Kevin and Howie were sitting at one of the tables watching AJ and Brian and Nick dancing in a group of people. Howie noticed that Kevin was awful quiet. “Kev, what’s up man? Usually you’re all over the dance floor.” Kevin looked over to Howie. “I’m tired How. I’m sore and I miss home. I’m physically and mentally tired. I’m glad that we have only two more cities after New York. I am going home to Kentucky as soon as the managers let us off.” Kevin stopped talking. Howie said, “What’s wrong? Why’d you stop?” Kevin continued on, “I’m lonely too Howie. I don’t miss Kristin, but today at the hospital, when I was talking to Dr. Riley I felt so comfortable again. Like she actually appreciated me because I was me. She’s even from Lexington Howie. How much fate is that? It’s been three months since Kristin, and I’m ready to try again. I just wish that I had more time around these people that I meet. I’d really like to go back to the hospital tomorrow and see if she’d like to go to dinner or something. Is that cool?” Howie smiled at his friend, “That would be great Kev. I think you should go for it. Hey, I just noticed something. Where’s Nick? He was with the other guys just a few minutes ago.” Just then Nick came running up to the table out of breath. “Kevin, you owe me big if I tell you what I just heard. You really want to know. Give me a few bucks and I’ll tell you,” Howie laughed as Nick said this. Kevin said, ‘Why in the hell would I pay you money for something that might not even be good. Get out of here man and go dancing.” He playfully punched Nick in the stomach. Nick yelled above the music, “You really want to know Kev. I’m mean it.” “That may be true Nick, but I’m not going to pay you.” Howie spoke up, “Here Nick. Here’s five bucks. You tell me your secret and then get out of here. I’ll decide if I’ll tell Kev or not.” Nick took the money and leaned over to Howie and whispered in his ear. Howie’s eyes got big and Nick smiled as he left back for the dance floor. Howie turned to Kev, “You should have paid Kevin. It’s really good.” Kevin yelled, “What? I can’t hear you man.” Howie pulled his chair closer to Kevin’s. “I said, you should have paid for Nick’s secret. It was a good one. But because you’re my friend, I’ll tell you for free. She’s here.” Kevin leaned closer, “What did you say? The last part?” Howie repeated himself, “She’s here. Kelly Riley is here. Your doctor. The one that you were going to ask out tomorrow. She’s here now. Nick was watching for the door for new girls and he said he saw these two really beautiful ladies, so he walked up behind them. He was going to say something, but they were talking. He listened and it’s Kelly and he says her friend she’s with is just as pretty. But that’s not the best part. Kelly was talking about you. She was talking about you Kevin.” Kevin smiled and jumped up. “Thanks Howie. I better get on the floor if I ever expect to find her in this crowd.”
Just as Kevin ran off, the rest of the guys came back to the table with Nick. Howie was sitting alone at the table with his arms crossed, smiling. Brian spoke up first, “Okay Howie. When we left you, you were with Kev, and now Kevin’s gone and Nick is running around gathering us up and he’s all excited. What’s up?” AJ broke in first before Howie had a chance to answer, “Make your explanation fast, because I got girls out there waiting for me.” Howie started, “Well, you all know how Kev has been a little lonely lately. And we all know that he had a good time talking with that doc at the hospital. Well, he’s taken a liking to her and he was going to go back to the hospital tomorrow and ask her to dinner. But he doesn’t need to do that anymore.” Nick jumped up and down, “You know why?” Brian laughed, “Why Nick?” “Because she is here in this club right now,” both Howie and Nick answered at the same time. Brian laughed, “Good, it was time Kev moved on.” He got serious though, “I just hope that he doesn’t get hurt like Kristin did to him.” AJ spoke up, “All right, so Kev is going to get some tonight. Good for him. Come on Nick, let’s go boogy.” Nick and AJ went back onto the floor. Brian pulled up a chair next to Howie. “So, Howie. How come you’re not out there strutting you stuff?” “Oh, I was keeping Kevin company. He’s pretty sore with those stitches. But I think that his night just got a little better. He really likes her, or he thinks he does. He’s attracted to her, but I think that it goes deeper. He’s getting tired of this life. I think that he wants to settle down and he’s going at whatever comes to him. She seemed very nice, but Kevin is not thinking rationally. I guess we’ll see how tonight goes. That is, if he even finds her in here.” Brian patted Howie on the shoulder, “You are to good to us man. Come on. Stop worrying about Kev. He’ll get it together. Let’s go dance. I saw some spanish hotties for you.” Howie and Brian got up and left the table and went into the mess of people on the floor.
“I can’t believe she’s here. If Nick is lying I’ll kick his little white butt so hard he won’t know what hit him. I didn’t even ask him what she was wearing. How the hell am I going to find her?” Kevin walked around the table and bar side of the room looking for her. “Damn, this is impossible. I guess I’ll have to go onto the floor.” Kevin entered the mass of people and moved to the beat of the music searching around for her. Kevin started walking towards the middle of the club when he ran right into someone. He felt the person fall over. He shook his head clear and looked down. Then he stopped. He had found her, and she had found him, but not the way that he had planned.