Chapter Twenty – Nine - Will You Marry Me?

Caraline sat there staring in Nick’s eyes, breathing heavily with a confused look on her face. She didn’t know what to say or what to do, so she sat there, completely froze, “Will you marry me Caraline?”

”What?” Caraline asked as she blinked her eyes, shaking her head a little and looked at him, “Marry you?”

”I want to marry you,” Nick said, moving his hand up to push a strand of hair behind her ear, “I wanna start a real life with you and have you make me into a real man and a good man and –“

”We’ve only known each other a few weeks,” Caraline said, taking a deep breath, “I mean, you know?”

”I know what I want,” Nick said as he nodded his head, “Will you marry me Caraline?” he asked as he reached down, holding her hands, “Please, I’m begging you. You’re my only chance to be the person that I wanna be. You’re turning me into that person and I need you with me forever,”

”Nick –“

”No, no,” Nick said as he moved his hands up to the side of her face, looking at her, “I need you and I want you and I wanna marry you. Don’t you want your sister has and what your brother has and Faith and Tim and everybody else?”

”Yeah, I do,” Caraline said, searching in his eyes.

”We can have that,” Nick whispered as he smiled, “We can have that and more. All you have to do is say yes,”

”Okay,”

”Okay?”

”Yes,” Caraline whispered as Nick smiled, leaning up to kiss her softly on the lips, sucking on them gently. She wrapped her arms back around his neck and moved her lips from his and hugged him, crying into his shoulder.

”I promise you that I won’t make you regret it,” Nick whispered as he hugged her tighter, kissing her on her shoulder lightly, “But we’ve got to keep it a secret for a little while,” he said as Caraline stopped hugging him and looked at him, “We don’t need word to get out just yet okay?”

”I think I know something we can do,” Caraline whispered as she pushed his hair away from his face again, “Thank you,”

”For what?”

”For going after me and for asking me out; for being so damn persistent,”

”I knew what I wanted,” Nick whispered as he smiled, “You won’t regret it. We’re going to have the most beautiful, greatest life together and I’m going to make sure that I give you that and everything else. I love you,”

”I love you too,” Caraline whispered as she leaned up to kiss him lightly on the lips again, smiling against them as she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly again.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[ Nick Narrating ]

Don’t ask.

Don’t ask me what’s going on with me. I’m not sure what’s going on with me. I made a huge mistake night before last and I so regret it. I regret it more than anything I’ve ever done. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was drunk. I thought Caraline was with that Bryan guy by the way she was acting and the things I heard her say on the phone and I made a mistake.

She can’t find out. If she finds out I’ll loose her forever. Today is my last day here. I’m going into the studio this morning to finish some work and I’m leaving and getting the hell away from this place. We need to get out of here. I can’t risk loosing her at all because I know once she finds out that’s it.

It’ll be over.

So I asked her to marry me. I love her and maybe I’m not exactly ready for marriage but I don’t want to loose her. I need her with me and marrying her will help with that. I know that’s not the best reasons but what works, well it works. I do love her, more than anything.

I fucked up, just like she thought I would, but I can’t loose her, and I’m not. I’m going to make sure of that.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Caraline layed there in bed that morning, with the sheets wrapped up around her as she leaned against the headboard, watching the weather on the morning news, listening to Nick as he bitched to himself in the bathroom about waking up so early. She bit down on her bottom lip, looking over at the door as Nick popped his head out, smiling at her.

”Do you think I need to shave?” Nick asked as he rubbed his chin a little with his right hand. Caraline just nodded her head ‘no’ in return and he smiled, going back into the bathroom.

You know what?

”What?” Caraline asked as Nick walked out of the bathroom, putting on his t-shirt and ran his fingers through his hair, “That you look like crap first thing in the morning?”

”That I knew already,” Nick said as he laughed, “I have to get you a ring,”

”It’s cool, I don’t need one yet, or else people will know,” Caraline said as Nick crossed his arms, looking around the room, “I have a point. It doesn’t matter. I don’t need one yet. That’s not important,”

”I knew I fell in love with you for a reason,” Nick whispered as he climbed up on the bed, straddling her legs as she smiled, leaning up to give him a little kiss on the lips, “You’re staying in the hotel this morning right?”

”Yeah,” Caraline said as she put her hands on the side of his face, giving him another kiss, “I wanna write some maybe. I have to go to Nashville in a few days when Tim’s show is there for a meeting at my publishers,”

”Oh sweet,” Nick whispered as he put his forehead up against hers, “I’ll call you later okay? I should be back here sometime after lunch and then we can leave this place. Get some rest.”

”Got it,” Caraline whispered as she kissed him again, “And I’ll start planning out what we talked about last night,”

”I can’t wait,” Nick said as he leaned over, kissing her on the cheek as he started to climb off of the bed, almost falling onto the floor, “I’m such a dumbass,”

”You are but I love your dumbass,” Caraline said as Nick smiled at her, mouthing the words ‘I love you too’ to her as he walked out of the door. Caraline looked over at the door and cuddled up to the covers again, tilting her head over on her right shoulder, watching the morning news.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[ Caraline Narrating ]

I can’t believe I said yes. I think I said yes because it was so impulsive and I never expected it in a few years. The sad thing is, I don’t think he realized he was going to do it either until it happened, but he did.

The sad part is, is that I was always the type that said I wasn’t going to get married until I was at least thirty and I had my life all built up and I had dated the guy for a while. At least that’s how I thought about things when I was with Bryan. We would go to college and get our degrees and start our lives and finally when that was all worked out, we would get married.

But that’s not how it is with Nick. Not at all.

I didn’t even really have to think about my answer last night. Time he asked me I knew it. It took a minute for me to say it and I got a little nervous but time he asked, my heart was telling me yes because everything I thought about him before – it’s totally wrong. He’s not like I thought he was. He’s not going around sleeping with all of these groupies, and he only wants me and only wants to be with me. He’s not going to cheat on me and I trust him now.

I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him, I just know it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

”Okay let’s get out of this place,” Nick said that afternoon, after lunch as the bellboy started to take their things out of the suite, “We don’t wanna miss our flight,”

”You’re in such a rush,” Caraline said as she leaned up and kissed him, almost pushing him against the wall, “Mile high club?”

”Oh definitely, but we have to get to the airport on time to actually make that club,” Nick whispered as he took her hand, leading them out of the door. They started walking down the hall, meeting up with the bellboy who had their things. Nick put his hand around her waist, pushing her up against him a little as she put her backpack strap over her right shoulder, making sure that it was on good when the elevator door opened up. Nick looked up, seeing a blonde standing there and froze.

It was the same girl he had slept with.

She walked out of the elevator, looking at Nick as the bellboy pushed the cart in and Nick grabbed Caraline’s hand, moving her into the elevator as the blonde turned around and looked at him, then winked.

”What the hell is she winking at?” Caraline asked as the bellboy snorted and Nick looked over at him while the elevator door closed, “Whore. Did you see what she had on? Talk about trashy.”

”She’s always around this hotel,” the bellboy said as Nick and Caraline looked over at him, “She’s sort of, well, a groupie. She sleeps with a lot of the stars around here but you didn’t hear that from me or I just might get fired… all things considered,”

”Considering what?” Caraline asked as Nick looked up at the numbers, praying that the elevator would just get to the bottom floor so they could get the hell out of there.

”She’s the managers’ daughter,” he said as he laughed, when the elevator doors opened and they all started to walk out, “But you didn’t hear that from me,”

”Well with trash like that around here, we might stay at a another hotel next time,” Caraline said as Nick looked around and then looked back at her. She looked back and smiled at him.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Nick sat there on the plane a hour later, staring at the back of the old man’s head, that was sitting in front of him. He closed his eyes for a second, licking his lips and turned his head to the left, looking over at Caraline as she slept, with her head against a pillow, that was against the window.

He smiled, and leaned his head back, looking at the ceiling of the plane and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and then sighed, feeling relieved that they were out of New York City and they wouldn’t be going back. He was having the rest of his work transferred to either Los Angeles or Nashville, or hell, even Orlando. He didn’t want to risk messing up again or having that girl talk to Caraline.

He wasn’t going to let anything mess it up.