“Stop it!” Jessica rolled her eyes and rolled over in her bunk. “I’m serious Nick, quit it!” Angie screamed laughing.
“SHUT UP!” Jessica screamed banging on the wall. “Remind me to never get the bunk next to them again!” she said looking over at AJ.
“Come on babe, let’s go back to bed,” he said wrapping his arms around her.
“Ok,” she said closing her eyes.
“Nick! Stop!”
“That’s it, someone’s gonna get hurt,” Jessica said getting up off the bed. She put her leopard skin robe on and slipped on her slippers.
“No! Come back,” AJ said reaching his arms out to her.
“I’m pissed now! It’s five o’clock in the fucking morning and people are trying to sleep!” she said as she began to walk towards the door. Just as she extended her hand to the doorknob, there was a knock at the door. She looked back at AJ and opened the door to see who it was. She slowly opened the door to see Nick standing in his boxers.
“Do you have any whip cream?” he asked smiling.
“Oh my God! Ewwww! No, and would you two please shut up, some people are trying to sleep!”
“Damn! Sorry! Somebody’s jealous cause they aren’t getting any!” Nick said smiling.
“Ugh! Get out!” she screamed throwing a pillow at him. She slammed the door and turned back to AJ. She took her robe and slippers off and crawled back into bed. She laid her head on AJ’s chest and began to fall asleep again.
“Oh Nick!”
“Oh my god!” Jessica mumbled as she closed her eyes again. Just then there was a loud knock on the door. Jessica got up angrily and opened the door quickly.
“What!?!” she screamed thinking it was Nick. “Oh, he Bri,” she replied seeing Brian standing with his pillow and blanket.
“I’m going to go and lay down on the couch in the front. You can’t hear anything from the back of the bus from up there, if you know what I mean,” he said motioning to Nick and Angie’s bunk. “Do you want to join me?”
Jessica looked back at AJ who was totally asleep in the bed. She smiled as she watched him sleep. “Umm, I’ll just stay….” She began.
“OH NICK!”
“Hold on, let me get my pillow and blanket!” she said walking over to the bed. She grabbed her fuzzy pink blanket and matching pillow and kissed AJ gently on the lips. She turned back towards the door and followed Brian to the front of the van.
“Oh my God! If those two don’t keep their hands off each other, no one’s gonna get any sleep,” Brian said rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“All except for AJ,” Jessica replied laughing. Brian began to laugh as he got up and poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Speaking of relationships, how is everything with you?”
“Getting better. Each day I wake up and just go with what happens, you know?” Brian sat down on the couch across from Jessica and slipped the black coffee. She nodded her head as she thought of her mother.
“Yeah, I know what you mean.”
Brian and Jessica continued to talk and, before they knew it, they had spent two hours reminiscing. All of the sudden Nick walked out of his room and to the fridge, grabbing a Mountain Dew. Brian and Jessica both looked at each other and began laughing.
“What?” Nick asked shrugging his shoulders. Just then Angie came out with her baby blue robe on. She walked over to Nick and kissed him gently as she sat down beside him.
“Is there ever a time when you two aren’t together?” Jessica asked annoyed.
Angie looked at Nick then back at Jessica. “No,” she replied giving Nick a kiss.
“When are you two going to LA?” Brian asked.
“Right after the show tonight,” Nick said smiling. Angie looked over at Jessica nervously. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was so nervous about meeting Nick’s family. She didn’t know if they would even like her. Nick insisted that everyone would love her, but there was still a doubt in her mind. This was a big step for Angie. What if his parents thought she was weird, or mean, or just nit right for Nick? She loved him too much and she didn’t want this to ruin their relationship.
“Hello… earth to Angie. Are you ok babe?” Nick asked pulling her close to him.
“What? Oh yeah, I was just thinking,” she said looking down at the ground.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“They’re going to hate me,” Angie whined looked over at Nick.
“No they’re not! They’re going to fall in love with you, just like I did,” Nick said leaning over and kissing her passionately.
“How do you always know the right thing to say?” Angie asked as he kissed her neck gently. Angie looked out the cab window and sighed. “This is one place that I haven’t missed,” she said looking up at the big sky scrappers. Nick put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.
“But now it’s different, because you’ve got me and I will never let anyone hut you. Ever.” Angie turned and looked deep into his eyes.
“No one has ever said anything like that to me.” She put her hands on his face and gently pulled it towards hers. His sweet and soft lips felt so good against hers. She had never loved anyone so much.
“We’re here,” the cab driver said as he stopped the car. Angie took in a deep breath as she reached for the door handle. The cold air hit her like a thousand little knives against her body. Nick walked around the cab and to the truck. Angie stood rubbing her arms to keep warm as she watched Nick and the cab driver unloading their luggage. The streetlights flickered with and eerie feel as the cab driver pulled away from the curb and down the street. Angie turned and faced Nick.
“Are you ready for this?” Nick asked wrapping his arms around her waist.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said grabbing his hand. They both turned, grabbing their luggage, and began to walk up the stone driveway. Angie straightened her maroon, velvet dress and started to fix her hair as Nick gently knocked in the door. After a few seconds a beautiful blonde woman in about her 40’s opened the door. A smile immediately went across her face.
“Nick!” she cries excitedly as she threw her arms around him.
“Hey mom!” Nick said kissing her cheek gently. Angie smiled slightly as Nick put his arm around her and pulled her close to his body.
“Mom, this is my girlfriend Angie, Angie this is my mom Jane.” Angie reached out her hand and shook the woman’s hand gently.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Jane said releasing Angie’s hand.
“Oh thanks, it’s so nice to finally meet you too,” Angie said looking up and smiling and Nick.
“Come on in you guys,” Jane replied stepping inside the house. The house was absolutely gorgeous. The Christmas tree, covered with lots of white lights, stood beautifully next to the circular stairwell. The entire house smelt of chocolate chip cookies and there were eight stockings hung up on the fireplace, including one for Angie. It immediately felt like a perfect Christmas home to Angie as she looked to see mistletoe above her and Nick in the doorway. She leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly.
“Sorry mistletoe,” she said explaining her actions.
“Well you can do better than that!” Nick said as he leaned down and kissed her deeply and passionately.
“Hey mom alert!” Jane said coming up behind them.
“Oh sorry,” Angie said timidly as she pulled away from Nick.
“Don’t be sorry honey, I just wanted to warn you before things got out of hand!” she said winking.
“MOM!” Nick said embarrassed.
“Why don’t you two go put your things upstairs. I set you up in your room honey. Dinner will be ready in a few seconds, and I’m sure the kids are dying to see you.”
“Ok mom,” Nick said kissing her cheek and grabbing his luggage. He motioned to Angie and she picked up her luggage and followed him upstairs. The room was so cute, filled with pictures of Nick’s old friends and trophies from junior high, even a picture of him and the guys from their first gig. Angie smiled as she saw the adolescent side of Nick.
“This is too cute,” she said, picking things up and examining them.
“Yeah… Well I didn’t spend a lot of time here. I never actually lived in this room; my mom set it up like this. I was touring with the guys by the time they moved into this house,” Nick said looking at the pictures.
“Oh, I’m sorry honey,” she said putting her arms around him from behind. “How old were you when you began touring?”
“When I was 13. I was just out of the 7th grade.”
“Wasn’t that hard?” Angie asked looking up at him sweetly.
“Yeah, but it was worth it!”
“So you wouldn’t do it over again if you had the choice?” Angie asked wrapping her hands around his neck.
“Never,” he joked kissing her sweetly.
“NICK!” his mom called from downstairs.
“Man, that’s something you never want to hear when you’re kissing your girlfriend, your mom screaming your name,” Nick said smiling.
“Nick, honey, come to dinner!”
“Well you got one down, five more to go. Are you ready to meet the rest of the gang?”
“Let’s go,” Angie said grabbing Nick’s hand. They walked down the stair and were immediately mobbed by kids. All of his siblings greeted Nick with hugs and laughter as Angie stood back and watched the excitement. She laughed as she saw his three sisters and one brother push him down and began to torture him.
“Ok guys that’s enough!” Jane said coming out of the kitchen to save Nick. Angie couldn’t stop laughing at the hilarious sight.
“Oh guys, I want you to meet someone. This is my girlfriend Angie,” Nick said motioning towards the stairwell where she was standing.
“Hey guys!” Angie said waving. All of the kids looked at her suspiciously as if judging her. She smiled not sure of what to say, when she finally replied, “hey, that was a great job torturing Nick. You’re gonna have to teach me some techniques!” All of the faces seemed to relax as they walked over an introduced themselves to her.
“Hi, I’m BJ.”
“I’m Angel.”
“I’m Leslie.”
“And I’m Aaron, the man of the house,” he said flexing his muscles.
“Yeah right!” Nick said grabbing him and tickling him.
“Nick! God, I am twelve now, I’m too old for that!” he said maturely walking away.
“Well… sorry!” Nick said sarcastically. He smiled at Angie and they followed the rest of the family into the dining room. The dinning room was just as beautiful as the rest of the house. The long, oak table was set beautifully with Christmas colors and decorations. There was a man sitting on the end of the table waiting for the family. He stood up as he saw Nick and his guest coming toward him.
“Hey there!” he said giving Nick a hug.
“Hi dad. This is my girlfriend Angie. This is Bob, my dad,” Nick said pulling away from his hug.
Angie shook his hand and everyone sat down at the table. Angie immediately felt comfortable with Nick’s entire family. Even his siblings, who didn’t normally like Nick having girlfriends, liked Angie. Soon it was ten o’clock at night and everyone decided to call it a night for Christmas the next day. Nick and Angie went to their room. Angie sat on the bed, as Nick got dressed for bed. She smiled to herself as she lay down on the bed.
“What?” Nick asked lying down next to her and seeing the smile on her face.
“Oh, I don’t know. I just never had a real Christmas with a family like this,” Angie said rolling over to Nick. He put his arm around her waist and gently kissed her forehead.
“Well, I’m glad that it feels like family to you. You better get use to it because you’re going to be around for a long time,” Nick said rubbing his fingers through her hair. Angie smiled sweetly as she turned her body towards his.
“I love you,” she whispered in his ear.
“Not as much as I love you,” he replied kissing her passionately. Angie pulled away from their kiss and wrapped her arms around him.
“Nick, look!” Angie whispered.
“What?” he asked confused.
“At the clock.” He turned over and looked at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand next to the bed. 12:05
“So?” Nick asked turning back to Angie.
“Merry Christmas!” Angie said kissing him gently.
“Oh, Merry Christmas to you too baby!”
“It’s our first Christmas together!”
“Hey!” Nick said jumping out of the bed.
“What?” Angie asked sitting up in the bed. Nick rummaged through his luggage looking for something. He finally pulled out a little box wrapped in beautiful green sparkly paper.
“Merry Christmas!” he said setting the box in front of her.
“Nick, it’s not Christmas morning yet,” Angie said smiling.
“Yes it is. Open it now,” he said excitedly. Angie smiled and began to tear the wrapping off the box. She lifted the lid and gasped at the present.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Good morning Orlando and a very Merry Christmas to you! This is DJ Max and I’m going to be with you this holiday weekend!” Jessica rolled over and hit the alarm clock.
“Remind me to kill Angie for leaving the alarm clock on,” she told Angel the cat. The cat cocked his head as if understanding what she said. Jessica threw the covers back and slowly rolled out of bed.
“Ugh,” she stated as she looked at herself in the mirror. She slowly walked out to the kitchen and started the coffee pot. Touring had tired her out especially with the no sleep aspect. She turned on the TV and plopped down on the couch.
“Let’s say what Carson Daly has to say,” she said turning the station to MTV. Just when she got to her desired station, the phone rang.
“Hello?” Jessica said answering the phone.
“Oh, you’re up!” Angie said from the other line.
“Yeah, because someone left the alarm clock on!”
“Oh, sorry. Hey Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas,” Jessica said smiling. “Hey, why are you up so early? It’s only like six o’clock your time.”
“Oh, well it’s Christmas morning with 12 year olds. What did you expect?”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, what did Nick get you for Christmas?” Jessica asked curiously. Angie smiled as she looked at the beautiful pendent around her neck.
“He got me this really beautiful necklace. It’s a silver heart locket with ‘I Love You’ in scripted on the font. Then on the back he put ‘I Will Never Leave You’,” she said smiling. She looked over at Nick watching the kids opening presents. Tears of joy filled in her eyes as she looked back down at the pendent.
“Oh my God Ang, that is so sweet! He really loves you!” she said excitedly.
“Jess, I’ve never loved anyone like this! This is the best Christmas ever!”
“That’s so great Angie!”
“Hey, what are you doing for Christmas?” Angie asked.
“Oh, I don’t think I’m doing anything. Christmas is hard for me,” Jessica said looking at the small Christmas tree Angie set up before she left.
“I’m sorry Jess, will you be ok?” Angie asked understanding her being upset about her mom.
“Oh, I’ll be ok. I just don’t feel like celebrating much,” she said putting her head down.
“Ok. Well I better go. We’re about to eat breakfast. I’ll talk to ya later. Merry Christmas!” Angie said honing up the phone.
“Bye.” Jessica put the receiver down and began to walk into the kitchen. She began to read the paper as she pored herself a cop of coffee. She smiled as she looked over at the little tree on the table. Her smiled faded as something shiny caught her eye. She walked over to the dining room table and picked up the green iridescent package. Her smile returned as she red the label on the package.
“To my Jessica, from Angie,” she recited out loud smiling. She quickly ripped the paper off the box and looked inside. There was a videotape with a note tapped to the front cover.
“I found this in a box of mine and thought you might like it today,” Jessica red, tearing the note off the tape. She walked over to the VCR and popped the tape into it, curious at what it could be. She sat down on the couch and pressed the play button on the remote. A smile came to her face as she saw herself at six years old. She watched herself running around excited that Santa had come. Jessica laughed at how cute she was. Her smile quickly turned to tears as she saw her mother appear on the television. She looked so pretty and youthful as she watched her daughter open presents.
“Oh mom,” Jessica muttered as tears ran down her face. She watched the figures of the past appear in the TV screen as the day slowly passed by. She missed the olden days with her mom and her. Before she knew it, it was three o’clock in the afternoon. The phone rang interrupting the silence of the house.
“Hello,” Jessica said, her voice still shaky from crying.
“Merry Christmas!” AJ said excitedly upon hearing his girlfriend’s voice.
“Merry Christmas baby,” Jessica said trying to sound enthusiastic.
“What’s wrong?” AJ asked concerned.
“Oh nothing, just the day,” Jessica said whipping away her tears.
“Oh baby! Are you ok? Why don’t you come over here?”
“No, I’m fine. I just feel like wallowing in my misery today,” she replied, tears still streaming down her face.
“I really want you to came over here!” AJ whined a bit.
“No, really. I’m ok.”
“Mom! Jessica won’t come over!” AJ whined to his mother. Jessica giggled a bit as AJ continued to whine.
“Oh, go whine to mommy,” she said laughing.
“Oh no, now you’re in trouble. My mom wants to talk to you!” AJ said threateningly.
“Oh no!” Jessica said sarcastically. AJ handed the phone to his mother.
“Jessica?” Denise said putting the phone to her ear.
“Hey Denise!” Jessica said happily. She met AJ’s mother a couple times before and thought she was such a sweetheart.
“What’s this I hear? You’re not coming over!”
“Well, it’s kind a hard day and I don’t want to burden anyone while you guys are having fun,” Jessica said quietly.
“Oh no! You’re coming over! You’re not going to burden us. We’re just hanging out and having fun. AJ will be there to pick you up in ten minutes,” Denise said forcefully.
Jessica smiled to herself as she replied, “ok. I’ll get dresses and be ready in ten minutes.”
“Ok, we’ll see you then!” Jessica hung up the phone and immediately went to the bathroom. She threw on a pair of black stretchy pants and a yellow, low-cut shirt. She quickly put on some make-up and brushed her hair, just as the doorbell rang.
“Hey there beautiful,” AJ said smiling as Jessica opened the door.
“Hey,” Jessica said putting her arms around him and pressing her lips against his.
“You ready?” he asked grabbing her hand.
“Yeah,” she said grabbing a big wrapped box. “Let’s go!”
It was only a five-minute drive to his mom’s house, and soon Jessica was greeted by AJ’s family. They spent the time laughing and visiting.
“Let’s open presents!” Denise said finally, glancing over at AJ. Everyone was busy passing presents and opening them, that no one noticed when AJ pulled Jessica into the other room.
“I want to give you my present in privacy,” he said letting go of her hand.
“Wait! Open mine first!” Jessica said handing him the box. He looked at her suspiciously as he sat down and began to unwrap the box. His face lit up as he lifted the lid, revealing a black leather jacket.
“Wow, this is dope,” he said putting the jacket on.
“Check the pockets,” Jessica said smiling. He reached his hand into the left pocket and pulled out a silver chain with a dragon pendant on it. The two dragons spelled out AJ.
“Tight!” he said putting it on. He reached into the other pocket and pulled out two tickets.
“Phantom of the Opera! How did you know?” AJ said excitedly.
“I have my ways!” Jessica said mischievously. AJ walked over to her and pulled her body close to his.
“Thank you so much,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her sweetly.
“No prob,” she said smiling. AJ broke away from their kiss and walked over to the table by the couch. He grabbed a little box and handed it to Jessica.
“What’s this?”
“Your Christmas present!” he said smiling. She smiled back and ripped off the jewelry box. She lifted the lid and saw a little silver band. She took it out and looked at the writing on it. Her hearty began to beat faster as she read the words ‘I love you’. Tears swelled up in her eyes as she got up and walked to AJ. Without saying a word, she put her arms around him and kissed him passionately. She broke away from their kiss and looked deeply into his eyes.
“I love you too,” she whispered sweetly in his ear.
Chapter 13
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