About ten minutes after that, the Boys and I got up and headed backstage. We were going to be on soon. We all changed clothes and were standing in the green room watching the television and waiting.

I was nervous and wasn't sure of how I looked. I went over to Brian and said, "Brian, how do I look?"

"You look beautiful, Babe."

"You say that when I get up in the morning. Kevin," I whined turning towards the tall brunette.

"You look wonderful, Cuz," he said, kissing the top of my head.

I pulled away from him. "Cuz? Do you know something I don't know? Did Brian propose? And if so, where the hell was I?"

Kevin put his hand on my shoulder. "Sorry, it slipped. If Brian were planning on proposing, I would know. And I don't."

Just then one of the assistant stage managers poked their head into the room. "You're on in five."

"Thank you five," we all replied in unison.

Brian put his hands on my shoulders. "You'll do fine tonight, and don't worry about messing up. We are probably all going to mess up."

"Yeah, sure. The Backstreet Boys mess up? Fat chance."

"It's happened before."

"Yeah, I know. Well, I guess we should offer up a prayer."

We formed a circle and joined hands. "You lead us, Becca," Howie said.

We bowed our heads and I started praying. "Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for allowing us to be here tonight, for allowing us to be together as a group, as friends, as family. Watch over us tonight as You do every night. Watch over our families and friends. Let us give the performance of a lifetime. Let us have no injuries and all the right moves. Thank you for this day Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

"Amen," the guys echoed.

"Okay, hands in guys," AJ said. We did as he instructed. "Backstreet on three. One. Two. Three."

"Backstreet," we chorused. We all stood there for a moment. Then, the guys broke into spontaneous harmony. It was cute. They were warming up. Their headset mikes were around their necks whereas mine was already in my ear. I was going to be using it to address the audience. A few minutes passed by and the assistant stage manager came over and said, "Places." The Boys jogged over to their spots on staircases and adjusted their headsets while I headed over to stage right. I stood behind a wall and watched Carson Daly talk to the audience.

"Four months ago, this young lady appeared on MTV for the first time. Since that time she has appeared on magazines and talk shows, even held a couple of press conferences. I'd like to present to you, a friend of mine, Becca Carlson."

I walked out on stage to thunderous applause and screaming from the fans in the balcony. I waved to the crowd and blew kisses to people while I adjusted my ear-mike and walked to my mark center stage. When I reached there, I turned towards Carson and said, "Hey Carson. Can I get one of those TRL notebooks? And can you sign it for me?" He laughed and nodded at me. "I love you Carson." I turned back to the crowd and said, "You do know the best way to get to Carson Daly don't you? You call up to TRL, and win one of those notebooks and then you specifically ask Carson not to sign it." The crowd laughed. I looked at the teleprompter and then decided I didn't need it; I knew my speech. "I'm not surprised the fans were screaming for me," I said. "They know who's coming up next. But for those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Becca Carlson and I'm here to introduce a group that really needs no introduction. They have fans spanning the globe; from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Sydney, Australia, from Tokyo, Japan to Frankfort, Germany, and from Seattle, Washington to their hometown of Orlando, Florida. And it's their fans that keep them at the top of the charts. Their videos have held the top spot on the TRL countdown more times than any other artist. In fact, I have come to believe that it is because of this group that we had to create the sixty-five day limit on videos remaining on the countdown otherwise the entire countdown would be of their videos. They may be immensely popular, but they have had their fair share of ridicule. At the nineteen ninety-eight VMAs, host Ben Stiller did a skit with them, and it was funny, but we all knew what he was really trying to say, something Chris Rock said at last year's VMAs on nine, nine, ninety-nine. Last year, Chris said, 'Don't you remember New Kids on the Block? We all know how this movie's gonna end.' Well, this must be one hella long movie. I mean, we must be rivaling the director's cut of Titanic by now. These guys have been around since nineteen ninety-three. And frankly, I remember them from way back then. They may not have always been popular here in the States, but they did what a lot of pop acts did when Grunge came in; they went to Europe! When the Spice Girls invaded America, we all wanted to know where our acts were. Well, they stood up and said, 'We've been here for a long time. Where have you been?' Since they appeared on the charts, there have been numerous acts following in their footsteps. And you know what? They've outlasted all of them. LFO, Take Five, EYC, Boyzone, Five, Youngstown, Ninety-eight Degrees, O-Town, and even the immensely popular, 'N Sync. Hi, Justin." I added, noticing 'N Sync member Justin Timberlake sitting next to Briney Spears. I also noticed Lance Bass. I waved. "Hi Lancey-poo." He tilted his head back and laughed at me. "By now, you know whom I'm talking about. I'm talking about none other than the Backstreet Boys." I had to pause for a moment while the fans screamed. They quieted down and I continued. "Now there has been some talk about them changing their name from Backstreet Boys to Backstreet Men. It's not going to happen. But they do have a problem with being called 'boys.' Granted, when they started, Nick was only thirteen, but he'll be twenty-one in four months. They've been trying to tell all of us from the very beginning that they're not boys, their men. And they want to tell all of you..." I stopped talking and the lights went dark and I heard the Boys walk on stage.

A spotlight shone over me and then over Nick as he sang, "If you want it to be good girl, get yourself a bad boy." The lights came up and the guys surrounded me. Nick was the one closest to me so he got to make the first "advance." Right when he said, "I like this," I pushed him away from me and he fell into Howie's arms. I started walking offstage, but Kevin caught my arm and spun me around. I spent most of the song trying to avoid the advances the guys were making. Every time AJ sang his part, he tried to lift up my skirt. And every time I would always push my skirt back down and walk away from him. The most amazing part for me in the entire song was when I got to sing. Granted it was only two lines, but I loved it. We ended the song with me standing over AJ, Howie and Kevin were on either side of me with their hands on my legs. Brian and Nick were standing behind me, Brian with his arm around my waist and Nick with his hands on my shoulders. When the lights went down, we held for a count of five and then ran off stage.

I could hear Chris Rock saying to the audience, "Boys? They ain't boys no more. I think she just took all their virginity right in front of us. Were you ever expecting that from the Backstreet Boys? Not me." We all laughed as we changed back into our clothes and headed back out into the audience.

The four women congratulated us when we reached our seats. I went back to sitting on Brian's lap and only got to sit in his chair when he and the guys got up to accept an award. As it turned out, they won Video of the Year, Best Group of Two Thousand and the Viewers Choice Award. We were so happy. Afterwards, we all headed back to the hotel for our own little private party. There were parties going on all around town, but we wanted to have our own. We celebrated their success well into the night.

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