chapter one
Christina walked slowly into the
auditorium next to two of her best friends, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
The two had finally hooked up, after years of denying their true feelings
and flirting, Britney had told Justin of her true feelings.
Watching Justin and Britney walk
together, holding each other close and smiling brightly at each other made
Christina feel incredibly alone, she saw the love that went on between Britney
and Justin, and she yearned for that. She
wanted to be loved, she wanted someone to share her deepest thoughts with,
someone that would always be there no matter what, someone to hold her tight and
tell her how much they loved her, someone to love, besides her family.
“Christina?” Britney put a hand on
her best friends’ shoulder, “Are you okay?”
Christina jumped up a little then faced
Britney, “Oh, yeah, sorry”
Britney frowned, “What’s wrong
sweetie?” she asked looking back at Justin and telling him with her eyes that
it was okay for him to go on and find his seat.
Christina shook her head, “Nothing Brit,
nothing” tears started to well in
her eyes, “I’m going to find my seat” she said and walked off, leaving
Britney standing there in confusion.
Britney heard a man start to talk which
told her that it was time to sit down. She
quickly found her seat next to Justin and sat down.
She also made a mental note to find out what was wrong with Christina.
***
Christina found her seat and sat down,
luckily she was wearing the kind of make-up that didn’t run, otherwise she
would be in trouble.
She wiped her tears away and looked
towards the stage, a few camera men and people were up there fixing some things
up before the award show would start. She
closed her eyes and looked down. Please
God, please help me. She pleaded.
Suddenly a male voice cleared his throat.
She opened her eyes and looked up quickly, only to face someone she
didn’t think would be standing right there in front of her.
“Hi” she forced a smile as he sat
down next to her, and four more guys took seats beside him.
“Nick Carter” he stuck out his hand,
she took it and smiled.
“I know” she smiled, “Christina
Aguilera”
“I know” he replied, they still held
hands.
“Yo’ Nick!” Brian Littrell called
from beside his best friend. Nick
let go of Christina’s hand and turned to look at him.
Christina sat back in her chair and
sighed, she was just waiting for the awards show to start.
***
Later
that night.
Christina had just come back from
performing on stage, she sat back down after thanking people who were giving her
compliments.
“Hey Christina” she turned to see
Nick smiling at her, “Great job, you were awesome out there!” he looked at
her hand, “Nice ring, that would stand out a mile away!”
She blushed and smiled, “Thanks” she
answered, not knowing what to say.
Nick smiled at her, she was blushing, how
cute, he thought. He turned
back to the stage where an award was being presented to Jennifer Lopez.
When Nick had turned around Christina
took a side-ways glance at him, something about him made her smile, she turned
back towards the stage and listened to Jennifer’s acceptance speech.
***
“…make some noise for the Backstreet
Boys!” Aaron Carter introduced.
Blue lights shone on the stage where five
men with microphones stood behind two people, a woman and man, who were standing
together foreheands touching, and paper in their hands.
The music started and the two people
started moving, acting out the song sort of.
“Baby, please try to forgive me…” Brian Littrell sang.
Christina kept her eyes on the stage,
mainly listening intently to the music and words and watching the two actors.
A tear rolled down her cheek, she was
feeling lonlier by the minute. Britney
Spears sat in her seat glancing at Christina, her spirits for the night dropped
when she saw that tear. Oh
Christina, what’s wrong? Britney mentally asked sighing.
She then looked at how mesmerized she was to the Backstreet Boys’
performance.
“I’m here, with my confession” Nick
sang, “I’ve got nothing to hide, no more, I don’t know where to start, but
to show, you the shape of my heart”
Britney watched as Christina sat up in
her seat when Nick started singing, she watched as Christina’s eyes locked on
him, she watched as she breathed deeply when he finished, and she watched as she
slumped back in her chair.
***
“Christina, are you seeing anyone at
the moment?” a reporter that was at the awards show after party asked.
“Actually no I’m not, with my
schedule it’s hard, and I don’t think I’ve found THAT person that I want
to make time for yet” Christina faked a smile.
Questions.
Questions. Questions. Christina
sighed as she answered all the questions being asked as best she could.
When she finally got a way from everyone she walked towards the counter
and asked for a pepsi.
“You look tired” a strangers voice
examined. Christina turned to face
a normal looking guy but with an eerie atmosphere.
Christina smiled and shrugged, “Yeah, I
am actually” the stranger stuck out his hand,
“Mark Carey” he introduced himself,
“I was invited here by a friend”
“Christina Aguilera” she replied,
“What friend?” she asked, curiously.
“That doesn’t matter, but, hey, I
have to go now though, I’m at the Mavis hotel” he smiled and started to say
goodbye.
“Really? The Mavis? So am I!” she
smiled.
“Well, do ya want a ride home then?”
he asked, “I have my jeep out back”
Christina thought for a minute, “Nah,
it’s okay”
“Aw, common, we can like, play car
games on the way, and plus, you need to get some sleep remember?”
Christina was a little hesitant, but
shrugged, “Okay then, you’re not like… a psycho are ya?” she laughed.
He laughed as well, “What do YOU
think?” he asked sarcastically.
She shrugged as he led her out the back
door.
***
Nick wanted to go home early so he told
the others that he was heading back to their hotel, The Mavis.
He would send their limo back afterwards as well.
So they wouldn’t be stuck.
He hopped into the limousine and and then
they went off.
***
Christina and Mark arrived at the hotel,
Mark parked his car in the underground car park where it looked like no-one was
around.
“Okay, thanks for the ride Mark”
Christina smiled and went to open the door to find it wouldn’t budge.
“Mark, the car door won’t open” she laughed and turned to look at
him, he had a weird look on his face.
“Just what I intended” he grinned
evilly.
Christina frowned, “Mark, common, I’m
tired and I’m not really in the mood for this”
“For what?” Mark leaned closer,
he put his hand on her leg.
“Mark, please, don’t do that, I
don’t even know you!” Christina moved away, against the car door.
“Then why did you let me drive you
here?” he still moved closer.
Christina didn’t know why she let him
drive her there, she was tired, and stupid.
“Mark, let me out”
“How ‘bout no?” he touched her
again.
“Mark, you’re scaring me”
Christina’s voice started to quiver, she realized what he was doing.
“What’s the problem” he was so
close she could feel his breath on her face.
“Mark!” She squealed when he jumped
on her and started to rip her clothes. She
tried best she could to push him off but it was no use, he was too strong, she
screamed as loud as she could, no one was there…
***
Nick looked at the dozens of screaming
fans outside of the hotel, realizing that he wouldn’t be able to make it in
through the front, he asked the driver to drop him off in the underground car
park.
Once under there, it was silent, he
thanked the driver and stepped out of the limousine, closing the door and
watching as he drove away. Nick
sighed, he was tired. He started to
walk towards the elevators when he heard a scream.
Looking around he only saw cars
everywhere. He shrugged and started
to walk again when he heard a faint, “Please stop! Someone please help me! Get
off me!”
He kept looking around, that’s when he
saw it, in the heavily tinted window of an extremely big jeep, he saw a blond
mane of hair hitting up against the window and someone on top of the person with
blond hair. He saw a struggle.
He ran to the elevator and quickly pressed the button so he could get to
security, but the door didn’t open.
That’s when he heard another scream,
but this time it wasn’t the girl, it was a deep male voice, “Christina! Stay
Still!”
He looked at the window again and saw her
hand hit up against the window, he saw a ring, the same ring he complimented a
short while ago. “Oh my God” he
started running towards the jeep. Not
caring about his own safety, a friend was in trouble.
He opened the door and held Christina
from falling back and grabbed the guy throwing him out of the jeep.
He sat Christina back up and turned towards the guy only to be punched in
the stomach. Nick fell to the floor
as Christina screamed.
Mark turned back to Christina and went
around the jeep and shut Christina’s door, running around the front of the car
to open the driver’s door, he was stopped by two hands grabbing his shoulders
and throwing him away. Nick was
towering over Mark with anger in his eyes, Mark got up and tried to swing at
Nick but Nick blocked it and took a swing at Mark.
Mark grabbed his face and stumbled back,
he then looked back up and pounced on Nick sending them both to the ground, they
were rolling around on the ground throwing punches everywhere, that was until
someone pulled Mark off Nick.
“Nick are you okay?!” a frantic voice
kneeled beside him as he saw a police man dragging Mark away.
His eyes focused, he saw someone familiar,
“Justin Timberlake?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s me, look Nick, really,
are you okay?”
Justin helped Nick stand up, “Yeah,
I’m fine, I’ll be okay” Nick
looked around, he saw Christina and Britney standing next to a wall, Christina
was bawling onto Britney’s shoulder.
***
“Shh, Chrissy” Britney comforted,
“It’s okay, you’re okay”
Christina didn’t stop crying, but she
did pull back from Britney and thanked her, she looked around and saw Nick, her
savior walking towards her with Justin Timberlake, she held her top closed and
turned back to Britney.
“Christina?” Nick hand touched her
shoulder, she turned around and fell straight into his arms.
He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and let her cry.
***
Nick and Christina had been sitting in
Christina’s hotel room for half an hour after the whole ‘Mark’ incident,
Britney and Justin were also in the hotel room talking.
“Christina, Nick, we have to go now,
it’s getting late and we have to wake up early in the morning, I hope you guys
understand” Britney apologized.
“It’s okay, you guys go ahead”
Christina sniffed and smiled.
Britney went up to Christina and gave her
a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and hugged Nick, Justin gave Christina a hug and
a kiss on the cheek and shook Nick’s hand.
“Nice seeing ya again Nick”
“You too curly” he
grinned.
Justin laughed, “Justin, NOT curly ya
hear?!” everyone laughed, and when Brit and Justin left, Nick turned back to
Christina.
They didn’t say anything for a moment,
until Nick looked at his watch, “Well, it’s getting late and I should be goi…”
he started but looked at her sad face. She
was looking down at her hands.
He got his index and middle fingers and
tilted her head up to face him, “What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head and looked back down,
“I’m scared” she admitted quietly.
“Why should you be scared?” he asked
gently.
“Mark…” she trailed off but looked
up at Nick, “Stay”
Nick didn’t answer for a few seconds,
“Well, I…”
“I know you don’t have anything on
tomorrow, you told me so yourself, please Nick, please stay” Christina’s
eyes glistened with tears and loneliness, she looked like a deer caught in
headlights.
“I’ll have to call the guys” he
smiled at her. She nodded and
smiled too.
“Thank you” he hugged her, and she
hugged him back.
***
Christina was sleeping, or so Nick
thought, she was in her bed while Nick sat in a chair next to it.
He was going to go and sleep on the sofa, he stood up and started to make
his way out of the room when he stopped.
He turned around and walked back towards
Christina in her bed. He knelt down
beside the bed and looked at her for a moment before pulling her comforter up
and tucking some hair behind her ears. He
watched her breathing pattern.
To say that she was pretty would be an
understatement, she was beautiful. Nick
felt the need to touch her face to prove that she was real.
He needed to get some sleep though, so he stood up and gave her a kiss on
the forehead.
“Goodnight Christina” he whispered
walking out after taking one last glance at her.
“Goodnight Nick” she whispered back
when he was out of earshot, “Goodnight”