Chapter 16
By Danielle
Nick's View
"Don't worry about anything Melissa, you're going to do just fine," I
grinned. Melissa and I were headed outside to the car so I could teach her how
to drive. I didn't think it would be that hard. Driving is a piece of cake, for
me anyway.
"Don't worry? I'm going to kill somebody!" she said looking up at me
as we walked down the driveway to my convertible. I was letting her use one of
my nicest cars. I knew that it probably wasn't a good idea, but the car
operated well and it would be easier for her to learn on it.
"You aren't going to kill anybody. Just relax, driving isn't THAT
hard," I said twirling the keys around my fingers.
"That's easy for you to say," she mumbled. I just smiled at her and
threw my arm around her shoulder.
"Trust me, you'll do just fine and dandy with me helping ya," I said
kissing her cheek.
She then mumbled, "How comforting."
"Here are the keys and here is the car you will be driving my dear,"
I said approaching the convertible at the bottom of the large driveway.
"You gotta be kidding!" she screeched. I laughed lightly at her
expression and ran my hand over the hood.
"She's pretty isn't she?" he asked.
"Yeah I guess so..." I shrugged.
"I wasn't asking you," he smiled at me.
"Then who were you asking?" I asked confused.
"The car..." he said patting the hood lightly.
"But I thought you were asking about the car?" I asked even more
confused.
"I was asking the car about you..." he said looking at me. I then
realized what he meant and my cheeks began to burn.
"You don't have to be embarrassed, it was a compliment," he smiled at
me. I just nodded and walked over to him. He opened the door for me and I slid
in. He walked around the car and got in next to me.
"OK ready?" he asked settling in and looking over at me.
"No," I said shaking my head.
"Of course you are! Now put the keys in and start the car," he said.
I hesitated but did as he said. The car came to life and I put my hands back in
my lap.
"You aren't going to go anywhere if you don't put your hands on the
wheel," he pointed out. I looked over at him and stuck out my tongue. He
just smiled and reached over taking my hands. He then placed them in the
position they were supposed to be in on the steering wheel.
"There, that wasn't so hard now was it?" he asked. I just looked at
him.
"OK, now put the car into reverse..." he said. I looked at him
confused and then around the dash board. I found no button that said reverse.
"I don't see a button anywhere," I said. He just started to laugh. I
looked over at him and asked, "What?"
"There isn't a button Mel," he laughed.
"Nick," I whined. "You're supposed to tell me what to do and
where things are! You're not supposed to laugh at me!"
"OK OK, sorry, just pull that back," he said pointing to a lever next
to me. I pulled it back to the reverse position and then looked up at Nick
waiting for my next instruction.
"OK, now take the brake off," he said motioning to the brake down
where my feet were. I did as he said and then we started to back out of the
driveway. My eyes widened and my feet slammed down on a pedal down below. As I
did so, we sped up down the driveway. Nick was wide eyed and yelling at me at
this
point.
"STEP ON THE BRAKE! THE BRAKE! NOT THE ACCELERATOR!" he exclaimed
bending over and trying to press the pedal I was supposed to be pressing. He
was trying frantically to press down on the brake. He was smacking my feet and
yelling words up at me that I couldn't understand. He looked ridiculous.
I moved my foot from the accelerator to the brake and slammed down quickly. We
came to a jerking stop. Nick and I lurched forward.
"Holy freak! I thought you knew which was which!" he said looking at
me. I just looked at him as if he were dumb, "I told you Nick, I know
nothing about driving and now I'm worried that I'm going to ruin your
car."
"Don't worry about it, I'll just be more specific next time," he said
running his hand through his hair. I sighed and tucked my hair behind my ears.
"OK, now ease off the break lightly and pull out of the driveway," he
said. I did as he said and the car slowly pulled out onto the street, he helped
turn the wheel in the direction I was supposed to go.
"Good, we're getting somewhere," he said happily. He sure was
enjoying this.
"Now what?" I asked. I was nervous but I was actually beginning to
have fun.
"Press on the gas lightly and just steer in the direction you wanna go
down the street. When you come up to that stop sign up there, press on the
brake slightly before you come to the intersection...got it?" he asked
looking at me. I just looked at him, trying to remember everything he said.
When I followed through with everything, I had no problem. This wasn't so hard
after all.
I smiled to myself and then turned to Nick, "This isn't so bad after all.
It's kinda fun."
"I told you!" he teased, pinching my cheek. I just smiled at him. He
could be really cute at times. My brain than began to work over time, starting
to think of ideas to get Nick back for all the mean and obnoxious things he has
done to me. I smiled widely when I figured out what I could do.
"OK, press on the gas," he said smiling. I knew he was having a ball
teaching me this, his face expression said it all.
"Press on the gas?" I asked, smiling over at him. He nodded and
watched a few
cars pass by us.
"OK," I grinned. I then slammed on the gas and we lurched forward,
speeding down the street. All the while, I had the biggest smile on my face.
Nick's View
My eyes widened as I was lurched back with force as Melissa slammed on the
accelerator. We were speeding by the houses and speeding by cars. I looked over
at her quickly and saw her smiling.
"SLOW DOWN MELISSA!" I exclaimed yanking on her arm. She just bit her
lip and kept on driving.
"Melissa! You don't drive like this! You're going to get a ticket! If you
do, I'm the one that's gonna get crap for it!" I exclaimed. She was doing
this on purpose, I just knew it.
"You told me that I need to be an aggressive driver, remember Nicholas?"
she smiled looking at me. I just stared at her with wide eyes. She patted my
leg and then said, "Sit back and relax, I'm doing just fine. This was your
idea in the first place."
I just stared at her with my mouth open. She turned and looked back out the
windshield and when she did so, she got the biggest smile on her face.
"Lets try highway driving shall we?" she asked. I looked to where she
was looking and saw a ramp going up onto the highway. I shook my head and
looked at her with my eyes wide with fear, "No, Melissa don't you even try
it."
"But I have to," she pouted.
"Nooooo you don't," I said, praying that she wouldn't turn up onto
that ramp. It was too late, she was driving up it with full speed. I was
terrified. I was in a car with a girl that has never driven before, going
almost above 80, down a highway, in one of my most expensive cars. I was
hanging on for dear life.
All of this happened too suddenly for me to react in a drastic manner, such as
getting angry but right then, I had enough time for my anger to build and I
exploded.
"Stop the car! Get off the highway now!" I yelled at her. She didn't
hear the anger in my voice the first time I yelled at her, she just kept on
driving and smiling.
"Melissa! Get off the damn road right now, stop the car, and get out of
the car!" I yelled. She just looked over at me, and her smile faltered.
She saw the anger sketched over my face. She didn't slow though, she kept
going.
"Don't act so scared Nick, it's no biggie," she shrugged. That did
it.
"THAT'S IT! YOU ARE GOING TO RUIN MY CAR AND WHEN YOU DO I'M GOING TO HAVE
YOU PAY FOR IT! YOU'RE GONNA SHORTEN YOUR PITIFUL LIFE SPAN BY ABOUT ONE
MONTH IF YOU DON'T STOP THE CAR! GET OFF THE DAMN HIGHWAY AND PULL OVER! STOP
ACTING LIKE A BITCH AND STOP THE CAR!" I screamed at her. She looked at me
wide eyed at my outburst and slowed the car down, pulling off the highway, and
stopping at a road by the beach.
She took her seat belt off and hurriedly got out of the car. I watched as she
walked away from the car, arms crossed, a couple tears streaming down her face.
I then realized what I had actually said, and regretted every word of it.
I took off my seat belt and rushed out of the car and over to her.
"Mel...I'm sorry..." I began but she just stopped abruptly and turned
to me. Her eyes were red and tears were streaming down her cheeks. My heart
dropped and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. I felt horrible.
"You are the biggest asshole Nick Carter, I have never been insulted like
that before!" she exclaimed.
"Melissa, I didn't mean it, I really didn't. I was just really frustrated
and confused at what you were doing, and I was worried that we were going to
get in a crash or hurt ourselves...I was just really worried and I got angry over
it and you know how when people get angry they say things they don't mean
right?" I babbled. She just looked up at me and as I kept talking, a small
smile crept onto her face.
"It's OK Nick," she said. I stopped talking and looked down at her. I
saw her smile and I was immediately relieved. I wrapped her in a hug and said
in her ear, "I really didn't mean any of it. You're really special to me
and I would never intentionally hurt you, you know that right?"
She looked up at me and nodded. I smiled and sighed, "I'm glad you aren't
mad at me anymore."
"Who said I wasn't mad at you?" she teased. I just ruffled her hair.
We started walking back to the car, but Melissa seemed more tense and didn't
act as she normally did.
"Mel, are you sure you're OK?" I asked turning to her.
"I'm fine," she said quietly.
"You sure? Wanna talk about anything?" I asked. She just shook her
head. I frowned and then said, "Talk to the Nickmeister."
She smiled at what I said and then said, "All right."
"Spill," I urged. She sighed and took a deep breath.
"I'm real worried about dying. I hate thinking about it so I try and avoid
it and all but I keep thinking about it, and when I do I start to get REALLY
scared. I'm not ready Nick. I'm only 17. I want to grow older, have boyfriends,
get married, have kids. Do all the stuff normal people are going to be able to
do," she said. I looked at her and frowned.
"I don't want to die," she said quietly. Tears came to my eyes as I
thought of a life without her in it. I wrapped her in a hug and hugged her
tight.
"I'm here for you," I said.
"I know Nick and I thank you for that," she said in my ear. Her words
sent chills down my spin. I admit, I really like her. I have liked her but I
haven't had the guts to tell her my feelings for her. I was afraid. Everyone is
when it comes to sharing feelings but I knew that if I didn't tell her now, I
wasn't going to be able to. I bit my lip and decided to just go for it.
"Mel, I need to tell you something," I said pulling away from our hug
and looking into her eyes.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's about us," I said. She just looked at me, waiting for me to go
on.
"We're good friends right?" I asked. She nodded and said, "Yeah
I think we are."
"And sometimes, friends start to like each other right?" I said
looking at her. She just nodded.
I sighed and said, "What I'm trying to say is...even though we're
friends...I like you."
"I know that Nick," she smiled. "I like you too, I like Kevin,
Brian, AJ..."
"No no no no, I like you as a friend too but the like I'm talking about is
MORE than a friend," I said. I looked at her face for a reaction. Her eyes
brightened when she figured out what I really meant.
"You do?" she asked. I just nodded my head. I looked down, my
embarrassment starting to show on my face.
She then said, "I like you too Nick."
My head snapped up and I looked at her beautiful face.
"Really?" I asked, a smile creeping up on my face. She bit her lip
and nodded. A huge smile broke out on my face and I wrapped her in another hug.
I kissed her cheek and then said, "Well, then I have something to ask
you."
"Ask then," she said.
"Do you wanna be my girlfriend?" I asked. She grinned and nodded her
head saying, "Yes."
She wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me to her. I sighed happily and
took in the scent of her hair. We stood there in each other's arms near the
beach for what it seemed like forever. I didn't want it to end. Happy thoughts
raced through my head thinking about what fun I was going to have with her. How
proud I was going to be when I said that she was "my girl." I then
frowned when I remembered that our time together would be cut short. The
thought alone made me want to cry. I then decided right then and there that I
was going to make her last months worth while and as fun as ever. I was going
to make her feel loved. I was going to make her happy. I'd do anything to make
her happy. My liking for her was strong, but right then and there, with all the
thoughts rushing through my head, and my arms wrapped tightly around her, made
me realize that my liking for her was just an understatement. I finally
realized that I love her. I love Melissa. That brought the biggest smile to my
face.