Nick pulled into the driveway, cutting the engine.
“I hope we’re doing the right thing Aaron.”
“C’mon, the girls wanna see you Nick, it’ll be good for them, and I wanna see em too.”
“I do too,” Nick sighed, making his way out, shutting and locking the doors.
The two guys made their way up to their old home. It was funny to go there and have it be so familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time. Everything was the same, and still, it no longer felt like home. They walked up to the door and Aaron rang the doorbell. There was a pounding of feet and then the door swung open.
“Aaron, Nick, what are you two doing here?”
“Hey Mom, we’re here to see BJ and Les, are they home?” Aaron questioned, trying to look past her into the house.
Jane’s eyes grew cold suddenly, “Just BJ and Leslie?” She questioned, looking at Nick.
“Well, we just wanted to see how they were; it’s been awhile since we’ve been by…”
“Yes it has,” Jane cut him off, now looking at Aaron.
“Are they here Mom?” Aaron asked again, looking at her this time.
Jane stared at him a moment, then at Nick, before turning, calling out for BJ and Leslie before turning and walking off, not bothering to invite them in.
Nick rubbed at his eyes, trying to tell himself that this was all worth it in the end. He looked up as he heard footsteps approaching.
“Nick, Aaron!” Leslie smiled, making her way over to the door.
“Hey Aaron,” BJ said cooly, giving him a slight nod. She looked over at Nick, studying him hard.
“Hey Les, BJ. We wanted to come by and see you,” Nick explained.
“Angel would’ve come, but she had this modeling thing going on,” Aaron sighed, shaking his head.
“It’s alright, we talked to her yesterday,” Leslie announced, shrugging.
“How have you two been? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you Les; you weren’t home the last time I was here.”
“When do you mean? Six months ago? Oh that’s right, you were here a month ago, how could I forget?” BJ muttered.
Nick frowned, “C’mon BJ, I’m trying ok?”
“Are you? Are you really Nick? We hardly ever see you, you’re so fuckin’ wrapped up in your album and your group shit, you don’t give a damn about us do you?” BJ spat, her breathing labored.
“BJ, stop it…” Aaron started.
“No, I won’t stop it. I’m sick of you acting like we’re not here ya know? Like we don’t exist.”
Nick looked over at Leslie; there were tears in her eyes, “Les…”
“It’s true Nick, you never come by, and you don’t call. I get that you’re pissed at Mom and Dad but…what’s that gotta do with us? Why can’t you call or come by more? You don’t live that far away,” Leslie whispered.
“You know how it is, you know what it’s like,” Aaron reasoned.
“Stop making excuses for him Aaron! He doesn’t care, it’s that simple,” BJ yelled.
“That’s not true! I do so care!”
“Oh yeah? Well why don’t you fuckin’ prove it Nick?” She exclaimed.
“I’m trying ok? I’m here now damnit! Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“No, no it doesn’t! I don’t want your damn pity! I can handle this all by myself, we don’t need you. We’ve been doing just fine without you!” BJ screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks suddenly.
“Fine! Ya know what, fuck this. I’m trying here, if you can’t meet me half way, then fuckin’ fine! ” Nick yelled, “I’ll see ya later Les. “ Turning, he made his way down and over to his truck.
Later That Evening…
“I’ll talk to you later.”
“Do you promise? Cause you always say that, and you never call,” the young woman pouted.
“I’ll try hard ok?” Nick smiled, as he helped her with her coat, walking her over to the door, unlocking it. It’d been a long day, he’d called Nadia and asked her over, telling her he wanted her to distract him. And she had, boy had she. For four straight hours she’d done what she did best and that was physical pleasure.
He’d been tense and angry when he got back from dropping Aaron off. The visit with his Sisters didn’t go as he hoped it would. It made him wonder why he’d bothered in the first place. He knew they were hurt, and they had every right to be. He was really trying though, he was there, he wanted to talk to them, to see how they were. Leslie he figured he’d have a chance with, but BJ was rigid in her extreme dislike with him at the moment. Nick knew he had to keep trying though; he couldn’t alienate himself completely from his family, that meant Aaron and Angel too.
He’d just have to try harder.
“Try very hard,” the girl purred, sliding her hand down, rubbing him gently.
Nick cleared his throat, reaching down to intercept her hand, “I will.”
“Ok, I’ll talk to you soon then.”
“Yeah, ok.”
She smiled, leaning up to kiss him deeply, pulling away and making her way out the door just as his cell phone started to ring. Hurrying over, Nick grabbed his phone, checking the ID. Smiling, his flipped it open.
“Hello?”
“Whoa, you actually answered!”
Nick chuckled, “Hey Veronica, what’ s up?”
“Not much just wanted to call and chat. Are you busy?”
“Nah, it’s cool, just watching some TV,” he replied, flopping down on the couch and turning the TV on.
“Oh alright.”
“I’m glad you called. So what’s going on?”
“Nothing really, just getting ready for bed, so I thought I’d give you a call.”
“You always seem to call when you’re getting ready for bed, does your bed make you think of me or something?” Nick grinned.
“Maaaaaybe,” she laughed. “So, how’d today go? Did you go see your Sisters?”
“Yeah.”
“And…?”
“It was ok.”
“Just ok?”
“Well…kinda.”
“That doesn’t sound so good.”
“Well BJ is still royally pissed at me, and while I think Les may be upset, I think she’s more hurt than anything. In the end BJ and I were screaming at each other I ended up storming off.”
“Did you guys try and talk calmly?”
“I did…but BJ was on the defensive the moment she laid eyes on me, I don’t think I ever really stood a chance.”
“You’ve gotta keep trying Nick. It’s gonna be hard at first cause the communication is so scarce, but you gotta keep at it.”
“Yeah yeah I know, but it’s hard. I hate to hear her say things like that; I hate to see them so hurt and angry.”
“It’s really hard.”
“It is, and I want things to be better. I guess I just have to be patient and persistent.”
“Exactly! Once they see you’re serious and that you do want to do better, maybe then some of the anger will fade, it’ll take time.”
“Yeah, I know. So what about you? How was your Mom’s birthday dinner?”
“It was pretty good. The pot roast came out really nice and juicy, Mom loved it.”
“What’d ya get for her?”
“I got her a card, a pair of earrings and a stuffed animal.”
“Aww sounds nice.”
“Yeah, she seemed really happy.”
“Well that’s cool, glad that everything was a success.”
“My Dad called.”
“Uh oh…”
“Yeah, so I told him I needed to call him back cause at the time, I was making dinner for Mom. Well he got all defensive, asking if someone was telling me not to talk to him. HUGE mood killer. Of course after I finally get off the phone with him, I feel guilty for not talking to him longer, but then I also feel guilty for wanting to talk to him longer on Mom’s birthday.”
“Yeah but, ya told him you’d call him back.”
“I know, but I don’t want him thinking I didn’t want to talk to him, I just couldn’t right then.”
“Ya can’t be expected to just drop everything every time he calls though.”
“I know, but I feel like that’s what he does expect.”
“But you can’t, he’s just gonna have to accept that.”
“I know. I wish I could tell him that, but I just can’t. I just keep avoiding it, pretending like it’s no big deal.”
Nick knew about avoidance, he was the king of avoidance.
“Yeah.”
“My Dad as a real shitty way of making me feel guilty all the time.”
“I remember you telling me that before. What is it with parents man?”
“I dunno Nick.”
“Fuckin’ sucks.”
“I guess both of our days weren’t that great huh?”
“Sounds like it. We should start a club or something,” Nick groaned.
Veronica laughed, “Count me in.”
