Back home, Nick's family, the Boys and their friends were full of worry. Crystal was hysterical by now. It had been 4 days since Nick was kidnapped. 'If only she had told him. . . but it's too late now.'
Brian pleaded the case to the police, but they were a useless lot. The guys became impatient, not understanding why anyone would do anything to their Nicky. Jane was especially troubled. "Could you describe again what happened that night, Crystal?"
Crystal was exhausted and upset, but she repeated her story. "Well, he was strolling down the road. He seemed, I don't know, lost in thought. Pretty sullen."
"Sullen?" Jane and the guys gave her questioning looks.
"I didn't know Nick was preoccupied. I never would have thought that he was sad since . . . I don't know. He always seemed fine to me." Brian's face filled with even more worry for having been so ignorant.
"But Nick's never depressed," AJ countered, not believing what he was hearing.
"Yeah, he was always the one joking and making faces and laughing things off," Howie agreed.
"He always had the most catchy smile," Kevin joined in.
"But who were the ones that abducted him? What did they look like?" Jane demanded, visions of her son kept on filling her mind. She hadn't slept for even a minute within the past few days.
Crystal closed her eyes, painfully remembering it all. "It was so dark, and they were all dressed in black. There were 4 or 5 of them. They held something to his nose and mouth and he became limp." The tears streamed down her face. AJ walked over to console her.
"We must find him," Brian said, determined. "We can't depend on the police."
Howie began to cry as well. "There there," Kevin patted him on the back. AJ only stared blankly. He didn't want to burst out in front of them. They needed the strength to find Nick back. Tomorrow, they would hire the best detectives. They will bring Nicky back alive. And, the boys all thought, "They will get to the bottom of Nick's depression."
Crystal could see the love in their eyes. 'We all love you Nick,' she thought. 'Please be alive. I take back all those things I said. I didn't mean all those things I said. I said it out of anger, of hurt.' She winced at the memory.
Flashback
In the dance studio, one night, Nick was dancing with a brunette. Crystal didn't recognize her. The brunette was pretty and had short hair. Crystal saw them from outside the dance studio. The brunette laughed at him flirtatiously and he smiled back warmly. Suddenly, Crystal felt her jealousy surface. But she had no right to butt in. She didn't have a relationship with Nick. Still, when she saw the girl slide her hand lustfully across Nick's back, Crystal gave into her rage and stormed into the dance studio, catching Nick and the girl by surprise. The brunette was really annoyed.
"Nick," Crystal stated emphatically, her eyes cold and murderous.
"Nick, who is this?" the brunette pouted.
Nick ignored the brunette's questions. "Crystal, what's going on?" Nick's eyes showed no anger, just surprise and maybe concern, but Crystal was too consumed by rage and jealousy.
"I should be asking you that question!" Crystal cried out. "Your mother told me to go find you and ask you why you weren't home for dinner. You promised. But now I see that your head is so messed up with Brunette here that you would rather break your promises to your family than keep a pretty, but brainless girl waiting."
"Crystal, I . . . " Nick tried to explain, but Crystal cut him off.
"You're stupid and a liar," she finished his sentence for him. "And a prick. Why don't you go to hell because that's the only place that will accept you."
Now those words got Nick angry. "Back off Crystal." He felt exhausted from all the explaining he had to do. "I can do what I want, and it's none of your business. How dare you come in here and start hollering like crazy!"
"Hell no, it's none of my business. In fact, you're such a sick loser that I don't even know why I bother to stand here pathetically, condescending to speak with such trash. You know, you're not even half the guy the other boys are. These girls only want you in bed. They don't give a damn about anything else you can offer. . . Don't you understand that you idiot?" Nick stood stunned by her acrid words, his legs weak from a pain he felt deep within him, a pain that resurfaced after he had tried to ignore it. She had described to him with such frankness the feelings that he had buried deep within. Crystal turned around and stormed out the studio.
'There, she had told him off. Now she could just go on and forget about him. There were a ton of guys who would die for a chance to go out with her. She didn't need to wait until Nick came to his senses.'
Three weeks later, they met once again at Brian's party. They started talking again, but it was a bitter exchange. However, she didn't feel bad about saying all those things to him because he had given her more pain than she had given him. After that meeting, whenever the group met during a party or event, Nick would act as if nothing had happened. He was cool on the outside, smiling and laughing at the other's jokes as he always did. But she also saw emptiness in his soul. She saw it in his eyes, and he always kept it in. Still she couldn't forgive him for what she saw in the dance studio.
As time passed, she grew closer to the other guys, especially to AJ who she knew loved her dearly. She sometimes acted overly excited around AJ when Nick was around. Nick would stare, but remain cool about it.
She did notice that Nick dated occasionally from then on. Most of his dates were still one-nighters, but he never showed much enthusiasm whenever he announced to the guys that he would go on a date. He still cracked jokes around the guys. She thought that he still kept that spiteful attitude towards her so she continued to argue with him.
Soon, all the guys had girlfriends, all except Nick. And in a way, she thought he deserved it.
End flashback
Crystal didn't know why she was now overreacting to Nick's disappearance. 'Go to hell,' the words echoed in her mind. 'No,' she cried. She didn't mean it that way. She blurted those words out of spite, jealousy. She wanted to take back the words, but it was too late. She feared that she would never have the chance to tell him.