Point of View: Narrator
At 3:30 the next day, Nick finally got up off the bathroom floor. Zoe was going to be coming by 4:30, Kayla's show started at 7:00. He wanted to buy Zoe a light dinner and flowers for Kayla, and had talked Zoe into coming earlier than they really needed to leave to get there on time. She'd agreed to come pick him up right after she finished her very last drive of the day.
Kayla had called on her way to the theater at 10:00 and gushed how excited she was to do the dress rehearsal and the show. "I can't wait for you to see it in it's finished stages," she told him, "And the costumes, oh I can't wait for you to see the costumes."
Nick took a shower and washed his bathroom-floor hair and brushed his teeth three times in a twenty minute span because he kept forgetting he'd already done it. He dug through his closet for some of the nicer things that he usually reserved for Backstreet Boys events and came up with a slick blue Hugo Boss suit with a lighter blue shirt and dark blue tie. He went all out and dug out some cufflinks and his nice watch.
By the time Zoe got there, Nick was looking very sharp.
"Wow," Zoe said, impressed, "Nice. You do clean up well, don't you?" she looked him over and plucked one strand of fly away dust that had landed on his shoulder. She herself was wearing a crisp white sundress with a pair of dressy sandals. Nick had never imagined Zoe in a dress.
He smiled, "So do you." He lifted her hand and kissed it gently, like a gentleman, and walked her to the car. Once he got her settled in the driver's seat, he put the crutches in the back, and climbed in himself, kicking his leg out straight so that the pants of his suit wouldn't wrinkle.
Nick brought Zoe to Panera Bread, and she laughed at him when several of the girls recognized him and oogled over the suit. She smiled as he signed their autographs, but after a few moments respectfully told them he was trying to have dinner and nodded at Zoe and they'd all inched away, lingering close enough to watch him, but far enough away to be construed as having given him privacy. Zoe couldn't imagine what it must be like to be recognized like that.
After the restaurant, Nick pointed out a florist a little ways down the street and Zoe parked and waited in the car while Nick ran inside. He came back clutching a large box and a small box, and he smirked to himself as Zoe drove to the theater.
The theater had been transformed into a somewhat nice place. The marquee bore the title of the play and Kayla's name, along with Leon's understudy's name, Todd. A remarkable turn out for such a run down part of the city had come, and Nick wondered how much of that had to do with the Twitter post he'd put up during his time trying to get the tie to work.
@NickCarter anyone freaking know how to do a tie? going to the theater tonite. i hate ties!!!!
He'd accompanied it with a picture of the ad in the paper, which featured Kayla's picture and had gotten several enthusiastic responses that had aided him in getting the thing tied.
Zoe parked the car, and Nick carried the boxes as they walked down the street to the theater. Just before they got to the door, he stopped and rested the bigger box on a bench. "C'mere," he said to Zoe. He opened the smaller box and took out a small lilly corset, which matched the print on her sundress. He smiled and slid it around her wrist.
Zoe looked at it, her cheeks red, and looked up at him, "Oh my, I feel like I'm going to my prom again," she said, laughing. She noticed how ridiculously blue Nick's eyes were, and smiled, remembering the boy, David, who had taken her to the prom. She'd never forgotten him as long as she lived.
Nick bent down and kissed Zoe's cheek. "Thank you," he said, "For giving me a chance."
Zoe gave him a hug, "Oh you sweet boy," she muttered.
Nick rested his chin on her head as she hugged him, and desperately wished he could make everything in his life smooth out so that his greatest concern would be what they were having for dinner and whether he'd remember somebody's birthday. He wanted a simple life, one unmarred by crazy ex-girlfriends and drugs, just a real life with people who really loved him, like Zoe and Kayla had come to be. Zoe had become like a mom to him, he realized, recognizing the strong, warm feeling that ran through him now.
"We better go inside," Zoe said finally, breaking away. She smiled up at him, "Come on, Nickolas." She thread her arm through his after he'd grabbed the box for flowers for Kayla, and they made their way through the theater to the front row, where they sat down and waited for the show to start.
At 6:00, Kayla snuck out and gave them each a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm so glad you made it," she said to Nick. "I'm so excited for you to see this play." She hugged him.
Nick kicked the box of flowers a little further under the seat, so she wouldn't see it, and smiled up at her, "I can't wait to see it, either," he said.
"Come backstage after the show?" she asked, looking between him and Zoe.
"Of course," Zoe answered for them both, and Kayla had snuck back off to finish getting ready for the play.
