real romeos that emotional honesty sets them apart offstage
as well. Not only do two of the guys in the group have girlfriends,
they're actually willing to admit it. (What they won't do, how-
ever, is reveal any names, for privacy's sake.)
"When we first started, our old label really didn't want anybody
to know [if] we had girlfriends," says Jeff.
"They thought that it would take away from our teen audience --
like, if all of a sudden we were taken, girls wouldn't buy the
records anymore. That's just not the case. I mean, we've had
girlfriends. We're real guys and romantic guys."
He's not kidding. After hours of AMAs rehearsal and an endless
photo shoot, Jeff still remembers to buy the object of his
affection a huge bouquet of flowers for their one-year anniversary.
"This girl is very special to me, and I absolutely love her with
all my heart," he says. And while the relationship was stop-and-go
for a bit, Jeff now says he hopes someday to marry the 19-year-old
Southern Californian. "And I want her to have my children," he adds.
"That's something that I'm proud of, and I don't want to hide it."
His mom, homemaker Trish Timmons, says that Jeff has always been
the "sensitive" son. (The singer has an older brother, Michael,
29, as well as a younger sister, Tina, 24; dad James is a vice
president at a computer company). "Jeff was going with a girl in
high school -- he really liked this girl," recalls Trish.
When they broke up, she recounts, "He cried. He didn't go out
with anyone for a while. He said his heart was really broken."
Nick's endured his share of heartbreak too. This past year,
he split for good with his on-again, off-again girlfriend of
almost eight years. "When you're with somebody for that long,
they become a noninterchangeable part of your life, like your
right arm," he says. But he is dating again, even though he
says that he's hesitant to get physically involved with just
anyone. "Some people are able to have a one-night stand and
say, 'Okay, that's it,' and they walk away," says Nick.
"For me, if I'm intimate with somebody like that, I can't just
walk away from it. I'm emotionally involved at that point."
But with such a crazy schedule, in which he begins almost every
day in a new city, how does Nick manage to find potential
love matches? Sometimes, he needs to look no further than his
fans. If a girl at his show caught his eye, "I would try and
find a way after the show to meet her," he says. "She could
end up being your wife one day -- you never know!"
sweet dreamers Justin is currently a single guy as well, and
he concedes that for him, life on the road can get a little lonely.
When I see [Jeff] with his girlfriend, or even when [I] hear a
song,"sometimes it will trigger that memory that maybe an old,
old girlfriend or somebody [I've dated], and I'm like, 'Man, I
wish I could be around her."
Drew, the youngest member of the band, actually does have a
special someone who he can reach out to when he's on tour, but
he doesn't want to talk about her just now. Instead, the former
Army combat medic (he once saved a woman's life aboard a commercial
jet) says that his current priority is to stay focused on his
career goals, which include winning a Grammy. "I've actually
had dreams about walking down the aisle, about who I would thank,"
he says. "I could see my family at home watching it on TV."
For almost all of the grouop, home is still back with their
families in Cincinatti. Only Jeff has moved away, to Orange County,
Calif., to be near his parents. (They left Massillon, Ohio, for
the West Coast last year when his father moved for work.)
When the band's in California, they'll sometimes hang out at
Jeff's parents' place -- the location for TEEN PEOPLE's photo
shoot -- to grab a home-cooked meal and watch a little football.
The band has practically become a family itself. Drew can easily
remember the first time that he felt as if he had three brothers,
not just one. "Six months after I'd been in the group, we were
hanging out in a restaurant, and some guy started picking a fight
with me," he says. "Of course, NIck was there and stood up for me.
But then Justin stepped in too -- and Justin isn't a fighter in
any way. Then Jeff came out of the bathroom and saw the three of
of us engaged in situation, and without hesitating, he was in
there. It was a bad situation, but it united us."
The bond won't be easily broken.
"Even if the group [eventually] breaks up, it's had a dramatic
effect on all four of our lives and who we are as people," says
Drew as their limousine drives away from the theatre following
the AMAs rehearsal. "98* has occupied our entire lives for the
last three years, and hopefully, it will for years to come."
to see exclusive pix during their childhood, purchase april
issue of teen people online or in stores.