Chapter Twelve


Nick and Kaity hesitantly entered the kitchen, where Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie sat. They were inches apart, but afraid to touch each other until the whole ordeal was over with.

“Mom, Dad. Nick and I would like to talk to you about a few things.” Kaity said quietly as she led Nick to the table. The two sat down across from the two intrigued parents.

“Okay..what is it?” Kaity’s father asked.

“Well,” Kaity began, “for the past week Nick and I have been experimenting with our relationship.” Kaity explained nervously.

“Last week when Kaity came over she and I decided to take it to another level.” Nick added.

“Yeah, he and I have decided to try being a couple, we always want to be friends, but we were attracted to each other, and we want something more than friendship.” Kaity finished glancing back and forth between her mother and father. Nick reached over and laced his fingers with hers as he watched her parents’ faces to see any sort of reaction. Finally Kaity’s mother spoke.

“I was beginning to doubt you two.” she said simply. Nick and Kaity both looked at her strangely. “See, when we moved here, Kaity, Mrs. Carter and I spent a lot of time watching you two. She and I came to one conclusion. Eventually the two of you would fall for each other. I figured it would happen in you early teens, and, honestly, I was beginning to lose hope in the two of you finding each other.” she finished give Nick a motherly smile.

“So you...are happy for us?” Kaity asked hopefully.

“Of course I am! My goodness. What did I just tell you this morning? Date someone like Nick. Who better to date that is like Nick than the man himself?!”

“Daddy?” Kaity asked moving her gaze to her father. He sat looking at Nick and Kaity, not speaking. His face, unchanging as he stood up and moved towards Nick. Nick stood nervously, awaiting whatever the man was going to do or say.

“Nick?” he said as he stood in front of him. He slowly reached his hand out in front of Nick and smiled. “Be good to her.” Nick relaxed and shook his hand, smiling back.

“Thank you, Mr. McKenzie.” Nick said before sitting again. Mr. McKenzie took his seat next to his wife again and picked up the morning paper.

“There’s more.” Kaity said catching her parents’ attention again.

“More?” Mr. McKenzie asked. Nick and Kaity nodded.

“See, Daddy. Um..Nick and the Backstreet Boys are going on a U.S. tour in two weeks and..well, Nick asked me to go with them.”

“Go on tour?” Kaity’s mother asked, the smile leaving her face.

“Mom.” Kaity said seeing her mother automatically against the idea.

“Kaity, I don’t know if I feel comfortable with that.”

“Mom! Please just listen to us for a few minutes.”

“Fine, explain..” Mrs. McKenzie said crossing her arms.

“Mrs. McKenzie, I want to assure you that Kaity will have protection from a bodyguard at all times when on tour with us. She won’t leave a building without one.”

“Nick, thank you for assuring me of that, but that was not my main concern.”

“What is?” Kaity asked.

“You and Nick, dating, on tour, alone together. I trust you Kaity, and I trust you Nick, but I cannot trust your feelings for each other. I don’t know what will happen with you two in a hotel room at night. Frankly, that scares me.”

“Mother!” Kaity said shocked. Nick chuckled. “Nick?” Kaity asked hearing Nick’s soft laugh.

“I’m sorry Kaity, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie, but I am almost positive my mother will say the same thing though.” Nick explained.

“I’m sure she will too.” Kaity’s mother exclaimed. “I’ve known that woman since I was your age,” she said pointing to her daughter, “and I am sure that she will be as against this as I am.”

“But mom, you said that you would let me go with him on this tour.” Kaity persisted.

“Yes, yes I did. But that was before you were involved with each other.”

“Mother, what is the worse? Nick and I going on tour dating? Or Nick and I going on tour as friends and along the way discovering feelings for each other?”

“Well..”

“Would you like my opinion?” Kaity interrupted. Her mother nodded. “Fine, I think that discovering feelings in the midst of a tour is worse. Why? Because at least you know that he and I are together. It won’t be a surprise. Plus, he and I are comfortable with the way things are now. If they changed in the middle of a tour it would be confusing and would stress our relationship. And furthermore, just because Nick and I are dating, it does not mean that we will be doing anything in a hotel room at night!” Kaity finished. Her voice has risen gradually through her speech and she finished the last sentence yelling. Her mother sat looking at her sternly.

“That is enough, Kaity. You will not go on tour with Nick. I don’t care what you say to try to convince me, it won’t work. I don’t think it’s proper for a teenage girl to go on a two month tour of the country with her 20 year old boyfriend.”

“Mom..”

“Kaity, the discussion is over. I’m sorry Nick, but I just can’t let her go.”

“It’s..um..okay.” Nick said quietly. Kaity looked up at him, into his eyes and saw the hurt resting there. Two months. Two months the two of them would have to be separated from each other.

“Daddy?” Kaity asked. He was her last hope. Ever since Kaity was a child her father always seemed to back her up in situations such as these. Mr. McKenzie gave her a warm smile and waved her and Nick out of the room. Kaity nodded and grabbed Nick’s hand pulling him up. The two of them left the room.

“Carol.” he began.

“Jonathan.”

“Honey, I understand where you’re coming from, but just think about this for a minute.” Mr. McKenzie began. “Kaity and Nick have known each other for twelve years. For the past seven Nick has been a Backstreet Boy. His time at home is limited because of touring and recording. The two of them only have a few months out of the year to be together and now? Now they have fallen for each other.”

“I know John, but I don’t want our daughter to go away with him alone.”

“Carol, listen to me. You know that we promised Kaity that she could go on tour with Nick when she was seventeen.” Carol nodded her head. “We can’t break this promise to her. Especially because her relationship with Nick depends on it.”

“It does not.”

“Yes it does. Imagine what two months apart for a couple so new will do.”

“John, she’s a teenager, she has so much time for love.”

“Carol, she’s practically an adult. Not to mention Nick is already twenty. He’s grown up now and he wants to date our daughter. Frankly Carol, there is no other boy in this world that I trust more with my daughter than Nick.”

“I know. I just...the thought of her doing anything romantic with Nick scares me a little. She’s my baby.”

“We have to let her grow up and be responsible. She can make her own decisions when it comes to whom she dates and how far she goes, we have to let her make those decisions though.”

“I know.”

“I think we should let her go.”

“No, I will not allow it.” Mrs. McKenzie said sternly, glaring at her husband.



*****



“Nicky.” Kaity whispered as she and him sat down on her bed. He wrapped his arms around her tightly as she curled close to him.

“I know. This is going to be hard.” Nick said softly.

“I don’t want to be apart. I was so sure that she would let me go.”

“Don’t be upset. It’s two months, right? We’ve done longer than that before.”

“Yeah, but we weren’t dating. Nick, since you and I became what we are now, I don’t want to go a day with out seeing you, holding you. I don’t want to fathom what two months is going to do to me!” Kaity said burring her face in Nick’s shirt. She inhaled his scent locking it in her memory. She’d need that memory when he was gone.

“I know, baby, but we still have a about two weeks to get sick of each other.”

“Nick, be serious. I don’t want to get sick of you. I just want to be with you.” Kaity said letting out a deep breath as she let herself fall backwards onto her bed.

“I want to be with you too, but we have to deal with this.” Nick said leaning over her.

“No, I want to forget all about it until you leave.”

“I’m not gonna do that. I’m not going to waste what time I have left here ignoring the fact that I’m leaving. I want every second to last.”

“I’m trying to make it easier for myself here.” Kaity said blowing her bangs out of her eyes. Nick smiled down at her. “Why are you smiling at me? I want to cry!”

“You look adorable. You have this pissed off look on your face and you’re pouting.”

“Don’t make fun of me!” Kaity said irritated. Nick never took anything seriously.

“I’m not. That was a compliment.”

“Well stop.”

“You are the only girl I know who tells her boyfriend to stop complimenting her. Most girls strive on compliments, you know?” Nick said leaning down to rub his nose against hers.

“I’m not in the mood. I’m mad, sad, depressed and annoyed.”

“All at once?!”

“Yes. Alright?! I am everything combined into one perturbed girl right now. And you are bugging me!” Kaity said as Nick began planting butterfly kisses on her cheeks.

“Hey now. I’m trying to make you feel better.” Nick said pulling back to look down at her again.

“I know you are. I’m sorry.” Kaity said, her eyes softening as she raised herself up to kiss Nick gently on the lips. She fell back on her mattress and sighed again. “How am I gonna survive?”

“How am I gonna survive?” Nick asked in return.

“Call me everyday.”

“I’ll call you twice a day.”

“Send me postcards?” Kaity asked.

“I’ll send you ten postcards at each stop.” Nick said. Kaity smiled up at him. “E-mail me?”

“I’ll e-mail you three times a day.” Kaity said giggling.

“Was that a laugh I heard?”

“Shut up and kiss me.” Kaity said. Nick dropped his mouth onto hers in a powerful kiss.

“Hey.” Nick said softly as he pulled his lips from hers.

“Huh?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Nick.”



*****



Mrs. McKenzie stood outside her daughter’s door listening to the words being exchanged on the other side.

“They love each other.” she thought. “They truly love each other. What am I going to do to that love when they are apart?” she asked herself. She quietly retreated back downstairs to finish up her breakfast as she secretly began to rethink her decision.

Chapter Thirteen
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