"WHAT?!? You can’t leave! You’ve only been home for a week!" Charity almost yelled at her best friend, Nick.

Nick just looked at the ground. He hadn’t expected her to react that way. "I know, I know. I don’t want to go either, but we don’t have a choice." He looked up from the floor.

She looked into his crystal blue eyes. She had been doing that since she could remember. She could read every emotion in them. And by looking into his eyes, she knew that he meant what he was saying. He didn’t want to go, but he had no choice. "When do you leave?"

"In a week. I know we were suppose to spend some time together, and this doesn’t give us much time. But we should use it to the best of our ability,"

"Brian was suppose to spend some time with Tasha too."

There was hostility in her voice, an emotion that she rarely used. Nick walked across his room and stood in front of her. She had never been this upset about him leaving before. She was always excited for him when he told her that he had to go on tour.

"CJ? What’s the matter? You’ve never been this mad about my leaving before." He put his hand under her chin and forced her to look at him, She was upset. "C’mon, tell ol’ Nicky what the problem is. I can’t kiss it and make it all better if I don’t know where the boo-boo is." He said, trying to get her to smile, referring to what he used to say to her when they were younger, and she would fall off of her bike or out of the tree that they were climbing. It didn't work.

"I…..I…..I just feel like I’m loosing my best friend to a bunch of screaming teeny-boppers. You have no idea what a crappie feeling that is."

Nick looked at her and then wrapped his arms around her 5-4 frame. Compared to him, she was tiny. "CJ, how could you even think that! I’m shocked!"

She looked up at Nick again. "Come on Nick! I’ve helped you go through all that fan mail that you get. I’ve seen the pictures that those girls send you. People think that the only people that listen to you are 10-year old girls. They have no idea! I just don’t wanna loose you." She then proceeded to bury her face in his chest.

"You aren’t loosing me CJ! Nothing is ever going to take you away from me. You are my best friend. I don’t know any of those girls. It doesn’t matter to me what they look like, and no matter how nice the letters that they send me are, you have no idea how long it actually took them to write it."

She didn’t say anything. "I thought you knew me better then that. I look for beauty on both the inside and out. I guess I just got lucky when I met you, I got the best of both."

"Nick!"

"Charity Jessica Kaiyzer, you are my best friend and no one is more beautiful in both ways then you are and don’t you ever let anyone tell you different. You hear me?"

"Yeah. I hear you Nicks."

"And if anyone ever does say different tell me and I’ll beat them up."

Charity giggled. "Don’t you mean you’ll get Lonnie or Mark to beat them up?" she asked, referring to the guys body guards.

"HA HA you are just soooo funny." He began to tickle her.

"Nick stop!!!" Charity feel back on Nick’s bed and he sat on top of her, still tickling her. "NICK PLEASE! STOP!"

"OK, I stopped." Nick stopped tickling her and got up off of her. He sat on the bed next to her and she sat up.

"Thank you very much!’ She was still laughing. Nick reached over and hugged her. They stayed like that. Until Charity got up and turned on the TV that sat on the dresser at the foot of Nick’s bed. She went back over to him and sat back down. They sat there and just watched TV for about an hour. During a commercial Nick looked at his friend. ‘ If CJ is taking it this bad, I wonder how Brian is doing with Tasha…." He looked down at Charity again and noticed that she had fallen asleep.

About a half an hour later Aaron bounded into the room that he shared with his older brother. "Hey! Oh, sorry Charity. I didn’t mean to wake you up."

"That’s OK AC. So are you going with Nick when he leaves?"

"YUP! I am going to do a few shows but I’m going mainly to see what it is going to be like on tour. You know it’s too bad that you and Tasha can’t come. That would be soooo much fun!!!"

"Yeah it would be a lot of fun. Maybe someday, Aaron, but I don’t think it is going to happen this time.

"Well, we can always hope."

"Yeah we can always hope."

"Well, I’m going to go find BJ. She told me that she would take me out for ice cream. See ya, CJ."

"Later Aaron!" She watched as the younger boy bounded out as quickly as he had come in. Charity turned to Nick, who looked like he was thinking. "Nick can I call Tash and see how she’s doing? He was going to tell her today, right?"

"Yeah he was. Go ahead. I’m going to go down stairs and talk to my mom. "

"OK. Thanks Nick."

"No problem."

Nick left the room and walked down stairs.

Charity picked up the phone and dialled her friends phone number. It rang three times before some one picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Tash! Is Brian around?"

"Hi, CJ. Yeah, you wanna talk to him?"

"Yeah, for a second."

"OK, I’ll put him on."

Two minutes later: "Hey CJ!"

"Hey Bri. Did you tell Tasha about you guys leaving yet?"

"Yeah I told her."

"Well….?"

"She was upset. I’m just trying to figure out a way to make the next week count. I feel really bad because you girls are our best friends and we hardly ever get to see you. I really don’t know why you put up with us."

"We do it ‘cause we love ya. Well that’s what we want you to think at least." Brian laughed.

"You are really convincing"

Well, I gotta go. I gotta find Nick and make sure that he hasn’t hurt himself."

"We wouldn’t want that now would we?"

"Well…….. That depends on how big a jerk he is being at the time. But anyway, I guess I’ll se you later Brian. Tell Tasha bye for me.

"Will do. Talk to you later." The phone went dead.

She replaced the receiver and walked out of Nick’s bedroom. She then made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. There she was greeted by a very excited Nick.

"CJ! I think I found a way for you and Tasha to be a able to spend more time with Brian and I!"

‘Uh oh' Charity thought ‘I think I have right to be scared now’

*Well, there ya have it! The first part of the Nick and Brian series. Be on the look out for the second part soon!*