I was only given a little over a day to pack up my things and get ready to go. Before I was able to even digest what was going on, I was standing in front of Kevin, Howie, Brian, Baylee, AJ, my brother Aaron, and my sister Leslie.
“God this sucks,” I said with tears forming in my eyes.
“I know Nick, but it is for your own safety,” Kevin looked at me in that protective fatherly way.
“Take care of yourself, Nick. Our thoughts will be with you,” Brian said pulling me into a hug.
“We’ll be looking forward to you coming out of this thing,” Howie smiled at me.
“Hey, Nick, do you remember Nickalex?” AJ asked me with a smirk. I looked at him a bit confused for a brief moment before the realization hit me.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “I think I do remember Nickalex.”
“Who is Nickalex?” Howie questioned.
“You don’t know Nickalex, D. None of you do, except Nick.”
“Why are you bringing it up?” I asked.
“Nickalex knows my email address. I expect a message soon,” AJ cocked an eyebrow and gave me a smile.
“What does this, Nickalex person, have to do with Nick leaving?” Kevin asked a bit agitated. AJ and I both ignored him.
“Really? An email?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh yeah,” AJ snickered. “I expect tons of them.”
“That’s fucking awesome!” I exclaimed.
“Um…I’m lost,” Brian said scrunching his nose.
“Although, Nickalex should NEVER EVER tell me any personal information that I shouldn’t know. I mean, we wouldn’t want any problems to arise from Nickalex disclosing the wrong information.” AJ stressed.
“Oh, for sure.” I nodded.
“Well, Nickalex has been known to get a bit detailed. Nickalex has to mind the things in her messages.” AJ stared at me intently to relay his intent seriousness.
“Yeah, but the circumstances are different now that we are all older. Nickalex is, no doubt, a bit more mature because we are.” I added with a smile.
“Alright, cool,” AJ nodded. “I’ll miss you blondie.”
“I’ll miss you, too, tattooed freak.” I joked before giving him a brotherly hug. I turned to Aaron and Leslie.
“Take care of each other. I love you both,” I gave them hugs and Leslie cried.
“We’ll miss you, Nick.” Aaron hugged me tightly.
“Alright, Bay Bay,” I said kneeling down to the toddler’s height.
“Unky Nicky,” he cried and latched to my neck. “I no want you go.”
“I know little buddy, but I promise I will come back as soon as I can, okay?”
“Otay,” he nodded as we pulled apart.
“You make sure to give your daddy lots of trouble,” I smiled.
“I will,” he laughed and gave me another hug. That was the end of it, the WPP people took me off. I haven’t seen my friends since that day.
Perhaps I should explain something, just so you are clear. Nickalex isn’t a woman…not a person at all. Nickalex is a language slash code that AJ and I came up with when the group first got together…thus Nick-alex. None of the other guys knew about it. We made it up so we could talk about the other guys and stuff without them knowing. Haha. I know it sounds corny but maybe that’s part of what brought me and Aje so close. *shrugs*
So anyways, Aje was basically telling me to email him using our own secret language. I figured my new identity would set up an email address and ‘become’ friends with AJ. That should explain why he was going on about Nickalex not revealing any personal information. He doesn’t want to know anything about my new identity. After all, if someone found out about it, it could create problems by putting my life AND his in danger. That was the last thing I wanted.
It was almost six months in the WPP before I got enough nerve to try contacting Aje. This was after I had been moved to Michigan. It took a lot to get internet connection to my little cabin! I never knew there were places that you COULDN’T get that kind of stuff. I am quickly learning how naive I really am, concerning the world OUT side of the Backstreet life.
After finally getting hooked up and online, I set to work on refreshing my Nickalex skills. It had been a long time since I had tried using them, but now it was my only connection to my past and my friends…well one of them, at least. We began emailing back and forth, or chatting in a chat room, on a regular basis. He was helping me to cope, even if he didn’t know it.
Oh, CRAP! I have got to get ready for work! You would not believe how weird it is for me to have a job, job. I have only been working at the grocery store for a couple months and I am still not quite used to it. All things considered, though, it really isn’t that bad. The work isn’t hard and the people I work with are alright, too. My boss is Keith. The three cashiers are Stephanie, Danielle, and Marnie. There are a couple high school kids, Nichole and Sean, who work part time. Then, there is me…I stock shelves, price items, and lift heavy stuff or whatever the girls need help with.
Marnie is a bit of a moody bitch but I don’t work with her too much. I mainly end up working with Steph and Dani. In case you are wondering about the minimal staff…it is a SMALL town and the store is only open from 9-6. *shrugs* Yep, I usually work about 4 days a week or so from 11-7. I go in later because they aren’t busy first thing in the morning and I have to stay after to finish stocking stuff.
“Heya, JR,” Steph smiled.
“Hey,” I greeted. “how’s it going, today?”
“Slow, like usual,” Dani giggled.
“Has the stock come in yet?” I took off my jacket.
“Nope.” Dani shook her head.
“Okay, I’ll be back in a second.” Turning down one of the aisles, I headed to go punch in and hang my jacket. Winters in Michigan are cold, just in case you wanted to know. After taking care of my stuff, I put on the ugly maroon apron and headed back to the girls. Dani and Steph were both really nice and right around my age so we got along pretty well.
“What the?” I questioned as I caught the small box Steph tossed at me.
“Your roots are starting to show,” she chuckled as I looked at the box of hair dye. Did I mention that my hair is a dark brown, now? Oh, and my eyes are a fake green, which is a step up from that hazel color that I had before but the green still can’t compare to my natural blues.
“Aren’t you too young to dye your hair? I thought men only did that when they were getting grey,” Dani looked at me funny.
“So? I’m not the average guy, I guess,” I shrugged.
“O my gosh, you aren’t gay are you?” Dani’s eyes widened.
“Um, let me think,” I pretended to think hard about the answer, “how about…NO!” I laughed, shaking my head.
Yep, this is my new life, living in a northern Michigan cabin, working for minimum wage as a stock boy, and having these two as my only friends. All in all, it wasn’t killing me. Now that I think about it, in a weird way, it’s kind of nice to live a normal life…but yet it sucks. Talk about mixed emotions! Anyways, I better get to stocking those shelves…
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you all a whole bunch for continueing to read AND review! I appreciate it SO much!!!! I hope you all find this chapter as good as the others. Let me know ;-)
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