CHAPTER ELEVEN The following morning, Angela woke up to Krista's face in her's. "Sometimes I really hate you." "But I know you really love me!" Krista bounced on her bed. "Now tell me about last night." "At least let me wake a little bit," Angela said. Krista reluctantly got off the bed and allowed her best friend to get up. It wasn't long though before Krista was begging her again. "Alright! Alright!" They both sat down at the kitchen table with their breakfast and Angela relayed to Krista all of last night's events. She made sure that she didn't leave out any details, finding herself living the night all over again. "Wow!" Krista breathed. "The whole night's plans sound like Brian alright." "Oh they were. It was great." Meanwhile.... "Everything was great." "It sure sounds like it," Nick commented. Even though the guys were supposed to have the day off, the ended up being called in to discuss tour plans. They were not happy about it. "How do you think she liked it?" Howie asked. "I think she had a good time," Brian replied. AJ decided to have a little fun. "So Bri, did you get any last night?" Brian turned about thirty shades of red before saying, "If you need to know, we had a kiss goodnight." The guys all laughed at his embarrassment. "And now what about Leighanne?" AJ pressed on. "Well, I'm going out to dinner with her tonight....." "You plan on getting some from her too?" Brian started to get mad and Kevin saw it. "That's enough AJ," he scolded. "Brian can handle all of this himself without your big nose in his business." Brian gave Kevin a thankful look. Just then their managers came in to go over everything with them. The guys wanted it to be over soon so they could have the rest of the day to themselves. CHAPTER TWELVE For the next few weeks, Krista didn't see much of Angela. All of her time had been devoted to Brian. Whether it was on the phone, at one of their houses, or they were out, they spent as much time as they could with each other. There was even one point that Angela spent the night at Brian's and never called Krista to let her know. She claimed it was an accident, but Krista knew better. In any case, Krista was tired of being neglected. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for the two of them, she just wanted to see her best friend's face a little more often. So she came to the conclusion that enough was enough and decided to say something. "Krista?" "What?" she called from her room. "Brian and I are going to the movies. I'll see you when I get back," Angela replied. "I don't think so," Krista said, coming out of her room. "Why not? What's the matter?" "Oh come on Angela!" "Can you fill me in here?" Angela asked, confused by Krista's outburst. "Like you don't know! All you do is spend all of you time with Brian. It's like I don't even exist anymore. The only times I get to see you is when you come home at night, if you even do at all, and when you get up in the morning. I thought I was the best friend. Remember the saying 'Boyfriends come and go but friends are forever?'" Krista's words slapped Angela right in the face. She couldn't believe she heard those words come out of her best friend's mouth. "I don't believe this. I thought you were all supportive about this. You know, the supportive best friend? What ever happened to that?" "Oh, I'm the supportive best friend, but this had gone way too far. I've almost forgotten what you look like," Krista retorted. "Well, you're obviously not the best friend I thought you were. I'm happy, and frankly, I think you're just jealous. I'm going out with Brian tonight whether you like it or not. And you know what else? I don't feel guilty. Your tears won't do anything for you." And with that, Angela was out the door to go pick up Brian. Krista just stood there staring at the door, not believing what just happened. Meanwhile, Angela slammed the car door shut as she got in. She drove to Brian's house and beeped the horn. Brian came out and smiled at her through the windshield. But when he saw her forced smile, he knew something was wrong. "What's the matter?" he asked, concerned as he got into the car. "Nothing," she replied. "Come on. You can tell me," Brian coaxed her. "If you must know, Krista and I got into a fight." "What happened?" Angela went on to tell him what happened not too long ago. "Would you mind if I, um, stayed at your house tonight?" Brian looked at Angela with a funny look. "Yeah. But are you sure you wanna do that?" "Yeah," she responded. "I just need to get away for a bit." "OK then." Without another word, Angela started the car and headed for the movies. The ride was pretty quiet. Brian felt pretty awkward about the situation. He wasn't sure what to do or say. They pulled up to the theater parking lot and went in. The new Freddie Prinze Jr. movie, "Until Always", was playing. Brian decided to treat Angela to that. Not much was spoken between the couple for the rest of the night. Maybe a few words here and there, but that was about it. After the movie, Angela just drove back to Brian's. "Are you sure you're gonna be OK?" he asked her, one last time. "Yes," she replied, without emotion. They got back to the house, and Brian went into the kitchen to get something to eat. She went into his room to find some sort of pajamas. Not quite tired, she came back out to watch TV. Brian came out of the kitchen and saw just how depressed Angela was. He hated seeing her like this. Not knowing what else to do for her, he decided to give her some alone time and go to bed. He walked over to the recliner where she was sitting and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said to her. Angela just looked at him and gave him a slight smile. He wandered off to bed hoping that she would feel better in the morning. Angela flipped through the channels hoping the TV would put her to sleep. She suddenly felt alone. Like she had no one. Her family was back in Kentucky, so she couldn't go home to them. She was mad at Krista, yet in a sense, she knew she was spending alot of time with Brian. But, she didn't want to lose him. Or Krista for that matter. She ended up coming to the conclusion that her options were limited. The next thing she knew is that she found herself heading towards Brian's room. Brian was half-asleep and had no idea at first that Angela was standing in the doorway. His eyes opened and he could see the outline of her headed towards his bed. She crawled in under the covers and buried herself next to him, her head in the nape of his neck. The tears started flowing from her eyes and dampened his shirt. But he didn't care. He just wanted to be there for her. He knew he couldn't really say anything to make everything OK again. She needed to talk to Krista. In turn, he stroked her hair and let her cry. That's the comfort that Angela was searching for. Eventually her breathing slowed down. Exhaustion had swept over her and she fell asleep. Brian felt good knowing that she felt this comfortable with him and that she was going to be OK. He had a feeling that even thought this wasn't a good situation for Angela and Krista, that this was somehow going to bring the two of them closer. He too, with time, fell asleep. And they laid together, in each other's arms, in the pale moonlight CHAPTER THIRTEEN The following morning, Krista was greeted to puffy, red eyes and a tear streaked face. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before due to her crying. She wanted Angela to just walk in the door and things be OK again. Both Angela and their friend ship worried her. The girls didn't fight often. Their friendship is very close knit. But when they did fight, their reactions to it was quite the opposite from the other. Krista was the worrier. She tended to overanalyze the situation and look at every aspect imaginable. The stress she put on herself was tremendous. Losing the "bestest" friend that she's ever had would kill her. Angela, on the other hand, put it all out of her mind. It would be the last thing she would think of. Almost like she was in denial. All of her problems tended to be dealt with internally. She never talked about them and acted like nothing was wrong. The only times she would deal with their fights was when the situation blew up or she did. "Maybe I should call her and apologize," Krista thought over breakfast. "I mean, she hasn't seen him in so long and everything. And we wouldn't be fighting if I hadn't said anything. But I feel like we haven't done anything in so long. I don't know." The tears stared flowing once again. At Brian's house.... Angela woke up after being accidentally kicked by Brian in his sleep. She opened her eyes to an early sun. Her security blanket had remained around her all night. Brian had somehow managed to keep his arms around her. Angela just smiled to herself at his determination to keep her happy. "But in all seriousness," she thought. "I kinda like this feeling." She looked over to watch him sleep. The way he slept so peaceful seemed reassuring to her for some reason. Like he always knew that everything would be OK. His hair was slightly tasseled and he had a slight smile on his face. Angela thought it was so cute the way he slept on his face, forcing his one cheek to scrunch up. "Krista would make fun of him so much for this," she thought. And then stopped. Krista. Angela forgot about her. "What am I gonna do?" she asked herself. "I can't keep living here, but I can't go home. But have I been spending too much time with Brian? Have I really been denying Krista attention?" Knowing that she didn't want to lose Krista, she got up to use the phone without disturbing Brian. Angela found Brian's cordless stuffed between 2 couch cushions. He definitely wasn't the neatest person. She dialed her home number, but it rang and rang and rang. Finally the answering machine picked up. "Krista, it's me. I know you're not out of bed yet. Pick up the phone." She paused for a minute. "OK, don't. I just wanted to talk to you about this. You can reach me at Brian's." Krista heard the click of the phone. Her best friend was a little off with the bed thing; she had gotten up, tried to eat, and went back to bed. She didn't know what else to do. Losing Angela would kill her. It would almost be as if she were lost. But she knew they had overcome worse things than this and could get through it. The phone rang again and Krista thought it was Angela. But when the answering machine picked up, she was wrong. "Krista, please pick up the phone. I need to talk to you." It was Brian. Without hesitation, she got out of bed and answered the phone. "Hello?" "Krista, please talk to Angela," Brian said bluntly. "I thought she didn't want to talk to me," she replied coolly. "But she does. She cried to me all last night." "What do you mean?" "She crawled into my bed and, well, just broke down." "Well, in the words of Angela, 'her tears won't do anything for her.'" "Krista, please?" he pleaded. "No." "Fine. Listen to me then. Remember how Angela talked about me all the time to you, telling you how much she wanted me back in her life? Well, do you want that to be you? If you guys don't talk, you could end up losing your friendship. And then she'll be talk to me about you. Think about that." And he hung up. She slowly pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it. Brian's words did make sense to her. And Angela talking about her to Brian the way she talked about him? That made her cringe. But she wasn't sure if she wanted to give this fight up that easily. CHAPTER FOURTEEN The doorbell rang. Brian got up to answer it. There stood Krista. "You here to see Angela?" "Yeah. How'd you guess?" her ever-so-familiar sarcasm greeted him. "Yeah, nice to see you too. She's in my room." "Thanks Bri," she said. He smiled and gave her a nod. Then he plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV. Krista turned into Brian's room to see Angela laying back on the bed, deep in thought. She walked over and sat on the bed. Angela just turned her head towards Krista. "Hello." "Hi." Then there was an awkward silence. They just studied each other, waiting for the other one to start. More times than not, the girls would put off their fights. Usually it would be Angela who had to tell Krista something and that broke the silence. Then Krista would ask of they were still fighting and Angela would say that they would deal with it later. That's how their fights always ended. But not this one. They both knew it was serious when Angela decided to spend the night at Brian's. "Alright," Angela said, breaking the silence. "I guess I'll start." She got up and got comfortable because she knew they both had alot to say. "Krista, I don't know how many times I have to tell you that no matter what happens, I'll always be your best friend, boyfriend or not. The only reason I've been spending so much time with Brian is because it's like I have to get to know him all over again. We haven't seen each other in a while remember? I still share every detail with you and you still come before him. But when you said that you forgot what I looked like and that you don't even exist to me anymore, I was crushed. I never thought I'd hear those words come out of your mouth." Krista sat for a minute, letting Angela's words sink in before taking her turn. "I know, I know. It's just that I'm so afraid of losing you. You mean so much to me. I can remember back in high school when I did this once and almost lost you. But somehow you managed to keep everything together when you and Brian got together. I just want us to always be best friends, that's all. I feel like I'm all by myself when you and Brian go out. Like I'm excluded from everything." "Which you know isn't true at all. But I have an idea though that might ease this situation a bit. What if I got Brian to hook you up with Nick? I mean you guys would be perfect. He has the exact same sense of humor that you do. Then we can all go clubbing tomorrow night and do some double dating. How does that sound?" Angela asked. "Not a bad idea," Krista replied. "Look, I'm sorry for doing this to you, but....." "Don't be. It's all my fault," Angela interrupted. "I should have made more time for you. It wasn't fair what I did to you. I'm the one who should be apologizing for blowing up at you and leaving you the way I did." "But some of this is my fault...." Krista trailed off. "No. It's not yours at all. It's all mine. I'm so sorry." The girls embraced each other for what seemed like forever. When they did pull apart Angela said, "Let's go tell Brian to call Nick now. OK?" "Yeah," Krista said nervously. They walked back out to the living room where Brian was sitting. He could tell by the looks on their faces that everything had been resolved. "Are we OK now?" he asked. The best friends nodded in return. "Hey Bri? Do you think Nick would want a girlfriend?" Angela asked. "I don't know. Why?" Brian was confused. But then he quickly caught on and got one of those mischievous grins on his face. "I bet he does. Let me give him a call." "Tell him that we wanna go clubbing tomorrow night." "Alright." Krista could feel the butterflies in her stomach already. "What if he doesn't wanna go? What if he stands me up? What if he doesn't like me?" She winced at that last thought. Angela noticed her best friend's weird faces. "You analyzing this situation already? Brian's not even off the phone with him yet." "You know me way too well," she laughed nervously. A few more minutes went by before Brian took his place back on the couch. "Well?" Krista asked, not being able to hold out any longer. "He said he'll go." Krista let out a sigh of relief and stood up to go home. "See you tomorrow then Brian." She started to head towards the door. But when she noticed that Angela wasn't following her, she stopped. "Aren't you coming?" "I'll be there in a minute." Krista interpreted that as 'go outside, I need a minute' and left to sit on the porch. As soon as Krista was out the door, Angela sat down on Brian's lap. "And what may I do for you?" he asked. "This." And she gave him an emotional kiss. Brian felt himself returning it. He wasn't about to stop himself though; he knew that he was falling more and more for Angela. "What was that for?" he wondered. "Just for being you," she whispered. "And butting in to help fix my problems. Thank you." With that, she got up and left him sitting there. But in that very moment, Brian came to a big decision. As much as he liked Leighanne and as much as he didn't want to hurt her, he knew he had to let her go. Angela had caught his heart and run away with it. CHAPTER FIFTEEN The following night as the girls were getting ready, Krista couldn't contain her excitement and nervousness. Her usual laziness and lack of wanting to do anything turned into running around finding things to keep herself busy. "Somebody has butterflies," Angela commented. "Yeah," Krista smiled. "I have a good feeling about this date." "Hmmmm....maybe there will be something. Brian is always talking about what fun they have together. He seems like a good guy. I'm with you on this one." "That's good to hear." "Yeah and you know what else I noticed?" "What?" You're not sitting here all worried about this date like you usually do with them," Angela said. "Hey! You're right. I told you I had a good feeling," Krista exclaimed. They finished by putting the final touches on their hair and make-up. Then it took them a couple of minutes to convince each other that they looked good. Finally the doorbell rang. Angela opened the door with Krista peering over her shoulder to see Brian with Nick slightly behind him. "Oh wow! He is cute!" Krista thought. "Definitely a hottie," she whispered, barely audible into Angela's ear. "Well, are we gonna stand here all night or are we gonna get going?" Brian asked, breaking the silence. "Yeah, let's go," Angela replied. Angela linked arms with Brian as they walked to his jeep. "She thinks he's a hottie. So far, so good," she whispered. Brian just smiled and winked at her as they parted to get into the jeep. They all piled in with Nick and Krista on the back and Angela sitting shotgun. Angela noticed the awkwardness building in the back of the jeep. People's first impression of Krista was usually a snotty one. Making friends was not a specialty of hers. And from what Angela understood, Nick was a bit shy when it came to strangers. For him to make the first move probably wasn't an option. Being that good friend that she is, she decided to take the initiative. "So Nick, do you know of any good clubs around here?" she asked him. "Yeah, I know a few," he said, not taking his eyes off the window. When he didn't say anything else, she looked at Brian to tell him that it was his turn. He didn't notice her. So she indiscreetly hit him on the leg to get him to say something. "Hey Krista, why don't you tell Nick about how much you love Carson Daly?" he asked while rubbing his leg. Krista turned a deep shade of red and looked the other way. This time, Angela didn't try to hide the fact that she was hitting Brian. She nailed him in the same spot. "OK, OK. I get the hint. Bad choice of words," he surrendered. They finally arrived at Orlando's Odyssey. Krista nonchalantly walked up to Brian and punched him in the arm. "Thanks a lot," she muttered. "I was only trying to help," he said under his breath. Brian, Nick, and Krista all made it past the bouncer. Angela got carded. "I'm gonna need to see some ID," the bouncer said, stopping Angela from going in. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she said, fumbling through her purse for her wallet. "I'm so sick of being mistaken for being younger than I am." Brian and Krista were trying their hardest not to laugh at her. "Here." She handed the bouncer her driver's license while she eyed the two of them. "OK, you're good," the bouncer said and let Angela through. "I can't believe that just happened!" "Oh, but it was so cute!" Brian said to her in a little kid voice. "But I don't wanna be cute, I wanna be gorgeous!" she said dramatically. They all laughed and found a table to chill out at until the place started to liven up a little more. When they sat down, Brian tried to put his arm around Angela. "Oh no you don't," she said, pulling away. "Why not?" Brian asked, putting a pretend hurt look on his face. "Because you know I hate being called cute! And that face isn't gonna do anything for you either." Almost automatically, Brian made a puppy face that he knew Angela couldn't resist. He saw nothing change on her face except for the look in her eyes and he knew he had her. "Victory!" he thought. "Something wrong Angela?" "I hate it when you give me that face!" She leaned over and kissed him. "All is forgiven." "Awwww! How cute!" Krista said sarcastically. "You're just jealous. You only wish you had something like this," Angela smiled. "Alright. Enough fighting over me. I'm already taken by a beautiful, young lady. Let's dance," Brian interrupted. Angela sighed with contentment as she was whisked away by Brian to the dance floor. They started fast dancing at the next available spot. Krista and Nick reluctantly followed. The group danced to a couple of songs, until a slow song came on. Brian and Angela immediately went to each other. Nick looked at Krista awkwardly and sat back down. Krista looked at Angela who pulled away from Brian for a moment. "Why don't you go make some conversation for a little bit and see what happens?" she suggested. "Yeah, I guess I could do that," Krista said while glancing at Nick. "He's so cute. I just hope something can work out." Krista walked over to the table and Angela went back to Brian. She hoped that everything did work out for not only Krista's sake, but for her and Brian's relationship. CHAPTER SIXTEEN Angela and Krista made their way to the table where both Brian and Nick were sitting. "Is everything OK?" Brian whispered to Angela. "Yeah. She just kinda felt weird. But, I think that she's gonna try talking to him." "Well, he told me that he thinks she's pretty, but he doesn't know where to begin. Good thing she's willing to start things off." "You having fun?" Krista asked, trying to make small talk. "I guess so. I'm just not in the mood to dance tonight," he said. "Yeah me either," she admitted. "You wanna get out of here?" "Sure" Nick said. "We'll be back you guys," Krista said to Brian and Angela. "Alright," they both replied as they got up to dance again. They got outside and decided to walk along the beach. "So what are you majoring in?" Nick asked her. "Well, I was going to be a lawyer, but then I decided that I want to do something with communications," she replied. "That's cool," Nick said. "So tell me, what is it like being a Backstreet Boy?" she asked carefully. "It's alot of fun," he answered. "Seeing the world and our fans and things, but I do miss the everyday things that you might take for granted." "Like what?" "Well, there's privacy, running my own life, not being stalked, sleeping in whenever I want to..... Things like that." "Oh. So what do you think of Angela and Brian?" Krista asked. "They look good together. You have no idea how nice it finally was to put a face to a name. He's talked about her nonstop ever since he met up with her again. But enough about them, I wanna her about you." So Krista told him all about herself. She found it easy to talk to Nick and he seemed to enjoy hearing about her. They talked about everything they could until they realized that they should go find Angela and Brian. "I wonder how long they plan on spending here. I'd rather be watching a movie or something," Krista said. "Me too," Nick agreed. "Let's go see if they're ready to leave." Krista and Nick walked back to the club in search of their friends. It was about 10:30pm and they felt anything but dancing would be good about then. They finally got inside only to hear the beginning of "Amazed" by Lonestar. "Oh, I love this song," Krista sighed. "May I have this dance?" Nick asked, extending his hand. "Yes," she replied, putting her hand in his. On the other side of the dance floor, Brian and Angela had noticed that they had succeeded in the hookup. The rest was up to Nick and Krista. "Well, well, well. Looks as if we made a match," Angela said, laying her head on Brian's shoulder. "I believe we have. And I must say that we've done such a good job too." "Oh we have," Angela replied. She took a deep breath and said, "I love you Brian." Without hesitation Brian said," I love you too Leigh." Angela pulled back from his embrace. "Leigh? Who's Leigh?" The color drained from Brian's face as he realized what he just said. "Nobody. She was just an old girlfriend." "That's fine! But you're not with her anymore!" Angela felt the hot tears burning in her eyes. "It was just an accident! I swear!" "And how do I know that you're not cheating on me?" she demanded, her voice getting louder. Brian could feel the people stopping and staring at them. "Calm down. You know I have feelings only for you and that I would never cheat on you. I was seeing Leighanne until I realized that I only wanted to be with you," he said, even though he saw the hurt in her eyes and the tears streaming down her face. "No. Actually I don't know that. And you know what? I was a fool for thinking that things could possibly be the same again. As a matter of fact, I don't even know what I was thinking." She reached around the back of her neck to take off her necklace for the first time. She threw it at Brian and ran out of the club, not knowing where she was going to go. She had left everyone staring at Brian, who couldn't believe what had just happened. And she left Nick and Krista not knowing what to say to their friend. BACK NEXT |
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