The tour continued on without a hitch, and Nick heard nothing more
about himself and Leah in the press.
That is, not until an interview he did for MTV the day before his
Phoenix show in early March. His manager
had arranged for him to call into TRL that afternoon, which he didn’t have a
problem doing. TRL interviews were
always short and usually more interesting and casual than most interviews. And so, that afternoon he called into the
show as planned from his hotel room.
The interview went fine at first, with Carson, who was actually
hosting that day, asking Nick the usual, “How’s the tour going?” and “When will
the new Bsb album drop?” sort of questions.
But then the questions turned to more uncomfortable subjects, starting
with Leah.
“So, rumor is you have a new girlfriend. Is that true?”
“Um… yeah, I’ve been seeing someone for a few weeks, but, um… it’s
not really serious yet,” Nick answered carefully.
“Yet? Does that mean it might
get more serious at some point?” Carson pressed.
“I don’t know, maybe,” Nick replied, annoyed. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”
“As we all know, Brian and Kevin are married, and AJ’s
engaged. Do you want to get married too
someday?”
“Yeah, maybe someday, but not for a long time,” Nick answered
firmly.
“So, tell us more about your new girlfriend. Rumor has it that she’s in the… exotic
dancing field. True story?”
“Uh… I’d prefer not to reveal any career information about her,”
Nick said slowly, hoping to avoid any further questioning.
“Uh-huh.” Carson’s tone
told Nick he could see right through the answer. But he thankfully changed the subject anyway
and said, “Your album, Now or Never, recently went gold. Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Nick replied, relieved.
“However, Justin Timberlake’s album, Justified, is several
times platinum. How does that make you
feel?”
Nick felt like screaming right then, but he gritted his teeth and
said, “Justin’s doing his own thing, and I’m doing mine. I don’t listen to comparisons because what
we’re doing is totally different. I wish
him the best and congratulate him on his success.” That wasn’t the exact truth, but there was no
way Nick was going to admit how much it pissed him off that a wannabe little
prick like Justin could sell so many more albums than he could.
The interview ended a few minutes later, and Nick was left
seething, vowing never to appear on TRL again.
He knew that would never happen; he was sure he’d be there with the guys
in a few months, before their album was released. Besides, if he never appeared on any show
that had asked him about Justin Timberlake, he’d pretty much have no TV
appearances anymore. Damn that
Timberlake for deciding to go solo right after he did.
Suddenly, there was a knock on Nick’s hotel room door. He climbed off his bed, his anger fading, and
went to the door. Leah stood outside it
in the hall, waiting for him.
“Hey,” he said, smiling at the sight of her. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much. I was just
wondering what we’re doing tonight since there’s no show,” she said.
“Oh… well… I don’t know…” Nick said slowly. He actually hadn’t even considered it; his
only plans were take full advantage of sleeping somewhere that wasn’t a bus, as
this was one of the few nights he got to spend in a hotel during the tour. He had been extremely tired a lot of the time
lately and figured he just wasn’t getting enough sleep in the cramped bunk he
had on the bus. It would do him good to
sleep in a real bed in the hotel. “I actually
planned on just staying in tonight,” he told Leah.
“Oh.” Leah’s voice was
filled with disappointment. “I thought
we could go out on the town tonight.”
“Oh… well, feel free to go out on your own if you want to. But I’d really rather just hang out here.”
“Fine.” She started to walk
out, but Nick reached out and caught her arm.
“Leah? You’re not mad, are
you?”
“No… it’s just… we haven’t really done anything together, you
know? I mean, we’ve hung out, but we
haven’t done anything… just traveled day after day.”
“Well, that’s kinda part of the job,” Nick laughed.
Leah gave him a patronizing look.
“I know, but I thought we’d get more chances to do other things, and now
when we actually do have a chance, you don’t want to.”
“I’m sorry, babe, I just am feeling really tired lately cause of
the tour, and I want to get a good night’s sleep. We’ll go out together once we get back to
Tampa, I promise.”
“But that’s still a week away.
I miss you, Nicky.”
Nick cocked his head at her.
“You see me all the time. How
could you miss me?”
“I don’t know… I just… I miss doing romantic things with you… all
we do is sit on that damn bus. I want to
get out.”
“So go out! Go out tonight
and have a great time! I’m not trying to
stop you,” Nick argued, annoyed.
“But I want to go out with you!
It’s no fun alone!”
“Not tonight, okay?”
“Fine.” Glaring at him,
Leah stormed out in a huff. Nick started
to go after her, then decided against it.
If she was going to act that way, fine.
She would come back when she felt like it. Besides, he just didn’t have the energy to
fight with her.
In an overall pissed off mood, Nick flopped down on his bed and
closed his eyes, massaging his temples to ward off the headache he felt coming
on. Before he knew it, he had drifted
off to sleep.
***
When Nick woke back up, he was shocked to discover that it was
dark outside. He had unintentionally
slept for a good five hours. He expected
to feel a surge of energy after his unplanned nap, but instead, he was dragging
even more than before.
His first thought was of Leah, and he wondered if she was still
upset with him. After some
consideration, he decided to go next door to her room and see if she still
wanted to go out that night. He didn’t
feel that great and figured he was either coming down with something or just
run down from the tour, but he didn’t want to let Leah down and told himself he
could manage a night out on the town with her, despite how he was feeling.
However, when he knocked on her door, he found that she was not in
her room.
“She left a few minutes ago, Nick,” a deep voice called down the
hall. Nick looked to see Joe walking
towards him.
“She did?” he asked, as the big black bodyguard approached.
“Yeah, she said she was going to go hit some clubs or something,”
Joe replied. “How come you didn’t go
with her?”
“I didn’t know she was going,” Nick admitted. “I was asleep.”
“Oh. Well, were you
planning on going out?”
“No…” Nick said slowly.
“No, I’m just gonna hang out in my room, I guess. See you later, Joe.”
“All right, catch you later, kid.”
Nick went back to his room, half annoyed with Leah, half
relieved. He was a bit hurt that she had
gone out without telling him, but then again, he had pissed her off, and he had
been sleeping. Maybe she had tried to
call him or stopped by before she left, and he had not woken up. And even if she didn’t, he couldn’t blame
her. She was mad, and he understood her
reasoning. And now he didn’t have to go
out after all; he could go back to his room and catch a good movie.
And that was exactly what he ended up doing, returning to his room
and ordering “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” on pay per view. He managed to make it through most of the
movie, but sometime during the last half hour, he unknowingly drifted off to
sleep again, plagued with bizarre dreams of hobbits, elves, and… Leah.
***