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Chapter 41


“…And the picture showed them leaving a club with an unidentified woman! Can you believe that?” Veronica gasped, “It’s him Lynne, it is.”

“Well there, at least you know for sure now.”

“I feel like I’m gonna vomit.”

She’d been like that since she’d found out, the urge to stop contacting him was strong now. Veronica knew though that she’d be kicking herself forever for not seeing it through. How could she go on emailing him or whatever, knowing she was actually talking to him? He probably thought she was so stupid, all that talk about work and everything, nothing anywhere near as exciting as his life or his friends lives she was sure.

“God Veronica, that’s nasty,” Lynne groaned.

“Sorry, but it’s true.”

“Ok ok, moving on, now, how many times have you emailed him so far?”

“A few, but I haven’t heard from him since the last email, and I’m still waiting to get that letter he was telling me about before. He’s probably really busy.”

“Probably.”

They made their way through the mall quietly; it was slow during the week, especially during the evening, which was the only time they could go since Lynne had to work.

“Lynne, I just thought of something,” Veronica frowned.

“What’s that?” Lynne asked, making her way over to the pretzel shop, ordering four.

Veronica stared at her, momentarily distracted, “Four Lynne?”

“Two for me, two for you.”

Veronica stared at her.

“What? You know you’re never satisfied with just one!”

“Yeah well…make sure you get honey mustard for me.”

Lynne grinned, “Go on, what did you just think of?”

“Those pictures, who knows when they were put up? If I saw them and I’m a fan, tons of other fans have.”

“Your point being?”

Veronica paused a moment, “The point being Lynne, that if I saw them and other fans, who’s to say that the person writing these emails and letters, didn’t see them and just say that thing about being in the club? Assuming that this really isn’t Nick but a poser.”

“You said he’d written early in the morning right?”

“Right.”

“You also said you didn’t know when those pictures were posted right?”

“Yeah.”

“Uh huh. If he was out late last night and someone took those pictures, what are the odds that they’d go right back to the place and post them?” Lynne asked, handing the guy the money.

They headed over to a bench and sat, eating their pretzels.

“Dunno, but it’s possible Lynne, anything is possible. Hmm, they probably stayed open late on purpose, those places usually do.”

“Veronica you’re analyzing this to death! Why can’t you just accept it?” Lynne questioned.

“I’m not analyzing anything to death, I’m being practical…logical.”

“Since when?”

She glared at her

“ANYWAY, like I was saying. You have to admit, that is a possibility.”

“Fine,” Lynne responded, opening the bag and grabbing another pretzel, “but you know, you wouldn’t even be questioning it if there hadn’t been any pictures.”

Sighing, Veronica said nothing.

“Uh huh, exactly. You’re just looking for something to be wrong or suspicious. What happens if you find out that this really is a poser? You’ll feel terrible. So why not just go with it, believe it’s him and that’s that. You’ll have fun and so long as he doesn’t try anything weird or perverted, have fun.”

“Well, I guess I could.”

“Damn right you could. Ok, so that’s it, I don’t wanna hear you say anything else against this person. You’re going with the flow and we’re going on under the assumption that this is in fact Nick Carter and that’s it.”

Veronica started to say something, when Lynne silenced her.

“Enough.”

“Fine. You’re mean!”

Lynne smiled, “I know, you love it.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Grabbing the key, she made her way back out to her mailbox. Opening it, she pulled the few pieces of mail out, shut and locked the door and made her way back in. She was making this trip again because she’d conveniently forgotten to check the mail on her way back from the mall. Heading back in, she locked the door and made her way over to the living room, flipping the TV on, looking through the mail. Setting the flyers and bills aside, she stopped when she reached the last envelope, the letter from Nick.

Smiling, she made her way into her bedroom, flopping down on the bed, ripping the envelope open, to her surprise, pulling out two folded sheets of paper out this time. Slipping under the covers, she snuggled into her pillow and started reading.

Veronica,

Thanks for the letter. You’re the same age as me, that’s pretty cool. Honestly, I thought you were a bit older by the sound of your last few letters and all. You’re lucky, I wish my birthday was in July, I love the summer and all. January isn’t bad or anything, but in a lot of places, like New York, it’s cold and snowing, so if I wanna visit somewhere, I have to be careful with what I pack. Eh, I guess that could be true for wherever I go anyway.

Ya life kinda sucks in the fact that we gotta do the shit we don’t wanna in order to make it or whatever. Cause people look at me at the guys and all and think we’ve got it so easy, but it’s not like how everyone thinks, I know. We’ve done a lot of fucked up shit ya know just to make it. They say the entertainment business is a bitch and they aint joking. But we did it ya know? We did what we had to in order to be successful, I guess it was worth it all in the end.

So you were saying that there’s more for you, like what? What’s your like ultimate dream or goal? So you don’t wanna do what you’re doing forever, what is it that you do wanna do? Ya know people always used to ask me and I’d tell em and whatever, and they never believed me, always told me the same shit, how hard it was and that I should pick somehing more achieveable. So hey, you don’t gotta worry bout me tellin’ you that aight? I’m not gonna say that to you cause that’s a real lousy thing to tell someone.

You’re the youngest, wow, I hear you guys are supposed to be spoiled, is this true? Heh heh Aaron and Angel can be just as spoiled sometimes, damn. I couldn’t stand it, when I was home, my Mom always let them get way with shit, pissed me off. They’ve grown out of it for the most part, when they start actin’ up tho, I like to kick his butt and pick on Angel. It’s so hard being the oldest, y’all just don’t know. I gotta say, it sounds like I’d get along well with Bryan, he seems like he’d be the kinda guy I’d hang out with, what do you think? And your other brother, I think it’s cool that he does all that stuff. I’ve often wondered how guys like, do all that stuff with cars and machines. My Dad never really did any of that with me ya know? I wasn’t home a lot so it was hard, but I don’t remember ever seeing him try to do it.

So your parents are divorced huh? Yeah, I’m sure you know my parents are getting’ one too. I can’t remember if ya told me in your letter or not or before or something, but how long has it been for you? Does it still, ya know…hurt? Do ya have a hard time with it? It’s kinda hard sometimes ya know? Like, I can’t believe it’s happening so I just kinda, brush it off or whatever. Oh well

You’re in New York, that’s cool. I haven’t lived there since I was real little, not like I remember it or whatever, but it’d be cool to live there or something I think. Though getting used to the weather would probably be rough, I’m used to the heat and the sun all the time. The storms and all must really suck, I guess it’s no worse than hurricanes and like, anything else. Everyplace has their own thing.

I guess that’s it for now. I’ll talk to ya later, hope to hear from you soon.

Nick


Folding the letter back up, Veronica smiled; he sure had a lot to say that time. He’d actually responded to everything she’d written about in the last letter. She was surprised that he’d written as much as he had about his parents pending divorce. While she could relate to a lot of what he was saying he felt, she imagined the situation had to be a lot more difficult for him since the divorce was all over the media and everyone knew about it. Responding to it would take care; she’d have to watch what she said.

Quickly she opened the other email, rereading through it and opening the letter again and opened a new email to respond.