***RECAP: Lauren bit her lip sadly, as she looked at the blonde beauty standing in front of her, with messed up hair and messy clothes. It looked like he hadn’t seen the light of day in a while. "I wanna help you," she said, "and I wanna do as much as I can."***
"Do any of the other guys know you’re here?" asked Nick, after the two were seated in Nick’s living room. Lauren shook her head. "Why don’t you call one of them and let them know?" she suggested.
Nick sighed and shook his head. "I can’t really do that," he answered sadly, "I haven’t spoken to anyone in a week or so...it’s just weird."
"Even Brian?" she asked incredulously. Nick nodded, his eyes filled with sadness. "It’s just too weird to call him," he said, "it’s not right."
"What exactly happened?" asked Lauren carefully, moving from the chair to the couch, where Nick was seated. Nick took another deep breath and said, "Laur, I really want to tell you....but it’s kinda not my place to say."
"It has to do with me, doesn’t it," she said, saying it more like a statement, rather than a question. Nick nodded sadly. "After you left, AJ was acting really weird...he wasn’t talking to anyone, and it always seemed like he was mad.......and I was......" Nick stopped, before saying something incriminating about himself.
"You what?" Lauren asked, but was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Are you gonna get that?" she asked, as Nick shook his head. "No," he said sternly, "I don’t really wanna talk to anyone right now."
"Nick, you have to at least try," she coaxed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Why should I be the one to try?" he asked, his eyes blazing, "why should I be the one to try to work it out?! The others are in it just as much as I am! It’s too damn late now! I’m already a washed up has been." His voice choked on the last word.
"Oh Nick," Lauren said, watching his blue eyes fill up with tears, "you aren’t a has been! Trust me....you’re so talented!"
Nick sniffed and wiped his eyes. "But without them I’m nothing."
Lauren watched his lower lip begin to tremble, as he messily wiped his tears away. "If you don’t answer the phone," she said, "I’m going to do it instead."
Nick looked up, shocked, as Lauren reached for the receiver. "Hello?" she said, calmly.
"Lauren!" hissed Nick, sniffing, "what are you doing?!"
"Uh, is Nick there please?" the caller on the other end said. "He’s not, can I take a message?" Lauren replied, watching Nick shake his head to indicate he wasn’t home. "Could you have him call Lou at the office? It’s important," the caller said.
Lauren agreed, and hung up. "Lou wants you to call him," Lauren said, relaying the message to Nick, "it sounded important."
Nick shook his head violently. "No way," he said, "all he wants is to try and coax me back into the contract....no fucking way!"
Lauren shook her head sadly at the whole situation. It was going to take a lot to get the boys back together.
****************************
"COMING!" called Brian, as he walked briskly through his front hallway and opened the door. "Hi Brian," Lauren said shyly, as he opened the door and stood there, with a shocked look on his face. "Lauren? What are you doing here?! I thought you went back to Toronto?!" he was finally able to sputter out.
"I heard what happened," she said sadly, walking into his house uninvited, "and I came to help."
Brian’s eyes widened, as he took a step back. "Who told you?" he asked, but the answered his own question, "I bet it was Nick, wasn’t it?"
"Brian, that doesn’t matter," Lauren replied. "Yes it does!" Brian shot back, "that little bastard wasn’t supposed to tell anyone!"
Lauren’s mouth dropped open at the sound of Brian’s harsh words toward Nick. Brian saw the look of shock on Lauren’s face, and turned his head away in shame. "It’s so different now," was all he could say in his defense.
"Nick is your best friend," Lauren said, walking closer to Brian and putting a hand on his shoulder, "you two were best friends!" Brian nodded and looked at her through sad eyes. "He was my best friend.....now I can’t even call him....it’s just too weird."
Lauren noted that Nick had said pretty much the exact same thing to her earlier in the day.
"Brian, I dropped everything I had reestablished in Toronto to come here and fix things up between you five....and I’m determined to help," she said.
"Lauren, there’s nothing you can do....trust me...we’ve been there, done that. AJ was walking around like a fucking zombie, not talking to anyone about anything, Nick was just plain upset, Kevin was pissed at Nick for acting like a baby, and I was there defending Nick! Howie was just smack in the middle of it all.....trust me.....anything you try short of a miracle can’t get us back together!"
"Maybe if I talk to AJ......?" Lauren suggested, but was cut off sharply by Brian, who said, "Lauren, you may be his sister, but trust me, he does not want to see you now."
Lauren’s eyes filled with tears, as she realized the harsh reality of it all. "Maybe if
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