Chapter 4!
Joanne Bailey
Click the link below to go to chapter 5
https://www.angelfire.com/pop2/bsbfanfiction/chapter5.html
bsbgrrrls@aol.com
https://www.angelfire.com/pop2/bsbfanfiction/chapter5.html
bsbgrrrls@aol.com
Nick sat in bed listening to Elise singing as she tidied up downstairs. He thought about getting up but didn't think she'd approve so he didn't. He looked at the clock and wondered what Brian was doing. He hadn't spoken to him for two days and he was missing his company but he thought that it was best to wait until Brian phoned him so he didn't interrupt his "Quality time" with Leigh-Anne. He had seen AJ yesterday when he had come to pick up Elise to take her shopping. Nick had been sooo bored at home by himself, she had invited him to come but he would have felt like a third wheel. AJ had picked himself up some little blonde piece some how during the few days that they had been back home for, so today he had Elise all to himself. He smiled at that thought and snuggled further down into his covers. Watching her sleep the other day after they had spoken about Kelli and Elise's ex-boyfriends he had realised how beautiful she'd grown. She'd always been pretty but now it was more than that. She wasn't a little girl anymore, she was a woman. AJ didn't want to admit that and he still treated her like a child. Nick knew that she hated that so he tried to treat her like an adult, in fact it was hard not to, she was so much more mature than either him or AJ. Nick smiled at the thought of all the silly things he had done with Elise in the few months that they had been friends. Although she was mature most of the time she was also determined to act like a normal nineteen year old girl and forget that she was famous and that her parents were extremely rich and powerful in both the UK and America. They had been to the movies in silly disguises and been shopping without security. These were all luxuries that Nick had never really been able to experience growing up in the public eye so much. She had also taken him out clubbing and he had found that with her around it was much more fun. His favourite place had been Manchester when she had taken him clubbing there. He had met a lot of her old friends and had found them to be great fun, although they all had strange senses of humour.
He heard her making her way up the stairs and looked expectantly at the door.
"Good, you're awake." She said happily, going and sitting on the edge of the bed. How're you feeling today?"
"I'm feeling great." Nick told her, sitting up. "Can I get up now?" Elise laughed at his blunt question.
"What would you do if I said no?" She asked.
"I'd probably get up anyway." Nick replied grinning."
"No you wouldn't." Elise said.
"Who'd stop me?" Was Nick's reply to that.
"Me!" She told him and then burst into a fit of giggles as Nick tickled her ribs.
"Well you didn't do a very good job of that did you?" He teased looking at her flushed face next to the bed as he stood in the door way.
"You pig, you know I'm ticklish!" Elise said standing up and pretending to wipe dust off her pants. She walked over to Nick and pushed him out of the way gently so that she could get through the door.
"Is that my sweater?" He asked following her down the stairs. She made her way into the kitchen and Nick followed her.
"So what are we doing today?" He asked, taking an apple out of the fruit bowl and biting into it hungrily.
"We?" Elise asked. Nick looked hurt and opened his mouth to say something but he stopped when he saw the mischievous glint in her eye. "You had a phone call yesterday after you'd gone to bed." She told him when she saw that he wasn't going to rise to the bait.
"Who was it?" Nick asked, his mouth full of apple. Elise screwed her nose up in disgust at his bad manners.
"Your manager." Elise replied. This made Nick turn round and look interested. "Apparently the whole book deal with Kelli is off. My dad found out who was going to publish it and said that he would be seriously unhappy if there was annything untrue in it about me or any of my friends, which obviously means you. He said he wanted a copy of the book before it went to print so that his lawyer and yours could check it. The publishers decided to withdraw their offer and so did any others who had made offers when they found out, so that little fiasco's over." Nick looked relieved and angry at the same time.
"I still can't believe that she planned to do something like that to me." He admitted. "I mean there's not exactly much stuff that she could write to make an interesting book so she was obviously gonna make most of it up." Elise didn't know what to say to make him feel any better so she decided to change the subject.
"Do you want some breakfast?" She asked. Nick laughed.
"Very subtle." He told her. She smiled.
"Well? It's not often you'll get to have breakfast with me." She teased. Nick nodded.
"Sure, what do you want? There's not much in is there?" He suddenly remembered the sad state of his empty kitchen cupboards.
"Me and AJ picked some stuff up yesterday." She told him walking over to the fridge. Nick felt a pang of jealousy shoot through his chest although why he was jealous he wasn't quite sure. "How about bacon and egg?" Elise continued oblivious to what Nick had just felt. He nodded in reply and sat down at the breakfast bar. He watched her crack an egg into the frying pan and place bacon under the grill. He watched her wandering around the kitchen clearing up any clutter that she had made and keeping an eye on the bacon and egg. He wondered when this crush had renewed itself. He'd thought he was over that, that's why he'd trusted himself to be friends with her. He'd held her at a distance for years because he had a crush on her and there was no way that anything could happen because of AJ. Everyone thought that AJ wanted her for himself and that they'd end up getting married one day but Nick knew better. AJ didn't want her he just didn't want anyone else to have her. The mind games that AJ played with her made Nick feel sick, one night on tour when he had been drinking AJ had confessed some of the things that he had done to her in the past. When Nick asked him why she didn't just blow him out, AJ replied that it was because he was the closest thing she had to a family and if she cut herself off from him she would cut herself off from all her friends who she really only knew through him. Nick hadn't been able to believe that AJ could treat her like that and the next day he treid to make up for all the wrongs AJ had done by becoming friends with her. At first she had held him off not thinking that she could trust him but gradually she had relaxed around him and they had become great friends. Nick didn't know why he felt that he should compensate for all the mistakes AJ had made but he knew that she needed to know that she had other friends than AJ who wouldn't drop her as soon as he did. At first AJ didn't seem to mind them being friends, but as they had gotten closer Elise had begun to stand up to AJ knowing that she could always turn to Nick. Nick had never been anything but supportive about her career choices and he always told her what he really thought and not just what she wanted to hear.
"Nick?" Nick looked up startled out of his thoughts by the sound of Elise's voice. "It's ready." She said placing the pate in front of him.
"Umm, thanks." Nick said picking up the fork that she had laid next to the plate and beginning to eat. Elise sat down next to him and continued to read her magazine. Nick smiled when she turned the page and saw a picture of herself. She turned to the next page quickly and pouted at him. Nick took the magazine off her and turned back to the previous page. It was an ad for the new Calvin Klein collection. Elise was in the shower wearing a black bra and matching panties. The caption read: "So comfortable you'll forget you're wearing them!" Nick raised an eyebrow at her.
"I've never seen this one before." He commented. The underwear was almost see through because it was wet and it was more sexy than most of the campaigns she had done in the past. Elise blushed.
"I'm sort of trying to hide it from AJ." She told him.
"Some how I think he's gonna see it." Nick told her. "Why try and hide it from him. You should be proud of it, you look great." Elise blushed an even deeper shade of red and Nick followed suit when he realised what he had said.
"Um, thanks." Elise said eventually, to break the awkward silence that had descended upon the kitchen. Nick smiled.
"You're welcome." He laughed. "I wouldn't worry too much about AJ if I was you. He won't cause too much of a fuss."
"I'm not so sure." Elise replied. "He usually does."
"Yeah but he's already walking on egg shells with you so he probably won't mention it at all." Nick told her his view of the situation. "He will see it though coz this is gonna be up on billboards all around the country and on tv, right?" Elise just nodded. "Do your parents know you did another ad campaign?" He asked. Elise nodded again.
"I told them about it. My mum doesn't understand why I bother when they can give me money for anything I need, but I just can't live my life like that. I'd be so bored and my mum would have me married off to some rich snob who'd treat me like gold but sleep with every other female in a 5 mile radius." Nick smiled at the torrent of words that rushed out of his friends mouth.
"I totally agree with you." He said. "I'd hate to live like that. I mean it'd be cool not to have to worry about money when so many people do have to but I wouldn't feel like I'd earned it so it wouldn't be as much fun to spend it." Elise looked at him and he grinned. "Never knew I was so deep did ya?" He teased. She grinned at him. The phone rang and they both jumped and them burst into laughter. Nick picked it up.
"Hey, man." He said, then he added, aside to Elise. "It's Brian." She smiled and said to say hi for her. "Elise says hi." Nick did as he was instructed and then continued his conversation with Brian. "Yeah, I'm fine. Elise told me it's sorted. AJ's what? No, I saw him yesterday, he mentioned that he was going on a date with some girl. I dunno, something dumb like Bunty or Buffy, no actually it was Bambi I remember now. Yeah, Elise nearly wet herself laughing. Why who is she? A reporter, really? Did he tell her anything he shouldn't of?Is he ok. I bet he feels really dumb now. I'm not gloating, I never said that. Is he at your place? Howcome he didn't phone Elise and tell her. She wouldn't laugh at him. She should after the way he was when she broke up with Casey but I don't think she's like AJ really is she?" Elise frowned at him as she came into the hallway where Nick was and realised that he was talking about her. He shushed her. "No I didn't want to call you coz I thout you'd be spending time with Leigh. No I feel a lot better today. Elise went out shopping with AJ for a few hours yesterday so I got some peace and quiet. I know, it's awful she never shuts up and she makes me wait on her hand and foot."
"I do not." Elise said indignantly. Nick grinned at her.
"No she's been looking after me great, really. She's done my mom and Leigh proud, I don't think they could fuss as much as she did if they were both here. Yeah my mom called yesterday. Hang on I have to ask my babysitter. Is it ok if I go and play with Brian?" Nick asked Elise playfully.
"As long as you don't play out in the rain." She replied sweetly.
"Yeah ok I'm asking I'm asking." Nick said to Brian. "Brian says Leigh wants you to come coz she wants to ask you about something. He doesn't know what coz she won't tell him." Elise nodded. "Yeah she's coming. Ok I'll see you in an hour then. Is Kev coming? Everyone? Is there something going on that I don't know about? Oh. well you didn't say that. No you didn't! You didn't! Well anyway, do you want me to pick anything up on the way? Elise? She drinks anything. Man, I can't buy alcohol in case you forgot everyone knows how old I am. Yeah ok, I'll get some. Ok I'll tell her. Bye." He turned to where Elise was standing sifting through his post. "They're having a barbecue." He told her. "We have to take some salsa dips and our bathing suits and ourselves that's it." Elise passed him his post with a handwritten envelope on the top. Nick ripped it open. It read:
Dear Nicky,
I wanted to write to you to apologise for my actions over the last week. I should never have tried to get a book published about you. I was just mad at you for the way we broke up but I'm not making excuses, I was wrong to try and hurt you like that. Leigh-Anne called me and said that you had to explain to everyone why it would cause such big problems if the book got published so I want to apologise to Elise for any uncomfort I caused her but I don't know her address so I'd be really glad if you could pass it on to her. You probably have no idea how hard it was for me to write this letter to you knowing that you hate me and you will probably just throw it away but I wanted to have a chance to apologise and to tell you how I really feel. I miss you more than I thought I would and being away from you has made me realise what we had and also realise that I want it back. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want you back. I'm going to have to stop writing now because I'm crying and I don't think I can copy this letter out if I ruin it. Please think about everything I've said and if you can find the strength to forgive me then call me. My numbers still the same and so's my address.
Love Always
Kelli
x x x
Nick tossed the letter to Elise who scanned through it quickly. She looked at him concerned about whether he was going to phone Kelli.
"Why's she doing this to me?" He asked quietly. Elise felt so sorry for him. She knew exactly what he was going through. "Last time I spoke to her she hated me, a few days ago she tried to destroy my reputation and quite probably my career and now she's saying it's because she loves me." Nick's voice sounded incredulous. "I don't understand. Does she get a kick out of playing these mind games with me?" His voice cracked slightly and he looked at Elise. His gaze was almost desperate and she thought he was about to cry. She put her arms around him and resisted when he tried to push her away.
"I know what you're going through, believe me. Remember Casey?" She said her voice consoling and her arms still holding him close. "He cheated on me and when I broke up with him he started saying that I was a paranoid bitch and then that I was the only girl for him and that he couldn't live without me. You just have to be strong and I know it's easier said than done but you have to do it. If you let her wear you down this time then she'll treat you worse than last time." Nick didn't reply. She moved away from him slightly so that she could see his face. He looked so sad and so... young. She couldn't explain it but he looked just like a little boy who was completely lost. "Do you want to call her?" Elise asked. Damn she hated that Bitch. If she ever got her hands on her she'd kill her for making Nick feel this bad. Nick of all people. A tear rolled down her cheek when he nodded. He pulled away and stood up staright.
"I wanna phone her and tell her to stay the hell away from me and anyone who's anything to do to me." His voice was strong and his gaze was determined. "Don't cry." He wiped her cheek dry with his thumb. "I'm fine. Really."
"I hate her." Elise said and Nick was shocked by how sure she sounded about that emotion. "Who does she think she is hurting you like this?"
"You don't have to get involved in this." He touched her cheek again gently, he couldn't stop himself he just wanted to feel her skin against his.
"Of course I do." Elise told him indignantly. "Your my friend and she has no right to treat you like this. She has no right to treat anyone like this. I spent all this week feeling guilty thinking that it was my fault that you two broke up and now I realise that it wasn't but I still don't feel any better. I know how much it hurts when someone messes with your heart and you don't desserve to be hurt that way." Her tears were flowing unchecked now. Nick wished he could get hold of Casey and ring his neck. The only thing with Elise was that she had been dumped on by two guys not just one. AJ hadn't given her as much support as you would expect a best friend to he'd just told her that he said that they'd hurt her.
"Come on El, stop crying. I'm not gonna call her at all, that way she can't try to sweet talk me. I'm over her. I did the whole rebound thing and everything remember? I went through all the stages that AJ said I had to before I'd be over her." Nick passed her a tissue and she dried her eyes. "Come on lets get our bathing suits and go, we can pick up the dips on the way and spend a whole afternoon surrounded by friends and people who care about us, who don't know anything about that." He pointed at the letter and Elise realised that that was his way of asking her not to mention it to anyone. "I don't know about you but I can't think of a better way to spend my afternoon can you. Elise shook her head and he took her hand and lead her upstairs to help her choose which bathing suit to take. She absoloutely refused to wear the miniscule balck boob tube one so he settled for the tiny halter neck blue one with the pretty yellow flowers. She made him leave the room while she put it on so he went to find his swimming shorts. Five minutes later they were in Nick's Durango going down the coastal route to Brian's house picking up the dips on the way.
