“I can’t thank you enough,” she finished, as the car pulled up to the curb. “This was a dream come true. Please, never, never break up. The world needs your music.”
Nick smiled and said, “Thank you,” without making any commitment that would be misconstrued in cyberspace.
“And I’m thrilled for the two of you. You look so good together…so happy.”
Abby turned from the window and smiled at the girl. Thank you, she mouthed.
Terence opened the door and helped Tammy out. As Nick went by Abby, she whispered, “Don’t forget the kiss.”
“Okay,” said Nick, and he kissed Abby on the forehead.
“Not your wife, silly…your date,” laughed Abby.
Nick chuckled and climbed out of the car. Tammy took a step away and then turned back. She stopped Terence from closing the door and leaned her head back in. “And Abby, don’t worry. I’ll set the record straight.”
Abby nodded her thanks and Tammy backed out of the car. Abby watched her husband walk the girl up to her front door. She turned her head back toward Patrick. She didn’t care if it was on the cheek; she didn’t feel like watching Nick kiss someone else. “Speaking of ‘thank you’s,” she said, “I wanted to say how much I’ve appreciated you being around the last few days, Patrick.”
“It’s no problem,” said Patrick. “Soon you’ll be so used to me, you won’t even know I’m there.”
Abby shook her head. “I’m going home,” she said. Then she turned and looked out at Nick who was still talking to Tammy…or to state it more accurately, listening.
“Does he know?” asked Patrick, following her gaze. He figured the question was inappropriate, but it also seemed really important.
“I’ll tell him tonight. What time do the buses leave in the morning?”
“Early. The guys are being checked out at seven.”
“Okay, thanks,” she said. The two became quiet as Terence opened the door.
There wasn’t much conversation on the way back. The lull after the Tammy tornado of words was peaceful and welcome. Nick reached over and took Abby’s hand, playing absently with her rings. They drove in silence.
Suddenly, Nick spoke, his voice startling them all. “Hey,” he said, expressing the thought that had just popped into his head, “what did Tammy mean when she said she’d set the record straight?”
Abby grimaced. She’d been hoping Nick never had to know. “Well, there’s been some stuff out there in the Backstreet Jungle.”
“Oh?” said Nick, carefully. There were always rumors. He was used to them. Being accused of being gay hurt really badly the first time. But after a few hundred times, you developed a thicker skin. Gay, stupid, fat…he’d heard them all. He was used to it.
But Abby wasn’t. He hoped they hadn’t been too mean. He’d noticed that no one…no one at all…on any of the boards…had commented on her looks. He was happy about that, but a little surprised. All they’d ever talked about before was how great Nick and whoever looked together. If people were going to snipe, it seemed an obvious place to start. What he didn’t realize was how thrilled his fans were that he had fallen for a girl who looked a lot like them. The fans didn’t all look like starlets and dress like harlots and they were glad that he’d seen through all that crap and settled down with a real woman.
“Well,” began Abby tentatively, “because we moved up the date and all…people, well some people seemed to think that maybe…”
Nick wasn’t getting it. He was tired and he just wanted to go to bed. He didn’t want to have to think. “What?” he said and it came out more sharply than he intended.
Abby pulled her lip into her teeth. Nick recognized the gesture and squeezed her hand. “What are they saying?” he asked gently. Terence and Patrick looked at each other. Man, they wished they were somewhere else right now.
“That we had to get married,” said Abby, “that I’m…”
“Pregnant?” said Nick in surprise. He shook his head in wonder. That thought had never crossed his mind. He thought about it now. “Okay, I guess I could see that…I mean, you know, shotgun wedding kind of thing.” He peered closely at Abby’s face, trying to read her reaction. “Are you okay about it?”
“Yes, I’m okay. I don’t care what they say about me. I was just worried about you. I was afraid some reporter would ask you about it. I didn’t know if I should tell you or not.”
Nick shrugged. He was always being asked weird questions. Although come to think of it, if he’d been ambushed by that, he might have reacted badly. How did one answer that question without opening up a whole can of other wormy questions?
Did you have to get married?
Emphatic denial? “We most certainly did not. There’s no way!”
He could see where that would lead. “No way at all? You mean the two of you never...?” Nick knew his face would give him away on that one.
Deer in the headlights Dumb Nick approach? “Huh…what? Of course not, where did you ever get that idea?” Putting it back on the reporter, but making himself look stupid.
Jaw dropping silence and a hurt glance at Kevin. You handle this one Big Brother, I’m too offended.
Misty-eyed bewilderment? “No, no, we just couldn’t wait to be with each other.” Perilously close to breaking rule number one…and in public too!
He looked back at Abby, realizing that he’d been lost in thought and she’d been waiting for a reply. He squeezed her hand again. “I don’t give a shit what they say…unless it hurts you.”
Abby waved her hand through the air, erasing the issue once and for all. “Time would have proved the point, but fortunately, we’ve got Tammy to do it for us.”
“Did she ask you?” Nick wanted to know. Terence and Patrick really wanted to hear the answer to that too.
“No, she hinted around at it. I knew what she was asking…” Abby saw the look on the three men’s faces. “I checked out MFC today while I was waiting for you to come back to the hotel…just to see…” she shrugged.
This time it was Abby who squeezed Nick’s hand. She couldn’t believe what these guys had to go through. They couldn’t do anything or say anything without it being reported and analyzed and questioned. They couldn’t make a joke because it would be taken out of context. They couldn’t ever frown, because for sure there’d be a camera on them somewhere and rumors would start. Abby didn’t know how they survived it…life in the Internet spotlight. She was glad she was going home and getting away from it. Home…she gave a deep sigh, partly of relief and partly of anxiety. She hadn’t told Nick yet.
“You okay?” Nick was concerned. He didn’t really know if this was a big insult to a girl. He thought it was, but Abby said she didn’t care. But she was upset about something…maybe not upset, maybe that wasn’t the right word…maybe just…quiet…withdrawn…
Their arrival at the hotel prevented Abby from answering. Terence and Patrick were out of the limo practically before it came to a complete stop, partly because that was their job, to scan the perimeter, watch out for crazed fans…but partly, because they just felt so superfluous to the situation and discussion. They ushered the couple out of the car and through the lobby to the elevator in seconds.
The ride to the sixth floor seemed to take forever. The four were deep in their own thoughts. Terence knew that Patrick knew something he didn’t. He’d get that out of him as soon as they’d dropped off the happy couple at their room. Patrick thought that going back on general duty might not be so bad. He didn’t envy Terence his job in the next couple of days, while Nick adjusted to life without Abby. Nick wondered what was up with Abby, but he couldn’t figure it out. She said she wasn’t upset, but she’d talked about it with Tammy…enough that Tammy was going to ‘fix it’. He wondered if there was something else. He wondered what that might be. Man, he wished he understood women better. Abby wondered if she could get through the next twenty minutes with her dignity and her makeup intact.
Awkward goodnights were exchanged at the door to Nick’s room. Abby’s quick hug of Patrick explained everything to Terence. Nick never even noticed. His mind was focused on getting on the other side of that door, on getting alone with her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Abby paced the floor. She had ducked into the bathroom as soon as she’d come into the room. She’d washed her face and brushed her teeth. Then she went out to the bedroom and Nick took her place. Abby put on a long t-shirt and waited. Should she tell him before they got into bed or after?
“Abby, what’s wrong?” Nick watched her from the doorway for a few seconds before he spoke.
Abby turned and smiled at him. God, he was so beautiful. Inside and out…just beautiful. “I’m going to go home,” she whispered.
Nick didn’t move, which he thought was pretty good on his part, since he felt like someone had shoved a knife into his gut and twisted it. He smiled back at her and nodded. “When?”
“Tomorrow,” she said.
Nick walked across the room. He cupped her face in his hands. “I liked having you here,” he said and he kissed her gently.
Abby noted his use of the past tense. It was okay. He got it. He understood. “It’s time for you to get back to work,” murmured Abby when he let her go.
Nick nodded. “And you’ll be wanting to get back to your real life.” Your life away from me, he thought sadly.
Right, thought Abby. My real life. Because this isn’t real. This is pretend. Right!
Nick pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. They swayed together in silence. Then he reached down to the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head. He raised his eyebrows twice and grinned, nodding at the bed. Abby climbed under the covers while Nick stripped off his clothes. He slid in beside her and pulled her in close to him. He leaned on one elbow, supporting his head with his hand, while he entwined the fingers of his other hand with hers.
“Abby…” he began. He didn’t know how to ask this? Where do we go from here? Were they really going to live separate lives in different parts of the country? That was the deal, he knew, but he didn’t want that any more. At least, he didn’t think he did. He needed to be without her for a few days before he was sure. He sighed. “…the tour goes through Chicago in six weeks.”
Abby lifted his fingers to her lips and kissed them. “I’ll have the place perfect by then,” she said.
“It’s already perfect,” he said, with a grin. “It’s got the leather sofa and the big brass bed.” And you. It’s got you, Abby.
Abby smiled. “Well, I was going to stop there, but then I thought I might need…you know, a couple of glasses, plates…you might get hungry…”
“Six weeks…” murmured Nick, letting go of her hand and using his long fingers to smooth her hair away from her neck.
“Mmmhhhmm…” breathed Abby.
“Then I guess I better do this right,” whispered Nick, moving his mouth to her neck. And he did it very, very right. He moved his hands and mouth slowly over her, letting her do the same to him. They each gave pleasure to the other and then took it in return. They moved in silence, the words echoing around inside their head. And when they finally reached the point of no return, Princess Penelope really had her work cut out for her, running around the treasury trying to capture all the errant ‘I love you’s and stuff them into the chest before they escaped Abby’s lips.
“I am really going to miss this,” whispered Nick, when they could finally breathe again. He slipped out of her and moved beside her again.
“Well, in a couple of days, you were going to be missing it anyway,” said Abby with a smile. “Girl stuff.”
“Oh,” said Nick, with a grimace. He didn’t like to talk about that…or even think about it.
Abby laughed. “Yeah, I figure a thousand miles should be enough distance.”
Nick nuzzled her nose with his. “You nut,” he said, and dropped gentle kisses on her forehead and eyelids. Then he cradled her in his arms and went to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tammy couldn’t type fast enough. She wanted to get it all down while it was still clear in her head. She had so many hits on her Instant Messenger when she got home, that she couldn’t get to them all. Finally, she told each one of them to go to the message board, she’d post it all there and she shut off the Messenger.
She wrote it all out in chronological order. She tried to keep the emotion out of it, tried to limit the number of ‘omigod’s and exclamation marks. But how could you write a sentence like ‘AJ kissed me’ and not have a few exclamation marks? It was actually kind of insulting to him otherwise, she thought.
She was so wrapped up in her own experiences with Nick and the boys that she almost forgot to talk about Abby. She put it at the very end.
And Nick’s wife, Abby, she is the best. She didn’t mind at all that he was doing this. She even thanked me for having her along, said that I didn’t have to. I could have had him all to myself. LOL!! Can you imagine that? Anyway, she was really nice and she showed me a picture of them from their wedding. Kevin took it. It’s going to be in People magazine next week. She told me some stuff about the wedding which I’ll share tomorrow, because I’m really tired right now and I want to get to bed. But first, I want to say this. There have been some nasty people out there for the last couple of days spreading rumors and saying things that just aren’t true. I hope the meanness will stop when I tell you that ABBY IS NOT PREGNANT!!!! She told me so herself.
Tammy hit Enter and went to bed to hug her pillow and relive the evening yet again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~And in Chicago, Ronni sat up in bed. It was nearly one o’clock, but she couldn’t sleep. James was out like a light, snoring softly beside her. Ronni leaned over and kissed his shoulder. Man, he had been good tonight! She went down to the kitchen and got a glass of wine. Wonder what’s going on in cyberspace, she asked herself with a smile, settling in front of her computer. She wasn’t smiling for long.
