Chapter 22
The guys had been flying for about an hour when AJ went over and sat down next to Nick.
"What is going on with you man?" he asked Nick.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play stupid with me. You are really starting to hurt Kristen and you haven't been going out very long. What you did last night was really un-called for. Then you are always getting in arguments with her over the stupidest things. Now what is your problem lately?" Nick wasn't saying anything he just stared straight ahead. After about a minute he turned to look at AJ and there were tears in his eyes.
"I don't know Bone. I really don't know what's gotten into me. But....I think that I might love her and I don't know how to react to it. I mean sure I've had girlfriends before but I never really really loved them. You know?"
"Nick if you love a girl you don't treat her like crap or you will loose her. Last night Kristen told me that she had to shove you off her. Now what is up with that?"
"I was drunk. I don't know what I was doing."
"Don't use that shit as an excuse. You drinking too much beer is definately going to make you do stupid stuff but you're still responsible for what happened. You are lucky she's even talking to you after that."
"Why is it she talks to you about all this kind of stuff that is bothering her but she doesn't talk to me about it?"
"Well look at the way you've been treating her. I wouldn't talk to you either." Nick started thinking about how he hasn't been treating Kristen very good ever since they started dating. He knew he had to fix it before he lost her for good. He got up and walked over to Brain.
"Hey Bri what is Angela's cell phone number?"
"What do you need it for?"
"I need to talk to Kristen." Brian wrote the number down on a piece of paper and gave it to Nick. Nick grabbed Brian's cell phone and went to the back of the plane where the other guys wouldn't hear his conversation and he dialed the number.
"Hello?" Angela said.
"Hey Angie it's me Nick."
"Hey Nick how's it going." Kristen heard Angela say hi to Nick and a huge smile formed on her face and she tried to take the phone away so she could talk to him. Angela smacked Kristen's hand away.
"Uh not so good. Is Kristen there? I really need to talk to her about something."
"Sure hold on." Angela covered the phone before she started to talk to Kristen.
"Something is wrong with your boy and it's important that he talks to you."
"It's not bad news is it?" Kristen asked.
"I don't know, here you talk to him," Angela said handing Kristen the phone.
"Hey Nick what's going on?"
"Do you think you could go somewhere away from Angela so she can't hear your side of the conversation?" Nick asked. Kristen told Angela that she would be right back and went and sat on a bench in the mall.
"Okay so what is going on?"
"There's something the matter with me Kristen."
"What do you mean?"
"I've been treating you so bad lately and the reason why isn't making any sense to me."
"Why then Carter? You've been emotionly hurting me a lot lately and I'm not liking it."
"I'm telling you that my reason isn't a very good one."
"I don't care I still want to hear."
"Well, I think that I'm in love with you." Kristen didn't say anything but tears started coming out of her eyes. On the other line Nick started to get really worried by the silence. Silence was never a good thing to him.
"I have to go Nick," Kristen said finally and hung up the phone before he could respond. Kristen sat on the bench and cried her eyes out. Angela walked over and sat down next to Kristen.
"What's wrong? Nick didn't break up with you did he?" Kristen just shook her head no as more tears fell from her eyes.
"Can we just go home?" Kristen asked. Angela nodded her head and they headed back to the apartment. When they got there Kristen went straight to her room without saying a word to Angela what was wrong. She just kept asking herself why Nick loved her. She couldn't love him because she would just get hurt like before. She wouldn't allow herself to love him in return. In the long run she knew that would hurt Nick if he fell more and more in love with her. After about two hours Kristen still hadn't left her room. Angela went and knocked on her door.
"I'm not in the mood to talk right now!" Kristen hollered through the door. Angela knew what was up so she dialed Brian's cell phone number.
"Put Nick on the phone now," Angela said before Brian could even say hello. Brian handed the phone to Nick.
"It's Angela she sounds pissed and she wants to talk to you." Nick took the phone from Brian and said hello.
"What the hell did you say to Kristen, Nickolas Gene Carter!" Angela yelled into the phone.
"What are you talking about?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about Nick. She gets off the phone with you and starts crying her eyes out and won't tell me what you said or why she's crying. She's been in her room for the last couple of hours and won't talk to me. I'm the only one she has to talk to for a whole month so I suggest you tell me what you said to her."
"I didn't say anything. I apologized and told her that I loved her. She didn't say anything then said she had to go and hung up on me."
"I bet you it has something to do with you saying that you loved her."
"Why would she get so worked up about it though? It's okay if she doesn't love me back. I don't expect her too. So what is going on then?"
"I don't know. She talks to AJ a lot so maybe he knows. Talk with him and then call me back and tell me whats up." They hung up the phone and Nick gave Brian back his cellular. He went and sat down next to AJ again and looked at him.
"What do you need Nick?" AJ asked.
"Something is wrong with Kristen. She talks to you all the time so I figured you would know what is up with her."
"Well what is going on?" Nick explained everything to AJ about him saying he loved Kristen and the way she was reacting.
"I have a pretty good idea what is wrong."
"Then what?"
"Don't be repeating any of this cause I don't know if she will get angry with me or what. Okay?" Nick nodded his head. "Well she had this boyfriend, Jesse. Apparently he was the first guy that she ever loved and I'm guessing he told her that he loved her too. She ended up giving herself away to him. She went to visit him one day upon surprise and found him in bed with some other chic. She's afraid if she falls in love again that she will just get hurt and she's trying to prevent that from happening," AJ explained.
"I don't understand though. I told her that I loved her but she never said anything back. If she's not in love with me why should she be afraid of being hurt?" Nick questioned.
"I don't know. Maybe she feels she should love you in return or something like that. Nick I don't know I'm not a phsyciatrist."
"Well what can I do to try and make things better?"
"I don't know Nick stop bothering me."
"Well you're supposed to be the romantic one out of all of us think up of something."
"I'm romantic with my girls not other guys' girls."
"Please AJ think I'm not good at this stuff."
"Obviously. She likes the color purple. Buy her purple roses or something. I'm sure she would like them."
"That's a great idea." Nick got up and went over to Brian again. He got the local flourist number in Orlando out of Brian's address book. Brian kept that number handy in case him and Angela got in a fight while he was away he could just have flowers delivered to her. "Brian give me your phone again."
"Man Nick. You're using my phone more than I am. I'll be giving you the phone bill for all of this," Brian said. Nick ignored him and dialed the number. He ordered a dozen violet roses to be delivered to Kristen the next day. He gave the man his credit card number to pay for them. Nick gave Brian his phone back and went back to AJ.
"Are you aware that a dozen violet roses cost me a hundred and twenty-five bucks?"
"I could have told you that violet roses cost that much."
"Then why didn't you?"
"You never asked," AJ said with a grin.
Chapter 22
