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About an hour later I noticed how hungry I was. “Hey Abby, are you hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think we should try and find the guard?”

“I was hoping that Nick would emerge for food soon.”

“How long are we going to wait for him to come out of his room?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go find the guard.”

We put our shoes on, grabbed our keys and left the room. Abby stopped as we passed his room. “Abby, you coming?”

“Should we invite him?”

“You can. He probably won’t come but you can try.”

Abby nodded. I think she knew that he would probably decline the offer, but she knocked on his door anyway. There was no answer. She knocked again, a little louder this time. Again there was no answer. She tried the doorknob. The door wasn’t locked, so she quietly opened the door. He was sleeping restlessly. He seemed to be stuck in a nightmare. We stood there for a couple minutes, watching him toss and turn. Abby and I looked at each other. She walked to his bed and sat down on the edge. She started to shake him lightly. “Nick. Nick.” She said softly. “Nick.” His eyes fluttered open. His vision focused on Abby. As he went to roll over Abby grabbed his arm pulling him back to a position where he could see Abby. “We’re going to dinner…”

“Fine.” He went to roll over again, but Abby pulled him back.

“Will you just listen to me for a second?”

“What could you possibly have left to say? I believe you have already hurled every insult at me. Can you let my arm go now?”

She let his arm go. He rolled over. “We want you to come with us?”

“Why, so you could publicly insult me?” He said into his pillow.

“No. Do you want to come?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Are you sure?”

He rolled back over so he was looking at Abby. “I think I would know for sure if I was hungry or not.”

“Sorry.” Abby quietly left the room. I was still in the room. “Nick. Are you not coming because you really aren’t hungry or are you not coming because of what happened earlier?”

Nick didn’t answer for a few minutes hoping that I would just go away. When he realized that I wasn’t going to leave until I got an answer he sighed, then said. “I’m not hungry.”

“Ok Nick.” With that I left the room.

Abby and I left the room and went to find the guard. We knocked on his door, and he took us to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant. We spent the hour talking about various experiences. The situation with Nick was never brought up.

At the end of the meal, Abby asked if we could order food to bring up to Nick. The guard agreed and we decided what to order Nick. Since we didn’t know his tastes and his guard wasn’t being much help, we just ordered him a hamburger. When Nick’s food arrived, Abby grabbed it and we headed back up to our room.

When we got back to the room, everything was still as we left it. We opened Nick’s bedroom door to tell him about his dinner, and even everything in there was as we left it, including Nick tossing and turning on the bed. Abby left his food on the table in the living area and went to wake Nick up. “Nick.”

He opened his eyes slowly. “What?”

“We bought you food.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“Nick, you can’t stay locked up in your room forever.”

“You’re leaving, why do you care whether or not I stay in my room. And besides, I’m not hungry.”

“Ok Nick. Your food is in the living room if you get hungry.”

A couple hours passed. Abby had already gone to bed. I was sitting in the living area, lost in my own world. I was starring down at a picture of Brianna. I miss her so much. I was starring at the picture remembering some of the great times that I had with her. Sometimes those memories were bittersweet. They were great memories except for the fact that those memories made me miss her.

I jumped when I heard someone walk into the coffee table. “Oh, Nick. You scared me, I didn’t see you there.”

“Sorry, I was trying to stay quiet but the coffee table got in the way.” He said quietly. He had his emotions in check now, but you could tell that he was still upset.
I briefly smiled. “So you finally got hungry?” I asked as he grabbed the food we got him and started to eat.

“Yeah. I’m shocked you’re still here.”

“Abby decided she wanted to give you a chance after she found out how hurt you were by what happened.”

“She didn’t have to do that. I deserved what happened.”

“No you didn’t. You deserved to get knocked down a few notches; you didn’t deserve to have your self-esteem lowered to nearly nothing.”

He briefly stopped eating. “How did you know that I have low self-esteem.”

“Because if you had a better self-esteem, you wouldn’t have been that hurt.”

“Oh. Um, I don’t mind you staying out here while I eat, but can we talk about something else?”

“Sure, what do you want to talk about?”

“I dunno. Anything other than what happened earlier.”

“It’s still upsetting you isn’t it?”

“Um, yeah, a little.” I could tell he was lying when he said ‘a little.’ I knew that ‘a little,’ meant ‘a lot’ but I let it slide. “I thought we agreed not to talk about this.”

“True.”

“Um, what’s your name?” I looked at him and didn’t answer. “Um, if you’re gonna stay, even though I don’t deserve it, I think I should be able to get your name. You and your friend never told me your names during our confrontation.”

“Oh, right. My name is Casey. And the fan…”

“You mean ex-fan, but go on.”

“Ex-fan?”

“Yeah, she said she wasn’t going to support me anymore. That would be an ex-fan, or a former fan, whatever you want to call it, but she’s not a fan anymore. And I thought we weren’t going to talk about this, but yet we keep getting back on the topic.”

“Well, anyway. Her name is Abby.”

We made small talk while he finished his dinner. Although at this point, it should be considered a late night snack. After he ate, he went to get up to go back to his room. I could tell that he was still upset. I somehow managed to get him to stay, and we continued talking. I looked at Abby as she opened the bedroom door. I saw Nick look away. Nick and I were still talking when Abby emerged from the bathroom. She walked by the couch and didn’t stop until she reached the bedroom door.

She stopped at the bedroom door and turned back to us. She ran to Nick and flung herself on him. He looked shocked as he caught her. Tears started flowing down her cheeks, then she started speaking. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t. I wasn’t thinking. I swear I didn’t mean it. You aren’t an asshole, you aren’t a womanizer, you aren’t a pompous jackass prick and whatever else I called you. I’m really sorry. I overreacted to what you said when we woke you up. Can you ever forgive me?”

Looking at Abby, I saw that she wasn’t going to stop apologizing anytime soon, and with every word she said to him, she held onto him tighter and tighter. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was turning blue.

“I can’t forgive you…” I saw her face drop. He sensed what she was thinking so he quickly continued. “I can’t forgive you until you let me breathe again.”

“What?” Abby asked him. Loosening her death grip on him only slightly.

“I can’t breathe.”

“Oh. Opps.” She laughed nervously as she let him go.

“I’m really sorry Nick.” She apologized for the confrontation again, not necessarily for cutting off his air supply.

“It’s ok. I’m sorry too. I overreacted when I woke up and saw you in my room.”

“We overreacted too. And that just made things worse.”

Nick yawned and then smiled lightly then stood up. “As much as I would like to sit out here all night and exchange apologies in an endless loop, I’ve had a long day and those few naps I took were either cut drastically short or completely restless. I can forgive and forget what happened earlier if you can. I would like to stay out here longer to get to know you two better, but I’m exhausted, so I’m gonna go to bed.”

“Goodnight Nick.” We said in unison.

“Goodnight ladies.”

Nick walked into his room and closed his door behind him. I looked at Abby and we silently agreed to go to bed as well.