Chapter 7

The sound of the phone made Nick jump a foot in the air, his heart beating a mile a minute.

“What?!” Nick barked into the pone.

“What’s your problem?” Brian asked.

“Uh, damn phone scared me half to death,” Nick said, as Brian laughed.

“Well we’ve been waiting for you in the lobby for like 15 minutes now, what are you doing up there?” he asked.

“Shit, it’s already been an hour?” Nick asked.

“An hour and fifteen minutes, obviously,” Brian replied.

“You know, I’m just going to stay here, I’m not hungry,” Nick said.

“Not hungry?” Brian asked, “You feeling okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine Rok,” Nick replied.

“Well, okay, want me to bring you something back?” Brian asked.

“Yeah surprise me,” Nick said, “and don’t let D order it, he’ll order me something super spicy and then I WILL be sick.”

“Okay, we’ll be back later, I’ll bring it on over,” Brian said.

“Thanks,” Nick said, as he was about to hang up.

“Nick?” Brian asked.

“Yeah?” Nick answered.

“You sure you’re okay?” Brian asked.

“I’m fine, just tired. Go on,” Nick said.

“Bye,” Brian replied, hanging up.

“Well, is he coming?” AJ asked, as Brian walked from the front desk over to the guys.

“No, he says he’s not hungry,” Brian replied.

“Not hungry?” Kevin asked, raising his eyebrow.

“You spoke to Nick CARTER right?” AJ asked, as Howie laughed.

“Man, I think talking about ‘Rain’ at the station today fucked him up,” Kevin said.

“Yeah really man, he sounded strange on the phone just now. He don’t need to be thinking about that again. He just got done telling me he really liked Amber. He seems happy,” Brian said.

“Well we all know how damn long it took for him to get over Samantha. I don’t think we want to go back there,” Howie said.

“Hell no,” AJ replied.

“She was his first love man, and she hurt him so bad. Just the mention of her makes him freak out. I don’t know how he’s going to take it if ‘Rain’ is on the radio all of the time. You see how white his face turned when that DJ asked him about the song?” Brian asked.

They all nodded in agreement.

“I’m really pissed that Jive didn’t ask us to use that. Let’s make a pact that no matter what, we are NOT going to shoot a video. I don’t care of the song goes all the way to number 1. It will kill Nick. Agreed?” Kevin asked them.

“Agreed,” they all said at the same time, as they walked out of the hotel to go to the restaurant.

Samantha laid in bed the next morning watching the sun come up outside her window. She hadn’t slept a wink that night. All she could think about what Jake and what all he said.

She was finally free of him and his ghost and she could finally get on with her life. She just didn’t know how.

“Follow you’re heart…” Samantha thought as she picked up the phone and dialed the stations number.

“WGRT. Richard here..” said Richard, Samantha’s boss and the programming director at the station.

“Hey Rich, what’s up?” asked Samantha.

“Sammy girl, what are you doing calling me, it’s 7:30.. I just got my ass to work.” said Richard laughing.

“Um you know how I’ve never taken a vacation since I’ve been at the station?” asked Samantha.

“Yes ma’am, you ready for one?” asked Rich.

“If it’s okay I take a few days off.” said Samantha.

“Well you know we usually give the DJ’s a week off but you’ve never had one….” said Rich.

“Two weeks?” asked Samantha, “Well that’s a little much, I just wanted to go to Tampa for a day or so and visit my best friend’s grave and her parents.”

“Well go ahead and take the two weeks off… take Megan to Disney World or something, you need a break.” said Rich.

“You sure it’s okay?” asked Samantha.

“It’s fine.” said Rich, “You have fun okay.”

“Thanks Rich. I’ll call you soon.” said Samantha as she smiled and hung up.

“I’m gonna go see Megan…” she thought as she smiled and dialed her parent’s number.

“Hello?” asked Roger answering the phone.

“Hey Daddy… would you like to spend some time with your granddaughter for the next two days?” asked Samantha.

“Where are you going?” asked Roger.

“I’m gonna go visit Megan’s grave and go see her parents.” said Samantha.

“When did this come about?” asked Roger.

“Jake.. um I haven’t told you guys but I got a lawyer to contact Jake and him and his fiancee came up here and he signed over his rights to Megan.” said Samantha.

“He did?” asked Roger in shock.

“Yeah and he gave me a lot to think about.. so I wanna go see Megan and it’s stupid but just talk to her.” said Samantha.

“Okay.. well when do you want to leave?” asked Roger.

“Can you guys be here a little before lunch to get her?” asked Samantha.

“Sure sweety… we’ll be there.” said Roger as Samantha smiled.

Nick and the guys sat in their dressing room, a few hours before their last concert in Australia.

“Man, these two weeks flew by,” Brian said, as they were all watching Nick and AJ try to beat each other at the football video game they were playing.

“Man, time we get home, we have a week off and then we have to go to Europe,” Howie said.

“Yeah, but after that, the tour’s over,” Nick said.

“This year flew by,” Kevin observed, “Man I’m getting old.”

“You know what I was thinking the other day?” AJ asked.

“We don’t want to know,” Brian said as he went to laughing, “For real man.”

“No not that,” AJ said snickering, “I was remembering when we did an on-line interview back in the day. Nick told the fans that we were going to keep on doing this until we were old and dancing with canes.”

“So?” Howie asked.

“So, what is the routine for “Yes I will”?” AJ asked,

“Shit,” Kevin said, “We’re all old.”

Nick’s cell phone started ringing, and he paused the video game, picking it up.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Hey baby,” his mother replied.

“Hey mama, what’s up?” Nick asked.

There was silence on the line.

“Mom?” he asked.

“Grandma died,” she said, as Nick just sat there speechless. All he could do was look at the other guys.

“Nick, what’s wrong?” Brian asked as he looked at Nick, who was turning white.

Nick couldn’t find the words to get it out. He just closed his eyes, tossing the phone to Brian, and walked out.

“What the hell?” Kevin said, as Brian put the phone to his ear.

“Hello? Jane?” he asked.

“Hey Brian, Nick’s grandmother died, Bob’s mom,” she said.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” Brian replied, “Are you all okay?”

“Yeah, we’re hanging in. Just do me a favor and make sure Nick’s alright. You know how he is, keeps it all in,” Jane said, her voice starting to crack.

“I know, we’ll take care of him,” Brian said, looking at the other guys.

“Can he come home tomorrow? The funeral is in a few days,” she asked.

“Sure, we’re practically done after tonight, I’ll make sure he gets there as soon as possible. It’s a long flight,” Brian said.

“Thanks Brian,” she said, as they hung up.

“Well? Damn what is it?” AJ asked.

“Nick’s grandmother died,” he replied, “he needs to get home.”

“Shit,” Howie said.

“I’ll go get him,” Brian said, as he was about to get up.

“Nah cuz, I got it,” Kevin said, as he walked out the door.