Megan and Muzic had shown Nick and AJ the gifts that Justin and JC had given them. After a lot of thought they decided to do what they thought was best with the items.... sell them on Ebay and give the money they earned to charity. They figured if someone was willing to pay an ass load of money for some half eaten french toast they would give an arm and a leg for the jewlery and notes. Plus, it was for a good cause.
Nick, Brian, Fatima and I were on our bus. Nick and Brian were playing video games while Fatima read a magazine. I was working on the website. Suddenly the phone rang. I picked it up since I was the closest person to it.
“Hello?”
“MEGAN!!! YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST READ IN SEVENTEEN!!!”
“Muzic! Calm down!!!! Damn!!!”
“Sorry... it’s just that... oh my God....don’t tell me that Nick didn’t show you....”
“No he didn’t show me.”
“Well, ask him to, because you are just about going to die. I’ll let you go do that... Bye!” Muzic hung up the phone, leaving me to wonder what my friend was smoking.
I saved what I was doing on the computer and started walking towards the entertainment room where Nick and Brian were. “Um... Nick... Muzic says that you have something to show me...?”
The automatic slap to the forhead said that my friend had been right. “Oh crap! She’s right. Seventeen sent us the issue with the interview that we did a few weeks ago.” He looked at Brian. “Can we finish this game later Frick?”
“Yeah, no problem Frack.” Brian said, reaching over to turn off the game.
“OK... come here.” He grabbed me by the hand and pulled me over to his bunk. He pulled out a brand new copy of Seventeen with his younger sister, BJ, on the cover and handed it to me. We walked to the front of the bus and sat at the table. “Page 89.”
I turned to the page and started reading. It was the same thing I had read a million time about them...until it got to the last few questions on Nick’s interveiw.
S: Do you have a girlfriend?
N: Yes, I do. Her name is Megan. She was actually a fan. Her room mate won a trip to spend the weekend with us and she was brought along. We just kinda clicked. And NO she is NOT blond!
S: (Laughs) So how serious are the two of you?
N: Well we haven’t really been able to spend that much time with her because of touring, but by the time this comes out she will be on tour with us and helping out with some things.
S: Is there any chance we will see her anywhere besides on your arm at the Grammy’s?
N: Well, the girl has a voice on her... now all me and the rest of the guys have to do is convince her of that. She’s also really small. It’s actually kinda funny cause I’m almost 6-3 and she’s about 5-2.
S: I can’t wait to see the two of you walk down the red carpet. I’m gonna ask you something really personal now... you don’t have to answer, but I thought that I’d just kinda throw it out there for you. Is there any chance that you will end up having a relationship with her that will end up in marriage?
N: Wow... um well, like I said, we haven’t had very much time together, but I know that I would be very happy if our relationship went that far. She’s definatly special and I don’t intend on letting her go any time soon.
S: We all know that you and Alison were serious and then something happened that made you not trust her any more. Do you have a hard time trusting Megan?
N: I can’t punish Meg for something that Alison did, that’s not fair. I guess that it is hard to give your heart away when you had it stomped on before. But there is a point were I have to stop and think,’ Megan hasn’t done anything to show you that you can’t trust her’. I do trust her. I don’t need proof that I can. It’s just something that I know is right.
I looked up from my reading and at Nick. “Keep reading....” He ugred, nodding to the magazine.
S: Do you love her?
N: Yes, yes I do.
I couldn’t read anymore. I set the magazine down on the table and threw my arms around Nick’s neck. “I love you too.”
A few minutes later we went back into the back room. “You showed her?” Brian asked as soon as he saw me smiling.
“Yup.” I said. Nick went back to playing video games with Brian and I sat down to talk to Fatima for a while.
Later that night I looked at the interview again and read AJ’s interview. It went along the same lines as Nick’s did, only with more emphisis on the fact that we were going to be on tour and that Muz was a dancer.
The thing that stood out to me the most was the very last thing that he said in his interview, when the interveiwer asked him to give a message to the fans that were reading the artical.
“People always ask what I’ll do if the fans don’t like the girl that I’m with. All I can say is that no matter what happens we are going to work to make things work for us. We love the fans, I love the fans, and I’m pretty sure that they will love Megan too. But it’s going to take time for them to get used to her and for her to get used to them as well. But I have a feeling that we’ll make it. Plus, she was and hopfully still is a fan so I think that she may be able to relate to them better then any of the other girls that I or any of the other guys, besides AJ, have been with. Besides, if it isn’t a troubled love then it isn’t a love that is worth being in. If you can’t test a relationship you’ll never know how strong it is. Alison couldn’t stay with me when I was gone, so our relationship wasn’t very strong. Meg’s been through a lot though, and some time in the future I’m going to find out just how strong it’s made her.”
When the person asked if he believed in troubled love he said: “Of course I do. Troubled love is what made it possible for me to meet Megan and for AJ to meet Muzic. If it wasn’t for troubled love we’d all be stuck with the first person we met when we walked into junior high. Life would be pretty boring if it weren’t for troubled love.”
Our love had been troubled. It had been troubled by outsiders and by a stuggle within myself. It was a struggle for Nick to trust again after being hurt by someone he loved. We’d both had our problems, and together we had won.
But this was only the beginning, one of many stories that we would have to tell.
