Chapter 6
“So, how are your
tour rehearsals going?”
Nick smiled at
Leah, who sat across the table from him in the small ice cream parlor. The two had decided to meet there after
Nick’s rehearsal that afternoon.
“Good, good,”
Nick replied. There was now only a week
left until the start of the tour, and he was both excited and nervous. He only hoped everything would go well… and
that the fans would enjoy themselves.
“That’s great,”
said Leah.
“Yeah…” Nick paused a moment, planning out his next
words. Then he said, “Hey, um… speaking
of the tour… there’s something I was wanting to ask you.”
Leah tipped her
head sideways. “Sure, what?”
“Well… my
brother, Aaron, was going to come with me on tour… just to hang out and stuff,
ya know. But he’s not coming now, so I
was wondering… how would you like to come on the road with me?”
Leah gasped. “Oh, Nick!
I’d…. I’d love to! The only
problem is work… I don’t know if I’ll be able to get off.”
“I know… I’m
sorry this is such short notice… it’s just… we haven’t… I don’t… well…”
“We don’t know
each other very well yet, I know,” said Leah.
“But I’m honored you asked me, and I really would love to go with
you. It would give us a good opportunity
to get to know each other even better, since we’d be hanging out together all
the time. I’ll ask my boss about it
tonight.”
“Okay. Let me know what he says.”
“I will.” Leah smiled and took a bite of her ice cream
sundae. The sunlight from outside
spilled across her face, bathing her in gold.
Absolutely taken with her, Nick couldn’t help but smile.
“What are you
grinning about over there?” Leah asked teasingly.
Nick felt himself
blush. “You,” he answered
truthfully. “You’re beautiful, you know
that?”
Now Leah
blushed. “You’re just saying that.” She looked away, her voice soft.
“Trust me, I’m
not. You’re beautiful, and I… I really
like you. A lot.”
Leah looked back
at him, her coffee-colored eyes meeting his.
“I like you a lot too, Nick.” She
reached across the table and laid her hand on top of his. He smiled and took hold of it, his fingers
caressing the back of her hand. Her skin
was soft and silky and feminine.
Weeks ago, Nick
had been telling people he was not interested in having a relationship. He was tired of women; he had been hurt by
them too many times. And now here he
was, falling head over heels for the first girl who had ever broken his
heart. Was he making the same mistake
all over again? His mind told him to be
wary, but his heart was light and carefree and begged him to plunge ahead with
the relationship.
And so he did.
***
That night, Nick
lay sprawled across his sofa, his cordless phone pressed to his ear, listening
to the endless ringing on the other end of the line. Then, finally, there was a click and a harried
“Hello?”
“B-Rok! Hey, it’s Nick! Did I catch you at a bad time?” Nick
asked. Brian sounded awfully stressed
out.
“Oh, hey,
Nick! No, it’s all good… I’m just trying
to get Baylee to go to sleep.”
Nick could hear
the baby now, screaming shrilly on the other end. He grimaced.
“Aw, sorry, man. Maybe I should
call back later?”
“Um… no… just…
just hang on a minute…” Nick waited,
listening to the muffled sounds coming from Brian’s end with an expression of
amusement. Finally, Brian came back. “Okay, I got him quieted down. We’re rocking.”
“Rocking?” Nick smiled, picturing Brian sitting in a
rocking chair with little Baylee in his arms.
“Cute. Where’s Leigh?”
“In bed. She’s got a cold, so she doesn’t want to be
handling the baby much. I offered to put
him down, and he was almost asleep, but then the phone rang.”
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
“Oh no, it’s
okay. Not your fault. He’s going back to sleep now.”
“That’s good.”
‘Yup. So… what’s up, man? I haven’t talked to you in forever.”
“Yeah, I know,”
said Nick.
“I’m sorry, I
should have called you before. I’ve just
been real busy… you know, with the-“
“Baby,” finished
Nick. “I know.” Actually, that was not the case. Brian had been “real busy” for years, ever since
he had gotten engaged to Leighanne. He
had changed. Not in a bad way, just in a
way Nick did not like. The truth was,
Brian had grown up. He was an adult,
mature and responsible, with a family to take care of. And Nick… physically, Nick was an adult too…
but he was still a kid at heart and figured he always would be. He was all about having a good time, playing
and partying hard, always the fun-loving practical joker. Brian had been that way once too. But he was different now. Nick never wanted that to happen to him. He vowed never to change, never to let some
woman do that to him.
“Yeah… are you
okay, Nick?” Brian’s voice interrupted
Nick’s thoughts.
“Sure, I’m fine,”
he said quickly. “What’s been up with
you?”
“Oh, same old,
same old,” said Brian. “You’ve gotta see
Baylee – he’s getting so big now!”
“Really? Is he crawling yet?” Nick asked innocently.
“Crawling? Nick, he’s not even three months old. He can’t even sit up yet.”
“Oh.” Nick felt stupid now.
Brian
laughed. “So you never answered my
question before – what have you been up to?
Getting ready for your tour?”
“Yeah,” said
Nick. “I’ve been having rehearsals every
day… you know how that goes.”
“Yeah. Anything else?”
“Well…” Nick smiled on his end and pressed the phone
closer to his ear. “There’s this girl…”
“Oooh, a girl?”
Brian’s voice was teasing and playful, much more like the old Brian. “So… what’s she like? Details!” he added in a girly lisp.
Nick
laughed. “She’s wonderful,” he said
truthfully. “Totally hot.”
“Blonde?”
Nick had to
laugh; Brian had always gone for blondes.
“Yup,” he said. “And she’s got
the most gorgeous eyes.”
“Blue?”
“Brown.”
“Oh.”
“And you know
what the weird thing is?”
“What?”
“She’s the first girl
that ever broke my heart… and now I’m in love with her all over again.”
“What? How long have you known this girl? Who is she?”
“Her name’s Leah
Gaylers, and I went to school with her,” answered Nick. “I had the biggest crush on her in middle
school… she was like the epitome of the perfect girl… popular, pretty,
cheerleader… you know the type.”
“Uh-huh. So what happened?”
“Well, I asked
her to this dance once, in seventh grade.
And she laughed at me. I felt
like such a loser… I hated her after that.
Hated her guts, even though deep down, I probably still liked her.”
“Aww,” Brian
said, laughing. “I feel for ya, dude.”
“So anyway, I met
up with her again a few weeks ago…” Nick
paused, deciding not to tell Brian exactly where he had met Leah and what she
was doing there. Good, wholesome Brian
would probably not approve of that. “…
and we went out one night and started talking, and… well, I’m falling for her
all over again.”
“Really?” Brian sounded intrigued. “That’s totally weird. And you, of all people. I thought you were anti-romance right now.”
“Well, I was…
but… well, things change, ya know?”
“Yeah. So… Valentine’s Day is on Friday… what are
you gonna do for her?”
“I’m workin’ on
it, I’m workin’ on it!” Nick insisted.
Brian laughed,
and suddenly, it felt like old times again.
Nick grinned, thinking of the many times he had come to Brian for advice
on women back when he was an awkward teenager, girl-crazy and confused. Brian really was not the best person to ask
for help in that area; Kevin and Howie were older and more experienced in the
romance department. Heck, even AJ had
more experience than Brian ever did. But
Brian was Nick’s best friend, the older brother he never had, and the only
person to whom he felt truly comfortable revealing his inner feelings. Brian never laughed at him and teased him to
the point of utter humiliation the way the others often did; Brian was caring
and understanding. And he had to have
known something about the opposite sex, because here he was, the second of the
Backstreet Boys to get married. And he
and Leighanne were the perfect couple, happily in love with one another. Someday, far down the road, Nick wanted that
for himself. But not yet. He was not ready for that commitment. Dating Leah was one thing, but marriage? The thought of that both intimidated and
frightened Nick.
If Nick only knew
what he would be facing in a matter of months, he would have realized that
marriage was a lot less scary than what was lying ahead.
***