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“Omigod…you two must be exhausted,” laughed Mart.  “It’s a good thing you’re going to be away from each other over Christmas.”

Melody laughed and then sighed.  She was getting tired.  The last two weeks had been a whirlwind.  Melody didn’t know who knew what…she didn’t think they were fooling anybody…well, maybe Toby.  And they hadn’t heard from Rafe, so that was good.  Tom knew…he’d told her that much in a hug…and he wasn’t telling anyone else.  It was a pretty expressive hug.

Melody knew that it couldn’t go on.  She had tried to bring it up to Nick a number of times, but he didn’t want to talk about it.  And Melody was so much in love with him that she kept losing her courage.  Because it was going to take a lot of courage to give him up.

They didn’t go near each other on the bus.  In fact, it was the only time they ever got any sleep; they both tumbled into their separate beds exhausted, and slept the miles away.  Even short journeys…four or five hours…found them unconscious.  Toby worried about their health, wondered if they were coming down with something.  Jeff smiled and told him that the Christmas Break would get them right again.

During rehearsals and performances, they were completely professional.  Alias Me still had as much fire, but it wasn’t the leaping, dancing flames any more…more the slow, burning embers… the glowing coals that give the real heat to a fire.

Nick still did all his interviews and publicity stuff.  Melody took bus tours of the city and wrote postcards.  They had meals together whenever they could…the whole band…Melody insisted on that.

And, in the evening, Nick would go to whatever event had been cooked up by Tom and Rafe, with the latest starlet, beauty queen, local debutante…draped over his arm.   Melody would lie in his bed and watch TV and wait for him to come home to her.

They had decided to use Nick’s room after they overslept one morning and nearly got caught by Toby.  Since they both figured Toby was a pipeline to Rafe, they didn’t want that to happen.  So now they used Nick’s suite, and Nick made sure the bedroom door was always closed. 

That meant that Melody couldn’t play the guitar anymore.  So she propped herself up in his bed and did puzzles and watched TV…and waited.

Every night when Nick came home, he swore he would never do it again. 

“It’s not right,” he would say.  “I feel like I’m cheating on you.  I don’t want to hide you.”

Melody would sigh and reassure him that it was the only way.  There was a game plan.  She wasn’t part of it.  Nick would sigh and threaten to go public.  Then Melody would sigh again and threaten to end it if he did.  And then they would both sigh and make love like there was no tomorrow.  Because both of them were afraid there might not be.

Christmas Break.  Three weeks.  This was what they needed.  To prove that they could live without each other, thought Melody.  Nick was going to Florida, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.  They had talked about it one night…Nick talked about his parents’ marital struggles, and he cried…and then Melody talked about her dad and how much she missed him, and she cried…and then they made sweet, sweet love and rebuilt each other.

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“Got all your shopping done?” asked Mart, knowing what the reaction would be.

“Yuck!  You know how I hate shopping.  Good thing Gus loves it!”

Gustavo Deloro loved to shop.  He didn’t care if it was for himself or not.  He just loved doing it.  And when Melody expressed her disgust for the activity…especially at Christmas!...he said, “Give me your list.”

“What’s a list?” asked Melody, causing the others to fall apart laughing.  Gus shook his head.  He’d never met such a creature.

So he sat with her and talked about the people she needed to buy gifts for.  And then he went out and shopped.  He came back with wonderful things…and bargains too!  The family was going to be so impressed, though Melody.  Louise’s eyes would fall out.

Melody couldn’t decide what to get Nick.  She and Gus danced around the topic, not even using Nick’s name.  And then one day, Gus shyly made his offering and it was perfect.  It was a small silver box with a dolphin etched on the top.  Inside it were guitar picks.

“Aw, Gus,” she sighed.  “You’re the best.  It’s beautiful.”

Gus beamed with pride.  “I can get it engraved for you,” he said, turning the box over and showing her the bottom.

Melody thought about that and then nodded.  She told Gus what she wanted him to put there.  He smiled at her.  Good choice.

“Is there anything else you need?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m afraid there is,” said Melody, sadly.

And then she asked Gus to do one more thing for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nick sat in Florida, with the box clutched tightly in his hand.  He was in the middle of a nightmare, and he wanted out.  He wanted to go see Mel.  He wanted to scoop her up in his arms and run away with her…maybe bring her to the boat, and then they could sail away forever…just them and their guitars.  He looked down at the engraving on the box. 

“For a fellow musician,” it read.  He sighed.

He talked to her nearly every day on the phone.  Before they parted for the break, Mel made noises about how they should see if they could live without each other…take a break from each other…blah, blah, blah…  Nick had no intention of doing that.  He didn’t know if he could live without her.   What he did know was that he didn’t want to.

At the end of the first conversation, when he said, “I’ll call you later,” she said, maybe that wasn’t a good idea.  “Why?” he responded.  “I call my friends all the time.”  Mel gave in finally, telling him that he was obviously the mature one in the relationship.

Nick was glad he had her to talk to, because, man, there was a lot of shit he wanted to get out of his head.  He knew if he kept it inside, it would turn to anger, and the ensuing explosion wouldn’t be good for anyone.  The police had already been to this house too often.

He wanted to grab his parents and smack their heads together…try and knock some sense into them.  They were both being mean and selfish, he thought.  They were trying to put on this face of ‘we’ll be civilized with each other for the sake of the children’, but nobody was fooled.  They couldn’t resist sniping at each other…all of it said with a frosty smile and a pleasant tone…but sniping nonetheless.

And they kept trying to put the kids in the middle…especially Nick.  Everyone’s loyalties had pretty much already been established, but Nick had been out of town.  Both parents tried to curry favor, telling tales on the other with stories that always started, ‘Well, I don’t like to say anything bad about your mother, but…’ or ‘I really shouldn’t tell you this, but your father…’

Nick set down the box and motioned to Aaron.  They went for a long walk on the beach and talked about it.  They decided the best thing to do was to get their parents in separate houses as fast as they could. 

“So…uh…tell me about the box,” said Aaron, tentatively. 

Melody had slipped the box into Nick’s carry-on with a message, “Do not open until Dec. 25th”.  For some reason, Nick had waited and opened it with the family.  He hoped she had done the same with his gift to her. 

When he lifted off the wrapping, Nick smiled.  He held it up and showed the family.  Was there anything inside, they wanted to know?  He lifted the lid and then smiled this…Aaron wasn’t sure how to describe it…peaceful, yeah…peaceful and serene smile.  He held up a guitar pick to show them.  Then he replaced it in the box and closed the lid.

Then Nick turned the box over.  And stopped breathing.  He made a small sound, kind of a choking gasp.  He looked up and his eyes met Aaron’s.  Help me, they said. 

So Aaron said loudly, “Okay, who’s next?” and dragged the family’s attention away from Nick.  Nick got up and left the room for a moment, and when he came back, he was okay.

After the frenzy of gift exchange was over, Aaron found a moment to look at the bottom of the box.  Very interesting!  He didn’t think the gift was from Rashad.

Nick kicked a lump of sand.  “Um…it’s from Mel…Melody Jones…my guitarist…”

“Your…guitarist…” replied Aaron.  He waited his big brother out.  It didn’t take long.

“She’s…uh…kinda special to me.”  Nick gave his brother a goofy grin.  “Really special.”

“Tell me about her,” said Aaron.

So the two young men walked on the beach and talked and kicked sand and tossed pebbles into the ocean.  And then Aaron asked how old she was.  Nick told him.

“Oh.”

Nick was immediately defensive.  “What?” 

“Nothing.  I guess that’s okay.  Everybody seems to be doing it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing.  But you know, Justin’s going out with Cameron Diaz, and Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore are an item.”

“Yeah, but so are Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart.  And he’s way, way older than her.  No one’s making a big deal out of that.”

Aaron just shrugged.  It was the way it was.

They walked back to the house in silence.

Nick stood it for two more days.  Then he called Toby and told him to make arrangements.  “Get me the hell out of Florida,” were his exact instructions.

Nick gave the taxi driver Mel’s address and wondered how mad she would be.  He hadn’t told her he was coming.  She knew he was coming back to California for New Year’s but not this early.  He wondered if she would be happy to see him.  He wondered if they would have another argument about New Year’s Eve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“…Chrissy couldn’t believe it, of course, a present for me from Nick Carter.”  Melody imitated Chrissy’s breathless pronunciation of the name. 

“What did you tell them?”

“I said it was a present from my boss.”

“Nice boss!” said Mart. 

Nick’s gift to Melody had been a suede vest, tan with a Southwestern style to it, rust and turquoise leather inserts and a small fringe…and real turquoise on the snaps.  He had included a note that said that even though it was Gus’ idea, Nick had made the final choice.

“Yeah, they wanted to know what I got him.  I told them…a box for his guitar picks…they didn’t ask what…oh, hold on Mart, someone’s at the door…”  Melody walked to the door and peered through the peephole.  She flung the door open.  “…um…it appears to be a tall blond who’s supposed to be in Florida…”

“Talk to you later,” sang Mart, and she disconnected.

Melody and Nick looked at each other.  Nick wondered if he would get shit.  Melody wondered if she should give him shit.  But she decided instead to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him.  Both were very much satisfied with that response.