| A burly security guard dragged Brian out of the ballroom, even though he didn't really need to be dragged. After his fist had connected with Justin's nose (which was now pouring puddles of blood) he'd realized what he'd done, and immediatly all his anger had faded away, and a million apologies flooded from his mouth. "Wow." Howie watched the scene from the table. No one else said anything. That pretty much said it all. No one had ever seen Brian get violent before. Before, it had always been Brian making peace with everyone. Now, everything was reversed. "I guess that's what happens when you watch someone kiss the woman you love." Kevin mused. Leighanne, who was standing by the table pouting, gave Kevin an odd look. "But no one kissed me." She said. AJ sighed. Frankly, he was getting sick and tired of Leighanne. "Brian doesn't love you, dumb ass." He snapped. "He's in love with Aimee, and I don't know how you didn't realize that before." Leighanne's eyes watered, and she stared at AJ for a minute. "You liar!" She finally screamed, spun on her heel, and ran after Brian. There was a moment of silence, broken by Aimee's timid voice. "Brian loves me?" She asked, her eyes disbeleiving. Nick looked at her and nodded. "He's always loved you." He told her. Aimee's eyes narrowed. "You knew?" She asked. "You knew how he felt about me, and you still slept with me? How could you do that? Not after you knew that he loved me!" An image of Jennie popped into her mind, but she brushed it away. There was a difference. Jennie didn't love Nick. She barely even knew him. But Brian loved her. "I'm sorry." Nick mumbled. But Aimee didn't stick around to listen. She turned and followed Leighanne. Five people stared at Nick in disbeleif. He looked up, and saw ten angry eyes looking back at him. Twelve, if you counted AJ's, which he guessed he had to, since AJ was angry to, even if he wasn't as shocked as Kevin, Howie, Tara Anna, Christy, and Hannah. "I'm sorry." He said again. No one forgave him. He lowered his head, turned, and followed Aimee. Once he left, AJ spoke. "Maybe we should cut him a little slack. I mean, he just slept with her." "Just slept with her?!" Tara Anna asked. "You never just sleep with someone." AJ looked at her strangely. "Yes you do. Sex doesn't always mean something." Her eyes widened in disbeleif. "Wait till someone rapes you, asshole!" She snapped. "Then see how you feel about that!" She slapped Kevin's comforting hand off her shoulder, and ran out after Nick. "Don't go after her." Kevin warned. AJ turned and ran after Tara Anna. "I said don't!" He shouted. Then he turned and ran after AJ. The three remaining at table five watched every thing with continuing surprise. They watched as the door slammed behind Kevin, then Hannah started laughing. After a minute, Christy and Howie joined in. "Wow, not so boring any more, is it?" Christy asked. There had never been a time when Nick wanted out of the Backstreet Boys. Until now. He had a feeling that they were all feeling the same way. Not because of the music, of course, but because of the rest of the band. And because he knew that four of the members were mad at him, and one of them was about to be mad at him. Madder than anyone had ever been before. Mad enough to murder him, most likely. And he wasn't sure how and if their relationship could ever be fixed. He was standing outside the hotel, watching from a distance as Brian and Leighanne, framed by the cold night and standing under the beam of a street light, talked. He could see Leighanne's arms flying all over the place, as though she was arguing with him, and Brian was looking down at his feet. Then he watched Leighanne bury her face in her hands, and Brian look up at her. He watched Brian reach out his arms to comfort her, but Leighanne pulled away. She turned to walk away, but stopped and turned around. She said something else to him, threw something small and square at his feet, and turned and ran away. Brian looked down at the thing, picked it up, and examined it for a while. Then, while Nick watched, he sat down on the ground, and burried his face in his hands. His shoulders were shaking with sobs. Nick felt his heart drop to the ground. This really didn't seem like the best time to tell him that he'd slept with the woman he loved. |