A Change Could Do You Good
A Change Could Do You Good
Chapter 20
By Sarah Donnen
Unfortunately, the phrase ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’ is true, so when ever Nick and I were together, whether it was hanging out at my house, or at his house, or even hanging out with his friends, time flew by and one of us had to leave for something. I was on the tennis team at school, so constantly had practice, and he and the other guys always had some sort of promotional thing to do. I didn’t mind, too much, because usually, our schedules coincided. Every once in a while, though, he had to leave when I could stay. Or vice versa. We dealt with it, though, but we didn’t have a serious relationship. We went out on dates, we did stuff together, we made out, but we weren’t exactly an official couple. I found that good at times, because it didn’t make me feel as jealous when he went around and girls threw themselves at him just because he was a Backstreet Boy. Guys never threw themselves at me, but I had the freedom to flirt with them. He flirted with girls, I flirted with guys, we’d flirt with each other, and in the end find a secluded place and kiss for a while. We were best friends that felt comfortable enough with each other to do that, we didn’t feel guilty. But there were times when I wanted a relationship with him, something that would make me feel special to be with him.
But he wasn’t allowed to have a girlfriend. His manager at the time, Donna, said that girls were off limits to him and the other guys. So they could have friends that were girls, just not girlfriends. Oh well, I always said, then Nick and I would hide from Donna and make out for an hour. That was the part I enjoyed, and it never bugged me when Donna caught us and yelled at us.
Most of the times she caught us, she yelled, then told him to get back to work. Sometimes, she didn’t even know I was there to begin with, so it was a nice surprise for her to find me with him. She was getting a little tired of it, though, and sometimes threw a fit about it. I once almost threw a fit right back at her, she was insulting me and I didn’t like it one bit. Nick calmed me down and convinced Donna that he’d be with her in a moment, then talked me out of doing whatever I wanted with Donna’s head. I begged once to let me decapitate her and make a three point shot with her head. He laughed, but said I couldn’t, then kissed me again and went back to work. I loved to watch him work, he had the best body of almost any other sixteen year old I knew and when he was sweating from working so hard, I convinced him to take off his shirt and I made fun of his little belly. I loved his little belly, I’d poke it and he’d laugh like the Pillsbury Doughboy. Then he’d tickle me and make me laugh. I loved being around him, and the time I was dreading arrived too quickly.
"We leave for our promotional tour in a week," Donna said, making it final. She’d said it hundreds of times and I couldn’t believe she was each time. I knew what the promotional tour meant, that Nick would be away from me again for Lord knows how long.
"Nicky, I don’t want you to leave," I said, giving him a hug at the airport the next week. We’d spent so much time together over the last month, everyone said we were joined at the hip. I called him Nicky when I wanted something, and he called me Aly-op when we played basketball, because I was really good at timing them. He called me Alex when we went out, or even Alexandra, but he was the only one allowed to call me anything but Aly. AJ called me Alexandra once and I beat his ass. It was great.
"I don’t want to leave either, Aly, but I promise I’ll come back as soon as possible. In fact, if we get at least two days off, I’ll come back just to see you," he said, hugging me close to him. I could feel the tears springing into my eyes, then falling onto his green shirt. Green was both ours favorite color. In fact, he’d gotten me a shirt just like his to match because he was getting sick of me borrowing his. To think, from then on, I wouldn’t be able to see that green shirt.
"Nicky, don’t go, please, I can’t stand the thought of you leaving practically right after you came home. Or let me come with you, the more time I spend with you, the better I feel," I said, looking up into his beautiful blue-green eyes. They were always so full of life and kindness and laughter, but at the moment, they were only filled with sadness.
Nick shook his head and I could tell that he was holding back tears. "I can’t, and you can’t, you know that. I already tried my hardest to work something out, but nothing did. I don’t want to leave you behind, Aly, I’m afraid something will happen if I do," he said, lowering his forehead to mine. "I don’t want to lose you now," he whispered, closing his eyes. He opened his eyes and wiped away my tears as a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Flight 1210 to New York International now boarding at gate 16."
I chuckled and looked at Nick’s eyes. I kissed him gently. "Twelve ten, the day we first saw each other. And gate sixteen, we’re sixteen," I said quietly.
Nick laughed with me and nodded. We said our final good byes as Donna came over and started bugging Nick. We waved to each other until the last possible second. As I watched his plane taxi down the runway and lift into the air, I sent him a mental message, telling him to not be scared, and to remember me always.
