Nick could feel the fear building up deep in the pit of his stomach. He'd never been alone before. He'd always had somebody there. There had been the guys, his best friends, since the age of 13; before that, his immediate family; around the age of 16 he dated this girl named Kendra; then he was back to the comfort and familiarity of his friends; age 17 and off and on 'til around 19 or 20 or so there was Mandy, and it felt strange when she was gone from his life for good; and then at 20 he met Journey -- she was a girl, not the band -- they'd dated for close to two years, and that's who had just disappeared from Nick's life. His friends were all getting married, living different lives (aside from the professional one that they all shared) and Nick hadn't lived anywhere near his family in quite a long time. So he was alone. And he had no idea what to do with himself. He'd seriously thought that he would be with Journey for the rest of his life. What had happened? Well you're about to find out.
~ * ~ March, 2000 ~ * ~
"Howie, will you stop it, man? You're annoying me. Haven't you realized that winking gets you nowhere?" Nick snapped.
The guys swore he was PMSing again. It was strange how they could know that only women could physically do such a thing, and yet ... Nick seemed to have most of the symptoms on a monthly, sometimes weekly, basis.
Howie rolled the eyes that had been winking at women only a few moments before. He was too polite to say what he was thinking, but if he had been able to put away his proper etiquette for just a moment he would have asked it: What the hell crawled up your ass and died?
Nick sighed and slumped down in his seat. The crowded club was filled with smoke and the stench of liquor, not to mention sweat. This scene, this club scene, really wasn't the type of life Nick enjoyed. It bothered him after a while. Same old stuff. He needed change ... not to mention fresh air. At the thought of the cool, unsmokeified air that he knew existed outside, Nick suddenly got the urge to be in it.
"I'll be outside if you need me..." Nick stood up and looked at the rest of the guys, who were all doing their own thing and didn't really care where Nick went. He figured he could fall off the edge of the earth (which suddenly sounded WAY too tempting) for those few hours that they would spend enhaling who knows what that was floating through the air. He could see their brain cells dying. He shuddered and sprinted out the exit door, taking a huge gulp of cool air. It felt good going down his lungs and he welcomed it joyously.
Minutes passed and Nick was actually flirting with the thought of heading back inside, just out of pure lonliness, when the sound of somebody practically hacking up a lung with a deep cough broke through the chill of the night. He turned to see a young lady stumbling out of the club, holding her throat.
"Hey, are you okay??" Nick rushed over to her, instinct kicking in, seeing as she looked like she was about to cough up all of her insides. It looked like she couldn't breathe either.
"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine," she sort of gasped out as she looked up at him. "It's just ... I'm allergic to smoke ... I tried telling my friends, but they wouldn't really listen and they dragged me here to this God forsaken place."
Nick smiled sympathetically; after all, he knew how it felt. "I'm sorry. You're going to be okay though, right? I mean, your throat isn't like closing up on you or anything?"
"No," she shook her head, only a slight smile on her face, but it lit up her eyes brightly. "No, I'll be fine. It just makes me cough like a dying old man. Umm ... I'm Journey, by the way." Journey held out her hand for him to shake, and he gladly accepted it.
"It's very nice to meet you, Journey. I'm Nick."
TBC... FEEDBACK, PLEASE =)
