Home Alone
Rianna and Nick had been in LA for almost two weeks. She was beginning to feel just like one of the Carters. No longer the odd-man-out.
She had gone out shopping with BJ, Lesley, and Angel--- and was accepted as one of the sisters. She felt as if she'd known them all of her life. She had held a conversation with Bob on politics, discovering that they both held strong democratic views. She swapped recipes with Jane and they enjoyed cooking together. Despite her wonderful progress with Nick's family, Aaron remained distant.
Nick suggested that it was because he didn't want to share his brother with Rianna. He had three older sisters and only one brother, and Nick meant the world to him. Now that Nick had another girlfriend, he felt that their bond was being threatened.
The last thing Rianna wanted was for Aaron to feel that she was taking Nick away from him. So she coaxed Jane and Bob into taking the whole family out except for Aaron. They did this willingly, and Rianna stayed at home waiting for Aaron to come in.
He walked in and called out for his family. There was no answer and he got a little worried. It was rare that no one was home. He thought that they may have been out at the pool swimming, but when he went to check, there was no one to be found.
"They all went out to dinner. They couldn't find you so I stayed behind. We can go catch up with them if you want." Rianna said from the kitchen. He looked up at her from the deck and shook his head no.
"That's ok, I'm not in the mood to go out." He came back into the house and started to go to his room. She went to the bottom of the stairs.
"I can order a pizza. Two if you want. We'll veg out in front of the TV." Aaron shook his head again and kept climbing the stairs.
"Oh come on. You know you want to. Nick told me how you love cheese pizza. Maybe some Mountain Dew. Mozzarella sticks?" Aaron's mouth watered. Even though he didn't want to hang with Rianna, he couldn't pass up all that pizza with only one person to share it with. Besides, it looked as if she was paying.
"Yeah, ok." He came back down and sat on the couch. The doorbell rang. Rianna answered it, the food had been delivered.
"How'd it get here so fast?" He enquired.
"I knew you'd want it, so I ordered it a while ago. I didn't think you'd want to wait." He smiled and opened the box.
"So, why don't you ever visit us. We'd love to hang out with you in Tampa." She poured him some soda in a cup filled with ice.
"I don't know." He flipped through the channels and kept eating.
"You do know that you're welcome. Right? I mean, Nick would absolutely love it if you showed up at the front door." Aaron shrugged.
"Maybe." He kept eating.
"Listen, Aaron, I don't want you to think that anything has changed between you and your brother because of me. I would never try to come between you two." He stopped eating and lowered his head.
"I love your brother very much. And he loves me. But what we have will never interfere with his love for you and your love for him. I hope you can understand that."
"Yeah, I understand." She reached over and gave him a hug. Then she pulled a slice from the pie. Ever since then, there was no distance between Aaron and Rianna.
Chapter 13
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