Faded Dreams by ambitious_alaina
Summary:

You see me. You say you wish you were me. Funny thing is... most days I wish I were you.


Hi, I'm Annie and knowing Nick Carter personally isn't all it's cracked up to be.


Categories: Fanfiction > Backstreet Boys Characters: Group, Nick, Other
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Suspense
Warnings: None
Challenges:
Series: None
Chapters: 4 Completed: No Word count: 2887 Read: 4756 Published: 10/01/11 Updated: 10/22/11
Story Notes:

Rating for mature conversations.

1. Chapter 1: Allow me to introduce myself by ambitious_alaina

2. Chapter 2: How I first met Nick by ambitious_alaina

3. Chapter 3: Our on-line encounter by ambitious_alaina

4. Chapter 4: Normal by ambitious_alaina

Chapter 1: Allow me to introduce myself by ambitious_alaina
Author's Notes:

A short intro. Longer chapters to come. *grammar edited*

"Annie!" I heard my mom's strong Jersey accent yell up the stairs.

I had just turned on a movie in my room and had plans of laying in bed to relax before falling asleep.

Those plans were interrupted by my best friend, Nick.

"Tell him I'm alseep." I yelled back.

I had heard the phone ring. I knew it was him. He was the only person who ever called our house passed eleven.

"Whatever."

Now, it isn't that I wanted to be rude to him. I just have a really early day tomorrow.

Ya know, maybe I should stop and introduce myself. I'm Annie. My real name is Louanne but I hate being called that. My real dad named me after his grandmother a few months before he decided to bail on my mom and I.

I just turned 23 about a week ago. I live in New York with my mom Michelle, her husband Jerry and my half sister Ariel. Ariel is 15 and while I love her she can be thee most annoying person in the world.

I'm about half finished with my schooling to be a professional hair stylist. The technical term is Cosmologist. I prefer hair Stylist cause it's not so formal sounding.

One other important thing you should know about me is that my best friend is Nick Carter. Remember, the one calling me? I met him when I was 14. My mom had gotten me tickets to a concert he and the backstreet boys did here in New York. She surprised me when she dropped me off for the show by handing me a backstage pass.

At the time I had no idea what the little plastic pass would do to my life. It changed and altered my world in a really dramatic way. See that pass allowed me to meet my at the time idol, Nick. When I met him... well... maybe I should just tell it to you like it happened.

Chapter 2: How I first met Nick by ambitious_alaina

I stood in line backstage anxiously waiting in line for my turn to meet my idols. My heart was racing. My hands shook with excitement and a smile was plastered on my face.

I tried hard not to stare at Nick for foolish fear he'd look at me and think I was lame but I couldn't help it. That was when I took note of something very important. Each time a crazed fan stepped forward and freaked out over Nick he'd sigh deeply, flash her a real fake smile then roll his eyes as she walked away.

Now, the last thing I wanted was for my heart throb to think I was a total nut so I resolved to be different. I had to calm myself down and relax. So with that thought in mind I began breathing deeply and telling myself how normal Nick was.

Finally it was my turn. I took a final deep breath and stepped forward. Kevin was the first in their line. I politely smiled and he shook my hand.

"Hey, what's your name?" He asked writing his name on a photo of the five of them.

"I'm Annie." I calmly told him.

He glanced at me awkwardly and replied, "Nice name."

I then stepped down as he passed the photo to AJ. "Hey cutie, how's it goin'?" He asked me writing down his name.

Inside I screamed but outside I remained calm, "Not much. Great job tonight."I told him.

"Hey, thanks." He grinned and passed the photo to Howie.

"Hey Annie." Howie grinned and shook my hand as AJ looked at Kevin then to me strange.

"Hi Howie." I smiled. He grinned, almost unsure what to make of me then gave the photo to Brian.

"Is Annie short for something?" Brian asked casually writing down his name.

I blushed, "Uh... yeah."

"That bad huh?" He laughed a little.

"Yeah." I casually grinned and nodded.

"Great to meet you." He said and passed the photo to Nick.

This was it, my big moment. I could see the four others whispering about me as I stepped toward Nick. I hoped they were speaking about how normal I treated them.

"Hey." Nick said not sounding very excited.

"Hi Nick." I calmly smiled even though I wanted to jump all over him and tell him how much I love him.

He looked up at me with a look that said he was anticipating another freak out.

I remained calm and said, "Thanks for signing that autograph for me."

"Uh... you're... welcome." He seemed thrown off by me. Honestly, I loved it. I nodded, took my photo from him and stepped away.

A giant goofy grin spread over my face as my back side was now to them. I couldn't believe I had just met Nick Carter.

I was almost clear of the room when I felt a large hand on my shoulder and a deep voice say, "Miss?"

"Yes sir?" I swallowed and turned. I feared the worst.

"Mr. Carter wants to see you again." He told me.

For a moment my breath caught in my lungs. "Me?" I asked... well squeeked.

He nodded and turned. I followed him and noticed Nick looking at me. As I neared him he stepped toward me and the others watched as he spoke, "Annie, I... you're... there's something about you that's different in a good way and I.. I just wanna know if you have any kind of on-line messenger."

I sucked in a deep, quick breath and nodded. I then yelled at myself, "He's normal. Act cool."

"Yeah, I have aim." I nodded instantly calm.

"Cool, uh, Gary you got something to write on?" He looked around him and grabbed a napkin of a near-by table. Handing it to Nick he said, "Here." Nick tore it in half, wrote something on one sheet then looked at me and asked, "What's yours?"

"Carter underscore girl underscore 1981." I told him hoping he wouldn't suddenly regret his choice.

"Awesome, I like it." He said writing something down. He then handed me a part of the napkin he had wrote on.

"Floridarocks012808?" I read and questioned.

"Yeah, message me. Gotta go." He said and jogged away. I watched him slide the napkin with my aim name on it in his pocket and went back to greeting fans.

With that "Gary" pointed back toward the exit and soft said, "You're lucky. He never does that."

Inside I smiled and as I passed through the exit I stopped to squeal.

My life had just changed... forever.

End Notes:

Thank you for reading my second chapter. Feel free to leave me polite critiques with how I could improve. I love getting honest feed back.

Chapter 3: Our on-line encounter by ambitious_alaina

The next day I had gotten on the computer first thing and added the screen name he had given me to my friends list. Three days passed as I did my best to watch for him to get on-line. When I finally saw him come on I squealed a little and clicked on his name. I began to type 'Hi' but stopped myself from hitting send. I fear his reaction. I worried if messaging him right away would make me look desperate. I also debated on weather I should let him message me first. I wondered if he even remembered me. I thought, what if it's not even him. After what I'm sure was at least thirty minuets of silently arguing with myself I finally hit send. A lump instantly grew in my throat making it feel hard to breath. He did not reply back right away. In fact there was a moment when I thought he wasn't going to. Just when I was about to close out of the program heart broken, he replied. "Hey, Annie right?" "Yeah, what's up?" I responded. "Catchin some free time." I wasn't sure what that meant but I decided to just go with it. "You get much free time?" "Not when I'm on tour." He im'ed back then added, "Sound checks, meet and greets, schooling, concerts, appearances, rehearsals." "Wow, yeah. I thought School, homework, babysitting and piano lessens was bad." I stopped to smile. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. I thought I was so special. Nothing could have stomped out my joy in that moment. "You play piano?" "Lol, not very well." I quickly typed back. It was true. I was only doing it because my mom wanted me to. I had been asking her to let me quit. "Music is music. Don't matter if it sounds good or bad. It's still music." He told me. "I know, I just don't like playing music. I'd rather listen to it and sing along." "Lol." I swear I could hear him laughing. His laugh was breath taking. All the while we went on I had one question looming in the back of my head. I wanted to know why he had given me his personal messenger name and if I was the only one he had done it to. I felt strange asking him but wanted to so badly. "Be honest, does it get old after awhile? Hearing the girls scream your name and freak out when they meet you?" "Some days it does. Every now and then I just want to be treated like a normal person." "Yeah." I replied. "I mean, I know I'm not normal but still, sometimes it would be nice to meet a girl without her squealing like a six year old." I stopped for a moment. Had I squealed? I couldn't remember squealing. "Did I squeal?" I finally just asked. "No, you were totally different. You was all calm and acting like meeting me was no big deal. Honestly, it was an awesome change." "Is that why you gave me your personal aim name?" There, I asked. My heart began to pick up and beat harder. My hands twitched slightly. I was beyond nervous of his response although I still don't know why. "Yeah, I mean... I hope that's ok." Again I smiled, "My aim name is 'carter girl' and you wanna know if it's ok that you gave me your name?" "Ha, yeah, right. You just don't act like a fan. I mean, I've never given my aim name to a fan before but I image they wouldn't be as chill with me as you are being." "Thanks... I guess?" I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. "Hey, listen I gotta go but I'd love to talk to you again." I nodded like a dork as if he could see me then typed, "It'd be awesome to talk to you again too." "Alright then, next time I'm on I'll message you." "Kay, bye Nick." I smiled ear to ear. "Bye Annie." As I watched his name go offline on my friends list I slumped back in the chair and smiled a big goofey grin. I had just chatted on-line with my biggest crush, a celebrity and he wanted to talk to me again. I never could have imaged that just playing it cool at the meet and greet would lead to this. I was so proud of myself for being observant and deciding to treat them all normal. I had this feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. Something told me that this was only the beginning.

End Notes:

Sorry about this chapter not having as much detail and desriptivness as the last two. It was hard trying to add "color" and "flavor" to a simple on-line chat. Either way, thank you again for reading and I hope you stick with this story cause I promise it's only gonna get better from here.

Chapter 4: Normal by ambitious_alaina
Author's Notes:

dunno what I was thinking when I wrote this chapter. It's fixed to 1st person now. Sorry!

A few weeks later I found myself in the car with my mom.

"Hello?" I answered my ringing cell phone.

"Annie! Hey, whats up?" A friend Ariel asked.

I smiled and looked out the car window. "Not much, Mom just picked me up from my shift volunteering at the children's hospital."

"Fun, what's you do today?"

"They let me work in the cheer guild taking toys around to sick kids in the cancer center. It was so sad but a ton of fun to see their faces light up." I explained. I loved cheering up sick kids.

"Yeah, I dunno if I could handle being around those poor sick kids. It'd make me cry for sure."She responded

"Annie, when we get home you have to get that paper typed up for school. You've been putting it off and now the due date is Monday." Mom cut in.

"Alright." i told her rolling my eyes a little.

"I'm serious Annie. You hear me? You can't do anything else till you finish that paper." Her accent was now strong. I hated how the small things upset her so greatly.

Someone needed to invent a real chill-pill for parents.

"Ok mom. I'll do it." My voice was slightly raised.

"Girl, your mom cracks me up." Ariel said making me laugh a little.

"I'm glad someone finds her amusing." I teased looking at mom.

"Hey!" She joked back gently smacking my leg.

I just laughed and stuck out MY tongue as WE turned onto their street.

"Tell her goodbye now Annie." My mom instructed.

"Annie, if you can e-mail me those pictures of the concert you promised." Ariel quickly said knowing I didn't have much more time.

I smiled, "Ok, bye."

"Bye Annie." With that she hung up just as the car came to it's final stop.

Mom got out of the car and I quickly followed suit. I wasn't thrilled about typing up a paper but I knew she had to. It was the only way to get mom off my case.

Reluctantly I trudged upstairs to the office and got on the computer. Mom strolled in and watched as I opened the word program and typed the title of the paper.

"Keep going." My mom said and left the room.

I typed a few lines then smiled as I heard her mother going down stairs. Quickly I opened up the internet and logged on MY e-mail as I allowed AIM to sign on.

I took no time to look and see who was on-line that I could chat with. Instead I went quickly to work e-mailing MY concert photos to Ariel.

As I hit send she clicked back over to work a little more on that stupid paper.

It was boring and, in my mind, dumb but I typed on. When I was nearly half fished a chat log popped up on the screen.

It was Nick.

"I've been on this whole time and you aint messaged me? What kinda fan are you?" He added a smiley with his tongue stuck out.

I smiled big and typed back, "One that is working on typing up some dumb paper for school."

"Oh, that's no fun but I guess it gets you off the hook." Was his reply.

"Yeah, not fun at all. What are you up to?"

"I had a scheduled on line chat with fans. Just finished."

As I began to reply he added, "I hate those things. Too much talking at one time. Then the fans gets mad cause I can't get to everyone's questions." A red face smiley was added.

"Guess it's a good thing I didn't message you then. You were busy being a backstreet boy."

"I'm always a backstreet boy. But..."

"But what?" I asked curious.

"I would have made time to talk to you."

It made me blush and I tried not to squeal. Collecting myself I typed, "Me? You'd make time to talk to me? Why?"

"I like talking to you. When I talk to you I almost feel normal."

mY face scrunched a bit. She didn't understand. She wasn't sure how to respond so I just simply typed, "I don't get it. How does talking to me make you almost feel normal?"

There was a pause that was way too long followed by my reply, "You're the first girl in a long time that isn't related to me that talks to me like I'm no one special. It's a really nice change."

"Wow." Was all I could come up with to say back.

"Between you and me, I love being a backstreet boy but sometimes, I can't help but miss who I was before all this fame. A someone lonely, no one living with my parents and sibling at a retirement home."

Quickly he added, "But I'm trusting you not to share that with anyone."

"I promise Nick and... I'm glad I can help you. I enjoy helping people."

"Thank you and that's nice. I just wish I could talk to you more often then the rare chance we're on-line together."

I thought for a moment. I wished the same thing but wasn't sure how to fix it.

"Why doesn't he just call you?" My little sister's voice was right behind her.

"Out!" I demanded.

MY sister rolled her eyes and left.

"That's a great thought tho sis." I softly said and typed, "You could always call me. Like just use *69 if you're worried about me having your number. I do have a cell so it's not like anyone but me would answer."

"I could do that. It'd be nice hearing your voice sometimes."

I smiled and cheered inwardly. I began to type her number in response when I heard, "Off that chat! Don't make me force you to write it by hand."

"It's Nick though." I protested.

"Sorry, school comes first." Mom ordered.

As my mom turned, sidetracked by my step-dad I finished sending my number then quickly said, "I gotta go, stupid school paper. Call me tho!"

He replied with a simple, "K, I will, get an A."

"Bye." I laughed.

"Later."

 

 

End Notes:

Again, sorry about that. Also I know this chapter isnt as good. I have a cold and just am having trouble thinking. Ever have that happen to you? LOL. Anyway thanks for reading!

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