Chapter 7

          Throughout the next hour, Nick sat at the table with Caryss, Stacie, Jim, Liz and David, the guy that Liz started flirting with shortly after the whole episode with Paris, and became well acquainted with them all, especially the three women he would be working with for the Heal the Bay campaign. They all talked and laughed, partially watched and listened to the people singing karaoke, and Jim continued getting rounds from the bar on the house.

          At 10:45 the DJ grabbed the microphone and announced that entry into the karaoke contest was about to begin and would end at 11:00 on the dot. Liz elbowed Caryss when the DJ was done talking and gave her the “get your butt up there and enter” look.

          “Alright, alright, hold your horses,” Caryss giggled as she took another drink of her Corona with a lime. “I have no idea what to sing though!”

          Nick leaned over, whispered something in her ear, then got up from the table and walked over to the area where the karaoke books were sitting. Caryss looked around into the questioning eyes of everyone still seated at the table and simply shrugged her shoulders and smiled demurely.

          “We’re going to do a duet, so I better get over there and help him find a song before we end up singing Nirvana or something!” she said casually as she winked at Liz and then at Stacie. She slid off the bar stool and joined Nick, who was flipping through the binders frantically.

          Liz leaned into Stacie and flashed her a cheeky smile. “Looks the cards are right for all of us tonight,” she said quietly. Stacie giggled slightly, and then turned her focus back to Nick and Caryss. He had one hand on the small of her back and the other was flipping the laminated pages in the binder, and they both were hunched over the books, appearing to be very concentrated on the task at hand.

          Five minutes passed, then ten, and finally Liz jumped off her bar stool and scurried over to them. She stopped inches behind them, placed her hands on her hips and started tapping her foot on the ground.

          “A-hem,” she said, making a sound like she was clearing her throat. “You two only have five minutes left; what is taking so long?”

          “I think I found it,” said Caryss with a smile as she turned around to face Liz.

          “Well?” responded Liz, trying to keep the annoyed tone in her voice.

          “Yes, well?” mimicked Nick, as he put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot like Liz was doing. Caryss starting laughing, which caused Liz to start laughing, and both girls hung onto each other for dear life as they laughed and laughed, almost falling over as they did so.

          “Atlantic Star, ‘Always’, sign us up,” she squeaked between fits of laughter. Nick filled out the sign up sheet and walked it up to the DJ. The DJ took it from his hand and then looked at his watch.

          “You should sign up too Lizzie, you know you can sing,” said Caryss as she walked arm in arm with her friend back to the table. “And I think Stacie and Jim should do a duet together!” she said when they were close enough to the table for Stacie and Jim to hear.

          “I’m game if you are,” said Jim with a smile. Stacie shot him a surprised look, and didn’t know what to say.

          “Are you a closet karaoke singer?” she asked him playfully, trying to stall.

          “Are you a chicken?” he shot back mischievously.

          “Hurry folks, open entry ends in three minutes,” the DJ announced from the stage as he continued to program his equipment. When the three minutes were up, Liz, Stacie and Jim were the only other people signed up.

          “Wow, this is going to be some contest,” said Stacie with a mouth full of sarcasm. “A Backstreet Boy and a diva singing together, another diva singing by herself, and me and Jim,” she continued, but smiling the entire time. “Anyone want to place bets on who the winner will be?”

          “Just get your butts up there and sing,” said Caryss with a smirk. First up was Stacie and Jim performing a truly unique rendition of “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” made famous by Offspring, then Liz was up with a karaoke classic “I Touch Myself” made famous by The Divinyls, and finally Caryss and Nick hopped onto the stage with their song “Always” made famous by Atlantic Star. As they began to sing, Paris and her entourage loudly exited Chubby’s in protest, but no one really seemed to care.

          When all the was said and done, there was, naturally, a three way tie for a winner, but much to everyone’s surprise, instead of having to split the $500 three ways, each “act” got $500, something that Stacie was sure Jim had a hand in since his brother did own the bar!

          “How many lap dances can I get for $500,” Nick whispered seductively in Caryss’s ear as he walked up behind her and placed his hands firmly on her hips. She twirled around to face him, her eyes twinkling with flirtatiousness and alcohol.

          “You, mister, are going to get me in trouble I just know it,” she responded, leaning in him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight, intimate hug. He held her for a minute, taking in the sweet scent of her perfume and body lotion mixed together, completely in awe of how even in bar the scent still lingered. Little did he know, she was doing and thinking the exact same thing. When they released each other, Caryss blushed a little, afraid that Nick could see right through her, and turned to look at her friends, who were too busy with their guys to have noticed the tender moment she had Nick had just shared anyway.

          “I feel like dancing; do you feel like dancing?” Nick asked as he took a swig of his drink. Cause I sure would love to see the way you move.

          “Yeah, I do actually,” she admitted, the alcohol numbing the apprehension and nervousness she would have normally felt if Nick Carter wanted to dance with her. “Do you want to go find a dance floor?”

          “Actually, I was thinking of going someplace else. There’s this really hot club downtown and it usually gets poppin’ about now,” he said, flashing her that sexy smile she was finding very hard to resist. “Find out from Liz and Stacie if they want to go too, that way I can call ahead and make sure we have enough spots reserved in VIP.”

          Caryss frantically pulled Stacie and Liz away from their boy toys and dragged them into the ladies’ room.

          “Nick wants to go downtown to a dance club, you guys in?”

          “Hello? Duh!” responded Stacie, trying to keep a straight face and keep up the façade that she was being serious.

          “Oh my God girls, what am I doing? Am I supposed to have sex with Nick Carter tonight? And then just go on working with him for this campaign like nothing ever happened? I don’t know if I can do that! I’ve been the one night stand before, and I didn’t like it!” Tears started to well up in Caryss’s eyes, another product of the alcohol.

          “Sweetie, to tell you the truth, I don’t think that’s how he sees you,” started Liz as she pulled her friend into a hug. “I mean, the guy hooked you up in a suite, left you mysterious notes, and now he’s been hanging with us all night. Think about it.”

          “She’s right babe. Normally when guys are shooting for a one night stand, they pull the girl away from her friends as a way to keep it as un-personal as possible. They separate, alienate, placate, desecrate, and then vacate. You know it, I know it, Liz knows it, and every guy sure as hell knows it. I agree with Liz, I don’t think that’s where this is headed.”

          I hope that isn’t where this is headed, because I don’t think my heart can take another crack in it. She took a few deeps breaths, nodded her head in agreement, and the three girls walked out of the bathroom to find the guys and head to the club downtown.