Changes

"Heather!" a familiar male voice called across the airport
waiting area.

"Nickala!" I exclaimed, running into his arms.

He held me for a minute and then pulled away, making
a face.

"You know I don't like you calling me that." I giggled.

"I know. Why else would I call you that?"

He pouted at me.

"Okay, I'm sorry. That's what Jen calls you and I think
it's kinda cute."

"Jen?" he asked.

"Oh, just someone I met online.
She's hilarious!" I replied.

"Cool." He was about to say something
else when he was interrupted.

"Heather!" a younger voice yelled.

"Whoa!" I cried as a short orange blur barreled
into me.

"Hi to you too Aaron." He looked up at me
with a cute grin.

"Hi."

"Hey Angel. Where's BJ?" I asked.

"She's with her BOYFRIEND." Aaron told me,
making a face.

"You can be so immature!" Angel informed
her twin haughtily. I giggled.

"Come on you guys. Let's go get my luggage okay?
And then we can go out for ice cream or something."

"Okay! I'll race you!" Aaron told his sister. With that
they were off.

"My siblings." Nick said wearily. I laughed and
nudged him.

"You love it and you know it."

"Yeah I do." he admitted. "Now let's catch up
with them." And he was running off after his brother
and sister.

"Nick!" I yelled, running after him. "Have I mentioned
how much
I hate running through crowded airports?" I griped.

He looked around with a grin. "Come on! You're so
slow!"
I rolled my eyes.

"You have longer legs." I called back.

"What does that have to do with anything?" he
asked as we neared the luggage rotator thing.

I glared at him. "I am not even going to answer that."

"So you're jealous cause I'm taller than you? Is
that what you're saying?" Nick teased.

"No! That is NOT what I am saying! I like my
height! Why would I want to be as tall as you?"

I argued, frowning at him. "Awww, you're just
jealous." Nick replied, laughing.

"Nick!!" I whined. "C'mon!"

"Admit it." he demanded.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"No, cause then I would be lying."

"Are you guys done yet? That is SO immature!" Aaron
interrupted us.

Nick and I looked at each other and burst out
laughing. "Like you're one to talk Airboy." I
replied, rolling my eyes.

"Did you get my luggage?"

"No, this is actually something that we stole from an
little old lady. We thought that it might be more
useful to you." he replied.

"Okay, okay, enough with the sarcasm! Let's
just go get on the tram and go, okay?" I suggested.

"Fine with me." Aaron shrugged.

"You guys are the ones who were wanting to hang
around here all night. We've been ready for
a longtime."

"Leave me out of this." Angel protested.

"We were waiting for all of 30 seconds!"

"C'mon! Let's go!" Nick herded us toward the
tram. I giggled.

"Okay. Where do you guys wanna go when we finally
get outta here?" I asked.

"Ice cream!" Aaron exclaimed. I laughed a little.

We boarded the tram and it took off toward the
parking garage. I looked out the transparent side
and sighed a little.

"It's gorgeous out there with all the lights."

"Mmmhmm." Nick murmured behind me.

Chills went up my back when he said that and I
frowned, puzzled.

What was that? I only reacted thatway to guys
that I liked.

No way. It was a fluke. Nick was my
best friend! We'd known each other forever!

My mom and his dad had gone to school
together! He was the first one I called when
I made jazz choir.

The first one to hear about all my crushes. I was sure he
was sick of it, but he was patient with me anyway.

I remembered when he first got the record deal.
I had been so proud!

And then when "We've Got It Goin' On"gained
radio play
I was ecstatic.

I told everyone who would listen that that was
my best friend.

My cat got to hear about it a lot. I had listened to it
so much I was sure that I could sing the whole
damn song forward and backward.

I shared his disappointment in the lack of American
enthusiasm, and the excitement of European reaction.

We were there for each other through every event that
had ever happened to us.

I couldn't possibly be reacting to him physically! He
wasn't a guy, he was just...Nick.

"HEATHER!" Nick yelled. I whirled around.

"What?!" I asked.

"I've been calling your name for ages. We're here.
Let's go." he urged, taking my hand and pulling me
out of the tram.

"What's up with you?"

"Ummm, it was a long flight. I'm kinda spacey
right now." I lied. I wasn't going to tell him where my
thoughts had been.

We stepped out into the parking garage and I
made a face.

"Uggh. I forgot how humid it was here."

"Yeah. Welcome to Florida!" Nick said cheerfully.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After a short, but harrowing drive we arrived at a
small ice cream place that was still open.

Aaron, Angel, Nick and I piled out of the car and
entered the place.
I looked at the selection, not quite reading it. I
decided to push the thoughts about Nick out of my
head.

It had been a reaction. Maybe not even to Nick.
Who knew? Whatever it was, it wasn't worth
the hassle.

"So, what do you want?" Nick asked me.

"Hmm? Oh, I think I'll have Chocolate Espresso."
I informed him. "By the way, I am paying for this!"

"No way girl!" Nick argued. "I haven't seen you in ages
and you're staying with us and that means you're the
guest here so I am paying for you."

"You never come to Boise." I replied.

"So I never get a chance. Either I pay for you or
I don't get anything." I challenged him with my gaze.

Nick sighed finally, shrugging. "Okay, you win. But I
pay for the next thing, okay?"

"Okay!" I agreed cheerfully. "What do you guys want?"
I asked Aaron and Angel.

"I want bubble gum." Aaron announced.

"Strawberry." Angel said. "Please."

"And you, Nick?"

"Um, Lime." he decided. I raised an eyebrow.

"Lime?"

"Yep. I decided to be different tonight." Nick replied.

"You make that decision every day of your life my dear."
I teased. "I haven't ever known you to be normal!"

"And to know me is to love me!" he announced.
I laughed and hugged him.

"Yep!"

"Can I help you?" the chick behind the counter asked.

I grinned,wondering how long she had been waiting
for us. She sounded extremely annoyed.

"Maybe." I replied, deciding to be a smart ass.
"We were wanting ice cream. Do you have any of that?"

"Yes we do." I could tell she was straining to be polite.

"What particular kind would you like?"

"I want broccoli." Nick answered, keeping a
straight face. He looked completely serious.
I was almost rolling.

"I'm sorry. We don't have any of that. Would you like
something else?" Now her tone was down right rude.

"You don't have broccoli?" Nick
yelled. "How can you not have broccoli? Don't you
know that that is the ONLY kind of ice cream
people should be eating? In fact there shouldn't even
BE any other kinds of ice cream! We should all eat
broccoli ice cream, but we can't because YOU don't
have any!"

I was rolling. Aaron and Angel were giggling and the
girl behind the counter looked as if she
would happily escort us to the nearest pier and
shove us off.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any." she said again,
through gritted teeth.

"Oh, okay. Then Lime would be fine." Nick said in an
off-hand tone, shrugging.

"Thank you. Anyone else?" she asked glaring at us,
daring us to try it again.

"Chocolate Espresso please." I said politely.
Angel and Aaron gave her their orders too and soon
we all had ice cream.
We sat down in a corner booth and every once in a
while we would receive glares from the girl
which set us off into giggles. I was feeling extremely
hyper.

Mainly because I was with my best friend again
after forever, but partly because of the sugar
and caffeine I'd had that day.

Finally we finished and left the place, much to
the joy of the girl,who watched us go with a smile.

I turned and waved at her as we left, which set us
off again.
We piled into the car giggling.

I turned to Nick when I was buckled in.

"I wish you would let me drive. You're scary!" I accused.

Nick laughed at me. "And you, oh perfect one, are so
much better?"

"I am!" I replied indignantly. "I only drive 85
instead of 90."

Nick grinned. "Oh, I am so sorry. You're right, that is
SO much better than me!"

"Thank you. At least you admit that you're wrong."
I told him in a fake snotty tone.

I couldn't keep that though and started cracking up.

"Is something wrong?" Nick asked innocently.

"Oh shut up and drive Carter." I told him.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" He saluted me and took off. I acted
terrified and gripped the door handle tightly.

"Nick, you're driving too fast!" I whined.

"Uh huh, and this is coming from Miss 'Get the Hell
outta my
way before I run you over'?" Nick asked
raising an eyebrow. I grinned.

"Yep. You know I'm just kidding though."

"Yeah." Nick nodded and we fell silent. I leaned
forward and turned on the radio.

I began flipping through stations until I found extremely
familiar guitar strains. I squealed and turned the radio up.

"I love this song!" I yelled over the music.

"Yeah, I know!" Nick grinned at me.

"It's Prince." I nodded happilyand looked at him
expectantly as Prince began singing. Nick took his
cue and began.

"U walked in, I woke up, I never seen a pretty
girllook so
tough." He finished the line and I continued with him
on the chorus.

"U got the look, U got the hook, U sho'nuff do be
cookin' in my book. Urface is jammin', Ur body's
heck-a-slammin'. If love is good let's getto rammin'
baby.
U got the look."

We sang the whole song like that, with me taking
Sheena Easton's parts and Nick doing Prince's.
When it was over I laughed and turned down the
radio a little.

Nick looked at me speculatively. "You'd get along
with Kevin I think."

"Kevin...which one is that? I so don't
remember!! Is he the shorter blondish one?" I asked.

"No, that's his cousin Brian, my other best friend."
Nick informed me.

"My replacement?" I joked. He gave me a 'look'.

"I could never replace you." he said softly.

I looked down and then back up at him and
smiled a little.

"I know Nick, I was kidding. Now which one is Kevin?"

"Kevin's the tall dark haired one." Nick told
me. I laughed.

"That helps so much Nick. I am way
short so they're all taller than me and you
and Brian are the only fair haired ones
in the group!"

"Okay, he's the one that's close to
my height." I thought, drawing a mental picture,
then nodded.

"Okay, I think I got it. Why would I get along
with him?"

Nick shrugged. "Fellow Prince fan."

"He listens to him?" I asked, delighted.

I was always thrilled to find someone I could
talk about his music to since I drove most
of my friends nuts.

"Yeah, I'll have to introduce you
sometime." Nick said as he pulled into his driveway.

"That'd be cool Nick!" I exclaimed.

I turned around to say something to Angel
and Aaron and smiled when I saw them.

"Look." I whispered. Nick glanced at the back seat
and chuckled.

"I guess we'll have to carry them in. You take Angel and
I'll take Aaron, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay." We each took one of the twins
and took them in the house. Then we grabbed
my luggage and
Nick showed me where I was staying.

I dropped my stuff off and we went to catch up.
We sat and talked forever in the living room quietly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I awoke the next morning to Nick talking on the phone.
I groaned and shut my eyes, listening to him.

"No Brian! Just because! That's why! I know I am.
I have a right to. No, could you give me a day or
something?
You wouldn't! BRIAN!!" Nick was whining by this
time.

I wondered what they were arguing about. "No, don't
put
AJ on....hi AJ." Nick sighed. "Yes I know, but I
don't want to. Not today. Okay, if I do that then will
you
guys leave me alone? I swear. Okay, you win, we'll
see you in
a little while. Yes I'll call you. I don't even
think she's up yet. Yeah, bye."

"She is awake and very curious about what you were
talking about." I told him when he hung up the phone.

"We're meeting the guys for lunch at McDonald's
sometime today." Nick informed me.

"Oh good. I wanna meet them. When?" I asked.

I noted that Nick looked less than thrilled and
wondered about that, but pushed it out of my mind for
the moment.

"I dunno." he shrugged. "I'm supposed to call
them when we're ready to go."

"Okay, well I'm gonna go get dressed and stuff,
alright?" I said.

"Sure. Just tell me when you're ready, k?"

"Sure thing!" I called over my shoulder, going off to
my room. I wondered what was up with Nick as
I was slipping on my jean shorts and red tank top.

He was acting weird. Why didn't he want me to meet
his friends? I thought that he had wanted me to meet
Kevin and the rest of them. What were their names?
I thought. Oh yeah;
AJ, Brian,and Howie. I had seen pictures of them
of course,
but I had never met them and I hadn't paid attention to
teen
type mags for a long time.

I had all of their albums and singles of course,
but I had only
paid attention to the music. Now I was wishing that
I'd paid
more attention to the liner notes. Well, theirs anyway,
I had read all of Nick's.

I ran a brush through my hair and slid on some light
lip gloss.
Inspecting my appearance I decided that I was
presentable
and grabbing my purse I bounded out into the
living room again.

"I'm ready." I announced.

Nick stared at me blankly for a moment. Then he
smiled. "Okay, let me call them then we can go." I waited
patiently as he called and talked to one of his friends.

The second he hung up though I was as impatient as
ever.

"Come ON! Let's go already!"

"Yes oh impatient one." Nick chuckled and offered me
his arm
which I took grandly. "Your chariot awaits m'dear."
I giggled.

"Then let's get a move on Nicky dear." He shook his
head and we went out to the car.

He peeled out of the driveway and gave me a look that
just dared me to make a comment.

I just grinned and shook my head telling him that I
wasn't going to. I didn't feel like it right then.

I sat back and enjoyed the wind in my face, wondering
if I would like his friends or not. I hoped so.

A few minutes later we pulled into a McDonald's and I
followed him inside. We were met loudly by a table of
four guys who I immediately recognized.

Nick pulled me over to the table and began introducing
me to them. "Heather, this is AJ, Brian, Kevin
and Howie." Nick introduced. "Guys, this is Heather."

"Ah, so this is the Heather Nick talks about all the time."
AJ commented, smiling at me. I smiled back at him.
He was hot!

Actually they all were, but that was sort of beside
the point.

"It's nice to meet you." I said some what shyly. "Well,
all of you actually."

"Same here." Kevin replied with a smile.

"We need to talk later." Brian told me with a

THE END!!!

By: Heather