Chapter Twenty Eight

Natalie pulled away from Nick, her eyes looking noticeably glazed over. She slowly broke into a grin, as Nick smiled down at her. "You have a point" she said finally breaking the silence.

"Don't I always" Nick shrugged with a huge smile on his face. "So was I right or was I right?" Nick laughed.

"You were...too cute for your own good" Natalie teased with a laugh as she turned to try and get some air. The room suddenly felt like it had gotten smaller, as she tried to suppress her guilt along with her excitement. The kiss had felt right, but she still felt guilty about Rob.

Nick grabbed her arm to stop her from going. "I don't think so Nat. Come on we can't just leave this hanging."

"Yes we can" Natalie retorted slowly.

"No we can't" Nick said, shaking his head in disagreement. "Come on."

"What?" Natalie said. "I don't know Nick" she said as she slumped down onto the couch. She let out a sigh as Nick followed suit and took a seat next to her.

"Did what just happened just totally miss you or something?" Nick exclaimed with an incredulous laugh.

"Highly unlikely Nick" Natalie remarked.

"Well?" Nick asked expectantly.

"Well what?" Natalie shot back at him. After the excitement of the initial moment had begun to die down she suddenly began to realised the mess the situation had become.

"Do I really have to spell it out?" Nick asked with a raised eyebrow. Natalie turned to him and smiled. He groaned, knowing she wasn't about to make things easy for him. "Nat, you know how I feel about you. It's back to you now, do you still feel something?"

At that moment all she could focus on were Nick's blue expectant eyes. He kept his gaze on her, waiting for an answer. Natalie began playing with the cushion beside her, trying to make a choice. She thought hard about Rob, before turning to face Nick's earnest expression again. She nodded slowly as Nick's face creased into a smile. "I still care Nick."

"You do?" Nick said slowly. "Not just as a friend.."

Natalie shook her head. "Nope, I care as more than a friend Nick. I think I always did."

"So what do you want? Should we..I mean.." Nick trailed off as Natalie kissed him again, enjoying his evident surprise.

"Does that answer your question?" Natalie smiled.

"Can I have that again? I don't think I quite got it the first time" Nick said teasingly.

"Smart ass" Natalie laughed.

"Yeah but you love me anyway" Nick shrugged nonchalantly.

"Let's not get too carried away there" Natalie laughed. "This is just beginning, I could wake up tomorrow and be completely grossed out by the fact I kissed you" she teased enjoying Nick's indignant expression.

"You won't will you?" Nick asked nervously.

"No you stupid idiot!" Natalie exclaimed, hitting Nick upside the head. "I don't regret anything and I am not grossed out by what we did" she looked down and began playing with the intricate pattern on her dress. "Far from it actually."

Nick smiled to himself, happy to hear what Natalie had said. He placed his arm around her and grinned at how things had turned out. "So what are you gonna tell Rob?" He asked, becoming serious.

Natalie sighed, leaning on Nick's shoulder. "I don't know."

**************

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay? Maybe I should be here..." Nick insisted as he was being dragged out by Sarah and Brian at the same time.

"Yeah Nick, I'm sure that'd make things go down really well" Natalie said sarcastically. "Come on just give me some time alone with Rob, I owe him that."

"But..are you sure you want to be alone? I mean..." Nick continued.

"Come on Nick, she'll be alright" Brian assured as he led the way to his car. "Don't worry Nat, we'll keep him away for you."

"Nick, come on, hurry up, the movie starts soon" Sarah said as she pushed Nick out the door and towards Brian's car. "Get a move on, Nat can look after herself."

"If you need me I'll be close by..just call" Nick added over his shoulder. Sarah rolled her eyes behind Nick's back, causing Natalie to burst out laughing while Brian impatiently beeped from his car. "Keep your pants on Bri, I'm coming!" Nick yelled at the general vicinity of the car.

"My pants are gonna be out of fashion, if you don't hurry up!" Brian countered, leaning out his car window to yell at Nick.

"Alright Nick, get lost now, he'll be here soon" Natalie said with a smile. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Nat" Nick said, before planting a kiss on her cheek and crushing her in a hug.

"For crying out loud, you'll see her again, let's go!" Sarah began to drag Nick towards the car as she waved at Natalie. "Later Nat."

Natalie waved goodbye amd laughed at Nick's worried expression before closing the door. She took a deep breath, wondering how exactly she was going to tell Rob what she had to say.

**************

Rob took a seat, noticing Natalie had a tense look on her face. He gave her a reassuring smile and rubbed her arm to comfort her. "What's up?"

Natalie tried to stop the guilty feeling at the pit of her stomach from taking over her. She tried to give Rob a small smile. "Rob, we really really need to talk."

"Okay then, we'll talk. What do you want to talk about?" Rob asked.

Natalie took a deep breath and looked up at Rob. She felt so apologetic for everything, she'd never meant for things to turn out the way they did. "I really don't know how to say this..."

"Spit it out Nat" Rob encouraged teasingly. "Come on, I can handle it."

I hope you can Natalie thought silently to herself. She looked around the room and at the pictures of Nick and felt strangely comforted by the fact she knew he would be there. "Rob I never meant to do this to you, honestly."

Rob looked at her curiously. "You never meant for what to happen?"

"There's no easy way to say this so I'll just say it."

He nodded in agreement. "Okay, go."

"We.. we can't be together the way you want us to be" Natalie finally said. "I don't feel that way."

Rob looked at her in shock, not knowing what to say. He felt his stomach plunge, and numb all over. "What?" He choked out.

"It can't head that way, I realise that now" she responded softly.

"You?! You decided, what about me? What about us? I don't care what you say Nat there was an us and you can't just decide to stop it all of a sudden!"

"Rob..please understand..please" Natalie said.

"No! How the hell am I supposed to understand? It was all going good, you said ou felt the same and now all of a sudden you go cold? I don't buy it Nat" Rob began to yell. "There's more to it than that."

"Please Rob, it's just that I realised I couldn't take this any further, that's all I can say" Natalie answered.

He paused before a moment of realisation washed over him. "There's someone else isn't there? Who is he? It's Nick isn't it?" Rob cried out, as he began to let his emotions take over him. "Tell me!"

Natalie was trying hard to bite back her tears. She hated what she was doing to him. She looked up at him knowing the expression on her face would give her secret away. Rob looked at her seriously before getting up angrily. "Fuck Nat! God how could you do that? You of all people. I never thought you'd be capable of doing that. The whole time you used me!"

"No, no Rob I didn't use you. I just didn't think this would happen. Honestly I really did like you alot. It's just.."

"It's just what? You found something better and lost interest?" Rob yelled back angrily.

"No! I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't set out to do this to you, really" Natalie began to cry.

"Yeah, but you did anyway. God I can't believe this...all those times I thought.." Rob cried out. He glared at Natalie before grabbing his things. "Forget it! I can't believe I was actually falling for you. How stupid could I be?!"

"Rob" Natalie said softly.

"No Nat, just stop okay. No more excuses, no more lying. Just don't anymore..just stop with this whole thing" Rob screamed, cutting Natalie off. He turned to her one last time, the pain apparent in his eyes. "I hope he can make you happy. Obviously I couldn't" Rob said icily before turning, the slamming of the door making the whole house shudder.

Natalie watched him go before promptly breaking down to cry.

**************

Nick was laughing with Brian and Sarah as they carried out the takeout they'd bought from the car and into the house. He had had a great day, but he had been anxious to get home to Natalie to find out if everything was okay. The house was noticeably quiet as they all walked in. Sarah walked ahead, searching for Natalie to see how she was. She found Natalie on the couch crying to herself, surrounded by several tissues. She quickly rushed to her side, letting Natalie cry onto her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked worriedly.

"I hurt him so bad Sarah. I feel awful" she choked out as Sarah rubbed her back comfortingly. Sarah handed her a tissue, as Natalie wiped at her tears. "I didn't mean for that to happen Sarah."

"I know you didn't" Sarah said. "It's okay Nat, it'll be okay."

She continued to sob onto Sarah's shoulder just as Nick walked into the room. His smile fell from his face as he saw Natalie crying, and rushed to her side. He knelt down beside her, and looked up at Sarah with a concerned face. "Nat are you okay?"

Natalie didn't say anything, as Sarah continued to console her. Sarah looked at Nick, and motioned for him to take over. Natalie fell wordlessly into his arms as Nick tried his best to comfort her. He looked up at Brian and Sarah, as they headed outside to make themselves scarce. "It's alright Nat, come on stop crying."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" she said to herself.

"It'll be alright Nat, don't worry, it's okay now. I'm here" Nick said soothingly.

Natalie broke away and looked up at Nick with tear stained cheeks. "I did the right thing didn't I?"

"I'm not exactly the best person to ask Nat" Nick said with a small smile. "I was the third party in this" he continued. "But I'm hoping that you think you did do the right thing." He wiped away a tear and smiled. "Cause I'm glad I'm the one you're with."

Natalie hesitantly gave a smile. "Thanks Nick."

"No problem" Nick grinned. He enveloped Natalie in a hug, no wanting to ever let her go.

**************

"Outta my sun Carter."

"Very sweet Nat" Nick remarked with a roll of his eyes as he looked down at Natalie from where he was standing. She was laying down on a towel squinting up at Nick.

"Don't expect me to start talking really mushy to you now that we're together."

"Occasionally would be nice. You still talk to me like you do to your little brother."

"Mmmm" Natalie said pretending to think it over. "No, I talk to my little brother nicer."

Nick at that dropped down and began tickling Natalie playfully. They both sat up, with sand all over them and burst out laughing. "Did that change youre mind?" Nick asked with a grin.

"I don't change my mind unless I wanna change my mind. I'm gonna talk to..." Natalie trailed off as Nick cut her off with a kiss. She pulled away and smiled. "That just might've done it though."

"Good" Nick said, satisfied with her answer. He pulled Natalie to her feet, grabbing her hand as they began to walk along the sand, the water lapping at their feet. Nick smiled to himself as he stole a quick glance at Natalie.

"What?" She asked looking around.

"Nothing, just thinking how surreal this whole thing is."

"Surreal? Hmm very romantic Nick" Natalie laughed.

"As well as being great, cool, unbelievable.." This time Natalie silenced his listing of words with her own kiss, enjoying the fact he never saw it coming. She loved the spontaneity in the relationship and so far it had worked out well. "And I especially love it when you do that."

"So have all my other boyfriends" Natalie said jokingly as she printed up the beach. Nick caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist. He hugged her from behind as they both watched the water come in. "Nat? Do you think this'll work?"

"I don't know Nick. I hope so" Natalie laughed. "Being with you is stressful work."

Nick turned her to face him with an inquiring look on his face. "You think you can handle being with me? I mean things won't always be easy or normal, being in music and being a Backstreet Boy is part of me."

Natalie broke into a huge grin at the expression on his face. "Hmm, well Nick I don't really know."

Nick frowned at her slightly. "You don't?"

"Nope, but you know what? Finding out is half the fun" Natalie smiled, looking intensely into Nick's bright blue eyes. She had no doubt about her willingness to make things work with him. "And I never turn my back on a challenge."