"Hey Mikey. How you holding up?" she concernly asked.
"Alright, I guess. Can't believe she's gone, but she's with grandpa now. C'mon, everyone's in the living room."
Annie and Nick followed Mike to the living room. She introduced Nick to everyone, ending with Cory and Alex. "Everyone, this is my friend Nick." He said hi and waved to everyone, and giving a rather icy glare to Cory. Annie noticed this. She leaned up to his ear. "Be nice." After visiting for a few minutes, she turned to her uncle. "Is the room downstairs taken?"
"No, it's all yours."
"Alrighty, we're gonna go get settled now. We'll be back up in time for dinner. C'mon Nick," she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him downstairs, before he could throw any more threatening glances at Cory.
"Here we are. It's the only room with double beds." She turned to look at him. "Nick, please, don't cause a scene. Not now. This week will be bad enough, I just wanna try to ignore them. That's the only way I'm gonna make it through."
"Ok, whatever you want hun. He seemed rather cocky though. I can't believe Alex would bring him here."
"Yeah, tact had never been one of her stronger suits. But I'm not gonna let them get to me. I can't thank you enough for being here with me. Who knows what kind of wreck I would be without you here," she said, giving him a very thankful hug.
"What kind of friend would I have been if I let you come up here alone. That's just plain shitty!"
Annie laughed. "Well, that's true." A voice from upstairs interrupted them. "Well, it's time for dinner. Now remember, be good."
They gathered around the table, and after saying grace, they began eating. Annie's youngest cousin Alan said, "Hey Nick, you look familiar. I know I've seen you before."
Nick chuckled. "Uh, I'm a singer." He was quickly cut off.
"Yeah, Annie's gone and snagged a Backstreet Boy." Alex lowered her voice a bit. "Let's just see if she can keep this one satisfied." Her and Cory softly snickered.
Annie kept her cool though. "I'm sorry Alex, what was that?"
"Oh dear sister, you know what I mean. I'm sorry things worked out the way they did, but someone wasn't doing their job," Alex replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Annie was quickly losing her cool. She looked around the table at her confused relatives. "This is rediculous. Our grandmother just died and you have the nerve to bring this up. I refuse to discuss this at the dinner table. Excuse me please." She threw her napkin on her full plate and went downstairs to her room.
Nick couldn't believe this. He wiped his mouth with his napkin, and stood up. Looking directly at Cory and Alex, he threw his napkin down on his plate. "You two disgust me." He then followed Annie downstairs.
He opened the bedroom door to see Annie pacing back and forth, rage blazing in her eyes. "That stupid slut. How dare she! What is she trying to prove??? That she's better than me? She's trying to make this my fault. HA! She's gonna get what's coming to her," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Annie. Annie-bear, calm down girl. Everything will work out fine. Shhhh," he said, letting her cry on his shoulder, letting her get all her frustrations out.
Upstairs, everyone ate in silence. Carol, Annie's aunt, finally spoke up. "Alright you two, what's going on? And why isn't Cory with Annie?" Alex and Cory simply got up and left, leaving Carol unanswered. "Well, I intend to find out what's going on."
Carol softly knocked on the door, then peeking her head in. "Nick, Annie? Can I come in?"
"Sure Aunt Carol," Annie said.
Carol came and sat down beside Annie. She ran a loving hand through Annie's hair. "Is everything ok?"
Nick decided to give the two a bit of privacy. "I'm gonna slip out for a bit, ok Annie?"
"Thanks again Nick." She smiled at him as he left the room.
Carol was the closest thing that Annie had to a mother. She was someone that Annie could trust. "Annie, what's going on? Something has definitely happened."
"Oh Carol, where do I begin? I came home one night from work and found Alex and Cory together."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, totally threw me for a loop too. In my bed, of all places. I threw her out of my apartment, and dumped him. Later on, I found them at the beach together. It just hurt so much. I wondered how long it's been going on behind my back. So I packed up and moved to Florida."
"Which is where you met Nick, right?"
"Yeah. He's been wonderful. I don't know how many shirts of his I've drenched from tears. He told me I wasn't coming up here alone. I tried to tell him he didn't have to come with me, but he wouldn't hear it. And the bad thing is, is that I think I'm falling in love with him. I'm just so scared of getting hurt again, but he's the closest thing to perfect I've ever met."
"I just can't believe Alex would do something like that. It seems that ever since your mom and dad died, she's been uncontrollable."
"Yeah, I know, but I tried to overlook it. I tried to be as much of a mother to her as I could, but she just took advantage of it. So many nights she'd stay at my apartment. It just makes me sick."
"I hear ya sweetie. I will talk to them later. Something like this just can't slide by."
"Thank you Aunt Carol. You're the best," she said, smiling brightly.
"Anything for you hun. You've led a hard life. It's about time you got the breaks," she said, grinning back. "Well, I need to get to cleaning up dinner. Those dishes aren't gonna wash themselves." Carol was about to leave but she stopped herself. "Annie, don't worry about Nick. Fate has a way of working things out and making them right. Have faith," she said, then closed the bedroom door behind her.
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