[Karie]

Back to work.

Back to work.

Three days after arriving back to Nashville and I don’t want to be at work for the third day in a row.

Maybe it’s because my mind isn’t into my work. Then again, there’s nothing interesting going on right now. I’ve done a few album reviews for the week and wrote one article about the power that is Franklin, Tennessee’s Miley Cyrus. She’s a local girl, her father is country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, and she has the biggest tour of the summer. She was interesting to chat with again, even though it was a phone interview. I just hope she doesn’t turn out like Britney. She’s a cute little Tennessee girl, she can’t turn out like Britney.

Besides that, I’ve gotten strange looks around the office. Nick hasn’t stopped by again, but I think people know that we’re together now. Somehow, someway, they know.

“Karie,” I heard a voice say as I looked up from my computer to see my mother standing in the doorway. “I thought you were coming over last night,” she said as I stood up and walked over to hug her. I shut my office door behind her and watched her as she glared at me. “Something’s up. You haven’t told me what happened in Orlando or anything.”

“Uh,” I said, walking back behind my desk to sit down. “Well, it went okay,” I laughed, looking at her. I knew she wasn’t buying that.

“How is Nick?” she asked as I smiled. “What? Tell me.”

“Well,” I smiled, looking down at my hands. “We’re kind of dating now,” I said, looking back up at her. Her face lit up. Not only did her only daughter have a boyfriend again, but a Backstreet Boy at that. “Just calm down, I don’t want you to get too excited.”

“You’re dating?” she asked. “Really?”

“Yeah Mama, we’re dating now,” I said. “He’s staying at my place -”

“Use protection,” she said, pointing at me. God, not this. “Seriously, Karie. I don’t care what you do, just use it.”

“Mama, why would you even think that?”

“I know that boy,” she said, glaring at me. “I read stuff online, trust me and his Dad has God knows how many kids so those swimmers probably run in the family. I probably know more about him than you do,” she said as I leaned back in my chair. “Did you know he was arrested for a DUI before?” she asked as I shook my head.

“Mama, you were all about me dating him before and now you’re like giving me his wrap sheet,” I said as she sighed. “I’m grown, seriously. This is different for me enough without you giving me all of this crap about him.”

“Did you know that about him?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t technically a DUI… he was on medicine. He told me about it,” I said as she nodded.

“Just don’t get too carried away,” she said, standing up. I stood up, walking over to give her hug. “You’ve worked too hard to loose it all.” I didn’t want or need to hear this. Seriously. “Just be smart.”

“I know, Mama.”

“Your having sex, right?” I rolled my eyes. “Humor me and answer me.”

“Yeah, we did it Mama. Once, in Orlando and that’s it. We used a condom and I take my pill like crazy, you know that,” I said as she nodded. “And before you ask, no I haven’t told him. It hasn’t came up yet, really.”

“Well if you’re sleeping together and he’s living at your place, then I think you should tell him,” she said as I sighed.

“I know, Mama,” I said as I walked her out of the office. I watched her walk to the elevator and I sighed, walking back to my desk.

I know my mother means well, but sometimes she worries too much. I’m a grown woman and I know how to make my own decisions. I know what’s good for me and what’s bad for me. I know what can ruin my life, but there’s something inside of me that doesn’t think Nick can do that.

[/Karie]

[Nick]

“Bye Howie,” I said as Howie walked out of the studio and I sat there with Brian as he strummed the guitar lightly. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the chair. We had been in the studio for hours upon hours, finishing the song that I had wrote for Karie. The other guys had already put their vocals down and all we needed to do now was perfect it a litte.

“This song is good,” Brian said as I smiled. “I let Leighanne hear it last night and she loved it. She said your new girlfriend was going to die.”

“New girlfriend,” I laughed. “That still sounds weird.”

“Now you understand how it was with Leighanne, don’t you?” he asked as I stopped to think. He was right.

When he met Leighanne, she turned his life around. I was extremely jealous because before she came into the picture, we were inseparable.

“I guess so,” I said, looking at him. “I just didn’t expect it, Rok. It came out of nowhere.”

“Have you two talked?” he asked as I looked at him. “About your past and stuff.”

“Sort of,” I said, turning around in the chair to face the sound board. “We’ve talked a lot, I mean, to start out with, before Orlando, that’s all we did really.”

“Does she know everything about you?” Brian asked as I looked down at the sound board. “Nick.”

“What?” I asked, looking back at him.

“You haven’t told her everything, have you?” he asked as I shook my head and looked back down at the soundboard.

“Nick, you’ve got to tell her before she finds out on her own. I know the information isn’t out there, but there are rumors already and you know that,” Brian said as I breathed in and breathed out slowly. “You have to because things can’t stay the way they are forever. You’ve got to take care of things.”

“I’m afraid she’s going to hate me,” I said, looking at him. “Honestly, I haven’t even thought about that part of my life. I’ve been so focused on recording and on her that, you know, it didn’t pop in my mind.”

“And that’s where you need to change,” he said as I nodded. “You’re growing up, Nick and this is only going to be the next step. If you love her, then tell her before she finds out on her own and hates you for not telling her.”

Brian was right.

I admit that there’s things that Karie doesn’t know about me that neither one of us have brought up. Then again, I know there’s things about her that I don’t know either.

We still had a lot to learn about one another.

[/Nick]

[Karie]

Coming home after midnight is not what I had in mind on a night like this. A country singer ended up getting arrested for a DUI and your entertainment reporter had to go cover it. I had to get the story in by press time and I got it all covered. I wanted to come home early, kick my feet up with Nick, and watch a rerun of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“Nick, I’m home,” I said, walking into my apartment to see him sitting on the sofa. “Hey.”

“Get it all covered?” he asked as I nodded. I kicked my shoes off and walked over to the sofa, sitting down next to him. I settled into a cuddle with him and immediately rested my head on his chest. “Your cats don’t like me because I keep sneezing around them,” he said as I chuckled. “I’m kind of allergic to cats.”

“You are?” I asked, looking up at him. “I didn’t know that.”

“I think there’s a lot of things we don’t know about each other,” he said as I nodded, resting my head on his chest again. It’s almost as if he read my mind.

“I saw my Mom today,” I said as he chuckled. “Believe it or not, she warned me about you.”

“Warned?”

“She said she reads a lot of things about you online,” I said, chuckling but he didn’t laugh. In fact, he tensed up inside. “Some of the stuff she said to me made me think though that we don’t know everything about one another. Like, I didn’t know you were allergic to cats.”

“So, what don’t I know about you?” he asked as he picked up my hand, playing with my fingers. “Let’s just jump the small talk and just right into it and get it over with,” he said as I nodded.

“I dye my hair darker than what it normally is,” I said, feeling him kiss me on my cheek. “It naturally is a medium brown with red highlights in it, kind of.”

“I get highlights sometimes,” he confessed. “When I’m in the sun a lot, it turns really blonde.”

“I’m scared of clowns,” I said as he cracked up. I sat up and faced him, seeing the smile on his face. “Seriously, deathly scared of them. And snakes, hate snakes.”

“I’m scared of sharks, even though I have a tattoo of one on my arm,” he said.

“I own one of your CD’s,” I said, watching him smile. “Wait, I think I have your solo CD too, but I think it’s because my Mom got it for me. I know I own the one that has ‘Shape of My Heart’ on it.”

“I own an Alan Jackson CD,” he confessed. “I got some Dixie Chicks stuff, Garth Brooks, I like that Dierks Bentley guy, and LeAnn Rimes is kind of cool.”

“I, um, I can’t have children,” I said as he glared at me. “Yeah, that was thrown out there, wasn’t it?”

“Random, yes,” he said. “Why not?”

“Well,” I said, looking down at my hands. “Well there’s two reasons. I have diabetes, which is why I’m always taking medicine and stuff, and my kidney’s aren’t that strong, so my body wouldn’t be able to handle the stress that having a baby would put on me,” I said as he nodded.

“Like in that Julia Roberts movie?”

I nodded.

“What’s the other reason?” he asked.

“Well, there’s not really a reason,” I said, playing with a ring on my finger. “I just don’t want them,” I finally said. He stared at me as if he had seen a ghost. Oh shit. He wants to have kids. Maybe I should mention adoption? Wait, no. I don’t want kids.

“I just,” I finally said, “I have my cats and I have my health and my dream job and I’m living in the town that I’ve wanted to live in since I was a little girl and I don’t want to sacrifice that. That’s why I take my birth control pill religiously and I was so adamant about using the condom the other night.”

“Wow,” he finally said, running his fingers through his hair.

“Wasn’t expecting that, huh?” I asked as he shook his head.

“Yeah, I figured I needed to tell you that so that if that’s what you want, then I needed to let you know that now before it goes any further since we’ve already said that we love one another,” I said as he looked up at him.

“You don’t even consider adoption or anything? I mean, I understand the whole health thing because that’s important, really important, but do you think you would ever consider adoption?” he asked. I shook my head. “Don’t think you’ll change your mind?”

“I’m not good with kids,” I said as he nodded. “You want kids, don’t you? I mean, I know you said you come from a big family.” He nodded again.

We both sat here in silence, not knowing what to say. I admit, I never expected Nick to be the “Daddy” type so him being so confused over this revelation of mine is a little shocking to say the least.

“Karie,” Nick said, taking a deep breath. He reached over, taking my hand and I stared at him. Oh god, what the hell was going on.

“You have a kid, don’t you?” I asked as he shook his head. “Then what is it?”

Shit, he’s going to end it with me since I don’t want kids.

“A girl I used to see out in LA is pregnant,” he said, looking at me. “She says it’s mine but I’m not sure and there’s a possibility that it is.”

“So…” I said, not knowing what to say.

“She doesn’t want it, but doesn’t believe in abortion,” he said as I nodded, looking down at our hands. “So, as soon as it’s possible, I’m getting a test done to see if it’s mine.”

“When did you find this out?” I asked as he bit his bottom lip and took a deep breath.

“About a week before Kevin told us that he was going to leave the group,” he said, looking at me. “So basically right before we came to Nashville. In fact, she told me the day before we came out here which is why I haven’t seen about a test yet.”

“And you slept with her?”

“Yeah, on and off,” he said as I nodded and leaned back on the sofa. I really had no idea what to say. “We would hang out with the same crowd so when, you know -”

“Yeah -”

“I’m sorry, Karie,” he said, resting his head in his hands. “I know I probably should have told you this before Orlando but -”

“And if it is? I mean, when you do the test and you find out that the baby is yours” I asked as he looked at me. “You want it, don’t you?”

“Well, I don’t know,” he said as I moved my hands away from him and stood up.

Shit.

“Karie, I don’t know. Brian and Leighanne said if push came to shove, they would adopt it, but then I met you and honestly, the thought left my mind. All I’ve thought about was you and going to the reunion and this song that I’ve been writing.”

I really didn’t know what to say now.

“I love kids,” he said as I walked over to my stereo, looking through my CD collection. That didn’t help matters. “And I’ve always thought about having kids one day, but not now. I’m still young and like you told me about you, I’m still trying to find myself and really a kid doesn’t play a part in that.”

I picked up my Alanis Morrisette CD and looked at it.

“Karie, you promised me that you would never not talk to me again like in Orlando and the trip back here,” he said as I turned around to face him. Tears were already falling from my face. “What’s wrong?”

“I just need some time,” I said, walking to my bedroom. I looked on the bed to see Scarlett and Prue on it and looked back at Nick. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay? I’m tired and this was the last thing I expected and I just need some sleep and time to think.”

Nick nodded and I shut my bedroom door and leaned against it.

What the hell was going to happen in this whirlwind romance now?

[/Karie]