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Chapter 43

Wiping down the blade carefully, she looked over her shoulder to make sure there were no customers, then resumed cleaning. As always, her thoughts drifted to Nick. It’d been a while since she’d heard from him, maybe the time had come when he decided he didn’t have time to write to her anymore. It was just too depressing to think about. Frowning, Veronica looked over her shoulder again, no customers. Sighing, she turned to the slicer again.

“Hey Veronica!”

Veronica looked over, her frown quickly fading. “Carla, hi!”

“What’s up girl?” Carla asked as she came out, looking down at the pad on the counter, checking over what needed to be done.

“Nothing, it’s finally slowed down. God what a day.”

“Yeah, I heard it was busy today. Are we all caught up on temps?”

“For now, I managed to get it filled out for next time, so it shouldn’t take me as long to get it done.”

“Ok good. So how have you been? It’s been a while since we’ve worked together, Shelly keeps scheduling me at night,” Carla frowned.

“I know! I miss working with you. I’m doing pretty good, how bout you?”

“I’m alright, you know how it is. Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what’s been going on with that guy you were writing to? Nick right?”

Veronica quickly filled her in on everything that’d happened so far.

“Tell me I’m crazy.”

“You’re not crazy,” Carla sighed, reaching out to put some gloves on. “You’re right about one thing though, I think you really are talking to him. Wow, I can’t believe it, that’s so cool.”

“So, what do I do?”

“You keep talking to him, that’s what you do.”

“Everyone’s telling me that.”

“And they’re right.

Veronica nodded. The rest of the day went fast and before she knew it, she was punching out and on her way home. She hated to admit, but she was anxious to get home and check her mail and see if Nick had written her back yet or not.

A few minutes later she made her way in, after checking her mail; she headed into her apartment, locking the door after her. Walking over to the table, she set the mail down then headed into her room, undressing and redressing quickly before reaching over to boot her computer. After putting her dirty clothes in the hamper, she made her way out to the kitchen to start dinner.

Making her way back into her room a few minutes later with her dinner of a salad and Ramen noodles, she sat at her computer and connected to the Internet. Munching on her salad, she headed to her email and logged in, clicking on her inbox, she found she had a few new messages. After a quick scan, she was sad to see that none of them had been from Nick. It’d been a while since she’d heard from him, she was starting to get a bit nervous. He was probably really busy and just didn’t have the time anymore.

Sighing she finished her email, checked out the rest of her usual sites before signing into her instant messenger.

Pinksneakers23: Hey!
Freesialover: Hey! How are ya?

It was her friend Erin; she hadn’t talked to her much online lately cause neither had been on as often as they used to. Erin lived in Indiana and they’d met through a mutual friend online one-day and that’d be it. They were close, very close, so the fact that hadn’t talked much over the last few months were rough. It was nice that they’d finally been able to connect now. The best thing was, they were both Backstreet fans, while Veronica leaned more towards Nick, Erin liked AJ.

Pinksneakers23: It’s been so long! What’s been going on with you?
Freesialover: Nothing, just working a lot, you know how that is.
Pinksneakers23: Oh man, how is work going?
Freesialover: Same as ever, lousy.
Pinksneakers23: You really need a different job.
Freesialover: I know I know, it’ll happen eventually.
Pinksneakers23: Mmmhmm…
Freesialover: So how bout you? How’s work and life and all?
Pinksneakers23: The same, you know how it goes. I sit at a computer all day, come home eat and fall asleep on the couch. It sucks that we haven’t been able to talk much here lately, I’ve really missed you.
Freesialover: Aww I’ve missed you too. We really gotta try to talk at least once a week ya know?
Pinksneakers23: Yeah!

Veronica chuckled, then sobered. Should she tell Erin about what’s been going on? They used to tell each other everything and she knew she’d keep it a secret. What the hell!

Freesialover: Actually, something kinda cool has happened.
Pinksneakers23: Oh yeah?
Freesialover: Yeah, I’ve kinda been doing something weird. I mean, I don’t know that it’s actually real, but the few people I’ve told think it is, I’m still not sure.
Pinksneakers23: Ok…
Freesialover: I think I’ve been writing to Nick.
Pinksneakers23: Nick…Carter?
Freesialover: Yeah…

Veronica waited for the typical questions and doubts, though part of her wasn’t sure Erin would react in the typical fashion because Erin herself wasn’t typical.

Pinksneakers23: Why do you say that?
Freesialover: Well actually, I’ve been talking to him for a few months already.
Pinksneakers23: A few months? You’ve been talking to him for months and you didn’t even tell me!
Freesialover: Well we haven’t had the chance to really talk a lot! What were we just talking about?
Pinksneakers23: So? You make time for something like that! You could’ve called me!
Freesialover: Sorry! LOL!

Veronica chuckled, just like Erin to get all excited and emotional.

Pinksneakers23: Whatever. So, how do you know you’re talking to him? How’d you start talking to him anyway?

Ok, so maybe she would ask the typical questions.

Freesialover: I’m not sure I’m actually talking to him, well I’m about 95 % sure, and I started talking to him through the fanclub.
Pinksneakers23: The fanclub?

Veronica spent the next twenty minutes explaining everything to Erin, only to find that she felt the same as Lynne, which wasn’t surprising, but scary.

Pinksneakers23: I don’t see why you’re so scared, this is cool! Do you know thousands of fans would kill to talk to Nick like this?
Freesialover: I realize that, but I dunno, I guess it’s just too good to be true.
Pinksneakers23: Look, you know it, I know it, Lynne knows it, just accept it. This person is going through an awful lot of trouble if it were a poser to make you believe.
Freesialover: But that’s what they do Erin, you know that.
Pinksneakers23: Yeah, but ya gotta draw the line somewhere! Let’s be reasonable here. You didn’t just get the address from some message board. You got it from his official site, official. People could get in trouble for posting as him and all that. So that right there narrows it down about 99%. You have a one percent chance that someone is posing as him and for me that’s not good enough.
Freesialover: Fine, but how in the hell would he get a hold of the letter? Everyone knows they can’t answer fan mail.
Pinksneakers23: Well he did, don’t ask questions, just accept it.
Freesialover: Still…
Pinksneakers23: God, you’re exhausting!

She groaned, if it wasn’t Lynne, it was Erin. No one seemed to understand the point she was trying to make. It was time to end this conversation.

Freesialover: Anyways, I’m gonna head off, go relax and watch some TV.
Pinksneakers23: Yeah, I’m gonna head out too. Ya know, It’s not going away, this conversation isn’t over. I want updates! Let me know what happens.
Freesialover: Yeah yeah, I know, I will.
Pinksneakers23: Ok good, I’ll try to give you a call later on, so stay offline.
Freesialover: Yes Mom.
Pinksneakers23: Bitch
Freesialover: You love me! J
Pinksneakers23: Mmmhmm, later!
Freesialover: Bye!
Pinksneakers23 signed off at 6:05:33 PM

Veronica signed off and then shut down then headed into the living room, grabbing the phone to call her Mom. She felt a little better now that she’d talked to Erin, having someone know who was an actual fan was different. Erin would appreciate it, she enjoy it, she’d make sure Veronica enjoyed it too.

Flipping the TV on, she dialed her Mom’s number.