Chapter3!
Joanne Bailey
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"Yes Jayne, he's fine." Elise assured Nick's mother over the phone. "He's just having a shower and then he's going to bed. I phoned the doctor and she's going to come over and check on him tommorow. He slept almost all of the flight anyway. Yeah, he only woke up long enough to eat his meal. Yes I know that's just like him. No I've hidden all his computer games because it's not good for his eyes especially not when he's ill. Ok yeah you too. Bye. Yes I'll tell him. Oh don't worry I'll make sure he behaves himself. Night." She hung up the phone in relief. She liked Nick's mother but she hated the way she fussed over him. Nick of course being a complete mommy's boy loved it, most of the time that is. She ran up the stairs and knocked on Nick's door.
"Are you in bed yet?" She called. Loudly enough for him to hear but not loud enough to wake him up if he was asleep.
"Yeah." Came back Nick's voice, sounding tired but more like him than it had before his shower. She opened the door and went into the room, walking over to the window automatically and closing the curtains. Nick watched her with an amused expression as she went round the room putting his dirty clothes that he had just flung onto the floor into his laundry hamper and straightening various little things.
"You look better now you've had that shower." She said turning round to face him.
"Yeah I needed it." He said.
"I don't think a good nights sleep in your own bed will do you any harm either will it?" She asked walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Sometimes you and Leigh sound so like my mom it's scary." He said lying down properly and pulling the covers up to his neck.
"I just spoke to her on the phone." Elise replied tucking the covers around him. "She sends her love and say get well soon and that if she hears of any messing then she'll be up here like a shot to drag you to California away from people."
"What people?" Nick asked.
"She didn't say exactly." Elise giggled. "Probably me and AJ." Nick groaned remembering the time a few months ago when they had talked him into going to a club with them and Elise had gotten both AJ and Nick drunk on snowballs. She'd had to phone Brian and Kevin to come and take them home and somehow Nick's mom had found out. They'd all gotten into huge trouble, especially AJ for taking them out drinking when they were both underage.
"She totally flipped about that, huh?" He said smiling. Elise nodded. "Did she mention, um , y'know?" He asked suddenly looking serious. Elise's response this time was to shake her head.
"No." She replied. "I think she's finally forgiven you. And me." She added.
"Good!" Now Nick was smiling again. Elise loved the way he could change his mood so quickly. He rarely stewed over an argument or held grudges. She often found herself wishing that he and AJ were more alike instead of almost complete opposites.
"You should go to sleep now." She told him gently, tucking in the covers around him again.
"I'm sooo sick of sleeping." Was Nick's response. "Can't we do something else?" Elise smiled at him.
"I'll do you a deal." She bargained. "If you go to sleep now then tommorow we can do whatever you want. Ok?" Nick looked at her untrustingly.
"You promise?" He asked looking at her scrutinisingly. Elise nodded and Nick lay back satisfied. "It's a deal." He told her. She stood up and smiled at him, kissed him lightly on the head and left the room without another word turning out the light on her way.
The next morning Elise woke up and showered before going downstairs. She was glad to see that Nick was still in bed. She had been expecting to find him already downstairs with a list of things he wanted them to do. She made herself some brekfast and made a mental note that they needed to go shopping. Although Nick's part time house keeper had gotten some essentials she didn't think that Nick would be too pleased with her choice of cereals. She could hear the shower running upstairs as she sat in front of the television watching the news. She didn't think that Nick would be happy when he came downstairs especially when he heard his radio.
"I do not believe it." She heard him shout. Moments later he was standing in front of her dripping wet, wearing only a pair of jogging pants that he had obviously put on quickly as they were back to front. She stiffled a giggle, but one look at his face was enough to halt the laughter bubbling in his stomach. His cheeks were red but the rest of his face was still unnaturally pale.
"What's wrong?" Elise asked. Knowing exactly what was wrong with him.
"That is what's wrong." Nick bit out pointing at the television where his ex-girlfriends face was smiling out at him. "The fucking poisonous little bitch, I can't believe that she'd do this to me."
"Nick please calm down." Elise said putting a hand on his arm, he was begginning to frighten her. She hadn't seen him like this since..., well since he and Kelli had been together. He shook of her arm and went and sat in front of the TV. The phone rang and Elise picked it up because Nick obviously wasn't going to. It was Kevin.
"Has Nick seen the news?" He asked, no greeting just that.
"He's watching it right now." Elise replied quietly.
"Shit. We're all coming round." Kevin hung up the phone before Elise could say anything else.
"The guys are coming round." She said to the back of Nicks head. He held up a hand to shush her and she felt like hitting him but listening to what Kelli was saying and watching her smug face made her want to hit her even more.
"I think that the fans should get a chance to know what their golden boy is really like." Kelli said in her annoying Californian accent. Elise had never liked her, she was a bimbo, plain and simple. She even spoke like one for God's sake. She never knew what Nick saw in her although she thought that it could have had something to do with the long blonde hair and perfect figure. Nick was growling and cursing at the screen.
"Crap." Elise heard him mutter. "Total bullshit. You just wanna see how much money Jive'll pay you not to publish the book and how much money some people will pay you to publish it."
There was a knock on the front door and all four of Nick's bandmates walked in, Brian and Kevin accompanied by their wives. Elise looked at them with a worried expression in her eyes. All the guys and Leigh and Kristin looked like they could wring Kelli's pretty little neck. Elise knew how they felt because she felt the same. Tears welled up in her eyes. How could Kelli do this to someone who only months ago she had claimed to love. AJ walked over and hugged her, yesterday's argument quickly forgotten under these circumstances. The news reader had moved on to another story now and Nick turned off the television. He put his head in his hands and everyone was silent for a few minutes as he stood their.
"You ok, man?" Brian was the first to speak. Nick shook his head.
"Course I'm not ok." He replied looking up. "I have absoloutely no idea what she's gonna put in this book, all I know is that most of it's gonna be lies about me and...." He looked at Elise and then leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling.
"And what?" Kevin asked.
"Who." Nick replied. Everyone looked confused. "And who not what." He said.
"Who then?" Kevin asked sounding slightly annoyed. This time Nick looked at the floor. He laughed slightly.
"Me and Elise." He replied not looking at anyone.
"Since when is there a you and Elise?" AJ asked pushing her away slightly. Elise shook her head looking shocked.
"There isn't man." Nick replied. He sat down. "Kelli just..., well I guess she just decided that there was." Brian looked at him.
"You never told me that." He sounded hurt. Nick looked at him.
"I didn't see any point." He admitted. "Plus I didn't want to upset anyone." By anyone they all new that he meant Elise. "When me and Kelli first got together I hardly ever spoke to Elise and them we just sorta..., I dunno started to be friends. I guess it was a little suspicious."
"Especially when you're a crazy bitch like her." Howie added. Elise smiled at him, he had hated Kelli almost as much as she did. Everyone else looked at Howie, surprised at how angry he sounded. No-one tried to disagree with him ,they all felt the same, even Nick was beginning to hate her. The door bell rang and everyone looked round startled, no-one was expecting anyone else to arrive.
"The doctor!" Elise cried suddenly, rushing to answer the door. Brian ushered everyone except Nick into the kitchen and went in himself. The doctor came into the lounge to examine Nick and see how he was doing. The friendly way that she spoke to him made both him and Elise feel better. She listened to his chest, checked his pulse and looked into his eyes with a little torch. Then she asked how he had been sleeping and how regularly the headaches were coming. She looked at Elise to confirm his answers but Nick didn't seem to care about that. She left giving Elise instructions to make sure that Nick rested and didn't do anything to stressful.
"Well she obviously hasn't seen the news this morning." Nick commented as Elise came back into the lounge from showing the doctor out. They could hear the other guys in the kitchen discussing what they should do.
"Do you want to go into the kitchen?" Elise asked Nick who was sitting with his head in his hands.
"There's no point." He replied, looking at her. "They'll be able to decide what to do without my help." Elise was about to argue that it concerned him but remembering the doctors advice about stress she stopped herself.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She finally asked. Nick looked at her and gave her a half smile.
"We'd only just started being friends and I guess I just didn't want to wreck that." He replied watching her closely to see how she would react.
"Even if it would save you relationship?" Elise was astonished.
"That relationship was over ages before she started saying that I was sleeping with you." Nick told her. "It wasn't just you. She accused me of sleeping with almost every girl I know including Leigh-Anne." Elise looked shocked at the last revelation.
"Does Brian know?" She asked. Nick nodded.
"I figured it'd be best to tell him straight away before Kelli got to him." He replied sounding like he was about to either laugh or cry. "Not that she could really cause any problems I mean he'd hardly believe that I was sleeping with his fiance would he?" Elise couldn't tell whether that was a rhetorical question so she shook her head just to be safe. "She would have had me give up everything." Nick continued. "My career, the fans, my friends. My life. Just so that she could have had me to herself."
"I knew that she got jealous." Elise admitted. "I just didn't think..., well I knew that she got jealous of you spending time with the guys so I should've guessed she'd be jealous about me and you being friends. It's not like we even spent that much time together, the only difference was that we actually spoke to each other."
"What's wrong with me?" Nick asked hanging his head. "Every relationship I've ever had has been a disaster." Elise sat down next to him on the sofa.
"Don't be silly." She chided gently. "It's not you. You're a great guy and one day you're gonna find a great girl." Nick looked at her and she laughed.
"That's what my mum said to me." She laughed. "Only the other way round obviously." Nick smiled.
"You're crazy." He told her. "You and your mom. You're as bad as each other. You haven't seen her for a while, huh?" Elise's face clouded over and she shook her head.
"She's busy." She told him. "I spoke to her the other day and my dad too. He wants me to go to California to visit when they're there."
"Cool." Nick replied. Elise's parents were an awkward subject. Luckily at that moment Brian came bouncing into the lounge.
"Has the doctor gone? Good. Come on then what're ya doin in here still?" With that he turned and went back into the kitchen. Elise and Nick listened to the plan and by the end of Kevin's explanation they both looked relieved.
"I'll do it now." Elise said picking up the phone. She dialled a number quickly and then waited until someone answered. "Hi daddy." She said in a tearful voice. "I'm glad you're at home I thought I might have missed you." She carried on until she had told him the entire tale, managing to sound as though she was crying the whole way through. When she had finished on the phone she passed it to Kevin who in turn called their management and the record company. Looking at Elise he asked: "What did your dad say?"
"He said he'd sort it." She replied. "Sometimes it's great having rich parents."
"It's not what you know it's who you know." AJ chanted from the corner where he was sitting. Everyone laughed, this was one of Elise's mother's favourite phrases. Elise walked over and hugged him, AJ could always be relied on to lighten the mood. Half an hour later they were all sitting in the lounge eating and arguing which is what they did best when they were all together like this. Nick and Brian were playing on Nick's nintendo much to Elise's dismay. Brian was winning and Nick was complaining that he couldn't see the screen clearly.
"Ha, I win." Brian cheered. "Loser, loser." He chanted at Nick. Nick scowled, he hated losing at anything.
"Don't be so mean to him Brian he's not well." Elise reprimanded.
"Yeah, Brian don't be so mean to me I'm not well." Nick mimicked her, causing her to throw a cushion at him. He picked it up and went to sit next to her on the window seat.
"You must feel right at home. He commented, indicating the rain trickling down the windows. "It rains a lot in Manchester, right?" Elise nodded but that was the only response he got. "You ok?" He asked quietly so that nobody else would hear him." She nodded again. "Come on you can tell me, we're friends now remember?" Elise llooked at him and then out of the window again.
"It's just..." She paused. "I just feel like I shouldn't be here. I mean if she manages to start telling people that we were sleeping together and I'm staying at you house people might believe it."
"So?" Nick asked. "I'm more worried about her telling people that I sleep with a different fan every night or something."
"Saying you sleep with anyone won't do your reputation any good." Elise told him. "Your a Backstreet Boy, Nick, you don't have sex. Especially not you, you're the cute baby faced one."
"I'm also human and 20 years old." Nick reminded her. "It's not like I sleep with every girl I see like Kelli's gonna tell everyone, coz I don't think I could do that. Especially not with a fan. Then you know they're only sleeping with you coz you're famous. There has to be some emotion involved but what am I supposed to do? Wait till I get married? I don't think any guy my age would manage that when he's being propositioned my models and beautiful women almost everyday. It's crazy y'know? If I don't sleep with any one then people say I'm gay and if I do then I'm a bad role model. I don't see why coz it's not like I'm underage." Elise looked at him in surprise. She'd never thought about this type of thing from his point of view. She personally didn't have the same morals as he did, she'd been brought up to be proud of her body which was why she had no problem modelling under wear. Although she wasn't a virgin she too had standards and didn't just sleep with anyone. She had only had two sexual partners and they were both people who she had been in a relationship with. She remembered how mad AJ had been when he had found out that she lost her virginity, but not as mad as when she broke up with the boy she had been dating.
"You're not the only one who's had bad experiences in relationships." She reminded him. "I seem to go for guys who either cheat on me or beat me up." Nick looked at her.
"Well if you put it that way I guess you're right." He admitted. Elise's past boyfriends were a touchy subject. Her first love used to hit her and her second cheated on her. She hadn't had a serious relationship for a while, the other two had made her unable to trust men. That made it hard having a male best friend and when she and Nick first became friends he had found that she was very untrusting. He hadn't thought about it much at the time though as he thought she probably thought that he was just playing a practical joke on her and was going to humiliate her if she opened up and told him anything. Eventually she had grown to trust him though and now they were firm friends, she was almost as close to him as she was to AJ and found that she could tell him things that she just couldn't talk to AJ about. Watching him looking at the rain as it trickled down the window she could see why he had so many female admirers, and male ones too. She had to admit having a bit of a thing for Nick when she first met him. She still did now although nobody knew. She'd never told anybody before because Nick never even bothered to try and be friends with her so she didn't think she stood a chance. Looking at him now and realising that she still had a crush on him and noticing the pain in his eyes she wished that she had done. Maybe she could have prevented all this happeneing. She shook her head and her brown curls danced. Nick looked at her questioningly and she shook her head and smiled. It took a minute for them to realise that the others were still there, laughing and joking and seeming not to notice that Elise and Nick were having a very intense moment.
An hour later everyone had gone home, AJ had stayed a little longer than the others to try and persuade Elise to come and stay with him but she had declined his offer and said that Nick needed her there. AJ seemed to understand, for which she would be eternally grateful since she had been expecting tantrums and another falling out. Nick was lying on the couch fiddling. She had said that he could stay there on the condition that he went to sleep which he obviously wasn't doing. She walked over to him.
"Nick if you're not going to sleep then at least rest your eyes." She asked almost pleadingly.
"My eyes are fine." Nick replied chirpily.
"Well why are you wearing your sunglasses in the house then?" She queried. Nick was unable to come up with an answer so she removed his glasses. He screwed his eyes up at the sudden light. She ran her fingers over his eyes lightly so that he would shut them automatically.
"Keep them shut." She ordered. "Nick! What did I just say?" Nick shut his eyes quickly.
"I can't see anything now." He whined.
"Well you couldn't have been able to see much with your sun glasses on so it doesn't matter." Elise told him. "Lie down properly. That's right. Now don't move, I mean it Nick. One more peep out of you and I'm gonna be straight on the phone to your mum. Ok?" Nick nodded in reply and Elise sat down on the chair satisfied.
