“I enjoyed this. Thank you so much for keeping me company today, Nick,” Gretchen said.
“Aw, no, thank YOU for… everything. Gretchen, I do have to ask you… have you dated anyone since this Brandon guy?” Nick asked cautiously.
“No… why?”
Nick blushed. “You’re going to think I’m a jerk if I tell you.”
“No I won’t.”
“I just wanted to know if you were… interested in a relationship again, y’know?”
“Nick…”
“Hey, no pressure. I just… want a real date with you is all. I don’t want marriage or anything.” Nick laughed. “At least not today.”
Gretchen hesitated.
“I just… maybe I’m judging the situation, maybe I’m not taking it the way I should be, but I just think that… starting to date someone else- someone who would never hurt you- would help you get over this completely. And I like you, I can’t help that.”
Gretchen still said nothing.
“Look. I’m leaving tomorrow. Please… let me take you out to dinner tonight. OK?”
“Well…OK.”
“Good.”
Gretchen turned her car into the parking lot of the hotel. Nick took her hand and kissed it. “How about I pick you up at the place you’re staying at around… 8:30. Is that OK?” Gretchen nodded, and smiled.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she said. But the expression on her face showed uncertainty… and worry.
“I canNOT believe you asked Michelle for her number,” AJ said in dismay as he and Brian left the movie site. “You just broke up with your girlfriend yesterday, Brian. What’s up with that?”
“I don’t know what got into me, J. I just… did it.”
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Anyway, when does our plane leave tomorrow?” AJ asked.
“5 AM,” Brian replied.
“Ugh.”
“Well, do you think Nick’s back yet? I want to talk to him,” Brian said.
“I know ya do.”
“Are you… mad that I asked Michelle for her number? AJ, no offense, but I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself, OK? I’m hurting from Leighanne, I need someone to take my mind off of her. Jeez.”
“Well- .”
“ In fact , I might call her up and ask her out for tonight. Might as well. I have no shame left.”
“You don’t,” AJ agreed.
“Do you think that she would say yeah if I asked her out?” Brian asked.
“Who knows? Snobs have weird ways of working.”
“Do you have some type of Male PMS that we need to know about?” Brian asked, irritated.
“Huh?”
They pulled up to the hotel, and Brian hurried to his room. “Nick?”
Nick was frantically searching through his suitcase, throwing things down on the floor. “Yeah?”
“I have something to tell you- what are you doing?”
“Promise not to rag on me as usual?”
“Yeah…”
“I’m taking Gretchen out to dinner tonight.”
“Oh. Really?” Brian said coyly.
“Dude, you just promised you wouldn’t…”
“Sorry, sorry. Anyway, I’ll give you a reason to rag on me. You know Michelle Colback?”
“Yeah.”
“I asked her for her number today,” Brian said.
Nick paused. “Wait, uh, didn’t Leighanne just dump you less than 24 hours ago? This morning you were miserable, and now… who are you? What have you done with the real Brian Littrell?”
“Shut up dude. I thought you and AJ of all people would understand. I’m moving on.”
“It’s just out of character for you. But, what do you mean ‘me of all people’? I don’t ask girls for their numbers the day after my girlfriend of 3 years breaks up with me.”
“You know how you are, Nick.”
Nick threw up his hands. “Maybe I want to turn over a new leaf. I want to settle down now. I don’t want to be a player or anything anymore.”
“And you want to settle down with Gretchen Jones?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. She’s cool. She doesn’t see me as a Backstreet Boy, but as a person. She has some trust issues, but with good reason. Just don’t mention how I used to be with girls in front of her. She’ll freak out, she won’t want to give me a chance.”
“Why? What’s up with her?”
“I’m not going to tell you,” Nick replied.
“Fair enough. Good luck trying to find something that isn’t wrinkled,” Brian said. He then mumbled something about finding something to eat and left the room.
Nick just sighed, and continued rummaging through another suitcase.
Gretchen dialed her home number, and her mom answered.
“Hi honey, did you have fun today? What’d you do?”
“Well, I went out with a guy. His name is Nick, he’s in the Backstreet Boys.”
“Great, honey! I’m so glad you’re dating again!” her mother exclaimed. Her mom knew about what had happened with Brandon, but her father didn’t. If her father had found out, he’d want to go shoot Brandon. He’d be extremely upset. Extremely.
“Well, it wasn’t really a date… but I’m meeting him tonight, and I’m a little nervous about it. Do you think this is OK? Do you think I’m ready?”
“I can’t tell you that, Gretchen. Only you can tell yourself that.”
They chatted for about 25 more minutes, and then Gretchen glanced at the clock. “I need to take a shower, mom. I’ll talk to you later, Ok?”
“All right, honey. Have a nice time.”
Gretchen was having doubts about whether she should have told Nick about Brandon or not. She had only met Nick a month earlier… that was something very personal. She just… felt like he would understand. And he seemed to, despite his asking her out. She had thought that Nick would realize that she was still uncomfortable with it. Still, it was his last night there, so she couldn’t say no. She picked out the outfit she would wear that night- a black knee-length skirt and a light blue button-up shirt- and got into the shower. As the water came rushing down, Gretchen felt uneasiness in her stomach. She just didn’t want to get involved in something that would possibly bring her pain. It would be too hard not only having her heart broken, but also having the media broadcast it as if it were entertainment. She cringed just thinking about it.
‘I’m not going to get involved,’ Gretchen thought to herself. ‘I’m just going to… be friendly. I won’t let myself feel anything.’
When she was done showering, she got ready and tried to calm her nerves. She just couldn’t shake the scared feeling she had. ‘Why am I getting like this?’ she wondered, annoyed at her fear. ‘He’s a great guy. He’ll understand if I don’t want to date.’
Brian excitedly brushed his hair. He was taking Michelle out to a movie. He had just got dumped the day before, and he already had a date with a beautiful girl the next night! Of course… there was still that hollow feeling on the inside of his stomach… the ache Leighanne had left there. But he wanted to move on, wanted to experience life. He was 25, and didn’t even have a girlfriend. Most people who he had gone to high school with were already married! He was lagging.
Michelle had graciously accepted his offer to go see a movie, and had admitted to him that she had hoped he would call her before he left L.A. She was going to be there for awhile longer finishing up the movie she was filming. Brian didn’t know how this gorgeous girl could be interested in him … after all, she seemed to be more of AJ’s type, and AJ was the opposite of him. But… she was interested, and that was amazing.
Just as Brian was pulling on a shirt, AJ walked in. He was silent for a minute as Brian sprayed on some cologne, and then blurted out: “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Of course,” Brian said in disbelief. “You’ve got to get over this thing you have, AJ. It’s getting to be really tedious.”
“OK then, I’m just going to butt out from now on.”
“You do that,” Brian replied, shaking his head.
“What’s going on?” Nick asked as he passed AJ storming out of the room.
“AJ still doesn’t like Michelle, so he feels the need to tell me who I should and shouldn’t date.”
Nick turned to the mirror. “How do I look?” he asked. He was wearing dress pants, a blue dress shirt, a black tie, and his hair was neat and slicked back.
“Sharp,” Brian said.
Nick nodded. “I’m going. Wish me luck.”
Brian winked. “Luck.”
Gretchen smoothed down her skirt when she heard the doorbell ring. She took about a minute to go answer the door, just so she wouldn’t appear to anxious or anything. She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. When she opened the door, she felt her knees go weak. He smiled at her, holding a single rose in his hand.
“Oh, come in!” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “Thank you.” She took the rose and put it in the kitchen, and then came back to Nick.
“You look great,” he told her.
“So do you. You ready?”
“Yep,” he replied.
He opened the door for her, and they got into his car.
“So… where are we going?” she asked him.
“A restaurant called “Straya’s.” It’s really nice, have you ever been there?” Nick asked.
“No, I haven’t. What kind of food do they serve?”
“All kinds of stuff. Hamburgers, chicken, pasta, soup, salad… they even have seafood, but it’s not that good. At least, not as good as the kind of seafood you can eat down in Louisiana.”
“Yeah, I had a concert on New Orleans once, and I ate some… crawfish I think it was. It was great.”
There was a silence after that short conversation. Gretchen was worrying about the night, and Nick was worrying about what Gretchen was thinking about.
“Here we are,” Nick said pulling into a restaurant parking lot a few minutes later. He opened the car door for her, and helped her out. They walked into the restaurant, and it was very pretty. It was all lit up, and the tablecloths were elegant and the place just defined the word “prestigious.”
Gretchen and Nick were seated right away, and after they had ordered drinks, Nick attempted to start a conversation.
“I really hope you don’t think I’m a jerk for asking you out even after what you told me today. I’m not trying to take advantage of you or anything. And I want you to trust me. OK?”
Gretchen nodded. “Let’s just talk about something else, OK? When are you guys leaving?”
“5 AM in the morning. We’ll be able to take a long nap on the plane, because we're going all the way back to Florida. It’s almost time to start touring.”
Gretchen nodded. “Who’s your opening act?”
“Well, there’s these guys called BBMak or something like that. They’re pretty big in Europe, but not known here. Also, a newcomer… this girl named Kayla Norman. She’s American, she sings pop music, just finished cutting an album.”
“Is she pretty?” Gretchen asked, raising her eyebrow.
“Probably.”
Gretchen nodded.
“No competition for you, though, of course.”
Gretchen smiled.
2 Hours Later
“Why is it that every time I get with you, I can’t stop talking?” Gretchen asked, amused.
“I have no idea. But I don’t mind talking with you,” Nick laughed.
The two were some of the few people left, since it was getting near to closing time, and they hadn’t even noticed.
“Maybe we should go now,” Gretchen suggested.
“Yeah…”
They left, and to Nick’s dismay, they got back to her condo very quickly.
“Well, I’ll call you,” Nick told her.
“I’ll be waiting,” Gretchen responded.
Nick hesitated. He started to lean towards her… and right as his lips were about to touch hers, she turned her head, and his mouth ended up on her cheek.
He sighed. “I understand.” He gave her a hug, and smiled. “See you later.”
Gretchen went inside, and sat down. Maybe she should have let him kiss her.