Chapter 8
"Hey
guys, what's up?!" I walked over to Nick and put my arms
around his
neck,
as he slid his arms around my waist. He looked into my eyes.
"Not
much, what's up with you?" he asked as he looked down at me
and
smiled.
"Excited about going with us?"
"Hell
yeah!" I shouted.
"I
can tell." He replied and I laughed. I gave him a big hug
and buried
my
face
in his big, grey, fuzzy sweatshirt.
"So,
when are we leaving?" I asked.
"Soon.
We're just waiting for Aaron and my mom to show up.
"Hey,
Nick!" AJ yelled from across the room.
"What?"
"Call
'em up on your cell phone and ask 'em what's taking so long!
"No,
dude, I know they'll be here." Nick answered.
"Don't
you think we should go down to meet them?" Howie asked.
"That
would be a good idea." They picked up their luggage and we
all
headed
down
to the lobby. When we got down there Aaron and his mom were just
walking
through the doors.
"Hey
guys!" Nick said as the bus drivers took our bags and loaded
them
onto
the
two big tour buses parked outside.
"Nick,
what's up?!" Aaron ran into Nick and gave him a hug, nearly
knocking
him
down.
"Ready
for some fun?" Nick asked.
"And
a long bus ride." Aaron added.
"But
it's only four hours to Washington D.C." Nick explained.
"Is
that where we're going next?" I asked.
"Yeah,"
Aaron said, "Who are you?"
"I'm
Rachel, Nick's friend."
"His
GIRLFRIEND?" Aaron teased.
"Almost,
but not quite." Nick said and smiled at me. "Aaron, why
don't
you
go
make sure everything in the tour bus is in order?" Nick's
mom said
"Okay."
Aaron ran off. Nick's mom came up to us.
"Hi
mom." Nick gave her a hug.
"Good
morning, Nick." His mom said, "Are you going to
introduce me to
your
friend?"
she looked at me and smiled. He did and we shook hands.
"It's
nice to meet you, Mrs. Carter." I said.
"Rachel's
gonna come with us for the rest of the tour. We met at the
concert
here and really hit it off."
"Are
you two. . ."
"Friends."
I assured her.
"For
now." Nick added. At this I smiled.
"Well
Nick, I came to tell you that I can't go with you for the rest of
the
tour."
she said.
"What?
Why not?" Nick asked.
"Angel
has a piano recital I can't miss. I promised I'd be there, and
you
know
what happened when I didn't go to the last one. . ."
"Yeah,
you should go. Have fun, though. And wish her luck for me."
Nick
said.
"It
sucks that you couldn't come." I said. Mrs. Carter looked at
her
watch."Oh,
I've got to go. Don't want to miss my flight."
"Bye."
Nick and I both said in unison.
"It
was nice meeting you, Rachel." she said, "Bye."
Mrs. Carter waved and
walked
out the door. I looked around and saw that the rest of the guys
had
walked
outside and were signing autographs for a few girls.
"We'd
better catch up before they leave without us." Nick said,
seeming
to
read
my mind. We headed for the buses, with me walking in front. I
climbed
onto
the awaiting bus to see Aaron sitting in front of the small TV,
playing
a video game. "Wow!" I exclaimed. "This place is
huge!"
"Yeah,
it's cool." Aaron said, looking up. "Hey, where's Nick?"
I looked
behind
me. He wasn't there as I had thought. I glanced out the window
and
there
he was.
Nick
was signing autographs. There were only a few girls out there,
and
they
weren't going nuts or anything, quite unlike the crazed fans at
the
dance
the night before. He walked up to one girl who looked like she
was
about
nine years old. She was wearing a t-shirt that had a picture of
Nick
on
it, rather than one of all the Boys.
He
said something, I don't know what it was, and this girl didn't
reply.
She
just nodded and looked at the ground, shyly.
I
was surprised at what Nick did next. He took her hand gently in
his and
kissed
it very lightly. She looked up at him and smiled more brightly
than
I'd
ever seen a kid smile. It was the most adorable thing. He smiled
too,
waved,
and walked into the bus.
"Nick,
that was so sweet!" I said when he came in. "I mean,
you just
totally
lit up her life."
"Yeah,
well, what else can I do?" he asked, plopping down on the
small
couch.
"I'm just a big ol' softie." he grinned as the bus
started to
drive
off.
Just then Aaron interrupted our conversation.
"Hey
Nick, I'll bet I can beat you again."