a Nike commercial.”

“Melissa!!” Brian whined. “Close your eyes.”

I closed my eyes. “Okay, but if you dare squirt me with water or anything like that, I will-”

I was interrupted by Brian taking my hand and placing something in it.

“Okay, open them.”

I opened my eyes and saw a jewelry box and a card.

I opened the box and saw a necklace that must have cost $300!

“Um....wow....whoa....” I started.

Brian laughed nervously. “Open the card.”

I started to open it, but then Brian halted me. “On second thought, wait until you get home.”

“Uh....okay.” I placed the card in my purse and went back to the dinner table.

There was an awkward silence.

“Um...” I looked around. “Do you need help washing the dishes?”

Brian looked down at his still full plate, “For us normal people, it takes more than two minutes to eat.”

“If that’s normal, then AJ definitely isn’t one of them.” Brian and I laughed.

AJ could gobble any cheeseburger in less than three seconds.

After Brian finished, and washed the dishes, we both decided to watch a movie.

“Which movie?” Brian asked.

“Umm...... a scary one..”

“Um...Scream just came out.”

(Remember, it’s early 1998)

“Sure, why not?” I said.

He placed the movie in, and we just watched.

During somewhere half-between the movie, I fell asleep.