Nick’s point of view

I stared at Liz. I couldn’t believe that we were auditioning for the same movie. It was unreal.
“Hey Liz,” I said waving casually.
“You two know each other?” questioned one of the women behind the desk.
“Yeah, we’re…” I began.
“…friends,” finished Liz.
“Oh, that’s great, then you two would have no problem reading the script with each other,” said another woman.
“Yep,” said Liz and smiled at me. I smiled back. I didn’t realize how much I missed seeing her.
“Okay, so go ahead and start,” instructed the director, and Liz and me began to read the short dialogue. After we were done, the people told Liz that they would call that night to let her know if she got the role. Liz nodded and we both walked out of the room.
“Wow, I never expected in a million years to see you here,” said Liz as soon as we were out of the room.
“I know, I was so shocked when I turned around and saw you standing there,” I commented.
“So how’ve you been Nick?” asked Liz casually.
“Pretty good, and yourself?” I asked.
“Same, enjoy the tour?” she asked.
“Yeah, but I’m gonna be happy when I get home,” I replied.
“How are you gonna live at home and film the movie?” asked Liz.
“Oh yeah, that’s right, oh well, I’ll just rent a small house,” I said shrugging.
“Good idea,” said Liz. “So what happened when you auditioned?” she asked.
I started laughing. “Oh man, you should’ve been there, it was classic,” I said and began telling her what happened.

*~* FLASHBACK TO THE DAY BEFORE; NICK’S AUDITION *~*
I walked into the huge room and saw that there was a ton of people there. I immediately knew that I was going to miss rehearsal for sure and that the guys were going to kill me. I came up to the lady at the desk and signed my name.
“Okay, you’re number 715, please have a seat,” said the lady. “Wait, hold on a minute,” she said all of a sudden.
I turned around and came back to the desk. “What is it?” I asked.
“You wrote down that your name is Nickolas Carter,” said the lady smirking at me.
“So? That’s my name,” I replied.
“Is this some sort of a prank or something? Nickolas Carter is a member of the Backstreet Boys,” she said.
‘Oh yeah, she knew so much!’ I thought sarcastically. “Yes I am, and I’m missing rehearsal just to be here,” I said, a note of irritation creeping into my tone of voice.
“Can I see some ID please?” she asked.
I sighed in frustration and took out my driver’s license and showed it to her. “Satisfied?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m sorry I doubted you, it’s just the hat and the glasses make it hard to tell,” said the lady apologizing.
“I guess so, but can I ask you a favor?” I asked smiling.
“What?” she asked.
“When it’s gonna be my turn, can you please just call out my number? I mean, unless you want a riot in here or something,” I said grinning.
“Oh of course, no problem,” said the lady.
“Thank you,” I said and went to take a seat.
About an hour later, my number was called and I went into the smaller room. Two women and a man were sitting there. I came up to them.
“Nickolas Carter?” asked the woman.
I nodded. “Yep, that’s me,” I said.
“Okay, we need you to do two things. Since in the movie, the male lead needs to be able to sing, we’ll have you read a monologue and then you can sing a few lines from any song you want,” explained the man.
I nodded in understanding. This was gonna be perfect!
“Okay, begin when you’re ready,” said one of the women handing me a piece of paper with the monologue on it.
“Alright, that was very good,” said the man after I finished reading. “Now please, sing something,” he requested.
I searched my brain for something to sing. I came up with the most obvious choice, one of the BSB songs, and began to sing, “I’m here, with my confession, got nothing to hide no more, I don’t know where to start, but to show you, the shape of my heart,” I sang and held the last note as long as I could. I saw that the women and the man were impressed.
“Wow, that was wonderful,” complemented one of the women. “The song is familiar though, who is it by?” she asked.
“The Backstreet Boys,” I replied chuckling a little.
“Oh of course, that’s right, you sang it so well, you should be in that group,” she commented laughing.
I laughed even harder. “I am in that group,” I said.
“Excuse me?” said the man.
“I said I am in that group, I’m Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys,” I responded.
The three of them looked closely at me.
“Yes you are, I see that now,” said one of the women. “Can you go stand over there while we decide please?” she requested pointing at the far corner of the room. I nodded and went there. They called me back over about a minute later.
“All right Nick, we have decided that you will be perfect for the male lead,” said the man. “You’re a wonderful singer, obviously, and having you in the movie is sure to make it a hit,” he added.
I smiled. “Thank you very much,” I said gratefully.
“You’re welcome, would you mind coming in tomorrow to read with the girls who are up for the female lead?” asked one of the women.
“Not at all,” I replied.
*~* END OF FLASHBACK *~*

Liz was completely cracking up. “The lady actually didn’t believe that you were you?” she said in between laughs.
“Yeah, it’s nuts I swear,” I said also laughing.
“Wow, so what do you think my chances are of getting the role?” she asked.
“I’d say they’re pretty good, I mean, we work well together,” I replied.
“That’s true, I hope I get it,” she said wistfully.
“I hope you do too,” I said and I meant it. If I could pick anyone to do the movie with, that person would be Liz.

Liz’s point of view

“Lana, you are not going to believe what happened!” I exclaimed. It was later that day and I had just come home after work. I worked at a clothing store as a cashier.
Lana looked up from the book she was reading. “What happened?” she asked setting the book down.
“Okay, get this, I’m like going to the audition and I’m told that I’m gonna read with the guy who was already picked for the leading male role,” I said beginning my story. I took off my jacket and sat down on the couch next to Lana. “So I was like ‘okay’ and I started looking over the dialogue. Seconds later, the guy comes in and I only saw his back. And something about him seemed so familiar, then he turns around, and, get this, it was Nick!!” I exclaimed. “Can you believe it?”
“Are you serious?” exclaimed Lana. “Wow, I would definitely have to say that you two are meant to be together,” she observed.
“No way, we broke up remember?” I reminded her.
“So, you can get back together,” said Lana shrugging.
“Yeah, but we’re dating other people now,” I said.
“Still, you never know what might happen down the road,” said Lana. “What’s this movie about anyway?” she asked.
“Well, it’s about this guy, Michael Broque, who’s a struggling singer. He’s very good but he just needs that big break that everyone’s always waiting for. So while he’s trying to get his career off of the ground, he’s working as a bag boy at a local supermarket. So one day, he meets this girl at the supermarket, Angel Devine, that’s the character I was reading for, and he feels something between them. But he only sees her once at the store. So then he becomes determined to find her, just like she becomes determined to find him,” I said summarizing the script. “And I’m not sure what happens later cause I haven’t read the entire script,” I added.
“Sounds pretty cool,” said Lana nodding. “So how was it seeing Nick again?” she asked.
“A little weird at first, but then it became just like it was during the summer. We talked and laughed just like good friends,” I replied.
“I don’t know, I still think there’s something between you two that not even you realize,” commented Lana.
“You’re wrong, Nick and I are just friends,” I stated. At that moment my cell phone rang.

Lana’s point of view

I saw Liz answering her cell phone and I knew that it was the call she’d been waiting for. She was about to find out if she got the role or not. I listened intently to her saying, ‘yes…okay…I understand…thank you,’ and then she hung up.
“So???” I asked not being able to wait any longer.
“I GOT THE PART!!!” screamed Liz and started jumping up and down.
“Oh my God, CONGRATULATIONS!!!” I yelled excited and unbelievably happy for her.
“I can’t believe I did it!” exclaimed Liz.
“I told you that you would,” I said grinning.
“I have to tell Nick,” said Liz grabbing her phone and dialing Nick’s number from memory no doubt.
I looked at Liz while she was speaking to Nick. I could see a spark of excitement in her eyes that had nothing to do with the fact that she got the part in the movie. As much as she would have liked to deny it, she still loved him, no doubt about it.
“So when are you going to start filming?” I asked after Liz hung up the phone.
“In one week, I have to go tomorrow to pick up the script and do all the preparations and stuff before the actual filming,” she said excitedly.
“That is so great, I’m so happy for you!” I exclaimed hugging her.
“Thank you, this is what I’ve been waiting for!” exclaimed Liz smiling widely.
“I know, so what do we do now?” I asked looking at her.
“Um, well, I would say shopping but it’s like after ten at night already, so, um, video?” suggested Liz.
“Sure, you get the popcorn, I get the movie,” I said and went to look through the tapes we had. “Hey, what do you want to watch ‘Dirty Dancing’ or ‘The Cutting Edge’?” I yelled to Liz who was already in the kitchen.
“I don’t know, that’s a tough choice,” said Liz appearing in the doorway of the living room. Both of us loved those movies and it was hard to pick between them.
“Okay, I got an idea,” I said taking one tape in each hand and then putting my hands behind my back. I shuffled the tapes from one hand to another so that even I wouldn’t know what I was holding. “Okay, pick a hand,” I told Liz.
“Hmm, right,” she said.
I held up my right. “’The Cutting Edge’ it is,” I announced and put the tape in the VCR.
“Great,” said Liz and we heard the microwave beeping. Liz went back to the kitchen. “The popcorn’s ready!” she yelled out. She came back into the living room and we settled down to watch the movie.

Nick’s point of view

I woke up to someone ringing my doorbell impatiently. I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock. It was only 8, what kind of a psycho would wake me up this early? I groaned, got out of bed, and went downstairs to answer the door.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I grunted, as the doorbell rang once again. “Keep your pants on,” I said and opened the door to find Brian standing there, “please,” I added.
“Hey Frack,” said Brian greeting me cheerfully.
“Bri, what are you doing here? We’re not on tour, we don’t have rehearsal, so unless the world is about to come to an end, I suggest you go back home and let me go back to sleep,” I said half asleep.
“Very funny,” said Brian, walking past me and into my house.
“Who was kidding?” I asked yawning and following him, after closing the door. “I’m perfectly serious,” I added.
“Yeah, so what exactly were you doing when you missed rehearsal the day before yesterday?” asked Brian plopping down on the couch. I could see that he had no intention of leaving.
“You came here at an hour that should not have an a.m. attached to it to ask me that?” I asked yawning once again.
“Yep,” answered Brian with that cheery grin of his. Ugh, I wanted to go back to sleep!
“Bri, I’m half asleep, my brain is not functioning, can you please wait a few more hours?” I asked.
“Nick, your brain is never functioning, now spill,” said Brian.
“Ha, ha,” I said dryly. “I wanted to tell everyone at the same time so that I wouldn’t have to tell this story,” I stopped and mentally went over the number of people in the group besides me, “four times,” I finished. Yes, that sounded like something a total idiot would do, but like I said before, my brain was still asleep.
“Don’t you mean five?” asked Brian.
I looked at him. “Bri, without me, there’s only four in the group,” I reminded him, purposely saying it very slowly.
“I meant that you would have to tell Kelly too, wouldn’t you?” asked Brian suspiciously.
“Oh please, you already know that she knows, so stop it,” I said annoyed.
“Okay fine, but can’t you just tell me, I mean I am here and everything,” said Brian. I could see that he would not budge from that couch until I told him about the movie.
I sighed. “Okay, if you must know, and apparently you must, I’m going to be in a movie,” I told him.
Brian raised his eyebrows in interest. “Really? What’s it called?” he asked.
“’Fate’,” I replied.
“Cool, what’s it about?” asked Brian.
“You’ll find out when I tell everyone else, now will you please get out of here so I can get some more sleep? The movie starts shooting in one week. I gotta pack today and go back to New York to pick up the entire script, get fitted for wardrobe, and find a place to stay,” I said.
“Why don’t you stay with Liz?” suggested Brian.
I looked at him like he just suggested that I go out in public and get mobbed on purpose. “Uh, hello? Anyone up there?” I asked tapping him on his head. “In case you forgot, Liz is technically my ex-girlfriend, and I don’t think Kelly would appreciate me staying with Liz in the same house,” I said.
“Okay, I see your point,” said Brian nodding. “So what are you gonna do? Stay in a hotel?” he asked.
“No, I’m gonna rent a house,” I replied. Okay, it was obvious that I was not gonna get any more sleep that day.
“Oh, okay,” said Brian and then got up. “So when are you gonna tell everyone else?” he asked.
“Um, like in a couple of hours,” I responded. “Since you woke me up this early, I might as well start packing. Tell the guys to come here around eleven, and then I’ll tell them,” I told him and Brian nodded.
“Okay, will do, see ya later Nick,” he said and left.
“Yeah, see ya,” I mumbled and closed the door after him. “It’s a conspiracy, I’m just not allowed to get any sleep,” I said to no one in particular and dragged myself upstairs to shower and get dressed.

chapter 1 chapter 3