Chapter 23: Finally A Normal Day

"Okay, thanks, you're great, uh-huh, bye," Nick replied as he hung up the phone. I flipped the stations on the TV during commercial.
"Okay you're set," he replied sitting down next to me. It was a beautiful winter day outside, the sun shining through my windows.
"What? What did you do?" I asked like a child as I turned to face him.
"Okay, Christmas is this weekend, but next week we've got some promotion to do. Just small things to hold over the fans and the media until the next album. We've also added a few tour dates for Canada because we didn't get there that much. Well our regular PR director is out on maternity leave, and we were looking for a new one. Would you like to temporarily be our new PR director?" He asked, smiling ear to ear and feeling proud of his accomplishment.
I was stunned.
"Don't worry, it's only for two weeks because we only added on five dates and three television appearances. So what do you say Kate?"
"Wow, well, I'm on probation from the Times for two weeks, so I guess, yeah, I'll do it!" I said excitedly. This was actually the job I'd always wanted. My degree trained me well for doing PR, so once I jumped in, I was sure I'd be okay.
I kissed him softly.
"Thank you so much," I replied excitedly.

~THAT AFTERNOON~

"How about ice skating?" I asked, looking over at the ice rink in Rockefeller Center.
"Me? On ice skates, ha!" He yelled, his hand entwined with mine.
"Carter, don't be such a wussy!" I yelled as I pulled him with me towards the ice rink.

~FIVE MINUTES LATER~

"I don't even know how to tie these things," he teased.
"You lie, you tie them like roller blades!" I yelled as I bent down and began tying his skates.
Suddenly his cell phone rang.
"Hello? Yeah, hey what up dude? You're serious? Okay, hold on, she's right here actually," Nick replied as he handed me the phone.
Confused I took it from him.
"Uh, hello?" I asked.
"Kate, it's Brian, how are you?" He asked.
"Hey Bri, I'm fine, what's up?"
"Felicia and I are flying into New York tonight for a few days before we fly home for Christmas. I was wondering if you possibly would want to see us?" He teased.
"Of course! Put Felicia on," I was really happy for the first time in
weeks.
"Hey girl!" She yelled when she came on the phone.
"Hey, I miss you guys! Brian said you're heading up here tonight. Let me give you directions to my apartment," I replied.
After I'd given her the directions the line went silent.
"How is everything?" she asked.
"I'll tell you when you get here. I'm gonna hand you back to Nick, okay? I'll see you tonight," I replied as I handed Nick the phone and continued to tie his skates.
After they'd hung up I stood up and pulled Nick with me. He stumbled over himself a few times, but held onto my hands for balance.
"There's a story for me to write: BACKSTREET BOY STUMBLES AROUND ICE RINK," I replied with a laugh as I placed the words across an imaginary paper in the air.
"Hey McBride, I know where you live," he replied as he looked down at his skates.
I began to laugh.
"You know what would be funny?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around his waist.
"What is that?" He asked, balancing on my shoulders and wrapping his arms around my back.
"Leaving you standing here and trying to watch you get onto the ice by yourself," I replied slyly.
"You wouldn't," he started as I began to back up. "Kate, you wouldn't!" He yelled as he began to laugh.
"Test me Carter," I replied as I backed up and onto the ice.
"Kate, come back!" He sounded like a child and looked like an idiot as he tried to make his way to the ice.
"Come on Nickay," I teased.
"Don't call me that!" He yelled as he tried to come after me.
I went into a fit of laughter as I skated my way around the ice.

~THAT NIGHT~

We had finished eating dinner and were doing the dishes.
"They should be here soon," Nick replied as he looked at his watch and loaded the last dish into the dishwasher.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Nick ran over to it and opened it.
"B-ROK!" He yelled as they embraced. "Hi Felicia," he replied as he kissed her cheek and hugged her.
I tossed down the towel and went to the door.
"Hey Bri," I replied as he hugged me tightly.
"How you doin' Kate?" He sweetly asked.
"KATE!" Felicia yelled as we embraced.
"Please, have a seat," I offered.
We sat in the living room talking.
"Hey Nicky-boy, what happened to your face?" Brian asked as he began to giggle.
Nick turned red.
"I uh...I."
"He fell on the ice when we went skating this afternoon," I replied as I kissed his cheek carefully.
Brian broke out into a fit of laughter.
"You what? AH HAAA!" Brian laughed his world famous chuckle.
"Shut up! Like you can skate Rok!"
"Actually I can, AHH HAAA!" Brian continued to laugh. Felicia lightly hit him in the stomach.
Brian stopped dead in his tracks from laughing and put on a straight face. We all broke out into laughter.

~LATER THAT NIGHT~

I had just finished a load of laundry and I was in my room putting my clothes away when Felicia came in.
"Hey," she replied as she came in and sat down on my bed. I smiled at her.
"I see you guys are back together," she replied, smiling.
"Yeah, I dunno what it was, but he showed up here on my doorstep and we worked things out," I replied, placing one of my shirts in my closet.
"Well, the second day of the video shoot really did it for Nick I think."
"What happened?" I asked, sitting down next to her, holding a nightshirt in my right hand.
"We were doing some more scenes at the beach when there was a break time of ten minutes. A.J. and Howie and I were talking and they asked about you. Nick overheard and walked off, glaring at all of us as he did. When the shoot started again they were suppose to walk in a line with Nick on one end, Kevin on the other. When they started walking and the cameras were rolling A.J. accidentally bumped into Nick because of the soft sand where the tide had come in the night before. Nick must have been on edge anyway and just got really angry," Felicia said.
"What did he do?" I asked worriedly.
Well Nick stopped and pushed him. A.J. got in his face telling him to calm down...Felicia recalled...
(The italics are Felicia remembering the story...)
"Why did you do that man, what's your problem?" Nick angrily yelled at A.J. as he stopped dead in the sand to look at him.
"What the fuck is your problem?" A.J. yelled as he stood nearly on his toes to get in Nick's face.
"Why don't you watch where the hell you're going!?" Nick yelled back, both of them chest to chest.
"Yo Nick, calm down, it was an accident," Kevin replied as he began to get in the middle of both of them.
"Yo Nick, I'm sick of your fuckin' mood swings. You're totally trippin' since Kate left, you need to figure out what the fuck you're going to do because I won't work with you until you do," he replied as he walked off.
Nick took off after him, pushing him down in the sand. Kevin grabbed onto Nick firmly and pulled him off, holding him with all his power. A.J. bolted upright and began to run after Nick as Brian and Howie held onto him.
"You guys need to stop this! It's immature man, we're brothers, knock it off!" Brian yelled as he looked at both the angry men.
"Yo Frack, come with me," Brian replied as he grabbed Nick from Kevin's release and pulled him aside.
"A.J., come on," Howie replied as he helped Brian separate them.
"Listen Bone, Nick, he's going through a lot right now. And we both know he handles anger a lot more differently than we do. He jumps too quickly to conclusions when he's dealing with a lot of pain and anger. Just let it go man, just let it go. He'll apologize once he realizes what he did, okay?" Howie talked A.J. through it.
"Yeah D, you're right, I just need a few minutes to calm down, okay?" A.J. replied as he sat down and stared out at the ocean.

~AT THE SAME TIME~

"Nick, what the fuck are you doin' man?" Kevin replied as he walked up to Brian and Nick.
"Kev, don't start," Nick grumbled.
"Nick you need to stop this now, I'm serious here man," Brian replied as
Nick sat down on a rock and Brian towered over him.
"Man, I dunno what is wrong," Nick replied, frustration in his voice as tears began to well up in his eyes. He tried hard not to show his emotion.
"Man, you're trippin' off this girl and she's a great girl. You need to stop being so damned proud and just call her," Brian replied as he searched Nick's eyes for an answer.
"But what about -" Nick began to whine.
"NICK. Yo, you're not listening, you need to call her or go see her or do something because you're the only one here who believes she did those things. She loves you man. It's hard to find someone like that," Kevin replied.
"Yeah Nick, she really gave up a lot and risked a lot for you," Brian added.

"And that Kate, was what pushed him to come here," Felicia concluded.
"Wow, are he and A.J. okay now?" I asked with worry plastered across my face.
"Oh yeah, they both apologized, but A.J.'s a really understanding guy, so they're fine," she replied.
"And what are you two beautiful women doing?" Brian asked as he peeked his head into the doorway. I stood up and continued to fold my clothes.
"Just talkin' girl talk, are you jealous B-Rok? Do you want to talk girl talk with us?" Felicia teased as Brian approached her and kissed him lovingly.
"Are you ready to head back to the hotel? Give these lovebirds some time alone...give us some time a-lone," Brian asked slyly.
"Definitely," she teased.
"We'll call you in the morning," Brian replied as they walked out. I followed them into the living room where Nick was standing and saying goodbye. He shut the door behind them and locked it.
"Well Mr. Carter, it's been an awfully long time since we've had a quiet, unproductive night together, wouldn't you say?" I replied as I dimmed the lights and approached him.
"Just how can we make it productive?" he teased as he scratched his head.
"Come here and I'll show you..." I replied with a grin as I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my room.
"Mmm...sounds good," he replied

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