There was one part of his life that I hadn�t been introduced to and that was his family. I was dreading the day when I would have to meet them especially, his mother. She didn�t even know me and she didn�t like me. How would she react once she met me? I decided the best thing to do was to give his mother the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions about her. I didn�t know her; I only knew what I had heard about her and a few things I had assumed. Whenever I met Jane Carter I would have an open mind about her. After all, you had to meet someone before you could gain a first impression on them. We were loading the dishwasher when he said,
�I have to go by my mom�s house to check on things. Wanna come with me?�
For a moment I froze thinking, He wants me to meet her now?! But I said, �Ok. . . . I don�t have anything better to do. What do you have to check on?� I hoped I didn�t sound terrified.
�Well, Aaron had to go to Hawaii to shoot a video. My mom had to go with him and decided it would be a great opportunity for the family to get away and reconnect, especially, now that Aaron is talking to her again. So they all went. I have to check on the house to make sure it�s still standing and the pets and plants are still alive.�
�Doesn�t she have someone to do that for her?� I asked.
�She does, she doesn�t trust them, though. She�s a control freak and has to have everything her way. So because of that I have to go over there and check on the house otherwise, I�d never hear the end of it. I don�t mind because I wanted to borrow something from Aaron, anyway.�
�Your mother is a trip, you know that right?�
�Yeah I know, she�s the only one I got though. So I have to deal. So you going with me?�
�Yeah I�ll go. I wanna see Camp Carter, anyway.� Mom�s out of town. Good, I thought. I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt but I wasn�t ready to meet her just yet.
After Nick checked on all the pets and plants he gave me the grand tour. We walked through the entire house as Nick pointed things out to me. We paused in Aaron�s room where Nick looked for what he wanted to borrow. It turned out to be a video game.
�Would you put that in your bag, please? I don�t want to forget it,� he said as he handed it to me.
�Ok. I thought you had every game ever made,� I replied.
�I do, just not this one,� he said.
�Right, that makes sense.�
We ended our tour in the family room. It was nice and cozy. It looked like a comfy, normal family room. In the center of the room was a dark red sofa, covered in colorful throw pillows, a mahogany coffee table sat directly in front of the sofa adorned with magazines and bouquet of flowers. On the wall across from the sofa stood a massive entertainment unit including flat screen TV, DVD and VHS player even a CD changer, not to mention the Xbox and Playstation2. Nick told me they had surround sound installed as well. It was probably the only room in the house where I didn�t see any gold or platinum records on the wall. In fact, the walls were decorated in family photos and pictures drawn by the kids from when they were little. As I looked around a second time I noticed there wasn�t anything Backstreet Boys or Aaron �Lil Prince of Pop� Carter related at all. There were nothing but family photos in this room. It was a bit refreshing.
�This place is nice,� I said.
�Yeah, I know what you�re thinking. My Dad ordered that this room be the family room in every sense of the word.�
�That was a good idea, I�m glad she consented. Speaking of your mother. . . you said she�s out of town, right?� I asked tilting my head to the side and popping my gum. He shot me a mischievous grin.
�Yeah, my parents are out of town. I have the house all to myself.�
�So what should we do?�
�I have some ideas.�
Fast forward to about half an hour later and our shoes are off, I�m on my back with him laying on top of me, my shirt is somewhere on the floor, I�m working on getting his shirt off and he�s working on getting my bra undone. All the while our lips are fused.
Despite the innuendos we cast back and forth, this scene started out innocently, we were sitting on the sofa listening to music and talking. We weren�t talking about anything in particular or anything to do with sex, at all. We were talking about the tour and how much fun I was going to have. All the things I�d see, all the things he�d try to show me. After that our conversation took a turn. Nick asked me if he showed me some new stuff, what would I show him. I told him he�d have to wait and see. Next thing I know there we were sprawled out on the sofa trying to undress each other. We were too busy to notice someone enter the room. It wasn�t a maid, or one of the dog walkers, it wasn�t even a pet.
�Nick?!� we heard. Nick sat bolt upright, looked over his shoulder and bounded off me and the sofa to greet whoever it was. Meanwhile, I remained on my back in quiet mortification. Please, don�t let that be his mother, I thought. One of his sisters, Aaron, an aunt, an old girlfriend, Jessica. . . just anyone but his mother.
�Mom! What are you doing here? I thought you weren�t coming home until next week.� No! Shit, shit, shit! I thought as I tried to locate my shirt.
�I had to come home. There were some things I needed to take care of that couldn�t wait. What are you doing here?�
�You wanted me to check on the house, so I�m checkin� on it.�
While they talked I tried to fish my shirt from under the coffee table without moving from my spot on the sofa. I didn�t think meeting Nick�s mother for the first time in my bra would be a good thing. I stretched my arm as far as I could but I couldn�t quite reach it. I tried again. This time I leaned off the sofa a little. I almost had it but I must have leaned too far because just when I got the shirt in my grasp I slipped. I fell off the sofa and banged my foot on the coffee table. Nick and his mom stopped talking. I grabbed my shirt and scrambled into it before sitting up.
�Hello,� I said a little too brightly. Nick looked embarrassed while his mother looked stunned.
�Mom, this. . . . is Alexis. Alexis, my mom, Jane,� he said hesitantly.
�Hi, it�s so nice to meet you. You have a lovely home. Nick has told me so much about you,� I said practically all in one breath.
�Well thank you. This is a surprise. Nick can you help me get some luggage upstairs, please.�
�Ok.�
�Do you need any of my help?�
�No, I think between me, Nick and the other kids we can handle it. You just hang out here, he�ll be back. Oh and your barn door is open,� she said dismissively.
I looked down and she was right. I looked back up at Nick and he just smirked at me. I wanted to hit him. I didn�t even remember him undoing that. I turned away from them and tried to zip it until I realized it was broken.
�Come on, Nick,� said his mother as she headed out the door. I grabbed his arm to stop him.
�Be right there, Mom,� he called.
�You broke it,� I said.
�Broke what?�
�My zipper, you broke my zipper. Look at it.� He looked.
�Damn, I�m sorry, Lexie.�
�What am I going to do? I can�t hang around your mother�s house with my zipper broken like this.�
�Calm down. I�ll send one of my sisters in here maybe she can help,� he said before leaving.
�One of your sisters? What can they do? What are they trained zipper repair artists,� I muttered to myself.
I must have made an interesting first impression on Jane Carter. I wanted her to like me for some reason, even though I knew the way she felt about me probably wouldn�t have any affect on the way Nick felt about me. Still, no girlfriend wants to make an enemy out of her boyfriend�s mother.
�Hi, I�m Angel. Nick said you needed some help with something.� I looked up at the seventeen year old girl. She had long dark brown hair unlike the rest of the Carter clan. She was wearing low rise jeans and a grey t-shirt with white sneakers.
�Hi Angel, I�m Alexis,� I started. I wanted to lie about how my zipper got in the state that it was in but I couldn�t think of one, not one that made any sense. �I�m going to be completely honest with you. Your brother and I were making out here on the sofa. . . . before your mother walked in. . . . anyway. . . . somehow he broke my zipper.� She looked at me, then at my zipper and laughed. �I don�t think this is very funny.�
�I�m sorry. Come on, I know I have something you can wear to cover it.� I followed her up to her room. �I�m glad you didn�t lie to me.�
�If I could have thought of a good one I would have.�
�So my mom caught you two? That�s funny.�
�Yeah, I made a great first impression. My shirt was under the coffee table when she walked in. She was the one who spotted my zipper.�
�She caught me and my ex-boyfriend once, so I kind of know how you feel. He didn�t break my zipper, though. I�m gonna tease Nick about that for awhile.�
�Make sure you do a good job, too. These were one of my favorite pairs of jeans.�
�I�ll be sure of it. Here�s a hoodie, that should hide the zipper,� she said handing it to me.
�Thanks,� I replied going before her full length mirror. I made sure the sleeves hid the broken zipper.
�So, you�re Nick�s new girlfriend.�
�Looks like,� I replied.
�I think I�m going to like you a whole lot better than Jessica. I couldn�t stand that bitch,� she said taking a seat on her bed.
�You too?� Did anyone like that girl?�
�Nick liked her at first and Mom still likes her, mostly because of her connections though. She was so angry when she found out about the pregnancy but, she�s still friendly with Jessica and her mom. Go fig,� she shrugged.
�Why don�t you like her?� I asked facing her.
�Well �a� she�s a bitch, �b� she always treated us-me, Aaron and Leslie- like a bunch of six year olds and �c� she�s a dumb bitch. BJ doesn�t like her either even though, I think she treated her better than she did the rest of us, probably because they�re about the same age.�
�That sounds about right. She treated everyone on the tour like her servants. No one liked her there, either,� I said. There was a knock at the door.
�What?� Angel called.
�Hey Ange, is Alexis in there with you?� Nick called through the door.
�Why don�t you come in here and see for yourself,� she replied. Nick opened the door and stepped inside.
�I like her,� I said.
�You would, she�s a wise ass just like you,� he said shooting her a look. Angel
returned his look with a bright smile.
�Yeah but, you know that�s your favorite thing about me, just admit it,� I told
him.
�I could name some other things that are my favorite about you,� he said pulling
me into his arms.
�Hey, hey, not in my room. Save that for the family room,� Angel said with a smirk.
�You told her?� Nick asked.
�I couldn�t think of a good enough lie.�
�Well, I see she helped you with your zipper problem.�
�Yep, crisis averted.�
�Good, because my Mom wants us to stay for dinner.�
�Really? What if I�m not that hungry?�
�Oh come on, we haven�t eaten since breakfast. I know I�m hungry.�
�Alright. . .,� I started hesitantly. �Dinner sounds great.�
�I�ll go tell my mother we�re staying.�
�Cool,� I said as he left. I wanted to run.
�You don�t want to stay for dinner,� Angel said from behind me.
�Someone sure is perceptive,� I replied.
�Yeah, I get that a lot. Why don�t you want to stay?�
�Let�s just say I�m a little nervous about meeting the entire family.�
�Well my Dad and BJ aren�t here so, it�s not the entire family,� she told me. That little tidbit of information did nothing to quiet my anxiety. �Don�t worry about it. Nick and I will keep you safe from everyone,� she said jokingly. I was worried that she may have to actually keep me safe from her mother.
