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"How ‘bout a kiss?" came the reply.
Michele looked up from her little pad of paper and saw Nick grinning back at her. "Nick! What are you doing here!?" she hissed, not being able to hold back a smile.
"I'm just waiting for the guys... Brian wanted to go out for breakfast and discuss our upcoming tour."
"Okay, well, I'll come back when they all get here then," Michele told him. She headed to the front where some more customers had arrived. "James!?" she cried. She glanced over at Nick and then back at James.
"Hey..." he smiled. "I didn't know you worked here."
"Yeah, for a few weeks now," Michele replied. She showed him to a table and handed him a menu. "I'll be right back." Michele went to seat the other customers. ‘What a busy morning!' she thought. She was kept occupied long enough to have her forget that Nick and James were both there, but they quickly re-entered her mind when the rest of the guys arrived.
"Good morning, Michele," Brian replied grimly. Michele was surprised he greeted her at all, let alone his curtness. She showed the four guys to where Nick was and she left them to decide what to order.
A.J. leaned over to Howie, "Weird. Did Nick decide where to eat?" Howie laughed and shrugged.
Eventually, they decided what to eat and ordered their food. Kevin started the discussion on their tour from where to go to what they would perform. Nick was distracted and was not listening. He was eyeing the guy who was hitting on Michele, and as much as she tried to hide it, it was obvious to Nick that she was flirting back.
"Nick? Yo Nick!" Howie said, as he tried to get his attention. Brian followed Nick's gaze and saw what he was looking at. Brian figured that the guy was this "James" that Orianne had mentioned earlier. He made a mental note to himself to talk to Nick about it later.
Nick was relieved to see the guy that had been flirting with Michele pay his bill. Even from where he was sitting, he could see that he had given her a very generous tip. Nick couldn't believe what was going on. She was hitting on someone right in front of him. The irony of that situation hadn't even occurred to him. He watched as the guy gave Michele a kiss on the back of her hand.
Nick excused himself to go to the bathroom but as he passed Michele, he pulled her aside and asked her, "What time are you done work?"
Michele looked at him and shrugged his hand off her arm. "Ow!... five... why?"
"We'll talk later." And in a flash he walked back to his table, leaving Michele standing there, startled.
After the boys left, Michele managed to busy herself with customers until the end of her shift. 5 o'clock rolled around and she took off her apron. She said goodbye to the manager and headed on her way home.
****************
"Nick, can you tell me what's really going on?" Brian asked once they had returned home for a while and the other guys were busy with their own errands.
"What? I told you yesterday."
"Then why is Michele denying your relationship with her? She told Orianne nothing was going on and that she had picked up some guy, presumably the guy at the restaurant this morning."
"I don't know," Nick stated deliberately. "Why don't you stay out of my business? I'm sick of hearing accusations and advice from everyone. Just leave me alone and let me handle my own problems," snapped Nick.
Brian gave him a harsh look. "Fine," he said as he left Nick alone in his room.
Once Brian left, Nick looked at his clock and realized it was almost 5 o'clock. He changed his shirt and grabbed his jacket and car keys. He would discuss this with Michele and get it sorted out once and for all. He got to Michele's place just as she pulled up.
She sighed when she saw him. "Right on time."
"Michele, let's talk and figure out where we stand." She let him into the house and started making some coffee. Nick continued, "Brian knows, and apparently so does Orianne."
"So that's why she questioned me last night," interrupted Michele.
"Anyway, we've got to coordinate our stories. Are we going to stay a couple or should we just go back to how we were before?"
Michele sighed at this ultimatum and she looked at Nick, seeing that this was a hard thing for him to discuss as well.
Deception