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Chapter Sixty-Two
Point of View: Nick

"Okay ya'll, seriously, you need to prepare yourself for greatness right here," I was holding up the greasy white bag we'd gotten from Joe's - my favorite pizza and subshop ever - and the DVD I'd taken from my house of Where the Wild Things Are.

Kayla laughed, "I can't believe we're gonna watch a children's movie."

"Children's movie?!?" I cried, "No! No! This has great, great psychological depth!" I leaned forward, stretching the seatbelt as far as the Prius would allow it to, and held it up in front of her, "This little boy," I pointed at Max, "That little boy is like me. This is very, very deep shit right here!"

Zoe laughed, "I'm still amazed they made a ten page children's picture book into such a long film, how on earth did they do it? Talk about creative licensing." She looked in the rearview mirror at me. "And speaking of creative licensing, you're taking an awful liberal creative license on that seatbelt's purpose, there, Carter."

"That's the amazing thing about it," I cried, "They like took a great thing and made it great, too!"

Kayla took the DVD out of my hand as I sat back and Zoe nodded, "That's better."

"These creature things are so weird, they look like rag dolls or something," Kayla said, looking at the box. "I like this little goat guy."

"Aw, you'll love the little goat guy!" I cried, "I love the little goat guy!"

Kayla smiled. Zoe laughed, "You are such a child, my God..." she shook her head. "So now, remind us again, what's so special about the food?"

I turned to the white greasy bag. "Oh Jesus, this stuff is or--" I was about to say orgasmic but then I realized I was talking to Zoe, "--amazing," I said. The word sounded funny because of the way I'd broken in with it, and Kayla giggled, evidently aware of what I'd been about to say.

Zoe shook her head. She evidently knew, too. "Interesting. And what the hell is it again?"

"It's a steak and cheddar ranch chicken bomb," I said. "It's shredded steak and chicken, with cheese, ranch dressing, lettuce out the wazoo, pickles, olives, tomatoes, and a bun that's so soft you'll swear to God it melts..."

"You've had this a few times," Zoe observed.

"Joe's is my favorite," I said, shrugging, "I like practically pay that man's salary. I am why that place stays in business."

Zoe smiled, "Well, this will be interesting, getting submerged into Nick Carter's eating habits." She looked at Kayla, "Tomorrow, honey, we eat cereal all day to make up for the artery clogging we're doing tonight."

I smiled, "That's probably a good idea actually." I looked at the bag as it literally was dripping grease. It was gross in that respect, but ohmigawd so worth it.

When we pulled up to Zoe's house, I climbed out and carried the bag of food into the house excitedly as Kayla carried the DVD. I'd worn sweats over, but the other two had to go change, and I set up the plates while they did so. I put the sandwiches on the plate in what I considered a sexy pose - this sandwich, seriously, it's like sex. I added some chips and extra pickles that Joe always packed up for me, and smiled at my artwork. Then I carried it into the living room and put the plates on the coffee table. Kayla had given me back the DVD, and I quickly got it set up on their TV.

Kayla came downstairs first, wearing hot pink sweatpants with "LOVE" written across her butt, and a yellow t-shirt. "You look like lemonade," I said, smiling and kissing her quickly as Zoe's footsteps on the stairs echoed down. Kayla smiled.

"Okay, kids," Zoe said, coming around the corner, my arm still around Kayla, "Break it up, will ya? Jeez." She lowered herself down into the last spot on the couch and I took her crutches for her and leaned them against the back of the couch. "Thank you," she said appreciatively.

"Welcome." Kayla and I sat down, too, me in the middle, and Kayla pulled a throw pillow over her lap.

"Well, let's try this orgasm food," Zoe said.

Kayla and I both cracked up and I reached for the plates and handed one to Zoe and one to Kayla before grabbing my own. "Okay, seriously, there's also like an art to actually eating it, too. You gotta hold it like this..." I demonstrated, holding it sideways with one hand and shoving it in my mouth. "Ohh God, yeah," I mumbled as I chewed.

Zoe raised an eyebrow, "Okay, porn noises to a minimum please." She took her own bite, and her face registered surprise. Kayla did the same. "Okay, I have to admit," she said, putting the sandwich back down on her plate, "That is damn good."

"Mmm," Kayla agreed, a little bit of ranch dressing on her lip, "I was scared when you first said what it was. But this is good." I reached over and rubbed the ranch off her and smirked.

"And now, prepare to see that I'm right about this movie, too!" I yelled, grabbing the remote and hitting the play button.



Zoe drove me home that night. When we got to the house, she turned to me, "Is it okay if I have a student observe tomorrow's drive?" she asked.

"Is it that George kid again?" I asked hesitantly.

Zoe shook her head, "It's this girl, Heather. She's a sweetheart. She's... a fan."

I hesitated even more now. "A fan?" I asked.

"Yeah, of you."

I imagined doing my drive with a squealing girl in the backseat. "Does she seem... normal?" I asked tentatively. The adjective seemed rude, but it was a legitimate question, overall.

"Yeah, but I've never seen her around you so I can't say too much. I know girls tend to be a little crazy around their celebrity crushes."

"A little?" I laughed, "I've had girls steal grass from my lawn and climb barbed-wire fences and sneak into luggage compartments and almost suffocate..." Zoe's eyes had widened with each of these statements, "They get more than a little crazy."

"I can't picture Heather doing any of that," Zoe assured me.

I smiled, "Then yeah, sure, what the hell. I'll make sure I have a picture or something signed for her." I shrugged.

Zoe smiled, "I'll call her in the morning and let her know. Thank you, Nick."

"No problem." I climbed out of the car and watched as Zoe drove away before I headed inside the house. I wandered into the kitchen and made some coffee, which I poured into a non-spill tumbler and carried upstairs to the studio. I stuck in the CD I'd burned of Kayla and I singing I Need You Tonight and listened, thoughtfully sipping the coffee, studying the tones of her voice and how it reacted to the notes.

Finally, when the song had played a couple times over and over, and the coffee was gone, I leaned forward and grabbed my notebook of sheet music pages, and started sketching out an idea. After awhile, I had to move to the keyboard in the corner of the room, tucked out of sight, and started playing the notes as I wrote them down, listening to how they interacted and exchanged with one another. They came together so smoothly, so quickly, I couldn't believe how fast the notes were going onto the page. What normally would've been a few days or even weeks' work dropped onto the page in a matter of a few hours.

By four o'clock AM, I was looking at a full page of music.

I got up and wandered off to bed, dropping into the mass of pillows and blankets, clutching the notebook, and humming the tune to myself quietly. It was perfect... it just needed some lyrics and the voice of my angel.