"Where's blondie?" I asked offhandedly as I trimmed Brian's hair. No one answered. I looked around and all eyes were on me. "What? I was just curious."
"I think he's in the bathroom," Brian said. "Why so curious about Nick all of a sudden?"
"I was just wondering because someone has to tame that face of his and it's going to take a helluva lot longer than it did for present company," I said. Just then Nick walked in and took a seat in Cookie's chair.
"Well he's here, Lexie," AJ chimed.
"Yes I see that, AJ," I replied. Then to Nick, "I hope you washed your hands."
"What?" Nick asked.
"Someone told me that you were in the bathroom, I just hope you washed your hands," I said.
"Of course I washed my hands," he replied.
"Sure, let you tell it," I said. Nick just rolled his eyes.
Shortly thereafter, Cookie had just finished with Nick and had resumed talking to Howie. I was done trimming Brian's hair when Nick's bodyguard, Ron, came in with a woman in tow. Upon there entrance all conversation stopped. He went over to where Nick was still seated in Cookie's chair. Sensing someone standing behind him Nick looked up into the mirror. When he caught a glimpse of the woman in the mirror he spun his chair around.
"What is she doing here?" Nick asked Ron, his eyes never leaving her. She flashed him a quick small smile.
"I wanted to see you," she replied in a small voice. Nick stood and walked over to her.
"Let's talk outside," he said in a quiet controlled voice. For Nick it was quite uncharacteristic.
The 'woman', I was later informed, was Jessica Alexander; Nick's girlfriend. She was petite at about 5'4", blonde, and had the face of an angel. Which included large light blue eyes, pouty bottom lip, rosy cheeks and a short straight nose. She even had a small cleft in her chin. She looked like a cherub. In truth if it weren't for her obviously large chest I would have thought she were fourteen or fifteen. I almost felt sorry for the girl. Clearly, she had only come for a visit and possibly get their relationship back on track. He was apparently not too happy about that.
"Two minutes till show time," said the stage manager poking his head into the room. Nick looked back at Jessica.
"We'll talk later," he said. Then to Ron, "Take her to my room, please."
The room emptied quickly of everyone leaving Zeke, Cookie and myself standing there.
"Miss Alexander come with me please," we heard Ron say to Jessica in the hall.
"No! I will not be shut away in his room for God knows how long! I want to see the show!" she exclaimed.
I, for one was utterly shocked. She went from sad angel to spoiled bitch in two minutes flat.
"Miss Alexander I am only doing what Nick asked me to do," he tried to explain.
"Yes and I am Nick's girlfriend and I want to see him perform. And what's with you calling him 'Nick' shouldn't it be 'Mr. Carter'?" she said.
She sounded like an eight year old having a temper tantrum. Now I could see why they were probably having problems and why Nick was so cold toward her. If she acted like that with his bodyguard, I could only imagine what she was like with Nick.
"What I wouldn't give to see Nick's face when he sees Miss Thang sitting in the front row," Cookie said after Jessica had stormed off with Ron trailing behind her.
"You and me both," I said.
I got the lowdown on Miss Jessica Alexander later from AJ. He told me that Nick's mother had set him and Jessica up. She was apparently the daughter of some friend of the family. Her mom and Nick's mom thought they would make a great couple and hooked them up. Sadly from Nick's point of view things weren't going to well. According to AJ she's "a raving bitch", his words not mine. She doesn't particularly like any of the guys even though she did hit on him, or that's how he tells it. Of course AJ declined and she's been evil to all of them ever since. If you ask her Nick doesn't need any of them and she thinks he should have stuck with his solo career and left the group. Obviously, Nick disagreed with her. In other words she's trying to be Yoko but not succeeding. At first, Nick was smitten with her because she looks so angelic and innocent but he found out looks can be deceiving.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of Nick's hotel room after the concert. AJ told me that once he saw Jessica down in front she threw his whole game off. He was messing up songs and he had two left feet "more so than usual", once again his words not mine. At intermission Nick asked Ron to remove her and he tried his best. He eventually had to lie and tell her that Nick had a box especially set up for her if she wanted to see the show. When in fact it was an empty box that no one happened to be using.
Jessica's visit lasted a total of three days. I'm going to assume she had plans to stay longer. Jessica's departure was met with applause from almost everyone. She seemed to but heads with everyone on the tour especially Nick. Whether she was ordering me and Cookie to be her personal stylists, treating Ron as if he were her errand boy or talking to the Boys (Nick too) as if they were beneath her Jessica was a grade 'A' bitch all around. The day she left there was talk of a party but Brian didn't think it was right because it would be like rubbing it in Nick's face. I thought what Nick didn't know wouldn't kill him. Plus, he broke up with her it's not he didn't know she was a bitch.
In those three days Nick was too busy yelling at and arguing with her to even think about a nasty comment for me and I was loving it. It was three days of peace and quiet for me. I was doubly happy because at the end of those three days we would be pulling into Washington, DC and I had planned to visit some friends and hit some new hot spots that had popped up since my last visit. When we got to DC Jessica was dropped off at the airport and sent on her merry way. It was kind of sad but I wasn't feeling sorry for her.
We were going to be playing three days in DC. I couldn't be happier. The first day I was skating on cloud nine. I had called my friends and had gotten them passes to the show that night. Afterwards we would meet up for a night out on the town. When I came into the 'makeup room' or 'grooming room' as the Boys called it, they thought grooming sounded more 'manly', I thought it sounded like we were taking care of dogs but I digress. . . Anyway I was practically singing when I came into the room. Cookie and Zeke were there but none of the Boys had shown up yet.
"So Lexie, you gonna take me out tonight? I heard you making plans with one of your girlfriends.... maybe I can bring a friend for her," Zeke said.
"I'm sorry Zeke it's only a girls night out type of thing. Ya know.... no boys allowed. Unless we pick them up along the way," I said with a little laugh.
"Well in that case why don't you pick me up along the way," he replied.
"Sorry Zeke, I don't think you could hang with me and my friends," I said. Zeke was relentless. I had been saying 'No' to his advances since the day I met him but he would not give up. "So Cookie, what about you? You wanna hang with me and my friends tonight?"
"No, I'm supposed to be hanging out with Howie," she said.
"Howie? Our Howie? Howie D.?" I asked.
"Yes, that's the one," she replied.
"Ooooh is this a date?"
"No, we're just going to hang out."
"Just hang out? Are you going anywhere with him?"
"Maybe dinner, I'm not sure."
"That's a date."
"Believe whatever you want. Howie and I just like to talk, that's all."
"That may be what you like to do but I'm sure Howie's trying to tap that ass," Zeke replied. Cookie and I both looked at him and rolled our eyes.
"No, we just talk, that's all," she assure both of us.
Then the man in question, Howie, came in followed by AJ and Nick who was on the phone. They all took a seat. Howie in Cookie's chair, Nick in my chair and Brian in Zeke's. Nick was still on the phone and from what I could gather of the conversation he was talking to his mother. Clearly they were having an argument, probably about his treatment of Jessica. I couldn't start working until he got off the phone. So I made myself busy by gathering some brushes I wanted to clean later. I wasn't really paying attention to Nick until the end of his conversation.
"Bitch," Nick muttered putting his phone on the counter. That struck a nerve with me and you'll soon see why. For some reason I could not hold back I had to say something.
"Nick, you shouldn't call your mother a bitch," I said. He kind of looked at me out of the corner of his eye, like he couldn't believe I was even talking to him.
"What?" he asked.
"I said, you shouldn't call your mother a bitch," I replied not looking at him.
"I didn't call her a bitch," he said.
"Yes you did. I just heard you."
"It's not like I said it to her face."
"Oh that makes it all better. You shouldn't call her a bitch at all," I said turning to face him.
"Who asked you anything?" he asked standing.
"No one, I give my advice freely. You should be honored that I chose you to give it to."
"Whatever, look me and my mom don't have a perfect relationship. Sometimes she pisses me off. I'm sure your mother pisses you off sometimes, too."
"My mother can't piss me off. Even if she did I would never call her a bitch. Not to her face or otherwise."
"Oh, I'm sure you and your mother have such a wonderful relationship."
"I never said that. Me and my mother have had our problems. Anyway, this isn't about me."
By now we were both standing almost eye to eye. Nick being taller than me it was more like eye to nose or mouth. I could tell that Howie and AJ wanted to say something, Howie especially. They were either afraid to jump in or wanted to let this argument play out to it's natural conclusion.
"Let me guess, you and your mother had problems when you were a teenager but now everything is peaches and cr�me," he said.
"No," I said but I don't think Nick noticed. He kept going as if I hadn't said a thing.
"You and your mother have tea together and go shopping together," he said.
"No."
"I bet you have lunch together every Sunday. You probably tell her all you secrets, you laugh together, cry together, you probably even share things like clothes and makeup."
"No."
"You have special 'mother-daughter' nicknames and inside jokes that only a 'mother-daughter' team like you and her would understand."
"NO! I don't do or have any of that with my mother! You wanna know why? Because my mother is dead! My mother committed suicide when I was fifteen! How do you feel about that, Mr. Carter? Mr. fucking know it all," I said then I left the room. I didn't get far when I heard AJ say,
"Damn Nick, I knew you had a big appetite but both feet?"
"You probably should go talk-" Howie started.
"I'll go talk to her," Nick said.
It took me a minute to realize that I was clutching the brushes I was going to wash in my right hand. Apparently, I had been squeezing them ever since the argument with Nick and I started. I went to the bathroom and started vigorously cleaning the brushes. I had closed the door behind me. I was more embarrassed than anything else. I really didn't mean to completely breakdown in front of them like that.
Nick cracked the door open and peaked inside.
"Can I talk to you?" he asked.
"You can talk, I don't know if I'll listen," I told him.
"That's fair. I deserved that," he said coming in and taking the only available seat in a bathroom, putting the seat and lid down first of course. If this were a different situation I probably would have been laughing.
"I'm sorry about.... your mom and what I said."
"It's fine. You didn't know."
"Well. . . as much as I hate to admit it.... you were right. I shouldn't have said what I said about my mom."
"No. Look, it was none of my business. I shouldn't have said anything in the first place," I said.
"No you were right. I shouldn't have called my mother a bitch."
"Nick, please... it was-" I started
"Oh come on would you let me apologize. I don't do it that often this could be your last chance," Nick cut in.
"Fine go ahead," I said.
"I was just upset... ya know... blowin off a little steam. I just finished arguing with her about Jessica and then you started jumping down my back. . . . I don't know why it got to me so much. I don't know why you get to me so much."
"Ya know I don't know who pisses me off more. . . you or Joshua. I know Joshua does it one, because he can, two, he knows how and three, he's good at it," I said to Nick. "But you.... you I've just met and yet you seem to know all my buttons and push them... continuously."
"I don't know why you make me so mad either. You just. . . annoy the hell out of me for some reason."
"Yeah same here."
We came to an awkward silence, neither knowing what to say or do next. The only sound in the bathroom was that of the water running. I believe in a strange way we had come to some kind of truce.
