Nick and Stacey continued to be friends, but it was really hard for Nick because Stacey continued to see Justin. The Backstreet Boys we're starting another tour in a few months and Stacey agreed to be a dancer again, with some persuading from A.J. It was only a few weeks until the new tour started and Stacey and Justin were having relationship problems. Justin was being very distant and going to clubs and getting drunk, then arriving unexpectedly at Stacey and A.J.'s and demanding sex from her. Of course, she said no. Nick found out about this and met up with Justin one day.
"Hey Justin, can I talk to you for a minute," Nick said following Justin into a room at the Jive Records building.
"Yeah man, wassup?"
"Um, A.J.'s told me what you've been doing to Stacey, and frankly, I want you to stop."
"What? You can't tell me what to do. She's my girlfriend now, and we can handle things on our own. Besides, I'm with her and you're not, probably because I don't go and sleep around with other women." Nick pushed Justin against the wall, not realizing it. Justin pushed him off and then tried to punch Nick but missed. Nick hit him in the mouth and said,
"It's not gonna be so easy to copy my singing now," and walked away. Later on, Nick checked his answering machine and he had a message from Stacey, asking him to come over. Nick drove over to A.J.'s since Stacey was living there and knocked on the door. Stacey answered and opened the door enough for Nick to slid in.
"What do ya need," he asked.
"Um, I just wanted to say thank you for what you did today."
"Oh, don't worry, I've been wantin' to do that for a long time!" They both laughed and Stacey put her hand on his shoulder and said,
"I broke up with him. He's just, I should have done it a long time ago."
"Oh, good. I'm glad you came to your senses." Nick grabbed her and hugged her tight, but just as she was getting comfortable, he let go and said,
"I think I should go now." Stacey watched him walk out the door, thinking that she could still possibly be in love with him. She felt so safe when she was with Nick in his arms. That was something she really missed. He had helped her through so much, she didn't think she could do all those things without him. When they were together, she loved Nick more than life itself. She just hope he still loved her. Stacey kept thinking that this was stupid, her life was like a soap opera. But she still felt something for Nick. Stacey told Leighanne, but she thought it was a bad idea if Stacey told Nick that she stilled loved him.
"I really don't think it's a good idea to tell him Stace'," said Leighanne,
"Look, what if he still loves me too, and I don't tell him that I'm still in love with him? Then I'll become and old woman who sings to her cat. I don't even like cats."
"But what if he's moved on? What if he's found someone else?"
"He hasn't, I see him almost everyday and you'd think he'd tell me, or at least Brian, and then Brian would tell me or you. Somehow, I would find out."
"Still, what if he doesn't love you anymore?"
"Well, I have to find out or not. I'm gonna tell him when we do that concert on the cruise boat. I figure ya know, it's romantic, and well, he's always in a good mood when we go out on boats."
"Stace', I-I guess I really can't stop you, but I still think it's a bad idea."
"I know, but, ah, I don't, I don't care." One day everyone (the band and their girlfriends, since everyone was really good friends) were hanging out at A.J.'s place. Everyone except Nick was there. He knocked on the door and Stacey ran and answered it. What she saw shocked her. Nick was standing there with his arm around a girl.
"This is Meghan. My girlfriend." Stacey stood there for a moment then finally shook Meghan's hand. Meghan was average height with medium length light brown hair. She wasn't as pretty as Stacey, well actually Meghan was far from being as pretty as Stacey, but Meghan wasn't the ugliest thing. It was the day before the first concert of the new tour, and Stacey still hadn't told Nick that she was in love with him. She was packing her bags, when she noticed that she had left an old note from NIck in her suit case from the last tour awhile ago. It said,
Hey Beautiful,
I didn't have the heart to wake you up for breakfast, but I'll be back soon and I'll bring you something. You look so cute sleeping! If you wake up and I'm not back yet, keep your fine ass parked on that bed cause I got something special for ya! Hey, this letter's gettin' pretty long, I know! This can be like a love letter, yeah, wait, keep reading I'll get romantic! Now, what I'm gonna write is all completely true about how I feel. The only reason I'm writing this letter is because I love you to death. Speaking of love, I've loved you since the day I meant you and always will. You are my world. If I didn't know you I would still miss you because even if we hadn't met you're still a part of me. From the very first day we meant I knew we'd be together and we always will. No one would have guessed we'd be standing strong today as one, but I knew. I always knew you were the one for me. My soul mate. You're my angel that God sent me. If I lose my way and the sky gets heavy, it'll be okay the moment you're with me. No matter what, we'll be forever as one. I love you with all my heart and more. You're my most treasured person in the world. I worked, and worked to get you to be my girl and it all payed off because in the end, it was all worth the wait. If I could take back or fix everything that has gone wrong in our relationship, believe me, I would. I never want to see you cry, only tears of joy. And I hope to cause those tears of joy. We are two in a million. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you. Catch the rain from the sky, hold back the tide for you. There ain't nothing I wouldn't do, I'd walk on water just to be with you. Hey, that rhymes. I've never felt this way about anyone before. You're my number one. Girl, we've come so far, please don't go back and break my heart. I can't stand to be away from you. I need you more than anything in this world. I hope you feel the same. I will always, ALWAYS love you more than life itself. All my love and more,
Nick
