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Chapter 12
It was about 4:05 when I awoke to hear my rabbit thrashing her food bowl around in her cage. I groaned as I got up. I was not in the mood to go to a party. I was really disturbed by what happened in school today. I guess I'll just have to put on a fake smile. I thought as I jumped into the shower. After blowdrying and styling my hair to frame my face and curl at the ends, I walked into my closet to look for something to wear. I didn't want to dress up. I eyed up the just above the knee length black skirt and thought for a second. No one had seen me in a skirt before. Hell, I don't even know what I look like in a skirt. I pulled out the skirt and looked for a top. I decided to wear a forest green tank top underneath an iridescent forest green button down shirt. The button down was see through, so it looked nice with the regular green tank top underneath. I decided to brush my teeth and take care of my minimal make-up before I got changed. After my ensemble was complete with Mary-Jane style one inch black satin shoes, I decided to listen to one of my many 'Journey' c.d's. I skipped the tracks until I heard "Open Arms" through my speakers. I began to sing to it as I straightened up my room a bit. I walked back into the bathroom to brush my hair out a little when I heard someone else singing the song with me. I slowly walked out of the bathroom to see Nick standing in the middle of my room singing his heart out. I had to admit I was a still a little upset about the Derrick incident earlier, but when I saw Nick, I instantly smiled. He looked wonderful! I'm glad I dressed up seeing Nick in black dress pants, a dark green dress shirt, with a few buttons undone revealing a white T-shirt underneath, and nice black dress shoes. His hair was parted, but slightly slicked back and his eyes just glowed. For some reason his eyes looked like windows. They looked kind of glassy and marble-like. Just beautiful! As the song finished, Nick and I held the last note and walked to each other with open arms. Hehehe. We quickly hugged. I walked over to the stereo and turned it off.
"You look really nice, Linds." Nick said as I turned around.
"Thanks, you're not looking bad yourself, Carter." Nick bowed.
"Ready to go. We can't be late. All the Backstreet Boys gotta be there." Nick said smiling.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go." Nick and I walked downstairs only to see my mother with a camera. Oh crap! I have never experienced this. I think my mom thought I was going as Nick's date or something. I just rolled my eyes as my mother told us to pose. Nick and I stood in front of the stairs. Nick put his arm around my shoulder as I lightly hugged Nick with my right arm around the waist. My mother snapped the picture and smiled.
"One more." I wanted to do something weird for this picture, but before I could think, I saw Nick turn to kiss my cheek as my mother snapped another picture. I smiled brightly. "Ok, have fun. Don't come home too late, you two have school tomorrow. Nick and I walked out of the house. We walked to an unfamiliar car. Nick opened the door.
"What's this?" I asked staring wide eyed at the dark purple Prowler.
"My car." I looked at him like 'DUH!' "I use this on special occasions, parties, and stuff." I nodded as I got into the car. I buckled my seat belt as Nick got into the driver side. It took us only fifteen minutes to get to AJ's house since Nick was speeding. He seemed giddy like a little kid. I think he really wanted to get to this party. As we pulled up in front of AJ's house, we noticed cars parked up and down a few streets. The place was packed! Nick and I got out of the car. I think I saw him run to my car door to open it, but I beat him to it and got out just as he met me in front of the walkway. Nick and I walked up to the door. Nick rang the doorbell and we were greeting by AJ. He had a glass of champagne in his hand.
"Hey, Nick!" AJ said slapping hands. "Hey Linds, it's been a while." AJ said hugging me. "Want a drink, guys?" I shook my head 'no' as did Nick. "The guys are over there." AJ said pointing to the fireplace. Nick grabbed my hand as we walked to the guys. I looked down at our hands. I liked it like this. He was so gentle with me. Not like...Derrick. I shook my head trying to erase the thoughts. Brian saw this.
"Hey Frack, Linds." Brian said nodding towards Nick and giving me a hug. I received hugs from all the guys. It was really nice hanging with them. I mean, I didn't talk much. I just kinda listened to the music blaring from AJ's enormous sound system. I began to think about the past. I had a horrible past. I had been through a lot in my eighteen years of existence. My parents had divorced, remarried to different people, I lost my great grandmother and a dog I had for a few years whom I loved dearly, and I had been somewhat molested by a guy friend I trusted. When I told Nick and Brian about it, I left out most of the story. I just said he put the moves on me. I think this is why I have never had a boyfriend. I'm a little afraid of guys and the Derrick situation didn't make me feel any better. Brian saw me leaning against the fireplace with a look of deep thought on my face.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Brian asked as he walked up to me. I looked up into his eyes. He saw I looked upset and gave me a comforting hug. All of a sudden "I'll Never Break Your Heart" filtered through the speakers and Brian pulled me onto the dance floor. I hadn't danced in so long. He wrapped his arms around my waist as I placed my arms around his neck. We swayed to the music. I heard Brian in my ear singing the song to me. It meant a lot. I think somehow he knew what I was thinking about. I decided to explain everything to him. I felt I could trust him. I told him about my past and about Derrick in a cliff notes kinda version. When I finished I felt Brian's arms wrap around me a little tighter. I felt really safe. I began to cry lightly as I placed my head on Brian's shoulder. As we danced slowly to the song, I looked near the fireplace to see Nick and Kevin watching Brian and I intently. They each had a glass of champagne in their hands. I looked up from Brian's shoulder as Nick's eyes locked with mine. I could tell he saw the tears. He began to look worried. I looked away from Nick and began to play with the curls at Brian's neck. They were really cute. I heard Brian laugh.
"What?" I asked as I lifted my head.
"That tickled. I never knew I was ticklish there." We smiled just as the song ended. Brian and I exited the dance floor. I walked towards AJ as I decided I need to use the bathroom. I saw Brian walk over to Nick and Kev and they all began to talk. I walked over in the direction that AJ had pointed in.
~Convo Between Nick, Kev, and Brian~
"Hey guys." Brian said. Nick immediately looked at Brian with concern in
his eyes.
"Did she tell you anything?" Nick asked not even saying 'hi'.
"Yeah, she needed someone to talk to. So I was there." As Brian said this,
Nick felt kinda guilty. He felt he should have been there.
"What happened?" Kevin asked not knowing anything they were talking about.
"Lindsay beat up this guy in school today. He hurt her, and she kneed him
in the jewels." Nick explained. "That's my girl." Nick said proudly with
a smile on his face. Brian looked worried.
"That's not everything that happened, Frack." Nick looked at Brian with wide
eyes. "Derrick did something else." Nick got a look of anger in his eyes
as Brian said this.
"I'll be right back." Nick said as he saw me walk towards the bathroom.
~In The Bathroom~
I looked into the mirror as I washed my hands. I looked horrible. My eyes
were turning red and my cheeks were pink cuz I wasn't feeling too well. I
opened up the door only to see Nick standing there pissed off. Nick grabbed
my hand a little rougher than before. "We need to talk." I nodded as Nick
led me to a guestroom in the house. He turned on the light and closed the
door, as I sat on the bed. "Why didn't you tell me everything?" Nick asked
concerned.
"I don't know. I'm sorry, Nick." I said with a small voice looking at my
feet dangling near the carpeted floor. Nick sat next to me on the bed.
"You don't have to be sorry. I just want to know what happened." Nick said
sounding quite calm.
"Derrick tried to kiss me when he was grabbing my shoulder. I didn't want
to kiss him, so I fought back." I explained. I looked up at Nick.
"Are you serious?" I nodded. "One more reason to hate that guy." I looked
at Nick and cocked an eyebrow. "We have never gotten along as you can tell."
Nick began as I nodded. "Before I got famous, Derrick was the "Big man".
Getting all the girls and stuff. He put everyone down including me. This
was a few years ago. He was kinda a bully. He messed with my friend Melissa.
He pretended to like her, they went out a few times and they had sex one
night. The next day, Derrick didn't acknowledge her at all. She felt horrible
and looked for him after his basketball game. She found him alright. Kissing
some other girl." My mouth opened wide.
"What an asshole!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know. Melissa was heart broken. She gave everything she had to him.
He just used her. It was horrible. I wasn't there for her when this happened
cuz we were just getting popular in the states. I felt really bad about it.
When I came back from a tour, I found out she had moved away. I haven't seen
her in years." So this is why him and Derrick were always on bad terms. It
all makes sense. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was being protective of you
this week. I didn't want you talking to him cuz I thought he'd do the same
to you." Nick said looking straight into my eyes. A smile appeared on my
face. "What?"
"It's just really nice to know that you care." I leaned over and hugged Nick.
I explained my past to him when we heard a knock on the door. It opened quickly.
Only to see a drunk AJ holding an empty glass of champagne. AJ looked at
us as his eyes grew wide.
"Wo... S-sorry Little Man. I didn't know you were her with your *hiccup*
woman. I'll leave you guys alone." AJ said stumbling out of the room. Nick
and I looked at each other and just laughed. You cannot take AJ seriously
when he's had a few too many. Nick and I decided to leave the room. It was
only 7:00 when we met up with the other guys. We were walking up to Brian
and Kev when AJ tapped on my shoulder. I looked at him. "Do a little dance,
make a little love, get down tonight." AJ sang looking at Nick and I. I shook
my head as Brian and Kevin laughed. We started a conversation, when we saw
Howie trying to calm AJ down. Howie wouldn't let him drink anymore and he
tried to sober him up. A half hour later, all the guys were whisked away
from me. Brian and Nick smiled and turned to me and smiled. Ok...something
is up. They all walked up to the stereo system as AJ took over the microphone.
Surprisingly, AJ didn't sound drunk anymore.
"Ok, as you all know, we will be leaving tomorrow for a few days. We're pretty
much going to New York for some promotional stuff, but that's not even half
of it." AJ handed the mic over to Kevin.
"We are also going up there looking for some new talent. Jive is looking
for a new artist to add to the label." Kevin passed the mic to Howie.
"We are promoting this move to get more teenagers involved in this business."
Howie passed the mic to Brian.
"We are not only looking in New York, but also here in Florida. We have been
telling Lou Pearlman about different talents we have been hearing." Brian
looked at me. Hmmm...this is getting interesting. Brian gave the mic to Nick.
"And we are happy to announce that someone in this room is being considered
as our label mate." People began to look around. "Right now, we would like
to have that person join us on stage... Lindsay, would you come up here please?"
Nick said looking at me. I mouth gaped open as I slowly walked up to the
boys. "Everyone this is Lindsay and she will be singing for Lou this weekend.
Wish her luck!" Nick said hugging me. All the boys came up to me saying
'Congratulations' and 'Good Luck'. I could not believe what was happening.
Is this all a dream?
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