It was now almost 6:00pm and I could hear the guys returning from their day of promotional work.
"Hey baby!" Nick says happily as he comes into the room. "How was your day?"
"Fine," I answer simply. "How was yours?"
"It was suprisingly good," he smiles.
"Good. Umm, I'll be right back, OK?" I say as I get up from my seat on the bed and make my way to the door.
"Yeah. I'm gonna order the food. You want anything specific?" he asks.
"Nah, whatever you want is fine with me," I say as I leave and close the door behind me.
I go down the hall to A.J's room and knock on the door.
"Hey," AJ smiles as he opens the door.
"Hey. Is Carolyn here?" I ask.
"No, she's still out shopping with Alissa. You want me to tell her you came by, when she gets back?"
"No," I shake my head. "I came to talk to you. I was making sure she wasn't back yet."
"Oh." He looks confused. "Come in," he says, opening the door wider.
I go inside and sit on the edge of the bed.
"What's up?" he asks, sitting next to me. "You seem kinda stressed or something."
I take a deep breath. "Nick is going to propose to me tonight," I say simply.
"Oh," he replies. "Congratulations," he says unenthusiastically, still seeming a bit confused. "Is that what you wanted to tell me?"
"No," I sigh. "I thought you should know that I'm going to tell him everything."
"What do you mean everything?"
"Everything about you and I. Everything that ever happened between us... Everything we ever lied about," I say, glancing up at him nervously.
He sighs. "Why?" he asks, looking almost hurt. "Everything is going so great for both of us. You have Nick, I'm back with Carolyn... Why would you tell him now when it could ruin everything?"
"Because A.J, I love Nick. And I can't marry him when I'm keeping all these secrets, all these lies from him."
"If you tell Nick, then I'll have to tell Carolyn...You realize that don't you?" he says, raising his voice slighty. "She doesn't know that you loved me back. She doesn't know that we kissed, let alone kissed when I was still together with her-"
"Doesn't the fact that she was sleeping with some other guy at the time cancel that out?" I say coldly.
"I highly doubt that that's how she'll look at it!" he yells. "Not to mention the fact that we've lied about it and kept it from everyone for so long."
"I have to tell Nick the truth. I've thought about this, AJ, and I can't keep these secrets anymore. They're eating at my soul," I say calmly.
"You'll lose him, Ally..." he says, getting up from his seat on the bed and standing in front of me. "I could lose Carolyn and you could lose Carolyn as a friend... And there's no fucking question in my mind that Nick will never speak to me again!" he yells. "God, Ally." He runs his hands through his hair, clearly frustrated. "It's not like we fuckin' slept together! Can't we just forget it ever happened and move on?"
A tear rolls down my cheek.
"Do you remember when you went to James' party a while back and you ended up making out with him?" he asks.
"Yeah..." I reply, almost inaudibly.
"Remember how pissed off Nick was? And you were drunk when you did that! Not to mention you hardly knew the guy! Can you even imagine how mad Nick will be if he finds out about us?! That you were in love with me too?! He'll hate us both... I can't believe you're even contemplating telling him."
At that, I just break down in tears. "Fine. I won't tell him."
AJ sighs. "I'm sorry. I know this is hard on you." He pulls me up by my hands and wraps me in a hug.
Just then Carolyn walks in and I instinctively pull away from the hug.
"C! Hey baby," AJ says, seeming a bit nervous.
She just looks at us both with complete hurt on her face.
"I can't believe it," she says in a calm voice, almost a whisper. "You two were having an affair?"
"No... Let me explain - " AJ begins.
"No need for an explanation AJ, I heard the whole thing from outside the door!" she says angrily. AJ and I just look at each other, speechless.
"You made me feel so bad about cheating on you!" she yells at AJ. "And you were busy making out with my best friend behind my back?!" A tear rolls down her cheek.
"Ally, how could you do this to me? You're supposed to be my best friend. God, how could you do this to Nick?!"
She shakes her head in disbelief. "You two make me sick!"
"Carolyn wait!" AJ calls after her as she runs out of the room. I run out into the hall to chase after her, only to find Nick standing in the hall looking shocked.
"Nick..."
He looks at me with rage in his eyes. "What was she talking about? Is it true?!"
I just stand there unable to speak, tears streaming down my face.
He looks at me with complete disgust, then turns and goes back into the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Who is it?" Nick asks, hearing a knock at the door.
"It's Carolyn."
He gets up and opens the door. "Hey, come in," he says softly.
"Thanks." She follows him in, and sits next to him of the bed. "How are you doing?"
"Not good," he sighs. "It doesn't make you feel too great when you find out that the woman you love was in love with one of your friends, was making out with him behind your back and lying about it all for months." He wipes a tear from his cheek as he speaks.
"I know how you feel. I knew that at one point A.J. had feelings for Ally, but I didn't know that she had feelings for him or that something had happened between them... And they both let me believe it."
"I just feel so betrayed... I mean, I trusted her... Completely... and she lied to me," he cries.
"I know," Carolyn says softly.
"What am I supposed to do?" Nick asks, tears now streaming down his face. "I thought she was the one, you know? Like my soulmate." He takes a deep breath to calm down. "And now, I find this stuff out and I feel lost. I mean, I'm so mad at her, and I feel like I can never trust her again... But I still love her." He wipes his eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"
Carolyn wraps her arms around him in a comforting way. "I don't know Nick..." she sighs. "I don't know."