Only fools ruch in! Chapter 2.
Joanne Bailey
Click on the link below to go to chapter 3!
https://www.angelfire.com/pop2/bsbfanfiction/nb3.html
bsbgrrrls@aol.com
https://www.angelfire.com/pop2/bsbfanfiction/nb3.html
bsbgrrrls@aol.com
"Nick? You're early!" Chelle teased.
"Yeah I know. Brian said if I don't get you there on time he'll stop the management letting you come." Nick said sheepishly.
"Come where?" Jess asked curiously.
"On tour with them. I haven't said yes though." Chelle replied smiling at her friends excited face.
"Yet! You haven't said yes yet. It's all just a matter of time." Nick grinned at her. "And speaking of time we better get going." He added ushering them out to his Durango. Chelle followed after locking the door. Nick was looking too cute tonight. He had on his tan cargo pants and a light blue short sleeved shirt that brought out his eyes perfectly.
"You look great." He commented opening the passenger door for her. Chelle climbed in realising that Jess was already in the back.
"Um thanks, so do you." Chelle replied blushing a little and looking at Jess in the rearview mirror. Jess was trying her hardest not to giggle.
They arrived at Brian's in a little over ten minutes. Nick had to get out to open the gates and then drive the Durango through. They pulled up at the house and climbed out. Jess was very excited and Chelle was nervous. She wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was the outfit. Last time the guys had seen her she had still been seriously underweight. Nick led them around to the back of the house. AJ was the first to see them.
"Hey Kaos." He yelled before rushing over and throwing his arms around Nick, almost causing him to fall into the pool.
"You're not big enough to do that AJ." Nick laughed pushing him down. "Try it again and I'll throw you in." He added his eyes sparkling dangerously. Chelle giggled knowing that Nick could and would do what he said. AJ grinned at her sheepishly. Then he noticed Jess.
"Ooooh, fresh blood." He grinned before taking her hand and kissing it lightly causing Jess to blush immediately.
"AJ this is Jess. She lives with Chelle." Nick introducced them.
"Don't I get my hand kissed?" Chelle asked, pretending to be upset.
"No, you just get this." AJ said throwing his amrs around her and kissing her cheek. She kissed him back and then he pulled away wiping his cheek. "Eeeuuwww, lip gloss. A mans worst nightmare. Don't let her kiss you Nicky coz your lips'll get stuck together and..." He stopped when Kevin's voice interrupted him.
"Grow up AJ and leave the kid alone." He said sternly, but still smiling. "Hi I'm Kevin and this is my wife Kristin." He introduced himself to Jess.
"I'm Jess. I'm Chelle's um, house mate I guess." She replied shaking their hands politely. Kristin pulled Chelle away from Nick a little with her hands and looked her up and down.
"Much better. In fact you look beautiful. What do you think Nick?" Kristin asked looking over at him. He smiled and nodded his agreement.
"Ok so where's the host then?" Nick asked just as Brian emerged from inside the house pulling his wife with him.
"Hi I'm Brian and this is Leigh-Anne my wife." Brian said grinning from ear to ear.
"Hi I'm Jess." Jess introduced herself again. Now it was Leigh's turn to inspect Chelle. She hugged her closely and kissed her cheek.
"It's been way too long sweetie. We all missed you. Especially that big clown although he refused to admit it at first." She indicated Nick who blushed slightly. Chelle smiled at him and he grinned back.
"I missed you guys to." Chelle replied. Leigh-Anne looked over at Jess.
"You're not a vegetarian are you? Brian didn't tell me until five minutes ago that some one else was coming so we've kinda got meat, meat and salad." She admitted glaring at Brian. Jess smiled.
"No I'm not a vegitarian." She replied.
"Susan is though." Nick commented.
"Oh no! Brian you'll have to go to the store and get some tofu or something." Leigh-Anne said looking horrified. Brian grinned.
"He just kidding with you. She's not a vegetarian." He said consolingly. Leigh glared at Nick who began to look a little sheepish under her gaze. The sound of some one clearing their throat made them turn around.
"Brian whilst you're all stood here the food on the barbecue is turning a lovely shade of black." Howie said causing Brian to yelp and run over to the barbecue with Kevin and Leigh following. Jess was introduced to both of them and Chelle was introduced to Susan.
"I've heard a lot about you." Susan said. Chelle smiled, she reminded her a lot of Howie. The soft way she spoke was definitely one thing they had in common.
"All good I hope." Chelle replied hugging her.
"Oh yes. Nick's been singing your praises. Literally sometimes." Susan replied looking over at Nick who was helping out with the barbecue. "It's about time he got rid of that bitch. Some of the things she's been up to while you've been away, well, you just wouldn't believe that someone could do that to him. I mean he's so sweet, definitely no angel but he wouldn't hurt anyone. Yes definitely time he swapped that psycho for some one new." Susan commented. Chelle was surprised. Words like Bitch just didn't seem like they should be coming out of this woman. She was so small and softly spoken. Melissa must have hurt Nick in a bad way for her to say that.
"I haven't really had that much of a chance to catch up with him. I will before the end of tonight hopefully." Chelle said. Susan led her over to Howie who was watching AJ with an amused expression as he did his best to impress Jess. Nick came wandering over with a plate of food for Chelle in one hand and one for himself in the other.
"We're getting fed first coz we're the youngest and that makes a difference apparently. I'm not complaining though. Lets go and sit down. How olds Jess?" Nick asked leading her over to a table.
"Um, 22, almost 23 I think." Chelle replied.
"That's ok then. Not that I was gonna give her my food anyway." He added grinning.
"I didn't think you would." Chelle replied smiling at him. Nick tucked into a large burger and Chelle smiled, seeing that he hadn't lost any of his appetite. She ate one of hers hungrily, realising that she had forgotten to eat lunch. She ate the salad and other things that Nick had piled onto her plate until it wouldn't hold any more. Nick looked at her when she had fifnished.
"You want anymore?" He asked finishing off the last burger on his plate.
"No, not right now." Chelle replied. Nick looked at her strangely. "Don't look at me like that Nick, you just saw me eat all that food." She said quietly. Nick blushed a little.
"That's not why I was looking at you." Nick admitted.
"Well why were you looking then?" She asked.
"You're wearing the necklace." He replied.
"Of course I am. I promised that I would. I never take it off. Just ask Jess." Chelle replied.
"I didn't think you would though." Nick told her quietly.
"Why not?" She asked. She had promised him before she walked out of his life that she would always treasure it.
"Coz it was so easy for you to walk away from me that I thought you would just want to forget that I ever existed." Nick admitted looking at his hands which were fiddling with one of his buttons.
"Nick I didn't walk out of your life forever. I promised that I'd come back and here I am. You know I could never forget about you. You're... Well you're special to me. You helped me through all those hard times and I'm gonna be with you every step of the way for anything you need. You know that if you would have called me drunk when I was in Australia I would have flown home just to check on you." Chelle said softly, taking his hands. Nick looked at her and nodded.
"I guess I do know but you made it look so easy for you to walk away and I don't think I could have done that." He explained.
"At the time I thought I was doing what was best. I'm not so sure now though. I mean you two broke up anyway and from little bits that I've heard, it's been a while coming." Chelle said looking into his eyes.
"It has been but if you would have stayed then you'd be blaming yourself right now. None of this is your fault, or mine." Nick added.
"That's right." Kevin agreed from behind Chelle.
"I guess you've been looking after him better than I thought." Chelle said standing up and hugging Kevin. Kevin smiled at her.
"Yeah well it's not as hard as it used to be. Sometimes he actually listens to me now." He said laughing.
"Now I don't know if I believe you." Chelle said sitting down. Nick grinned.
"I'm not that bad." He told her. Chelle looked at him doubtfully.
"If you say so." She agreed. Nick pulled a face at him.
"Nick there's someone on the phone for you. It's Mel. She sounds pretty upset." Brian said tossing Nick the cordless phone.
"Hello?" Nick asked cautiously.
"Nick where the hell are you and what's that bitch been doing in our house?" Mellissa demanded.
"Number one I'm at Brian's you know that cause you called on his home phone and number two what bitch would that be exactly?" Nick asked. Brian tried to stiffle a laugh but everyone else looked extremely serious. Leigh put her arm round Nick's shoulders. They all heard the next scream.
"You know who I mean. Michelle. You let that FUCKING dirty WHORE into our house." Mellissa screamed.
"My house Mel." Nick corrected her.
"Whatever. We only broke up yesterday and she's already back all over you." Mellissa said.
"I called her yesterday because I was drunk Mel. Not that it's any of your business because like you said we broke up. How do you know she was there anyway?" Nick demanded.
"She left her jacket her and it has some of her cards in her pocket. I kinda guessed it wasn't yours so I had a look. I already knew who's it was though. I mean who elses could it have been?" Mellissa screamed.
"Does it matter who's it is? You're only there to get your stuff." Nick told her. Chelle could see that he was about to loose his temper. He hated being yelled at and especially when his friends could hear every word that was being said because she was shouting so loudly.
"Actually I came to talk to you." Mellissa told him, her voice calmer now.
"There's nothing to talk about Mel. We're over, through. I don't love you anymore and you have no-one to blame but yourself. You can't blame Chelle coz she went to the other side of the world to try and let us give this relationship a go. The other side of the fucking world Mel. But that isn't enough for you is it? It's never enough. I gave up my best friend for you and what did you give up? Nothing. You just take, all the time and I've had enough of it." Nick yelled standing up. Chelle watched in shock.
"Nicky listen please. I love you, I do and I know you love me. We can make it work. I'm sorry about yesterday and..." Mellissa began.
"Yesterday? What about all the times before that? You keep saying that you're sorry and that you love me but none of those words mean a thing to you. You're obviously not sorry because you keep doing the same things over and over. You keep hurting me over and over. And I keep taking you back like a fool. Well I'm not a fool Mel. I can see straight through you. I thought maybe things would change when Chelle went away, that's why I let her go. I thought you might change, but I realise that you shoulgn't have to change people. You should just love them for who they are." He said, his tone softening as Kevin put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down a little.
"That's why you made your best friend anorexic is it? Because you don't have to change the people you love?" Mellissa spat out.
"How dare you?" Nick asked. "I didn't make her anorexic and you know it. Even if I was thinking that we might be able to give it another go you just made me certain with that one spiteful little sentence that I don't want you anymore and I definitely don't need you. There's a very thin line between love and hate and you just crossed it you fucking poisonous little bitch. How dare you bring that up? Who do you think you are?" Nick screamed down the phone his eyes full of anger and pain at the same time. Chelle felt tears swimming in her eyes. She could tell by his reaction that he did still balme himself for her illness.
"Nick I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I love you and I'm sorry." Mellissa sobbed.
"I just told you that I don't want you Mel. Get it through your thick fuckin' head coz the sooner you move on the better. I don't want you or need you in my life and I certainly don't love you. You've got an hour to get your stuff and get the fuck out of my house because if you're still there when I get back home then I'm gonna ring the police and tell them that you're some psycho who stole my keys. Got it?" Nick yelled.
"Yes." Was Mellissa's only reply.
"Thank fucking God for that. I mean it Mel. I don't ever, EVER, want to see you again." He said before hitting the end call button, throwing the phone to Brian and running into the house. Everyone sat in stunned silence for a while whilst they realised what had just happened. All the guys looked angry, Jess looked shocked, Kristin and Leigh were in tears and Susan was glaring at the phone so hard that Chelle thought she might burn a hole in it with her eyes.
"I, I better go and see if he's ok." Brian said breaking the silence and standing up.
"No, I'll go. I think there's some stuff we need to talk about." Chelle said. Brian nodded and moved out of her way to let her pass by him and walk into the house. Chelle headed for the stairs knowing that Nick would be in the guest room that was known as 'Nick's room' because of the amount of times he used it. She knocked on the door gently and then walked right in without waiting for a response. Nick was lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling. There were tear stains on his face but he wasn't crying at that moment. He looked at her as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Hey." He said.
"Hey yourself." Chelle replied. "You ok?" She asked. Nick shrugged.
"I dunno. I mean I guess so. At least now I'm sure that I don't want her. I don't love her but I don't really hate her either. I just feel sorta numb." He told her. Chelle looked at him sadly.
"I'm sorry." She told him.
"What for?" He asked.
"You still blame yourself and it wasn't anything to do with you really. It was just my insecurities, nothing that you could have said or done would have prevented it." She told him for what seemd like the millionth time.
"Well how come you got it just after we broke up? After I said and did all those horrible things to you? I made you feel like a worthless piece of shit. How can you sit there and say that I had nothing to do with it? I should at least have been there right from the start. Not just when it started to get obvious to everyone. You're always there for me, like this morning, and I couldn't be there for you when you needed me the most. You nearly died and it was all my fault." Nick told her, tears beginning to fall from his eyes.
"You were there for me Nick. You were the only reason I started eating and the only reason I haven't stopped again. It was my fault not yours. Being around all those beautiful, slim models made me feel inadequate. I should have been happy with who and what I was and not tried to be like other people or tried to change into what people wanted me to be like. You're practically the only person who knows me and loves me for me." Chelle told him hugging him closer to her.
"Chelle don't be silly." Nick wiped away the tears that had begun to fall down he cheeks. "This barbecue thing, it wasn't planned. Brian just decided to set it when he saw you this afternoon. Just because he knew that Leigh and Kristin would want to see you and because we all wanted a chance to work on getting you to come on tour with us." Nick told her. Chelle looked at him.
"Really?" She asked, shocked.
"Yeah really. You are gonna come aren't you? I mean you're only just back and it's not fair that I have to go away on tour. You could bring Jess to keep you company and all the other girls are coming." Nick began to get excited.
"I dunno Nick." Chelle didn't want to get his hopes up.
"Ok, just promise you'll think about it. I don't want to guilt trip you into anything you don't wanna do." Nick said solemnly.
"You don't?" Chelle was slightly surprised by that attitude.
"No. I know how annoying it can be." He said smiling at her.
"Wow things really have changed in the last four months haven't they?" Chelle smiled at him. He nodded and pulled her closer to him, hugging her tightly.
"Promise you'll think about it then?" He asked giving her the puppy dog look that she couldn't resist.
"I don't need to coz I've already decided to come. On one condition though." She warned him. Nick grinned.
"You have to stop blaming yourself for my anorexia, ok?" She asked. Nick looked unsure but then he nodded.
"Ok, I promise to not even think about it at all coz then I won't blame myself." He said smiling weakly. "I meant what I said about Jess though. I'm sure we can find some way to stick her on the pay roll and I don't think AJ would mind her taking up his guest space. He doesn't have anyone in mind coz his mom's already coming and he seems to have taken a shine to her anyway." Nick said grinning.
"I wonder why?" Chelle teased.
"Well it could be her sense of humour, intelligence and lust for life." Nick said.
"Or it could be her long blonde hair, long nails and ability to flirt with anything." Chelle argued.
"Yeah maybe you're right." Nick agreed smiling. "You wanna go down now?" He asked. She nodded. "Great I'm just gonna wash my face. I must look a complete mess." Nick said making his way into the bathroom.
"God Nick you are such a girl sometimes." Chelle groaned as Nick splashed his face with cold water.
"I'll get you for that Tizz." He told her flicking water at her before drying his face and chasing her down the stairs. She ran headlong into Kevin who only just stopped the two of them falling over but when Nick came hurtling round the corner all three of them landed at the bottom with a bump.
"Well it's nice to see you too guys but I hope you're not gonna start greeting everyone like this." Kevin teased good naturedly. Nick stood up and pulled Chelle and Kevin up after him.
"Sorry Kev." He grinned apologetically. "Guess what? Chelle's gonna come on tour with us and I didn't even have to use a guilt trip on her." He said excitedly wrapping his arm around her and pulling her outside to announce to everyone that she was coming. Kevin followed laughing at Nick's enthusiasm and the helpless look on Chelle's face. "And Jess is coming to." Nick ended. Jess looked bewildered.
"I am?" She asked.
"Apparently." Chelle replied with laughter in her eyes.
"If it's ok with AJ." Nick said. Everyone turned to look at AJ expectantly.
"Sure it's fine by me. At least I'll have someone to sit next to on the bus now." He said grinning at Jess. Nick smiled.
"Well that's settled then. Kev can sort it with who ever your supposed to tomorrow. Now where's the food I'm starving?" He looked at Brian expectantly. Brian grinned.
"It's all gone." He told him.
"We finished it whilst you were up there having a heart to heart with Miss. World." AJ agreed. Chelle glared at him but he just gave her such a sweet smile that she couldn't help but laugh. Nick frowned a little and then smiled.
"Who wants pizza?" He asked heading over to where the phone was now sitting on the table.
"Carter, for a blond you sure have some good ideas." AJ agreed. Nick dialled the number of his favourite pizza place and everyone yelled their orders to him.
"My name? Carter." Nick replied before giving the address and hanging up. He saw Kevin glaring at him.
"Hey come on man how many Carters are there in Florida? Come on man It's not like I gave my first name." He said looking sheepish all the same. Kevin relaxed a little and soon everyone was sitting round the pool chatting and eating pizza. Chelle was sitting on the dge of the pool in-between AJ and Nick with Jess on AJ's other side with their legs dangling into the cool water. Nick had his trousers rolled up and Chelle could see a scar near his ankle.
"What's that from? That never used to be there." She commented looking at it. AJ glanced over at her.
"I didn't know you were intimately familiar with every inch of Carter's body." He commented.
"Yes you did." Nick told him grinning. AJ grinned back and Jess looked at Chelle questionningly causing her to turn pink. Nick threw his arm around her and hugged her almost throwing her into the water in the process. She clung to him tightly to stop herself from falling in. Nick steadied her gently.
"So? How did you get it?" Chelle asked again.
"I did it playing basketball with Rok." He replied without looking at her.
"Well that's a lie if ever I heard one." She said smiling a little. Nick looked at her and shook his head.
"You know me too well." He sighed.
"Are you gonna tell me the truth then?" She asked. Nick looked behind him to where Kevin was sitting listening to the conversations going on around him, half an ear on his wife and half on Nick. He nodded.
"Um, I guess so." Nick replied. "I had a fight with Mel and we were in the kitchen and she pulled a bread knife on me. I knocked it out of her hand and it got me in the leg." He said bluntly. Chelle stared at him in surprise. So did AJ.
"She did what?" He practically screamed. Howie had to jump up and grab Jess because she nearly fell into the water she jumped so hard.
"She pulled a knife on me." Nick repeated quietly. Howie looked startled aswell and so did all the girls but it was obvious that both Brian and Kevin already knew.
