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“That game was so great, too bad Brian had to miss it.” AJ said as they walked down the hallway towards the rooms.


“Yeah, I think I am gonna check on him ‘cause he really didn’t look good earlier. Maybe I will stay in your room tonight, so he can rest?” Nick replied, knocking on the door to make sure Brian was not asleep.


“Sure, I’ll go clear my stuff off of the other bed for you.” AJ called as he opened his own room.



Nick figured that Brian was asleep so he knocked one more time to make sure.


“Brian?”




“Shit….”


Brian stirred as he heard Nick come into the room and hid under the covers, his heart beating so rapidly he thought it might jump out of his own chest. Why was he so worried about Nick finding Leighanne there? It wasn’t just about her being there or him lying...it was something more. He knew how upset Nick would be when he found them. He had lied to his best friend.




“Brian? Are you sleeping?”



Brian lay perfectly still with the blanket over his face, looking at Leighanne sleeping next to him with his heart beating rapidly in panic. It was then he realized they were both still completely naked. He hoped that Nick wouldn’t do what he usually did to wake him up…



“Are you feeling any better? You looked like you were gonna hurl earlier. Maybe it was the pizza because I don’t feel that great either. We shouldn’t have gotten onions and mushrooms.”


Nick continued talking as if he were really listening to him, talking about the game and saying he brought back a present. To Brian’s horror the blanket started to move. His face pale, he held the blanket in place but Nick was determined to yank it off.


Brian heard the Lakers basketball Nick was holding drop as soon as the blanket came off of the bed.


“What is she doing here, I thought you were sick?” Nick asked meekly, blinking in disbelief. Leighanne woke up, pulling the blanket back on to cover herself as she laid into NIck, screaming at him.


“Seriously?” Nick said, unaware he had even done anything wrong.


What happened next, Brian wished he was dreaming. Leighanne realized Nick was there and yanked the sheets over herself, her face bright red. If she could breathe fire, she’d have probably torched the entire hotel by now. Brian wanted to crawl under the bed when she started to yell.


“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? What the hell  are you doing in here?”


“This is my room too.”


“You were trying to ruin our alone time. Again.” Leighanne shouted. Nick looked at Brian, feeling super guilty about trying to ruin their first date. He didn’t know Brian had told her about the wallet.


“I’m sorry- Brian told me that….that…” Nick stammered, blushing. Brian stared at him, pleading with his eyes. Leighanne turned on him next.


“Is he that fucking obsessed with you that he can’t be away from you for more than three hours?”


Brian closed his eyes, he already knew what Nick thought and he stayed silent. He could have spoken up, he could have said he didn’t mean it but for some reason he was silent. He would come to regret this for a long time.




Nick’s face scrunched up in confusion and he spoke very slowly.


“Wha- What are you talking about?”


“Why can’t you leave him alone and let him breathe for five minutes, Nick? It’s pretty pathetic how you hang on him all the time because your family doesn’t care about you, Brian complains about it all the time to me.” Leighanne shouted. Nick looked at Brian and had tears in his eyes, floored by this new information.


Nick blinked in utter confusion. Brian was shocked, he had told Leighanne that Nick had been acting jealous and bothering him but he honestly didn’t mean any of it, he was only frustrated. He never thought she would actually tell him what he said.


“Baby, those aren’t the exact words that I-“ Brian started but his girlfriend was in a rant. She rounded on Nick again.


“Please don’t get upset. Please don’t hate me.” Brian pled silently, his eyes moving from Leighanne to Nick as his face paled. His heart was practically beating out of his chest. He felt sick.


“Nick...I-“



“No wonder you and your girlfriend broke up, you’re pathetic! Get out of here!” Leighanne shouted, holding the sheet over herself as she started pushing Nick towards the door.


“What the fuck, I haven’t done anything wrong! Brian lied to me!”


It was a miracle nobody had come to the room to see what the commotion was about.


“Leigh, don’t do this. He didn’t mean it...” Brian said, but nobody seemed to hear him over all the fighting. Nick pushed her off of him and looked at Brian, shaking his head again.


“You know, I hope all of this was worth it.” Nick said, clearly trying to hide the fact that he was upset. He opened the door but Leighanne shoved him from behind, almost making him lose his balance in the hallway. He was still holding it together until the basketball flew out of the room, missing his head and bouncing off of the wall. The door of the room slammed shut, and he could hear her yelling at Brian from outside. He should have been happy that he might have caused them to break up but he was too hurt knowing that Brian had talked shit about him and ditched him to care. His eyes swimming, he turned and ran down the hallway towards the elevator and closed the door, shutting himself inside. It was only when he was by himself that he allowed himself to cry, sitting on the floor of the elevator with his head in his knees. He only hoped that nobody he knew would find him there when the elevator doors opened and he heard someone step inside.


“Nick, are you okay?”


Nick looked up as he wiped his eyes and saw Kevin standing over him. Nobody had hit any buttons on the elevator so they were just sitting there in silence for a few moments while Nick cried.


“Please tell me what’s wrong.” Kevin begged. He knelt down and took him into an embrace, letting Nick sob into his shoulder. Nick never answered him right away or told him what made him so upset, but Kevin knew that this was not anything to do with his family.



“I….can’t. You wouldn’t understand.”


“Do you want me to take you somewhere, then?”


“No.”



“Do you want to go back to the room? Brian’s better at this than I am. He could-”


Nick scowled.


“-or not.”


“Can you….can you help me move my stuff to AJ’s room tonight?” Nick asked through tears.


“Sure thing, kiddo.” Kevin smiled, patting him on the back as he helped him stand up once they went back up to the floor they were staying on. Kevin had a funny feeling that his cousin had upset Nick and he made a mental note to have a good, long talk with him in the morning.