Chapter 25
“We’re
finally here. I thought we’d never make it.”
“No
kidding…that traffic was awful.”
“Thanks
for the ride again, Nick. I just…night is hard for me.”
“It’s
okay. I like driving your car anyway.”
“Yeah,
that’s right…so did you get your car-gasm out of the
way? And do I need to clean up the seat now?”
“Oh
that’s just GROSS! No, car-gasms aren’t sticky.” Nick
giggled and hopped out of the car waiting for her to come around to his side
for a hug.
“Mmmm…I
like that you’re taller. Makes hugging nicer. You okay to drive home?”
”I
just drove you from Orlando…I think I can make it across town to my house,
yeah.”
“I
know, I know…I’m just not used to this. Okay, thanks for a great day.”
“Thanks
for comin’. And Ci?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m
really sorry about dinner. I didn’t know you were there and…”
“Stop.
Don’t worry about it. I’ve laid a lot on you. And Lindsey has a way of bringing
out the worst in people. We’re fine.”
“Are
we?”
“Always,
Nick. Now, drive safe and keep in touch with me…I miss you like mad.”
“Well,
I’ll be around here and
“Why
didn’t I know this?”
“Um…I
dunno. Maybe I forgot to tell you. Got all gasm’d out
in your car.”
“Okay,
we really need to STOP it with that…I can’t deal with a sexual Nicky yet.”
“Okay,
okay. I’m sorry. But yeah. Like a month maybe? Maybe you can bring Aaron out to
the studio for mom or something.”
“Hey,
that sounds great. I’ll do that.”
With
another quick hug, Nick jogged to his car and took off, leaving her standing in
the parking lot to watch the tail lights of his truck disappear into the night.
“Damn,
that kid…he’s not supposed to grow up yet.”
******~~~~~~******~~~~~~
“Okay,
Jane…I’ll pick him up tomorrow at 8. Bye!” Ciara
clicked off her phone and promptly jumped out of her skin as it immediately
rang back at her.
“JESUS!
Hello?”
“Ciara? You okay? It’s, uh…it’s Linds.”
Well,
shit. “Yeah…yeah, I’m fine.” I guess I’ll sit back down now. “I JUST hung up
from another call. Scared the shit outta me.”
“Sorry…um,
can we get together soon? I think maybe we need to talk.”
“I
think maybe you’re right. I’ve got some time in a couple of days.”
“Oh…well,
I was hoping tomorrow…”
“Sorry.
I’m taking Aaron to
“
“Cuz
Les and Angel are sick and the kid has some modeling thing to do.” The
kid? Why was she always so damned confrontational?
“Oh…wait
a minute. Recording? The guys? I thought they went back to…oh shit.”
“What,
Linds? You didn’t know they were still around?”
Nothing.
Kevin had finally been caught, or so it seemed. And just as expected, Ciara was right there to pick up the pieces.
Finally,
Lindsey found her voice. “No, Kevin told me they were heading back to
“Oh,
God, Linds. Um, yeah, from what I gather all five of them are still there, at
least for another week. Maybe Kevin went back for something else and is joining
them later?”
“Do
you really believe that?”
“No,
not really. I’m just grasping at straws here. I’m sorry, Lindsey.”
“Yeah,
I bet you are. You hated Kevin from the start.”
“This
has nothing to do with my feelings for Kevin, Linds. He lied to you and I’m
sorry.”
“Shit.
Well, uh, you and I still need to talk. I’ve been a complete bitch to you and I
just…”
“Stop.
Just hearing you realize it is fine with me. What else is there to talk about?”
“I
dunno. Maybe we’ll go to a movie or something?”
And
that was that. What was there to talk about anyway? She’d been a bitch,
she admitted it and now she’d found out about Kevin. The rest was just girl
stuff and they could work that out over a sale rack at The Limited. At least
they were talking again. Ciara had to trust that it
would be okay from there. She couldn’t be alone. Not completely anyway.
******~~~~~~******~~~~~~
“Okay,
Aaron…a little to the left now. Look up a bit. Great.” Snap. “Now down.” Snap.
“Turn your back to us and look over your shoul…yeah,
like that.” Snap. “Okay, now just free style it a bit. No big moves; real
casual.” Snap. Snap. Snap. “Great! That does it today, Aaron. Nice job.”
“Thanks.”
The young boy hopped down from the stage he’d been working on rolling into a
somersault landing right at Ciara’s feet. “Let’s go
see Nick.”
She
held her hands out for him to “help” her up and they both groaned to stand.
“We’ll head that way, but I have to call first to make sure they’re still
there.”
“Aw,
man…did we miss ‘em? I wanted to see them record stuff!”
Wrapping
her arm around his shoulder, she led him out to her car and popped him in the
behind as he slid in his seat. Joining him inside, she had to stop for a minute
to look at him.
“What?”
She
simply shook her head. “Nothing. Just getting deja
vu. And we’ll see them record. We’ve got tomorrow if nothing else.”
“What’s
deja vu?”
“It’s
where you experience something but feel like you’ve already done it before.”
“Oh…”
He didn’t get it. It didn’t matter. She was still freaking out over how much
this little thing emulated his big brother. Mannerisms, speech. She felt like
she was meeting Nick again for the first time, only Aaron was younger than Nick
had been. Somehow though, he seemed older than his 8 years.
As
they drove, she called Nick’s cell and decided it’d be better to meet them at
the hotel. They weren’t done, but were at a point where little brother might be
a nuisance. Tomorrow would be a better day.
But
today Aaron would pout. He missed Nick and he wanted to see him working. One
day was at least an entire eternity. So, for a few hours, Ciara
had some entertaining to do. She was failing miserably. Even at an arcade. This
was NOT good.
“Okay,
kiddo. I think it’s safe to go to the hotel. The guys should be there by now.”
“Yeah,
okay.” He hopped off the game he’d been playing and slumped alongside Ciara. You’d have thought his dog just died.
Lou
had arranged for her to have a room on their floor and Aaron could just stay
with Nick. They got her key and made their way up to the her room. “Aaron. Are
you sure you’re just upset about missing Nick? You seem so down.”
“Yeah,
I guess so. But he’s here now, right?”
“Yep.
At least he said he would be by now. We’ll go knock on his door before we even
go to my room, okay?”
That
lit him up. “Can we?”
“Sure.”
She ruffled his hair and planted a kiss on his forehead. She never realized how
lost Aaron would be without Nick by his side all the time. Poor thing really
did miss him.
They
approached his door and Ciara put a finger to her
lips so she could listen inside. Whispering, “Okay, he’s here…let’s surprise
him.”
“How?”
“Like
this…shhhh.” She knocked on his door and from far
back in the room, they heard him call.
“Who
is it?”
Ciara lowered her voice, trying not to the
let giggle sneak out. “Room Service for Mr. Carter.”
They
heard Nick’s footsteps and Ciara moved out of the way
pushing Aaron to stand right in front of the door. He giggled hearing his
brother mumble something about not ordering any room service and jumped when
the older boy whipped the door open.
Quickly
returning back to their plan, Aaron opened his arms wide. “What’s for dinner,
bro?”
“Aiiiiigggghhhh! Aaron!” He scooped the smaller boy into his
arms, planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek. “Where’s Ci?
Did you wear her out already?”
“She’s
right her-….where is she?” She was gone. Slipped into her room to allow the
boys to be alone for a bit. “She was right here.”
“She’s
sneaky that way, come on…I’ve got Nintendo set up already.” He knew what she
was up to and appreciated it. He’d call her a bit later. Right now it was time
to catch up with his brother. Nothing else really mattered.
******~~~~~~******~~~~~~
After
pizza with Bri, AJ and Howie and getting her clock cleaned by Brian at video
games, Ciara decided to turn in. Obviously Nick and
Aaron were having the time of their lives. No one had seen nor heard of them
since her arrival.
She
hated sleeping in hotels…always did so much better at home. Sleep for an hour,
toss and turn for an hour. She was grateful she’d be back in her own room by
tomorrow. How did these guys do it away from home so much? She’d never manage.
After
watching the clock change from
“This
had better be good.”
“Cici, I’m so sorry. It’s Nick. Aaron’s sick. Can you…”
She
immediately hung up the phone and ran to Nick’s room. He was still holding the
receiver in his hand when he heard her knocking frantically on the door. “God,
that was fast…”
“Is
he okay? What’s wrong? Should I call your mom?”
“Ciara, calm down…he has a really high fever. I thought you
were the nurse here.” He had to chuckle at the panic in her voice, on her face.
Panic was definitely something he’d never seen in her before.
“Well,
not quite…months away and I’ve never known my patients…I worry.” She walked over
to the sleeping boy in the bed and caressed his forehead. “Oh Jesus, he is
burning up. How’d he act tonight?”
“Eh,
okay…a bit less hyper than usual. Kinda weepy now that I think of it.”
“You
know, he was more depressed than I expected when we couldn’t see you at the
studio today too. I bet he was just not feeling good.”
“So
now what do we do?”
“Well,
he’s sleeping, but you really shouldn’t be around him, Nick. You’ve got to
record and then head out again…you don’t have time to be sick.”
“No,
not really, but…”
“Mommmmmmmyyyyyy…..” Aaron stirred but still seemed to be
somewhat asleep.
Sitting
on the edge of the bed, Ciara brushed back his sweaty
hair from his brow and tucked the blanket up under his chin. “Honey, it’s Cici. Mommy’s not here. You okay?”
“No…I
hurt. I’m cold. My throat hurts.”
“Yeah…can
I take you to my room and take care of you?”
“No,
I don’t wanna leave Nick.”
“Aw,
honey…you don’t want Nick to get sick now do you?”
“Yes.”
Nick
and Ciara had to laugh at that. He was still Aaron…just
not quite right. “Ci, you can stay here with us
tonight. I don’t mind…or I can probably manage okay. He just kinda scared me.”
“Well,
it’s up to you. I just don’t want you to get sick and he’ll be restless all
night I bet. Why don’t you go to my room so we don’t have to move him?”
Aaron
shot out of bed like he’d been shocked. “NO! Nick stays here.” He slapped the
left side of the bed. “Cici stays here.” Slapping the
right side of the bed, he plopped back down on his the pillow. Sitting up was
definitely not good.
Nick
and Ciara exchanged helpless glances. “It’s a big
bed. We’ll all fit.”
Reluctantly,
Ciara agreed. Somehow this felt silly and wrong
and…she wasn’t quite sure why. But Aaron was sicker than a dog and would
probably want some “mommy care”. She could do that. “Okay, let me go get a few
things for morning and I’ll be right back. Does Lou have a doc here we can
call? Or AJ or something? I’m hunching it’s just strep. A good antibiotic and
he’ll be fine by tomorrow night.”
“Yeah,
I think so. Can we wait ‘til morning?”
“Oh
yeah, nothing we can do about it now.” Ciara grabbed
her room key and started to the door.
“Ci?”
“Yeah,
hon…”
“Nice
jammies, by the way.” Nick smiled shyly and walked to the bathroom to get ready
for bed. Ciara just looked down and blushed. A lace
teddy. A skimpy lace teddy no less. She loved wearing next to nothing to bed.
And here she was…wearing next to nothing. Jesus. Hopefully she packed some
sweats…
******~~~~~~******~~~~~~
By
Nick
stumbled into the bathroom after waking to find his bed empty and stopped cold
watching Ciara being so gentle and patient with his
brother. The kid looked like hell, bright red cheeks, dull, dark eyes and
absolutely no expression on his face. Normally when his mom had to do this for
a fever, he’d scream bloody murder the entire time. But now he was totally
calm, totally peaceful. Ciara was working magic on
him.
“Is
he okay, Ci? Should we call someone now?”
“Oh!
Hey…you scared me. Yeah, he’s okay. Fever’s coming down a bit I think. He just
spiked a goody there.”
“I’m
glad you’re here. He normally screams when Mom does this. I’m sure it’d be
great with me doing it.”
“Aw,
you’d be okay. I just know what I liked when I was sick and scared. You should
go back to bed though. You have a full day tomorrow.”
“The
bed’s too empty now. You almost done?” Nick yawned and plopped onto the closed
seat of the toilet jumping back when his bare toes brushed against Ciara’s bare leg. Damn…he’d seen her in bathing suits for
years…played in the water with her even. Why was this suddenly uncomfortable?
“Yep,
almost. Aaron? You ready to go back to bed now, buddy?”
He
silently nodded and let Ciara pull him out of the
water. Nick held the towel open and wrapped him in it, hugging his brother
tightly. “He’s still so hot, Ci…you sure he’s okay?”
“Yeah.
It’s really okay. A fever is his way of fighting the infection. We’ll get some
meds in him tomorrow morning and he’ll be good as new. His throat is covered in
white shit.”
“Yuck.
Is this what Les and Angel have too?” He kept cradling his brother, not
remembering him this sick in a long time. He didn’t like it one bit.
“I
think so, yeah. So any doc should prescribe something without seeing him. He’ll
be okay.” Brushing a hand through Aaron’s long hair again, she took the towel
from him and slid his nightshirt back over his head and helped him step back
into his briefs. “Okay, buddy…Nicky’s gonna tuck you in again.”
“K…thanks,
Cici.” The little blonde boy laid his head on the big
blonde boy as he was carried back to bed. Ciara
followed after pulling the plug in the tub and drying off the floor from
escaped water.
She
had to smile at the scene before her. Nick was just as gentle as any mom could
be with his brother. He talked just as soothingly, kissed his brow with as much
love and tucked him in with as much care as any mom, any nurse, any caretaker
ever could. Not an easy crier, but yet a tired woman, she was surprised to find
tears running down her face. Dammit.
Nick
stood and walked over to her, also surprised to see her crying. “Ci? What’s up?”
She
quickly looked down and tried to make her way to the bed, but Nick stopped her.
Okay, this was weird. Her heart was racing and for the first time since she’d
known him, she was nervous to be near him. Granted he was dressed only in
boxers and she never did find anything else to wear but that damned teddy. But
he was 16…a scrawny 16 yr. old kid. And she? She was 21…and this was Nick for
God’s sake. He could NOT have an effect on her. It was just…wrong.
But
he did…and she did. And neither knew what to do with it. It didn’t help that
the teddy was also damp in just the right spots from giving Aaron the bath.
Nope. Didn’t help Nick one little bit. Finally, he moved aside. He always
thought Ciara was beautiful, but this? This was too
weird. She was just Cici…just his friend. A much
older woman. But, damn she looked incredible and…why wasn’t she answering his
question?
“Ci?”
“I’m
okay, Nick. Just worried about him. Let’s try to get some sleep, huh?” She slid
into the bed giving Aaron’s head one more kiss, hoping sleep would come soon
and she’d see this had just been a very weird, odd dream.
******~~~~~~******~~~~~~
“Thanks,
Lou! We’ll get him fixed up.” Ciara closed the door
not wanting any more contact with that man than absolutely necessary. He gave
her the creeps. The guys seemed to trust him, but all she could see was a slimy
used car salesman when she looked at him. But today he’d pulled strings and she
had a bottle of Amoxil and Children’s Tylenol in her
hands. He was, at least for the moment, her hero.
“Okay,
Aaron, we’ve got some medicine finally. Sit up and you’ll feel better in no
time.” Aaron dutifully sat up and took the medicines grimacing as it passed
over his sore throat.
“Yuck.
I don’t like that red stuff.”
“That’s
why I did it first. Time for the yummy stuff.”
“Yeah!
I could drink all of that!”
Ciara chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Let’s
go a dose at a time. You’re sick enough already.”
“Did
Lou bring the meds?” Nick came out of the shower throwing a shirt over his
head.
“Yep!
I like that pink stuff!”
“It’s
good, isn’t it? So, uh…I guess you all can’t come to the studio today now,
huh?”
“Cici!!!!!!! I wanna goooooooo!”
There were the tears Nick had talked about last night.
“Aw,
honey. You can’t infect everyone. You really should stay away from people for
another day.” Ciara wrapped her arms around the boy,
relieved that he already felt cooler to her touch.
“Think
maybe later on? After he’s had a couple of doses?”
“Yeah,
I suppose so. I’d just hate if any of you other guys got sick.”
“We’ll
live. What about you, Ci?”
“Don’t
worry about me…okay, Aaron? What about later today, huh?”
Sniff.
Sniff. Wipe. Wipe. His dark eyes met hers and a smile crossed his face for the
first time in hours. “Okay. Can we play Nintendo while they’re gone?”
“Absolutely!
You need to teach me some tricks so I can beat Nick.”
“You
don’t need tricks to beat Nick. He sucks.”
“Aaron!!!!
I just let you win.”
“Alright
boys. I need to go clean up my room. I snuck over and ate already before you
woke up. You hungry, Aaron?”
“Thirsty.
A little hungry.”
“I
gotta go, Ci…you okay here?”
“Yep…we’ll
try to get out later.” Looking at Aaron’s eyes well up again, she corrected
herself. “We WILL get out later.”
“Yes,
you will. Okay, Aaron…” he leaned down and kissed his brother’s forehead, “…and
Ci,” he did the same for her but stayed near her
face, “…thanks, by the way.” He stood up and walked to the door. “I’m off.
Don’t go easy on her with the gaming, okay?”
“Yeah,
yeah…go to work. We’re fine.” Aaron stuck his tongue out at his brother and
plopped back onto the pillows as soon as he closed the door. “I’m tired again.”
“Take
a nap, sweetie. I’m gonna go clean up my stuff next door.”
“Ciara?”
“Yeah?”
“Do
you think you’ll marry Nick someday?”
“What!?”
Dear God. “I don’t think so, honey. I’m too old for Nicky.”
“No
you’re not. He loves you, you know.”
“He
doesn’t know what love is, Aaron…go to sleep.”
“I
do…he loves you...and I think you love him too.”
******~~~~~~******~~~~~~
Let's have a party
Everybody throw your hands up In the air
Everybody
I like the way you swing yeah
Everybody
Girl you know mmmmm
You're looking good
Let's have a party
Girl you gotta work that body
Dear God what kind of lyrics were they singing? And wasn’t that
the BABY on lead? Jeez. Ciara waved at Brian in the
booth as he sang his part and smiled uncomfortably at Kevin, who so happened to
have his arms wrapped around some tall blonde thing. Nice.
Spinning
around from the sound table, AJ grabbed Aaron and started a tickle fest wild
enough to disrupt not only this recording session but any others in the
building. Ciara was always amazed how quickly Amoxil worked on strep throat. Truly a miracle drug. Aaron
was almost back to normal already, although he was still sporting a low grade
fever. Nothing major.
Finally
breaking free from AJ’s hold, Aaron fled back to Ciara’s
arms. “Where’s Nick? I wanna hear him sing.”
“He’s
taking a quick break, kiddo. He’ll be back in a few. You feeling better?” For
all of AJ’s bad guy crap, he was a softy. His eyes could melt an iceberg.
“Yeah,
I’m better. I’m tired though.”
“Well,
I’ll get you home in your own bed tonight. You’ll sleep better without me and
Nicky bumping into you all the time.”
“Woah! You AND Nick? He didn’t tell us that little detail!”
“Oh
put it back in your pants AJ…innocent. Aaron in the middle of a big ole
king-sized bed. You are the horniest horn dog….”
“Don’t
you know it, baby. Come on, Aaron. Let’s go find Romeo-er…Nick. See if he’s
eating too much.”
And
they were out. Thank God. The last thing she needed was to be tormented about
romancing Nicky.
She
sat back and watched Brian work. His voice was like satin, even with a goofy
song like this one. He listened to the direction of the producer, changing
inflection, dynamics, diction as needed. It was
amazing to watch. The other parts were already on a track so he was just adding
his to the mix. She could have watched for days. This process always intrigued
her.
“Uh,
Ciara…can I talk to you for a minute?”
It
was Kevin. Looking surprisingly subdued and dare she think…repentant? It
couldn’t possibly be. “Yeah, sure…wanna step outside?”
“Yeah…”
Turning back to his friend, “I’ll be back Kristin.”
“What
can I do you for, Kev? Seems you’ve got your hands full enough there.”
“Ciara look. It’s just that…I’ve known Kristin…we’ve been
seeing each other since…I mean…” He ran his hand through his hair and shifted
his weight from foot to foot trying to stumble through some sort of explanation
that really wasn’t necessary. At least to Ciara.
“Look.
Let me just relieve you here. You owe me nothing. No explanations. No excuses.
No lies, no tales. Lindsey however, you owe a lot. How ‘bout you get your story
straight and tell her? Don’t waste my time, okay?”
“But
I feel like I’ve betrayed you too…somehow.”
“You
haven’t. There has to be trust first and I’ve never trusted you. Kevin, I don’t
know your game and frankly, I don’t care. All I know is last I talked to
Lindsey she thought you were back in
“You’re
a piece of work, you know that?”
“Yeah,
a real charmer. Are we done?”
“I
suppose we are.”
“Just
do Lindsey a favor and end it okay? She’s star struck. Pure and simple. Don’t
do that to her.”
Ciara quietly made her way back in the
building and into the studio where the boys were working. Nick, Aaron and Howie
had returned although Aaron looked like he was in need of another nap. He was
wrapped up in a blanket looking quite pooped.
He
walked over to Ciara with the blanket still around
him and opened his arms making him look like a bat. Climbing up on her lap, he
wrapped them both up in the warmth of the blanket as he laid his head on her
shoulder and settled his arms around her neck.
“You
tired, buddy?”
“Yep.
I dun wanna leave though.”
“Okay,
just rest here a bit. You comfy?”
“Yep.
You’re warm and soft.”
“Let’s
see if you’re still warm.” She pulled him back and felt his forehead, kissing
the end of his nose. “Just a little. Not much. Snuggle in now.”
And
he did. She could feel his breathing become slower and slower ‘til eventually a
soft snore escaped his lips and she could lay him on the couch in the lounge
area of the studio.
“Is
she always like this, Nick?” AJ couldn’t stop watching her with the young boy.
“Like
what?” Typical Nick oblivion to the obvious.
“With
Aaron…with everyone. By the way, hear you slept with her last night.”
“I
did NOT SLEEP with her. We slept in a big ole bed with my brother. That’s
CIARA, AJ! I can’t…you’re sick.”
“Eh,
we’re gonna get that cherry of yours popped yet.”
“Well,
that’s fine with me, but NOT with Ciara. No.”
“You
like her…admit it.”
“I
do, but not like that.” He was blushing. Dammit, he
could feel the heat rising up his face and down…dammit.
“Maybe
not now. Your age difference is too big right now, but some day…you mark my words.
Some day Nick, you and Ci will share a bed without
your brother.”
“Shut
up, AJ…it’s your turn in there.”
And
so the day went. Finally it was time to head home. Aaron went from sleeping to
running all over the place, to sleeping to running. CIARA was exhausted. He
slept on the way home and she was able to just carry him to bed, happy that he
was, for the first time in 24 hrs. cool to the touch.
“Call
me if you need anything, Jane. He should be fine though.”
“Thanks
for taking care of him. My hands were full enough here. The girls are still
struggling.”
“Anytime,
Jane. I mean it.”
Ciara slid into her car and just sat
enjoying the silence for a few minutes. So much had gone on in the past few
days, yet nothing had really changed. Or had it? She and Lindsey were talking,
something incredibly funky happened between her and Nick and after taking care
of Aaron, she was sure her career was directed on the right path. This had to
be the sign of an upswing in her life. It just had to.
***
