SIX MONTHS LATER
Liz’s point of view

I looked at myself in the mirror inspecting my appearance. I was wearing a pale blue silk dress, it was long and sleeveless and had a very low cut back. The neck of the dress and the bottom of it were decorated with tiny blue rhinestones and they glittered as I turned to the left and right. My hair hung in curls around my shoulders and there were matching blue rhinestones glittering in it too. I was trying to figure out how I was supposed to survive the entire night without breaking my neck on my heels, which were four inches tall. I heard a knock on my door and a second later Lana walked in.
“Hey, wow, you look beautiful!” she complemented looking at me.
“Thanks,” I said smiling at my friend.
“When’s Nick supposed to get here?” asked Lana.
“Um, around 6, but he’ll probably be late as usual,” I said grinning.
“I heard that!” came Nick’s voice from outside the room. A moment later he appeared in the doorway. I laughed and looked at him. He looked absolutely gorgeous in his black silk suit with a pale blue shirt underneath that matched my dress perfectly. “You look breathtaking,” he said to me.
I blushed slightly. “Thanks, you look pretty good yourself,” I said smiling and Nick jokingly turned around once so we could see his suit better. Lana and me laughed and Nick joined in.
“So are you guys excited about the movie premiere?” asked Lana.
“Of course, it’ll be nice to see what the final outcome is. I mean, we put so much work into this movie for the past eight months, it’ll be great to see how it turns out,” said Nick enthusiastically.
“Yeah, it was really hard work and I’ll be glad to just sit back and enjoy the show. But it’ll be a little weird seeing myself on the screen though,” I admitted.
“I’m sure you’ll get used to it quickly,” said Lana grinning. “I’ll be watching both of you on TV so please do something embarrassing to keep me entertained,” she said laughing.
“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure he will,” I said laughing and pointed at Nick. He tried to look like he was offended. “You know you’re not offended, the guys have said worse,” I told him.
“True,” he said shrugging and laughed. “Now come on, let’s go, we don’t wanna be late,” he added.
“This coming from the guy whose name has become synonymous with the words ‘why are you late?’,” I said laughing but followed Nick out of my room and down the stairs.
“Very funny,” stated Nick with a grin. “You keep doing that and you won’t get your surprise,” he warned.
“What surprise?” I asked. That was interesting, I wasn’t expecting a surprise.
“Like I’m gonna tell you,” said Nick laughing.
I turned to Lana. “Do you know what the surprise is?” I asked.
“Yep,” said Lana smiling and nodding happily. No fair, I was the only one who didn’t know.
“Who else knows about it?” I demanded.
“Hmm, let’s see, me, Lana, the guys,” replied Nick.
“So everyone knows besides me? No fair!” I exclaimed.
“That’s why it’s a surprise, your surprise,” said Nick laughing.
“Fine, I’ll go along with this, for now,” I said grinning. Nick and me walked out of my house and got into the limo that was waiting in the driveway for us. I was a bit nervous because I didn’t know how to act in front of cameras and reporters but Nick had assured me earlier that everything was going to be just fine. Did I believe him? Sure, on some level anyway.

Nick’s point of view

I looked over at Liz sitting on my left and wondered if I was doing the right thing. It felt right, but was it really? I sighed and turned to look out the window. Here I was at the opening night of the movie I’d been working on and I was too nervous to enjoy it.
“Nick, you okay?” asked Liz looking at me.
“Sure, I’m fine,” I said and smiled to assure her. Liz nodded and kissed me softly. “Mmm, you taste good,” I commented grinning.
“Lip gloss,” said Liz and smiled.
“I like it,” I told her.
“I knew you would,” she said and then turned to look out the window. “We’re here,” she said and I looked out the window too and saw tons of people outside. We had arrived at the movie theater that was going to be premiering our movie. The driver opened the limo door and Liz and me got out. I held her hand as we walked down the red carpet with lights flashing in our faces and nearly blinding us. Gotta love reporters. It took us an hour to actually get into the theater because every reporter there had to ask a million questions, which, by the way, were all the same. When we finally sat down in our seats I began to get even more nervous. I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing and I was afraid that Liz would get mad at me when she found out what it was. Hey, as far as I was concerned, women were unpredictable and there was no way that I could know how Liz would react. I was praying that it would be good, but once again, I didn’t know.
“Isn’t this exciting?” whispered Liz as the lights dimmed.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” I whispered back glad that I didn’t have to speak normally since my voice would give away my nervousness. For the next hour and forty minutes I sat in my seat trying very hard to concentrate on the movie. Did it work? Absolutely not. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I hadn’t even noticed that the movie ended and when Liz touched my arm I nearly jumped ten feet in the air.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Liz with concern in her voice.
“Liz, don’t worry, I’m fine,” I said and smiled hoping she would believe me. She did.
“Okay, but we have to go give our little speech now,” said Liz with a laugh. Somehow, Todd and Jake had convinced Liz and me to give a short speech on how it was while we were working on the movie for the past eight months. It was also the time that I was going to give Liz her surprise.
I got up from my seat and followed Liz to the front of the theater, slowly. We got there and stood in front of the two microphones that had been set up for us. We waited until everyone quieted down and then Liz began speaking.
“Hi everyone, well, I really hope that you all enjoyed the movie you just saw because a lot of hard work went into it and of course a lot of hours,” began Liz. “The reason Nick and myself are up here is because Jake and Todd, our producer and director, wanted us to say a few words about the movie. So if you’re really tired and don’t want to hear this, too bad, you’re stuck here because the doors are still closed,” said Liz with a laugh and the audience laughed too. Throughout Liz’s entire speech I was looking at her and not at the audience, which was where I was supposed to be looking. I then heard Liz stop speaking and she was looking at me expectedly. Of course, it was my turn to speak; I took a deep breath to calm myself down.
“Well, I did have a speech prepared for this moment, but I’m not going to give it,” I said and Liz shot me a look of confusion. “But I am going to say something,” I said and slowly got down on one knee. “Liz, will you marry me?” I asked as I held out the engagement ring in front of her. Liz and the entire audience gasped with surprise.

Liz’s point of view

I was speechless, simply speechless. I stood there staring at Nick and the ring that he held. I couldn’t believe that he just proposed to me in front of all those people. As my brain tried to process that information, my mouth was way ahead of it.
“Yes!” I heard myself say and a huge smile spread over my face. Nick’s face lit up with a smile also as he slid the engagement ring onto my finger. The audience applauded loudly and stood up.
“You have just made me the happiest man alive,” said Nick and pulled me into his arms.
“And you just made me the luckiest woman alive,” I told him and then we kissed passionately not caring that there were one hundred people watching us.

THAT EVENING

“Did you enjoy the premiere tonight?” I asked. Nick and I were at his house and lying on the couch watching TV.
“Not as much as I enjoyed the end,” said Nick grinning and kissed me.
“Yeah, the end was definitely the high point,” I said and looked at the ring on my finger. It seemed too unreal and too wonderful. I was engaged to Nick Carter. My life was definitely perfect.
“But I was too nervous throughout the entire premiere to really enjoy myself,” admitted Nick.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I didn’t know what you would say when I asked you to marry me,” replied Nick.
“You didn’t think that I would say no did you?”
“I didn’t know what to think, I was afraid that you would say that you were too young to get married or that you had to finish college because that was very important.”
“Nick, I love you with all of my heart and I want to be with you for the rest of my life, there’s nothing more important than that,” I said and kissed him.
“Well, when you put it that way,” said Nick grinning and kissed me too. Needless to say, the movie that was on TV was forgotten.

THE NEXT DAY
Nick’s point of view

I woke up to find myself still on the couch with Liz in my arms. I remembered what happened the day before and felt my smile return. I was actually pretty sure that that smile was going to be permanent. I was the happiest at that moment than I had ever been in my entire life.
I looked at Liz and saw that she was still asleep. I carefully slid off of the couch and left her asleep. There was no need to wake her up just yet. I quietly went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. There I found a note from the rest of the guys. It said:

Nicky,

Once again congrats man, we’re sure that you and Liz will be very happy together for the rest of your lives. And see? We told you that there was nothing to worry about, but did you listen to us? Of course not as usual. Well anyways, we went to take care of something and we’ll be back around 6 tonight. You and Liz enjoy yourselves and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do (that was AJ who put that in obviously). See ya later.

“Morning, who’s the note from?” asked Liz coming into the kitchen.
“The guys, they said that they’ll be back around 6 tonight,” I told her.
“Oh okay,” said Liz and looked at the table. “Nick, are you cooking?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said nodding.
“Should I call the fire department and have them on stand by?” she asked laughing.
“Oh come on, I’m not that bad!” I exclaimed. Liz raised one eyebrow at me. “Okay, maybe I am,” I admitted sheepishly.
“How about I help?” she suggested.
“Hmm, sounds like a great idea,” I said grinning and wrapped my arms around her and I never intended to let go.

chapter 15 chapter 17