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9

I looked at him with unbelieving eyes, my mouth wide open in shock. He just stood there staring at me, waiting for me to say something profound maybe? All I could get out was "What did you just say?"

He regrouped and tried again placing his hand on my shoulder, in my shock, I didn't even pull away.

"I'm your brother Nick. I didn't realize it until..." I cut him off I couldn't listen to it any longer. Who the hell did this guy think he was and why would he do this to me.

"No! Stop right there!" Which he did, mid sentence. "You don't talk about my brother you got it? Now I have someplace to be" With that I turned and started to walk away from him, not even paying attention to the green light and the oncoming traffic I was about to walk into.

"Nick! Stop!!!!" He screamed, I turned to see a taxi screeching to a sudden stop only about ten inches away from me. I tried to scream but nothing would come out. I did manage to drop my pizza though. Great just great.

The man pretending to be my brother ran over to me while the girl who was with him looked on holding her hand to her heart as if she was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. "Watch where you're going" He scolded.

"Leave me alone" I pushed away from him and crossed the street, not even looking back. I felt him following me though, I heard his footsteps coming up to me again. I almost went into a full on sprint then, just get back to the hotel and alert security, tell them to take this crazy guy the hell away from me. But instead I stopped, turned around and waited for him.

He seemed surprised as he lowered his run to a nice slow walk. The girl he was with, just opting to stay on the other side of the street. I looked over to her and back to him as he finally caught up to me. "Why are you doing this to me?" I wanted to sound mean. I felt hurt though, a little hurt and a lot anxious.

"Nick...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell you that way. I tried to tell you at the hotel earlier but they rushed you off"

"No, I mean why are you pretending to be my brother?"

"Pretending?... I'm not pretending. I AM your brother...you have to believe me"

"Oh I have to believe you? Do you have any idea how many wackos like you come here and claim they know me or they know someone in my family? I don't have to believe anything"

I couldn't believe this guy. Now I was just getting pissed off. I turned to walk away form him again, "Remember when I used to sing to you on night's that Mom and dad would fight?" I stopped just for a second. He threw me for a loop there. This guy was good. "I used to play Journey for you and let you jump on the bed" I started walking again but this time a little more slowly while he continued to talk after me, "And then we would lay on our backs and look up at the sky. You told me you wanted to be an astronaut, at least I think that's what you said. Back then it was hard to understand you" I still continued to walk.

Now he ran ahead of me and walked backwards while he faced me. "You used to have an imaginary friend, what was his name again?" I looked down and continued to walk but I felt compelled to answer him. "Gus"

He smiled, "Yeah Gus that was it, he did something really freaky for a living right?"

"No, he was in a full body cast because.."

"That's right, because he kept falling off your shoulder"

"How did you know that?" I asked him right at the main entrance to the hotel. The doorman smiled at me and tipped his hat.

"Because I am your brother Nicky"

I didn't know what to do. I really wanted to believe him, more than anything else in the world. Have this guy be my brother. But my time in the spotlight made me see people for what they were. People like this guy would say just about anything to get what they wanted. Use me and then leave. I have seen it more than once. Even though I wanted to believe him, I just couldn't; so, I turned and walked inside heading straight for the elevators.

"Nick, what do I have to say to make you believe me?"

"Fans know everything"

"I'm not a fan" I hit the elevator button but moved out of the way since there was a small crowd waiting to use it. "You're not a fan?"

"No, I can't even hum a single note of one of your songs...sorry"

"Well, then maybe your little sister is a fan" I allowed myself to look at him, we did look a little alike. Was Mike a brunette? It's sad that I couldn't really remember, but I was so young.

"Do the fans even know about me Nick? Do your friends?"

They didn't. No one knew about him. In my pain I laid my brother to rest. Long forgotten...a distant memory.

"Mom seems to have forgotten about me. I noticed I wasn't even mentioned in her little tell all book"

I felt a tear fall from my eyes. "Why are you doing this to me?" I noticed people staring at us. I was making a scene. I wiped my tears away when I heard the elevator door ting. "Nick...please.." I turned my back to him as I entered the elevator and moved to the back behind all of the business people that were in there. I wanted to hide. Disappear. Vanish, like my brother and father did such a long time ago.

I heard him one more time beg me to talk to him, to give him another chance as the elevator doors closed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mike stood at those damned elevator doors again mad, confused, sorry and most of all regretful. Regretful of his decision to go through with the idea in the first place. "How could I have said that about his Mother?" He mumbled as he took a seat in the lobby and waited as Melinda walked over to him.

"So, I see things didn't go very well huh?"

"No, you can say that again"

"He didn't believe you?"

Mike shook his head. He was tired of speaking. Talking seemed to get him nowhere. He went about the whole thing so stupidly. "I'm an idiot"

Melinda placed a consoling hand around Mike, "No your not" She placed her head on his shoulder as he nodded, "Yes I am. A big ass idiot. You know I actually dissed our Mother. Here I am trying to convince the kid that I am his brother and what do I do? Diss his Mom"

Melinda sat up, "Well she deserves to be dissed. That woman seems like a jerk. No offense"

Mike Smiled, but felt empty. The emptiness went away though once those elevator doors opened and Nick stood there once again. Mike tapped Melinda as he stood up.

Nick walked slowly out of the elevator and made eye contact with his brother, his eyes still wet with tears. Rubbing the back of his neck he walked over to where Melinda and Mike stood looking down at the floor.

Mike slowly approached his baby brother wanting to just embrace him but realizing that wasn't a good idea. Not yet anyway. "I'm glad you came back" is what he finally decided on after about two minutes of just standing there and staring at each other.

That made Nick look up. He was still just a tad shorter than Mike. Just a tad. "I thought maybe you'd want to come upstairs so we can talk a little bit"

A small smile played on Mike's lips, "Of course, I would love that"

Nick's eyes made their way to Melinda who was watching as if it was a scene out of her favorite movie. "Oh, Nick this is Melinda" She waved then started to back away.

"Pleasure to meet you Nick. I'm gonna go home and let the two of you talk. You have a lot to catch up on"

Nick nodded at her as he continued to rub his neck. She pulled close to Mike and whispered in his ear, "Don't let him go this time"

Waving once more she trotted proudly out of the lobby leaving the two strangers just staring at each other.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*

I had NO idea what I was doing. I was standing there in the elevator ready to just forget I even saw this guy. But when I reached my floor I couldn't make myself get off. So, I stayed on and rode it all the way back down to the lobby. I guess I needed to know for a fact if this was my brother or not.

Inviting him up to my room was probably the biggest no-no I could do. When security found out I invited a stranger back to my room, they would flip out. I looked over to Mike and noticed him staring at me; I immediately looked back down at the floor.

This was all so awkward.

Neither of us said a word on the elevator, in fact it wasn't until I reached my room, that he finally said something, "So, I guess this means you believe me now?" I put my card in the door and it clicked open. "Not sure" I put on the light and invited him into the room.

"Holy crap this is a big room! What do you need all this space for?"

"It's not just mine. I share with Brian"

"Oh" He answered like he knew who I was talking about.

I put on the light and took a seat on my unmade and very messy bed. My clothes were strewn all over the place. The guy who claimed he was my brother moved my shirts off Brian's bed and sat across from me, hands on his legs, biting his bottom lip.

"So, why did you wait so long to find me?" I finally got up the courage to ask, "I mean if you say you are my brother, then why now?"

He looked over at me and licked his top lip, "I didn't know it was you. I didn't realize it until I saw your Mom's...I mean OUR Mom's book. Once I saw some of those old pictures I knew"

I wiped the next batch of tears away from my eyes wishing that at any moment my security, or Brian or anybody would come in and make everything alright. I had no idea how to feel. "I'm sorry Nickers, I didn't mean to make you cry" He stood up and moved next to me on the bed. I immediately got up.

"Nickers? AJ calls me that sometimes"

"He does? Well I gave you that nickname when you were about 2 kiddo"

I walked over to the window, I didn't want him to see me lose it. I hated to cry and if this guy WAS just posing for a magazine or something, my little episode would be all over the place.

"Nick, I wanted so badly to find you and Mom after dad and I left, but he wouldn't let me and then when I finally left him...I don't know" I turned to him again, he did look like the guy I ran to so many times in my dreams. The one that would pick me up and carry me on his shoulders when I was too tired to walk.

I walked over to my backpack and took out my wallet, "Is it money you are looking for?" I pulled out a wad of cash, too bad I had forgotten to bring it with me on my little trip to the pizza place. "How much do you want?"

"I don't want your money" He sounded hurt.

"It's always about money" I tried to hand him all the money I had just so he would go away and never talk to me again take his lies with him. He surprised me when he instead grabbed my arm pretty forcefully and sat me down next to him, I was going to call for help but I didn't, I somehow knew he wasn't going to hurt me.

"Nick DAMMIT! You are as stubborn as I am! Look I don't want your money kiddo, I want you okay? I love you and I have missed you SO much, I can't even begin to tell you" Now I saw tears falling from his eyes. "Please give me a chance. I swear to God I am who I say I am...Nick, I am Mike, I'm your brother"

I stared at his face, looked into his eyes and then I knew. I nodded and was just about to hug him when the door opened.