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Chapter Seventeen: You Can't Fire Me, I Quit


It took over an hour to figure out Nick's car had been impounded and then to catch another cab ride to the lot. Nick wasn't as jolly this time as he waited impatiently for his change from the driver and slammed the door before turning to face the lot. A $500 fine later and the three of them were in Nick's car, zooming down I-65 to pick up Desi's car. Nick idled behind his back bumper as Desi got out and held the door open for Kelsey to follow.

"C'mon, I gotta drop you off and head to work," Desmond said, waving for her to slide out of the car. He glanced at his watch. "Or maybe you gotta drop me off, I'm running late."

Nick leaned over and caught her just before she followed Desmond. "Hey, stay with me. I'll show ya around Nashville some more," he suggested. "Then Desi's got his car and stuff."

"You're hung over," she replied.

"So stay with me and we'll go get more coffee and -- I dunno. Something," Nick said. "You can drive." He took his hands off the steering wheel.

Kelsey looked at the wheel of the car, at the fancy levers and shift sticks and glowing control panel. It was like driving the future. She'd always been at least a little bit of a car girl at heart... "Okay." She looked back at Desi. "I'll see ya."

"Oh." Desi nodded, "Right. Well I'll be home after work," he said, feeling slightly deflated.

Kelsey grinned, "Right okay. Don't wait up," she laughed, and scooted over Nick's lap as he slid across into the passenger seat.

Nick grinned up at Desmond. "No worries, man, I'll take care of her." He winked.

"Have fun at work," Kelsey chriped as she revved the engine. And without further hesitation, they pulled away.

Desi watched them go and rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at the tailgate of the car disappearing in the traffic. He sighed, a feeling of frustration seeping around in him as he climbed into his own car and drove to the McDonalds. He wasn't in the uniform, but at this rate he was gonna be late if he'd gone home to change, so he showed up in his jeans and wrinkled t-shirt.

The manager was there as he walked in and eyeballed him as he rushed past to the locker room.

Desi threw an apron over his head, wrapping the strings around his narrow waist twice before tying it off. It shouldn't matter what he wore, he thought, since all he ever did was work prep behind all them big machines where nobody could see him.

He made it through most of the day okay until there was a spill out in the lobby and he had to go out and mop the Hi-C off the floor by the Playland entrance and Rick, his boss came out and raised his eyebrow at Desi's jeans. "Where's your uniform?" he asked, following Desmond back to the maintenence closet.

"Didn't have time to change, sir," Desi replied.

Rick clucked his tongue in disapproval and said, "Not enough dedication to the job?"

"Just running late," Desi replied. He wished Rick would just leave him alone.

"Out partying too long last night?" Rick asked.

Desi shook his head no even though the answer was yes. He ran the water, wringing out the mop so the Hi-C wouldn't get sticky all up in it.

"You're doing that wrong," Rick commented.

Desi held his breath a second to keep patience, "How else do you wring out a mop?" he questioned.

Rick reached around and started doing it and Desi watched. He wanted to push Rick into the basin. The guy had given Desi a hard time since he'd started at the McDonalds, and Desi's head still hurt from the hangover despite the coffee and Advil that Kelsey had provided - not to mention the stress of thinking what Nick had intended for them to do all day. He kept picturing crazy things, things that would draw Kelsey further away from him. He envisioned Nick whisking her away to like fucking Italy or something for lunch, like they do in those ridiculous movies when the billionaires bring their dates somewhere outrageous on the spur of the moment for some small thing. And here was Rick being a tool because Desi had worn denim instead of black slacks to McDonalds to assemble burgers and mop up Hi-C some five year old with snot dripping out of his nose has dropped on the floor.

And criticizing how he was wringing out a mop.

"There, that's how you do it." Rick stepped back, and hoisted the mop at Desi. "Here. Get this shit put away and come on back to the line, we're falling behind, it took you long enough to get the damn spill cleaned up..." and he wandered out of the maintence closet.

Desi bit his lips and counted to ten as Rick's footsteps faded out in the hallway, then he chucked the mop into the bucket and kicked the bucket across the room. It rolled into the corner where it belonged anyways but it felt good to get the frustration aired. Desi figured he'd earned a smoke break whatever Rick had said about the assembly getting backed up.

Desi shoved his way out the back door of the restraunt and hunkered down behind the dumpster. When he pulled out the cigarettes, though, he found with them a folded paper. So he lit up and stuck the thing in his mouth and took a long drag as he unfolded the paper.

There was a ton of money in there. He choked. The cigarette dropped to the ground and he quickly stamped it out. There was five thousand dollars in his hands. Five thousand and the signed contract promising the other twenty-thousand pending would be paid by the end of the week in cash. He stared at the paper, at his scrawling signature above Nick's, dated the night before, at the money sitting in his palm...

The back door of the restaurant burst open and a girl he worked with stepped out. "Desmond? Rick's lookin' for you."

"Course he is," Desi muttered.

"He's pissed off," she said, and she went back inside.

Desi stared at the money, then glanced back at the restaurant.

Twenty-five thousand dollars could hold him over until he could find a new job, he realized.



Kelsey drove the car, with Nick's instructions, back to the house in Cool Springs. They stopped to get some Chinese food and put on a DVD and sat on the couch talking through the movie like it wasn't even playing. Nick liked the way Kelsey sat with her legs tucked under her, and way she dug through the container of rice before taking a bite every time. He smiled like a lovesick twelve year old at her whenever she looked away and was sure the expression in his eyes was screaming I love you at her every time she looked up at him.

The only thing he didn't like was her fascination with Desmond. She wouldn't stop talking about him. Every time that Nick brought up a topic, Kelsey would get talking and somehow Desi ended up in every story she told. At least he knew that it wasn't because she was trying to talk about him a lot, it was just that their lives were obviously so intertwined that there was no separating the two. It was like they were conjoined twins.

Nick wanted to be part of her stories like Desi was. He wanted his to be the name that came up every time she spoke, wanted to create memories with her that didn't include Desmond. He pictured sweeping her off to some amazing experience, something that she'd talk about a lot and people would be impressed and she'd say his name in the story every time she told it...

It was almost eight at night when Kelsey looked at her phone. "God, where has today gone to?" she laughed.

Nick smiled, "Time flies when you're having fun, they say."

"I should go back to the hotel," Kelsey said, stretching her arms and standing up. "Desi's gonna expect me there when he gets back, and I want to take a bath before he gets back." She started gathering the Chinese food containers.

Nick stood and collected a couple too, though much more slowly than her. He didn't want her to leave and he started trying to think of some way to keep her there a little longer. "You could take a bath here," he blurted. She looked up, surprised. "My bath tub's probably better than some shitty hotel tub," he added.

Kelsey laughed, "You aren't even sure?"

"I never use the damn thing," he confessed.

Kelsey's eyebrow went up.

"I don't -- take baths," Nick said awkwardly. He paused as Kelsey's eyebrow raised even higher. "I mean I clean myself. I'm a shower guy. That's what I mean."

Kesley laughed. "Well, I mean... the tub at the hotel does kind of suck..."

"I'm sure there's like bubble bath or something somewhere in my bathroom, too, my ex used to use the tub a lot. She probably left bath soap or something."

Kelsey smiled. "Ah, using the ex's soap."

"Well I mean if you wanna get soap we could go buy soap for you."

Kelsey shook her head, "Used soap is okay."

Nick smiled.

"So where is this mythical bath tub at?" she asked.

"Upstairs."

They put the Chinese food containers in the kitchen, and Nick led Kelsey up the stairs, past the studio they'd been in before, to the bedroom. Everything in his room was black and blue or steel and dark. Nick crossed the room and flung open a pair of french double doors to what was possibly the largest bathroom Kelsey had seen in her life. She stared around it. "Shit, this is bigger than the whole hotel room."

Nick laughed and walked over to a bath tub so big it had steps to get into it.

"Christ is that a bath tub or a damn jacuzzi?" Kelsey questioned as he turned it on.

He turned to face her, "The jacuzzi's outback." His tone was serious. Kelsey stared at him, unsure if it was a joke or not. Nick grinned. He was kidding, but he could tell she wasn't sure, and he liked the uncertainty that danced in her eyes. He got up and pulled open the cupboard under the sink and found a box of bath soap. He handed it to her, "Here," he said.

"Thanks," she replied.

Nick smiled, "Enjoy."

"Thanks," she said again, and he backed out of the bathroom.

Kelsey looked at the tub. It was giant. She poured in some soap and adjusted the water and glanced around. There were a bunch of candles on various shelves throughout the room, so she opened a couple drawers 'til she found matches and lit all the candles and shut off the light. The room glowed warm and orange and smelled like the cherry blossom scent of the soap and she crawled into the tub, her heart racing as she thought about how insane it was that she was getting into the bath tub at a Backstreet Boy's house.



Desi trudged up the steps to the hotel room several hours early.

He couldn't believe he'd quit his job. Despite the heavy wad of cash in his pocket, he still felt wildly irresponsible and just a little bit crazy, but it was over now. He'd gone inside the restaurant to Rick screaming at him that he was fired and he'd shouted right back, "You can't fire me, I quit!"

He'd always wanted to shout that line.

He pushed open the hotel room door, and stepped inside, half expecting Kelsey to be there, but finding the room empty and just as they'd left it that morning. So she was still out with Nick then. He wandered around the room, neatening it up before sitting on the bed and turning the TV on. He glanced at the clock and realized she didn't know he would be out so soon from work. He was supposed to be there several more hours.

Home early, if you guys wanna come get me, maybe we could all hang together, he texted to her and he waited for a reply.