Chapter 9

Howie came up to them, laughing at Samantha’s hands over Nick’s mouth. “Girl we know how you feel, we’ve been trying to shut him up for over five years,” Howie said, as Nick rolled his eyes and the girls laughed.

“Funny D,” Nick said, once Samantha removed her hand.

“Oh Samantha, aren’t those nice earrings,” Howie said, as she yawned at him.

“Yeah they’re alright. I was expecting much larger,” she said as her, Megan, and Howie were cracking up while Nick stood there looking confused.

“Oh please, you know I love these earrings, I’ve only told you forty times on the phone since then,” Samantha said, as she smiled at Nick. I just wish I could have gotten you something so nice.”

“Nah, I loved my presents, you found some really cool vintage stuff. I wear that Journey shirt all of the time,” Nick said.

“Tell me about it,” Howie said, as he pinched his nose, pretending that Nick smelled bad.

Nick just rolled his eyes as the girls laughed at Howie. “And plus, you gave me that little coupon for one hot date when I come home when we’re on our break,” Nick said.

“Uh, I believe that coupon said ‘one free lunch on me’ at Pizza Hut,” Samantha said, as she smacked him lightly in the arm.

“Free pizza, hot date, Same thing,” Nick said, grinning.

“Pshhh, I don’t think so,” Samantha said, laughing at him.

“So, who’s single around here?” Megan asked, as Nick smiled.

“Duh, didn’t you just hear? Me!” he said, as she rolled her eyes at him.

“Who else?” Megan replied, as his mouth dropped open.

“Me baby,” Howie said winking, as he took her arm and they walked off.

“Damn, dismissed,” Samantha said, laughing at him.

“Yeah yeah, story of my life,” he said, pretending to wipe away a fake tear. “So come on and let me show you what I do everyday,” he said, as he took her hand and they walked off.

Samantha and Megan sat in the font row, almost mesmerized by the show. That is, when they weren’t screaming their heads off. They were very impressed with the show, and Samantha couldn’t stop thinking that her very best friend on the planet did this almost every night. She was in awe of him.

After the show, the girls headed backstage again to congratulate the guys on a job well done. It was pretty late by now, almost 1 in the morning, but they guys were all pumped up from performing. Samantha and Megan gushed about how great the show was, and they all decided to go back to the hotel bar and celebrate.

“Don’t worry about not getting in, they won’t even question you,” Nick said, as he was begging them to go.

“No we can’t Nick, I told my mom we were coming home tonight. It’s just an hour drive, no big deal,” Samantha replied.

“Are you sure? It’s really late. I can get Kevin to call your mom and tell her we’re getting you a hotel room here and you can spend the night. Come on, don’t go,” he said, sticking out his lip and giving her the puppy dog eyes.

“You know the Carter trick isn’t going to work on me, I know how you use that to get your way,” Samantha said, as she pulled on his lip and Nick yelped at her in pain.

“Fine, fine, just go on,” he said, as he waved his hand, shooing her away.

Megan was laughing at them, the chemistry between them was so obvious. She just watched them talking, they played off of each other so well. She was jarred from her thoughts when she heard Nick calling her name.

“Hello? Megan? Earth to Megan….Oh there you are,” he said, as she looked at him. “Tell Sam you want to stay and celebrate with us.”

“I’d love to Nick,” Megan said, as she looked over at Samantha who shook her head no. “But she’s my ride home, so….” Megan said, as she looked at Samantha again who was thanking her silently. She knew Samantha wanted to get home so Jake wouldn’t find out that they were even gone. Obviously she hadn’t told Nick they were there without him knowing.

“Fine! I’m defeated then!” Nick said, as the guys were telling him they were about to leave. “Okay, give me a hug Megan,” he said, as she hugged him goodbye. “Bye Samanthamy,” he said, giving her a hug and kissing her cheek. “Talk to you tomorrow?” he asked.

“You know it, call me when you recover from tonight,” she said, as he smiled at her.

The girls said their good byes to all of the other guys, and walked out to Samantha’s car. As they got in, they were both talking a mile a minute from the excitement of the concert still in them. They pulled pout of the parking lot, cranking up Samantha’s CD player to her Backstreet Boy’s CD and drove down the road singing at the top of their lungs and giggling. Samantha got on the freeway, and headed west back to Tampa.

They drove on, still high from the night, reminiscing on everything that had happened at the concert. Megan had smartly changed her mind to making Howie her favorite, which cracked Samantha up. She and Howie had seemed to hit it off though. They both agreed that it was one of the best times they had ever had. As Samantha drove down the highway in the dark, she noticed there wasn’t too much traffic. She eased into her seat, pushing harder on the pedal so they could get home.

Samantha drove on, and when she looked over to ask Megan something, she noticed that she had fallen asleep, a smile still on her face. Samantha grinned. She turned her head back to the road, but before she could react there was a pair of headlights right in front of them. Samantha screamed, and tried to swerve out of the way, but it was too late and they hit the car head on.

Samantha opened her eyes, her head was on the steering wheel and the horn was blaring. She couldn’t focus, and she didn’t realize where she was at first. She sat back, and heard a crunch of some glass that was in the seat. She undid her seat belt and looked over to the passenger’s seat. It was empty.

Samantha looked ahead at the road and saw a body lying there. Oh shit, it was Megan! “Megan!” she screamed, but the body wasn’t moving.