Chapter One-Hundred-Sixty-Seven
After spending thirty minutes cuddling outside on the bench and gazing up at the stars together Aaron suggested that they go inside. He could feel her starting to shiver and knew the blanket wasn’t doing its job. He got up from the bench and took hold of her hand before helping her up. When he did he gently squeezed her hand as he led her back into the house. When they got in there and in the living room everyone looked up at them as they entered. Stacy now looking very sheepish moved closer to Aaron.
“We’re done talking…I suppose we have to walk her home now, right?”
“Nope, she’s staying.” Nick answered simply, as if that’s a normal thing to say.
“What? But daddy was throwing a fit when I talked to him.”
“Well you see, that’s the good thing about my mom. She has great skills when it comes to persuading people. She calmed him down enough to get him to agree that it’s too late for anyone to be going into those woods.”
“So where am I sleeping then?”
“In Aaron and Angel’s room. We’ll set up some sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows on the floor up there.”
“She can have my bed, I’ll sleep on the floor” Aaron insisted as he is just excited that she gets to stay and he slid his arm around her waist before leading her up the stairs to his room.
“Do I have to worry about them sharing a room?” Nick asked when he noticed Stacy wrap her arm around Aaron too and rest her head on his shoulder.
“Nah…I’m pretty sure Angel will keep a good eye on them,” Brian reassured.
“Yeah something tells me I am going to be running in there at all hours of the night breaking up shouting matches,” Nick complained.
“Don’t worry baby, we can take turns if you want,” Ashley replied after giggling a little.
“No I want you to sleep. You have a busy day tomorrow…I don’t even know why you are still up.”
“Because she totally has you wrapped around her finger that’s why. You couldn’t make her go to bed even if you tried unless she really wanted to,” AJ pointed out amusedly. Nick rolled his eyes.
“As soon as I get Stacy settled you and I are meeting up in our room, got it?” he asked, placing his finger to her chin and gently making it so she’s looking him in the eyes.
“Only if I want to. I don’t have to follow your orders anymore, remember? You’re just my boyfriend now.”
“Yes but your mother is right upstairs. I’ll go tell on you if I have to” Nick threatened and Ashley stuck her tongue out at him.
“Hey – hey!” he lectured playfully. “Don’t you stick your tongue out at me. Not unless you intend on using it.”
“Ew…” AJ whined. “Too much information Nick...seriously.” Nick rolled his eyes and then turned and headed up the stairs after his brother and Stacy.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile upstairs, when Aaron and Stacy walked in the bedroom Stacy could immediately feel the tension as Angel had looked up from her notebook and at the two of them. Aaron flashed her a look of warning and then led Stacy over to his bed.
“Are you sure you want to give your bed up for me Aaron? I mean I have no problem with sleeping on the floor.”
“Id feel better if you took the bed,” Aaron insisted and she sat down. He pulled back the covers as he noticed she was still shivering and he covered her up just as Nick walked in with a sleeping bag and a bunch of blankets and pillows.
“That’s my brother though…quite the gentleman. But of course he learned all of that from me,” he joked and Aaron raised his eyebrow. Angel scoffed as she turned the page in her notebook and continued on with her writing. Nick dropped the blankets and looked over at his sister with a raised eyebrow.
“What are you making noises about over there?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Angel replied innocently while not even looking up from her notebook. Nick shook his head and then looked back over at Aaron.
“Come here air, I’m not setting up your bed all on my own.” Aaron dropped Stacy’s hand and got up and he went over and began helping Nick set up his bed. When they finished Aaron sat down on the floor and Nick went over to Angel and ruffled his fingers through her hair. She looked up at him curiously and he knelt down so they were eye level with each other as she lay on her stomach on the bed.
“Can I trust you to behave yourself tonight?” he asked so quietly that only she could hear him. Angel scowled.
“Only if she does.”
“Quite frankly I’m more worried about you starting something then her.”
“You’re the one who put me in the same room with her.”
“There was no other choice.”
“Oh yes there was. She could have slept on the couch.”
“Yes, but the polite thing to do would be to give her a more comfortable place to sleep then that Angel. Besides, you two can’t keep this feud that happened when you were four years old going forever it has to be settled. Especially since you are obviously going to be seeing a lot of each other. So settle it.”
“In order for me to settle it I am going to be saying some pretty unpleasant things. How am I supposed to do that if you’ve asked me to be good?”
“If you must argue it would be nice if it could be done in a quiet manner rather then in shouting matches that end up keeping the whole house awake. Do you get what I’m saying here?”
“Fine…I won’t shout. Is this lecture over now?” Angel asked, slowly becoming irritated with her older brother. Sometimes she gets the feeling that he thinks since their parents are so busy arguing with each other rather then being parents to them; he feels that he should take on the role as dad when she would rather he just be her brother.
“Yes, the lecture is over,” Nick replied while rolling his eyes playfully.
“Good then are you going to leave me alone now?”
“Not quite I want to ask you something.”
“Okay…what?”
“Do you want to go out for some ice cream with Sarah, Dakota, and me later on in the day tomorrow? And possibly the playground?” Angel smiled up at him suddenly.
“Okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm.”
“Alright cool,” Nick replied grinning a little and he wrapped his arms around her for a hug. She returned it and when he pulled back he got up and walked out of the room shutting the door behind him. Angel looked back down at her notebook and continued writing in it, trying with all her might to ignore Aaron and Stacy.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, Brian and Riley had gone upstairs and into their bedroom after saying their goodnights and Brian shut the door behind them. When he did he turned around to find Riley lying sideways on their bed and he noticed that she’s gone from smiling and being all happy to the way she looked at the mall earlier that day – frowning and hurt. Brian sighed, as he knew they would be having a conversation later when they were alone in their bedroom. She may have been so quick to forgive him but he noticed all day that the smile on her face was just a mask hiding what she really feels. He went over and lay next to her on the bed and he wrapped an arm around her before resting his forehead against hers.
“What’s the matter baby?”
“I want to talk about what happened earlier at the mall. Did you really think that just because you became all sweet again that I was just going to forget about it and move on?”
“Well, no…”
“What was going on with you Brian? Why were you shutting me out one minute and then the next all of the sudden you were all lovey dovey?”
“I was just upset…and confused…and going through a lot of stuff but when I talked to Nick he helped me sort it all out.”
“Well how about you talk about it with your girlfriend now? Do I have to worry about losing you Brian? What happened with you and Josh out in the van?”
“I just realized that he is not ready to be forced into sharing me…that’s all…”
“So then you came inside and shut me out because of it? Don’t you think I deserve better then that? If you don’t want to be with me why didn’t you just say so?”
“Does it look like I don’t want to be with you, Riley?” Riley shrugged her shoulders.
“How am I supposed to know any better if you don’t tell me what’s going on?”
“I thought me hugging and kissing on you all day would surly be enough for you to know that I want to be with you.”
“Well sometimes that’s not enough,” Riley insisted as she sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. Brian sat up too. “You can hug and kiss on anyone all day and it wouldn’t mean a damn thing. Sometimes a woman just needs to hear it Brian.” Brian scooted over so that he is sitting behind her and he slid his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.
“I want to be with you Riley,” he announced sincerely. “I love you very much and I fought like hell for you to be my girlfriend there is no way I am going to give up now that I finally have you. I have loved you since the day Nick introduced us.”
“Then why were you pushing me away earlier?”
“I told you…I was going through stuff. I needed some space.” Riley rolled her eyes.
“Well how about I give you some more space until you can finally share with your girlfriend just what exactly is going on?” Riley asked, and she started to get up but Brian tightened his arms around Riley’s waist so she couldn’t go anywhere.
“Come on Ri don’t do this…”
“Well what do you expect me to do Brian? I can’t handle all of these secrets. Chase had secrets and he ended up cheating on me. I can’t do that again. You promised me an honest relationship but I don’t seem to be getting that right now.”
“I’m afraid that if I tell you what I’m feeling inside I’m going to hurt you…or worse, lose you and I don’t want either of those things to happen.”
“Why don’t you try me?” Riley asked while turning sideways to face him and she slid her hand into Brian’s and squeezed it. “I can be just as understanding as you are Brian…I think that’s what makes us perfect for each other. But how can we even begin to have a relationship if you can’t even tell me what’s on your mind? Especially when you keep shutting me out when I know something is wrong.” Brian sighed.
“I don’t know where to start…”
“How about with what happened between you and Josh out in the van?”
“We had a very long emotional conversation about how he feels…” Riley sat there quietly, waiting for an explanation. “He’s made it clear that he does not like you and he is not happy at all about him having to share me.”
“Okay…what else did you talk about?”
“He’s upset because I just recently adopted him and already I am making him share me. He says it isn’t fair and I realized that he is right, it’s not. So I told him I wouldn’t force him to like you anymore but he does have to share me a tiny bit because you are my girlfriend and I love you and don’t want to have to choose between you. So we agreed that if I gave him Josh and Brian time like Nick does with Kota he would be okay with us being together…but he doesn’t have to like you right away. I told him I would give him time.”
“So then why did you shut me out when you met up with us back in the mall?”
“Like I already said…I was confused…and going through stuff and needed time to sort everything out. I didn’t know how to give you the attention that you deserved without upsetting my son…I was feeling torn between the two people that I love more than anything. But when Nick talked to me he made me see that what I was doing wasn’t fair to you…so when we got off of the carousel I immediately went over and apologized the best way I knew how. I’m sorry that I hurt you…I didn’t mean to. I was upset…”
“And you have no intention of leaving me?” Riley asked softly and she didn’t bother to hide the tear that slipped down her cheek.
“Of course not baby…” Brian reassured and he placed his finger to her cheek and brushed away her tear. “I want more then anything for this relationship to work. It breaks my heart that I even have to go through with this. I love you and Josh both very much and if I had to choose between either of you I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
“And I love you…and I love Josh too…he may not see it but I do. I’ll do anything to help him see that…just tell me how”
“I don’t know…I don’t think either you or I can make him see it…I think only he can,” Brian replied softly.
“What if I sat him down and had a talk with him? Confronted him about our situation…”
“It depends on how you confront him…if you make it seem like you are attacking him and forcing him to like you he is just going to push you even further away…”
“But I feel like I do need to talk to him. I think I owe him an apology at least for being the mean caregiver that I was not so long ago. I think I need to explain to him that I love you with all of my heart…and that I care about him too and hope that some day we could get along. I’ll make it clear that I’m not forcing him to…that I know he needs to come to me on his own terms and that when he does I will be here with open arms. I won’t be mean about it.”
“You have my permission to do that, but it’s something that you will need to handle delicately…keep in mind that he is very hot headed…if this isn’t handled carefully then I’m afraid the problem is only going to get bigger.” Riley nodded.
“I can be tact when I need to be. I promise I won’t make it worse. I’ll go out and buy something Donald Duck related and butter him up with that…and then go in with the hard part.” Brian couldn’t help but chuckle a little.
“What happened to your whole ‘I’m not going to buy his trust’ plan?”
“Yeah well…desperate times come with desperate measures. It’s not like I am going out and buying him a puppy like some people I know.” Brian smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist and he pulled her near and kissed her forehead softly.
“I love you Riley…and I swear to you we are going to make this work.” Riley didn’t reply she only placed her hand to his cheek and pulled his face down to hers so their lips were just inches apart. He captured her lips with his in a soft kiss before scooting back to their pillows and motioning for her to come closer with his finger. She smirked and did just that before straddling his waist and he pulled their blankets over their head before pulling her lips down onto his for a much deeper kiss.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
