We got to the mall five or ten minutes later. We decided to go to the smaller mall, because we didn't want to attract people. We didn't want to make a scene. We just wanted to be normal brothers, shopping.
That idea went downhill when we were stopped by two younger girls. They weren't going nuts or anything, but they were fans.
"Oh my Gosh, you're Nick and Aaron Carter!" one of them yelled.
"Yeah..." I smiled.
"Mind not making a big deal about it?" Aaron asked with a laugh.
Both the girls nodded. "Can we have your autographs?" the other girl asked us. We never refused autographs.
"Sure..." I smiled again and pulled out a pen from my bag. One of the girls just happened to have a magazine with her, so Aaron signed a picture of him and I signed a pictures of me. Then we said goodbye and continued on our way.
We found a jewlery store called Jem's not long after. I knew I'd gotten things there before, it was good place. We went inside, and right away a young woman approached us.
"Can I help you fellas find something?" she asked us.
"Yeah... my brother wants to find a ring for his girlfriend..." Aaron spoke up. I punched his shoulder jokingly. The woman smiled.
"What kind of ring are you looking for?" she asked me. I just sort of shrugged.
"It's just sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I haven't seen her in a few months and I'm going to see her tomorrow, I just wanted to get her something." I told the woman. She nodded.
"So just a plain ring?" she asked. I nodded. "Would you want gold or sterling silver?" she asked again.
I looked down at Aaron, who mouthed 'gold', so I replied, "Gold, I guess."
"Alright. We have some gift rings right over here... what price ring are you looking for?" she asked.
I thought for a moment, and then answered, "Doesn't really matter. As long as she likes it. Do you do engravings?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yes." she answered, "Ok, here are some in the rang of $100 to $300. If you want less than that we do have some over there..."
"Ok thanks, these look good." I replied, smiling at my brother.
"Ok. Let me know if you want to look at any closer." she continued.
"I will. Thanks." I answered. Then she walked away.
"You're going to spend $300 on a ring???" Aaron practically yelled at me, looking up in shock.
"Why not? She deserves it. I want to say I'm sorry for always being away from her." I replied.
"You're nuts." Aaron said plainly. "Hey, I like that one..." he continued, pointing at a nice gold band with a diamond in the middle. I looked it at for minute and answered,
"Wow, so do I."
"Get it!" Aaron yelled. I laughed at him.
"I ain't gonna just pick it up and buy it." I told him. "Go tell the ladie I want to look at it."
Aaron grinned and took off to find the lady. They two of them came back a minute later.
"He wants to look at that one..." Aaron pointed to the ring again. I grinned.
The lady nodded and opened up the glass shelf. She pulled out the ring and handed it to me.
"This one is a woman's ring. It's... $275.50." she told me.
I looked at it and fell in love. It was perfect for Savanna. The perfect ring. Aaron looked up at me, wondering what I was thinking.
"Do you like it, Nick? Are you going to get it?" he asked, pulling on my shirt.
"I wouldn't usually do this... but this is the perfect ring for her. She'd absolutely love it, don't you think so?" I asked my brother.
"Yeah, Savanna will love it." Aaron repeated.
"Well... wow... I can't believe I'm doing this... I guess I'll get it then." I told the lady. She smiled.
"Some things are just meant to be. And you obviously think this is the right ring." she told me. I nodded. "Ok, then, well... did you want something engraved in it?"
"How much extra is that?" I asked her, not like I cared.
"We do it for an extra 10 cents a letter." the woman answered.
"Ok, great... then... just put 'I love you Sav, Nick' on the inside." I told her. She smiled and nodded, writting it down.
"Can I ask... how long have you been together?" the woman wondered.
"Just over two years... it seems like alot, but I haven't gotten to see her much lately. We sort of live in different cities." I answered.
"Long distance relationships are hard, I know that. I was in a long distance relationship for four years." the lady told me with a smile.
"What happened?" nosey Aaron asked.
"We got married... five months ago. Some long distance relationships don't work, mine did, and I'm lucky. We found out the key is communicating." she smiled. "I hope yours works out too."
"Thanks." I answered sincerely.
"So... that comes to $296.23. How will you be paying?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Uh... cash..." I whispered. I didn't usually have that much on me, but today I did.
"Ok." she answered, but looked at me a little weird when I pulled out three $100 bills, and handed them to her. She took them and gave me my change. "I'll start the engraving now... and it should be ready in about..." she began, checking a list, "An hour?" she asked.
"Ok... that sounds good. Thanks so much." I answered.
"Thank you for shopping at Jem's, and I'll see you in a little bit." the woman finished. I nodded and then Aaron and I walked away.
"So... it's 5:35pm, we gotta come back here in an hour... that'll be 6:35pm, then we'll have to rush and get back to the stadium." I told my little brother. He nodded, but looked excited.
"Savanna's going to love it, you know she is..." he answered. "I wish I could be there when you give it to her." he said sadly, knowing he couldn't go to Lakeland with me.
"Bro... I'd love to bring you to Lakeland to visit Savanna with me. But you gotta go back to the Keys with the family... you don't see dad, BJ and Angel enough to be away from them anymore." I told Aaron.
"But you don't see them either, why can you just go off to Lakeland with your girlfriend? Why don't you spend time with us?" Aaron asked sadly.
"Aaron, c'mon... don't do that to me. I wanna be with you and the family too... but I need to be with Savanna. And I'm 21, an adult now... I live on my own." I said, getting a little sad.
"I know, Nick... I just miss you so much when you're away from us... I want you to be my big brother..." Aaron sounded like he was going to cry. I bent down and hugged him quickly.
"I'll always be your big brother, pal. Forever. I'll always be here for you. You're growing up so fast. I remember when you were like eight, just starting to sing... you just wanted to sing and dance and you had so much energy..." I smiled.
"You didn't have a girlfriend then. You spent all your time with me then." he said, remembering.
"I know, pal. But I really think that Savanna is the girl I'm meant to be with. I can't lose her. Can you just understand that?" I asked my little brother who was pouting.
"Are you really happy with her, Nick?" he asked me.
"I really, really am. More than anything, I love her." I answered.
"Then I'm happy for you, bro." Aaron finished and hugged me again.
It made me even more happy to know that my family, especially Aaron, was behind me 100%.
"So, what should we do for an hour?" I asked him as we started walking around the mall again.
"Can we get some food, I'm starving!!!" Aaron yelled.
"Actually yeah, I haven't eaten anything all day. Let's go." I finished and put my arm around my brother's shoulder, as we headed toward the food court.
