Nick’s point of view

We walked out of the movie theater and started towards my car.
“Okay, that was the worst movie I’ve ever seen!” I exclaimed taking out my keys.
Liz nodded her head in agreement. “I know, remind me never to see a movie that I’ve never heard of,” she said.
“Same here,” I said and got into the car. “So where to now?” I asked turning to face her.
“Um, I don’t know, but more importantly, how do you feel?” she asked her voice taking on a concerned note.
“I feel fine, really,” I assured her. When I saw the skepticism in her eyes I sighed. “I’m not lying, I really do feel fine.”
“Okay, I believe you,” she said. “But if you collapse again, you’re in big trouble,” she warned jokingly.
“Not planning on repeating that so no danger of me being in trouble,” I said laughing and turned the car onto the road. “So you still didn’t answer my question, where are we going now?” I asked again.
“How about we get some food?” she suggested.
“Good idea, pizza?” I asked.
“Sure, at least you didn’t suggest McDonald’s again,” she said laughing. “I don’t know how AJ can eat all those burgers.”
“Neither do I, but we’re all used to him by now,” I replied also laughing. “So pizza it is,” I said and tried to spot a parking space near the pizza place we were driving by. I found a space and quickly maneuvered the car into it. I grabbed my hat and sunglasses from the backseat and Liz and me got out of the car.
“Do you really think that hat and glasses prevent you from being recognized?” asked Liz smirking.
“Well, it’s been working for many years, so I’d have to go with yes,” I replied and held the door open for her. We ordered our food and found a table.
“Lose the glasses Nick, you look ridiculous wearing them inside,” said Liz sitting down.
“You wanna get mobbed?” I asked.
“No, but in case you haven’t noticed, there’s almost no one in this place,” she replied gesturing towards the pizzeria. As I looked around I realized that she was right, the only other people in the place were a man and a woman a few tables ahead of us.
I sighed and took of my sunglasses. “Happy now?” I asked grinning.
“Yep,” said Liz with a satisfied smile.
After we ate, we decided to go back home. Well actually, Liz decided. She kept telling me that I needed to rest and that I shouldn’t overexert myself. I asked how eating pizza and watching a movie was overexerting myself, but she just shrugged and told me to follow the doctor’s orders.
When we got home, there were a few messages on the answering machine from the guys wondering where I was. I called them all back and said that I was fine and that I actually ate.
So basically, Liz and me spent the rest of the day on the couch watching TV.

Liz’s point of view

The following morning I slept in late and only got to the kitchen around 11. I saw Nick sitting there and reading the paper.
“Morning,” I said and rummaged around in the fridge for some food.
“Morning,” replied Nick not looking up from the paper.
“What’s so interesting in there?” I asked looking at him.
“Not much,” said Nick setting the paper aside. “So what are your plans for today?” he asked grinning.
“Well, Bri asked me to play tennis with him, which reminds me, do you have a tennis racket? I left mine at home,” I said and poured myself a glass of orange juice.
“I think there should be one in the attic,” replied Nick and got up. I eyed him suspiciously. “What? I already ate,” he said defensively. “Do you want to see the dirty dishes?” he asked heading towards the dishwasher.
“No that’s okay, I believe you,” I said simply and went back to my breakfast.
“Good, and when did you turn into my nutritionist?” asked Nick.
“Um, right after you passed out while shooting the video,” I replied and smiled at him.
“Are you gonna hold that against me for the rest of my life?” he groaned.
“Nope, just for the rest of the summer,” I said laughing.
“Ha ha,” said Nick dryly. “I’m gonna go swim for a while, I’ll catch you later,” he said.
“Okay, later,” I replied and Nick left the kitchen.
I quickly finished my breakfast and went to look for the attic. I found some stairs on the second floor and assumed they lead to it. I went up and eventually came to a door. I opened it and found myself in the attic. It was really wide and long. There were boxes and other stuff everywhere.
“Now how am I supposed to find a tennis racket in here?” I wondered out loud. I took a deep breath and started sorting through all the stuff. About an hour later I still didn’t find a racket. I came to a wooden trunk and opened it. All I saw was a bunch of old pictures. I was about to close the trunk and move on when one of the pictures caught my eye. It showed Nick and me when we were younger. In the picture, I was about five and that would make Nick seven. We were at some sort of picnic cause I saw food around us and there was a forest in the background. The weird thing was, both Nick and I were smiling and it looked like we were having fun together. That didn’t make sense to me; I always thought that Nick and me hated each other from the start. I grabbed the picture and went downstairs to show it to Nick.
I found him lying on a lawn chair near the pool with his eyes closed. He didn’t hear me approach so I couldn’t resist. I dipped my hand in the pool and then sprinkled the water onto his chest.
I laughed when Nick jumped up and knocked over the chair he was lying on.
“What did you do that for?” he asked annoyingly.
“Cause it was the perfect opportunity,” I said grinning.
“Fine, but I am gonna get you for this,” he warned.
“Yeah, and like I said before, I’m soo scared,” I replied.
“You will be,” said Nick smiling now. “So is there a reason for why you came out here?” he asked wiping his body with a towel.
“Yeah, do you remember this day?” I asked handing him the picture.
Nick looked at it closely and frowned. “Nope, where did you find it?” he asked.
“In the attic,” I replied. “I don’t remember it either,” I said.
“That’s strange,” commented Nick.
“I know,” I agreed. At that moment, a memory began to surface in my mind and in Nick’s and we suddenly remembered the day that picture was taken…

*~* FLASHBACK TO FOURTEEN YEARS AGO *~*
Five-year-old Liz Lenie and seven-year-old Nick Carter stood near the picnic table.
“Come on, let’s go do something interesting!” whined Nick. “This place is boring!” he added.
“I know it’s boring, but what can we do?” asked Liz looking around.
They were in a beautiful meadow on which picnic tables were set up for families to come and enjoy nature. The sun was shining high and there were few white puffy clouds in the sky. It was a wonderful summer day and the Lenies and the Carters had both come to the meadow to have a nice picnic and get away from everything for a while.
“How about we go explore the forest?” suggested Nick pointing at the forest that was a few feet away.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, our moms told us not to go anywhere alone,” said Liz uncertainly.
“Chicken,” teased Nick and started making chicken sounds and flapping his arms.
“I am not!” retorted Liz.
“Prove it, come with me,” challenged Nick and started walking towards the forest. Liz hesitated but then caught up with Nick. The two children disappeared into the forest with their mothers unaware that the kids were gone.

A FEW HOURS LATER

“NICKOLAS GENE CARTER!” yelled Mrs. Carter when she saw her son being lead out of the woods along with Liz.
“ELIZABETH SARAH LENIE!” yelled Mrs. Lenie when she saw her daughter. The kids went into the woods and managed to get themselves lost in the process. A search party was organized and they were found, but not before nearly causing their parents nervous breakdowns.
“Mommy daddy!” exclaimed Liz and ran into her parents’ outstretched arms.
“Mom dad!” exclaimed Nick and ran to his parents as well.
“What happened?” asked Mr. Carter looking at both kids.
“Nick made me do it!” announced Liz.
“Tattletale!” accused Nick.
“Nick made you do what?” asked Mr. Lenie.
“He made me go with him to the forest,” replied Liz sticking her tongue out at Nick. He did the same.
“So this was your idea huh?” asked Mr. Carter disapprovingly looking at his son.
Nick glared at Liz. “You told on me, I hate you!” he yelled.
“I hate you too!” replied Liz angrily. “It was your fault that we got lost!”
“Enough of that children,” scolded Mrs. Lenie. “Now both of you back to the table and I don’t want to see either of you move from your seats,” she ordered. Nick and Liz obediently went and sat down, glaring at each other the whole time.
“I hate you!” said Nick once again.
“I hate you too!” repeated Liz.
*~* END OF FLASHBACK *~*

“Okay, did you just remember what happened?” I asked.
“Yeah, that explains why we thought we hated each other,” replied Nick thoughtfully.
“I know, but what I don’t get is why we forgot about that day,” I mused.
“I don’t know, maybe because we were so young, but we didn’t forget that we hated each other,” he said snickering.
I laughed. “Yeah, but at least now we know why,” I said.
“True,” agreed Nick. “So what do we do now?” he asked.
“Nothing, I mean we already agreed to be friends,” I said simply.
“Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Nick. “Did you find a tennis racket?” he asked.
“Nope, did you know that your attic is a complete and huge mess?” I asked.
“No I didn’t know cause I never go up there,” replied Nick grinning.
“That explains a lot,” I said sighing. At that moment the phone rang and both Nick and me made a dive for it. I got to it first.
“Hello?” I said breathlessly.
“Hey Liz, am I interrupting anything?” asked Brian, I could hear the amusement in his voice.
“No, I was just running to get the phone,” I replied.
“Okay, whatever you say,” said Brian innocently. “So are we on for tennis today?” he asked.
“Yeah, if I could find a racket in this house,” I replied shooting a dirty look at Nick.
“You don’t have to, I have an extra racket,” said Brian. Why didn’t he tell me that earlier?
“Now you tell me!” I exclaimed.
Brian laughed. “Sorry, I thought you knew,” he said apologetically.
“Okay fine, so I’ll see you at your house in about a half an hour,” I said.
“Sure, see you then,” he said and hung up.
I turned off the phone and walked over to Nick. “Nick, can you do me a favor?” I asked sweetly.
Nick lowered his sunglasses and looked at me. “What?” he asked suspiciously.
“Can you please drive me to Bri’s house?” I asked making sad puppy eyes at him.
Nick tried to make it look like he was giving it some serious consideration. “Well, okay,” he finally said.
I beamed with happiness. “Thank you!” I exclaimed.
“No problem,” he replied grinning. “When do you want to go?” he asked.
I looked at my wristwatch. “In about twenty minutes,” I replied.
“Okay sure,” he said and then lay back on his chair and closed his eyes.
I ran up to my room to see if I could find the tennis dress that I bought about a year ago.

Nick’s point of view

I was tying my shoes when I heard Liz knocking on my door. “Come in,” I said.
“Hey, you ready?” she asked opening the door.
I stared at her. She was wearing a short, and I was emphasizing the word ‘short’, tennis dress that hugged her figure a little too well. The dress itself was white and sleeveless. She was also wearing white sneakers and white socks. Her hair was pulled back into a tail. I raised my eyebrows in appreciation.
“Carter, stop drooling,” said Liz laughing and I could feel my cheeks turn red.
“I wasn’t drooling,” I said defensively.
“Yeah you were,” she said still laughing.
“You keep teasing me and you’ll be walking to Bri’s house,” I warned lightheartedly.
“Okay okay, I’ll stop,” she said putting up her hands like she was giving up.
“Good, so let’s go,” I said and we both went downstairs. After I dropped her off at Brian’s house I went back home with every intention of doing absolutely nothing. But apparently, that wasn’t going to happen. As soon as I walked through my front door, my cell phone rang.
“Hello?” I said turning on the phone.
“Hey Nicky,” came Kevin’s voice.
“Don’t call me…oh forget it, what do you want Kev?” I asked annoyed that he kept calling me Nicky.
“We have an unexpected meeting with management in a half an hour,” he replied.
“What’s it about?” I asked.
“Something about an awards show in Europe,” he answered.
“Okay fine, I’ll be there,” I said and was about to hang up when Kev stopped me.
“Hold on Nick, call Bri and Bone and tell them too,” he said.
“Okay, what about D?” I asked.
“I called him already, I just need to take care of some stuff and I don’t have time to call the other guys,” replied Kevin.
“Fine, I’ll call them, anything else?” I asked.
“Nope, that’s it, I’ll see you there,” said Kevin and hung up.
I shut off my phone and looked at my watch. It was almost one thirty, which meant that the meeting would start at two. I figured I might as well call Bri and AJ so that they would have time to get there. I first called AJ and then I called Brian. After I did that, I grabbed my keys and went to my car. It was a twenty-minute drive to the meeting and I knew that I would get there just in time.

Brian’s point of view

I pulled into a parking space and both Liz and me got out of my car. I tried not to stare too much at her outfit but it was close to impossible.
“Bri, get your jaw off of the floor,” said Liz noticing my stare. I looked away embarrassed. “Guys, you’re all alike,” she commented laughing.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Nick was practically drooling when he saw me in this dress,” replied Liz. Oh, so I was wrong, Nick was a guy. About time he noticed how gorgeous Liz was.
“Well, don’t judge us by our worst specimen,” I replied laughing.
“I’ll try,” she said and we both went into the building. We went up to the fifth floor where the meeting was supposed to take place and saw that AJ and Howie were already there. They both looked up when they heard me and Liz approach.
“Hel-lo Liz,” said AJ whistling.
“Nice outfit,” commented Howie grinning.
“Like I said, all alike,” remarked Liz and plopped down on one of the couches.
Ten minutes later Nick and Kevin arrived at the meeting began. It turned out that we were nominated for ‘Best Pop Artist’, ‘Best Group’, Black and Blue was nominated for ‘Album of the Year’ and our video ‘The Call’ was nominated for ‘Video of the Year’. We were all very impressed. We hoped that we would at least win something.

chapter 5 chapter 7