Brian finally got the door opened. They walked into the room and both stopped in their tracks. Nick and Nichole were sitting at the table sipping orange juice and studying each other. Nick looked away from her and noticed Brian and Tracy standing there.
"Hey guys," Nick grinned. "How's it going?"
"Um, just fine," Tracy subtly glared. She couldn't stand that blond headed giant. She had been trying to keep Nick and Nic apart from each other. Needless to say, her plans failed miserably.
Nick rolled his eyes at her hautiness and smiled sweetly at Nichole," We were just having a late breakfast before we go to the Sea Life Centre. Ya'll want to come too?"
"Nah, Frack. I was just dropping her off before I started working on some new songs," Brian cleared his throat a bit and scratched the side of his nose.
"Well, Brian, you can always wait until later to do that, can't you honey?" Tracy pouted. "I want to spend more time with you."
"No, it can not wait. I spent all last night and this morning with you," Brian frowned. "I need some time to myself."
Nichole and Nick's eyes flew from Brian's exasperated face to Tracy's trembling one. Nichole almost felt sorry for her. Almost. She coughed lightly and slid out of her seat. "Nick, are you ready?" she asked, reaching for her raincoat.
"Yeah, babe," Nick said and threw the rest of his orange juice into the back of his throat. "Come on. I'm ready."
"Bye, ya'll," they said as they left.
Brian looked at Tracy, reached out and gave her shoulder a small squeeze," I'll see you later, Tracy."
"Alright," Tracy sniffed.
Brian turned away, rolled his eyes and left the room.
After he was gone, Tracy sank to the floor and wept bitterly. She couldn't understand why he didn't want to be with her all of the time. She could spend days, months, years with him and wouldn't get bored. And this thing with Nick and Nichole was irritating her as well. She had tried so many ways to keep them apart, subtle ways at that. She feigned interest when Nichole would talk about Nick...and played the perfect friend. She clenched her teeth and promised herself that she would ruin their relationship, come hell or high water. She didn't like the dumb blond and Nichole was getting on her nerves because she wasn't sympathizing with her. Hell, she didn't say one word to her just then. She stretched from her place on the floor and slowly got up...with an evil smile on her face.
"I hope we're doing the right thing, man," Reggie cast a worried glance at AJ. "He's going to be really pissed when he wakes up."
"I know. But the beautiful thing is...we're not going to be around to witness his little outbursts," AJ looked at the huge black man with affection. "Don't worry. If he's going to be mad at anyone, it's going to be me. He'll learn his lesson though. Come on, help me get him into the car before anyone sees us."
"Alright."
They lifted him up, sporadically cursing because of his weight and shoved him into the car parked into the back alley behind the hotel. They shut the door, got in the driver and passenger's sides and drove to the awaiting chopper. AJ rubbed his hands with glee while Reggie wiped his glistening brow.
"Man, this is sweet!" AJ cackled.
"I have a feeling that I'll be disagreeing with you in a few moments," Reggie closed his eyes and prayed.
"Oh, I love you so much Joanna," Howie groaned. "I can't wait until we tell everyone."
"Neither can I sweetie. I can just imagine our little kids running around and playing in the yard. Their rooms will be filled with toys and you can play football with them on your days off," Joanna sighed blissfully. "Little Howie will have my straight hair, your complexion and your eyes. I can just see him now. And our daughter will have curly black hair, my complexion and your eyes."
"Is Mrs. Martinez going to take the news well?" Howie asked worriedly.
"My mother?" Joanna smiled. "Yes, she's going to love the news. She's been pestering me to marry a nice young man and have her grandchildren."
"Really? I was under the impression that she hated me."
"No. Quite the opposite. She loves you to death," she smiled mischievously. "She just likes to put on a good show every once in a while. Unfortunately, she chose to do that the times you came to visit."
'That's a relief," Howie sighed. "Let's call our parents right now and tell them the fantastic news."
"Alright sweetie," she brushed a kiss on his mouth. "Whatever you wish."
"AH, I like hearing that," he grinned, dove under the covers and tickled her mercilessly as she screamed with laughter.
"I guess our parents can wait for a little while," she gasped between giggles.
"Well, we're finally getting that aquarium date, huh?" Nichole smiled and brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes.
"Yes, we sure are," he squeezed her hand tightly. "You can't screw with fate. Somehow it always happens, no matter what."
"I've never believed that until now," she slowly shook her head. They made their way through the whole aquarium and stepped outside into the pouring rain, huddling closely, hand in hand. They walked down the street slowly, savoring the company of each other. Peering into windows, they pointed out what they'd like to have. It started to rain harder, so they ran to a nearby cafe awning for shelter. Nick reached out, grabbed Nichole and engulfed her into his sweet embrace. She buried her face into the crook of his neck and inhaled his wonderful masculine scent. After holding each other for a few minutes, he lifted her chin gently and brushed his lips against hers as the rain poured around them.
Nichole sighed against his lips and kissed him again. She reached up and wound her arms around his neck as he held her tightly. Their bodies and mouths were a perfect match. They were made for each other. Nick's blond hair continued to fall into their faces, making them smile shyly. Every now and then, they'd sneak chaste, yet passionate, kisses. Their hands ran through each other's hair as they kissed. They were in public view, but neither cared. Kissing each other was the only thing on their minds. Slow kisses, long kisses, deep kisses, innocent kisses...they shared them all. After those blissful moments passed and the rain abated, Nick gently kissed her forehead, smoothed her hair back, grabbed her hand and they strolled back to the hotel to spend some quality time with each other.
"Kevin?" AJ feigned ignorance.
"Yeah, Kevin," Brian rolled his eyes. "Tall, black hair, bushy eyebrows?"
"Um, well, Brian...I have something to tell you," AJ looked intently at his shoes.
"What?" Brian asked after a long pause. " Are you going to tell me in this century?"
"Well," AJ cleared his throat. "We had Kevin deported. He should be in New York right about now."
"You WHAT?" Brian yelled.
"Well, I was tired of his crap and so was everyone else...so, I called a friend of mine and he flew Kevin back home to Kentucky for a little quality time with the family," AJ shrugged. "I thought you'd be thrilled!"
"AJ! That was my cousin you shipped out of here!" Brian threw a book at AJ's head. "How did he ever go along with it?"
"I had some extra sleeping pills and a whole lot of duct tape," he replied after ducking his head because of the missiles flying directly at his head. "I didn't hurt him, B-Rok. He wanted away from us and the feeling was mutual! I just wish I had thought of it sooner."
"Ah, the hell with it," Brian shouted over his shoulder as he exited AJ's room.
"Well, that didn't seem so bad," AJ muttered and shrugged. He turned his gaze back down to the magazine he was reading before being so rudely interrupted.
KNOCK KNOCK!
She ran her sleeve across her runny nose and answered the door.
"Dan! What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Tracy," he looked past her. "Is Nic around?"
"No, she's gone with her new guy," Tracy rolled her eyes.
"New guy?" he asked. "Can I come in?"
"Oh, sure," she stepped back. "Yeah, she's dating Nick Carter. You know, Backstreet Boy? And, he's the guy from the record store she was having a heart attack over! Some people just get all the luck in the world."
"Oh, okay. Cool, I guess," Dan raked a hand through his hair. "I just came by to apologize. I realized how rude I've been and I want her to know that it wasn't intentional."
"Yeah, you have been rude. Well, I'll tell her you dropped by."
"I've been rude? What about you? You're supposed to be her best friend! And what do you do? You abandon her in an arena full of thousands of people! I know I've been rude to her, but I didn't realize it at the time. You are full of malice though. You get a kick out of being mean to people. You think the damn world revolves around Tracy. Well, it doesn't! You need your ass kicked! And you should be happy for Nic and her new man. She's wanted to get to know him for as long as I've known her and then some! You've had someone here, haven't you? That's the reason you bailed on her! To hang out with some guy. Wonder who it was...some local jerk?" Dan took a deep breath. "You should be ashamed of yourself. I hope she's not talking to you. I hope she's giving you what you deserve. But being Nichole, I highly doubt it. She takes and takes shit from people, and gives tremendously to them. Anyway, you better tell her I came by or I'll do something I'll regret in the long run." Dan slammed the door behind him.
"Nichole Nichole Nichole," Tracy muttered under her breath. "It's all about her isn't it?"
"Hey!" Brian came charging through the door. "Something terrible has happened!"
"Damn, don't you know how to knock?" Nick asked angrily.
"Sorry, but this is important."
"Okay, what's so important?" Nick looked at Brian questioningly.
"AJ has put Kevin in a chopper and he's in Kentucky now!" Brian looked horrified.
"All right!" Nick laughed like a madman. "Give my props to AJ!"
"Nick! That's not funny!"
"I'm not trying to be funny! The man is an asshole!" Nick yelled. "Would you please go away? Go share the fantastic news with someone else."
"Fine!" Brian stormed out of the room.
"Sorry about that. I'm just glad Kevin's gone," Nick looked at Nichole. "He was always such a freak towards me."
"Well then, I'm glad he's gone too," she smiled at him as she twined her fingers through his.
He leaned toward her and kissed her sweetly and thoroughly. He signed and made himself comfortable because he knew he wasn't going to get up from the bed any time soon.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Tracy greeted him.
"Well, I thought I'd come by and talk to you. Can I come in?" he smiled apprehensively.
"Sure," she left the door open and went back into her room. Brian followed her and sat on the floor.
"Well, Kevin's back in Kentucky," he told her.
"Oh, really," she said, mildly interested.
"Yeah. Hey, what's wrong with you?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing," she muttered.
"Are you mad because I left this morning?"
"Yeah," she admitted reluctantly.
"We can't be together ever second of every day, Tracy! You should know that," Brian looked down. "Honestly, I'm not ready for any kind of relationship right now. I just want to have fun. I don't know why I even started it."
Tracy started bawling when he confessed his feelings. She finally took a deep breath and uttered two words- "Get out."
Brian sighed, got up off of the floor and walked out of the room, letting the door slam behind him.
*9 AM The Next Morning*
"Yeah, I know what you mean, Tracy," Brian looked sideways at her while trying to open her room door. She was getting on his nerves rather quickly. It seemed like she wanted to be with him constantly. He somehow knew that the relationship would not last. The question floating in his mind was- When is it going to end?*At The Same Time*
AJ and Reggie had Kevin's wrists and ankles held tightly together with duct tape. To silence Kevin's expletives, they slipped some sleeping pills into his drink earlier. After they saw that he was truly knocked out, they got on the phone and called a private chopper to take him back to the States. AJ felt kind of guilty, but he quickly reminded himself that Kevin would do the same to him if he had thought of it first. They decided to tell the rest of the guys after Kevin had safely gotten across the vast ocean. More than likely, the others wouldn't have a problem with AJ's handiwork- Nick especially.*At The Same Time*
Joanna traced hypnotic circles on Howie's dark chest. They were propped up in bed between crisp white sheets, completely nude. She placed short achingly sweet kisses on his body, looked into his eyes and smiled deeply into his soul.*One Hour Later*
Nick laced his fingers through Nichole's and guided her to the octopus tank. He had his blue floppy hat on again to conceal his adorable face. His disguise worked so well, not even one teenage girl came up to him for an autograph. He loved his fans almost more than anything in the world, but he was glad for the alone time with Nichole.*A Few Hours Later*
"Hey, do you have any idea where Kevin ran off to?" Brian asked AJ. "I haven't seen him around for hours!"*At The Same Time*
Tracy threw another pillow against the wall, slumped down against it and cried hysterically. Nothing was going her way. She felt all alone and empty. Suddenly, she heard a noise coming from the living room. She sniffed, got up and listened for it again.
*At The Same Time*
Nichole and Nick laughed as Jason Biggs danced around the room for the web camera. They were on his bed, both lying on their stomachs, a blanket thrown over them and was watching American Pie. Every once in a while, their cold feet would touch part of the other's body. They were extremely happy, needless to say.*A Few Minutes Later*
Brian knocked on Tracy's door, hoping that she would still be awake. He put a smile on his face as the door opened.
