“Glitz and Glamour”
Chapter Eight: Um…Awkward
I’m taking my baby out today. Once she feels better, which she better. Howie always said that recipe worked. It better, how the hell can I take her to find something for the VMAs otherwise? She doesn’t know she’s going yet. She knows John and Lois are against it, so she’s refused to bring it up. But I’m taking her. The whole damn event is next week.
Yeah, I said I was taking her and dammit I meant it. I know she ain’t all for that. She’s not big on the public eye idea. That’s why she agreed to my prick of a manager’s idea for hide in the first place. I know the last outing was a paparazzi field day. But she’s my girl and I’m damn proud of her. That and I haven’t figured out how I’m gonna work this out once the tour starts. Shit. But I want to do this for her; I know she still thinks she ain’t much. I don’t get how she sees that. Fuck the girl is damn adorable, and aight adorable in the past isn’t what I went for, but I always loved it on a girl. I just went for the shit that was expected, which was a sex kitten on my arm. But she’s cute, pretty, and she can’t see it. And I had an idea that might help. Maybe getting her into something that made her feel that way. Letting her take what feel like risks to her. Then showing her just how she shines. Damn I sound so cheesy right there. But it should help.
Or fuck it up, in my life it’s one damn extreme to the next. Dirt poor living out of a car to fame; dating the most well known heiress pain in the ass snob, to dating an unknown down to earth chick who gets it; from DUIs and constant sex with anyone sexy to cutting down and no sex at all right now; I, being a nobody, to being known by everyone. See what I mean?
I turn on the radio, cause the damn traffic won’t fucking move! Damn LA, I want to get home, I know Cally baby is waiting and-
SHIT!
Aight I’m okay, I just almost had a moron ram his ass into my BMW. Damn idiot. I hate Los Angeles. Why the fuck do I live here again? Oh yeah, cause I’m fucking famous, the best studios are out here, and it works. Damn city. I heard my phone ring as I slam my hand on my horn when some fat ass fucking cuts me off. Dammit!
“Cally baby, I’m sorry, fucking traffic and-”
“Hello Nicky poo.”
“London?”
Oh hell. The heiress from hell, and I ain’t lying. I’ve heard the rumors that bitch been spreading, how we’ve been hooking up and all. Why would anyone listen when I keep saying I haven’t even seen London since we broke up? And that I really care about Cally? Lies are so much better for sales! Oh joy! (Damn I love sarcasm.) And of course Hollywood being the place it is; they ate it up. Of course they want to believe I’d cheat, I have in the past and Calypso Rayne…admittedly don’t look like any of my past exes. But I think she’s amazing, but fuck in the life of fame, they don’t give a damn what I think. It’s like I’ve said since the beginning, the world loves and me the world hates me. It can’t make up its mind, but hell if it wants to listen to me about it all. I’ve been avoiding her calls and texts and now I’ve got her on the line. Well shit.
“I wanted to talk to you…why haven’t you called me?” I could hear the voice that sounded years younger than she was purr at me over the line.
“Because you made my life hell after we broke up?” I gotta be honest. The bitch had, and at one point, I almost loved London. She was the closest I came to believing in the damn word. That was my biggest mistake.
“Maybe I made a mistake…” Reverse that. There we go.
“London, you know I’m with someone right now.”
“Aww I know, and it’s very cute. Perhaps we can just be friends. I know I tried to get you back for deciding not to take me back the first time, and that it hurt you media wise. I’m…like really sorry about that.”
It’s very cute? What the hell? I ain’t sure if that was an insult or small talk. I ain’t up for this man, ain’t the media bad enough? “So why are you calling now…”
I navigate the mess called Los Angeles traffic. Gotta get home. The fucking best thing about the VMAs is that they’re hella relaxed. You don’t gotta dress in the suits and all that. You can just find a rockin set of clothes and just been fucked hair if you want and go with it. They don’t care. Good for me since I know Cally ain’t big on the dressing fancy thing. But I’ll let her pick what she wants. I just don’t want her saying no. It would be nice to have her there for me at this, watching me perform, being able to see her in the crowd…
Shit, I sound sprung.
“Because Nick, I’ve been seeing you on the TV lately, and magazines, with that cute grin of yours, enjoying yourself in front of the media and it reminded me of what I missed. Before it like totally went to hell and fell all apart.”
Oh, fuck she sounded sincere. But this was London Miffton, darling of the media for being an heiress, who could fake emotion. Not in person cause she’s a hella bad actress, but over the phone. I felt my damn traitor of a heart tug at me. There was a lot between us once. And at first even after she tried to ruin me and my career, I still almost wanted her back. Was that such a bad thing?
Oh holy shit. Traffic is moving! Glory hallelujah!
"Nickyyyy you're not saying anything." London was the reason I hate being called Nicky, by the way. I didn't hate it before her.
Am I really considering listening to London? Spoiled heir-ass extraordinaire. Someone who's been trying to contact me and I've been avoiding. Someone who tried to destroy my entire career. The same damn one who betrayed me, and hurt me.
(Aight I got her back but that's not the point here). This was a woman who destroyed my entire world for awhile, and she's asking me to let her back in. Common damn sense says no.
Did I really want to try a friendship? Don't know. At the same time, I really did have something for her once. Did I really want to let all of that go? As much as she fucked me over, we had a connection once. Fuck I hate admitting that.
And then my phone started beeping on the line. Oh right. Call waiting. Focus Nick. I pull away and look at the screen. It’s Cally. “Hold on London.”
I switch over. Okay check the screen so you don’t do something incredibly stupid… and check. Okay. I have had moments where I thought I switched calls and didn’t. “Hey Cally baby.”
“Hi Squishy." I can’t believe she kept that insane nickname for me from Finding Nemo. She loves teasing me with it and never let it go. I shall have my revenge!! If I remember to. Damn ADHD raddled brain.
“Feeling better?” Cally Baby got drunk last night. Yes I’m still shocked about that shit. It made tabloid news too. I saw the damn E! channel, surfed the web on my sidekick, and there it was. Which means fucking magazines will have the “Nick Carter gets new underage girlfriend on a drunken spree!” story all over the place. Fucking hell. Oh shit. I just thought of something. I hope her family doesn’t catch that shit. She’s underage, new to all the crap Hollywood life comes with, innocent. Shit, why did I only think of this now?
“I’m okay, Howie’s remedy thing worked.” Quiet voice, tense, a thousand bucks says she talked to one of her family members. Likely telling them how I’m hella bad for her, and all this other bull they don’t know about.
“Don’t worry baby, I’m gonna be home soon and you’ll have fun.”
“You swear?” Our whole idea is that promises can be broken, swears can’t.
“Yep. You sure you’re aight?”
“I’m sure.”
“Aight.”
“Thanks, this did help, you know.”
“Good.”
“Bye Nick.”
“Bye baby.”
I switched the call back. That was awkward. Maybe cause… no that’s not it. And now onto another awkward fucking mess of a call! Okay, and here we go.
“Nick who was I on hold for?”
“My girlfriend.”
“Oh, yeah, her.” I don’t like how she said that. “Is she why we can’t be friends again? Why are you hesitating? Just tell me yes or no.”
“She’s not why. She doesn’t know you. I don’t know if she even knows about you.” I’m so fucking happy I’m actually able to drive down the highway again! Fuck I was getting sick of basically parking.
“How can she not?”
“She’s not well versed in the celebrity world; she just started learning about it for me when we started dating aight.”
“And…how long will she last? Longer than the one you cheated on her for??” Fuck I forgot that the media played that shit up when I was still with Trace.
“I love her aight London.” I reply without any thought, as fucking usual, just suddenly annoyed at her beyond reason. She knows how to do that to me. Oh shit. What did I just say?!
“Did you just say you love her?” Glad I ain’t alone. Fuck that means I said it.
Okay, try this. “I said I care about her.” Oh denial is my friend. Come on now denial, come to Nick. Good denial…niiiice denial.
“That is like so not what you said.”
Dammit.
“You’ve always said you don’t believe in love. You never lied to me about that. You said you believed in connections, relationships, but never real love.” I really don’t need this shit right now, fuck.
“I…” Work brain! Come on! Brain powers…activate! Go brain go? And…I got nothing. Shit.
“It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone. Anybody who knows you won’t believe it anyway. The stand alone Nick Carter, actually saying he loves a girl. Why is she so special?” Whoa, London acting human to me? I haven’t seen that in a long ass time.
“Um…yeah, okay. And…I…” Man of many words am I. Fluent in Yoda speak is me. And I avoided the last question. Yes!
“And does she know?” Why does she care? Oh right cause I shocked the shit out of both of us just now. Aight I might be thinking too much. She wants to be friends. I’ll try trusting her. Fuck I hope I don’t reject this. But I feel like I should give this a shot. Instincts man, that’s what I live by.
“That’s…the first time I’ve said it.”
“…Wow. And you’ve been dating how long?”
“About three months.”
“Wow.”
“I know…weird.” Okay, I’m so fucking done with this shit. “Hey I’m getting close to home, so I gotta go. We should hang out sometime, reconnect on that friend level.” I feel like I’ve lost my damn mind. Maybe I have? Nah, I ain’t that damn lucky.
“Okay, bye Nicky.” Thank god she took off the poo.
“Later London.”
I hung up and drove. I lied by the way, cause traffic got bad again. I hate LA. I just did not want to talk about my relationship with Cally anymore. It gets me confused. Me confused isn’t good. This whole thing has been different than any other relationship I’ve had dammit. I keep rehashing this but that’s cause my mind is a damn mess. This relationship is great but it’s throwing me through loops. Like how young Calypso is. That’s new. How I’m holding myself back, oh hell yeah that’s a new one. Me saying the L-word that I don’t even believe in, out of nowhere. Me not telling her I don’t believe in it cause I don’t want to hurt her. (Typically I say it up front) Us moving in together. I mean, I love it, but it’s something AJ would do.
I ain’t even kidding man.
He’s getting a new apartment with Kaci, which why her mother let that happen is confusing as hell, since she’s seventeen. But he does this every time, I swear. Every time he’s dating a chick, they move in together, it’s some hella weird process with him. (It also involves jewelry and buying a dog but, anyways…) Now me and Cally, she wanted freedom from her overbearing family. I got that and came up with the idea. But still, it’s hella weird sometimes. And an AJ move.
I’m still hella shocked she agreed.
She’s so damn fragile and I can’t hurt her.
I said I love her.
Well fuck.
For now, till I have a damn clue of what I’m doing (for once), I’m pretending it never happened. I mean it. I just hope London don’t open her big mouth.
*******
I had just finished drying my hair. I had some oldies music playing. I’m particular about that stuff but there are some songs. And since I knew Nick would be awhile thanks to traffic, I took a shower, and de-stressed.
Forget Blossom.
And now I had the music up, and was sort of singing into my brush. I’m so not musically talented, but I had the place to myself right then any way. I didn’t hear any outside noises, and I knew I was still alone in the condo.
So sliding on the smooth floor of the spacious bathroom wasn’t a big deal. As I sang. Yes I’m pulling a total Tom Cruise (Risky Business) move. Wearing nothing but a bath towel wrapped around me. Hey, again, alone, and amusing myself. Especially since I felt like crap half the day, and had to deal with the controlling family from…well not from hell, but somewhere bad. Like Las Vegas?
I slid out as the song began, just letting the stress go.
“Does he looove me, I wanna know…how can I tell if he loves me soo..?”
I dance, singing to the brush. My hair is let loose, flying about as I do my goofy little singing routine.
“Is it in his eyes…oh no you’ll be deceived, is it in his eyes, oh he’ll make believe…if you wanna know…if he loves you so…it’s in his kiss…”
Suddenly two hands reach around me, tickling my sides mercilessly. I heard Nick’s voice, between laughs sing along. “That’s where it is!” I jump, well really high for a not skinny person. That brat! He about made me jump out of my jezeling bezeling skin! I turn to stare up into a pair of impish blue eyes as he keeps laughing. The butt.
“OH! MY! LORDIE! Nick!” I swat him playfully. “You scared the living poo out of me!”
He laughs even harder (butthead), hugging me close before I can protests, and of course sweetening the entire thing with a soft kiss upon my forehead. I laugh too, knowing it was funny, even if I’m blushing beyond reason right now.
“Maybe we should put you on American Idol.” He teases me, his tone husky.
Of course, being that close, inhaling the scent of his sweet cologne, I realize just how close to nakedness I am right now. My heart is definitely speeding up. And of course I feel the heat go up a notch without any blushing this time. And so I’m almost naked with only a towel to stop it, and he’s holding me against him. Oh boy. Ohhh boy. And someone is awake. Eep.
That’s when we kissed. A guaranteed way to make my mind go blankety blank. Oooh now this is nice. He has this way of kissing that can make the world around me vanish instantly. My arms wrap around his neck as we continue a series of long, passionate, yummy, lovely sweet kissies.
And that’s when the towel fell. AHHH!
Almost. We were wrapped in what we were doing, (cause how can we not be?), and he accidentally knocked the towel loose. The only thing that kept me from complete, embarrassing, not pretty, not ready for, nakie-ness was the fact I was pressed against him with the towel stuck in between. Thank you Lordie!
My hands panicky grab the towel and keep it around me. Yes. Good plan. Now step away from the boyfriend. I take a step or two back, not exactly wanting to, cause those kissies had been fun. When did life get this awkward? Oh right, when I stumbled into the life of a rock star and decided to date him. I’m pretty sure that’s when.
Nick is the one who speaks first. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no, don’t be. I’m the one in…and the towel…and the way the towely wrap was…and um…” Way to babble Cally! Does anyone understand that? I don’t and I’m the one who just said it.
He simply smiles softly. Such a pretty smile. “Go finish getting ready Cally baby. I’m taking you somewhere, for fun.”
Not a club right? “Not a club?” Speaky the mind. Plus, my first time at one, wasn’t my best, so I want space before I try it again with Squishy.
“I swear.”
*********
He kept his word. Instead he decides to take me shopping at some of the most expensive boutiques in Los Angeles. Lots and lots of store hopping now, and of course Nick has been deciding he’s going to be really stubborn.
“You can’t buy me this.”
“Can too.”
“It’s too much.”
“Is not.”
“Nick, I-I don’t want to take a-ad-advantage of you.”
“Calypso.” he stops, turns and pulls me outside of the store with him. We stand there as the sky slowly changes into hues of reds, oranges, pinks. Makes me want to paint. “You do stuff for me, you make the apartment look fucking awesome, you stand by me, and you care about me, Nick, not Nick Carter the rock star… I want to do this for you baby. I know you won’t let yourself use me.”
I pause. He has that much faith in me? That’s what he really thinks? Jezel my bezels that’s wow. Wow-wow type wow. I start thinking about all this. His managers hate me. They do. I don’t like them either but I don’t run Nick’s career in the band. Maybe if I dress all designer type girl they may back off? Maybe if I try losing weight without telling Nick? I could try, so that way I can be with him and get them off our back? I mean, it’s not like before being who everyone wanted me to be. This is just improving my own image to get stupid people to leave me alone right? Maybe his fans can even accept me?
I know Nick did this shopping thing cause he cares about it, and has the means to without hesitating. But… the other stuff can be a side bonus? I shouldn’t care about everyone else. But I do. I still do.
“Cally?” His hand strokes the side of my face.
I just give him one of my free spirited grins. “Okay, fine, but we so can’t make a habit type thing out of this.”
The dork (I love this about him) kisses my nose, and looking adorable to boot. Aww. I mean that’s just cute. “Sweet, besides you need clothes for our next big outing.” I see that Cheshire cat grin. What does he have in mind?
“Huh?” Can’t be another club. Tour (which we still haven’t solved…like how we’ll work that out yet) doesn’t start till next month.
“Well you know…” Yeah definitely a mischievous look. “At the VMAs, here at Paramount studios…”
I was gonna go? I ruled that out cause of the management team from hell he has.
I’m going to the VMAs with my rocker boyfriend! That’s so cool! Whee! Yay!
Hold on. Stop. Wait…
Lights.
Cameras.
Red Carpet.
Photographers.
Lots of famous people.
Me?
Author's Chapter Notes:
I know, it's been so long since I've touched this story. I never forgot about it. I just hit a block so I focused on my other stories. But this chapter is decent sized so I hope that helps! If you noticed I redid the banner, mainly for sizing but I also went non celeb with the Cally picture. I felt she fit better. So here's the new chapter! Feedback is fabulous!
