"What the hell?"
I woke after hearing a sudden outburst. Nick was sitting at the edge of the bed and Aj was pacing in front of him.
"What the hell were you thinking! Just because I let you stay here in my house, you think you can fuck around with my cousin? She'll be gone in a few days and you're just trying to screw her before she leaves! I want you out of my house now, Nick. And I don't want you anywhere near my cousin. Got it? Stay away from her!"
To my surprise Nick just nodded and pulled on his khaki shorts and black wife-beater. I sat up in the bed and covered myself tightly with the sheet.
"What is going on?" I asked, watching Aj's glare shift towards me, while Nick ignored me and continued to get ready to leave, lacing up his sneakers.
"I should call your mother and tell her what is going on. I can't believe you'd do anything like this. Especially in my house!" He shouted, his face red with anger.
"Oh, stuff it Aj. Did I jump down your throat when you screwed my best friend. And by the way, we didn't do a damn thing. You can not control who I love, so back the fuck up!" I yelled back pulling on my bathrobe, as Nick sprinted out of the room. I quickly followed, shoving Aj out of my way.
Nick was only a few feet away from the front door when I called to him.
"Nick, please wait…" He stopped, and faced me.
"I'm not going to screw up anything else here. Steph, you know how I feel about you but, maybe it's better we leave it as friends. We won't see each other after this and I can't handle thinking you're mine if I can never really have you." He replied, walking to me and hugging me slightly. He leaned in to kiss me, but moved to my cheek.
"Nick, he has no right to say that and I don't care what he thinks. I love you too, please, Nick…" I held his arm as long as I could before he pulled it away and walked out the front door, not once looking back at me.
My eyes flooded with tears and I ran back upstairs. Aj tried to say something and hug me but I shoved him away.
"Alex, don't come near me. I really hate you right now and I think its best you do not come near me…" I whispered harshly, hurrying to my room and slamming the door.
**********
Theresa walked out of her room at the sound of the commotion in the hallway.
"What in the world is going on, Aj?" She asked, noticing his red face.
"I handled something wrong. Now Steph isn't going to talk to me, and Nick's… well I don't know what's wrong with Nick, he didn't even try to argue back." He looked down at the ground.
"Well what made you mad about them? They're so cute together…" Theresa placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to meet his eyes.
"I walked into Steph's room to remind them of the get together and tell them that we're now doing it here and… they were umm… naked in bed together."
"Boy, that's a little familiar huh?" Theresa sighed, "Well, Nick obviously takes good care of her. I mean he's been waiting for her for a while. Why did ya flip out?"
"'Cause she's my baby cousin. I honestly don't know why I got so upset, Nick's my best friend…"
I slowly stepped back out of my room, having changed into my jean-cut off shorts and tank top with my bathing suit on under it. I ignored Aj entirely and walked past both him and Theresa, only muttering a small 'morning' to her.
"Where you going Steph?" Theresa asked following me down stairs.
"Out. I gotta clear my head. I'll talk to you about it when I get back." I hugged her tightly and hurried out of the house as Aj wondered down the stairs. Theresa followed me before I got off the front porch.
"Steph, Aj kinda told me what happened. I know you need some time to cool off, so I'll talk to you when you get back. But don't forget we've got a group get together today…"
"I know, I know. I'll be back in time to get to Howie's."
"No, everyone's coming here."
"Alright, whatever, I'll be back later." With that I jumped off the porch and jogged away from Aj's house, headed towards the deserted beach just up the street. I ran most of the way, only slowing when I reached the white sand. I quickly removed my sandals and sighed at the feel of hot sand beneath my feet. I wondered slowly down to the shoreline, to where the water just kissed the sand. I sat down and let my feet cool in the salty water.
I sat there for what seemed hours, tears trickling down my cheeks every time I thought of Nick's words. He obviously didn't care about me that much or he would have fought harder to keep me. I finally stood up from the beach and walked slowly down the shoreline. I finally collected my thoughts enough that I felt I could return to Aj's and not strangle him when I saw him. He may have just been trying to be a good cousin but he just jumped to conclusions.
I headed up the beach to the road sliding my sandals back on and slowly heading back the direction I had come from. I kept my head down, not really wanting to go back. What did I have to go back to now?
"Hey Kid, you want a ride?" a deep voice asked next to me. I glanced up and found Kevin in his black Jeep 4x4. I nodded and brushed my hair back from my face. I walked around the jeep and climbed in, noticing his friendly smile. "What are you doing out here?"
"Just thinking…" I muttered, trying to avoid really looking at him. He was still my childhood crush, and I still had that teenage puppy love for him.
"You okay, Baby? You look a little upset." He asked, resting a hand on my knee. I felt myself shake a little, and glanced up at him.
"Oh, me and Aj are kinda angry with each other and Nick's now avoiding me…"
"Now why would he avoid a pretty little thing like you? You were all he could talk about since you to met. I swear that boy had a serious thing for you."
"Yeah, he asked me…" I stopped as Kevin pulled into Aj's driveway.
"You ready for the party. You'll finally get to meet Kristen." He smiled, not pushing me to continue.
"Cool, who's she?"
"My girlfriend of course." He hoped out of the jeep and came around to help me out. I felt my heart drop to my shoes, every thing was going wrong. For once on this trip, I found myself unable to wait to get home to New York.
"Great, can't wait…" I forced a smiled, which he accepted, leading the way to the house. I noticed Brian and what I assumed was Howie's car in the driveway already and followed Kevin into the house. My deductions were correct since Brian, Leighanne, Howie, Hailey, Aj and Theresa were all sitting around the living room talking and joking. There was also another blond there, sitting next to Howie on the couch.
"Hey, look who I found." Kevin grinned, joining the party, sitting next to the unfamiliar blond. He kissed her cheek sweetly and I guessed it was Kristen. Theresa got up from her seat and nodded for me to head upstairs with her.
"We'll be back." She explained, pushing me hurriedly up to my room. I collapsed onto the still messy bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Theresa didn't know what to say to me. "Well, girl, Brian said Nick might not be here today…"
"You know what, I don't care, I'm ready to go home." I suddenly stated, sitting up and looking around my room sullenly.
"Oh girl, now come on. Aj's really upset, and he was only trying to protect you from getting hurt. And Nick, well, I don't know what to say about him. Except that he's probably as confused as you."
"I guess, whatever. I'll be down to the party in a little bit. I wanna get changed. I'm all sandy." I gave my best fake smile and I guess she just accepted it. She nodded and left the room, heading back down to the living room. I quickly cleaned up, pulling on my black capris and my favorite baby pink halter-top, and flipping my hair up into a claw clip. I brushed on a little blush then hurried back down stairs, taking the staircase that led to the kitchen. I speedily fixed myself a pina colada and figured I had better go to the party, it was very unlikely I'd see the guys anytime soon again.
Stepping into the living room, I noticed Theresa sitting on the floor between Aj's legs. Kevin was whispering something to Kristen as I walked in and she just smiled at me.
"Hey Steph, it's about time you joined us. We've missed you." Brian smiled at me, making me crack a half a smile.
"Glad to know someone cares…" I muttered softly, taking the chair furthest from the group, sipping my pina colada slowly.
"So does anyone know why Nick's not gonna come?" Howie asked, taking a swig of his beer. Kevin looked towards me, I glared towards Aj and he just looked at the carpet.
"We got into a small argument this morning…" Aj started, glancing up at me to finish and cover for him. I just rolled my eyes and looked at the clock vacantly.
"And we made up on the phone…" A voice answered from the doorway. I glanced up to see Nick, and felt myself almost jump up and run into his arms. But the fact that he didn't even look at me kept me in my seat. "So, uh, when do we eat?"
Brian and the other guys laughed, joking on him about his garbage disposal appetite. I just sat silently as everyone got up to head for the dinning room. Aj didn't move either, seeming to be waiting for me to talk first.
"Steph, I'm sorry… I just jumped to conclusions this morning and I was wrong to tell Nick not to come near you. We talked it out while you were on your walk earlier. But I was so worried that you would be hurt when you had to leave…"
"I've grown up since you've been gone. I've had boyfriends, and friends that not even mom approved of, but never once did she try to pick who I liked or who I loved. You made me feel that you didn't trust me…" I explained, gulping a large bit of my pina colada down.
"I'm sorry Stephy… I just didn't want you to get hurt in anyway. You're my baby cousin, and I love you too much to see you get hurt. You forgive me?"
"Yeah, Alex. I forgive you…" We both stood and hugged each other tightly. "Well what do you say we go get some food, I'm starving…"
He chuckled and agreed, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and leading me to the dinning room where everyone was already waiting. There were two chairs left, one beside Nick and one beside Theresa. I knew Aj would sit by Theresa so I just plopped myself down beside Nick and ignored how close we were. Everyone quickly dug in, engrossing themselves with conversation as I sat there and avoiding any draw ins to the discussion.
Anywhere For You
Kit Kat Stories
