"Nope. One minutes she went to the restroom, and the next she's gone," Nichole shrugged and threw some popcorn in her mouth.
"You didn't wait for her?"
"I went to check on her after 10 minutes! I figured she came here. Hey, isn't this band Westlife? I've heard so much about this group!" Nic exclaimed, changing the subject rapidly.
"Yeah. Hey Nic, can I ask you a question?" Dan looked puzzled. "What do you do when your girlfriend starts getting on your nerves?"
"Well, there are two obvious solutions: break up or talk to her about it. I think you'd get lot accomplished if you chose the latter."
"I guess you're right," Dan took a drink of Pepsi. "I need to call Cath...how about catching a cab back to the hotel? I have a feeling it's gonna be a long call."
"Um, okay," Nic was a bit taken aback. "I guess I'll see you whenever then. I'm busy tomorrow so we won't have time to spend together."
"Okay, that's fine," Dan was already dialing Cath's number. "See you later, Nic."
Nichole's eyes swelled with tears as she fumbled with the door knob. It seemed like everyone was stepping on her all the time. She had come to England to see Dan and here he was pushing her away. She sniffed as tears freely ran down her face and walked down the steps and into the street. It was well past 1 am, so she knew getting a cab would be extremely difficult. It was drizzling now, just enough rain falling to be annoying. She sighed and started walking back to the hotel, figuring she'd be there by 4 am.
At about 2:30 am, she sat down on the curb and started to cry heavily. She had been trudging down the street for over an hour, in semi-darkness and it had started to pour again. She was soaked to the bone, shivering and cursing everyone that had screwed her over in the past year. Cradling her head in her hands, she promised herself that she'd be less understanding to Tracy and Dan in the future. She sneezed and decided to get up and continue walking. Headlights illuminated her, but not a single car stopped to offer her assistance. It was another hour before she stopped in front of the Hyatt, drenched, sneezing, and freezing. She opened the door herself, since the doorman was off duty, and walked through the lobby, leaving puddles of water everywhere. The desk clerks gave her inquiring looks, but she brushed them off, eager to get out of the wet clothes and into a warm bed.
She stepped off of the elevator, now shivering uncontrollably. Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew her room key, but because of her trembling, she was unable to fit the card into the slot in the door. Sighing, she rested her head against the door and willed Tracy to get her butt out of bed and come open the door for her. But, it wasn't Tracy that came to her rescue.
"Excuse me," a male voice interrupted her prayers. "Are you alright? Do you need some help?"
Nic slowly opened her eyes and glanced sideways," Yeah, actually I do. Hey, you look familiar!"
"Well, you look familiar too! Now where do I know you?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Oh yes, you were sitting in the front row tonight, or shall I say last night?"
"Yeah, I was. Oh! I know who you are...Tim Berkebile! You're the drummer for the Backstreet Boys!"
"Yes, ma'am. That's me! So, you're having problems huh?" he grinned.
"Yeah, I am. My fingers are kind of frozen, so I can't get this stupid plastic thing into the slot," she smiled sheepishly.
"Well, I bet I can help you with that,...Miss..." he raised an eyebrow.
"Nic," she shook her head slightly as water droplets fell from her hair. "Nichole. My name is Nichole."
"Ah. Miss Nic, huh?" he smiled as if he knew a coveted secret. "Well, give me your key and I'll have the door open in seconds."
"Here, take it," she handed him the card and watched him fiddle with it for a second before the door opened.
"There you go Miss Nic. It's been a pleasure assisting you this morning. Now go on in and get warm," he patted her back.
"Thank you, Mr. Berkebile," she sneezed as a chill shot through her.
"Gon on now! You're going to be sick! Do you have someone to take care of you?"
She thought for a moment, dismissing Tracy and Dan and finally uttered a small "no".
"Well! I'll have someone check on you around noon okay?"
"Okay, thanks again," she smiled. "See you later."
"Okay. Bye Sweetie," he left her doorway as soon as she got inside and locked it.
He walked down the hall to his own room, whistling and in very good spirits. He knew without a doubt that this was the girl that had bewitched Nick, his favorite backstreet boy. So, he's going to make it possible for them to meet by making Nick check on a "sick fan" at noon today. He knew Nick would do it since he's gota soft heart, regardless of the plans he's got at an aquarium thing. He opened the door to his room and called out," Honey, you won't believe this!".
"What is it, Tim?" Mindy (the only female in the backstreet band) asked...emerging from the bedroom, clad only in a sheet.
Tim smiled gleefully," I've found Nick's soulmate!"
"What?" Nic's head jerked up and looked around wildly. "Is everything alright?"
"Nic? Are you okay?" Tracy asked, shocked by her behavior. " You're still in bed, so I thought I'd check on you since you hardly ever sleep late."
"Yeah, I'm okay," she hardened her tone. "It's so nice of you to be concerned about my welfare. And the reason I'm trying to sleep late? I had to walk for hours last night to get back here!"
"Why didn't you call a cab?"
"When you abandoned me, I thought you had went to Dan's house, so I went over there. I spent a little time with him before he kicked me out. It was late, too late to get a cab, so I walked in the rain for hours. Now, if you'd please leave me alone, I'd like to sleep!" with that said, she turned her back on Tracy and shut her eyes.
Tracy felt tremendous guilt seep through her veins as she left Nic's room. Nic didn't even ask for an explanation and Tracy finally realized why...she was tired of Tracy bailing on her all the time and listening to her lies. She sat on the couch in the living room, just sitting and not doing anything else except stare blankly at the tv screen.
"Okay, Nick," Brian sighed. "Just this one time...and remember you owe me big time!"
"Hey, ya'll," Howie strolled into the bedroom. "Whatcha doing?"
"Nick just coerced me to visit a sick girl and check on her to see if she needs anything," Brian said. "Tim seems to have run into her last night or something and took an immediate kinship with the girl. He would check on her himself, but he's going with the rest of the band to Kent to see Tommy's mother."
"So, why are you going instead of Nick?"
"I already have plans," Nick spoke up. "I can't be plagued by a sick little girl. Wait. That didn't come out right. That sounded really harsh."
"You got that right, Frack," Brian rolled his eyes. "What if this little girl loves you or something? Couldn't you be late to your little aquarium adventure?"
"Brian, what if this is my destiny?" Nick raised his eyebrows. "What if I find the woman of my dreams at the aquarium? For some odd reason, I have a feeling that I'm going to run into the record store girl today. What if it's at the aquarium?"
Brian gave a little laugh and looked at his watch, "Frack, you better go if you want to meet Destiny on time!"
"Oh man, I'm gonna be late!" Nick hurried around the room and grabbed his stuff. "Tell that little girl that I'll stop by tonight...and I mean it."
"Okay, Nick. Have fun!" Brian yelled at his retreating form. "Hey Howie, where's Joanna?"
"Sh's hiding. She thought that if she saw you, she'd kill you for interrupting us the other day, so she decided to make herself scarce," Howie laughed.
"But she saw me last night," Brian looked confused. "Why didn't she say something then?"
"Because you were around people constantly last night."
"Oh, okay. Well, I'd better go check on the sick girl," Brian looked at his watch again. I'll see you in a little bit."
"Okay," Howie was already out the door. "I'm going to go and referee Kevin and AJ, as much as I loathe the idea."
"Oh damn," Brian groaned. "They're at it too? Kevin had better straighten up or he's gonna have a lot of enemies!"
"Yeah, tell me about it! Everyone is getting on everybody's nerves. I'll be glad when it's all over," Howie looked forlorn. "I'm getting tired of getting stuck in the middle. I never get into any brawls. It's kind of disappointing. Anyway, Joanna'd kill me if I got into a fight! Anyway, I'd better go before limbs are detached."
"Bye Howie!" Brian called out. He looked down at the piece of paper with a room number on it and saw that it was on his floor. He decided to go ahead and visit the girl, so he locked up, walked down the hall and found her room. Pausing in front of the door, he took a deep breath and knocked.
Tracy opened the door to find Brian standing there with a bowl in his hands. "Hey Brian! What are you doing here?"
"Tracy! What a surprise! I didn't know this was your room. Um, are you sick? Oh, no! Wait! Is your friend Nichole still sick? I know you can't be sick since you were with me last night." Brian grinned and peered inside, saw Nichole and gave a little wave.
"Well, yeah. Kind of," Tracy said. "How'd you know?"
"I'm a Backstreet Boy. I know everything! No, Tim ran into her early this morning...said she was soaking wet, freezing, and on the verge of pnuemonia, so I decided to come and see about her since Tim had plans today. I had no idea that it was your friend! Strange, huh?" Brian pushed his way inside.
"Yeah, strange," Tracy felt guilt...and then resentment because Brian was paying attention to Nic now instead of her.
Nichole walked into the living room, snatched the bowl out of Brian's hands and greeted him by saying," You two obviously know each other. Perhaps it was a little tryst that motivated Tracy to abandon me last night, huh?"
"What?" Brian looked shocked. "You were sick last night...that's why you didn't go backstage to meet Nick."
"Uh, no. Do you honestly think that I'd actually miss a chance to finally meet him? I guess not...You don't know my feelings toward him. I got sick when I had to walk back to the hotel at 1 am in the cold rain because I thought my best friend was at my friend Dan's house. But now I know that she went backstage to be with you and left me out in the arena for 20 minutes, not knowing where she was," Nichole was now crying freely since she finally knew the reason behind Tracy's betrayal.
"Nichole, I swear I didn't know that! She told me you were sick..." Brian trailed off when Nichole's face hardened.
"Yeah. And of course you believed her," she looked at her watch. "Well, what do you know...I missed my appointment thanks to the both of you."
"Look, I'm sorry Nichole," Brian was twisting his hands together and then looked up sharply. "Appointment? Um, what kind, if you don't mind my asking?" With all the confusion and weirdness going on, he was hoping that she had an appointment to meet Nick today.
"To go to the aquarium, not that it's any of your business," she looked at Brian with all the hurt and anger she was feeling...fully showing in her huge brown eyes.
"Um. were you going to meet someone?" Brian was inwardly praying.
"I don't know. I had a feeling I would. The front desk clerk, Lucy, gave me a pass for today. She just said that I had to be there at noon today to get in. That's all," she shrugged.
"Oh, okay. I see," Brian had finally pieced the puzzle together. Lucy knew about Nick and Nichole, so she decided to play matchmaker...and so did Tim he realized. And now Brian screwed it up by agreeing to Nick's little proposal. If he had left Brian out of it, he would have finally gotten to meet Nichole at noon today, regardless of the place. When Nick comes home this evening, I'm going to force him to visit the 'sick little girl' , Brian thought.
Nichole sniffed, bringing Brian out of his daze. He looked around and noticed that Tracy was in her room lying across the bed. As much wrong as she had bestowed upon her best friend, he still felt the need to comfort her. Nichole saw him look pitifully at Tracy. rolled her eyes and headed to her room. Brian saw her and called out to her.
"Please stay here today and rest, alright Nichole? Tim is worried about you. Someone will some to see you this afternoon and I think you'd want to be here. So, eat some soup and just chill today," he glanced at Tracy's room again. "I'm going to see if she's okay and tell her what she did was wrong. I hope you feel better, Nic."
"I will once I get home and away from all of these two faced people," she replied bitterly. "The only thing that could make me happy would be if Prince William came to my door this afternoon and asked me to marry him."
"Somehow, I don't think that's the only thing that would make you happy," Brian laughed.
"Yeah, well. You take what you can. I'm going to bed. Take Tracy with you. I don't want her here," she sniffed, threw the soup into the kitchen and turned her back to Brian.
"Honestly, I don't blame you. Anyway, get some rest. I'll do what I can. We're going to be seeing alot of each other I believe."
"Well, I think you're wrong. I'm going to try my damndest to stay away from Tracy and since you're attached at the hip to her, I'll be staying away from you also," she turned around and scowled at him.
"I like your spunk. I know someone else that will too. I'll be around. Trust me," with that, he grinned slyly and walked into Tracy's room and closed the door.
Nichole clenched her fists and threw a potted plant against the wall. That action immediately made her feel better. She could not stand smartasses, even though she considered herself one also. She hated that she missed the aquarium adventure. She felt for sure that she was going to see someone of importance there. She shrugged, went to her room and flopped down on the bed. She couldn't sleep...she was too worked up, so she spent the quiet time daydreaming about kicking Tracy in the knees and marrying Nick Carter...all in the same day. She relaxed and fell asleep with a smile on her face.
"You have no idea where she went?" Dan stared incredulously.*Later That Morning*
Tracy opened the door to Nichole's room and peeked in. It was 9 am and she had just gotten back from her rendezvous with Brian. She shuffled over to the bed and looked down at the sleeping form. Reaching out, she touched Nichole's shoulder and shook it slightly.*11:30 am*
"Please Frick ?" Nick pleaded. "I'll do anything!"*At The Same Time*
Nichole groaned as she pushed back the covers and got out of bed. She looked at the clock and saw that it was almost noon. She was going to be late to her aquarium appointment. Trudging into the bathroom, she took a look in the mirror and gasped in horror. Her hair was shooting out in many directions, mascara was streaked down her face and her teeth looked and felt crusty. She washed her face, brushed her hair and threw it into a ponytail and brushed her teeth in record time. Now for her attire...she had on flannel shorts and a white T shirt. She really didn't feel like getting out and doing stuff, but something was telling her that she HAD to go. SO, she walked into her room and chose jeans and a clean T shirt. After she was dressed, she shuffled into the living room and found Tracy watching tv. She didn't quite know how to act around her, so she kind of ignored her and went into the kitchen to get coffee. Then she heard a knocking at the door. She looked at Tracy, who was already on her way to answer it.
