Chapter 4
On Friday night,
two days later, Nick arrived at Charlatan’s, a trendy Tampa bar, promptly at
eight o’clock. After a quick inspection
of the place, Nick found that Leah was not there yet Disappointed, he found a table in the back
and sat down.
A waitress came
up right away. “Can I get you anything,
sir?” she asked.
“Um, not right
now, thanks. I’m waiting for someone,”
Nick replied.
“Okay. I’ll be back to take your order later
then.” The waitress left, and Nick sat
alone, his eyes fixed on the door. The
minutes ticked slowly by, and he began to wonder if he had been stood up. How embarrassing that would be. His admirers would be outraged if they
knew. Nick Carter – stood up by some
woman? How dare she!
Nick couldn’t
help but chuckle at that thought, figuring if Leah truly had stood him up, and
it got out, at least there would be some nice new Leah Gaylers hate sites
popping up on the internet.
Nick’s thoughts
were interrupted as his eyes caught sight of Leah entering the bar. His worries faded away, and he stood up to
wave her over. When she noticed him, she
smiled, waved back, and came over.
“Hi, Nick!” she
said cheerfully, sitting down across from him.
“Hey, Leah,” Nick
said in relief. “How are you doing
tonight?”
“Great, and you?”
“Just fine.”
“That’s good.”
There was a
silence, and then Nick said, “Our waitress should be back to get our orders in
a little bit.”
“Okay, good.”
More silence.
“So… we have a
lot to catch up on, huh?” Leah asked finally.
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess we do.”
“So… what have
you been up to lately? Other than your
music stuff, I mean,” said Leah.
“Oh… I dunno… you
know, just hanging out and stuff.”
“That’s
cool. I got your album, by the way. It was amazing.” She beamed at him.
“Really? Thanks!”
Nick grinned widely, feeling a bit more comfortable.
“So you’re going
on tour soon, right?”
“Yeah. February 17’s the first night.”
“Oh great. Are you performing in Tampa?”
“No, I’m not
gonna be anywhere near here, unfortunately.
I’m basically hitting the major cities in all the regions of the country
except down south. How crazy is that?”
Leah
laughed. “Well, that’s too bad. I’d love to see one of your shows.”
“Well, hopefully
there’ll be another solo tour sometime. But
the Backstreet Boys will probably be doing a tour this fall or winter, and I’m
sure we’ll hit a lot of Florida venues.
We always do. Do you like Bsb
music?”
“Love it! I’ll be sure to come to one of your concerts
if I can; I’ve never been able to go to one before.”
“Well, maybe I
can make some arrangements for you.”
Nick winked at her, and Leah grinned.
“Front row?”
“Maybe…”
They both
laughed, and suddenly, it was as if they were old friends, not old enemies (or
whatever they had been in seventh grade).
I was stupid for resenting her all these years, thought Nick, as
he and Leah talked and laughed some more together. We’ve both grown up, and she’s not the
same girl she was then. She’s much
better.
Isn’t it funny
how sometimes all it takes is one chance meeting for an old crush to come back
in full force? That was what was
happening to Nick right then. It was
suddenly as if that whole seventh grade Back to School Dance disaster had never
taken place, like he was back to being an innocent kid with his first crush on
a girl. He had realized by now that that
crush had been quite shallow, based mostly on looks alone. Leah had always been a pretty girl, and that
was what had attracted him to her at first.
She was still pretty now, beautiful, in fact, but as he sat across from
her and listened to her talk, he realized there was more to her than a nice
body and attractive features. She really
was a nice person once you got to know her.
“Hey, Leah?”
“Yeah?”
Nick just had to
bring this up; he couldn’t resist.
Chuckling a little, he said, “You remember that dance we had back in
like seventh grade? The Back to School
one in the fall?”
“Oh…” Leah bit her lip. “Yeah… you asked me to go with you, didn’t
you?”
“Uh-huh.”
Leah smiled
guiltily. “I’m sorry about that,
Nick. I was shallow and petty and stupid
back then… basically how all girls are at that age. You know, teenage girls are evil like that.”
He laughed. “I know.
That’s okay. I’m surprised you
remembered.”
She
shrugged. “Well, I felt kinda later on,
once I grew up a little and realized what really counts. Now that I’ve actually talked to you, I’ve
realized what a nice guy you are. I
wasn’t sure how you’d be now, if you’d be all stuck up and everything. But you’re not at all. And I’m sure you were really nice back then,
too. It’s just that social status and
acceptance by your friends were so important when we were kids, and back then,
you just weren’t… weren’t…”
“Popular?”
Leah
blushed. “Well…”
“That’s okay,”
Nick laughed. “I know what I was in
middle school. I was a loser.” Leah opened her mouth apologetically, but he
continued, “It’s okay though. That was
ten years ago, and look where I am now.
It’s no big deal.”
She smiled. “You’re exactly right. And I’d like to make up for lost time. So, if you’re not… you know… seeing anyone
right now… maybe we could go out together more often.”
Nick studied her
for a moment, a bit unsure. He hadn’t
gone out more than once with any girl in quite awhile. It just didn’t interest him right now; he
wanted to be free and have fun and not have to deal with a girlfriend. Women had left him disappointed one too many
times, and he honestly didn’t trust any of them anymore.
But despite the
logic his brain was feeding him, his heart couldn’t refuse. He smiled at Leah and nodded.
“I’d like that.”
***