Grace spent the next day at her computer. She hadn't been putting in the hours that she usually did and wanted to make up for it. Besides, she thought, keep busy and you won't have to think about your sorry life. But she found herself often, sitting staring at the screen, her mind miles away on the ocean, or right here with Matt, or back in Ohio...no, she didn't want to go there.
You are going to have to go there someday, she told herself. But not today. She shook her head and went back to work. She stopped at noon for a sandwich and at 3:00 for some stretches and a yogurt. But she was on a roll and wanted to keep at it. At 7:00, her stomach growled.
She ordered pizza from Antonio's. When she called, Antonio's wife Maria answered the phone. "It's Grazia," she yelled. Antonio immediately took the phone. How are you? How's the leg? How was the picnic? Grace thought Antonio could give her mother a run for her money in the overprotectiveness sweepstakes. She answered all his questions and exclaimed over the food. She thanked him profusely and passed on Nick's thanks as well.
"A nice young man," said Antonio, in his strong Italian accent. "Very polite. Bring him by for dinner sometime. I'll make you something very special."
Grace said that she would and ordered the pizza. Antonio clucked his tongue. "Going to be working all night again, Grazia? That's not a good idea." Grace reassured him that she was taking care of herself and rang off.
Twenty minutes later, there was a knock. She knew it would be Petey. Visitors were to be announced by Gary at all times, but Petey only arrived if someone was expecting him, so he didn't bother to check in, would just wave at Gary and announce his destination. Gary would wave back and go on with his work, pretending that he was a police officer. Gary took his responsibilities very seriously and kept careful notes on all activity in the building. It wasn't in his job description and probably wasn't even legal, but he never showed the notes to anyone, just kept them for himself. It made him more than just a security guard in his eyes. He had tried to get into the police academy a couple of times, but failed.
"It's open," called Grace, without turning from the computer. She heard Petey come in and she hit a few final keystrokes. She swiveled the chair around and grabbed the crutches. Petey was standing inside the door holding the pizza bag. His hair was combed with some kind of gel in it and he had on a nice shirt and pants.
"Hi, Petey," she smiled. "You look good. Do you have a date after work?"
Petey blushed, both embarrassed and pleased that she had noticed. "Yeah, a bunch of us are going to the movies." He ducked his head shyly. Grace motioned for him to set the pizza on the counter and take the picnic basket. She reached for her purse for a tip. She kept a running account at Antonio's for the pizza, but always gave Petey his tip in cash. At first, he had tried to refuse, but Grace insisted, saying 'college doesn't pay for itself, you know'.
"Well, she's a lucky girl, whoever she is. Have a good time."
Petey's feet didn't touch the ground all the way back to the restaurant. Grace thought someone would be lucky to go out with him!
Gary smiled as Petey went by the desk without even noticing him. Petey had a silly grin on his face and a faraway look in his eye. Gary wondered what stupendous thing Grace had said to him this time. Probably 'thanks for the pizza'.
Gary thought about Grace for awhile. He was attracted to her himself, but had never thought about making a move - what with the fiancé and all. But he seemed to be history. Gary didn't know about the new guy - Gary knew who he was, of course. He had recognized him the first night. But it gave him a small sense of satisfaction to let on that he didn't know who Nick was. When Nick had arrived the day before to pick Grace up, Gary had pretended he didn't remember him and had made him identify himself and ask for Grace's apartment specifically, before he allowed him to go up.
Gary leaned back in his chair and massaged his crotch. He could feel the beginning of an erection. He rubbed himself idly. It amused him to stay in a state of semi-hardness for most of his shift. There were large blocks of time when he had nothing to do but sit and look at porno magazines.
He found it funny to talk to the tenants from behind his big desk, talking normally, carrying on conversations while he was sitting there with a boner. At night, when he got home, he'd take care of it once and for all, picturing one of the girls from the magazines dropping to her knees in front of him or one of the female tenants spread-eagled on his desk. Lately, it was Grace's face and body that he pictured while his hand jerked up and down.
Grace ate a couple of slices of pizza and looked at her watch. Eight o'clock. She sighed. She had tried all day not to think about Nick. Every time the phone rang, her pulse had raced, but it had only been salesmen, business acquaintances and a couple of friends who had heard of her mishap and wanted to lend support. Not that there were many of those. Most of the people she knew were acquaintances of Matt. She had many on-line friends, made through business, but they were scattered around the country.
She made her way to the stereo. She had a 6-CD changer that she filled every morning and set to 'random play'. Many of the CDs were ones she had made herself blending favorites from her collection with downloads from the Internet. At approximately eighty minutes per CD, she had nearly eight hours of uninterrupted music - her favorite songs quietly filling the background of her day. She was on the second batch for this day, but she was done.
She hit the Stop button. She just wasn't in the mood for another Backstreet Boys song. She looked at her computer. Nope. Done there too. She surveyed her video collection. She wanted something...not sappy romantic...not action and violence... those were all Matt's...something with heart. Here, this would do. She pulled out Remember the Titans, a football movie with Denzel Washington. She loved his work, and there was nothing like an uplifting sports movie, where the good guys come from behind and win.
Grace popped the movie in the player and relaxed on the sofa. She was just going to veg tonight. For tomorrow, she had set herself the onerous task of taking a shower. She had been doing sponge baths since the accident, but she wanted a long, hot shower. She knew it was going to be tricky, but she hoped to do it without either killing herself or washing away the apartment.
******************************After advising Nick to stay away from Grace for a couple of days, Kevin was determined to make him do it. He asked Nick to pick him up on the way to the meeting, giving some excuse about the car having a tune-up. Today, they were listening to demos of prospective artists for their label. At the first break, Kevin asked to borrow Nick's cell phone to call his wife. After completing the call, he turned off the ringer and slipped the phone into his pocket.
At the next break, he motioned Nick over to the refreshment table. "Can you do me a big favor?" he asked. "You remember Kristin's friend Theresa?" Nick shrugged. Not really. Kevin went on, "Well, she is in from out of town and we were going to bring her to the club tonight." Nick shrugged again. So what?
"She doesn't want to go on her own with me and Kris. Says she'll feel like extra baggage or something."
Nick looked at him oddly. He went out with Kevin and Kris all the time on his own. And Brian and Leigh too.
"It's a woman thing," said Kevin. "I don't get it either. But Kris wants me to get you or Howie to 'go with her'." He put quotation marks around the words with his fingers.
"Howie's not going," said Nick. "Pollyanna's got a gig and he's going to that."
"Oh," said Kevin, and waited. He was willing to ask if he had to, but he preferred it if the suggestion came from Nick.
"I'm going, so that makes a fourth. Is that okay?"
"That would be great, Li'l Bro. I really appreciate it. Kristin was worried about it. How about if we pick you up? We're getting a car."
"Sure, that would be fine. I don't want to drive anyway."
Kevin moved away, back to the conference table. Brian had been getting some juice and had heard the whole thing. Kevin's ploy had been so obvious. He couldn't believe Nick hadn't seen through it. Or maybe he had. Who knew? AJ's words ran through his mind, How long before Kevin wrecks it?
Nick had seen through Kevin. Theresa from out-of-town?! Good God. But he didn't mind. He was going anyway and this actually served his purpose. He wouldn't feel the pressure to put the moves on anyone; he could just kick back, have a couple of drinks and enjoy the music.
Nick loved music - they all did; they had very different tastes in music for their personal listening. Nick leaned more to the 'rock' side of things and the group playing tonight, Pleather, was an up-and-coming act that Nick enjoyed and figured would be huge one day soon.
******************************Nick enjoyed the evening immensely. Theresa turned out to be a very nice girl with no interest in him whatsoever. All she could talk about was her boyfriend back home, who was a big rock fan, and how excited he would be to hear that she had seen so-and-so. Each time she said it, she named another person in the club. Apparently, he would not be that impressed that she had met a Backstreet Boy or two.
Theresa was into college basketball and they talked about that during one of the set breaks. They were seated in the VIP section of the club and security made sure they weren't disturbed by non-VIP patrons. The club management knew that they never accepted free drinks from anyone and that no one from outside the section was allowed to approach their table. They had been burned too many times in the early years.
There were no cameras allowed anywhere in the club, but they knew that made no difference. Someone always got a picture. The Backstreet Boys were a phenomenon in the entertainment industry - they had the most widespread and loyal fanbase anyone had ever seen. It covered all ages and spanned the globe. They were nearing their tenth year together and the hype from the fans just grew bigger every day. They could cause a stir just by - well, just by being.
They had learned to deal with it - sometimes, the hard way. But they knew now - never in public - no swearing, no drunk and disorderly behavior, no altercations, no matter how provoked you were by some asshole trying to make himself bigger by shooting you down. They never heard the words 'Backstreet Boy' as a statement of fact - it was either a breathless, adoring whisper or a vicious slur, usually accompanied by the adjective 'fucking'.
