Chapter Twenty – Five - Home Sweet Home

Caraline woke up in the middle of the night, looking over her shoulder to see Nick laying there on his back, asleep with his mouth open. She smiled at him a little, moving her hair out of her face and slid out of bed lightly, trying not to wake him up. She walked over to her jeans, reaching in her pocket and pulled out the slip of paper that Bryan had given her with his cell phone number. She looked at it, taking a deep breath and then walked over to her bag, unzipping the side of it and pulled her cell phone out.

She knew she shouldn’t do it but she had layed there for a solid two hours before she went to sleep thinking about if she should call him or not. Finally she fell asleep and it felt like she had been asleep forever, but really it was only for two hours. She walked over to the bathroom, opening the door slowly and walked in, shutting it lightly and turned a dim light on, just enough so that she could see. She walked over, sitting down on the floor and looked at the piece of paper, dialing the numbers on her phone.

She sat there for a minute debating on whether she should hit send or not. She didn’t know if she should or not. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. She wanted to talk to a old friend, that’s all it was. She finally hit send and put the phone up to her ear, listening to it ring until she heard a click.

”Hello?”

”Hey, Bryan?”

”Yeah?”

”It’s Caraline,” Caraline said as she moved her knees up to her chest, looking down, “I.. I just thought I would call you and well –“

”I couldn’t sleep either,” Bryan said as Caraline smiled a little, “Didn’t think you’d actually call with your boyfriend there,”

”He’s asleep and I’m not,” Caraline whispered as she put her left hand over her face, “Listen, I’m sorry that you started drinking and stuff after we broke up and you went to rehab because I feel like it’s my fault and –“

”No no, no Caraline, no it’s not your fault at all. It’s my fault,” Bryan said as Caraline started to cry a little, “You didn’t force me to drink. I did it myself. I’m fine now. It didn’t mess me up that much. I got a little behind in some of my classes but I got caught up,”

”Yeah,”

”Are you crying?”

”No,”

”You’re lying,” Bryan said as Caraline leaned her head back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling, “I guess seeing each other today was a little too much huh? I didn’t even really expect to see you,”

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Nick sat up in bed, looking over to see that Caraline wasn’t there. He looked around the hotel room, looking over to see the light on in the bathroom and started to climb out of bed, stumbling his way over there. He was about to say something until he heard her talking and then stopped to listen.

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”I never expected to see you here,” Caraline said as she closed her eyes, “You know, it took me so long to get over you. I was with Chris because I thought he’d help me get over you and he did a little and I met Nick and we had a great few days and then I see you and it just is so messed up,”

”We see each other and all the old feelings sort of come back,”

”Yeah, exactly. It’s like I see you and it’s like all these old feelings never really went away,”

”I didn’t even think it was you standing up there until I see your charm bracelet and I was about to say something and you turned around, scaring me.” Bryan said as Caraline laughed a little, “I didn’t want to see you really, I mean I did, but I didn’t,”

”I never planned on seeing you again. That’s why I hate going home because well, it’s your home too,” Caraline said as she started to cry again, “And I hated breaking up with you but I couldn’t help it. I needed to do it so that I could move on with my life because what you wanted then isn’t what I wanted them,”

”You were growing into someone else,”

”But it didn’t mean that I didn’t love you anymore,” Caraline whispered as she wiped the tears away from her eyes, “I was telling Faith today when we came back how I think I’m falling in love with Nick and then I see you and it’s so sad but it’s almost like Nick who? –“

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Nick backed away from the bathroom door, and walked back over to the bed, laying down again, staring at the ceiling, pressing his lips together, trying not to get mad.

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”- and it’s like I do love him. I really do believe that I’m falling in love with him but I see you and it reminds me of all these old feelings and it just confuses me,”

”I’m sorry,” Bryan muttered as he sighed, “Maybe I shouldn’t go to work tomorrow? I can call my uncle and just tell him I won’t be in,”

”No, don’t do that,” Caraline whispered as she stood up from the floor, looking at herself in the mirror, “I probably need to go back to bed before Nick wakes up and finds me in here on the phone. I’ll see you sometime tomorrow,”

”Well okay if you’re okay with that,”

”I am,”

”Okay then,”

”Bye,” Caraline said as she turned her cell phone off and put her hands over her face. She sighed, walking back over to the door, and turned the light all the way off. She opened the door lightly and walked back into the room, sitting her cell on the dresser and tiptoed back over to the bed, climbing in. She layed there on her stomach, looking over at Nick as he opened his eyes, and looked over at her, “You wake up?”

”Just did,” Nick said as he rolled over on his side with his back to her.

”I had to go to the bathroom. I didn’t pee before going to sleep and I had all that Sprite before I left the arena –“

”I’m gonna go back to New York in the morning. I talked to my producer tonight and we’re gonna try to get some work done on the record,” Nick said as Caraline closed her eyes, sighing, “Didn’t get a chance to tell you before because you seemed pissed when you came in and went to sleep,”

”Is this about Bryan?”

”Brian Littrell?”

”My Bryan?”

”Didn’t realize you had a Bryan,”

”My ex that you met today,”

”I forgot all about him. It was like Bryan who?” Nick said, almost mocking what she had said earlier about him, “I need to get some work done. The label’s pushing me,” he said, making up an excuse as Caraline rolled over on her side, with her back to him.

”Okay,” Caraline whispered as she closed her eyes, crying to herself lightly as she buried her face into her pillow again.

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”Caraline,” Nick whispered that morning, leaning over her as she layed there on her side asleep, “Caraline,” She opened her eyes a little, looking up at her to see that he was dressed and she looked around, “I’m about to leave,”

”Where are you going?” Caraline asked as she sat up in bed, looking over to see his bags, “You’re leaving?”

”I’m going to New York early, I told you about this last night,” he said as he sat down on the edge of the bed, pushing a strand of hair out of her face, “I just want you to remember something okay?”

”Okay,” Caraline whispered as he closed his eyes, moving his lips towards hers, nudging her nose lightly as he took her mouth into his, kissing her slowly, sucking on her lips. He backed away slowly, sucking on her bottom lip and smiled at her, “When are you coming back?”

”You still coming to New York in a few days aren’t you?”

”Yeah I guess,”

”Well see each other then,” Nick said as he leaned over, giving her a little kiss on the cheek, “I gotta go. The cab is waiting downstairs. I’ll call you later okay?”

”Okay,” Caraline whispered as Nick smiled, walking over to pick up his bags as he walked over to the door. He opened it up, giving them to the bell boy and looked back at Caraline, before shutting the door behind him. She sighed, falling back in bed and put her hands over her face, and started crying hysterically.

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Knock Knock

Caraline layed there in her bed a little bit later, looking over at the door after hearing someone knock on it. She didn’t know whether to get up and answer it or not.

Knock Knock

”Coming,” Caraline said as she climbed off of the bed and looked out the peephole to see a familiar face, “April”. She opened the door quickly, opening it up to see her sister standing there and she hugged her, “Hey,”

”What’s wrong? You looked like you’ve been crying,” April said as they walked into the room and April shut the door behind them, “I thought Faith said that this Nick guy was here?” she said as she looked around, “What’s wrong?”

”He had to leave this morning to go record in New York. I don’t know, something about his label was forcing him,” Caraline said as she walked up, hugging her sister again, “I saw Bryan,”

”Oh no,” April said as she hugged her sister back and Caraline started crying more, “What happened?”

”Did you know he went to rehab because of me?” Caraline asked as they stopped hugged. April nodded her head no in return, “He started drinking and partying after we broke up and he ended up going to rehab all because I wanted something else in life and we broke up. He loved me that much and you know, I see him and it doesn’t matter how many times I look into Nick’s eyes and I think that I’m falling for him, I see Bryan and it all just disappears –“

”Caraline,” April said as Caraline looked at her, “It’s always going to be that way with Bryan. It’s still that way with my first boyfriend. You haven’t even seen him since you broke up with him and you think you’re falling for Nick?”

”I thought so. I don’t know. I’m all confused now,” Caraline said as she sat down on the edge of the bed, putting her head in her hands, “I love being with Nick and I know that we’re falling in love. I can tell when we look each other in the eyes and that’s all happening so fast that it’s like whoa, and then this with Bryan has just taken me by surprise and it’s just too much,” she said as she took a deep breath. “I’m supposed to go to New York with Nick so we can stay together and he leaves me this morning and I should go be with him but –“

”Maybe you should just stay home for a few days and think things out,” April said as Caraline looked up at her.