Chapter Three
Nick and Gretchen entered Leighanne’s room to find her sitting there with
Brian.
“Oh my gosh! Gretchen!!” she said as she looked up at the door.
“Hey Leigh!” Gretchen said as she gave Leighanne a hug. “How are you
guys?” she asked as she laid her hand on Leighanne’s stomach.
“Oh, I’m fine, but I don’t know about this little one. Jeez, this kid
can kick.” she finished rubbing her belly.
“Hey Rokster.” Gretchen said as she got up to join Brian and Nick in the
corner.
“Hey Hun!” Brian said pulling her to him. She gave him a huge hug. “I’m
so glad you could make it. It looks as though it’s just gonna be us nine, AJ,
Amanda, Leigh’s parents, her sisters and us. Kev and Kristin went to
California for the weekend and we can’t get a hold of him, AJ is still calling
all the managers to see if he gave them a number for emergencies. Howie is in
Germany with Max writing some stuff for the new album, we called him but he
can’t get here for another two days. My parents decided to vacation in Hawaii
for a week before they became grandparents again, how convenient huh? I just
got off the phone with them and they’re getting the first flight here, which
leaves at four.” Brian finished sadly.
“Hey, it’s okay, you know they wanted to be here, all of them.” Gretchen
said rubbing Brian’s back.
“I know, it’s just depressing. I wanted my parents here, for moral
support you know?”
“We’ll give you moral support. Gretchen, J, Amanda, Leigh’s parents, me.
We’re all here.” Nick put in.
“I know. Thanks guys.”
“No problem Rok.” Gretchen finished as AJ entered the room.
“Sweet Thang!!!” AJ said as he saw Gretchen standing there.
“Hey Sexy!” Gretchen replied using her nickname for AJ.
“AAHHH!!!” AJ shouted as he ran over and swept Gretchen into a hug. She
let out a scream and held onto him as he lifted her off the ground to spin
her.
“Alexander, you put her down now!!” Amanda, AJ’s girlfriend said in a
stern tone as she entered the room.
“Yes sir!” AJ said dropping Gretchen on the ground.
“That’s more like it...Hey girl!” Amanda said giving Gretchen a hug.
Gretchen laughed and returned the hug.
“Hey Amanda, how are things?”
“Pretty good, I gotta watch this dawg every second...hormones.” she said
pointing to AJ shaking her head as her and Gretchen laughed. AJ just gave her
a dirty look and went to talk to Nick and Brian.
“I feel so bad, J just got off the phone with management. Kev and Kris
are totally unreachable. They didn’t even leave a number with Denise.” Amanda
said in awe. Denise is AJ’s mother who doubles as one of the band managers.
Every member is supposed to check-in with her before they leave for ANY reason
and Kevin had chosen not to.
“Well let’s just say he’s gonna be sorry.”
“Yeah, he and Kris really wanted to be here. We’re just hoping that he
calls to check-in with one of the guys.” Amanda said.
“Yeah, Brian was really depressed when we got here. I know how much it
meant for him and Leigh to have Kev and Kris here.”
“Ugh! This is so...not good!” Amanda began laughing at what she had just
said.
“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” Leighanne screamed as she doubled over in pain. Brian
rushed to her side to soothe her as Nick walked back over to Gretchen.
“Wow.” Nick said as he walked back over to Gretchen as her contraction
subsided. Brian was talking quietly to Leighanne at her bedside as AJ and
Amanda went out into the hall. A few minutes later a doctor came into the room
to give her a shot to help the pain. AJ and Amanda walked back in with
Leighanne’s parents and sisters.
“Hi, I’m Suzi, Leighanne’s sister.” a woman with long light brown hair
said as she came up to Gretchen.
“Hi, I’m Gretchen, just a friend of Leigh’s.”
“Nice, to meet you, hi Nick.”
“Hey Sue.”
“This is Leighanne’s other sister, Tracy.” Suzi said as the other woman,
this one with shoulder length blond hair, joined the three of them in the
corner, out of the way. Gretchen could see a resemblance between the three
Wallace sisters. “Trace, this is Gretchen, a friend of Leighanne and you know
Nick.”
“Hey, when did yall get here?” Tracy asked in the familiar Georgian
accent shared by the entire Wallace family.”
“Gretchen just got here about an hour ago, I was at the airport picking
her up.” Nick answered. The girls just nodded as they watched their sister
finally calming down. Brian sat down in the chair beside Leighanne and patted
his forehead with his sleeve and let out a deep breath. Leighanne fell back
into the pillows and sighed as her parents talked to her. Nick quietly sat
down in the only other chair in the room and pulled Gretchen onto his lap. She
willingly fell onto him as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Hungry?” he
asked.
“Yeah acutally I am. Should we go get something in the
cafateria?”
“Yeah come on. Let’s go.” Nick said gently shoving Gretchen off his lap.
The two of them left the room and headed for the elevators. “This brings back
a ton of memories.” Nick said as the elevator doors closed.
“Of what?”
“My mom having Aaron and Angel.” Nick responded quietly.
“Oh, how old is Aaron now?? 12? God, he is such a hottie. Gonna grow up
to be just like his big brother, performing on stage looking all sexy,
breaking the hearts of those little prepubescent fans left and right.”
Gretchen said with a sigh, shaking her head. Nick just gave her a stern look.
“What? You know I’m joking!” she said in defense.
“Just joking? I’m sure Gret. You are such a bad liar. You think my
little brother is hot don’t you?!?” He asked as Gretchen smiled at him. She
zipper her lips with her fingers and shook her head no. “That’s it!” Nick said
as he wrapped his arms around her and began to tickle her. She burst out
laughing as she fell to the elevator floor with Nick on top of her.
“Nick!!! STOP!!” She screamed between giggles, but he didn’t let up at
all. “Nick, I’m dead serious, I’m gonna pee my pants if you don’t stop!!” At
that Nick slowed his hands till they were just resting on Gretchen’s stomach.
She was still laying on the floor pinned underneath Nick looking up at him as
he looked down at her. They looked into eachother’s eyes and let the strange
unfamiliar feelings wash over themselves before Gretchen finally broke the
gaze. Nick searched Gretchen’s face while she wasn’t looking at him before he
slowly got back to his feet and extended a hand to help her. She took his hand
and let him pull her up, making sure not to make eye contact. Nick had no idea
what had just happened. It was as if he had just come to a scary realization.
When he had looked into Gretchen’s eyes, they were like fire, and that fire
had rapidly spread throughout his entire body in seconds. He glanced at her
quickly and took her in. She had totally morphed in front of him. He wasn’t
looking at the young girl that he had known as a close friend anymore, he was
looking at a maturing, beautiful young woman that had just made his heart beat
double time and palms sweat with one deep gaze. What was going on? When did
all this happen?
Gretchen could feel Nick’s eyes on her. She knew exactly what was going
on. Her eyes always betrayed her, always. The told people when she was honest,
they told them when she lied, they could tell anyone what she was thinking,
but worst of all what she was feeling. The moment when she let herself feel
the love for Nick she had been denying only lasted a split second, but that
happened to be the exact second Nick chose to gaze into her eyes. He knew.
Chapter Four
Confessions Table of Contents
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