On Wednesday afternoon of that same week, Greg took Jennifer to a local Laundromat so she could get some laundry done. She had volunteered to do the guys laundry as well since they were doing an interview at the local radio station that was sponsoring their concert this evening. Greg was one of the van drivers that took them around town to get things done. He had dropped the guys off earlier and then came back to get Jennifer. When they arrived, she said she'd probably be a couple of hours and told him to do what he needed to do and come back for her later. The guys were supposed to be done in the next thirty minutes, so he left to go pick them up and said he'd be back after that.
Jennifer was alone at the Laundromat and was glad to finally have some time to herself. She had divided all the clothes into bags of who they belonged to and had even marked initials on the tags so she wouldn't get confused. Doing small things like this made her feel normal . . . being on the road was starting to get on her nerves and she wasn't sure she could handle the pressure for much longer. It wasn't just the job, it was also Nick and Brian.
Nick was pursuing her with gusto and she was starting to give in. She wasn't sure if it was out of spite or loneliness, or if it was just the fact that Brian had rejected her. All she knew was that Nick gave her attention, cared about her, made her feel important while Brian had drifted further and further away. Unlike what had happened with her fiancée', Ty, she could see Brian pulling away ... she could feel her heart ripping in two for the second time this year and she wasn't sure she could survive it a second time.
As she began a load of laundry into six different machines, she sighed heavily. Her mind flew back over the past two, almost three months, wondering what she had done to push Brian away. She knew she had been careful about starting a relationship with one of the band members because of her professionalism, but now she didn't care - she just wanted to be with him. She didn't care what anyone would think! But then she chastised herself, knowing full well that she did care. It meant a great deal to her to keep her professionalism on this first assignment as a band promoter. If she did a good job here, then there would be more assignments waiting when this tour was over. But she also toyed with the thought that she couldn't travel with BSB anymore after this one. It was too painful, especially now that she had fallen for Brian.
Once she had the laundry going, she sat back into one of the chairs and stared out the window. Just that morning, Nick had come to her and she had responded to his kisses. He was determined to win her over and she knew she was attracted to him but she wasn't sure why. She chewed on her thumbnail thoughtfully as she tried to sort out her feelings in her mind. Nick was gorgeous, about that she had no doubts! He was sweet, charming, and thoughtful. But as soon as she thought she had convinced herself that it was Nick that she was now attracted to, Brian would pop into her thoughts, clouding over every thought she had of Nick. It was Brian's face she would see when she would kiss Nick. It was Brian's arms that she longed for as Nick would hold her in his embrace. It was Brian she watched at the concerts, drawn in by the words of the song. She knew that she hadn't shaken this attraction that she had to Brian. It was if he had already bored himself into her soul. They were locked together and she couldn't shake it . . . she didn't want to shake it! She shook her head as she sat alone in the Laundromat, tears springing into her gorgeous blue eyes. She let her head fall back onto the back of the hard chair, a long sigh escaping between her lips.
"Are you okay?" Jennifer's startled gaze fell on Brian as her head quickly popped up from it's reclining position.
"Brian!" she exclaimed, sitting up straighter and wondering if he could read her thoughts. He noticed the way her eyes glowed as he watched her and he knew that if he didn't take her into his arms and kiss her the way he longed to, he would regret it forever. "What are you doing here?"
"Jen," he began, reaching down to take her hand in his. He pulled her to her feet and stood, wondering if he should just draw her in to him and kiss her until all thoughts of Nick were driven from her mind. Jennifer stood close to him and just being this near to him took her breath away. She could feel her breath quicken as she longed to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him. "Jen, I . . . " he stammered. "I . . . thought you might need some help," he finally said, turning towards the whirring machines.
Jennifer's eyes closed at his rejection once more. She opened them to find his eyes on her, speaking to her ... or were they? He confused her more than anyone she had ever known. She pulled her hand from his and walked past him towards the machines. "That's sweet of you," she said, hoping her disappointment didn't show. "The first load is almost done." And then turning back towards him, asked, "Where's the rest of the band?"
"There's a court outside," he answered, nodding towards the parking lot. "They're about to start a game of basketball."
"You love basketball," she said, pulling out a load of clothes and transferring them into a dryer. "You should go catch a game while you can."
Brian shook his head, beating himself up once more for not listening to his heart. She touched him like no other and all he could think about was her . . . not basketball, not the band, not even singing. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" he offered once more.
"I'm sure," she said, smiling at him. All she wanted now was for him to leave. Being this near him, feeling this way and not having it returned was slowly killing her. Brian couldn't have tortured her better any other way. "You go on."
"Okay," he said, heading for the door. With one hand on the door and a foot out the door, he turned once more towards her. "Jen . . .?"
"Yes?" she answered, hopeful once more that he would say what she could see in his eyes. They stared at each other as each tried to figure out what was going on with the other person.
"Nothing," he said, shaking his head once more at his valor. He had to settle things with Nick first before he approached Jennifer again.
Jennifer watched him leave the Laundromat and tried not to let the tears that she could feel welling up streak down her face. She loved him so much but then at the same time, she hated him! Just when she thought he was going to do something, he never did and Jennifer was frustrated beyond reason. When would this end? She feared it would continue this way throughout the rest of the tour and they still had a while to go.
As she folded some of the clean clothes, she came across Brian's favorite shirt from his home state university. There was hardly a day that went by where he wasn't wearing it and Jennifer held it up to her face, inhaling the scent. Even clean, it still smelled of Brian and she clung onto it like she would never let go.
"Nick, I have to talk to you," Brian called as he walked up to his friend outside of the Laundromat. The first game was starting to break up and Brian wanted to talk to Nick about Jennifer before he lost his nerve.
"Yeah, okay," he replied, passing the ball back to A.J. "I'm taking a break," he called.
"Yeah okay. B-Rok, man!! Come on and shoot some hoops!" Howie called back.
"In a sec," Brian said. A.J. nodded as Nick joined Brian as he walked back over to the van.
"What's up?" he said, as he walked along beside Brian. At his serious look, Nick said, "You look like it's pretty serious." When Brian just looked at him, he said, "Why? What's wrong?"
"Well," he began, searching for the right words. He wasn't quite sure how to word what he wanted to say and to be quite honest, he wasn't sure what it was exactly he wanted to say.
"So . . .?" Nick prompted as they reached the van.
Brian looked up to see the van in front of them. "Hold up a sec," he said, wondering still how to bring up this subject. He knew it was going to be difficult.
"Okay," Nick replied, leaning against the side of the van. "So, what's so serious?"
"It's Jennifer," he said, looking up at Nick. At his worried look he said, "No, she's okay. I just need to know what's going on between you two."
