| Chapter 34 Howie sat on the couch talking with Brian on the phone. Everyone sat close, wanting to hear what they were talking about. Kevin and Kristin had dropped by on their way home from town, just in time to hear the phone conversation. "OK Bri, if you need us, let us know," he said, hanging up the phone. "OK, what happened?" A.J. asked. "Nick's having a bad day. First he gets a headache, then when he's asleep he starts having a nightmare," Howie said. "What was all that about chasing?" Kira asked. "Oh, Brian started talking to him when he was having the nightmare. Nick started telling him what happened in his sleep. Brian said that Nick saw the person who did it, but he was hyperventilating so bad they had to wake him up before he could get it out of him," Howie answered. "So Nick really does know what happened to him?" Kristin asked. "Only when he's asleep," Howie said, "He doesn't remember anything about the dreams when he wakes up." "Damn, if that ain't screwed up," A.J. said. "So how is Nick doing now?" Leighanne asked. "Bri said that he took a pain pill and is asleep again," he said. Kevin shook his head, "That poor kid. He's really been put through the ringer lately." "Yeah, remind me to ask our �friends' the next time any of them care to show up, just where the hell they were when all this took place," A.J. said. That sparked something in Kevin's memory. The conversation he and Nick had coming back to him. "Christ!" Kevin said. Everyone looked at him. "What?" Kristin asked. "Nick knew this was gonna happen," he said. "Kev, how could he?" Howie asked. "A few days before, he came over with Angel. We sat and talked for a while. He said that Tracy told him something was going to happen and that they couldn't help, that whatever it was had to take place," Kevin said. "Nick knew it was about him?" Leighanne asked. "No, see that's the thing. He didn't know who or what was gonna happen, just that something was about to," Kevin said. "Well if Tracy was talking to Nick, why isn't she here telling us what the hell is going on?" A.J. asked. "Good question," Kira said. "There has to be a reason why we're all so in the dark," Kevin said. "And that would be what Kevin?" Howie asked. "God, I don't know. I'm just speculating," he said. They all sat there looking from one to the other. No one had any answers, and they all knew it. "Why don't we all get together tonight, if Nick is up to it, and have dinner and just talk about stuff?" Howie asked, "Maybe we can get some of this out in the air and maybe Nick'll remember something." "Getting together sounds great, but don't expect Nick to have any answers," Leighanne said. "We can hope can't we?" A.J. said, smiling at her. She laughed, "Yeah, that we can do." "OK, it's settled then," Howie said, grabbing the phone and calling Brian back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn walked into Nick's room. She smiled at the sight of him on the bed. He was curled up in a ball, hugging a pillow. She made her way over to the side of the bed and sat down, reaching up and gently shaking Nick. He stirred and rolled over, looking up at her, "Hey." She smiled at him, "Hey, you feeling better?" He nodded his head. "Good, Howie called. He wanted to know if you felt up to it, if we all wanted to go over his house for dinner tonight," Lyn said. "Howie? He's the one without the tattoos, right?" Nick asked. Lyn laughed, "Yeah." "Sure, sounds good. Does he live around here?" Nick asked. "Yeah, a few miles down the road," she answered. "OK," Nick said, sitting up and running his hand through his hair. "I'll go tell Brian that you want to go," she said, getting up. Nick could tell that she wanted to say something, she had that look in her eyes. "Lyn, did you wanna say something?" he asked. She looked back at him, "Um, it can wait." "Go tell Brian, then come back," Nick said. She nodded her head and left the room for a few minutes. Nick stood up, looking at himself in the mirror. His clothes were wrinkled from sleeping in them, and his hair was a mess. "Oh that's attractive," he said. "Actually, it is,"Lyn said, coming back in the room. Nick looked over at her and smiled, walking over to the window seat and sitting down. He patted the cushion next to him, and Lyn walked over and sat down. "Tell me what's on your mind," he said. She stared at him for a moment, "Nick, do you remember anything after you took the pain pill?" He thought for a minute, "Some, why?" "Do you remember kissing me?" she asked, her eyes questioning him. He smiled at her, "Yes." Lyn tried to contain her emotions, "Can you tell me why you did that?" Nick looked a little confused, "You didn't want me to?" "No, it's not that. I just don't want you thinking that that's what I expect from you, cause it's not. I want you to truly care about me before you do anything like that," she said. Nick reached over and took her hands in his, "Lyn, I'm really attracted to you. You are so beautiful and caring and giving, how could I not feel something for you?" Lyn looked down, biting her lower lip. Nick gently raised her head so she was looking at him again, "If you don't want me to do that again, I won't. But I'd really like to." She smiled at him, "I'd like for you to." Nick slowly leaned in and gently kissed her lips. Lyn wrapped her arms around his neck, playing with the hair on the back of his head. Nick opened his mouth as they kissed, gently sucking on her lower lip. Lyn opened her mouth to meet his, and soon their tongues were exploring one another. Brian walked into the room, "Hey guys if we...." He stopped in mid sentence, staring wide eyed at them. They broke the kiss and looked at him, both blushing a little. "Sorry, I'll come back later," Brian said, backing towards the door. "It's OK, what were you saying?" Lyn asked. "Um, just that if we want to get to Howie's on time, we need to start getting ready," he said, embarrassed that he'd interrupted them. "Oh, OK," Nick said, "Lyn, will you help me change my bandages?" She smiled at him, "Sure. Brian, we'll be down in a little bit." "OK," he said, quickly leaving the room, a huge smile on his face. Nick laughed, "He looked happy." "Yeah, he takes great pleasure in our happiness," she said, teasing him. They both laughed as they got up and went into the bathroom to change the dressing on Nick's wounds. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aleisha watched Brian descend the stairs, he was smiling ear to ear. "OK Dances, what gives?" she asked. "Guess what I just walked in on," he said. She shrugged her shoulders. "Nick and Lyn kissing," he said, plopping down on the couch. Aleisha looked at him, smiling, "Really?" "Yeah, not like a peck either. They were really going at it," he said. "Well, good for them," she said. Angel walked over and sat down, looking at them expectantly. "You hungry?" Brian asked. She barked, wagging her tail. "Come on, lets get you fed before we go to D's," he said, getting up and going into the kitchen, Angel on his heels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kira opened the door, "Come on in guys." They all followed her into the living room. Nick and Lyn were holding hands as they walked in, sparking a few interested looks from the others. "This is a nice house," Nick said, looking around. "Anything look familiar?" Kevin asked. "Um, no, why?" Nick asked. "This used to be your house. You sold it to Howie when you moved to Canada," Lyn explained. "Really? Wow," Nick said, looking around again. The others couldn't help but laugh. Nick's memory loss was disheartening, but it was truly amusing to see his reactions to things. "So, we got any great plans for the evening?" Brian asked. "Not really, just good food and good friends," Howie said, walking in from the kitchen, "Speaking of which, dinner is served." "Great, I'm starving," Nick said, getting up and walking into the kitchen ahead of everyone else. He sat down and noticed they were all glancing at each other, "Did I do something wrong?" "No, it's just, you knew exactly where to go," Kira said. Nick thought for a moment, "I did didn't I?" Leighanne smiled at him, "See, you remembered something." Nick smiled at her. Everyone sat down, enjoying the meal. "Howie, you cooked this?" Nick asked. "Yup," he said. "Dude, you gotta give me like cooking lessons or something," Nick said, "This is great." Howie laughed, "OK Nick, if you really want to, I could do that." "Sure," he said, "Course I'll probably have to get these off first," he said, holding his bandaged hands up. "Yeah, that would help," Howie laughed. Everyone finished their meal, all miserable from having eaten to much. They were all getting up to go to the living room when Nick looked out the patio doors, "What's that trail?" "It goes down to a small pond at the back of the property," Howie answered. Nick stared at it, then looked over to Leighanne. He had noticed that she seemed indifferent to Aleisha, and he thought maybe he could use that. "Leighanne, you really haven't told me much about yourself, you wanna take a walk and talk?" he asked. "You wouldn't rather stay in the house where it's warm?" she asked. He pouted, "I kinda wanted to look at the pond." She laughed, "OK, let me get our coats." As she left the room to retrieve the coats, Lyn walked over, "You shouldn't stay out to long. Your susceptible to getting respiratory infections ever since you had pneumonia last year." "OK, we won't be long. I promise," he said, smiling at her, as Leighanne came back in and handed him his coat. They walked outside and headed down the trail, Aleisha watching them go. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick was silent as they walked. "So, what do you want to know?" Leighanne asked. He looked back, feeling that they were far enough from the house. "Lee, don't look back at the house and keep walking. I need to talk to you without anyone else hearing, or knowing what we're talking about," he said. She looked up at him in shock, "Nick, you just called me Lee." "I know, that's what I've always called you," he said smiling at her. "Oh my God, Nick you remember?" she said. "Lee, I never forgot. I've been acting like I have amnesia," he said. "Why?" was all she could say. "Because I can't let her find out that I know," he said, disgust in his voice. They had made it to the pond and Leighanne turned to face him, "Her who?" Nick took a deep breath, "Have a seat and I'll tell you everything." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So Lyn, Bri tells us your making headway with Nicky," A.J. teased. Lyn blushed, "Brian should keep his mouth shut," she said, smiling. "Hey, I'm just happy for you," he said in defense. "I know, so am I," she said. Everyone laughed. "So Leisha, what do you think about the city?" Kristin asked. "Oh, I love it. It's so different from where I was living. Brian can tell you, it was truly Hickville," she said. "I thought it had character," Brian said, teasing her. "Yeah right,"she said. "So have you gotten to see much of it?" Kira asked. "Not as much as I'd like. I saw some stores that I'd like to go in, but I haven't gotten the chance yet," she said. "Oh, well, we could take you," Kristin said, "I was in the mood for a shopping trip anyway." Everyone laughed. "Yeah, us girls could go tomorrow," Kira said. "Really? That sounds like fun," Aleisha said. "Can I go too?" A.J. asked, batting his eyelashes. "Yeah, I said us �girls' didn't I?" Kira teased. "Hey now, just cause I like to shop does not place me in that category," A.J. said, smiling. "Aww, a man after my own heart," Aleisha said, "I always said I'd be in trouble if I met someone that liked to shop as much as I did." Brian laughed, "Well, whatever you wanna get, go right ahead. I'll give you one of my cards in the morning, don't let me forget." Aleisha smiled up at him, "I won't. Thanks." "Lyn, you come too," Kira said. "Um, I don't know. I kinda wanna stay with Nick," she said, sheepishly. "Well, we understand that," Kristin said, smiling at her. "OK, so where do we wanna go first?" Kira asked. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I'm gonna fuckin kill her," Leighanne spat. "No Lee, you can't let on that you know anything," Nick pleaded, "If she finds out before we're ready, she'll kill us both." "Nick, what are you gonna do? You said yourself that she has us all under some kinda trance, how can we fight that?" Leighanne asked. "You guys can't. I can," he said. She looked at him confused. "Lee, whatever she's doing it doesn't work with me. She has to actually have physical contact with me to have any influence on me," Nick said. "But Nick, even so. Look at you, she did this. Do you even know what we can do to convince the others that she's bad news?" she asked. "I have an idea, but I need you to help me," he said. "Tell me what you need," Leighanne said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everyone was in hysterics when Nick and Leighanne came back in. A.J. was doing his impersonation of one of the tour managers, to everyone's delight. "Oh you're back," Kevin said. "Yeah, we were fixin to send out the search party," Howie said, smiling. "Lee, we are having a girls day tomorrow," Kira said. "We are?" she asked. "Yeah, plus one very handsome Boy," A.J. said. Leighanne laughed, "Oh, this should be fun." Nick sat down next to Lyn, taking her hand in his. "You look tired," she said. He half smiled at her, "I am. How can that be, I freakin slept all day?" "Well, you're still healing, you need as much rest as you can get," she said, patting his leg. "You ready to go home?" Brian asked, overhearing their conversation. Nick sighed, "Yeah, I think I am." Lyn and Aleisha went to get their coats. "Well night everyone," Brian said, heading for the door. "Yeah, thanks for dinner Howie," Nick said, following Brian. "And Leighanne, thanks for the talk," he said, eyeing her. She nodded, trying to put on a smile for the others. Leighanne watched as they left, wondering if she and Nick would be able to pull off what he had planned. Chapter 35 |