Chapter 21
"Trick or Treat!" the little kids screamed at the top of their lungs. Sean stepped back and laughed.
"Now, what do we have here....we have a vampire, we have a bride, and we have....Gumby!" he exclaimed. He heard Riana chuckle from inside the house. The little kids smiled their toothless grins and accepted the candy with eagerness. He placed the candy in their plastic pumpkins and watched as they skipped down the driveway.
"Kids, you gotta love 'em," he said once he was back in the living room. Riana looked at him from the kitchen table where she was busy pouring more candy into the bowl that was made for the Trick or Treaters.
"Oh, of course," she said. She walked into the living room and placed the bowl on the end table and curled up to Sean.
"I'm glad you decided to move in with me," Sean said. Riana smiled and kissed him on the lips.
"Me, too." Riana said.
A month and a half ago she would have never even thought about dating again, but thanks to Leah she was involved in a wonderful relationship with Sean. Leah had been a little disappointed that Riana was moving out, but Leah was also very happy because she would be able to talk to AJ all she wanted without worrying about what Riana thought and also, there were no reporters any more harrassing them. They were at Sean's now.
But not tonight. Not on Halloween night. The reporters were busy feeding the children loads of candy, so Riana and Sean finally had some time to themselves.
"Do you remember Halloween when you were little?" Riana asked Sean. Sean nodded.
"I remember my Mom used to take me out around 5:30, and we used to go out until 10:00, just walking around the town until my Mom couldn't carry my candy anymore," Sean said, laughing. His face clouded over.
"Then it all of a sudden stopped. My father became distant and cold and it really effected my mother. That's the only thing I remember about them," Sean said, his green eyes becoming misty and teary. His parents were killed in a car accident when he was fifteen. He lived with his aunt for about three years, but when he turned twenty he was out on his own. For the past year he had lived in this small but cozy house, all alone and working for a computer company.
Riana knew that it was hard for Sean to talk about his family. She knew it made him upset, but it also made her think of how lucky she was, coming from a big, loving family who had no problems like Sean had.
"I'm so sorry," Riana said, giving him a hug. She held him close to her for a few moments, running her fingers through his soft hair. He took a deep breath and smiled at her, kissing her temple before covering her mouth with his.
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"Trick or treat!" Brian heard from his doorstep. He smiled through his warewolf teeth and handed the children piles of candy. He glanced at his bushes and his eyes grew wide when they started to move. The children heard the rustling from the bushes and grabbed a hold of one another before they slowly retreated down the driveway.
One....two....three....Brian counted in his head.
"AHHHH!!!!" Two figures shouted as they jumped from the bushes. The children screamed and ran down the street as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Nice one, guys!" Brian shouted as Nick and AJ took off their masks and gave each other high five's.
"They were so scared," Nick said as they walked into Brian's house and turned on the television.
"You know that Halloween is my favorite holiday," Nick mentioned as he popped a Snickers into his mouth.
"Yeah, we know. You tell us every year and Nick, those candies are for the kids," Brian said, laughing. Nick shrugged and swallowed the last of his candy before licking the chocolate off of his fingers.
"I don't like this weather, guys." AJ said as he pulled a sweatshirt over his head.
"It's not cold. It's Florida!" Brian said.
"Well, it still isn't like the weather this summer. Can you guys believe that its been over two months since the cruise?" AJ asked. He shook his head in disbelief. "I miss my Leah," he said sadly.
Nick didn't say anything. Of course he knew it was two months. He thought about the cruise everyday. He thought about how his life would be so different if Riana and him were still together. Would he be visiting her right now, or would she be in Orlando with him? Would they be on the phone together, wishing that they were with each other? Nick shook the thoughts out of his head and tried to focus in on the scary movie that Brian had put in, but his thoughts were drifting over an ocean an into the heart of a taken girl.
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"I got to go," Sean whispered. He kissed Riana quickly on the lips and she sat up in bed, wrapping the covers around her chest.
"Already?" Riana said, stretching. She looked at the clock and groaned when it read 7:00.
"Yeah, time for me to go to work, Princess." He looked at her from the door before he walked over to her again and embraced her in a warming hug.
"I love you. I'll see you when I get back, ok?" Sean said. Riana smiled.
"Hurry home," she called out. She waited for the sound of the lock clicking together before she wrapped the sheet around her and fell back to sleep.
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"You will never guess who is coming in two weeks!" Leah exclaimed, jumping high in the air as she screamed.
"Who?" Riana asked, even though she had a good feeling who it was.
"AJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Leah screamed again, loud enough so that Riana had to put a hand over her ears.
"So, he's staying for Thanksgiving?" Riana asked. Leah nodded with enthusiasm. Riana couldn't believe that it was Thanksgiving already. It seemed like yesterday she was boarding that gigantic ship and now she was bored with nothing to do.
"I'm gonna go to Sean's. I'll see you later," Riana said, hopping off of the stool that was perched beside the counter in Leah's kitchen.
"I'll see you soon. Call me!" she called just as the phone rang. Riana nodded and grabbed her jacket, making sure to bundle up. Her red turtleneck kept her neck warm and the gloves that she had on her hands kept her hands hidden from the freezing cold London weather. Her hair was left down to her chin, keeping her cheeks and her ears warm. She shut the heavy door and walked out into the brisk weather, wrapping her arms around her. She sat down in her car and plopped her purse down into the passenger seat. She looked through the mirror as she eased the small car onto the street. She bobbed her head to the song on the radio and tapped her manicured fingernail on the steering wheel, whistling to the beat.
"And coming up next, the newest single from, yep, you guessed it, the Backstreet Boys!" The radio DJ said. Riana stopped whistling and turned the volume up so she could listen. She hadn't heard from any of them in so long, she wondered how they were and what they were up to. The lyrics to Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely filled her car and she found herself agreeing to everything that the guys were singing. Riana recognized Nick's voice immediately. It sounded so powerful, like every sound he made ran a mile throughout every single vein in her body. She kept driving, not realizing that she had driven past Sean's house about four blocks. She shook her head and pulled into his driveway.
"I made dinner," Sean said as Riana walked through the door. She smelled the aroma of his homemade spaghetti accompanied by his homemade sauce and she felt her stomach grumble with hunger.
"How did you know I was craving your spaghetti?" she asked him, pressing against him and kissing him long on the lips. He smiled breathlessly when they pulled apart.
"Because I was," he whispered. "And we both crave the same things."
"How about we skip dinner," Riana suggested as she blew out the candles, "and move straight to desert?"
"I don't see a problem with that," Sean said huskily as they made their way to the bedroom. ___________________________________________
Riana rolled over onto her back the next morning and pulled the covers up to her neck for warmth. Sean was still asleep, lying on his stomach with his arms outstretched across of Riana. She smiled and kissed his forehead. He wriggled in his sleep, but didn't wake up. She reached down onto the floor and pulled on the shirt that Sean had worn last night and quietly crept downstairs. She poured herself a glass of chocolate milk instead of coffee, almost everyone knew that coffee disgusted her. She walked over into the living room and sat down on the small chair that stood adjacent to the window. A small white envelope caught her eye.
"Another one?" she asked incredulously. She opened the door and quickly snatched the letter from the cold. She unfolded the letter and inhaled the cologne that was sprayed over the letter.
I love you
Because you tell me things I want to know
And it's true
That it really only goes to show
That I know
That I will never never ever be blue
Now you're mine
My happiness just makes me cry
And in time
You'll understand the reason why
If I cry
It's not because I'm sad
Its just you're the only lover that I have ever had
I can't believe
It's happened to me
I can't concede
of any more
misery
Ask Me why
I'll say I love you
And I'm always thinking of you
I love you
Love,
The last person you'd think of
Riana shook her head. These poems were so sweet. She wanted to meet this poet and thank him for making her feel wanted and special. Only one thought still nagged in the depths of her mind: Who was the poet?
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"Yeah, Yeah. I'm up," Nick grumbled as he fell out of bed and onto the floor. His alarm clock struck 5:30 am with a loud beep, almost scaring Nick half to death. He didn't want to wake up and go to that meeting, he wanted to sleep. He was having an incredible dream with a girl on the beach. The girl was beautiful, dressed in a light blue bikini with blonde hair to her shoulder. Nick didn't get a look at her face, he was engrossed with another part of her anatomy.
He shook his thoughts cleared, but the sexy girl returned to his mind as he stood in the shower, the hot water beating down on his back like a thousand knives. It felt soothing. Nick spent a few extra minutes in the shower that day. _____________________________
Nick ran into the meeting with five minutes to spare. Brian looked at him with a look of relief on his face.
"Nick, so you decided to join us," an executive in a black business suit said sternly to him.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. Traffic, ya know," he lied.
"Very well then," the man said. Nick sat down in his seat next to AJ and tried to pay attention to what the men were saying. Something about a tour...
"Coffee?" a woman asked. She towered over Nick with a pot of steaming coffee.
"No, none for me," he said. Coffee was disgusting. He laced his fingers together and listened back and forth as the men bickered amongst themselves. AJ nudged Nick and whispered,
"Seriously, why were you late?" AJ whispered. Nick glanced at everyone as he tried to hold back a smile.
"I had this dream, and this girl was-"
"No more explanation," AJ said. Nick chuckled and glanced at his watch. The meeting would be over soon. ____________________________________
"So the tour is until December 29th and we leave December 1st?" Nick asked Brian as they made their way to the parking lot.
"Yeah, it's not too bad," Brian said.
"AJ is already planning a huge Christmas party," Kevin laughed as they watched AJ talk frantically on the phone to someone.
"Yeah, it's after the last show. Some big place in New York," Brian told them.
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"I'm going to see my baby!" AJ screamed as he ran around his house. He through a whole bunch of his clothes into a pile on his suitcase and jumped around on his bed before collapsing from exhaustion. He was so happy, words couldn't even describe the bliss that he was feeling. The day had finally come! He hadn't seen Leah in three long months. Three long months without her was enough to drive any sane man crazy. The phone rang and he picked it up before the first ring was through.
"Hello?" he asked breathlessly.
"AJ, I'm here." Brian said into the phone.
"Damn, I thought you were Leah," AJ said, a little disappointed.
"No, I was still Brian the last time I checked."
"So, where are you?" AJ asked as he zipped his suitcase and threw it down the stairs so it landed next to his passport and his airplane tickets.
"I am in your driveway," Brian said. AJ heard the engines and looked through the window.
The two boys loaded AJ's Expedition quietly, concentrating on the trip ahead of them. AJ had offered Brian the extra plane ticket that he had. Nick was in California spending time with his family, so he couldn't come along. AJ smiled at Brian once they were finished.
"Ready?" Brian asked.
"More than ever." AJ replied as he placed his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose.
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