Heaven In Your Eyes- Chapters 3-4

PART THREE

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Two weeks later, doing much better, I was moping around my house trying to figure out what to do that day.

"I know," I thought, "I'll call Coral!"

Coral was my best friend, other than Nick of course. We had met through Nick, as she was dating Brian Littrell, Nick's bandmate and best friend, other than me. I picked up the phone and dialed Coral's digits. It rang five times, and I was ready to hang up when Coral, sounding rather breathless, answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, babe! Whatcha doin'?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Caits! NOt really doin' much.....It's nice to hear you so cheerful again!"

"Yeah, I guess I AM in a better mood. You wanna maybe do something today?"

"Sure, maybe a bit later. Ah! Stop it! No, not you, Caits.....Can you hold on a sec?"

"Sure thing."

On the other end I could hear muffled giggling, followed by a seemingly annoyed Coral saying, "Not now, Brian, I'm on the phone. Wait 'til I'm off. Sorry if I'm not extra specially talented, but my mouth can only be used for ONE thing at a time!" then she came back on the line, "Sorry 'bout that."

"Let me guess, I just interrupted a juicy make-out sesh. That's all right, I'll call back later."

"no, he promises to be good. So what do ya wanna do today?"

"How 'bout we cruise the mall? That GAP is having a massive sale. Brian can come, too, and I'll ask Nick."

"Sounds fine to me. Give us a 1/2 hou and we'll be at your house."

"Of course. I gotta give you time to finish up! I'll call Nick, see ya in awhile."

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By 2:00 that afternoon, NIck had arrived at my house, and Coral and Brian had come to pick us up in Coral's white Sidekick. Coral and I shopped and shopped for two and a half hours, dragging Nick and Brian into store after store while we tried on clothes and looked at other things. By the time we were finally done, the guys were about ready to die of boredom. The four of us sat on a bench trying to decide what to do next.

"I'm hungry! I vote we go get something to eat!" Brian suggested.

"Dinner isn't far off, so that's probably not the brightest idea," I pointed out.

"Yeah, and by that time we'll be hungry again!" Nick stated.

"You two are like human garbage disposals," Coral said disgustedly.

"That's what we're for!" Nick smiled sweetly.

"Oooh, you know what I could really go for?" I interupted.

"No, please enlighten us and let us know!" there was a hint of sarcasm in Coral's voice.

I scowled at her, "My, aren't we in a lovely mood today! No, really, I could go for McDonalds fries."

"Well, that sounds good, but a frapuccino would be even better!" Coral informed me.

"Mmmmm! You're right! Let's head for Starbucks!" I ordered.

"Oh, god. Coral, you know I don't like what caffeine does to your system. I fear for the good of mankind!!" Brian scolded.

Coral rolled her eyes and smacked him playfully on the head, "C'mon, you, let's go."

"McDonalds was a better idea," he whined as he struggled to catch up.

"I guess Ihave no choice," Nick jumped to his feet and followed us.

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We walked out of the mall and down the street to Starbucks. While we were standing at the counter deciding what to order, or, for Coral and me, making sure we hadn't blown all our money on clothes and still had enough to get something, I caught Nick looking over my shoulder and then shooting a pointed glance Coral's way.

"Uh, Caits," Coral began awkwardly, also looking at something behind me, "My frappucino craving has diminished, maybe we should go somewhere else."

"Yeah," Nick cut in, "Mickey D's sounded better to me, anyway."

"Yeah, me too," Brian also stole a glance behind me.

"Okay guys," I said suspiciously, "I don't know what's up with you all of a sudden, but I intend to get my java. Besides, why do you keep looking behind me? What's the big de--" I stopped abruptly as I whirled around to face Corey (my ex) with another girl, his arm around her shoulders.

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END PART THREE

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PART FOUR

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The girl was Amanda Richards. She had been my best friend in fifth grade, then decided she was "too cool" for me and ditched me for a group of girls that weren't exactly nice to me. When she wasn't busy ignoring me, she was busy being downright bitchy. We went from best friends to not exactly enemies, but pretty close. Then when the BSB first became popular she tried to restore our friendship, knowing I was close to Nick. Amanda was definitely not one of my favourite people.

"Corey! Fancy meetin you here. Amanda," I said icily, nodding at them, "Well, Cor, I thought you needed 'alone' time to think, and I respected that. I guess I was wrong about you, you really are a jerk. Forget it, we were just leaving." and with that, I strode out the door as confidently as possible, my friends trailing behind me.

"Asshole," I heard Nick mutter to Corey as he passed him.

As soon as we were out of sight of Corey and Amanda, I burst into tears.

"That slut!" I cried, "Why can't she just stay out of my life?"

"Aw, Caiti-Lynn....." Nick hugged me, using my childhood nickname, "They're both jerks."

"Yeah, hun, there are so many much better guys out there," Coral offered, shooting a pointed glance Nick's way, which I was oblivious to.

"Like.....me!" Nick joked.

I gave a weak smile through tears, "You wish," I replied.

"Hey, but it made you smile!" he shot back.

"And, hey, there's always Howie," Brian cut in, knowing how I felt about him.

"Eew, gross. Never ever in a million years." I swore.

"But even Howie's far better than Corey," Coral compared.

"Yeah." I agreed.

Nick protectively put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed me, "C'mon, let's go back to your place."

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My parents had gone with Coral's on a cruise, and, miraculously enough, had left me home alone on the condition that Coral stayed with me at night, and we told NO ONE. We were to call Nick's family if there were ANY problems, and both my parents and Nick's called constantly to check in.

"Well, what should we do tonight?" I asked as Coral, Brian, Nick, and I sat in my kitchen eating pizza we had ordered.

"PARTY!" Coral immediately yelled.

"I second that one, babe!" Brian agreed.

"Well....." I began doubtfully.

"Right," Coral interupted, "I forgot. Little Miss Goody-two-shoes would never disobey her parents."

"Well, that's only partially it," I explained, "I'd get caught, I know I would. Plus, I'm not really in the mood to party tonight..."

"Tomorrow night?" Coral asked hopefully, "PLEEZ? Pretty puh-lease with sugar on top?"

"Hmmmm....." I frowned, "I suppose. Two conditions. We get AJ and whoever else to act as bouncers. Hell, AJ is freakish enough to scare ANYONE off. And two, the house is exactly how it is now afterwards."

"Uh, problem," nick spoke up," MY parents. They'll come here to check and find a party, which gets us both grounded for life."

"Well, my parents are gone, too! WE can have it at my house instead!" Coral suggested.

"Problem solved. Trust my hun to come up with a plan!" Brian twirled a strand of Coral's hair around his pinky finger and kissed her sweetly.

"Ugh," Nick shared the same disgusted expression as me, "Get a room!"

However, neither of them responded, so I followed Nick's lead out to the living room to watch some TV.

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Coral and Brian had been in the kitchen quite some time, but now I knew they were planning the party because I could hear them discussing it. I began to get tired sitting on the couch with Nick, so I grabbed a blanket.

"Want some?" I offered the end of the blanket to Nick.

"Sure," he replied.

I threw the blanket over Nick and me and snuggled under it.

"Mind if I put my head on your shoulder?" I asked him.

"'Course not," he smiled at me.

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Coral and Brian finished up with the party planning and came into the living room about half an hour later.

"So, the party will be fun!" Brian commented.

"Yeah! I - oh! Shhhhh!" Coral pointed to Nick and I, who had both fallen asleep under out blanket, my head on his shoulder. "Aren't they cute?" she reached over and turned the TV off.

"Geez, when are they gonna realize they're practically made for each other and just get it on already?" Brian laughed quietly.

Coral giggled, "Well, hey, now that they're out of the way, why don't WE get it on?"

Brian pulled her close and kissed her, "How's that for an answer?"

Coral merely kissed him back.

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END PART FOUR