THE NEXT MORNING
Nick’s point of view

I couldn’t believe my rotten luck. Not only was I late for meeting the guys at the interview we had to do that day, but I also couldn’t find my cell phone. We just had to choose that morning to go to the interview separately. Of course we did. This was not my day.
I ransacked my hotel room looking for my phone, and all I had to show for it was a very messed up room, and me being about an hour late. Also, the fact that I had turned off my phone the previous night didn’t help, since even if the guys tried to call me, I still wouldn’t be able to hear my phone ringing, find it, and then finally get out of my room. I sighed as I looked around the room for any other place that I may have forgotten to look. I didn’t see any. I threw up my hands in frustration and then dropped them back down against my legs.
No…it couldn’t be.
There was no way that I was that stupid.
I felt the bulge in my right pocket. I had simply assumed that it was my wallet. But now, seeing my wallet lying clearly on my dresser, I knew that the thing in my pocket was definitely not my wallet.
Okay, so apparently I was that stupid. I reached in and pulled out my cell phone.
I turned it on and it immediately vibrated, indicating I had voice mail. I knew that it had to be one of the guys. Now the question was, which one was it? Howie I could handle. Brian I could handle. AJ I could handle. It was the other guy that I couldn’t handle. If the message was from Kevin, I was better off throwing myself out the window, at least that would be quicker.
I pressed the phone to my ear to hear the voice mail. It was definitely not my day.
“NICK!! I am going to kill you as soon as I see your blond head here!” yelled Kevin. “You cannot even begin to fathom how much trouble you’re in! Do you realize that you’re a half an hour late and that we cannot start the interview without you?? I swear you’re going to wish that you were in a coma after that car accident now. Where the hell are you?” he yelled one last time and then I heard the loud click when he hung up. I swallowed loudly and really considered going for the window.
Kevin had said that I was a half an hour late. I was now an hour late and by the time I got to the interview, I would definitely be about an hour and a half late.
Did I mention that this was not my day?

Kevin’s point of view

“I’m gonna kill him, I really am,” I said fuming as I paced around the room.
“Kev, you’re not gonna kill Nick and you know it,” stated Brian.
“Then you don’t know me as well as you think,” I shot back. “I mean, would you miss him? Would you?” I looked around the room but got no answer.
“Kev, you’re going to make a trench in that floor if you don’t stop pacing,” said Howie calmly.
“Good, then I’ll be able to throw Nick into it and cover it back up again, if he ever gets here,” I muttered. At that very instant, the door gently eased open and Nick stuck his head inside. “You’re dead meat,” I growled as I took a step closer.
Nick’s expression turned to one of panic, and he immediately closed the door.
“How about we get through this interview first?” suggested AJ walking to the door. “You can kill Nick later, at least then we wouldn’t have to explain why there were all of a sudden only four Backstreet Boys,” he added and opened the door. “Nick?” he called out. Silence. AJ walked outside. “I know you’re here somewhere. Come out, Kevin is not gonna kill you. Well, not now anyway. We have an interview to do. You’ve already made it an hour and a half longer than it should’ve been, the least you can do is come into the room so we can finally start.” I then saw Nick slowly approaching the opened door.
“You promise not to kill me?” he asked looking at me. I shot him a death stare. Nick gulped. “I really do have an explanation for why I’m so late. It’s quite funny really,” said Nick starting to laugh nervously. A minute later he realized that he was the only one laughing, so he cleared his throat and shut himself up.
“Let’s get started,” said Howie. All of us sat down at the table and the interview began.

Julianna’s point of view

“Okay, take a break everyone!” yelled out Tom and I sighed with relief. It was only a little after three. I had been on the set since seven o’clock that morning and so far, it was the hardest day yet. So much needed to be done and redone that I had no idea how we were going to do it in time for the new episode to air. I knew that Tom had given me and the rest of the cast the day off yesterday due to some technical problems. It was those problems that were causing the delays in the shooting of the episode.
I took a huge gulp of my mineral water and looked over the script tiredly. We weren’t even a quarter of the way into it. Plus, tomorrow was the day that I had been dreading for a week. We were supposed to film the scene with the Backstreet Boys in it, and that scene would continue to be filmed for the remainder of the week. Did they really have to be in that episode so much?
“Tired?” asked Alex Strenner coming up to me. Alex played my older brother on the show and I had begun to think of him as my older brother. Because, well, he was older than me by two years, and he was like a brother to me. Duh.
“Exhausted, do you think Tom knows that we’re not machines?” I asked.
Alex laughed and ran his hand through his spiky brown hair. He then immediately made a face and looked at his hand. “When am I going to learn that there’s gel in my hair?” he asked sighing. He then grabbed a paper towel and wiped the gel off his hand.
“You’ll learn that when I say that Nick Carter is a wonderful human being,” I said sarcastically.
“Oh, so the week after never then?” asked Alex grinning.
“Yep, you got that right,” I said nodding. I groaned as I looked at the agenda for what we had to do that day. “How am I going to survive this? There’s no way I’ll be alive afterwards to enjoy my date. No way,” I mumbled.
“Date? With who?” asked Alex raising his eyebrows.
“Lance Bass,” I replied. Alex gave me a blank look.
Duh, did I really expect him, a guy, to know who Lance was when I didn’t even know who he was?
“He’s from that group *NSYNC,” I explained.
“Ooh, dating the enemy huh?” he asked grinning.
“I am not!” I retorted.
Alex laughed. His smile then disappeared when both of us heard Tom yelling that the break was over. We both groaned and dragged ourselves back to our job.

Nick’s point of view

It was truly a miracle that I was still alive. Seriously, it really was. I had fully believed that Kevin was going to kill me as soon as that interview was over. But instead, he just gave me a long lecture. And I do mean long. About an hour and a half long. When I had the dumb urge to ask why it was specifically that long, Kevin said that he was lecturing me for every minute that I was late. Figures. Mr. Responsible would have never been late. Oh nooooo, pigs would fly sooner that Kevin ‘Mr. Perfect’ Richardson would be late.
I flopped down on my bed and closed my eyes. This day could not possibly get any worse. Then someone knocked on my door. With the luck that I was having, I was expecting to find about a hundred crazed fans on the other side of that door waiting to tear me into pieces.
I warily got up and opened the door. Thankfully, it was just AJ. He was holding some newspaper and didn’t look very happy.
“Nick, you need to see this,” he said.
“Well hello to you too,” I mumbled.
“No seriously, you really need to see this,” insisted AJ and thrust the paper into my hands. It was the National Enquirer.
Remember when I said that this day could not possibly get any worse? I should really learn never ever to say that.
“No way,” I said staring at the headline on the front page in disbelief. It said: “Backstreet Boy Nick Carter And Actress Julianna Palmer, A Couple?” Right below the headline was a picture of Julianna and me dancing at the restaurant the previous night.

Julianna’s point of view

I plopped down on my couch and groaned. I had finally come home from work and I only had a half an hour to get ready for my date with Lance. I considered calling him and rescheduling the date for later, but then realized that he was probably already ready and maybe even on his way to pick me up.
I peeled myself off of my couch and dragged my tired butt into the shower. I felt better afterwards, but was still exhausted. Thankfully, I knew what to wear beforehand, so at least I spared myself the trouble of trying to find some clothes to wear. I got dressed quickly and put on some make-up.
I looked into the mirror.
“Oh well, I look halfway decent,” I said to no one particular. I took a quick glance at my watch and saw that it was five to eight. I grabbed my purse and then went downstairs to wait for Lance.
At precisely eight o’clock my doorbell rang. I smiled to myself seeing that Lance was very punctual.
I opened the door and saw him standing there. But for some reason, he didn’t look very happy to see me.
“Hi, is everything okay?” I asked as I moved aside and let him in.
“Um, I’m not sure,” he said running his hand through his hair.
I raised my eyebrows. What could have possibly gone wrong?
“Did you see the National Enquirer today?” asked Lance.
“No, I don’t read that paper,” I replied. “Besides, I’ve been on the set since seven this morning,” I added.
“Then I think you should see it,” said Lance. “I’ll be right back.” He went back to his limo and then came back with the paper in his hands. “Look,” he said giving the paper to me.
I looked at the front page as shock registered.
It couldn’t be. “Please tell me I’m seeing things,” I said softly.
“‘Fraid not,” said Lance.
There, in black and white, I saw the words ‘Backstreet Boy Nick Carter And Actress Julianna Palmer, A Couple?’ I looked ahead to read the story.
“Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and actress Julianna Palmer were seen yesterday dancing at one of the best restaurants in New York City,” I read out loud. “Could it be that the two are dating but trying to hide it? Also, according to rumors, the two are going to be working on an episode for Julianna’s series ‘Unreal’ and they have a passionate kissing scene in the show.”
Lance raised his eyebrows as I read the part about the kissing. I looked at him. “No way, trust me! I read that script front to back several hundred times to make sure that I wouldn’t have to come anywhere near that guy! I cannot believe this is happening!” I exclaimed and sat down on a chair. “This picture proves nothing!” I said pointing to the front-page photo of Nick and me dancing. “It was taken a few seconds before I insulted his dancing and stormed away from him,” I explained.
“Yeah, I was confused at first also cause I remembered that you said that you hated him,” said Lance nodding.
“Why did you take the paper with you?” I asked.
“I didn’t. Justin threw it in the car as I was getting in. Something about using Nick’s picture as a dartboard,” replied Lance with a laugh.
I laughed halfheartedly. At that point, I wanted to use Nick himself as a dartboard. With very sharp darts.
“Why does this keep happening to me?” I groaned and put my head on the table in front of me. “Why is it that every time I turn around that moron is there?”
“Um, Jul, you might not want to look up now,” said Lance.
No way, it couldn’t happen, it just couldn’t. I looked up. Okay, it happened.
Nick Carter was standing in my doorway.
I looked up at the ceiling. The universe was against me. Yep, someone up there reeaaally hated me and was laughing real hard at that moment.
“Are you purposely trying to ruin my life?” I asked, angrily looking at Nick.
“Me? You’re a half of this picture too you know!” he exclaimed. “How do you think I feel?”
“You? I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all your fault! You probably thought it would be funny to do this!” I yelled.
“Oh believe me, there is no way that I would ever be caught dead in the same picture as you!” Nick yelled back.
“Then explain this!” I said shoving the paper into his face.
“I don’t have to explain anything because I have no idea how this happened,” he replied pushing the paper away.
“Um, guys, maybe this was just one of those annoying times when being famous doesn’t agree with you,” spoke up Lance. “It could be that some reporter just happened to be in the restaurant,” he added.
I looked warily at him. He was probably right.
“That’s exactly what I think happened,” said Nick huffily. “I came here to ask you how you wanted to handle this.”
“Can we talk about this tomorrow please?” I asked. “I have a date right now and I’m really tired and don’t feel like discussing this mess.”
“Sure, we can talk about it tomorrow on the set,” agreed Nick.
Wow, did we just manage to have a thirty-second conversation without yelling at each other? I was shocked.
“Bye,” I told him and nodded towards the door. Nick got the hint, said bye, and left.
“So is your life always this exciting?” asked Lance grinning at me.
“Only lately,” I mumbled.
“I have an idea, how about we forget about dinner, and go somewhere else instead?” suggested Lance.
“Where?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” he said smiling.
About an hour and a half later we were standing and looking at the most beautiful view I have ever seen. We were in one of those places in upstate New York where observation sites were set up. You could look and see for miles, everything spread out right in front of you.
“Do you like it?” asked Lance.
“I love it, it’s beautiful,” I said sincerely.
“Wait here,” he said and disappeared from sight. He reappeared a few seconds later with a bouquet of pink roses. “These are for you,” he said handing me the flowers.
“Thank you, they’re beautiful,” I told him. “Where did they come from?” I asked inhaling the sweet scent of the roses.
“They were in the limo, I wanted to wait for the perfect moment to give them to you.”
“Thank you again. You’ve managed to take this horribly long and tiring day, and make the rest of it wonderful.”
“You’re welcome, you deserve it.”
I smiled and turned to look at the view again. I then looked up and saw the starry sky. I’ve never seen that many stars at night before. It was like the entire sky was lit up with these tiny twinkling lights.
I shivered slightly in my short-sleeved dress, wishing I had brought a jacket with me.
I then felt Lance’s arms around my waist as he gently rested his chin on my shoulder.
“Cold?” he asked.
“Not anymore,” I replied and leaned back, closer to him.

THE NEXT DAY

“Soooo?” asked Jess looking at me and waiting for me to tell her about my date the previous night.
“Jess, do you realize that it’s six o’clock in the morning?” I asked sleepily.
“Yeah, I would’ve come earlier but I figured you wanted to get some sleep,” she said shrugging.
At that moment I wished that I had never given that girl the keys to my house. She had come over twenty minutes before, woke me up by slamming the door downstairs as loudly as she could, and had been sitting in my room bugging me to tell her what happened with Lance last night.
“I have to get ready for work,” I said pushing her aside to get to my bathroom.
“Not until you tell me what happened,” she said quickly blocking the way.
“Well, let’s recap shall we? Lance came at exactly eight o’clock with the National Enquirer that had a picture of Nick and me dancing at the restaurant we all went to on Monday night. Then, Nick showed up and we got into our usual yelling at each other. After we had accused one another of the story in the paper being all their fault, we agreed to talk about the stupid mess today on the set. After the blond haired jerk left, Lance and me went somewhere upstate and enjoyed looking at the most beautiful view of New York I had ever seen. We talked a lot and he kissed me. He then took me home and promised to stop by the set today.”
“WOW! You are the luckiest person in the world!” exclaimed Jess.
I looked at her like she grew another head.
“Are you kidding? Did you hear what I said about the National Enquirer?” I asked.
“Yeah, and do you realize that you’re going out with Lance Bass from *NSYNC and are going to be locking lips with Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys?” said Jess.
“I am NOT going to be locking lips with anyone!” I shouted. “That’s a total rumor. And besides, how did you know about that?”
“I read the paper yesterday too,” replied Jess.
“And how come you didn’t mention it to me?”
“Cause you were busy on the set. Remember? I called you there but you said that you were too busy to talk and that you would call me back later?”
“Oh yeah, that’s what you were calling about?”
“Yep, so I knew about the paper. Are you sure that it’s a rumor though?”
“Of course. Trust me, I read the script very carefully to make sure that there is no physical contact between myself and Nick in the episode.”
“Okay, so what are you going to do about the paper?” asked Jess.
“I don’t know, I guess I’ll have to talk to Nick about it today. That’s if I ever get to work,” I said glaring at her. Jess smiled sweetly and moved out of my way. “Thank you,” I said and quickly ducked into the bathroom. “So what happened between you and AJ after I left?” I yelled from the shower.
“Well, the date kinda ended fairly soon cause Nick was sitting there and sulking. But, on the bright side, AJ did ask me out again, with no friends around this time,” yelled Jess laughing.
“That’s good!”
“Don’t I know it!”
I came out of the shower ten minutes later fully dressed since my clothes were in the bathroom with me.
“Nice outfit,” commented Jess looking up from a magazine she was reading.
“What?” I asked innocently. I looked into the mirror at my tight studded black jeans and silver halter-top. A matching studded black denim jacket completed the look.
“Trying to give Nick a heart attack?” asked Jess laughing.
“Okay,” I said eagerly. “If he has one, I won’t have to work with him,” I added smiling evilly.
“You suck,” said Jess and threw my pillow at me. She missed and the pillow fell short, about a foot away from me.
“Nice aim,” I said smirking. I then looked at my watch. “Shit!” I yelled as I realized that I had to be on the set in a half an hour. “This is all your fault,” I said pointing at Jess while I ran around my room looking for my purse and shoes.
“Hey, don’t blame me. All you had to do was tell me about your date and I would’ve stopped bugging you,” said Jess with a laugh.
“Ugh, but I’m blaming me being late on you anyway,” I told her. I spotted my shoes buried under two more pairs of shoes in my closet, and my bag lying on my chair. I quickly grabbed both and flew down the stairs. Jess followed me calmly.
“Have a good day at work!” she called out getting into her car as I got into mine and pulled out of the driveway. I waved back at her and prayed that I wouldn’t be too late.

chapter 5 chapter 7