M&Ms
Chapter Four

After twenty minutes in his Durango making useless chit chat, my curiosity got the best of me.

"Nick, what's the big secret about where we're going?"

"What's the matter Brash, don't you like to be spontaneous?"

"No! I don't like not being in control."

Nick laughed and patted my shoulder. "Then this will be good for you."

I sighed. What was the point? Nick is stubborn. First with the M&Ms, now with our night out.

"Do you mind if I turn on the radio?" I asked. But before he answered I turned it on anyway.

"No, go ahead. Since you did anyway."

"Thanks!" I smiled at him and concentrated on finding a decent channel. The fifth channel I turned to was playing "I Think I'm In Love With You" by Jessica Simpson, so I left it there. Though, it ended three seconds later. So much for that. The next song that came on caught my ear. I turned up the volume and listened carefully.

"Why does this song sound so familiar?"

"That's Nsync."

I crinkled my nose. "No wonder. As Sass always says, "Nsync Nsucks!" I flipped the station again. It was a commercial.

"No love for Nsync?" Nick asked, laughing.

"Not from this girl. Sass doesn't like them either. But that's because she's so into your group. It's so funny! Oh dear! She sings, 'I want it Nick's way…' Even though it gets real old real fast, I have to admit that it's kinda cute."

"It's nice to be appreciated. She sounds cute."

"She is."

Nick suddenly burst out laughing. "I want it Nick's way! God that's funny!"

"Yeah, although I'm surprised you're laughing."

He shrugged. "It's cute. I'd like to meet your little sister. She sounds like she takes after you."

"Oh no! You don't want to meet her! It would not be a pleasant scene. She does take after me! That's why I love her so much."

"Even more reason why I want to meet her!"

"Why, are you going to take her out too?"

Nick glanced at me and smiled. "No, but I do have a little brother."

"Not uh, that would be too weird. Besides, she likes you."

"Then you're absolutely right. She does take after you."

I rolled my eyes and turned to face Nick. "What is it with you? You're so self-assured! It's like you know exactly what you want and you're so sure you can get it."

"Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Well, no. It's just a little awkward when I'm obviously what you want."

"It's obvious that I want you?" he laughed.

"Yeah!"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You're going to anyway."

"Okay, I won't ask then."

"All right by me." I turned around back in my seat and listened to the radio. After a minute I glanced at Nick. What was he going to ask me? I licked my lips and cocked my head sideways.

"All right! Ask me!" I exclaimed.

Nick just shook his head. "We'll be there in another five minutes."

"Where did you say we were going again?" I tried.

Nick looked at me and smiled. "I didn't."

Well fine. I hate surprises.

Sure enough, five minutes later we pulled into a deserted parking lot. There was a huge brick building and nothing else. Nick got out of the car, I followed. He walked around to the passenger side of his SUV and held out his hand for me. I took it and allowed Nick to lead me towards the door on the big brick building. He unlocked the door with a key and opened it for me to walk through.

"Uh uh! You first!" I demanded.

Nick rolled his eyes, put his arm around me and we walked in together. It was so dark I couldn't even begin to guess where we were. All of a sudden the lights came on and a gigantic roller rink lay ahead of us.

I stepped in further and looked at the massive rink in awe. It looked like the size of a football field. Okay, it probably wasn't that big, but appearances can be deceiving.

"Surprise!" Nick turned to look at my face.

"You brought me to a roller rink? Why?"

"I rented it for the night."

"Oh my god!"

"I thought we could have fun. Plus, we have some privacy."

"Good, now I won't be too embarrassed when I fall flat on my face."

"Sure you will! But since I'm here, I promise not to laugh too hard. In fact, I may even help you up!"

"Wow! How chivalrous of you Mr. Carter! I'm touched, really." Nick laughed, took my hand and led me over to a counter. He slid over the counter to the other side and looked at me.

"What size?"

"What size what?" I asked blankly.

"Are you planning on skating with your Sketchers?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Maybe I do! But just in case the magic wheels don't pop up after I say the password, why don't you had me a size ten?"

"Size ten? You know what they say about girls with big feet, right?"

"No, but I know what they say about guys with big feet… Big mouths. And you look like a size thirteen."

"You're lucky you're cute." Nick reached down and pulled up a pair of size ten roller skates.

"Thank you kind sir."

I went over to a bench and kicked off my shoes. Nick came over and sat down next to me. I slid on the skates and laced them up. It's been years since I've gone roller-skating. This should be real interesting.

I stood up to get used to the feeling of the skates. "You know, I used to do a lot of roller skating when I was younger. But I don't think I remember how to do all the tricks anymore."

"I'm sure you'll do fine."

"So are we going to skate to the sound of our own voices?"

Nick stood up and skated a little circle around me. "Take a look up there." He pointed up to a DJ booth. I looked up and saw a guy in there. Two seconds later, music filled the vacant room.

"You took care of everything, didn't you?"

"Just about. Wanna hit the rink?"

"That's exactly what I'm expecting - to hit it, face first."

"Here, take my hand and if you fall, then I'll fall too. Then we'll both be embarrassed. Fair enough?" he asked with his hand outstretched to me. I took it and slowly glided onto the rink with Nick by my side. I wobbled around at first, but pretty soon it all came back to me. I found my balance, let go of Nick's hand and went zipping across the rink. I did a fancy turn and when I looked back at Nick, he was on his tush. I skated over to him and got down on my knees.

"Did I contribute to your current state?" I asked, putting my hands on his knees.

"You might have had a little to do with it. I was just finding my balance when you flew off."

"I'm sorry Nick! Are you okay?"

Nick smirked. "Actually, my butt hurts. And my ego is a little bruised too."

"Aww! Here, can I give you a hug?" I stretched out my arms to him. He pulled me in on top of him with a thud. I laughed and hugged him nonetheless. I looked up and realized that I was completely on top of him. How did this happen again? I rested my arms on his chest and my chin upon my arms.

"You know Nick, you have really beautiful eyes."

"Thank you. You know Brash, you're even more cute when you're not pretending to dislike me."

I looked at him, fakely shocked. "Who said I was pretending?" I couldn't help but smile at his playful character trait. He was really fun to be with.

"I said."

I leaned my face down towards Nick's face and softly kissed him.

"What was that for?" he asked after I pulled away.

"I don't know. I just wanted to. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, I don't mind."

"Okay." I got up off of Nick and helped him up. "Let's try this again."

"I think I've got it now, thanks." Nick let go of my hand and skated away. For the next hour we just goofed around and skated to popular music. Occasionally I fell down, but I did pretty good considering.

"Nick, I'm really really hungry!"

"Yeah? Wanna go grab something to eat?" he asked as he twirled me around on the skates.

"Yeah. Can we please?"

"You got it. Come on." We skated off the rink and sat back down on the bench. After we took off the skates and put them back in their proper spots, we walked out of the building, Nick locked it up, we got in his car and drove off.

"So did you have fun?" he asked.

"I did. But how did you manage to rent out an entire roller rink on a Saturday night?"

"I have friends."

"So do I but none of them own roller rinks."

Nick laughed and pulled into another parking lot. We headed inside this small restaurant that smelled of pizza. The greeter led us through the restaurant towards the back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw at least a dozen people staring at us. What's up with them? We kept walking and were seated in a large booth in another room.

"Welcome to Gloria's. Frank will be your waiter tonight. Is there anything I can get you to drink ma'am?"

"I'll have an iced tea please."

"Very good. Mr. Carter?"

"I'll take a Pepsi, thanks."

"Thank you." The greeter walked away and left two menus on the table for us. I looked up at Nick.

"Why was everyone looking at us when we walked in?" I asked as I picked up my menu.

"It happens all the time. You get used to it after a while."

"But why were they staring at ME? I mean, you're the celebrity here, not me."

Nick looked up from his menu. He exhaled and looked me deep in the eyes. "Look, I know it's kinda weird, but if we're going to be in public together, you should get used to people staring at you. I mean, lots of people here know me from the Backstreet Boys, and since you're a girl and you're with me, you're bound to get some attention."

"Is it always like this?"

"No. Sometimes it's worse. And to be quite honest, don't be surprised if you see yourself on the news or in a newspaper or something."

"Man. I never realized it was like this."

"Just ignore them. Smile and ignore them. And if they ask you questions, just be your regular charming self."

"Right, I'm really sure they'll appreciate me telling them to back the hell off of me" she laughed. "What kinds of questions?"

"You'll see."

After a very delicious cheese pizza, Nick drove me back to my condo. He walked me up the stairs and we had an awkward moment by the door.

"Do you want to come inside?" I offered. I hate to admit it, but I didn't really want him to leave.

Nick hesitated. "I don't think so."

I looked at him, surprised. "Oh, okay."

"It's not that I don't want to, because I want to, I just don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"Ok. I start work on Monday. Oh, here, I wrote my phone number down for you. Give me a call sometime."

"I will." We had another awkward moment, us just staring at each other. It was really odd.

"Hey Nick. What were you going to ask me earlier in the car?"

Nick smiled, leaned in and softly kissed me. I felt my heart skip a beat and my knees weaken. Blondie is undeniably a wonderful kisser. When he pulled away, he started down the stairs, then turned back around.

"I was going to ask if you wanted me too. Good night Brash." And with that he walked away.