Nick parked the car and helped Lauren with her bags. They went inside the house and Nick showed Lauren where she'd sleep. It wasn't the first time she had been to Nick's house, but it was going to be the first time she'd sleep there. Fortunately the guest room was great and she was comfortable around Nick's family.

"You wanna unpack now?" Nick asked.

"No, I don't think I'll unpack. I'm not here for a long time. I'd have pack in a rush in two days, and I know if I do that, I'll leave something here."

"You forgot your Jewel CD here last time."

"I know. Hey, can I have it back?"

"Oh, yeah sure." He ran in his room, trying to find the CD. "Now where did I put that?" He said to himself.

"Room's still a mess, eh?" He had not heard her come in. She sat on his bed, between the Play Station control pad and some comic strips. She looked at him. "How do you sleep in that bed? There's so much stuff on it."

"I put everything on the floor."

"I should've noticed that..." Lauren said, half sighing, half chuckling. They were clothes scattered all over the place. Lauren hoped they were clean clothes, she had her feet on a pair of pants. There were CDs on the desks, and a few stuffed animals, probably Beanie Babies, on the stairs.

"How do you even walk in here? The floor's a mess. I think I walked on a drum stick while I was trying to get to your bed."

Even though Nick's room looked like a tornado devastated area, Lauren was able to imagined how it would be looking if it was clean. It was a two story bedroom, which Nick shared with Aaron. Nick's bed was in the bottom one, along with his desk, closet, and his clothes-CDs-papers-drums sticks-Beanie Babies mess. Aaron's part of the bedroom was the top one. It looked kind of like an attic. Lauren hoped that Aaron wouldn't grow to be as tall as his older brother, because he wouldn't fit up there anymore. Leading to the top floor, on the left of the room, was a staircase. It was a two-part staircase and there was a platform in the middle. That small platform was only there to give access to a door on the wall. Behind that door was a bathroom for the two Carter boys. It was very small. It had a sink, a toilet, a shower, and about 2 feet square to walk.

"Found it!" Nick said, taking the CD from under a pile of papers on which he had been drawing.

"Thanks."

They left Nick's room, and he walked on the drum stick.

"You're right... I oughta clean that room."

Go to Chapter 5
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