Chapter 5

By: Victoria S.

A few minutes later we arrived at the club, parked the car, and began walking towards the entrance. We looked around the outside of the club for all of the guys, but they weren't there. They must have been running late.. Or maybe we were just early.

"What time is it, AJ?" I asked.

He looked down at his pager and said "11:28." Two more minutes until they came.. My stomach was in knots. I was so nervous. I couldn't really understand why I was so nervous. I had been around Nick before, and everytime I was I felt completely comfortable, and cool with him. I think AJ sensed that I was nervous, because of the look that I had on my face.

"How are you feeling?" he asked with a smile.

"Nervous.."

"It's only natural that you would be. Just relax yourself.. You already know Nick likes you, so don't worry about it."

"See, that's the thing that I'm not so sure about," I said to AJ. "What if he doesn't like me anymore.. What if after he left my room today he decided that I wasn't worth waiting around for.."

"Now, why on earth would you think of such a thing? You know that's not the case, so don't worry about it. Nick likes you, it's very obvious.. So, just relax." He pulled me into his arms and gave me a reassuring hug to let me know that everything would be alright. Just at that moment from the corner of my eye I saw Brian pull up to the club, and park. He got out, and walked over to the passenger's side, and opened the car door. A beautiful blonde came out of the car. Brian put his arm around her, and she wrapped her arms around his waist, and they began walking towards the club. They were pretty far away from us, but I could still tell that they made the cutest, most perfect couple. They seemed completely compatible with each other, and from what Brian had said about her, she seemed really nice.

"Yo, Brian! What's up, man?" AJ shouted.

Brian, and the blonde(I had forgotten her name), walked towards us, finally reaching us. "Hey, AJ.." Brian said. "Hey Rebecca.. How are you?" he said making eye contact with me. I could tell by the look that he was giving me that he wanted to know about what had happened between AJ and me.

"Pretty good.." I said smiling.

He looked at me, and then AJ, and saw that we were still huddling together. Partly from the hug that we had just had, and partly because of the cold. It was freezing in San Francisco at night.

"Leighanne," Brian said speaking up "This is my friend Rebecca.. Becca, this if my girlfriend, Leighanne," he said introducing us.

Leighanne and I shook hands, and began speaking. After a minute, Brian cut in and said "Shall we go inside?"

"What about the others?" asked AJ.

"I told them to just meet us inside.. They are gonna be a few minutes late. They stopped for gas."

We walked in, and as we did, I looked around at my surroundings. The club was especially crowded, due to a convention that was in town, and the whole place was filled with smoke. The noise was deafening. There were so many people there, talking, laughing, drinking. Just having a great time. We found a couple of tables that were next to each other, and pushed them together to make one long one. We made sure that there was enough room for everyone to squeeze together. I knew Brian wanted to know about my decision, and what I had decided, so I leaned over to him and said "Do you want to go outside and talk for a few minutes?"

"What!?" he shouted back. It was very hard to hear one another.

I spoke up, and repeated myself. "Do you want to go outside and talk for a few minutes?"

"Yeah!" he yelled. "We'll be right back... Can you please order for me, sweetie?" he asked Leighanne. Apparently she knew exactly what he wanted.

"What do you want?" AJ asked me.

"Well, I'm not old enough to drink.." I yelled into his ear.

"That's OK. They know us here.. They won't give a shit.. What do you want?"

"A beer!" I yelled.

He nodded his head, seeming to understand what I had just told him. Brian took me by the arm and escorted outside of the club.

"So, what happened?" he shouted.

"Brian, we're not in the club anymore... You don't need to yell," I said laughing.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said also laughing.

"It's OK." I went on to discuss all the things that AJ and I had talked about in the car, and about him asking me if I regretted the kiss or not about a thousand times.

"That's AJ for you... When he wants an answer, he wants an answer."

"Yeah, I realized that tonight.." I said.

"I just have one question for you.."

"Yeah?"

"Why were you and AJ hugging when Leighanne and I pulled up?"

"He was just trying to keep me calm.. I was really nervous about seeing Nick tonight. And I still am. How do I look?" I asked really paranoid.

"You look great. Don't worry about it. You don't need to be nervous.."

Just then I saw Kevin drive up in a BMW. Kevin was in the front driving, and Howie was next to him in the drivers seat. I looked in the back, and made out a figure. The windows were tinted in the back, so it was very hard for me to tell, but I knew that there was someone there. Kevin got out, handed his keys to the valet, then Howie got out, then Nick. Then, my heart just about stopped. Time seemed to stop. I felt like I was going to die right on the spot. Or, at least faint. And I almost did, right into Brian's arms. I had to hold onto him for support. Right behind Nick, a tall, thin, busty, beautiful, blue eyed, girl in a very short red dress got out. After my initial shock, I tried to look at the bright side, and thought that maybe it was Kevin's girlfriend, or date, or something, but then I saw Nick holding hands with her. And that's when I knew that it was Nick's date. Nick had brought another girl along with him. I felt like crying. I don't know how I didn't end up crying right then and there, but I held my ground. I turned and faced Brian. Brian gave me a sympathetic look, and said "Go inside.." I didn't protest, I just went, without even second guessing it.

I ran inside, and ran full speed towards the table. I arrived out of breath. My hair was all messed up, and I had even started crying on my way towards the table. I felt my mascara dripping down both sides of my cheeks.

"Oh my god" Leighanne explained. "You poor thing.. Come on, let me take you to the bathroom with me, and help you get cleaned off."

AJ sat there, not knowing what to do. Leighanne took my hand, and led me through the club, towards the back where the bathrooms were. When we got inside, she grabbed some paper towels, wetted them, and ran them over my cheeks. It absorbed it rather quickly, because when she threw them away, they were stained with black. By that time, I had begun to cry even harder. More tears streamed down my cheeks, and I could hardly breath.

Leighanne took me into her arms, and rocked me back and forth, like a little baby. She didn't even know me, or know of the situation, and yet she still knew exactly what to do. It was unbelievable. She sat there cradling me for I don't know how long, and then finally, I stopped crying.

"Now.." She said. "Tell me what's wrong."

I told her my whole story. From start to finish. How I met them all, how I immediately knew that I liked both Nick and AJ, how great of a friend Brian was to me, the car ride over to the restaurant with AJ, and then I began to explain to her the reason I was crying.

"I blew my chance, Leighanne.." I began to say. "I could of had him, but instead I waited to long, and he went out and found another girl... And, man, she is beautiful. I could never compare to her."

"Shh.. Don't speak like that, Rebecca. Your beautiful, alright? And if Nick doesn't want you, then you know what?"

"What?"

"Fuck him! Who cares! Maybe your too good for Nick. Maybe who you are really destined to be with is AJ, and maybe all of this happened for a reason."

I thought this over for awhile, and then decided that she was probably right.

"Now, how about we retouch that make-up, and we go back out there? And whatever happens, happens."

I nodded my head, and then we began with my makeup. When we were finished, and we had both gone to the bathroom, we walked out of the restroom, and towards the table. By that time everyone was sitting down at the table. I saw Kevin, Howie, AJ, Brian, Nick, and that other girl all sitting around. Nick and that girl were talking amongst themselves. By that point I was so fed up, that I didn't care they were talking. I mean, sure it hurt me, but if he didn't like me, he didn't like me. I would just have to get used to it. When Brian saw us walking towards them he quickly stood up, and made his way towards us.

"Are you alright, Rebecca?"

"Yes, Brian, I am alright. Leighanne and I talked about it, and I am fine now."

"Rebecca, I need to tell you something.." Brian said. Leighanne knew that he wanted to speak with me privately, so she left us alone to talk.

"Yeah?" I shouted above the music.

"That girl.."

"What!?" I yelled.

He raised his voice and said "That girl, it's not Nick's date.. She's just a friend of his.."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious! I asked him, and he told me that the reason he was holding hands with her was because he was helping her out of the car. She's an old friend from high school. She moved out her about a year ago, and since we were in town he decided to give her a call and see if she wanted to join us. He noticed that you were upset.."

"What did he say?"

"He said that he wants to talk to you.."

"Then why is he ignoring me?" I yelled.

"He's not ignoring you.. I don't think he even saw you come out of the bathroom yet."

So, this girl wasn't Nick's date? It wasn't? It was just a friend of his from high school? I felt like such an idiot. I felt like such a loser. I couldn't believe I had jumped to all those conclusions without even knowing the facts.

"Nick!" Brian yelled. Nick didn't answer. I don't think he could hear over all of the noise that was in the background. Brian called once again. "Nick!" Still, no answer. "Hold on a sec.." he said turning to me. He walked over to Nick, leaned into his ear, and whispered something. Then, Nick looked up, and we locked eyes. I couldn't remove my eyes off of him. He was so beautiful.. He was like an angel.. Nick turned and faced the girl, said something to her, and then got up walking towards me. When he reached me he motioned for me to follow him. We walked all the way to the clubs entrance in silence. When we arrived outside I felt the cold breeze, and shivered a little.

"Are you cold?" he asked me. Those were the first words that we had spoken since he had left my room earlier that night.

I nodded my head. He removed his leather jacket, and wrapped it around my shoulders.

"Better?"

"Yeah.." I said softly.

We walked side by side, not uttering a word until we reached the stairs that led to beach.

"Would you like to take a walk down there?" he asked.

I again nodded. I felt extremely nervous, and again, I had butterflies in my stomach. We walked down the stairs, and when we hit the sand we took off our shoes and walked barefoot.

"Your short without heels on.."

"Hey!" I said defensively.

"Sorry, that was mean of me to say..."

"That's alright Nick, don't worry about it."

Then again, silence. We walked, walked, walked, and walked, and then he turned to me and began to speak.

"You know, the girl that is in the club right now is my friend, right?"

"Brian just told me.."

"You didn't know before, did you?"

"No, I didn't know. Was it kind of obvious that I didn't know?"

"A little.. You running into the club like that kind of gave it away. What would you have done if she was my date?"

"Learned to accept it, and moved on," I said without even thinking about it. I sounded very sure of myself, and my answer, but inside I wasn't at all. I know that after awhile I would have moved on, but how long would it have taken? I didn't want to think about it anymore, because the thought was sending chills through my spine. I started speaking again. "There's nothing much else I could have done."

"You could have tried to split us up or something."

"Is that what you would have wanted me to do?" I asked confused.

"Well.."

"Look, Nick, I want you to be happy," I said looking up into his blue eyes. "And if she was making you happy, then I would be happy for you."

"But what if I wasn't happy? Then would you try to break us up?" he asked again.

I gave him a puzzled look. I didn't really understand why he was asking me all of those questions. I was confused.

"What if you knew I wasn't happy with her? What if I was happier with you?"

"But how would you know that you would be happier with me? You have never tried to be with me so we can both see.." I said.

"You've never let me.."

"Well, you've never tried. If you tried, maybe I would let you."

Then finally, he made his move. After all this time waiting, praying, and hoping that he would kiss me, he did. This kiss was filled with a lot more passion, and desire than the one that I had shared with AJ. My feelings for Nick were much stronger, and deeper than AJ's, and I had just then figured it out. He slipped his tongue into my mouth, and we intertwined, becoming one. I don't know how long the kiss lasted, and I didn't care. Time didn't matter anymore. I was with the man that I loved. Yes, you heard me right, loved. I guess ever since the first time that I had met him I knew that I had loved him. I just never opened up my eyes wide enough to notice it. That night, we never returned to the club. We just sat there all night, on the beach, talking, getting to know each other better, occasionally sharing a few kisses, but that was as far as it went. There was the right time and place for everything, and I knew I wasn't ready to rush into anything. I also knew that he felt the same way, because he never even made me feel pressured, or uncomfortable. I couldn't believe that it had taken me this long to figure out that the man that I had been searching for all of my life-- eighteen years at that point in my life had been right in front of my eyes the whole time. The best advice I ever got from anyone in my life was from my father. He once had told me "Follow your heart, and you will never go wrong." Those nine little words stuck with me, and to this day I will never forget them. For, without those words of encouragement, I would have never realized that Nick and I were meant to be together.

Decisions Story Page

Main Story Page