Chapter 14

Nicki’s phone buzzed early the next morning. It rings several times before she wakes up and answers the phone.

“Hey, Heather…” she yawns into the phone, waking up Justin. 

“Where the hell are you? PLEASE tell me you’re at Justin’s…” she’s yelling, but whispering. 

“Yeah, I’m at Justin’s,” she smiled. “Why are you so mad?”

“Because PARKER is here to pick you up for your shift!! Your alarm woke me up cause it kept going off. Once I got fed up enough of hearing it, I got up and saw you weren’t home. I figured you’d had a late night with him, but that you came home and were sleeping through your alarm.”  

“Sorry my alarm woke you. As for the other thing, hold on.”  Nicki saw that Justin was half awake. 

“My ride is at the house to take me to the hospital. Obviously I’m not there. Can you take me by the house to get some scrubs, then to the hospital?”  He nodded, groaned, and got out of bed. 

“Heather, say I’m running late, I overslept and will find another way there. Sorry again.”

“At least I’m getting more of Nicki back…” Heather sighed. 

“I did this kinda thing a lot?”

Shit, Heather thought. “No, you just ran late a lot. But at least then you could drive yourself,” she lied. 

“Ok. Thanks for calling Heather, talk to you later. I’ll swing by to get clothes and change at the hospital.”  Nicki hung up the phone. 

“You could just go in late, take a half day, or not go in at all. It’s volunteering, you’re on paid leave…” Justin said, hoping to have her stay longer. Having to take her to Parker after what happened with her last night? Torture. 

“They need me, Justin. Until I come back they’re one nurse short, even when I’m there they’re still short staffed because I can’t do my usual workload. I’d feel too guilty. As much as I’d love to repeat last night again, I can’t be selfish.”

An unconscious *NSYNC pun. That’s my girl… he laughed to himself. He got dressed in a hurry, getting Nicki into the car and to her place to get scrubs. She ran in, and was back out to his car in under 2 minutes. He drove to the hospital. 

“I know you’re in a hurry, do you want me to just drop you off in front?”

“You can walk me in, finish our date with one last kiss.”

He smiled as he parked, holding her hand as they walked through the hospital. Parker was at the nurses station when they walked in. Justin gave Nicki a kiss on the lips, more than a peck but enough for Parker to see. Parker snarled at Justin, Justin just smiled at Parker with a shit eating grin. “Bye Nicki, I had a great time yesterday.”  He said it loud enough he hoped Parker could hear. 

Justin walked off, and one of the nurses noticed Nicki carrying her scrubs. “Have a good night?” she asked, giving Nicki a wink. 

“Is it that obvious?” Nicki blushed. 

“Girl, you’re blushing, your smile is a mile wide, you’re holding your scrubs, and he walks you in saying he had a great time…”

“We went on this really romantic date, it was amazing,” Nicki gushed. “I gotta change and get on things, but yeah, it was a good night.”

Parker was fuming, his fists clenched holding his pen and clipboard. One of the nurses walked up to him. “You really didn’t think you were gonna get under her skin and in her panties, did you?”

…

JC called Justin early that afternoon. “So, how did it go?” JC teased. 

“She loved it. Thought it was super romantic, all thought out. She stayed the night…”

“Did you…?” JC asked. 

“Twice,” Justin blushed. 

“Man, I told you there was nothing to worry about. I figured it had to be good if Heather texted me that you owe her for covering for Nicki.”

“I had to take her to volunteer because she missed her ride.  Gave smug little Parker a reality check when I walked her in.”

“You did not…”

“I kissed her, told her I had a great time yesterday, and gave Parker a big old shit eating grin. No one is stealing my woman away.  He should know to stay away from her now.”

“Is she coming to your party this weekend?” JC asked. 

“She said she would. Hoping for another date on my birthday…”

“Hey, don’t lose sight of things just because you’re figuring out the next time you’re gonna get laid...”

“You know it’s more than that. It feels like we’re on the right track, even if she doesn’t remember before. She’s definitely becoming more of herself. I played her iPod on our date. It was so hard to listen to a mix of *NSYNC and my solo stuff without either cringing, bobbing my head, or singing along with her and giving away who I am. It’s getting harder to keep that side of me from her, so she can love me for me, not my fame.”

“You know that wasn’t how it was…” JC chided. 

“It was a little, it took some convincing I wasn’t this playboy the media made me out to be. I had to work to gain her trust at first, that I was all in. I’ve been all in ever since.”

“Well, I’m glad it went well, I’ll see you at your party. Talk to you later.”  JC said as he hung up. 

Justin had a lot to figure out for the party Saturday night.  There was food, drinks, music, everything he should have been doing instead of being with Nicki. I’m gonna look like some last minute asshole, but I wouldn’t trade the extra time I’ve had with Nicki for anything. It’ll all be worth it to see her happy. 

…

Heather texted Nicki in the afternoon. You SO owe me for this morning. And Parker is the one driving you to and from work?

Yeah, he’s really nice. Kinda cute, nice to look at. 

You spent the night at Justin’s…

It’s nothing. A girl can’t look? He’s just being nice...

If you say so. He was a huge jerk the last time I ran into him.

He’s nice, maybe you caught him on an off day or something. Can’t be perfect all the time. 

Like Justin? What all did you do yesterday?

I’ll tell you tonight. It was so romantic, then when we got back to his place- wow!

I’ll grab pizza and wine on the way home. Tell me EVERYTHING…

Nicki smiled thinking about their date. I can’t wait to see him again, I think I could fall for him…

…

Justin called her that night, but she didn’t answer while talking with Heather. She sent him a text. 

Talking with Heather, I’ll call you later, not ignoring you ;)

About an hour later, Nicki called Justin back. 

“Hey beautiful,” Justin answered. 

“Hey yourself. Pretty good rest of the day?” she asked. 

“Yeah, getting stuff set up for the party on Saturday. Catering, all the fun stuff.”

“Will I get to see you before then?” she asked. 

“I certainly hope so. That’s a long time from now after such a great date.”

“I’m glad you had fun, too. I know how much work and thought you put into it.”

“I always have a good time when I’m with you. Wow, I can almost hear you blush…”

“How did you know?” she asked, surprised. 

“I know you that well.”

“Apparently. I’m getting to know you better, I like that.”

“I like that, too,” he smiled. “So when can I see you again?”

“Tonight is Monday, what about Wednesday nights?  Make it a standing movie night?”

“Wednesday nights it is. I’d like a weekend night too if you can swing it, spend the night without worrying about an alarm the next morning.”

“Threatening me with a good time…” she laughed. 

“It’s no threat, it’s a promise,” he quipped. “What do you think?”

“We’ll see, we’ll see. Date nights? Sure. Spending the night, we’ll see.”

“Ok. I get a movie night and date night. Great.  Can I see you beyond that?”

“Damn, you really like me, trying to spend time with me. I can still call you every night, but keep an open invite over whenever. I can text or call you with some warning so you aren’t surprised.”

“I can let you know if I have anything going on like being in the studio and whatnot so we can plan around things.  I’d rather them be spotaneous, because we want to see each other, but it won’t always be that way. I wish I could say that.”

“Was it like that before the accident?” she asked. 

“Yeah. I was on tour for about a year. I called and texted every day, tried to get you to come to shows and take a break but you wanted to be there for your team at work.”

“I guess I really am the same me,”

“Yup,” he laughed. 

“Well, I need to get to bed, but thanks for letting me call you back. See you Wednesday?”

“Talk to you tomorrow,” he smiled. 

…

The next day, Nicki had lunch with Parker in the hospital cafeteria. 

“So, you’ve been close with Justin lately, he came to your room while you were here, he’s dropped you off or picked you up. You spending a lot of time together?”

“Kinda, yeah. I call him every night and we talk, we’ve done lunch dates and a movie night, had our first big date on Sunday.  I had been on a date with him the night of the accident.”

“But he wasn’t hurt? That doesn’t sound right…”

“We took different cars.”

“Why? He should’ve driven you, especially on a night like that.”

“Heather said my shift ran late that night, I rushed home so I could change and meet him. It would’ve been rude to make him wait like that if I wasn’t even home.”

“I don’t think so. If he was a REAL gentleman, he’d have picked you up and waited. Mustn’t have been that important of a date.”

“Well, I guess it wasn’t our first date, so maybe that’s why…” Nicki said in Justin’s defense. 

“Does he not like Heather? I wonder if they ever hooked up and it’s weird around her,” Parker hissed. 

“No, Heather said she’s known him a long time, she’d never really thought of him like that. He’s a really nice guy once you get to know him. He put so much thought into our date, he’s not some jerk.”

“I dunno, I heard he was this big playboy type, all these different girls…”

“He told me his girlfriend cheated on him. Why would he do something like that?” she asked. 

“What better revenge than for his ex to see him with all these different women? I mean, really…”

Nicki shook it off as best she could. 

“I’m just looking out for you is all. I don’t wanna see you get hurt.  Think what you will, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…”

They got back up to their ward after lunch. Nicki waited for him to step away before talking to a nurse. “Parker told me Justin is this playboy, all these girls in his life. Is that true?”

“I mean, he’s a musician, there’s bound to be fans and groupies, but since meeting you? No. We all could tell how much you meant to him while you were here after the accident. There’s no way he’d be like that, especially after HER…”

“You know about that?!” Nicki asked, surprised. 

“You told me when you first met him,” she recovered. “Parker’s just jealous that you met Justin before him.”

“Parker’s been so nice to me, driving me to and from here, having me follow him around on his rounds…”

“Think about why he might do that,” the nurse said. 

...

Nicki was watchful of Parker the rest of the day, keeping her distance while still doing her duty. She got home that night, texted Justin that she’d call in a bit, then asked Heather if they could talk. 

“Parker was saying some pretty terrible stuff about Justin today, I’m curious if any of it was true.”

“If it came from Parker, I’d say no. I know I said I stay out of your personal life, but I wouldn’t let you date a guy I knew was a humongous asshole.  I’ve known him a long time, he’s not like that.”

“So he wasn’t some playboy?”

“Well, he did have a few rumored girlfriends after his big breakup, but he’s not the type to cheat. Whatever happened on Sunday, you’re the only one he wants to do that with.  A pretty face doesn’t mean he’s just looking to jump from woman to woman. With all he’s done for you since the accident, I think you know what kind of guy Justin is.”

“Why would Parker talk like that then?”

“You and Justin were friends and Parker knew he didn’t stand a chance against Justin.”

“But if we were just friends, why not?”

“Well, you’d gone on a couple dates at that point. You liked Justin and wasn’t interested in Parker or anyone else.  I guess Parjer figured with your amnesia, he could try and make his move.”

“But he’s such a nice guy. He’s a pediatrician.”

“Even doctors can be assholes, hon. Like I said, I don’t like him.  I could be wrong, but I don’t know that my instincts are that far off.”

“A nurse I talked to said Parker’s jealous of Justin.”

“I mean, looks alone, can you blame him? Sure, he’s good looking. But compared to Justin? No contest.  Then you throw in personality and all of that, Justin is just a well rounded guy. Honestly there are some times people wonder how he’s human, he’s just an overall great guy.”

“I mean, I definitely think so.”

“You slept with him, there’s gotta be a connection there that means something to you as much as it does him.”

“There’s definitely something there, but it’s still early on. He’d been so great since all this, there’s been this tension building, which led to a perfect first kiss. It just seemed a natural progression.  Being with him feels familiar, safe.”

“Would you have felt that way if it had been anyone else? Like Parker, for example?”

“When I first saw Justin I felt something. When I saw Parker it wasn’t the same. I noticed he was handsome, but there wasn’t that same flutter I felt with Justin. So if Parker asked me out instead of Justin, I wouldn’t have spent the night with him, no.”

“What if Parker asks you on a date?  What would you say?”

“I don’t think he will, he’s just trying to help me come back to work sooner…”

And get in your pants if he can, Heather thought. I don’t trust him and worry she’s gonna fall under his spell of whatever he’s trying to do.