Nick sat there on the back of the bus, on their way to one of the last stops on their sold-out tour. The rest of the guys were on their own buses and he decided to hang out in Brian’s since Leighanne wasn’t around. But Brian wasn’t the best company. He was busy towards the front of the bus, sitting at a table, writing for the next album that they were going to start working on pretty soon, after the tour ended.

Nick looked around the big bedroom on the back of the bus and grabbed the remote, turning the TV on. He flipped by all of the music channels to see nothing on but ‘N Sync. They were on all of them, even VH1 and MuchMusic, so he continued on until he saw a video and stopped. He sat there looking at it while turning the volume up a little, listening to it.

I want to taste your kiss
Be the reason for your smile
Touch the magic on your skin
Be the one that drives you wild

“Nick, whatcha doing?” Brian asked as he walked onto the back of the bus and Nick picked up the remote quickly, turning the channel.

“Nothin..” Nick said as he looked up at the TV and Brian looked up to see a fishing tournament.

“Fishing?” asked Brian as Nick looked over at him and looked back at the TV.

“Yeah. So? What’s wrong with that. Fishing is.. well it takes alot of intellegance.” Nick said as Brian looked as if he wanted to laugh.

“Sounded as if you were listening to music or something.” Brian said as he took the remote from Nick and hit the recall button, seeing the TV turn back to CMT. Brian stood there watching Tim McGraw’s new video come on and looked back over at Nick.

“CMT. Country Music Television, now when did you become a country fan Nick?” Brian asked as Nick smiled, looking over to Brian.

“Since I flipped by and saw um Faith Hill.” Nick said as Brian laughed, tossing the remote back at him, “What?”

“I saw what was on before Tim.” Brian said, laughing as he walked out from the back of the bus as Nick sat there looking around.

“Hey.. who was that?” Nick asked as he got up, following Brian to the front of the bus.

“I don’t know, I only saw a minute of it before AJ called over here with some idea.” Brian said as he sat back down and Nick sat down across from him, “Why?”

“Just wondering.” Nick said as he looked down at the paper that Brian was writing on, “What’s that?”

“Song idea. AJ called over here and he had one that kinda went well with it.” Brian said as he looked up at Nick, “You can go back and watch your country music now.” while he flashed a big cheesy grin at Nick.

“Man, shut up.” Nick said as he rolled his eyes, getting up from the table and walked to the back of the bus. He grabbed the remote, turning it back one channel to see a commercial on.

“Hmm wonder who that was…” Nick thought as he flilpped back to the fishing tournament. He shrugged his shoulders, laying the remote down as he continued to watch it.

“Must I go to this interview?” Nick asked later that day while riding in the back of the van from the hotel as AJ and Howie looked over at him. Nick looked over at both of them and then looked directly infront of him at Kevin.

“Damn boy using proper English.” Howie muttered as AJ coughed.

“Shocking.” AJ said as Nick rolled his eyes.

“Yes you must.” Kevin said as he got the driver to turn the station.

“Great guys, get ready for serenity music.” Nick said as Brian laughed, looking back at him.

“Hey, no worse than you watching CMT earlier.” Brian said as the others cracked up laughing. Nick sat there looking away while pressing his lips together.

“Nick was watching CMT?” Kevin asked as Howie laughed.

“Probably to find him some cowgirl.” Howie said as AJ gave him a high five.

“I need to watch it after the show tonight. Kris wants to know what the name of that one song is. See if I can get her the album if it’s not already out.” Kevin said as he turned back around in his seat.

“What song?” Brian asked.

“I’m not sure. She said it’s by this new girl. It’s slow and kinda steamy.” Kevin said as Nick looked back infront of him at the back of Kevin’s head.

“Brownish, blondish hair?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know.” Kevin said as he turned around, facing Nick, “Why?”

“Oh, I saw some chick on there this morning singing this song about tasting your kiss and driving you wild.” Nick said as he shrugged his shoulders and looked back out the window.

“So you did watch CMT?” AJ asked as Nick looked over at him, shaking his head.

“I was flipping the channel and the video caught my attention because it was at the beach.” Nick said, “That’s it. Happy now?” as he laughed, “Then I watched something about fishing.”

“A fishing tournament.” Brian said as Nick looked over at him.

“Thanks Rok.”

“Anytime.” Brian said as he looked back at Nick smiling.

“Hmm, I’ll call some people and see if I can find out who sings it.” Kevin said as he turned back around in the seat and they pulled up at the radio station.

“Leave me alone AJ.” Nick said that night after the show when they were going back to their hotel room.

“Come on man, let’s go out.” AJ said as Nick walked up to his door looking back at AJ.

“Nah, not tonight.” Nick said as AJ walked up to him.

“Dude, you can lay around your hotel room or bus forever and sulk. Get out, get your ass to a club and get your groove on.” AJ said.

“AJ you have a girlfriend.”

“Soon to be fiancee.”

“Shut up. Listen..” Nick said as he looked at AJ when he interrupted him.

“I know you broke up with..”

“Don’t mention her name yo.” Nick warned him as he opened his hotel room door and walked in.

“Fine, I won’t. But you can’t just sit around forever dwelling on the past. Yes you loved her. Yes she cheated on your ass. You didn’t deserve it so you dumped her… thank you god because I couldn’t stand her.” AJ said as Nick looked over at him, “But you can’t just sit around thinking about that forever. It’s over. Move on son.”

“Son?” Nick asked as he laughed, looking back at AJ who stood in the door way, “Listen, I’m fine okay. Just give me a little time and I’ll be back into the field. I gotta get over what happened first.”

“A little time to get over it? It’s been six fuckin’ months man.”

“I do know that.” Nick said looking over at him.

“Hell, call up the want ads man. Do something.” AJ said, “I’m going out. I think D’s gonna go. Chill and come back. I’ll see ya in the morning.”

“Bye J.” Nick said as AJ shut the door and Nick walked over, locking up as he looked around his hotel room. It looked just like the hotel room he had left the night before.

He stood there, scratching his head a little and walked over to the counter, picking up the remote, turning the TV to CNN seeing that there was no real interesting news story. He walked back over to the bed, tossing the remote down as he kicked his shoes off and pulled his t-shirt off. He reached down, undoing his jeans, slipping them off leaving him in his boxer briefs.

Nick walked over, pulling the cover back in the bed, and crawling in, resting against the headboard.

“Let’s see here.” Nick mubled as he reached over for the remote, flipping channels until he got to the music channels.

MTV - NSync.

VH1 - NSync

MuchMusic - NSync

MTV2 - NSync

“God dammit.” Nick said outloud as he turned to CMT to see Faith Hill’s “Breathe” going off, “Oh chick in the bed with nothing but sheets. Niiiiice..” as he leaned back watching it and it went off, “Damn.”

He sat there watching as a news break came on and he looked up to see that they were talking about the girl that he had seen earlier that day. He pointed the remote towards the TV turning it up, listening to what they said.

“-sey Baker, who’s latest single ‘Let Me Love You’ is sitting at number 3 on the Billboard Country Charts, while her last single ‘My World’ is still sitting at number 14. She will be performing both songs this coming Thursday on Most Wanted Live. She will also be performing ‘Let Me Love You’ on the upcoming Billboard Music Awards where she’s nominate for Top New Country Artist.”

“Baker.. ‘Let Me Love You’” Nick said to himself lightly as he got out of bed. He walked over to his bag, pulling out his laptop. He opened it up and logged himself online, going to a search engine. He typed in Baker Let Me Love You and hit search, sitting there waiting for his results.

“Kelsey Baker..” Nick mumbled to himself as he clicked on a link to a fan page, going to look at it. A picture came up of a brunnette with long hair, smiling and he realized it was the same girl from the video that he had seen on the bus. He dropped his left elbow up on the table, resting his chin on it while he used his right hand on the mouse pad, clicking on some links until he reached her fact sheet and began to read it.

“Full name is Kelsey Leigh Baker.” Nick mumbled outloud as he continued to read, “Birthday is March 5, 1980. Born and raised in a small town in South Georgia… damn can’t get much countrier than that.” he said as he laughed outloud and started to cough, “Fuck I better not be getting sick.”

He stopped coughing and looked back at the screen, “She’s on Capitol Records.. Damn she’s a country chick.” Nick said laughing to himself a little, “Don’t look like one.” Nick scrolled down, looking at some of her favorite singers.

Reba McEntire. Trisha Yearwood. Martina McBride. Dolly Parton.

This wasn’t looking too good at all.

Garth Brooks. Alan Jackson. Bryan Adams. Not bad at all.

Then he saw something that caught his eye.

“Backstreet Boys?” Nick said outloud, “How the hell do we mix with Dolly? That’s whack.” and he looked down, “Celebrity Crush?”

Brian Littrell.

“Do whaaaaat?!?! Now THAT is whack.” Nick said laughing as he hit the back button and went to view the pictures, looking at them, “She’s too pretty to like Rok.. that’s whack. Don’t she know he’s married?” he asked laughing. He added the site to his favorite’s list and closed the window. He logged offline and turned his laptop off and got back over in bed, pulling the covers back over him.

He sat there in bed looking up on the TV seeing some video with a guy in a cowboy hat singing. Nick looked at it. It didn’t impress him so he picked up the remote, turning the channel to MuchMusic to see Destiny’s Child on.

“Thank you God ‘N Sync is off.” Nick said as “Emotions” went off and “Gone” came on, “God dammit.”

Nick turned the channel back to CMT, turning the volume down some and reached over for the newspaper that was on his nightstand. He folded it open and looked at the front page.

There was nothing that interested him so he turned to the Sports section, looking at a article about Green Bay Packers beating Tampa Bay Buccanears. He turned his nose up at it, flipping through the papers until he looked down, seeing the personal ads. He laughed a little, remembering what AJ said and he picked the paper up, reading one of the ads.

23yo SWF. Blonde Hair/Blue Eyes, looking for a older man who can take care of me. You won’t regret it.

“That shit is whack.” Nick thought as he laughed and looked down at some others, “Damn people are out of their minds.” as he shook his head, looking up at the TV, seeing the same girl on TV. Nick reached over, turning the volume up, noticing that it was the same video as he saw on the bus.

Oh if you could read my mind
You’d know you’re everything I need
You’d see yourself through my eyes
You may understand what I’m going through
And just how much I want you.

Let me show you what it’s like to lose control
Free the desire in your soul
Oh oh let me love you.

“Damn.. this has to be the song Kris likes.” Nick said as he sat there looking at the TV, watching it.

Let me take you to a place like no where else
Show you the things you never felt
Oh oh let me love you.
Let me love you

“Did I mention that I hate this video?” Kelsey said as she sat there on the sofa in her hotel suite, watching her video on CMT. She was decked out in her long pajamas that looked like clouds and her hair up in pigtails with sky blue fuzzy slippers on, “I hate it. I’m sure my aunt is rolling over in her grave at what I’m wearing.”

“Sure she is.” Rachel, her manager, said as she walked out of her room, coming over to sit down on the sofa.

Rachel was a few years older than Kelsey. They had met while Rachel was an intern at Captiol Records and Kelsey had just moved to Nashville to become a singer. Rachel was the one responsible for getting her demo into the main guys who signed her. Rachel was married to a guy name Jay but was never home because of Kelsey’s career taking off. “Of course, you’re the one that picked out the outfit.”

“But I didn’t know it was going to look like that.” Kelsey said as she put a peice of popcorn in her mouth and looked over at Rachel, “When are we going to leave LA?”

“Tomorrow morning first thing. Thursday you have the performance on Most Wanted Live.” Rachel said.

“Sweet. I can never sleep when I’m out here. It just fucks up my sleeping schedule. I have anemia.”

“Insomnia.”

“Oh yeah. Insomnia.” Kelsey said as she looked at the TV while her video went off, “I hated that video.”

“You just hate seeing yourself on TV.” Rachel pointed out as Kelsey turned her head a little looking at the TV.

“Not really. I just think my hair looked too blonde in that video. It’s not as dark as it usually is and with the sun on it.” Kelsey said as Rachel looked over at her, “Ya know, nevermind.”

“Yes my child. Please go to sleep.” Rachel said as Kelsey stood up, stretching.

“I think I shall.” Kelsey said smiling as she started to walk into her bedroom, “Night Rach.”

“Night Kel.” Rachel said as she grabbed the remote, turning the TV to MTV to see “Drowning” on, “Oh.. Howard.”

Kelsey grabbed a scrunchie on the nightstand, pulling her hair back as she slipped off her slippers and climbed into bed, sitting there.

They had been in LA for the past week doing promotion for the new single. Her first album which was self-titled was released last week and word was already out that it debuted in the top 10 on the Top 100 Albums chart, they just didn’t know where at or how high. She hadn’t been home in over two months and was really getting home sick, but luckily her mother, who was her accountant and co-manager, would come out on the road with them sometimes. When she wasn’t, Rachel was there to take care of.

She made sure she did everything she was suppose to - All interviews, photo shoots, calls, performances, chats. She even made sure she took all of her medicine when she got sick. She was more than a manager she more like a mother/babysitter because even though Kelsey was 21, she still needed someone there with her. She wasn’t use to the limelight.

Hell she got freaked out when she ran into Garth Brooks in the hallways of Capitol one day. It took a few hours to get back to her normal self. She was THAT starstruck.

She wasn’t use to any of it. She grew up a only child raised by a single mother in a small town that didn’t even have a McDonald’s or a movie theatre. She had to go to the next town which was 15 miles away. Her parents divorced when she was little and a few years later her dad died. Everytime someone asked her what she wanted to do after high school, she had one answer: “Become famous.” They would laugh at her and tell her that it would never happen.

Who’s laughing now?

Her first single went all the way to number 2 and the single it self went gold, selling 500,000 copies. Now she had two singles in the top 15. She was nominated for a Billboard Music Award and would be performing. And it was being rumored that Tim McGraw wanted her to open for him on his next tour. She basically had all of her dreams coming true.

Almost.

All of her songs, which 8 out of 13 she wrote or co-wrote, dealt with love and romance. She sung about it day in and day out. Songs that dealt with kissing, being in love, touching each other, loving someone so much you would do anything for them. Everybody would think she knew everything about it but she didn’t. She did when she was younger, but since she moved to Nashville to become a singer, she didn’t have time for romance or love.

She was alone.

All she wanted was someone that she could call her boyfriend and tell them that she loved them. But it wasn’t that easy.

“Well..” Kelsey thought as she turned the light on beside her bed, reaching over for two newspapers that was beside her bed looking at them.

Kelsey.. you’re not asleep?

“No. I will in a few.” Kelsey said as she opened up the newspaper looking at it. She flipped through the pages, looking at them quickly until she came to the personal ads. She looked down at them and then looked over to the phone that was on the nightstand. She looked back and forth between them until she reached over, picking up the phone, dialing a number.