The Story of Us (Book 1 of "The Story of Us" Series) [Completed]

Chapter 40 - Stay With Me

[Harley]

Let's just say the kiss on Nick's birthday did something for me. I don't know exactly what it did, but it lit a fire in me. It cured my case of writer's block. After that, I felt like I could write anything. I felt like I could write the next great American novel that would give Mark Twain a run for his money.

Okay, that was stretching the truth a little, but it helped me a lot.

Nick and I started writing more and ended up writing five songs together, along with a few more that I wrote on my own. When the guys started back recording, I worked on a few songs on my own and even went to Nashville where they were recording to work with them some. When Nick wasn't working on the Backstreet Boys album, he was working with me on mine. When he wasn't doing any of that, he was working on his community service, which included working with after school centers in either Atlanta, Los Angeles or Nashville, wherever he was at the time. He was really keeping himself busy, which was good.

And that's when Nick decided where he wanted to move.

He ended up getting a small place in Nashville. Well it wasn't that small and it had its own recording studio built into it. It was smaller than my house but my house was pretty big. We would work on my album in the studio at his house. To say the least, my record label didn't like the fact that the album was in the hands of the Backstreet Boy who got arrested a few months earlier for a DUI and cocaine possession. But I was at the point now where I could do what I wanted because they knew it would sell. If I had been a new artist, I never would have been able to do that.

While professionally Nick and I were doing awesome, personally things were the same. We were back in the 'best friends forever' mode since the kiss on his birthday. My father gave me a long speech that night after I took Nick back to Brian's house. He repeated what he said to me every single time: he's going to break your heart again. In a way I could understand my father's point. He had seen me go through so much crap where Nick was concerned, but I also think he understood me.

I think he understood the fact that Nick was probably always going to be in my life in some shape, form or fashion.

And I was determined to keep it that way.

The only hard part about that summer was May 27th, which would have been Ella's first birthday. Nick and I decided to do something that neither of us had done until that point and that was to go visit her grave. We drove from Atlanta and it took me about two hours to actually get out of my car and walk to where our family plot was. It still amazed me that nobody had figured it out yet or if they had, nobody was talking at that point. There, next to my mother's grave, was a small tombstone that said 'Ella Brooklyn Carter' as plain as day with her birthday, May 27, 2006 and the day of her death, May 27, 2006.

Nick and I sat there for about an hour on a little bench, talking about Ella and how my mother was probably bitching about how stupid we were to be messing around with one another and got pregnant. Then Nick made me feel better, telling me that at least Ella had my Mom watching out for her. And he had a point, she probably was.

Then my mind started wondering the entire drive back to Atlanta what our lives would be like if Ella had lived. I was dead set on Nick having nothing to do with our daughter until she was completely clean and sober and even then, I wasn't sure how much he was going to be around her. I started wondering if what I wanted to happen after she was born, Nick and I getting back together, would have happened. Would Nick have ever found out about his heart condition? Would I have been a good mother?

But I knew I had to stop worrying myself about the past. Nick had just shot the first video for the guys' new album and I had an album of my own to work on with Nick's help.

[/Harley]

[August 2007]

Harley walked downstairs into Nick's recording studio that afternoon, pulling her long, dark hair in a ponytail. She had been upstairs helping decorate Nick's house because if it was up to him, he would just hang posters up on the wall and call it a day. She had the living room and kitchen complete. His bedroom and the bedroom that she was calling hers were done and all Nick needed was a dining room set, unpack his office downstairs and to figure out what he wanted to do with the third bedroom.

But she was tired from being up all night working on a track with Nick, who was in full producing mode. Since the guys finished their album the month before, Nick had been going full steam ahead on Harley's album except for a quick trip to L.A. to film their video for "Inconsolable."

She heard the beginning music to the album's kick-off song, "The Story of Us," and smiled, watching Nick as he went over it.

I used to think one day we'd tell the story of us
How we met and the sparks flew instantly
People would say they're the lucky ones
I used to know my place was a spot next to you
Now I'm searching the room for an empty seat
'Cause lately I don't even know what page you're on

Oh a simple complication
Miscommunications lead to fall-out
Too many things that I wish you knew
So many walls that I can't break through

"Oh hey, you're back," Nick said, looking over his shoulder to see Harley standing there. "Sound good?"

"I love it," she smiled, listening to the second verse of the song.

How'd we end up this way?
See me nervously pulling at my clothes and trying to look busy
You're doing your best to avoid me
I started to think one day I'd tell the story of us
How I was losing my mind when I saw you here
But you held your pride like you should have held me
Oh, I'm scared to see the ending
Why are we pretending this is nothing?
I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how
I've never heard silence quite this loud

"Listen to the chorus," Nick whispered as the chorus started to play.

Now I'm standing alone in a crowded room and we're not speaking
And I'm dying to know is it killing you like it's killing me, yeah
I don't know what to say, it's a twist of fate when it all broke down
And the story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now...

"Did you record yourself singing background vocals?" Harley asked as Nick turned the volume down on the song. She sat down in the chair next to him, staring at the mixing board. "I mean, I know that has to be you. It's not my voice dubbed and no one else has came in to sing."

"You like it?" Nick smiled. Harley nodded and continued to listen to the song. "The only thing I don't like about the song is you say that our story looks like a tragedy," he said as she started to laugh. "I guess at the time, it looked like that. Hell, who knows, it still might..."

"It's a song, Nick," Harley smiled. "But I love what you'd done with it. That's exactly how I was imagined it would sound like. You're not half bad at this producing stuff. At least if you don't make it at this singing thing, you have something to fall back on..."

"Ha, very funny," Nick said as Harley grinned at him. "Remember how I said I wanted to record a song with you?" he asked as he pulled out a few sheets of paper and handed them to Harley. "I know it's not something that we wrote, but I thought it would be good." Harley looked down at the lyrics and looked back at Nick. "It's a Bryan Adams song, from the late 90's. It's kind of a slow, mid-tempo song. It's not some big love fest song like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill or anything like that. It's kind of sexy, if we do it the way I imagine."

"Do it the way you imagine?"

"You know what I mean... musically..."

"I know this song," Harley smiled. "I used to sing it all the time when I was younger, before I got my record deal." She looked up at Nick and smiled. "Absolutely. I think this is perfect for us."

"You sing the first verse, then the chorus," Nick said as Harley nodded. "Then I do the second verse and we do the rest of the song together. We can practice tonight and then we can record it tomorrow. Deal?"

"Deal," Harley smiled, looking over at Nick. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I am... I just hope I don't fuck your album up. That's what I'm worried about." he said as she started to laugh. "How's it going upstairs?"

"Good... just got to get you a dining room set and I think we're done except for that third bedroom," she said as he nodded. "You could always turn that into an office or something if you want later."

"Nah, just keep it empty for now," Nick smiled, looking back down at the mixing board. "You don't have to dress the whole house up."

"Yes sir," she smiled, watching him as he turned some knobs on the board that she had no idea what they were. "You know, if you ever do get tired of singing, you could probably make a living doing this kind of stuff."

"You ever thought about stop singing?" Nick asked, looking at Harley. She nodded, staring down at the board. "When?"

"After Ella died," she whispered as he stopped the song and looked at her. "She was gone. You were gone. I just felt empty, kind of like you said you felt. Sometimes I still think about it because I hate the music business now that I know so much about it. I hate the business side of it all."

"Me too," Nick said as Harley stood up, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. "Hey, tell you what... go get dressed up and I'll take a break from this stuff. I'll get all sexy and we'll go out and eat, then come back and work on the duet."

"Why do I have to get dressed up and you get to be all sexy?" she asked as Nick started giggling. "You ass," she muttered as she made her way out of the recording studio. Nick turned around, watching her until she was out of his view and looked back