Chapter 135
Last night of the tour…
They took their last bow and made their way off the stage quickly, Nick hurried around backstage, heading for his bus. He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading over his lips, the tour was done and he was heading home and Veronica would be coming to see him in a little over a week and he couldn’t wait.
“Nick…Nick! Man where you goin’? C’mon back, you know we have the party!” Kevin yelled suddenly.
Sliding to a stop, Nick sighed heavily, he’d been so excited to get on the road, he completely forgot the party they always had on the last night of a tour.
“Shit,” he mumbled, turning, starting over.
“Damn man, where were you going in such a hurry?” Kevin asked.
“To my bus to shower and ya know...get going.”
“You’re in that much of a rush?” Kevin questioned, pushing him into the conference room.
Nick shrugged; he really didn’t feel like getting into it with Kevin right now. Making his way into the room, he said hi to everyone and headed over to the refreshment table, grabbing a plate and loading it up with cookies and carrot and celery sticks and a generous amount of dip before heading over to the couch and flopping down, taking a bite of a carrot stick, crunching loudly. Nick could feel Kevin’s eyes on him, and he purposely diverted his gaze from his. He jumped when Brian suddenly sat down next to him
“Hey man, s’up? Why you sitting here all alone? Everyone’s hanging out and whatever, you ok?”
Nick nodded, popping a cookie into his mouth, chewing slowly.
“So…AJ tells me Veronica is coming to visit,” Brian grinned.
“Ugh,” Nick groaned, letting his head fall back on the couch. “Leave it to bone to spill the beans.”
“C’mon Nick, you should know better, telling AJ anything you don’t want anyone to know.”
“Yeah yeah, I know. I guess I figured…well I don’t know what I figured. Eh, it’s no secret or anything.”
“Well then I guess AJ really didn’t spill beans or anything did he? I mean, if there were no beans to spill,” Brian grinned dopily.
Nick rubbed at his face.
“So ok, c’mon, the faster we’re done with this party, the faster you’ll be able to get on the rooooad,” Brian reasoned standing and making his way towards the center of the room.
Nick watched him walk away, grabbing a celery stick and running it through the dip on his plate before taking a bite. Groaning, he slumped down further on the couch as Kevin came to sit next to him. He tried to continue eating, but Kevin was just sitting there…staring at him, not saying anything, just staring.
“Kevin I swear if you don’t stop staring at me man!”
“So…”
“So…what?”
“You tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“You sure? You seem awful antsy, even for you.”
“Yeah well I got something kinda exciting going on in a few weeks so I’m kinda looking forward to going home.”
“Is this about Veronica coming to see you?”
Nick looked over to find Kevin smiling broadly, rolling his eyes; Nick stared at his plate, dragging a carrot through the dip this time.
“Awww Nick’s excited to see his woman,” Kevin teased, wrapping an arm around him, tugging him against him.
“She’s not my woman, agh, leggo man!” Nick yelled, trying to pull away.
“She practically is, this whole friend shit doesn’t hold water and you know it, that’s your woman,” Kevin laughed.
“Knock it off,” Nick moaned, finally managing to pull away, running his fingers through his now messed up hair.
“So how long is she staying for?”
“Eight days,” he responded, no sense in denying it.
“Ooooo, so you’re looking forward to it huh? When’s she gonna get there?”
“In two weeks.”
“Good thing, lord knows you’ve gotta go and clean the pig sty you call a home first.”
“I hired a cleaning service to keep it clean while we were gone Kevin, shit man I’m not stupid.”
“No one said you were, just you have the tendency to forget.”
“Humph.”
“Well in any case, I haven’t seen you this excited in a while, it’s nice.”
“Yeah well I can’t help it, she’s…she’s cool. She‘s a very special woman to me.”
“Cool huh? Well I’m glad you think so highly of her.”
“Yeah.”
“She really means a lot to you doesn’t she?”
Nick nodded, and she did, way more than he’d ever planned or anticipated.
“So then, why don’t you two start dating? Or at the very least go out on a date?” Kevin inquired.
Nick stared at him, clearly stunned. Kevin was the last person he’d ever expected to hear that from.
“Look Nick, when a woman makes you feel the way that Veronica does, ya gotta do something about it. You can’t just be friends, cause eventually it’s gonna end, not work out ya know?”
“No I don’t know, guys and girls can be friends Kev.”
“I didn’t say they couldn’t, but when one of them clearly wants to be more than friends then…”
“Whoa whoa wait a minute, who said anything about wanting to be more than friends?” Nick interrupted, looking over at him.
“You don’t have to say it Nick, it’s written all over your face. There’s no real reason why you two shouldn’t go out, not really.”
“This from the same guy who told me before to forget about her because she’s just a fan.”
Kevin shrugged, “Well you’ve proven over and over Nick that she’s more than just a fan, and maybe more than just a friend too.”
Nick was too stunned to say anything.
“You could I dunno, have your first date when she comes to see you, go out to dinner or something simple like that.”
“I dunno Kevin; I don’t know that it’d work.”
“Look Nick, there is nothing stopping you except yourself and possibly Veronica if she doesn’t feel the same way.”
“Right, exactly, what if she doesn’t feel the same? Whatever feel the same means, I haven’t admitted to feeling anything more than friendship towards her in the first place.”
Kevin shook his head, a small smile on his lips, “That’s a risk you have to take Nick; she’s no different from any other woman other than the fact that you would actually care if she turns you down.”
Groaning, Nick rubbed at his face again.
“Nothing is stopping you right now Nick, do something or you’re gonna lose her again to some other guy but only this time, they won’t break up,” Kevin finished, patting him on the back before standing and walking off.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Well I've offically hit 500 pgs with Chapter 145, remember I'm 10 ahead of what I post here, but yeah! So I'm excited! I hope you're all enjoying the story. Here's the next chapter, thanks for all your comments. Remember I reply to all feedback, so head on over and read my comments! Thanks again!
