They made it into the hotel room and his cell phone began to ring. His heart began to race as he looked down at the caller ID panel,
�Momma?�
�Yes baby, its me.� The sound of her voice brought tears to his eyes,
�Where have you been? Are you ok?�
�Baby I�m fine. I just needed to get away.�
�Your kids too? I�ve been calling and calling you. I left messages. I�ve been worried about you. What happened with pop? Why were you guys fighting?�
�Nick, first of all calm down. I�m ok now so you can relax. You know how your father can get when he drinks.� Yes, he did. It was the first thing that entered his mind; that his father had to be drunk to hit his mother. But when she said it, it reminded him that his father had been drunk and angry many times, and never had he hit his wife.
�I just needed to get away. I�ve been staying with a friend.�
�Where are you?�
�I�m in Coral Springs. Nice neighborhood; very quiet.�
�When are you going home?�
�I don�t know Nick. I�m enjoying this break.� You don�t just take a break from being a mother, he thought.
�Well, what about the kids?�
�Three of you are adults and Aaron and Angel are old enough to feed and wipe themselves not to mention their father is there. You don�t think he should have to be a parent. That�s the problem with you kids. You always thought I was the one that had all the responsibility and your dad was just a sixth kid.�
�What about managing Aaron? Are you not doing that anymore either?� He was counting on the fact that his mother was strictly business.
�Let him handle it for a bit. He�s already been calling. He�ll see there is more to managing you guys than driving a bus and tagging along. He�s never taken a business meeting a day in his life.�
�Well, I have to go.� He looked over and saw Shayna waving at him,
�Hold on momma.� He frowned at Shayna,
�What?�
�Can I talk to her?� Why would she want to do that he thought. What did she and his mother have to talk about?�
�Shayna wants to talk to you is that ok?�
�That�s fine.� He handed the phone to Shayna.
�Hi Jane. How are you?� He watched her closely, trying to take it all in.
�I�m great�yeah, it was a tough decision.� She looked over at him and smiled,
�I will, that�s why I�m here.�
�I was so worried about you.� Before she said anything else there was a knock on the door. He didn�t want to but he left her side to answer the door,
�Yeah?� It was one of the tour people with a piece of paper,
�Here is the updated itinerary.� He looked it over briefly and noticed his flight and schedule for his trip to LA for the premiere had been added. He didn�t know why but it annoyed him that his business was on the group schedule,
�Why is my LA trip on here? What am I a kid? Everyone needs to know what I�m doing?�
�That�s how its always done Nick. Everyone�s trips are like that.� He knew that. He was just irritated and needed to vent. His mother had really put him in a foul mood.
�Yeah, yeah. See you.� He was about to close the door when Leighanne appeared out of her room, that was across the hall.
�Hi Nick.� He nodded,
�Hey.� He looked for Brian but didn�t see him.
�Mind if I come in? Brian�s asleep and I�m bored.� He shrugged and stepped to the side, allowing her to enter into the room.
�I bet you�re happy you guys don�t have to worry about doing any press.�
�Oh more than happy.� She stepped close to him and placed her hand on his cheek,
�Poor baby, you look so tired.� She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. It actually felt good. Any hug from a girl felt good.
**
She hung up with Jane who had promised to go home the next day and rolled her eyes when she saw Leighanne wrap her tentacles around Nick. She knew she shouldn�t let it bother her because she knew the only reason Leighanne was doing it was to make her mad. Unfortunately, that knowledge didn�t mean anything because she couldn�t help but be upset.
Nick walked out of the room and she was left with Leighanne. How in the hell could Nick do that to her? He knew she didn�t get along with Leighanne.
She picked up the room phone and ordered room service. After she hung up she turned to see Leighanne standing there smugly smiling at her,
�What's so amusing?�
�You are.� She sighed,
�And why is that?�
�You seem to be relay enjoying the luxurious life aren�t you?�
�What are you talking about?�
�Quitting your job, Nick buying you a cute little convertible, living rent free, traveling around the country. I�m sure you�ll be on the overseas leg of the tour. Can�t miss London, France and Italy can we?�
�I�m no different than you Leighanne. We�re both with guys we love and they just happen to be famous and rich.�
�But I fell in love with a guy who had a song or two who no one knew in the United States and who I had never heard of.� She walked around the room surveying it like she owned it,
�You, on the other hand.� She ran her finger over the back of the couch as she slowly walked towards Shayna,
�Well, you fell in love with a guy who was in the biggest pop act in the world. You hit the cash cow.�
�It wasn�t like that Leighanne.�
�And on top of it all, we�re becoming quite the little celebrity too.� She frowned at her adversary,
�What are you talking about?� She tossed a folded piece of a newspaper Shayna�s way. It landed on the table.
�What's that?�
�Seems we got mentioned by Rush and Malloy.�
�Who are Rush and Malloy?� Leighanne nodded at the paper and Shayna picked it up,
�They are the gossip columnists for Daily News. It appears that your rekindling of the flame between you and Nick is hot news.� She read the brief bit stating Nick was back with his long time girlfriend and it mentioned the deep kiss Nick gave her during the interview. She looked over at Leighanne,
�What's wrong? Did I just get more press than you�ve ever gotten in your life?� She was tired of being nice to Leighanne. Every time Leighanne was nasty to her she simply took it. She didn�t have to.
�I cant believe Nick took you back?� Took her back? Their relationship and breakup wasn�t anything like that. Everything between her and Nick was mutual.
�Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you?�
�When you and Nick got together you messed things up for my friend. Mandy and Nick were getting back together. They talked about it all the time. Even though Nick had his little flings on the side during the break up, to include you, he was trying to work things out with her.�
She had just recently found out about the other girls from Kristin. At least Kristin didn�t know she was hurting Shayna. Leighanne was doing it on purpose.
�I didn�t know anything about that; other girls. Whatever happened, its not my fault.�
�Sure its not. Her career, her life suffered even more after that. They released her album but when it didn�t skyrocket right off the bat like they thought it would the fans saw it as some type of weird sign that it was karma for all the bad she did to Nick. Like she would ever hurt him; no one knew how much of a victim she was. Radio stations only played her first single and that was it. Fans were contacting them. It was like nothing anyone had ever gone through. As many girls that may hate Britney and Christina, they have a crap load of females fans so people thought it must have something to do with Mandy. It was like �hey the other girls have female fans, there must be something to it, there must be a reason they don�t like her�. The label backed off, the radio stations backed off and she was devastated. She worked so hard, went through so much just didn�t get her album released and the she was abandoned. On top of it all she lost Nick. She was depressed, she couldn�t eat, she-�
�You are full of shit Leighanne. That�s the dumbest shit I have ever heard. Because she wasn�t with Nick her career failed and she had a nervous breakdown. And she wasn�t with Nick because it was my fault?�
�You have no idea what its like in this industry. A simple haircut can start a career tailspin.�
She did know the entertainment industry was fickle but she wasn�t going to be blamed for someone�s shortcomings.
�Leighanne, I�m sure I am the reason for Mandy�s demise you probably just didn�t explain it well.� She stared at Leighanne long enough for Leighanne to get in a huff and storm off.
