Chapter Thirty – Two - Facing The Truth

“What?” Caraline asked, looking Faith in the eyes. “What are you talking about? Someone told you they saw Nick with another girl?”

“They saw Nick go into a elevator with a girl a little while ago. She came out alone, her face was all flushed, and she had a smirk on her face.” Faith said, holding Caraline’s hand. “What does that sound like to you?”

“Not that he cheated on me,” Caraline replied, shaking her head. “Nick wouldn’t cheat on me Faith, he wouldn’t.”

”Okay, I just wanted to tell you.” Faith replied, looking away. “I’ll leave you two alone now.” Caraline watched as Faith walked down the hallway and sighed. Why would Faith tell her such a thing?

“Nick,” she said, walking back into the room. She paused, seeing Nick leaning his head against the wall crying. “Nick, what’s wrong?”

”Nothing, what did Faith want?” Nick mumbled. He wouldn’t move his head to look at her.

“Oh just talking business, that’s all.” Caraline replied, walking closer to him. “Are you crying baby?” Nick lifted his head and looked at her. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, his eyes were all red and his bottom lip was shivering. “What’s wrong?”

”I love you so much,” Nick whispered. He put his hands on her face, rubbing his thumb against her cheek lightly. “I want to quit this singing. I just want to live with you for the rest of our lives in some little cabin in the woods or on a beach away from everything.”

”Yeah but you can’t quit your job Nick,” Caraline replied, leaning up to hug him. “I can’t quit mine, it’s important to me.”

”More important than me?”

”Nick –“

”Is it?”

”Nick, can I ask you a question?” Caraline asked. She moved her head, looking him in the eyes. He was becoming scared, wondering if she had already caught him. “Am I the only woman that you want?”

”You are. You’re everything to me Caraline.”

“Okay,” she replied. She leaned up, kissing him on the lips softly. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“I want you this close to me forever,”

”Me too.”

”Caraline, I want to ask you this huge favor,” Nick whispered, hugging her even more. “I wanna go get married right now. I don’t want to wait a minute longer.”

“Nick,” Caraline replied, pushing away from him lightly. “What’s the rush? I mean, we haven’t known one another that long and –“

”Do you not love me?”

”Of course I love you –“

”Then marry me right now Caraline,” he said, holding her hands. “Let’s not waste another day. Let’s leave this place and go and start our lives together.” Caraline searched in his eyes, wondering what was going on with him. “Caraline, do you love me?”

”Yes, I told you –“

”Do you want to marry me?”

”Yes,”

”Then let’s go get married. Let’s do it.”

“Okay,” Caraline replied as she smiled. “Let’s go get married right now.” Nick smiled, wrapping his arms around her again.

“Let’s pack and just go. Don’t even tell anyone.” Nick said, causing Caraline to look at him. “What? You can’t tell Faith and Tim.”

”Nick, I can’t just up and leave and go to Vegas –“

”Forget Vegas, let’s go to the courthouse.” Nick replied, “Caraline, let’s do this. Let’s start our lives together right now and leave and be together forever away from everything.”

“Nick, you’re really starting to scare me,” Caraline replied, backing away a little. “Nick, I don’t want to get married at the Dallas Courthouse. This is a big thing for me.”

”Caraline, please. For me?”

”Nick –“

”Tomorrow okay?”

”Why tomorrow? Why wait another day? We could die tonight –“ Nick started to say as he froze. “I just don’t want to waste another minute of my life, not being your husband or you being my wife.”

“Tomorrow okay?”

”Caraline –“

”Nick, tomorrow or nothing,” Caraline replied, staring him in the eyes. “I mean it.”

”Tomorrow,” Nick whispered, kissing her deeply. Caraline smiled into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. She moved her lips from his, and hugged him tightly. She felt him breathing next to her lips and sighed, wondering what was going through his mind. She wondered if she was doing the right thing.

++++++++++++++++Caraline wondered around the mall in Dallas that afternoon, searching for a birthday gift for Gracie. She and Nick decided to split up that afternoon to get things for the wedding that was taking place the next day. They would call Tim and Faith in to be their witnesses and surprise them, and everyone else.

She stopped at a magazine stand inside, seeing the cover of a Bride’s magazine. She sighed, knowing that she would never get a real, official wedding. For some reason it didn’t matter to her. Nick was right. If they had each other, that’s all that they needed. They didn’t need to prove to anybody that they were in love. It only mattered to them.

“Can you believe that?” A girl asked, looking at a National Enquirer. Caraline cut her eyes over, looking at the teen girls and smiled, remembering how she used to do that with her friends back at home.

“He has a girlfriend and then goes and does that. Didn’t Hugh Grant get caught with a slut one time?” Another girl said.

“Hugh Grant got caught with a hooker, not a slut.” Caraline replied, looking over at them. “Who got caught this time?”

”Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys.” The girl with the magazine replied, holding it up. It revealed pictures from an apparent home video of Nick having sex with a blonde. “Isn’t that sick?”