I'm With You: The Story

[Based on the song by Avril Lavigne]

Nick Carter glanced around the scarcely populated lounge. Still no sign of her. Why he'd actually believed she would show up? He didn't know. He always believed her promises--always, always. Maybe it had just become habitual. Over the course of their yearlong relationship, she'd promised a lot of things. He could count on one hand how many promises she'd actually followed through with.

In the last two months their relationship had hit sh*t creek. They'd even stopped talking for an entire week at one point in time. Finally he had decided to be the "bigger man" and had begged her to meet up with him in Toronto for the weekend. They would lay everything out on the table, maybe even start from scratch ... but no matter what, they'd fix their relationship.

Yeah, right.

She was supposed to meet him in the lounge two hours ago. He was just too emotionally drained to give up and leave for his room. He no longer had the strength.

And then he looked up and saw her. Well, not her ... but it was somebody he knew. Actually, he'd only known for her a week. She was the latest addition to his staff. She was his new tour manager. Feisty little thing with a nice ass ... not like he was looking or anything.

Caela González.

And she was suddenly making her way over to him. She looked great and ... gosh, if his girlfriend could see the way he was checking this girl out, she would have ripped his head off by now ... not to mention Caela's. But why should he care what his girlfriend felt? She didn't even have the decency to show up for a last attempt at saving their relationship. The little bitch could drown, for all Nick cared.

"Hi, Mr. Carter, what are you doin' down here so late?" Caela asked as she discreetly took the stool next to Nick's. She was so new to the team, she still felt it was necessary to call Nick by his last name. Of course, the only reason Nick hadn't corrected her yet was because he liked the way she said it.

"Well, Ms. González," Nick smiled benignly when she blushed, "I was waiting for someone."

"Oh! I'm sorry." She moved to stand but was stopped by Nick's hand gripping her wrist gently. She turned and looked at him, surprised by the gesture.

Nick looked down at his hand and quickly released her. "Sorry ... I shouldn't have."

"It's fine."

"It's just ... you don't have to go. The person I was waiting for never showed up."

Caela glanced away uncomfortably for a moment, before sitting back down. His personal life wasn't really any of her business, but she was curious. In an attempt not to sound nosey, she added sarcasm to her voice, "Had a hot blind date?"

"Not exactly," Nick chuckled at her raised eyebrows. "Girlfriend of a year."

"Oh ... I didn't know."

"Yeah, well ... it's pretty much over now."

She nodded and looked down at her hands resting on the bar. "I'm sorry, Mr. Carter."

Okay, it was just too funny now. Nick, being called Mr. Carter? He felt like his dad, for Heaven's sake. No matter how cute she sounded, it seemed rude not to correct her at his point. "Caela," he laughed, "call me Nick."

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "It's about time, geek."

"Okay, we're on a first-name basis. That doesn't mean we're to the point where we can openly insult one another."

"You sure? It may make you feel better."

"To be insulted?" he laughed. She definitely had a strange sense of humor ... or whatever this was.

"No ... to insult somebody else," she smiled. "Go ahead ... hit me with your best shot."

"No thanks. If I wanted to insult somebody, it would be my girlfriend... ex-girlfriend."

Caela sighed. "All right, suit yourself. Would you like to go somewhere, Nick Carter?"

Nick looked at her like she'd grown another head. Truthfully, she may have grown another brain. This wasn't like her ... she hardly knew him and she worked for him ... she shouldn't exactly be asking him to go places with her. But still ... he looked so sad--even when he laughed, he looked about ready to cry--and she highly doubted the depressingly empty hotel lounge was helping matters.

"Okay, I know that wasn't professional ... but it's not like I'm asking you to come up to my hotel room to have wild, animal sex, so stop looking at me like that."

Nick laughed and shook his head. "Wow, you are definitely not like the tour managers I'm used to having."

"Sorry," Caela sighed. "But I'm young and I'm human ... I have a feeling I'm just a little more like you than the tour managers before me."

"Yeah," he nodded with a smile, "I think so. It may taking a little getting used to, so let's get started. Where are you gonna take me?"

"I dunno. Let's just take a walk. You need some fresh air."

"I look that bad?"

"Hell yeah."

So what if they worked together? Maybe they were making a huge mistake. Yes, they were well aware that it was only a walk, but Nick was letting her in on his personal life ... and that could be a colossal mistake.

They didn't care.