Chapter 10

Drea was all decked out and on her way out the door when she saw Nick walking up the hallway. He had decided to stop by and hang with Faith for a while before heading home. She always relaxed him and he could use that before going home to Angie's ever-growing temper. "Hey" she smiled. "Hey" he smiled back, "you look nice. Where are you off to ? Meeting Howie somewhere ?" Those two were a wierd couple if Nick had ever seen one. They went out together when they wanted, but never really committed to each other. As much as he tried, he just couldn't fully understand their arrangement.

"Well, if he shows up I guess we'll hook up. If you see him, tell him I'm at Fat Tuesday's, ok ?" she flashed him her million dollar smile and held the door open for him, "Thanks Bye !" she waved. "Have a good time." He said chuckling and shaking his head.

Inside he could hear Faith's voice softly humming a vaguely familiar song, which made him smile. 'She is just too cute' he thought. He quietly walked over to her bedroom door and stood outside. "Ugh, what was I thinking when I bought this ?" she mumbled to herself. He poked his head into the room and saw she was in her closet, apparently taking out clothes she no longer wore. "Ewww, now I KNOW I did not buy this." She continued to think out loud. He had to laugh, and did so quietly. He couldn't imagine his life without Faith. She was the one that was always there for him, listening to his problems, consoling him when he was down. It seemed that she was the only one who really understood him at all. And then it dawned on him, he knew so little about her and her life. Yeah sure, he knew she was a senior in college and stuff, but they were always so busy talking about HIS life and HIS career and HIS problems that she never mentioned her own. 'I really have to try to be there for her more often' he thought. And then an evil grin swept across his face and with one bold move he jumped into her room, "BOO !!!!!" he yelled. "AAAAAH..OH GOD, YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUTTA ME !!!" she scolded him, half laughing. "Don't everever do that. God, you wanna give me a heart attack ?" she inquired, but he barely heard her he was laughing so hard. "Gotcha." He teased and pointed to her. "Oh very funny, Nickolasaren't you just in a great mood tonight". He had startled her, and had it been anybody else she probably would've been furious, but she couldn't be mad at Nick.not at him. "Oh I'm sorry Kath, did I scare you ? I'm sorry" He walked over, still chuckling, and gave her a big hug. "It's ok." She said as she felt his grip loosen around her, and let go. "What are ya doin' ?" he inquired, still smiling proudly at the scare he had given her. "Ugh, cleaning out my closet. It's a mess ! But I've just about had it for tonight. How was practice ?" she asked as she threw a pile of clothes into her closet and closed the door. "Alright, I guess. I'm tired as hell." He said as he sat down on her bed. "Want a massage ?" she asked, surprised at her own boldness. It was not like her to be so forward with guys, but she figured 'what the heck, works for Drea'. "Sure" he smiled and laid face down on her bed. She regretted offering when she climbed on the bed and didn't know where to begin. She put her hands on his shoulders and began to knead his skin, but it felt awkward and she wondered if she was even doing it right. "You know" he looked up, "it's a lot easier if you sit on my back." He suggested. 'Oh God' she thought, 'this is not good. NOT GOOD', but despite her inner turmoil she straddled his back, sitting right above his butt and leaned forward to massage his shoulders and upper back. "Oh that feels good" he said slowly, feeling her fingers pressing into his tired muscles "can you go down a little further ?". She began to feel flushed as she moved her hands down his back. It felt so good to touch him like that, "further ?" she asked, once again surprised at her own courage. "Yeah, a little bit" he answered with a soft groan. She realized she had to move her body down in order to keep going, so she slid onto his butt and continued to work her hands down his back. "Oh yeah." He let out a breath, as she pushed and pressed his body. She stared down at him lying there with his eyes closed, a content smile on his face, groaning ever so softly and began to feel aroused. While at the same time his eyes were pressed shut so he couldn't look at her. He didn't want to think of her in any sexual kind of way, he just knew it would ruin their friendship if he did. But he also knew that if he saw her face he wouldn't be able to help it, so his eyes remained closed.

"Riiiiiing..riiiiiing" the phone rang. Faith jumped off of Nick almost relieved. "Hello" she said into the receiver. "Oh girl, wait til you hear this. Guess who's in Miranda's bedroom with her right now ?" Heather asked at the other end.

Chapter 11

"OH..MY..GOD.you're kidding ?" Faith asked incredulously into the phone. She looked over to Nick, who was very curious to know what was so unbelievable. "God, Heatheryou've just blown me away. But I can't talk right now. I'll call you later, ok ?". She hung up and stared at Nick "Did you know about Miranda and Kevin ?". "WHAT ?" his eyes opened wide. "Guess not..." she smiled "apparently they're getting it on CAN YOU BELIEVE IT ?". His mind wandered back to that morning, "Oh, so I guess she's the vampire." He laughed to himself and proceeded to explain the inside joke to Faith. The time always passed quickly when they were together, and two hours later they were still on her bed talking casually and watching tv. "Kath ?" he looked over to her. "Yeah" she answered. "How come you don't have a boyfriend ? I mean, somebody like you should find a nice guy, who'll treat you right and make you happy". His question caught her completely off guard, and she wasn't quite sure how to answer it. "Yeah, but then he'd give me grief about spending so much time with you so it wouldn't work." She joked. "Nah, I'm serious" he smiled and went back to the same question, "why ?". She was confused and had thought about this many times herself. And her very obvious conclusion had been that she had just never found any other guy who measured up to him. He was her perfect match and made everybody else seem like a waste of time. But now, face to face with him she couldn't tell him that so she chose to divert from the topic at hand, "Have you seen the time ? It's already midnight". "What ?" he looked pale, "oh man, I've gotta get out of here. Angie's gonna kill me !" He jumped out of bed and put his shoes on. "Bye Kath talk to you tomorrow" he said giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. And as he ran out the door, he turned back and smiled at her "You're not off the hook. We'll continue this conversation later."

Angie was fuming as she saw his headlights illuminate the driveway. She sat with both feet up on the couch, nervously drumming her fingers on a cushion she had in her lap. 'This is the last straw' she thought. She had called everybody's house she could think of and Nick was nowhere to be found, and to make matters worse she had asked everyone if they had seen him the night before and no one had. Where the hell had he spent the night ? And why was he showing up so late ? He was NOT getting off that easy tonight !

He quietly opened the door and saw her sitting in the dark. "Sorry Cloud, baby I lost track of time." "It's 12:45where have you been ?" she said evenly, summoning all her strength to keep from yelling at the top of her lungs. "I was at a friend's again. I'm sorry, I really didn't plan to stay so long, I.." "A friend's.." she cut him off "and who might this friend be ? See I've called every damn friend you have, Nick, and it seems none of them were with you last night or tonight so you wanna explain that to me ?" she inquired, her volume rising with every word. "I said I was sorry, Cloud what more do you want ?" he asked, her tone of voice beginning to bother him. "I want to know who you were with ?" she yelled. "I was with Kath, ok ? You know she's my friend, and I was over there." He paused then continued, prematurely answering her next question, "and NO I didn't sleep with her, she's just a friend, alright !". His tone was beginning to get harsher as well, and his volume was also escalating. "Do you have a problem with that, Angie ?" He stared at her, his blue eyes cold and hard. "You were with Faith ?" she was furious, and stared her steel blue eyes right back at his. "You slept there last night and you expect me to believe nothing happened ?" Are you crazy or blind, Nick because you're either crazy to think I'm that naïve, or you're blind and completely oblivious to the fact that she's dying to fuck you ! Which is it ?" "It's not like that Angie" he stood his ground, " you couldn't possibly understand our friendship. It's real and comfortable and completely platonic ! And you may not believe me cause your brain is always in the gutter, but that's the way it is !" He was yelling now too, he could withstand all the tongue-lashings she could dish out, but he was not going to tolerate her insulting Faith. Angie had quieted now, but he was still upset, "And don't you EVER say anything bad about her.EVER!". He had never been so enraged, how could she even imply that Faith was so trashy. How could she ? He had his back to Angie now and stared out the window. He could hear her crying, and began to feel awful. What had happened here ? He wasn't even sure, but it had definitely been their worst fight yet. Faith had been right, he couldn't go on like this he was miserable and he knew it.

As Angie's crying became sobbing he hung his head down and turned to face her. "Ok, ok Cloud, don't cry alright ?" he said as he walked over and knelt down in front of her by the couch. "I'm sorry, you were just worried and I got carried away that's all" he was lying and she knew it. He had put Faith before her and she wouldn't stand for that. If she was so perfect, then why wasn't he with her? "Nick ?" she said between sniffles, her eyes red and swollen. His head was still hanging down and she put her hand on his cheek and lifted him up to look at her. "Do you love me ?" she asked, catching him completely off guard. He looked her in the eyes for a moment and then looked down again, "yeah, you know I do" he said barely above a whisper. "Nick no, look at me" she pulled his face up again, "Do you ?" He studied her face, searching for the answer he knew she wanted to hear. They had been through so much together, so many ups and downs and he felt so many things for her, but he couldn't lie to her. "I don't know." He answered, tears welling up in his own eyes at the realization that they were over. She calmly nodded and stood up, knowing what she had to do. When she was at the door, she looked back at him, tears rolling silently down her face. "Goodbye Nick" she said softly. The door opened then shut behind her.

Chapter 12

"I'd better get out of here if I want to be even half-awake tomorrow." Kevin smirked as he looked at his watch and then into my eyes. We had spent most of the night in each other's arms, just talking and kissing and getting to know each other even better. "Do you have to go ?" I pouted, " You could stay here. I promise to be good." I whispered in his ear, nibbling on it. "Oh-ho-ho.no. That's the problem. You're just TOO good." He smiled and kissed me again, his hands hungrily wandering my body. THUMP !!!! We pulled apart, "What was that ?" I asked as I looked at him and smiled. "Maybe it's Heather with Tim.I get the feeling those two are waaaaay kinky" he laughed. THUD !!! THUMP !!!! "What the." We got up off the bed and went to the door. Angie's voice was audible now "THAT PRICK !!!!! HE IS SUCH A BASTARD !!!! I HATE HIM, HEATHERI HATE HIM !!" "Uh-oh.more trouble in paradise" I mumbled. "I've gotta get going anyway." He smiled down at me "see you tomorrow ?" he said softly. "Oh, you bet" I smiled back. He held me close, gently kissed me, and as he began to pull away I opened the door, afraid that if I didn't, we'd never leave my room.

Angie shot Kevin an evil glare as he made his way to the front door. "Goodnight Heather. Night Angie". "Bye Kevin" Heather answered, but Angie was just too furious to speak. She hated all men at that moment and didn't even want to look at one, much less talk to one. I walked with him to the elevator, "Is she gonna be ok ? She looked pretty upset." He asked with a concerned look on his face. "She'll be fine. She just needs some time to calm down. She'll be ok". He seemed worried which was so cute. "Well, try to get some sleep tonight. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." "Yes, sir ! " I joked. He kissed me once more, stepped on the elevator and with a smile, was gone.

It took almost an entire night of consoling to calm Angie down. It seemed that this was really the end of 'Nick and Angie', and it made me kind of sad but also relievedfor him. Angie was a good friend, but definitely not the girl for Nick. His work schedule was way to demanding for her possessiveness, and his fans were way too friendly for her jealousy. It just didn't seem like they were meant to be. Of course, I didn't tell her that. Most of what Heather and I did was listen to her rant about him until she collapsed in a fit of sobs and cried herself to sleepat almost 5 am.

The next morning, I felt like the only thing getting me out of bed was seeing Kevin. My body was exhausted and my brain wasn't completely awake. I just knew rehearsals were going to be murder. But as I walked into the studio, I guess I didn't feel so bad. Howie had met up with Drea last night and they had been out until after 3am.no surprise there. AJ and Daisy looked like they had been busy last night too and their tired looks, content smiles and constant yawning gave them away. Kevin had left my apartment at almost 2 am so he was looking kind of out of it too. And then there was Nick. He was sitting alone in a corner, his knees up, and his head resting on his crossed arms away from everyone's inquiring looks. I couldn't help myself, walked over to him and lightly touched his shoulder. "Nick" I said softly. He looked up at me. his eyes clouded over with guilt, pink and puffy from a sleepless night. After an intent stare and a long pause, "She hates me, doesn't she ?" he asked quietly. I looked down, "right now she sort of does, NickI'm sorry", and in an effort to be encouraging added "but it'll pass, hunI know it will." He leaned his head back against the mirror, and just then I caught a glimpse of Kevin staring at me out of the corner of my eye. By the look on his face I could tell he was glad I was talking to Nick since apparently, no one else had had the courage to do it. The break-up may have been Nick's fault, but he was hurting and needed someone to hear him out. He sighed and stared off into space "There's no saving us this time, Ran I really messed up." "Oh Nick, no." I started, but he cut me off, "Yeah, I did. And you know what the funny thing is ?" He looked at me, "I knew it. I knew Cloud would be mad cause I was at Faith's and I didn't care. It's like I wanted a huge fight or something. I don't know.." his voice trailed off "maybe I'm just warped or something." "You are NOT warped, Nick.believe me, I've seen warped and you're definitely not it !" I smiled, trying to make light of the situation. But he was serious, and getting a smile out of him seemed highly unlikely right then. "Nick." I got out just as Fatima clapped her hands and gave us her usual "LET'S GO !!!!" "It's gonna be ok, hun. I promise.it'll all work itself out somehow." He nodded as I gently rubbed his back and got up. "Alright, come on now. let's do this !" I said as I reached out my hand and pulled him to his feet.

Chapters 13-15
Who Do You Love

NinasFiction

NinasFeet