Chapter 13
by Chelle, Shawn, Jennifer, Beth and Tess


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back at the Breakfast Table~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nick and Chelle approached the table and suddenly everyone that was laughing, grew quiet. Nick looked around at everyone and asked, " What?"
Several of their friends looked down at the table, avoiding his eyes and a couple snickered behind their hands when AJ moaned out "Oh baby", in his best 'Nick' voice.
Chelle looked at AJ with a glare, smacking him up side the head with her palm as she followed Nick to a set of empty chairs.
"Hey!" AJ yelled, grabbing his head.
"Serves you right, Bone. It was more like, 'Nick, oh Nick." Carmen said with as much seriousness as she could manage.
Chelle looked back at Carmen and said, "Oh, ha ha ..laugh it up, Ms. ‘Oh AJ, don’t stop...Oh God!’," she mimicked.
Carmen stuck her tongue out at her and watched intently as they sat down. She had to be careful about how much she teased Chelle and Nick. They knew too much about what had happened last night. And where. Then again...she knew enough about what they had been doing last night and where to keep up with anything they threw at her.
A waiter came around and Nick and Chelle ordered breakfast, silencing Carmen for the moment. Chelle looked around the table and noticed that Brian and Sherry weren’t there, yet.
"So where’s Brian and Sherry?" Nick asked.
Kevin looked around the table at everyone and grimaced when his gaze caught AJ.
AJ had a huge grin on his face and was barely containing his laughter. He knew AJ wouldn’t be able to keep the ‘intruder’ fiasco from last night a secret for long.
"Well...if you hadn’t been so preoccupied yourself last night...you’d know what had happened," AJ began, not noticing the glare Kevin was sending his way.
"What? What happened?" Chelle asked, curious about what they had missed.
"AJ," Kevin warned.
"Aw...c’mon, ‘Dad’...even you have to admit that it was funny..." AJ said.
"Maybe so...but you know Brian...how he is."
Kevin wasn’t going to let AJ rag on Brian too much. He was going to be embarrassed enough by what happened last night and he was quite sure Sherry wasn’t going to be much different.
He glanced up and spotted the couple walking towards the table hand in hand and shot AJ a warning look.
"Morning, cuz," Kevin said, taking in the slight blush that stained Brian’s cheeks.
He also noticed that Sherry was blushing as well.
The couple looked around and found there were two empty chairs on the end. Brian led Sherry to them and they sat down, all eyes on them.
"Brian....I can’t do this," Sherry whispered to him, trying to stand.
"Sherry...we agreed.....we would face them together. You can do this. I’m right here," he whispered back, holding tightly to her hand.
"Everything okay?" Nick asked.
"Yeah...Brian...you can tell us the ‘naked’ truth..." AJ grinned.
"Come on, Sherry...you guys can ‘lay it all’ out for us," Carmen snickered.
Brian rolled his eyes. Leave it to AJ to bring it up. He was hoping to get through breakfast without embarrassing Sherry any further.
"Sherry? Are you okay?" Chelle asked, noticing how bright Sherry’s cheeks had gotten.
Sherry nodded. She didn’t think they would leave them alone about last night. But how was she going to get through this? She felt the warmth of Brian’s hand in hers and smiled as he squeezed it, quietly reassuring her.
"Brian and I ‘enjoyed’ our evening....let’s leave it at that, shall we?" Sherry said quietly, hoping that everyone would get the hint and drop the subject.

Chelle could tell that Sherry was ready for a change of subject and since they had already discussed her and Nick at length, she decided to give in to her silent plea.
She didn't need the discussion of their nocturnal activities to resurface.
"So what is everyone doing today?" Chelle asked.

"We have plans to go swimming with dolphins," Howie said, reaching for Tanya's hand.

"We do", Tanya asked looking surprised at Howie.

"And I’m going to take my credit cards and AJ on a site seeing tour to do some shopping," Carmen said.
"What?" AJ asked. He was the man in this twosome and he was the one who was supposed to be buying.
AJ rolled his eyes. He loved shopping. He could always change her mind about who was paying the bill later.
"Oh, great! Maybe you can update his wardrobe. Buy him some real clothes," Chelle said with a grin.
"Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?" AJ asked her, looking over his ever present sunglasses.
"Oh, Bone...that pink shirt was loud!!   It would do us ALL a favor if you just let Ms. Fashion coordinator here help you out"  Chelle answered back with a laugh.
"I like my shirt!" AJ said, miffed. 
Chelle could not help but laugh even louder seeing AJ pout to her teasing.
"So Brian what are you and Sherry going to do?" Howie asked, trying to stop AJ and Chelle’s bickering. He didn't think it would be too adventurous after their drinking fiasco last night.
"We thought about going parasailing in the harbor," Brian said.
"Yeah it looked like a lot of fun." Sherry agreed.
“you’re gonna do what?” AJ replied with his mouth wide open in surprise.
The guys looked at Brian, stunned. He was afraid of heights and he wanted to go parasailing?
"Hey cuz are you sure you want to do that?" Kevin asked Brian.
Brian looked over at Kevin and grinned. "Gotta let go sometime. Now seems as good a time as any."
"Plus, he'll be with me. I'll take good care of him," Sherry said, putting her arm around Brian.
"Like you took care of him last night." AJ said wiggling his eyebrows to Sherry.
Sherry rolled her eyes at AJ, but otherwise ignored his wise crack.
"So, Kev, where are you taking Shawn?" Sherry asked.
"Nope...can’t tell. It’s a surprise," Kevin said with a grin.
"C’mon, Kev...we told you our plans," AJ whined.
"No...." Kevin answered back firmly.
"You’re not even going to tell me?" Shawn asked.
"Nope...a surprise is a surprise."
"Not even a hint?" Shawn asked, curious about what he had up his sleeve.
"Not even a hint. So what are you two doing today, Nick?" Kevin asked, hoping to get the attention off his plans for the day.
Nick looked up from his breakfast and was about to tell Kev and the others his ideas when he noticed how quiet Shawn and Carmen had gotten. He glanced at them and saw that Shawn had gotten quite pale.
Chelle glanced at Shawn and followed her stare. When her eyes rested on her ex and his wife, she nearly stopped breathing. ‘Oh, God...not now. Not here...’ she thought. ‘Keep it together, Chelle.’
She returned her gaze to her plate, but she had lost her appetite. She pushed her food across her plate, occasionally looking up to watch her ex.
After a couple of long moments, she decided that she couldn’t just sit there and wait for the other shoe to drop. She knew he had seen her. He had been obvious when he looked right at her and gave her that smug look of his.  Even his wife was obnoxious. That evil stare she had thrown her when she had walked in. Well, Chelle decided that she’s had enough and stood up as if she were going to walk up towards Jared and his new wife but instead she stood still while debating what she needed to do in her mind.  She couldn’t deal with this the whole time she was here.  Her head kept telling her to take a pineapple and hit him over the head with it, but her heart knew it would not help what she was feeling inside.  Yep, that little voice inside said, ‘ you better jet before they see you lose it again.
Chelle turned on her heel and made a quick exit out of the room, the tears threatening to spill. Shawn stood quickly and ran after her, leaving Nick and the others stunned. “What in the hell is he doing here? Carmen said angrily.  “I don’t know but maybe we should go with Shawn”, Tanya suggested.  “No, let Shawn handle her right now.  You know how Chelle hates everyone making a fuss over her”, Sherry added in.  The girls all decided that Sherry was right and decided to wait for Chelle and Shawn to return to the table.  Nick threw his napkin onto his plate and pushed back from the table, intending on finding out what was going on.
"Nick...." Kevin warned, jumping to his feet.
"No, Kevin....that bastard made her cry! And I want to know why!"
"Will it help Chelle?  I think she needs another female to talk to her right now." Brian asked, placing his hand on Nick’s arm.
Nick's anger crumbled. They were right. At first he wasn't sure who the couple was, but after the look on Chelle's face, he knew exactly who they were and why she was so upset. Whatever they had said to her last night had her upset enough. Him causing problems now wouldn't help her at all. He slumped back into his chair and hung his head. He felt helpless and didn’t know what he could do to help.  He wanted to go after Chelle, but Shawn had gone.  And somehow he knew she was who Chelle really needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~with Shawn and Chelle~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Shawn entered the ladies room, she found Chelle leaning against the sink holding her head in her hands. Shawn came up behind her and grabbed her into a hug as she's done some many times before. "Aww Chelle, I am sorry this is happening" Shawn comforted then said, "I noticed you ran into him last night also, what happened?"
 “yeah I ran into him alright” Chelle said through sniffles, “and he introduced me to his new wife”.  Finally hearing herself say the words set Chelle off into a new batch of tears.
 “Honey, shhhhhh, I thought you were happy to be rid of Jared.  Why are you so upset?” Shawn asked hoping Chelle would finally open up to her.
Chelle then looked over to her friend and knew she was finally gonna have to tell Shawn the truth.  Shawn had always been there for her and  never could keep things from her for too long.  “Shawn, I didn’t break up with Jared like I said” Chelle said looking back down at the floor then continued “he left me for her”.  Chelle knew there was a little more to be said but she just wasn’t ready to reveal everything just yet.  She still didn’t understand how she opened up to Nick the night before. 
“oh sweetie, that is awful.  But you know what?  It’s his loss. You’re much better off without him.   He never deserved you. ”  Shawn said while rubbing her hand on Chelle’s back.  She then again explained to Chelle, “Don’t let that ruin your entire trip though, ok.  Because you’ve got an amazing looking man out there that adores you and is really worried not to mention is wanting to help you forget all about Jared”. 
Chelle then thought of Nick and said to herself, “great, that’s all I need is him feeling sorry for me.  Now what am I gonna do.  I can’t let him see me like this.”    
She looked  at her reflection in the mirror and began wiping her tears away and said, “you’re right Shawn.  I really am over Jared and have been for so long now but this is twice now that he’s made feel like this.  It’s not like me to not be in control of my emotions.  I just don’t understand what I am feeling right now”.
 “No, I wouldn’t think you would understand why.  I don’t think anyone could having not been in your shoes.  But perhaps it really is for the best to try to move on” Shawn said still watching her friend dry up her tears then added, “And it seems you’ve made a great start with none other than Nick Carter”.
Chelle looked back at her friend after hearing her words sink in and with a sad look she replied back, “well, I am going to show Jared that I am over him.  No more crying over that idiot.  As for Nick, I am having a great time with him but I can’t let myself get carried away.  We all know they’re here for a short time and  I just can’t let my heart go through this pain anymore.  Besides, one week from now I will be back on my way to New York and back to my real world.  This fairy tale will all come to an end then.”
 Not believing what she just heard from Chelle, Shawn just stared at her friend as if she were a stranger.  Whatever feelings had surfaced from the encounter she had with her ex  has once again placed her friend back into her shell that she was in a year ago after the bad break up.  She then looked at her friend in the eyes and said, “Chelle, you shouldn’t close yourself off from being happy again.  That is what’s waiting for you back in New York, misery.  However, you have so many people who love you back home and hate to see you so upset like this.  I thought you were thinking about moving back home to California?” 
Not wanting to continue the conversation, Chelle rechecked her appearance to make sure she looked presentable then turned back to her friend and said, “Look, let’s not have this conversation now.  Everyone will think the worse has happen and that will only feed to Jared’s sick mind game he’s playing with me.  We better hurry back out there.” 
"Unsure as to how the subject had been changed so quickly, Shawn sighed. She knew that Chelle had just ended their friendly little chat. 'Fine,' she thought, 'We won't talk about this now, but we will later. And next time I think I will bring the other girls to help me encourage her to open up.' Shawn followed Chelle out of the ladies' room and they headed back to the table to rejoin the others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back with Nick and the others~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You guys wanted to know about my plans before all this happened." Nick reminded them.
"Yeah...what are you going to do?" Howie asked, trying to relieve the tension around the table.
"Well, I thought about going to the show they were going to perform on the beach.  We all really seemed to enjoy the dances last night.”  Nick said as he replayed the wonderful memory in his head, “But after this, I think I will take Chelle sailing. Being on the water helps take my mind off my troubles. Maybe it will help her, too."
"I think that sounds great, Nick," Sherry said.
"Yeah...good idea, Nick," Brian agreed.
“Yeah, I agree with them Nick.  That sounds like a wonderful idea and I know she loves the water.  That will help her a great deal”  Tanya said placing a comforting arm around Nick.
Nick smiled. He just wanted to see Chelle smile again. He hated to see her cry.  In his mind he knew that he didn’t want to get too involved with her but felt that his heart was beginning to lead him in a different direction.
“Damn, does this mean I have to be nice to her?”  AJ blurted out, knowing that would lighten the sullen moods at the table.
“yeah, I guess so and maybe a good start is to let me buy you an outfit that she wouldn’t pick on you about”  Carmen teased back with a laugh.  Carmen then looked at AJ and was happy that she met a guy who always knew how to brighten up everyone’s spirits.
“yeah AJ, that would be a great idea man.  Well, I hope you all have fun today.  And guys not to talk about work today but don’t forget we’re meeting with Davy tomorrow morning at the studios alright”  Kevin said and then turned to Nick, “oh and um guys, do try to get a little sleep tonight since we’re suppose to sing a little tomorrow, alright?”
“Yeah sure”, the guys all said at once.  Just then Chelle and Shawn reappeared as if nothing were wrong.
As Chelle sits back in her seat, Nick leans over and gives her a comforting hug then asks, “Are you ok?”.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.  Thanks.” Chelle answers back with a small smile.
“I am glad.  I also hope you’re still up for spending the day with me because I’ve got a surprise for you.”  Nick suggested, hoping that she would agree to go with him.
“Really, a surprise?” Chelle beamed with a bigger smile then replied, “I’d love to spend the day with you Nicky.”
Nick  was relieved that he was able to get her to smile again.  He then said, “yep, a surprise that I think you’ll love”.
“well, then what are we waiting for?  Let’s go.” Chelle said forgetting that anyone else was in the room.  Nick quickly paid for their breakfast and followed Chelle towards the exit of the restaurant.   "Talk to you all later," Nick called back over his shoulder.
"They have the right idea. We should be going too." Howie said, standing.
Tanya stood too and Howie threw some bills on the table beside Nick's.
"Shawn? You ready?" Kevin asked, paying for their breakfast.
 "Yeah...hang on Tanya...we'll walk out with you." Shawn called out to Tanya.
Tanya then turned around as Shawn caught up with her then asked, “Is everything alright with Chelle?”
“Not really but let’s finish that conversation later okay.”  Shawn said quietly to Tanya.
“Well, I guess that means breakfast is over” AJ replied as he watched the others walk away.  He then looked over at the others left at the table then asked curiously, “do you guys know what’s up Kevin’s sleeve?”
“No, but I do think they have the right idea of spending quality time with our beautiful ladies here.” Brian answered smiling over at Sherry. 
Well, then let's get out of here," Sherry said "And make sure you buy something nice for Carmen too, AJ"  she added.
"Yeah..yeah..yeah," AJ said. "Later man."
"Bye Sherry" Carmen called out then looked over at AJ and said, "so, ready for me to take you shopping?"
“Yeah, as long as you let me buy you something too”,  AJ said as he stood and extended his arm out to Carmen.
"Deal." she said taking his arm.