Chapter Forty-Nine – Come With Me

"So," said Nick, as we walked out of the record store. "That was Ryan who called while we were inside. The plan is for us to leave on Saturday."

"That's in three days," I said sadly.

"I know. We better make the most of these three days."

I nodded. "You're right. I guess we're going to have to have a talk soon."

"We did put it off these last two weeks," he said, kissing my forehead suddenly.

I took his hand, giving it a squeeze. "It's been a pretty wonderful two weeks," I replied.

"It really has been." We slowly walked down the street, hand in hand. "Want to go to Central Park? Take a little stroll while the sun is setting?"

I grinned. "That's sounds rather romantic, Nick Moon Tower. You just might get lucky tonight if you keep this up."

"That is the plan, my dear," he said with a smirk.

We strolled slowly through the park, finally sitting down on a bench next to a man who was drawing sketches of people. "He's good," I murmured into Nick's ear as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Maybe I'll have him sketch you so I can have something to look at while I'm away on tour."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" I said, smirking as I leaned up to kiss him softly.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is. I wouldn't have expected to see you two cozying up together," said Morgan sarcastically as he approached us. I gave him a hug after he shook hands with Nick. "So, have you two figured things out yet?"

I nodded. "I believe we have."

"I was stuck in a room with this one. I thought I was going to go crazy with her moping over you," said Morgan, shaking his head. "Here I thought she was too cool to worry about simple things like boys."

Nick grinned. "I thought so too. It's good to know that I still have some charm left in me."

"She wouldn't call you!" exclaimed Morgan, warming up to this conversation. I let him go, not caring if Nick knew how I had acted. "I was the one who actually dialed your number that night. She kept starting to and then hanging up. It was ridiculous. Then when I came back in the room she told me she simply asked you if you wanted your shirt back. Sure, that's all you wanted to know," he said with a smirk.

"You're just jealous that I have the cutest dirty rockstar on my arm. You can only wish that you will find another female version like myself," I said with a big grin.

Morgan nodded, pointing to me. "That is certainly true. Women dress so strangely anymore. One day, it'll happen. I'll find a cute girl like me, though I'm having fun screwing up with the wrong women."

"How are things with your band?" asked Nick.

"Good. Still trying to figure out which label we want. How about you guys?"

"Awesome. We're heading to Europe in a few days to do some festivals over there."

"Soon we'll be there with you. How's the search for a backing band, Kat?"

"Going well. I finish up the auditions tomorrow. I'm pretty sure that I figured out who I want to work with. Do you know Carmen?" Morgan shook his head. "She's dating Gary Mavelli, who you've probably seen around. He's an artist."

"Oh yeah, I know Gary and Carmen. I didn't know she played."

"Yeah, she's an awesome bassist. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have her join me. I doubt you'd know the other two guys since I just met them. The one moved here from California. I'm still not sure who I'm going to have play drums. I've been spoiled with Rayne as a brother. It's hard for anyone compare to him."

"You'll find the right people soon enough. So, you're going to try going electric?" asked Morgan, raising an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "With some songs, yes. It'll be interesting. I can do my own cover of a Stones song."

"Now that I would like to see," Nick said, winking at Morgan.

"I bet you would," Morgan replied with a grin. "I'm going to head on out. Don't get too cute, you two. I don't want to lose my hard-edged rock 'n' roll friends."

"See you later, Morgan," Nick replied.

"I really like him," I said as he left the two of us. "The tour brought the two of us closer together. He's an awesome guy, though slightly uncontrollable."

"He makes an awesome front man. So, was what he said true? Did I put you so out of sorts that you had trouble calling my number?"

I nodded. "I told you I think you're cute."

He grinned. "It's always good to know." He cleared his throat, turning the conversation to a more serious, though necessary topic about our relationship. "So, what are we going to do now, pretty lady? You want to call it quits?"

I wrinkled my nose. "Not just yet. I don't know what our best bet is, but I think you've reeled me in too much already, oh you sexy boy."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, holding me closer to him.

"We still have to figure out how to work this. I don't know how all of our friends do this whole not seeing each other for weeks on end."

"Well, Pres and Reed sometimes fly out Cassie and Mel on the weekends. Both of them are still in school so they don't have any problems with being able to take off for a weekend."

"That'll be difficult for us. Besides, isn't that expensive?"

He shrugged. "It probably can get to be but I could afford to do it. It would be worth it if it would keep you from leaving me. It will be difficult since you're going to have your own tour life when you finally sign to a label. It'll be harder for you to get away."

I sighed. "It will be."

"How about this? We just make a pact. No matter where we are, we'll make sure we see each other at least once every two weeks. Even if it's for a couple of hours, it'll be worth it."

"That could be expensive, Nicky. I don't have the money to do that."

"I told you not to worry about it."

"I'm going to, you know that. I don't want to seem as if I'm in this for your money."

He nibbled on my ear. "I already know all you want is sex from me."

"Of course," I said, laughing. "You are a sex machine."

"Do you think we can work it out?" he asked, all joking aside. "See each other whenever we get the chance?" He turned to face me, holding my hands in his as he stared at me seriously. "I don't want to pressure you into this, Kat. I know you love me, but I don't want you to do this if you don't want to. This'll be hard. We'll have to make sacrifices. We don't know what our schedules are going to be like. Who knows where you're going to be in these next couple of months!"

"It will be hard."

"You'll be thrust into the scene. Everyone is going to want to meet you. All the guys will be falling at your feet since you are so beautiful and cool." Nick seemed to grow more depressed as he continued to describe how hard it would be for the two of us. "Most likely we'll barely get anytime together. When we finally can visit each other, we'll be plagued with people who'll do their best to keep us apart."

I shook my head, finally reaching up to cover his mouth with my hand. "Are you done yet?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're beginning to scare me."

"I want you to be prepared."

"It's going to be difficult. But, I would prefer to give this a try for once instead of running away if you didn't mind."

"Of course I won't mind," he said, grinning widely.

"Glad to hear it. You talk about all these dumb people, but you forget that I've been around a bunch of them already. I know what they are like."

"It's different when they all want you."

"It probably is. I just hope you'll be willing to keep me grounded. Besides, this is a big if. I doubt I'm going to have to deal with what you boys have been dealing with."

Nick kissed me suddenly. "It doesn't matter what they say. You're already a star in my eyes. I still can't believe I'm with the best musician on the planet."

"You're making me blush," I replied, pinching his cheek as my grin grew.

"You know the performance I liked best though? It was probably when you were on stage with Webster's Warhol. Your sexy little dance was sizzling."

"Maybe I'll do it for you again sometime."

He grinned. "So, you're really not going to have a little freak out moment about all of this? I know even though we've been seeing each other, we haven't really made it too public. Once I go away, that will have to change."

"I wouldn't want you to keep it a secret. I want the world to know." I held up a finger, stopping him from speaking just yet. "You've helped me be more secure with all of this and I know I'm cocky enough for you," I said smirking, "but I still have little twinges every once in a while. I'm getting used to this whole put yourself on the line thing though."

"Isn't it better this way?" he asked. "I never believed it was true, but it is." We sat there in comfortable silence for a few moments, staring up at the sun as it slowly began to make its beautiful descent into the horizon. "How do you think Rayne will take us?"

"He thinks it is absolutely wonderful," I replied, snuggling closer to Nick. "I talked to him the other day and I mentioned it to him. He wants me to be happy. Though he did tell me to tell you that he will have to beat you up if you break my heart. He wouldn't want to do it of course, but since I'm his little sister, he sort of has to threaten you."

Nick laughed, kissing the top of my head. "Well, that will be the only reason keeping me from trampling that precious heart of yours."

"Jerk," I joked, elbowing him in the stomach. He laughed. "I wish I met you sooner, when we could have had time to ourselves here."

"It would have been nice, but I think things work out for the best. At least this way I was able to get the whole rock star life out of my system and strangely enough, I think you might have done the same yourself."

I grinned. "I did lead a rock star life even if I was a nobody." I stood up. The sun was almost out of view. "Shall we head back to your place or mine?" I asked Nick, loving that I could say that openly, not caring who heard me.

"I'm closer," he replied, standing up too.

"One second," said the artist as we turned to go. I turned to look at him, causing Nick to sigh. I had a hard time ignoring the people on the street, no matter how many times they tried to rip me off. "I thought the cute couple might like this picture," he said, handing me a piece of paper. He smiled, turning back to the picture of the women before him.

I looked down at it, smiling as I stared at the black and white pencil drawing of the two of us tenderly kissing, Nick cradling my face. "This is so sweet," I said softly, showing it to Nick.

"It is beautiful," he said softly into my ear.

I pulled out a few dollars I had in my pocket, giving them to the kind man. He at first refused, but in the end, he obliged.

"This is going to work out, isn't it Nick?" I asked him as we walked towards his apartment building, hand in hand.

"You mean us?" I nodded. "I don't know. I hope so, Kat. I really hope so."

"No matter what, at least we're finally putting ourselves into this." I then laughed. "Though we're probably due for a fight soon."

Nick grinned. "It'll happen the first time I see some guy flirting with you. You make me jealous, pretty lady."

"Things could be worse," I replied, kissing him unexpectedly. "Things could be a lot worse." I rested my head on his shoulders, looking at the picture of the two of us. No matter what, this would make for some amazing memories. Still, my heart knew this was it. What Nick and I had was real love. Having him waiting for me would make my adventures on the road all the more bearable. This was going to be a crazy, mind-blowing time.

"Let's go to a bar and see a band play," Nick said, playing with a few strands of my curls.

I nodded. "I wouldn't want to do anything else in the world."