Chapter Twenty-two

Nicole shared her story of the evening with Kevin, just giving details of the argument and her throwing the glass. She left a few minors out of the story, not seeing relevance. Maggie began her story, but was cut off when Jes stopped by to talk to Nicole for a few moments in the hall. When she returned, Nicole told her friend she had to leave in a few minutes.

Maggie decided she wanted to stay behind at the hotel while the guys had rehearsals all day--mostly because she hadn't showered yet. She said she would come by for the performance later that night but wanted to stay in and sleep. Nicole harassed her friend to come with for a little while until she gave up. "Mags, I understand. I'm just kidding. You want some rest after AJ. I get it. You don't have to make excuses." She laughed at the joke while Maggie rolled her eyes and responded with whatever.

Nicole was down in the lobby waiting for the guys to gather so they could head over to the arena. Kevin was the first down and walked over to Nicole slowly. Smirks appeared from both of their faces. He stood in front of her with his hands behind his back and she hung onto her black leather bag to occupy her hands. Nicole was the first to speak, "So."

"So," he responded.

"Buttons."

He chuckled at her, "That's my line."

"I wouldn't pride myself on the line, 'Sew buttons.'" They both chuckled. The silence came quickly and they both looked around the lobby. She made eye contact from the corner of her eyes—in a flirtatious manner--and asked of Kristin, "So, where's she at?"

"She's resting. I don't think finding you in my room this morning was exactly what she needed to see this morning."

"Well, had I known she would be coming this morning, I would have left earlier." She smiled and began to chuckle. He smiled back at her.

They talked for a few more minutes when Brian and Nick exited the elevator seeing the other two talking. Nick turned to Brian, "Dude, I don't think this is good." He was referring to the space between them, limited, and the looks upon their faces, flirtation. Brian answered nodding his head. They walked over to the two and struck up a conversation. Nick, not especially good at innocently starting conversations, asked "So, how's the weather?"

Nicole snickered, "Nick, it's January in Chicago. Do you really think the weather will be anything but cold?"

Kevin interrupted, "Don't worry Nick, I heard this speech already. It's not that good of a story, trust me." Nicole's response was to hit him in his arm. He grabbed her arm, playfully threatening, "Hey, watch out. I'm lethal."

"Yeah, I learned that last night," AJ said putting on his shades, referring to the punch that landed.

Kevin glared at AJ. "Where's Jes," he asked Nicole.

Nicole answered, "She's meeting us there. Let's jet."

During any break of work, the guys snickered to themselves about Nicole and Kevin as AJ and Brian shared with Nick and Howie the scene they witnessed when Kristin was verbally attacking Maggie. AJ continued the conversation, "Maggie said Nic had heard Kristin from her shower. I can't believe Kevin didn't hear a thing."

Nick was laughing, "I got twenty bucks on Nicole."

Brian joined in the fun, "Twenty on Kristin."

AJ was bewildered, "What? You don't have any faith in Nicole, do you?"

"Hey, I'm in her corner. I'm cheering for Nic. You just haven't seen Kristin fight with Kevin. It's not pretty." Brian playfully jabbed at AJ in thin air, purposely nowhere near his face.

AJ flinched back, thinking Brian's fist was closer to his face. "Hey, hey, hey! Watch it there!" He threw his arms up to block his face.

Brian stopped and placed his hand on AJ's shoulder, sounding empathetic, "Hey, man, sorry. I was just trying to give you a matching one." He jabbed at AJ's chinned, light enough to not inflict any pain, but enough to push at AJ's face. "But really, man. You should see that woman fight." He began laughing again, with the guys joining the laughs as they imagined Nicole and Kristin in a catfight. "Part of me wishes Kevin would just get rid of Kristin. Another part wants the gossip and entertainment to continue." They continued their laughter.

Kevin was away from the guys talking with Nicole. They first were discussing the lighting problems that were being fixed during this break. Nicole then brought up Kristin's tantrum with Maggie from earlier that day. He was confused; "I just can't see her doing that." Nicole had only mentioned how Kristin came looking for her and was accosting her friend, simply because Maggie hadn't included Kristin's vulgar language or the threat for Nicole's job in her telling of the scene.

"Kev, Maggie wouldn't make something like this up." They both overheard Nick and Brian calling their bets for Nicole and Kristin, respectively. She turned back to Kevin. "I bet they've heard about it."

"No, they didn't. They're just making jokes regardless of your little story."

"My little story? Wow, that's harsh. Besides, it isn't my little story. It's Maggie's. And I bet they know about it all." Nicole was pushing Kevin and he wasn't about to take it.

"Well, then. Let's find out." He grabbed onto her hand in his large grasp. He led her over to the other guys.

As they walked across the stage she responded, "They're not going to actually say anything to you." She knew the guys wouldn't want to tell Kevin something like this, nonetheless, in this kind of situation

"Yeah they will. I'll make 'em say something."

"Kevin, they're adults. Not little kids. You can't make them do anything."

"We'll see. They'll say something." They approached the guys and heard the laughs turn to hushes. "Hey fellas. Whatcha all talking about over here?"

He was eyeing each of them waiting for an answer while Nick stifled his laughs and Brian gave in to speak. "Oh, nothing. How about you two?" he asked of Nicole and Kevin.

Kevin answered, "Oh, we were just talking about you guys."

Nick snickered, "Funny." Kevin turned to Nick with an inquisitive look, and Nick answered, "We were talking about you guys."

Kevin knew he was about to get the guys to talk, although, he didn't think they knew, or heard, about Kristin's scene from earlier that morning. He figured they were just making other comments about Kristin. He knew Nick was the ticket to hearing some answers and asked him, "So, what's the story?"

Nick wanted to answer honestly, knowing Kevin should hear the story, but didn't want to be the one to tell the story. He tried to be reserved with his answer, "Well, we were talking about the," using his fingers for quotes around the next word, "'friction' between Nic and Kris."

Kevin looked at Nicole with a sense of assurance that he was right, "Oh yeah? What about that 'friction?'" using his finger quotes also.

Howie spoke up to silence Nick, "Oh, just how Kristin is protective of you and she's afraid Nic works you too much." Nicole glared at Howie, knowing his answer was bull, and thought Kevin wouldn't accept it.

Kevin nodded, "Ok," then turned to Nicole, "Harmless. I told you."

Nicole was still looking at Howie and he turned, looking away from her, then down at his feet. She tsked at them; "I'm disappointed in all of you." They all looked at her awaiting an explanation.

"First of all, you." She turned to Kevin, continuing, "You thought you could get them to say what was the truth. You only got them to say what you wanted to hear--that nothing happened. And you four," she turned her attention the other fellas. "Giving into this bully. He can take the truth; he's a big boy" she spoke like a mother as she referred to Kevin. Nicole sharply looked at Brian and pointed at his chest, "And you! Betting against me? Tsk, tsk, tsk. You sadden me."

Jessica came over to break the conversation. "Enough with the dramatics, kids. The lights are fixed now. They replaced the yellow cell with a darker shade." She turned to Nick and ruffled his hair, speaking in a kiddy voice, "So as to not hurt your poor widdle eyes."

"Shuddup," he swatted at her hand.

The guys started chuckling at Nick, but Jes became serious. "Come on folks. Let's get back to work. Last night in Chicago, enjoy the All State Arena." Nicole glared at Jessica with a disappointing look. "Ok, ok," she laughed, "The Rosemont." Jes spoke with little enthusiasm, "Enjoy your last night at the Rosemont." She walked away leaving the guys and Nicole on the stage, while she mumbled, "Jeesh, you'd think she could grow up a little, especially with some men around." Jessica sighed and hopped off the stage.

When five o'clock came around, breaks were taken for dinner and Maggie joined everyone at the arena. She first approached AJ when she couldn't find Nicole. He was standing on the floor in front of the stage waiting for the other guys to get food. "Hey dear," He threw an arm around her neck and gave her peck on her lips.

She smiled instantly, "Hello to you, too." They shared small talk when Maggie broke; "Do you know where Nicole is? I have to talk to her about Kristin."

"Um, she's out back somewhere with Jessica. They'll be out in a few. What's up with Kristin?"

"I never told her." AJ stared at Maggie, wondering what she was talking about. "I told her about Kristin coming by this morning, but I didn't tell her exactly what was said. You know, like the thing about her job."

"I think she knows. She was harassing us and Kevin about it. I don't think he believes it though."

"I don't care if he believes it. Wait, yeah I do, but I need to talk to Nicole anyway."

Nicole came from behind the curtain and called out to her friend in an excited tone, "Magas!"

Maggie grumbled at the nickname, while Nicole walked across the stage and sat on the end of it facing the two. "Hi dear. Have a good rest?"

Maggie made a face, "Yes, it was fine." Nicole sat kicking her feet out like a little kid in a chair too tall for short legs. "Ok, that has got to stop," Maggie used her hands to stop the movement of Nic's legs and she stopped. "Thank you. I need to talk to you."

She was looking right at Nicole when AJ asked her, "When are you leaving?"

Maggie and Nicole answered at the same time, "Tonight."

He softly frowned, "Man, you gonna stay for the show though right?"

"Of course." She turned to her friend, "Nic, I gotta talk to you."

"Yeah, ok dear. Umm," she began thinking of things that she needed to get done at the stage before she had her break. "Alright, gimme like fifteen minutes and I'll be back." Nicole pulled herself up and walked backstage.

Maggie turned to AJ, "What's with her? She's awfully chipper."

He chuckled, "Yeah, she got to give it to us all day."

"Oh, she gave it to you huh?" Maggie was playfully pushing at AJ.

"Yeah, we were making bets on her and Kristin, but we didn't think they heard us and they tried to be all cool and he asked us what we were talking about. Man, it was kinda cool because Nicole called him a bully."

AJ was getting carried away, and excited, telling Maggie the story when she broke in, "Wait a minute. Who's they and he?"

"Oh, well Nicole and Kevin. They were talking away from us when we were calling the bets. Nick and I got Brian and Howie up to $100 each. We got Nicole's back."

She chuckled as she saw the excitement in his eyes and voice, "Betting against Nic? Those other two are gonna learn she won't take that lightly."

Time went by and Nicole was hung up with Jessica trying to get the lighting sequences straightened out. Jessica began yelling, "You guys have been doing this for the past two nights. How can there be a problem now?"

Nicole tried to calm Jes down, "Hey, it's ok. Go get some food, I'll stay and get it straightened. Come back and then I'll eat." She was smiling at Jessica, hoping she would leave. Nicole herself, as well as the others, were becoming aggravated at Jessica's temper.

"Alright, alright. But I sure hope this is all fixed by the time I get back." Jessica walked out into the audience and over towards AJ and Maggie. "Hey, you guys are waiting for Nic right?" They nodded their heads. "Well, we've got a lighting problem. I'm going to eat, and when I get back, she's gonna go. So you guys might as well go without her so AJ can be back by six."

Maggie looked at AJ, he could tell she really wanted to talk with Nicole. "Look, you stay here, I'll bring something back?" He was looking for a good sign when she didn't seem to like the idea.

A smile began to creep from her face, "Alright, fine. I do need to talk with Nicole."

Jessica and AJ left and met up with the other guys for dinner. Maggie looked around, wondering where Nicole was. She remembered where Jessica came walking from and ventured towards the back of the arena. She asked a few people she ran into where Nicole was and they directed her up some stairs to the area where the lights were. Making her way up the steep stairs, she found Nicole talking with some guys trying to straighten out the lighting schemes. It turned out that floodlights were not rotating on their center correctly, and that was throwing off the lights on stage.

Nicole was basically watching the guys try to fix it, not actually helping in any way. Maggie softly sneezed and tried to cover it up when Nic looked up seeing her friend. Crouching on the ground, overlooking the guy fixing the light, she responded, "Oh, hey. Sorry I almost forgot. This'll be done in like ten minutes and then we'll go eat."

Maggie glanced at her watch that read 5:40 and spoke up, "AJ's bringing me back some food. Jessica said he had to be back by six. I just need to talk to you."

"Oh, well. If you don't mind John here," she patted the man's shoulder, "Talk."

Maggie felt uneasy talking, but surrendered because she wanted to tell Nicole about Kristin. "Well, I didn't have a chance to tell you before about all that happened with Kristin this morning."

Nicole answered without looking up from the lights, "Oh, you didn’t?"

"No, Um. Well the part I left out was where she threatened you."

Nicole's attention was now on her friend, "She what? How dare she threaten me?" Her voice was loud and echoed through the area. A few guys were walking by and caught her yelling and stopped, staring at her. "Hi, how ya guys doing?" she called at them with a mocking smile. They nodded and began to walk away, "Yeah, that's what I thought."

She looked back at her friend, "Anyway. Don't mind them. What did Kristin say to threaten me," laughing, thinking of how childish Kristin was getting about Kevin and this whole situation.

"Nic, I wouldn't laugh." Nicole looked up at Maggie, then stood up and walked over to her. "She threatened your job."

"She what? How could she threaten my job? She has nothing to do with my job." Nicole was confused and didn't understand how Kristin could bluff with something that serious. "She can't touch my job Mags, don't worry. She's just bothered or something with all this. It's fine." She turned to John, "How much longer?"

He responded, not looking up from his work, "Like ten minutes. But you can leave if you want. I'm fine, really."

"Ok, thanks John. I'm gonna go downstairs. If there's any problem, let me know. This has to be fixed by 6:45, no later." She turned to Maggie and they headed downstairs.