Kevin jolted awake. He’d been having the same dream for the past month. He missed her so much, but he couldn’t find her. Glancing at the clock, he turned to the TV, and then did a double take.
“Oh shit! I overslept!”
Kevin ran to the door that adjoined Nick’s and his rooms and knocked loudly.
“What?” Nick called.
“We’re late.”
“Oh shit!” Nick shouted, “Well be ready in 5.”
Kevin ran around the room, getting dressed and washing his face. The bags under his eyes were almost gone and didn’t look so bloodshot anymore.
He ran a brush through his hair and walked into Nick’s room.
“Let’s go. Oh, hi Sam.”
“What’s up?” she asked, putting on her shoes.
Nick came into the room and threw on a shirt. He towel-dried his hair and ran a brush through his blond locks. Sam grabbed her camera and film bag and they left to go to the show.
Donatella was a little upset that they were late, but she dismissed it when Kevin rushed to make up to get ready.
“Kev, what’s up man?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re always quiet and you seem upset a lot. Earlier today, I heard you say a name in your sleep.”
Kevin jerked his eyes towards the makeup artist and said, “We’ll talk later Nick.”
“Just as long as we talk. I’ve been pretty worried about you man.”
“I promise, we’ll talk after the show.”
The show went great. When Kevin was on the runway, there were a few screams from the back of the room but other than that, there wasn’t any commotion from the crowd. After the show, Sam came backstage with Nick and asked Kevin for a few shots for her personal collection.
“Anything for a friend,” he said, striking an over-exaggerated dramatic pose.
Kevin pulled Nick over with him in front of the camera. They goofed off for a while and Kevin left to go change his clothes and wash all the goop off his face.
They went back to the hotel, not bothering to go to the after-party since there was going to be another one after the next show the following week.
“I’m really tired Nick, I’m gonna go to bed, okay?” Sam said, yawning.
“Yeah, that’s cool. I’ll be in later, Kev and I need to talk,” he said, kissing her goodnight.
Nick and Kevin went to Kevin’s room and sat on the bed. “What’s with you Kevin?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t pull that shit with me Kevin, you know damn well what I’m talking about. Mr. Perfectionist isn’t doing anything right and doesn’t seem to care. You’re not concentrating on your work and that’s not like you at all. You’re barely eating and it’s pretty rare that you talk to anyone any more. You haven’t slept much in a month, and I’m worried about you man.”
“I know, but I really don’t want to talk about it right now Nick.”
“What happened with you and Ericka?”
“What?”
“You said her name while you were sleeping today.”
Kevin sighed and put his head in his hands, “I haven’t told anyone about this, not even Brian, so you can’t tell anyone about this, got it?”
He nodded, “Go on Kev.”
Kevin took a deep breath, “The day we finished ‘Show me the Meaning…’ Ericka and I went out dancing. We came back to my place and mom had left. We slept together. When I woke up, she was gone. I haven’t been able to reach her. She won’t return my calls. We told each other that we loved each other. I don’t know if she meant it, but I sure as hell did.”
“Oh God Kevin, I’m sorry,” Nick said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“I found out toady that her father was killed in a car accident,” he said, as the tears fell from his eyes, dripping on his shirt.
Nick moved closer to him and gave him a hug. Kevin sobbed quietly, letting his tears fall onto Nick’s shoulder. They sat like this for a few minutes. Kevin finally pulled out of the hug and sat back on the bed. Nick handed him a tissue.
“Thanks,” Kevin said, taking it.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve just been holding that in for a month now. I needed to get that out.”
Kevin got up and went to the bathroom to splash his face with water.
“Kev, I know this is hard for you to hear, but you’ve got to get over her.”
“I know I do Nick, but I love her. That doesn’t just disappear over night. What if someone told you that you’ve got to get over Sam?”
“Good point. Look, I know it takes time to get over someone, but you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. You’ve got to get over her and move on with your life. Don’t let it consume you, you’ll only drown in sorrow and we need you too much for that. I don’t think I could stand losing my big brother.”
Kevin gave him a weak smile, “Don’t worry Nick, I’m not going anywhere.”
They sat up all night talking. They hadn’t talked like that for a long time and it felt good for both of them. At about 1:30, Kevin was yawning so much that he could hardly talk and Nick couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. Nick somehow stumbled to Sam’s and his room and went to sleep. By the time the door closed, Kevin was already fast asleep, dreaming about Ericka.