Way too many fans.
How can she possibly sleep through the high-pitched� pandemonium?
Glancing down at the beautiful girl against me, I felt her stir again, curling herself closer to me. At the same time, I felt the car stop and Marcus opening my door.
�Nick Carter? Early? Jeez� that�s a first.�
�Be quiet. She�s asleep.�
I gestured to the girl in my arms, whispering as I brushed my fingers against her cheek.
�Oh god� you�ve gotten worse, haven�t you? Well, you have to wake her up anyway� unless you plan on carrying her inside.�
I could. It�s not like she weighs more than� fifty pounds or something.
But then what? I wanna be with her, talk with her, just�
I need to wake her up.
�Baby� we�re here.�
Shaking her gently, she responded by hugging me tighter to her.
Damn it woman. Why are you doing this to me?
I swear my heart is about to break.
�Sweetie, wake up.�
Kara made a quiet noise of protest before pulling away from me, looking up at me with bleary eyes and mussing up her hair as she looked around.
�Hey Marcus!�
So this is sorta how she�d look in the morning� all cute and cheerful and confused.
She�s beautiful.
I pulled my arm from behind her as she stretched, revealing her navel ring� a tiny little star dangled from it.
And now I have �Shining Star� floating through my head. That�s probably a good thing considering I�m about to go to rehearsals and need to remember the words. Probably would be a good idea to remember the words to all our songs right about now.
And now she�s smiling up at me again.
Probably would be a good idea to start out by trying to remember my own name.
�You going to get out or are we going to sit in the back of this cab all day?�
Yeah� getting out of the car would probably be a good idea. Before fans find us.
Disengaging myself from her side, I clambered out of the car, slightly stupefied by the weird feeling of loneliness that came as I stepped into the sunlight.
Turning back to her, I offered my hand, pulling her gently to her feet.
�I�ll get the bags.�
�Alright.�
A signal to Marcus and he was leading her inside, she turning back to give me a curious look.
Baby� just trust me please. If any of this is going to work, you�re gonna have to trust me.
Oh yeah, and I haven�t even mentioned that I�m a world known pop star. Yep, I�m someone to trust.
Grabbing my bags of clothes, I shut the door and went to the driver side window.
�Thanks man.�
I handed the guy a wad of cash before signing a slip of paper personalized to his granddaughter.
�No, thank you. Janie will love this.�
I smiled at him, putting on my best �be-nice-to-grownups� face.
�That�s a beautiful girlfriend you have there.�
Huh?
Oh� Kara. My girlfriend in my head.
�No� she�s not� my girlfriend.�
Why does saying that make my stomach hurt?
And it�s not like I haven�t tried or that I don�t want it more than probably anything else in the world.
�Well, then� you have a very good chance of turning her into your girlfriend, it seems.�
Considering his words, I nodded and gave him a half-smile.
�Let�s hope so� but thank you again.�
Backing away from the taxi, the driver nodded at me before I turned to go inside, glancing at my watch in the process.
4:38 p.m.
Damn it.
*
�Kara!�
Turning from the direction Marcus had been leading me at some unspoken command from Nick, I saw the owner of the voice calling my name.
�A.J.! Long time, no see!�
A slight squeal escaped my lips as he rushed over to me, picking me up in a hug before passing me off to Brian.
�Hey Brian!�
�Jeez� no wonder Nick�s been obsessing over you. I�d forgotten how cute you were. No offense or anything.�
I giggled. Cute� I got that a lot.
�Cool hair! How long have you had it like this?�
A.J. started running his hands through it much like Nick had done many times in the past couple of hours. The sparks I felt whenever Nick touched me didn�t happen with A.J.
�For about a month now. I like it.�
Before he could respond, more footsteps came up behind me.
�Hey! What do you think you�re doing to my girl?�
His girl? I�m his girl?
No, Kara. No, you�re not. You�re about to� walk away again. You have to. Don�t become attached.
But it�s so damn hard.
�Aww, Nicky. Didn�t your mother ever teach you to share?�
Before I could turn around, Nick�s strong arms were wrapped around me and his face buried in my neck.
�Mine.�
After the first wave of shock wore off, I had to laugh. He sounds like a five year old when he whines like that. I turned slightly so he looked me in the eyes.
�Yours, huh?�
�Pweese?�
Laughter bubbled up despite my efforts to suppress it. There�s no breaking right now. He�s cute, but it wouldn�t work.
But he�s funny and smarter than he looks and sweet and�
No Kara.
I hate arguing with myself.
I was brought back to the room when I felt Nick kiss the tip of my nose.
�I love when you do that.�
Huh?
�Laugh?�
�Well, yeah, that too, but� that nose scrunch thing you do whenever you�re laughing or thinking or��
�Guys, it�s time to go.�
And now my heart sinks.
Let go.
Five
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