Chapter 15-

Amanda slowly walked over to AJ and just stood there. he made the first move by reaching out for a hug. She smiled as she stood in his arms.

“Amanda…im kinda confused, where were you?” AJ said as they pulled away from eachother.

She sighed and slightly shifted her gaze to her feet.

“whats wrong?” he asked leading her out after they picked up her bags.

“AJ im sorry for leaving”

“its ok, I was just worried about you that’s all. I thought you were going to leave me” he said with a laugh.

She forced a laugh, deciding not to tell him why she left. Unless she had to.

He put her bag into the car and they got in. While they were on their way back to the venue he reached over and put his hand over hers. He glanced down at her hand and then up at her.

“Amanda?”

“what AJ?” she asked

“wheres your ring?”

~*~*~*~

“Brianna wait” Nick said grabbing my arm before I walked away.

“what do you want?” I asked

“please don’t be mad at me…” he said quietly.

“why not? I have every reason to be mad at you”

“I know, but I wasn’t trying to make you mad. I just don’t want you and Eliese to fight anymore. I feel guilty because I ruined your friendship. You know I just wanna be with you but if I dumped Eliese and we got together it would really ruin everything. I just don’t know what to do”

“Nick, im really glad your thinking about my friendship with Eliese, so maybe it would be best if we just stayed friends. I’ll try to be nice to Eliese for you ok?”

“But Brianna, I don’t want to be with Eliese, I wanna be with you. I told you I never wanted to be with her, I just didn’t ever think that you liked me more than just a friend. I wouldn’t have ever even asked her out if I knew”

I sighed “sorry Nick I got to go…” I walked out shutting the door in his face.

“damn it” he cursed punching his fist on the table. He sat down at the table for a few minutes thinking about what happened. Just as he was about to get up and go talk to Brianna the door opened and Eliese walked in.

“Eliese, hi” he said quietly

“hi” she said so softly he could barely hear her.

“im sorr…” he started to say something but she held up her hand to silence him.

“I’ve been thinking” she said

“about what?” he asked

“well about you, and about us”

“and…?”

“you were a real jerk. I mean I’ve gone out with a lot of guys before, a lot of them were assholes but no one had ever cheated on me, until now. I don’t know what is supposed to happen, all I know is that if this were Jerry Springer you could kiss your cheating days goodbye.”

“I know Eliese, im really sorry. You don’t know how bad I feel cause I hurt you”

“yeah I would hope you feel bad” she said with a slightly sarcastic expression.

“so do you think maybe it would just be best if we just took some time apart and thought about things for a while?” he asked

“sure, that sounds good” she said smiling. “but so you know Nick, I forgive you and I do want to give us another chance so we’ll talk later ok?”

“alright” he said “thanks Eliese, for understanding. Im kinda confused right now”

she just smiled softly at him and walked out.

Nick sighed to himself and put his hands over his eyes.

“man I didn’t want that to happen either”

~In AJ’s Car~

“ummm its…” Amanda stared down at her bare finger trying to think of something to tell him. she could feel his eyes on her waiting for his answer.

“Amanda?”

“oh um Brianna has it” she said looking over at him.

“why?” he asked

“she was going to put it in her jewlery cleaner for me. I wanted it to be pretty as new just like when you gave it to me”

he laughed “ok. But make sure you get it back, I don’t want Brianna trying to steal it from you”

“oh don’t worry I would kick her ass before I ever let that happen.”

“good, you wanna go do something? Are you hungry, in the mood to shop, anything?”

“how about if we do both, go shopping and then to lunch”

“alright that sounds good” he said taking her hand while keeping one on the wheel. She looked down at their laced fingers and smiled.

“I love you AJ”

“I love you too”

~back at the hotel~

I walked into my room and found Eliese sitting on the bed.

“what are you doing in here?” I asked setting my bag down on the floor.

“we’re stuck sharing since there wasn’t another free room and Nick and I are not going to be sharing a room tonight” she said

“great”

“don’t have such an attitude. Its not peaches for me either”

“I would hope not”

“I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you and Nicks little fuck fest”

I laughed “hardly”

“I don’t know what happened Brianna, but even since Nick and I started to go out you’ve acted like some jealous bitch”

“me? I don’t think so. Im not the one who thought everytime Nick and I were alone we were having sex.”

“so I was right wasn’t I?”

“no. it was only one time. I didn’t really want to that bad at first, but then I saw how mad it might make you so I went for it anyways”

“well Nick and I are over it already so I guess your little plan backfired”

“I don’t think so, for one thing if you guys are over it, why are you still here? And second either way I got what I wanted”

“meaning…?”

“meaning, if you and Nick break up for good yay for me. And if you don’t I still got him in bed”

“good Brianna, see if I care. I’ve always liked Brian better anyways”

I laughed again “like you would ever stand a chance with him, not only is he married but Leighanne would blow you out of the water in any competition.”

“you think so?”

“I know so”

“you just wait Brianna. You’ll see”

“im sure I will” I said walking out into the hallway laughing.

“hey what are you laughing about?”

I turned around and stopped laughing, Nick stood there and all of a sudden I felt uncomfortable being anywhere near him.

“Nick, hi”

“I was just coming to see you”

“why?”

“cause I wanted to talk to you”

“about…?”

“everything, do you have a few minutes?”

“um sure, Eliese is in my room how about if we go to your room”

“ok” he said turning around and walking in the direction of his room.

Once we were inside I watched him shut and lock the door and then turn to face me with an expression on his face that I had never seen.

“sit down” he said motioning to the bed, I took a seat on the edge and waited for him to begin talking.

He sat down next to me and looked over, locking my gaze with his.

“um, what did you want to talk about?” I asked breaking into his thoughts.

“I don’t remember anymore” he whispered reaching out and brushing a piece of my face. “its just im sorry for ever getting us into this mess. I wish that we could just turn time back so that I could start all over again, I wouldn’t have hurt Eliese I wouldn’t have hurt you…”

“Nick” I said turning my head away. “we went over this already, I think that you and Eliese should just be together. As much as she bugs me now I don’t want her to hate me because I broke her up with you. even if you two broke up for good don’t you think it would be awful for me dating my best friends ex-boyfriend?”

“I don’t know, that’s why im confused. I just want to get out of this without anyone getting hurt”

“im sorry Nick but it’s a little late for that” I stood up and started to walk towards the door.

“wait” he said jumping up and grabbing my arm.

“what?” I asked

“I love you Brianna, you know that. Regardless of what is, was, or is going to happen between Eliese and I doesn’t change the way I feel. If you don’t think that anything will ever come of us, tell me now and I wont bug you anymore. I don’t want to waste my time if you arent going to give me a chance”

“oh I see how it is, you think im a waste of time?” I asked smiling.

“no I didn’t mean it like that”

“relax I was joking”

“so what do you say, I know that you don’t want Eliese to get pissed or anything but…”

“Eliese did say she liked Brian better than you anyways…so I guess I shouldn’t care what she thinks”

“she said she liked Brian better than me?” he asked with a fake shocked look.

“yeah, what a bitch”

“I don’t belive it. I’ve been wasting my time with her all along when I could be with you”

“yeah right Nick. don’t push it, I havent liked you for that long”

“oh stop I know you have, Im so sexy you cant resist me”

“oh yes Nick your so sexy I don’t think I can wait until later”

he looked at me with a questioning expression. “whats later?”

“you’ll see”

~*~*~*~

“AJ as much as I like this store, I don’t think it’s the right place to shop for our wedding” Amanda said as she pulled him past hot topic.

“but but…!” he whined “I want a lepord print tux”

“in all seriousness AJ, I want us to have a nice wedding”

he sighed “I know Amanda, I was only joking. I want our wedding to be nice too”

they sat down at a resturant and ordered drinks.

“so since we’ve pretty much been talking wedding all day, where do you think it should be?” AJ asked looking across the table at Amanda.

“hmmm…” she thought for a good 10 minuted before coming up with the perfect place. “the florida keys”

he smiled “that sounds good”

“im going to ask Brianna to be my maid of honnor, who are you going to ask to be your best man?”

“oh I don’t know, Howie maybe. Or all the guys. Its kinda hard cause I don’t want to hurt anyones feelings.”

“I know what you mean”

“Amanda why did you leave last night?”

“AJ I don’t really wanna talk about it. Ok?”

“actually I do wanna talk about it. I don’t want you feeling pressured into marrying me. I didn’t think you cared about all that until I read that note.”

“you read it?”

“yeah, Brianna threw it away but I saw my name on it and read it. I wish you would have talked to me about it”

“AJ im sorry for leaving. I didn’t think about it until after, I realized that I was just scared. I was scared of getting married”

he smiled “cold feet already”

she threw a french fry at him. “no”

“yeah right I know you Amanda” he said getting up and joining her on the other side of the table. “im sorry if you feel pressured or anything, but you have to know that I love you and even if you back out of this whole thing I’ll still love you. so just talk to me if you need to”

“thanks AJ, I love you too.”