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Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Annie walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head and a robe wrapped around her body.

“I love these hotel bathrobes, they are so cushy and soft!” she said, rubbing the robe against her face, smiling. Then she looked at the table and pouted. “I thought the pizza would be here by now.” Just as she finished her sentence, there was a knock on the door. “Yay,” she said. “I’m famished!”

“Well you can’t answer the door like that, so you go get dressed and I’ll get the pizza,” Andrea told her cousin, trying not to laugh. The pizza guy knocked on the door again. “I’m coming,” Andrea yelled through the door. She flung the door open and was about to give the pizza guy a lecture about patience when she noticed he was very tall and she didn’t want to get in a fight with someone his size.
“Sorry it took so long,” she decided upon instead. “Let me grab my purse,” she said as she left the door open and walked back into the room to grab her wallet. Why does he have his hat pulled down so far over his face? She thought to herself and she was getting her money out. I can’t even see his face, that’s really creepy. “How much do I owe you?” Andrea asked as she walked back to the door.

“Nothing, it’s on me,” the creepy pizza guy responded.

“Ummm, no, thanks, that’s okay, what’s the total?” Andrea asked again, starting to get uncomfortable. I wonder if my pepper spray is in here somewhere? she thought to herself, looking down at her purse.

“No really, you don’t owe me anything,” the man said, as he took off his hat. Andrea was getting really annoyed this point and looked up at the pizza guy as fast as she could. “Listen you…..” she started, but froze when she saw gleaming blue eyes penetrating through her own. “What are you doing here?” Andrea asked softly. Her heart was melting as she stood there, caught in the trance those captivating blue eyes put her in.

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked her tenderly.

“Oh, hey Nick, glad you could make it,” Annie said as she walked past the door. “Oooh, is that our pizza? Give it here, I’m starving!” Annie grabbed the pizza box from Nick and had a piece out and in her mouth before she even set the box on the table.

“Can I come in?” Nick asked, looking into the room.

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, come on in,” Andrea answered, stepping aside to let him pass. He smiled at her and his arm brushed against her breast as he was walking past her. She didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but she liked the way it felt.

“I’m sorry,” Nick said blushing.

“Don’t be, it’s okay,” Andrea said with equally red cheeks. “Have a seat. Can I get you anything?” Andrea asked as Nick sat down on the edge of one of the beds. This is a hotel room for God sakes. What am I going to get him? She thought to herself, feeling stupid for asking the question.

“No, I’m good, thanks. Annie, how is your head? I am so sorry. I had no idea that would happen. Is there anything I can do, for either of you?” Nick directed that question more towards Andrea than Annie. Andrea picked up on it too, and he noticed her blushing again.

“I’m doing fine,” Annie said, with a mouthful of pizza. “Aside from it bleeding a lot, there was just a small gash, no permanent damage; just needed some stitches and now I’m good to go.” Annie swallowed her pizza and looked at Nick. “Can you let AJ know I’m okay?” she asked him in a quiet tone, almost as if she were embarrassed for asking that.

“Of course, but maybe you could just tell him yourself. Hold on.” Nick got out his cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey, there’s someone here who wants to talk to you,” he said into the phone, and then handed it to Annie.

“Hello…AJ?” Annie asked meagerly into the phone. There was silence on her end, as AJ was talking to her. “Oh, I’m okay. Just some stitches and a nice bruise, other than that…..” she continued, as their conversation took off.

“Do you want to go for a walk with me?” Nick asked Andrea. “Maybe if we leave her alone, she and AJ will have phone sex or something!” Nick yelled, so that both
Annie and AJ could hear him.

“Hold on a sec,” Annie said into the phone laughing. She looked at Nick’s phone, as if she was trying to find something. “How do I put this thing on speaker phone?” she asked, looking puzzled. Nick pointed to the button and Annie pressed it. “Okay Alex, it’s on speaker phone.”

“Nick, you are just jealous. You wish you were me so you could have phone sex, because we all know you don’t know how!” AJ shot back at Nick.

“I don’t need to have phone sex, when I can do the real thing,” he replied, smiling seductively at Andrea. “And on my tour bus,” he added, thinking back to Andrea’s outburst at the beginning of the sound check. “Seriously though, Andrea and I are going to give you two some privacy, we will be back in a little while. Bye Bone, bye Annie,” Nick said as he slid his hand onto the small of Andrea’s back. “Are you ready,” he asked
Andrea delicately.

“Yeah, sure,” she replied, unsure of how to handle the feelings that were building up inside her. She waved to Annie as they walked out the door.

“So, where are you guys headed to?” Nick asked casually as they walked down the hallway together.

“Actually, we on a Backstreet road trip, as odd as that sounds. We took three weeks off work to drive around the country, do some sightseeing, get away from everything, and six concerts are on our agenda. Although we missed one of those six tonight,” Andrea added, smiling.

God, I love that smile, Nick said to himself. “What show are you headed to next?” he asked aloud, trying not to sound as curious as he really was. She’s going to think I’m a stalker…cool it Nick, he reminded himself.

“Chicago,” she said, not even giving his question a second thought. She looked up at him, and found herself locking her gaze into those beautiful blue eyes again. This is going to mighty hard having a conversation with him if I can’t look into his eyes without losing my train of thought, she reflected to herself. “Where are you guys headed next?”

Pittsburg,” he replied, never breaking his contact with her insatiable green eyes. I don’t want to leave her; I want her with me always. What is it I cannot escape from with her? How can I feel like this about somebody I don’t know anything about?

At this point, they were locked on each other, and being drawn in by each other eyes. Neither one of them realized how close their faces were until Andrea felt Nick’s breath on her lips. She pulled back, startled, unsure of what had just happened. Nick however was not going to let this chance go and he lunged into her, his lips crashing onto hers. The force of the kiss sent her reeling back into the wall, but he kept coming, never letting their lips separate. She opened her mouth as if to gasps, and she felt his tongue enter her mouth and start caressing her tongue. Before she knew what was happening, Andrea kissed him back. Nick moaned and kissed her harder.

“Oh my God, okay, we have to stop!” Andrea yelled, pushing Nick back. She had never felt so much passion from one kiss before and it seemed dangerous to her. Nick looked at her, and saw the same look in her eyes that he saw when they were playing around on the couch in the tour bus earlier that day. He just smiled and took her hand in his.

“We better get back to your room. I’m sure Annie is done on the phone by now and she’ll be wondering what happened to us,” he said, leading her back towards her room. I’m not going anywhere, Nick thought. How can I be falling for her? I’m going to show her she can trust me, and I will find out what’s holding her back. I’ve got all the time in the world for this one….

Why didn’t he push me into telling him what was wrong? Or why didn’t he keep trying to kiss me or get further? Isn’t that what superstars are supposed to do? He’ll be gone in a few hours, and this will be it. Why am I falling for him? Andrea tried to reason with herself on the walk back to her room, but without avail. As she put her key in the door to open it, she heard giggling from inside their room.

“Annie has never giggled while talking to a boy, EVER!” Andrea said, completely shocked by what she was hearing from their room. They walked in and saw AJ sitting on the bed with Annie. “Do you have a teleporter in your pocket or something? How did you get here so fast?” Andrea asked, not even trying to hide her surprise.

“Well, when a lady beckons, I must respond,” AJ said, in his best British accent. “So are you going to join your cousin and come with us to Pittsburgh?”