Nick and Kelly:

Piece 1: Queen of the Night

Kelly Clarkson took a giant breath of air, trying desperately to calm herself as to not wet her hands with another's blood. So she was new at this. He didn't need to treat her like she was an imbecile. What right did he have to come marching on in there, flaunting his famous-ass lifestyle in her face?

Deep breath. And another. And another. If she just kept remembering to breathe she knew she could overcome her fury. She'd been taught to count to ten...unfortunately, she'd far passed numeral ten and she still wasn't calm. And he just kept sitting there with that smug look smeared across his pretty-boy face! How infuriating could one person be? Apparently, very.

Kelly looked away from him, knowing that was the only way she was going to keep what little cool she had left. Why did her first away-from-the-help-of-American-Idol tour have to be with somebody who was such a jerk? There were plenty of nice, down-to-earth singers; why did Kelly have the luck of getting stuck with somebody on the completely other side of the spectrum?

So Nick Carter went solo and wanted a young and fresh opening act for his first tour without the Backstreet Boys. He'd gotten Kelly. And he was a spoiled brat that Kelly did not want to deal with. She didn't want to go out on the road with him, didn't want to look at that smug smile of his, didn't want to hear him whine, didn't want to see him one more second of her life, and yet, she'd be around him almost every day for the next three months. Three months before she was rid of him.

Kelly had to try desperately not to groan aloud as Nick opened his mouth and continued to talk to the tour manager about his tour rider. Could he be any more spoiled and annoying?

"For dinner, before concerts, pasta with optional sauce on the side ... oh, and at least two choices of dessert."

Yes, he could.

Kelly rolled her eyes and grimaced when she realized he'd seen her. Whoops. But oh well! He was a pompous ass hole and she just hoped she wouldn't have to associate with the likes him off stage.

"May I go to the bathroom?" With one question she felt like she was back in elementary school.

Why did they need her there anyway? It's not like she had a difficult rider...unlike Mr. "I want this, I don't want that." It didn't seem to matter that Kelly had held the number one single for months...she was dealing with Nick-freaking-Carter, "pop-god," after all.

Nick rolled his eyes at her as James, the tour manager, nodded, excusing her from the meeting for enough time to relieve an aching bladder. Wasn't it inhumane to keep a human being locked in a room with no bathroom breaks for five hours? It had to be. She'd never been in a meeting as long and so incredibly boring. Listening to Nick's likes and dislikes was rather mundane.

Kelly stood with a nod, promising to return as soon as possible. She felt suddenly homesick. It was hard being in close quarters with people who treated you poorly. She was a small-town girl from Burleson, Texas, who had always been taught to treat people with respect...no matter how famous they were. There was no reason for Nick to treat her the way he was just because she hadn't made as much money as he had.

She didn't need the approval of Nick or anybody else. She was popular and well-liked and if Nick had a problem with that, he could shove it. She had what a lot of people didn't and what a lot of people wanted and, unlike Nick, she wasn't going to take that for granted.