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Thanks to Stephanie, Ayleen, AJsSweety, Anastacia and Anita for reviewing the last chapter!

Chapter Twelve

“So where are we off to next?” Nick asked, causing a round of eyes rolling at his expected cluelessness.

“You have an itinerary to tell you these things,” Brian pointed out, putting Nick on the spot, “Why don’t you pull it out and look.”

The four Boys looked at Nick, waiting for an answer, which they knew would be entertaining. A slight blush arose on Nick’s face. Something always happened to his, in one way or another.

“I needed a place to spit my gum…it was the only thing I could find.” He said sheepishly.

A.J. sucked in a breath and let it out noisily in irritation. Nick didn’t know what was with his attitude lately, but it seemed that every move Nick made set the man off in one way or another. It was almost as if he had something else on his mind, causing him to take his frustrations out on everyone.

“We,” Kevin stated, “Considering we missed a good week, a little more maybe,” he paused, taking out his own itinerary, scanning it over, “We’re due to be in New Jersey. We’re still in Ohio now…so, we’ll probably be there in six or eight hours, depending.”

Nick silently thanked Kevin. Along with A.J’s change for the worse, Kevin had changed for the better. His newly laid back nature and calmness was something Nick was sure that they were all enjoying.

“I hate Ohio,” Nick muttered, “There is nothing here but cows and corn fields, ya know?”

Brian chuckled. This was true. Other than some well-known malls and entertainment venues, there really wasn’t much else to do. He felt sorry for the residents of the state, knowing that he himself would never want to live there.

“It’s not that bad,” Kevin stated, “I’ve been to worse…” his voice trailed off, thinking of the experience they’d had in a certain state a few west from Ohio. It had smelled like cow manure the whole way through, and really was absolutely nothing but crop fields, with the occasional motel every fifty miles or so. Malcolm had grown tired, needing a break, so they all decided to stop for the night. The one they’d chosen to stay in was filthy. In the room he’d been in with Howie and A.J, the sheets hadn’t been changed, with stains of lord knows what on them. Nick and Brian’s room had appearantly not been any better, if not worse. He knew for a fact that they’d all slept on top of the bed spread, getting up as early as they could to vacate the place as quickly as possible. Kevin shuddered at the memory of the experience. They’d learned a lesson to never stop in that state again…for anything…other than performing, of course.

Suddenly, Amber appeared, standing in the small doorway of the room. The guys heads all turned one by one to watch her as she timidly made her way over to them, keeping a ten foot distance barrier between them.

“Could I please have something to drink?” she asked in almost a whisper, and Howie could tell that she was still afraid of them, “I’m really thirsty.”

Brian hopped up and smiled, thinking that his plan had worked on ignoring her until she came to them.

“Sure,” he drawled, walking over to the fridge and opening it for her to take her pick of about twenty different beverages, “Do you want something to eat too? We have mac n cheese, soup, sandwiches, Nick has a stash of junk food under the counter…”

“Just water is fine,” Amber said, slowly taking a bottle of Aquafina cautiously.

“Are you sure?” Brian pushed.

“I’m fine,” she answered.

“Just a little something?”

Amber grabbed an apple, just to shut the man up before quickly walking back to the back of the bus to the bunk to hide away again.

Brian’s shoulders slumped as he slowly walked back towards the others, plopping back down on the couch.

“Well, at least she made an appearance,” he stated, thinking that that was a good sign at least in itself, “It’s more than we’ve gotten before this. Maybe she’s progressing and getting better.”

“First of all, the girl has to eat and drink something,” A.J. noted saracastically, “Before she dehydrates and starves to death. Secondly, I am pretty sure it takes more than a fucking week to get over a rape. Think about it, Rok.”

Brian shrugged, finding truth in both of A.J’s points.

“I hate to say it,” Kevin stated, going against what his cousin thought, “But your approach isn’t working. It’s making her think that we don’t care.”

Brian didn’t say anything for a moment, somewhat hurt that his own cousin could side with Nick of all people. It didn’t make since, and he wondered if Nick had bribed Kevin to go along with him. He saw out of the corner of his eye Kevin staring at him expecting a response of some sort.

“Hounding her won’t help either,” Brian replied stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s not hounding,” Kevin replied, “It’s simply slowly letting her know that she can trust us and are there for her.”

Brian rolled his eyes. One thing was for sure; ever since the incident with Amber, the guys were much more subtle to irritating each other. He felt like their bond wasn’t as close and they argued about every little thing. They had to watch what they said and did, or try to at least. Their lives were being changed around, and he wasn’t so sure he felt it was worth it, as harsh at it sounded.

“Whatever,” Brian wanted, taking on the roll of seeming to be a spoiled, selfish brat.

“You can ignore her, and wait for her to come to you, if that works,” Kevin finally said, “You’re a grown man, you can make your own choices. However, so is Nick. He isn’t thirteen any longer. He is twenty-three, and it’s time we start treating him like an adult. If he wants to help her the way he tried to the other night, don’t give him shit about it. Same goes for the rest of us.”

Brian looked at Kevin in confusion, wondering what had gotten in to the man. Normally, it was tradition to give Nick slack and hell for acting like a child. It’s what they expected of him, so it was how they treated him, in a joking way, of course. He was definitely confused by the change.

“Prison pussy whipped you,” Brian muttered, saying something that just days ago, he wouldn’t have even thought of speaking aloud.

“No, Brian,” Kevin said calmly, not wanting to overreact and scare Amber even further, “It’s made me in to a more rational person.”

Kevin shot Nick an apologetic look, for they were speaking as if he weren’t even near them. Nick just shrugged, thanking Kevin again, mouthing the words, for defending him. It felt good to have someone on his side for once. He was going to prove to Brian, and maybe Howie and A.J. too, that he knew what he was doing for once in his life.

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Nick was awakened to the sound of soft, distant groaning again. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness again. He figured they would be at their next destination in approximately one hour. It was just past midnight, and all around him was silent.

Standing up, Nick noticed Kevin sitting with eyes wide opened. He jumped, startled at the sight of another being awake.

“How can they sleep through all of that?” Nick whispered, pointing to the bunks.

“Earplugs,” Kevin told him, “I found them a few hours ago.”

Anger flared up in Nick. He wondered why the others had agreed to give Amber a place to stay, offering to help her, if they didn’t intend to at all. Nick looked at the others though, kind of afraid to advance to the back to awaken the girl from her nightmare.

“Go,” Kevin urged, reading Nick’s thoughts, “She needs someone.”

Nick smiled before slowly making his way to the back once more. A slight worry arose in his mind that maybe he was being a pain in the ass towards her, but he didn’t turn back as he heard the sleep talking begin.

As Nick approached Amber, he wondered if this would become a tradition that would be an every night thing for weeks, months or even years. Not that he would mind if it was. Shaking her gently to wake her up from her troubled sleep, Nick hoped that she wouldn’t freak out this time.

“Leave me alone,”

Nick stepped back, wondering if she was actually conscious, but realized that she was still asleep.

“Wake up,” Nick tried again, nudging her shoulder gently

Amber let out a blood curdling scream as her eyes flew open and she shot up breathing heavily. Nick jumped back, unsure of how she would react to him being there before her eyes. He wondered how she would react to him being the first thing that she saw upon awakening. Him, Nick, a man. One of the species she did not trust. Just as predicted, Amber saw Nick, backing up slightly between her choked sobs of fright.

“It’s okay,” Nick said, “It’s just me…Nick.” He added

Nick carefully took one step forward, trying to advance in his status with her. Even if she trusted him being two steps closer than before, it was an improvement. When Amber didn’t shrink back, Nick took another slow, careful step towards her, pausing to make sure that she was okay. Amber still didn’t cower into her shell. She just stared at him, tears streaming down her face. Nick decided it was safe for him to go the last couple of feet, so he did so, sitting down next to her. Neither said anything for a while. They just stared at one another. Nick wanted the girl to trust him more than anything, and he was pretty sure that he was gaining points with her on that.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nick asked her softly, finally breaking the silence.

Amber froze. She didn’t reply for a while, and for a second, he was afraid he’d overstepped his boundaries. He feared he was asking her these things too soon. Amber started to shake again.

“It’s all too real,” she whispered finally.

“What is?” Nick asked her, “What’s too real?”

Again, Amber paused. The memories of her night visions surrounded her again. It was too much for her to handle. Tears fell harder, softly plopping on to the sheets of the bed.

“Talking about it might help,” Nick offered, “It won’t do any good keeping it all inside.”

Amber knew that Nick proved a good point. Keeping everything she was feeling all bottled up was causing her to go insane.

“The nightmares…” her voice wavered a bit and she stopped speaking.

“Do you want to tell me about them?”

Amber bit her lip and shook her head slowly, more tears falling. Talking about them would bring back vivid memories of the real thing.

“I’m so afraid, Nick,” Amber said softly.

Nick began to reach out, but drew his hand back, wondering if that would freak the timid, vulnerable girl out. He paused before reaching out again to gently pull Amber into a comforting hug. Amber willingly accepted, burying her face into Nick’s masculine shoulder and sobbed.

“Everything will be okay,” Nick whispered, “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

Meanwhile, Brian watched in the distance as Nick spoke with Amber, and she actually spoke back. Nick was right, and he felt bad for making his best friend out to be a total spazz. Maybe Nick really had matured and grown up in some aspects. More than he, or the rest of them, gave him credit for. Brian sighed, turning away. He knew one thing for sure; he had a lot of apologizing to do, convincing Nick that he really was sorry for being unfair toward him and saying some of the harsh things that he had. Brian hoped that he was forgiven.