Superstar

Chapter 3 - The Outside

You saw me there but never knew
That I would give it all up to be
A part of this, a part of you
And now it's all to late so you see
You could have if you wanted to
But no one notices until it's too late to do anything
- "The Outside"

Taylor couldn't believe she told Nick Carter that yes, she would be his personal photographer for a tour overseas and in the United States. She had only seen him once more after their dinner at the diner and that's when she signed a contract with him and his manager.

He hung out at her apartment for a little longer than the manager, but he had to fly back to Los Angeles.

The ended up talking on the phone some and exchanging e-mails but he was busy and so was she.

Now, she wasn't so busy. In fact, she wasn't busy at all.

Taylor was sitting in a strange hotel room in a foreign country.

She had been in Belgium for a few hours and had already ran into Nick and met the other members of the group. They were busy in meetings with their management and label and Nick told her to just hang out and get used to the time change.

"All the traveling to different time zones can get to a newbie," he said before grinning at her.

She sighed, sitting on her bed looking at a camera gear catalog. A new Canon Mark camera was coming out soon and she had hoped to get one.

Taylor heard a knock at the door and hoped it wasn't someone from the hotel who couldn't speak English.

"Who is it?" she asked, walking up to the door.

"It's Nick," she heard him say. She smiled, unlocking the door and opened it for him. "How's it going?"

"Okay, kind of bored though," she said, shutting the door behind him. "Just cleaning some of my equipment before I start shooting tomorrow."

She tucked her long blonde hair behind her ears and watched him as he sat down on her bed, looking at her newest camera.

"The guys said you seemed pretty cool," he said, looking up at her. "I... I didn't tell them you were a fan though."

"Thanks, I'd rather no one else really knew because then I wouldn't feel as professional," she said, wanting to sit back down on her bed but didn't know if she should since he was on it.

"Listen, do I make you nervous?" he asked as she smiled. "I do, don't I?"

"A little but I'm getting used to it, I promise," she said before finally sitting back down on her bed. "I want to thank you again for offering me this job. It's a great opportunity."

"I was afraid you wouldn't take it," he laughed as she picked up her new camera, looking at him through the lens.

"I almost didn't," she confessed, snapping a photo of him. She moved the camera down so that could see her entire face. "Then I guess I thought about it and you seemed like you really liked my work and wasn't turned off that I'm a fan."

"You're an amazing photographer," he smiled.

"You're an amazing singer," she smiled back at him. "That's why I'm a fan."

It was a simple moment like this that Taylor knew would be her downfall. She knew that before this trip was over, she was going to fall completely and utterly head over heals for Nick Carter.

She looked down at her camera, taking the lens off when she saw Nick look over at a photo album she had brought on the trip with her. She watched him as he picked it up and opened it.

"What's this?" he asked, flipping a page to see a photo of him. "Whoa, this is kind of old."

"Not that old," Taylor replied. "I was going to show these to you in Nashville but never had a chance so I brought them along. That was your solo tour."

"I didn't do a show in Nashville," he said, flipping the pages. "These are really good photos though."

"I know," she said. "I went to a few of the solo shows."

"That was at Guavaween," Nick said, holding up the album to show a photo of him in an orange police jumpsuit with handcuffs on. "That was my first show without the guys."

"Yep, that was a great concert," she smiled. "I thought it was funny that you came out like that since that's where you were arrested."

"Oh God, don't remind me of that," he laughed. "I don't need to go back down the road." She smiled, putting her camera gear back in her camera bag. She felt a little weird having him look at the photos, realizing how many shows she had been to.

"So how many shows did you go to?" he asked, catching her off guard.

"Solo? Four or five," she replied.

"And with the guys?" he asked.

"Only two I think," she said. "Black and Blue and then the Never Gone tour. I never got to see Millennium or any of the others."

"Well," he said, closing the photo album. "You're going to be seeing plenty of shows with the guys now. You're going to get sick of us."

"Well –"

"Well, not sick of me, because I'm pretty awesome, but you'll get sick of them for sure," he said as she chuckled. "Do you think we could use one or two of those photos for the book?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," she smiled. "Thanks Nick for being cool about this. I was afraid when I showed you that album that you would think I was a stalker."

"I'm kind of questioning that..."

"Nick!"

"I'm joking," he laughed. "Trust me, I've seen more stalkerish material... trust me."

"Sadly, I do trust you," she said as he sat up from the bed. "Leaving?"

"Yeah, think I'm going to go get a drink and head to bed. We've got interviews early in the morning," he said, making his way to the door. "We rehearse at noon, so see you there?"

"With bells on," she smiled as he told her goodnight and walked out of the door.

"With bells on," he whispered, shaking his head and started to walk away from the door.

"Yo, yo Nick," he heard as he looked back to see his band mate, AJ McLean walking up to him. "You're already hitting on the photographer you hired? You work fast."

"I was just checking in on her," Nick replied. "She's never gone on tour or anything like that before and has never been overseas. That's all."

"That's all?" AJ asked. "So, is she single?"

"Why?" Nick asked, wanting to smile.

"A brother might be interested," AJ smiled as Nick shook his head. "What? She's dating someone?"

"Yeah, some guy back in Nashville," Nick said as AJ shrugged and picked up his pace towards the elevator.

Nick sighed, watching AJ practically skip to the elevator to beat him to the bar. He didn't know why he just told AJ that. In fact, he did know. AJ screwed anything that didn't have a dick between it's legs and sometimes he even questioned that.

Nick knew he was no angel and had gotten around, but he just didn't want to see Taylor fucked and dumped by AJ, especially since she was a fan.

So what if he lied. A little white lie wouldn't hurt anybody, wouldn't it?