The drive to Tampa was the longest most uneventful trip Alesha had taken in a long time. "At least I'm alone and can think," she said to herself. The rest of her week had passed pretty smoothly. No more chance encounters with pop superstars. She still got a little shaky when she remembered how close she had been to Nick. Those twinkling blue eyes; that mischievous crooked smile. "I don't even like him," Alesha said pushing the button on the CD player until she hit number 10. Soon, the sounds of "Spanish Eyes" filled her car. "Ahh, Howie," she said smiling. "Why couldn't it have been you instead of Nick at my counter?" She jumped as her cell phone started ringing. "Hello?"
"Ummm...Lesh, some guy is here asking for you. Said he talked to you the other day about a watch," Jim answered.
That wasn't anything unusual. "Okay," she said. "And?"
"I don't know. He won't talk to me about it. Said he wants to talk to the manager. I told him you weren't here, but he refuses to leave unless he can talk to you."
Grumbling Alesha said, "Fine, put him on the phone." She hated it when customers pulled this.
She heard shuffling and noise as Jim handed the phone across the counter to the customer. "Hi, Alesha. This is Nick."
She almost pulled into the ditch in surprise. Righting her car she said, "Ummm...hi." She made a face at the phone, her "WHAT THE HELL??" face. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, first of all, I wanted to say thanks for helping me get my Playstation working. I was going crazy with out it."
"I thought you like Nintendo. Don't tell me you're a closet Sonyboy."
He started laughing. "Nintendo is cool. But there is so much more to choose from with the PSX."
"True, true," she said wondering if there was ever gonna be a point to this conversation.
As if he was reading her mind, he said, "So I brought my mom's watch in today. Wanted you to take a look at it."
She made that face again. "What are you a loon? Driving all the way from Tampa so I can look at your mom's watch?"
"No. I was in Orlando with Brian and remembered how awesome you were working on the watches."
"Hey Nick...did you know we have 2 stores in Orlando...and don't forget the 2 in Tampa," Alesha said shaking her head.
"I know, at least about the Tampa ones. You told me yesterday. I didn't know there was some in Orlando though."
"Why don't you have Jim fix it?" she asked.
"Because I want you to fix it. No offense to Jim, just loyalty to the person responsible for getting my PSX up and running."
Alesha rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm gonna be gone for a couple of days. I'm taking care of another store. Jim can fix it for you just as well as I could."
"Where ya gonna be at? Maybe I'll come there," he said.
Sighing Alesha mumbled, "Tampa. University Square."
"Tampa?!? Cool. Guess I'll talk to you later then. Bye," he said hanging up before she could say goodbye.
"Dork," Alesha said turning off the phone and throwing it back in the passenger's seat. She smiled despite herself. At least he had given her something to look forward to on this trip. Maybe Howie would be with him.
She had finally gotten to her hotel in Tampa, so she got her bags out of the back and checked in. She threw her suitcase and duffel bag in the chair and collapsed on the bed. Driving always made her extremely tired. She didn't even bother hanging anything up, she quickly fell asleep.
Alesha awoke, startled, unsure of where she was at. She looked around and recognized the hotel room. She glanced at the clock and seen that it was 8:00. Sighing, she went and unpacked, hanging up the stuff that wrinkles quickly and easily. That done, she turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. Nothing caught her interest for more than a few seconds.
Suddenly, her stomach growled loudly. Smiling to herself she decided she had better go get something to eat. The only eating place that she remembered seeing when she arrived was the McDonald's across the road. She put on a light jacket and walked across the busy intersection and went inside. She went to the counter and ordered her usual: #3 no onions or ketchup, extra pickles and mustard, and a Coke to drink. She paid for her food and sat down in a back corner booth. Munching on her fries, Alesha stared out the window watching the cars go by. She had eaten about 1/4 of her fries when she realized that they were cold, so she grabbed her burger and opened it. After eating only half of it, she folded it back up and put it back on the tray, pushing it away. She sighed and rested her head on her arms that were folded on the table. "This sucks," she mumbled to herself.
As she got up and collected her things and the trash, she saw a green Durango pull in the parking lot. "There is no way he is at THIS McDonald's. There is what? A thousand of them in this town? No way," she thought. Sure enough, it was a bunch of local teenagers coming in to cause trouble and hang out. She shook her head and thought, "You expected someone else? What is your problem? You don't even LIKE him."
She walked back across the intersection and went to her room. She put in "Mallrats" one of her favorite movies, plugged in her laptop, and dialed up to the Internet. (some things never change...even if you aren't at home *smiles*). Of course, the first thing she did, was check her email. Delete, delete, delete...back..."What the hell?" she mumbled. "Who is this?" There was an address there that she didn't recognize. It wasn't any of her usual friend's email addies, nor was it any of the list addresses. "Hmmm..." she thought as she clicked on it.
Hello. This is Nick. Just replying to the email that you sent me. I don't normally do this, but there was something in your mail that made me want to. Anyway, I'm just curious. Have we met before? You seem to know an awful lot about me. Thanks for the mail. It's cool to hear from my fans. Always and forever, Nick
Alesha almost fainted. "This is crazy," she said. She started laughing as she remembered how she had impulsively emailed him one night after she had come across his official web site. She hadn't really expected him to reply. Plus the fact that she had just "met" him had her in hysterics. She couldn't help it. This was too good. She had to keep this going.
Hi Nick. Wow...what can I say? Thanks for replying. I really didn't think you would. I know how busy you are. (okay so I don't really know JUST how busy you are, but I have a general idea). Anyway...no, we haven't met. Although I think it'd be cool to meet you. Once again I realize the time factor. I'm satisfied that you emailed me. As for knowing an awful lot about you, I don't know that anything I "know" about you is actual fact. I just read a lot. *smiles* Anyway, I'll let you go. I don't want to bother you anymore. And thanks again for emailing me. ~*~Hugs, Kisses, Cookies...and stuff~*~Celtieon
She hit the send button quickly before she could delete it. Then she clicked on her bookmark for her page. She pulled out her notebook of notes that she had made and began transferring them to her page. About 10 minutes into it, the Yahoo! Mailbox showed up telling her she had a new message. Hoping it was Lori, she quickly saved her work and clicked on the Yahoo! Mail button on her browser. She logged in and clicked on the inbox link. Blinking in disbelief, she clicked on the new message.
Hey there. Nick again. Hope you don't mind me bothering you. Just sitting here checking my email when I got your reply. For your information, most of what you read as far as my favorites or what not...they're spur of the moment type answers...but all are true. So, whatever you do know is probably fact. And I'm not busy right now actually. The guys and I are on break for about 6 weeks. Can't believe it. It's been a long while since we've had a "vacation". I'm enjoying it though. Hanging out at the beach behind my house. God I miss doing that. Can't do that much when you're on the road. Man, listen to me babble. Sorry about that. Just thought I'd let you know about the "facts". Anyway...it was great hearing from you again...Frack
Alesha quickly hit the reply button.
Hey Nick...wow...two emails from you. What is a girl to do? Won't your other fans get jealous? Wait...how will they find out if I don't tell them? I somehow don't think that you'll go about advertising that you emailed the same fan twice *makes a silly face* Anyway, 6 weeks huh? Wow. You deserve it though. All the hard work you do. Hanging out on the beach? Why doesn't that surprise me. I'd love to spend time on the beach, but unfortunately by the time I get offa work, it's night and well, it's just not the safest place for a chick to be after dark...know what I mean? Well, gotta run...talk to you later...well, probably not...but still...~*~"Hugs, Kisses, Cookies...and stuff~*~Celtieon
This was weird. One email, she could see, but 2? So close together? Alesha shook her head and went back to working on her page. She finished copying all of her stuff from the notebook and began writing off of the top of her head. She couldn't really concentrate though and was about to turn the
thing off when the Yahoo! Mailbox came up again saying she had a new message. She took a deep breath and logged back in to check her mail.
Wow...fast reply there. Just curious...do you have ICQ? If you're still on...my # is ********. Frack
"Okay, this is too weird," she said to herself as she logged onto ICQ. "Dammit," she mumbled as the stupid privacy box popped up. "Should've expected that." She typed in her name and stuff so that he would recognize her. A second later she was added to his contact list and he to hers.
frackattack: hey there
celtieon: hi
fa: little faster than email, huh?
c: yeah :)
fa: so, what are you up to tonite?
c: oh...5'4"...hehe...oh you mean what am i doing? i'm working on my web page...watching "mallrats"...and of course talking to you
fa: busy busy...web page, huh? what kinda page? "mallrats"? I LOVE the movie "mallrats".
c: *laffs* "how do you begin and end a question with the same word like that? you got skill?" oops...sorry...wrong movie *grins*
fa: "chasing amy" :)
c: yup...i'm a HUGE kevin smith fan...he is one talented dude.
fa: did you see "dogma"?
c: *laffs* did _I_ see "dogma"? only about 5 times...in two weeks
fa: oh really? i only got to see it once, and well, i didn't get to pay a whole lot of attention to it because of some really obnoxious fans...
c: yeah, i bet you get that a lot don't you?
fa: *shrugs* sometimes...not that all fans are obnoxious...just some of them...the younger ones mostly...btw, how old are you? *grins*
c: *laffs* 23
fa: oooh...an older woman...hehe...
c: *laffs* i'm not that much older than you.
fa: *smiles* i'm just teasing...so, ya never told me what your page was about
c: oh...my page...
fa: yeah...the one that you are working on
c: hmmm...it's about howie *blushes*
fa: howie huh? *sigh* i'm crushed. thought you were a big Nick fan *sniffle*
c: *laffs* whatever...
fa: can i go look at it?
c: why? it's a Howie shrine...won't you feel bothered by seeing a page dedicated to the greatness that is Howie?
fa: *laffs* hon, i'm use to seeing stuff dedicated to what the world sees as the greatness that is Nick...it would be a change to see something about someone else...
c: *sighs* okay...here's the addy...but don't make fun of it...i worked hard on it *grins* http://***********
fa: cool...i'm loading it now...{pausepausepause}
fa: oh my god...that is so good!! the backgrounds and fonts and stuff...wow...where did you learn how to work pages that way? and your writing talents...*shakes his head*
c: *blushes* i'm taking a computer class
fa: really? that is cool
They chatted away like that for a while. Alesha glanced at the clock on the computer screen.
c: oh my god! it's 4:30 in the morning. i have to be to work at 9.
fa: i'm sorry...i didn't realize what time it was.
c: oh, no...it's okay...i didn't realize either...just means that i have to go so i can get some semblance of sleep before i have to be up at 7:30.
fa: *sighs* okay...thanks for chatting...i had fun
c: *smiles* me, too...
fa: guess i'll talk to you later, then?
c: sure...bye
And with that she logged off from the computer. She quickly changed into an oversized T-shirt and some boxers. Turning off the lamp, Alesha crawled into bed.
