Mr. and Mrs. Carter: Anywhere for You

Chapter 3

January 18, 1996 Stockholm, Sweden
LILI'S POV
I feel like something's going on with Nick. Ever since he came back from the interview yesterday, he's been quiet, and looks at me in a strange way.

I wonder what happened. I want to ask the guys, but I don't think it's fair to Nick. But I also don't want to pressure him either. I get up from the couch, and head into the kitchen for a snack. Nick is there, sitting at the table.

He looks up as he sees me. I smile, and grab a pack of crackers from the cupboard. I can feel him looking at me intensely. I make up my mind. I'll ask Nick one more time, and if he doesn't want to answer, I'll leave him alone about it. I sit down on a chair, facing him.

"Nick what's wrong?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?" Nick eyes me. I sigh.

"You been really quiet, you barely play Nintendo, and you keep looking at me in a weird way."

Nick widens his eyes.

"You noticed?" he looks at me.

"Well of course." I say with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Did it have something to do with that interview?" I ask, looking in his eyes. Nick immediately looks down. I can clearly tell something happened when they were interviewed yesterday. But he's doesn't want to say it.

I get up and push my chair in and start to go back to the living room. I turn around, but feel a hand on my arm, stopping me. I look back. Nick is holding my arm.

"Wait." he says. What? "Come on, let's go somewhere more private."

We exit the hotel room and go into the lobby, which is empty. I sit down on the bench, and so does Nick. He runs a hand through his hair as he begins to speak.

"Something did happen when we were interviewed." Nick admits. I listen, and don't interrupt.

"We got asked normal questions like how are you, how old are you, and how does school work when you're touring." Nick explains. I nod along.

"But after that, the woman gave us a box. Inside there were scraps of papers with questions on them. We each picked one." I listen to Nick as he explains.

"AJ got asked if he could invent a machine to do something, what would it do." Nick starts explaining what each member had to answer.

"What about you?" I ask, softly. Nick sighs.

"Well I quickly read my question. But it was a strange one." Nick groans. I raise an eyebrow.

"Strange how?"

"Well it said 'Do you have any tattoos?' And well, I don't." Nick says. Wait was that it? Just a question about tattoos?

"But there was a second part to the question." Nick continues. "It also said if not, which applies to me."

"Do you think having a tattoo will improve your sex life?"

I raise my eyebrow. Such a strange question. But why would it bother Nick so much?

"And well, it made me nervous." Nick admits.

"What did you answer?" I ask, scooting closer to him.

"Well I just said that I didn't have a sex life." Nick says, matter-of-factly.

"So why are being all quiet and not yourself?"

Nick sighs.

"Because it got me thinking. About us. About sex." Nick sits forward. I widen my eyes. Sex. I haven't really thought about that at all.