Chapter 3
The doorbell rang. Nick sprinted out the bathroom door and ran to the front door, almost breaking his neck on his shoes laying in the floor. He opened the door to see Kate standing there. 'Wow,' he thought. I just saw her less than a year ago, yet she looks so different, so beautiful.
"Hey Kate!" said Nick.
"Hey Nicky," said Kate.
Kate gave him a big hug. Kate gave the best hugs, Nick missed those hugs.
"Umm, come on in."
"Thanks," said Kate.
Brian came out of his room. "Kate!"
"Hey Bri Bri," she said as she gave him a big hug. "I missed you two."
"We missed you too," said Nick.
"So where are we going?" asked Kate.
"First we have to pick up Elyse, then we can go get some lunch," said Brian.
"Sounds good. It sounds like you really like this girl Elyse," said Kate "I can tell by the way your face lights up when you talk about her."
Brian smiled. "You know me all to well."
"Well, that's what friends are for," said Kate.
"Hey, are we gonna go or what? I'm starving," said Nick.
"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses Frack," said Brian.
Brian, Nick and Kate got into Brian's jeep, and headed towards Elyses's house.
A.J. and Miki kissed one last time and got up. Miki put on her shorts and borrowed a t-shirt from A.J.
They went in the kitchen to get something to eat. A.J. made them some lunch and they sat down together at the table and talked while they ate.
"So what do you want to do today?" asked Miki.
"Well, I thought we could do a little shopping," said A.J.
"That sounds good. I love shopping."
"I'm glad I'm not the only one. The other guys get annoyed anytime I want to go shopping. Well, except for Nick. But all he does is look at shoes."
They finnished their food and got in A.J.'s car. He parked in a little parking lot at the end of main street and they walked alongholding hands, looking at the shops. "Have you ever been in here?" asked A.J., pointing to a little shop.
"I've seen it but I never went inside," said Miki.
"They've got a lot of cool stuff in there. Wanna check it out?"
"Sure."
A.J. led the way past the front of the store which contained normal, everyday items, to the back of the store that had everything from sunglasses to stuffed animals. The first thing A.J. looked at was the massive rack of strange and unusual sunglasses. "Here, try these on," said A.J. handing Miki a small pair of sunglasses. Miki took them and tried them on, looking in the mirror.
"Oh, I like these," she said. She turned and showed them to A.J.
"Those look good on you," he said.
A.J. picked up a pair of dark, thin wire glasses. "How about these?"
"I don't like them."
A.J. looked at her questionially.
"Their too dark, and I can't see your beautiful eyes."
A.J. smiled and placed them back on the rack. He picked up a similar, lighter pair. "How about these?"
"Much better." She smiled.
They looked around the store a little more. They found a rack of hats and tried a bunch of different ones on. They each picked out a hat. They paid for their items and did some more window shopping. At the end of the street there was an old fashioned candy store, called the Candy Barrel. In the front they had every kind of candy imaginable, and in the back they sold ice cream. A.J. and Miki went in the back and each ordered a single scoop ice cream cone. They sat down at the bar and ate. After they finnished, they each got some candy, and then they headed back down the street towards the car.
Brian parked the car in front of Elyse's house. "You guys gonna come with me?" asked Brian.
"Sure," said Kate.
They got out and followed Brian to the front door. Brian rang the doorbell. After a second the door opened and Elyse apeared. "Hey Brian!"
"Hey sweetie," said Brian.
Kate watched the way Brian's eyes twinkled when he looked at Elyse. She realized this girl was the right one for Brian.
"Elyse, this is my friend Kate. Kate this is Elyse," said Brian.
"Its nice to finnally meet you. Brian has been talking about you almost non-stop," said Kate, extending her hand.
"So he has," said Elyse. She shook Kates hand. "Its nice to meet you."
"Okay, now that everyone knows each other can we go get some food? I'm starving," said Nick.
"Nick quit whining," said Brian.
"I'm not whining!" said Nick.
"Umm, Nick..." said Kate.
"Yeah?"
"You are whining."
"I AM NOT!" said Nick.
Everyone laughed. "Okay Nick calm down," said Brian.
Brian and Elyse got in the front seat and Nick and Kate sat in the back. Elyse turned around and looked at them. "You know you two look like you would make a good couple."
Kate looked at Nick. "That would be like dating my brother," said Kate.
"We've known each other for a long time," said Nick. "We're best friends."
"I still say you two look cute together," said Elyse smiling. She turned back around.
Nick thought about what Elyse had said. Nick looked over at Kate. He did like her, but he didn't want to ruin their friendship. Kate looked up and noticed Nick looking at her. She smiled, Nick blushed.
"What are you blushing for?" asked Kate.
"Oh nothing, I was just thinking," said Nick.
"What does everyone want for lunch?" asked Brian.
"McDonalds," said Kate and Nick at the same time.
They turned to each other and laughed. "That sounds good to me," said Brian. "Is that fine with you?"
"Yeah, sounds good to me," said Elyse.
They went inside and got in line. Nick and Kate both got the same thing, a Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese extra value meal. Brian got a 20 piece chicken nugget, and Elyse got a chicken sandwhich. They sat down in a booth with their food.
"So how long have you guys been friends?" Elyse asked Kate.
"Well, I've been friends with Nick since we were in middle school. Then he joined the group, and I moved up to North Carolina," said Kate.
"We don't get to see each other very much," said Nick.
"Oh, thats too bad," said Elyse.
"Hey Kate, isn't your birthday this Friday?" asked Brian.
"Yeah. I dind't think you would remember," said Kate.
"How could I forget that?"
"How old will you be?" asked Elyse.
"I'll be 19."
"Cool."
"So, has anything exciting happened to you guys that I don't know about?" asked Kate, changing the subject.
"Well, not that I can think off..." started Brian.
"You must be forgeting about what happened the last show we did," said Nick. Brian's head dropped. "Go ahead and tell 'em Brian."
"What happened Brian?" asked Elyse.
"Well, on the last show we did, someone made the waist on my pants way too big, and I didn't have a belt. So I had to hold on to them while I was dancing so they wouldn't fall off..."
"Then when we were dancing to Hey Mr DJ he jumped and they fell down to his ankles!" said Nick interupting.
"And everyone in the first 20 rows saw my boxers with little red hearts on them," said Brian.
Kate and Elyse laughed. "I bet that was embarrasing," said Elyse.
"Yeah, but thats not as bad as what happened to A.J." said Brian, trying to forget about his little 'mishap.'
"What happened to him?" asked Kate.
"Well, he kept telling the security guys that he was gonna stage dive, and they would have to catch him, and he never did it. Then on the last show he started running full speed towards the end of the stage. He realized that if he kept going he would end up in the audience, so he tried to slow down, but he slipped on a puddle of water and fell on his butt," explained Brian.
Kate and Elyse cracked up again. "Speaking of A.J. where has he been lately?" asked Kate.
"Well, he's probably with Miki," said Brian.
"Who's Miki?" asked Kate.
"A girl he met at a club."
"Really? I thought A.J. was a no-commitment man," said Kate.
"Well, its differen't with Miki. I think he'll stick with her a lot longer than his ex-girlfriends," explained Brian.
"Thats good. So when will I get to see old bone anyway?"
"How about tommorow. We can all go to my my place and play a game of b-ball," said Brian. "How does that sound to you Elyse?"
"That sounds great," she said.
"That sounds like a great idea Brian, thanks for asking me. Oh of course Nick," said Nick.
"Having fun talking to yourself over there?" asked Brian.
"Yeah, since nobody else is, I figured I could have a conversation with myself," said Nick.
"Oh, poor baby feels left out," said Kate.
"Since everyone's done, lets go," said Nick.
Everyone stood up and carryied their trays to the trash can. They went and got back in Brian's Jeep and headed towards the Mini Golf place.
Chapter 4
