Chapter Four

Rolling her head over and barely opening up her eyes, Nicole looked over to the clock. "7:35am." She shot up immediately; realizing her wake up call was for 7am. "What the fuck!" she harped, upset that she was getting up late, and just noticing that she was lying in the same bed as Kevin.

His body was within inches of hers, and she realized that his face was resting on a pillow just a small ways away from where hers once laid. It was too early for her to process the scene quickly, wondering why she was lying in bed with Kevin.

A few moments later, she remembered the night before. "Oh my," she whispered to herself. She brought her hand up to cover her mouth when she saw him begin to shift from his position. Nicole slid off the bed and made her way over to the door, slowly turning the knob, trying to suppress any noise. She turned back to make sure the door closed just as quietly as it had been opened.

Heading down the hall to Jessica's room, she knew she must be awake by now. Just as she brought up her fist to knock on the door, it shot open and Jessica stood there staring, then brought her eyes up and down Nicole's body. "Ok, what is this?"

"I need my key," Nicole answered quickly.

"What? Your key?"

"Yeah, can I have it?"

"What? Did you lock yourself out?" She glanced at the pajamas again and began to think. "Where did you sleep last night then?"

"What?" Nicole asked, not wanting to go into a story. She just wanted to shower and get ready. "Just give me the key."

"Oh no dear. Not until you spill."

"Look, give me the key and I'll explain it all later at the theater."

"Ok," Jessica responded skeptically, holding the door open and walking towards the table. She searched through her bag to find the key. Coming up with it, she dangled it in front of Nicole. "You will tell me later. And you will get this key." Nicole began to reach for the key, until Jessica snapped her hand away. "Uh-uh, first you tell. Who's bed did you sleep in last night?"

She just wanted the key, and knew if she answered, more questions would follow. It took a few moments of debating to wonder whether she should smack Jessica to get the key or to simply answer. So she answered quickly, "Kevin." Seeing Jessica's mouth drop and handgrip loosen, Nicole snatched up the key. "Thank you," she answered as she headed out the door.

"That girl. I don't know about her." Jessica said once she was able to speak and Nicole had already left the room. She ran towards the door and shouted down the hall to Nicole. "You are gonna explain this." As she finished the sentence, Nicole's door slammed shut.

Nicole took the quickest shower she could remember and threw on a pair of boot cut jeans and a black cotton T-shirt. With the curling iron plugged in, she quickly blew dry her hair. It took her but ten minutes to curl just the ends under of her layered hair. It was now 8:15 am. She had just a few minutes before Jessica came to get her. As she searched for her black oxford shoes in the room a knock came from the door. "Just a minute," she cried as she found the shoes under her jacket. She opened the door just slightly and headed over to the bed. Jessica came through the doorway, but Nicole didn't even look up as she slid on her socks and shoes.

"Dear, how long have we known each other?" Jessica asked, looking down at Nicole.

"Damn long."

"Ok, so I think that demands a slight amount of info."

Nicole started rampaging through the room looking for her hooded black sweater. "What?"

She found it and pulled it over her head.

Just as she was searching for the head of the sweater Jessica asked, "So, should I get adjoining rooms for you two?"

Nicole pulled the hood down and yanked on it to lie flat on her back. "What is your problem? No, we don't need adjoining rooms!" she quipped back at her friend. Then grabbing her black leather bag that carried anything and everything she needed to do her job, she walked towards the door. "Can we go now?"

"Lucy, you’s gots some splainin' to do," Jes responded in her best Ricky Ricardo impression.

While standing in the hallway, holding the door open, waiting for Jessica to come out of the room, she responded, "Yeah fine let's go." Both of the ladies exited the room into the hallway and walked towards the elevator. While waiting for it come to their floor, they heard a door open and they both turned their heads to see Kevin come walking out of his room. Wearing just a T-shirt and boxers, Nicole felt something inside turn her stomach.

‘Oh my God,’ she thought, ‘Boxers?’

Jessica mumbled to her, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Nicole turned back to face the elevator. "I certainly hope not," she answered trying to pass off Jessica.

"Good Morning ladies," Kevin called.

"Good Morning Kevin." With her response, Jessica nudged Nicole. Under her breath she asked of her friend, "Say something."

Walking down the hallway and stopping in front of Brian's room, Kevin said, "Get to work hard today, so we can work hard tonight." The doors to the elevator opened and Nicole stepped in.

"Oh we sure will dear." Jessica smiled brightly as she spoke the words. Nicole grabbed onto Jessica's arm to pull her into the elevator. "What?!"

"What, what? We have to get there," Nicole harped as she tapped on her watch.

"Yes, well, if you hadn't been up late with your new friend, you would have been up on time. Then we would have been leaving on time."

Nicole rolled her eyes, knowing Jessica was dying to know the story. As the elevator descended, Nicole didn't speak a word. She just prayed for the time she could get to the theater and do some work. Although, she did know any work would be anything Jessica couldn't do, that not leaving much.

They arrived at the theater within ten minutes and got straight to work. Jessica had to attend a meeting to get the schedules confirmed on when the guys could rehearse and the schedule on the show. Nicole went with, keeping any additional notes Jessica missed. The meeting lasted for about an hour and Nicole fought to stay awake while she yawned what seemed like every five minutes. Halfway through the meeting Jes leaned over and asked, "Are you ok?" Nicole's only response was a nod.

Once they found out the guys would not have to rehearse for another hour and a half, Jessica called them back at the hotel to let them know. Nicole was just a few feet away in the hallway and could barely hear the conversation.

"Hey, AJ. It's me. You guys got about ninety minutes until your time... Uh-huh... Yeah... Ok... So is he awake now?... Well get him up soon... I don't care what he looks like when he gets here. He just better be ready to work... Look, I can't do anything about this schedule. It's set. You guys better all be here and ready to get your asses moving... How late was he up?" Jessica shrieked when AJ told her he was up well past 4am. She whipped her head around and looked right at Nicole with a mad look.

Nicole's response was a shrug of her shoulders and a questionable look. Jes waved a hand down at her friend and turned back around. "Yeah, I can only guess what he was doing so late. Alright, just get your asses over here within the hour. Bye." With that she turned off her cell phone and headed right over to Nicole. "How late were you guys up last night?"

"What?"

"What time?"

"I dunno. Sometime after 3:30."

"3:30?!"

"I dunno. Maybe later," Nicole answered easily. She wasn't getting too bothered by Jessica's anger because it wasn't like she kept Kevin up.

"What exactly were you doing?" Nicole looked around when Jessica raised her voice. Jes then turned around to see two men walking by looking at them. "Hi, how are ya?" Once they nodded their heads and turned a corner, Jessica turned back to Nicole, "What were you two doing? He’s got a girlfriend. This won’t make anything look good."

"Nothing happened. Just talking. I told you I got locked out of my room. He was the only one else who was up and he let me in his room."

Not believing a word, "Oh, yeah that's all."

"It is Jes. If it were more, I'd tell you," Nicole said sympathetically, placing a hand on Jes's arm.

Realizing she was over-reacting, Jessica smiled after a sigh, "I'm sorry dear. I know you would. It's just that he went back to sleep because he was up so late and now no one can get him up. His door's locked and I have the extra keys."

Nicole began to feel a little responsible, but remembered Kevin had said he wasn't sleeping much anyway. "I'm sure the guys will get him up. Come on, let's go to the stage." She placed her hand on Jessica's back and guided her through the hallway.

Once they got to the center stage, they both took a seat a few rows from the front. They were going to watch the others rehearse until the guys got there when Jessica got a hungry notion. "I'm gonna go grab some food, you want some?" Nicole just shook her head. "Ok, well, hang on to this for me," she said as she handed the cell phone over. "If the guys call about anything wrong, come get me in the cafeteria. Can you do that?"

Grabbing the cell phone, and feeling degraded, she replied in a flat tone. "Guys call, problem, you in cafeteria. I think I can handle this."

Jessica mumbled, "Smart ass," and walked away.

As soon as Jessica had left the auditorium, Nicole pulled out her laptop from her bag. She opened it up and was playing around, opening up Word files when she could tell someone sat down behind her. She tried to dismiss the notion until she felt a breath on her neck and did a half turn to see the person. "Hey, you're early."

"Yeah, I know. I had nothing better to do," AJ responded.

"What about the others?"

"Nah, they're still there. The girlfriend bus arrived about fifteen minutes ago. That helped my decision to leave." He looked somewhat disturbed. Nicole was going to work on some writings she had in the works, but decided otherwise. She patted the seat next to her. He got up and took the seat. "Whatcha got there?" he asked, nosily looking at the screen.

"Just a few things that I need to finish at some point soon." She began to shut down the program when AJ put his hand over hers.

Asking like a ten-year-old, "Lemme read?"

"No." She continued on her way to close the files.

"So is this what you do sitting out here when we are up there," he asked pointing to the stage.

She nodded with an "Uh-huh."

"Anything juicy? Anything about me?"

"Isn't that the same thing?" she asked with a smirk. He smiled back and she continued. "But no, nothing juicy, and nothing you."

"That's too bad. Hey, speaking of juicy, where'd you sleep last night?"

She whipped her head to face him, "What?!"

"You heard me, where'd you sleep last night?"

"Where did you get the idea I slept somewhere other than my room?"

"Because I saw you this morning, leaving Kevin's room."

"Then, there you go, you know where I slept."

"Details?" he asked waving his hands in her direction.

"There are no details. I slept there because I got locked out of my room. That's it."

"Oh, I see. You know that Kristin is here today?"

Seeming agitated she responded, "Yes, I know that."

"Well, then what's the deal with you two?"

"No deal. Nothing. Nada."

"I think there's more, but you just aren't telling."

She sighed lightly. "For one, there's nothing more. And two, I wouldn't tell you anyway."

"Why not? Come one. It's AJ. We're friends remember?"

"You can't keep a secret to save your life."

"Sure can. Try me."

"How about when I told you that my friend Maggie had a thing for you." He nodded his head remembering. "Then when you answered my cell and it was her, you asked if it was the Maggie who wants you."

He bowed his head still remembering, trying to hold in a chuckle. "That was the old AJ. This is the new and improved AJ."

"We'll see how new and improved you are next week when we hit Chicago."

"Why? What's with Chicago."

"When you have the show there, Maggie's coming to see me." He began to chuckle to himself. "You better be good AJ," she told him like a mother warning her child.

"I will," he responded with puppy dog eyes. "Enough about me though." Nicole turned her head to AJ and he stretched his arm across the back of her chair. "You like him don't you?" She sat for a moment not wanting to admit she understood who him was. A guilty little smile began to creep out of her face. Once she felt the smile, she turned her head to face the stage.

The guys, minus Kevin, had talked about the way the two looked at each other, namely Nicole checking out Kevin. All four men agreed that she would be good for him, but could do nothing with being with Kristin.

"You do. I knew it," he responded excitedly. She continued to look away and sighed. "So then tell me what's going on."

"Nothing is going on. Like I said, I just slept in his room because I was locked out." She looked at him as he was looking past her. He watched the other guys walking in. Kevin had his arm around Kristin's neck and her arm was around his waist. The guys sat towards the back of the auditorium to wait around until they were to rehearse.

Nicole turned her attention right back to AJ, "And like you said, Kristin is here. So, nothing is going on." She looked disappointed to see them so "together." She looked back at the couple and returned again to AJ. "I guess I like him more than I thought." She sighed

AJ put his hand on her back and rubbed it. "It's ok sweetie." She smiled at him appreciatively.