"Nick! Great game!" Justin said, as he passed Nick in the locker room. "Thanks man! But it was all you!" Nick replied as he finished getting dressed. "Nah, I couldn’t do it without y’all" Justin replied on his way to his locker. "Cuz the rules say you need five people out on the court" Nick joked. "Aw man! Don’t make me blush. I do need you guys" Justin said. "Oh get your fat ass outa here!" Nick shouted. "Yo man, can I talk to ya?" Justin asked, becoming more serious. "About what?" Nick asked. "Meg" "What about her?" "She’s hot" "…And do you remember your great girlfriend? The one any guy would die for… including me" Nick said. "What? You mean that when you have a girlfriend, you don’t think other girls are hot?" Justin asked. "I wouldn’t if Becky was my girl" Nick replied. "That’s not what I’m asking you" Justin said in an annoyed tone. "Well that’s my answer" Nick replied, taking his bag and walking out the door.
"Hey Nick" Becky said when he came into the hallway. "Hey Beck" Nick replied smiling. "Is Justin still in there?" She asked, nodding towards the locker room door. "Yea. Ya want me to keep you company until he comes out?" Nick asked. "Yea. I’d like that. Thanks" Becky replied, "So… how’s Cathy?" Becky asked. "Oh, we broke up last week" Nick informed, looking down at the ground. "Oh I’m sorry" Becky said, giving him a hug. "It’s ok, she was too demanding" Nick admitted. "Yea, she wasn’t your type, you deserve better than her" Becky said, comforting him. "Thanks Beck" Nick replied smiling. Justin came out of the locker room. "Get lost man" he said to Nick. "Justin, he was only keeping me company, be nice to him" Becky said. "No it’s alright, I gotta go anyway. See ya at the party" Nick said as he walked away.
Meghan was standing at the bar while Justin and Becky were dancing. ‘I’m gonna get him, no matter how hard I have to try’ she thought. "Can I get you something else miss?" the bartender asked. "No, no thanks" she replied coming out of her daze. "Hey Meg" Nick said as he came up to the bar. "Oh, hi Nick" she replied. "What were you staring at?" Nick asked. "Justin" she replied. "Oh, ya know he’s got a girlfriend" Nick informed. "Why is everyone telling me that? I know" Meghan said. " I just don’t wanna see Becky hurt if you go act kinky with him, cuz he’d act the same way back" Nick explained. "Really? I better get to work" she said walking over to Justin and Becky. "Hi guys! Are you having a good time?" Meghan asked. "Yea. It’s a great party!" Becky responded. "It’s only gonna get better" Meghan said, putting her hand on Justin’s butt. Justin smiled as he looked over at her. "Yea the night is still young" he said as Meghan gave a little squeeze. "You alright Justin?" Becky asked, noticing Justin’s changed expression. "Yea, I’m fine" he responded as Meghan moved his shirt and gently touched the small of his back with her fingertips. "Ok, I’m gonna go to the ladies room. I’ll be right back" Becky said leaving them alone.
"She’s so stupid. Why did she leave them alone together?" Nick asked himself out loud. "Son, who are you talking to?" the bartender asked. "Did that come out?" Nick said. The bartender nodded his head, "Are you having girl trouble?" he questioned. "No…she’s having guy trouble…but doesn’t know it yet, and I want to help her out of it" he replied as he watched Becky go into the bathroom. "Go talk to her then" the bartender suggested. "She went to the bathroom" Nick told him. "When she comes out" the bartender said. Nick looked over towards the dance floor and saw Justin and Meghan dancing dirty, "I think it’d be too late then" he said turning to the bartender. "I don’t know what to tell ya son…" "Yea…thanks for the talk…I gotta go" Nick said, walking over to the bathroom door to wait for Becky. When she came out Nick took her arm. "Hey Nick" Becky said. "Beck we need to talk" Nick said. "Why? What’s up?" she asked, becoming worried. "Justin and Meg are all over each other" Nick informed. Becky looked at Nick as she felt tears from in her eyes. "I’m so sorry Beck" Nick said. Becky put her head down, ‘I don’t want to cause a scene with me crying…’ she thought, taking Nick’s hand and leading him to the dance floor. "Come here" she said, pulling his body close to hers. "Becky what are you doing?" Nick asked, as they shimmied down. "Shut up and dance" she said, as they shimmied back up. Becky looked over at Justin and Meghan who were now making out in a booth. She looked back at Nick and pulled him into a passionate kiss. As they pulled away a big smile formed on Nick’s face. Becky looked deep into his eyes and started to cry. "Nick…" she cried, falling into his arms, "I’m so sorry. How could I be doing this to you?" she said sobbing. "Oh Beck. It’s ok" he said, rubbing her back. "No! It’s not ok, I was using you to make myself feel better" she said looking back into his eyes. "Come on, I’ll take you to your dorm" Nick offered. "No, I’ll call a cab" she said pulling away from him. "That’s crazy. I’ll take you home. Come on" he said, taking her hand. As they walked by the table that Justin and Meghan were occupying, a tear fell from Becky’s eye. "How could he do this to me?" she whispered. Nick let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulders, "He doesn’t deserve you, so don’t cry over him" he told her as they walked out to his car.
When Nick dropped Becky off he offered to stay with her for a little bit until she felt better, but she told him that she would be alright. When she got to her dorm she called Gabrielle, but got no answer. ‘Oh, yea she’s at Brian’s’ she thought as the answering machine came on. "Hey Gab. Give me a call when you get home. Thanks" she said, then hung up the phone, laid down on her bed, and cried herself to sleep. She awoke a few hours later to the ringing of the phone. "Hello?" she said, rubbing her eyes. "Hi Becky!" Gaby said cheerfully. "Hey Gab…" Becky replied. "What’s up? You sound glum" Gaby said, her cheerfulness fading. "It’s Justin. At the party…" she began as she started to cry again. "What happened?" Gaby asked, with concern in her voice. "He and Meg…were all over each other…when I was in the bathroom" Becky explained. "Oh, Beck I’m so sorry…" Gaby started. "Nick told me about it…then I…I…" Becky said, cutting Gaby off. "You what?" Gaby questioned. "I kinda…I used Nick to get back at Justin" "What? How could you do that to Nick? Do you have any idea how much you mean to him?" Gaby questioned. "…I feel bad for what I did…I mean, he was there so I took advantage…I apologized and he said that it was ok…but I still feel bad" Becky said. "Oh God, he’s such a sweetie isn’t he?…" Gaby said with a sigh. "I know…" Becky started, "I will be ok…I think…" she continued, changing the subject off of Nick. Gaby could hear Becky sniffling. "Don’t cry over him…he doesn’t deserve you if he could do that to you" Gabrielle said, trying to comfort her. "Nick told me the same thing. Damn you two are too much alike!" Becky said with a slight laugh. Gaby smiled, then she heard a knock on her dorm door. "Can you hang on Beck?" Gaby asked. "Yea…" she replied. Gabrielle got up and went to the door, and looked out the peep hole. She opened the door seeing Nick standing there. "Hi Nicky! Come on in" she said opening the door wider so he could pass, "I was just on the phone with Becky, can you hang on a sec?" she asked. "Yea" he replied as Gaby returned to the phone. "Beck, it’s Nick…I’ll talk to ya tomorrow…we’ll have lunch?" Gaby suggested. "Yea. And tell him I said that I was sorry again. And that I said hi" Becky said. "Ok, bye Beck" Gaby said before she hung up the phone. She turned to Nick. "She says hi and that she’s sorry" she said, sitting next to him on her bed. Nick smiled to himself, then looked down at the floor. "You ok Nick?" Gaby asked, lifting his head up, so she could look into his eyes. "I don’t know…I was driving around for awhile…just thinking" Nick said. "Did it hurt?" she joked. "Funny Gab, real funny…I’m serious…I don’t know what to do…" Nick said. "About what?" she questioned. "What is it like?…I mean you and Brian, how does it feel to be in love?" he asked, slightly changing the subject. "Being in love with Brian?… Words can’t describe it…it feels like magic. I want to spend every moment with him…and I think about him constantly, day and night, when we can’t be together, it hurts. And when we fight…I can’t stay mad at him for more than a minute…it’s…I don’t know…it’s perfection" she said, opening her eyes to find Nick smiling. "Why? You in love Nick?" she asked with a smile. "Uh huh" he said with a small smile. Gabrielle put her arm behind his back, "Good" she said.
"Gab?" Nick said, after a few moments of silence. "Yea?" she said looking up at him. "You’re my best friend, I know I can talk to you about anything…and I can trust you that you won’t say a word to anyone…" Nick said. Gaby nodded her head. "I think…that…I was the cause of the whole thing with Justin and Meghan" Nick confessed. "What?!" Gaby asked in disbelief. "Yea…Meg was at the bar…and it kinda slipped that if she started acting kinky with Justin, that he would act kinky with her…when she heard that, she went over and started flirting with him, and putting the moves on him" he explained. "Nick…" Gaby started. "But it’s not completely me. I believe that everything happens for a reason…" he began. "Me too, but…" Gaby said, cutting Nick off. "No let me finish…" Nick said, now cutting Gabrielle off, "In the locker room after the game, Justin said something about Meg…how hot he thinks she is…and I tried to tell him that he had a great girlfriend that was to die for…but he didn’t seem to think anything of it or that it was wrong to be having the feelings he was having for Meg. So I may have prompted Meg…but Justin wouldn’t have reacted the way he did if he truly loved Becky. Now I know what your thinking…that I’m wrong in this…but I thought about this practically the whole time I was driving around…" he said, letting out a big breath before he turned back to Gabrielle. "Nick, you really are a great guy, Justin is an asshole, you did the right thing. You may not have realized it, but you did" Gaby said, taking Nick’s hand and pulling him to his feet. Nick put his arms around Gaby’s waist and she put her arms around his neck, and gave him a hug. She kissed him on his cheek. "I love ya Nick" she said with a smile. "I love ya too Gab" he said, returning the smile. They pulled away and Nick returned to his seat on Gaby’s bed.
"Nick, tell her" Gaby said going over to the refrigerator. "Tell who? Tell what?" Nick asked. "Tell her that you love her…I’m guessing it’s Becky…tell her, she needs to hear it" she said grabbing two sodas. "I can’t" he replied. "Yes you can" Gaby said, handing him one of the cans. "Believe me, I’d like to…a whole lot…but it just seems wrong right now" he said looking down at the ground. "WRONG?! What time would be better? Nick open your eyes. Now is the time that she needs someone…she needs you, she needs you to tell her that she’s loved" Gaby said putting her hand on his shoulder. "I guess you’re right…I’ll try to tell her…thanks Gab, you’re the best. I should go now…me and Bri are gonna play some ball early tomorrow before class" Nick said getting up from the bed and walking to the door. "See ya tomorrow Nick" she said as he walked down the hall to the elevators.
