If there was one thing that Alyssa was the master of it was multitasking. She never could handle doing only one thing at a time without getting distracted. Which explained exactly how she could be upstairs in one of the extra bedrooms at Nick’s, getting ready to go out that night, while at the same time, managing to have a conversation with Meg on her cell phone. Her older sister had called to make sure that she had arrived in LA safely and now of course wanted to hear all the juicy details of what had been going on since she had arrived.
“So, are you doing anything exciting tonight?” Meg curiously probed.
“Sort of,” Alyssa grumbled, cradling the phone between her ear and her neck as she applied her eyeliner. “We’re going out to dinner with Howie, AJ, and their girlfriends. Then I think we’re going to hit a few clubs or something.”
“Oh… I didn’t know Howie and AJ were seeing anybody?”
Translation: I didn’t know that AJ was seeing someone, Alyssa pieced together just from the tone of her sister’s voice. Even though it had been years since Meg and AJ’s little fling and now that Meg was happily married, Alyssa couldn’t help but to notice that Meg still seemed very sensitive about anything having to do with AJ. It seemed as if a small part of her still hadn’t moved on even after all this time. Maybe it’s not so different than me and Nick? she wondered for a moment before shaking off the ludicrous thought. AJ seemed pretty happy with Tricia and even though Meg had confided to her that she and Scott were having their problems, she couldn’t see Meg being the type to seek comfort in the arms of a past boyfriend.
Keeping in mind her sister’s transparent coolness about the matter, Alyssa decided to keep her explanation as delicate as possible. “Yea, neither did I until I got here. I haven’t met Teri, Howie’s girlfriend, but I did meet AJ’s girlfriend, Trisha. She seems like a nice girl. Thought Nick and I were together, which was a little bit weird, but other than that she seems okay.”
“Well, you and Nick are sort of together, right?”
Alyssa sighed, not wanting to get into it again. At this point she was so completely confused that just thinking about her and Nick’s relationship made her head spin. Then of course there had been his outburst earlier in the afternoon after their run in with the paparazzi… “I don’t even know what’s going on with us anymore. He’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One minute he’s all like I want to give us another try and the next he’s complaining that I’m coming on too strong or something. It’s like I can’t win no matter what I do.”
“Uh oh…” Meg paused dramatically. “Could there be trouble in paradise? What happened?”
“It’s a long story and it’s kind of stupid anyway,” Alyssa tried to dodge the question.
“Did you have a fight?” she continued to press.
“I guess you can call it that. Basically to make a long story short he snapped at me all because I was trying to get him to finally open up and talk to me about what’s going on in that complicated head of his.”
“Ok… Back up and start from the beginning,” Meg demanded.
Fighting back another sigh, Alyssa finally caved in. “Fine… Since we’ve landed in LA things had been going so great it was sort of scary. So anyway this afternoon we went downtown to shop on Rodeo Drive and all those touristy things and like I said everything was going smoothly until we ran into some paparazzi.”
“Anything involving paparazzi is never a good thing.”
“You’re telling me! Anyway at first they were just hounding Nick about who I was and snapping a few pictures, but we just kept walking.” She stopped for a moment, not exactly sure how much detail she could go into about the whole Kevin leaving rumor. She didn’t want to add anymore fuel to the fire, especially if it was as top secret as everyone seemed to be making it out to be. Then again though if she could trust anyone Meg would be at the top of the list. “Look, what happened next is kind of complicated and I don’t have all the details, so you need to promise me that you won’t tell anyone I told you this, especially because I don’t know how true it is yet.”
“Uhmm ok…” Meg agreed, sounding a little confused.
“One of the guys asked Nick if it was true that Kevin is leaving the group to devote more time to Melanie and the baby. Supposedly it’s been going around the internet that after this tour wraps up he’s gone,” Alyssa reported.
“I’m sure that’s not true! You know how those stupid rumors run rampant on those message boards.”
Alyssa frowned. “That’s the thing Meg. As soon as Nick heard the question he literally just snapped and completely went off on this guy. I mean I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that angry before. It was kind of scary and it got me thinking that for him to react that strongly to a ‘rumor’ maybe there’s some actual truth to it? You know how much he looks up to Kevin deep down. If Kevin were leaving it would definitely fuck him up big time. So, after the guys finally left, I tried to ask him about it and he pretty much told me to mind my own fucking business and that I ask too many questions. He said that I wasn’t his fucking shrink, so basically he doesn’t have to tell me anything. Nice, right? Here I am, breaking my ass to make things work between us and he can’t even talk to me about something as big as this going on in his life. It’s completely frustrating that no matter what I do, he still holds up so many goddamn walls! Why can’t he talk to me?”
Meg’s voice softened. “Maybe he’ll open up to you when he’s ready Alyssa. You know Nick. He keeps everything bottled up inside until it just explodes.”
“Well, that’s not healthy Meg! I’m just concerned about him. Like I said everything had been going so amazing between us lately. We’re so good together in every other way, but it just bothers me that two people can share such an intense connection and not be able to fully discuss their emotions. It makes me wonder if maybe there really isn’t any hope for us to turn things around. Maybe all it is, is great sex and that’s all it was really meant to be.” Alyssa sighed catching her defeated look reflecting back at her through the mirror.
“At least you have that,” Meg said consolingly in a lame attempt to make her feel better.
“I don’t know if that’s supposed to make me feel better or worse,” she groaned. “You know me. I’m never satisfied with what I have. I’m always looking for a little bit more.”
There was a bit of a pause for a moment while Alyssa could tell that her sister was fighting to think of something to say in response. After a delayed silence, Meg attempted to change the tone of the conversation. “So, the sex is that great, huh?”
“Meg!” Alyssa already felt her face reddening. Leave it to Meg to pry into the details of her sex life. “I should’ve known you’d want to know all about that, you perv.”
She could practically picture Meg smirking on the other end of the phone. “Well, the honeymoon’s definitely been over between Scott and I, so your sex life is probably a lot more entertaining right now than mine.”
“Okay… Fine. I’ll admit it. It’s been amazing. Better than ever. I mean last night… And then this morning in the shower…” Her voice trailed off too caught up in the memories to complete her sentences.
“I’m sorry I asked!” Meg interrupted. “God, I haven’t had good shower sex in… I can’t remember. Is it sad that I haven’t even been married a year yet and I’m already feeling like a desperate housewife?”
“They say that marriage does that to you.” Just as Alyssa was finishing up her sentence there was a knock at her door. “Hold on a second, Meg.” She cupped the earpiece of the phone and called towards the closed door. ”Yea?”
“Are you almost ready? Howie, AJ, and the girls just pulled up,” Nick’s voice asked.
“Yea. I’ll be out in a second.” Picking the phone back up, she took one final glance at herself in the mirror. “Hey Meg? I got to go now. Everyone else just arrived. Wish me luck tonight?”
“All right. Bye. Try and go easy on him Lyss. I’m sure there’s a logical reason why he kept the whole Kevin thing from you and why he snapped at you.”
“I certainly hope so. Bye.” She pressed the end key on her phone and slid it into her wristlet. She quickly examined herself once more before stepping out in the hall. As soon as she closed the door behind her she could feel Nick’s eyes on her. Purposely she ignored him and walked right past him, swishing her hips as she went by thankful that she had chosen to wear a denim miniskirt with a pair of black stiletto heels. She’d paired the outfit with a loose fitting tube top, which definitely classed it up a little.
“You look great,” he sputtered, following behind her. Any indication of his earlier outburst seemed to be completely forgotten.
She didn’t respond, but just gave him a small, tight lipped, smile. Maybe all it took to make him forget was showing a little leg, but for her it was just the opposite. She had an excellent memory and when it suited her she could be very good at holding a grudge. He’d have to do better than to compliment her looks. Much better.
Despite Alyssa’s obvious attempts at ignoring Nick, the first part of the night flew by rather smoothly. The three couples had piled into AJ’s Range Rover and headed towards the Mexican restaurant that AJ had mentioned on the phone. Alyssa had joked around him that now since he had stopped drinking he must get sick of playing designated driver all the time. The food at the place was delicious, but the margaritas were simply out of this world. In fact, Alyssa reasoned that they probably helped a great deal in having to sit next to Nick and hide the fact that they weren’t speaking from the others.
A little of the pressure was off on her because at least she had met Tricia previously and they’d hit it off pretty well. Thankfully enough, Howie’s girlfriend, Teri, was also extremely likeable, although Alyssa quickly learned what Nick had been getting at earlier about her and Howie being the, “odd couple.” Teri seemed to tower over him and was very loud and outgoing compared to Howie’s quiet personality. She was also very open and blunt as Alyssa quickly learned.
“So, you’re the mysterious Alyssa that Nick’s been talking so much about lately. What a pleasure to finally meet you,” she greeted Alyssa with a warm smile.
Alyssa’s felt her face begin to redden. Nick had been talking about her? What had he been saying? Trying to conceal her surprise she pasted on a sincere grin. “Same here. I’ve heard a lot about you too.”
“Only good things I hope.” The taller woman took a small step closer to her and whispered so only Alyssa could hear, “Nicky boy seems pretty taken with you from what I hear.”
Unsure of exactly how to respond to that remark, her eyes wandered over towards Nick who was a few feet away oblivious to the conversation. Was it possible that she did have a special place in his heart? He certainly didn’t act like it, at least not towards her. Was Teri just bullshitting her or was there some truth in what she was saying? Nick had always been the type to have troubles expressing his true feelings… Especially as of lately.
Shaking off the comment, Alyssa did not let her expression falter. “Thanks I guess.”
Despite the awkward introduction, dinner conversation flowed quite freely. Thankfully Teri seemed to love to talk which helped to disguise the fact that despite Alyssa was sitting right next to Nick, they weren’t actually speaking. The only words she’d actually said to him the whole meal were, “Can you pass the margarita pitcher?” She’d poured herself quite a few of those margaritas. So many that when she stood up from the table as they were getting ready to leave, the room began to spin before her eyes and she stumbled slightly into Nick.
“Are you ok?” he asked, steadying her with his hands. His face flashed in concern.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, letting go only when she was sure she once again had her bearings. How many times did I refill my glass again? she fought to remember. That was the problem with keeping pretty quiet during a meal. When she had a drink in her hand and was engaged in conversation she’d sip it slowly, but otherwise she tended to drink quicker than she realized. They were damn good margaritas though. Maybe the best I’ve ever had.
When they arrived at the club, the three couples found a booth rather easily. It seemed as if the place really wasn’t that crowded, at least by LA standards. Personally Alyssa really wasn’t much of a “club” person. Most of her nightclub memories consisted of overpriced drinks, rude bouncers, bad electronic music, and greasy looking guys who’d attempted to dry hump her on the dance floor. Of course back when she’d been first dating Nick she’d gotten to experience the other side of the club scene; the whole VIP treatment. It had made the whole club experience more tolerable, but she’d never been completely comfortable with it. Give her a small, overcrowded, college bar any day with a cheesy 80’s rock cover band playing and she was happy. But she supposed that no trip out to LA would be complete without visiting at least one celebrity hotspot, so she’d suck it up for one night.
Of course it probably would be a lot less painful if her and Nick were actually on speaking terms.
Instead she sat huddled in the corner of their booth sipping yet another margarita, probably not the smartest move since she was already beginning to feel them, but they were definitely helping in making sitting next to Nick more pleasant. Both Tricia and AJ and Howie and Teri were out on the dance floor, looking as if they were having a great time. Alyssa kind of wanted to join them, but that would mean that she’d have to drag Nick out there, and she definitely did not want to dance with him after the way he’d treated her earlier today.
The corners of Alyssa’s eyes darted towards Nick inconspicuously. She did kind of wonder what was going on in his head. Was he still mad at her from this afternoon? Or was he just giving her space because he knew that it would be pointless to even try to strike up a conversation when she was so clearly ignoring him?
Before Alyssa could ponder on the matter any further, the two other couples approached the table, red faced and breathing heavily from dancing. “What’s the matter with you two? Why aren’t you out there dancing?” AJ called over to them. “I thought you loved to dance Alyssa.”
“I do, but this one over here has two left feet, so it’s pretty much hopeless,” she dryly replied, cocking her head towards Nick. Okay, it was a pretty low blow and the last time she’d danced with Nick at McFadden’s… well, she knew where that had led to. Still, she couldn’t resist at least one little dig at him.
AJ laughed at her insult. “We’ve been trying to help him out with that problem for years now and I agree that he’s a lost cause. It’s a good thing he’s the ‘cute one.’ That’s the only way he gets away with it during concerts.”
Instead of trying to defend himself or coming up with a sly retort, Nick stood up and grabbed his pack of cigarettes from the table. “I’m going out for a smoke. I’ll be back.”
“You know, a cigarette sounds pretty good right now,” AJ agreed. “Wait, I’ll go with you.”
“I guess I’ll tag along with the two of you,” Howie chimed in, not wanting to be left behind with the three girls. “I could use a little air anyway.”
Alyssa didn’t even give Nick a glance as the three men headed off in the direction of the outside deck. She could care less where he went off to until he decided to apologize for his outburst earlier. She was all of a sudden too absorbed in playing with the layer of salt that circled the rim of her margarita glass.
Both Tricia and Teri plopped themselves down in the seat across from Alyssa. Tricia flashed her a concerned look. “You should just come up with dance with us when the guys get back. If Nick wants to sit here sulking, that’s his problem. AJ told me that you’re a great dancer. That you even danced with the guys on their last tour.”
“Yea I did,” Alyssa admitted. “I was actually Howie’s partner,” she explained, looking over at Teri.
Instead of responding with interest though, her comment seemed to have flown over Teri’s head. “What exactly is Nicky sulking about this time? I swear he has more mood swings than a fucking pregnant woman.”
Alyssa’s lips lifted upwards into a grin. “You know he hates being called Nicky.”
“I know! That’s why I call him it,” Teri confided with a smirk. “But seriously, what happened to set him off?”
She bit her lip, unsure of how to respond. “Nothing… I mean I’m not exactly sure,” she stammered. She barely knew these two women and they certainly had no clue what exactly was going on between the two of them. It was safer this way.
The two exchanged glances that seemed to say, I don’t buy it, but let the subject drop. “So, uhmm what did you and Nick do today?” Tricia asked in another attempt to start up a conversation.
“We went shopping,” she simply said. And got confronted by paparazzi who pissed Nick off about rumors that Kevin was leaving the group which caused him to go off on me when I asked him about it.
Seeing that Alyssa wasn’t going to give anything up too easily, they looked at each other again and Tricia gave a slight nod. Turning back towards Alyssa, Teri took a deep breath. “Listen sweetie, I’m a pretty blunt person in case you haven’t already guessed, so I’m just going to ask the question that we’re all wondering… Are you fucking him?”
Alyssa practically choked on her margarita. “Since when is everyone all of a sudden interested in my sex life?” she managed to somehow get out. “If I had a dollar for every person who’s asked me that…”
“Well? Are you?” Tricia pressed. “Because I have a bet going on with AJ over this.”
Under normal circumstances Alyssa probably would’ve been angrier that two complete strangers were begging to know the most intimate details of her personal life, but the combination of the tequila and the absurdity of the situation actually made her laugh. “You’re taking bets on my sex life? Yours must be pretty boring if you’re so interested in mine.”
“Actually mines pretty damn good thank you very much,” Teri replied. “Pretty. Damn. Good.”
Alyssa wrinkled her nose. “Okay, I can’t even go there thinking about Howie… and eww! No!”
“It’s true,” Tricia verified. “Believe me I get to hear all the graphic details and let’s just say that she’s completely corrupted poor Howie.”
Teri grinned smugly. “Hey, he was willing to try anything I asked him to. But, we’re not talking about me right now. We’re talking about you.” She pointed towards Alyssa. “And judging from the fact that you’ve successfully dodged my original question for almost five minutes now, I’m going to have to go out on a limb and say the answer must be yes. No one beats around the bush unless they have something to hide. And I’m also going to have to assume that the sex has got to be pretty hot for you to drag yourself across the country to come visit him, so I think you’d better drop the act and just start talking.”
Alyssa’s mouth must have been nearly hanging on the floor in shock over just how outspoken Teri was being, because Tricia just giggled. “Teri! That completely came across like you were accusing the poor girl of some horrible crime or something. Come on, not like you never slept with anyone and tried to keep it on the down low before.”
“All right,” she agreed with a sigh. “I’m guilty. I don’t mean to come across sounding like a bitch. I’m just a nosy person by nature. We’re just curious is all. We know Nicky long enough now to realize that he usually doesn’t let himself get too attached to women, so we’re just sort of wondering how’d you do it?”
“AJ told me that the two of you used to date a few years ago,” Tricia piped up. “What happened?”
Seeing that she was busted, Alyssa sighed and took another long sip of her margarita. Something told her she was going to need it. Honestly though, she could sense that the two women were harmless and just as they said curious about her. Besides, if things were to actually work out with Nick, she’d be seeing a lot of them and it would definitely be more pleasant if they could get to be friends. She had to admit that she hadn’t really had much female confidantes throughout the whole Nick ordeal. With the exception of her sisters and Izzy, who clearly wasn’t very supportive of the situation, she hadn’t had anyone else to go to for advice. Tricia and Teri definitely seemed quite open and ready to voice their opinion.
“Fine! I’ll spill! But it’s a really long story, so I’m basically going to just give you the cliff notes version,” she began. “Yes, Nick and I used to date. We were actually engaged when we broke up about three years ago. It was a really complicated situation. Nick had just found out his parents were getting a divorce and it really messed him up big time. He kind of needed some time to go off and think about his life I guess. So, he moved out to LA and I moved back to New York. Flash forward a few years and we wound up bumping into each other this past summer through a mutual friend of ours and we talked things over. We kind of forgave each other, but he explained that he really wasn’t ready for a relationship at that time, so we agreed to keep in touch as friends. Then he came to visit me for a weekend and we kind of hooked up.”
“Kind of?” Teri interrupted. “How do you kind of hook up? You either do or you don’t.”
Alyssa’s face flushed. “Okay, we hooked up. Afterwards it was really weird for me because I’m really not the hook up type and I knew especially with him it probably wasn’t the best idea. I think it was kind of inevitable though, because I guess we were both still curious to see if there was anything still there.”
“And was there?” Tricia asked.
She chewed on her bottom lip, deep in thought for a moment. “Well, I can only speak for myself, but I definitely felt some kind of deeper connection. Like I said I’m not the hook up type, although I have done it before and with him it was completely different. The other times I knew it was just sex and that was it. Of course maybe this was different because we had actually had a past together. Anyway, I wasn’t sure if Nick felt the same things I did. Believe me I’m well aware of his track record, so I assumed that to him it was pretty meaningless.”
Both women appeared riveted to her story. “So then what happened?”
“We decided to give each other some space to think things over. It was around the time of the European tour too, so it worked out. We talked a little on the phone here and there, and I thought we had put it behind us. Then when I finally saw him again, the same thing happened. It’s become like a cycle for us now and it’s just really, really confusing.”
“So what exactly is going on right now? Are you doing the friends with benefits thing?” Teri interrupted.
Alyssa sighed. “Christmas night we had a really long talk and I pretty much laid everything out for him. How I still had feelings for him and that if he was just going to keep jerking me around like this, then maybe we should stay away from each other for good this time. I kind of gave him the ultimatum that either we figure out where this is going or end it right now. See I’m kind of starting to get the sense that he really does have feelings for me, he just is scared to admit them I guess. He’s very reluctant, but I can just tell that I mean a lot to him for some reason. Anyway this trip out to LA is supposed to be a ‘trial period’ for us. We’re kind of just letting whatever happen, happen and if it works out I may be moving out here and we might be getting back together.” She paused for a moment, waiting for a reaction, but none came. “You both think I’m crazy don’t you?”
“Not at all honey,” Tricia assured her. “If your heart is telling you that you’re doing the right thing then that’s all that matters. Screw what anyone else thinks.”
Teri nodded her head in agreement. “As long as you’re happy. And like I said before, I may not know Nicky very long or very well, but whenever he’s mentioned you in front of me and Howie his face just lights up. Howie says he hasn’t seemed this genuinely interested in a woman in a really long time. I think he’s just forgotten how to conventionally begin a relationship with anyone because he’s so used to hiding his true feelings behind a string of one night stands.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. At last someone was acknowledging her feelings and not criticizing her for her choices. Their encouraging responses allowed her to feel free to open up even more to them. “It’s just so frustrating sometimes because I start to think that we’re making all this progress and everything and then he just shuts down on me. Just when I think I have him all figured out, he closes himself up. I’m not sure if a relationship can work between us if he can’t put himself on the line and really talk to me. I get these rare glimpses of his emotions, but otherwise he’s an extremely private person, which is fine, but you can only have just so much privacy in a relationship.”
Tricia’s face softened. “Is that why the two of you are acting like each other doesn’t exist and why Nick is pouting like a two year old?”
“Pretty much. It’s a long story and I’d rather not get into specifics, but basically I knew something was bothering Nick and I tried to get him to talk about it and he snapped at me. I was really hurt by the way he responded and until he apologizes for it and lets me know what the fuck is going with him, I really don’t want to speak to him right now.”
“Don’t worry. He’ll come around,” Teri promised. “Just wait until he wants to get laid and he won’t be able to apologize fast enough. But seriously, cut the guy a little bit of slack. He obviously has serious trust issues, so you can’t expect him to immediately let you in, even if he’s known you for a long time. When he’s ready he’ll tell you anything you want. You just need to be patient.”
Alyssa nodded slowly. “That’s exactly what my sister said. And that actually makes a lot of sense. How do you know so much? Are you a psychologist or something?”
Teri giggled. “Far from it. I’m actually a photographer. I just watch way too much Dr. Phil.”
Alyssa laughed and realized that she was growing more comfortable by the minute with the two women. They both had such outgoing personalities that it was hard not to relax and let her guard down. For the first time in a long time, Alyssa was enjoying being just one of the girls.
“Okay enough relationship drama. It’s making my head spin. Let’s talk about something else completely not serious,” Tricia suggested.
“I’ll drink to that!” Teri raised her midouri sour to her lips and took a sip before grinning mischievously in Alyssa’s direction. “So, Alyssa, where was the craziest place that you’ve ever had sex?”
“Jesus Carter… What crawled up your ass and died?” AJ asked as he inhaled a drag from his cigarette.
Nick, who was purposely standing a few feet away from both AJ and Howie rolled his eyes. “Nothing’s up my ass,” he grumbled.
“Bullshit! That’s why you’ve been in one of your infamous pissy moods all night long, right?”
Nick sighed. “I’m not in a pissy mood. Howie, tell him I’m not.”
Howie held up his hand. “I’m not getting involved in this one.”
“Howard…”
“Well… You are kind of antisocial tonight.”
Nick shot him a dirty look. “I should’ve figured you’d take his side.”
“Hey, just because Alyssa isn’t speaking to you doesn’t mean that you should take it out on us,” AJ boldly interrupted. He’d been looking for just the right moment to bring her name up, so that he could get to the bottom of this once and for all.
“What do you know about me and Alyssa? And since when is it any of your business?”
AJ grinned seeing that he had clearly struck a nerve. “Get off it Nick! It’s completely obvious that she’s the source of your pouting. Plus you haven’t even glanced at each other all night. What exactly is going on between the two of you?”
Nick’s eyes lowered. “Nothing. We just had a fight over something stupid.”
“Why don’t you just cut the crap and tell us the goddamn truth? You’re so hitting that!” As Nick’s mouth opened to defend himself, AJ cut him off. “And don’t even try to fucking lie about it Carter, because believe me, I’ve been there. It’s completely obvious .” Okay, so maybe Tricia had to clue him in at first, but the more he had thought about it the more sense it had made.
Looking defeated, Nick glanced over at Howie helplessly. “Uhmm… Well, it was kind suspicious that all of a sudden the two of you were hanging out so much lately,” the Latino man reluctantly admitted. “But when you invited her out to LA I sort of figured that something must be going on.”
“I think I liked you better before you started getting laid,” Nick grumpily stated. He paused for a moment, to take a drag from his cigarette. “Well, I guess the cats out of the bag then.” Under normal circumstances he might have tossed in a little play by play, purely for entertainment value, but for once in his life he felt the need to keep the details private between just him and Alyssa.
“How come you didn’t tell us?” The hurt in AJ’s voice was clearly evident. “Usually we wind up knowing way more about your sex life than we’d ever like to know. So why become Mr. Secretive now?”
Nick sighed, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to lie to his brothers anymore now that they knew that there was more going on between him and Alyssa than met the eye. “I don’t know. It’s a confusing situation. What I have with Alyssa right now is unlike anything I’ve ever been involved in before.”
“Do you mean to tell me that Nicky might possibly be falling in love?” Howie asked, pretending to be shocked.
Nick’s could feel his cheeks redden. “I wouldn’t go that far yet. But it is very special and I guess I just didn’t want to like jinx it or anything. Not that we’re actually dating right now or anything. We’re just… us.”
Even AJ looked sympathetic. “So, what was the fight about?”
“Well, we were out shopping earlier today and we bumped into some paparazzi. They know about Kevin,” he began.
“Oh shit…” AJ muttered. “But how could they? It’s not even set in stone yet. Kevin just started to consider it. He only spoke to us and management about it a few weeks ago. “
Nick shrugged. “I wish I knew. They made a vague reference to the internet which means that LD is probably where they got it from.”
“I bet someone who works for management let something slip. Or someone overheard that wasn’t supposed to,” Howie reasoned.
“It doesn’t matter. Anyway I was so thrown off guard by the question I uhmm… kind of flew off the handle a little bit,” he admitted. “Which means I’ll probably be on the cover of every tabloid next week along with an article about how I practically assaulted reporters like I supposedly assaulted Paris and have serious ‘anger issues.’”
“Just peachy. Kevin will love that one,” AJ commented with a roll of his eyes.
“So, why is Alyssa mad at you?” Howie asked, bringing them back to their original topic of conversation.
“I guess she was hurt because I hadn’t mentioned it to her.”
“But none of us have mentioned it to any of our girlfriends,” AJ argued. “Well, I’m pretty sure Brian told Leigh, but that’s different. They’re family.”
“I know, but like I said she kind of found out from the wrong people. So, she’s not only hurt that I didn’t tell her, but when she asked me about it I blew up at her and told her to pretty much stop trying to stick her nose into my business. I think she was really hurt by that,” Nick explained.
Both AJ and Howie were silent for a moment. The three of them had made an unspoken agreement, not to mention Kevin’s decision to anyone outside of them, including their significant others. What was the use if Kevin was only considering the idea of leaving the group? They had no idea though that already rumors of his departure were beginning to leak. If the paparazzi knew, some of the fans definitely had to know as well. All four of them had taken Kevin’s decision hard, but it was no secret that Nick seemed to be the most affected by it. Kevin had always been a father figure to him, steering him on the right path and keeping him out of trouble. With Kevin gone who would look after Nick? Obviously Alyssa had picked up on this and had only wanted to comfort him.
Howie finally broke the uncomfortable silence. “I think you need to apologize to her. It sounds like she was concerned about you and she only wanted to try to help.”
Nick frowned. “She’s expecting me to pour out my heart and soul to her and cry on her shoulder. Truth is, I’m not ready to talk about it all yet. I think I’m still in denial about the whole thing, you know?”
“Then you need to explain that to her. Tell her that yes, if Kevin leaves the group it will be very hard for you, but that you’re just not quite ready to deal with those emotions yet. If she cares about you she should respect that.”
Nick appeared deep in thought for a moment. “I guess you’re right D. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Thank God I’m such good friends with a guy who is so in tune with his emotions and stuff, you know. I love you man!” he melodramatically cried, wrapping his arms around the smaller man in a bear hug.
“Aww… This is just so touching I feel like I might just have to join in,” AJ joked, pretending to brush away a fake tear.
For a moment the three men stood there hugging until it finally sunk in what they were doing. “Uhmm yea… This is pretty gay,” Nick announced as he pulled away.
“I agree. That just got really awkward.”
“If anyone asks that never happened, right guys?” AJ insisted.
“Right.”
“Of course. Never happened.”
A few minutes later, when the three men entered the club again, Nick chose to delay the inevitable task of apologizing to Alyssa, by making a stop at the bar first for another beer. He figured he could probably use some reinforcement by the way of alcohol. As the bartender handed him an ice cold Corona, he looked over at the booth in which the rest of his friends sat a few feet away. He watched as Alyssa burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter over what probably had been one of Teri’s outlandish tales. Judging from the way that Howie’s face had taken on a crimson glow, Nick figured that the story probably was an embarrassing one about him, and knowing Teri probably had involved something pretty kinky.
At least she seems to be hitting it off with the girls, he mused as he continued to watch Alyssa giggle, her face turning red and tears in her eyes. Not many girls that he had dated had meshed very well with the other guys and their girlfriends or wives. You’d think she’s known Teri and Tricia for years.
You’re stalling Carter, he reprimanded himself. Taking a deep breath he made his way back to the booth just in time to hear Alyssa finally struggling to catch her breath, sinking back against the cool leather. His fingertips brushed against her bare shoulder and she slowly turned her head towards him. “Yes?”
“We need to talk,” he simply said.
