"Hey Ames- you doing anything today, that you wouldn't have time for a date with AJ McLean?" I asked, curiously. She had known that I was going out with Brian, and kept bothering me to get AJ to ask her out. This was her chance.
"Oh my god!! You have to be kidding me!!! NO OF COURSE I am not busy!!" Amy said, practically screaming into the phone. I told her to be at my house, ASAP, because we were inviting the guys over for a barbecue and for her to bring her bathing suit. She said she would be there in 5 minutes. I just smiled as I hung up the phone. Next person on my list, Nick's date.
"Hi, is Tara there?" I asked.
"Yeah, this is her!" Tara responded.
"Tara, girl? I didn't even recognize your voice!" I laughed. "Well, do you wanna hang out with Nick Carter today or are you busy?" I said, nonchalantly.
"You've got to be kidding!! Nick Carter? YES O YES!!!" Tara screamed into the phone. I gave her the same details, and she said she would be there soon. I smiled at Shelly, who was watching this entire thing, as I hung up the phone. She just laughed. I picked up the phone, one last time.
"Hey Kristin?" I asked.
"Yeah, hey!" She responded.
"You wanna come over for a barbecue and hang out with Howie?" I smiled, as I pictured her flirting with him. Kristin loved to flirt, with any guy.
"OF COURSE!! You do mean HOWIE DOROUGH of the BSB??" Kristin giggled.
"YES! now get your butt over here. Bring your bathing suit. See ya in 15!" I said, as I hung up the phone. I turned my body to face Shelly. She just laughed, as she finished making the potato salad for the guys.
"Shelly, I'm gonna go up and change. What time did you tell Kevin and the guys to be here?" I asked, half up the stairs.
"Oh - umm...at 1." I looked at my watch, it was 12:30. I ran into my room, and slipped on my silver bikini, that I had been dying to wear in front of Brian. I knew this would get his attention!! I threw my hair up, into a ponytail, and put on a pair of shorts. I ran down the steps, back into the kitchen to help Shelly until the guys came. At about 12:45 the doorbell rang. I ran to it, figuring it would be my friends. As I opened to door I was engulfed in a a pile of hugs.
"So where are our dates?" Amy asked curiously.
I just laughed. "They'll be here shortly. Guys, this Shelly. Shelly this is Amy, Kristin, and Tara." I said as I pointed out each one of them. "You guys can put your stuff out back. I am gonna finish cleaning up in here." They all walked out back, to put their stuff on the pool deck. You could tell they were all nervous. They kept asking me questions about the guys. I just couldn't help but laugh. A few minutes later, the door bell rang. Shelly opened it up, and ran into Kevin's arms. The other guys walked in, but stopped immediately at the sight of my three friends.
"Guys, this is Amy, Kristin, and Tara." I introduced them. Nick immediately linked eyes with Tara, Howie walked up to Kristin and tried to play it cool, while AJ kissed Amy's raised hand. I gave Brian a huge hug and kissed him on the nose. We all walked out back. I told the guys to help themselves to the food, but they all seemed more intrested in jumping in the pool. Brian and I sat down at a table. I watched everyone as the joined in on a game of chicken. It seemed like everyone was getting along great, especially Kevin and Shelly. I couldn't keep my eyes off the two love birds. The way he handled her with such pation, and emotiion, it was really sweet. They were so great for each other. I wish it could be me and Brian. I turned to him, and held his hand.
"Brian?" I asked.
"Yeah?" he said stroking my hand.
"I was wondering if you wanted that?" I asked, keeping my eyes on Kevin and Shelly.
"What?" he asked.
"What Shelly and Kevin have, do you want to be like that?" I asked.
"No." he said with an angry tone in his voice.
I decided to drop it, but kept my eyes on the two love birds. Kevin kept trying to dunk Shelly, but she was so small she kept gettin away. Finally, he pushed her under.
"Why don't you go join them, since you don't seem to be interested in me." Brian said, in a sarcastic tone.
"Fine." I said, knowing it was against his wishes. That's why I did it. This was my party, time I wanted to spend with my friends, and I wasn't gonna let my boyfriend ruin it. I jumped in the pool.
"AHH!!" I said, jumping in.
"Oh no! now there's two of them!" Kevin said, trying to get away, but we grabbed his ankles and threw him under. Then he tackled me and dunked me. I came up laughing hysterically. Then I saw Brian get up and walk inside.
"Whats up with him?" Kevin asked.
"Oh, I don't know." I replied, acting like I didn't care.
About 5 minutes later Brian came back out. "I'm gonna go, guys see ya later. Bye Kev, Nick, AJ, and Howie. Oh yeah, nice meeting you Kristin, Tara, and Amy." They all smiled at him, as he turned around. He obviously had puropely left me out. All the guy looked at me, and I ran out of the pool.
"Brian, wait!" I ran after him, soaking wet. "Brian, stop! Please!" I begged, I could feel the tears in my eyes. By the time i reached the door, it was too later. He had gotten in his friends car, and they had sped off. I turned around and collapsed on the couch, crying my eyes out. Then I felt the touch of a firm, strong, hand on my head. I looked up, it was Nick. He sat down next to me and gave me a hug as i cried in his arms.
"It's gonna be alright, I promise. Sometimes he just needs about a hour to cool off." Nick explained.
"Thanks, Nick." I looked up with him, wiping away my tears.
"Hey, you wanna go for a drive? It will help you clear your mind. Come on let's go." he said, helping me up from the couch. I ran out back to through on my shorts, and told Shelly where we were going. Then I climbed into Kev's car, with Nick at the drivers seat. Nick popped in his Backstreet Boys CD, he obviously knew how to cheer me up, but he put on the wrong song. As I heard the lyrics to I'll Never Break Your Heart, tears filled my eyes. That was Brian and I's song. Nick quickly changed it to, Hey Mr. DJ. All of the sudden I spotted something out my window.
"STOP!" I screamed at Nick. He put his foot on the break, and pressed as hard as he could.
"What's wrong? What is it?" Nick asked looking out my window. Thats when he saw Brian, shooting hoops. "You sure you wanna do this? You want me to go with you?"
"No, Nick. I'll be fine. I gotta do this by myself." I said, as I jumped out of the car. I started up the hill, and as I reached the basketball court, Brian started to pack up.
"Brian, wait! Can't we just talk about this?" I said sitting on the bench with him. Then he took my hand.
"Sheilagh, I don't know how to say this, but I think its over. I am really sorry." Brian said, getting up and walking away. I started to break down in tears, as I saw him walk out of my life. As he passed by Kev's car, Nick gave him a dirty look, but he just ignored it and kept walking. Nick jumped out of the car, and ran up to me.
"Nick--he----saiid---it was over." I said through sobs. Nick gave me a hug and told me everything would be alright, and at that moment i had realized i had found a best friend. Nick helped me back down to the car, and the entire way home, I cried. As we arrived back at my house, I jumped out, and Nick gave me another hug. We walked up, and my friends came running up to me. I told them what happened and they all gave me hugs. Then Kevin walked in. How was I supposed to tell him I hated his cousin?
"So, what did I miss?" Kevin said, gently rubbing my arm, while looking into my red eyes.
"Kevin, he dumped me." I said, crying more. Kevin just gave me a hug.
"Oh my god! Why does he have to be such a jerk sometimes? He just doesn't realize what he has! I am so sorry, I'll talk to him for you. I promise." Kevin said.
"Thanks." Shelly decided it was best if everyone left, so I said my goodbyes. It just wasnt the same though, without getting that long kiss from Brian. It seemed like my friends had hit it off pretty well with the guys. AJ and Amy left, hand-in-hand and Kristin told me that her and Howie had made plans to go out that saturday. At least if I wasn't going to be in a relationship, my friends were.
As soon as they left, I ran up to my room to cry. I just sat there and cried. I didn't want to talk to anyone, or see anyone. I just wanted to be alone. By myself. I thought back to the first day I met him at the airport, my first autograph from him, that first date he took me on, and especially that night on the beach. The more I thought about it, the more upset I got.
I stayed in my room for the entire week. Shelly brought my meals up to my room, and if there were any phone calls for me, Shelly told them I couldn't come to the phone. I wouldn't talk to anyone, except if their name was Brian. If I did talk to someone it would most likely be Nick, but he didn't seem to be around that much. I was fully depressed. Shelly had told me that Kevin talked to Brian, but Brian didn't seem to care. He just didn't realize what he did to me, and that's what hurt me. The one person I needed right then in my life more than anything hated me. I cried myself to sleep every night, dreaming of what it would be like to be back in Brians arms. I had never had feelings for someone like this before. That night, I heard Shelly downstairs talking to Kevin on the phone.
"Yeah, she refuses to talk to anyone. I am really worried about her Kev." Shelly explained.
"Yeah, I know, so am I. I keep trying to talk to Brian, but he just doesn't care. Or if he does, he's doing a really good job at hiding it. He's even considering calling Leighanne." Kevin explained.
"Oh Kevin! Don't let him do that, please. It would crush Sheilagh. Remind him of how Leighanne treated him, remind him of how heart broken he was." Shelly begged. "Kevin, don't let him do it!"
"I know, I don't think he will. It's just a thought that he thinks of, just to get his mind off of Sheilagh."
That night, I couldn't bear the thought of Leighanne and Brian back together, it hurt me too much. I fell asleep crying. The next morning I woke up to a pounding on our front door. I heard Shelly get up and run downstairs. I had no idea who would come here this early in the morning, wait, yes i did. Nick. I figured it had to be him. Then I heard the voice I had wanted to hear for the past week.
"Shelly, where is she?" Brian asked, practically yelling at the top of his lungs. The sound of his voice brought tears to my eyes, but happy tears. Shelly looked up at Brian, she could tell he had been crying.
"Brian...you cant do this." Shelly told him. "You can't come in here, after breaking her heart and demand her back."
"Shelly, please!! I am begging you, just tell me where she is!" Brian said, on his knees.
"Oh fine, she's upstairs." Brian dashed up the stairs, but before he walked into my room, he took a minute to compose himself. Then I heard the most beautiful song that my ears had ever heard. My door swung open, as he stood there, singing his heart out.
It's not that I can't live without you
It's just that I don't even want to try
Every night I dream about you
Ever since the day you said goodbye
If I wasn't such a fool
Right now I'd be holding you
There's nothing that I wouldn't do
Baby if you only knew
Tell me
The words to say
The road to take
To find a way back to your heart
What can I do
To get to you
And find a way back to your heart
And with that he had me. My eyes were filled with tears, as I ran up to him and jumped into his arms. Just holding him and hugging him.
"Oh Sheilagh, I am so sorry!! I love you soo much. I have no idea why I acted like that. I am so sorry." Brian said, crying.
"Brian, I love you so much. How could you? I was so hurt, I love you!!" I cried in his arms. "I forgive you."
"Wait, there's one more thing I have to do though." Brian got down on his knees and took my hand. " Sheilagh, will you be my girlfriend, again?"
"Yes of course! I love you, Brian."
"I love you too!"
I couldn't be happier than I was that moment. I felt so safe and right in his arms. Things were going to be different this time around - I could tell.