Nick paid for the taxi and they made their way up the snow-covered sidewalk up to Brock Hall. After a few stares from her Hallmates they finally made it to her room. She scurried around the room picking up after their mess. Usually they were really clean but the hectic schedules they both had didn’t include clean up time.
“Have a seat.” Kaycie pointed to her bed. She thought that maybe he’d get the wrong idea but there was no other place that wasn’t cluttered with books and paper. He watched her as she gathered all their stuff for tonight. As she went through Ashley’s clothes she looked up into the mirror and saw Nick staring at her. She smiled into the mirror.
“Sorry, you can turn on some music of you’d like or you can log on to the internet and find some smut written about you guys.” She thought that he would turn on the music, but he didn’t. He moved around the papers off her desk chair and signed on.
“Kaycie, what’s your password?” He turned over to Kaycie as she was putting her clothes into a duffel bag.
“It’s Frack” She said with a laugh.
Nick just sat there staring at her. His heart sank. “She must be obsessed if she knows that.” He thought to himself.
“Are you kidding me?” He managed to muster out.
“Dude, get a grip. I heard Brian call you that on the bus. I thought it would be funny.” He was relieved that he didn’t have a freak on his hands. He wanted someone to like him for him, and not the fact that his job gave him enough money to buy a Prowler and a Viper. She walked over to him and typed in her password. Lucky for him he saw it and remembered it: Diamonds. He chuckled to himself. “Well, they are a girls best friend.”
He signed on and Kaycie heard the ring of the IM’s. It didn’t really click until Nick started laughing.
“Who are you talking to?” Kaycie asked, she knew that if one of her friends IMed him they’d reveal information about her that she didn’t want him to know.
“You’re friend Justin. I heard about that time you got a little tipsy and started talking to the floor.” Kaycie groaned. This is just what she was afraid of.
“OK, say bye to Ju-Ju now.” And with one click the conversation was ended. They stared at each other for a while, but soon realized that they had to get back to the hotel or else Ashley might get pissed that her change of clothes weren’t there yet.
As they got back to the hotel they saw a few fans camped out still so they decided that it would be best to go around back. As they stepped into the elevator they saw a younger girl recognize him. She started to run so Nick quickly pressed the Close button. It took them only a minute to reach their floor. Nick got out the card to his room and unlocked the door. Kaycie threw the bag down on the floor and rubbed her eyes. She was getting tired, she was up at 6 in the morning getting ready for her exam in psychology.
“I should call Ashley and tell her that her clothes are here. I know she must be uncomfortable in her coke stained shirt.” She laughed at the memory of AJ spitting his soda out all over.
“OK, the room number is 215.” Kaycie walked over to the phone and punched in the numbers.
“Hey Ash, your clothes are here…No. I brought the Dave shirt…No, the one with the airplane on it. DUDE! YOU ARE GOING TO BE SLEEPING! NOT LOOKING AT IT ALL NIGHT!” Nick laughed at the fighting friends. They seemed to be really cool. He was glad that Brian had forced him to go track Ashley down. He continued to listen in on the conversation.
“…NO! I DIDN’T BRING YOUR BLUE FLANNEL’S TO MATCH THE SHIRT! SORRY! I FORGOT IT’S SUCH A SIN TO SLEEP IN NON-COORDINATED CLOTHES! YOU’RE GOING TO FASHION HELL ALL BECAUSE OF ME!!” Nick laughed even louder, over the time that he has known them, they seemed like hilarious people. They are the type of people, if given the chance, that he would hang out with every day. He’s sick of people that stress him out, Tour managers, managers, Record execs…they all don’t know what it is like to be “Nick Carter”. They treat him as property. His life is based around the will of the “Head Honcho’s” at Jive. He hoped that the teen market would cool down enough so he could have successful career and time off, but he knew that it was a catch-22 and you could not have both. It was either or.
He watched Kaycie as she grabbed Ashley’s clothes from her bag. She put her hair up and sat next to Nick. She leaned over him and turned on the radio. Soon “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye’s voiced filled the hotel room. After the initial awkwardness they both just looked at each other and laughed. Kaycie looked at the clock and realized it was 1:00 in the morning.
“I better just run these over to Ash. She’s getting pissed, I know it. Are you sure that you want us to stay with you guys? Me and Ash can just run down and rent a room for ourselves.” Nick shook his head no.
“You’re staying with me. And Ashley is staying with Brian or AJ, whichever one she wants.” Kaycie was shocked Nick picked up on that.
“How did you figure that one out?”
“Well, besides the fact that I am the Love God, I just could tell by the way she was looking at Bone that she wanted him.” Kaycie was impressed.
“Wow, you’re good. Not many people can read through Ashley.” Ashley constantly had a guard up around her. She never let people know what she was really feeling. Not even Kaycie. Kaycie just knew because they were so alike. Like they always said “Great minds think alike”.
“You should really get that stuff over to Ashley so A) she doesn’t have a conniption and B) You can get back here faster.” Kaycie was elated. She felt herself slowly falling for Nick. She surprised herself, she usually wants to get to know a person before liking them. She’s never met someone and clicked right away. She hoped that this wasn’t a fluke.
“Yea, I should. I’ll be right back.” Kaycie floated out the door. She was so happy that she didn’t even notice Ashley stomping down the corridor.
“Thanks for my clothes, BITCH!” Ashley was never good when she was tired. Kaycie just laughed and handed Ash her clothes.
“Hope AJ doesn’t mind that you don’t match.” K mumbled.
“What?? I like Brian remember.” Ashley was so confused and she didn’t want Kaycie to think that she was falling for AJ and not Brian. But it was too late. While Brian was sleeping, she started talking to AJ. They had clicked right away. Ashley loved guys who made her laugh. This was AJ. They spent most of the night talking about embarassing moments. This included the time that Ashley and Kaycie were in the car and were singing at the top of there lungs when a group of people pulled up next to them. As Kaycie turned down the radio the guys begged them not to stop singing. AJ had the same feelings towards Kaycie. He was along most of the time on the road and when he wasn’t alone it was with friends; nothing romantic. He hoped that this would change with Ashley.
“Ashley, do you think I’m fucking stupid. We are too much alike not to know what each other is thinking. I know that you like AJ, just admit it.” Kaycie begged Ashley for the truth. Even though Ashley knew Kaycie knew it, there was something about being truthful that she just couldn’t admit it.
“I don’t.” Ashley then turned back around and walked back into AJ’s room.
“Then why didn’t you go into Brian’s room?” Kaycie mumbled after her.