Chapter One-Hundred-Seventy-One
When Nick got upstairs to Angel’s room he stood in the doorway and knocked on the open door lightly. Angel looked up from her notebook ready to snap at the person to go away only for the billionth time that morning only to find that it’s Nick. Her face softened somewhat then.
“What?” She asked softy and she looked back down at her notebook and continued doodling.
“May I come in?”
“If you want to…” Nick walked into the room and he went over to her bed and lay in the empty space next to her and he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her close to him.
“What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing, I’m just not a people person today…that’s all.”
“I can see that, seeing as how you aren’t up and about and following me around all over the place, like my little shadow is supposed to do” Nick replied as he playfully poked her in the arm. Angel shrugged her shoulders and kept her gaze down at the notebook.
“Do you want to tell me what happened between you and Aaron last night? Cause it seems to be bothering you a hell of a lot.”
“I said some things that I’ve kept bottled up since the beginning of the worlds famous Aaron Carter that I swore I would never actually say to him. But he pushed me into it sooo…”
“Everything just kind of exploded?” Nick guessed.
“Exploded is an understatement.” Nick nodded in understanding and he rubbed his hand over Angel’s back.
“I know it’s tough on you sometimes to have a twin brother who is famous and has every girl, including every best friend you make after him Angel…” Nick began and Angel looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, I know you and pay attention to you more then you realize.” Angel shrugged once again and rubbed at her watery eyes and she looked back down at her notebook again. “But he can’t help it…and it gets to him too sometimes.”
“Really? I couldn’t tell…all he ever seems to do is soak up the attention like a friggen sponge, Nick…he loves it.”
“He has a love hate relationship with it and I understand completely how he feels because I’m the exact same way. The fans are great, and we both love them very much but sometimes it just gets to be too much and we just wish we could turn it off for awhile…you know? And have a little bit of privacy…especially me right now with Ashley I would love for some people to just back off. But that’s the price we have to pay for doing what we do…”
“But it’s not fair Nick…why do I have to suffer?”
“Aaron never wanted for girls to use you to get to him…he never asked for it, it’s not his fault. I’m sure if he could put a stop to it he would in a heartbeat just for you…because if you haven’t noticed you mean a lot to him, just like he means a lot to you even if you’re pissed off at him right now.”
“I just wish he’d stop dating my best friends…”
“So tell him that. Make it clear to him that your friends are off limits to him…he loves you, I’m sure he will be more then willing to obey that rule if you ask him to. Besides…if people are using you to get to Aaron they are obviously not your friends in the first place.”
“I’ve tried and he just started fussing about how his fans will think he’s a jerk for ignoring them…and it really upset me because I’m hurting here and all he cares about is his fans.”
“Well I’ll talk to him about it then…but maybe you should just raise the bar on who you become friends with.” Angel looked at him confused. “Be more careful when choosing who you’re friends with. Maybe you should find people who aren’t so obsessed with your brother.”
“I might as well never have any friends again then, because they always seem to be an Aaron Carter fan.”
“The whole world isn’t made up of Aaron Carter fans Ange…”
“Really? It sure had me fooled.” Nick sighed and he sat there quietly thinking for a few moments, before speaking again.
“Well how about you try something different? When you make friends with people who do you introduce yourself as?”
“Angel Carter…that’s my name isn’t it?”
“Well that’s your first mistake right there. Don’t use your last name right away…just your first. Don’t tell them you are related to Aaron…or to a famous Backstreet Boy. Just be you…and if they ramble on about the Backstreet Boys or Aaron…and about how much they want to meet us…then maybe they aren’t the right people to be friends with. Let them get to know you…go for a month…or a year without introducing them to us and once you feel that they really like you for you…then put them to the test. Introduce them to the family.”
“You really think that will work?” Nick shrugged.
“It’s worth a try isn’t it?”
“I guess so…”
“And you know…Stacy is a great girl…and something tells me that if you give her a chance she could be both Aaron’s girlfriend and your best friend.”
“Until they break up. They’re thirteen years old Nick…do you really think they’re going to stay together forever?”
“You never know honey…for all we know we could be talking about your future sister-in-law. All I know is…they are meant to be together. Life brought them back together after all these years that’s gotta mean something.” Angel couldn’t help but smile some as she shook her head.
“What?” Nick asked curiously.
“Either BJ has etched that into your brain or being with Ashley has turned you into quite the romantic.” Nick rolled his eyes.
“Probably both.” Angel smiled up at him.
“You really do love her don’t you?”
“I told you that last night didn’t I?”
“Well yeah…but I didn’t really believe you at first. I mean you’ve said you’ve loved your girlfriends before and look what happened?”
“None of them have ever made me as happy as Ashley does.”
“Or as romantic…I mean you actually get all giddy when you talk about her.” Nick grinned and Angel wrapped her arm around him and rested her head against his shoulder as he still lay there next to her, the two of them both lying on their stomachs.
“I approve big brother.” Nick chuckled.
“Well that’s a good thing, seeing as how I know how you get when you don’t.”
“You have to promise me that I get to be a bridesmaid at your wedding though.”
“Bridesmaid? Wedding? You are getting just a little ahead of yourself here don’t you think?”
“Nah…and besides, I have to get dibs on it now before the other two beat me to it.” Nick chuckled.
“Well I’m pretty sure if that does happen…that would be Ashley’s decision.” Angel smiled up at him and he ruffled his fingers through her hair messing it up even more then it already is.
“Anyway, I smell Jackie’s breakfast down there. I bet it’s already done…how about we go down there and see?” Angel looked up at Nick cautiously.
“It depends…Aaron and Stacy aren’t down there are they?”
“Nah…I think you are safe for awhile. They’ve been gone since early this morning and I’m pretty sure they aren’t planning on coming back anytime soon. But I do want you to consider my suggestion okay? You can’t stay mad at Stacy forever…or your twin either.”
“Kay…” Angel nodded and Nick rolled out of bed and got to his feet and he held his hand out to her. Angel took it and allowed him to help her up and when she was standing next to him he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and together the two of them left the room and went down to the kitchen.
~*~*~*~*~
Later on that day after breakfast Ashley, Denise, and Sarah took off for the hair and nails place with Marcus while Nick stayed at the Littrell’s house with everybody else and Dakota. He looked over at his daughter who was laughing and joking around with Josh and Elenore.
“Kota baby…how about you meet me upstairs and I will put your bathing suit on and the two of us can go swim at the lake? Would you like that? And maybe Brian and Josh too…if they want to.” Josh grinned and looked over at his father.
“Yeah! Brian please?” Brian looked to Riley who was sitting next to him. Riley smiled some.
“Go on I’m going to take a shower and stuff.” Brian looked over at Nick to see that he looks like he has something on his mind and has a feeling he invited him along for a reason. Brian nodded and looked over at Josh.
“Okay. Josh your swim trunks are in your drawer in my room. Go put it on okay?”
“YAY!!!” Josh and Dakota cheered in unison and the two of them ran up the stairs together. Elenore looked at Kevin then and Kevin can already guess what is coming by the look on her face.
“We’re meeting Jerald and Tim at my mom’s place Ellie, they’ve invited us to go bowling.” Elenore’s lips broke out into a smile then. “But I need to give you a bath before we go so come on alright?” he added and he got up and offered her his hand. She took it and allowed him to take her upstairs. Brian looked at Nick then.
“What’s going on? What’s on your mind? You aren’t going to bitch at me for not paying attention to Sarah are you? Because I can explain.”
“No it has nothing to do with Sarah…if I wanted to bitch I would have done it earlier but I’m sure Ashley already took care of it so I didn’t. It’s something else…I want your opinion on something but I want to wait until we’re at the lake to ask you.”
“Does it have something to do with Ashley? Cause she is doing awesome Nick…”
“It has everything to do with Ashley,” Nick nodded. “And I know she’s doing great I have no complaints.”
“Okay…”
“Just wait until we get to the lake,” Nick replied, and he couldn’t help but be a little amused at how confused Brian looks.
“Are you really going to go swimming Nick? But you and Ashley both took showers this morning what was the point in that if you were just going to go swimming?” Howie questioned. Nick smirked.
“You don’t want to know what the point of the shower was, D.”
“Ew…” Howie complained and AJ chuckled.
“You’re the one who asked bro.”
“I’m surprised you’re not throwing all kinds of threats at Nick considering how protective you are slowly becoming.” AJ shrugged.
“Like I told Brookie…Kori has the whole protective thing down, I don’t have to go there unless it’s really necessary. Now if he purposely hurts her, or goes all the way with her before it’s okay then we shall go there,” AJ replied while narrowing his eyes at Nick watchfully. “But he has enough to worry about with Kevin constantly on his case, and anyhow, I would be preaching the choir. I have Brooke’s brother on my case at the moment.”
“I better go help Kota with her bathing suit,” Nick announced, and he got up and went upstairs to tend to his daughter and Brian got up to follow him seeing as how he had to put his own swim trunks on and check on Josh.
~*~*~*~*~
When Nick, Dakota, Brian, and Josh were all in their swimsuits they got Laney and then headed for the lake. When they got there Dakota looked up at Nick eagerly. He chuckled at the look on her face and went over and got in the lake and he held out his arms for her. She dove into them and he enveloped her in his arms protectively. Brian looked at Josh as the two of them slipped off their flip-flops and he set their towels down on a rock.
“Do you know how to swim Josh? I don’t believe I’ve ever taken you swimming before…” Josh nodded.
“My mom taught me.”
“Okay, cool.” Brian replied, and the two of them and Laney went over and got in the lake.
“Kota is still learning, but she’s getting the hang of it. Huh baby?” Nick asked, looking down at Dakota. Dakota smiled up at him and nodded.
“Maybe Laney can hold onto you for awhile, while I talk with Brian? Will you let him do that baby? And then I will come over and play with you.”
“Kay,” Dakota agreed and she let Laney take her and he motioned for Josh to follow him away from Nick and Brian. Josh did just that and Brian looked at Nick curiously.
“What’s up Frack?”
“I need your opinion on something…”
“Okay, I’m listening…” Nick was quiet for a few moments as he thought things over, and when he thought of a way to approach the question he looked at Brian.
“I love Ashley very much, Brian.”
“I can see that buddy…I’ve never seen you smile as big as you do whenever she is in your presence. You look at her like she is the only person in the room. You’re that couple that everybody wishes they could be,” Brian replied, and he grinned when he saw Nick smile.
“Well, I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I know that she is it Bri. Dakota loves her…and she loves Dakota…I mean it’s almost like watching mother and daughter when the two of them are together sometimes. My siblings are starting to love her…hell she even has Angel’s heart and that doesn’t come easy, everybody knows that.”
“Where are you getting at Nick?” Brian asked, and he raised his eyebrow at Nick. “You aren’t planning on proposing to her anytime soon are you?”
“No…not anytime soon,” Nick reassured and he saw the slightly scared look in Brian’s eyes disappear.
“Good because I’m not going to lie Nick…and I’m pretty sure that’s why you’re talking to me about this but you two are no where near ready for that. Yes, maybe way later in the future if you two make it that far – and trust me, I have no doubt in my mind that you will…but when that time comes you will have my support one hundred percent.”
“Yeah, I know, trust me I’m not planning on proposing anytime soon…but what I was thinking about doing was getting her a promise ring…do you think it’s too soon for that?”
“A Promise Ring?” Brian asked interestedly.
“Yeah. I don’t plan on proposing now…but I want her to know that I do plan on doing so in the future. I want her to know that I am one hundred percent committed to her…because sometimes when I catch her looking at me I see her eyes full of question…you know questions like does he really love me? Is he going to be with me forever? stuff like that…and I want to reassure her that I am…and that I do. But I’m afraid if I just tell her that with words she will always be wondering. This way if she does wonder she can just look down at her finger and see that ring and be reassured immediately. Especially when I’m not with her…”
“I think that is a great idea Nick.”
“Really? It’s not too soon?”
“I don’t think it is. There is nothing wrong with making a promise to her. If it were an engagement ring that would be a completely different story. But all it is, is a promise ring and I know you really love her and mean it when you say you want to be with her forever. So go ahead Nick make that promise to her if you feel it in your heart to do so.” Nick grinned. “I’ll even help you pick the ring out…when are you planning on giving it to her?”
“I don’t know, I want the moment to be perfect…and romantic. She likes to be romanced so that’s the way it has to be done.”
“Give me awhile and I’ll come up with something for you. Why don’t you come to the mall with Josh and me today? It’s supposed to be Josh and Brian time, but I figure since you’re doing Dakota and Daddy time why don’t we do it together? I’m sure Josh nor Dakota will protest to that. We’ll take the kids to all of their stores first and then afterward before we leave we’ll go to the nicest ring store they’ve got and check them all out.”
“Thanks Rok, I don’t know what I’d do without you” Nick replied and Brian smiled and pulled Nick into a hug.
“You will never have to find out Frack.”
“Do I get to help you pick out yours and Riley’s engagement ring while we’re there too?” Nick asked as he pulled away from their hug and he looked at Brian with a smirk. Brian chuckled.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to be looking at engagement rings for Riley with Josh there…”
“Oh come on there’s nothing wrong with just looking…you’ve promised him that you weren’t going to do anything until he was comfortable about it. So buy the ring now and hold onto it until that time.”
“Do you really think he’ll ever be comfortable with her?” Brian asked softy and he looked at Nick with eyes full of worry and pain.
“I know he will Rok. With Josh all it takes is time…you know that.”
“My goal is for him to be comfortable with her by Christmas Eve…because that’s when I have my heart set on proposing. I have it all planned out and everything Nick. I want to take her on a sleigh ride in the park at night when all of the lights are on…it would be so perfect wouldn’t it?”
“Riley would love that. And I’m sure by then Josh will have come around. You just have to work on him a little…but don’t force him either…you know?”
“Yeah…” Nick pat him on the back gently.
“Everything will turn out fine Bri, don’t worry. Come on…let’s go play with the kids this is supposed to be their time right now.” Brian nodded and he followed Nick over to Laney and the kids.
Author's Chapter Notes:
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