Chapter Two-Hundred-Nine
Later on that day at dinner, the boys, Ashley, Riley, and Kori all helped set up the cafeteria like they usually do, slowly falling back into their daily routine at the Orphanage. By the time dinner was ready, the Littrells and the Richardson’s showed up and so did Jaime and Peyton. Brandon who had gone to Doctor Johnson’s empty house for a few hours was also back too and was joining them for dinner. When Ashley had finished getting her plate of enchiladas, beans, and rice, she headed back to the table to see that mostly everybody was there except Howie. There was one seat in between Nick and Brandon. Ashley stared at it for a moment, before glancing at Brandon and then Nick. Knowing Nick is sensitive about Brandon, she wondered how he would feel about her sitting next to him. After a moment of contemplating she went over to Nick and sat in his lap instead and he welcomed her without a second thought, as it is quite normal for him to have her in his lap these days. She shifted so she was sitting sideways and hugged her legs to her chest as he placed her plate next to his and wrapped a protective arm around her. Howie who arrived right then placed his plate on the table in front of the seat where Ashley chose not to sit. He looked at her curiously then.
“Honey you can sit here if you’d like, I will pull up another chair,” he offered gently and Ashley shook her head.
“No thanks D, I’m quite comfortable right here.”
“Are you sure?” Ashley nodded. Howie shrugged and sat in the chair between Nick and Brandon then and he got started on eating his enchiladas. AJ quietly shook his head as he kept his eyes on his food and didn’t say a thing, though he did see Ashley contemplating hard on what her move should be before deciding sitting in Nick’s lap would be the best way to not upset him. Ashley planted a kiss on Nick’s forehead and wrapped an arm around his neck before grabbing up her fork with one hand and she began eating. Nick rested his forehead against hers as he too ate his dinner.
“So how was the orphanage while we were gone, Doctor J?” Brian asked curiously.
“Crazy…did Brooke tell you that all of the kids ran around like crazy the first night that you all were gone?” Brian chuckled.
“Mhm, she did. Nothing personal, man. I’m sure it was just their way of saying welcome” Brian teased. Doctor Johnson rolled his eyes smiling.
“Yes well they all earned themselves a chore day the next day. I made them clean the Orphanage from top to bottom for punishment.”
“And it looks great,” Brooke praised, her eyes twinkling with happiness. “I haven’t seen it this clean in ages.”
“So since Doctor J did such a great job at running this and made you happy Brookie, maybe he should take care of it again during Christmas,” AJ hinted and Brooke rolled her eyes.
“Ohh no. I am taking Christmas off to spend time at home with Brandon,” Doctor Johnson insisted while shaking his head. “I was thoroughly warned that you might go around and beg people,” he added with a smirk. AJ scowled.
“I’ll find someone to do it, you wait and see.”
“Are we still even going to Kentucky? I mean everybody who was in Kentucky is here…why don’t we just stay?” Howie spoke up.
“No,” Brian protested. “We have to go to Kentucky for Christmas,” he added firmly. Nick nodded.
“Mhm, we do. Ashley has never experienced a white Christmas,” he replied, agreeing with Brian because he knows why it’s important to him to be in Kentucky for Christmas, and he isn’t lying about Ashley never having a white Christmas before.
“Okay, okay, fine we’ll go to Kentucky…it was just a suggestion,” Howie replied while eyeing Brian and Nick curiously. No one missed the secret ‘thank-you’ being exchanged from Brian’s eyes to Nick’s when he had jumped to his best friend’s rescue. Jackie studied her son for a few minutes wondering just exactly what he was up to. When she saw the certain glow in his eyes that she has noticed only Riley can put there, she smiled some as she has a feeling she knows exactly what he is planning. Riley on the other hand, who had also been studying Brian didn’t get that far. He noticed her looking at him and looked back at her grinning and he took her hand in his and kissed it.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, while everybody else had gone to the orphanage earlier that day when they arrived in Florida, Aaron, Angel, BJ and Leslie didn’t. They instead went home to the house they live in with their mom and they unpacked their things, spent a little time with Jane, relaxed for awhile, and then Aaron and Angel after awhile were already feeling like they needed to escape. They put shoes and hoodies on and they left the house deciding that they would go pick up Stacy, get some Mc Donald’s to go, and then go eat under a Ramada at the park despite the fact that it’s pouring and is unusually cold for it being Florida.
“Are you sure you two want to eat here? Maybe we should go visit Nick in the Orphanage…it’s warmer,” Angel insisted and Aaron shook his head as he settled himself so he was sitting on top of the table with Stacy next to him.
“I’m enjoying my freedom while I can,” he insisted, indicating to Stacy. “We go there and Q will insist on not letting me out of his sight.”
“That’s not always such a bad thing,” Angel replied while rolling her eyes and Aaron scowled at her.
“We stay here. Just give me an hour of freedom Ange that’s all I ask for. Then we’ll go to the Orphanage and you can follow Nick around as much as you please.” Angel opened her mouth to say something when Aaron knowing exactly what she was going to say cut her off.
“You do so follow him around everywhere he goes, it’s no secret.”
“How about you let me get a sentence out before you start arguing with me, hmm?” Angel asked slightly irritated.
“That’s what you were going to say, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but still…” Angel shook her head. “Fine I think I’m going to call Cameron though and tell her to come here. I’m starting to feel like the third wheel here,” she insisted as she watched her brother take Stacy’s hand into his own and intertwine their fingers together.
“Go right ahead,” Aaron replied and Angel reached into her pocket for her phone. She pulled it out and began to dial the number of her best friend. One of the few friends that she has that hasn’t showed the slightest bit of interest in Aaron other then a good friend. Though Aaron has tried and failed miserably much to Angel’s delight.
“So how are Bree, Ally, and Jess, Stace? Are they still angry?” Aaron asked conversationally as the two of them sat there eating french fries.
“Well I think I got over the big wall they’ve formed around themselves…they’re talking to me again at least. Ally more so then the others but she’s my best friend so I knew she wouldn’t stay mad for long. It’s going to take a lot of sucking up for the others.”
“Want me to try? They’re big Aaron Carter fans after all…”
“I don’t want to use you…”
“You aren’t using me, I’m volunteering for the job.”
“Yeah but…”
“I just want you to be happy Stace…I can see how much you love your friends. I don’t mind helping you at all,” Aaron insisted as he wrapped an arm around her and she rested her head against his shoulder as he kissed her forehead softly.
“Kay…if you want to…”
“Whoa…who is that?” Angel questioned suddenly, gasping a little in surprise. Aaron and Stacy looked at her and then followed her gaze only to see a young boy about their age on a skateboard. He has a little girl who looks about Sarah’s age standing on the board too as he rides on it holding her hands and he was riding just as easily as he would without her. The boy has long shaggy hair that hangs in his eyes – a typical skater boy hairstyle and she can see from where she was standing that he has piercing blue eyes. Aaron raised his eyebrow.
“Who knows…but he is crazy for skateboarding in the rain like that.”
“But he’s an amazing skateboarder…” Angel muttered so quietly that only Aaron and Stacy could hear her. Aaron looked at her to see her staring at the stranger with stars in her eyes. Aaron rolled his eyes. Just then the skater boy joined them under the Ramada.
“I’m just as crazy as you’re…strange weather for a picnic, don’t you think?” The little girl on the skateboard giggled.
“More Conner, let’s go again please?” the skater boy now known as Conner smiled down at the little girl with so much love in his eyes.
“Not right now Rosalie, your big brother needs a rest okay?”
“Aww…” Rosalie whined but she got off the board anyway. Conner looked at Aaron, Angel, and Stacy then.
“I guess I should probably introduce myself,” Conner announced, realizing his mistake. “I’m Conner O’Ryan…and this here is my sister Rosalie – Rose for short.”
“Nice to meet you Conner and Rosalie,” Angel was the first to respond. “I’m Angel, that’s my brother Aaron, and that’s Stacy.” Rosalie froze in her spot as she for the first time took a real good look at Aaron. Her eyes widened and she gasped.
“You’re Aaron Carter!” Aaron chuckled.
“The one and only,” he told her and he knelt down in front of her. Conner smiled some.
“Rose is a big fan. Just walk into her room one day…it’s insane.” Rosalie suddenly glared up at her brother.
“Conner shush!” she scolded him, her face turning bright red. Aaron chuckled once again.
“It’s quite okay Rose, my niece has an Aaron Carter bedroom too. Though Nick made her keep it to only a few posters because she has to share the room with him.”
“Dakota right?” Rosalie questioned and Aaron nodded.
“That’s right. You sure do know your facts.” Rosalie beamed.
“Can I have an autograph Aaron?” Aaron smiled some.
“Of course you can. What should I sign?” Rosalie looked up at Conner then, and he opened up his backpack and pulled something out of it. He handed it to Rosalie and Aaron noticed that it was a magazine all about him. Conner handed over a permanent marker for him. Angel raised her eyebrow. Conner reading the look on her face right away immediately had an answer.
“I had a doctor appointment and I had to take her with me. She sat in the lobby with the receptionist lady keeping a close eye on her and she insisted on bringing her Aaron Carter magazine so that she could look at it. Pretty lucky that you did, huh Rose?” Angel smiled some, finding it very adorable how he is with his sister. Stacy however, raised her eyebrow.
“And you just happen to have a permanent marker with you?” Conner nodded.
“How come? Who carries around permanent markers?” Stacy interrogated.
“I like to draw on my skateboard. I collect a wide variety of colored-sharpies,” Conner explained, holding his skateboard out for her to see and sure enough there were drawings and stickers all over it.
“Conner is a good drawer. He drew my name right there – see?” Rosalie asked, pointing to the back of the skateboard, and in cool graffiti type writing was Rosalie’s name in pink. Stacy let it go, accepting Conner’s excuse but she still felt uneasy about him.
“How come you had to bring this cutie to your doctor appointment with you?” Angel asked while gently raking her fingers through Rosalie’s light brown hair.
“My parents are at work and I’m baby-sitting her. I baby-sit her a lot…hardly go anywhere without her. She’s my little shadow.”
“What do your parents do?” Stacy asked casually. Conner looked at her for a moment before answering.
“Mom and dad are lawyers…they’re gone a lot. Most of the time it’s just me and Rose.”
“Ohh…really? Lawyers? That’s cool…what kind of lawyer?” Stacy asked, doing her best to sound truly interested and not like she is interrogating him and planning on checking in on the information later.
“What is this, a game of fifty questions, Stace?” Aaron suddenly spoke up as he had been silently sitting there listening.
“I’m just curious. I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer some day.” Aaron raised his eyebrow.
“Well give the guy a break…you’ve asked him so many questions,” he insisted. Stacy sighed and Aaron looked down at Rosalie.
“Hey Rosalie…how would you like to go meet my brother?” Rosalie’s eyes widened with excitement.
“Really? You’ll take me to meet Nick?”
“Mhm, and possibly Brian, AJ, Howie, and Kevin too. And I bet you would have lots of fun with my niece and her friends.” Rosalie squealed with excitement and she looked up at Conner.
“Can we Conner? Pleeeease?” She asked while jumping up and down anxiously.
“I don’t know about that Rose…Uncle Max is supposed to be coming over tonight.”
“Please Conner? Pleeeease? I want to meet the Backstreet Boys! I just have to meet the Backstreet Boys!” Conner sighed.
“Oh, all right…just for a couple of hours though all right?” Rosalie beamed happily and she took Aaron’s hand. Aaron chuckled and stood up and he began leading her in the direction of the Orphanage with Conner at his side. Angel would have been walking right a long side Conner but Stacy grabbed her arm making her fall behind.
“Coming Stace? Angel?” Aaron questioned.
“We’ll be right there – we cant just leave our garbage lying around you know. You go, we’ll catch up.”
“What’s up with you?” Angel asked curiously. Stacy waited until Conner and Aaron were far from hearing range before she answered.
“I don’t trust him.”
“What is there not to trust?” Angel asked incredulously. “He’s gorgeous…he’s adorable with his kid sister…and did I mention that he is gorgeous?”
“He gives me the creeps Angel…don’t you find it just a little too coincidental that he happened to show up here at this park with his Aaron Carter obsessed sister, prepared with an Aaron Carter Magazine and permanent marker?”
“I did at first…but he explained that already Stace.”
“It just seems weird…”
“Honey he can be weird all he wants because he is hot!” Stacy rolled her eyes.
“Put aside the fact that he is hot Angel! Would you be thinking this way if it were some ugly kid with pimples all over his face? He was skateboarding in the rain!”
“He’s thirteen…that’s the only source of transportation when it comes to thirteen year old boys…don’t ask me why, that’s just the way it is.”
“Angel I don’t—“
“—We’re going to the Orphanage. If he is even remotely close to being untrustworthy Ashley will freak out.”
“And you would risk bringing someone who is possibly dangerous near Ashley like that?” Angel rolled her eyes.
“Stace…honey…there is nothing wrong with him calm down all right?”
“My instincts say that there is…and they’re usually pretty accurate.” Angel shook her head and she wrapped her arms around Stacy’s shoulders and began leading her in the direction that her brother and the hottie skater boy had gone. When they arrived at the Orphanage Aaron and Angel led them all inside and they found everybody in the cafeteria eating dinner. When they got to the table where Nick and everybody were sitting at they all looked up at them and Nick grinned.
“Hey Aaron…hey Angel!” he greeted cheerfully and he got up and hugged each of his siblings, giving Angel a kiss on the cheek. “I didn’t think I would get to see you two so soon, I thought I was going to have to beg for a visit." Aaron rolled his eyes.
“Don’t worry, your shadow wouldn’t go two days without seeing you.” Angel punched Aaron in the arm.
“Who are your friends?” Kori asked curiously, as her eyes fell on Conner. Her eyes lingered a moment on his and then she looked at Rosalie who was looking around at all of her idles with a big grin on her face, bouncing around in her spot waiting to be introduced.
“This is Conner and his kid sister Rosalie. We met them at the park. It turns out that Rosalie is a big Aaron Carter and Backstreet Boys fan…and you know Aaron, he couldn’t let her walk away without the whole package deal.”
“Is that right?” Nick asked while kneeling down in front of Rosalie just exactly the way Aaron had done and she beamed up at him and nodded. Nick, Brian, AJ, Howie, and Kevin all talked with her, giving her hugs and such and they autographed the picture in her Aaron Carter Magazine where Aaron had posed with the Backstreet Boys. After their little meet and greet, Aaron took her over to the kiddie table to introduce her to his niece and her gang like he promised.
“So…Conner. How old are you?” Kori questioned her eyes once again lingering on his.
“Thirteen,” Conner answered and he stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep himself from being nervous. Whenever he is nervous, he tends to mess with his hair. Kori nodded quietly and she continued to sit there looking into his eyes. Conner nervously looked away, cursing himself for having his father’s eyes. He went over and stood next to Aaron who was interacting with the kids. Kori continued to watch him for a minute, having a strange feeling of déjà vu and then she looked over at her sister testing this feeling. Ashley was back to sitting in Nick’s lap again. She watched for a sign of fear in her but she didn’t see any. Ashley was acting perfectly calm and wasn’t even paying attention to Conner. She was talking quietly with Howie. Kori frowned. If Ashley isn’t scared then why does Conner give her déjà vu? It’s almost as if she knew him from somewhere. But Ashley knows danger the moment it walks through the door – even when it’s disguised. Noticing that someone was watching her, she looked up to see Stacy standing there studying her face expressions. She raised her eyebrow. Stacy gave her a look and then turned and headed for the dessert table. Kori waited until she was over there helping herself to some pudding and then she got up and went over there also. She grabbed a pudding bowl and began scooping pudding into it.
“Don’t trust him?” Stacy asked hopefully and Kori shook her head.
“Thank god…I’m not the only one.”
“He gives me a strange feeling of déjà vu…like I’ve seen him before.”
“He showed up at the park with his Aaron Carter obsessed sister prepared with an Aaron Carter magazine, and a sharpie…it just seems too big of a coincidence.”
“Have you expressed these things with Aaron and Angel?”
“Just with Angel so far…but she’s too blind to see how weird it is…I don’t think Aaron is going to be much help either, he looks at this guy like he is the coolest person ever. I don’t think we’ll be seeing the last of him after Rosalie has her meet and greet.”
“Hmm…well Ashley seems to be pretty calm around him…she usually has good radar for trouble.”
“You can’t always rely on Ashley to know though, can you? I mean I know being raped has caused her to put a wall up, but she’s starting to get better…to trust people more…and she feels safe with all these people here protecting her. Everybody keeps reassuring her that she is safe and that t here is no reason to be scared so her guard is slipping... I just hope it’s not slipping too much…”
“You’ve got a point…” Kori replied, and she looked over at her sister who still was showing no interest in Conner. Conner…what’s so familiar about this kid? She would very much like to believe that she is just being paranoid. But then why does Stacy feel nervous about him too?
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
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