Chapter
1
“Nick, I can’t do this anymore! I’m finished with you… for good.”
Her words echoed through his mind,
over and over. It had been two weeks,
but he could not get over it. Usually,
when they fought, they both said things they didn’t mean, left to cool off for
awhile, and came back and made up. But
this time, it was different, Nick knew that.
Mandy had been gone for two weeks, without even calling him, and this
time, he feared she had been telling the truth when she said she was finished
with him for good. For good. They had been through so much, and while
they did fight a lot, Nick truly did care about her. At least he thought he did. She had made him mad, but the feelings for
her he carried inside were still there.
But it was over.
Nick knew it was time to move on, but
the pain that was gnawing at his heart had not disappeared over the two weeks
he had been without her. It had just
been getting worse.
He had gone to his doctor two days
before. It was Brian, being the
concerned friend that he was, who had made him go. Living in Atlanta, while Nick lived in
Orlando, Brian was not actually there to see what Nick was going through. But because he knew Nick so well, he could
tell that Nick was not doing very well.
Howie had been the one who had driven
Nick to the doctor. Nick felt as if they
had all been talking behind his back, plotting things. He tried to assure them that he was fine, but
it wasn’t working. They knew him too
well. Now they even thought he couldn’t
drive on his own. He knew he could have,
but he didn’t argue when Howie picked him up that day. He didn’t say much to any of them these
days. He walked around feeling
completely numb inside.
His doctor, Dr. Walters, had
prescribed some medication for Nick, doxepin, a kind of antidepressant. He had told Nick that while he was not
clinically depressed, by the way he was acting, he was on his way to being
diagnosed as it. He promised Nick that
by taking the medicine, he would feel better.
Nick was skeptical, but then, he didn’t care. So, he got the prescription filled and took
the pills at the prescribed time each day.
There hadn’t been any major changes in
his mood, but he had noticed that he was feeling a little better than before,
but still depressed. He hoped that with
some time, he could get over the break up with Mandy and move on.
Suddenly, the phone rang, bringing
Nick out of his thoughts. Most likely,
it was one of the guys. They called
often these days to check up on him.
Nick wouldn’t admit it, but talking to them helped him a little. Still, deep inside, he was hoping to hear
Mandy’s voice on the other line, calling to apologize to him, to tell him that
she wanted to get back together.
No such luck. When Nick answered the phone, it was AJ’s
voice who greeted him.
“Hey, Nick!” he said brightly. “How ya doing, man?”
“Okay,” Nick said dully.
“You don’t sound like it,” AJ
said. “You need to get out of the house,
dude.”
“And go where?”
“I know just the place,” AJ
replied. “How about I pick you up at
nine?” Nick glanced at the clock. It was 8:30 p.m.
“No,” Nick replied flatly.
“Why not?” AJ asked.
“I don’t wanna go anywhere,” Nick
said.
“Aw, come on, it’ll be fun,” AJ
said. “Just you and me. We’ll have a great time.”
“Where would we be going?” Nick asked,
curious.
“You’ll see when we get there. Come on, Kaos, you need to come with me
tonight. Take your mind off Mandy and
just have a good time,” AJ pressed.
Nick sighed. He didn’t really feel like going out, but AJ
sounded like he really wanted to go, and Nick didn’t think sitting around his
house would help any. “Fine, AJ, I’ll
go,” he finally said, reluctantly.
“Great!” AJ exclaimed. “Pick you up in thirty.”
“Kay,” Nick said. “See ya.”
“See ya, Nick,” AJ said, and hung up. Nick slowly hung up as well and sighed
again. Then he headed upstairs to get
ready.
***
