Broken Dreams

Julie stared at Nick's retreating figure and felt tears well up in her eyes. His last words to her echoed in her mind, "…the engagement is off." She couldn't believe that it was over; she refused to believe it. Julie then saw Rachel walking towards her and Justin.
"What just happened?" asked Rachel looking at her boyfriend and her sister. "I just saw Nick storming off muttering something about the engagement being off."
"I kissed Julie," confessed Justin.
"WHAT??" exploded Rachel.
"It was an accident!" exclaimed Julie. "He thought I was you cause we dressed the same today and he kissed me and I kissed him back because when I turned around I didn't open my eyes and see that it was Justin, and not Nick. But as soon as we kissed I pushed away and we realized who we were kissing," explained Julie.
"How could you do this to me?" yelled Rachel at Justin. "And you, my own sister!" she yelled at Julie and then ran away in tears.
"Rachel wait! It was an accident!" yelled Justin running after her. Julie slid down on a nearby chair as the realization of what had happened finally sank in. Sobs shook her body as she realized that she just might've lost Nick forever. She heard her name being called; she raised her tearstained face and saw Brian and AJ.
"Julie, what happened?" asked AJ. Julie sighed and explained everything to the two guys. After she was done they both stood staring in shock.
"No wonder Nick ran off," commented Brian. "And of course he didn't let you explain, right?"
"Right," said Julie sadly. "He ran off just like he did last time with Todd," she added, remembering how Nick had jumped to conclusions when he saw Julie hug her cousin Todd on the doorstep and then go into the house with him. "Only this time, I'm afraid that I lost him forever," she said and started crying harder than ever.
"Julie, don't worry, we'll fix this, somehow," said AJ comfortingly and put his arms around Julie.
"Yeah, Bone's right, we'll find Nick and make him listen. Even if we have to tie him down to a chair," said Brian grinning a little.
"Guys you don't get it, Nick will NEVER forgive me for this, nor will he listen to what you have to say," said Julie desperately.
"But Julz, you didn't do anything!" exclaimed Brian.
"Yes I did, I kissed Justin!" Julie buried her face in her hands.
"But you didn't mean to, that's the most important thing," said AJ gently.
"No, the most important thing is that I kissed Justin and Nick saw it, and he will never forgive me," said Julie and ran into the house crying.
"So what are we going to do now?" asked Brian.
"I don't know, but first we gotta find Nick," said AJ sighing. "Come on, let's go get Kevin and Howie and start looking for Nick."

*~*~*
It seemed to Nick like he was driving forever with no destination in mind. He just wanted to get away from Julie and the image of her kissing Justin. But the image refused to leave his mind and it replayed itself over and over again. Finally no longer able to drive because of the tears in his eyes, Nick pulled over on the shoulder of the highway and turned off the ignition. He sat with his hands on the steering wheel and thought about what was going to happen now. The vision of Julie kissing Justin hurt Nick more than he had ever imagined being possible. He couldn't even begin to describe the pain that he had felt. He thought about going back to the hotel, but knew that the guys would find him there sooner or later, and talking to his band mates was the last thing that Nick wanted to do. He knew that the tour was starting in a couple of days and that he would have to show his face sooner or later, but he preferred later. Nick finally made the decision of getting a room in a different hotel and staying there until it was time for the tour.
*~*~*
Julie was lying on her bed staring into the ceiling. Her cheeks were wet with fresh tears but she long ago stopped trying to calm down. As far as she was concerned, everyone already went home and since her mom was out on a business trip for a week, Julie was home alone. But then to her surprise she heard a knock on her door.
"Come in," she said softly and raised herself to a sitting position. She was hoping to see Nick standing in the doorway but instead saw Justin.
"Hey," he said and sat down next to her. Julie could see that Justin was in no better shape than she was.
"Did you talk to Rachel?" asked Julie, although she already knew the answer to that question.
"Yeah I did," said Justin blinking away tears, "She doesn't want to listen to me, she said, and I quote, 'I never want to see or hear from you ever again as long as I live'," Justin sighed and looked out the window.
"You really like her don't you?" asked Julie softly.
Justin nodded, "It's more than that, I think I'm in love with her," he confessed.
"Wow, exactly how long have you had these feelings for her?" asked Julie surprised at the intensity of Justin's feelings towards Rachel.
"For as long as I can remember," said Justin as a single tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped it away. He looked at Julie, "Did you talk to Nick?"
"No, he ran off before I had the chance to say anything and I don't know where he went. The guys went to look for him but I don't know if they succeeded, I haven't heard from them since they left," said Julie sorrowfully. "How did our lives get so messed up so quickly?"
"I don't know, but I do know that we'll fix them…somehow," said Justin trying to sound reassuring, he was surprised to hear how sure he sounded.
"Do you really believe that?" asked Julie and Justin saw her eyes fill with tears once again.
"I'm trying very hard to," he replied and felt his eyes go moist as well. Then wordlessly, Julie moved closer to Justin and put her head on his shoulder and started to cry. Justin put his chin on her head and let go of his tears as well. And so there they sat, one crying for the loss of a fiancé, the other crying for the loss of a love he might never get to reveal.
*~*~*
"Damn it, where the hell is Nick?" exclaimed Kevin. The guys have looked all over the city for their friend but found no trace of him. All of his clothes were still in his hotel room and he hasn't been back there. They drove around in circles trying every direction that Nick could've possibly gone in, but found nothing. It was like he had disappeared into thin air.
"God, I hope he didn't go off and do something stupid," commented AJ looking at the scenery passing by.
"That would be just like Nick wouldn't it?" said Brian wryly, looking in the window for some sign of Nick.
"Maybe he just needed to be alone for a while," suggested Howie. "He might show up soon, as soon as he had time to think things through."
"Hope you're right D," said Kevin stopping the car in front of their hotel. The guys quickly exited the car and ran into the hotel and up to Kevin's room. They all sat down and tried to figure out what do to next.
"So what does everyone think about this whole Julie-Nick-Justin-Rachel situation?" asked Howie.
"I personally think that it sucks, I mean, look at what Julie and Nick have been through already, haven't they been through enough?" said Brian. "But I can't shake the feeling that if Nick doesn't do something soon, things will only go from bad to worse."
"I agree with Rok, I think that Nick should just come out of his hiding place, wherever that is, and talk to Julie," said AJ twirling his sunglasses in his hands.
"True, but we all know Nick, and does anyone think that he will do that?" asked Kevin and looked around the room. All the guys thought for a moment and then shook their heads.
"He might just surprise us and act mature, for once," said AJ dryly.
"I really hope he will, for all of their sakes," said Brian and leaned back in his chair.
*~*~*
Julie woke up the following morning and saw that it was only 5:30am. After Justin had left around 11 the previous night, Julie tried going to sleep but only wound up tossing and turning till 2am, after which, she fell into a dreamless sleep with Nick's last words haunting her. Julie knew that there was no way that she was going to be able to fall back asleep so she got up and went downstairs to the kitchen to get some coffee. About 15 minutes later, she was surprised to hear her phone ringing.
"Hello?" she said wondering who could possibly be calling at this time.
"Hey, how are you doing?" asked Brian.
"I'm doing fine, except for the fact that I feel like I have a huge hole inside of me," replied Julie. "How did you know that I wasn't asleep?"
"Cause I know you, and I know that you can't sleep when something is bothering you," said Brian and Julie could hear him closing and opening drawers in the background.
"Are you going somewhere?" she asked.
"Yeah, we leave for the tour tomorrow," answered Brian. "We couldn't find Nick yesterday, as far as we're concerned, he doesn't want to be found."
"That's just like him isn't it? To run away from his problems," commented Julie, she heard Brian sigh.
"Yeah it is, but I'm sure he'll show up soon. He knows about the tour and I don't think he'll hide much longer," he said.
"Probably, but either way, this situation is beyond fixable," Julie felt herself start to fall apart again.
"No it's not, if there's one thing that I strongly believe in is that you and Nick are meant to be together and that you WILL wind up together," promised Brian.
"I want to believe you Bri, I really do, but I just can't," said Julie and started crying.
"You have to try," pleaded Brian; he hated feeling so helpless.
"I don't think I can," said Julie in between sobs.
"Well I can definitely tell you that me and the guys will do anything to help you and Nick," said Brian. "Listen, I gotta go take care of something, but me or one of the guys will stop by your house later, okay?"
"Yeah, and thanks Bri, tell the other guys thanks for me too," said Julie, she actually felt a little better after talking to Brian.
"I will, I'll talk to you later."
"Bye." Julie hung up the phone and glanced at her clock, it was almost 6:30. She then heard a car pull up into her driveway. Julie curiously looked outside and drew in a shaky breath when she saw Nick getting out of the car. He looked like he didn't get much more sleep than she did, probably even less. Julie walked to the door and opened it, "Hi," she said softly. Nick looked at her and Julie saw the pain that he was in written all over his face, she especially saw it in his eyes.
"We have to talk," stated Nick. The couple walked silently to the living room and sat down.
"Nick, I'm really sor…" started Julie but Nick cut her off raising his hand.
"No, let me tell you something first. Do you know how I felt when I saw you kissing Justin?" he asked and felt the anger rising inside of him. "I felt like you ripped out my heart, my love for you, the memories we shared together, and threw all of those things into the garbage!" he exclaimed. "I felt like they meant absolutely nothing to you, NOTHING! I also want you to know that any respect I had for you is now gone, along with my love for you and my trust in you," he said bitterly. "In fact, why don't you just forget that I ever existed?" yelled Nick and then got up and started to walk out of Julie's house, leaving her there sitting speechless at what she had just heard. Julie then slowly got up.
"Nick," she called after him. Nick stopped and turned around.
"What?"
"You forgot this," cried Julie and took off her engagement ring and threw it at him.
Nick looked surprised for a second that Julie actually threw the ring at him, but then quickly shoved it into his pocket, "I'm glad that I didn't waste this on someone who obviously wasn't worth it," he said frigidly and then slammed the door behind him.
*~*~*
Later that evening, Brian was packing the last of his things into his suitcase when he heard a knock on his door. He opened it and found Nick standing there.
"Nick!" exclaimed Brian, both surprised and relieved.
"Hey Bri," said Nick unemotionally and walked over to a chair and sank into it.
"Do I dare ask what happened to you?" asked Brian closing the door.
"I stayed in a different hotel last night and today in the morning I went and had a little talk with a certain ex-fiancée of mine," said Nick, a note of bitterness coming back into his voice.
"And I take it things didn't go well," guessed Brian.
"No, they went just as I had planned them," retorted Nick. He then proceeded to take out Julie's ring out of his pocket. "I am now officially a free man," he declared.
"Nick, what have you been smoking or drinking??" yelled Brian.
"Nothing."
"Then you are obviously out of your freaking mind! Do you realize what you have DONE?" screamed Brian.
"Yeah, I got rid of the person who was obviously a waste of my time," said Nick. The way Nick said it, chilled Brian to the bone.
"You don't mean that," said Brian not believing what he had just heard.
"Oh yes I do, I never meant anything more in my entire life!" declared Nick and then calmly walked out of Brian's room and closed the door. Brian was stunned at the words that had just come out of his best friend's mouth. He then quickly ran out of his room and told all the other guys that Nick was back, but things were worse than they had ever imagined.