Nick Carter loves Shelby Washington more than anything else in the whole world.
She stared at the inscription on the inside of the thick silver band and saw him in her mind’s eye. Not the twenty-something year old he was now, but the twelve-year-old he’d been when he’d given the bracelet to her. He’d saved up all of his allowance during the summer between sixth and seventh grade and had proudly bestowed it upon her for her twelfth birthday. He’d been her best friend, her closest confidant, and the love of her life. Then.
Now, Nick Carter and Shelby Washington were years and miles apart in every possible way. The spring after he’d given her the bracelet, he’d become part of a singing group. Within months, he’d pulled out of school and, though he’d promised to call and write letters to her, she’d seen him twice after he’d joined the band. The Backstreet Boys, Shelby remembered. She hadn’t been able to listen to any of their music, and, even when Nick’s face was joined by the four other men’s on every possible magazine, newspaper, television show, posters, and Valentine’s Day cards, she’d been unable to look at it. Why torture herself with memories of a happy, carefree childhood with him when he obviously couldn’t care less?
Brushing her dark bangs out of her eyes, Shelby placed the bracelet back in the box. She wasn’t sure why she’d felt the need to pull it out today, but she had. She hadn’t seen all of the memoirs, pictures, and drawings that she’d saved of Nick’s for years. Not since she’d placed them all in a cardboard box and pushed them into the back of the closet of the first home she’d leased after graduating from college. The glint of the silver bracelet contrasted with the gold of the band on her left hand, and she sighed.
Of course. Of course, that was why. Nick Carter would forever be embedded into her heart, no matter how far she ran nor where she went. While he hadn’t thought of her in years, she’d only recently believed that she’d exorcised him from her heart. Obviously, that was a lie.
She’d believed that she was over him when her boyfriend, now fiancé, had slid the engagement ring onto her finger. But she’d been wrong.
Instead of immediately answering with a “yes,” she’d hesitated. True, she’d seen the signs that Logan would propose, but she’d still been shocked. Not by the proposal, no. She’d been stunned that, when Logan had gotten on one knee and asked her to marry him, she’d looked into his face at the nerves behind the smile and seen Nick. She’d blinked, and the image had vanished. And, hoping she was doing the right thing, she’d accepted Logan and the ring he’d eagerly put on her finger.
The same ring that now seemed like nothing compared to the faded silver bracelet she’d once received.
Shoving the box into her closet again, Shelby stood and brushed her hands off. Nick Carter hadn’t been a part of her life for years, and it was going to stay that way. She’d heard that he bounced back and forth between Tampa and Los Angeles often, but she’d made sure to avoid the places that she assumed a young pop star would frequent. So far, it seemed to be working.
His show had been the buzz at countless parties she’d gone to where people she’d known for years would gossip about it. She’d heard about the miserable state that the family had fallen into, and it had hurt her to hear the tales. She’d always enjoyed Leslie and BJ’s company despite the fact that they were a few years younger than her. Angel had been, well, an angel in all the years that Shelby had known the Carters, and she liked to pretend that Aaron was the younger brother she’d never had. Being an only child, Shelby had found her family amidst the Carters. To hear about the disrepair and depths they’d sunk to was horrible, and she’d tuned the words out.
Sighing, she moved around the small townhouse she’d considered home for three years. She’d taken the day off from work at the antiques shop that she owned with her best friend. Wanting to get a start on planning for her wedding nine months from now and needing a day off, she had planned out her whole day. And then she’d seen the box shoved in her closet and had been unable to resist the urge to dig it, and the memories it contained, out.
But Nick Carter was in the past, Shelby reminded herself. And in the past is where he’d stay.
Ruthlessly, she pushed every thought of him into the back of her mind and locked the door to it tightly. She had a wedding, a life, a future to plan. And she was getting started on it. Now.
Two hours later, she sipped from a glass of iced tea and sifted through the lists she’d drawn up of possible churches, caterers, and florists for her wedding. Her first order of business, though, was certainly going to be her dress. She’d dreamt of it since she was five, and she was going to find the perfect one to fulfill those dreams. The happiest day of her life was going to be the best she could make it.
The ringing of the doorbell had her frowning, and she set her lists aside to walk to the door. One peek through the side window had her fumbling with the lock, her heart racing, as she yanked open the door.
“Nick.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
All you Nick lovers out there, here's another Nick fic! I hope you enjoy and, if you've never heard The Fray's song "All At Once," listen to it!
