nick headed out of the lodge, skis and poles in hand when he heard his name being called.

"nick! hey nicky hold up!"

nick made a face and turned around,"could you BE any louder howie? people can hear you."

howie rolled his eyes,"theres about 15 other people staying here. im pretty sure we wont get mobbed."

"i guess..so whats up? how was the library?"

howie smiled,"very enjoyable."

nick looked at him slightly confused,"...okay..."

"so your gonna try skiing? what happened to 'dude, im so gonna try snowboarding!'?"

nick smiled,"um...changed my mind...?"

howie laughed,"okay. just be careful."

nick nodded and headed out to the lifts. he got up to the top of the mountain and ski down a couple of times. on one of his trips down, his ski caught on a rock and he started to fall. after a few moments of tumbling down the mountain, he hit something soft and slowly stopped.

emma wobbled and fell to her knees,"...whoa..."

nick sat up and spat out a mouthful of snow. he looked around, slightly disoriented. emma glanced over her shoulder at him,"are you okay...?"

"huh?"

she managed to laugh,"okay, i guess not...is anything broken?"

"um...i dunno..."

she laughed and stood up,"okay. come on." she helped him to his feet. he wobbled a little considering one of his skis popped off and was nowhere to be found. he pitched forward and fell, bringing her down with him.

"omg! im so sorry! are you okay?!"

she winced,"yeah but...um...your elbow is in my side..."

"omg! sorry!" he quickly got up and helped her to her feet.

she rubbed her side,"im okay. how about you?"

"i think im okay..."

she nodded,"i think you should sit out for a little bit. wheres your other ski?"

he shrugged,"dunno but thats okay."

"it is...?"

he smiled sweetly,"yeah, i borrowed them from one of my friends. btw, im nick." she laughed,"i know. im emma."

"thanks for slowing down my fall," he said blushing as they headed to the lodge.

she smiled,"no problem. im glad it was me and not a tree at least."

nick smirked thinking about kevin hitting the tree. "so...um...can i get you something to drink? you know, kind of a thank you," he said as they walked into the lodge.

"oh you dont have to do that."

"i know but i want to. come on." they walked into the small restaurant and sat down. nick ordered them both hot chocolates,"i hope you dont mind..."

she smiled,"not at all."

he smiled,"so how was your skiing going before i bumped into you?"

she made a face,"lets just say for the rest of the week the common room is looking pretty fun right now. i thought since i had never done it before it would be fun to try...i was SO wrong."

he laughed,"then why did you come to a ski lodge?"

she thought for a second and smirked,"cute guys."

he raised and eyebrow,"found any yet?"

"maybe..."

he blushed,"so um...um...what were we saying...?"

she smiled,"why i came here. actually, other than the cute guys...my friends had the brilliant idea we go somewhere to escape ex boyfriends."

"oh...what did yours do?"

she sipped her hot chocolate,"well have you ever seen that movie cant hardly wait?" he nodded. "well i was kind of like jennifer loves character...the cheerleader type and he was the dumb jock who thought it would be a good idea to dump me at graduation so he could date all the 'fine ass college babes.'" she said and rolled her eyes.

"so did he end up with one?"

emma smirked and shook her head. nick laughed,"did he forget you were going to be one of those college babes?"

she blushed and shook her head. nick realized what he had said and blushed,"so...um..."

she cleared her throat,"so what about you? how come your up here?"

he sighed and looked down,"ex girlfriend."

"oh im sorry. you dont have to talk about it. we can talk about something else..."

he shook his head,"no its okay. i havent told anyone what happened. as far as the guys know it was a mutual thing."

"do you WANT to talk about it...?"

he sighed,"i probably should. who knows, it might even make me feel better...."

"okay, so this is the stuff we need to get," aj said handing nick a recipe card.

nick looked at the card then aj,"what are you giving it to me for?"

aj rolled his eyes,"nevermind, just get the shopping cart."

nick grabbed the shopping cart and followed aj down the aisle,"what am i making again?"

"WERE making vegetable lasagna. and then whatever kind of cake you want to make."

"were gonna have cake~, were gonna have cake~."

aj glanced at him as he put something down in the cart,"how mandy puts up with you i will NEVER know."

"its my killer smile..."

aj shook his head.

"my dashing good looks..."

aj shook his head.

"my classic wardrobe...?"

aj raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

nick pouted,"well you dont know what your talking about so shut up meaniehead."

aj rolled his eyes,"it sure as hell isnt your maturity."

nick gave him a look,"just shut up and get the food."

aj laughed,"fine...ill get the main stuff you go and get the cake mix and whatever crap you want to put on it."

"i dont put crap..." he mumbled and went to get the cake mix. he was in the aisle for about 10 minutes trying to decide before aj came over to him.

"frack whats taking so long?!"

"i cant decide between strawberry and chocolate~~" he whined.

"...well what kind does mandy like?"

"um...chocolate...no wait...vanilla...no wait...shes allergic to vanilla.."

aj rolled his eyes and grabbed a box of each different kind and tossed them in the cart,"make 'em all."

nick shrugged and went to pick out stuff to put on the cake while aj decided what kind of frosting HE would like.

"um....excuse me..."

nick turned around and looked down,"hi."

"hi...um...are you...um..."

nick smiled,"yeah, im him. whats your name?"

"ro...robbie..."

nick smiled and stuck out his hand,"nice to meet you robbie, im nick and thats aj."

the little boy nodded frantically and shook nicks hand,"yeah i know."

aj tried not to laugh,"so robbie, whose birthday is it?" he asked noticing the box of birthday candles the little boy was holding.

he smiled proudly,"mine. im gonna be this many," he said holding up five fingers.

nick smirked,"thats five aj."

"shut up carter."

nick laughed,"well congratulations robbie. hey...how come we didnt get an invitation to the party?"

his eyes widened,"i didnt know you wanted to come. you can come if you want. im sure my mom wont mind..."

aj laughed,"what do you say frack?"

nick thought about it for a second,"why not."

robbies eyes widened,"okay, ill be right back!!" he rushed off to find his mom.

nick laughed and tossed some stuff in the cart,"cute kid."

aj nodded and put about four jars of frosting in the cart. nick looked at him like he was crazy,"we dont need that mu--"

"here nick!"

nick turned around just in time to see robbie rushing towards him. he picked up the little boy and took the piece of paper from him. robbie blushed,"directions to my house..."

nick looked at the paper and smiled,"okay, and i promise we'll be there. maybe we'll even bring the others."

robbies eyes widened,"...wow..."

nick laughed and set him down,"it was nice meeting you."

the little boy nodded and waved to them both before running back to his mom to tell her the good news.

the guys laughed and went back to their shopping.

nick checked his reflection in the mirror about the 20th time that night. he needed to make sure he looked perfect. he was wearing a black pinstripe suit with a forest green silk shirt underneath, his glasses, and his hair partially slicked back.

he went downstairs and checked on the stuff in the oven. aj had told him to take it out exactly a half hour later. he lit the candles on the table as well as the ones around the living room. he put a cd in the cd player and sat on the couch waiting for mandy to show up.

nick checked his watch a half hour later and sighed. he went into the kitchen and took both the lasgna and cake out of the over and set it on the counter. he went back into the living room to wait.

20 minutes later she still hadnt shown up. the food was cold and the candles had burnt down to nothing. he sighed and called her house. two rings later the phone was answered.

"hello?"

nick raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear a mans voice,"hi. is mandy there?"

"just one second."

nick glanced at the picture of them sitting on the table next to him while he waited for mandy to answer the phone.

"hello?"

"...hey..."

"....nick..."

"yeah. who was that?"

"who?"

nick rolled his eyes,"the guy that answered your phone."

"oh him...hes a friend of my roommates..."

"i thought your roommate was gone for the week..."

mandy cursed under her breath,"oh...well...he uh...didnt know..."

nick sighed and looked down,"mandy...please dont lie to me."

"well what do you want to hear?" she snapped. "yes nick, im cheating on you. does that make you feel better?"

nick got a little teary eyed and quickly wiped his eyes,"...why...?"

"maybe cause you never paid me any attention," she snapped.

nick thought about all the times he had cancelled basketball games with brian just to be with her and how she had never once done the same for him. he suddenly got angry and picked the picture frame up off the table, looked at it and slammed at down, hearing the glass shatter.

"i never paid you any attention?! i was ready to give you a promise ring tonight and tell you how much i loved you and you meant to me and where were you?! with another guy!"

"dont you dare yell at me nickolas!"

"and dont call me nickolas! your not my mother so stop treating me like a child! i dont ever want to see you again!" he said and slammed the phone down.

it took him a minute to realize what had happened and when he finally did he let out a deep sigh. for some reason he didnt feel bad and then he realized it was because he never really truly loved her. he made himself believe that he did because he wanted it so bad.

he took a deep breath and picked up the phone again.

"hello?"

"hey frick its me. why dont you come over and bring the rat. ive got all this food aj made and im not eating it alone."

"wow..." emma said trying to get everything.

nick sighed and nodded,"yeah but your the only one who knows so if you like bump into the other guys could you not mention it...?"

she nodded,"yeah thats fine. oh yeah, did you go to that little boys birthday party?"

he laughed,"yeah, we all went. gave him one of our tour jackets and passes for our show. i think his sister had a little crush on brian."

emma laughed,"awww thats sweet. well im glad something good happened." she glanced at her watch and stood up,"i need to go and meet my friends."

he nodded and stood up,"it was nice meeting you." he watched her put on her jacket,"um...do you..uh...maybe want to do something later this week...? i mean i would totally understand if you didnt. i mean im sure youve got other stuff planned with your friends and i dont wa--"

"i would love to," emma said laughing.

"really?"

she smiled and nodded. he smiled,"k, let me give my room number." he dug around in his pockets,"man i dont have any paper..."

emma picked up a napkin and wrote her own room number down then handed it to him. "it was nice meeting you too..." she said before kissing him on the cheek and walking out of the restaurant.

nick smiled and sat back down, staring at the piece of paper in his hand.

"hey frack."

nick jumped and almost knocked his hot chocolate over as ajs hand dropped down on his shoulder. "jeezus bone, what?"

"touchy touchy. who was the chick?"

nick rolled his eyes," a girl i met. leave her alone aj."

"'leave her alone aj'," he mimicked. "what do you take me for?"

nick raised an eyebrow. "okay fine dont answer that."

"anyways," nick said standing up and putting his jacket on,"what on earth brought you down here and out of the safety of your room?"

"oh yeah, were gonna head to the club in town tonight so i was just giving you warning. you know, in case you want to attempt to look halfway presentable."

"shut up aj."

aj smiled sweetly, finished what was left of nicks drink and headed out of the restaurant. nick watched him go,"now where are you going?"

"to get ready, weve only got two hours," he said and got in the elevator.

nick rolled his eyes, grabbed his ski, and headed out to brave the evil mountain once again in search of his missing ski.