“Ten..nine..eight..seven..six..five..four..three..two…one! Happy New Year!” I turned around and gave Nick a deep kiss. He smiled:
“Happy New Year, baby. I love you.” I grinned:
“I love you too.” AJ came stumbling over and picked me up:
“Happy New Year, girl! What do you say you start 2002 off right by giving me kiss?” I laughed and gave him a tiny peck on the lips. Nick stuck his tongue out at us.
“Do you fail to realize that I’m standing right here?” I giggled as AJ put me down:
“Aww, Nicky. You know I love you.” He stood behind me, wrapping his arms around me and whispered in my ear:
“Sometimes I wonder.” I turned around and gazed into his baby blues:
“I do and I will, forever.”
An hour and a half later AJ’s party was still in full swing. I was sitting at the bar talking to Leighanne and Krystal when I heard something ringing in my purse. I pulled out Nick’s cell phone and switched it on:
“Hello?” BJ’s tearful voice came flooding through the phone:
“Kate? Oh my god….Kate, you and Nick have to get down here right now.” I put my hand over my other ear to drown out the noise of the party:
“BJ, slow down! What’s going on? Where are you?” I looked up and saw Nick approaching me with a confused look on his face. He leaned over to Leighanne:
“What’s going on? Who’s she on the phone with?” Leighanne shrugged:
“I think it’s your sister.” Nick looked back at me. BJ was still on the phone crying hysterically. I grabbed Nick’s hand and pulled him into the bathroom so I could hear better.
“BJ. Calm down. Tell me what’s going on.” BJ’s sobs quieted down:
“It’s Aaron. He was (hiccup) in a bad (hiccup) car accident. He’s at Tampa (hiccup) General.” My mouth dropped open in shock and tears began to sting my eyes:
“We’re on our way, Beej.” I clicked off the phone and pulled Nick out of the bathroom:
“Get your keys. We gotta drive back to Tampa. Now.” Nick grabbed his keys and followed me to find AJ:
“Kate, what the hell’s going on? What did BJ want?” I turned around and looked him in the eyes, tears streaming down my face:
“Your brother was in a car accident.” He grabbed my arms as I started to walk away:
“What? Is he okay? What happened?” I shrugged him off as I spotted AJ:
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me anything else. We’ve just got to get there fast. Have you had anything to drink?” He shook his head:
“No. I’m perfectly sober.”
“Good, cause you need to drive.” I walked up to AJ, who was standing with Brian and Kevin:
“Guys, we’ve got to go. Aaron was in a bad car accident and we have to get back up there.” Brian’s face went pale:
“Is he okay?” I looked over at Nick who was trying desperately to hold back tears. I grabbed his hand and rubbed my thumb on his palm:
“We don’t know. We’ve gotta go. Thank you so much AJ.” He hugged me and then hugged his 'brother':
“It’ll be okay, man. Call us as soon as you know anything.” Nick nodded and followed me out the door.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Forty five minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot outside of the emergency room at the hospital. Nick threw the car in park and we both jumped out and ran into the hospital. We spotted the Carter family, sitting in the waiting room, all of them in tears. Nick ran up and gave his mom a hug:
“What’s happening? Is he okay?” Jane broke down again and sobbed on Nick’s shoulder:
“We don’t know. They won’t tell us anything. He’s in surgery.” Bob pulled her away and started to explain the situation to us:
“He was in the car with Jared and they were hit by a drunk driver. Jared was killed instantly. Aaron was brought in here right when we called you and he’s been in surgery ever since. We haven’t heard anything.” Nick had tears streaming down his face, as did the rest of the family. I sighed and pulled him down next to me. I began rubbing his back as he put his face in his hands and cried.
Forty minutes later, the doctor finally emerged from the operating room with a solemn look on his face. I glanced up as he approached everyone. Right then, I knew. Just by the look on his face. Jane and Bob did too because they just collapsed against each other, crying. The doctor shook his head:
“I’m sorry. There was nothing more we could do for him.” With that said, he turned around and walked away. I looked around at everyone, not knowing what to say. BJ, Leslie, and Angel were huddled together as they cried. Jane and Bob were hugging. I looked down at Nick. He was sitting in the chair, staring at the doctors retreating body with tears falling steadily down his cheeks. I sat down next to him and pulled him in my arms. He just cried against my shoulder. I smoothed his hair down:
“Shhh..It’ll be okay.” He lifted his head up and looked me in the eye:
“How can you say that? It’s not going to be okay. My baby brother….” He trailed off and I helped him stand up and led him over to his parents and his sisters. The six of them hugged each other and cried. I stood back and watched them as my own tears fell from my eyes.
I decided to leave them alone for a little bit and went over to the payphone to call the guys. I called AJ’s house, figuring that they all might still be there. AJ answered on the first ring:
“Hello?” I started crying again at the sound of his urgency:
“AJ?”
“Kate, is that you? What’s going on? How’s Air-boy?” I tried to control my sobs:
“He’s…oh god…AJ…He didn’t make it.” AJ dropped the phone and Brian ran to pick it up:
“Kate, are you there?” I sniffled:
“Yeah, Brian. I’m here. Aaron’s….he’s….” Brian swallowed hard:
“Shh..Kate. I know. How’s the family? How’s Nick?” I looked over at the Carter family as they sat and cried. Nick looked up and locked eyes with me. I stared at him for a minute before I tore my gaze away and turned back to the phone where Brian was trying to get my attention:
“Brian, I can’t do this by myself. I can’t be the strong one for them and they need someone.”
“Leighanne and I are on our way. We’ll stay at Nick’s house tonight, okay? Do you want us to come straight to the hospital?”
“Come here. They still have some stuff to do. I’ll be here but Brian, I can’t do this much longer. This is too much for me. I can’t handle this.”
“We’ll be there as soon as possible. See you then.” I hung up the phone and started walking back to the Carters. Jane and Bob had walked into the room where Aaron was and Nick was sitting down with the girls all around him. My heart broke as I looked at them. All with tears in their eyes. I sat down and hugged BJ. She cried on my shoulder until Nick stood up:
“Come on. Let’s go in with Mom and Dad.” He looked at me:
“Will you come with me?” I shook my head:
“Nick. This is your family. You go. I’ll be out here.” He grabbed my hand:
“No, Kate. I need you with me. I can’t do this by myself.” I nodded my head and followed the four of them into Aaron’s room.