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They headed to a local pizza place, Peace A Pizza, to eat before they went to Club Egypt. After ordering, Dave’s friends went to hit on some teenage girls sitting at the counter, leaving Nick and Dave alone at the table. Nick was lost in his own little world. His head was propped up by one hand and his other hand slowly stirred the straw of his Pepsi. His eyes were half closed, and from time to time he would sigh. After 6 sighs, Dave became fed up.
"What’s wrong, man?" he asked gently, surprising Nick out of his daze.
"Wha-? Oh, nothing, just thinking."
"You always were a bad liar, Nick. ‘Member the time you slept over at my house when we were, like, 8? We were playing Nintendo, and I had to go to the bathroom. When I came back, the A button on my controller wouldn’t work. You swore up and down that you had nothing to do with it. Like the button just randomly decided to stop working."
Nick chuckled slightly. "Yeah, I remember that. You were so pissed."
"Hell yeah I was! It cost me $15 to get a new one! And you, being the little prick you are," he said fondly, "wouldn’t help pay for a new one."
"It’s part of my charm," Nick shrugged. "Want me to pay you back now?"
"Tell ya what. Just tell me what’s wrong and we’ll call it even."
Nick sighed again. "Can’t I just give you the cash? Or better yet, I’ll buy you a new PlayStation."
"No."
"Damnit." Nick picked up his cup and drained down the rest of his Pepsi. "I so wish that this had some alcohol in it . . . I could use some."
"Maybe later. So what happened with you and Kirsten?" Dave prodded.
Nick answered slowly. "She broke up with me."
Dave looked sympathetic. "I’m sorry, Nick . . . you guys went out for a long time, didn’t you?"
"One year, five months, 3 weeks, and five days. The day after tomorrow was out year and a half anniversary. I was . . ." Nick said, taking a deep breath, "I was gonna propose to her. I had the ring and everything."
"That’s rough," Dave said awkwardly.
"You were there when I met her, weren’t you?" Nick said rhetorically, fading back into his dream world. "It was Grad Night at Disney . . . she was so beautiful . . ."
"Who was?" Eric asked as he and the rest of the guys, shot down by the girls, returned to the table.
"Your mom, or at least what I saw of her last night while she blew me," Dave said, coming to Nick’s recuse. Nick shot him a grateful smile as the table errupted into a round of, "Ooooo!" and "Are you going to take that, Eric?" Soon everyone was on a "yo’ mama" joke kick. Nick just watched them, amused.
"Yo’ mama’s so fat that when she sits around the house, she really sits around the house!"
"Yo’ mama’s teeth are so rotten, when she smiles they look like dice!"
"Yo’ mama’s like a Wal-Mart – lower prices every day!"
"Yo’ mama’s so old she was a waitress at the Last Supper!"
"Yo’ mama’s so stupid she looks at a can of OJ for a day because it says concentrate!"
The waitress, who came to give them their pizza, interrupted them. She gave them all a dirty look as she set down their plates. "You boys need to settle down," she said harshly before wiping her hands on her apron and flouncing back to the kitchen. Everyone dug in, eating hungrily.
"So Nick, this is basically what you miss by skipping out on college," Eric said. Everyone nodded in agreement, their mouths full. "Hitting on girls, telling bad jokes, eating pizza, and upsetting waitresses."
"And drinking, but we’ll probably be doin’ some of that later tonight!" Jay added.
"And we study sometimes."
"Sometimes. Not very often."
"Yeah, that’s what I figured," Nick grinned. They wolfed down the rest of the food and headed out to the club.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There was a crowd of people outside the club when they arrived, even though it was only 9. "Work your magic, bud," Dave said, turning to Nick. He sighed, but walked towards the front of the line, leaving Dave and his friends behind momentarily.
"Hey you, what the hell do you think you’re doing?" one of the bouncers asked. Nick turned to him and instantly recognized him as Zach, one of the men who had worked the opening night all those months ago when the Boys had performed.
"Hey, Zach," Nick said easily, turning on the charm. Zach squinted at him, and then his face brightened with recognition.
"Hey, Carter, what’s up?"
"Nothin’ much, I was just stopping by with a few of my friends. Think you can get us in?" he asked casually.
"Sure, no problem. Go get ‘em and then I’ll let you in. How’s the group going?"
"Pretty good. We just ended our last tour, thank God, and we’re on break now."
"You still goin’ out with Kirsten?" Zach remembered the blonde girl from the opening. Though it had been before her career really blew up, she was one of those beautiful girls that everyone remembered. Now she was a household name.
"Nah."
"I didn’t think so. She’s in there with some other guy."
Nick felt like someone had slapped him. "What?"
"I think it’s one of her dancers. Really big guy, with brown hair and blonde tips. One of the waitresses was calling him hot, but I wouldn’t know about stuff like that." Zach gave him a knowing grin.
"Really?" Nick squeaked, feeling a chill pass through his body.
"Yeah. What’s wrong? You look kinda pale."
"Nothing," he said quickly. "I’m gonna go get my friends, see ya in a minute."
"Okay," Zach replied, watching Nick hurry off to his friends.
"’Kay guys, we’re in," Nick said, walking up to the group. The guys all whooped and clapped him on the back.
"I knew our friendship would come in handy one day," Dave said as they happily breezed past the long line of people waiting to get in.
"It’s nice to know I matter to you," Nick said sarcastically as they walked into the club. It was packed with people, even though it wasn’t late yet. Music was blaring, and the air smelled like a mixture of perspiration, body spray, and alcohol. Nick immediately began scanning the crowd of people, but he didn’t catch sight of Kirsten. He sighed, not sure if he was relieved or upset not to see her with her date.
The guys found a table, and Nick headed to the bar. The bartender remembered him as a Backstreet Boy and served him without Nick even having to beg. Nick downed the drink quickly, instantly relaxing his tense nerves. He sat at the bar for a minute, people watching as he sipped his next drink more slowly.
Suddenly, he heard the familiar voice of Kirsten say to the bartender, "Get me a gin and tonic." The bartender gave her a wink and filled the cup for her. Nick just watched her in awe as she sat down two seats from him. She ran her perfectly manicured fingers through her honey-blonde hair, her legs crossed. He was about to speak to her when a man that Nick recognized as one of her dancers, Simon, walked up to her and began to kiss her neck from behind. She smiled and closed her eyes, putting her hand up to his cheek. He whispered something into her ear, and she laughed. Simon gave her one last kiss, and then headed back out to the dance floor.
"Hi, Kirstie," Nick said hoarsely. She turned to him as soon as she heard him utter his pet name for her.
"Nick!" she said as if they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years. "How are you!" It was a statement rather than a question.
"Just great," he said grumpily, drinking down the rest of his drink.
"Better slow down, you’re a light weight remember," she said cheerfully.
"How the hell can you do this to me?" he suddenly asked.
"Do what?"
"This. You break up with me over the phone, with no explanation, and find me drowning my sorrows in a beer. And now you act like nothing happened." He was bitter. She tilted her head slightly to one side and pouted her lips.
"Oh, Nicky, don’t make this any harder than it is!" she sighed.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Nick, I thought you knew me better than that! I broke us up for your own good you know."
"Excuse me?"
"Your career was suffering; everyone knew it. You weren’t paying any attention to your work anymore, and that couldn’t continue."
"Kirsten, I love you. Screw my job. I just want you in my life!" His voice broke slightly and he fought back tears.
"That’s so sweet, Nicky. But really, we both knew that this wouldn’t work out. Our schedules are too conflicting, the fans get too mad, we never see each other anymore. And don’t tell me that you’ve never fooled around with any of your underage fans!" Kirsten gave a short little laugh, then a knowing smile. Nick’s jaw dropped.
"Actually, I haven’t." His gaze at her turned stony. Kirsten’s laugh became nervous.
"Honestly? That’s so sweet!" Nick realized that this was about the fifth time today that she had said the phase ‘that’s so sweet.’
"It’s called monogamy, Kirstie."
"Nicky, I’m sorry, but . . . I never thought we were that serious," she explained. Just then, Simon came back. "I’ll see you around, ‘kay?" She jumped off of the stool and clung onto Simon’s arm, giving him a little wave as she left. He just stared at her as she blended in with the rest of the crowd.
"That was harsh."
Nick turned around to see Jay, one of Dave’s friends, standing behind him. "You saw that?"
"Yeah, the entire thing." He shook his head disapprovingly. "What a little bitch." He sat down next to Nick and ordered a shot of tequila.
"You 21?" The bartender looked at him skeptically. Jay turned to Nick.
"A little help, Carter?"
"Give ‘im a break, Jeff," Nick urged him.
Jeff sighed. "No can do, bud. You’re one thing, but the rest of ‘em? I’d lose my job." He went to help another customer.
"Sorry," Nick said guiltily to Jay.
Jay just shrugged. "No problem. I can live without for the time being. You, my friend, are another story." Nick rolled his eyes.
"It’s good to be able to handle problems well." With that he drank up the rest of his beer.
"So you were really hung up on her, weren’t you?" Jay asked, referring to Kirsten.
"Yeah, I was. I thought she was great."
Jay shook his head again. "Poor guy. Kirsten’s dumps are hard to take."
"Speaking from experience?"
"Yeah, junior year in high school. We went out for like 2 months. Then I found out that she was sleeping with some senior. When I confronted her, she acted like it was no big deal and said that she thought everyone did that stuff. We got into a fight and she broke up with me. After a while I realized what a shallow bitch she was, but damn, I missed that body." He grinned, remembering her. Nick winced. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.
"Don’t worry, I’m getting used to it." They sat in silence for a while.
"Why don’t you come dance or something? There’s gotta be tons of girls who want a Backdoor Boy."
"I’m not really in the mood for another Kirsten Corsi."
"So don’t get one. Find a girl who isn’t using you for her career," Jay suggested.
"That’s what really bugs me about Kirsten, I think. I gave her everything – if it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have all these millions of fans and dollars and sold albums. I made her what she is. And this is how she thanks me. I wish I could get back at her, but . . ."
Jay suddenly got an idea. "What if you beat her at her own game?"
"What, you mean go out with her again and cheat on her and dump her?"
"No, that’s one thing you’ll never change about Kirsten. She’s been like that since junior high. I mean, find a girl to top her. Prove that you’re the one who made her the success she is today. I bet you can’t do it, but if you think you can . . ."
"Are you kidding me?" Nick sounded outraged. "Of course I can. I made her what she is today."
"You sure about that? I think that Kirsten’s the type of girl who could latch onto any popstar and make it big . . ."
Nick took the bait. "I’m positive. Do you have any clue how many hours I spent on the phone, pleading with record companies to give a chipmunk-sounding girl a chance? But they believed me. I did it then and I can do it again," he said confidently.
"I still don’t think you can."
"Is that a challenge?"
"What if it is?"
"I think I’ll take it." The two men eyed each other and then started laughing.
"Terms are, I get to choose the girl. You have 6 months to make her into a star," Jay said, his eyes sparkling in the dim light of the club.
Nick had been taking a sip of his beer when Jay spoke. He had to hurry and swallow, because he began to sputter from shock. "Six months? Are you kidding me? It takes longer than that to get a record deal just finalized, let alone recorded!"
"You don’t need a full record for her. Hell, Britney Spears was huge before she even released the single."
"I still don’t know. I think 9 months is better."
"Fine, but if you get 9 months, than the deal is you need to get the girl a number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart."
Nick wavered slightly. "Can’t we just say Top 10?"
"No. Number 1 or no deal."
"Who cares? I don’t need the bet. I know I’m right." Jay just stared at him pointedly. "Okay, okay. And you get to choose the girl?"
"Yeah. Tomorrow night sound good? We can go shopping," he said with a wicked grin.
"You’re on. Let’s say, 6 at Dave’s house and then we’ll shop around?"
"Deal." The two men shook hands.
Nick had no idea what he was getting into.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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