Day five…

"So tell me something…" Nick said to Kel as they drove along the highway in his truck together.

"What would you like me to tell you?" she joked and he rolled his eyes at her with a smile.

"Did you listen to my damn CD yet?"

Kel chuckled and nodded, "I did… But when I was going to tell you about it last night I looked over and you’d fallen asleep on me. I must have been talking to you for ten minutes before I realized you’d conked out."

"My bad…" Nick laughed as he focused on the road.

"It’s okay, you’ve always been adorable when you’re all cuddled up next to me sleeping on the couch. And I loved the CD, honey."

Nick couldn’t have held back his smile if he tried, "Really?"

"No, I’m lying to you…" Kel groaned and shook her head. "Yes, really. I laughed, I cried, I got all sentimental, and I had that goofy ‘I’m so proud of my Nicky’ grin on through the whole thing."

"You cried?" he said as he glanced at her for a moment before returning his eyes to the road.

"Yeah…" she said as she pulled her feet up into her seat and rested her head back against the headrest. "Some of the lyrics were… well, they hit a little close to home."

Nick nodded silently, he’d thought about Kel a lot when he was recording the music for his CD, and not only because he missed her, but because of the songs themselves. After he’d given her a copy of the CD to listen to he’d wondered how she would react to some of the songs, and quite frankly had figured she’d react strongly to one or two of them. "I bet I can guess which one made you cry," he smiled.

Kel smiled and tipped her head to the side watching him drive, "There were three actually…"

"Damn, three?" he chuckled. "Wow…"

"Still think you can guess?"

Nick chewed his bottom lip for a second and nodded, "Yeah…"

"Go for it… if you get all three then I’ll pay for lunch today."

"Cool…" Nick smiled and grabbed the case of his CD and glanced at the titles of the songs. Kel meanwhile watched him quietly and decided to change the CD in the stereo since they’d been through it twice already on their drive.

She smiled as she put in a new CD and looked at Nick, "You’ve got that Deep Thought look on…"

"I don’t want to fuck this up, a free lunch is a good thing…" he laughed and she giggled at him. "Okay, I guess I’ll go for the obvious first…"

Kel smiled knowing that he’d at least get one of the songs right, the others would be tough though. "Hit me…"

"Do I Have To Cry For You…" he said softly and glanced at her for her reaction.

She nodded, "Yup."

He thought about the other songs and glanced at the titles again before speaking again. "God, this is hard. I’m thinking maybe one was Heart Without A Home, but that’s sort of predictable and I dunno…"

Kel smiled and grabbed a Twizzler from the console sitting between them, "I’m not giving you any hints. You have to guess all three right to get a free lunch."

"Okay, I’m guessing… uh… Shit, I’m so going to lose this…" he laughed and she smiled. "Alright, I’m saying, I Got You…"

Kel smiled big and chewed her Twizzler, "One more…"

"I’m right?" Nick grinned with wide eyes. "Holy shit… I didn’t think I’d get that right, but something just told me to pick it."

"You should listen to that voice more often then…"

"Yeah really…" he nodded. "Okay, so one more…" Kel smiled and looked out of the window at the scenery passing them by quickly. She knew that Nick knew her well, but she seriously doubted if he’d be able to guess the last song. "Who Needs the World…"

Turning her head back to Nick, she smiled, "You’re buying lunch."

"Fuck!" he groaned and laughed. "So what was it?"

"Help Me…"

"Help Me? That made you cry? Why?"

She shrugged and looked out of the window again, "Just made me sad. Maybe because I attached too much of what’s been going on during the past eight months to it. The first time I heard it, I loved it. But then I really listened to the words it made me cry. I know I’ve definitely thought the things you sing about in the song… Wanting someone to point me in the right direction in trying to figure out if I was supposed to call you or not, and how to handle everything with AJ…"

Nick took a long glance at her and smiled as he reached out and put his hand on her knee, "It all worked out just fine… that’s all that matters now."

"Yeah…" Kel smiled as she looked at Nick again. "That, and the fact that you’re buying lunch."

~~~~~

"Whose house is this again?" Kel asked as she and Nick dropped their bags in the foyer of the house they were borrowing for a few days in the Keys.

"Friend of my dad’s… he’s never here, so he lets me borrow it since I use it more than he does."

"It’s adorable… not too horribly huge, but very… perfect."

Nick smiled and pushed Kel toward the living room of the house, "Check out the view from the couch…"

They sat down, more than happy to be out of the car after several long hours of driving south, and looked toward the ceiling-to-floor windows that made up one wall of the room. "Oh wow…"

"Fantastic huh?"

"Beautiful…" Kel smiled. "You don’t even have to get your ass up from the couch to look at the ocean… I love it."

Nick laughed and nodded, "I once spent like fifteen hours sitting here just staring out at the water from the couch. Every so often I’d get up to piss, but I’d come right back here."

Kel giggled, "I can totally see you doing that." She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder, "Thanks for bringing me here."

"You’re welcome… I thought it would be a nice little get away for us. Heaven knows I needed to get away for a while before I start promoting this CD and they have me roaming all over the place."

"You know you’re going to love it…"

"I know…" he sighed. "It’s just going to be weird. All this time I’ve dreamt of doing this solo thing and now it’s here. I’m going to constantly be looking around expecting it to be like touring with Backstreet, and it will be so different."

"It’ll probably take some getting used to. I remember when AJ did his Johnny tour how odd he thought it was at first without the rest of you guys around. But you’ll be fine."

"Come with me…"

Kel picked her head up and looked at Nick, "What?"

"Come with me. I’ve got the usual press tour to do for the CD, but then I’m going to be going around doing club appearances for a while. Come with me and be my assistant or something."

Kel chuckled, "You wouldn’t want me as your assistant. You’d ask me to get you something and I’d tell you to get it your damn self…"

Nick smiled but didn’t laugh, "I’m serious… Come with me, Kel. It’s been so long since we’ve been on a tour together, and frankly… I don’t know what I’ll do if you’re not in the next room while I’m out on the road."

"You’ll call me long distance and keep me up all night talking on the phone just like you always did when I wasn’t on tour with Backstreet."

"But I don’t want to have to call you… come with me."

"Honey," Kel sighed. "I can’t commit to touring with you. Not right now at least. You know I’d love to be with you. But if I’m going to fix things with AJ, I need to be with him. Maybe once he’s home, and I start to talk to him about everything I’ve been feeling lately, then I’ll have a better idea about it all."

Nick nodded and his eyes stayed focused on the water outside of the house, "Okay…"

Kel frowned watching his face and cuddled up to him wrapping her arms around his waist as she rested her head on his chest, "I’ll at least give you a few weeks okay? No matter what is going on with me and Age, I’ll promise you two weeks of me on tour with you."

Nick’s arm tightened slightly around Kel and he nodded again, "I’m holding you to that."

Kel smiled and squeezed her arms around his body, "Good, cause I want you to."

~~~~~

"How come we’ve never had sex?"

Kel laughed and shook her head taking the beer bottle out of Nick’s hand, "You’ve definitely had too much to drink tonight."

"I’m not drunk…" he smiled taking his bottle back. They‘d been sitting in a high-backed two-person chair on the deck of the house watching the moon over the water talking, drinking and enjoying the calm of their surroundings. "I was just thinking about it. I mean, you’re so hot… and so am I," he snorted at himself and she laughed watching him. "How come we never slipped and just went at it like animals?"

"Because we love each other too much to risk it."

"Risk what? And aren’t people supposed to be in love when they have sex?"

"Risk our friendship…" she smiled. "You know… making it all weird with sex."

"I never understood the theory that having sex would make things weird between friends…" he said shaking his head. "We’re best friends, you love me, I love you. You know me better than anyone in the world, who better than to sleep with than someone I trust completely?"

"Sure, in theory it makes sense. But seriously, let’s say we’d had sex… You’d always have it in your memory bank. You’d always be able to think about me in the throws of passion, and not always in appropriate situations. Like you’d introduce me to your latest girlfriend and in your mind you’d be thinking that you’d fucked me. Or you’d be at my wedding and dancing with me in my wedding gown thinking, ‘Wow, I actually tapped this ass once…’"

They both laughed and Nick shook his head, "Okay, so maybe I’d do that… but what’s wrong with it? You’d do the same thing. You’d be getting married and I’d be your best man… cause you know I will…" he chuckled and she smiled with a nod. "And before you’d say ‘I do’ you’d think ‘I should have screwed Nick once more before today…’"

"You’re so crass…" Kel laughed.

"Oh and you’re not?" he laughed back. "My point is… so what if we have screwing each other in our memory bank? I’d much rather remember fucking you than fucking Heather…" he said rolling his eyes.

Kel laughed loudly and nodded, "You’ve got a point there. She couldn’t have been a good lay. She was so… picky."

"She was horrible in bed…" he said with a shudder that made Kel laugh.

"Yeah well, I had Steve…" Kel groaned. "He was so bad. I don’t think he ever got me off. I faked it every time."

Nick snorted again, "That’s bad… I’d get you off…"

Rolling her eyes she smiled, "I’m sure you would."

"I’m never going to get the chance am I?" Nick said as he rolled his head to the side and looked at her.

"Not while I’m with AJ…" she said with a smile as she reached out and touched his cheek with her hand. "I’m flattered, but I can’t…"

"That just makes me want you more…" he smiled and turned his head to kiss the inside of her hand gently.

She smiled shaking her head, "My poor Nicky…"

"It’s not even about my needs…" he said. "I just want to make you feel good…" She stared at him for a moment, not exactly sure how to take his comment. "I don’t get how he could stay away from you for so long. There’s no way I could keep my hands off of you if you were mine. Not even if I were highly medicated."

He reached out and ran the back of his fingers over her cheek, "Nicky…" she said softly, her voice spiked with sadness.

"I just don’t get him, Kel. How can he turn you away? How wrapped up in himself can he be to be so blind to you? God… there’s so much pain I your eyes. Can’t he see that?"

She closed her eyes when she felt them fill with tears and she shook her head, "Don’t…"

"You’re so beautiful…" he whispered to her and wiped her tears away gently. "You’re so amazing… He has no idea what he has." She continued to cry and couldn’t form any words, simply keeping her eyes closed she shook her head. Nick’s hands stopped her from shaking her head and then he pressed his forehead to hers still holding her face, "You deserve to be touched." He softly pressed his lips to hers, "…and to be kissed."

She let out a soft sob when his lips met hers a second time and he kissed her in a way he’d never done before. He nipped her bottom lip softly and then pressed his tongue into her mouth. His hands moved from her face down to her waist and pulled her body into his as he kissing her deeply. Their minds swam with emotion as they kissed and their bodies responded to each other. His hands moved once more and sought out her breasts as he moved his kisses to her neck. Her head fell back as she felt his breath on her skin and his hands kneading at her breasts. She let out a soft sigh as her body experienced feelings it hadn’t seen in so long, everything in her being wanted him to keep going. She wanted him to make her feel as good as she felt right then, and even better.

He on the other hand hadn’t planned on making any move on her that night, but when he did, it just felt right. He really did want to make her feel good, and he didn’t mean just by making her laugh either. He didn’t know where it had all come from, but it was there, and there was no denying the fact that he wanted her, and it felt like she wanted him as well.

"Let me make you feel the way you should feel…" he said softly against her neck as he slid a hand between her legs and slowly inched it up the inside of her thigh.

Her body responded to his touch and she felt her hips move toward his hand and felt his fingertips graze across the leg of her bathing suit which she’d only covered with a sloppy tee shirt as the sun had faded. "Oh god…" she sighed as his fingers pressed her suit to the side and found their way to her body. Her eyes fluttered shut as he slid two fingers deep inside of her and rubbed the pad of his thumb over her clit. "Nicky, I…" she said softly before he slid a third digit inside of her and nibbled on her neck cutting off any attempt at speech that she had.

"Just let it go…" he whispered in her ear as he sensed her fighting her body. He flicked his tongue over the pulse point on her neck then sucked on it and he finally felt her let go. She moved her hips along with his hand and he could hear soft moans trying to escape her throat. He was so turned on he thought he’d burst, but this was all about her. This was about his best friend who wasn’t getting the love she deserved, and helping her release at least a sliver of the built up frustration she had inside. He could feel that she was close, he’d pleased enough girlfriends to know just what a woman’s body did just before it lost control, and he relentlessly pushed her toward that beautiful release.

When her body finally reached it’s peak, she held a tight grip on his shoulder with one hand and his arm with the other as her hips rocked against his hand and she cried out. The mixed sounds of extreme pleasure mixed with sadness that flowed from her mouth made him want to weep for her, and he wasn’t exactly sure he’d be able to hold back his emotion. He pulled his fingers from her body feeling her shudder from his touch and then looked into her eyes. They were wet with tears and he could tell she wasn’t close to being done crying that evening. He kissed her gently and then pulled her into a tight hug wrapping as much of his body around her protectively as he could. She in turn balled up against him beginning to cry once again and he cried for her as well. It was there they spent the remainder of the evening and then slept in each others arms with the warm breeze of the ocean blowing over them never waking them until morning.