Nick sat in the chair in the middle of the party room at Busch Gardens and was finishing up his presents. All of his family and friends were there.
"Thanks mom, dad!!! I love it!!!" Nick said, holding up the new scuba gear that his parents had bought him for his birthday.
"One more present left!" Tara said. She pulled out the box that she wrapped his ring in, and handed it to him with his card.
Nick opened the envelope and read the card to himself, smiling due to a personal message from her to him. He gave her a kiss, then grabbed the wrapped box, ripping the neatly wrapped paper off into pieces.
Nick pulled out the little navy blue box and opened it up, revealing the golden ring to him. He pulled the ring out of the box and held it up to his eyes, reading the private inscription. Tara sat down beside him and rubbed his arm softly, while he read the ring. He turned his face to look at her, his eyes becoming a little watery. He loved the ring very much.
"I.. I love it.." Nick said, looking at the ring, then back up at Tara.
Tara took the ring from Nicks hand, and placed it on his ring finger, on his right hand. A perfect fit.
Nick stood up, and pulled Tara up with him, and gave her a big kiss infront of everyone in the room.
"Thank you soo much, Tara" Nick said, looking into her eyes.
"You're welcome... Happy Birthday Hunny!" Tara said, giving him a kiss. Nick bent down and picked her up for a hug, since she was quite shorter than him, infact, she was a whole foot shorter than him.
Tara, Nick, Karine, AJ, Marie, Kevin, Brian, and Howie walked around Busch Gardens together. Heading over to the Koomba, Tara ran into her friend Laura, who was in most of her classes from College, and whom she often hung out with after class.
"Laura!!! What are you doing here?" Tara asked, surprised to see her.
"My family made me come for the day... one of those family outing days, you know how those are.." Laura said.
Tara laughed. Nick wrapped his arms around Tara's waist.
"Oh, Laura... this is Nick, Nick, this is my friend Laura" Tara said.
"Hello Laura" Nick introduced himself "These are our friends Mar, Kevin, AJ, Karine, Howie and Brian" Nick said, pointing to everyone as he said their names. Laura waved politely and everyone said hello back to her.
"Want to hang out with us for awhile?" Tara asked.
"Sure.. " Laura replied with a smile. She told her parents that she'd meet up with them later, and then met back up with the large Backstreet group.
Hours later, at about 11pm, everyone left the park since it was closing up for the night. Some people went back to Nick and Tara's house, for some further partying, but most of the people went home because everyone was tired from the long day.
"Whats your plans for spring break?" Laura asked Tara, sitting down at one of the cafeteria tables at the college.
"Well... a big group of us are going off to the Dominican.." Tara replied "its supposed to be real nice there.."
"Yeah, I know! Thats going to be alot of fun for you" Laura replied "Are you excited?"
"Oh yeah.. it'll be a nice romantic trip for Nick and I..." Tara said. The thought about spring break made her memory flash back to the previous year, where she had cheated on Justin with Nick, when her true feelings surfaced.
"HELLO? are you here??" Laura said. Tara was in a daze, and quickly shook out of it.
"Yeah.. sorry.. I was just thinking about last years spring break.."
"really? where did you go?"
"Mexico" Tara said. She took a drink of her chocolate milk.
"Was it a special trip for you and Nick?" Laura asked.
"It was... quite.... unique" Tara said. Laura looked at her with a strange face, so Tara decided to tell her new good friend the story of what happened last year. It took about a good 15 minutes to tell, and afterwards Laura was left speechless.
"I.. I cant believe that! WOW! I dont know what I would have done..." Laura said. She had packed away her lunch while in awe of Tara's storytelling.
"What ever happened to Justin?" Laura asked.
"Well.. after I left the plane to run to Nick, Justin left for his tour. He toured for about three months, then came back to Florida. I ran into him one time.. it was very awkward. He looked at me, kind of sad, and then looked away like he didnt know me. I think he is still realy angry with me.." Tara said. She looked out the window.
"Right now, as far as I know, N SYNC is on tour tho... they wont be back till May" Tara said.
"Do you think you and him will ever be able to be friends?"
"I'd like to be... seriously.. I really would" Tara said.
"Do you ever regret choosing Nick, over Justin?" Laura asked.
"Never... I have never regretted choosing Nick since we got together" Tara said "I love him..."
Laura smiled and looked over at the clock.
"Its time for class.. we better get going.. we dont want Mr. Espo to get mad cuz we're late" Laura said.
"Yeah..." Tara leaned down to grab her backpack.
"Hey Laura?"
"yeah?"
"Would you like to come on Spring break with us?" Tara asked.
"Oh, I dont know.. isnt it a couple thing?" Laura asked.
"No, not really. Brian is single, hes coming" Tara said.
"Brian Littrell?"
"YES, Brian Littrell" Tara said smiling.
"Isn't he seeing some.. Leigh Anne girl?" Laura asked.
"WAS, is the keyword. He's not seeing her anymore, they broke up last month" Tara said. "you and Bri seemed to be talking good at Nicks party two weeks ago.. so I thought it might be cool if you came with us, on spring break.." Tara said.
"I'd love to go!" Laura said, excited. She grabbed her books and followed Tara out of the cafeteria, and went to class.
Tara laid in bed asleep next to Nick, all of a sudden feeling very sick. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach, and woke up right away. She looked over at Nick beside her, who was sleeping soundly. His hair was somewhat covering his eyes, messed all over the place.
Another streak of pain ran through Tara, and she had the sudden urge that she was going to be sick. She quickly threw the covers off her and ran into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
She leaned over the toilet bowl and heaved, lightly throwing up last night's snacks.
After she had finished her thing, she flushed the toilet and stood up infront of the mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror, her reflection's face full of sweat. She grabbed her washcloth and put it under cold water, holding it up to her face to cool her down, she felt very hot.
That had been the fifth morning that week that Tara had woke up sick, Tara had become a bit worried. Nick had no idea that Tara was sick, and he also did not know that her period was over a week late, and still hadn't showed up.
Feeling a little better, she opened up the bathroom door and crept back into their bedroom. Nick was still asleep, so she went downstairs, to get a glass of water.
Brian was awake and watching TV when Tara came down the stairs. he was wearing a pair of plaid boxers and a Kentucky tshirt.
"Good morning shorty" Brian greeted Tara.
"Good Morning Frick" Tara said. She grabbed her glass of water and sat down on the couch next to Brian, and rested her head back onto the couch.
"Are you alright?" Brian asked, noticing Tara was acting a little funny.
"Maybe, I have to see" Tara replied, eyes shut.
"What is it? Maybe I can help.." Brian said, turning to face Tara.
"Do you promise not to tell ANYONE.. NOT EVEN NICK?" Tara asked, looking straight at Brian.
"I promise!" Brian replied.
"Im trusting you.. as a best friend Brian, not to tell anyone.."
"I promise!!" Brian said again.
"Alright.." Tara said. Her voice lowered, and she started to speak softly.
"For the past five days, I have been feeling really sick.... and to make matters even fuller... Im late.."
"Late... for what?" Brian asked, not putting two and two together.
"my.. period" Tara whispered.
"oh.. OH!" Brian said, realizing what Tara was getting at.
"yes....." Tara said, assuring Brian he heard right.
"Do you think your... pregnant??" Brian asked.
"Honestly.... yes" Tara said "But I need to find out for sure...Brian.. would you go with me?" Tara asked.
"Dont you think you should have Nick go with you?" Brian asked.
"I want to find out for sure, before telling Nick. I have no idea what his reaction is going to be like if it turns out to be positive.."
"Are you kidding me? he'll be totally ecstatic! He'll be really happy Tara! You know he wants to have a family with you" Brian said.
"Yeah.. I know.. but.. I still want to know for sure, before telling him. I dont want to go alone... would you go with me?"
"Of course Tara.... I'm here for you" Brian replied. He gave Tara a hug.