CHAPTER SIX Angela turned around, shut the door silently, and locked it. She didn't want to show any emotion towards Brian right now. In fact, even if she could, she didn't know what it would be. She was that confused. She went over to one of the last boxes that she had to unpack, and pulled out one of the old pictures of her and Brian. "I remember this like it was yesterday," she thought. They were at her family's annual Fourth of July barbecue. As they had gotten out of the pool, her mother told them to pose for a picture. And there they were; soaked and hugging. "Did he come back for me?" she wondered. "Or is this a one time thing? What if we don't ever talk again?" And that's when she broke down. In the kitchen, Brian looked helplessly over to Krista. "What did I do?" he wanted to know. "Nothing," she said. "Angela didn't know how to handle it so she ran away from it. Ummm, Brian, why don't you just give me your number and give her a couple of days? She'll call you when she's ready. I'm gonna try talking to her though." "Alright." Brian wrote down his number, hoping that Angela would eventually call and left. Krista took a deep breath and headed toward Angela's room. She knocked on the door and got no answer. "Angela, I know you're in there. Don't do this to me," she said through the door. Again no response. She then tried the door and found it locked. She took the emergency key off the door jam and unlocked the door. When she opened it, she discovered Angela rocking back and forth hugging the picture. She was crying pretty hard. And that was something she never did. Krista ran over to hug her. She stopped rocking, but continued to cry and hug the picture. "Come on Angela. You never cry like this. Actually, I don't think I've ever seen you cry like this. Be the sarcastic, tough girl I know." Angela didn't even crack a smile. It was more serious than Krista had thought. She turned Angela around and looked her straight in the eye. "Talk to me," she almost commanded. Angela's big, brown eyes just stared blankly at her. "Come on Angela. Please? " Krista pleaded. She almost had tears coming out of her blue eyes. "I don't know," Angela said. "Why did he come back? It can't be for me after all this time." "I think he did. Brian talked about you an awful lot. And he did say that he missed you." "Then why didn't he ever return my calls or write to me?" she asked. "Angela, think real hard. Where have you seen Brian's face before? Besides at home I mean." "Not any place that I can remember," she replied. "You know that song that you've been humming lately?" "You mean As Long As You Love Me?" "Yup. You do know who sings it right?" "The Backstreet Boys," Angela said slowly. Krista smiled at her. "Wait a minute here......he's that Brian?!" Krista nodded. "It all just clicks now that I think about it." Angela started to cry again, but this time the tears were a bit more joyful. "So can you understand that he didn't ignore your letters and calls? That he was just really busy?" "Yeah," Angela replied. "But I still don't know. It's hard to say what he could be thinking." "Do you still love him Angela?" "Well, yeah." She blushed. "Then how are you ever going to find out if he loves you back? Sitting here and wondering about it isn't going to solve anything. If I were you, I'd pursue it and see what happens." "Then I'm gonna go for it," Angela resolved. For no reason, she burst into laughter. "What's so funny?" Krista asked. "Remember how much I wanted him in my freshman year of high school and how much I talked about him?" "Yeah, and those ugly sweaters!" Krista made a face. "I'm sure glad I was able to persuade him not to wear those anymore!" Angela laughed. The girls hugged each other laughing, grateful for each other. But when they were done, Angela said, "Thanks as always Krista, but right now I just wanna be alone. I need to think things over." "No problem. Are you sure you're gonna be OK?" "Yup." Krista got up and shut the door on the way out. She thought it was weird that Angela actually talked to her. Usually Angela kept things bottled up inside her. "Maybe she really needed to talk," she thought. Angela laid back on her bed and knew she was really confused. She knew that she wanted Brian and their relationship back. She had wanted this for so long and now she had the opportunity to have her other half back again. But on the other hand, she wasn't sure that everything could be the same. What if she had changed since she walked away from him? Or what if his career had changed him? His career. The thought of Brian being a Backstreet Boy both excited and depressed her. She could be there for everything he does, go on tour with them and be with him all the time. Or it could take up all of his time and she would never see him. That's if they got back together. Angela felt herself on the verge of tears again, but stopped herself. She couldn't cry again. She wouldn't. The whole situation wasn't worth it. "I already told Krista that I'm gonna call him and I'm not gonna back out," she thought. "I'm gonna make this work." She sat up to use the phone and stopped. She realized that she didn't have his number. Plus, how could she call him after that emotional attack she just had in front of him? "I'll call him tomorrow," she decided. Angela finally got up to eat breakfast. But before she went out to the kitchen, she placed the picture on her nightstand. She felt a little bit better and hoped that everything would turn out OK. CHAPTER SEVEN Thoughts of both Angela and Leighanne swirled through Brian's head as he drove to Nick's apartment. Seeing Angela again stirred up some the feelings he had buried when he began his new life. He hadn't meant to not write or call, or at least visit when he was home. It was just that he didn't want to face her. He was actually scared of what would happen if he confronted her. Still though, he was feeling something and he knew it was there. On the same token, he was quite happy with Leighanne. She gave him the companionship he was looking for in a woman. He didn't want to hurt her, but he wanted to find out what would happen with Angela. Or at least that's what he thought. That's why he was going to Nick's. "Nick may not be that experienced, but at least he can listen to me," Brian thought. As he pulled up, he noticed 2 familiar cars parked in the driveway that forced him to park in the street. "Do I even wanna know why they're here?" he asked himself. He knocked on the door, but got no answer. He did hear muffled laughter though, so he decided to just walk in. The sight in front of him held AJ and Kevin tickling Nick with Howie holding Nick's Playstation. Things didn't look good. "Brian!" Kevin exclaimed. "Just the guy we wanted to see!" He stopped ticking Nick and AJ soon followed. Nick let out an exhausted sigh. "What is going on here?" Brian asked slowly. Kevin put his arm around his cousin. "Well, Nicky here let out a little something about you guys having a talk yesterday, but that he couldn't say it was about." "So I went and got his Playstation and held it ransom." Howie held up the Playstation. "But when he wouldn't give in to that, we just had to tickle him," AJ finished. Brian shot Nick quite a nasty look. He didn't want the rest of the guys to know yet because he knew that he would hear it from them. "I'm sorry!" Nick whined. "They wouldn't stop tickling me until I told them." "And this is where you come in to play. We need you to tell us all about Angela," Kevin said. Brian proceeded to tell the guys all about what had happened in the past two days. He hoped that they wouldn't ride him for it. "Woah!! Rok's got two girls now," AJ laughed. "Chill out AJ. I'm sure that Brian will make the right decision," Kevin scolded. "That's the thing. I don't know what I'm gonna do. That's why I came here to talk to Nick, but I found you guys instead." "Well, why don't you go out with Angela a couple of times and see what happens?" Howie suggested. "I guess..... But what if Leighanne finds out?" "Don't tell her then. It's not like you guys are exclusive or anything," Nick chimed in. "I don't know. It just doesn't seem right to me," Brian said. "How will you ever find out who is better for you?" Kevin pointed out. "Alright," Brian said hesitantly. "I guess she doesn't need to know." "And Rok's gonna score with not one, but two women!" AJ teased. "That's it! I'm outta here!" Brian smiled at the guys, silently thanking them for their advice and left. CHAPTER EIGHT As Angela was putting the finishing touches on her room, she found herself recalling yesterday's events constantly. She blushed everytime. She couldn't believe what an outburst she had. "I shouldn't have acted like that," she scolded herself. She was excited, but nervous. As promised, she was going to call Brian today. Angela wasn't sure what she was going to say. She was just going to wing it. She stepped back and admired her room from all angles. "I'm good," she thought. With her Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Matt Damon posters, she was assured a safe night's sleep. She started laughing at the thought of her posters guarding her. "What's so funny?" Angela turned around to see Krista standing in her doorway. She smiled and said, " I was just laughing at the fact that I think that Freddie and Matt will protect me in the night." Krista laughed. "You think this is bad? Wait until you see my room." The girls walked across the hall to Krista's room. She had one, whole wall dedicated as a shrine to Carson Daly. Angela nearly died laughing. "That's too funny," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "But I love waking up in the morning to see this," Krista said proudly of her work. "I've got Matt and Freddie, so I'm happy. Not to change the subject or anything, but I really don't know what I'm going to say to Brian later when I call him." "By the way," Krista said. "You don't need to go hunting for his number; he left it here yesterday." "Oh really?" "Yeah. Hey! Didn't Brian tell you where he lives?" "Yeah," Angela said slowly. "I think that you should go over there in person and talk to him. "I don't think so!" "Why not? You didn't have such a problem talking to him the first time you met him here," she pointed out. "I just can't face him after yesterday." "Well, I'm going to make you face him. We're walking to his house right now. And I'm gonna stand in the road until I see you go into his house." "Oh no you're not!" "Watch this!" Krista grabbed Angela by the arm, dragged her out the door, and down the road. The whole 2 blocks to Brian's house, Angela whimpered and complained about how she really didn't want to do this. Krista kept telling her calm down and that everything would be fine. Before long, they arrived in front of his house. "I feel sick, " Angela said. "Oh, you'll be fine. Now go up to the door." "No," Angela refused. "Fine. I can stand here all day." Angela sighed, realizing she wasn't going to win this one. "I'm going." She walked very slowly up the driveway and rang the doorbell. When she turned around to see what Krista was doing, she had found that Krista was already walking home. "What a friend," she muttered as she heard the door open. "Why hello there!" Brian said. "I wasn't expecting you." "I was going to call you, but Krista made me come over instead." "Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned. "Oh no! I just came to talk to you." "Come on in!" Angela could hear his Southern drawl in those words and it melted her heart. She hadn't really lost hers yet, but his was pretty much gone. "Thanks! I don't really want to take too much time here though. I just have a few things I want to say." "It's OK. I don't have anywhere to be today," he replied. She looked around the huge room that was his living room. It was tastefully decorated with pale yellow walls and light blue carpet. His house was huge! She could only imagine what the rest of it looked like as they sat down on the couch. "So how are you?" she asked. "I'm alright and yourself?" "Not too bad. Brian.....umm....I...uh....Brian I miss you!!" she blurted out. Angela could now feel the red creeping up her face. "I have too," Brian said softly, thinking of what his bandmates said to him yesterday. "Brian, you have no idea how much I wanted to hear that." "The why did you ignore me yesterday?" he wanted to know. "I'm not really sure, but I'm sorry," she said. "It's OK. Now where do we go from here?" Angela felt a bit brave. "I want you to hold me and comfort me like you used to." Brian took her in his arms and just held her for what felt like forever. To him, it felt like nothing had changed between them. To her, it felt like things could back to the way they used to be. She pulled away and said, "Krista must be wondering where I am. I better get going." "Alright. Call me?" "I will. We'll talk." Angela found herself in Brian's arms giving him a hug of reassurance. He returned it. They both lingered a little longer than they had to, but they both knew they liked it. Brian opened the door for her and gave her hand a squeeze as she walked out. As she walked down the road, she knew she had what she went there for; the piece of her heart that had been missing for so long. CHAPTER NINE As soon as Brian saw Angela walk out of sight, he shut the door and sat on his couch to recollect what had just happened. "I've never stopped loving her," he realized. He pulled and his wallet and took out the picture that he kept of the two of them, as he did frequently. He often thought of her on tour or when he was close to home. It was only recently that he tried not to do it so often because of Leighanne. Suddenly, guilt washed over him. It wasn't like him not to be honest with the woman he was dating. But now he's going to be with two women. It bothered him a bit. His friends did have a point though; he wasn't exclusive with either one. In reality, he was OK; he wasn't committed. Right then, he decided that he was going to call Angela tonight to see if she'd be willing to go out on a date with him. If she wasn't the person he remembered, then he'd stick with Leighanne. But if she was......well, he'd cross that bridge when he got there. Meanwhile....... Angela walked in the door to find Krista asleep. "It wasn't that long of a walk," she thought. She nudged her best friend gently. "Only five more minutes," Krista murmured. Angela couldn't help but laugh. "I just got done talking to Brian. I guess that you don't want to hear about it," Angela started to walk away. Krista bolted up. "No! I do want to hear about it. Tell me." She looked like a young teenager waiting for good gossip. Angela sat down on the recliner and told Krista everything from his house to them possibly getting back together. "Wow!" Krista breathed. "Everything sounds so perfect." "Yeah, it does seem that way," Angela said thoughtfully. "Like it's all too good to be true." "So what are you going to do now?" "Well, I'm supposed to call him later. So maybe something will happen. I don't know." "You never know. Wanna go see a movie?" Krista asked. "Sure." The girls checked to see what was playing and then left for the afternoon. That night.... No matter where Krista looked, she just couldn't seem to find her Dixie Chicks CD. "Maybe if I cleaned my room a little," she thought. "Nah." Just then, she heard a muffled ring. "My phone's missing too?" she said aloud to no one. She ran across the hall to Angela's room to take the call. "Hello?" "Hi Krista." "Hello Brian." "Can I talk to Angela?" "I don't think she'd be too thrilled if I gave her the phone in the shower," she laughed. "No. I guess she wouldn't," he chuckled. "I thought she was the one who was supposed to be calling you." "Is that the way it's supposed to work?" Brian wondered. "I guess plans changed." "Oh. Brian, have you mentioned anything about being a Backstreet Boy to her?" "No. Does she know?" "Well, I told her when I was talking to her yesterday," Krista admitted. "But all I was wondering was how are you going to deal with this with her?" "If you only knew what I was dealing with," Brian thought. But what he said was, "I'll talk to her when the time is right." "That sounds good." "What sounds good?" Angela asked, brushing her hair out. "Uh.....Brian was just telling me what he was cooking for dinner. Sounds really good." "Real smooth," Brian whispered sarcastically. "What kind of excuse was that?" Krista asked herself. "Sure," Angela said. "Can I have the phone now?" "Yeah. I guess so." Krista tossed Angela her phone and left the room. "Hi! What's up?" "Not much. I, uh, wanted to know if, ummmm......" Brian paused. "Why do I feel so nervous all of a sudden?" he wondered. "You still there?" "Yeah," he replied. "Angela, I'd be honored if you'd let me take you out Friday night." "I'd love to. What do we plan on doing?" she asked. "I can't tell you that." "Why not?" "It's a surprise." "Oooooh. Any hints?" "Nope." "Come on Brian. Please?" she begged. "I'm only gonna tell you that you'll love it." "Alright," she gave in. "Can you tell me how I should dress?" "Comfortably," he answered. "OK." "So I'll see you Friday night then? At, say, 8?" "Definitely," she replied. "Bye." "Bye." Angela felt like she was on cloud 9. Even after all this time, the little things he does to make her happy make her feel all tingly inside. She wanted to know where he was taking her, but she loved the fact that he was keeping it a secret. "The next three days ate going to be the longest three days of my life," she thought. "But it'll be worth the wait." Angela hurried out of her room to tell Krista all about what had just happened. CHAPTER TEN "You think this will work?" "Brian, you always think of all the things that girls like," Nick said over the phone. "I mean, you don't think of the weird things that AJ does. You think of the, how should I put this? Romantic things. Do you get what I'm saying?" "Yes, Nick." Brian was getting ready to head out the door to pick up Angela. He just wasn't too sure if everything that he was doing sounded corny or not. According to his best friend, everything was OK. "I'm gonna go now. I'll see you later." With that, he hung up the phone and left. At the same time.... "I'm coming out!" Krista came out of her room to see a very cute Angela. "Very nice," she complimented. "You think he'll like it?" Angela asked. Krista looked over her best friend. Angela had on a white baby-tee with a kitten on it that said 'Who me?' above it, with flares on. She had on her new Nike's and had her hair thrown up in a messy bun with her bangs done just right. "Yeah. He said comfortable right?" "Yup. So you definitely think he'll like it?" "Yes! I don't know why you're so worried about impressing him. It's not like you've never been out with him before." "I know, I know," Angela sighed. "But I want everything to go just right." Just then the doorbell rang. Angela took a deep breath and answered the door. On her doorstep stood Brian in a blue polo shirt and khakis. "He looks so good," she thought. "Hi," she said shyly. "Hey. You ready to go?" "Yup." She looked back at Krista and winked. Krista smiled at her as they walked out the door. "Can you tell me where we're going now?" "Nope. Not yet." They walked over to his green jeep and he stopped her right in front of the passenger side door. He pulled out a handkerchief and motioned for her to come closer. "I want to blindfold you for the full effect," he said in a dramatic voice. Angela just laughed at him. "Just trust me." She trusted him. So he blindfolded her and guided her into the car. "Am I going to like this?" she asked him again. "Like I said; you're going to love it." Brian got into the car and started the jeep down the road. Angela had no idea which direction they were going in because he took so many turns to get to their destination. She wasn't too familiar with the city yet. "This has got to be something special if you're going through all this trouble," she said. "Oh it is." It was a while before she finally asked, "Are we almost there?" He could hear the anticipation in her voice. "As a matter of fact, we're here. Just give me two minutes to take care of something. OK?" "Alright," she said. Angela heard him get out of the car and that was all. She couldn't hear anything else. No clues as to what it was. "He's good," she thought. She heard her door open and Brian helped her out of the car. He guided her for a little bit and then finally sat her down. He then sat down and said," You can take the blindfold off now Angela." Brian watched her slowly pull the blindfold off her face and the excitement creep upon it. He knew that she was happy and that's all he wanted to see. He had taken her to the beach and they were sitting on a blanket. On it was a candle lit dinner with all of her favorite foods. The best part was, was that there was a beautiful sunset. The kind that you only see in the movies and on postcards. She was loving it. Brian leaned over and gave her a single, white rose, and said," What do you think?" "Everything's beautiful," she said. "You sure know how to treat a lady." He blushed. "I try." "Did you cook all of this yourself?" "Yup." They slowly ate in silence the macaroni and cheese that Brian prepared for her. (They share a love for cheese.) It wasn't an awkward silence, but one that showed that they both were thinking. Wheels were turning in the sense of what was next. "Thank you," she said. "It's been a while since I've last had that. And you do make a mean macaroni and cheese." "Oh, I thought it was a very nice macaroni and cheese," he said in a serious voice. Angela laughed until her sides hurt. Brian couldn't help but laugh at her. It was these times that the two missed each other. They wiped the tears out of their eyes. Brian blew out the candles and packed everything up except for the blanket. He laid down on one side of the blanket. Angela laid down next to him. "So how are things in general?" she asked him. "Not too bad," he replied. "I have a couple days off from work." "Brian," she said looking over at him. "You don't have to hide it from me. I know you're a Backstreet Boy. I never knew it before, but I recently became a fan. I've heard 'As Long As You Love Me' on the radio quite a lot lately." "Oh. And you don't have a problem with that?" "Not at all. If you're happy, that's all that matters. Plus, I love knowing that I'm dating a Backstreet Boy." She elbowed him playfully. He then thought of Leigh Anne. "She's dating a Backstreet Boy too," he thought. "I have to stop making myself feeling guilty. I'm not doing anything wrong." "Brian?" He was knocked out of his thoughts by Angela. "What did you say?" "I asked if you would introduce me to the rest of the guys sometime." "Oh sure," he replied. "So how are things back at home?" And this is how it went on for the rest of the night. They talked about everything and anything. In between, Brian would occasionally think of Leigh Anne, but push her out of his mind. Eventually Angela got tired. She tried to hide it, but couldn't. She didn't want the night to end, but she knew that they would see each other again. "Brian, can you take me home? I'm kinda falling asleep." "Yeah." He was disappointed that she had wanted to go home. He could see that she was tired thought. Brian was definitely going to ask her out again. The ride to her house was quiet because she was fighting sleep. She was so happy though. And she realized how much she truly missed him. Brian finally pulled his jeep into her driveway. He got out and opened the door for her. "Always the gentleman," she said. He walked her to her door. And there they stood on her doorstep. "I had a really great time tonight," she said, breaking the ice. "Me too," he replied. "I just wanted to tha-" But she was cut off by his lips connecting with hers. He was gentle with her, but let his feelings be known through the kiss. Angela had a hard time trying to keep herself up; she was shaky in the knees because she was not expecting this tonight. But she returned it, letting her feelings through as well. They broke away and both smiled. Something happened during that kiss and they both knew it. "I'll call you tomorrow;" Angela said as she let herself in the house. "OK," Brian said and practically skipped to his car. BACK NEXT |
| Once And Again |