Chapter 6
Angela turned around, shut the door
silently, and locked it. She didn't want to show any emotion towards
Brian right now. In fact, even if she could, she didn't know what it
would be. She was that confused.
She went over to one of the last boxes
that she had to unpack, and pulled out one of the old pictures of her and
Brian. "I remember this like it was yesterday," she
thought. They were at her family's annual Fourth of July barbecue.
As they had gotten out of the pool, her mother told them to pose for a
picture. And there they were; soaked and hugging.
"Did he come back for me?"
she wondered. "Or is this a one time thing? What if we don't ever
talk again?" And that's when she broke down.
In the kitchen, Brian looked
helplessly over to Krista. "What did I do?" he wanted to know.
"Nothing," she said.
"Angela didn't know how to handle it so she ran away from it. Ummm,
Brian, why don't you just give me your number and give her a couple of
days? She'll call you when she's ready. I'm gonna try talking to
her though."
"Alright." Brian wrote
down his number, hoping that Angela would eventually call and left.
Krista took a deep breath and headed
toward Angela's room. She knocked on the door and got no answer.
"Angela, I know you're in there. Don't do this to me," she said
through the door. Again no response. She then tried the door and
found it locked. She took the emergency key off the door jam and unlocked
the door. When she opened it, she discovered Angela rocking back and
forth hugging the picture. She was crying pretty hard. And that was
something she never did.
Krista ran over to hug her. She
stopped rocking, but continued to cry and hug the picture. "Come on
Angela. You never cry like this. Actually, I don't think I've ever
seen you cry like this. Be the sarcastic, tough girl I know."
Angela didn't even crack a
smile. It was more serious than Krista had thought. She turned
Angela around and looked her straight in the eye. "Talk to me,"
she almost commanded. Angela's big, brown eyes just stared blankly at
her.
"Come on Angela. Please?
" Krista pleaded. She almost had tears coming out of her blue eyes.
"I don't know," Angela said.
"Why did he come back? It can't be for me after all this time."
"I think he did. Brian
talked about you an awful lot. And he did say that he missed you."
"Then why didn't he ever return
my calls or write to me?" she asked.
"Angela, think real hard.
Where have you seen Brian's face before? Besides at home I mean."
"Not any place that I can
remember," she replied.
"You know that song that you've
been humming lately?"
"You mean As Long As You Love
Me?"
"Yup. You do know who sings
it right?"
"The Backstreet Boys,"
Angela said slowly. Krista smiled at her. "Wait a minute
here......he's that Brian?!" Krista nodded. "It all just
clicks now that I think about it." Angela started to cry again, but
this time the tears were a bit more joyful.
"So can you understand that he
didn't ignore your letters and calls? That he was just really busy?"
"Yeah," Angela
replied. "But I still don't know. It's hard to say what he
could be thinking."
"Do you still love him
Angela?"
"Well, yeah." She
blushed.
"Then how are you ever going to
find out if he loves you back? Sitting here and wondering about it isn't
going to solve anything. If I were you, I'd pursue it and see what
happens."
"Then I'm gonna go for it,"
Angela resolved. For no reason, she burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?" Krista
asked.
"Remember how much I wanted him
in my freshman year of high school and how much I talked about him?"
"Yeah, and those ugly sweaters!"
Krista made a face.
"I'm sure glad I was able to
persuade him not to wear those anymore!" Angela laughed.
The girls hugged each other laughing,
grateful for each other. But when they were done, Angela said, "Thanks
as always Krista, but right now I just wanna be alone. I need to think
things over."
"No problem. Are you sure
you're gonna be OK?"
"Yup."
Krista got up and shut the door on the
way out. She thought it was weird that Angela actually talked to
her. Usually Angela kept things bottled up inside her. "Maybe
she really needed to talk," she thought.
Angela laid back on her bed and knew
she was really confused. She knew that she wanted Brian and their
relationship back. She had wanted this for so long and now she had the
opportunity to have her other half back again.
But on the other hand, she wasn't sure
that everything could be the same. What if she had changed since she walked
away from him? Or what if his career had changed him?
His career. The thought of Brian
being a Backstreet Boy both excited and depressed her. She could be there
for everything he does, go on tour with them and be with him all the
time. Or it could take up all of his time and she would never see him.
That's if they got back together.
Angela felt herself on the verge of
tears again, but stopped herself. She couldn't cry again. She
wouldn't. The whole situation wasn't worth it.
"I already told Krista that I'm
gonna call him and I'm not gonna back out," she thought. "I'm
gonna make this work."
She sat up to use the phone and
stopped. She realized that she didn't have his number. Plus, how
could she call him after that emotional attack she just had in front of
him? "I'll call him tomorrow," she decided.
Angela finally got up to eat
breakfast. But before she went out to the kitchen, she placed the picture
on her nightstand. She felt a little bit better and hoped that everything
would turn out OK.
***
