Chapter 10 - Welcome to my Life

Chapter 10

Nicky’S POV

He was indeed tall and blond. Motionless he stood there, his back resting at a nearby wall. His intense eyes found me when he let them run over the group of travellers that left the security area of the airport. I lifted my hand, waving quickly and he returned the gesture, his prominent jawbones showing when he obviously gritted his teeth at my sight. Lovely!

It felt like he was at least two feet taller than I was and his big hand that almost crushed mine when we shook hands didn’t make me feel comfortable about the fact that I would soon spent a lot of time alone with him in his car.

“Nice to meet you, Samu.” Wow, I sounded confident!

“Welcome.” He simply said in his melodious voice, beckoning me over. “My car is in the car park. What are your plans?”

Well, at least he was negotiating directly. Be my guest. “I wanna see him and talk to him.” I stated firmly, making him shake his blond head and looking back at me over his shoulder.

“It is almost 12 at night, we’ll see about that tomorrow.”

I felt treated like a little child and was about to complain, but it would have been ridiculous. Of course I could not go there in the middle of the night, knock on his door and say ‘hi, I’m your exgirlfriend’s new guy, remember Linnea, the one you knocked up and left behind like a bag of garbage? Tell me, why did you leave her?’ I sighed. “Well then, a hotel maybe?”

Again the tall man turned around – damn, why did he have to have that long legs? I didn’t manage to follow him properly – and gave me a grin. “Nick, you are basically family, of course you can stay at my place.” He said too friendly not to sound sarcastically, stepping into the elevator.

I didn’t even know where he took me. Was it downtown, was it some suburb around? It was dark and the whole surroundings were silent, white and covered with thick layers of snow.

We had been quiet at the beginning but the ride became longer and longer and I had to start some small talk conversation after a while. He was obviously relieved that I broke the awkward silence and we kept chatting about the new iPhone for almost an hour in the car.

When he stopped the car in front of a large apartment building, he turned to me, giving me a small grin. “D’you have a real jacket?” he asked, looking my coat up and down.

“That one will do.” I answered quickly. “We’re used to cold weather in Ireland.”

“Are you.” His grin widened and he zipped up his own jacket – something really thin, denim maybe. What the hell? I wasn’t a mollycoddle, especially when he was still wearing nothing but denim over a hoody!

The temperature outside proved me wrong. What a shock! Hell, it was freezing! The blond hulk only grinned at me, playing around with the keys in his hand.

Upstairs in his apartment he showed me along a corridor and into a huge living room, pointing at a couch with a little smile. A real one this time.

“Extendable.” He said, turning around to leave the room. “Make yourself home. And welcome again.”

I put my small suitcase down that still made me feel a little gay in the presence of this weirdly manly man. Suddenly there were voices on the corridor, one of them undeniably female.

Soon he returned, putting two cans of beer on the coffee table and simply grabbed the back of the couch to give me a hand with it. “Late dinner is ready, are you hungry?” he asked and in an odd way I really felt welcome at his place and nodded immediately even though I didn’t feel the slightest hint of hunger.

A blond woman turned around when we entered the kitchen. She wore trainers and was extremely small, maybe reaching my shoulder in high heels if she wore any. The sight of her became even more unusual when Samu bent down to kiss her. “Heila, meet Nicky, Lin’s new boyfriend.”

I saw it in her blue eyes that widened with shock when her gaze ran over me again and again: I definitely wasn’t what she had expected.

“Nice to meet you, Heila.” Not sure about the name I offered my hand to her, making her giggle all of a sudden.

“It’s Jenna, Heila is a Finnish word for darling.” She shook my hand. “Have a seat, Nicky. Welcome to our home.”

It wasn’t morning yet, no light, no sun, but I heard voices and low steps on the corridor when I woke up. A door was closed and everything became quiet again. Slowly I opened my eyes, reaching out my hand to find my cell phone on the floor. It was only seven but somehow I was wide awake. Maybe the upcoming events. A sudden rush of anticipation ran through my whole body and I sat up, rubbing my face with the palms of my hands.

We had sat together for quite some time the night before and I had to admit that I really liked both Jenna and Samu. The hulk had tried to be diplomatic and had only beaten around the bush, but Jenna had been different. She asked about Linnea, wanted to see pictures of her and the baby and after a while I felt that she started to like me despite her manner towards me at the beginning that had shown her prepossession and even a little prejudice. They were his friends, Riku’s friends. But they obviously gave their best.

Within a few hours I was suddenly part of Linnea’s life, part of her past and in a surreal way part of her circle of friends. It felt odd but then again, very, very good.

The door was opened slowly and I looked up from my phone.

“Oh!” Jenna raised her hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up!”

“You didn’t!” I answered quickly, sitting up completely.

“D’you want coffee?” she seemed timid all of a sudden and I nodded with my brightest smile, getting up from the couch to pull up my jeans.

“Coffee sounds perfect!” I gave her another smile and she returned it, still unassertive.

When we sat together in the kitchen only a minute later she still tried to avoid eye contact, making me feel a little queasy after a while.

“So, Samu left already?” I stated the obvious just to have something to say. She nodded, handing a cup over to me.

“He had a few things to do before… well, before he comes back to pick you up.” Jenna sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, tucking up her legs. “So…” she mumbled, rubbing some imaginary spot on the table.

“So.” I sat down opposite her, sipping my coffee even though it was still far too hot. “You were kind of best friends with Linnea, right?”

A small smile crept over her lips. “Yep, I was, still am, hopefully!” Slowly she shook her head, still smiling. “I was supposed to be her maid of honour.”

My head lifted and I felt my thoughts spinning inside my brain all of a sudden. “Come again?” I managed to croak. Wedding? Maid of honour?

Jenna blushed. “Well, if she had ever had plans of getting married.” She tried to downplay her words, but I looked at her in a way that made her blurt out: “It was over a year ago and they didn’t even… it didn’t… Riku only bought some wedding rings and gave them to Samu.” She mumbled, her hands waving dismissively. “I mean they had been together for quite some time, the baby was on the way… was only a matter of time.”

I didn’t reply which made her babble even more. “He’s a little old fashioned, you know? And he turned 36, that’s an age where even men start thinking about settling down, right?”

“What happened?” I asked in a very low voice instead of responding to her excessive loquacity. “Where is he now and what happened?”

Now Jenna turned pale. “I… Nicky, I’m sorry, Samu asked me not to tell you any of this. We… we agreed that it would be for the best if you… if you just went to see Riku and talked to him without being biased by our opinion.”

“So you decided to let me run into this without being prepared or anything?” my anger was hardly suppressed and she must have seen it in the way I suddenly grabbed my cup. “The new boyfriend, this little Irish guy that is pretty far from everything you two had wished for her to find.”

“Nicky!” Jenna shook her head. “Trust me, I had been a little prejudice at the beginning, but you are a nice guy!” she put her hand on my arm. “Samu is such a dork sometimes! He… well, he told me that you would come, Lin’s new boyfriend but he forgot to tell me that it was Nicky Byrne from Westlife. Of course I was a little reserved at first, I was a big fan when I was a kid and trust me, you are so not Linnea’s type of guy! But as soon as we started talking, I really liked you! But I also know that Samu has his reasons and when he asks me not to open the subject ‘where is Riku and why’, I will keep with it.”

“Well, I know that he is right now quartered in a mental institution and not doing well.” I said, waiting for more information, but Jenna only shrugged.

“That’s what I know.” She emptied her cup. “I went there to visit him a few times but he refused to talk to me, so I stopped. Samu is still going there every week if he finds the time. He is still hoping that Riku will be back for the next tour in April, but I doubt that.”

“Why?” unwillingly she had all of a sudden started talking again and I didn’t want her to stop.

“Because!” with a clinking sound she lowered her cup, shoving it aside. “I have known Riku for over 4 years! Maybe he sometimes seems like a little boy, but deep inside he definitely is one of the most reliable persons I know! And he never had problems with drugs or anything before.”

Drugs, damn! Was this getting better and better? I made a mental note. “But the therapy his helping him to get over it, right? Respect, he chose residential detoxification services!”

Jenna narrowed her eyes, knowing that she had already said too much. “Anyway.” She shifted in her seat, looking down at her hands. “Just so you know: I wanted to see them happy, they are my friends, but I don’t mind knowing that she is right now happy with you.” Cocking her head she looked at me again. “D’you actually know why you are here?” she asked abruptly. “Why d’you wanna meet Riku so desperately?”