Just One Kiss

“London!” Stacy shouted as she saw her friend walking beside John. “What are you doing here?”

“John insisted I come on tour with you guys for a while.” London rolled her eyes, though Stacy could see the excitement in her eyes.

“Well, good for him! It’ll be nice to have you around here.” Stacy smiled, linking arms with London as they walked toward the hotel elevator. “I could use a break from the testosterone getting tossed around.”

“I get the feeling.” Nikki said, walking up to them.

“Hey, Nikki, right?” London asked.

“Yeah,” Nikki replied, glancing back at Stacy with wide eyes.

“I saw we go out and have a girls day today. I don’t have anything until tonight, and Nikki and I need to start shopping for the charity dinner concert or whatever it is.”

“I can help,” London spoke up. “John told me about that though. He didn’t say who was performing, but that they were pretty well known.”

“Now, my darling brother,” Stacy said, looking back toward John. “Said he had no idea who would be there.”

“I was just informed yesterday.” John shrugged. “I think I want you to be surprised.” John winked as he walked up to London’s other side, grabbing her hand. “Here, let’s get you up to the room so you can get away from the crazy, I mean, my sister, I mean, get ready for your day out.”

“Bite me John!” Stacy shouted after her brother’s retreating back. Stacy turned to Nikki, who was smiling down at her cell phone.

“What going on here?” Stacy asked, nudging Nikki’s arm with her elbow.

“What? Nothing,” Nikki said quickly, shoving her phone back in her pocket.

“Sure, and I’m Blood Mary.” Stacy replied sarcastically. “Say my name three times in the mirror so I can have some eyeballs.”

“That was lame,” Nikki said, laughing slightly.

“It was pretty lame,” Stacy agreed. “Come on Nik, you tell me what that is, I’ll tell you something.”

“It was nothing. I’m just texting with someone.”

“Who?” Nikki blushed and let her head drop, murmuring something unintelligible.

“Repeat that,” Stacy said, putting her ear to Nikki’s mouth.

“A-Aaron Carter.”

“Aaron, Nick’s brother?” Nikki nodded, going a darker red. “That’s nothing to be ashamed about. Let loose, have fun.”

“Like you’re doing with Nick?” Nikki asked. “I’m not going to hound you. I know you’re getting enough of that from John and Randy. You have to admit it to yourself though, even if you’ve only met a few times, you two are a pretty cute couple.”

“We’re nothing but friends.” Stacy insisted.

“For now,” Nikki winked. “By the way, I overheard Vince talking to John last night. The charity performers, is your favorite boy band.”

“Backstreet Boys?”

“Who else?” Nikki laughed. “Just, something for you to think about.” Nikki walked away to the elevators, leaving Stacy in the middle of the lobby shocked.

~***~

“What up Nickel?” Brian asked as he walked into the sitting area of the bus. Nick, who had headphones covering his ears, didn’t even look up from the song he was working on.

“Nick!” Brian shouted. Nick just continued to work on the song, not even paying attention to the fact that Brian was talking to him.

“I just tried getting his attention myself,” Howie informed Brian as he passed them to grab a cup of coffee. “He’s out of it right now.”

“What happened Howie, seriously? He hasn’t been the same since you guys went with those wrestlers.”

“Just, I don’t know.” Howie admitted. “He and that Stacy chick he’s always talking about went out, danced, and after they got back to the table, Stacy took off like a bat out of hell. He followed after her, but when he got back he was ready to leave.”

“Something happened,” Brian muttered, watching as Nick pulled out his cell phone. He looked at the text message he had just received from Stacy and smiled. He sent a quick reply and went back to working on the song, though his mind was quickly wandering.

“A little birdie told me you and four others are the special musical guests to the same charity event I have to go to for my boss.” Stacy had sent him. He replied back asking her which event.

“The Make-A-Wish Foundation. We’re always doing stuff with them.” Nick read in Stacy’s reply.

“It’s a great organization. We need to do more with them. This is kind of cool though.”

“Yeah it is. Sorry about the other night. I was getting tired.”

“It’s fine. Are you okay now?”

“Define ‘OK’”

“What’s up? Anything I can help you with?”

“You’re sweet for asking, but it’s nothing big. I’ll get over it, in time.” Nick looked up from the message, lost in thought again. He had given up on the song after Stacy’s second message, so he was just sitting at his laptop listening to music and playing computer games.

“Okay, but just know, I’m right here if you ever need to talk.” Nick sent, snapping his phone shut and pulling the headphones off.

“What’s up?” Kevin asked. Nick jumped slightly, not realizing he had entered the room.

“Nothing,” Nick shrugged, though his voice told Kevin it was more than nothing.

“Little man,” Kevin said, using his old nickname from when he first met Nick. Nick couldn’t help but smile at the use of it.

“Is it wrong to be completely infatuated with someone you’ve met a month ago?” Nick asked.

“Not really. Look at Brian. He was completely smitten over Leighanne, and that was just the first day while we were shooting the video.”

“You know Aaron and I did that thing for WWE, well, I met one of the diva’s there, and she’s all I’ve been able to think about since.”

“Yeah, the others mentioned it.” Kevin nodded. “They’re saying you don’t want to try anything but just being her friend.”

“It can’t be more than that Kev. You know how screwed up things are for me.”

“Did you read that book I gave you?”

“Uh, no. Never got around to it.”

“Take time to,” Kevin said. “It really does help. In the mean time, you’ve always taken chances, so I don’t see why this is any different.”

“It’s just, I don’t know,” Nick muttered, his phone vibrating. He flipped it open and read Stacy’s reply before snapping the phone shut again. “I guess it’s really not that different, but it feels like it is.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s different.” Nick suddenly realized, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Then give things a chance to work out the way they’re supposed to Nickel.” Kevin said, standing up to draw level with the man he considers a little brother. “He wouldn’t be putting you through this if there wasn’t a reason for it.”

“I know,” Nick nodded.

“Okay, new problem to solve.” Kevin said, examining Nick with observant eyes.

“What?” Nick asked uncertainly.

“How did you go from being a pint sized punk to being nearly as tall as I am?” Kevin laughed, nudging Nick with his elbow. Nick rolled his eyes, but laughed along with the elder man.

“I think it’s called puberty Kev,” Nick replied.

“Seriously man,” Kevin said, his laughter dying at once. “I’m proud of the man you grew up to be Nick. I met you, you were some singing kid, now you, AJ, Howie, even Brian, you’re all my little brothers.”

“I know,” Nick nodded his head, feeling his phone vibrating. He looked down at the front screen and saw it was another text, this time from his little sister Angel. He decided to ignore it. He had other things on his mind and he already knew what Angel was going to want from him.