Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 19:23:12 -0700 (PDT) From: slpwriter Subject: Nick Lachey: My Everything-53 Hey guys, I'm back! I'm writing again, but don't expect the chapters to be out soon. I've reached a very difficult area in the story and in order to keep it going, I need to make sure that it makes sense this time around. Now on with the story. First of all, let me just say that this is my first time writing any kind of fiction like this. DISCLAIMER: This is a work of total fiction and is not meant to imply anything about the sexualities of Nick and Drew Lachey or anyone else mentioned in this story. If you are too young to read this, or if Homosexuality offends you, then please don't continue any further and leave. NEWSFLASH: To those of you who don't already know, Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, in real life, have reconciled and are now husband and wife. I wish them all the best with their marriage and hope they live a long and happy life together. If you want details about their wedding, check out the 98 Degrees Official Website at www.98degrees.com. Other 98 Degrees stories I'd like to recommend are. "Give Me Just One Night" by Unanoche. "69 with Jeff Timmons" by Zachary Scott Pritt "Nick Lachey" by Ken. "98 Degrees Is Hot" by Gay Night "The Reunion" by RinSong. "Loving Nick Lachey" by Jordan "Playing Doctor with 98 Degrees" by Brian and finally: "This Gift" by Sprout Now, I"ll let you get on with the story. Enjoy. Previously on "My Everything"..... As I hung up with Jake, my mind suddenly flashed back to Drew. I was wondering how he was doing since I'd left the hotel earlier this morning. I was sure that he and the guys were on a plane back home right now. I just hoped that Drew was doing alright. ******************************************************* ON THE PLANE.................. "Ladies and Gentlemen," The announcer said. "We will be beginning our descent into Los Angeles. Please make sure your seat belts are fastened." Jeff, Danny, Drew, Justin, and Kandi all sat back and buckled their seat belts. "I hope we get some answers about Nick when we get home." Jeff said. "I'm really worried about him." "I think we will, Jeff." Danny, who was beside Jeff, said. "Once we talk to Jessica, we'll have a better idea of what Nick's state of mind was when he left." "So, Drew, where do you think Nick could have gone?" Justin asked, looking over at Drew. Drew didn't seem to hear Justin's question. He had a far away look in his eyes, which meant something was weighing heavily on his mind. "Hello?" Kandi voiced. "Earth to Drew?" Drew snapped out of his reverie and looked up at Kandi. "I'm sorry, Kandi, did you say something?" He said, not sure he had heard her. "No, actually, Justin did." Kandi said to him. "He asked you where you think Nick could have gone?" "I don't know." Drew said. "I'll have to wait until I talk to Jessica and then I'll see if Nick left any clues as to where he could have gone." "By the way, Drew." Jeff said. "You looked like you had alot on your mind." "I do." Drew said. "I was thinking about Sean just a minute ago." "Speaking of Sean, you never did tell us why he left earlier." Danny pointed out. "Well, after Sean decked Jeff earlier, he and I talked about our relationship and I gave him an ultimatum. If He wants to be with me, he was going to have to find some way to get along with all of you. And if not, we were going to agree to go our separate ways and not contact each other again." "What did you both decide?" Kandi asked, curiously. "Will Sean be a part of our lives again or won't he?" Drew looked away from them and sighed. "Oh my god, he won't be, will he? Danny asked, a sad look on his face. Drew looked back at everyone, his face void of emotion. "No, he wont..........." ********** CHAPTER 53 ********** "What happened between you two, Drew?" Jeff asked him, curious. Drew obviously didn't want to talk about it, but he knew that sooner or later he was going to have to tell them what was going on. But he still wasn't ready. "You guys, I can't talk about it yet." Drew said. "Honestly, I should be focusing on trying to find Nick and bringing him back home. I can deal with Sean at a later date. Can you understand that?" Drew looked at everyone and saw their sympathetic looks. He knew they felt for him for what he was going through, and he really did appreciate it. He couldn't have asked for better friends. "Yeah, we do, Drew." Danny said, nodding. "We just worry about you, that's all." "We don't like to see you in pain, buddy." Justin said, sadly. "We just want to do whatever we can to make things easier for you." Drew nodded. "And I love you all for caring." He said, quietly. "But this is something that I have to work out on my own." "Alright, Drew, if that's the way you feel, then I guess that's the way it's gonna have to be." Kandi said. "If you change your mind, you know you can talk to us, anytime." "Thanks, Kandi." Drew said. "Now, let's sit back and wait for this thing to land, so we can go home." Just then, the announcer's voice started again. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are prepared to land, so please make sure that you are in your seats and that your seat belts are fastened." Everyone sat back and got as comfortable as possible as they all felt the plane starting to land. Kandi clutched the arms of the seat, tightly. She was a little afraid of flights when they were landing. Take off was no problem for her. "You ok, sweetheart?" Justin asked, giving her a concerned look. "I'm just a little afraid of landings." Kandi told him. "I'll be alright once we land." Justin nodded and sat back, closing his eyes. In a few minutes, they felt the plane touch ground and slowly come to a stop. The landing was successful. Once the plane was stopped, everyone got out of their seats and grabbed their carry-ons and everything else they needed and exited the plane, heading straight for the baggage claim. ******************************************************* Back in Orlando............. "Ok, Ben, did you get all of that?" I said, into the phone, hoping that he wouldn't have any trouble, picking me up at the airport. "I've got it, Sean." Ben reassured me. "I will be there. Don't worry." "Ok then." I replied. "I'll see you later in L.A." "You bet." Ben said. "Bye, now." "Bye." I said, hanging up the phone and placing it back on the console to charge, while I was away. I walked back to my room to start packing up whatever I was going to take with me to L.A. for the weekend. I knew I wanted to take my outfits that I wore for when I went to the clubs out there. I knew for a fact that Ben would most likely be taking me to one as soon as he picked me up from the airport." As I passed by the bedside table, my eyes fell upon Nick's letter that he had sent me. "I wonder if I should take this with me to show to Drew?" I thought to myself, debating whether or not, I should do it. Finally, I shook my head. "No." I said, outloud. "I'm not going to go against Nick's wishes. He said he didn't want me to show this letter to anyone because it would just raise more questions that he doesn't yet have answers to." I looked down at the letter, reading over the parts that had to do with me. "Besides, it's too personal." I said. "This letter was meant for me and only me, so I'll put it away for safekeeping." I walked over to my bed and pulled my lock box out from under it. I then reached into my pocket and got out my keys. I grabbed the smallest one on them and opened up the lock box. I set Nick's letter inside of it and locked it back up. "There." I said, shoving the box, back under the bed. "Nick's letter is safe and sound from prying eyes. At least for now." "Sean, are you ready?!" I jumped when I heard Jake's voice coming through the hallway. I'm in my room, Jake!" I yelled out to him. "Come on in!" Jake entered my room, just as I was opening my suitcase. "Well, buddy, I'm here now." He said. "How about I give you a hand with your stuff." "That would be great." I said, smiling. "Thanks, buddy." "No, problem." Jake replied, as he helped me pack up everything I needed. I walked into the bathroom to grab my toothbrush, toothpaste, some soap, shampoo and conditioner, and my razor and shaving cream. After getting all of those things, I exited the bathroom and went back into the bedroom where I saw Jake, looking through all the outfits that I had in my closet. "See anything you like there, buddy?" I asked him, grinning. Jake turned to look at me. "Well, your clothes are not really my style man, but I do like the leather jeans you have here." He said. "Will you be taking them with you?" I looked them over for a moment and then decided against it. I think Los Angeles would be a little too hot to wear them this weekend. Especially since the weather was up in the high 80's for this week. "No, I'll pass this time." I said. "But I will wear them the next time we go clubbing again together." "Cool." Jake said, as I finished packing up everything that I needed. I zipped up the suitcase and set it down on the floor. I sat down on the bed and looked up at Jake, who was standing there, looking at me, strangely. "What is it, man?" I asked him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" "Are you sure you're ready to face Ben?" Jake said. "From what you said earlier, it sounded like you have alot to make up for." "I do, Jake." I told him. "I have to make up for 2 years of not contacting Ben and Matt while I was gone. Things are different now." "I still can't believe that you actually know those two." Jake said, looking envious. Not that I could blame him. "Aw, you jealous?" I asked him, teasing him a little. "Hell, yes." Jake replied. "I wish I had famous friends like them." "Well, I'm sure I could arrange a meeting with Ben and Matt to meet you." I told him. "I'm sure they'd like to meet you as well." Jake's eyes widened. "Are you serious?" he asked, the excitement obvious in his voice. "I would be honored to meet Ben Affleck and Matt Damon." I thought about Matt for a second. I wondered if he would be as forgiving as Ben seemed to be, earlier. I wasn't sure how he would react, seeing me again. But, I knew that I had to at least give him an explanation of why I was out of touch in order to be forgiven fully. "I'll see about having Ben and Matt come back here to Orlando for a weekend sometime and then we'll arrange a meeting. "I suggested to Jake. "Does that sound good?" "Deal." Jake said and shook with me on it. I looked down and realized that time was wasting away. If I wanted to catch that plane, I was going to have to get cracking. "Well, buddy." Jake said. "The plane isn't going to wait all day. Let's get you packed up and to the airport." "You read my mind, man." I told him. Jake helped me finish up packing and he carried my luggage out to my SUV for me. "Jake?" I asked. He turned around. "Yeah?" "Are you sure you're ok with keeping an eye on my place for me?" I asked, once more to make sure it was not going to be a burden on him. "It's perfectly fine." He said, as he set my things inside the SUV and shut the door. "I will keep an eye on things for you while you're away. "Thanks, man." I said, as I reached out to shake his hand again. Jake shook with me and then pulled me in for a quick hug. "Good luck." He said, as he pulled back. "Thanks, Jake." I said, smiling. "Hopefully, I won't need it." "Ok, let's get going now." Jake said, grabbing my keys and getting into the driver's seat. I walked around the other side and got into the passenger seat. Jake started the SUV and we started heading off to the airport. "Los Angeles, here I come." I thought to myself. ******************************************************* MEANWHILE, BACK IN LOS ANGELES.............. "I'm so glad you guys are back." Jessica said, hugging Drew, tears streaming down her face. "Jessica, don't cry." Jeff, who was behind Drew, said. "Everything's going to be alright. Nick's going to be alright too." "How do you know that, Jeff?" Jessica said, the fear and worry, evident in her tone, as she pulled back from Drew's embrace. "We don't even know where my husband is." "While we were on the plane, we were racking our brains, trying to figure out where Nick would go." Danny said. "And?" Jessica urged. "Do you think he might have gone to Hawaii?" Danny asked her. "I know Hawaii is one of Nick's favorite vacation spots." Jessica's face lit up, suddenly. "You know, Danny, you could be on to something!" She said, excitedly. "After all, Nick and I did get married in Hawaii, so there could be a chance he might have gone there." Then, Jessica's face fell. "But, we're not going to be able to track him down very easily." "Why not?" Drew asked. "If Nick is using his credit cards, we should be able to track down his whereabouts." Jessica shook her head. "He's not using them." She told Drew. "He withdrew a bunch of cash from the bank shortly before he left." "Honey, that's the first time you've mentioned that." Kandi said. "Now it is going to be harder to track him down." Jessica sighed and walked over to the couch and sat down on it and put her face into her hands. "What happened?" She sobbed. "What could have happened to make Nick take off like this?" Drew's heart sank as he watched Jessica cry. He hated to see her going through this. He knew what he had to do and he couldn't put it off anymore. "Jessica, there's something that I haven't told you yet." Drew started. Jessica looked up at him, as she wiped at her eyes. "What?" Drew took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Jessica everything. "I think that Sean and I might be the reason that Nick left." Jessica frowned. "What are you talking about?" "He and Sean are together." Justin told her. "Or at least they were. We found out that they broke up after we discovered that Nick was gone." Jessica looked at Drew, confused. "I didn't know that you guys were even talking to him again." She said. "But what do you and Sean's being together have to do with him taking off?" Drew was getting pretty uncomfortable. He knew he was going to have to reveal all the gory details of what had happened the night before. "Well, um, Sean and I kind of were......messing around in Nick's room before he came back and Nick walked in and caught us in bed together." "SAY WHAT?" Everyone exclaimed in unison. Obviously this was news, not only to Jessica, but to everyone else as well. "What the hell were you two doing messing around in Nick's room together?" Jessica asked. "Why the hell were you two alone in his room in the first place?" Drew hung his head, embarassed about having to tell all to her. "Oh my god!" Jessica said, suddenly. "Something happened between my husband and Sean, didn't it?" Drew looked up at her and nodded. "Yes, but not what you're thinking." Drew told her, so she wouldn't think the worst. "And what the hell does that mean?" Jessica, asked him. She was started to get really irritated which meant that Drew had to get the whole story out before she started to go ballistic. "Afer Nick caught us, he yelled at us to get the hell out of his room and get it on in our own room. After that, he stormed off." Drew said. "Then Sean and I went back over to our room and one thing led to another and you know what happens next." Jessica nodded, raising her hands in the air. "Ok, I get it. I don't need the gory details. Go on." "Ok, well, I woke up this morning and saw Sean sitting at the table, and he looked really intense. I asked him what was up and he said that he'd went to see Nick earlier this morning to apologize for what he'd walked in on last night. They exchanged words and somehow it turned into an argument. Sean ended up throwing our night of passion in Nick's face and as he went to leave, Nick grabbed him and kissed him." As soon as Drew mentioned the kiss, a round of gasps was heard in the room. "You know I swear you guys are going to suffer from oxygen deprivation if you don't cut it out." Drew lamely joked, cracking a smile. "You think this is funny, Drew?!" Drew turned back towards Jessica and saw the angry and hurt expression on her face. "No, Jessica, I didn't mean to...... Unfortunately, Drew didn't get to finish his sentence before Jessica's palm connected with his cheek. "How could you do this to me?!" Jessica shouted at him. "How could you and that pathetic excuse for a man do that to my husband?!" "Calm down, honey." Kandi said, coming over to Jessica and putting her arms around her. "Jessica, I'm not responsible for Nick kissing Sean." Drew said, his voice cracking from hurt because of Jessica's slap. "Sean provoked him. He said that Nick said that it was the last kiss that they would ever share and that he no longer wanted anything to do with Sean. then he kicked him out." Jessica's face softened a little. THen she cupped Drew's face. I'm sorry, Drew." She apologized. "I shouldn't have slapped you. If I should have slapped anyone, it should have been Sean." "It's alright, Jessica." Drew said. " I understand that you're scared for Nick. I am too." "I know." She said. "I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I don't blame you as much for what happened as I do Sean. If anything, he's the reason Nick's gone." "So, back to Nick." Jeff said. "When you saw him, how was he before he left?" Jessica turned away and walked over to the kitchen window and looked outside, staring off into space. "He was really quiet and he wasn't his usual chipper self." She told everyone. "He couldn't even smile and you know how he is around me. I never seen him without a smile on his face, except when we have our own fights, which isn't that often." Jessica's eyes welled up with tears. She knew she was coming to the part which broke her heart. "Nick said he was going to leave for a while and he said that he wasn't sure when he would be back. But I didn't know that he was planning to just up and leave town without a word." She continued. "And when he picked up Nicole and said goodbye to her, he looked like he was about to lose it. Then he pulled me in with them and hugged us both like it was for the last time." "Did he say anything that might give us a clue about where he was headed?" Drew asked. Jessica shook her head. "All he said before he left is to take care of Nicole and that he loves us both. Then he got in his car and took off." And I just stood there in shock. I'd never seen Nick so emotional like that before. Then when I realized that there was something wrong, it was already too late to go after him. I couldn't leave Nicole." "Of course not." Drew said, then frowned. "By the way, where is that cute little niece of mine anyway?" "She's with your mom." Jessica told him. "I took her over a while ago before you guys landed. I didn't want her to see me like this. Besides, I thought that we needed to talk without any interruptions. And I was right considering the way I yelled at you and slapped you a few moments ago." "It's alright, Jessica." Drew said. "You're forgiven. But I do feel partially responsible for Nick's disappearing like that." "Drew, don't blame yourself." Jessica said, her tone starting to sound angry again. "It's not your fault. It's Sean fault that my husband is gone. If Sean hadn't have thrown the details of something so private in my husband's face, I think he'd still be here right now. He wouldn't have taken off." "Jessica, come on." Danny said, coming to Sean's defense. "Sean didn't know that Nick would take off. If he had, he probably wouldn't have did what he did." "DON"T DEFEND HIM, DANNY!" Jessica shouted. "I KNOW YOU STILL CONSIDER YOURSELF HIS FRIEND, BUT TRUST ME, HE DOESN"T DESERVE YOU OR YOUR FRIENDSHIP! HE IS A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING! LOOK WHAT HE'S DONE TO ME AND NICK, HE'S TORN US APART!" Jessica wiped at the tears that where streaming down her face. Her hands were trembling from anger. "I SWEAR IF I EVER GET MY HANDS ON HIM, I WILL KILL HIS SORRY ASS!" She screamed. "THE HELL YOU WILL!!" A familiar voice shouted out. Jessica, Kandi, and the rest of the guys all whipped around to face the owner of that voice. TBC.......? Well, that's it for this one, folks! What happens next? Oh, if you only knew! slpwriter@yahoo.com