She opened the doors leading outside. When I glanced up, I caught the eye of a young girl of five or six walking in the opposite direction. Her eyes lit up and her mouth dropped, and as I heard her empathically declaring to her mother that she�d just seen �Nick Backstreet�, we were deep in the crowd. Obviously I returned my gaze downwards.
�Almost there baby.�
She called me �baby� again. I liked that. And of course I�m smirking as I realize that my eyes haven�t been on the concrete, but rather that very tempting ass of hers� and those gorgeous legs.
We started climbing steps and then she stopped. Before I had a chance to stop. Next thing I know, the only thing keeping her up right is my arm around her waist.
�Kara!�
�Look who�s joining us again!�
�Did those boys become too much for you?�
�Are you kidding me? She probably became too much for them!�
I looked up to see four boys leaning forward in their chairs. We�d made it.
Rolling her eyes, she regained her balance and I hesitated before dropping my arm from her waist. When I tried to let go of her hand, she held on.
Cool.
�I�ve missed you too boys.�
�Hey, she brought us a toy!�
Kara laughed.
�No, he�s not for you. He�s my toy.�
Yes, ma�am.
Turning to me, she smiled up beneath my invisibility cap. What made me say it, I don�t know.
�Any day baby.�
For a second, it appeared she ceased to breathe. Then her face flamed red as the nearest boy, the only one in hearing vicinity, started whooping.
�I see our little baby sister has finally found her match. Guess you really are not my type.�
I looked up, recognizing the voice slightly. Xander.
�Hey man.�
I reached out my hand, which he accepted, shaking it harder than I�d expected for someone who was� what had she called him? �Flamingly homosexual�?
Finding her voice, she introduced the rest of her friends.
�Obviously this is Xander. And that�s Toby and Trevor. Don�t even worry about how to tell them apart. It took me three years to master it.�
I shook the hands of the twins, quickly remembering who was wearing what shirt. It�s always nice to find ways to gain brownie points with a girl�s friends.
�And this is T.G. or Zach as his parents persist in calling him.�
He stood up and met me half way, holding on to my hand a little too tight and for a little too long. Leaning a bit closer, he stared me straight in the eyes.
�If you hurt her, we will kill you.�
A little shaken, I pulled away. The other three were nodding at the threat. Seems major brownie points were going to be needed with this group.
�I don�t know what you just said to him, Zach, but I can only guess. Play nice. By the way, this is Nick.�
Kara poked at my ribs and pointed down the row. I entered first, sitting in the vacant seat on the end, her sliding in next to me. Turning to Zach, she bopped him on the head.
�I feel it�s the safer choice to separate him from you.�
�Oh come on, shortie� I�m just playing.�
A few moments later, one of the twins - Toby I think - called her attention away, and as she leaned forward, Zach leaned over to me.
�No I�m not. Hurt her and I will kick your ass. Alright?�
I nodded. I wouldn�t dream of hurting this girl. There was no reason to. She was � perfection.
Kara turned back to me.
�Look.�
Pointing above us, I saw Kevin, Marcus, and Brian standing at the vacated table. They saw us looking back at them and waved. Kara waved back, but I just nodded. See? I got here safe, now stop watching over me.
At that thought, the lights of the entire place shut off. Her friends started making goofy bad-scary movie sounds. Then music started and fireworks lit up the sky, shutting up her friends. Reaching up, she pulled the hat off my head.
�Can�t see the sky if all you see are names when you look up.�
With each word she whispered, I felt her breath against my ear and my eyes fluttered shut at the sensation. She laid the hat back on my head, but backwards this time, making sure to tuck any loose pieces of hair behind my ears.
Come on Carter, breathe. It�s easy enough to do.
But then she laced her right hand in mind, pulling my arm up and ducking beneath it, so, when she laid it down, it wrapped around her shoulders, our fingers still intertwined.
Fireworks, a weirdly cool summer night, a beautiful girl wrapped in my arms� how the hell could this get any better?
It could definitely get worse. And it did.
Whoever decided to piece together a musical montage for this spectacularly bright and luminary display of fireworks should be shot!
Just as I settled down, Kara pulled against me, I heard a familiar piano line followed by a familiar voice that sounded very similar to mine. Since when was �The Answer to Our Lives� a patriotic song??
Stop panicking Carter. If she didn�t know who you were before, she�s not going to know now. It�s not like I�ve sung to her today. But what if she�s been thinking all day �oh, he looks really familiar� and then finally places a name�
�
Danger, Danger Kevin Richardson. Nick Carter�s brain just shut down.
OH.
MY.
GOD.
I panic at the sound of my own voice over the P.A. system. Obviously tense up. A soft hand touches my cheek on the side farthest from Kara. Obviously I turn thinking �please don�t figure it out� and now�
Oh my god I�m in love.
She does taste like raspberries. Actually, sweeter than raspberries.
I�ve been trying to kiss her all freakin� day, and� she manages to choose the perfect moment. I didn�t see it coming. There�s fireworks shooting off in the sky�
And I�m kissing Kara.
It was soft at first, now stronger. Her hand lying on my cheek until she moves it to the back of my neck, caressing it, fingers running through my hair.
When she pulled away, my eyes popped open - I don�t even remember closing them - to see hers flutter up more slowly. Smiling shyly, she returned to her position by my side, leaning her head against my chest.
I bet she could hear my heart racing.
Why is my heart racing?
It was a simple kiss. Our tongues weren�t even involved. This shouldn�t make me feel� so alive.
And now I�m completely irrevocably hooked on this girl.
For ten more minutes, fireworks shot through the night sky. My internal reasoning stopped spinning, choosing to ignore the sensations flowing through my body rather than interrupt the pleasure and contentment I felt.
Then the music stopped and thousands of people rose to their feet, applauding the incredible efforts for the invisible people who�d put on the entire spectacle. My vision glared as bright lights flashed on all around us. Kara immediately jumped up, stood in front of me, grabbed the cap on my head, pulled it forwards, and pushed it over my eyes all in one quick fluid movement.
God, she�s good. I hadn�t even gotten my eyes used to the glare by the time she�d finished.
The other guys began to ramble on about what they thought about the day and their plans for their winnings. Kara stayed standing in front of me, smiling shyly down. Hesitantly I laid my hands on her hips and pulled her closer, hugging her to me. When I pressed my face against her bare stomach, the hat flipped up against her until she pulled it backwards again. A second later, she pulled it off completely and threw it in her chair, one hand running compulsively through my hair and the other laying gently across the back of my neck. We stayed like that for what seemed like hours, but still not long enough.
�Hey Kara, what�cha doing tomorrow?�
Her hand stopped moving. I felt her stomach move as she took a deep breath.
�Ryan�s concert. Why?�
�Oh yeah. I forgot about that.�
I tuned them out as they, Kara included, talked about this concert and another fireworks display tomorrow night, on the actual Fourth of July. Hoping to bring her attention back to me, I gently brushed my lips across the skin right above her navel ring. Her stomach automatically sucked inward and her entire body jumped against me.
Tensing up, she placed her hands on my shoulders and pushed me away.
Why?
And then I saw why. Looking around us, the only people left to be seen were workers cleaning up the trash of discarded betting slips and sporting event food.
Game over.
She turned to her friends, while handing me her hat and placing her bag around her shoulders again.
�Guys, I have to go return Nick. I�ll� I�ll meet y�all out front.�
Silently, they nodded. And I stood up, reluctantly following her as she descended the stairs towards the entryway of the atrium. Catching up to her, I grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. Stopping in her tracks, she turned to me, a slight sheen of tears in her eyes. Could this be just as hard for her as for me?
�Come with me.�
Whoa, Carter. Don�t do this. What if she accepts?
Then I won�t be lonely anymore.
�I can�t. I have to go to Ryan�s show tomorrow night.�
She turned away from me.
�Then after that. I�ll fly you out to wherever we are.�
Okay, this is probably sounding very, very weird to her by now. Yes, it was; she looked up, her eyes squinted in disbelief.
�You can�t do that. I can�t go with you.�
Turning, she began to walk away, pulling me with her. The rest of our way was made in silence, me trying to find a way to get her to leave with me and her� trying not to give in?
Once on the escalators, I could here the others� voices cascading down towards us.
�Where is he? He couldn�t have left with her, could he?�
�Kevin, calm down. You told them not to come back until the place emptied out. He�ll be here in a little bit.�
�I can go get him if you want me to. I remember where I found the girl and her friends earlier.�
�Plus, he�ll have to say goodbye to that girl of his. Jeez, I�ve never seen him like that before.�
�Like what?�
There was a pause in the conversation and Kara stared at her feet. I should say something to stop whatever comment was about to come, but I couldn�t. I could just stare at her in hopes that she�d hear everything and give me some sort of positive reaction. That it might convince her to come with me.
�You�re kidding me? You haven�t seen the way he�s been looking at her?�
That was A.J. talking, to Howie of all people.
�Like his heart�s going to break the moment she leaves.�
There�s a reason why Brian�s my best friend.
�Marcus, go get him.�
Kara�s head shot up as Marcus appeared at the top of the other escalator.
�No need. I promised I�d return him in one piece and I have.�
No! That�s not what you�re supposed to do Kara. You�re supposed to wrap your arms around me and tell them that you�re not leaving, that they have to take you with us too. Don�t just� give me up.
When she stepped off the escalator, she walked to each of my friends, shaking their hands.
�It was very nice to meet all of you. Hopefully my betting tips didn�t disappoint.�
They all smiled and thanked her. Brian and A.J. even gave her hugs. Then she turned back to me, approaching until we stood merely six inches apart. I pulled off the cap and handed it to her. Stuffing it into her bag, she adverted her eyes while wiping at her face. Kara looked back up at me, wrapped one of her arms around my neck, hugging me. I wrapped both arms around her, burying my head in the crook of her neck while breathing her in. I completely ignored the stares of the five others and only paid attention to the way she felt against me.
�Thanks for sharing a wonderful day with me. I�ll never forget it.�
With each whispered word in my ear, my heart sank. It was over.
Pulling back, we stared into each other�s eyes for a moment. Blinking once or twice, she put her other hand on my shoulder and reached up to kiss me again.
Although I was completely aware as it happened, shock still registered throughout my body. After my senses returned, I pulled her as close to me as possible, refusing to let her pull away if she tried.
I don�t think she tried.
One of the guys, probably Kevin, cleared his throat, and slowly we let go of each other, but not before she managed to brush the tip of her tongue across my bottom lip - the only thing that disqualified it from being completely chaste. Well, that and how I could feel every emotion going on in her body through it.
Taking a deep breath, Kara pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
�Bye Nick.�
And I watched her walk away. She stepped on the escalator, climbing down the motorized stairs to decline faster. When she went out of sight, a thought popped into my head and I chased after her, hanging over the balcony railing.
�Kara!�
She�d already reached the ground floor, but hesitantly she turned around.
�You didn�t give me your phone number� email address� a way for me to see you again.�
A sad smile played on her lips.
�We�ll find each other again.�
And she walked away, heading towards the doors that led to the gates to leave. I saw her guys waiting for her, looking up at me. Xander shrugged when he caught my eye, but when she reached him, he looked down at her, a sad look covering his face. I watched as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. Then the group left.
I couldn�t get my legs to work for me to chase her down, to get her to give me whatever contact information could possibly keep her in my life. Gasping for breath, I backed away from the balcony, running my right hand through my hair and shoving my other hand in my pocket.
She�s gone.
And why is there a wad of money in my left pocket? I keep all my money in my right pocket so I remember it�s there. I�m right handed. Left pocket stays empty for when I�m stressed out, such as moments like these, so I shove my typically unoccupied left hand into an empty pocket.
Carter, you�re making a big deal out of nothing. You probably just accidentally switched the pocket you put your money in.
�Nick, you okay?�
I�d stopped moving and simply been staring into space. I shoved my right hand into my other pocket - another wad of money.
I pulled them both out, looking around quiet confused. What the�?
Shoving the smaller wad back into the right pocket, I began to unfold the mystery cash. Twenty dollar bill after twenty dollar bill all in a roll similar to the one I�d been carrying, and in the center was a sheet of paper covered in a tiny scribble.
Didn�t think I�d keep all your winnings, did you?
There should be a little more that a thousand and
seven hundred dollars there (jeez, I don�t even know if I have that
much in my bank account!) All I kept was the sixty cents -
thought you might feel it when I slipped it
into your pocket. Thank you for making
this day much more interesting than it was going
to be. Now I�m kinda glad Ryan and the guys kept
giving me silly reasons to come here today.
Always,
~Kara Macintosh
�I used to be a restless soul
All the dreams I could not hold
I was searchin'
I reached out and you were there
I never thought someone would care
The way you do
You got me shakin' now
I got a reason to feel alive
You put the smile on my face
There'll be no more lonely nights in this town
Oh no� .'cause I got a reason
Brian walked over to me and handed me another thirty something dollars.
�Kara told me to cash in the tenth race and give it to you when you came back. Said she�d take care of the others.�
He motioned to my hand while I added the money to the rest.
�Obviously she did.�
Returning to the piece of paper, I stared at the lyrics on the note. Where have I heard them? How did she know that�s how I felt? When did this get into my pocket? When did she cash in my bets and write this?
She�d left to talk to Ryan before the tenth race started. She had plenty of time to cash everything in and scribble this. It looked like she�d written it in a hurry. When she hugged Brian after the tenth race, she�d slipped him the last betting slip to cash in. And when she�d hugged me, Kara had only used one arm. I�d felt something brush my leg, but I�d thought it was her bag. That�s the only time she could have done it. And maybe she didn�t know how I felt. Maybe she felt that way and thought I might like� the lyrics.
A smile lit up my face.
Journey.
I had her name. I knew where she was from. I could search for her.
We had to meet again.
If we weren�t supposed to find each other, it wouldn�t make any sense.
I�d been here although I didn�t want to be.
She�d been here although she didn�t want to be.
We were each other�s reason to be here.
We had to find each other.
Slipping the money and the note back into the wrong pocket, I turned to the guys.
�We going?�
Looking at me strangely, they began to head out, talking about the incredible day they�d had and sounding much like Kara�s friends. I didn�t want to join in, unsure if they�d understand why my day had been even more incredible than theirs. I had finally found my reason to be here, and strangely, now that it was all over, I felt� fulfilled. I still held hope and that was enough.
I�d been brought here on a whim to fill a day off, but ended up finding a piece of my life that I hadn�t realized had been missing. And this was the reason I was here.
Four