Alex exited the plane and spotted Nick right off. He was the guy that stood above everybody else and was trying not to be noticed. She grinned and walked towards him, “Hey.”
He wrapped his arms around her, “Well, it’s about time you got here. How was your flight?”
“I will have to tell you about it.”
Nick looked at her kind of strangely and then at the huge guy that approached, “It was nice seeing you Alex. I’m glad we got a chance to talk.”
Alex smiled at the strange guy, “It was nice seeing you Randy, tell Michelle and Rachel I said hello. I will have to have Rachel come meet the team.”
At the mention of his name Nick’s grip on her arm got tighter, but Randy didn’t notice, “Oh, she would love that.” Randy said smiling
Alex looked at Nick confused on why he was trying to tear her arm off. Nick looked at her and realized he was hurting her, and he dropped his arm, “Randy, this is my boyfriend Nick. Nick this is Randy, he use to be on the team in high school.”
“Nice to meet you Nick, I’ve heard a lot about you.” Nick just nodded at him and didn’t say anything. Alex looked at him astonished that he could be so rude, “Well, I need to be going. Good bye Alex.”
“Good bye.” She said as he walked away. She watched him a minute before turning to Nick, “And what was that all about?!”
“Randy? As in Randy who?”
Alex looked at him, confused and then it hit her, “Nick that was a long time ago, and a mistake.”
He crossed his arms, “it still happened, and I don’t intend to be nice to someone who tried to rape my wife.”
Alex smiled, “I’m not your wife.”
“YET! But you might as well be.” Nick retorted.
Alex shook her head, “We will talk about this later.”
**
Alex and Nick walked thru the lobby, “Did I tell you you’ll be in Mack’s room.”
“What?” Alex asked confused
“You haven’t met Mack, I’m was sure you had.”
“No, I’ve never met him.”
Nick stopped, “No, Mack is a she.”
“That’s good, I was beginning to…Randy.”
“What?” Nick asked
Alex walked over to the lobby desk where Randy stood, “Are you staying here?”
“Why, yes. Fancy seeing you again. Are you staying in this hotel?”
“Yeah.”
“I was going to ask you earlier, would it be okay if I took you out to dinner? I mean, I didn’t know how Nick would feel about it.”
“Oh, I would love to, we could get caught up.”
“How about I meet you down here around 6, and we can go find a pub or something.”
“Okay, I better go catch Nick.” She walked over to the elevators where Nick was waiting, “Oh, there you are.”
“Yeah.” He said stepping thru the opening doors. Alex followed and watched as he leaned against the wall and didn’t say anything
“What is it now?” Alex said putting her hands on her hips. Nick didn’t look at her, knowing that she knew what was wrong. “Nickolas, I have never held a grudge and randy is my friend. It is not my fault that he acted like a typical male when he was drunk. Have you ever stopped to think that part of it was my fault?”
“Your fault? He tried to..”
“I know what he tried to do, but I let myself get in that situation. It was just as much my fault as his.”
Nick didn’t say anything, his way of ignoring the subject. He walked out of the elevator and passed one of the security guards assigned to the floor since the their arrival. He stopped at a door and knocked. Alex stood next to him and glared up at him, Nick ignored her. The door was opened just seconds after his knock. Alex looked at “Mack” She had huge green eyes that were very pretty, she was a little shorter than Alex, with really long chestnut colored hair was. She was wearing cowboy boots, nice jeans, a guys white dress shirt, a leopard choker, and a black leather cowboy hat. Alex was amazed at how she pulled off the outfit. “Mack this is Alex.” Nick said.
Mackenzie smiled at Alex, “Welcome to the original groupie headquarters.”
Alex laughed as she walked in and hoped they would get along. Nick dropped her bags and she turned to him, “Um, Randy and I had planned to have dinner and catch up, is that alright?”
Nick just looked at her coldly, “It’s fine with me.” He turned and walked out, but Alex was right on his heels.
She followed him into his room, “Nick…”
“Get out of my room!” He said turning around.
“Not until you talk to me.”
“I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU.” He practically screamed in his face.
Alex blinked, the words stung, but she didn’t say anything. She turned and left the room slamming the door behind her. Mack was waiting in the doorway of their room, “Is everything alright?” she asked stepping out of the way so Alex could come in
“No, he’s being an idiot.”
“You’re having dinner with another guy?”
“Yeah, but he’s an old friend and he’s married and has kids.”
“Ahh, I see. So, Nick’s mad about it?”
“Well, not really that. It’s a long story.”
“Why don’t you call this guy and ask him if he will settle for drinks later. Then we can go to dinner and you can tell me about it and Nick won’t really have a reason to be mad at you.”
Alex liked the way this girl thought, “Okay, I’ll do that. Can I ask you a question?”
“yeah, sure.”
“Is your name Mack?”
She rolled her eyes, “No, it’s Mackenzie. A.J. started calling me Mack along time ago and the guys just stuck with it. I don’t mind it, but I don’t like it either. Most of my friends back home call me Zie, and my mom just calls me Mackenzie.”
Alex nodded, “I’ll call ya Zie then.”
Mack smiled, “Okay. So, is Alex short for Alexandra?”
“No, Alexis.”
“Alexis, hmm, I like it. Anyone call ya Lexi?”
“No, not that I can think of.”
“Good, that’s what I’ll call ya. Now, go call Randy.”
**
“The guys will probably just go to McDonalds.” Mack said as Alex changed out of her jersey
“Oh, what a surprise.” She pulled a shirt over her jeans and then grabbed her make-up bag.
“When are you meeting Randy?”
“Not until 8.”
“Okay, we’ll talk over dinner.” Just then someone knocked on the door, “That’s A.J., you ready?”
“Yeah.” Alex said putting on her lip-gloss.
**
Nick watched Alex from the time they left the hotel. He was a little taken back when they got to McDonalds and she and Mack got their food and sat down at a booth. He hadn’t meant the words he had screamed at her, he just hadn’t understood how she could just go on as if nothing happened. Obviously what Randy did had scared her, he just didn’t understand how she could over look that.
Alex hadn’t looked at Nick. She and Mack had gotten into a conversation with A.J. in where Alex learned that they were not a couple and that Mack owned a popular store in the mall called ‘Wild Things’. Now they were standing at McDonalds, she and Mack ordered and they headed to a booth. Moment’s later A.J. came over to the table and Mack shoed him off, “No, you can go sit over there.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re having girl talk.”
“You guys just met.”
“I know, that’s why we’re having girl talk, now go.”
A.J. mumbled something and walked off, “Is he mad?” Alex asked
“Ahh, he’ll get over it.” Mack said laughing, “Now, Lexi, what happened with this Randy guy?”
“Making a long story short, he was drunk and attempted to rape me.”
“he was drunk?
“Yeah.”
“And attempted, but it didn’t happen?
“No.”
“So Nick’s mad because…why?”
“I don’t’ know. Randy and I were friends, I have never hated him for it. In fact I blame my self for part of it because I let myself get into that situation.” Mack nodded her head in agreement, “He’s married now, to one of the girls from high school I know, and has kids. We haven’t talked since the..incident, and strangely, I sat by him on the plane. He just wants to have some time to catch up. I have no idea what Nick is so mad about.”
“Well, I wish I had a wonderfully intelligent answer, but I don’t.”
Alex laughed, “We should get along really well, you know that.”
“We should.” Mack said raising her hamburger in the air like a toast and then taking a bite out of it.
**
Nick sat at a table across from Alex and Mack and watched them, “What are they laughing about?”
A.J. looked over sticking a French fry in his mouth, “I don’t know. They’re chics, who can tell. So what happened with you and Alex? You don’t seem to be on her list of favorite people at the moment.”
Nick rolled his eyes and didn’t answer. Then Brian tried, “What did happen?”
“We got in a argument and I sort of yelled at her.”
“About?”
“Nothing.”
“Well, obviously it was something.” Brian said rolling his eyes
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, I will have to inform Alex that I am a free man.” A.J. said leaning back in his chair
“Don’t even think about it.” Nick said coldly.
