The boys left the city at 9 pm and arrived in the other at 2 am. They all went to sleep in their new hotel room. Brian and Nick decided to joined at 10am to go shoot some hoops.
When it was time, Brian got dressed and walked in the quiet hall ways. Before to join Nick in his room, he decided to check if Kevin was alright. He knew he wasn't probably sleeping because since the fight that he had with Kristin, he wasn't able to sleep. He knocked on the door and heard Kevin's voice.
"What is it???" he said a little rudly.
"It's Brian... " he said softly. Then he heard Kevin walking and opened the door. "Hey" Brian said looking at Kevin's face. He was looking so tired and his eyes were all puffy.
"Hey..." he replied sadly.
"Are you feeling alright?" Brian asked, knowing what the answer would be.
"Yeah..sort of..."
"I'm really sorry Kev!" he said patting his cousin in the back. "Do you want to change your mind and come play some basket ball???"
"No...thank you! I'll get over it! Don't worry!" Kevin said with a little smile.
"Okay... well if you finally want to come, I'll be with Nick in the gym!" Brian said leaving.
"Alright! Thanks!" Kevin replied closing the door.
Brian walked to Nick's room thinking about his cousin. Everything was going wrong these days! First, there was this thing about Kevin and Kristin... the fans already knew it and were supportive but Kevin's spirit was really bad. And there was now Rachel and Nick. They weren't talking to each other since a day. It wasn't a lot but it was enough to make tension in the crew. And then Leighanne's call!!! He was so upset when he heard her voice. And now he was stressing! He didn't know how everything would work out when he'd see her again. "Damnit!" he thought. "Why it has to be that way!?!?"
"What are thinking about?" Nick asked. Brian didn't see him opened the door.
"Oh nothing! Ready to play?" Brian asked.
"Yup let's go!!" Nick shouted as the 2 friends left for the gym.
When they arrived there, they were alone. No one was there, everything was quiet.
"It' better that way! We won't have some fans bothering us!" Nick said.
"Yeah!" Brian laughed. "Ok let's play!!"
The 2 friends played one game. Brian was jumping and running all the time. He was really into the game and when it came at the end, Nick asked him what was bugging him.
"How do you know something's bugging me?" Brian asked surprises.
"Because I know you and you always act like this when something is buggind ya!" Nick said proudly.
"Ok!!" Brian laughed.
"So???"
"Oh well...a lot of things are bugging me these days!!" Brian said shooting the ball.
"It's Leighanne right??" Nick asked.
"How do you know that????" Brian said even more surprise.
"I know everything...I'm the king of the world!!!!" he replied imiting Jack in Titanic what made Brian burst out laughing.
"No...really... how do you know?"
"Amber told me about it..." Nick said. He didn't know if he had to tell everything she asked him about so he kept talking. "You're angry that she called you?"
"No ... well...not really! I was really surprised!! I don't know...it's really weird! I'm scared of how things will turn out next week when I'll see her again! I just don't want to have a fight like Kevin had..." he said lost in his thoughts.
"Hey Rok! Don't worry about it! It's not like you guys just broke up..it's was like...7 months ago so I'm sure it'll work fine! And you two aren't the kind of people that would scream at each other." Nick said sincerely.
"Yeah it's true..."
"And even when you broke up you didn't have a fight! When she called you...did she sounds angry or something?" Nick asked taking the ball the shooting it in the basket.
"No, not at all! She was really sweet, almost shy!"
"Then, don't worry about it man! Everything will go fine! Anyway, you're just picking up Tyke! If you don't feel alright, just tell her that you really have to go to join us!" Nick said.
"Yeah! Thanks man!" Brian said looking at Nick. "Aahh Tyke...I can't wait to see him again!!!!" he added suddently all smile.
"It was hard not having him with you?" Nick asked.
"So much! I missed him a lot!!" Brian said thinking of his dog. It was the first time he wasn't having it with him. And it was for a long long time.
"Great! You'll have him back!"
"Yeah!!! So tell me... why aren't you talking to Rachel???" Brian asked changing the subject of the conversation.
"Huh??"
"Well... it was obvious you two had a fight or something... you weren't talking to each other yesterday!!" Brian said giggling at Nick's reaction.
"Hum...yeah... we didn't really had a fight...I just... stopped her again..." Nick said feeling guilty.
"Again? God I think she really wants you man!!!" Brian said laughing.
"I know!!!" Nick said laughing too. "I just can't believe it! She's all over me, and I love her but I don't wanna have sex cause I don't wanna hurt her...but by doing this, I hurt her even more!!! That's unbelievable!"
"Nick??" Brian asked giggling.
"What???"
"Why don't you talk to her about that??? I shouldn't be the one with who you're talking about right now... why don't you tell her about what you feel??? She'll understand..." Brian said seriously.
"I don't know... if I tell her I can't make love to her because I'm still thinking about Mandy...she'll think I didn't get over her and be even more hurt!!" Nick exclamed.
"No she won't... just tell her you got over Mandy....that it's just really hard for you to think about making love to someone else... you've been with Mandy for 4 years so it's normal!" Brian repeated.
"yeah yeah I know... "
"Go talk to her about that!!! I'm sure she'll understand... "
"Did you tell Amber about that when you started dating her?" Nick asked.
"Yes I did!" Brian answered.
"And how did she take it?"
"Well...at first she was looking a little sad but then she was happy I talked to her about it! And believe me, when we did it the first time, it was great!!" Brian said blushing a little thinking about that night.
"That great??" Nick laughed when he saw his friend blushing.
"Oh yeah !!!!" Brian said laughing too.
"Well you're right...I should talk to her..."
"We all know why now!!" Brian laughed.
"No! It's true ! She needs to know how I feel..." Nick said seriously.
"Great! But let me kick your ass in the game first!!!" Brian said a competitive way.
"I'll never talk to her then!!" Nick shouted grinning.
***Meanwhile***
Rachel was walking in the hallway to Stacey's room. She was getting a little too obssessed with her image, thinking that Nick wasn't liking her body. She was thinking that maybe Stacey could do something with make up so she would look a little better for Nick. She knocked on the door softly.
"It's open!!!!" Stacey screamed laughing. When she opened the door, Rachel saw Stacey and Naomie. Naomie wanted her hair a little shorter so Stacey was cutting it.
"Hey Stacey, hey Naomie!" she said.
"Hey Rach! how are you?" Stacey asked smiling.
"Alright ..." she said sitting on the bed looking at the 2 girls.
"What can I do for you girl?!?!?" Stacey asked always smiling. She knew something was wrong between Rachel and Nick.
"Well... I wanted to ask you if you could help me a little with make up and stuff..." she said shyly.
"Yeah sure! Can you tell me why?" she asked curious because Rachel wasn't wearing a lot of makeup usually.
It's not that Rachel didn't want to tell her but she was feeling really shy to talk about that personal side with the 2 girls. But she decided to tell them anyway. They were both older than her so maybe they could help her a little.
"Well... you guys promise you won't talk about that to anyone? Especially to Nick please...." she asked.
"Yeah sure!" the 2 girls said together. "Something's wrong with Nick?" Stacey asked knowing she was right.
Rachel approved shyly. She talked to them about the 2 times Nick stopped her and how she was sad about it because she was thinking he didn't desire her. She felt some tears in her eyes and felt really sad.
"Don't worry!!! I'm sure it's nothing!" Stacey said sitting next to Rachel.
"It have to be something! I never thought he could do that!!" she said looking at the floor.
"I'm sure it's nothing too!" Naomie said trying not too laugh. She had a huge smile accross the face.
"Why are you smiling like that??" Rachel asked thinking that Naomie was probably happy to hear that Nick and her were having some couple troubles. Naomie didn't answer and bursted out laughing. Rachel and Stacey looked at her curiously but they both started laughing too and didn't know why.
"He can't get it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Naomie shouted laughing so much that she was crying too.
"Nam! That's not funny!!" Rachel said laughing too. They got into a fit of laughter. When they finally stopped, some minutes later, Naomie became a little more serious.
"Sincerely, I don't think it's your fault... maybe he has a lot on his mind and... well maybe he's not just ready yet you know..." Naomie said sitting on the other side of Rachel.
"Yeah! You're a beautiful girl and I'm sure he's attract to you! You should not worry about that... and he told you, it's him...not you..." Stacey said convincing Rachel.
"Yeah you are right girls... but I just always think it's my fault... maybe I just want things to go to fast... but I thought boys liked it that way..." she said confused.
"Maybe Nick just needs time... or maybe he really can't get it up..." Naomie said and started laughing out loud.
"Shut up Nam! She'll thinks it's her fault if he can't..." Stacey said laughing too.
"Ah you guys! Stop it!" Rachel laughed. "Maybe I should talk to him to see what is going on his mind... but... I'm kinda angry at him because he didn't talk to me yesterday... he avoid me!"
"Well he won't anymore...we'll force him to talk to you! Right Nam???" Stacey asked staring at Naomie with a funny look.
"Oh course! And we'll kick his ass! Maybe it's gonna help him a little.." Naomie said what made Rachel roaring with laughters.
"Stop it! Please!!" she replied giggling. "He can get it up if that's what you wanna know..." she added laughing.
"So what is his problem? He don't know how it works???" Naomie said what made the 2 other girls laugh even more.
"Maybe you could show him Rachel!!!" Stacey shouted almost crying.
"I'd love too !!!" she replied grinning.
"Anyway, you should talk to him Rach!" Stacey said seriously. "Tell him how you feel! Maybe he'll tell you why he is acting like this.."
"This is so funny..." Naomie laughed.
"Please, don't tell anyone or laugh in front of him!!! He'll knows I talked to you and he'll be even more furious!!!" Rachel shouted. "Promise me!!"
"I swear!" Stacey said. Naomie didn't answer and she was still into a fit of laughter thinking about Nick.
"Nam! Say it!!"
"I swear, I swear!!!!" Naomie said stopping to laugh. "I won't tell anyone about that but...maybe I'll laugh but I'll try to to hide it the best I can't!" she added giggling.
"Ok alright! Well..thanks a lot girls! It was great to laugh like this! I'll go talk to him later!" Rachel said as she stood up.
"Ok, good luck Rach! Tell us about it after!" Naomie shouted as Rachel left the room.
When she closed the door, Rachel smiled when she heard the 2 girls start laughing out loud.
***A bit later in Kevin's room***
Kevin was in his room laying on the bed. Since the day of the fight, he wasn't able to sleep and there were always tons of things appearing on his mind. He didn't know what to think. He was really angry and very sad. All the emotiong were mixed up in him when he was thinking of Kristin. Was he still loving her?? No, she had hurt him too much. That she had been unfaithful for 2 months and that she didn't tell him was big. His heart was broken and he was thinking of how he could possibly trust a girl again. Then he heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it??" he asked weakly.
"It's Stacey" this one said hoping that he would open the door. What he did but he stayed on the entrace of the door staring at her.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Hey !! I wanted to know...if you'd like to talk a little..." she said knowing that he would probably say no. But she was ready for it.
"No thank you! I just want to forget that shit!!" he said.
"What shit? Who said I wanted to talk to you about something special?" she asked with a grin.
"Who said you didn't want to?" he said with the same grin.
"No one! I just wanted to see if you would like to talk ! About what you want!"
"What I want?" he asked.
"Yeah !" she said happy when they both entered in the room and sat on the little couch.
"Okay...tell me about you!" he said.
"Hum... Okay...what do you wanna know?" she asked surprise.
"Have you ever been heart broken??" he asked looking into her eyes.
Surprised again, Stacey thought. The room was quiet for a moment and Kevin was still staring at her.
"Yes... yes I've been heart broken... " she said sadly.
"Tell me about it..."
"That's not really the things I like to talk about but... I'll tell you my story, wich is a little different then yours..."
"Different?" he asked curious.
"Yeah..." she paused and took a deep breath. "I'm the one who cheated on my boyfriend..." she said looking in Kevin's green eyes who had changed when she said that.
"You're kidding me? How can you be heartbroken if you are the one who fucked up everything!!!" he said angrily.
"Let me explain to you...don't get angry like this..." she said what made him listen to her. "So... 7 years ago, when I was 19, I was going out with that boy, Jonathan... everything was going fine, but we were often apart because of my studys and his. We were in 2 different states so it was really hard on the 2 of us. " she paused, remembering those days of pain. She looked at Kevin, he was listening carefully. "But we were going through it. We were both strong. But one night, my girl friends took me in a bar. We were having a lot of fun, drinking and dancing. They all were flirting a lot but I wasn't because I was always thinking about Jonathan. I wanted him to be with me. But later, a boy approached me and we talked for a long time. We were having a lot of things in comon and we were having a lot of fun. But...I never thought it would end up like this..." she added feeling tears in her eyes. That was the subject she hated to talk about but she continued talking. "So... later in the night, my friends were all passed out but not me so the guy help me to get them to the house. He came in too, and...well... I didn't want it to happen but... I really missed having someone holding me and kissing me... so we end up doing it..."
"But I still don't understand why you've been heartbroken... you're the one who should have thought about it!!" Kevin said still a little angry.
"The next morning when I woke up, I felt so guilty about it that I called Jonathan right away and told him about it."
"I hope you felt guilty!!!" Kevin shouted what made Stacey start crying. She couldn't help it. Kevin tried to hold her in his arms but she pushed him away.
"Let me finish..." she cried. "I'll always remember what he told me... he was so angry... and I can understand why, I knew it was my fault but ... everything happened so fast. So he broke up. I'll never blame him for that... " she paused still having tears rolling down her face. "But yes I've been heartbroken!!! And I am still! I'll always blame myself and I know I'll never do something like that again! It's even more heartbreaking when faith is for you the most important value and that you're the one unfaithful..." she said with a little laugh.
"I understand your point of vue...." Kevin said understanding. "But... at 19 years old... how can you be sure he was the love of your life?"
"Back this time.. I was so alone! my parents were always away from home and I only had a few friends... he was so important to me so when I lost him...it's like I lost a big part of my heart. And I don't know if I'll ever get this part again." she said emotionely.
Kevin was out of word. Stacey was looking so sad when she was telling her story. The last thing she said really touched him. He knew she was saying the truth and that she would probably never gonna cheat on a boy again.
***A little later***
Howie was going downstair slowly. He didn't know what to do of his time so he had decided to go buy some bubble gum and see if someone was hanging in the lobby or the bar. He got down the elevator and walked into the small store and found what he want. He had just paid his things when Carly came in.
"Hey! Carly!!" he said smiling. He didn't want to show that he knew that she was the one who had a crush on him because he wanted to see if it's was really true and he also wanted to be sure of his feelings by hanging out with her a little. She looked up and smiled at him a little shyly. She looked surprise to see him standing there. She walked to him. "How are you?" Howie added.
"Hey !! Fine thank you and you?" she asked feeling uncorfortable. She was a little angry or.. dissapoint.
"Great !! What's up??!?!?" Howie asked the more naturally he could.
"Nothing... and you?" she answered avoiding a little his look.
"Nothing much! What are you doing here?"
"I wanted some bubble gum..." she said what made Howie smiled. They really had a lot of things in common. This was stoke of luck that she was coming in the store at the same time, to buy the same thing.
"Coincidence!" Howie said waiting for her to pay.
"What?" she asked when she was done and they were both walking out the store.
"We bought the same thing!" he said showing his pack of gum.
"Oh !" she said with a little smile. "cool"
"She's really acting strange!" Howie thought. He was wondering what was going on with her. He knew she had a crush on him since some time but she never acted like this. She was like shy, angry and sad at the same time.
"Are you alright??" he asked, curious.
"Yeah ! I'm alright!" she said not really convincing.
"Ok! Good! Hey do you wanna do something today? I don't know...watch movie or go shopping?" he asked thinking that it would be great to do something with her like they used to do before. But he never thought she would react like this.
"Do you acted always like that when you wanna get a girl???" she asked angrily. "Are you gonna fuck us all or what???" she added what made Howie feel really bad. He didn't know why she was acting like this. He didn't think a minute about what she could have thought about his date with Ashley the last night.
"What??" he asked confused.
"Forget it!" she said as she left and ran away from him. She knew tears were going to fall soon and she didn't want to cry in front of Howie. Howie...the guy she was loving since so much time. She didn't want to admitt it but when she saw him asking Ashley for a date, things became so clear. But it made her feel so sad at the same time. Howie was acting so friendly with all the girls that Carly was thinking it wasn't fair. The way he was acting with the other was just not the same he was with her. He was more flirting with the other but with her ..it was different. She had heard him tell Stacey she was a beautiful girl and now that date with Ashley. Was he really flirting with all of them to see with who he was going to go out? This was so weird! She went up to the empty room and layed on the bed crying.
Howie stayed there surprised. This was so strange. Why was she acting like this? Was she jealous? Tons of questions were now running in his head and he thought that his chances to get Carly was kind of lost now. He knew he was having a lot of girl friends but was he really acting so flirty? No he wasn't. He had to talk about this with someone later in the day! He really didn't know what was going on.
***The same Day In Nick Room ***
Nick was alone in is room ,he had just hung up with is mom on the phone. He didn't know what he had to do for Rachel, he was so confused. He tought that maybe his mother could help him but he decided to not talk about this to her. He didn't want to do a real mess about his realationship. There was just one sentence in is mind. This sentence that Richard had told him..."Never hurt my daughter!!"he had said. Nick didn't want to hurt Rachel but he knew that he already did.And he knew that What he wanted to tell her was going to hurt her more.He never felt this stange with a girl.Things were so differente with Mandy.
"Who is it?!?!"he asked walking to the door when he heard the knock.
"Ni... Nick it's me!!"said Rachel not too sure.
"hooo.."he said softly to himslef when he stop in front of the door...He stopped for a seconde and then open the door. "Hey!!"he said softly
"Are you busy?!"she asked
"Humm No!..Not really"replied Nick
"ok!!Then.. Can I come In.. I think we...need to talk.."she said looking at the floor.
"Yeah sure..."he said walking to the room letting the door open for her.
she entered in and sat on the couch next to him,not really knowing where to start.
"So...You said...well we have to talk?!"he asked knowing she was right
"Well I think that you have to give me some good reason..."she started
"Man Rach I've already tell you that it was not you it was me and.." he started
"Not about this..."said Rachel.
"Then... What is it?!"asked Nick confused
"Well you... You avoided me yesterday it was like I was a gost I really don't like this situation you know.."she said with emotion
"Well you did to!!.."he said on defence
"But I thought you were upset about me or something!!If you don't talk to me I don't see why I have to!!"she sais sure of herslef
"I don't see why I would have to to!!"
"Because I'm your girlfriend...and You should talk to me everyday..or..often!!!" she said
"because you're my girlfriend?!?It's idiot..I've pass 13 day without speacking to mandy last year!!"he said proudly but confused
"But I am not Mandy!!"she screamed
"I know you're not mandy because I can make love to Mandy and.."He stopped not believing what he just said
Rachel was in shock,she was feeling her tears in her eyes like she never felt it before. She didn't know what she was supposed to answer so she got up on her feet and walk to the door. Nick got up too and walk to her.
"Rachel I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry I didn't mean to say that... I'm sorry... I don't mean it..."he said sorry
"You don't have to be sorry... If this is how you feel...maybe you better go back to her If you still love her..." Rachel cried.
"Rachel I love ... i love you not her... it's just that it's hard for me to... had sex with you for now..."
"Because you still think about her!!"she said
"no!!Not at all...it's just that... I've been with her since so long that I just can't imagione me with another girls for now..."he said
"ho cmon Nick don't tell me that you didn't have sex with a girl since you've broke up with Mandy!!" Rachel said angrily
"I..ho ..I..."said Nick confused not knowing what to say
"Ho you did... you slept with girls when you were still with Mandy, you cheated on her just like Kristin did to Kev and after all that shit you're still wondering why she broke up. Maybe If you'd look more far then your nose you'd see why!!" Rachel said so angry that there were flammes in her eyes..she was so upset that she wasn't realizing what she was saying.
"You're so wrong... I did make mistake.. I probably did cheat on her... but you don't even know what she just did me..and you don't have an idea of what you do to me right now" he said with tears in is eyes.
"And you, by rejecting me you think you don't hurt me... I love you more then anything on this fucking earth and you... you can't just have sex with me!!No But you can have sex with girls that you don't even know...I don't care about sex Nick I just want to be close to you.. I won't be there in a week I have to go back to my mother and I just wanted to share something special with you... "she said crying.
Nick couldn't talk. He was angry and sad. How could she insult him like this? Even if he knew she was right for some things, it was hurting him. So he just stood there, watching her crying, what was making him even more hurt.
Up to chapter 16
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