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.”
***