Once they finished taking pictures as a group the photographer wanted a roll of each guy alone. They were off to the side watching AJ give the photographer a hard time when Howie addressed Nick,
"So Nick you wanna go out tonight?" Nick frowned slightly, his face showing he didn't but he was trying to let him down easy,
"The guys are flying in tonight." He nodded and looked over at Kevin,
"How about you?" Kevin shook his head,
"Kristin is flying in with Leighanne to spend the weekend." Howie's phone rang and as he stepped away to answer it Nick stood up and walked over to Sam and Tim, who were in the middle of eating,
"What time does their flight get in?" He was ready for his friends to get in town, the only thing he had been doing since they were in LA and now New York was work and sign autographs,
"About nine-thirty; something like that." Nick was anxious, he wanted to go out, he wanted to have fun. A cell phone rang and he looked over as Brian answered it,
"Nick, it's for you." He looked at Brian, he figured it was Brian's cell phone not his own. He sighed and walked over,
"Who is it?" Brian shrugged,
"I don't know, I'm not your secretary." Nick rolled his eyes,
"I didn't ask you to answer it." He took the phone from him as he shook his head,
"Hello?" He turned his back on a smiling Brian,
"Hey Nick, it's Shayna." He sighed and looked up at the ceiling,
"Yeah?" He could hear noise in the background and wondered where she was, probably still with Craig,
"Nothing happened." He shook his head,
"Yeah, ok." She sighed heavily,
"Nick, nothing happened. I was over there and it was getting late. We slept in separate beds." He nodded as the photographer caught his attention,
"Fine, if you say so. I have to go." He didn't wait for her to respond, he simply hung up and turned off his phone. He walked over to where he was directed and took a deep breath as he attempted to forget about her and Craig, at least for that moment. The photographer came over to him and smiled as he placed his hands on Nick's shoulders,
"Ok kiddo, I need sexy." He nodded as the photographer cupped his face,
"Ok, I'll try." They went through the first roll and Nick thought he was finished until he heard the photographer speak to his assistant,
"I got something here, get me another camera, I want one more roll." Nick took a deep breath and looked over to see the Entertainment Tonight reporter speaking to Kevin, Howie and AJ. This was better than talking to the reporters again, he thought as he began to smile for the camera. Photo shoots were always difficult for him, no matter how well the pictures turned out. It was hard to smile when you weren't feeling it, it was much better when someone or something was around to make him laugh. He glanced over to see the television cameras were on him and he started to do a silly dance, sometimes he couldn't help but ham it up once the cameras were shining bright on him. He knew the attention, the response he would get if he did a certain thing or looked a particular way and he loved it. The photographer finished up and let them know he was done. They were on their way back to the hotel when Brian pulled him aside,
"What's been up with you lately?" Nick frowned slightly, unsure of what he was talking about,
"What do you mean?" Brian paused as one of the photographer's assistants walked by, "You're distant and you don't talk as much." Nick shrugged,
"I don't know, I'm fine, why you ask that?" Brian shook his head and shrugged,
"I don't know, just all the attention you've been getting, you don't call me as much as you used to, some of the things you say in interviews, you just seem a little different." He watched as Brian walked off, he wasn't acting that different, he felt like he was being himself. He snapped out of his trance when Sam slapped him on the back,
"You just gonna stand here all day, come on." He led Tim and Sam out of the studio and towards the car, on their way to the hotel to do their New York Times interview.
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Chapter 90