“Ohhhh,” I whined. I got up and sauntered to the door. When I reached it, I opened it and a man flew towards me and wrapped his arms around me. “What the hell? Get off me!” I screamed as I pushed him away.
“I missed you to, Lins.”
“Oh my god AJ!” I screamed and threw my arms around him.
“How are ya?”
“Exhausted! I’ve been practicing my flute for 3 hours!”
“Now you know how we feel!”
“Yeah, I’d hate to be you,” I joked. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, we have a show at the Firststar Center later. It’s nice to know you keep up with what we’re doing!”
“I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy lately. I haven’t turned on a TV or radio for about 3 weeks. I’ve been really busy packing and things like that.”
“Really? When do you go back to Orlando?”
“I leave in 4 days.”
“That’s great! Our tour ends in...about..2 weeks, I think.”
“Cool. So how is everyone?”
He rolled hie eyes, “You mean Nick.”
“No! Well, yeah, but everyone else too.”
“Ok. Well, Nick’s gettin back to his usual self finally, Mary left to go back to Orlando about a week after you did, Aaron and Nikki are the same-still obnoxious-, and Brian’s fine, and Kevin and Howie FINALLY have girlfriends!!”
“What do you mean Nick’s getting back to his usual self?”
“Well, he was a mess for like 8 months after you left and now he’s finally turning back into the Nick we all knew before. He jokes around with Brian more now. I think seeing you again is gonna mess him up though. Anyway, wanna go see everyone?”
“Of course!”
We talked to whole way to the hotel. “So, now that Kevin and Howie have girlfriends, what about you?”
“What about me?” he asked. “Well....do you have a girlfriend?”
“Nope.”
“Why not!”
“It’s not like I can help it!! I just haven’t found anyone yet. It’s not like I have a whole lot of time anyway.”
“Is this it?” I asked as he pulled into a parking lot.”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t wait to see everyone!”
“Come on.” AJ put the key in the hotel room door and opened it. Kevin, Howie, Nikki, Aaron, and Brian were on the floor, beds and chairs all over the room watching Two Guys and A Girl. They were all laughing when I walked in. Aaron was the first to notice us.
“Lindsey!” he ran over to me.
“Hey! Wow! You grew a lot.”
“I know.”
“Hey Lindsey.” Nikki came over to AJ, Aaron, and me.
“Hey Nik! I can’t believe your parents let you stay on tour with them for a whole year!”
“Well there was a 3 month break in the middle when I went back to Minnesota.”
“Ohhh kay.”
“Hey guys,” I said as I hugged Kevin, Howie, and Brian. I looked around the room and noticed a missing person, “Where’s Nick?”
“Sleeping in his room,” Brian told me.
“Oh...I guess I’ll just say hi later or somethin’.”
“You comin to the show?” Aaron said excitedly.
“I guess...I hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Please come!” he begged.
“Yeah, PLEASE COME,” AJ mocked him.
“Kay, I’ll come.”
“Yay!” Aaron said.
“How old are you?” I joked. “Like 6 now?” “Shut up! I’ll be 14 in 2 months!”
“Wow!”
“Yeah, you left RIGHT BEFORE my 13th birthday.”
“I know, I’m sorry. So Nikki, you’re like 16 now?”
“Yep. I can even drive now!”
“Ohhh god, which one of them taught you? It wasn’t...AJ...was it?” I asked worriedly.
“Thanks a lot Lins!” AJ said defensively.
“No...it was Nick.”
“Yeah, he needed somethin to fill his time.”
I joined Brian and Howie on the couch. “When do you have to leave for the concert?”
“Actually, we should get going,” Kevin said.
“I better wake up Nick, I’ll meet ya’ll on the> bus.”
“Ok.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Nick walked on the bus, I didn’t look at him. Instead, I started an irrelevant conversation with Nikki. “So, how are you doing with your tutor?”
“Good, I guess,” she said, confused at why I was asking her such a weird question.
“Good.” I got really uncomfortable because I could feel Nick’s eyes on me.
“You ok?” AJ asked as he watched me shift positions in my seat a few times.
“Yeah.”
He leaned over and whispered, “No you aren’t. Talk to him.”
“No,” I stated loud and firmly.
“Chick-en!” He whispered again.
“Am not!”
“Just do it!”
“FINE! I see you got your nice blonde hair back,” I stuck my tongue out at AJ and he rolled his eyes.
Nick looked at me like I was crazy for talking to him. He shook it off and replied, “Yeah, it came back completely about 2 months after..” he got quieter, “you left.”
“Oh.”
“But, uh...thanks for the video game. I love it, even though I can’t play it because it’s worth so much.”
“You're welcome.”
“Here we are,” Howie said. “Lets get off.”
All of us stepped off the bus and we made our way to the entrance. As soon as we walked in the door, short girl with long blond hair screeched, “There you are Nick!” She quickly walked over to him and threw her arms around his neck.