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Chapter 5

Alex loved to shop when he was depressed. Hell, he loved to shop when he was happy too, but he shopped more when he was depressed. And for some reason, he loved to shop for women's clothing. Not for himself of course, but he dragged me into the junior’s department and had a field day. He shoved dress after dress at me, shirts, pants and even bathing suits (which I would never wear). I swore up and down that I didn’t need any of this, that the clothes I brought with me would suffice, but he swore up and down that I was wrong, and in fact, my life would improve exponentially when I brought this stuff back with me. I joked that I’d need to buy a new suitcase to fit all this stuff…so he did. Of course he bought stuff for himself too, clothes, hats, shoes and even makeup. I thought it was overboard, but he had fun, and there was a smile on his face. So I kept quiet.



“You’re awfully quiet today,” Nick sat down next to me at the table.

I shrugged. I was. I was thinking about Alex and Nina. I didn’t want them to get divorced; I loved them both. “Yeah, I guess I have.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“I can’t. I promised I wouldn’t tell.”

“Want me to get you anything then?”

I smiled sadly, “want to get me some popcorn?”

I watched as he looked through the tiny cupboards that the bus had. “Sorry Al, it looks like we’re fresh out.” I dropped my head to the table; one more thing to be sad about. “We have ice cream though. Ice cream usually makes everything better.”

I smiled on his behalf; he was really trying. “I don’t think anything will make me feel better.”

“Not even me?” I looked up at him and frowned. He really did look concerned. “C’mon, what are you hiding?”

I debated for a long moment. Alex trusted me with this secret, but I wanted to tell someone. I wanted Nick to know why I was sad and I wanted to talk to him about it. “Promise you won’t tell?”

“Ooh, is it juicy gossip?” He grinned and sat down next to me again. I wiped the stray tear quickly before Nick would see it but he was fast. “Hey, c’mon Ally, it can’t be that bad right?”

“Alex and Nina are getting divorced…”

He looked thoughtful, and after a long moment, he sighed. “I had a feeling this was going to happen.”

“You did?” He nodded. “How?”

“He hasn’t been happy,” he said, “they both haven’t. It doesn’t mean that they don’t love each other, but sometimes the love changes.”

“I’m not a baby Nick; you don’t have to explain that shit to me. I get it.” He hated when I swore.

“Don’t swear.”

“Why? You do. I just lead by example.”

“Hey, I think I’ve been a very good influence thank you.”

I ignored him. “I just want everyone to be happy.”

“I know you do Ally, that’s what makes you so great. But life would kind of suck if we were happy all the time, believe me.”

“Liar, life would rock.”

He laughed, “I don’t think so. You know, when you were younger, you threw temper tantrums like you wouldn’t believe. Neither of us were happy then, you were such a little shit-”

“I was not!”

He laughed again, “oh yes you were Ally. But I let you cry it out and afterwards we talked, and you started to realize that talking is better than screaming, so whenever you were angry or sad, we talked, and that’s why we’re here right now, talking…and we’re both happier this way.”

I hated that he was right. I remember those tantrums; sometimes I threw them just because I knew how much he hated them. But it was true, I wouldn’t be able to talk about every little thing if he hadn’t of taught me that talking was better than screaming, or holding it all in. I slumped down in my chair, “I need to do something to cheer him up.”

“What did you have in mind?”

I had no idea, but I wanted to do something. He did so much for me; I’d be stupid not to do something in return, especially when he really needed it. “I could draw him something,” I smiled. I got my love of drawing from Nick. He never knew that I could draw until he found most of his sketchbooks missing. I remember he was scouring the house for them and I was too afraid to tell him that I took them. It was after he completely tore apart his office that I guiltily handed them back to him, all the pages full. He sat on the floor and quietly looked at each picture. The next day I swear he had bought out the entire art store, with enough sketchbooks, pencils, paints, and charcoal to last both of us a lifetime.

“I think he’d like that, what kind of picture?”

I shrugged, I would have to think about it.




I found an even better way to cheer my Uncle up. I quietly walked around the dressing room when Nick walked in. “What are you doing?”

I looked up guiltily, “Um…making my Uncle feel better?”

“By…”

“By taking out the crème of his Oreos and putting toothpaste in the middle instead?”

Nick laughed, “I taught you well Ally. You better hurry, he’s coming.” I finished quickly and stashed the toothpaste back in the bag as soon as they all walked through the door.

Howie walked over to the sink, still in his conversation with Brian and started washing his hands. Only Nick noticed that the soap coming out of the dispenser was bright blue. His wide eyes fell on me and I grinned sheepishly. He had taught me well. “Uh, Howie…” Brian pointed at his hands and I couldn’t help it; I giggled.

“What the hell?” Even towel drying them wouldn’t make the blue go away. He glared at Nick, “what the hell did you do?” I laughed out loud this time.

“It wasn’t me!” He defended himself. I glanced at Alex, who had his head in his hands and was shaking with silent laughter.

“You can join Blue Man Group now,” he got out between bouts of laughter, “Nick that was awesome!”

“I said it wasn’t me! I’m not the only Carter in here!”

All eyes turned on me and I blushed but continued to laugh. “I’m sorry Howie. But we’re already two weeks into the tour and a prank hasn’t been pulled yet. I knew you’d take one for the team.” Howie shook his head and laughed with all of us. “It’s just food coloring.”

I saw Nick grin when Alex took out his Oreo cookies. He popped one whole in his mouth and I burst into laughter at the disgusted look on his face. “What the hell happened to my crème?” He spit out the cookie, “and what the fuck is in this?”

“Toothpaste,” Nick laughed, wrapping his arm around me, “I taught my little one well didn’t I fellas?”

Just wait until Nick got changed. I cut out his deodorant stick and replaced it with a cube of cream cheese.