*~*Meanwhile~*~
"We're here," Josh said stopping the car outside of one of the most beautiful houses that Nicole had ever seen.
"Why are we here?" Nicole asked, confussed.
"Come on," was all he said. Nicole didn't know what to think. She was really confussed. She knew that this wasn't Joshs' house, so why had he brought her there? Nicole got out of the car after thinking about her situation and walked over to Josh who was waiting for her.
"Josh, whats this all about?" she asked as she watched Josh unlock the front door.
"Lets go inside," he said taking her hand. She smiled, he was only trying to be sweet, this is probably a friends house. At least he had the key, it wasn't like they were breaking in or anything.
"Josh..."
"Come on," he said practicly begging.
"Alright," she finally gave in. Josh smiled as he lead her inside the house.
"21 today huh Nikki?" Josh said as he continued to smile.
"Yep."
"Well I was thinking what do you think of this house?" Josh asked as he looked at Nicole.
"Its very beautiful."
"Okay."
"Why?"
"You'll see," he said and smiled at her.
"Josh why did you bring me here?"
"Because I have something to ask you and I thought that this would be the perfect place and the perfect time to ask you."
"Okay, what?" she asked still confussed, so far nothing had made sence to her. Then Josh got down on one knee and took her hand and thats when it all became clear.
"Nicole, look, I've known you since we were kids, and when you moved I thought that I would never see you again. I thought that I had lost you. Then two years ago when you came back to me, I knew that me and you were meant to be. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Steven, I love you both. I brought you here because this is my house, and it could be yours too. I'm asking you, if you love me and truly think that this could work out, will you marry me?"
"Josh oh my god!" Nicole said stunned, Nick had asked her to marry him but that was because he didn't want her to leave, but Josh was asking her because he really loved her and he really wanted to be with her, so there was only one thing she could say, "YES!!"
"I love you," he said as he put a ring on her finger then hugged her.
"I love you too Josh!!" she smiled, "So this is really where we are gonna live?"
"Yeah."
"Wow this is amazing."
"I thought that you would like it."
"I love it!!" she said looking around.
"Great, why don't I give you the grand tour?" he smiled as he lead Nicole off.
*Later that Night*
Nicole sighed as Josh pulled out of her driveway. She didn't want him to go, but she knew that he had to. She walked to her front door and opened it. As she walked into her house she saw her mother sitting on the couch looking at her and smiling.
"So you decided to wait up?"
"Yep."
"Any special reason?"
"Nope."
"Wanna hear how it went?"
"Of course," her mother said and Nicole smiled at her, she always wanted to know what happened as soon as it was over. Nicole then glanced at the ring on her finger and took a deep breath.
"Josh asked me to marry him and I said yes."
"Oh my god really?" her mother asked as she flew off the couch.
"Yes!!!" Nicole said trying not to make to much noise.
"I'm so happy for you!" her mother said hugging her.
"Thats not all, he got this beautiful house. Its incredible, I've never seen anything like it before. Its totally amazing!"
"Wow, but are you sure you want to get married?" her mother asked slightly concerned about Nicole.
"Yes, I love Josh and he loves me and hes accepted Steven, I consider myself extremely lucky to have him and I want to do this."
"Yes, you are very lucky and I'm happy for you."
"Thanks mom," she said as she headed upstairs to her room. She sighed and laid on her bed. This was going to be amazing she thought. Her and Josh were in love and she knew that Josh would be there for Steven too and that was so much more than what she ever could have asked for. She felt as if she had been blessed. Then her mind wondered to Nick. How was she going to tell him that she was going to get married??
Nicole still loved Nick, but she knew that they just couldn't be together anymore. They had both moved on, they had their own lifes now. Josh could never replace Nick in Nicoles mind, but she wasn't looking for a replacement. She still wanted Nick in her life, but she wasn't sure that he would want to be after he found out that she was marring someone else. His proposal was turned down by her, but they both knew that neither of them was ready for that at that time.
She had to tell Nick that the time had come when another man had finally taken her heart from him, though that could never be true. Nick was always going to be special to Nicole. He was the father of her son, he just didn't know it. Nicole felt a tear flow from her eye as she decided that she should call Nick and tell him. Whatever happened from there would be up to Nick. She picked up the phone and dialed Nicks number.
"Hello?" he said and she smiled hearing his voice.
"Hi Nick," she said.
"Nicole," he said relifed that it was her, "man I need to talk to you."
"Nick hold on, I have something to tell you first. Tonight when I went out with Josh, he asked me to marry him and I said yes."
"What?!?" Nick said as he immediately felt his heart break.
"Nick, look," she said hearing the hurt in his voice, as he had made no attempt to hide it, "I love you, I will always love you, thats never going to change. But Nick, I love Josh too, and I want to be with him. You have your girlfriend and you two seem happy so I think..."
"Nicole why?" he inturrupted completely heart broken.
"Why am I marrying him? Because I love him and I feel like this is a good time for me to take this step."
"Why did you turn me down when I asked you?"
"Because you were only asking because you wanted me to stay in town so that you wouldn't have to deal with me leaving. With Josh, it was because he thought that we were ready for marriage."
"I loved you and I wanted to be with you. I still do. Look this morning I realized that I still feel the same way about you, nothings changed. I told Stacy about this hoping that maybe she could give me some advice, but she told me that I had to chose between you and her. I want you. After spending all day thinking about it and talking to Brian, I realized that its you that I want not her."
"I'm sorry Nick," she said fighting back her tears.
"Nicole no, don't do this to me," he said knowing that she was still going to marry Josh.
"Nick, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to change my mind."
"Please," he said with little hope.
"No, and maybe you should forget about me. You'll be better off that way. Be with Stacy don't be stupid. Bye Nick," she said and hung up the phone.
Nick dropped the phone onto the reciver and his head his the back of the couch. She couldn't be doing this. There was no way that she could be getting married. He still wanted her, she was the only one for him in his mind and he didn't want anyone else that came along.
Soon he felt himself wanting to cry. He wanted to let out all this bottled up emotion that was deep inside of him, he just couldn't let it out. Now was he going to have to chose Stacy? Nicole was gone, his whole life was gone. Stacy would always be second to Nicole and Nick knew that she wouldn't take that, she would leave him too.
What was he supposed to do? He had never been in this situation before. At least he knew that Nicole still loved him. He still had a chance, but what was he going to do about Stacy? He didn't want to hurt her, though he figured that he was too late. Stacy had just got caught in the middle of him and his feelings for Nicole. She probably wouldn't have gotten involved with her if he knew that things were going to end up like this.
Chapter 17