"What the hell?!" Natalie mumbled to herself as she stumbled out into the hallway onto a basketball positioned just outside her door. She sleepily picked it up and deposited it onto the couch before yawning and making herself a coffee. Peering out of the kitchen window she noticed the sun just starting to make its appearance over the horizon, smiling as she realised it was going to be a beautiful day.
Nick was snoring loudly, fast asleep, as she briefly glanced into his bedroom and saw him tangled up in his sheets totally oblivious to the outside world. Natalie hesitated before tip-toeing to her room, the vision of Nick still etched in her mind. She grabbed her clothes and headed for the shower trying her best to make as little noise as possible.
Living with two brothers, Natalie thought she had had every known experience with messy bathrooms. Nick however was a whole other story. Natalie sighed before dumping Nick's clothes into the laundry hamper, catching a quick smell of Gravity as she did so. She'd discovered very quickly that Nick had a habit of leaving the clothes he'd changed out of on the floor. And not wanting to totally saturate them with water when she got out of the shower, Natalie had found herself having to dump Nick's clothes into the hamper every single time she had to use the bathroom after him.
Quickly stepping into the shower, Natalie smiled to herself, almost letting out a surpressed giggle as she realised how many fourteen year olds around the world would've loved to have been in her position at that moment.
She hadn't wanted to admit it, but she had been keeping a curious watch over AJ's rise to success. Along the way, she'd always been interested in Nick the most, and couldn't believe it when she'd found out her new room mate would be her favourite Backstreet Boy himself.
Casting her memory back over the past few days, it had been an eventful experience. She'd almost choked to death after being utterly shocked to see Nick walk out to have breakfast in his boxers. Along with the constant run-ins with athletic equipment in the hallway, clothing everywhere, and video games all over the living room floor. After having tripped over a variety of obstacles from shoes to a baseball bat Nick had discarded in the hallway, Natalie had now been careful to survey the floor before setting foot anywhere.
Quickly getting dressed, Natalie strapped her watch on noticing she was already late and still had to grab a bus to her first class. She missed driving, but she hadn't had time to look for a new car and she still felt weird asking even AJ for a ride to college, let alone Nick. Natalie sighed and grabbed her backpack off the counter.
"Hurry up Nat..whoa!" She yelped after barely managing to maintain her balance after the third collision with one of Nick's belongings for that week.
***************
"Exactly what is that?" Brian asked as he spotted Nick eating an abnormally thick sandwich, while he entered the meeting room at Jive Records. He peered at it closely before Nick took another huge bite, almost making Brian ill. "You're seriously disturbed Nick. I can't believe you're eating that."
"It's a delicacy. It's salami, ham, cheese, pickles, egg, mayo and mustard. BJ and I used to make them all the time."
"I'm surprised you both didn't mutate or something" Brian commented with a laugh.
"It's nice, trust me. BJ called this morning and she was making one so I had to as well."
"You miss her don't you?" Brian smiled. Nick nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "Don't worry Frack, you'll see them soon enough."
"Yeah it's not as if I'm not used to it, but I talked to mom this morning as well and they all sounded so happy. All I woke up to was an empty house."
"Empty? What happened to Nat?"
"Who knows? She was in and out pretty fast. Maybe it's cause I made her choke" Nick replied matter-of-factly.
"Excuse me?" Brian coughed, after having taken a huge gulp of his coke. "You choked her?"
"No, I just walked into the kitchen one morning and she almost choked on her cereal" Nick answered seriously.
"God I knew you were horrible in the morning, but not that bad" Brian laughed.
"I thought so too, but hey, maybe me in my boxers weren't exactly appealing first thing in the morning" Nick shrugged.
"You walked out half dressed?" Brian said.
"Yeah, why?"
"You don't think that had anything to do with it?" Brian asked, trying not to laugh at Nick who was looking totally clueless.
"No, why would it?" Nick said quizzically.
"Sometimes Nick I do wonder about you."
***************
"You're an absolute legend" Natalie heard Nick say to himself as she let herself in. She burst out laughing, bringing Nick out of his concentration. He looked at her with reddened cheeks and sheepishly smiled up at her. "Are you now?"
"God how embarrassing is that" Nick laughed, noticing the amused expression Natalie was giving him.
"Don't worry Nick, I won't tell anyone you secretly inflate your ego when left alone" Natalie continued to giggle as she put her books down on the cluttered dining table. She took a seat next to Nick on the floor. "What are you playing anyway?"
"Car racing game" Nick smiled, before turning to the TV to pick a vehicle.
"Well are you gonna totally hog this thing" Natalie teased as she gestured towards the Nintendo hooked up.
Nick threw the other controller at her. "You really wanna risk going against me?" Nick said, as he tried to bite back a laugh threatening to spill out.
"Risk it?! I am gonna kick your butt!" Natalie exclaimed before carefully picking a car, noticing Nick give her an amused glance before her turned to the TV again. "Ready?"
"Uh-huh" Nick nodded. "You're about to be creamed Nat. Prepare for the humiliation looming."
"Alright Big Mouth, let's just play now" Natalie responded before settling herself in for the game. She noticed Nick totally devoting all his attention to the game and nearly laughed at the determined expression on his face. Natalie rounded a corner and shrieked. "I win! I win!"
Nick looked utterly shocked. "No way Nat. Beginner's luck."
"Beginner's luck my foot! I beat you badly" she smiled.
"Rematch?" Nick suggested hopefully.
"And risk my title? No way Mr I'm-a-legend" Natalie retorted, before both looked at each other and burst into laughter.
**************
Nick and Brian were sitting together talking over a breakfast they had made using up practically every pot and pan in the kitchen. Nick poked at the eggs Brian had tried to scramble and made a face.
"Bri, what is this?"
"Scrambled eggs" Brian said defensively. He in turn moved around the French toast Nick had tried to copy from a recipe and gave Nick a curious expression. "And these flattened masses of goo would be what exactly?"
"Fine, I admit our talents may lie somewhere else but you gotta admit that what I cooked looks more edible than yours" Nick replied, flailing his fork around.
"Over my dead body!" Brian exclaimed.
"There may well be a dead body if I try to digest this" Nick snickered.
"You think Natalie will want it?" Brian wondered, his eyes lighting up. He didn't particularly want to get stuck eating what he and Nick had made.
"I don't think she'd touch it with a ten foot pole" Nick teased with a smile.
"How do you know?"
"I know. I live with her, you don't" Nick pointed out.
"Well here she comes now just..." Brian began to say but was interrupted by Natalie's shocked outburst.
"Holy shit what did you guys do?" Natalie stood at the entrance to the kitchen acknowledging the utter chaos in the sink, the benchtop and the stove. She cast her glance over to Nick and Brian who were smiling proudly.
"We cooked breakfast. Want some?" Nick offered, pushing his plate towards Natalie.
She took a tentative look at the plate and almost turned green. "What would that be if you don't mind me asking?"
"Scrambled eggs a la Brian and French toast a la me" Nick smiled.
"You turned the kitchen into this after making that " Natalie said in shock.
"Yeah, why?" Nick said innocently.
"Never mind. I'm still trying to figure out when you needed to use a muffin tray in all of this" Natalie said in confusion, as she noticed the tray sitting in the sink.
"Is that what it is! We thought it was an egg poacher" Brian said in amazement.
"I uh can see that happening" Natalie said with a bewildered look on her face.
"So do you want some?" Brian pressed further as he hopefully pushed the plate towards Natalie.
"Uhh" Natalie stammered as she made her way out of the kitchen. "To be honest guys, I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole."
"What'd I tell ya!" Nick grinned knowingly as Brian looked at him in surprise that he knew Natalie so well already.
Chapter Five
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