< Chapter 13

Chapter 14

It was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the whispering and giggling that followed him as Nick walked through the halls of Lincoln High. At first, he hadn’t paid too much attention to it, assuming that it was merely due to everyone’s excitement at being back in school, but it was Friday and still the whispers and giggles followed him.

At first, Nick refused to believe that they were for him, but there were times when he was walking through the halls alone, and still girls were gawking at him.

Nick opened his locker before glancing down the hall to see if Lance or Justin were there yet. There was no sign of either of his best friends, so Nick pulled out the latest copy of the Lincoln Report from where it had been stuffed in his locker the evening before. It was the first issue for the new school year, and as Lance had mentioned earlier in the week, was slightly thinner than their regular issues.

"Hey Carter."

Nick looked up from the floor where he’d sat down to see Mandy standing above him, smiling. He grinned and patted the floor for her to join him. Once she had gotten her things in her locker organized and her first period books out, Mandy sat down.

"Hey Mandy, what’s up?"

Mandy’s face contorted into a slight grimace and she turned around quickly, searching for something in her bag.

"You okay?" Nick asked, mildly concerned. She was rummaging around messily, talking to herself.

"I know it’s in here ...made sure I had it ...where did it go..." Finally she stopped looking and gave a soft cheer. "Yeah, I knew it was here." Nick watched with amusement as Mandy turned around to hand him something. She looked at Nick with a giant grin on her face. "This is for you, it was put in my locker by mistake."

Nick accepted the scented pink envelope, extending his arm slowly. His name, ‘NICK CARTER’ was written on the front in perfect lettering. Instantly, he was curious as to who had sent him this letter. His pulse was racing and Nick fought to regulate his breathing. "What is it?" He asked softly.

Mandy shrugged. "Not sure. I opened my locker yesterday and someone had slipped it inside. They must have just gotten the wrong locker or something, as soon as I saw your name I slipped it into my journal to give you when I saw you next." Mandy gave Nick a serious look. "I didn’t read it."

With a nod, Nick managed to swallow the lump in his throat. "Of course." He could tell that it hadn’t been tampered with and hadn’t even suspected her of doing anything of the sort.

"Open it," Mandy said expectantly. She’d been curious all night as to who would send Nick a scented pink letter, and couldn’t wait to find out what it was or who it was from. Just as Nick was about to open it, the two sophomores were joined by Lance and Justin. Greetings were shared between the four friends as Justin and Lance sat down to join them.

"What’s that?" Lance asked, pointing at the envelope in Nick’s hand.

Justin grinned and started to poke Nick playfully. "Is it a loove letter? From one of your legions of admirers?"

The blush covered Nick’s face and neck as he protested Justin’s claims. He nervously opened the envelope, aware of all eyes focused directly on him. Christina and Britney had discreetly joined them as well. Christina sat next to Nick while Britney sat between Justin and Mandy. What the gang wasn’t aware of was that this wasn’t the first letter Nick had received that week. On Wednesday, Nick had come back to his locker after lunch to find an identical letter to this one wedged in the opening of his locker. Whoever had given him the first letter must not have been paying attention the day before and slipped it in Mandy’s locker by mistake.

"Well?" Britney asked, curious as to the contents of the envelope. She could see by the way Nick was fidgeting, he was embarrassed, but they were all too curious to mind their own business.

"Maybe it’s none of our business," Mandy suggested nervously. She flashed Nick an apologetic look. He was clearly uncomfortable with all of the attention and hoped that he wasn’t mad at her for giving him the envelope in front of everyone. Perhaps she should have done it more discreetly. Their eyes met and Nick gave her a shy smile.

"Nah, it’s okay. Just ..." Nick took a deep breath and read the note silently. He was not at all surprised at what he found. It was just a continuation of the first letter he’d been given, also signed as his secret admirer. Wednesday’s note had been reasons ten through six as to why this girl had a crush on him as well as a promise of more reasons to come. Thursday’s note, which he’d just been given by Mandy had included reasons five through two. One was missing.

Nick looked up, snickering at the expressions on his friends’ faces. He knew his own face was probably bright red in embarrassment. He still couldn’t believe that this girl, whoever she was, had given him nine reasons thus far as to why she liked him. There was a sick fascination for him to find out what number one was, and by sick he surely didn’t mean hot.

"What?" Lance asked. The suspense was killing him.

Nick wondered whether he should admit to the first letter. With everyone’s gazes focused directly on him, he found himself amidst confession. "This is the ...um ...second letter I got. I got another one on Wednesday."

Everyone’s eyes bugged out to comic proportions.

"Well?" Christina asked. "Can we read it?"

Nick shook his head. "It’s kinda private."

Justin was about to protest when Nick caught his eye. He knew immediately that did not include him. Judging from the way Nick then looked at Lance, he’d be informed of the contents as well. Everyone else protested until the warning bell rang.

Did you read the personals?" Lance asked as he, Justin and Nick headed through the halls towards their respective homerooms. They had already said good bye to the rest of the gang. Nick shook his head in response to Lance’s question

"Not yet. I was just about to, then Mandy gave me the letter."

"You should," Lance said with a grin. "See you in Spanish." He then turned to Justin and smirked. "I’ll see you at lunch."

Nick knew that without a doubt he would show Justin and Lance the letters from his secret admirer. He was hoping that they would have some idea as to who this girl was and what he should do about it. The only person, besides Lance’s sister, that he’d directly known had a crush on him was Christina, and that had been uncomfortable and awkward. Of course now they were best friends, but that was only because she had found Josh and Nick was gay. This new girl obviously didn’t know he was gay, and he wasn’t sure he was comfortable with someone slipping notes into his locker without him knowing who she was.

During morning announcements, Nick sat in the back of his homeroom, leafing through the paper. It wasn’t until he’d gotten to the personals that he remembered Lance had brought them up. He saw some fun ones that they’d sent within their groups, giggling at how silly some were.

TO: Peroxide Twins
FROM: Your Ex-Locker Buddies
-It’s not the same without you girls gossiping and giggling next to us. We miss you!

TO: St. Peter’s Rejects
FROM: Lincoln High Welcoming Committee
-So glad you’re here. It’s about time you came to a *real* school!! Lincoln High Rules!

TO: AfroBoy
FROM: Your Favourite Goober
-I might not be at Lincoln anymore, but I’m still lurking. I love you!

Nick looked at his watch and saw that there were only a few minutes left of homeroom before Spanish. He still hadn’t found anything relatively shocking or newsworthy. It was just as he moved to grab his Spanish textbook and binder that he saw it. His gasp echoed all throughout the room.

TO: Nick Carter
FROM: A Secret Admirer
-#1. The way the whole room lights up when you smile and it makes my day a million times better.

Right underneath it was another one.

TO: Nick Carter
FROM: A Secret Admirer
-One more thing. I asked last year, but I never got an answer, so I’ll ask again. You’re really cute, do you have a girlfriend? Do you want one? I’m still willing.

Nick’s stomach started to churn and he looked around the room, aware of everyone’s eyes on him. He gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. "Just excited about the football game today. Go Lincoln!" A few people laughed, Nick took that moment to slip out of the door into the quickly filling hallways. He headed in the direction of his first period class, catching up with Lance along the way.

"Oh my god," Nick whispered. "Did you read it?"

Lance nodded, a grin on his face. "Now my question is, what does it mean?"

Nick cocked his head to the side, not sure what Lance meant. "Huh?"

"Well, I get what the whole room lighting up when you smile thing, and the fact that you make her day a million times better. Plus the whole second part, which was explicitly asked to be right underneath the first one. But it’s the part with the number one in the front that I don’t get." Lance smiled at Nick, waiting for him to answer his questions. Lance was fully confident that Nick knew exactly what he was talking about.

Nick chewed his lip. They reached the Spanish lab and took their seats at the back of the room. He wanted to tell Lance about the letter, but at the same time wanted Justin to be there for it as well.

"Come on," Lance prodded. "I promise I won’t tell, not even AJ if you won’t want me to."

Nick shook his head. "It’s not that. I mean ...yeah, I kinda don’t want anyone else to know about it because ...it’s embarrassing, but ...I just thought we’d wait for Justin." Lance gave a pout in response. It made sense, but at the same time, he was really curious as to what the letter was about. Nick thought for a moment as their teacher handed out that day’s in class assignment. He smiled when the perfect idea came to him.

"Let’s go for pizza at lunch." There was a pizza place that a lot of Lincoln High students went to for lunch down the street. They never went because for the most part, they all brought their lunches, but one day away from the gang wouldn’t hurt. Lance wrinkled his nose and Nick stuck his tongue out at him. "Come on ..."

"Who?"

Nick bit his lip. "I don’t want everyone. You and Justin and Aje? But you have to promise not to tell anyone."

Lance worried that Nick was only inviting AJ because of him. He brought that up, but thankfully Nick wasn’t at all upset. "Nah. I know J is gonna tell Chris ...and eventually I’m sure everyone will find out, but for now I just kinda want it to be just the four of us."

Lance nodded and nudged Nick’s shoulder with his own. "I’ll tell AJ in math and you can tell J in English. We’ll meet at mine and Justin’s locker at the start of lunch." Lance cheered excitedly.

The rest of the morning passed by rather quickly and before they knew it, Nick, Justin, AJ and Lance were waiting in the sophomore hallway to go for lunch. AJ twirled his key chain on his fingers, a grin on his face.

"So, I’m wondering why we’re going to eat pizza with a billion other people when there’s a McDonald’s about a fifteen minute drive away." They started down the hall towards the exit that would lead them to the parking lot.

"Fifteen minutes each way," Nick counted. "That leaves us like, ten minutes to eat. So not worth it."

AJ rolled his eyes. They all climbed into the car he shared with his mother. Clearly the decision had already been made. "So what, we miss fourth period? It’s Friday. There’s a game today. Who cares."

Nick shook his head and groaned, laughter bubbling from deep inside his stomach. It was so much like last year, yet different. "You know what I’m going to be missing, right?" Nick caught Justin’s eyes and they gave each other an enthusiastic high five.

"History!" Lance said with a laugh. It was the class that Nick had skipped so many times the year before that he had been put on truancy probation. "There is something about you and that class."

Nick rolled his eyes dramatically. "I know. It just seems to get in the way of the rest of my life."

"But," "Justin started, trying to remember back to first semester last year. "Didn’t you like get an A in that class?"

With a grin, Nick nodded his head. "Thankfully. It was the only reason I wasn't grounded when mom and dad saw the number of absences in that class."

AJ drove up to the fast food restaurant and they all headed inside. It wasn't until they had trays of food spread out in front of them and had dug into their meals that Lance turned to Nick, enthusiasm in his eyes. "So?"

"So?" Justin agreed, nodding in Nick’s direction. He had been surprised when Nick had suggested they go off for lunch so he could tell them about the letter that morning and what it meant. For sure, he would have thought Nick would have confessed it all to Lance during first period. Justin had been pleased to find out that Nick had waited to tell them both at the same time.

Nick blushed and took a giant gulp of his coke. When he’d calmed his nerves just a little, he gave an embarrassed shrug. "I ...told you that I got two letters. The one that Mandy gave me and another one."

"Not to mention those two messages in the personals," AJ added. He’d read the paper during homeroom and noticed immediately the messages to Nick. The second message had triggered his memory of a message that had been sent the year before. Originally they had suspected Christina had written it, but she’d sworn up and down that she hadn’t, not to mention she’d started dating Josh soon thereafter. No one had said anything after that, and no more messages had been forthcoming. "Didn’t you get a message last year too?" AJ voiced.

"Yeah," Justin remembered. The one where the girl said you were a good basketball player. That you were hot and wanted to be your girlfriend."

"It’s obviously the same person," Nick pointed out. She said so in the second message."

"Forget the second message," Lance insisted. "What’s with the first one? What’s with the letters?"

Nick rolled his eyes at Lance’s impatience. "They’re not letters so much as a list." Nick could see confusion in his friends’ eyes and he laughed. "Like ...it’s so embarrassing. It starts off like, Dear Nick, and then there’s a ‘title’ or whatever. It says Top Ten Reasons Why I Like Nick Carter."

Justin started to laugh until he realized that Nick was being serious. Lance and AJ were glaring at him, silently asking how he could possibly be laughing at Nick while the blonde growled in Justin’s direction.

"I’m sorry. I thought you were kidding."

"No jerk face," Nick scowled. His frown started to disappear when Nick saw Justin’s genuine remorse.

"I’m sorry."

"Fine." Nick sighed and shook off the nervous feelings he had. "But seriously, the first letter was reasons ten through six, the second letter was five through to two, and then number one was in today’s paper."

"That is so fucking cool," AJ said. Nick searched his face for mockery but found none. AJ nodded, "I’m serious. That is way cool. Creepy because you have no idea who she is and she’s obviously thought long and hard about it, but cool because she thinks you’re worth all the trouble."

"But," Nick whined. "I don't know what to do. I mean, damn. I don’t want some girlfriend. I’ve got Kevin. And now I’m freaked out whenever I go into my locker in case there’s something from her."

AJ popped the last of his fries in his mouth and gave a half shrug. "Until she starts putting dead animals in your locker, I think you’re safe. That’s when you worry."

Nick looked at Lance who nodded. "Sounds right to me."

"I just want to know who it is," Nick sighed. "Clearly it’s someone who knows me because they knew where my locker was. It’s only been a few days."

"Now, this could just be me ...but are we sure it’s a girl?" Justin asked curiously. "I mean, just a thought."

"Uh, lame brain," AJ said with a flick to Justin’s forehead. "She specifically asks if Nick wants a girlfriend. GIRLFRIEND. I think it’s a girl."

Nick giggled as Justin’s whole face and neck went red. Lance smacked the back of AJ’s head for embarrassing Justin.

"Sorry."

Justin blushed even more and covered his face with his hands.

"S’ok."

They finished their lunches and went up for desert, only leaving when Nick realized that his class was getting out for the football game at two. Lance grumbled at the fact that his business teacher was not giving them permission to attend the game. They returned to the school, all following Nick to his locker to see if there was another note from his admirer. As he opened the door, a familiar scented pink envelope was staring at him.

Nick groaned while Justin, Lance and AJ all snickered. "She strikes again," AJ said picking up the envelope. He brought it to his nose, impressed by it’s scent. "Smells nice."

Justin grabbed the envelope to smell it as well. He stuck out his tongue and handed it off to Lance.

"Can I please have it?" Nick asked, grabbing it out of Lance’s grasp. It was against his nose before he could stop himself and Nick had to admit, it did smell good. His pulse was racing and in mere moments, fourth period would be letting out. He, Justin, Christina and Britney would be meeting up with Josh, Billy and Emily for the football game. AJ, Lance and Billy had already informed them that no, their classes were not given permission to attend.

"Well?" Justin asked, prompting Nick to open the envelope. Finally, he slid his finger underneath the crease and tore the scented paper. With shaking hands, Nick pulled a piece of paper out and unfolded it.

Dear Nick,

I hope you enjoyed my list. These were just ten of a million reasons that I like you. I thought you should know how I feel, it’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time.

I will be at the dance tonight, as I am sure you are curious who I am. I’ll be wearing jeans and a pink tee shirt, and maybe we might even get to dance. I can only dream.

I hope to see you tonight,

Love,

Your Secret Admirer

Nick read the letter, reread it a second and then third time. He folded it up before handing it to Justin. Lance and AJ crowded around him, all three reading the note.

"We were planning on going to the dance tonight anyways, right?" Justin asked with a grin. Nick nodded and closed his eyes.

"Yeah."

"Awesome, so you’ll find out tonight," Lance said in a soothing voice. "You can tell her you’re flattered but not interested. You don’t have to tell her anything about Kevin or the fact that you like boys."

"But if she likes you half as much as she says she does,’ Justin pointed out smartly. "Then she’s been watching you for a while, which means she has to have seen you with Kevin at some point or another and would know that you like boys. Not to mention the big ass picture of Kevin you have in your locker with sticker hearts around his face."

Nick blushed and folded the piece of paper back into it’s envelope. He slid it into his journal with the other two notes and the paper from that morning. Nick couldn’t wait to tell Kevin about this. He was sure that his boyfriend would get a kick out of it.

Minus AJ, Lance and Billy, the gang watched as Lincoln High won their first football game of the year. By the time the game was finished, the final bell had rung, ending their first week back of school. Everyone congregated in the parking lot, to finalize plans for that night.

Nick and Justin were going to Nick’s house. It was still relatively warm out and they were going to do some swimming before dinner. Since Chris wasn’t working and his band wasn’t playing a gig that night, he would be stopping by Nick’s at seven thirty to pick them up to take them to the dance, which would be going on from eight until eleven. Josh and Christina would be stopping by to pick up AJ and Lance, while Billy, Britney, Emily and Kyle would be driving together. They all promised to meet at the refreshment table and then head into the dance from there.

The girls all discussed their outfits while the guys pretended to care. Before long, they were all heading off into separate directions with promises to meet up later.

~*~*~*~*~

It was after ten and Nick still hadn’t found out who his secret admirer was. They’d gotten to the dance just a little late, but everyone had caught up with one another and headed into the gymnasium which had heavy bass hip hop music blaring from speakers and a laser light show dancing off of the walls. It was hard to believe that just that afternoon, students had been playing dodge ball and basketball on that same floor, which now housed dancing girls and boys, having fun and letting their hair down.

They occupied a small area in the back of the gym, visited frequently by members of the basketball team to say hello to Justin and Nick, members of last year’s production of The Wizard of Oz to say hello to Christina or just other odd friends to stop and chat. A slow song came on and Nick watched sadly as couples all paired up to dance.

"School dances are so lame," Chris sighed as he took a seat on the bleachers.

"Did you want to dance?" Justin asked softly. He knew that it would look slightly odd, the two of them dancing, but he didn’t care. He did what he wanted without worry what people thought of him. Chris only shook his head.

"Nah, this is good. We can cuddle and make out in the shadows." Justin’s lips curled into a giant grin and Chris knew he’d said the right thing.

Christina and Josh headed into the middle of the dance floor. A few feet away were Emily and Kyle as well as Britney and Billy. The girls were wrapped up completely in their boyfriends’ arms and Nick suddenly wished that Kevin was there. He remembered dancing in Christina’s back yard after the anti-prom the year before, completely engulfed in Kevin’s arms. Thoughts of what Kevin was doing at that moment had penetrated his mind and he found himself smiling. Nick was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t realize someone had approached him.

"Uhmmm.. Nick?"

Justin watched as a girl from a few of his classes approached them, a nervous expression on her face. He’d seen her around, both last year and this year but wasn’t entirely sure what her name was. She was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, pink converse sneakers and a pink baby tee. That last item triggered something in his mind and he sat up so suddenly that he nearly fell over.

"What is wrong with you?" Chris asked as he reached out to grab onto Justin.

"Pink. Shirt. Dance. Nick."

Chris looked to where Justin was pointing and snickered. In front of the blonde stood a petite girl with shoulder length layered black hair, bright blue eyes and pink lips that were probably swollen from the way she was nibbling on them. "So?"

Justin took that opportunity to fill Chris in on Nick’s letters, his secret admirer and the final note he’d received earlier that day. The note that said she would be at the dance, wearing a pink shirt and would hopefully get enough courage to ask him to dance. Across the room, standing against the wall were three girls watching with extreme interest, all looking as apprehensive as their pink shirted friend.

Nick vaguely heard someone call his name and he looked up. He smiled politely, wondering if he’d heard his name or imagined it. The girl standing in front of him smiled before she gathered her hair behind her ears, a move that was purely nerves.

"Hey," she said softly. Nick could barely hear her. As he looked closer, he recognized her from a few of his classes. If he remembered correctly, her name was Olivia Weston. They had never really talked before, but he could remember seeing her every now and again.

"Umm, hey."

Olivia adjusted her shirt nervously. She looked over her shoulder at her friends who were watching supportively. She forced herself to turn back around and talk to Nick, who was looking at her curiously. "Are you having fun?"

Nick gave a shrug. "I guess. It’s okay. You?"

Olivia nodded enthusiastically as she stepped in closer to where Nick was sitting. The previous slow song ended and another one started. "Totally fun." Olivia looked at the DJ before looking back at Nick. "Did you want to, ummm, dance?"

Nick’s eyes nearly bugged out and his jaw dropped. He looked at Justin who had a similar expression on his face. It was then that he took in Olivia’s clothing. Pink shirt. Blue jeans. Nick felt his stomach flip a few times and he giggled. This was the girl who had a crush on him. This was the one who had been sending him pink scented envelopes and lists all week. He blushed profusely as he nodded, barely able to look her in the eye.

"Uh, sure."

"Really?" Olivia asked, shocked that he would say yes. Nick forced himself to look up and stare her in the eye.

"Really."

He stood up and they walked a few feet into the crowded dance floor. Olivia stood still while she waited for Nick to make his move. He wrapped his arms very loosely around her waist, as she brought her hands up to his shoulders. They weren’t standing close enough so that their bodies were touching, but not so far that it was awkward. They were at a comfortable distance, although neither were all together too sure of what they were doing.

Half of the song played while they swayed from side to side and around in a circle. Nick could feel his friends' gazes all locked on theirs while Olivia’s friends watched in awe against the wall.

"So ..it’s you huh?" Nick asked. Their eyes met and he watched Olivia blush.

"Uh, your admirer?" Olivia asked. Nick nodded and she repeated the action. "Yeah. Kinda."

"I don’t know what to say," Nick confessed shyly. Never in his life had a girl come outright and tell him she liked him. It was kind of unnerving and he wasn’t sure how to react. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but at the same time he couldn’t return them. He had to let her down easy without making her hate him.

"Are you surprised? Did you know?"

Nick had to confess that he’d had no idea. "No, I’m very surprised."

"Good surprised?"

Nick shrugged. "Sure."

Olivia stepped in closer and cuddled into Nick’s body. Nick froze, unsure of what to do. He would have known if it were Kevin, or even Christina or Britney, but he wasn’t sure what Olivia wanted and so he didn’t move.

"I really like you Nick, I have since the beginning of last year."

"Really?" Nick asked. He could see the stars in Olivia’s eyes and felt a mixture of flattery and panic. She kept moving closer to him, holding him tighter and inching their faces closer together. He wasn’t actively rejecting her advancement, mainly due to surprise paralysis, which caused her to continue forward.

Quickly, his eyes darted up to find Justin and Chris watching with amused expressions on their faces. He silently begged them to help them but they simply shook their heads. He watched as Lance and AJ returned from the refreshment stand, searching the bleachers for him. Justin pointed in Nick’s direction and Lance nearly dropped his can of pop.

"Help me," Nick mouthed.

"Holy shit," was AJ’s answer.

"Yeah. And I’ve asked around, but no one seems to know much. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Nick shook his head. He definitely did not have a girlfriend. "No."

Olivia’s grin amplified. "Oh. Did you want one? I’d really like to be your girlfriend."

Nick frowned. He stopped dancing and ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "I kinda ...I’m flattered. Really ..." He had no idea how to deal with this. He looked down at Olivia’s face, surprised to see a dreamy smile and love stricken eyes looking up at him.

"I promise, I’ll be an awesome girlfriend Nick. I go to all your games, I’m in a few of your classes, and I think that your friends are so cool."

Nick licked his lips which had become dry. He took a few breaths and just as he was about to answer, Olivia breached the distance between them and kissed him. It was soft and chaste, their lips pressed together awkwardly. She was waiting for him to kiss her back and Nick couldn’t pull back fast enough.

"Oh my god," Nick whispered as he stepped back. His fingers immediately moved to his lips and his eyes opened wide.

"I really like you," Olivia repeated nervously. She was as flushed as Nick was. "I was hoping you might like me too."

"I don’t know you very well," Nick said slowly, "and I’m sure you’re an awesome person, but I don’t like you. Not ...like that. I’m very flattered but ..."

Nick hated the way Olivia’s forehead creased and her lower lip began to tremble. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he knew that he couldn’t lie. Especially not with her kissing him like that.

"But ... You got my letters right?" Olivia asked, hoping Nick would change his mind.

"I did, and thank you. That’s like, the coolest thing anyone has ever done for me. But ...I ...I don’t like you like that." He was just about to tell her about Kevin when tears sprang to her eyes and she looked around the gym in embarrassment. She refused to look at Nick and he felt remorse wash over him. "I’m really sorry Olivia."

"No, that’s fine. I ...I’m sorry. I just made a jerk of myself and ...you were supposed to say yes. And we .... I ... I feel so stupid."

"Don’t feel stupid," Nick started to say, cut off by Olivia.

"Oh, right. Don’t feel stupid. Easy for you to say.." She looked at her friends behind her and sighed. Finally, she looked up at Nick and shrugged. "Thank you for the dance." She met his eyes and gave him a weak smile. "It was ...awesome."

"It was," Nick agreed. The moment was awkward and finally a fast song started to play.

"I’m just gonna ..." Olivia said, nodding towards her friends. Nick understood.

"Okay, I’ll see you later." He waited until Olivia was joined by her friends and they’d left the gym before returning to his friends who were all waiting in suspense.

"Oh my god, it was Olivia Weston?" Britney said in shock. She had a few ideas of who would have been the Secret Admirer, but never once had it been Olivia.

"Yeah," Nick answered with an uncomfortable shrug. He was embarrassed for both himself and Olivia and didn’t want to talk about it with the whole gang. At least not right away. Thankfully, Josh must have understood because he stepped into the centre of the circle.

"Anyone hungry? McDonalds is still open and no one has curfew for a while."

Nick and Justin groaned "We had McDonalds for lunch. Lets go to Dairy Queen, the one on Mill Street is open 'til Midnight.""

"Oooh," Billy said with wide eyes, "banana splits."

That was all it took for everyone to forget about Nick’s admirer, at least for now. Nick knew that they were simply being polite in not bringing it further to attention how uncomfortable he was, and was grateful for the distraction. It was in the car to Dairy Queen that Nick filled Justin and Chris in. He told them everything that she had said, followed by everything he had said. Justin couldn’t help but laugh, which in turn caused Nick to chuckle about it too. This was something he expected to have happened to Kevin, even Justin, but certainly not him.

"I nearly freaked when she kissed you man," Justin admitted. The look on your face was hysterical, especially since you totally didn’t see it coming."

Nick nodded. "Oh my god, I was like ‘what is she doing?’ But then realized it and had no idea what to do. I didn’t even kiss her back."

Chris gave a snort as he turned onto Mill St. "You could totally tell. Your eyes were still wide open and your whole body was rigid. What was it like?"

Nick winced and wrinkled his nose. "It wasn’t like anything. I mean, all I could think about was ewww, girl lips. And ‘Kevin’s gonna kill me."

"She looked crushed man," Justin admitted as they got out of the car. Looking inside the Dairy Queen, they could already see the rest of the gang inside, only Lance was waiting outside for them.

"So? Details?" Lance asked as they headed inside. Nick shook his head and nodded towards Justin, giving his best friend free access to share with Lance everything he’d just shared with them. Nick knew that on the ride home, Lance would inform AJ, which would take him off the hook.

Nick ordered himself a Peanut Buster Parfait, Justin a banana split and Chris a large Strawberry sundae while Lance, Justin and Chris talked behind him in line. Justin had finished telling them about Olivia and now Lance and Chris were discussing the Lincoln Report and what was going on with it. Just as Chris stepped up to order, Nick tugged on his shirt. "Come on, I got ours, lets go sit down."

Chris looked at Nick skeptically, eyeing his sundae. Justin poked him, telling him to hurry up. "It’s melting, lets go sit down."

"But ...why .."

Nick shrugged. "You’re always driving us around. Dude, it’s like two bucks, chill."

As they all joined the group that had already gathered, Nick was vaguely aware of curious eyes focused on him. He dug into his desert, attention focused between listening to Chris and Lance’s conversation about the Lincoln Report and thoughts about Kevin and the fact that his boyfriend would be calling sometime the next day.

End Chapter 14


Chapter 15 >