Chapter One
“You are perfect for each other, admit it will you?!”
“I
refuse. Nick and I are in no way compatible in a romantic relationship of any
kind. We are better off as friends, the way we are now.” Gretchen replied to
one of her many best friends, Kelsie.
“Oh, Puh-lease. You guys are
crazy about each other.”
“No, we are not!”
“Yeah
Gretchen, you are. How can you not be crazy about him?? First of all,he is
the sweetest guy I have ever met, and I’ve only met him once. Second ofall,
he cares about you immensely, and you know it. Lastly, I mean I can go on
forever, but I’ll stop here, he is amazingly hot. How could you resist
thosebright blue eyes, and that ohmigod smile?? Come on!”
“Kelsie, its not that I can’t resist those things, believe me it’s hard,but
can be done. It’s the fact that he is five, I repeat FIVE years older than I,
how could he possibly even THINK of dating a girl that much younger than he
is? Not that I want to date him...don’t you dare think of what I just said as
me insinuating my hidden feelings for him!”
“One of these days, I
swear, you will figure out what you’ve been missing. Mark my words, Gretchen,
I am right, I know it, and so do you. Can’t youmake this just a tad bit
easier? Huh?”
“Kelsie!!!” This was making Gretchen so unbelievably
mad. Kelsie had no idea.Yeah, it was the whole ‘You and Nick should hook up’
deal again. Since Gretchen and Nick had known each other she’d had to deal
with the constant persuasion by her friends to do something with Nick other
than ‘be his friend’. Sure he was hot and sweet and hot and he did care about
her and he was HOT, but so what? SO WHAT?!?! Who was she kidding?
Obviously not Kelsie.Sure, she LIKED him... ‘that way’, but, what could she
do about it? Just bring it up in a long distance phone conversation.. ‘Hey
Nick, I really like you,and if you don’t mind that I’m more like one of your
baby-sitting charges than girlfriend material, neither do I!*SMILE*’...right.
That would totally hit his soft spot. She figured that the best way to keep
Nick would be to just be his friend. Nevermind the little obsession she had
with his eyes...that kind of blue that changes from navy, to sky, to baby
blue...depending on his mood. Or the fact that he could make her knees weak
with that smile of his.. ‘THUD’ was the only thing she could think of when he
smiled. Okay, then there was her secret obsession ..his hair. For some
reason, it was perfect. He recently had gotten it cut so that it was spiked in
the front. She just loved it...it made him look older, more mature, and it
took away that little boyish look that hehad lived with since he joined the
group.
“Look Gretchen, I’m sorry, I just want the best for you,
you know that. I personally think that Mr. Carter is the BEST for you. But,
you know what?Love is supposed to be found by the one who is supposed to
have it. It’s up to you.”
“Kelsie, I cannot tell you how much it
means to me that you want what is best for me, but, well to put it bluntly,
butt out!” Gretchen said smiling.
“No prob.” Kelsie said returning her
smile.
RINNNGGGG!!!! RINNNGGG!!!
“Hello?” Gretchen
answered the phone giving Kelsie look.
“Gretchen?!” Nick said out of
breath.
“Nick, what’s wrong?” Gretchen asked alarmed. Kelsie
immediately looked up to see Gretchen staring back at her wide
eyed.
“Um...what do you mean what’s wrong?”
“Um,
sweetie, you never call me Gretchen” Gretchen said referring to the fact that
her good friend of a year always called her ‘Brown Eyes’ because of his
infatuation with her deep chocolate brown eyes.
“Well, not
necessarily wrong, but um...yeah something is going on. Leigh is in
labor.”
“Say what? She’s not due for another three weeks!! I’m
supposed to be there! Nick!!” Gretchen said upset. Leighanne Wallace, now
Leighanne Littrell,was a woman Gretchen met through Nick and had become
friends with. She was engaged to Nick’s best friend Brian Littrell when
Gretchen and her met, but had tied the knot a few weeks later. She had
discovered she was pregnant two months after the wedding and had arranged
to have all of her friends present for the birth. Gretchen was included in that
group and had scheduled a flight down to Florida, from her hometown of
Buffalo in New York, around the time of the due date. Unfortunately, as she
had just found out, Leighanne had gone into labor early. “Nick, what am I
going to do? I have to be there!”
“I know Brown Eyes, I’m
gonna get you here. Leigh’s family is known for long labor, which, if my
calculations are correct gives you about 12 to 15 hours to hop a flight and
get your cute butt down here. I’ve already called your airport and there is a
ticket waiting for you at the desk. Pack a bag and make it to the airport by
10, which gives you two hours and you’ll be inFlorida four hours from now. Got
it?!”
“You did all that??” Gretchen asked astonished. This was
Nick Carter theywere talking about. The Backstreet Boy who had everything
done for him. That included picking out his clothes, Backstreet
stylists...
“Yeah! Who do you think I am?!”
“No
comment...two hours before my flight leaves? Hang there for a sec?” she said
dropping the phone on her bed, told Kelsie she’d be right back and bolted out
of the room, “MOM???!!!”
“What?” her mom called from the living
room.
“Ma, Leigh went into labor early ..Nick already booked me a
flight to Florida leaving in two hours, can I go???”
“Now??”
“Mom...the baby is coming!!”
“When does
the flight leave?”
“Two hours, come on, all I have to do is pack a
bag and leave.Summer...no school...Mom, I promised.”
“I don’t
know, When are you coming back?? You were going to go downthere in three
weeks!”
“I know, and as far as I know, I still am...I just need to
be there forthe baby’s birth and then I’m coming home.”
“Well you
better go and pack quick.”
“Great!!” Gretchen said running back to
her room. “Baby Blues??” She asked using her nickname for Nick.
“Hmmm?”
“I’m on my way. You gonna be there to pick me
up?”
“Yup, I’ll be waiting when you get off the plane.”
“Okay...I gotta go pack then, see you in four hours.”
“Four
hours, babe. I’ll see ya then...and hurry!! You better not miss that
flight!”
“Promise I won’t. I gotta go.”
“K. Bye
sweets.”
“Adios cutie!” Gretchen said as she hung up. Her and Nick
had an odd type of relationship. They had met a little over a year ago while
Nick was on a break from touring with the music group he was a member of,
The BackstreetBoys. She went to a party with her parents and little brother
and Nick and his family had flown up to New York, their previous home, to
visit family.Unknowingly to Gretchen, who was a Backstreet Boys fan, the
family hosting the party, was related to the Carter family, the reason for
Nick’s attendance.They had run into each other at the punch bowl, to
Gretchen’s surprise, and started a conversation that lasted until the party
ended. The entire time they had secluded themselves down by the dock to
chat while a bon fire was going upon the hill side. When they said good-bye
to each other, Nick insisted on getting her phone number and address to use
while he and his family stayed for the rest of the week. They parted, and
Gretchen assumed that she would never see or hear from him again. She was
pleasantly surprised when she got a call from him the next day asking her to
show him to the mall so that they could shop for the rest of the day. To the
mall they went, but ended up hanging out inthe arcade for half of the day,
getting something to eat at the food court,and then going to see a movie.
When Nick left to go back to Florida and BSB,Gretchen again planned on
losing all touch with him. But still, he called her as soon as he set foot in the
Sunshine state to give her his number and address so that she could call or
write to him. The rest is history. Since then, they had kept in touch, calling
each other and writing each other. Gretchen had flown to the next stop in
the Backstreet tours to visit them and tour with them fora week at a time,
often. Over the past year Gretchen had become friends with all the
Backstreet Boys and their girlfriends, fiancés, or in some cases wives.Through
Brian, she had met Leighanne, who she absolutely loved. Her and Leigh had
become extremely close while on tour for a certain week and Gretchen was
called a week later to be asked to be a bridesmaid in Brian and Leigh’s
wedding. AJ’s girlfriend was Amanda, and Kevin’s wife was Kristin. Gretchen
didn’t really know either of them as well as she knew Leigh, but they were
both very nice and treated her like an equal.
“Kelsie, I’m really
sorry, but I need to hop a flight to Florida in two hours.”
“Yeah, Leighanne...she’s having a baby?”
“Oh jeez, yeah, I
was told not to tell anyone...but since you already heard, she found out she
was pregnant two months after the wedding and she wasn’t supposed to go into
labor for another three weeks. Leighanne has this thing planned about how she
wants all of her close friends there for the delivery and I made plans to fly
down there in three weeks. But, now she’s in labor and Nick had to book me
another flight so I can make it there before she has the baby.” Gretchen
said while packing.
“She asked you to be there??”
“Yeah, when she called me to tell me she was pregnant she asked if I
would be there for her when the time came.”
“Wow, you are so
lucky.”
“Um, thanks? Hey do me a favor, do not mention this to
anyone. No one is supposed to know that they are having a baby, it’s gonna be
announced in the paper and on MTV when it gets here, but until then ..not a
word.Okay?”
“Sure, no problem, Gretchen. You guys going to drop
me off athome?”
“Yeah, unless you want to come to see me
off?”
“Would your mom mind if I wanted to come?”
“No,
not at all, I’m really sorry.”
“Gretchen, don’t worry about it.
There is someone who needs you out there.Just go to her.”
“Really?”
“You better call me as soon as possible though. I
wanna know how everything goes.
Gretchen finished throwing
clothes for the next five days in her huge gymbag and went to get her mom.
They loaded all her things in their Honda Civic and started for the airport.
They arrived with twenty minutes to spare.Gretchen’s mother unloaded her
bag as Gretchen and Kelsie ran into the airport and gother ticket. She walked
back out to meet her mom waiting to get her bagchecked.
“I
can’t believe this! He always does this!” Gretchen said angrily.
“What is it hunny?” her mother asked.
“First Class!! Every
time. I keep telling him not to put me there, butNO, Jeez! Does the boys
listen?!”
“First Class. And you’re complaining because...?” Kelsie said
astonished. “Because he doesn’t need to sit me there. I can manage just as
well in second class. I just hate it. Then all these flight attendants pester me
to see if I want a glass of water, or a blanket...I’m going to Florida! I don’t
need a freakin blanket!”
“Well, what can you do?? If Nick Carter
wants to spend a lot of money on you....”
“I told him no! Guess,
I’m gonna have to tell him yet again...men! They never REALLY listen to what
you tell them.” Gretchen finished as Kelsie started laughing. “And what do you
think you are laughing about???”
“You! You have a popular, good
looking music star buying you planetickets, first class, to Florida to visit him
and you are complaining! It amazes me.”
“I just want to be
treated normal ..I don’t want anyone to think that I’m using him!”
“Okay, I get that, but still...will you chill!”
“Oh, shut up!”
Gretchen said smiling as she dragged Kelsie and her mother into the airport
after getting her bag checked. “Come on girls...we don’t want Gretchen to
miss her flight...or we are gonna have two very angry men and one P-O’ed
lady with a baby!”
Chapter Two
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