"I didn't know you could be so much fun," Brittany joked as they walked through the hotel corridor on their way to Nick's room, getting back from the mall.
"Yeah," Nick puffed out his chest with a manly grunt as he slid the keycard into the door, "and there's a lot more where that came from."
Brittany rolled her eyes as she stepped into his room. "You know, you really should clean up in here, Nickers. It looks like a friggin' tornado swept through here."
"Oh well, and don't roll your eyes again," he spoke with his back to her, just as she had been about to.
Brittany grinned sheepishly, walking through his room, picking up clothes. "Ooh, nice skivvies."
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to clean up other people's rooms?" Nick laughed and grabbed his boxers back from her, tossing them onto a nearby chair.
"No," Brittany said after a moment of thought. "Did yours?"
It was Nick's turn to pause, "Um... no, actually."
Brittany couldn't help it as she rolled her eyes with a laugh, "You, Mr. Carter, are cute ... too cute for your own good."
"Well, Miss Guillen," Nick smirked as he stepped closer to her and gently flicked her nose ring with his finger, "I must admit that you're awfully cute yourself."
"Thanks," Brittany whispered and suddenly her feisty attitude was replaced with a shyness she hadn't felt around Nick since the moment they'd met.
Nick sighed and drew even closer, his body barely brushing hers. "I think I'm going to kiss you now," Nick whispered, licking his lips and leaning down, their noses touching.
"Really?"
"Uh huh," he murmured just before placing his lips against Brittany's in a soft kiss.
~ * ~
Kimmy made her way into the hotel restaurant, completely famished and depressed. If Marshall was too busy being Eminem, then screw him, was her current attitude. As she sat at the bar, sipping on a Coke and rum it occurred to her: while he was too busy being Eminem, she was no better, because she was too busy being Kimmy Smith, Beyond This member. If she was too preoccupied with her career at the moment to be his Kim, why should she expect him to drop his own career to be her Marshall?
"Ugghh," Kimmy groaned, her head dropping onto the bar at the realization. "I'm a loser."
They were only a couple days into the tour and she was already thinking of hopping a plane just to spend the night near him. She was completely sprung and the only thing that scared her was the thought that maybe he wasn't. Sure, they'd been together a year, but with his career moving along so quickly they hadn't spent as much time together as Kimmy would have liked.
And then there was the fact that she'd gotten a lot of crap for being with him in the first place. Brittany, like the chicken sh*t that she was, had been afraid to be around him for the first month, but when she'd finally given him a chance had realized how incredibly cool, down-to-earth, and wow... nice! he was. Alyssa had laughed her ass off when Kimmy had told her about her relationship with Em, but when she'd finally calmed down had ended up saying "how tyte is that?!" and asking for a hookup with his younger brother, once he'd gained a few years. Her parents were livid and there was not much else to say about that.
But no matter what everybody said, to Kimmy, Eminem was just Marshall Mathers ... a guy ... famous for dissing people ... but just a guy. And yet, though she wouldn't admit it, she'd been incredibly nervous to tell him that she and her two best friends were forming Beyond This. Eminem, dating a member of a girl group? Uhhh...
He'd admitted that it would look strange and awfully hypocritical for him to be dating her, but he'd told her he'd stand by her. "I was dating her before Beyond This and I've gotten to know her for who she is. What she sings doesn't matter to me," he'd ended up announcing to the press when everybody had begun to diss him once the word had hit the press. And then she'd had to tell him that they were going on tour with the Backstreet Boys and finally after two and a half weeks he'd stopped ragging on her. She knew it was all in good fun, but gosh she was about to slap him.
Now here she was, sitting in a bar, alone and miserable because she wasn't at home ... with him. And the realization of how hypocritical she'd been was still very apparent to her. She'd hung up on him and now she was feeling guilty.
Standing up, Kimmy threw some money on the bar and left, making her way to the elevators. She knew she needed to call and apologize.
~ * ~
Alyssa groaned and sat up, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "Okay, enough, AJ. I can't go any more. You've worn me out; every muscle in my body aches."
AJ laughed, "You sound like I just ravaged you and you had a billion orgasms."
"Ha-ha," she laughed sarcastically and fell back onto the floor again. "Unfortunately, I don't think having a full-blown firm up session with AJ McLean constitutes as a billion orgasms. I don't think five hundred sit-ups have that effect on people."
"Aren't you exaggerating a bit?"
"Not too much." Alyssa managed to stand and make her way to the mini-bar, pulling out two bottles of water and tossing one to him. "Drink away, my dear."
"Gracias, Senorita Hernandez." After a long gulp to return back to his normal energy level, he set the bottle down and looked up at her, "So you wanna go jogging tomorrow before sound-check?"
Alyssa's eyebrows rose, "Are you sh*tting me?"
~ * ~
Brittany looked at Nick as he pulled away, their breathing ragged. Wow, that had been amazing ... the things that boy could do with his tongue! Holy cow. And yet ... he had a girlfriend ... a complete bitchy girlfriend ... but a girlfriend, nonetheless. Brittany hadn't had any right to do what she'd just done, but ... no, no buts! Gosh, Brittany hated Willa! Why was she suddenly feeling so friggin' guilty?
"Nick?"
"Yeah, I know."
Brittany nodded and quickly went to grab her jacket that was lying on his bed. Ooh, his bed. No! Leave!
"I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she turned around and bit back a gasp, not having known Nick was so close behind her. And now they were facing each other again... so close, oh so close.
"She's a bitch, Ritt," Nick sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "But for some reason I just can't get rid of her."
"Yeah," Brittany nodded and licked her lips quickly out of nervousness. "Well, let me know when you finally can. G'night."
Nick watched her walk from his room and groaned as he slumped against the wall, watching the door shut on its own.
