Chapter 26

The summer quickly turned into the fall, and now Thanksgiving of 1998 was here. Samantha and Jake had been getting along great, and were waiting for the birth of their baby. She was still being cautious, but was really hopeful that everything was going to work out between them. Nick and the rest of the Backstreet Boys were becoming extremely popular in the U.S. now, almost like a phenomenon. Understandably, the guys were very busy, and since they were now operating without any managers, the music business was taking up all of their time. Nick and Samantha did keep their promises though, and spoke almost everyday, or at least left voice mails. Their arrangement was working fine. Although Samantha did feel a bit guilty about lying to Jake where her and Nick’s friendship was concerned, she reasoned that this was better than having Jake be jealous over nothing.

Nick was at home for the holiday, but had decided he was going to spend his four days sleeping. This was the first four days that he had off in a row in almost three months. He knew he wouldn’t be seeing Samantha anyway, so he as soon as he walked in his front door, he plopped on the couch, and a few minutes later he was sound asleep.

Jake’s family had gone out of town for Thanksgiving, and Samantha wasn’t up for traveling, since she was almost eight months pregnant. So she and Jake had decided to stay home. Samantha sat in their living room, doing her usual yearly tradition, watching the Thanksgiving parade. She couldn’t believe how much her life had changed in the past year.

Jake had gotten called in on some emergency for his job, so Samantha had decided she kick back, watch TV, and relax all day. Samantha jumped in the air when the slamming of the front door to their apartment woke her up. Jake walked in the living room, and she scowled at him.

“Damn Jake, you scared the crap out of me,” she snapped as she settled back onto the couch.

“What you were sleeping again? You just got up a few hours ago,” he snapped back at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, seeing that he was in a bad mood.

“This god damn job,” he yelled, as he walked into the kitchen grabbing himself a beer. “They make me to go in for something stupid. I spent almost the entire day working, on Thanksgiving for Christ’s sake. Now I’m god damn hungry, and I come home and you’re just sitting here. Did you even consider cooking something?” he yelled.

Samantha sat there in shock for a second, surprised at his attitude.

“What!” Jake yelled, when he looked at Samantha, “You’re gonna cry now?”

Samantha blinked back to tears forming in her eyes. She had been very emotional the past few weeks, her hormones making her cry at the drop of a hat.

“You want something to eat, kitchen is right over there,” she snapped, as she got up to go to their bedroom.

Jake grabbed her arm as she was about to walk by.

“Ouch Jake, you’re hurting me,” she said getting pissed, as she tried to twist her arm out of his grip.

“Don’t take your smart ass attitude on me,” he snapped as he stood up, pointing his finger in her face.

“Stop being such an asshole,” she snapped, right back at him.

Jake reached his arm back and smacked her across the face. “Shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you,” he yelled, as she turned her face back around to look at him.

The tears were flowing down her face as she jerked her arm away from him and ran to the front door, grabbing her purse and keys that were on the table on the way out.

“Samantha, get your ass back here! Where the hell do you think you are going?” he screamed, as she walked out the door, slamming it.

Samantha got into her car and started it up, peeling out of the driveway. She was now crying uncontrollably, but knew she’d better get away from the apartment before Jake came and found her. She drove around for almost two hours, trying to calm herself down, and just thinking. She was surprised Jake had hit her, that hadn’t happened in a long time, and she thought he had really changed since she was pregnant.

As she drove, she found herself coming up to a familiar place, Nick’s house. She sat in the car debating whether or not to bother him, she knew he planned on sleeping. Poor guy worked so much, all he could talk about the past few days was getting home to his bed. Last thing he needed was to deal with her and Jake’s problems. But she was still too pissed to go home, and didn’t have anywhere else to go. And she was tired of driving. She sat there debating for fifteen minutes until she finally went and rang the doorbell.

Nick rolled over, falling off of the couch. “Was that the doorbell ringing?” he thought, as he heard it again. He stood up and stumbled to the door. “Better not be some crazy fan,” he mumbled to himself, as he opened the door, shielding the sun out of his eyes.

“Hey,” Samantha said, smiling.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked, as he backed away from the door letting her come in.

“Damn, you were sleeping weren’t you, I’m sorry,” she said.

“No big deal,” he replied, shutting the door. “Now come over here and say hello.”

Samantha and Nick hugged, and he pushed her back, looking at her face. “Ok, so explain the puffy eyes. You been crying?” he asked.

“Jake and I had a fight,” she said, biting her lip.

“What happened?” he asked.

“He was pissed because I didn’t make Thanksgiving dinner,” she replied.

Before he could help himself, Nick busted out laughing. “You? Cook?” he said, between giggling. She just sat there looking at him, but before she knew it she was laughing too.

“Hey! I can make a pretty mean sandwich thank you very much,” she said, as she smacked him in the arm.

Nick just laughed harder at her, and she threw her hands in the air, walking over to the couch. “Sorry,” he finally said, as he stopped and looked to see she was about to cry. “Damn Sammy, I’m sorry,” he said, as he looked at her. “You ok? He didn’t hit you or something did he?”

“No,” she answered, “we just yelled a lot.”

“You lying?” he asked, as he squinted his eyes and made a funny face, trying to act like he was studying her.

She smiled at his strangeness. “No, just yelling,” she lied, “Stop acting like a damn idiot.”

“I aint acting,” Nick said, smiling and making another weird face.

“I know,” she replied, smiling.

“God damn, you are huge,” Nick said, as Samantha’s eyes got a mile wide, “Uhh, Not that you don’t look beautiful,” he stuttered, as she threw a pillow at him.

“Don’t you have a way with women!” she said, as she rolled her eyes. “Alright Carter, I’m starving, so we better eat before I seriously kick your ass for the last comment. Don’t fuck with a pregnant lady when she’s hungry.”

“Yes ma’am!” he saluted, as they walked into his kitchen, both laughing.

“Well let’s see. No pizza delivery, damn, not even Mickey D’s is open,” Nick said, as he opened up one of the cabinets in the kitchen. “So I guess it’s the old standby,” he said, as he took a box of Captain Crunch and a box of Lucky Charms cereal and held them up to each side of his face.

“Cereal?” Samantha groaned, making a disgusted face.

“Breakfast of champions, well anytime of the day,” he said, grinning.

“I’ll get the milk,” she said, going over the refrigerator.

Samantha and Nick sat there eating, talking about what Nick and the guys were planning for their next album.

“I can’t believe how busy you’re gonna be, recording, promo, always away from home,” she said, looking at him. “I couldn’t handle it.”

“Well, as scary as it is to say this, I’m used to it. Plus, I have the guys with me, so it’s work and fun,” he said, smiling.

“Fun as in chicks,” she said, throwing a piece of cereal at him.

“I didn’t say that,” he said, returning the piece of Captain Crunch back at her.

“You didn’t have to,” she said giggling.

They sat there talking and laughing, and when Nick started to laugh so hard that milk came out of his nose, Samantha doubled over in pain.