The Date



Nick went up to Shannon’s apartment and knocked on the door. He waited for just a few seconds before she opened it. She invited him to come in until she could get her purse. Nick did and stood in the living room until she returned. Once she had her purse, she took his arm and they left her place.

Nick drove them to a local Chinese restaurant he knew of. When he parked, he got out of his car and went to the other side to open the door for her.

“Thank you.” She said, smiling from ear to ear. He nodded and held her hand as they went into the restaurant. The matre'd checked for his reservations, then seated them. They both looked over the English menus and Shannon ordered first.

“I’ll have the sweet and sour chicken over rice, and stir fried vegetables.” The waiter wrote down her order.

“And what will you have to drink?” He asked.

“Well, I’ll have a margarita now. Chocolate around the glass, not salt. And green tea with the meal.” She quickly reached into her purse and showed him her ID, knowing he would ask for it anyway. The waiter wrote down her beverage choice then looked at Nick.

“I’ll have the same.” He looked at his date and she smiled. The waiter bowed traditionally then left the table.

“So, tell me more about yourself. The only thing I know about is that you have a daughter.” She said, resting her arms on the table so that she could lean in closer. This was an obvious sign of interest.

“Well, my daughter’s name is Nicole Selena. But we all just call her Selena or Sel. She’s 6, and she’s a little genius. Every day she amazes me with something new. Without her, I don’t know where I’d be.” He said sincerely.

“Would I be out of line if I asked about her mother?” Shannon asked, leaning in more. Nick shook his head.

“No, you wouldn’t be out of line. I was married to her mother. But I was unfaithful to her. We separated over a year ago and the divorce was finalized last winter.” He explained. Even though he had only just met Shannon earlier that week at the mall, he felt better actually saying that he was unfaithful to Rianna and that the marriage was over. It was truly over. His burden was lifted.

“God, I’m sorry, Nick.” Her faces saddened and she placed her hand on top of his.

“It’s quite alright. We just weren’t meant to be.” The waiter returned with their drinks. They both tasted them and then continued to talk.

“So, what do you do?” Nick was relieved that she had no earthly idea who he was.

“I was in the music industry. But I’m thinking about getting away from it.”

“Music industry? What exactly did you do in that field?” She still had no idea.

“I sang with a group. The Backstreet Boys?” When she heard him say the name of the group, she looked deeper into his eyes and recognized him.

“I knew that I had seen you somewhere before. That’s amazing.” She said. Good, she didn’t freak out on him. The last thing he needed was to see a girl who was obsessed with his occupation. He hated talking about himself already as it was.

“I feel stupid for not recognizing you before. It’s just that your face... you look different. Not older, just different.” She said. He had changed. He had allowed his facial hair to grow a little more and his style of dress was different.

“Enough about me, tell me about you.” He said, changing the subject purposely.

“Well, I’m just trying to make my dream come true. I wanna be a shrink, simply put.” Their hands parted when the waiter brought their food to the table. They basically focused on their meal and didn’t talk much until after the meal.

Nick decided it might be fun to catch a late movie. So they walked just a couple of blocks down the street to the movie theater. Shannon suddenly saw a movie poster with Rianna on it. She knew that Nick Carter had married and divorced Rianna, and now that she was on a date with Nick Carter, she didn’t want him to see that poster. She wasn’t sure of how he’d react.

She was right about keeping his eyes off of it. He had no idea Rianna was in a movie with Mark. She led him right up to the ticket distributor and he scanned the movies on the time board.

“What’s The Insider?” Nick asked, both Shannon and the kid behind the glass. Shannon stayed quiet and let the kid tell him.

“Are you kidding? That’s one of the biggest movies of this summer! It’s a cool FBI flick, lots of action. Vin Diesel’s in it.... Russell Crowe.... Edward Norton....Halle Berry.... oh, and Rianna Ramon’s in it too. She’s hot!” The kid said with a grin. Nick stepped back and looked at the posters on the outside wall. There she was. She was standing with Mark, his arm around her waist. Nick felt a little jolt of pain in his heart seeing her with him. They were working together now. But he looked at Shannon standing by his side.

“You had no idea, did you?” She asked, placing both her hands on his shoulder. He turned away from the picture and looked down at the sidewalk.

“Nah, I’m ok. She’s happy, I’m happy. Everything’s cool.” She touched his face with her soft fingers and made him look down at her.

“You sure everything’s alright?” Nick nodded and went back into the theater. He bought two tickets for The Insider and they went in to watch the movie.

One hundred and thirty-seven minutes later, Nick and Shannon walked out of the theater along with all the other movie-goers. Nick was quite satisfied with the film. He even sat through Mark and Rianna’s love scene with no anger.

“I think you did well.” Shannon said, patting his chest as they left. She as well as any other young woman knew how hard Nick’s divorce was. It was always in the magazines. She was just happy that he was over it.

Nick took her back home and walked her to her apartment door. They stood there quiet for a while and did nothing but look at each other. Finally, Nick broke the painful silence.

“I had a good time tonight. And I’d love to see you again, Shannon.” She looked around as though she had to think about it, but finally said yes. Nick took her face in his hands and kissed her. He felt it was the right moment and the perfect time. So he did what he felt was appropriate. When the sweet slow kiss ended, she smiled and opened her apartment door.

“Goodnight, Nick.” Shannon tapped the tip of his nose with her finger tip, then closed the door. Nick lingered in the hallway for a few seconds, then made his way to the elevator.

At home, Selena was in bed, but she was sitting up wide awake. Her tiny fingers busy with gimp. When she heard the alarm beep, she knew Nick had just came in through the garage. She got up from bed and ran into the hallway. He entered the house and payed Chloe. She left and he looked up the stairs, knowing Selena would be up and waiting for him. He wasted no time in going to see his daughter.

“How did it go, Daddy?” She asked, face turning pink from excitement.

“Well, we went to dinner. Then we went to see you mother’s new movie. Which you conveniently failed to tell me about.” He swooped her up into his arms and carried her back to bed. Selena, who had her arms around his neck, poked out her bottom lip and frowned.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d wanna see it.” She said as he put her down on her bed.

“Well it was good. And I didn’t have an anxiety attack seeing them together, either.” He said with pride. Then he tucked her into bed.

“Does this mean that you and Mommy and Mark can all be friends now?” Nick looked down at her young innocent face. He took her glasses off and put them on the shelved headboard.

“I think so, sweetie. Now, go to bed.”


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