"How did you get to be so beautiful?"

The question caught me by surprise and I looked at him with a bit of a puzzled look. He laughed and squeezed my hand, pulling me closer to him.

"You look at me as if you've never been asked that question before."

I rolled my eyes.

"Please. I bet you ask that to all the other girls you woo on your tours."

He was now the one who gave me the puzzled look, his eyes narrowing and eyebrows furrowing slightly. "All the other girls? You mean the crazed fans that want to get a strand of my hair and clone me for one of their science projects?" he laid back and gazed up at the stars. "I don't think I'm very interested in "wooing" any of those psychopaths."

"So what makes me so different? What makes me the one you want to call beautiful and give pet names to and sneak around with while you're supposed to be rehearsing?"

"Sophia, you're the only one I want in my life. You're the only one I need in my life. How can you not see that? You're amazing—talented, beautiful, witty, intelligent—no one understands me better and no one's ever tried to. Do you know how many girls have thrown themselves at me simply because they like the way I sing, or because they want to have a chance at the spotlight themselves? You were the first girl to ever look at me as something other than a "teen pop sensation"."

The cliché sound of that sentence almost made me laugh, but I managed to keep a straight face.

"I'm nothing special." I shrugged as I laid down next to him and looked up at the sky. "I'm just your "mystery girlfriend" that the tabloids are utterly obsessed with identifying."

"You're definitely talented at avoiding them." He laughed, "I've never seen someone put up a hood and sunglasses so fast."

I felt my heartstrings tug as I listened to his words, meant to be a humorous compliment. I wasn't just annoyed with publicity, or spiteful towards paparazzi. The tabloids weren't allowed to identify me. It would absolutely, positively ruin everything I had worked so hard at for this entire summer.

The stars twinkled up above as we laid in silence, listening to the traffic of Los Angeles behind us; the cars honking and the people yelling at each other about how terrible everyone else was at driving. Nothing was ever peaceful here, I'd discovered, but then again, when was anything in life peaceful? My summer had certainly been anything but peaceful—all through my own doing of course—and I was three weeks away from it ending forever.

"Sophia? What are you thinking about?"

"What?" I shook my head and brought myself back to reality. "Oh, nothing. Just how excited I am to go on your Houston tour with you." I grinned as he sat up, looking down at me with eyes filled with a love I was worried I might actually return.

"I can't wait." He whispered as he leaned down and kissed me softly. "If I can have an incredible girl like you on my tour with me, I won't have to worry about anything in the world."

I smiled back and continued to stare up at the sky. I wasn't falling for this guy, there was no way. I didn't have feelings for anyone, and I was determined that I never would; no one was supposed to catch feelings for someone over a summer fling.

Did he realize this was a summer fling? Or did he honestly think this would last for the next couple months? Years?

Then again, he did think I actually lived in Los Angeles.

My phone buzzed and I checked it quickly. The notification was from my "Reminders" app, and it read: Sophia is getting home in an hour...get out of there!

I rolled over to where he was looking up at the sky, and wished that this night would never end. But it had to—there was nothing I could do about my situation. About the situation I had created, the situation I had knowingly made for myself. I knew that this would end eventually and I still had a bit of time before it really had to...but looking at him, there was nothing I wanted more in the world than to just kiss him until I fell asleep in his arms, under the starry sky on a night far from the paparazzi and the adoring fans, far from the people who could expose my entire life. I wanted to be with him and not have to worry about anything else in the world. That couldn't happen, of course...I had made this situation and I was the only one who knew how quickly it had to end.

"Babe, I have to go. My sister is going to wonder where I am."

He turned towards me and scrunched up his nose in the way he knew always made me want to kiss him, and groaned quietly.

"Just a few more minutes?"

I laughed.

"I wish." I replied as I bent down and kissed him quickly. "I can walk from here, don't worry about it. Enjoy the rest of your night."

He nodded and let my hand go before closing his eyes peacefully. I smiled down at him as I stood and walked towards the street. I could have sworn I heard a soft "I love you" escape his lips, but I didn't stay around long enough to figure out if it had actually been said or not.

Once I had made it to the street, out of the woods and out of his sight, I hailed a cab and jumped into the first one that passed by.

"The Reynolds Mansion." I instructed the driver. He clucked his tongue and laughed softly.

"That's a bit of a drive little missy. Why are you so far out here at this time of night?"

"Just meeting a friend." I replied before closing the partition and looking out the window. As I watched the lights speed by, I reflected on the fact that I would hardly ever see this city again after I left in a few weeks. The summer had been a blast, but at a cost I didn't even know if I fully comprehended.

***

THREE YEARS LATER

"This morning, we have quite the story for you folks. A celebrity is coming right here to the heart of Houston to make it his home!"

I rolled my eyes and turned to Emma Flores in the passenger seat as we cruised down the highway.

"How much do you want to bet that it's that new Justin Bieber impersonator who finally realized he doesn't have any actual talent?" I smirked as my best friend rolled her eyes.

"Or it could actually be Justin Bieber. I'm sure some dad with a shotgun would enjoy that way too much."

I laughed as the radio announcer continued talking.

"Apparently this heartthrob used to live in Houston as a child! The talk of the town is that he's moving into the only house currently for sale on McKinnon Avenue."

"Did they say McKinnon?" I squinted as the sun came out from behind a cloud. "As in my street, McKinnon?"

"Holy crap Olivia, this guy is going to be right next door to you!" Emma screeched, her calm air of two minutes earlier instantly disappearing. "All of Houston at his disposal, and he's gonna live on our street!"

"Calm down Emma, it's not like it's gonna be some big deal. He's probably a Viner with 2 million loops to his name and thinks he's the real deal."

Emma deflated a bit when she heard my words, but she kept listening to the radio with a keen ear.

"I'm sure you're all dying to know who I'm talking about, so let me tell you who this guy is!" The announcer called as I took the exit off of the highway. "It's none other than current chart-topper Lincoln Carter!"

My heart stopped still in my chest and my vision went black. I heard Emma scream my name in a panic as I kept going straight off of the road and crashed into the railing. My body hit the wheel and my mind went blank. The image of the man I hadn't thought of in years filled my mind. I could feel Emma shaking me and talking on the phone to someone, but I didn't move. I couldn't move.

I couldn't face what I had done.

A/N: Sooooooo here's the first chapter of Recalling Lincoln Carter! I hope you guys enjoyed it and I hope you'll continue to read as the chapters continue! Updates will be on Mondays and Fridays, BUT I can't promise anything for sure this Friday, because of my concussion (ya'll who read Chapter 23 of Dear Sydney got the run-down on that fun little thing). Enjoy! Also, let's take a vote...put an inline comment on the cover that you like the most, because I can't pick one.

Love you guys! Make sure to let me know what you think of the new book!

-Katherine

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