Chapter 12
I want you to be
The only thing that I see
Cause I believe
It's our destiny
Just To Be Close To You
Angela and I became the best of friends soon after that. I decided I wanted a change of pace, so I packed my things and moved down to Florida, where Angela and I got an apartment together.
Nick and I were watching Shakespeare in Love on pay-per-view. Since the story was really romantic, it prompted me to ask Nick something.
I turned to face him, "Nick, how come you never told me you loved me?"
"I haven't?"
"No."
"Oh, umm, well I'm not comfortable with saying stuff like that. I just sing them."
I pouted, "That doesn't make me feel special."
" What? You're my girlfriend, isn't that enough for you?"
"A girl wants more, Nick."
He sat back thoughtfully, "Hmmm...."
(weeks later)
One afternoon, I had an unexpected surprise from Nick.
We were out on the beach, the same beach we went to on our first date.
"Here, I finished your portrait", he said and handed me piece of paper.
I saw him looking at his watch.
"Hey, am I boring you? I mean, this is like the fourth time you checked the time", I asked him.
"You never bore me", he whispered.
"Good".
Still, I noticed he was a little nervous and he was twitching his shirt. I wondered if something was wrong. Suddenly, he gave a little squeal of delight. He stood up and pointed at the afternoon sky.
"Look!", he shouted.
I shielded my eyes and looked up. There was a little airplane flying, and a banner was tied to it. I squinted and tried to read the writing. It said " Catherine, will you marry me? ". I gasped and looked at him.
He was by my side and was down on one knee. I couldn't believe this was happening. He handed me a blue velvet box, and there was a ring with a sparkling diamond inside.
"Well?", he asked.
"Nick, this isn't what I meant when I told you I wanted to feel special."
"Is that a no?"
"Well, no...it's not?"
"Then, it's yes then?"
"I don't know," I paused, "I think we're too young for this."
I looked at him and he was staring at me with those puppy dog eyes. He looked sincere enough.
"Oh, what the heck, yes", I said softly.
"What? You said yes? I can't believe it!", he said.
He picked me up and started to swing around with me in his arms.
"Nick, put me down!", I laughed, "You're going to drop me!"
He set me on the ground. "You've made me the happiest man on earth !", he said. Then, he gave me a nice long kiss.
I rarely accompanied Nick to his shows, parties and awards ceremonies. I wasn't really comfortable in the public eye. However there was one time I decided to go to this awards ceremony, but that was a bad idea.
When we were all leaving after the show, Angela said that she wanted to stay for a while, because she was having so much fun. There was a party next door and Howie wanted to go. I told her Nick and I didn't mind. We would just catch a ride with Brian and his new girlfriend, Anne.
Nick and I were exhausted when we arrived at my place. I invited him to spend the night sleeping at the sofa because he looked really tired. He sat down and was asleep a few minutes later, in his suit and tie. I went to my room and decided to watch a little t.v. before I went to sleep. I turned it to the news and I sat back on my pillows.
There was a sign saying "breaking news" on the bottom of the screen. I leaned up, interested.
There were a bunch of police cars on the street.
I thought, "Hmmm..., this looks so familiar. I don't remember where I've seen this street before..."
I saw the reporter talking to a policeman on the side of the street.
" We are on Hollywood Boulevard, just a few blocks from the illustrious American Music Awards. There has been a terrible accident, just a few minutes ago. Tell me officer, what do you know about this accident?", she said and pointed the mike to the officer.
"Well, the details are a little shaky right now. All I know was that the two victims were driving to a party down the block, when they were hit by a speeding drunk driver. We have the suspect under custody. The victims were taken to an ambulance and rushed to the hospital", he informed her.
I sat up, and feared the worse.
"The driver of the victim's car was hurt seriously. But it's the female passenger I'm worried about. She was unconscious when we got here. I don't know if she will make it. We can't tell you their names because we don't have a positive i.d. on them, yet. It looked like they went to the awards though, because they were wearing fancy clothes", he said.
"Thank you, officer", remarked the reporter," Now, you are looking at the accident scene. The two cars looked heavily damaged".
I moved closer to the t.v. The picture was hard to see because it was dark. I could make out a dark truck. Then when I looked to the side, I saw something that made me gasp.
It was Howie's purple Corvette.
My scream shattered the night.
