As it turned out, there were people awaiting Nick’s return,
and they called him up his first night back.
“Nickay! Good to talk to
ya, dude. How ya been?” boomed the
jovial voice of Nick’s longtime friend Brent.
“Fine,” Nick replied dishonestly.
“You?”
“Great. Me and the guys are
goin’ out on the town tonight, wanna join us?”
Nick groaned inwardly; he had a feeling that’s what Brent had
called to ask him. He missed their wild,
drunken, “guys night out” escapades, but at the moment, going clubbing and
drinking was the last thing he felt like doing.
He was still finishing up his third round of chemo and didn’t feel well,
not to mention he wasn’t supposed to drink alcohol.
“Aw, Brent, thanks, but no thanks,” he replied. “I’m not feeling so hot right now. Probably jet lag or something.”
“Jet lag? Didn’t you
drive?”
“Oh… uh…”
“Gotcha.” Nick could just
picture Brent’s grin on the other end.
“Okay, so it’s not jet lag,” he admitted. “But I think I’m coming down with the flu…”
“Aww, quit being such a pussy.
Come hang out with us. We haven’t
seen you in months, bro.”
Nick sighed. “Can’t we do
this next week?”
“Just for awhile? Come on,
we won’t keep you out too late. It’ll do
you good to get some fresh air.”
“Fresh air? In a bar? More like stale, cigarette smoke-filled air.”
Brent chuckled. “Okay, you
win. I guess we’ll just have to go
without you then, man. Drinking… hot
chicks… you’re gonna miss out! Are you sure
you don’t wanna come?” he asked enticingly.
Nick hesitated. “Maybe… but
I’m driving.” That way he could go home
when he wanted, he figured.
“Hey, cool with me. Pick me
up at eight, okay? James, Frank, and
Lane are coming too.”
“Okay,” Nick agreed. “See
you then.”
“See ya.”
Brent hung up with a click, and Nick shut off his own phone with a
sigh. Why had he said he would come with
them? He liked hanging with the guys,
but it was the last thing he felt like doing that night. But he just couldn’t refuse.
***
“You sure are quiet tonight, Carter,” Frank commented later that
night, as the five men sat at the bar of Charlatan’s, a club Nick came to
often. He had once taken Leah there, he
remembered. Strange, how that was the
first thing he thought of when he thought of Charlatan’s. He’d been there many other times with
different people, usually Brent and the guys, so why did it bring back memories
of Leah?
Maybe he wasn’t over her yet.
Yes I am, he assured himself. It’s been months. She’s a bitch, I hate her guts, and I have
plenty of other crap to deal with. I
don’t need to be obsessing about her on top of everything else.
“Yo, Nick!” Frank shouted, finally grabbing his attention.
“What?” Nick asked dazedly.
“I said, you sure are quiet tonight. What’s up?”
“Nothing… I’m just tired.”
The excuse sounded lame, even to Nick, but Frank shrugged and didn’t
press the issue.
Taking a sip of his Pepsi, Nick smiled inwardly, thinking how
Kevin would probably freak out if he had made that statement. “Tired?” he could imagine Kevin
repeating, eyes growing large, “Well, maybe you should go lie down. You want me to call your doctor? Are you supposed to be this tired?”
He was actually surprised Kevin or Brian hadn’t called his house
yet to ask him how he was feeling. They
had both hinted that they would at the airport before his flight departed. Normally, when the group flew home after
weeks or months of being together, their goodbyes were fairly short, for they
were usually so sick of each other, they couldn’t wait to board their separate
planes.
This time, however, the goodbyes were different.
“Take care of yourself, Nick,” Kevin had said, his green eyes dark
and serious. “Call me if you have any
troubles or if you need anything. I’ll
be in touch.”
Brian had given Nick a hug, which was normal of him, but unlike
the normal, brief, brotherly hug, Brian pulled Nick close and held on to him
like he was afraid to let go.
“Uh… Rok?” Nick had finally spoken up after awhile of this. “You might wanna let me go now, or those
rumors about us being gay are gonna start springing up again.”
Brian pulled back and smiled up at Nick, his blue eyes rather
cloudy. “I’ll see ya, Frack. You give me a call if you wanna talk or
anything. And if you need me, I’m only a
state away.” He flashed a cheesy grin,
but Nick had a feeling that was only a way of covering up another emotion.
“Hey, don’t start acting like your cousin, Rok,” Nick said
lightly. “I ain’t gonna die on ya or
anything.” It was meant to be a joke,
but no one had laughed. No one had even
smiled. Shifting uncomfortably, he
added, “Go on, Bri, get home to that wife and kid of yours.”
That brought a smile to Brian’s face, and he could see the
excitement dancing in his eyes.
“Give Baylee a kiss from his godfather.”
“Will do,” replied Brian, clapping Nick’s shoulder. His hand lingered there a little longer than
usual, finally giving Nick’s shoulder a light squeeze and dropping to Brian’s
side. “Bye, Nick.”
Nick smiled. “Bye, Bri.”
Smiling again now at the recent memory, Nick wondered if he’d have
an answering machine full of messages from the two of them (or maybe three –
Howie could be a major worrywart sometimes too) when he got home.
“What are you grinning about?” asked Brent, bringing Nick back to
the present.
“Nothin… just thinking.”
Nick left it at that, and Brent didn’t ask what he was thinking
about. Nick took another drink from his
glass of Pepsi, absently staring at the wine rack and decorations on the wall
behind the bar.
“Nick,” Brent said suddenly, grabbing Nick’s shoulder. “Ain’t that your ex over there?” Spinning Nick around to look, he
pointed. Squinting and following Brent’s
line of vision, Nick felt his heart leap into his throat.
There, sitting at a small table across from some dorky-looking
guy, was the one person he never wanted to see or even think about ever again.
Leah Gaylers.
***