“So how did it go?” Jane Carter asked as she picked up the phone, recognising her eldest son’s phone number.
“It was great! Why didn’t you tell me I was meeting Justin?” Nick said excitedly as he walked into the lounge, flopping down on the couch.
Jane replied a grin in her voice, “You’d have gotten all nervous and refused to go. So what did you think of him?”
“He looked gorgeous. He asked for my number. Do you think he’ll call? What if he doesn’t?” Nick said his voice changing from happy to nervous.
“He’ll call. Now what happened?” Jane said as she sat down, ready to hear all the details.
Nick said before yawning, “He looked a little shocked to see me, not half as shocked as I was though. I suggested we go to my boat, as we planned. We talked and watched a movie but he had to leave early. Nsync have got a recording tomorrow, I’ll call him after that.”
Hearing how tired her son was Jane Carter said, “Sounds like you had a good time. Why don’t you go to bed? You can tell me everything tomorrow.”
“Sure, thanks for doing this mom.” Nick said, smiling when she simply said she loved him.
Ending the call, Nick quickly went over to his computer connecting to the Internet. Within minutes he had managed to organise everything, hopefully, Justin would like his gift. Nick just wanted to show Justin how much he had enjoyed their date and how much he wanted to see the younger man again.
“Justin! Get up, there’s something here for you!” Lynn shouted up to her son, smirking when she imagined the look on his face.
“I’m up. What do you mean there’s something for me?” Justin said as he walked down the stairs, rubbing one hand over his face.
He stopped and stared at the large vase of flowers in front of him. He blinked; sure he was seeing things. He gaped when they stayed there. Walking over to the vase of white roses, he picked up the card, his face changing to a broad grin.
Justin,
Thanks for a perfect night. Thinking of you,
N.
“Looks like he likes you.” Lynn said with a grin, she had known her and Jane’s plan would work.
“Yeah, it does. You think I should call him, to say thanks?” Justin said as Lynn opened the door.
“Nice flowers. Who are they from?” Joey asked as he walked inside the house followed by the three other Nsync members.
“No one.” Justin replied quickly, a blush on his face.
Chris remarked as he grabbed the card from Justin’s hand, “Doesn’t look like no one.”
“Give that back!” Justin shouted angrily as Chris read the card out to the others.
JC said with a playful grin, “Looks like Curly's got a new girlfriend. Who’s N?”
“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.” Justin said haughtily, in reality, he was too scared to tell them anything.
“Enough torturing Justin, we’ve got to go or we’ll be late.” Lance said a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
Joey said as the five walked out the door, “I’m sure we’ll meet her soon enough.”
Justin looked at Joey in shock, was it just him or had Joey stressed the word her. Did Joey know about him?
On the way out, Justin grabbed a rose carrying it with him. He wanted to have a little something to help him feel close to Nick. Justin knew he was in trouble, he had already fallen for the Backstreet Boy, he just hoped that Nick felt the same way.
“Justin, its Nick Carter.” Nick said aloud, feeling ridiculous as he practised what he was going to say when he actually called Justin. He didn’t want Justin to think he was an idiot.
“Hi, it’s Nick. I was just calling to see if you wanted to meet me again?” Nick tried before groaning, he sounded like a desperate man.
Okay, he was desperate but he didn’t want Justin to know he had spent the day pining over him. Taking a deep breath, Nick picked up the phone and dialled Justin’s number from memory. He groaned as there were four rings, he was about to put it down as he heard a breathless voice.
“Justin’s phone, what do you want?” A man said, clearly out of breath.
Nick was silent, wondering who had answered Justin’s phone. Swallowing, Nick said, “Is Justin there? Tell him it’s his friend from the marina.”
“Sure, I’ll get him.” Came the reply, Nick could hear someone yelling, “Justin, phone! Someone you met at the marina?”
Knowing who it was from the description Justin shouted, “Give me the damn phone, Joey!”
As he walked away from the rest of his group Justin said, “Hey, sorry about that idiot. Joey’s in one of his moods. Thanks for the flowers, they’re wonderful. I’m guessing it was you who sent the roses to the studio as well?”
Feeling happier at hearing Justin’s voice Nick said, “Yeah, just wanted to let you know I was thinking of you. Would you like to come out on a date with me again?”
“I’d love that; I’ll call you as soon as I get back home. Thanks for calling; it was great to hear from you.”
“You promise to call?” Nick asked sounding both hopeful and afraid.
Justin said as he ended the call, “I promise. Talk to you later, Nicky.”
“So, who was that?” Lance asked as he walked outside with Justin. He had promised to give the younger boy a ride back. In reality, he simply wanted to find out what Justin was hiding.
“A close friend, he’s really great.” Justin said as he fastened his seatbelt, hating the fact that he had to lie about Nick.
“You can tell me anything, if you need to talk. I’ll always be here for you, Justin.” Lance said sincerely, looking over at Justin.
“I know. You okay, Lance?” Justin asked as they drove through the streets.
Lance said looking at Justin anxiously, “Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been a little off today; you kept looking at Josh like you’re angry at him or something.”
“I’m okay, just got a few things to work out. So are you calling the mysterious N tonight?” Lance quickly changed the subject, not wanting Justin to get too close.
Justin grinned widely as he said, “Yeah, I promised to. You know something. I don’t think I’ve been this happy for a while.”
“Happiness is fleeting.” Lance said bitterly, as he stopped the car. Seeing Justin’s concerned look he continued, “I’ll see you in a couple of days, I’ve got some things to work out.”
“Okay, Scoop. I’m here if you need me.” Justin said as he got out the car, skipping into the house.
“Nick here,” Nick said as he grabbed the phone, still out of breath from running.
As he closed the door of his bedroom Justin replied, “Hi, Nick. You sound a little out of breath; I didn’t interrupt you, did I?”
“I was in the shower. So how’ve you been today?” Nick answered with a grin.
Justin froze as images of Nick in the shower flashed into his mind. Shaking his head he blushed, “I’ve been great, it helped that I had this to look forward to.”
“Thanks. Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” Nick said hopefully.
“Not that I know of,” Justin answered as he lay back in bed.
Nick said excitedly, “Great, how about we go out then?”
“That would be great. Where are we going?” Justin said, unable to contain his excitement.
“It’s a surprise. Dress smart-casual. I’ll pick you up at six,” Nick replied with an enigmatic grin.
Not wanting to end the call Justin said, “Okay. So what did you do today?”
“Not much just hung around the house. I did a few paintings and played a few computer games.” Nick answered, not telling Justin that the drawings had been of him.
“So you like to paint, so do I. What do you paint?” Justin said, happy that they had found something else in common.
Nick answered, “Depends on my mood, mainly people and landscapes. I love painting the ocean.”
“Did you talk to your mom about last night?” Justin asked, wondering how much Nick had told his mom.
“Yeah, she likes you. She seemed a little smug. Did your mom tell you why they had set us up together?” Nick said, wondering if his mom had revealed his feelings for Justin.
“She said I needed someone in my life and that you were perfect.” Justin answered, hoping that his mom was right.
“So am I perfect for you?” Nick asked playfully, he didn’t want Justin to know he was being serious.
Justin answered softly, “Yeah, I think so.”
“I’m going to have to go; someone’s knocking on the door.” Nick didn’t want one of his friends walking in and finding out about him and Justin.
“Okay, bye Nick. I look forward to seeing you.” Justin said with a sigh.
“Bye, Just.” Nick answered as he opened the door.
“Who were you on the phone to?” Brian asked as he noticed the look in his best friend’s eyes. Nick was hiding something and Brian made it his mission to find out what.
“Just a friend, not that I mind but what are you doing here?” Nick asked confused by Brian’s appearance. He had thought Brian would be spending their day off with his family.
Wondering why Nick was suddenly avoiding his eyes Brian explained, “Thought I’d see what you were doing. I called you last night and you weren’t here.”
“I had to see someone. Any idea what this meeting’s for tomorrow?” Nick said, quickly changing the subject.
“Kev wouldn’t tell me, he just smiled and said it was about our next tour.” Brian replied with a grin, knowing that Kevin must be planning something big.
“Oh, want to play ball?” Nick asked as he grabbed the basketball from its place on the floor.
Brian said with a carefree smile, “Sure, it’s been a while since we hung out.”
The next day found Kevin waiting sitting in the meeting room at Jive, staring at his three group mates and wondering how Nick always managed to be late for every meeting. If he didn’t know better, Kevin would swear he was doing it on purpose.
“Sorry, I’m late. I slept in.” Nick said as he ran through the door, it was the truth but he didn’t want to tell them why he slept in. He didn’t think they’d take the news that he overslept because he had spent the night fantasising about Justin too well.
“Sit down, Nick. Now that you’re here we can begin.” Kevin said with a tolerant smile.
Johnny Wright said, “We’ve decided to make your next tour a little different.” Seeing the impatient looks he continued, “I realise this is a little late but it was a matter of security. You are going to be going on a joint tour, later two more acts will join you.”
“The group joining us on the tour is Nsync.” Kevin sat back, ready for the explosions.
Howie said thoughtfully, “It will be good for us if we do a joint tour and they’re not that bad. It’ll be good to hang out with Chris again.”
“Have you forgotten that we hate them? They’re our rivals.” AJ snarled, not noticing the brief flash of rage in Nick’s eyes.
Brian said in outrage, “You mean the tour that we’re starting in a less than two months? Isn’t it a little late to be telling us this? We don’t even spend any time with them.”
“Do they know we’re going on tour with them?” Nick asked wondering why Justin hadn’t mentioned anything.
“Lance Bass knows the rest of the group will be informed in a meeting in two days.” The Jive rep said giving them a stern look.
“To help everyone get along, each of us will be sharing a room with one of the Nsync guys. I’m going to call Lance Bass and finalise everything. You can go now the meeting’s over.” Kevin said grinning as Nick ran from the room.
Nick waited until he was outside the Jive headquarters to dial Justin’s number. He couldn’t wait to tell Justin the news.
“Justin, you’ll never believe what Kev just told us!” Nick said excitedly as he walked towards his car.
“It can’t be something too bad, you sound happy.” Justin stated thoughtfully.
Nick said with a grin, “We’re going on tour together; it’s some battle of the bands thing. You know what that means?”
Justin said a smile in his voice, “We’ll be able to see each other everyday. Man, I’ve got to thank whoever organised this.”
“You and me both. Are you ready for tonight?” Nick said while fastening his seatbelt.
“Yeah! Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Justin didn’t know what clothes to wear. Nick had said dress smart casual but their ideas of what was smart were probably different.
Nick answered with a laugh, “It’s a surprise.” It seemed that Justin was the same as him when it came to surprises.
