A Long, L O N G Ride

Summary: A collection of unrelated drabbles about Nick and Macy before, during and after the summer tour.

Chapter One: Pack Your Bags

"Macy?"

She jumped at the sudden call and glanced toward her bedroom door. She knew that she had been the one to ask him over, but the fact that he was here still sent a chill up her spine. Her stomach fluttered, full of butterflies. What if this didn't work out?

"Up here, Nick!" she yelled, turning her eyes back to the task at hand. She couldn't look at him yet, or he'd see through her little act. She heard a low chuckle and feet on the stairs.

"Where, exactly, is 'up here'?" Now his voice was closer than before and she rolled her eyes at his sorry attempt at humor. But she smiled, too, comforted by how little this routine ever changed. Until today, at least.

"My bedroom, you goof," she said loudly, in case he hadn't already snuck up behind her, as he was prone to do. He hadn't. She heard a knock on her open bedroom door and fought a strong urge to turn around when she heard his voice.

"Hey, Mace, you—" He cut himself off; presumably when he saw the open suitcase she was now standing over. He cleared his throat. "Mace?"

She turned then, innocence shining in her large brown eyes. "Hi, there," she said, giving the boy a smile. "Did I leave my red high-tops at the fire house again?"

"Yeah…" Nick said. He held up a hand, showing the girl a pair of shoes strung together by the laces. "Is that the, uh, only reason you called me?"

Macy cocked her head in thought as she gathered socks from her sock drawer. She frowned a little, pursing her lips in a way that she knew would annoy her boyfriend before finally closing the drawer with her hip and toting the double handful of socks to the suitcase. "Unless I left something else at your house, yeah."

"No… news?" Nick slowly walked into the room, now letting the high-tops dangle around his legs. He watched Macy very carefully as she moved around.

She picked up a perfume bottle, considered it, and then finally tucked it into a large cosmetics bag. As she crossed the room for a third time, Nick reached out and grabbed her by the waist. Macy looked at him with surprise and said, "Nick, what—?"

She found it a little difficult to speak, however, when Nick brought his lips crashing down on hers. Though shocked, the girl quickly responded, wrapping her arms around the young man's neck. She sighed when she felt his fingers in her hair and was more than a little disappointed when he pulled away.

"Now, will you please tell me why you're packing your entire wardrobe into a suitcase?" Nick asked, not letting her go.

She grinned slyly. "It's a little difficult to go on tour with only one or two sets of clothes. You should know that."

The curly-haired boy leaned away as she drew closer for another kiss.

"Whoa, Macy," he said. "Look, I love you, but we've already talked about this. You can't come."

Sadness flashed briefly in the girl's eyes as she remembered the many conversations they'd had on this matter. But she quickly shoved that away so she could present Nick with her whole purpose for inviting him over.

"Actually," she said, a touch of eagerness in her voice. "I talked to Stella about that. And Stella talked to Joe—"

"You mean yelled at him?" said Nick.

Macy ignored the interruption. "And Joe talked—"

"Whined to."

"—your dad." Macy gave him a glare this time. "And he talked—"

"Pleaded with."

"Nick!"

"What? It's the truth!" he protested. This didn't prevent him from getting a well-deserved punch in the arm. "Okay, okay!"

"Your dad talked to your mom," Macy began again, glaring at Nick. He remained silent. "And she consulted Big Man. And he gave the okay!"

Nick frowned at Macy's over-bright smile. "And this means…?"

"You're looking at the newest member of your security team!" said the girl.

"You're what?" His dark brown eyes were wide with incredulity. "Oh, Macy, please don't tell me that you went and cried all over Big Man asking for a job."

"I did no such thing!" Macy protested indignantly, meaning she had. Nick groaned and she hurried on, "I was hired for my merits! I know eight styles of martial arts, I can fight with a staff, I know thirty-seven ways to take out a grown man with a backstage pass—"

"Okay, okay!" Nick exclaimed in exasperation, although he was grinning quite broadly. "You've got this all figured out, haven't you?" Macy nodded enthusiastically and he laughed. "Okay! But… why? Why would you go to all this trouble?"

She stared for a moment, mouth hanging open, before she finally shook her head. "First," she said, pressing a quick, hard kiss to his lips. "I love you."

"Good enough," he agreed, smoothing hair away from her face. "And second?"

Now Macy hit him upside the head, saying loudly, "Did you honestly think I was going to just sit at home and pine away for you if there was even a chance that I could come along?"

-

:) I really liked writing this. I hate those fanfictions that feature Macy sitting on the couch and staring mournfully at her cell phone. Macy's a fighter! Have some respect for the girl! She'd go to any lengths to come on tour if she was dating one of the guys!

So, leave a review for me? You know how much I love them. ;D

Love for all of the people who are reading this, not because it's their favorite pairing or it's in the community, but because they subscribed to me as an author!
Beth

(By the by… feel free to alert this story, too. :D)