Sighing, he flipped his phone closed, slumping back on the couch. It’d been several hours since she’d left and still he hadn’t heard a word from her. He thought she would’ve called to let him know she’d arrived home safely, but so far nothing. He had to stop this, she was probably sick of him and needed time to think, still he just wanted to know that she was ok, that she’d arrived safely. That said though, he had to stop checking his phone every five minutes. Rubbing at his face in frustration, he flipped his phone open again and pressed a button before hitting send.

“Hello?”

“Brent it’s me, you busy?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nick sipped at his beer before setting it down on the counter, turning to look at Brent.

“I didn’t think you’d be up to this, with Veronica leaving and all,” Brent announced, ordering another beer from the bartender.

He shrugged, “I had to get out of that house, I was going crazy. I kept checking my phone to see if she’d called and…I just needed to get away.”

Brent stared at him over his bottle just as a couple of their other friends made their way over to the bar. They all said their hellos to each other and Nick found while it was good to hang out with his friends, he was still thinking about Veronica. He just wished she would call, just to let him know she was home safe.

“Nick…where you at dude?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry man, was just thinking.”

“Some chick huh?” His friend Mark asked.

Nick stared at him a moment before replying.

“Yeah a girl, my girlfriend.”

Mark and his other friend Kyle looked at Nick, Brent just grinned.

“Your girlfriend? Didn’t know you were dating someone,” his other friend Kyle announced, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s because we only became official a few nights ago.”

“So wait, you two have been seeing each other?” Mark asked.

“Well kinda, we were friends first,” Nick explained.

“Ohh I get it, “friends”,” Kyle laughed, nudging Mark as they both started laughing.

“She was just a friend, don’t be a couple of pricks ok?” Nick muttered, turning so he was leaning against the bar, trying to block out the snickering of his friends.

“C’mon guys, knock it off ok? I’ve met her, she’s really nice, lay off,” Brent put in, glaring at Kyle and Mark.

“Hey, how come he got to meet her but we didn’t?” Kyle asked, pretending to pout.

“Gee, I wonder,” Nick sighed, rolling his eyes.

No, there were definitely some of his friends that he didn’t want Veronica to meet, but they were few. There were still a lot of people for her to meet, unfortunately they hadn’t had time while she was there, but that was mostly his fault, especially after they became official, he hadn’t wanted to let her out of his sight.

Frowning, he scanned the crowd, his gaze stopping on a familiar face.

“Fuck, guys I’ll be right back ok?” He announced suddenly, setting his bottle down on the counter.

“What’s wrong?” Brent asked.

“Nothing, I just gotta go to the bathroom, that’s all.”

They all stared at him and he turned quickly before coming to an abrupt stop, groaning inwardly.

“Well well, if it isn’t Nick Carter. Long time no see hmm?”

“Hey Celeste,” Nick sighed.

“Aww c’mon, is that any way to greet an old friend? Usually you have a much warmer reception for me than that,” Celeste grinned, sliding her arms around his waist before leaning in to kiss him, but he turned his head at the last minute and she ended up kissing his cheek.

Nick carefully extracted her arms from around his waist, “Sorry. It’s nice to see you, how you been?”

“I’ve been ok, great now that I see you. Hey Brent, Kyle…Mark.”

“That’s good, but hey, I’ll talk to ya later ok?”

“Now now, hang on, I wanted to talk to you. Do you have a moment?” Celeste smiled, slipping her hand into his and trying to pull him away.

He should’ve known coming here was a bad idea, there were too many women who came here that he used to “date”. This was how it usually went with Celeste, she’d tell him that there was something she wanted to talk about, he’d leave his friends there and the next thing they knew, they ended up in her car heading to her place.

“I don’t think so Celeste, I’m just hanging out with my friends here,” Nick explained, as he slid his hand from hers gently, looking over at Mark and Kyle who were staring at him as if he’d grown a second head.

Celeste blinked, “Are you serious?”

He nodded, “Yeah, sorry Celeste.”

“What, you’re too good for me suddenly?”

“No, I’m just not interested anymore.”

“C’mon Nick, you always say that, but we both know you never really mean it, especially…” she leaned in close suddenly, whispering in his ear “when we wake up together in bed the next morning.”

Nick closed his eyes in disgust, he was finally seeing how bad it’d all been, how bad he’d been. Pulling away a bit, he grabbed his beer, staring at her for a moment before smiling.

“Not this time,” he stated, taking a long drink.

“What the hell is your problem?” Celeste demanded.

“Nothing, I’m seeing someone.”

“So?”

“So, I’m not interested ok?”

“So “dating” someone has never stopped you before.”

“Yeah well I wasn’t dating the girl I am now,” Nick stated bluntly, staring at her.

Celeste smiled, laughing softly, “Ok, we’ll see.”

Nick watched as she turned and walked off, narrowing his eyes.

“What the fuck? What’s wrong with you man?” Kyle grated, smacking his shoulder.

“All of us here know you wanted a piece of that, you ALWAYS want a piece of that,” Mark cried.

Nick shook his head, setting his bottle back down, pulling his keys from his pocket, “Not this time. I’ll see ya Brent.”

They watched as Nick made his way through the crowd and out the door.