Chapter 57A few weeks had passed and it was the day before the guys were to go back on tour so they were all in the dance studio touching up on all their dance moves. "Nick.....Nick!" Kevin yelled trying to get his attention.
"Huh what?" Nick asked as he stopped dancing long after everyone else.
"You're not paying any attention. You were doing the dance moves to a completely different song with a completely different beat."
"Oh...sorry. I guess I just had another tune in my head. Hey Fatima can we take a break?"
"If it will get your mind back on track then you've got ten minutes. This is your last day of rehearsals and we're not going to be spending the whole time taking breaks," Fatima lectured.
"Thanks," Nick said grabbing his water bottle and taking a drink.
"You and Toni fighting or something?" AJ asked going up to Nick.
"No, not even close. She's just been talking crazy stuff lately and it's starting to bother me."
"Toni talk crazy stuff? Never!" AJ said sarcastically.
"I'm serious Bone. She keeps talking about you, Kristen, and the baby and how perfect Kristen has it and all this stuff. It's like the only thing she talks about is marriages and having babies."
"Nick, I'm only going to ask this once. When the hell do you plan on getting your head out of your ass and realize that there is probably a major point to why your girlfriend keeps bringing up marriage with you?" AJ asked and Nick just gave him a weird look still not understanding why Toni keeps bringing it up. "You dumbass!" AJ yelled smacking him in the head.
"Hey he doesn't have much brains in there as it is so don't knock out what little he does have," Brian said then walked away laughing.
"The girl wants to marry you Nick," AJ finally told him and Nick's facial expression went flat.
"Why?" he asked after a couple of seconds of thinking.
"Considering it's you? I have no fucking clue."
"Oh yeah like Kristen wanting to marry you was any better. What am I supposed to do about it?"
"You're an adult Nicky, that's something you have to decide on your own. But if you love her and want to spend every second with her then you should propose. When I realized that's how I felt about Kristen I did and now look at us."
"Bad comparison. You two have been through hell since you've been married. I'm sorry but I don't want to go through all the shit you two have been through to make everything perfect."
"You may not realize it but sometimes it's all worth it in the end," AJ said beginning to walk away when Nick grabbed his arm.
"AJ wait. When me and Toni first started dating I knew she was the one and I still know that. But don't you think that we're too young?"
"Kristen was only twenty when we got married and I was three years older. Toni is the same age Kristen was right now and you're two years older. I think you're both old enough to know what you want out of life," AJ said then walked away. The rest of the day Nick couldn't get his mind off the whole Toni and marriage deal. On the way home thinking about it and not really paying much attention to where he was driving to he ended up at Sites Jewelers.
"Can I help you find anything?" the lady behind the jewelry case asked when Nick walked in the door looking very confused.
"Um....yeah. I need.........I need an engagement ring," Nick said with a smile on his face. He knew that when he said that, that this was what he really wanted with Toni.
"Are you looking for anything in particular?"
"A diamond?" Nick asked questioningly.
"Well we have plenty of those. Do you have a price range that you're looking for?"
"I don't care. I don't care if it's the most expensive piece of jewelry in this whole store, she's worth it."
"Well then, this girl is very lucky if you think that way about her. Here are our finest engagement rings that we have in the store," the lady said pulling out a ring case that held about twenty rings."
"This one," Nick said picking up a ring. "This one is perfect she'll love it. I'll take it," he said giving the ring back to her.
"What size ring?"
"Um....I don't know a seven maybe?"
"You're in luck then that's what size it is. Let me ring it up. That'll be $3,999," she said putting it in a little black velvet box and giving it took Nick.
"Damn, she better say yes and never lose it," Nick said handing her his credit card. He took the ring then left the store and drove over to AJ's house. When he got to the door he could hear Mariah screaming as he rang the door bell. "Still loving fatherhood?" he asked sarcastically when AJ came to the door.
"You're not funny," AJ said with Mariah in his arms. "I'm still a complete novice on this father thing and I still don't exactly know what I'm doing."
"So just give her to Kristen. Females were born with that maternal instinct."
"She's at the store."
"Great," Nick said sarcastically. "Well bring her along. I need you to go to the car dealership with me."
"Let me guess another Prowler since the passenger side in yours is ruined?"
"No, we got that taken care of. I'm getting one for Toni. I already got her the ring, what do you think?" Nick asked showing AJ.
"Damn, that's nice. And you're getting her a car too?"
"Let's just go!" Nick yelled. AJ grabbed the car seat out of his car and put it in Nick's then went to the car dealership. Nick found a dark green Prowler exactly like his that he knew Toni would love and that she would drive making her leave his alone for once. They were there for a couple of hours while he filled out a bunch of paper work. It was pretty late when they were done and AJ drove the new car back to Nick's then Nick took him and Mariah home. When he got back to his place he went upstairs to find Toni already fast asleep in bed. He set the alarm clock and went to sleep to wake up at four in the morning by the sound of the buzzing alarm clock. He looked over at Toni and noticed the alarm didn't disturb her the slightest bit so he began gently shaking her until she woke up.
"Nick, you don't have to be at the airport for another four hours," Toni said tiredly.
"I know but I hardly saw you yesterday and I want to spend some time with you before I left."
"Well then you can spend time with me while I sleep," Toni said pulling the blanket over her head.
"I don't think so," Nick said pulling all the covers off of her.
"Damn it Nick it's cold and I'm tired! Leave me alone!"
"I can't do that baby. Now come on. I'm going to take a quick shower then you're getting in." When Nick got out of the shower he went back in the bedroom to find Toni fast asleep again. He picked her up and carried her into the bathroom almost blinding her by the light when she opened her eyes. "Hurry up I want to take you some where special."
"Yeah yeah, now get out of my face," Toni said shoving him out of the bathroom and slamming the door in his face. About an hour or so later they were both ready. Well Toni was ready physically just not mentally.
"Why the hell are you covering my eyes?" Toni asked with an attitude as they walked outside to leave.
"Just hold on a sec. Ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"This," Nick said taking his hands away.
"There are two prowlers there," Toni said confused.
"I know, the green one is yours," Nick whispered in her ear.
"You bought me my own prowler!" Toni screamed and turned around jumping on Nick and practically knocking him over. At this point she was wide awake. "I love you so much for this thank you thank you thank you thank you," Toni said over and over as she covered him with kisses.
"Come on we have to go, we only have a few minutes. We'll take your car but I'm driving on the way there, but we have to hurry so get in the car."
"It's five in the morning and you're driving to the beach?" Toni asked when they reached there.
"Just be quiet for a minute."
"I don't think it's exactly legal to drive your car across the beach," Toni said as Nick parked in the sand facing the ocean.
"Don't complain this is special," he said getting in the back seat followed by Toni. They sat there looking out at the ocean.
"This is so beautiful," Toni said as she was leaning against Nick's chest with his arm around her shoulders as they watched the sunrise. As the sun began rising Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet box. Toni wasn't paying much attention to Nick as she looked out across the ocean until he took his arm from around her and put his hand on her chin and turned her face until she turned around and looked at him and she immediately saw the ring box and she could feel her heart skip a few beats.
"I don't exactly know how to do this," Nick said opening the box to show the shimmering ring. He then took the ring out of the box and picked Toni's hand up in his own. "But reality hit me and I know I don't want to spend another minute of my life without knowing you'll be mine for eternity. So what do you say?" he asked slipping the ring on Toni's finger than looking her right in the eyes. Toni looked at him for a second then down at the ring with tears coming out of her eyes. It was a a silver band with one big diamond and 2 little diamonds on each side outlined in gold. The gold on each side made the large diamond look as if it had angel wings.
"Oh hell yeah. You know I will," Toni said crying her eyes out. Nick couldn't help but laugh a little as he grabbed her and kissed her. About two hours later they were at the airport waiting for the guys to catch their plane.
"What's up with them? I've never seen Toni cry so much before Nick leaves," Kristen said to AJ.
"I'm guessing he really made her day," AJ said with a smile as Kristen gave him a weird look then turned to Kristen and kissed her.
"Um...sure," Kristen said when they separated.
"Take care of our baby for me and I'll see you in a few months. Love you," AJ said kissing her again.
"I love you too," Kristen said crying as AJ left to get on the plane. Toni was holding onto Nick not letting go for anything as she cried her eyes out.
"Baby I have to go," Nick said grabbing her arms and pulling her off of him.
"This isn't fair! You can't leave me now!"
"I have to, I love you more than anything and I expect to see you right here waiting for me when I get back."
"I love you too Nicky," Toni said as Nick left her and walked through the gate.
