“What the hell are you doing?!?” my eyes narrowed at the back of a very familiar blonde head. “Get out of my stuff!”

“Sure but, Kev,” Nick turned to face me, “why do you still have this 1997 edition of Teen Bop?” he chuckled as he held up the fore mentioned magazine.

“None of your business!” I snatched the magazine from his grasp and saw what he was looking at. It was a very old picture of the group. Nick looked so young that it made me grin.

“Amusing isn’t it?” he smiled that cocky little smile of his. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“I didn’t invite you over for you to rummage through my stuff.”

“I resent that! I wasn’t rummaging. It was practically at the top of the stack of papers you have piled on your desk.”

“You are so full of it, Carter,” I narrowed my eyes as I willed myself not to yell at him for invading my privacy.

“Ah,” he drew closer to me and locked his eyes on mine. “But, you love me.”

“Don’t bet on that,” I rolled my eyes.

“Seriously, do you remember that day, Kev? It was hella fun! I thought I was so cool in that dumb jean jacket,” he chuckled as he peered over my shoulder at the picture.

“Yeah, we all thought we were hot stuff and we all, actually, looked like dorks,” I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “What was I thinking with that hair?”

“Ooo, that photographer chick was cute, though,” Nick wiggled his eyebrows. “What was her name? Mariah or Millie or Mare…yeah, Mare…that’s it. She was fine!” His comment made me burst into fits of laughter.

“AJ was all…hitting…on her, too!” I gasped.

“He got shot down pretty hard and I was all giving her these goofy grins and everything…like I stood a chance!”

“Don’t tell Kris, but I agreed that she was cute…that’s why I picked a shirt that would, um, show the chest,” I blushed at my confession. Nick’s face lit up in a new fit of hysterics. “Shut up. We all liked her. Howie was the only one who got a date. Damn lucky is what he was.”

“Howie is such a woman stealer! I still can’t believe I wore that jacket! Ugh. I had no style. It amazes me that I was the favorite among the fans…I mean look at me!” Nick shook his head.

My mind wandered as Nick continued on his little ramble. My thoughts drifted back to the day in question. It was a warm sunny day and it was the third photo shoot we had done. None of us had lunch yet and it was nearing 2 o’clock.

Nick and Brian had been horsing around a lot that day and neither of them would listen to me. Getting rather agitated at the lack of attention, I walked up and threw the youngest member over my shoulder. Brian immediately jogged over to the spot where we were to take the pictures.

“Let me down!” Nick’s voice cracked as I continued toward the designated area. “This is so not cool!”

“Well neither are you, deal with it!” I shot him a look after I set him down at the base of the ladder. He stuck out his tongue before stepping onto the ladder. “Cut it out and focus, Nick.”

“I’m hungry though,” he whined. “Why can’t we have lunch?”

“Because you boneheads won’t focus and get this done, that’s why,” my tolerance levels were deminishing as the child’s squeaky voice continued to complain. Rubbing my temples, I looked up to see the photographer hold out a couple Tylenol.

“He looks like a walking headache,” she smiled at me sweetly before heading back to the camera.

“I’m not a headache, I’m the cute one!” Nick grinned widely.

“Kev? Kev? KEEEEEEEEEEV?!?!” Nick’s grown voice penetrated my thoughts, breaking me from my flashback.

“Huh?” I shook my head, focusing back on the blonde. He had grown so much, I no longer had to look down at him and sure as hell couldn’t throw him over my shoulder any more.

“I was talking about when AJ tripped you,” Nick looked at me curiously. “Remember? You were headed to the bathroom, I think, and AJ tripped you. You fell forward and landed right on top of me.”

“Yeah, I remember, Nick,” I slung my arm over his shoulders. “I miss the good old days.”

“Me too. We had a lot of fun back then,” Nick turned and caught me by surprise as he pulled me into a hug. “I love you Kev. I miss having you in the group.”

“I love you too, you little punk,” I ruffled his hair.

“Dinner’s ready!” Kris’ voice called from downstairs.

“Coming!” I shouted and then turned back to Nick. “We should look back at these old magazines more often.”

“I’m here for three days, Kev. That’s plenty of time for flashbacks!” Nick’s goofy grin spread across his face as we headed down to eat. I rolled my eyes but my smile couldn’t have been wider.