A weekend to remember - Chapter 6
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© Willow
published by us
rated : R
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"Nick would you PLEASE stop pacing?" Brian asked his best friend. "You're making me dizzy.
"I can't help it Bri," Nick said, not bothering to cease his trek from one side of the entertainment area to the other. "I hate being cooped up on this bus day in and day out enough without being stranded alone in a strange place surrounded by nothing but snow. I'm going to go nuts!"
Brian was prepared to argue until he felt LeighAnne's soft touch on his arm. "Leave Nick be," she whispered to him. "He's obviously tired and strung out. Let him release some nervous energy." Brian simply sighed and headed back towards the front of the bus.
"It's just so hard Leigh," he told her on the way. "I can feel him shutting me out. Something's wrong with him, but I'm clueless as to what. I can't stand feeling this helpless."
"I know you can't sweetheart," she replied, "but, as hard as it is to admit sometimes, Nick is a grown man now. He's not the 13 year old you met when the group started. Sometimes there are going to be problems that he needs to work out on his own."
"I know," Brian said shaking his head. "I just want to make sure Nick knows that if he ever does need help, or even just to talk, I'll be there."
"I'm sure he knows that," LeighAnne reassured. Just then the two reached the front of the bus, where Kevin, Kristin and Lenny were waiting anxiously for Howie and Tommy to return. "Any sign?" she asked.
Kristin turned to them and shook her head, "No, not-"
"Wait! I think I see headlights!" Kevin cried out, interrupting her.
"Headlights? What kind of car could get through snow this high?" Brian asked.
"No car," Lenny said smiling. "Snowmobiles!"
******Elsewhere******
Mup silently thanked herself for having the intuition to turn off her stereo before answering the door. She took the incriminating CD out of the system and replaced it with Billy Joel's 'Songs in the Attic' album. Then, looking around and finally noticing how she was dressed, she began to blush. "I can't believe I'm wearing this!" she cried aloud and then raced into her bedroom to change. Five minutes later, clad in jeans and a John Lennon T-Shirt she reentered the main room of the house and- armed with cleaning supplies as well as sheets, blankets, and pillows- readied the house for her guests.
Suddenly she stopped still. "Crap," she said to herself. "I didn't ask how many there would be! I'll have to guess." She went from room to room. In the upstairs loft there was one room occupied only with a king sized guest bed, and a larger room with a set of twin sized bunk-beds and another twin bed that had a trundle underneath it, which she pulled out.
"That's five beds," she added up mentally. "Let me think, Howie, Nick, AJ and Tommy can sleep in here. That leaves Brian, Kevin, and I guess they must have their bus driver too- I can pull out the sofa bed for the bus driver, and give Brian the upstairs room, and Kevin the downstairs guest room. That way if either LeighAnne or Kristin is here- and I'm sure they must be, I mean Kevin only proposed last weekend- they can share a bed without being uncomfortable." She felt relieved that she would have just enough beds, as long as no one unexpected was with the group.
Once the place was clean to her satisfaction, Mup made her way back downstairs to the small nook that held her computer and modem, and dashed off a quick e-mail. Next she grabbed some of the wood that was beside the fireplace and soon a fire was raging. Finally she set a kettle on the stove and tea bags in several mugs just as the doorbell rang. She smoothed out her hair and opened the door, wondering who the first houseguests would be.