Chapter Seventeen ~
"Nicole?" Rachel nudged her young friend. "Are you going to answer Rich?"
"Uhh...," Nicole stammered. "If your serious, I'd love to go with you Rich," she finally got out.
"Wonderful," Rich smiled, knowing that Nicole was nervous. "I'll pick you up at your place around 7?"
"That would be nice," Nicole grinned, as her eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Great, I'll see you then. Now me and my boys have to get going. We have a show to prepare for tonight. See ya SweetAngel, Rach."
"Bye ladies," Brad and Devin said simultaneously following out after Rich.
"Rich, man, do you know how old that girl is?" Devin broke the silence.
"Eighteen I believe."
"Yeah, and your 25! That's a BIG difference man!"
"Devin, age doesn't mean a thing. Anyways, shes just going with me as a friend."
"Rich, I don't know who your trying to fool, but I saw that way you were looking at her."
"Look, say that we were to hit it off, then we would work past the age difference. Its not a big deal to me. So shes a younger girl that doesn't mean we can't have a good time together."
"Rich, just do us all a favour and be careful."
"Don't worry Dev, I certainly will," Rich promised as he got into the limo with this fellow bandmates and drove away.
Nicole followed Rachel down the hall, which was now becoming quite farmilar, and into the room that O-Town was using. Jacob and Trevor were sitting up against the wall chatting while everyone else was still finishing up their vocal exercises. Ashley ran over to his sister as soon as he spotted her and started bombarding her with questions as to where she had gone and what she had been doing. She told him about her meeting with LFO and the dinner date that she had made with Rich for the next evening.
"Nic, have you thought this through? You don't even know the guy."
"Ash, no need to worry," Rach overheard the conversation. "I've known Rich for quite a long time now and he's never been anything but a gentleman to me. He won't hurt your sister, and plus it's at Lou's house and he knows Nicole so I'm sure he'll keep an eye out for her. Anyways, I'll be there too, I almost forgot, so no matter how you look at it Nicole has someone looking out for her."
"Thanks Rachel. It's just kind of weird. My sister has this guys picture hanging all over her bedroom and now shes going on a date with him."
"Ashley, it's not a date!" Nicole laughed. "I'm only going with him because Rachel wouldn't. I think he only asked me to be polite because I was standing there drooling over him."
"Who are you going with Rach?" Erik joined the conversation.
"My friend Ryan has offered to escort me. Its the same night that you boys will be at Phoenix Stone's concert."
"Ah," Erik said still disappointed that he couldn't be with Rachel.
"Your not going to the concert with us?" Jacob asked looking Nicole directly in the eyes, saddened that he wouldn't be able to spend the night with her.
"Well, I guess not. No one ever asked me to go to the concert. Until Rachel said something about it to LFO I didn't even know you guys were going."
"Hey guys, and girls," Mark smiled. "Can I talk to y'all for a few minutes? Tomorrow is Saturday and your going to the concert. All of your rehersals for tomorrow as well as Sunday have been cancelled. I just ask that you try to practice some at home. On Monday we start again. Ashley you and Nicole also start your tutoring with Ethan on Monday, so don't be up too late on Sunday night we want y'all fresh and ready to go."
"Yes, Sir," Trevor jokingly saluted Mark. "Done, Sir!"
"You guys may think this is funny now, but oneday you will thank me for keeping you on track. If I wasn't here then neither would any of you guys be here. One, you wouldn't have a car and two, you'd all still be snoring in your beds at noon time," Mark laughed.
The boys of O-Town were called back to their practice and Rachel invited Nicole to join her in her office to chat for a while before they went back to the house.
"Nic, your going to move in with me on Sunday, right?"
"Rachel, I can't lie, I'd rather stay with my brother, but since I know I can't, if the offer still stands, I would like to move in with you."
"The offer still stands Nikki, and I promise you whenever you need your brother I'll personally take you over to the house to see him. I know what its like to be away from the ones you love."
"I'm sorry Rach, I forgot that you came out here by yourself and left your family in New Jersey."
"No, problem. Your room will be the big one in the back overlooking the ocean. Its your to do what you want with it, just do me a favour and keep it relatively clean at all times. My house is welcome to everyone, and I often get unexpected visits from some pretty famous people."
"That's no problem Rach. I hate when people have messy rooms. I always keep all my stuff neat and tidy. I was wondering though, how much are you going to be charging me rent?"
"Don't worry about rent, Nicole. I own my house, it's all paid for. The only thing is you will have to pay your own phone bills and stuff. I was thinking we could go half on all the other bills and food. I have one more request though, since you won't be paying me rent, I expect you to cook me a few of those delicious meals all the boys have been speaking none stop of," Rach laughed.
"If thats all I have to do to stay at a house with celebrity visitors, its a deal," Nicole smiled. "Now tell me, what exactly should I be wearing to this dinner thing at Lou's house? I've never dined with famous people before."
"First off, Nic, don't think of them as famous people. It's a lot easier tog et through the night if you just think of them as everyday people, like your friends. Trust me on this one I've had experience. As for what you should wear, I suggest something pretty dressy. Lou has a tendency to go way overboard when he has parties."
"Gotcha, Rachel are you okay? You seem kind of out in space."
"It's hard for me to see Erik because I want to be with him, its so hard," Rach broke down into tears for the second time that day.
"Rach, I know how you feel. You may think that I'm only 18 and have no idea about life, but thats not reality. I've been through a lot more then you can ever imagine and even in your situation I believe you have to trust in God and your heart. Let them show you the way. Anything that is meant to be will work out in the end."
"I know I have to work with O-Town, and I'm going to have to see him everyday until the final five are choosen and possibly even after that if he is one of the finalists, but I don't want to unless I can be with him."
"Rach, do you want me to talk to Lou for you?"
"Nicole, please don't. I don't want this matter getting any worse then it already is and if you get involved it will get way out of hand. I understand that your just trying to help, but I have to do this alone."
"Sorry to interrupt, but are you ready to go home Nic?" Jacob poked his head in the door.
"Yeah, I'll talk to you later Rachel?"
"Yes, tell Mark I'm sorry I can't help with transportation today, but I have another meeting with some people at 4."
"Don't worry about it, I'll just hold my breath in the van with all these hot, sticky, stinky, young men," Nicole teased looking directly at Jacob and smiling.
"Hey, I made everyone spray on my cologne just so you wouldn't have to smell us because believe me we are no pile of roses after working all day."
"I can only imagine," Rachel laughed as Jacob took Nicole's hand and led her out to the van.