Nick, Karen and Aaron entered the house as everyone was in the family room talking and having fun.
"I'm going to my room for a sec, I'll be right back." she told Nick.
"Okay." He wasn't sure if he should ask her out or not. "Don't be long!" he smiled.
Karen went up the stairs and into her room. She sat down running the day through her mind. She didn't know what got into her today. She was happier than ever. Then her door opened. She looked up and there was Brian in a towel.
"Oops, sorry wrong room." Brian apologized. And he quickly turned around to leave.
"Wrong room? You've lived here for a few years and you don't know where your room is?" Karen laughed.
"Actually, I came to see if you were back yet. And I see that you are, so see you downstairs..." he replied.
"Brian, wait! I have to talk to you." she said.
"Just let me change first alright?"
"Okay." she sat patiently waiting for Brian.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Nick walked into the room where everyone was at. He looked around. 'Leigh Anne, I haven't seen her in a while. Theresa and Dawn... who's that?' he said as he looked at Travis.
Theresa looked at Nick as he walked in. 'Wow, he looks good!' was her first response. 'What am I doing? I can't think about him.' she asked herself. 'I have Travis, he's my baby!' she told herself. She gripped onto Travis even tighter.
Nick walked over to Leigh Anne, "Hey, how are you doing?'
"Good." she replied. "Nick, have you seen Brian?"
"No, I haven't seen him yet. Why?"
"I was just wondering." she knew that Nick didn't know that she had broken up with Brian or he would have asked questions.
"So what have you been up to?" Nick asked.
"Nothing much. Family things ya know." she said.
"Yeah, Brian told me." Nick looked over at Theresa. He needed to know why she ran off crying the other night. "Hey, I'll be right back!" he told Leigh Anne.
He got up and walked towards Theresa.
'Oh no! He's walking towards me.' she thought worried.
"Hey Theresa, how are you?" he said.
"I'm good and yourself?"
"I couldn't have been better."
'What does that mean?' she asked herself.
He looked at the guy Theresa was holding on to. "Hi, I'm Nick." he introduced himself.
"I'm Travis."
"Nice to meet you." he reached out to shake his hand. "Umm... Theresa, can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Me?" she asked. "What for?"
"It's important."
"Ummm... okay?" Theresa looked at Travis, he seemed to be chatting up a storm with A.J. so she got up and followed Nick. Nick led her to the backyard. There was a swing bench there and they sat down.
"Theresa, I haven't seen you since that night. But you ran out and didn't give me a chance to explain." Nick said. "Brian told me you ran out upset and crying. I don't know why.. did I do something wrong?"
Theresa looked at him. 'Man, why did he have to bring it up? Should I just tell him, after all I have Travis that's who I like.' she reminded herself. "Nick? I ran out because I felt bad for walking in on you and Karen. I didn't mean to.."
"No, that's not the answer. " he said looking straight into her eyes. "I can see it in your eyes, you're lying."
"But..."
"Come on Theresa, I trusted you, now it's your turn to trust me."
It was hard for her to tell him. She really did like him. "I can't.." and she ran away.
Nick sat on the swing clueless. 'God, what's going on with her?' Nick continued to sit out there. His mind was full of happiness and sadness because of Karen and Theresa. He felt he finally got through to Karen, but Theresa... Theresa was another story, he couldn't get his mind off her. He wanted to know the reason.
Upstairs, Brian entered Karen's room. "What'd you want to talk about?" he asked sitting down next to Karen on her bed.
"Brian, the weirdest thing happened today." she told him.
"Weird?" he asked.
"Yeah," Karen said. "I don't know who else to tell but I can trust you with all my heart with everything."
"Okay..." he drifted. "What is it? So how was hanging out with Nick at his house?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." she replied. "Why didn't you come?"
"I had.." he paused. "I had business to talk about with Kevin."
"Oh that's what Nick said." she remembered. "Well, I had such a great time with Nick today."
"That's good." he said happily at the thought that his plan was working. "And... what was so weird about it?" he wondered.
"One thing lead to another and we kissed."
"You did?" Brian even more pleased with his work.
"Yeah, and it was the weirdest feeling ever. I sort of enjoyed it."
"So you like him?" he asked happy for Nick.
"Well, yeah..no.. I don't know." Karen sighed. "I didn't go crazy or think about my stepfather. I kissed him back and that's all I could do. We just kissed and kissed and..you know the rest."
"Sounds to me you do." he chuckled.
"The thing is I don't know what I want from him." she said.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is..." she looked at Brian, "Never mind." she said. 'I'm not sure if I have feelings for you either.' she wanted to say. 'Well, Probably because we're not meant to be, why do I keep bothering with it if I know that he'd never go for me.' she kept thinking. 'Maybe it's because he's been there for me whenever I needed him and he'sjust a great friend.'
'My plan to get those two together seems to be working.' he smiled. 'I'm glad their getting along fine.' he thought. 'I just wish I can find a girl like her.' he thought again. "Hey Karen? Has Nick asked you out yet?" Brian asked wondering.
"No, he hasn't really. Not officially, but I think he thinks we're an item." she told him.
"Oh..." he said disappointed. 'I think I'm beginning to like to you.' he said to himself.
"What's wrong?" Karen asked.
"Oh nothing, just thinking."
"About what? You can tell me," she kidded.
"Leigh Anne's here." he said covering up his actual thoughts.
"She is?" Karen said noticing the tone of Brian's voice.
"Yeah, no one else knows besides you about our break up and Kevin invited her over." he explained. "I don't even know why she bothered to show up. She knows exactly how I feel and she hurts me even more by showing up." He flopped down onto the bed. "God, Karen, why me? I thought she was the one for me, ya know. I never cheated on her, I never lied to her. What did I do to deseve this?" he looked over at Karen. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to bury you with all these problems. Now that your life is finally starting to take off so well."
"Yeah, thanks to you." she said softly. "I don't mind listening to your problems. After all you sat and listened to mine. It's my turn to return the favor." she replied.
Brian sat up, "Thank you Karen, I'm glad to know that I have a friend to talk to whenever I need one. You're like the sister I never had."
'He said it again. He thinks of me as his... Sister? He thinks of me as a sister? I guess that settles it. My chances with him are definitely out of the picture.' Karen smiled weakly. "I'm glad to know that I have your trust." she said instead.
"God, how corny is that? You're like a sister I never had?' Man, I must be stupid.' he thought to himself. 'But I have to hold my feelings back, I can't fall for her. I can't do that to my buddy. Plus I have to remember these feelings are there because I'm on the rebound.'
"Well, I guess we should go downstairs, eh?" Karen said to Brian.
"I guess so, but I DON'T WANT TO." he whined.
"Come on Brian... It'll be rude if you don't come downstairs to greet the guests in your home." Karen said. "Plus, try to ignore her the best you can, I guess."
"I can't no one knows we broke up."
"Well, I guess it's time for them to find out, isn't it?" Karen tried to solve the problem.
"Yeah, but how? I don't want anyone to feel any sympathy for me."
"Don't worry about it then, just.. I guess just try to be happy, you don't want Leigh Anne to see you all miserable do you?"
"I guess not." Brian sighed.
"Well, then chipper up and have fun."
"I see I've been rubbing off on you..." he laughed. "Will you be there to have fun with me?"
"If you want me to be." she said.
"Yeah, I do." Brian smiled. "But when you want to go off with Nick, then let me know, alright?" he winked at her.
"Shut up." she joked as she nudged him. "Let's go!"
The two headed downstairs to where everyone was.
"Hey, Brian! Hey, Karen! What's up?" everyone greeted them.
Karen looked around the room but she couldn't find Nick. She figured he was probably in the bathroom or something, so she just sat down and enjoyed everyone's company. 'Hmm.. I've seen those girls before.' she said looking at Dawn and Theresa. 'What were their names again?' she wondered. She looked at A.J. and Amanda. 'Only if I could have such a loving relationship like that.' she thought to herself. Then she looked over at Leigh Anne. Ever since they walked into the room, Leigh Anne had been eyeing Brian. Karen looked at Brian, he was sitting there trying to ignore any eye contact with Leigh Anne. He got up and he asked around, "Anyone want any drinks?"
"I'd like one, B!!" A.J. yelled.
"Yeah, me too!" Aaron chirped in.
"I'll be right back," he said as he got up quickly and stumbled into the kitchen.
'He was in a rush to get out of here.' Karen thought.
Karen looked back at Theresa and Dawn, she decided to go talk to them, try to get to know them better. After all, she wanted to make as many new friends as she could. She walked up to Dawn, "Hi, I'm Karen I think we met awhile back."
"Hi, yeah we did. I'm Dawn. Why don't you sit down?" Dawn offered as Aaron went into the rec room to play some Nintendo with Howie.
"So I see that you and Aaron are dating?" Karen observed.
"Yeah, we've been dating for a few weeks now." she smiled.
"That's cool." Karen smiled. "So were you born in Florida?"
"Oh, no, we are on vacation right now. I'm from New York."
"Oh so how did you meet these guys?" she wondered.
"We ran into them the first day we got here." Dawn said. "And we've been friends ever since."
"That's wicked." The two girls sat there having a conversation getting to know each other.
'You know. Karen is such a nice person, I hope she really is happy.' Dawn observed.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Brian was filling up glasses of iced tea for the others. 'How am I going to survive the night with Leigh Anne here?' he thought to himself. 'I can't believe...'
"Brian?" said a familiar voice.
Brian turned around. He stood there looking at Leigh Anne, he ignored her continuing to pour drinks.
"Brian? Please talk to me." Leigh Anne begged.
Furious Brian turned around, "Leigh Anne, what the hell are you doing here anyways? I thought we were over. Why'd you come?"
"Brian, Kevin invited me here and I figured that no one knows that we aren't together anymore. You haven't told them?" Leigh Anne said. "It would have been rude if I didn't come."
"Don't give me that !! No, I don't have the heart to tell them, they always thought we were going to end up together, but...." Brian tried to explain. "...Why didn't you just tell them you were busy, you seem to have that down?"
"Brian, I came to talk to you. Please let me explain. I can't stand around and see how much I hurt you. It was completely my fault. I'll take all the blame. But I want us to have no hard feelings. " Leigh Anne said.
"NO HARD FEELINGS!" he choked. "How can we not have hard feelings? God, Leigh Anne, I trusted you, I loved you and I cherished every moment I spent with you." he said. "I think you've explained enough when I saw you and Mr. Jordan Knight making out in the middle of Main Street." he said sarcastically.
"Brian, please, I was meaning to tell you...."
"Tell me? When did you plan to tell me? When?" Brian asked furiously.
"Brian, I was going to tell you when you first came back after this tour, but I didn't want to just yet.." Leigh Anne said. "I didn't want to hurt you."
"I guess you thought you didn't hurt me, eh?" Brian snapped. "Why...I.. Leigh Anne I don't know what to say to you... I have nothing to say.." He looked at her, "Tell me one thing, why Jordan Knight?"
"Brian, I'm sorry, he.... Brian, you were on tour.. and I was out having coffee, he came and joined me... the next thing I knew it we were having coffee every afternoon. One thing led to another and.... I just want to be friends with you."
"Friends? How can we be friends? We can't even be straight with each other." Brian said. "Look, what happens when your Jordan Knight goes on tour? It's the exact same thing as me going on tour. Are you going to go cheat on him too?"
"I'm going to go on tour with him."
"What? I ask you to come on tour with me, and you say you don't want to go, when he asks you to go on tour, you go willingly."
"Brian. I'm.. I'm sorry." Leigh Anne started to cry. "It's just that when you're on tour, you have your friends. He doesn't have anyone, he gives his full attention to me."
"Are you saying I don't give you my full attention?" he yelled.
Leigh Anne started to cry some more as they sat there in silence.
Brian saw this, his anger slowly disappeared. "Leigh Anne, look!" he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry." he went over to her. "It's just that..." a tear rolled down his cheek. "I loved you Leigh Anne, and I still do. To see you kiss another guy just hurts me because it made me feel like I did something wrong to push you away from me and towards another guy, it made me feel terrible. Why couldn't you just tell me straight out that it wasn't working? Why did you have to wait and let me find out the way I did."
Leigh Anne stood there speechless. She knew she had hurt him. She didn't know how else to apologize to him. "Brian, I love you too..."
"No, don't even say it. You don't love me, don't say it if you don't mean it."
"I'm sorry, but I do love you, I always will, you'll always have a special place in my heart. We've had some good memories in the past 2 years. I'm not going to let it go."
"Exactly, TWO years!!" Brian exclaimed. He sat down at the kitchen table. 'I know perfectly well it's over, why am I letting it drag on?' He looked at Leigh Anne. "You know what Leigh Anne.. I think we ARE better off as friends. I don't like to fight and to argue over nothing doesn't exactly help the situation." he said. 'The truth is, I can't sit here with all this pain anymore.' he thought. "You know I don't like to argue. I will try to put this behind me, but I can never forgive you for what you have done. But I'd like for us to start over and be.... be friends." he forced himself to say.
Leigh Anne ran up to him and gave him a hug. "Thank you so much Brian. I'd love to be friends. "
They embraced for a few moments, as Brian backed away. "I guess I should tell the others about our break-up..."
"Yeah, WE should." Leigh Anne said. "We'll do this together, okay?"
"Okay." Brian said, he grabbed her hand. He took in a deep breathe and finally said. "Let's go!"
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