Nick was on his way to a meeting with guys about starting to work on their next album for their 20th anniversary. He decided to stop and get something to drink at a local coffee shop down the road from where the meeting was being held. Deciding against something caffeinated, the guys would go nuts if he was bouncing off the wall with ideas right now, he just got a strawberry mango smoothie.

While he was waiting for his drink he saw a girl get up from the corner of the coffee shop, throw something in the trash and head out the door. Nick could have sworn she looked so familiar.

Hearing the barista call out his name he grabbed his drink and headed out the door to see if the girl was still outside somewhere. Unfortunately, she was gone.

Damn, he thought to himself. Looking at his phone he knew he should get going or the guys would be mad if he was late.

The next day AJ had invited Nick over to hang out. Apparently, Rochelle was out shopping with a friend and he wanted some company.

The guys were sitting in the living room watching ESPN when they heard someone coming in the door.

“I am so not carrying all these bags all the way up those stairs myself” Rochelle yelled through the house.

AJ jumped up immediately and Nick laughed at how AJ was acting like an obedient dog.

“That means you two Mr. Carter, don’t think I can’t hear you laughing at my husband for doing something to help his pregnant wife!” Rochelle yelled again.

AJ covered his mouth, knowing not to say anything.

That woman was something else, Nick thought to himself.

“Dude, did you buy out the whole damn store or what?” Nick joked as he saw all the bags sitting in the kitchen.

“That’s not all of them, there is more still in the car” Rochelle informed him, smiling.

“What can I say Nicky, my daughter is going to be a spoiled princess” AJ stated boldly and kissed his wife before grabbing a bunch of bags and heading upstairs.

“I swear to god Rochelle, you act like you are having triplets, I don’t think I want to go shopping with you ever again” Came a voice that Nick did not recognize.

Just then he saw someone walk through the door with more bags in their hands.

It was the girl from the coffee shop yesterday. The same familiar girl that he tried to catch another glimpse of.

“Oh Nick, this is my friend, Harper…. Harper, this is Nick, but I know you already know that” Rochelle introduced the two.

Why did that name sound so familiar? This was going to drive him nuts, but he didn’t want to scare the girl by just coming out and asking why she looked familiar to him.

“Nice to see you again” Harper said. She was studying his face to see if it would register to him who she was. It wouldn’t surprise her if he didn’t remember her considering he hadn’t seen her in about 10 years. He meets so many people in his line of work.

“Yea…” Nick replied slowly while grabbing some bags.

“Hey Harp” AJ said when he came back down.

“I am never going shopping with your wife again” She told AJ.

“Didn’t you say that last time?” AJ laughed at her comment.

Nick was still just standing there holding bags watching the two interact.

“Dude, they didn’t invent teleportation yet, your gonna have to actually walk those bags up yourself” AJ joked with Nick.

He followed AJ up to the nursery.

“Where do I know Harper from? She said it was nice to see you again. I saw her at the coffee shop yesterday and thought she looked familiar” Nick asked AJ to enlighten him so this would stop bothering him.

AJ just laughed.

“She was a dancer on the Black and Blue tour, you had the hots for her but she was dating one of the other dancers at the time”

It hit Nick like a ton of Bricks “Oooh yea…”

AJ was oblivious to this as he was digging through the bags.

Nick thought back to the day he first saw Harper.

It was the start of rehearsals for the black and blue tour. All the guys arrived to see that the backup dancers were already there. Nick and Brian arrived together. Followed by AJ, then Howie, and finally Kevin walked in with the choreographer. Which meant he hadn’t been the last one to arrive, he had probably been there before the backup dancers even. Nick noticed that AJ had changed his hair color yet again.

“Is he trying to go through every color in the rainbow?” Nick whispered to Brian, not wanting AJ to hear him. AJ’s easygoing and fun attitude had started changing recently and didn’t find a lot of things funny lately.

“Who knows with him anymore” Brian replied.

They started stretching while waiting to begin rehearsals. One of the backup dancers caught Nicks attention. She was a petite blonde with a gorgeous smile that made her face light up like a light. Howie came over and started stretching with them.

“So, who’s the blonde over there?” Nick asked to anyone in general.

“Her name is Harper, and don’t even think about it cause she is dating the guy she is sitting next to, his name is Jax” Howie informed him.

“Jax, what kind of name is that, and how do you know all of this?” Nick asked.

“Lizzy, the one with extremely long platinum blond hair over there gave me the 411 on all the dancers” Howie explained and gave a little wave to Lizzy. She smiled back and lifted her leg up on a chair to stretch.

“Damn D, she doesn’t seem like your type” Nick joked with Howie.

“Haha Nick, your just jealous” Howie shot back.

“Will you two cut it out” Brian laughed at them.

“But seriously though Nick, don’t even think about getting between the two of them, this is going to be a long tour and we don’t need that kind of drama, this is business, not pleasure” Howie tried to scold Nick.

“Look who is talking” Nick looked at him Howie like he was nuts for just saying what he said.

“Dude, its different when they come to you, I can’t help it if she finds my Latin looks irresistible” Howie looked proud of himself. Nick and Brian just laughed at him.

“whatever” Howie mumbled and went back to stretching.

“He is right though Nick, don’t go starting any drama, there will be plenty of other girls you will meet” Brian agreed with Howie.

“Yea, I know, fine, let’s just get this over with” Nick said obeying his friends and bandmates.

He knew it wasn’t going to be easy but he also knew she would be one of them girls that would be hard to forget. Brian was also right though, he would be meeting plenty of girls. There was no point in getting caught up in just one. He was young and wasn’t ready for what Kevin and Brian had with their wives. He knew it would happen someday, just nowhere in the near future.

“Hello!” Nick heard someone yelling and snapped out of his memory.

“Huh?” Nick was dazed for a moment.

“What’s up with you?” AJ looked at him quizzically.

“Just thinking” Nick mumbled.

“Well don’t hurt yourself” AJ patted Nick on the back while he walked past him. Nick went to hit him in the arm but AJ scooted away too quickly.

When they got back down to the kitchen, the two ladies were sitting at the kitchen table looking through binders.

“I’ll start dinner” AJ said and walked to the fridge and began pulling stuff out.

Nick stopped by the table and looked over at what the girls were looking at. It was picture after picture of models or something.

“What are you guys looking at?” Nicks curiosity got the best of him.

“Harper’s work” Rochelle answered without looking up.

“I thought you were a dancer though?” Nick blurted out.

Harper looked up at him and had a somber look on her face.

“I used to be” was all she said and looked back to the book.

“what do you do now?” Nick kept opening his mouth but then realized he was probably starting to annoy this girl.

“She is an absolutely amazing special effects makeup artist” AJ spoke up before she could.

“I’m not that amazing AJ” Harper said cynically.

“Are you kidding me? Do you have your other binder here?” AJ exclaimed.

“It’s over on that counter” Rochelle pointed out.

AJ grabbed it and brought it over to the table. He motioned for Nick to sit and look at it.

“Holy shit, you did these?” Nick exclaimed as he looked through the pictures. He looked up at Harper and she slightly shook her head. He could have sworn he saw her blush a little.

“I started with just makeup and hair and kinda grew from there” Harper informed Nick.

“You could be on that show on the SyFy channel, whats it called…. Face Off” Nick told her being engrossed in the pictures.

“Dude, that’s what I keep telling her!” AJ Said loudly from by the stove.

“I am so not good enough to be on that show” Harper kinda laughed.

“You need to have a little more confidence girl!” Rochelle told her.

Harper examined Nick while he continued to look at the pictures. He was still as good looking as he ever had been. She had to admit that she still found him attractive. If only she hadn’t been dating that one guy at the time. The only reason she dated that guy was that she was young and stupid, and cause he got her an audition for the tour. Harper had actually had a huge crush on Nick, but never told anyone about it.

“Hey, this one kinda looks like AJ” Nick pointed at one of the pictures. AJ looked over.

“That’s because it is me” AJ told him. Nicks eyes widened is shock.

“I needed a model to work on so Rochelle and I begged him to do it” Harper explained.

“You actually look better like this” Nick joked and next thing he knew a piece of carrot hit him the head. But Nick just kept laughing.

After Nick was done looking the pictures he closed the book and looked at Harper.

“AJ is right though, these are amazing” Nick told her.

“Thank you” Harper replied while fidgeting with the rings on her fingers.

Nick could tell she wasn’t the kind of person that really liked getting complimented. Not wanting to make her anymore uncomfortable, Nick got up to help AJ with the food.

Nick's mind wandered after AJ gave him the task of finishing cutting up the rest of the carrots.

Harper seemed very different then the girl he met so many years ago. Its to be expected with many people though, a lot can happen in that amount of time. It just bothered him that she didn’t seem as confident as she used to when she danced. He remembered watching her in rehearsals and could see her radiate with happiness whenever she danced. Nick really wanted to know what happen for her to change so much. Maybe he could ask AJ next time he was around, when Harper wasn’t there.

They all ate dinner together, making small conversation. AJ and Rochelle did a lot of the talking though. Nick didn’t want to take the risk of his head to mouth filter malfunctioning, so he tried not to say much.

Harper just wasn’t really in the mood to talk much. She felt awkward around Nick. It wasn’t like he wasn’t being a nice guy, she just felt weird seeing him after all these years. It made her remember the secret admirer notes that she wrote to him. As far as she knows he, or anyone, never knew that it was her that wrote them. She had overheard Nick talking to Brian about it once backstage.

“man, I got another secret admirer not last night” Nick told Brian quietly.

“Are you ever gonna let me read one of them?” Brian asked.

“No”

“Why not?”

“Cause I don’t know, they just seem too personal to share with anyone”

Brian raised an eyebrow at Nick.

“Not like that dude” Nick laughed.

“ How many have you gotten now?”

“I think like 3 or 4”

“Doesn’t it creep you out?” Brian asked. Nick thought for a moment.

“I mean, a little, but its kinda interesting, the things that they write about…”Nick trailed off.

“Do you have any idea who it could be?”

“Not a clue and I don’t think ill ever find out unless the reveal themselves to me”

“Yea next thing you know you wake up in dark room tied to a bed” Brain joked. The two started laughing and then someone called for them.

“Earth to Harper” AJ said loudly.

“What?” she looked around at the people at the table getting a little embarrassed.

“Are you done eating?” AJ asked getting up with his plate, signaling that he wanted to take hers too.

“oh, uh yea, thank you”

“I swear you and Nicky are two peas in a pod when it comes to being space cadets” AJ said as he took the plates to the sink.

Harper was hoping that she wasn’t blushing while Nick gave a weak smile.

AJ found it a little strange that neither one of them made some kind a retort back at him.

Harper left shortly after dinner. Nick didn’t stay much longer after that. AJ wouldn’t be able to find out why Harper was so quiet but he knew he could try to find out why Nick had been.

“So what gives?” AJ asked when he walked Nick out the front door.

“What do you mean?”

“You were quiet at dinner”

“I was just tired, we just did one hell of a tour you know” Nick tried to play it off so AJ would stop being nosey. He wanted to ask AJ about Harper but thought it would be too soon.

“Did it have anything to do with Harper being there?” AJ knew his friend all too well.

“I don’t know, maybe a little” Nick admitted.

“Why? I have never seen you be so quiet around a girl before, unless…” Aj started laughing.

“You like her don’t you?” AJ asked.

“I don’t know, this was my first time seeing her in how long” Nick told him hoping that would satisfy him and he would stop asking questions, but Nick knew better.

“Nick, Its ok if you do, ill even put in a good word for you” AJ patted Nick on the arm.

“No, don’t” Nick exclaimed.

AJ laughed.

“ok, fine, maybe a little, I had a crush on her back during the black and blue tour but I was warned to stay away from her cause she was dating one of the other dancers at the time and didn’t want me starting any drama” Nick confessed to him. AJ nodded his head.

Nick knew AJ didn’t like to talk about that tour much considering he missed like half of it being in rehab.

“Well, ill find a way to get you guys in the same room again, but then you gotta pick up your game dude” AJ told him.

“She isn’t dating anyone?” Nick asked a little surprised.

“As far as I know ive never heard her talk about a boyfriend or dating anyone, but ill check with Rochelle to make sure”

“No, then Ro will know and probably say something to her” Nick protested.

“I will make sure she doesn’t”

“Fine, I gotta get going”

Nick gave AJ a quick hug before getting in his car and leaving.

About an hour later Nick got a text from AJ saying that Harper was very single and that Ro promised not to say anything to her friend, And that Ro also said she thought they would make a cute couple.

It was a few days before Nick and Harper would see each other again. AJ and Rochelle made a plan so they would get a chance to. They decided to have a little before baby comes bash.

“Dude, finally, she’s been here for like an hour now” was the first thing AJ said to Nick when he walked in.

“Seriously” Nick looked around to make sure no one heard him.

“Relax, let’s get you something to drink and we’ll go find her” AJ informed him

“No AJ, I don’t want to rush this and scare the girl”

“So, you’re not going to talk to her?”

“Not yet, I think you are the one that needs to relax”

Nick grabbed a drink and walked away from AJ. He saw Howie and Brain out back and went to go talk to them. As he was talking with the guys, he secretly tried to look around for where Harper was. Finally, he spotted her over by the outdoor bar and grill, talking to some guy and girl Nick didn’t know.

She was very beautiful. The one thing that was the most different about her was her hair color. Back then it used to be blonde, but now it was a light pink. He liked it though, he liked that she was different. She had it pulled up in a messy bun. Harper was wearing a long floral print dress.

Nick pulled himself back to the conversation with the guys before anyone noticed that he was staring at her.

Harper noticed from the corner of her eye though. She noticed Nick as soon as he walked out to the back patio. Knowing that she wouldn’t have the confidence to just walk up to him and start talking to him, she went back to her conversation as well.

It had been an hour since Nick had gotten there and AJ noticed that he still hadn’t said anything to Harper. He tried to make a plan with his wife. After they decided what to do, Ro went to get Harper, while AJ walked over to Nick.

Nick wasn’t Naïve, he knew what the two were up to.

“Hey, buddy, you think you could help me with something inside?” AJ asked Nick.

“You are horrible at this, just so you know” Nick informed his friend who tried to look as innocent as he could.

“I have no idea what you are talking about” AJ stated and walked off. He looked back to make sure Nick was following him.

When they went in the house Rochelle and Harper were refilling food.

“Hey, sweatheart, can I steel you for a minute, someone wanted to talk to you?” AJ said to his wife.

“Oh, of course dear, you two don’t mind taking care of this do you?” Rochelle looked between Nick and Harper.

Nick refrained from rolling his as not to let Harper see and give her the wrong idea, but he made a mental note to tell both of them to never try acting.

After they walked out the door Nick laughed a little.

Harper looked at him funny.

“Those two are something else” Nick commented.

“You’re telling me” Harper replied, but nick wasn’t sure what she meant by that. He wondered if she also knew what they were up to.

“So, what can I do?” Nick asked walking over to the counter.

“I can handle this myself, I’m sure you have lots of people you want to talk to” Harper told him. Was she brushing him off? Nick decided to try a little flirting and see where it got him.

“What if I wanna talk to you?” Nick stated.

She looked up at him a little surprised but quickly looked back down at what she was doing.

“I guess” Harper just shrugged her shoulders. Nick didn’t know how to take that.

Harper kept busying herself with the food, trying to avoid eye contact with Nick.

Nick walked around the counter to help her with the food anyways. He refilled the bowls with the chips and pretzels, got out more dip, and when he turned around to grab something he was face to face with Harper.

Well more like face to top of her head as he was almost a foot taller than her. She looked up at him. Harper couldn’t help but notice his blue eyes.

Nick moved a little closer.

Harper was unsure about what he was going to do, but he reached out and grabbed a bowl from the counter behind her. Their bodies almost touching. He smiled at her as he backed up and turned around.

“I like your hair” Nick said as he kept doing what he was doing.

“Thank you” Harper managed to say.

After Nick had turned around she took a deep breath. She could still smell his cologne.

“I never had the nerve to dye my hair, unlike AJ, plus I’m sure people probably would have thought I was copying him” Nick tried to make conversation.

“I don’t think I could picture you with anything other than blonde hair” Harper laughed. Nick liked seeing her smile and laugh.

“So you’re saying I wouldn’t look good with neon green hair?” Nick said pretending to be a little offended.

“No, I would say maybe a light blue” Harper replied and laughed some more.

They were all done with the food and decided to go back outside with everyone.

“Do you want something to drink?” Nick asked as they went over to the outside bar.

“Just a water thank you” Harper replied. Nick grabbed one for her and one for himself. He handed it to her.

“Not in the mood to drink?” He asked.

Harper hesitated a little before answering.

“No, I don’t drink, like at all” She answered.

“Cool, nothing wrong with that. I don’t like to drink much anymore, shouldn’t really anyways” Nick told her.

She nodded her head in response.

It came to an awkward silence. Neither one of them really knowing what to say.

“Hey” Brian said as he went to get a water.

“Hey Brian” Harper said before nick.

“Oh, hey Harper, how have you been?”

“I’ve been good, thank you for asking”

“So, Nick, do you know why has AJ been watching you like a hawk?” Brian asked.

Nick did a quick side glance and could see Harper had a puzzled look on her face. v “Uh, I have now idea” was all Nick could come up with as a reply. He was really hoping that he hadn’t started getting red in the face.

“Right….ill talk to you later” Brian looked at Nick funny then waved at Harper before walking away.

Nick gave a weak smile to Harper and she just raised an eyebrow.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom” Harper said excusing herself from the awkward situation.

Ok this is getting just a little weird harper thought to herself. She knew she needed to talk to Rochelle, something was up with her and AJ. When she walked in the house she saw Brian talking with AJ and Rochelle, the immediately stopped when they saw her.

“Uh, Ro can I talk to you for a minute?” Harper asked and then looked at the guys. They understood the cue and went back outside. AJ probably should have stayed but she didn’t want to be rude to Brian.

“What’s up?” Rochelle asked trying to sound innocent. She started fidgeting with the food on the counter.

“What are you and AJ up to?”

Rochelle looked up like a deer caught in headlights.

“What are you talking about?” Ro was a really bad liar.

“I’m not stupid” Harper stated putting her hands on her hips. Ro looked at Harper funny.

“Are you and AJ seriously trying to set me up with Nick Carter?” Harper exclaimed. Ro’s mouth dropped open a little but she quickly closed it.

“Why on earth would you think that?” Ro started fidgeting with the food again.

“I just said that I’m not stupid” Harper repeated herself.

“Well…I wouldn’t exactly say that we are setting you two up, it’s kind of more like a little nudge to see what happens” Ro finished the sentence like she was trying to diffuse a bomb. Really hoping her friend wouldn’t freak out.

Harper looked up at the ceiling and let out a heavy sigh. Since she saw Nick the other day she had been contemplating if she still liked him. Trying so hard to deny it, Harper knew she did, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved with him. His track record with women wasn’t the greatest.

Rochelle had a nervous look on her face cause Harper hadn’t said anything yet.

“I…I’m not sure it’s the greatest idea Ro” Harper said hesitantly.

“But he likes you” The words flew out of Rochelle’s mouth before she could stop herself. Ro covered her mouth.

Harper stood up straight and looked at her friend.

“What?” Harper said.

“uh…that um… I really shouldn’t have said that, oh crap, AJ’s gonna kill me” Rochelle stuttered through her words.

Harper looked out the door and through the crowd, seeing Nick. He liked her. Nick Carter liked her. There was no way.

“Seriously?” Harper asked looking back to her friend. Ro shook her head yes.

“But I wasn’t supposed to tell you, please don’t let AJ know I told you” Ro pleaded.

“Oh, I won’t tell him, but I am definitely going to find a way to use this to mess with him” Harper stated.

They both saw AJ coming back inside.

“How’s it going?” AJ asked when he came in.

“I am in love with Nick Carter!” Harper exclaimed. Making AJ’s jaw drop.

“Oh really” Harper heard a voice behind her. Her hands flew to her mouth. She was afraid to turn around.

Slowly Harper turned to see Kevin standing there. He had a puzzled look on his face.
Smiling awkwardly Harper knew she had to explain herself which meant spilling that she knew what AJ and Ro were doing and ruining her fun with AJ.
“Uh…its not what you think…I uh…was just messing with AJ…” Harper tried to explain, hoping Kevin would buy it.
“Why would saying that mess with AJ” Kevin laughed, he was curious now to what was going on.
Harper looked back at AJ who looked really confused now.
“Well…cause AJ and Rochelle are trying to set me up with Nick” Harper explained.
“What? You told her?” AJ yelled at Ro.
“No, she figured It out on her own” Rochelle replied putting her hands up in defense.
“Right and I supposed you also told her that Nick likes her” AJ exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air.
“No, you just did” Harper shot at him, saving her friend.
AJ looked like Rochelle did before, with the whole deer in headlights look.
“Wow, this is better than what’s going on outside” Kevin commented.
They all turned to look at him and his smirk disappeared.
“Not a single word of this to anyone” Harper said with so much conviction, pointing her finger at him. Kevin’s eyes got wide. He made the motion of zipping his mouth shut and walked past them and out the door.
The three of them stood there for a moment not saying anything.
“So, what was your plan for Nick and I?” Harper finally asked breaking the silence. AJ and Ro looked at each other then they both shrugged their shoulders.
“Wait, so you were going to mess with me if Kevin hadn’t spoiled it for you?” AJ tried to change the conversation.
“Yea, you deserved it, trying to set me up with Nick” Harper confessed.
“What about her, she was in on it too” AJ pointed to his wife, trying to drag her further under the bus with him.
“Excuse me?” Ro put her hand on her hips and gave her husband an evil look.
“Yea, but I’m sure you’re the one that initiated the whole thing” Harper knew AJ. Ro smirked when AJ went to say something but stopped cause he knew it was the truth.
“She’s not stupid honey, I knew it wouldn’t take her long to figure out what was going on. I told her that we weren’t exactly setting her up, but more like giving them a nudge to see what happens” Ro turned to Harper “I’m sorry, I just thought it would be nice to see you with someone, I haven’t heard you even talk about any guys for quite a while now”
Rochelle tried what she could to stay in Harpers good graces.
“I know, it’s just not easy for me to date” Harper commented. It was quiet again for a minute.
Harper had only known Rochelle for a couple years now. She had bumped onto AJ and he eventually introduced her to Ro. They quickly became close friends. However, Rochelle only knew some of her past, but that was only cause Harper never bothered to talk about it.
AJ on the other hand, knew more than anyone, but she trusted him completely to not tell anyone anything.
“So, what’s going to happen now that you know?” AJ asked.
“I don’t know” Harper crossed her arms together. She really didn’t.
“Do you like Nick?”
Harper shrugged her shoulders.
“Ok, well are you open to spending some time with him and just see what happens? I won’t tell him that you know he likes you, but I’ll tell him to just try to be friends with you” AJ suggested trying to find a good solution for everyone.
“I guess” Harper shrugged her shoulders again while looking down at the floor.
“Ok, now that we have that settled, how about we go back to the party” Rochelle said ushering the both of them out the back door.
A bunch of people were getting ready to leave when they all got back outside. Harper looked around and saw that AJ’s four bandmates were sitting around the fire pit.
Not wanting to stand around awkwardly by herself she decided to go sit by them. Of course, as luck would have it the only seat left was next to Nick. Looking around at the faces of the other three, they knew what was going on. Harper gave them all a stern look. Thankfully Nick was spaced out looking at the fire and didn’t notice the exchange between them all. Kevin, Howie and Brian were having a conversation while Nick and sat there silently. Not even noticing that Harper sat down next to him.
A short while later AJ brought over two more chairs for Rochelle and himself. It completed the circle around the fire pit. They let us know that everyone else had gone home.
Seeing that Nick was off in his own world, AJ looked at Howie and nodded towards Nick. Taking his cue, Howie nudged Nick’s foot to get his attention.
Nick sat up from where he was leaning his head on his hand and looked around at everyone. Harper tried not to laugh. He finally noticed that Harper was next to him and looked over at AJ funny.
“Well, I would like to say a little something” AJ stated while standing up.

“Just a little toast to you guys, since we are coming upon our 20th year together, it has been one hell of a ride so far” everyone nodded their heads in agreement while smiling. “I am so grateful to have you guys in my life, as well as my beautiful wife, so many amazing things are about to happen and I cant wait”

Everyone raised whatever they had to drink in their hand and took a sip. Harper got a little teary-eyed listening to AJ give such a beautiful speech. She hoped no one notice her wipe a tear from her eye quickly. But when she looked over at Nick she knew he had seen her. She gave him a weak smile and turned her attention back to everyone else.
Nick wanted to say something to her but had no idea what to.
Harper, who felt like her emotions were getting to her, got up and excused herself. She went into the bathroom to take a moment to breath. This had been an interesting evening and she hadn’t really had any time to process finding out that Nick like her, and that AJ and Ro were trying to set them up.
Harper looked at herself in the mirror for a moment. She knew she wasn’t the same girl she was during the Black and Blue tour and she hoped that Nick realized that. So many things had changed for her over the years. It hasn’t been easy for her.
Nick had watched Harper walk off into the house. That girl was becoming such a mystery to him. A good 10 minutes had passed and she still wasn’t back outside.
“I’m gonna go check on Harper” Ro was talking to AJ but was hoping she was loud enough for Nick to hear her. She noticed him perk up at the mention of her name. Ro was about to get up.
“I’ll do it” Nick stood up before she could.
AJ grabbed Nicks arm when he walked past them.
“Take it slow with her” AJ whispered to him.
The rest of the guys knew what was going on and they were watching the whole things.
Nick nodded his head, letting AJ know he understood.
Harper walked down the stairs and into the kitchen only to find Nick coming in from the back.
“Hey, uh Ro was getting a little worried. I told her I would come check on you so she didn’t need to get up” Nick explained.
“That was very nice of you, um, I’m fine though. Just needed a moment to myself” Harper informed him.
Nick stood there looking at her for a moment, trying to see if he could read her or not. Harper felt her cheeks getting warm with him staring at her.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Nick asked again walking closer to her.
Harper nodded her head and felt her pulse speed up a little as he got closer.
“Good, but if there is ever anything you want to talk about, im a very good listener”
Nick smiled, standing about a foot away from her. She could smell his cologne again. It took everything in her not to close her eyes and take a deep breath.
“Thanks” Harper managed to say quietly.
“Well, would you like to have my number in case you would like to talk?” Nick mustered up the courage to ask.
“Oh, um, sure” Harper replied and then realized she wasn’t sure where she set her purse down with her phone in it. Nick noticing her look around, pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Here, why don’t I get yours and then ill text you to let you know its my number” Nick suggested.
“Ok, yea, that works” Harper replied and then told him the number.
She stood there watching him while he programmed the number in his phone and text to her phone right away. She heard the ding of her phone go off and remembered that it wasn’t in her purse but sitting on the kitchen counter.
“That’s where I left it” Harper laughed to herself while walking over to it. She programmed Nick’s number in right away too.
To avoid more awkward conversation Harper thought it best if she got going. She had a long day tomorrow anyways.
“Um well, I should probably get going, I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow” letting Nick know. It almost seemed like he had a disappointed look on his face.
“Ok, ill walk out back with you to say bye to everyone”
Harper nodded and grabbed her purse.
Ro stood up when Harper came outside, knowing that she was leaving by seeing her bag on her shoulder.
“Are you leaving already?” Ro said when Harper reached her.
“Yea, its gonna be a long day helping Kate move” Harper explained.
“Oh, that’s right”
Nick saw the look on both Harper’s and Ro’s face and knew there was something serious going on that involved moving this Kate person.
“Let me know how it goes, ok?” Ro whispered to Harper as she gave her a hug.
Harper moved on to AJ to give him a hug as well.
“Thank you guys for having me over, it was a nice party” Harper let them know she enjoyed herself even with the shenanigans the two pulled.
Harper went around to give Brian, Kevin, and Howie hugs too. In the time that she had been friends with AJ and Ro she had seen the three of them at some point, even with Kevin not in the band at the time, but Nick was the only one that eluded her till the other day. She didn’t want to be rude to Nick, so she gave him a hug to. It made her nervous to do such a simple thing. Nick was glad that she did however.
“Do you want me to walk you to your car?” Nick asked her quietly, hoping the others wouldn’t hear in case she rejected the offer.
Harper couldn’t help but smile at how cute Nick was being. She nodded her head to let him know it was ok for him to do that. Nick followed her around the house to the driveway where her car was parked.
Nick was a little nervous, like he was dropping someone off after a first date. Even though the night had been nothing close to such a thing.
“Thank you” Harper said to Nick as she used the remote to unlock her car door.
“It was my pleasure” Nick replied, regretting his choice of words, thinking he sounded like an idiot. But Harper smiled in response and he let go of the thought.
“I guess I’ll probably see you around” Harper felt a little weird, not knowing what else to say.
“Yea, but I meant what I said earlier. If you ever need to talk, just give me a call. Or if you would even want to grab some coffee sometime, let me know” Nick held his breath as he waited for a reply.
“That would be nice” Harper replied, trying to be polite. She wasn’t really sure if she would take him up on his offer though.
Nick smiled. He really wanted to lean down and give her a kiss on the cheek to say goodnight, but refrained from doing so.
“Well goodnight, and drive safe” Nick told Harper.
“I will, goodnight Nick” Harper replied and slid into her car. Nick closed her door for her when she was in. After she started the car Nick gave her a little wave. He stood there waiting as she backed out and drove down the road.
Nick tried to remain hopeful that he would hear from Harper, but deep down he knew it would take a few tries before something would actually happen with Harper.
Nick let out a sigh and walked back around the house to join everyone. Once he sat down, all eyes were on him.
“What?” Nick looked at them all.
“So?” Brian asked
“So what?”
“What happened?” AJ spoke.
“Seriously?”
“Yes seriously, we are all curious” Brian let him know.
“I’m not your personal soap opera” Nick replied. He was a little annoyed, yet at the same time he wanted to talk about it, but he also didn’t want the guys knowing everything and teasing him about all this.
“Oh, you have no idea” Kevin mumbled laughing. Nick gave him a weird look.
“What’s the supposed to mean?” Nick questioned him.
“Nothing” Kevin replied stifling a laugh.
Nick just played it off. Thankfully everyone decided to call it a night.
As Nick was the last to leave, he figured he could at least tell AJ what happened.
“So, we exchanged numbers and I told her that if she needed someone to talk to that I was a good listener” Nick informed his friend. He was helping AJ clean up in the back yard while Ro was in the kitchen.
“Oh, well that’s a good start” AJ responded.
“Yea, and I when I walked her to her car I mentioned something about maybe getting coffee sometime”
AJ was silent for a moment while he was putting stuff in a cabinet under the outside bar.
“I don’t mean to be so blunt, but don’t hold your breath waiting for her to call you, it might take a while for her to come around” AJ was choosing his words carefully when it came to Harper.
“Well should I call her first then?”
“I don’t know, maybe give it a few days”
Nick nodded his head. He understood what AJ was telling him, but he also knew that he could be impatient when it came to women. Many of them weren’t so challenging to him. He usually got his way with any girl he wanted. However, it kind of boring after a while.
After helping AJ clean some more, he said his goodbyes to the couple and headed home. He knew he was going to have to keep himself busy till he heard from Harper.

Nick was finding it very hard to keep himself busy the next day. He really wanted to text Harper to at least say hi. But he knew he shouldn’t. Knowing she was busy today, he didn’t want to bother her. He could tell it was something important from her exchange with Ro last night. Nick thought his curiosity was going to kill him soon.

Looking at Harpers number on his phone for the millionth time this morning, he turned his phone off and put it down on the coffee table in front of him. Deciding to watch some tv he picked up the remote.

After about 15 minutes of channel surfing, nothing caught his attention enough to watch. Nick turned off the tv and put the remote down next to him. He let out a huge sigh and got up.

Nick wandered around his house for a while. Doing little things here and there in the various rooms. He eventually found himself in the storage area of his basement. Looking around his eyes fell on the box that he knew made him gravitate to this area in the first place.

It was a big storage bin that was labeled ‘Black and Blue tour’. Nick kept a box of various memorabilia and stuff from all the tours they did. No one knows he does it. He figured that guys would razz him for it.

Pulling it off the shelf, he carried it over to the lounge area of his studio that he had in the basement. Nick knew exactly why he wanted to look through that box. He was hoping to have some pictures of Harper in there somewhere.

Lifting the lid off the container, he knew so many memories were about to come flooding back to him. But he didn’t care at that moment. After staring at the contents for a moment he began to pull things out one by one. He kinda laughed at himself. Partially at the memories it brought and because he didn’t understand why he actually kept some of the stuff it that box.

Pretty soon he had half the box surrounding him. Finally, he found and album of pictures. Smiling as he began to look through photo after photo. He came to a group picture where he could see Harper in the background, well at least her head. Nick saw Harper in various picture as he kept looking.

He stopped at picture that he was a little surprised to see. It was a picture of himself standing with his arm around Harper. Nick had no recollection of this picture being taken. He was puzzled. When was this taken. Pulling the picture of the album he lifted it closer to his face. Trying to scan the whole picture for clues. When his eyes fell upon his own face, he realized why he probably didn’t remember the picture being taken.

Nick knew from the look on his own face that he had to have been hammered that night it was taken. From the looks of the background he knew they were in a club, he just didn’t know what one. A million questions started floating through his mind. When he looked at Harper’s face though, he couldn’t hear his own thoughts anymore.

She had such a radiant smile on her face. He didn’t know how she could have such a genuine smile when he knew that he had to have been acting like such an idiot when that picture was taken. Nick cringed at the thought of all the stupid stuff he could have probably said to her. Maybe that’s why she was acting the way she was around him. All she could probably think about was the dumbass she remembered his being during this time. He wasn’t at his best during the tour, but he also knew that he wasn’t at his worst.

Setting the picture down beside him, he flipped through the rest of the album. Pulling out any clear picture he found of Harper. When Nick was done with the pictures he set it down and looked into the box. He saw a stack of envelopes secured by a rubber band.

Nick had forgot all about those. Picking them up, he removed the rubber band. He pulled the paper out of the one on top. The words were all too familiar to him as he had read those letters countless times.



Harper was sitting in her car finishing her coffee she picked up this morning. She knew she was going to need it. When she saw a car pull out of a driveway she knew it was time. After the car was far enough down the road Harper pulled up to the house it came from. Parking on the road and was about to get out of her car when she saw a big black SUV back into the driveway. Harper ran out to the person getting out of the driver’s side.

“Are you ready to do this?” the person asked Harper.

“Yes, let’s go” Harper said as they both ran to the door.

The door flew open as they reached it. Kate had tears streaming down her face.

“I don’t know if I can do this” Kate cried.

“Yes, you can, you have to” Harper tried to console her friend. They could see a fresh bruise on Kate’s shoulder.

“Remember, no talking” Their friend Ian whispered.

Harper tried her best to mouth/motion the orders for Ian to help calm down Kate while Harper ran to start packing up Kates things.

About 15 minutes later Kate and Ian joined her. They were all frantically packing up as much of Kates things as they could. Harper tried as hard as she could to focus on how important this was for Kate. Not the fact that she was going to be losing two of her friends.

All three of them had come up with this plan last week. Kate needed to get away from her abusive fiancé. She knew she had to get as far away as she could or he would try to find her. We suggested going to New York but Kate was too scared to go alone. So, Ian said he would go with her. He knew he would be able to find Modeling gigs there too. Harper knew it was going to be hard to let them both go.

Knowing they had limited time to get this done they kept going, not daring to take a break. A few hours later they had the SUV packed with as much of Kates stuff that could fit. There was still stuff of Kate’s that she didn’t want to leave so they packed it in Harpers car. Deciding that she could send it to Kate when they knew it would be safe to.

After Kate had one more emotional moment, she took off her engagement ring and set it on the counter where she knew her now ex-fiancé would see it. Along with her keys and phone.

Ian drove for a little while with Harper following behind them. They wanted to say their goodbyes away from that house.

All three of them were crying and hugging each other for what seemed like an eternity.

“I hate this, but we really have to get on the road” Ian pulled away and looked at his watch. It was around noon and they all knew that time was precious right now. Kate and Ian needed to get as far away from the west coast as quickly as they could.

Harper gave each of them one more hug.

“call me when you are halfway there” harper told them, knowing that would be a couple days. It was directed more towards Ian cause Kate left her phone so her Fiancé couldn’t track her.

Harper stood there as she watched them get in the vehicle and drive off. Not wanting to break down where people could see her, Harper got in her car and took off.

Not really knowing where she was driving to, she soon found herself at the beach. Pulling in a parking spot, Harper saw that there weren’t many people there right now. She let out a sigh of relief. She got out and started walking down where it seemed more secluded. When Harper thought she was far enough away she sat down.



Nick had been so distracted, reading the secret admirer letters that he had received during the Black and Blue tour, that he didn’t notice the time until he felt his stomach grumble.

He had read through 3 of the letters. Each of them were about two pages long. After getting buried so deep in the memories, Nick had to pry himself away from it all. He knew he should eat something.

Nick decided to get out of the house. Twenty minutes later he found himself at a little sub sandwich shop. After getting his food Nick sat by the window and watched people walk by as he ate.

When he was done eating, he wasn’t in the mood to go back to his house yet. Nick found himself at the beach. It was where he did his best thinking. Of course, he could have walked out the back door of his house and the beach would have just been a few yards away. But sometimes he liked going to different beaches.

He knew this one very well. There was a bluff that he like to climb up to. It looked over most of the beach. It was a very peaceful spot. He just hoped no one was up there right know. Most of the time there wasn’t.

Nick had been walking for a few minutes when he saw someone sitting by themselves up ahead. As he got closer Nick got a strange feeling. That hair looked familiar. Getting just a little closer he realized who it was and froze.

He wasn’t sure what he should do.