We were still sleeping when Nick woke up the next morning. The clock read 7:30am. He sighed as he looked at us, Brian had a goofy smile on his face, which made Nick laugh softly, but inside all he could think of was: "Damn it (excuse the language!!!!), why can't it be me with my arms around her? I know B-Rok saw her first when he picked her out at the concert, but I just can't help myself.... I can't keep lying to myself, I know I like her, a lot, and I can't keep lying to Lauren either, she's too nice a girl to lie to, I've got to tell them all.... but I'll wait until the right time comes. But damn it, I just want to hold her, kiss her like she was my girlfriend, I can't keep going on acting like she'd just my friend.... man, this is killing me" He shook his head, to get rid of the tears of frustration that were appearing in his eyes. He walked into the bathroom, not caring that he thought that there might actually be gremlins underneath the bath mat like Brian had joked about the night before. He looked in the mirror thinking that he must be the worst guy, and friend on earth. "I shouldn't have feelings for my best bud's girl - it's just not right - he got her first, I'll just have to accept it, God damnit (excuse the language again!!!) why can't it be me?!!!!" He splashed his face with water a few times so it wouldn't look like he'd been crying. He came out and got dressed, then he went to wake the others, he couldn't stand being in the room any longer. ~~ in the guys' room ~~ "Yo Nick, Wassup?" AJ asked, being the first up, Kevin was still blissfully asleep and Howie was just lying there being lazy. "Oh, nothing much" He said, sticking his hands deep into the pockets of his oversized beige combat trousers (you guys call them cargo pants or something like that don't you?) and flopping down backwards onto AJ's bed. "Are you sure? You look...nah, never mind" "What?" "Well... um... you look like you've been crying - are you sure there's nothing wrong?" "No man, I'm fine, really - I just rubbed my eyes before I got here, sleepiness and all that - you know how it is" "Yeah, I hear you man" AJ pulled on a Tommy Hilfiger sweater and sat on the window seat, while Nick continued to lie on his bed, his eyes closed, as if either sleeping or just deep in thought. Howie finally decided to get up, but unfortunately he'd been tossing and turning in the night and all his bed sheets were all over the place, and his foot got caught, sending him flying onto the next bed, which just happened to be the one with the peacefully sleeping Kevin - or at least - he was peaceful until Howie fell on his chest. "Hey, what the....?!!" Hmm.... you can tell Kev ain't a morning person can't you?!! "Oops, sorry man!" Mumbled Howie, climbing off him, much to the amusement of AJ - Nick hadn't seemed to have noticed. AJ sensed something was up, but didn't pursue it, he knew Nick would say something when he felt ready. "Gotta be a girl.... no doubt about it - you can just sense these things - and he had the same look last time - I am so good at this mind reading stuff!!" AJ thought to himself, he gave a little chuckle, but the others didn't hear. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door, followed quickly by it being flung open and Aaron running in, noticing Nick on the bed, and then him proceeding to run and fling himself onto the bed next to Nick, punching him in the arm to get his attention. "Nick, Nick!!" Hmmm... Aaron was certainly awake! "What?!" "Sorry, just wanted to see if you were awake, that's all" "Hey, I'm sorry bud, I'm just a little tired this morning, forgive me?" He puts on a hurt puppy-dog eyed look. Aaron laughs at him. "Of course, you're my big bro!!" They looked at each other, y'know, in that really weird look actors do in the movies when they're about to kiss, but don't worry, it wasn't like that, they just hugged - it was just a little exaggerated - you know how they are! "Awwh!" came the response from AJ, Howie and Kev, who was now up and dressed, no thanks to Howie! "Where's B-Rok and Rainey?" Aaron asked "Umm.. they're.. uh... still sleeping" Nick remembered how we were when he left the room about 20 minutes before. His sad expression took over his face again. "Hey Nick, are you sure you're okay?" "Um.... yeah, fine...I uh... just want them to hurry up, I want some breakfast" "Now there's my big bro!" "Shall we go wake them?!" AJ suggested, with an evil grin on his face. "I'm not sure if we should...." Nick started, but AJ was already out of the door before he had a chance to stop him. They all got into the hallway, and it seems like the girls had the same idea! "Operation Wake Up has now begun!!" AJ whispered loudly, and added a little laugh just for good measure. Slowly AJ opened the door, and everybody filed in, they all looked on and there was a collective "Awwh!!" from them all, except Nick (well, and Aaron, you know how he is!). "Nick, is something wrong?" "No Lauren, I'm fine" "Are you sure, you look like a man with something on his mind" "Ha, that'll be a first!!" "AJ..." Nick said in a warning tone, AJ calmed down after that. "Wait, we need a photo!" Brianna whispered, grabbing my camera. A few seconds later she had taken two photos, one normal, and one zoomed in so only our heads and chests were in the picture (If you know what I mean!). "Oh, so cute!" she whispered, in one of those really high pitched voices that annoys everyone. "Ugh, B-Rok's with a girl?!!" Aaron said, a bit too loudly, because Brian woke up. I still slept on - I like my sleep remember! "Hey, what are y'all doing here?" "Just waking up the two lovebirds - good thing you two weren't doing anything else other than sleeping - young Aaron would be asking allsorts of questions!!" "AJ! Geez man.... don't say things like that! And you know Rain would have blushed aswell, just cool it - is that all you think about?!!" "No...... Honest!!" "Yeah right babe, we know you better than that!!" Brianna joked, making everyone (well, everyone awake!) laugh. "So shall we wake her up?" Holly asked. "No, she looks so peaceful, leave her be" "Brian - if she doesn't get up, she won't get any breakfast, and she's hardly eaten since Friday - and as this is Monday, she may be a little hungry!!" "Oh, you're right Holly, we should" B slightly nudges my shoulder, whispering "Rain, time to get up" into my ear. when I don't wake up (I'm not very good at getting up in the mornings!!), he kisses me on the lips, and as I begin to wake up, I return the kiss - hmmm.... what a way to wake up first thing on a Monday morning! "Oh!! Morning everyone!" I was slightly shocked to see everyone in our room - as you could tell! Everyone was quiet for a minute. "What, no sly comment about me and Brian, Nick? Are you feeling alright?!" "Yeah, I'm fine, I just want some breakfast" "After last night?? I'm surprised - no wait, it's you, no I'm not!" "Thanks" "Oh Nick, I didn't mean it like that - I was just joking!" "I knew that, I’m just really hungry this morning" "Well, if y'all want to go on ahead, we'll get dressed and meet you downstairs okay?" "Sure" "Okay" "Fine" Were a few of the answers that came back. A few minutes later, they had all gone, and I had taken some clothes into the bathroom so I could change after my shower. About 10 minutes later I came out, my hair all wet from my nice warm shower, B was sitting on the bed already dressed waiting for me. "Hmm... I was wondering when you were going to show up!" he said, with a small sly smile at first, but it gradually grew - I knew what he was thinking! "B, what on earth do you mean by that?" I was acting as if I didn't know. "You know what I mean Rain…" He got up off the bed and slowly walked over to me, enveloping me in a nice, warm, loving hug, and gave me a kiss to match…