Written by : Nikki .
Jacquie and Nikki ended up staying with Liss, Fayth and Alexis. Jacquie crashed on the couch and Fayth bunked with Lissa so Nikki could have her bed.
Nikki lay there, unable to fall asleep. She was lost in thought, staring out at the moon. And those thoughts centered around Kevin Richardson. After their little blow-up and his apology, he'd let her glimpse a bit of the man inside. Earnest, considerate, attentive and gentle. The things that most women look for in a man but never find. They'd shared so many things that night, in the little time they spent together. They talked about her job, her friends, how she'd met Jacquie and the other girls.....everything she liked and even the things she didn't particularly care for. Then they talked about him. His career, his travels with the group. They discussed each of the boys separately, which led to Kevin telling her all about his and Brian's family. It had been a long time since a man had made such an impression so fast. The more she thought about it the more she was looking forward to the next day.
Kevin tossed and turned. Unable to rest, he rolled out of bed and padded over to the open windows. As he watched the moonlight play across the smooth water, he replayed the nights events in his mind. Nicole Christianson was an enigma to him. She was temperamental, clever, intelligent and opinionated, the list went on and on. Selflessly, she had given him her full attention but had also made herself fully available to her friends and the other guys. And she had more than proven herself to be loyal and trustworthy. They were almost total opposites...mybe that's why he found her so intriguing, so hard to stop thinking of. She was entirely different than....he wouldn't even say her name. Kevin found himself watching the horizon, wishing the sun would rise and a new day would begin.
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The next morning found Nikki watching her friends run around like mad women getting ready to visit the boys. They had reversed the order of the day before, Lissa, Fayth and Alexis decided everyone should get ready at Jacquie's apartment. Nikki made sure she got her shower first, that way she got to watch her friends act like total maniacs. She was brimming with excitement herself but she refused to let the other girls see it. Sitting on the couch, flipping through the tv stations, she complained, "Come on guys, you're taking forever...they're not that special."
Fayth and Alexis' heads appeared around the hallway wall.
Fayth looked at Alexis, "She didn't just say that..... Did she?"
Alexis stared at Nikki, "I don't know, I must have heard her wrong."
Nikki grinned and chimed in with, "Better clean those ears, Red."
Fayth started laughing, "Ha Ha....Red."
"You too, Brat."
Fayth's smile disappeared as she stuck her tongue out at Nikki. Alexis pulled the younger girl back toward the bathroom and Nikki could hear Fayth mimicking her, "You too, Brat."
After 45 minutes of "What should I wears", Nikki finally got her friends into the car and on the road. They pulled into the driveway to find Nick and Brian playing a little game of one on one. When they saw the girls both boys came running over to the car.
Brian opened the door for Jacquie as Nick said, "Took you long enough to get here."
"We would have been here sooner but "they" took forever to get ready," Nikki remarked. "I told them you weren't anything special."
Brian grabbed his chest in mock horror, "Tricks! You wound me."
Nikki walked up to Brian and started tickling him, "I do?"
"Stop," he laughed.
Always one to help his friend out, Nick snuck up behind Nikki and started tickling her.
"Ackkk," she screamed. Unable to stand because she was laughing so hard, Nikki fell to the ground, taking Nick with her. Brian jumped in and started tickling Nikki all over again. Between gasps, Nikki yelled at her friends, "Help......me.......you......guys!"
Fayth proceeded to jump on Brian's back, covering his eyes. Lissa and Jaqs were trying to tug Nick away and Lexie was just standing back listening to the riot before her. That's how Howie found them when he opened up the door.
"What's going on out here?" he asked laughing.
The unexpected query surprised everyone. Nick let go of Nikki, which caused him, Lissa, and Jacquie to fall to the ground in a heap. Brian pulled Fayth's hands away so he could see who was talking and Nikki stared from her spot on the front lawn.
"They're torturing me, Howie," Nikki grinned.
"Us?" Nick exclaimed, "She started it."
Brian nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah."
Nikki batted her eyes at Howie, "Would I do that, Howie?"
Howie winked and said, "Never in a million years."
Nikki turned at stuck her tongue out at Nick and Brian.
"Who's coming inside?" Howie asked the group.
"Me!" Alexis said, still laughing at her friends.
"Me too," Jacquie added.
Fayth, who was still on Rok's back, asked, "How bout a game of two on two, Nick?"
"Me and Brian against you and who, Fayth?"
"On no, Nickers.....me and Rok versus you and Lissa."
Lissa looked at Fayth shocked, "Me? You know I can't play basketball."
Brian looked over his shoulder at Fayth and they both grinned. Fayth looked back to her friend, "That's why you're on Nick's team."
Brian glanced over at Howie, "We'll be in shortly D, this shouldn't take too long."
Howie and the three girls entered the house to the sound of Nick's complaints on the selection of partners.
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The house was absolutely beautiful. From the outside it looked very modern, but the inside reminded Nikki of a cabin in the mountains. There was wood everywhere and it made the interior warm and inviting. A.J. had taken Alexis and Jacquie on a tour of the recording studio downstairs, leaving Howie and Nikki alone. Nikki ran her hand over a delicately carved rocking chair, "Who's idea was it to use all the wood, Howie?"
"Kevin's"
Nikki smiled, "It would be Kevin," she thought. He would admire something that was so much like himself. Strong and tall, something that seemed unbreakable, but with care, it would bend. And beautiful to the eyes that could see what lay hidden inside.
"Where is Kevin?"
Howie pointed to a set of patio doors, "Outside, I think."
Nikki walked over to the doors and searched the patio outside. She didn't see Kevin there, so she probed the beach. That's where she saw him. He looked as he had the first time she saw him, cheerless, staring out at the ocean.
"Hey Nikki?"
Glancing behind her, Nikki said, "Yeah?"
"I'm going to go find A.J. and the girls. You going to be all right?"
Nikki turned back to the man waiting outside, "Sure Howie...I'll be fine."
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"Penny for your thoughts."
Kevin turned to find Nikki standing behind him. She was holding her sandals in her hand and shielding her eyes from the sun. Just seeing her, knowing she was there, lightened his mood.
"You're here," he whispered.
He watched her take a seat in the sand next to him, so close their shoulders were touching.
"What's wrong....you look so pensive," Nikki asked, looking intently at Kevin's face. When he didn't answer after a moment, Nikki quickly dropped her head and muttered, "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that...it's none of my business."
Kevin looked at Nikki, how her head was bowed, how the wind blew small strands of her auburn hair across her face. Instinctually, he knew he could tell her anything and she'd do her best to understand. Reaching out he brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes and said, "I want to tell you."
Nikki lifted her head in surprise. "You do?" she murmured.
"You remember those "personal problems" I mentioned last night?"
Nikki nodded.
"They have to do with a girl."
Nikki's heart skipped a beat, she should have known a man like Kevin would be involved with someone. "Oh?" She said, her voice faltering.
Kevin heard the slight tremor and eyed Nikki, "Ex-girlfriend."
Nikki knew he had made it a point to state that for her and she blushed. Not wanting him to know how much that affected her, she continued, "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Kevin sighed, running his hands through the sand. "We had so much in common, Leslie and I. Almost like we were the same person...but little things about her started to change, to bother me."
"Like what?"
"Like how she didn't care for hanging out with the guys...or listening to us perform."
"How could she NOT get along with the guys?," Nikki asked incredulously.
"A.J. didn't care for her from the start, but he was always polite for my sake. Howie is shy around everyone.."
"Not around me, he isn't," Nikki commented. "Go on," she told Kev.
"She pretty much ignored Brian and she thought Nick was too immature."
Kevin watched an odd look appear on Nikki's face as she asked, "And you dated her, why?"
"She was....well....I can't explain it, " he stammered.
"Please don't tell em she was the blonde, model type."
Kevin wouldn't answer, sure that if he did, he'd get a lecture.
Nikki noticed his avoidance of the question, but she wouldn't let him out of it, "She was, wasn't she?"
"Yes," muttered Kevin.
"Uggggh......Kevin," Nikki groaned, light-heartedly poking Kevin in the arm. Becoming serious once more, she asked, "So what happened?"
"She started getting jealous of our fans."
"She was jealous over a bunch of twelve year olds?"
Kevin rolled his eyes, "Who knows....we were out to dinner one night and a couple of young girls approached us and asked for my autograph. Well leslie flips out on them..she had one of the girls in tears. She was making such a scene in the restaurant that I pulled her outside. She started screaming at me about my lack of attention and how my fans meant more to me than she did. I started in on her about how she never come to see us perform and about how she treated my friends and my family...and then I told her she needed to calm down. When I did that, she slapped me, called me a few choice names, hopped in a cab, and I haven't seen her since. Little did I know that one of those vultures from "The Inquirer" was outside, pen and paper in hand. Next thing I knew, I was having an affair with some young fan and leaving my devoted girlfriend heart-broken."
When Nikki didn't respond, Kevin peeked at her. She sat staring at him with her mouth hanging open.
"What?" he asked.
Shaking her head, Nikki replied, " You're so calm about it. Knowing me, I would have found that so-called writer and torn him a new.....nevermind."
Kevin chuckled at her vehemence, she was like a big, protective bear. "Too bad you weren't around then...I might have let you take a crack at him."
"Oh, I definitely would have "cracked" him," Nikki grumbled.
That made Kevin laugh out loud. He leaned over and nudged Nikki with his shoulder, "Enough about me. What about you? Do you have a boyfriend waiting for you in Baltimore?"
Before Nikki could answer, the rest of the gang came piling out the patio doors and onto the beach. A.J. ran by with Jacquie slung over his shoulder. Nikki could hear Jaqs yelling at him, "A.J., put me down! Don't you even think about dunk......"
Even before she finished the sentence, A.J. tossed Jaqs right into the ocean. When she didn't immediately reappear, Nikki knew she was up to no good. Next thing Nikki knew, A.J. was on his butt underwater, with Jacquie standing above him in triumph. Brian and Fayth came buzzing by, Brain doing a little leap frog over his cousins head. Nick was close behind, yelling at the other two about how they cheated at basketball. He then ran back grabbing Lissa's hand, pulling her into the water. "I call Lissa for "King of the Hill." Poor Lissa didn't know what to do as Nick picked her up and set her on his shoulders. Nikki turned as the sound of music filled the air. She could see Howie and Lexie standing on the patio together, laughing. It looked like they were getting ready to fire up the grill.
"You're avoiding my question." Kevins voice reminded her of the ocean...cool and deep.
Averting her gaze, she softly whispered, "I don't have a boyfriend."
"You're kidding me?"
Nikki shook her head, "I'm just not.......good at the whole...relationship thing."
Kevin was confounded. Here she was, one of the easiest people he'd ever talked to. She was funny and smart and just....adorable. Why on earth hadn't someone grabbed her up yet? Whatever she was thinking bothered her, he could sense the change in her mood. "If someone has hurt her," he thought..he didn't want to think about what he'd do to whoever it was. With a tense voice he asked, "What happened?"
Nikki lay her hand on Kevin's arm, "Nothing...happened. It's just...I have this habit of chasing people away." She sighed, "Chasing men away."
Before she could remove her hand, Kevin laced his fingers with hers, "Why?"
Nikki stared at their linked hands and then she raised her head to find Kevin's green eyes staring at her intently. "Just tell him," the little voice in her head was screaming. Without pulling her gaze from his, she whispered, "It's stupid."
"If it bothers you this much, it's not stupid," he answered softly.
Breaking off her gaze, Nikki looked down at the sand, "Sometimes I think I'm not capable of letting someone love me. I feel all mixed up inside when someone gets too close...I hide myself, chase them away." Knowing that she didn't make much sense, she continued, " I didn't see much love growing up, my parents married because my Mom was pregnant with me. Don't get me wrong...I had a wonderful childhood, but as I grew, I came to realize that my Mother and Father weren't in love with each other. I never learned to express myself, my caring, with a man. I never saw it. And now I'm afraid of hurting someone, someone I love, that I just don't let myself fall."
Kevin was saddened by her story. How could she feel that way. Taking her chin in his hand, Kevin told her sternly, "You DO let people in." Pointing at Nick, A.J. and Brian, he said, "Look how you've let them in...in one day you had them sticking up for you. They think you're wonderful." He made her hazel eyes meet his, "Look how you've let ME in...even after the way I treated you last night. And you do show you care, you showed me that just by listening to me, standing up for me. I can see your heart..it's big and beautiful and boundless. Don't lock it away where that someone special can't find it."
He had mesmerized her. And for what seemed like an eternity, the only two people in the world, were her and Kevin. That is until she felt the cold splash of water on her back.
Nikki and Kevin jumped apart and turned to find Nick, soaking wet, behind them cracking up. "You two looked like you were getting hot over here. Howie says that lunch is almost done, if you'd like to join us on the patio."
They'd been so wrapped up in each other, neither one noticed everyone making their way back to the house. Nikki went to walk to the deck but Kevin took her arm and held her back.
Looking at Nick, he commented, "We'll be there in a minute."
"Okay..," Nick replied as he ran back to the others.
Slightly embarrassed by what they'd shared before Nick interrupted, Nikki blushed as she turned to Kevin, "What is it, Kevin?"
"Go to dinner with me tonight."
"Us? Alone?," she stuttered. The butterflies in her stomach took of on a cross-county flight.
"Please?"
And again, with that one word, Nikki gave in. "Okay...I'll go."
On the patio the others were watching the interaction between Nikki and Kevin with interest. No one had missed how close they'd been as they talked or the way they were looking at each other now.
"Looks like it's not just the temperature that's getting hotter around here," Jacquie smirked, causing the rest of the group to bust out laughing.
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