“Thank you, Orlando!” The crowd cheered wildly as the Boys took their final bow. Leighanne and I smiled at each other as we watched Nick and Brian goofing off on the stage. Nick ran off of the stage, picked me up, and spun me around. I kissed the tip of his nose:
“Ew! Sweaty!” He grinned:
“You know you love it.” I giggled:
“Not really. Could you please put me down now?” He shook his head:
“Nope. I’m taking you hostage in my dressing room.” He threw me over his shoulder and started walking down to his dressing room. I looked up at AJ who was standing there laughing:
“Help me please?” He laughed harder:
“Sorry, Kate. You’re on your own.” I glared evilly:
“What good are you?” All of the sudden, Denise appeared from around the corner:
“Nickolas, put her down! Now! I need to talk to her.” I slapped his butt:
“You heard the woman!” Nick reluctantly set me down on my feet and turned to AJ:
“Come on. Let’s go bug my family.” AJ shook his head, smiling, and followed Nick. I turned to Denise:
“What’s up?” She motioned for me to follow her and we went into another room and sat down:
“Well, as you know, the guys just added a second leg of the tour and I was wondering if you wanted to go along again.” I sighed:
“I would love to. Really, I would. But I can’t. I can’t take another semester off if I have any hope of graduating on time. As it is, I already have to double up on classes because of this semester.” She smiled:
“I understand, Kate.” I closed my eyes and leaned my head back on the chair:
“I just hope Nick will.”
Nick and I drove back to his house in relative silence. I had no idea that he had been listening to my conversation with Denise and now he wasn’t speaking to me.
We got home and we walked ahead of me inside the house. I shut the door and followed him into the kitchen:
“You’re awful quiet.” He shrugged:
“Not much to say. You don’t want to be with me on tour, so what else can I say?” I sat down:
“So that’s what this is about.” He went to let his dogs out:
“Look, we’re both really tired and I don’t feel like doing this now. Let’s just talk about this in the morning before we say something we regret.” I sighed and went upstairs. After changing and washing up, I climbed into bed. I was fast asleep before Nick even came up.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
I woke up the next morning to an empty bed. I stumbled down the stairs and saw Nick in the kitchen making coffee:
“Morning.” He looked up:
“Hey. You want some?” I shook my head and made a disgusted face. He smiled slightly:
“Forgot. You hate coffee.” We were both quiet for a minute before I spoke up:
“Nick, can we talk about this please?” He shrugged:
“What else is there to say? You already made your decision. What I think obviously doesn’t matter.” I sighed:
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be. You know perfectly well that I would go in a heartbeat if I could. I just can’t. I have to go back to school.” He slumped down in the chair across from me:
“Well, I guess that’s it then. I don’t want to do this if I can’t actually be with you.” I whispered:
“What…what are you saying?” He looked away from my tear-filled eyes:
“You know what I’m saying.” I stared at him in shock for a minute before I ran up the stairs. I threw myself on the bed, crying my eyes out for a few minutes, before coming to a decision.
An hour or so later, I came downstairs with all of my stuff. Nick walked into the front hall:
“You’re leaving?” I sighed: “There’s no reason for me to stay. You made yourself clear, Nick. You don’t want to make this work if it has to be long-distance. No sense in staying here and prolonging the inevitable. I was able to get a flight out this afternoon.” He looked away from me, afraid that I would see him cry:
“At least let me drive you to the airport.” I shook my head:
“I called a cab. No need to make this harder than it already is.” I heard a horn honk outside:
“That’s my ride.” I walked up to Nick and threw my arms around his neck:
“Bye Nick.” I kissed him gently:
“I love you.” I gathered all of my stuff and walked out the front door. He whispered after I shut the door:
“I love you too.”