We were sitting at the table. Nick wouldn’t even look at us. He kept his head resting on his arms. He was no longer sobbing out loud, but we could still tell by his shoulder’s shaking that he was definitely still crying. We had no clue what happened for him to be this upset. And him not telling us anything wasn’t helping at all.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Come on Nick. Tell us what’s wrong so that we can help you feel better.”
He shrugged away from my touch. “Nothing will help me feel better right now.”
“Come on Nick. That can’t be true. Please talk to us.”
He looked up and I was shocked at how red and puffy his eyes were. He must have been crying long before we got home. “I can’t.” He looked away from us then said quietly. “I need to be alone right now so I’m going to go upstairs.” With that, he pushed his chair back and walked briskly from the table.
I gave Abby a helpless look. She looked at me the same way. We wanted to help him. But without him telling us what’s bothering him, there’s nothing we can do.
Then, the doorbell rang. Abby and I looked at each other. We didn’t know what to do. So we waited for a bit. The bell rang a second time, but we weren’t sure if Nick was coming down to answer it. When the bell rang a third time, I watched Abby get up and head toward the front door.
Third Person POV
Abby opened the front door.
The visitor was about to greet who he thought was supposed to be Nick, but stopped in confusion when he saw a strange girl. He stepped back and looked at the number on the house. “Ok, I have the right house.” He turned to the girl. “Who are you? And why are you answering Nick’s door?”
“Oh, you’re a friend of Nick’s?”
“Why else would I be here?”
“No need to be rude.”
“Sorry. I’m very protective over Nick. If you won’t tell me who you are, I’m sure Nick will. Now will you let me in?” Abby stepped aside while the unknown visitor entered the house with his bags. “So where IS Nick?”
“He’s upstairs. He said he needed to be alone.”
“When did he go upstairs?”
“Like 10 minutes before you rang the bell.”
“Ok, then I’ll leave him alone for a bit.” He followed Abby into the kitchen. He jumped back a little at the site of another girl he didn’t know in Nick’s house. “Now you really need to tell me what’s going on here. Nick wants to be alone and there’s not one but two strange girls in his house. Why are you two here?”
“I won a fan contest to spend a week with Nick.” Abby said.
“I’m her best friend.” Casey finished.
The visitor nodded. “What are your names?”
“I’m Abby, she’s Casey. What’s your name?”
“Brent.”
Casey went to the refrigerator to get a drink. She opened the cabinet to get a glass. Realizing that the dishwasher was ran but not emptied, she leaned over to open the dishwasher. Before she opened the dishwasher, she spotted a card that wasn’t there earlier today. Curious, she bent down to pick it up.
She gaped at the invitation in surprise. “Hey Abby. Did you know that Nick is engaged?”
“What? I never heard that.”
“Here’s the invitation.” Abby walked toward Casey as Casey held out the invitation to her.
“Oh shit.” Brent said quietly, but the girls still heard him. They looked up at him briefly before going back to the invitation. “Let me see that.” He said firmly.
“What?” Casey said.
“I said. Let me see that invitation.” He demanded than waited with his hand outstretched. Casey didn’t give him the invitation fast enough. “Now.” He said in that same firm demanding tone.” Casey silently handed him the invitation. He looked at the intricate wedding design, and the fancy writing. The girls looked at him surprised when he started speaking to himself and he wasn’t talking under his breath. “Holy fuck. Do they do this to torture the man?” He took a deep breath to steady his breathing. “You said he went upstairs. Did he tell you where upstairs he went?”
“No, he just said upstairs.”
Brent dropped the invitation on the table and ran from the room in search of Nick. Leaving the girls extremely confused.
Brent ran upstairs and looked through every room until he found Nick. Nick was in his room, curled up into a ball on his bed. Brent couldn’t see Nick’s face, but the fact that Nick’s shoulders were violently shaking clued Brent in that Nick was still crying. He entered the room and closed the door.
Brent quietly, but quickly walked to Nick’s bed and sat down beside Nick. He positioned himself so that Nick would have no problem seeking comfort on Brent’s shoulder.
Brent placed a comforting hand on Nick’s shoulder. Nick jumped and quickly wiped his tears thinking that it was one of the girls on his bed. Years of pretending taught him how to turn his tears off in public. He dried his eyes and turned around until he could see who was touching him. “Brent? You’re early.” Nick said quietly. His voice was hoarse from crying and barely audible.
“I’m glad I got here early.” Brent’s hand was still on Nick’s shoulder. Nick’s eyes, knowing he didn’t have to pretend any longer, started watering again. He blinked and the tears started streaming at a fast rate down his face. Brent had tears in his eyes from looking at how upset his best friend was. He removed his hand from Nick’s shoulder and opened his arms as if expecting a hug. “Come here.”
Nick didn’t hesitate. He willingly fell into Brent’s embrace. Brent held Nick tightly as he cried. He rubbed Nick’s back until he calmed down a bit.
Nick pulled back. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was red and splotchy. “I’m glad you’re here.” Nick said hoarsely.
Brent climbed off the bed. He grabbed Nick’s hand and pulled him into the bathroom. “Wash your face.”
“Why? I’m only going to be red and splotchy again once I start crying again.”
“I’m taking you in public.”
“Brent no. I don’t want to go out. I want to be alone. Well, ok, I’d rather be alone in your company. I don’t want to be in public.”
“Relax man. I’m going to take you to my family’s beach house. But we don’t want to take you out in public looking like this.”
“But why can’t we just stay here?”
“I want to be able to talk to you freely about this. Without the possibility that someone will be listening.”
“You mean Abby and Casey?”
“Yeah. They seem like nice girls. But this is private. I’ll even unlock my father’s workout room, so you can beat up the punching bag if you need to.” Nick smiled slightly. “Now, wash your face so we can get out of here.
Nick washed his face then turned to Brent. “Let’s go.”
Abby and Casey heard footsteps behind them and turned around. They gave Nick a smile when they saw him. “Nick.” Abby said.
Nick shook his head. Then he followed Brent outside.
Abby and Casey shared a confused look when the door shut. “Abby? Who is Brent?”
“Huh?”
“Well, you were a fan of Nick’s that bordered on obsession from time to time. I figured you’d know who he is?”
“I’m actually not quite sure.”
“Oh.”
“Why do you wanna know?”
“Because I’m confused.”
“Yeah so am I. I really hope Nick is ok.”
“I’m sure he will be. Hell, look at me. I’m ok and I watched my father murder my little sister.” She paused. “Well, most of the time, I’m ok.”
They stayed on the couch and looked for something to watch on television. They jumped when they heard the doorbell ring. “Man, Nick is popular today.”
This time, Casey opened the door. “Oh. Hi guys.” Casey said as she held the door open for Kevin, Brian, Howie and AJ.
“Hey.”
Brian was looking around confused. “Where’s Nick?”
Casey shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“He didn’t tell you where he was going? That’s really not like him.”
“He was upset about something. Then some guy named Brent came, and about 10 minutes after Brent went to talk to Nick, they left the house”
“He was upset? About what?”
“We don’t know. He wouldn’t tell us.”
Brian nodded. He turned to the guys. “We should go find him.” Then he replayed the conversation. “Oh wait. You said Brent was with Nick?”
“That’s right.”
“Ok. Then we don’t have to go look for him. He’s in good hands.” He turned back to the guys. “There’s nothing we can do now. Let’s just go and give him some space.” He turned back to Casey. “Have him call me when he gets back.”
She nodded and the guys left.
Several hours later, Nick and Brent walked into a now empty living room. Brent left Nick on the couch while he entered the kitchen. Brent grabbed the invitation and looked on the back. Sure enough the address of the company was on there. He put the invitation in his jacket pocket and went back to Nick in the living room. Nick was blankly starring at the black television screen.
“Hey man, I’ve got something I’ve gotta take care of. Will you be ok alone?”
Nick nodded as Brent left. He absent-mindedly reached for the remote. He looked at the movie channels on his TV, desperately looking for a movie that he could lose himself in and that will help him temporarily forgot his pain.
Would you know that it was just his luck that EVERY movie station was playing a romantic comedy? And not just any romantic comedies. Romantic comedies that he used to watch while cuddling with Katie.
Tears started to slowly slide down his cheek. So he shut the TV off. He was about to go upstairs and find the goriest movie he owned when the doorbell rang. He quickly wiped the tears off his face and walked to the door.
He opened the door. “Hi Brian.”
“Don’t hi Brian me.”
“What?”
“You were supposed to call me when you got home.”
“I just got home like 10 minutes ago. I had no message to call you.”
“Casey was supposed to tell you.”
“I haven’t seen Casey.”
“Ok. How are you doing?”
“I’ve been better.”
“What upset you so much?” Nick looked down. He didn’t answer.
At that moment, Casey and Abby came downstairs. They didn’t want to interrupt so they silently snuck to the kitchen. Neither of them saw the girls enter the kitchen.
“Nicky. What upset you?”
Nick sat on the couch. He tiredly rubbed his face. “I got a package today.” Brian sat quietly waiting for Nick to be ready to finish his thought. Brian sat on the couch next to Nick. Nick turned a tearful gaze to Brian. He opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out but a strangled sob.
Brian immediately grabbed Nick and pulled him into a brotherly hug. Several minutes later, Nick pulled back a little calmer. But he stayed close to Brian. “Nicky what was in the package?”
“Invitations.” He said quietly.
“Invitations?”
Nick nodded. “To mine and Katie’s wedding.”
Nick looked defeated. Brian pulled him back into a hug. “I’m so sorry Nicky.”
Nick took a deep breath. “Everyone swore that they would take care of the cancellation details for me, so that I wouldn’t have to. Whoever was in charge of canceling the invitations, either did a poor job, or the company we ordered from is cruel and money hungry.”
“Cruel and money hungry?”
After another deep breath, he said, “Yes cruel and money hungry. Because if they weren’t cruel and money hungry, they wouldn’t have sent the invitations to me. How they could not realize that they sent the invitations to an ex-groom-to-be who watched his fiancée get shot, several times I might add. Then to add to their cruelty, they sent those invitations to an ex-groom-to-be, who was also a father-to be, and who lost not only his fiancée, but his unborn child hours apart.” Nick broke down crying at his little speech about his family that was ripped from his grasp.
Brian hugged him. Both jumped when a loud noise came from the kitchen. Brian got up to investigate. Nick stood up but stayed back as Brian approached the kitchen.
In the kitchen, the girls were in shock at hearing Nick’s words. They were so lost in their shock that they jumped a mile high when Nick’s puppy came barreling into the kitchen and crashed into the table. The collision caused the chairs to crash to the floor.
The door behind them flew open, and the girls tumbled onto the floor at Brian’s feet. At first Brian was shocked to find the girls eaves dropping on their conversation. Then his shock turned into raw anger. In a calm, but angry tone, Brian said, “How dare you. Do you even know what the word privacy means? What made you think you had the right to hear what we were saying?” Brian paused and Casey went to answer him. Brian cut in. “No. What you overheard, was private. Only Nick’s closest friends and family know about what happened. If Nick wanted you to know, then Nick would have told you himself. You need to stop eaves dropping.” He was looking at Abby, but was addressing both of them.
Casey was getting defensive. “How do you know that Nick didn’t tell us himself?”
“Because had Nick told you himself, you would have been respecting his privacy and not eaves dropping on a private conversation. Stop sticking your nose where it fucking doesn’t belong.”
Nick stood in the living room, listening to the exchange between Brian, Abby and Casey, well, mostly between Brian and Casey. He wasn’t ready for the girls to know about his past. But now they know and there’s nothing he can do about it. Not wanting to deal with anybody any longer, he quietly snuck out of the house. Out of the three people who were standing in the entry way to his kitchen, not one of them noticed his exit.
