"Are...are those your dogs?" I stammered. "No, but I noticed you over here and thought maybe you could use some help." he replied, I noticed a hint of laughter in his voice. "Thank you SO much" I said gratefully. He smiled at me, what an amazing smile. "I take it you're not a dog person?" he asked. I blushed. "No, I'm terrified of dogs...." I replied quietly. "I hate to point this out, but this was a stupid place to come if you're afraid of dogs." he said. I felt myself blushing even more. "I'm taking a short cut to work..I guess it wasn't the brightest idea I ever had.." I said.
He laughed and shooed the two big dogs away and stood up. "Which way is work?" he asked. I pointed across the park. "That way." I replied. How would I make it?? It was ALL the way across the park!! He looked at me, I could tell he was making a desicion. "How bout I walk you over there?" he suggested. "Would you?? Oh thank you!!" I exclaimed. He smiled at me. "Oh by the way, my name is Nick, whats your's?" he asked. "My name is Laura.." I replied and we started to walk. "Thats a pretty name." he remarked. "Thanks." I said quietly, blushing.
"So you live around here?" he asked. "Uh huh...I live there, I work there...there is a dog park in between, its basically hell.." I said. He laughed lightly. "You're really scared of dogs huh?" he asked "Oh yeah, that would be the understatement of the year!!" I replied "Even little dogs?" he asked "Even little dogs." I stated. "Oh, cause I have a couple of little pugs.." he said. Up until then I hadn't even thought of why he was there. "Oh, are they here?" I asked nevously. "Yeah, they're here somewhere, I'm here with a friend and he's watching them.." he replied. I relaxed knowing he wasn't going to call them over.
"so what about you, are you from around here?" I asked. "Originally..right now I travel a lot, but I was born here..so I come back a lot." he replied. "Oh travelling..it must be nice." I commented "The travelling is...some of the other stuff is tough." he replied. "Oh?" I questioned, immediatly hoping I wasn't being too nosey. "I'm a singer.." he answered. "Oh, I should of known..." I said "What do you mean?" he asked "Well, its just that you have a beautiful talking voice so.." I trailed off becoming embarrased. He smiled at me. "Thank you." "Here we are." I said disappointedly realizing that we had reached the other side of the park. "Oh yeah." he said as though he hadn't noticed until I pointed it out. "Well, umm, thanks for 'protecting' me." I joked and we both laughed. "No problem it was my pleasure." he replied "So, umm bye." I said nervously "Yeah, bye." he replied and we both went our seperate ways.
"Laura?" he called. My stomach did a quick version of the macarena. I turned around and found him walking back towards me. "Uh huh?" I said weakly, he was really really cute. "Umm, ok, I'm not very good at this but, can I have your phone number?" he asked. I smiled. "Sure!" I said, almost too enthusiasticly.
---Hello?
--Hi, may I please speak to Laura?
--Speaking...
--Oh, hi Laura, it's Nick.
--Oh yes, my saviour!! (giggles)
--(chuckles) Yeah, I guess that'd be me, how are
you?
--I'm great! How are you?
--I'm fine, I finally got some free time so I
just thought I'd call..
--Well, I'm glad you did!
We ended up talking for three hours until he had to go, can you believe it? Three hours talking to some guy I had just met, by the time we were finished talking I felt like I'd known him forever!! We had talked about everything, except his singing, he didn't seem to want to talk about it so I didn't push. I'd never met a guy who was so easy to talk to!! Most guys are one word answer kinda people, but he wasn't like that at all, he always had something to say. And he was so funny and sweet. I found myself hoping he would call again..and SOON!!
---Hello, you have reached the Baker household, we can't answer the phone right now so please leave a message after the beep...BEEP
--Oh, um, hi Laura, this is Nick, too bad I
missed you, why don't you try giving me a call at
???-???? alright? Talk to ya later...
---
I dialed the number and listened to the phone ring, you should of heard my parents after they heard the message!! They always act like I've never been called by a guy before, every single time!! It's driving me up the wall, at 19 I've been called by a fair amount of guys and each and everyone my parents have made a few comments on..not fun.
---Hello?
This was a female voice, strange, he had told me he was staying at a hotel, why would a female pick up his phone? Ok, that was a stupid question, my heart sank.
--Hi, can I talk to Nick please?
--Oh, I'm sorry, hes doing a concert, can I take
a message?
A concert? He said they were in New York trying to get a record deal, they hadn't hit the big leagues yet...a concert? I tried to supress my shock.
--Oh, thats too bad, um, just tell him Laura
called and I guess we'll talk later..
--Alright, no problem, does he have your phone
number?
--Yeah, he does.
--Okay, I'll have him call you back then.
--Thanks, bye
--Buh-bye
What was going on? There was obviously a lot of stuff he wasn't telling me! I turned on my computer and went to check out the Ticket Master site to see what sort of concerts were going on. Just one, The Backstreet Boys...I'd heard of them, but I was into alternative music and didn't pay any attention to them. I clicked my way across the net and found a picture of them and gasped. There was Nick, showing his million dollar smile. He was a Backstreet Boy?? And I didn't even know!! Woah...what was I supposed to do now? I decided to wait for him to call me and then just simply ask him, why not?
---Hello?
--Hey Laura..its Nick, my sister told me you
called..
Sister....that made me feel much much better.
--Yeah, I did, she said you were doing a
concert..
--Oh, she said that?
--Uh huh.
--She's so crazy sometimes..
I could tell he was about to go on and lie to me, I stopped him before he had the chance, it hurt to know that he would of though.
--Nick, I know, I went on the net, you're a Backstreet Boy.
I heard him sigh.
--Yeah, I'm sorry Laura, I was so surprised when
you didn't know, it was so nice, I didn't want to
tell you, I was afraid you might start treating
me differently.
--Nick I, I don't know, I'm not going to treat
you differently, and I guess I can understand
where you are coming from, but, you lied to
me..and you were going to lie again..
--I'm really sorry, I couldn't think of any other
way, I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid, you
don't know how many girls suddenly flip on me
when they find out...
--I can understand that...
--You're not going to flip on me are you?
--I'll try my best not to..I don't think I will
--Good, please don't be mad at me, I really like
you and you're so nice and you're not flipping
out and it would really suck if you were mad
What could I do? He was so adorably sweet and I knew he was telling the truth now.
--I'm not mad at you Nick, I understand.
--Good, now can I ask you a question?
--You just did..
--(laughs) True, how come you didn't know who I
was?
We talked for about an hour and a half and then we both headed off to bed, I don't know about him, but I had some pretty sweet dreams, if y'know what I mean. We set up a time to meet the next day.
"Nick?" I asked a guy sitting on a bench in the middle of the park, it wasn't the dog park.. He was wearing dark sunglasses and a baseball hat with the brim pulled down low. He stood up quickly. "Hey Laura, be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting a wabbit" he said bringing his finger to his lips. I started to laugh. "What?" I asked. He slipped his arm around my waist and started walking quickly to the edge of the park. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize there would be so many young girls here, I have to be very careful or else we might get mobbed or something." he said "Oh, well, there is a quiet little cofffee shop right down the street here..only old people use it." I suggested. "Perfect." he replied, he still had his arm around me and I liked it...a lot. I felt special sneaking around with him like that, like I was in his world now, he was letting me inside while all the other girls at the park didn't even know he was there.
When we got to the coffee shop he took off his sunglasses and hat revieling his silky smooth looking blond hair and beautiful blue eyes, this was the first time I had gotten a good look of them and they were almost heart stopping. "Laura? Hello?" he asked. "Oh sorry.." I mumbled blushing, realizing I had slipped off into my own little world. He smiled at me, that smile he had probably smiled at thousands of girls. "It's alright..so what do you want?" he asked. I looked up realizing that there was a waitress looming over us. "Oh umm..do you have coke?" I asked "Sure." she replied and smiled at me and then left. "We come to a coffee shop and you order a coke.." he said laughing lightly at me. "Well sorry, we came to the coffee shop for the privacy, not the drinks remember?" I pointed out. "True, true." he replied.
We had a nice chat and then went for a walk, he took my hand and I didn't mind one bit. He was everything I wanted in a guy, cute, sweet, sensitive, smart....this was definately going TOO well, but at the time I didn't realize that.
During the next month we saw each other as often as our schedules allowed and talked on the phone almost every second day. Everytime I left him, I left with a wonderful feeling. We were meeting at the coffee shop again.
"Hey Nick!" I said going over and giving him a hug, he kissed my cheek. For some reason he was still sticking to the cheek. "Hey Laura, how are you?" he asked. There was something weird about him today and I sensed it immediatly. "I'm alright, how are you?" I asked trying to figured out what it was. "I'm not good actually." he said sitting down. I sat down too. "Whats wrong?" I asked worriedly. "Laura, I'm so sorry!! This is all my fault!!" he said taking my hand. I looked at him closely finding that he had been crying. "What?? Whats all your fault?" I asked. "I should of known better, but you were so sweet and I couldn't help it!!" he said still not telling me what I wanted to know. "Nick, I don't know what you're talking about!! Whats wrong??" I asked agan, now getting really apprehensive. "I have to go away." he said looking down. "What??" I asked. Had I heard right? "I have to, in a week, they decided we are going to start our tour in a week, I'm so sorry Laura, I knew this was going to happen eventually, I shouldn't have allowed myself to go this far with you.." he said sadly. "Oh my god." I whispered and tears started rolling down my cheeks. I had known, I'm not stupid, I knew he would have to leave eventually, but I didn't want him to, I didn't want it to happen. I realized why he had stuck to my cheek, he didn't want to take it any farther than that.. "I'm sorry Laura." he said and touched my cheek gently. I bit my lip and wiped my tears away. "It's alright Nick, I understand, and it's not your fault, I knew you'd have to leave sometime, we were both stupid to let this happen." I replied sadly. "I don't know what to do...I don't want to go, I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend and then..ugh, this just ruins everything, I thought maybe we could have a long distance relationship, but that wouldn't be fair to you..I'm sorry." he said again. "It's ok Nick, listen, we still have one more week right?" I said trying to find the bright side, I smiled weakly at him and he smiled back matching my intensity.
We saw each other everyday that week, for a few hours each time. Nick called me everynight at 10:30 on the dot just to say goodnight. It was like living in hell knowing he would be leaving. We never brought up the subject of his leaving though, tried to keep the conversation light so we could at least enjoy our last days together. 'This is it, the last time.' I thought as I walked down to the coffee shop one last time, I knew after this day I would never go back there, too much hurt and memories would be with held in this place. "Nick." I said, I could barely get the words out, he had called before and said there was a change of plans and he would only have a few minutes to say goodbye. He turned around. He was holding a single rose. "Laura.." he walked over to me and gave me a hug and again, a kiss on the cheek. He handed me the rose and smiled down at me weakly, his hundred watt smile now maybe 10 watts. I took it from him and lifted it up to my nose to smell it. "Thank you." I said and smiled weakly back at him. He glanced quickly at his watch. "I don't have much time, I just wanted to tell you that I've had so much fun with you this past month, I love the way you treat me and god, I love everything about you, I, I love you, I'm really going to miss you." he said quietly. "Ditto." I said, I couldn't say anymore but I was sure he knew exactly how I was feeling, I didn't need to tell him. He smiled, this time all one hundred watts. "You're so cute." he said touching my cheek. "Nick! come on, lets go!" the Backstreet Boy I recognized as Brian called from the door. Nick turned to him. "I'll be right there Brian." he called. When he turned back to me there were tears running down his cheeks and I suddenly realized there were tears running down my cheeks as well. "I'm sorry, I, I have to go, I'm so sorry about all of this Laura." he apologized. "Nick, its not your fault, I swear, just, just get out of here ok?" I commanded, the faster he left the faster this was over. "I'll call you." he said and I nodded knowing he wouldn't. It would be too hard for us to stay in touch, too much tugging at the heart would happen and neither one of us would ever be up to it, he needed someone who was used to his lifestyle and I needed someond who was used to mine. Before I knew what he was doing he leaned down and kissed me on the lips quickly and then basically ran out of the place. I stood there, alone, in the coffee shop. I covered my mouth with my hand, supressing a cry and slowly began to walk home. When I got home I ran up to my room and fell on my bed, crying into my pillow. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. I remembered something my grandfather had told me the day my grandmother died. 'Sometimes when you open a window to let the good in you let the bad in along with it..concentrate on the good.' I started to think of the day we met, how cute he had looked holding the two rotweilers back, how sweet he had been to walk me across the park. That was the way I would remember him, I realized I still had the rose in my hands. I got up and put it in a vase. No matter what happened I'd keep him in my heart. I smiled to myself. "I love you Nick Carter."