Set Up



Another month came and went. Nick was the last to arrive in California. And when he did arrive, everyone was already settled in. He wasn’t looking forward to recording. It was sometimes harder than touring. They always seemed to have to work on music and lyrics when they were the most exhausted.

He saw AJ first, sitting on the sofa with his headphones on. Nick gave the heads up to the lounging bandmate. AJ returned the gesture, then pulled the headphones down.

“Upstairs, first door on the left. And believe me, man, you ain’t gonna like what they put in there for you.” AJ said, in a voice that sounded much like he was half asleep.

“What do you mean by that?” Nick asked back. But AJ merely scoffed and closed his eyes, going back to his music.

Nick decided to pay AJ no attention and head up to his room. He went up the stairs and waved to Howie as he passed the first door on the right. Then he came to his door, on the left, and he did not hesitate to open it and head for the bed.

But, as AJ had prophesized, there was something there that he wouldn’t be too pleased with. Heather. She was lying on the bed in nothing but robe, which barely concealed her nude body. The few candles in the room were lit and created quite a romantic glow. The problem was that Heather was NOT someone he wanted to be romantic with.

In addition to the fact that his loathed enemy was laying in his bed, suggestive of sexual intentions… her ratty little dog came prancing around from the side of the bed. If there was anyone or anything he hated on the planet more than Heather, it was Antoinette. She trotted up to his feet and let out an annoying little bark. Nick just pushed her to the side with his foot and went over to the closet, throwing his bags inside.

“Look, I don’t know why you’re here. And I don’t care. Just get out of my room and let me get some rest. I’m not even in the mood to argue with you tonight.” He stated, and then he waited for her to get up, which was foolish. Anyone who knew Heather knew that when she had a goal, she sought after it with all of her power. And she would never leave so easily.

“Oh come on, I came here to talk to you. Human being to human being. So, let’s be civil, shall we?” She got up from the bed and walked over to him with a slow sway.

“We have nothing to talk about, Heather. And how the hell did you get in here anyway?” She sat back down on the corner of the bed and a look of sheer innocence grew on her face.

“You know, John is a very lonely man. And he’s very gullible. Just a wink from my eye and a twitch of my hips, and he led me to your room. Be sure to thank him in the morning.” She hissed, lying back on the mass of pillows adorning the head of the bed. It all came together now. John, their PR manager, would do just about anything for a woman he thought he had a chance with. She was right, Nick would definitely “thank” him in the morning… with foot up his ass.

“Alright. Because it’s late and I haven’t got the energy to tell you what’s really on my mind, I’m gonna let you talk. And yes, if I’m inclined to say something back, I will. Call it a civil conversation if you will, but I still hate you. And you might as well put some clothes on, because seeing you like that is doing the complete opposite of turning me on.” As he said this, he sat down on the bed and pulled his tennis shoes off, kicking them across the room. Heather took the opportunity to put on her humble façade.

She got out of the bed and sat on the floor. She then proceeded to pull Nick’s socks off for him. He pushed her away, but she only fought back for access to his feet.

“Look, stop playing these stupid fucking games, alright!” He shouted, smacking her hands out of the way. She only smacked his hands back, and harder.

“I’m not playing. I want to pamper you. So let me! Because you know that I won’t stop until I have my way, you stubborn bloke.” Nick gave her a cold look, and she only smiled back. He finally gave in, again, not awake enough to fight with her. And Heather, she was more alert than ever. She had to be. She had a plan in motion.

She took his socks off and started to massage his left foot. Nick just sat there, trying to make himself look like he didn’t enjoy it.

“See? That’s not so awful, is it?”

“You’re just trying to get in my good graces. And you can’t. But I will look at you as a person rather than the shit I see you as now if you admit that Ava and I rose above your moronic games.” She looked up at him, still massaging his foot.

“Alright. I admit it. You two beat me. And I am a miserable, disgraceful whore for trying to ruin your life. I’ve had all too much time to think about it, and I’m sorry Nickolas. I lost my head. At first, it was all about the money. But after I realized that there was nothing I could do to win, I started to miss you. Just you. You know, we never even got a chance to really understand one another. Do you think we could now? Do you think it feasible that we could put the past behind us and start anew?” She was running her fingers up and down his leg now, her soft touch causing goosebumps to rise on the surface of his flesh.

“Why should I believe anything you say?”

“Because! I’m tired of the lies and the trickery. I’m tired of the whole ‘eye for an eye’ deal between us. Nick, I just want to make things right. It’s been eating away at me for months now. Please don’t make vain my efforts to right my many wrongs. Besides, what could I possibly do to you now? No one cares about Ava anymore. No one care about the pregnancy rumors. And all of those silly magazines are all over Bush’s ever-inebriated daughter and her recent escapades. Nick, honestly, I’ve grown bored of trying to exploit you. All I want to do is make things up to you. Please allow me to do that.” Nick was torn. One part of him felt that she was still a lying snake and would always be. Another part of him acknowledged the fact that Heather never begged or humbled herself… so maybe she was telling the truth.

“Ok, you get one more chance. Just one. I swear, if you cross me, you will regret it.” Nick assured her. And Heather swore to him that she wouldn’t do anything to mess up her last chance.

“So, how is Ava?” She asked, massaging his right foot now.

“Like I’m going to discuss Ava with you… you must be kidding.” He said, getting up and going to the closet to get a change of clothes.

“Sorry. Forgot that she’s forbidden conversational territory. Won’t happen again.” Heather answered back, facetiously.

“Damn straight, it won’t.” Nick said, taking his shirt off and putting a wife-beater on in its place.

“I never told you this, but I’m sort of psychic… in a sense. I can detect when someone is troubled, and what’s troubling him or her. And I detect that you’re troubled because management doesn’t want you to have anything to do with that baby. Especially because Ava’s so young and it was denied for so long. And you… you almost want to keep the baby and play Daddy as well as Hubby to Ava. I get the feeling that the whole situation confuses you. And you feel as though you’re too young to have to make such big decisions.” Nick sat on the bed and remained quiet. It was eerie, for all that she said was absolutely true.

“You wish that you could return to a more simplistic lifestyle. You wish that you could return to the times when you didn’t have to stay attached to one girl. The times when you didn’t have to worry about fatherhood.” She started to rub his back, paying special attention to the muscles in his shoulder area.

“It’s ok, Nickolas. I understand. I can see it in you just as plain as if it were written all over your face. I’ll tell you what… tomorrow we’ll go out. We’ll just do whatever you want to do. You’ve got to get your mind off of your troubles. So--- is that ok with you?” She asked, leaning her head down dangerously close to his face.

“Yeah, it’s cool.” Nick answered blindly. He was too spellbound by the fact that she analyzed his whole situation so well that he failed to think about what Heather may or may not have up her sleeve.

~*~*~*~*~*~


The next day Nick and Heather went out on the town. They went to eat breakfast. Then they went shopping. And after that they went to a small amusement park to ride some cheap rides and finish the rest of the day having childish fun.

At one point in time Heather pulled Nick toward a picture booth and begged him to take some goofy pictures with her like so many people did in movies. So they both went in and made stupid faces at the camera as it flashed. They did this a total of 4 times, thinking of something more immature to do each time. This gave them a total of 4 strips of pictures.

After they arrived back at the beach house, Nick went into the basement with the guys to work on the lyrics of a song. And Ava, she went up to his room and started a letter. This was no ordinary letter. This was a letter to Jason. And it was a fake letter. And he was expecting it.

She wrote in this letter that she and Nick were having fun and that she was so happy he decided to give her another chance. She also included one of the picture strips of them. With that, she went out to the mailbox and dropped the sealed envelope inside.

Three days letter, Jason received the letter, as planned. He didn’t even have to read it, he just opened it to make it look like he’d read it) and stuffed it in his back pocket. Then he went to Myah’s parents house, where he knew she would be on her last day before school started again and she’d have to drive back to Georgia.

He rang the bell and luckily, she answered the door. She looked shocked to see him, then annoyed. She remembered all too well how he had hooked up with Heather and plotted against Ava and Nick.

“What do you want?” She asked with scorn in her gaze.

“I was wondering if you could tell me how to contact Ava. I really need to talk to her.” Jason said, sounding as sincere as he possibly could.

“Why? To make her life more complicated than it already is?” She was about to shut the door on him, but Jason held it open with his hand and proceeded to explain.

“No… it’s not like that. I’ve felt like shit run over twice since she left. And I never got a chance to apologize. Nick has forgiven Heather, and I was hoping that Ava would forgive me too.” He whined.

“Nick did what?!?!” She shouted.

“He forgave Heather. They’re hanging out together in Cali right now. She wrote me letter and told me about the whole thing.” He reached in his pocket and handed it to Myah. She snatched it from his hand and read the letter, then she saw the pictures of Nick and Heather staring into the camera. There were five pictures on that strip, and on the last picture Heather was kissing Nick on the cheek and Nick was making a surprised face. Myah took it seriously than it was meant to be and slammed the door in Jason’s face. She then ran up to her room and got on the phone, dialing Ava of course. This was precisely what Heather and Jason had planned for. Once Myah called Ava, the first domino would tip over.

“Hello, Ava?”

“Hey, Myah! Girl, I was just thinking about calling you---“ Ava was cut off when Myah started telling her the story that Jason had just fed her. She described the pictures and everything. Ava felt like her heart would explode. Heather and written vaguely so it wasn’t clear if Nick had given her another chance to be his girlfriend, or his friend. Of course, Ava assumed that he meant girlfriend.

She told Myah that she’d call her back. And seconds after she hung up, she dialed Nick’s cell phone.

“Hello?” He answered.

“Is she there with you???” Ava panted. Nick wasn’t sure exactly what Ava meant.

“Is who here with me?” He asked. Heather heard this and made it her business to call him so that Ava could hear her voice in the background.

“Who’s that, sweetness?” She asked, and Ava did hear. What Ava did not see was Nick push Heather away and walk out of the room.

“So it’s true. You are back with her. I’m sitting, just about confined to my room, fat with your kid… and you’re living it up with Heather. That’s sweet of you, Nick. Real fucking sweet.” She slammed the phone on the hook, and the second she did, the baby gave her a swift kick and she buckled over in slight pain.

Nick didn’t bother to think that her hormones were all over the place due to the pregnancy. He didn’t bother to think about how she was naturally cranky and he should just leave it alone until she was calmed down. He only bothered to think about how out of line she was calling him and yelling without asking him what was going on first.

He called back to try and get things figured out. Heather answered, and now she was not only cranky but also irritated by the recent kick.

“Don’t fucking call here again, Nick.” And she hung up again. Nick was furious now. How could Ava be so rash. Why didn’t she just talk to him like a sensible person should. The stress already on his back was worsened with this, and it all prevented him from thinking straight. All he could focus on was the fact that he needed a break from responsibility, including Ava and the baby. Unfortunately for Nick, Heather was there to provide that break.

~*~*~*~*~*~


A few weeks passed and Ava and Nick were still playing the silent cards on each other. Just to fuel the fire, there was a European Music Awards show and the guys were booked to present and perform. Because Heather had been his buddy lately, he felt obligated to invite her. Heather counted on this.

She found the most ravishing dress in her wardrobe. The highest heals, and she got the most skilled hair and make-up stylists in Paris to deck her out for the awards show. On Nick’s arm, one had to admit that they looked like quite a cute couple.

Ava was flipping through the channels when she stopped on MTV2. There they were. Coming down the red carpet right behind Kevin and Kristen. Ava just sat there watching in complete shock. She couldn’t believe that the man who claimed to love her so much would be in Paris (of all places) with Heather (of all people) while she sat at home, unable to go anywhere or do anything.

She was just about to turn the television off when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She started to breathe deeply to help relieve her own pain. She thought maybe they were just the typical contractions all pregnant women have around that time… just to stretch the womb. But then she realized that this was no ordinary contraction.

Another one hit her and she yelped a little. She tried to get up on her feet, but she opted not to just yet.

“Mom!” She yelled out, then returned to her breathing.

“Yeah, honey?” Carol said as she ascended the basement stairs.

“Something’s....... not...... right.” She puffed between deep breaths. Carol rushed over to the sofa and helped her daughter up onto her feet. She led her toward the door. As they left the house, Carol hit the power button on the TV turning it off. Ava would never forget the last image she saw before Carol closed the door. Heather by Nick’s side... both smiling.


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