< Chapter 14

Chapter 15

The entire ride over, Nick obsessed over whether or not he wore the right thing. Whether he looked okay and if he would actually, in that pivotal moment, be able to say the right things and not sound stupid. It was his first official high school party and he had so many expectations of what it was going to be. What Nick hadn’t realized was the difference between his interpretation of the word party and that of Brian Littrell and the other jocks. He’d been to many different types of parties in the past, ranging from tea parties with his sisters and their stuffed animals, to birthday parties with clowns and magicians, even to pool parties with boys and girls and hot dogs and ice cream cakes. But those types of parties were had when he was in elementary school and always with parental supervision. Now he was in high school and he’d been under the impression that parties were equipped with LOUD music, lots of girls and boys dancing and having fun while eating pizza and drinking beer,
 sometimes even from kegs. People might or might not be making out in darkened corners and there might be the occasional group of rough thugs who weren’t invited and crashed the party, but at that point, Nick always assumed that the music would get obscenely loud and someone would call the police. At least that was how high school parties were shown in movies and Nick couldn’t imagine that movies weren’t the real thing.

Also, Nick had a vivid imagination.

Josh knew that they’d found the right house by the mailbox at the foot of the driveway that had Littrell in neat cursive and the dozen or so cars lining the driveway and street. They pulled up and didn’t hear any outward sign of a party, the cars not withstanding. There were no people littering the front lawn, people hanging out on the porch to smoke or windows open blaring loud, obscene music. Nick frowned as he looked as his friends. "You think we missed it?"

Justin shook his head. "No, there are still cars here. Plus, it hasn’t been that long since Brian left the Shake Shack."

"It doesn’t look like there’s a big wild party going on," Lance pointed out. He’d heard wild stories about Brian’s parties and what usually happened at them. He didn’t want to admit to Justin or Nick that he’d been hesitant in coming with them that night, after hearing what usually went on, but now that they were here, he voiced his opinion that accounts of the festivities had been greatly exaggerated. Everyone agreed.

"I know. Well, we might as well go up."

Nick rang the doorbell and waited for someone to let them in. Moments later, Brian appeared at the door. "Hey, you’re here," he said in greeting as he moved to let them in.

Before any of them could respond, they heard footsteps and voices on the driveway behind them. Nick’s pulse began to race as he recognized the owner of the male’s voice. It sounded like they were in the middle of a heated argument, which gave Nick hope for the evening ahead.

"So what is that supposed to mean exactly?" Gretchen Saunders asked in a shrilly, anger filled voice.

"Exactly what I said. Do you really need me to repeat it?"

"Maybe I do Kevin. Maybe if you say it again, you’ll hear for yourself how stupid it sounds."

Nick and Lance stepped aside to let the two seniors enter Brian’s house. Gretchen immediately stormed down the hall and up a flight of stairs, stomping her feet angrily with each step. She hadn’t even acknowledged them, let alone Brian who looked just a little annoyed at the outburst. Kevin only inhaled deeply before letting it all out and shaking his head at Brian.

"I can’t deal with her tonight man. She’s stressing me out." He then walked in the opposite direction that Gretchen had gone and disappeared through a door.

Nick’s jaw dropped and he felt hope rise in his chest. If Gretchen and Kevin were fighting, then they might be having problems, which would give Nick the in that he so desperately needed. He did a little shimmy and tried to control his excitement.

"Well, welcome to the party guys. There is stuff to drink in the kitchen," Brian pointed in the direction that Kevin had gone in. "My parents are upstairs, probably watching TV or something. Make yourself at home." Brian closed the door and led them towards the kitchen where they recognized a few of the Varsity boys playing cards. The boys looked up and nodded at Justin in greeting while they gave Josh, AJ, Nick and Lance peculiar looks. Nick had never felt so awkward in his life. Judging from the expressions on his friends’ faces, they felt the same.

Nick’s expectations of beer were thwarted at the lack of a keg, and once they’d all gotten a can of pop and a handful of chips, Justin suggested they explore the house. Brian gave them a brief tour, showing them the games room where there was a pool table and a TV, a den where there was another TV and the back door which lead to the patio. There were about two dozen people in total, littering the various room and much to Nick’s disappointment, Kevin wasn’t in any of them. He’d heard via other peoples conversation that Gretchen was upstairs crying to her best friends, Melanie and Trish about the fight that she and Kevin had on the way over from the Shake Shack to Brian’s.

It was a nice night and the people that had previously been out on the back porch had come in to watch the hockey game that was on TV. Nick was feeling a little put out that Kevin wasn’t anywhere to be found, as well as guilty that no one seemed to be having any fun. Although Justin would have come with him anyways, he felt responsible for Lance, Josh and AJ to have a good time since they really didn’t want to come in the first place except to support him. They had gone into the den, but there hadn’t been a lot of room and no one seemed to even acknowledge their presence. The scene in the kitchen was the same , although they were met with a slightly warmer reception. Finally, AJ asked Brian if he had another deck of cards and they headed out to the back porch to sit around the patio table.

Two rounds of asshole later Nick’s bladder was feeling uncomfortably full. "I’m going to go to the washroom," he announced as he stood up. He received nods in response and headed into the house. Although they hadn’t really done anything differently than had they gone to one of their houses, he was happy that they had decided to come. It was nice to finally see that he hadn’t been missing anything exciting when he’d heard about Brian’s parties. Now, he could ignore the talk, which was obviously fabricated by people who claimed to have been there to look cooler to those who would never even think about being so brash. Nick found Brian in the kitchen talking to Joey quietly.


"...completely sick of it. I don’t know what they’re thinking." Brian looked up and saw Nick standing a few feet away, obviously wanting to talk to him but not interrupting. "Everything okay?"

"Uhhh, yeah. We’re just out on the back patio playing cards."

"You need anything?" Brian smiled at the blonde. He didn’t know Nick all that well, but remembered him from try outs and as the captain of the freshman team. He watched Nick turn a light pink and tremble nervously as he fidgeted with his chin length blonde hair.

"I was just wondering where the washroom was. You didn’t show us that on the tour."

Brian gave a friendly laugh and nodded. "Up the stairs, third door on the right."

"Watch out, if I know Gretch, she’s still in there bawling about what a prick Kevin is. That girl should come out for Drama, god knows she practically wrote the book on it." The two juniors shared a laugh, which Nick joined in despite not knowing what they meant.

"Joe, there’s acting and then there’s overacting."

"Over reacting is more like it!"

Nick gave a nervous chuckle as he nodded. "Okay ...so thanks.." He excused himself and headed up the stairs towards the bathroom. As he got closer, he could hear someone behind the door, obviously hysterical. Nick didn’t think it could still be Gretchen in there crying about her fight with Kevin. They’d been there for almost a half an hour already and surely she would have calmed down by then. Clearly, she had not.

"He’s such a fucking asshole," Gretchen shrieked through the bathroom door. "Who does he fucking think he is."

"Shhh, Gretch. Brian’s parents are going to hear you," an unknown girl responded, which seemed to further aggravate Gretchen.

"I don’t care. I’m so sick of his games. Maybe they’ll realize how horrible he is and not let Brian be friends with him."

Nick crossed his legs and began to hop up and down. He really had to go, but he didn’t want to interrupt. Finally, he brought his fist up and knocked on the door. All conversation stopped and he held his breath.

"What?" A voice called through the door.

"I need to use the bathroom please."

The door flung open and Nick could see inside the spacious room. There was Gretchen Saunders sitting on the closed toilet seat with a ball of tissue in her hand and her eyes all red. She scowled at him and the girl at the door looked at him with surprise. "Who are you?"

"I need to use the bathroom."

"Go away." Gretchen ordered. When the girl at the door hadn’t moved, she stamped her feet on the floor. "Trish, shut the damn door."

"If he has to go..." Trish said with a sympathetic smile to Nick.

"I don’t care. He looks like a child, he can go in his diapers."

Nick’s face burned with embarrassment as he looked down at his feet. When Trish hadn’t moved fast enough, Gretchen stood up, stalked across the bathroom and slammed the door shut, blowing Nick’s hair from his face. He was crossed between angry that she wouldn’t let him use the washroom and embarrassed about what he’d said about her. But mostly, he was starting to panic because he had drank two pops, not to mention a milkshake at the Shack and hadn’t gone all night.

"I really need to go," he pleaded as he pounded on the door. To no avail though, as Gretchen simply yelled for him to ‘screw off.’

"She’s in a pissy mood. A real bitch if you haven’t noticed. You’re best to use the master bath," a voice said startling Nick so much he nearly peed his pants. Nick turned around slowly, as he recognized the owner of the voice behind him. Much to his mortification, it was Kevin. Kevin who had probably heard what Gretchen had said about him. Kevin who was looking at him, but didn’t seem to even see him.

"I..." Nick wanted to speak but couldn’t. This was supposed to be his big moment. They were there, in the hall, an enclosed space, him and Kevin all alone, and all Nick could think about was the fact that he was seriously going to wet himself.

Kevin shrugged and headed down the hall from where he’d come. "I’ll show you where it is." Nick followed Kevin towards the door at the end and waited as he knocked softly.

"Yes?" A male voice called from inside the room. Nick’s mortification grew as he realized it was Brian’s father.

"It’s Kev!" Kevin had practically grown up in Brian’s house, just like Brian had pretty much grown up in his. They had been best friends with Chris and Joey since birth practically, and Kevin felt as much at home at Brian’s house as he did at his own.

"Come on in."

Nick followed Kevin into the large bedroom, surprised to see a man who Nick figured was Brian’s father, sitting at a large oak desk working on a laptop, and a woman who was most likely Brian’s mother, sitting in bed watching TV. Nick’s cheeks were practically on fire and he gave a sickly smile.

"How are you both?"

"We were fine until that ..." Brian’s mother stopped and his father looked up, a disapproving expression on his face.

"Jackie!"

"Harold!" Jackie Littrell pursed her lips before turning back to face Kevin. "We were fine until SHE got here. She’s got such a mouth on her."

Nick looked at Kevin in shock, waiting to see how he responded to the not so subtle attack on his girlfriend. He was shocked when Kevin started to chuckle. "You haven’t heard the half of it."

"I’m sure we haven’t." Jackie noticed the young, blonde boy hopping from one foot to the other, trying to discreetly cross his legs. "And you darling, you need the washroom?"

Nick yelped and nodded quickly. He flashed her an embarrassed yet grateful smile as she nodded in the direction of their master bath.

"Right in there sweetie."

"Thanks," Nick whimpered as he rushed through the room towards the washroom.

"Don’t forget to put the seat back down," Harold called in after him. "You think that girl has a foul mouth, you should hear Jackie when she falls in during the middle of the night."

"Harold, you are so crass."

Nick didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as he was concentrating on relieving his bladder and trying not to obsess too much over humiliating himself in front of Kevin. When he had washed his hands and put the seat back down, he reentered the Littrell’s bedroom. He was disappointed when he stepped in and found that it was only Brian’s parents in there.

"Where ...where’s Kevin?" Nick asked softly.

"Oh, he went to see if he could coax that ...child out of the bathroom. I swear, she spends more time in that bathroom than out of it when she’s here," Jackie said with obvious distaste in her voice.

"We should charge her a fee, she’s practically renting it out when they’re here." Harold Littrell joked, laughing at himself.

There was an awkwardness in the room that only Nick seemed to be feeling. He shifted uncomfortably in his spot, wondering how he could extract himself from the room without being rude. Before he could make his move, Jackie looked at him intently.

"We’ve never met, have we? Are you on the team this year?"

Nick shook his head and scrunched up his nose. "No, we’ve never met. And I’m not on the team, not the Varsity team anyways."

Jackie smiled at Nick, nodding as if to tell him to keep talking as she was listening.

Nick approached the bed and held his hand out to shake hers. His parents had always taught him to have manners when at someone’s house, to always conduct himself to be polite and respectful. "My name is Nick Carter, ma’am. My best friend Justin is on the team."

"Justin.." Harold said as if trying to remember something. "He’s the freshman right?"

Nick nodded. ‘Yes sir."

"You’re the other freshman that tried out?"

"Yes sir."

"But you didn’t make it?"

Nick shook his head. "No, I didn’t. But I’m the captain of the Freshman team."

Both Harold and Jackie exchanged knowing looks. "Ahhh, yes. Brian was also the captain of the freshman boys team when he was in grade nine. You’ll be on the Varsity team next year by default, right?"

"Actually no ma’am," Nick answered seriously. "I’ll be trying out with the rest of them."

This time Harold and Jackie exchanged confused glances. "Did they change the rules? It has always been that the freshman..."

"Captain makes the team in sophomore year," Nick finished for her. He gave an embarrassed shrug and blushed. "They haven’t changed it. I just ...I want to make the team on my merits, not because they have to pick me."

Before anything more could be said, Brian entered into his parents’ bedroom and he rolled his eyes at them. He then turned to Nick with a smile of relief. "I was wondering what happened to you. I realized that if Gretchen was still in there, which she was, you wouldn’t know where else to go to the washroom. There's another bathroom in the basement off to the side of the den."

"It’s okay, sweetie," Jackie smiled brightly at her son. "Kevin brought him in here, and not a minute too soon. He was doing one of the most impressive pee pee dances I’ve ever seen."

Both Brian and Nick blushed in embarrassment, neither looking at each other.

"MOM!" Brian sighed as both of his parents laughed at both of their expenses.

"He was. And it was," Harold said, verifying his wife’s claims.

"Oh god," this time Brian did look at Nick who was still a brilliant shade of red.

"...a milkshake and two cans of pop..." Nick muttered, as if it would help his case.

"God.. Don’t worry about it Nick. They just like to embarrass me."

"Oh, you don’t need us for that son!"

"We’re leaving," Brian nodded in the direction of the door. "Come on, lets go. Everyone’s probably wondering where you are."

Nick looked down at his watch and saw that it was nearly eleven. They were going to have to get going soon. He remembered his feeble attempt at conversation with Kevin and felt his stomach churn. "Where ....what happened to Kevin?" He asked as they headed down the hall towards the stairs. Brian turned to give him a strange look and Nick blushed again. "I mean ...I just wanted to thank him for showing me where your parents bathroom was."

Brian didn’t look convinced but he didn’t say anything about it. Finally, he shrugged and went down the stairs. Nick noticed that the bathroom door had been open and it was empty. He knew before Brian had said anything that Kevin was gone. He’d missed his chance.

"He convinced Gretchen to finally come out and they’ve left."

"Oh. Well thanks," Nick said as he headed back towards the patio. When he got there, he received four very amused expressions. He sat down and knew they were expecting a full report.

"I’ll tell you in the car."

"Well, that will be in a few minutes, because we’ve got to go," Justin announced with a grin. He nudged Nick playfully and both teens began to play fight. As they reached the front door, Brian appeared to show them out.

"Thanks for coming over guys," Brian said graciously. "Sorry about the bathroom."

Nick shrugged and shook his head. "No biggie."

"Thanks for having us," Justin said politely. He didn’t want to admit that they could have played cards and drank pop at his house and the party was so not what he’d been expecting, a let down even. So instead, he told Brian he’d see him at school on Monday and thanked him once again for the invitation.

As soon as they were safely on their way towards driving everyone home, Nick finally told everyone what happened after he’d left the patio to go to the washroom.

"And she shut the door in your face?" AJ asked in shock. This time he’d let Justin sit in the front seat and was currently squished happily between Nick and Lance, moreso against the latter. Thankfully, Lance wasn’t complaining at the imposition.

"Yeah," Nick nodded. He repeated everything that she’d said and Justin broke into laughter.

"She’s such a bitch. They always seem to be fighting, I don’t know why he’s with her."

Nick couldn’t agree more. He often wondered what it was that Kevin saw in Gretchen Saunders, and figured that it must be sex. They were either fighting and at each others’ throats, or making out with their tongues down each others throats. Either way, Nick couldn’t begin to understand what it was that Kevin saw in her. The knowledge that by Monday, they probably would have made up and be back on cloud nine with each other only further depressed Nick.

"And so what did you say to him?" Josh asked. It wasn’t quite time for everyone to be home, as they still had about fifteen minutes before curfews so he pulled into the seven eleven so he could get a big gulp. Everyone climbed out of the car and followed Josh in, each picking out treats for themselves.

"I didn’t say anything," Nick admitted sadly. Once they’d all paid for their treats, they got back into Josh’s car and he drove towards Justin’s house since it was closest. He relayed how Kevin had barely even seen him and was so preoccupied with his fight with Gretchen. By the time he was finished with his story, they were sitting in front of Justin’s house.

"Wow... That is crazy," Lance said breathlessly. He was happy that Nick had finally gotten to talk to Kevin, but at the same time sad that it hadn’t gone as well as the blonde had been wanting. "You okay with it?"

Nick gave a half shrug as he climbed out of the car. He knew that if they took any longer, Lance was going to be late for his curfew and he didn’t want his friend to get into too much trouble. "I don’t really have a choice."

"Still, it doesn’t make it suck less," AJ pointed out kindly.

"True." Nick waved and pulled Justin towards the house. "Call us tomorrow," he said as Josh began to pull away. Maybe we can get together or something."

Lance nodded and waved his arm out of the window. Despite the fact that it was nearly eleven thirty, Nick wasn’t in the least tired. He knew that Justin was going to probably want to talk, both about the game earlier that evening and what had happened at Brian’s so called party. Lynn was waiting up for them, impressed that they’d made it in my their curfew.

"You mean we could have come in later?" Justin pouted.

"You could have, but it would have shown me that you’re not responsible Justin Randall!" Lynn winked at Nick who snickered. He’d heard that exact same speech countless times and was certain that his mother and Lynn practiced them on each other to make sure they sounded exactly the same.

"Do we have to go right to sleep?" Justin asked. He wanted to stay up a little longer, he had so much he wanted to talk to Nick about. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief when she shook her head.

"No, you can stay up. But not too late, I don’t want you up at two or three in the morning. And no music or loud TV."

"Oh we’re going to get into bed," Justin assured Lynn. "We just want to talk."

Lynn’s smile told them that she knew more than she was letting on. Justin and Nick exchanged curious glances. "I’ll bet you do," she said fondly. "Sweet dreams to both of you!"

It took less than ten minutes, but Justin’s room was transformed into a giant fort, his blankets were tented from the bed to the desk to the dresser. They set up two of Justin’s old sleeping bags underneath as well as all of the pillows that both boys could find. By the time they were settled in, they were impressively comfortable and wide awake.

They talked about everything and anything regarding basketball, Lance and AJ, boys and girls and each other. Nick admitted to Justin that although he had only played a few minutes that night, he was more proud of him than he ever had been. It just looked so right to see Justin on that bench with the other boys, concentrating so hard on the game and knowing that when they finally realized how good Justin really was, he’d be the star of the team. It was as they were both drifting off to sleep, the last remainders of consciousness lingering, that they promised to never let anything ever come between them and to always be best friends. They both wished that they could stay in that exact moment between awake and sleep, laying curled up next to each other in a fort that they’d been building since they were seven, knowing that nothing else mattered, as long as they had each other.

End Chapter 15


Chapter 16 >