Chapter Seven - You Look Beautiful Tonight

[ Nick Narrating ]

The talk last night with Tim was something, well, that really came in handy. I found out a lot more about Caraline than I had known before. We had never really talked about her family and Tim told me about them. Caraline’s parents didn’t plan on having anymore children after having her older sister and two brothers, and 8 years after their youngest child was born, her mother came up pregnant again and Caraline was born. When she was 8, her father, who was a much older man, died from an heart attack so her mother finished raising her and her brother who was 16 at the time.

He told me about her family and how Caraline hated her small town and wanted out of it, like Faith wanted to do, so she made the best grades that she could and started college two years earlier than everybody else, while she was a sophomore in high school and earned two degrees. I guess Caraline and I are always too busy flirting with each other to sit down and have a serious talk like this, but the more he told me about her, the more I liked her.

I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t get so caught up in this, that she’s going to leave in two days and that’s going to be it, at least for a while, but then every other part of my body keeps telling me there’s no reason not to get caught up in this, and yo, that’s so whack. At least for me it is.

I just can’t get enough of her.

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

“Thank you god we’re back in New York,” Caraline said as her and Faith stood in the elevator with George, the bodyguard, the bellboy who was carrying their luggage, and Sandra, the nanny who was a middle aged lady, “And it’s seven too with an hour to get ready,”

“She’s in love,” Faith said, looking over at Sandra who laughed in return.

“I’m not in love,” Caraline said as she rolled her eyes, as the elevator door opened and they walked out, seeing Tim and Nick walk down the hall, “Uh, what the..”

“Daddy!” Gracie and Maggie yelled as they ran down the hallway running up to Tim who leaned down hugging them. Faith smiled over at Nick, telling him ‘Hi’ as she walked by him and walked up to Tim, giving him a kiss.

“Um, what are you doing with Tim?” Caraline asked as she looked at Nick who walked by her, putting his hands in his pockets, giving her a little smirk, “What have you done?”

“Nothing Miss Morgan,” Nick said as Caraline looked down the hallway to see Faith and Tim watching them, “I was just talking some music talk with Tim, that’s all. Have a good trip?”

“Pretty much,” Caraline said as she looked back up at Nick, “Eight o’clock, you gonna be ready?”

“In the lobby,” Nick said as he smiled, leaning over closer to her ear, whispering, “Dress a little dressier tonight okay?”

“Good thing I went shopping early this morning,” Caraline said as she smiled, walking down the hallway. Nick looked back at her, biting down on his bottom lip as Tim pointed at him and Nick pointed back at him, smiling.

“What was that about?” Caraline asked as she walked up to Tim who crossed his arms, smiling, “Please tell me you didn’t hang out with Nick the whole time you weren’t working,”

“No,” Tim said as he shook his head, “We had a beer or two last night and talked for a few minutes just then. Don’t worry Cara, I didn’t tell him your secrets,”

“Uh huh,” Caraline said as she smiled, walking back down to her room. Faith looked back, watching Caraline as she walked into her room and looked back at Tim who cracked up laughing.

“He says she’s such a tease,” Tim said as he laughed, taking Audrey, their youngest daughter, from Faith as they walked into their suite.

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

Caraline stepped out of the elevator an hour later. She looked down at what she was wearing which was a sleeveless black, lacey, fitted dress that came about three inches above her knees. She had her hair pulled up, wearing a simple silver necklace and earrings, holding her small purse in her hands. She looked over to see one of the bellboys looking at her and she rolled her eyes, and walked further into the lobby, looking around.

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, she looked over and saw Nick standing there. He had on a dark bluish looking color buttoned up shirt that was tucked into some black dress pants, and a tie. He still hadn’t gotten a haircut and had his hair combed down, almost in his eyes. He kept looking around, not even noticing him standing on the other side of the lobby until he paused, looking at her. She gave him a little wave in return.

Nick blinked his eyes a little as she started to walk towards him, smiling, “Well are you just going to stand there all night?”

“Damn girl,” Nick said as he looked at her, “I didn’t mean we were going to a fashion show or something,”

“Well wow, Caraline,” she said as she turned around, walking towards the door of the hotel, “You look great! I love your dress!”

“Uh,” Nick said as he started walking, catching up with her, “Just I’m shock, because you look so great. I wasn’t expecting that.” Caraline looked at him as they walked out of the door and he smiled at her, “You look more than beautiful,”

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” Caraline said as she smiled a little, “Where are we going?”

“That’s our car right there,” Nick said, pointing to a long, black limo sitting out front, “Just get in and then you’ll find out,” Caraline smiled as they walked down the stairs and up to the car. The driver opened the door and Caraline slid in, sitting down and crossing her legs as Nick sat down beside her and the driver closed the door, “So is that the dress you bought in Toronto?”

“Yep,” Caraline said as she looked down at it and then over at him, “Did you go shopping too?”

“Why yes I did,” Nick said as he smirked and looked down at his tie, holding it up, “You like the tie?”

“I love ties,” Caraline whispered as she turned her head, looking out the window. Nick took a deep breath, looking down at her dress again and then up at her shoulders and her neck as she turned around looking back at him and she jumped, “So what did you do today?”

“Worked. I recorded this really good song.. I’ve got to go in tomorrow and arrange it some more and stuff. Then I went shopping and went back to the hotel, went up and talked to Tim about the song I recorded, and then I saw you. I went and got ready and here we are,” Nick said as he smiled at her, “So I wanna ask you a question?”

“Okay,”

“Did you miss me while you were gone?”

“No,” Caraline said as Nick looked at her, “Okay, I wondered what you were doing and I thought about you, but I didn’t miss you,” she said as she looked down at his tie and back to his eyes, “I knew I’d see you when I came back. I knew we had a date, and I knew you wouldn’t break it,”

“How did you know that?”

“Because you want me too bad,”

“Okay,” Nick said as he laughed, nodding his head slight, “You’re right,”

“I know I’m right,” Caraline said as she smiled at her, biting down on her bottom lip as the limo stopped. She looked around, wondering where they were as the driver walked around to Nick’s side and opened the door. Nick stepped outside of the limo as Caraline slid across the street and Nick took her hand, helping her out of the limo, “Where are we?”

“Some fancy place,” Nick said as he started to laugh, leaning over to whisper in her ear, “I can’t pronounce it. The guy at the hotel told me about it,”

“Figures,” Caraline said as she smiled and started to walk up the few steps, leading into the restaurant. Nick leaned over, telling the driver something and ran up the steps, catching up with her, “So why didn’t you wear a jacket?”

“Too hot for a jacket,” Nick said as Caraline laughed a little, looking around.

“I’m going to go into the ladies room there while you get our table,” Caraline said as Nick smiled. She smiled back, walking across the hallway, and opened the door, to see a huge bathroom with huge mirrors. She stood there, looking at herself in the mirror. She sighed, and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She felt like she looked horrible. Nick thought otherwise but she was just a little self conscience of the dress she had on. Finally she walked back out of the bathroom, just as the host was taking Nick to their table and she walked a little faster, catching up with him, “Back,”

“Hey, okay,” Nick said as he smiled, as the host walked up to a table in the corner and pulled the chair out for Caraline to sit in. He handed them their menu’s and told them that a waiter would be there shortly. Nick couldn’t really understand his accent or what he said so he told him thank you anyway.

“This is a really nice restaurant,” Caraline said as she looked at the menu and looked up to see Nick staring at her, “What are you staring at?”

“You,” Nick said as he put his elbows on the table, looking at her, “Has anybody ever told you how extremely gorgeous you are?” he asked as Caraline looked down, smiling a little and started to blush, “Are you blushing?” She nodded her head no, putting her hands over her face, “Miss Tease is blushing?”

“Yes, I’m blushing,” Caraline said as she moved her hands, looking at him, “I do have some feelings and I’m not flirty twenty four seven you know?”

“Well you are,”

“Well has anybody ever told you how extremely sexy you are in a tie?” Caraline asked as Nick smiled at her, looking down at his menu, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” Nick said, looking back up at her, pressing his lips together nervously.

“Do you really think I’m a tease?” Caraline asked as Nick started to laugh and closed his eyes, “Seriously, do you really think that, or am I giving off that impression or something?”

“You know how to get to me,” Nick said as he opened his eyes, looking at her, “You know how to do that more than anybody that I have ever met in my entire life. Trust me, you being a tease, to me,” he said as he nodded his head, “well, it isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s a good thing. Trust me”

“Okay,” Caraline said as she smiled, looking around the restaurant as the waiter walked up to them, asking did they know what they wanted to order. They both looked at each other, wanting to laugh and decided they needed to decide. Finally, they decided, telling the waiter and he walked away, going to get their champagne that they had ordered.

“Champagne?” Caraline asked, looking at Nick, “You aren’t trying to get me drunk and get me into bed now are you?”

“Nah,” Nick said as he smiled, “We’re legal and this is a nice restaurant and you’re looking gorgeous and I’m looking super fly if I do say so myself, so what the hell?”

“You are right,” Caraline said as she smiled, sitting back in the chair as Nick looked at her hand, seeing that she had a charm bracelet on, “What are you looking at?”

“Your bracelet, let me see,” Nick said as Caraline sat up in the chair, leaning her arm over the table so he could see her silver charm bracelet, “It’s pretty,”

“Each charm means something to me, like a milestone in my life. There’s a diploma for when I graduated college. A star for Star, when I left home. There’s a music note with a diamond in it that Faith and Tim got me for when I had my first top fifteen single for the song that I wrote,”

“More To Me Than You”

“How did you know?”

“I got ways,” Nick said as Caraline smiled at him, “What’s that one there mean?” he asked, pointing to little box that had the word “Wishes” carved into it.

“It’s a hope chest,” Caraline said as Nick looked down at it, and then back up at her, “My mom bought me this hope chest when I was little and ever since I was little I’ve been putting things in it so that when I get married and I have a little girl, then I can pass those things down to her,”

“A hope chest,” Nick said as Caraline moved her hand back into her lap, looking down at it, smiling, “So you’re going to get a charm for every big event in your life?”

“Yes,” Caraline said as she looked back up at him, taking a deep breath. The waiter walked back up to them, bringing them a bucket of ice with a bottle of champagne in it and two glasses with champagne already in it, “Oh alcohol,”

“Do you drink often?” Nick asked as Caraline started to laugh, “What?”

“Hardly ever,” Caraline whispered as she took a sip of her champagne, “I’m not much of a drinker to be honest, but I take it you do,”

“Yeah, I can hold my own,” Nick said as he smiled, “I should really cut back but sometimes it’s just a little hard,”

“Yeah I can imagine with that rock star lifestyle you have,” Caraline said as Nick looked down and then over at a waiter walking by, “I didn’t mean it like that, just you know, the partying and stuff,”

“Yeah, I know,” Nick said as he smiled, looking back at her, “Why don’t we play a game?”

“A game?”

“20 questions, so we can get to know one another,” Nick asked as Caraline smiled, taking another sip of her drink.