It was three weeks later and Nick and Sarah were spending a quiet evening in their hotel room.
"Can't we go out?" Sarah asked Nick, inspecting her manicured nails in boredom.
"I'm tired," Nick told her. "But maybe tomorrow night,".
He's so boring, Sarah thought to herself. "Oh well, if that's what you want baby...". She switched on the TV and surfed through the channels.
"There's nothing on, the TV sucks tonight," Nick commented after a few minutes. "Let's watch a video,".
Sarah smiled, remembering something. She had come up with a plan a few days ago, since she knew after her bad reviews and her failure to become opening act that furthering her musical career would be difficult. Now's the time to put my new plan into action, she thought.
"What do you wanna watch honey?" Nick asked.
"Oh, how about watching me?" she suggested.
"You?" Nick asked, confused.
"Yup! Y'see, when my mom came to see me yesterday she handed me some old videos of my performances at high school. Why don't we watch those?".
Nick grinned. "Wow, old home movies! Sure that would be cool,".
Sarah got one of the videos and put it into the VCR. Onto the screen came footage of her in a play, when she was fifteen. Back in high school she had starred in a number of productions and had been the leading role in most of them.
"Wow, I'm impressed!" Nick said after a few minutes.
"I'm such a good actress," Sarah said proudly. Yup I certainly am! She thought wickedly. My act is so good you fall for it every time.
"Have you thought of getting back into acting?" Nick asked.
Sarah nodded. "Yes, well now my music career doesn't seem to be getting anywhere I'd love to get back to some acting. I wanna do a movie,". She grinned from ear to ear, she had wanted Nick to ask since that was her new plan- to be a movie star.
"I'll give you all the help I can," Nick said.
"Have you got any contacts you can call about me?" Sarah pressed on.
"Yeah, I was handed a few scripts last year by a director, I have his number still,".
"Can you get me some auditions or something?" Sarah asked.
"Yes baby, anything for you,".
"Aww you're such a sweetie. That's great. Call them tomorrow,".
"I will honey,".
The next day the guys had a photo shoot. Nick smiled and posed for pictures but after the last photo was taken, he put his scowl back on. "Thank God that's over, I hate having to sit next to you jerks," Nick said going to their dressing room to change his clothes.
Brian sighed. Nick's attitude hadn't changed since the fight. He really wanted to make up with Nick but Nick wouldn't listen when he tried reasoning.
"Don't call us jerks!" Kevin shot, giving Nick an icy glare.
Nick ignored him and pulled off his sweater. He got changed as quickly as he could to get away from the guys.
Howie didn't like the cold atmosphere that Nick had created. "Calm down guys," he said.
"No-one calls me a jerk and gets away with it!" AJ said angrily. "If you're going to say it, say it to my face, Nicky,".
Nick turned around and glared at AJ. "OK, jerk. At least I'm not a receding shortass who tries to...".
"Hey!" AJ cried. "At least I'm not fat,".
"Stop it guys!" Brian cried. "Nick, you shouldn't have said that and AJ, Nick is not fat,".
"Yeah, listen to Rok," Howie added. "Can't you stop fighting? And AJ, lay off Nick,". He hated them fighting.
Nick muttered something under his breath and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"The ungrateful little..." Kevin said quietly.
"You stuck up for him and he doesn't even thank you," Brian said to Howie. "I told you guys he's getting worse. It's all Sarah's fault,".
Meanwhile, Nick was in his limo travelling back to the hotel. Sarah was out shopping so her called her on his cell phone, hoping she'd have hers switched on.
She didn't. Nick sighed. He wanted someone to talk to after his fight with the guys. Even though he hadn't let on, it had upset him. "I hate them, why do I have to work with them?" he said to himself.
He ran a hand through his spiky hair and looked out the window. He felt sad and lonely and wished Sarah was with him. Well I'll see her later on today, he thought, a little smile appearing on his face.
Back in the hotel room, he saw Sarah's video lying on the coffee table. That reminded him of his promise to call the director.
He found the number and dialled it.
"Hi this is Nick Carter," he said.
"Oh hi Nick!" the director said. "Thought about my offer again then? Actually I have a new movie in the works that you'd be perfect for...".
"No, it's for my girlfriend Sarah," he said. "She wants to pursue a movie career and I'll tell ya, she's good. More than good! Can you fix her anything?".
There was a pause. "Uh yeah," the director replied. "We'll have to audition her first,".
"Yeah?".
"Yeah. We have a new movie set for filming next week, it's all planned out ready to shoot but the leading actress pulled out at last minute and we still can't find a replacement...".
"So Sarah could fill her shoes..?".
"I don't know. But we'll see how it goes in the audition. She'll have to be good to land the part,".
Nick arranged an audition for Sarah. "I can promote the movie if she gets it," Nick said. "Think of all the publicity the movie will get because Sarah's dating me,". He hoped this would encourage the director to pick Sarah.
"Yeah, that's a point. Well thanks for calling Nick. I look forwards to meeting Sarah,".
They hung up and Nick grinned. "Sarah will be so pleased!" he said aloud.
He was right. Sarah screamed with delight when Nick told her about the audition. "Oh my God!" she cried, throwing her shopping bags down to hug Nick. "Wow, me play the leading role in a Hollywood movie. It's a dream come true. What will I wear?!".
"It won't matter what you wear, your talent will impress him for sure,".
Brian was passing the room and heard the cries. "What's going on?" he asked.
Nick opened the door. "Go away," he said when he saw it was Brian.
"Nick's got me a movie role!" Sarah told Brian. "Isn't that the coolest?".
Brian shook his head. That proved his point, Sarah was only sticking with Nick to become famous. "Nick, can't you see that's all she's with you for?".
"You helped Leighanne get her movie role!" Nick argued.
"Yeah but she'd already been in movies before she met me, her career had started. Besides, she's engaged to me because she loves me,".
Sarah closed the door on Brian and put an arm around Nick. "Ignore him baby, he's stirring trouble. Come on, you said we could go out tonight, so let's go now,".
Nick looked at his watch. "It's early yet," he said.
"We can eat dinner first then find a club," she said. "Come on, as you haven't got a show tonight and we have my audition to celebrate...". She looked pleadingly into his eyes.
"OK," Nick said. "I guess it'll be better than staying in,".
Sarah put on a new dress she had gotten while shopping and they got into the limo to find a restaurant.
Sarah rested her head on Nick's shoulder as they drove towards town. "I can't wait," she said dreamily. "Next week I will be a Hollywood star,".
"Might be a Hollywood star," Nick corrected.
"Don't be silly!" she said, slapping his hand. "I will be, I can feel it,".
"But I'll miss you when you're away in Cali and I'm touring," Nick said. He was starting to realize that if Sarah was to get the part, they would have to spend a lot of time apart. He remembered the lonely times he had spent when they had broken up and how sad he was. "I don't know how I'd cope not being with you,".
Sarah ruffled Nick's hair. "We can speak on the phone and after the tour you can come to the set and be with me,".
He'd better be on set a lot, Sarah thought. With him around I'll get so much attention and publicity! That can only boost my career even further...