It's eleven fifteen, leave it to Nick to want to wait until the last minute. Everyone else had already made it out to the park except for us, even Howie had left. Elliott left with Paul, they had a great time Thursday night and I think Elliott has a new friend.
"That's the church Brian's going to in the morning." I look over, it is absolutely beautiful,
"Thats not a Baptist church...I assumed Brian was Baptist." Nick shook his head as he looks back down at his magazine,
"It's non-demensional" I look back at the church then look at him and roll my eyes once I realize what he said,
"Non-denominational fool." He shrugs and joins in as Larry, the driver and I laugh uncontrollably at him. I'm glad he takes it well because my sides are hurting from laughing and I couldn't hold it in if I tried.
We make it to the park and it's like a family reunion or a company picnic. There's a baseball field, volleyball net setup, picnic tables, music blasting and a lot of people. Howie, Shannon, Kelly, Scott their tour manager and a couple of other people are sitting at a table talking. Leighanne and Brian are on a blanket talking with a couple of women I've never seen before. AJ, Paul, Elliott, Lisa, Amy; one of the dancers; and Sammy are playing volleyball. The rest are all the band members, crew and managment people that I've kind of seen around from time to time. We make it over and Nick pulls out a beer,
"Want one?" I shake my head,
"No, I'm through with drinking." He laughs and nod,
"Oh yeah...you shouldn't drink." I didn't think anything of it and look around until my eyes land on Kristin who begins to wave me over,
"Come on Nick." He looks away from the food he started putting on his plate,
"Huh?" I point out Kristin to him and he waves,
"Go ahead, I'll be there in a minute." I really don't want to go by myself but I'm an adult so I quickly get over it,
"Did you guys just get here?" she asks as soon as I make it over to her,
"Yeah, Nick didn't want to get out of bed." Kevin looks up at me and I instantly regret how that left my mouth,
"Thats Nick." I smile at him and look around, damn I have no pockets, nothing for me to do with my nervous hands,
"Have a seat." I smile at her and sit down,
"So, you and Nick known each other long?" I shrug as I try to remember how long it's been,
"We met like six months ago, that day Kevin spilled the drink on me." Kevin laughs,
"I can't believe it's been that long." I nod my head, it really has been a while,
"So have you taken him off the market or do I still need to keep looking for a girl for him?" I laugh,
"Oh no, we're just friends." She snaps her fingers,
"So, what do you do?" My eyes are drawn to someone who walks by as I answer,
"Computer programmer." Kevin laughs,
"See, too smart for Nick. They would have nothing to talk about." Kristin slaps him on the arm,
"Shut up Kevin, thats not nice ." I turn to see Nick sitting down beside me followed by Lisa and Shannon,
"Hey guys." Everyone says their hellos then the radio station starting giving a news brief and they mentioned a lawsuit that was happening in the area concerning a low income neighborhood suing the local supermarket because of their prices,
"They can just go to another store." I turn and look at Nick,
"Chances are thats the only market in the area." He shrugs,
"So just go to another one out of the area." Lisa enters the conversation,
"A lot of them probably don't have a car, especially the older people and they're stuck. The stores know it and take advantage of it." I nod,
"Yep, so they jack up the prices, thats what happens when you have no competition." I see Kristin and Kevin look at me then each other out of the corner of my eyes as Lisa speaks,
"That's how it was in my neighborhood in LA. The poorer you are the more people take you for a ride because the poor have no one to speak up for them and chances are they don't know the rules, the laws or have the connections." Nick shakes his head,
"That's fucked up."
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Mixed Feelings
Chapter 42