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Sorry that it took me a little while to update. With the holidays around the past week, I haven't been home much at all. Here is Chapter Thirteen though, so enjoy! THANKS to AJsSweety, Anita, Ayleen, Sta, Stephanie and frackandbonechick for reviewing 12. Can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of this one!!!

Chapter Thirteen

“Hey Nick,” Brian called out, sprinting down the narrow hall of the hotel to catch up with his friend, “Can I talk with you for a moment?”

Nick stopped and turned around, looking at his best friend in curiosity. It was two days later. They were staying in Maine for a couple of days for an interview and a meeting, and Brian still had yet to talk to the blonde haired boy about the way he’d been treating him. Brian knew that he owed Nick an apology, and not just any apology. Nick deserved a huge one, which came from the bottom of Brian’s heart. Brian needed time to think of the right words to say that would make him sound the most sincere.

“Sure, Rok, wuzzup?” Nick answered with a grin.

Brian’s treating him like the worlds biggest moron was appearantly the furthest thing from his mind. Brian felt almost bad to bring it up and remind his friend, but he knew that times would come where he made fun of the Boy in the future. Plus, he felt he should commend Nick on his sensitivity and what a great job he was doing with getting Amber to open up. It was more than the others could say. For the first time that he could remember, Nick was right about something.

“Not a lot,” Brian answered, swallowing. He wondered if he was losing his nerve to actually bring up what was on his mind, “Just chillin’, ya know.”

“Yup, I’m just heading back to the room to relax n’ shit.”

Brian chuckled. Every chance Nick got, he was relaxing, lounging out in his hotel room, raiding the much over priced mini bar. For example, a small jar of macadamia nuts was twelve dollars. Nick always found a way to charge up the bill of the room to an amount way higher that it should have been...and he always ended up paying up for his extra luxuries out of his own pocket. Beings he and Nick shared a room, Brian tried to stop him. It never worked though, and Brian always ended up helping him in his guilty crime.

“Sounds good to me,” Brian replied as they continued to walk towards their suite, “That interview today was awful. I mean, we had to lie out of our butts just to make sure that nobody found out that you and Kev were locked away,” he started laughing at the thought of it, “And then to hide that we’re taking care of an orphaned rape victim? Jeesh the whole thing was a lie. We’re going to hell for this.” the man joked.

Nick shook his head and laughed. He was right though...there was so much that they were hiding, to protect themselves from the paparazzi, press, tabloids, and other sources that would produce bullshit stories on them. They also had to protect Amber as well. There was no saying what would happen if her photos started showing up on the news, in magazine covers, or if her name was mentioned. Her rapist might try and find her. Beings she was with the Boys, it wouldn’t be hard at all to trace her and try to hurt her once more.

“Anyways,” Brian said, wanting to change the subject to the whole point of why they were talking, “There was something else I was wanting to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” Nick asked as he slid his room key card in to the slot on the door, waiting for it to activate and unlock the door and let them inside, “What about?”

The two walked in to the room. Nick turned on a light, hating the darkness that was there every time he entered the room after a long day out. It seemed almost unwelcoming, in some sort of sense. He couldn’t explain it.

Pulling his wallet out of his hind pocket, Nick tossed it down on to the dresser. Plopping down on to the bed, Nick lay down, rolling over on to his side. Brian sat on the other bed. Nick was getting way to comfortable, but maybe it was a good thing. He was, after all, about to tell Nick he was sorry for making him out to be an idiotic moron. That wasn’t exactly a compliment.
“Yeah, um...well, you see,” Brian stumbled over his words, “I just kind of wanted to apologize...for, um...treating you so, um...bad lately and being such a...jerk.”

Nick looked at Brian, tilting his head to one side in confusion. He wasn’t sure what his friend had meant by his apologies. Had he missed something? Sure, his friend had been moody for the past week, but Nick had assumed he had been taking it out on everyone.

“It’s okay,” he finally replied, “Um...what do you mean?”

Brian laughed at Nick’s cluelessness.

“Well... this is hard for me to admit that I was wrong,” Brian began, “But, um...your approach for helping Amber was right...and I treated you really bad saying it was wrong, and said some things that I shouldn’t have...pretty much indicating that you were dumb,” Brian got right to the point, “I was wrong.”

Nick didn’t say anything for a moment. To be honest, he’d forgotten about that, for Brian had been decent again towards him for a couple of days now. But since the reminder was back, Nick had to admit that he had been kind of upset by Brian treating him like everything he did was incorrect and something of what a child would do or think.

“I didn’t remember that until now,” Nick admitted.

Brian cursed under his breath, wondering why he hadn’t thought of that before. Nick’s short attention span always allowed him to forget things almost instantly.

“I ain’t pissed at you or anything,” Nick told the man, who’d developed lines of worry etched in to his forehead, “I mean, yeah, at the time, I was insulted and hurt. It sucks always having people think that you know nothing, and thinking that you have nothing intelligent to say, and are always in the way but no hard feelings.”

“I’m sorry,” Brian apologized again, “The other day, when I saw you actually connecting with Amber...talking to her, when the rest of us couldn’t get anywhere with her...it made me realize that the young teenager I met almost eleven years ago really was twenty three now, and had some common sense in him.”

Nick laughed at that last comment. This was true. Yes, he was still a big kid at heart in many ways, but in others, he wasn’t. He was glad that finally, somebody was figuring this out about him. He was sorry though, that it had to be under these circumstances.

“I was just doing what I thought was right,” Nick stated, “Taking a chance, not knowing how it would turn out. It just turned out that my idea is working.”

Brian lay down on his own king sized bed. He rested his hands behind his head, staring up at the pasty white ceiling.

“Well, all that matters is that she is opening up a little bit,”

Nick sighed. He was beginning to feel a slight sensation of guilt for being the only one she spoke to. Nick would definitely say that she did not trust him yet, but it was getting there. He wanted her to be able to talk to the others too though.

“How about next time, you or one of the others try and talk to her,” Nick finally suggested, “So she has more than one of us to talk to...ya know?”

Brian didn’t speak for a long moment. He liked the idea, and knew that Nick’s offer, even though the others had every right to talk to her, was generous.

“I wouldn’t know what to say,” Brian admitted, “What do you say to a girl who is teerrified of you and has been raped?”

“Just ask her if she needs anything, ask if she wants to talk about things. Offer to be there for her. She’ll talk after a time or two. You just have to be patient.”

Brian stared at Nick, surprised at how much he actually knew about how to deal with this. When Brian had thought that Nick was being too pushy, he had been wrong...very wrong. Nick wasn’t pushing at all. He was, in a sense, letting Amber come to him, speaking with words instead of ignoring her.

“I might just do that,” Brian grinned, then said, “She sure was fast to get in to her own room.. As soon as we have her the key, she fled.”

Nick laughed lightly, knowing that the behavior was to be expected. She was finally free, to a certain extent, and not cooped up on a bus with them all.

“She normally has the nightmares every night, so, next time we’re on the bus is probably the next chance you’ll have to try and help.”

Brian nodded. He tried to think of the right things to say to Amber when he was given the right chance. He still hadn’t a clue, but he had a couple of days to figure it out, and Nick’s ideas gave him some insight on what he could say.

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A.J. glared at Nick from afar as he watched Nick make his way over to the table in the far corner, which Amber had chosen to sit at in the hotel restaurant the next morning during breakfast. Nick sat down across from the girl and he saw him speaking. Although he couldn’t hear what it had been, Amber gave a small, light smile in response to it. A.J scowled, not understanding how Nick was advancing quicker than the rest of them. He was the goof up of the group. He was the one expected to make mistakes and screw things up, and yet somehow, he was progressing in getting the girl to open up.

Jabbing his fork violently in to his pancakes, A.J subconsciously cut his knife in to the stack of five, ripping them apart in to shreads as he watched them talk. It appeared that Nick was doing most of the talking, big surprise (sarcasm), but Amber was getting in a sentence or two every now and then. He loved Nick like a brother, but he hated him for being right. He hated him for getting Amber to trust him quicker than he, himself had gotten the chance to.

A.J. looked at Amber and observed her. Her hair was a gorgeous color of honey blonde. It flowed softly down her back in small ringlets. Her eyebrows were high, perfectly shaped, and spaced perfectly apart. Her eyes were a blue color, like the ocean. He’d observed this trait when they’d visited her in the hospital. Her nose was small and cute, like a button. It arched slightly at the top, giving it its own unique shape. Her lips weren’t thin, but A.J. wouldn’t describe them as being full either. They were just...perfect. Her figure was slender and petite, with curve that any woman would kill for. A.J. found himself very attracted to her. He wondered if she would ever speak to him with as much ease as she talked to Nick with.

“Gonna eat your breakfast or kill it all over again?” Brian joked, causing A.J. to look over at him blankly, distracted from his thoughts. Brian pointed to his plate. A.J. looked down, seeing that his pancakes were butchered and had soaked up all of the syrup he’d poured over them, causing them to become soggy and unappetizing. His bacon was chopped into fine little pieces that were fit for a salad and his scrambled eggs were mixed in to the rest of his meal. A small blush arose as he realized he’d mutilated his breakfast. The others sat around, chuckling, trying to hid the amusement on their faces.

‘Just not very hungry I guess,” A.J. lied as his stomach let out a low growl. He was pretty sure the others had heard it.

“You sure did look determined,” Howie joked, “You were just staring off, doing your own little thing.”

The others laughed and A.J. ignored it. Soon, he was staring off again. He figured that it was probably a good thing that their server had cleared his plate out of his way. There was no saying what else he would have done to it without realizing. He glared at Nick, thinking of the things he wanted to do to the blonde. It irked him when Nick was right...especially over really big things. He figured it was because it was on really rare occasion that he was.

The other three looked at him, catching on to where his gaze was. He had something in his eyes that they’d never seen before. Something that looked like hate, intense disliking. Wanting to harm. His eyes, they could tell, were directly on Nick. Kevin knew that he had to stop the glare before something happened.

“AJ,” he called out, “Yo, gotta talk or ignore us all.” he waved a hand in front of the man’s face. A.J blinked a few times, realizing he’d spaced again.

“How does Nick rate?” A.J. asked, “I mean, gawd, how does he get her to talk to him? It really sucks.”

The others looked at one another. They hadn’t been expecting that answer, but it would definitely explain his sour attitude over the past couple of weeks.

“Is somebody jealous?” Howie sang out jokingly.

“So what if I am?” A.J. challenged, “Yes, I would love to be able to have Amber converse with me like...that,” he thrust his hand in Nick’s direction.

“She will with time,” Brian responded with confidence., “Just will take a little longer than it did for Nickers.”

A.J. snorted, looking back towards Nick and Amber, only this time, his eyes were laid upon the girl. His eyes softened to a look of adoration. He couldn’t deny that he was attracted to her...and falling for her quickly.

“Does somebody have a crush?” Brian teased, catching the look and reading it to a T.

A.J. turned a shade of crimson, ‘Maybe I do,” he defended himself, hoping not to catch too much grief from his friends.

“Awww, how sweet,” Howie joked, “A.J. is crushin on Amber.”

Brian snickered in response. Kevin, on the other hand had a look of concern written on his handsome features.

“Aje,” he finally spoke, biting on his lip for a second, “I understand that you may like her, but, she doesn’t need to be hit on right now. I honestly don’t think that it’s a good idea if you try to pursue a relationship with her beyond friendship.”

A.J’s face fell, and Kevin felt bad for discouraging him. He knew A.J. though. He was a major flirt. If he came off as intimidating to girls who felt secure around men, he couldn’t imagine what it would do to Amber. Most likely send her in to an even harder shell to crack.

“Yeah, yeah,” A.J grumbled, “I know...I should get over it now and move on.”

“It would be for the best....for now, anyways,” Kevin stated, hating seeing his friend become discouraged.

A.J. sighed. Go figure, when he is finally over Sarah, the first girl he likes is afraid of him. He rolled his eyes at the sad irony of the situation. He knew that he could be a good boyfriend to Amber. It was just a matter of breaking the ice between them and getting her to say the first few words to him. The question was, when would that happen and the better question being IF?