History

Chapter 11

"It was great having you for dinner, Kevin. I'm sorry Nick kept gettting interrupted." Lauren said as she showed Kevin out. Nick was still on the phone with his manager and ended up not coming back to the dinner table.

"Thank you, the food was great. Do you think Nick would be up to go fishing with me tomorrow morning? I know it's last minute but I need to talk to him before the group goes forward with any plans for me to go back. I don't want him to be the last one to know because you and I both know how that is going to go." Kevin asked, feeling defeated that he still hadn't talked to Nick about returning. At least if they were out fishing or hiking Nick wouldn't have cell phone service and they wouldn't have any interruptions. Now that he knew that he was worried over nothing, Kevin had a feeling this would be an easy conversation from here....at least he hoped it would be anyway. With Nick it was always difficult to tell because his mood sometimes changed so rapidly.

"I don't see it being a problem-" Lauren started, but Nick appeared next to her in the doorway.

"Sorry about all of that, I was hoping I wasn't too late to say goodbye. You're leaving already?"

"It's okay, Nick. I know you have album stuff and all that. Since you're here, how would you feel about going hiking or something tomorrow? Since I'm going home tomorrow night."

Nick paused for a few moments, deep in thought about something. Kevin watched curiously. He wondered why Nick was hesitant to accept his invitation.

"Sure thing, Kev. We haven't hung out in a long time, I can come pick you up if you want. What time should I come to the hotel?"

"I hope first thing in the morning is not too early...like 7?" Kevin asked.

"That sounds good. I will set an alarm, no problem."

Lauren was giving Nick a look as if he had grown two heads before she laughed. Both of them knew Nick did not like to get up early.

"What? I can get up early." Nick protested, his arms crossed.

Kevin laughed, "You're not known for being an early riser. Never have been."

"You're one to talk, you love to sleep in!"

Lauren laughed at the two of them as they continued their banter before Kevin agreed to text Nick the address to the hotel just as the taxi pulled up to the house. He went back to the hotel, feeling a bit nervous again because he was finally going to talk to Nick, the moment he'd been waiting for this whole time. Now that they were going to be together without any interruptions, he went over what he was going to say in his head a few times the next morning before Nick came to pick him up. He was dressed down in a t shirt and sweatpants, since they were just hiking. While he waited for Nick, he went downstairs to get some breakfast since the hotel offered it for free with his stay. He had a cup of coffee and just finished it when Nick texted him that he was in the lobby. Nick was dressed down too, wearing the almost same thing he was wearing the day before with the addition of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers hat.

"You look like you just woke up. Do you need to stop for coffee or something?" Kevin commented when he saw how tired he was as they got into the car.

"Yeah, we can stop. I was just up late last night talking to my manager and working on some things because she called me again after you left. We are working on some tour dates and stuff but it's clashing with the group dates and the cruise."

"I bet it is hard to juggle both at the same time. How do you manage?" Kevin asked while they were in the drive thru waiting for the coffee Nick ordered.

"Sometimes it's a bit of a struggle because I want the guys and management to be okay with me doing my side project and cutting into group things. I always talk things over with them first so they don't think that I am ditching them completely. Their feelings matter." Nick said, choosing his words carefully. Kevin grew silent after the last sentence, feeling guilty that he hadn't discussed leaving with anyone but management. He knew that Nick felt betrayed and so did the other guys. Looking back, he knew he would have handled things different because of how it affected all of them. He wasn't just a coworker to them. He was family and they were family to him. He had taken them for granted even though he knew he had every right to time away for himself. Kevin had beaten himself up so many times over the years for leaving and had almost convinced himself he didn't deserve the chance to come back because he felt so guilty.