Nick listened carefully to what the others said and added anecdotes of his own, when asked. He described Maggiano’s right down to the tablecloths and waxed poetic about the food. It wasn’t until he was in too deep with his story to back out that he realized that he had made a huge mistake. If he had, in fact, gone to visit Abby in Chicago, he would have seen her house and met her parents. The guys didn’t care about historical buildings and shopping. They wanted to know about the relationship. And the relationship included the parents.
Nick was desperate to get to his computer and get the required information from Abby. He laughed off the first question with a shrug. “They’re parents. What can I say?” and then he turned to Brian and said, “You’re a parent now, you know! You’re one of THEM.”
As he had hoped, it launched Brian on a lengthy tale of some astounding feat performed by his totally perfect child. When Brian wound down, Nick said, “Let’s get to work,” before any more questions could be directed his way.
For the rest of the morning, he tried to keep the focus on work. Every time there’d be a break, he’d excuse himself to get a bottle of water, wandering in and out on the conversations of others, hanging on the fringes, interested but not contributing. And at the first opportunity, he would suggest they get back to the music.
Kevin and Kristin had had a great time camping. Kevin loved roughing it in the great outdoors, Kristin somewhat less so. But she loved her green-eyed man and was happy to brave the bugs and the bears every so often. ‘Cause when Kevin got out there, breathing in that clean, country air and picturing himself as quintessential man of the earth, he got supercharged and the sex was incredible. Kristin had shared this information with Leighanne once during a wine-filled girls’ night out and Leighanne had, of course, instantly shared it with Brian. Brian was under penalty of death if he ever revealed to Kevin that he knew. Brian had told him immediately and teased him unmercifully ever since. Kevin just laughed and said, “You know it, Dawg,” when Brian asked him if his performance was up to his usual Daniel Boone standard. Nick joined in the laugher and then suggested they get back to work.
Howie’s trip to Florida had resulted in some serious cash for his Lupus Foundation and some warm hugs from his family. The Boys all loved Howie’s family and they loved the way he told stories. They felt sometimes as if they were in a pinball machine, as they listened to him bounce from person to person and detail to detail, letting the niceties of the English language fall where they may.
“They all want to see you guys again,” said Howie. “You know my mom. She wants to get you all there and then tell you that you’re all too thin and then try to do something about it.”
Kevin grinned. He loved Paula Dorough’s cooking.
Nick snorted. “I don’t think she’d say that about me this time.” He grabbed his love handles and grimaced.
“Hey, you’re getting there,” said Howie, in encouragement. “I’ve seen a big difference since we got here.”
“Yeah,” said Brian, “Don’t sweat it. Did you behave yourself over the weekend?”
Nick blushed because he was thinking of the pizza. The others interpreted the reddening of his cheeks in a completely different fashion.
“Tsk, tsk, my son,” drawled Kevin. “I believe we were discussing your diet regimen, not your…shall we say, more intimate proclivities.”
“Who turned you into Rhett Butler all of a sudden?" said AJ.
They all laughed and Nick suggested they get back to work.
AJ had had a crappy time in Seattle. The weather had not co-operated at all. The tournament had been rained out for two days. There wasn’t a whole lot to do but sit in his room and watch TV. He’d attended a couple of AA meetings, more for something to do than anything else. He’d gone out at night to some local clubs. Seattle was an amazing music town and nobody could figure out why. AJ had enjoyed the music and turned down several offers from very attractive females. He wasn’t sure why. It would have alleviated the boredom.
He guessed that was it. Having sex to alleviate boredom just didn’t seem like a righteous move to him any more. He wanted more. He was sick of taking plastic women to Rodeo Drive. He was sick of Playboy Bunnies and women who knew what a Lamborghini was but couldn’t spell it. He wanted to get to know a woman, really get to know her, before she pulled his pants down and put her mouth on him. He wanted to be able to blush and stammer when he mentioned her, like Nick did with Abby. He wanted an Abby. And since he didn’t have one, he wanted to live vicariously through Nick.
But Nick didn’t seem to want to talk about her.
And that wasn’t like Nick.
And AJ wondered why.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~When they broke for lunch, Nick told the others to go on ahead. Save me a seat and order me a salad, he laughed. I’ve got to check my email.
They all looked at each other and smiled. Abby.
Hey, Abby!
I just wanted to say hi and thanks for the great weekend. That sounds weird, doesn’t it? But you know what I mean. You said you had a digital camera. Do you think you could take some pictures of your house and send them to me? The front and maybe the living room. And anything else you think of. Thanks.
Oh yeah, and if you have a picture of your parents, that would be good too.
Nick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Nick,
What have you done?
Abby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Abby felt sick. She got up from the computer and went to the bathroom. She came back and looked at the screen. No reply yet. She wanted to throw up. What had he done? Why did he want the pictures? She had an ominous feeling that she knew the answer and that her perfect little world of yesterday was about to blow up in her face.
She grabbed the camera out of the docking station and went downstairs. In a frenzy, she photographed the front of the house from every angle and then she started on the interior. She found her mother arranging flowers in the living room. Too fucking perfect, she said under her breath, and then asked her mother if she could take some pictures of her…just to practice with the camera. Her mother blushed and demurred and then posed like a model. Afterward, she asked to see the pictures on the tiny screen. She was happy with the results but insisted that Abby delete one which was less than flattering.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hey, Abby!
I hope you’re not mad, but I kind of told the guys that I spent the weekend in Chicago with you. I guess they kind of expected that I would, since I had sort of told them that we were kind of seeing each other.
Please don’t be mad. You know how we talked about it, us being perfect for each other because we were never going to see each other, well, I kind of went with that plan.
Nick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Nick,
Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind? What did you ever hope to accomplish with this? It didn’t even work in the fantasy stages!! Whatever made you think it would work for real? How are you going to get out of this?
I have enclosed the pictures, as you requested.
Abby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hey, Abby!
I’m sorry, I don’t know what made me do it. Well, yes, I do. It was like I told you. It takes the pressure off. They’re all really happy for me. So I can just get on with business, you know, and not have all that other shit in the way.
Thanks for the pictures. Man, does your mother ever look like a tightass. I hope that doesn’t offend you.
Nick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Nick,
Describing my mother perfectly and succinctly could never offend me. Placing me in an impossible and potentially incredibly embarrassing position, on the other hand, not only offends me, but makes me somewhat angry.
What the hell were you thinking? And what am I supposed to do now?
Abby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hey, Abby!
Please bear with me. I’ve really given this a lot of thought. First of all, I’m in it now, up to my neck. I didn’t do it intentionally, but with the jam and all, your name just came into it and then it sort of grew from there. I told them that we were just friends but they assumed that there was more and I guess I kind of let them think so. And then we started emailing and they knew that and then AJ thought we were talking on the phone. I don’t know why that’s important but it kinda is. And then when this weekend came up, I was going to go home to L.A. and then Howie said he figured I’d be going to Chicago to see you. And so I did.
And I had a really good time. Please tell me that you did too. We can make this work, Abby. I know we can. I need it to.
Nick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Nick,
You’re a lunatic. Certifiable. Out of your f***ing mind. What if someone finds out beyond the Boys? How am I supposed to explain this?
Abby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hey, Abby!
I was thinking this could work for both of us. You know you said you wanted your parents off your back boyfriend-wise. This could do it. Let’s just go with the plan. You tell your parents that you are seeing me and I’ll tell the Boys I’m seeing you. It can work. I know it can.
Nick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Nick,
And when my mother just happens to drop it into the conversation at her Women’s Club? And when the next reporter asks you about your love life? What then? You’re a public figure, you idiot! You can’t keep this kind of thing secret. There are fans everywhere, in case you’ve forgotten.
Abby
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hey, Abby!
It doesn’t matter if it becomes public. That works out even better.
Nick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Abby put her head in her hands and cried. Works out better for whom?
“I’m going out,” she said to Mrs. Smith, as she hurtled past her.
Abby got into her car and drove. Fast. Really fast. Too fast. And it was only the realization that not every driver out there was as good as her that made her slow down. She didn’t care about speeding tickets. She had been very lucky for the most part, and Daddy had fixed those for the times that she wasn’t.
Finally, she got off the highway and pulled into a parking lot of a local community center. She sat in the car and hugged herself and wailed. You stupid, stupid man! she said over and over. What have you done? She pounded her hands on the steering wheel. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! She put her head down on the wheel and cried. Who would ever believe that she was Nick Carter’s girlfriend? She would be a laughingstock.
No way! There was no way she was going to allow this. She backed the car out of the parking spot. She was going home right now to tell him that she wouldn’t be a party to this nonsense. Let him explain his way out of it to the Boys however he wanted.
You’ll never hear from him again, said a little voice in the back of her head. Abby shook her head to make the voice go away. She stiffened her resolve and turned the car out onto the road.
