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Chapter 19


Nick had only been in London a week and already he was bored and annoyed. Same stupid ass questions, same old crap. Desperate for some alone time, (as alone as he could be with a bodyguard) he was out shopping, he needed something new. Granted, he had to be back at his hotel in an hour to get ready for his next interview, so he had to hurry. If there was one thing Nick hated it was being rushed; he liked to take his time. Unfortunately for him though, that wasn’t an option right now. Nick and his bodyguard made their way through the store, looking around for various things. He couldn’t find what he was looking for because he didn’t know what that was. Nothing appealed to him, and nothing caught his eye.

“You ready to leave?” His bodyguard asked.

Nick nodded, “Yeah, I think so, I don’t see anything I want here.”

They started for the exit, when a young girl approached cautiously a pen and something else clutched in her hand.

“E-excuse me, Nick?”

Nick stopped; he really didn’t feel like dealing with fans right now. He didn’t have the time. Pasting a smile on his face he turned to the girl.

“Hey.”

She seemed to struggle a moment before responding.

“Can, can I have your autograph please?”

“Sure,” he smiled and took her pen and what he learned was his CD liner and started to scribble his name quickly.

“I’m sorry to hear about your parents, my parents are divorced too, I know how hard it is.”

His hand stilled, it was the first time since it all started that a fan had said anything to him about it. No one had told him how he was supposed to react, what he was supposed to say. It was still too fresh, he wasn’t ready to even admit it to himself let alone talk about it to anyone, especially a fan. There had been a few who tried to talk to him, AJ was one, but Nick blew him off. Reality for him in some ways hadn’t set in yet, there was still this part of his brain that did not understand what was going on, what it all meant. Part of him still believed his parents would make up and that it’d all be over, that it was some kind of nightmare.

He was still waiting.

It just seemed to Nick, that things like that happened to others and not to him, not his family. Granted, they’d had their share of problems, but it was never this bad. He’d never seen his parents fight that much, then again he hadn’t been home a lot of the time either. They loved each other, he was sure of it; at least he thought they did. It had been a rude awakening when he received word that his Mother was filing for a divorce, an awakening, but there was a small part of him that hadn’t been surprised. His relationship with his Mom was strained at best; the distance between them had grown, especially over the last few years.

Nick knew if he just kept going kept moving he could get away from it, block them out and act as if he didn’t know them, let them figure it out. It was selfish, but he was sick and tired of bailing his parents out of their own problems, that wasn’t his job. Nick focused his thoughts once again on the girl in front of him, trying to listen to what she was telling him.

“My parents have been divorced for a few years and I know in the beginning I was really upset and didn’t wanna believe it, but it does get a little easier as…” she trailed off, blushing.

It was time to end this, now.

Nick forced another smile, “Thanks. I’m sorry to cut this short but I gotta jet. Thanks for your support.”

He flashed her another smile before walking out, his bodyguard in tow, leaving her standing there alone, watching after him.