Chapter 27:
"You're gonna cook for Denise?" Sarah asked unbelievingly.
Molly nodded. "Yeah - and for you. She said she'd like to meet you again, too, so I suggested the four of us could have dinner together. As a thank you for her inviting us to breakfast."
"Cool!" Sarah exclaimed.
"What are you gonna cook?" Mandy asked. Araysa, Mandy, Sarah and Molly had started their "girls-afternoon". They were at Caroline's house and could finally clue each other in on anything that had happened, when they were hanging out without each other. Caroline, who had returned home in the mean-time, was upstairs getting ready to leave again. Molly had started first with this morning's story of breakfast at Denise'.
Molly shrugged. "I don't know yet." She chuckled a little. "Geez, you should've seen their faces when they understood that I actually wanted to cook and not go out. After I suggested dinner I told Alex something like 'if you're brave enough to let me wreck havoc in your kitchen' and his jaw fell all the way down." Then she blushed slightly. "I think Denise was a little impressed though."
"Of course", Araysa laughed. "Now she knows her baby boy will be taken good care of!"
Molly rolled her eyes and snorted. "But now on to you, Ms. Guy-Attention!" Mandy laughed at the nickname Molly used rarely for Araysa. "I think your story might be the most interesting one..."
Araysa grinned and was about to start her story of her night in Tampa, when suddenly something else came to her mind. "Oh my God, Molls - speaking of guy attention. I totally forgot to tell you something!"
"What?" Molly asked.
"You'll never guess who asked me out!"
Suddenly Mandy was cracking up on the couch she sat on. When Molly only looked at them clueless, Mandy managed to squeak out: "Brown-haired Justin Timberlake!"
"Oh Lordy!" Molly exclaimed. "Nick asked you out?!"
Now it was Sarah's turn to be the clueless one, as she asked grumpily: "We all know Nick asked her out, what's so funny 'bout that?"
"Oh, we're not talking about our Nick here, I mean - not Frack. This other Nick dude is a guy Araysa's in college with", Molly explained. She turned to Araysa again: "Ok, I also need the full story on that. But start off with the good stuff - Tampa!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When Caroline opened the door to leave the house, she jumped when she saw Nick standing there, his hand raised, ready to ring the door bell. "Hey Nick", she then grinned, "just go in. The girls are in the living room."
"Thanks, Caroline", Nick smiled and closed the door after him. He walked to the living room, where he could hear the girls talking. Suddenly he stopped at the door and hid, when he came close enough to hear Mandy ask:
"So, Race? Now what about you and Nick?"
Nick didn't feel bad about listening. He just grinned, expecting to hear Araysa say something nice, so it shocked him even more to actually hear her say:
"As soon as I get back to Winona I'll tell him I'm not interested anymore. He can go and keep up his player-image."
Nick stood still, not knowing what to think or to do. This had to be some kind of joke. What the hell was she talking about?
"Isn't it strange for you?" he now heard Molly ask. "You've waited so long for him to ask you out, and now that he did you're gonna dump him."
"So what?" Araysa laughed. Usually the sound of her laughter would've made him smile and laugh along, but now it sliced his heart into pieces. "I've got a better man than him. Stressing the 'man'!" The girls laughed and Nick turned to leave. He needed to get out because there was no way he could face Araysa right now.
As he turned around, he saw Sarah standing behind him. She had come out of the kitchen with a glass of water and was just looking at him. Of course she had also heard the girls' conversation and knew what they were talking about. She noticed Nick's heated face and the confusion in his eyes. At that the confusion in Sarah's heart came up with a mean plan. "I'm sorry", she said quietly, so only Nick could hear her.
He stormed out of the house, and Sarah quickly followed. She caught up with him as he reached his car. "Nick, wait!"
"What for?" he yelled.
"Let me come with you!" she asked.
"No! Please, I need to be alone now. I don't need to hear more."
"I wanted to warn you about this", Sarah suddenly said, and he eyed her suspiciously. "But probably you had to hear it this way - you wouldn't have believed me if I told you anyway."
"What do you know?" he asked angrily.
"I overheard the girls talking the past days..." She gave him a pitiful look. "I'll tell you what I know, but not here. Let's get away!"
Nick hesitated for a moment, before he agreed: "Fine!" They got into the car and he sped off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Araysa looked at her watch. "Guys, it's already 4:30. Where the hell is he? He said he'd be here by four." She was waiting for her boyfriend to come back from the studio.
Mandy and Molly shrugged their shoulders. "Have you tried calling his cell phone?" Mandy asked.
"No, but I guess I'll do that. I'm starting to worry about Nick", Araysa said. Then she grinned: "I mean MY Nick. Nick Carter, of course!"
The other two giggled. "Yeah, we guessed so!" Molly said grinning.
What Nick didn't know was that the girls hadn't been talking about him before. They had again been talking about the guy from college back in Winona, who Araysa had had a crush on for a long time. Only a few days before Spring break had begun, this guy, whose name was also Nick, had asked Araysa if she wanted to go out with him on a date, when he would be back from vacation. She had agreed, not knowing that she would meet and fall in love with Nick Carter only days later.
When Araysa had begun telling that story, the girls had decided to refer to Nick Carter as Frack, and to the other guy as Nick, so that they wouldn't end up all confused. Just a few minutes after that Nick had overheard their conversation, thinking Araysa wanted to dump him.
"Another thing", Molly spoke up. "Where the hell is Sarah?"
On to chapter 28
Back to chapter 26
Back to story index