I got tired of waiting.
Wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town.
- “Love Story” by Taylor Swift

Sitting by the phone wasn’t an easy way to spend the night.

Taylor had called Nick, left two voice messages and still hadn’t heard from him. Every time the phone rung, she would jump, saying his name when she answered it only to have it end up being a relative, a client or her roommate Tori.

She hated explaining to her relatives of all people why she was answering the phone with the name of her favorite Backstreet Boy.

Then she thought of something – how was she going to explain this to her family? They all knew she was a huge Backstreet Boys fan. They all knew Nick was her favorite Backstreet Boy. A few knew she went on tour with them to work as a photographer.

But how the hell was she going to explain to them that she was in love with him?

There were many thoughts going through her mind about the book. Was it a misprint? Did Nick want to have that in there but changed his mind and it was printed anyway?

Maybe that’s why he never called her back?

Regardless of the reason, she had an appointment that afternoon for a photo shoot on the outskirts of Nashville with some up-and-coming country singer and she wasn’t going to cancel it so that she could wait by the phone for a phone call that she may never get.

Of course, then she realized she should have called him from her cell phone and she wouldn’t have to wait by the phone in her apartment.

“So stupid,” she muttered to herself before looking in the mirror. She wasn’t dressing up for the photo shoot. It was supposed to be muggy outside so she simply wore her hair in a ponytail with a t-shirt and jeans.

She looked over on her bed to see one of the books that Nick had sent her and smiled before walking out of her bedroom door.

“Mr. Morgan?” Taylor asked as shut her car door to see the older gentlemen walking to her. “I’m Taylor Daughtry.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Daughtry,” the man said. “You can call me Sam if you’d like.”

“Well nice to meet you, Sam,” she smiled as she looked around at wide open area of land. A huge brick house sat on the grounds of the estate with a small barn off in the background. “It’s beautiful out here. Who owns this?”

“Oh it’s a rental house,” Sam said. “There’s a couple who own it but they are rarely here so they rent it out for weeks or months at the time and so we rented it out this weekend.”

“It’s beautiful,” Taylor said, taking one of her cameras out of her gear bag. “So where is this new country singer that I’m shooting? Is he setting up inside with his people?”

“Yes, in fact, you go ahead and go inside. I need to wait for someone out here and I will be in shortly,” he said as Taylor smiled.

She walked towards the front porch of the house and looked back at the old man to see him waving for her to go inside.

She put her camera strap around her neck so that her camera was hanging from it and opened the door to see that it was dark inside. She found it strange since it was bright outside but through some of the windows and curtains, you could see beams of light shining through.

“Hello?” she asked, shutting the door behind her.

Nobody answered.

“Hello? I’m the photographer… Sam told me to come on in,” she said when she looked to her right to see some light coming from a room.

Taylor began walking towards what looked like a dining room except when she walked in, she saw nothing but roses and candles lit around the room.

“This must be some gay country singer or something,” she muttered to herself when suddenly everything went dark.

Someone’s hands were covering her eyes.

Fuck, she thought.

“Listen, kill me, rape me, whatever, just let me put my camera gear down, it’s too damn expensive,” she muttered when she felt one of the person’s hands move slightly on her face and she elbowed whoever it was in the stomach.

“Fuck! That hurt!”

Taylor’s eyes were free and she looked back to see Nick doubled over, holding onto his stomach.

“Oh my God, Nick!” she yelled, putting her camera gear down on the floor next to the wall. “Are you okay?” she asked, walking up to him.

“So much for me trying to surprise you…” he chuckled as he stood up. “I’ll know not to freak you out like that anymore.”

“What are you doing here? I have a photo shoot.”

“No you don’t,” he smiled. “You have me.”

“But Mr. Morgan …”

“He’s my lawyer here in Nashville and he’s probably gone by now,” Nick said as Taylor looked around the room again. “Surprised?”

“Very much so…”

“You got the books.”

“Yes, I did,” she smiled as he walked closer to her. “But, I need to hear it from you.”

“What? Hear what?”

“What you said in the dedication.”

“About the fans?”

“Nick…” Taylor said as he smiled.

“I love you, too,” he whispered, reaching down to hold her hands in his. “I guess it took me being away from you for weeks to figure it out. I was depressed and sad and it just hit me, that’s why I felt like that because I loved you and you weren’t around anymore.”

Taylor didn’t know what to say. Tears slowly began falling from her eyes and he reached over to wipe them away with his thumb.

“I love you, too,” she finally whispered as he leaned over so that their foreheads were resting against one another. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and smiled before leaning in to kiss him.

Nick cupped her face in his hands as they kissed one another slowly, taking their time to enjoy one another.
“What’s this mean now?” Taylor whispered, backing away from the kiss. “You didn’t buy this place, didn’t you?”

“No, rented it for the day,” he smiled. “Well, if you want this to be like a third grade romance, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

Taylor chuckled.

“Well, there’s a lot of responsibility in being your girlfriend,” she said. “I have to put up with those girls calling out your name and screaming for you every night in concert.”

“Hey, you’re one of those girls…”

“Oh, right, forgot about that,” she smiled. “I have to put up with you being gone a lot.”

“That’s a part of it…”

“I have to be able to trust you…”

“Yes.”

“I’m not going to drop what I love doing just to be your girlfriend…”

“I wouldn’t expect you to and I don’t want you to,” he said, resting his forehead against hers. “I just want you to be mine.”

“Do you think this can work because I’m not just some random girl that you met, Nick,” she said as he nodded.

“We’ll make it work,” he said as she smiled. “I mean, I’m sure we’re not the first superstar/fan relationship that’s ever happened.”

“Probably not, but it’s the only one I care about,” she whispered against his lips, smiling before leaning in to kiss him.

They both broke away from the kiss and hugged one another. Taylor rested her head on Nick’s shoulder, with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and smiled.

“Then yes, I’ll be your girlfriend,” she whispered in his ear as he smiled.

Now she was going to have more than just a picture of him on her wall… she had him.