Nick’s point of view

I closed the door and slipped my wallet into my pocket. Then someone knocked on my door again.
“Look, you gave me back my wallet, what else do you want?” I asked angrily as I opened the door and then looked in the doorway. Brian stood there with a confused look on his face.
“Um, wallet?” he asked.
“Sorry, I thought you were someone else,” I explained and let him in.
“Someone who had your wallet?” he said laughing and sat down on one of the chairs in the room.
“Yeah, that girl, Julianna stopped by to return my wallet, it probably fell out while we were sitting in that room waiting for her,” I told him.
Brian nodded in understanding. “So what’s up with you Nick?” he asked in a serious tone.
“Nothing,” I said shaking my head.
“Liar,” stated Brian.
“Look, for the last time, nothing is wrong!” I exclaimed.
“Then explain why you’ve been acting like such a jerk,” said Brian and waited for an answer.
“I haven’t been acting like a jerk,” I said huffily.
“Yes you have, and what do you have against Julianna? She’s a very nice girl,” said Brian.
“She made us wait in that room for almost two hours!”
“So? She had an excuse; she was stuck in traffic. You know how that feels, we’ve been in traffic jams millions of times.”
“Look, I’m just not in the greatest of moods right now okay?”
“Why?”
“I’m having some problems with Stacie,” I said. Stacie was my current girlfriend and we had been going out for about two years. Up until a few weeks ago, I was sure that we would get married someday.
“What kind of problems?” asked Brian, his voice taking on a concerned tone.
“Well, she’s been really…I’m not sure of what word to use…but I guess she’s been taking advantage of the fact that I’m famous and have money,” I explained.
“How so?”
“Well, just yesterday, she charged over $5000 on my credit card. She said it was for a pair of shoes and a dress.”
“Wow, why does she have your credit card?”
“I gave it to her so she could buy a new microwave, ours broke about a week ago.” Stacie and me had been living together for a couple of months while me and the guys were on break from touring.
“Did she at least buy a microwave?”
“Nope, she said they didn’t have any she liked.”
“That’s not like her,” commented Brian.
“Don’t I know it, and there’s more,” I said sighing. “She’s been asking me to help her get a record deal, as much as I love her and care about her, I have to tell you the truth, she’s like tone-deaf! She couldn’t sing a note if her life depended on it!”
“Doesn’t she know she can’t sing?”
“Apparently not, she thinks she’s the next Britney or something,” I said in frustration.
“Oh man, that’s a really big problem, but is that it?”
“I wish it was, she’s been bragging to all of her friends and anyone else she meets that she’s dating me and living with me. She’s been giving out interviews left and right, discussing things that are very personal and private to me,” I said sadly.
“Nick, this cannot go on,” said Brian sternly.
“I know, but I love her Bri,” I said softly.
“I know you do Nicky, but you gotta figure out who she loves more, you as Nick regular guy, or you as Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys,” said Brian gently. I knew he was right, but I’d been with Stacie for such a long time, I couldn’t imagine my life without her. Just thinking about the fact that I might have to break up with her made me angry and sad at the same time.

THE NEXT DAY
Julianna’s point of view

“Jess, I’m serious, the guy is a total jerk!” I exclaimed. Jess and me were on the set of ‘Unreal’. She had decided to stop by and keep me company because it was a slow day at work.
“I swear, you’re like the only girl I know who could complain about working with Nick Carter,” said Jess laughing. “The guy has gorgeous hair, gorgeous eyes, a gorgeous body, and did I mention that he’s gorgeous?”
“Okay, I’ll admit it, he is gorgeous, but that’s it, it all stops there! Underneath, he’s a scumbag just like all the other guys I’ve ever known,” I told her.
“I don’t know,” said Jess shaking her head. “Maybe he made the wrong first impression.”
“First impression? So far I’ve seen the guy three times and the only time he did seem nice was the first time I saw him. But then again, at that time he pretty much almost didn’t say anything so that’s why I thought he was nice.” I folded my arms over my chest in frustration.
“Well, you will get to work with him next week, then you guys can get to know each other a little better,” said Jess with a smile.
“Ugh, don’t remind me about next week,” I said rolling my eyes. I was not looking forward to seeing Nick again.
“Jul, lighten up, and don’t let him get to you,” suggested Jess.
“It’s kinda hard, I am going to be working with him,” I said.
“True, but you never know what might happen, I mean after all, this set is ‘Unreal’,” said Jess mischievously grinning. I couldn’t help but laugh. She always knew how to cheer me up.

Brian’s point of view

“So did you decide what to do about Stacie?” I asked Nick.
“No, I’m avoiding it,” he mumbled.
“Nick, you can’t avoid it forever. If you decide to break up with her, it’s better to do it as soon as you can rather than stretch it out for a long period of time harming both you and her in the process.” I looked him straight in the eye and I could see that he was really hurting over this whole deal with Stacie. I hated to see my best friend in pain.
“I know Rok,” said Nick sighing. At that moment AJ peeked his head into my room.
“Guys, we gotta leave in ten minutes for the photo shoot,” he reminded us.
“Another one? Didn’t we just do one like yesterday?” groaned Nick.
AJ shrugged apologetically and closed the door.
“It’s not that bad, it might get your mind off of Stacie,” I suggested, hoping that it really would, when I knew that Nick would spend the entire photo shoot thinking about his girlfriend.
“It’s not fair, it’s just not fair,” said Nick and got up off the chair. He then mumbled something about getting his hat from his room and left. About a minute later my wife, Leighanne, came into the room.
“Hi honey,” she greeted me and kissed me. “I just saw Nick, he looked upset, is something wrong?” she asked her face full of concern.
“He’s having some problems with Stacie,” I said briefly. It’s not that I didn’t want to tell her, but I knew that Nick liked to keep his personal life private, even among all of us.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” said Leighanne understanding right away that it was private and she didn’t ask for details. “But we gotta leave, the photo shoot remember?” she said getting up and pulling me up with her.
“Yeah, I remember, AJ just reminded Nick and me about two minutes ago,” I said. I then grabbed the room key and Leighanne and me walked out and downstairs to the lobby where we saw Kevin and Kristen waiting for us.
“Where’s Nick?” asked Kevin because he knew that Nick and me were hanging out before.
“He went to his room to get a hat, he’ll be right down,” I replied. Or, I hoped that he would be right down.
“Did you find out what’s bugging him?” asked Kristen.
“Yeah, he’s having some girlfriend problems,” I told them. Both Kevin and Kristen nodded and said no more. They understood.
At that moment Nick came downstairs with his hat in his hand.
“Hey guys,” he said warily.
Kevin gave him a look of concern. “You okay?” he asked.
Nick shrugged and didn’t answer. Then Stacie came downstairs and greeted all of us cheerfully.
“Hey everyone!” she said smiling brightly.
“Hey, what have you been up to?” asked Leighanne.
“I went shopping and I got the cutest outfit!” said Stacie excitedly.
I took a wild guess and figured that Stacie went shopping with Nick’s credit card again, that was probably why he looked so worn out. He was tired of her behavior but was trying to be the nice guy that he is and hoping that she’d stop.
As Kristen, Leighanne, and Stacie went on chatting about clothes, Kevin and I slowly pulled Nick over to have a serious talk with him.
“Nick, what’s going on between you and Stacie?” asked Kevin.
Nick filled him in on what had been happening and Kevin frowned.
“Let me guess, she went shopping with your credit card again, right?” I asked and Nick nodded.
“You gotta put a stop to this, it’s like she’s using you now,” said Kevin sternly.
“Don’t you think I know that?” asked Nick his eyes full of pain. “Do you know how much that hurts?”
Kevin gave Nick a brotherly hug and I joined in.
“But Nick, how much longer are you going to let this go on?” asked Kevin.
“I can’t do it Kev, I can’t break up with her,” said Nick shaking his head sadly.
“Then don’t, explain to her that what she’s doing is wrong and that if she really loves you, she shouldn’t be using you like this,” I said gently.
Nick looked uncertain. “What if she breaks up with me?” he asked softly.
“Then she’s not the one for you and you’re better off,” said Kevin.
“Easy for you to say,” mumbled Nick.
“Nick, let me ask you this, are you happy with Stacie right now?” asked Kevin.
“No,” said Nick, his answer barely audible.
“Then you gotta do something about it,” told him Kevin.
“I agree, I hate seeing you like this bro,” I added.
Nick took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll talk to her tonight,” he said.

Nick’s point of view

I paced around my hotel room waiting for Stacie to get back from wherever she was this time. Probably more shopping. I had no idea how to even say what I wanted to say to her. What if she would break up with me? Did I want that? Definitely not, but the way things were going now, I didn’t want that either.
“Hey baby,” said Stacie cheerfully coming into the room. I eyed her warily and noticed about five bags in her hands; yep, shopping once again.
“Where were you?” I asked.
“I heard about this fabulous sale at Bloomingdale’s and I just had to check it out,” replied Stacie. She then came up to me and planted her lips on mine. I kissed her back briefly. “So how was your day?” she asked after the kiss.
“It was fine,” I said curtly. “Listen, I gotta talk to you about something,” I began.
“Sure, what it is?” asked Stacie sitting down on the bed and beginning to look through her purchases.
“I want to know why you’ve been doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Using me.”
“I haven’t been using you, what are you talking about?”
“Oh, so what do you call nearly maxing out my credit card? That’s not using?”
“You gave it to me yourself.”
“I gave you the card so that you could buy a microwave for our house, did you? No!”
“Big deal, I just bought a few things for myself.”
“What about all the interviews you’ve been giving out?”
“What about them? They were fun.”
“FUN? Do you realize that you’re giving out very personal details about my life that I don’t want anyone to know?”
“Nick, you’re a celebrity, people will find out everything sooner or later, it’s better that they at least find out the truth.”
“But I don’t want them to find out! It’s my private life, it’s no one’s business but my own.”
“Fine, I’ll stop giving interviews.”
“And please, for the love of God, stop telling every single person you meet that you’re dating me and that you’re living with me.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re bragging about how famous I am! It’s like you don’t care about me anymore, only about what I represent.”
“That’s what you think?”
“Yes!”
“Fine, then how about this, I’m breaking up with you.”
“WHAT?”
“It’s obvious that you don’t care about me anymore, what with the whole lecture you just gave me, so I’m going to go and find someone else,” said Stacie shrugging.
I was shocked by what she had just said. “I can’t believe you,” I said shaking my head.
“Well, believe it, I was going to break up with you soon anyway, but now you made it so much easier,” said Stacie calmly getting up and going to the closet. “I have made arrangements to go home tomorrow. Don’t worry, I’ll pack up my stuff from your house and be out before you come back from New York. I already rented a wonderful house in California.”
“I can’t believe that you would use me like this.”
“I wouldn’t call it using, more like taking advantage of the situation.”
“That’s the same thing,” I told her angrily.
“Oh well, whatever. Okay, I’m going to get my stuff and stay in a different room tonight, I don’t really want to be in the same room with you anymore anyway,” said Stacie and took out her suitcase. I watched as she quickly packed up her stuff and zipped up the bag. “Nice knowing you Nick, have a great life,” she said with a cold smile and walked out the door.
I sank down onto my bed in shock. In a few minutes I came out of it and the reality of what had happened crashed down on me and I started to cry.

Howie’s point of view

I was walking around the hotel trying to find something to do. Brian and Leighanne went out to dinner, so did Kevin and Kristen, and AJ was in some club. I decided to go and see what Nick was up to. No one had seen him all evening. I knocked on his door and waited for him to answer. No response.
“Hey Nick! You in there?” I called out. Silence. “Nick?” I said again but got no answer this time either. I figured that he and Stacie probably talked, made up, and went out somewhere. I turned around and went back to my room. Oh well, it looked like it was going to be a long evening of watching TV.

chapter 1 chapter 3