“But I don’t wanna look at clothes!” Lenore whined. “Alex!”

“Hun, I told you you’d like looking at clothes once I was through with ya,” Alex reminded her. “The least you could do is give me a chance to change your mind.”

“Augh!” She groaned annoyed. “Fine.”

He then excitedly dragged her off to the clothing sections. Once there, he ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying on all sorts of crazy things. She couldn’t help but laugh at him when he stuck a pair of Scooby-Doo boxers on his head and called Kevin Daddy.

“Daddy?” Kevin asked. “Since when are you my kid?”

“Since always,” Alex grinned cheekily.

“Who says you’re mine?”

“Mommy,” Alex replied simply.

“And just who might your Mommy be little boy?”

“Kristin Richardson,” Alex smiled. “And my Daddy’s the oldest Backstreet Boy.”

“Son,” Kevin began, after deciding to play along. “Take those boxers off your head and put them back on the rack.”

“But I don’t wanna!” Alex cried in a whiny voice. “I don’t wanna!”

“You’ll do as you’re told young man, or be in loads of trouble, you hear me?”

“But Daddy!”

“No buts about it,” Kevin rejoined. “Now you either take that underwear off your head, or you can go out and sit in the car for the rest of the time we’re here. If I have to take you out to the car, you can expect a spanking, and to be grounded for the rest of the week as well.”

“Meanie!” Alex pouted as he reluctantly took the boxers off his head. “You’re no fun.”

“I don’t think he’s trying to be fun Alex,” Lenore giggled. “He’s being a grumpy old man, that’s all. Don’t take offense to it, as he’s just trying to get a reaction outta you.”

“Would someone else like to be included in the whole car punishment theory?”

“No Daddy Kevin,” she answered quickly. “I’ll be good. Alex is being bad, not me.”

“Don’t go blaming it all on your brother young lady, or you’ll wind up in even more trouble.”

“Yes Sir,” Lenore mumbled.

The two supposedly in trouble glanced at one another, then gave Kevin their best puppy-dog looks.

“Forgive us?” They questioned, pulling their lips out even further than before. “Hmm?”

“Augh!” Kevin groaned throwing his hands in the air. “Fine! You’re forgiven. Now quit it with the look.”

They all burst out laughing then, as a store clerk who’d been watching gave them a weird look.

“Um…” The girl trailed off. “Are you really…”

“No. I’m not his sister,” Lenore replicated. “I’m not Kevin’s daughter either. I’m not related to any of them in any way. We’re just friends, okay?”

“Oh, okay,” the girl said relieved, before walking away.

“Jeez, people now a days,” Lenore commented. “They’re supposed to be fans who know everything, but as soon as they hear you call someone your sister or daughter they get all worried for nothing.”

“Do they now?” Brian queried. “And why is that?”

“They want y’all to themselves,” Lenore informed them. “They’re being greedy lil’ hogs, who seemed to haven’t been taught how to share.”

“That made a whole lot of sense,” Nick commented. “Seemed to haven’t been taught; what kinda sentence is that?”

“A Lenore sentence, problem Blondie?” Lenore retorted. “Hmm?”

“Nope. No problem,” Nick replied. “Just asking.”

“Children,” Kevin said in a warning tone. “Behave.”

“Can we please go look at the CDs now Alex?” Lenore interrogated. “Pretty puh-lease!”

“I’m not done with you just yet,” Alex rejoined. “We haven’t been to the ladies section yet.”

“Augh!” Lenore groaned, doing the impatient dance. “God!”

“Uh hmm,” Brian coughed.

She looked at him, then thought about what she’d said.

“Oh,” she acknowledged. “Sorry.”

Alex then picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. He then eagerly headed to the women’s clothes section, determined to make her see that looking at clothes could be fun. Once there, he placed her back on the floor and grabbed a hold of her hand.

“Ooh! Look at this!” Alex cried, holding up a shirt that said Angel. “Whatcha think?”

“My sister’s already got a shirt that says Angel on it,” she replied simply. “And she’ll kill me if I have any piece of clothing even remotely close to any of hers.”

“Um…ooh-kay,” Alex trailed off, before grabbing another shirt. “How about this one?”

“Too revealing,” she stated, wrinkling her nose up. “I’m not that type of girl Alex.”

“Ooh-kay,” Alex sighed. “Let’s try another shirt then.”

Fifteen minutes later, he’d still yet to find a shirt she liked even a little. By then, everyone could tell that he was growing a little agitated, but still somewhat determined. After a few more minutes, she spoke up.

“Look Alex, I’m not doing this to annoy you,” she told him softly. “I’m just very picky when it comes to certain items of clothing.”

“Well, what do you like then?” He asked, deciding to risk it.

“T-shirts, sweat shirts, jeans, colourful socks,” she ticked off. “The casual stuff.”

“Do you like anything that’s not too casual?” He wanted to know.

“Well…” she sighed. “I sort of, kinda, like shirts that got really cool designs on them.”

“But?”

“But, they either don’t fit, cost too much, or don’t look all that great on me.”

“Why don’t they look good on you?”

“They’re usually the tight, curve revealing shirts,” she shrugged. “I don’t need people bugging me ‘cause now they think I’m trying to be ‘cool’.

“But Kiddo, that’s not what ‘cool’ is,” Kevin piped up. “To be ‘cool’, you have to be yourself, and appreciate who you are. Being ‘cool’ has nothing to do with what others think. ‘Cool’ is something that comes within, not necessarily something you do.”

“If only it were that easy Kev,” she said with a downcast look on her face.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be you,” Howie rejoined. “What makes you different, makes you beautiful.”

She hugged him. “Thanks Howie, I appreciate that.”

The other guys exchanged glances then, somehow knowing what the other was thinking.

“Lenore, if you like something that’s not usual for you to wear, then go for it,” Brian told her. “There’s nothing wrong with buying and wearing something you honestly like. Don’t let people get to you, ‘cause if you do, you’ll wind up upset instead of being happy ‘cause you’re wearing something you like.”

“Yeah,” Nick agreed. “As long as you like it, who cares about what anyone else thinks? What you think is important, not what they think.”

Lenore wiped the lone tears that had managed to slip out of the corner of her eyes and run down her face.

“I keep telling myself that, but it never seems to work out,” she sighed. “Though, I’ll probably keep all this stuff in mind, now that y’all have said it.”

“How come?” Howie interrogated. “You said yourself, you’ve said it numerous times.”

“Yeah, true, but what you guys say has more meaning to it and sticks in my head better for some reason,” she answered. “Also, y’all made me feel special by speaking my inner thoughts aloud. Guess y’all are on the same pedestal as Alex now.”

“Why was Alex the only one on a pedestal?” Nick asked curiously. “Why ain’t Brian on one?”

“Brian’s on one…sort of,” she replied. “But, Alex is majorly on one, ‘cause he made me feel really special at the concert I went to on November 12th, 1999.”

“How’d he do that?” Nick wanted to know, as he couldn’t see why Brian’s pedestal wasn’t higher. “What happened to make his pedestal higher than Brian’s?”

“I know he always says ‘there are a lot of lovely, sexy ladies in our house tonight’,” she began, “but right then I felt as though he were talking to me and me only. He somehow put me on this cloud, that was so high, that not even God himself would’ve been able to bring me down off it, for those five glorious minutes.”

“Seriously?” Alex queried, and looked somewhat shocked when she nodded. “Whoa.”

“Ever since I’ve wanted so much to be able to thank him for those five unbelievable minutes, but never had the chance to ‘till now,” she finished. “Everyone thinks I’m nuts, ‘cause I’ve stated that if I ever met him, I’d have to hug him, as words can’t express my thanks enough. Hugging him seems to be the only way to do it and somehow let him know just how much those five minutes meant to me.”

Alex hugged her then, so she wouldn’t feel so awkward. In return, she hugged him back with all her might.

“I love you so much Alex,” she whispered into his chest. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

“Don’t worry about it Hun,” Alex whispered back. “You’ve just made me the happiest musician alive, and that’s thanks enough.”