At 11 a.m. the next morning, they arrived to their new hotel. They all got off their buses and met in the lobby. Nick and Naomie were goofing together since they left the bus.
"And so what? You're afraid that there are martians in your closet at night so you shouldn't talk man!" Naomie shouted after what he just said. He was teasing her about the fact that she was watching Stuart Little.
"That's not the same thing! And I'm not afraid about martians in my closet..."
"Liar!! You mother never told you it was bad to lie?? And yes, it's the same thing!!" she said laughing.
"Nah it's not! Stuart Little... how could you watch that???" he said still teasing her.
"And you? The Ninja Turtles!!!!" Naomie shouted giggling. "How could you watch that??"
"Ninja turtle is a classic!! I have to tell you again that it's not the same thing !!" as he said that he charge into the door of the entrance of the hotel. "Ouch!!!!!" he added touching his head. "That hurt!"
Everyone stared at him laughing. "Is Nicky a little tired?" Brian asked staring at his friend strangely.
"Yeah sort of!" Nick said thinking that he hadn't slept a lot.
"And I don't know who keeps him up that late!!!" Naomie said as she walked away from them giggling.
"Tell me who! Tell me who!!!" Aj said getting interest.
"I did!" Naomie said laughing at Aj's face when she said that.
"I'm confused... "
"You don't have to Mister Dirty Mind!" Naomie said giggling.
"Oooh she's finally smiling!" Becky said giving Naomie a friendly hug. She was thinking that she'd ask her friend what happened with Nick. Something had happen to change her like this.
"Hey! I thought I was the one you were hugging..." Aj said with a fake sad look.
"Shut up! You're having more then hugs so stop complain!" Becky said laughing.
"Oouuhhh that make Aj shut up!" Brian laughed.
"Are the musicians in the hotel?" Rachel asked to the musicians bus driver. She was feeling a little sad...or jealous. Nick was now doing with Naomie what he used to do with her before they were going out together. That was making her worried... and if he was doing this with all the girls? fooling around with them and after... going for more..!? She was now really worried with those questions running in her head. She had never seen him with other girls so she didn't know how he was acting with them. The answer of the bus driver get her down to reality.
"Yes they are! They are probably in their room! You wanna talk to your father?" he asked.
"Yeah I'd like to. Do you know in wich room he is?"
The bus driver gave her the number of the room and then she followed Nick to her room.
"I think I'll rest a little...I didn't sleep a lot last night..." Nick said.
"Oh ok... well then I'll go ask my father if he wants to lunch with me.." she replied.
"Yeah good idea!"
"Ok then I'll see ya at the rehearsal..." she said as she walked to the door.
"Hey!!!" he said looking angry. She turned around to face him to see what he wanted.
"I want my kiss!" he added with a grin.
"Oh !! You really want one?" she asked teasing.
"Of course I do!!" he said similing.
"Alright then...". She walked to him and gave him a deep sweet kiss. He hold her tight and kissed her back.
"See you later little ghost!" Rachel said before to leave.
Nick layed down his bed and fell asleep. He didn't have slept much last night so he was really tired.
*On Rachel's side*
Rachel walked to her father's room and knocked on the door.
"Hey Hi sweetie!" her father said when he opened the door.
"Hey daddy!" she said smiling. "How are you?"
"Actually...pretty great!!" he replied. He was surprised to see his daughter standing there. "Come in!"
"Ok!" she said as she walked into the room. "I wanted to ask you if you'd like to lunch with me!"
"Oh! You're making my day! Of course, I'd love to!!" he said all smile. He was really happy that she was asking him that. He never had the chance to talk to her since she was dating Nick. "Let's go now!"
"Alright!" Rachel said giggling.
They went to a small italian restaurant not really crowded. They were both happy to finally have the time to be together.
"So how is it going with Nick?" Richards asked her daughter.
"Actually pretty great!" she said smiling. "I'm happy we have the chance to talk a little...I've been really selfish since I'm on the tour with you... I didn't pass some time alone with you I feel very bad about that..."
"Don't worry! I understand! I mean... it was very special to meet these boys and to come on tour... and now you are friends with them so it's normal you want to pass sometimes with them. And they are more your age then the musicians!" he said with a little laugh.
"Yeah but...I think that's not a great excuse... you are my father and I came on this tour to see you!"
"I'm happy to have you with me! Don't worry!" he said smiling warmly. "So everything is fine with Nick? You're happy?"
"Yeah really happy! He's so nice and sweet and everything! I really love him!" she exclamed with sparkeling eyes.
"That's good! He's a great guy!" Richards said, pleased to see her daughter so happy.
"But you know... I don't really know him...I mean... yes I know him but not on the love side... sometimes I think he's with me only because he have no one to be with... I know it sounds stupid but... he's my first real boyfriend and I love him so much! I don't know.. I saw him acting with Naomie this morning and that's how he was acting with me before we dated... I don't know how he was with his ex girlfriend...I don't know if you understand why I'm worry..." she said feeling a little weird to talk about this with her father.
"Yes I understand! And you have nothing to worry about! You know, theses guys are surronded by a lot of girls so they have a lot of girl friends... maybe Nick just want to have another great friend to talk with...like he was doing with you before. Now that he's going out with you, he don't have that friend and maybe he just want to have one... I don't think you have to worry...I saw him acting with Mandy, his ex girlfriend and it was pretty the same thing...he was fooling around with the other girls..." he said trying to cheer up Rachel. He didn't want her to be in a relationship where she'd doubt every single move of his boyfriend. He wanted her to be the most happiest girl on earth...and he was feeling she was almost that girl right now. She had just to be a little more self-confidant. "I know maybe it's hard because he's world wide known and everything... but he's a normal guy..."
"Yeah!! Thank you dad! I think you're right!" she said with a big smile.
"No problem! That's why father are there! But I think maybe you should talk to him about what you feel..."
"I don't want him to think that I'm a jealous freak!" she replied giggling.
"Well... " Richards said laughing. "You just want to know about him... there's nothing wrong with this..." . Richards was thinking about his daughter. He could see that if something goes wrong, she would never gonna take it. Nick seemed to mean a lot to her and he thought that maybe he should talk a little with Nick...only to tell him to be careful with her...she was fragile at her age.
"Yeah you're right! I love you daddy!" she said giving a small hug to his father. She was so happy to have him around. She had missed him a lot since the past few years. They keep talking about her, her studies, her life in Canada... and she was asking a lot of questions about what happened to him since the last years, how the tours were and how his life has changed when he left her mom... But soon it was time to go to the rehearsal.
They joined the other at the stadium. It was going to be a big concert that night. They heard that a lot of artists were coming to see them so they were working seriously. When everything was done, right before to get up on stage and when he saw that Rachel was already gone in the audience, Richards walked up to Nick.
"Hey Nick! Can I talk to you 2 minutes?" he asked seeing that Nick was alone.
"Yeah sure! What's up?!" Nick said.
"Well, I want you to know that I'm really happy that you're with Rachel now. She looks very happy and very in love with you..." he said with a little smile.
"Oh... I love her really much too... " Nick replied smiling. He was pleased that Richards was approving his relation with Rachel. "She's a very sweet girl you know..."
"Yeah I know!" Richards smile. "But I just want you to be careful... I mean that if something happen between you too... that you realize you don't love her that much, tell her right away because while I was talking to her this afternoon, I could tell she'd be really sad if something wrong would happen between you two... you're like his first real boyfriend so you're important for her..." he added.
"Look, that last thing I want is to hurt her!! She's very important for me!" he said sure of himself. He was a little angry that Richards was saying this to him but in another way he could understand that Richards just wanted his daughter to be happy and not hurt. "If, someday, I realize something... I'll do the best I can to no hurt her..."
"Ok, Good! You're really nice to her! I really appreciate it Nick!" Richards said before to give Nick a friendly hug. "Okay now! Enjoy the show!!!" he added as he left him to get on the stage.
*The dancers backstage*
"So tell me Nam... what happened???" Becky asked her friend when they were finally alone.
"What??" Naomie said.
"With you and Nick!!! You finally got over him or you talked to him??"
"Oh well..maybe a little of both... last night I was watching tv alone because I wasn't able to sleep and he showed up because he wasn't able to sleep either.
"So?? what happenned then??" Becky said really interested.
"Well, we talked a lot. About everything. It was so great! I mean... for all that time I wished I'd be friend with him..." Naomie said looking so happy.
"So you didn't tell him your feelings for him???" Becky replied a little dissapoint.
"Nah! But I'm happy I didn't! You know... now that I'm more friend with him, I'm not as hurt to see him with Rachel... so I'm not sure if I was really in love with him..."
"Ah come on Nam! You were and you're still are in love with him!"
"No...well I don't know... I thought about it and maybe all I wished was to have a boy friend... or just to have some attention from a boy... and now I got it..." she said smiling.
"Well why did you want it so much to be Nick then?" Becky asked a little confused.
"That's what I don't know... maybe I do have a little thing for him... but not a big crush... he's the hottest guy ever but... I don't know..."
Becky couldn't believe what she was hearing. Naomie had changed so fast. Yesterday she was crying that she'd never have Nick and now, suddently she only wanted him as a friend. She didn't believe about that little crush. Naomie was in love with Nick but the only thing is that she didn't want to admitt it. Becky could see that when Nick was around, Naomie's eyes were changing. Naomie just didn't want to realize that she was in love with that boy because he was already dating someone and it was hurting her... well maybe now it wasn't that bad because they were a little closer but Becky knew that her friend was loving Nick. And it was a deep love. Not a little crush like she wanted Becky to believe.
"Oh well, if you say so!" Becky said as she thought that she should talk about it with her later.
"Hurry up girls!! We're waiting for ya! It's show time!!!" shouted Ashley into the entrance of the door.
The show was going great! The boys and dancers were doing their job perfectly and the audience was going crazy. Everyone was standing up, dancing. After this little talk with Richards, Nick thought about his feelings for Rachel. He knew he liked her really much but.. his feelings were a little mixed up now. He was scared to hurt her in the future. He didn't know what to think but he finally thought that he should enjoy beeing with her for the moment. He liked her really much and liked to be with her. He was feeling great with her. He continued dancing wildly on Don't Want You Back, making every girls in the audience scream. He looked at Rachel and made a beautiful sexy smile...that kind of smile that was making her feeling really special to him. She smiled back and blew a kiss.
On his side, Howie was watching Ashley. She was fooling around with him a lot during the concert, making some crazy faces. But he saw that she was doing this with all the boys so he didn't know what to think. Was she the one who liked him? And why was he so depress to find that girl who had feelings for him... what would it change? He wasn't in love with someone. He didn't have feelings for Ashley anyway. He concentrated his mind on dancing and singing but surprises himself looking at Carly dancing with Kevin. She was smiling but it didn't look like a real smile. He then looked at the crowd and started dancing and getting of his shirt, what made the girls screamed really loud.
When they heard the notes of Show Me The Meaning, the audience started screaming again. It was a song that the fans loved a lot in concert. The boys were putting a lof emotions into it. And it was also great to see them dancing a little during a ballad. They were 5 great dancers. Aj and Becky were dancing together and it was really cute to see because of the way they were looking at each other while they were dancing. Everyone could tell something was now going on with those two. It was the same thing with Amber and Brian. They were looking so in love with each other. Kevin was dancing with Ashley but he didn't look too happy. It wasn't Ashley's fault. He was missing Kristin a lot and he was worried too. Why wasn't she calling? Ashley saw that he was sad so she was trying to make him laugh a little but it wasn't really working out. Howie and Carly were both all smile because they were always laughing together when they danced. But they couldn't laugh out loud while they were dancing on a ballad so they were just trying not to laugh. And finally, Nick and Naomie's dancing was now way better. She was looking at him so the dance was more real. Nick was saying stupid things while they were dancing what was making Naomie clinging to laugh. And the end of the concert went really great. In fact, everything of this concert had worked out really great..well maybe only Kevin who wasn't looking too happy but it wasn't that bad. They had nothing to complain about and they were proud of themselves. They left the stage, saying goodbye but wishing that they wouldn't have to leave yet.
Chapter 13
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