At noon, Drew and Nick decided that they would go out and get us some lunch. Ashley and I were still out on the beach. Nick came over to the railing:
“Hey guys! We’re going to get some food. We’ll be back in like a half hour. My house is your house!!” Ashley turned to me:
“I wonder where his family is? You don’t think that he lives here by himself, do you?” I shrugged:
“It’s a really nice, expensive looking place, you know? There’s no way he can afford it. He looks kind of young.” Ashley laid back down:
“How old do you think he is? He doesn’t look any older than us.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think his family lives here though, cause earlier he told me that I could borrow these clothes that his sister had left at his house. Left at his house?” Ashley suddenly sat up again:
“Let’s go!” I looked at her, confused:
“Go where?” She started to stand up:
“Inside, silly! We’re going exploring. They won’t be back for another half-hour. There’s gotta be something inside that tells us who he is. Come on. Time for our mission.” I laughed a little and followed Ashley back up to Nick’s house.
When we got inside we started casually milling around his house. We didn’t want to be too snoopy.
We split up and looked around different rooms. Fifteen minutes later, nothing that I saw in his house looked suspicious to me. The one thing I did notice were these pictures of Nick and four other guys. There were a lot of them.
“Must be his friends,” I thought. I was milling around his living room when I heard Ashley yell from the basement:
“Kate! Come down here quick!! I think I just found something! Oh my god!” I ran down the stairs, temporarily forgetting the pain in my ribs, until I ran into the railing at the bottom:
“Ow! Shit that hurt!” Ashley ran over to me:
“Are you okay?” I bit my lip in pain:
“Fine, fine. Now what’d you find?” She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the wall:
“You’re never going to believe this! I figured out who Nick is! Look!” She pointed to another picture of Nick and the other four guys on the wall. I shrugged:
“Yeah? There are pictures of them all over the place. Must be his best friends or something.” Ashley started smiling from ear to ear:
“They don’t look at all familiar to you?” I looked more closely and shook my head:
“Never seen them. Why? Who are they?” Ashley pointed to the other things on the wall. They were platinum albums and pictures of the guys. I looked more closely and then I busted out laughing:
“Oh my god! The Backstreet Boys? You’ve got to be kidding me, right? Please say your kidding. Please tell me I’m not in the same house as a Backstreet Boy.” Ashley started jumping up and down:
“Oh my god! Oh my god! We’re in a Backstreet Boy’s house!!!!” I shook my head and rolled my eyes at her:
“Please tell me you’re not a fan. You are. You totally are. Ash, aren’t you a little too old for the teeny-bopper phase?” She stopped jumping and put her hands on her hips:
“They’re good.” I rolled my eyes again:
“They’re the New Kids.”
“They are not! They’re so much better than the New Kids.” She started singing:
“Everybody! Rock your body! Everybody! Rock your body right! Backstreet’s back alri---“ She was cut off by the sound of the garage door opening:
“Oh shit!” She grabbed my hand and we ran upstairs and onto the deck:
“We don’t know who he is. Let’s pretend we don’t know who he is, okay?” I nodded in agreement:
“Alright, let’s have a little fun.” Ashley smiled slyly:
“Nicky boy’s a Backstreet Boy! Nicky boy’s a Backstreet Boy!” I shook my head:
“Shh! You don’t want him to hear, do you?” She quickly shut up as Nick walked out:
“Hey girls! Food’s here!” Ashley had to bite her lip to keep from laughing:
“We’re coming!” Ashley ran in while I stood there for a second staring out at the ocean, lost in thought. I had unfortunately let my mind wander back to the whole reason I was at Nick’s house. Rob. I was so deep in thought that I didn’t hear Nick trying to get my attention. He walked over and tapped my shoulder:
“Hey! Where were you just then?” I glanced up at him:
“Damn, he’s got nice eyes…Wait! What am I doing? It’s not like I don’t have enough problems already!” I shrugged it off:
“Nowhere. Come on. Let’s go eat.” He let his gaze linger on me for a second before he followed me inside, where Ashley and Drew were already eating. Ashley put her sandwich down and turned to Nick as he sat down:
“So, Nick, how old are you?”
“Eighteen.” Ashley and I quickly made eye contact. Then she continued:
“So where are you parents?” Nick was getting nervous:
“Uh…they don’t live here.” (KN: For purposes of this story, the Carters live in Florida, not California.)
“Well, I figured that. Where do they live?”
“About 15 minutes from here.” Ashley kept pressing:
“How come you live here all by yourself? How do you afford a place like this?” Nick looked up quickly:
“I don’t know. I just can, I guess.” Ashley tried to hide her smile:
“Do you go to school or something? I mean are you still in high school? Where do you get all your money?” Drew was surprised at Ashley’s forwardness:
“Ash?! Why are you being so nosy? Stop with the 20 questions.” Nick looked slightly relieved:
“It’s alright. I guess it looks kind of weird to people that don’t know me. But don’t worry about it. I’m really just a normal guy.” He looked over at me as he said that last sentence. I had been silent through all of this, pretending that I didn’t know who he really was. Drew noticed it also:
“Kate, you’ve been pretty quiet through all of this. What are you thinking?”
'I’m thinking that the guy that I love raped me last night. I’m thinking that after the guy I love raped me last night, the guy I love beat the shit out of me.'
I had to get around there. I couldn't be around people right then. I quickly stood up and started to walk out of the room:
“I’m going to lie down. I have kind of a headache.” They all looked after me, confused. Ashley wiped her mouth and started after me:
“Kate, are you okay?” I kept walking up the stairs:
“I’m fine. I just need to lie down for a little bit. I just want to be alone.” Ashley didn’t care that I wanted to be alone. She followed me anyway:
“Do you want to talk about it? Come on, Kate, you need your friends right now. We’re all here for you. Don’t let him do this to you.” I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of the stairs and spun around:
“DON’T LET HIM DO THIS TO ME?! HE ALREADY DID THIS TO ME!!!” Nick and Drew had walked into the foyer by now. I didn’t care. I just kept yelling, tears starting to stream down my face:
“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! YOU COULDN’T UNDERSTAND! YOU AND DREW HAVE THIS PERFECT RELATIONSHIP! DREW WOULD NEVER DO THIS TO YOU! LOOK AT ME, ASH! MY BOYFRIEND BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ME LAST NIGHT! DO YOU CALL THAT LOVE? IF YOUR BOYFRIEND RAPES YOU BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO HAVE SEX ON THE BEACH, DO YOU CALL THAT LOVE?” They all just stared at me. No one knew about that last part. None of them knew what to say to my outburst.
I crumbled to the ground and started sobbing. Nick and Drew looked at each other, openmouthed, while Ashley ran up the stairs to me. I cried in her shoulder. Drew and Nick went into the living room to give us some time alone. Ashley hugged me and smoothed my hair down:
“Shh..shh..Katelin, I promise you, it’ll get better.” I pulled away and wiped my eyes:
“I know. I’m sorry for all that. I just need to lie down. I didn’t sleep very well last night.” With that, I stood up and went into the guest room. Ashley walked into the living room to where Drew and Nick were. They looked up at her when she stepped into the room. Nick stood up:
“Is she okay?” Ashley shrugged:
“I don’t know. I have no idea how to deal with this.” Drew sat there punching his left fist into his right hand:
“I’m going to kill him for doing this to her. I can’t believe this. I never knew he was like this. In all the years I’ve known him.” Nick glanced up, quickly:
“I don’t even know the guy and I want to kill him. How could someone do this? I don’t understand. What lies did he feed her? Do you know she actually tried to defend him to me last night?” Ashley stood up:
“I don’t know, guys. I’m going back to the beach. I think we should just let her sleep. She’ll feel better when she wakes up. Are you guys coming?” Nick and Drew followed Ashley:
“Yeah, we’ll come.”