Nick glanced unhappily at the receiver. The continuos dial tone rung in his ear. He hung up and sat down on the worn sofa. Brian walked in noticing the upset figure on the couch and sat down next to him. “I called Chris,” he said when Brian was seated.
“What happened?” Brian asked sounding concerned.
“She blew up at me! I’ve never heard her this angry before! Brian!” Nick sat up holding onto Brian’s shoulders and shaking him lightly and then the motion gradually got larger, “I don’t want to lose her Brian! I’ve just realized how much she means to me!” Nick cried out, tears staring to trickle down his face.
“Flirting with another kid on the phone Chaos?” A.J. joked as he walked in holding onto a coke can. He had never liked the idea of Nick going out with a pre teen.
“Shut up A.J.! Brian snapped back.
“I need to go see her! I have to!” Nick suddenly perked up wiping the dampness off his face with the sleeve of his blue sweater.
“Are you crazy Chaos? She’s just a kid! We still have a few more days, you can’t leave. You’re the favorite anyway. It’s just a few more days, “A.J. repeated.
Nick glared at A.J.. He stood up and grabbing Brian with him, he made way to his hotel room. “But Nick, listen! A.J.’s right, we only have a few days left anyway. Why not wait until the tour finishes then go to Chris? Without you, we wouldn’t be Backstreet Boys.”
“I don’t care!” Nick pouted, wiping the tears that had trickled down onto his face.
Brian saw that it was no use to try and argue with Nick. He was already determined, “Okay Nick, I’ll get Donna to arrange this. You want me to come with you?” Brain offered.
Nick hesitated then finally gave a slight uncertain nod, “I guess,” he whispered.
“A.J., go get Donna,” Brian instructed.
“Okay Frick, but I can tell ya, Kev and Donna aren’t gonna be happy ‘bout this,” A.J. stood up and disappeared around the corner. A few minutes later, an angry looking Kevin and an upset Donna walked into the den.
“What’s wrong now?” Donna asked impatiently, “First, Nick messes up the dance, second, he misses his part and sings the wrong lyrics in a concert, and now you want to leave altogether?” Donna listed out incredulously. “We came here to talk about how we can get rid of these problems. What’s wrong with you Nicky? And you Brian, Nick wants to leave but you as well? I know that you guys are best friends but you have to stay here. What about the concerts you guys still have to do? Can’t you just wait a few more days? It’s nearly your break… please, just stay and go through these few days.”
“Donna, you don’t understand and we don’t want to talk about it either, if you respect us, then you’ll let us go without asking us why.” Brian answered simply, refusing to say anymore.
“You’re agree with this ridiculous phase he’s going through?” Kevin raised his eyebrows unhappily.
Brian just replied with a simple, “Shut the hell up, Kev.”
Donna sighed tiredly, “Okay, I’ll make you a deal, only one of you can go, the other one stays.”
Brian looked up at Nick, “Is that okay? Think you can handle it yourself?” Brian asked.
Nick hesitated, “I don’t think I can.”
“It’s not a choice Nick,” Donna told him strictly when she heard Nick say that he didn’t want to be alone.
“Okay, I’ll go,” He said softly and determinedly. Brushing his blonde hair back, he wondered what he would say to Christina when he arrived.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~*
“You packed?” Brian asked, entering Nick’s room.
Nick turned around at the sudden voice that had interrupted his thoughts. He had big dark bags under his eyes because he had stayed up all night worrying. Now that he had finally got to return to Florida, he felt even more nervous. What would he say? He kept reassuring himself that it would be fine and it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Christina turned him down. He repeatedly told himself that there are millions of girls in the world that would do practically anything to be with him. But deep in his heart, he knew that it was impossible to find another girl exactly like Christina. He loved the way her hair smelt and how she brushes it back. He loved the way she smiled showing her braced teeth. She was one of the very few girls that truly understands him and the pressure he’s going through. Even though she had broken up with him the day that he told her that they were leaving early, he understood why she did that. True, their relationship with each other wasn’t very deep yet, that was probably why Christina wanted to separate before he left. He sighed heavily as he sat down on the unmade queen size bed. His dark green suitcase stood next to him, “Nearly, I’m looking for that scarf she knit me though.”
Brian knew who ‘she’ was, Christina. She had learned how to knit in school and decided to surprise him one day with a hand knit scarf from her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t an expert and half way through the process, she gave up because when she looked back at her work so far, she realized that it was missing a few needles and the knitting wasn’t straight. She threw it aside and Anna had found it and helped her knit the rest. So the scarf was wavy and loose at the top and straight and tight the rest of the way. It was also too long because Anna had forgotten to stop while knitting and watching a soap opera. Christina found it and didn’t like it anyway so she hid it. Anna saw that Christina had spent a lot of time and effort to knit the scarf and she couldn’t resist but to hand it to Nick. Nick loved it and even though it was summer, he often wore it, even out in the public. When the other guys saw it, they tried as hard as they could to stop from bursting out laughing. Thank God Christina or Anna weren’t there, Brian had often thought. “Want me to help?” Brian offered, stooping down low to look under the bed.
“Sure thanks, and Bri, don’t bother looking there because I already did,” Nick replied.
“Okay,” Brian answered and started to search for the scarf. A few minutes later, they finally found it when he suggested they look in Nick’s backpack. Brian had suggested they’d look in it but Nick had said that it would be impossible. After a few more urges from Brian, he finally opened the bag to find the scarf. All the time while they were searching, it was sitting comfortably at the bottom, underneath all the candy wrappers, CDs, a Discman, a few sketches on napkins from different restaurants, and numerous comic books. “Geez! All the time it was in there! I told you!” Brian smirked.
Nick gave a sheepish smile and hugged onto the scarf tightly. He sniffed it hard. Nick could almost smell Christina’s scent on it. “Let’s go,” he told Brian. He got his suitcases and slowly descended down the spiral staircase.