The entire evening was one Isabelle couldn’t even focus on. Nick was sitting directly across from her at the large round table. He kept making eye contact with her subtly, yet she noticed every time. Brady wasn’t doing a damn thing to try and include her in conversation, like usual.
“How do you like Cologne so far, Isabelle?” Brian asked politely as he took a bite from his salad.
“It’s beautiful,” Isabelle smiled as she took a sip of her water, just waiting for Brady to cut in and create his own conversation. Surprisingly, he didn’t. “I had never been outside the US until now. It’s really intriguing.” She smiled a small smile. Nick watched her intently. She was so quiet around the guys since she didn’t know them as well. He had really noticed her personality coming out when they kissed. She was so energetic and confident with him.
“That’s cool,” Brian smiled. “My wife and I used to be amazed whenever we traveled to different places. Now, it’s so common, we can’t really find the excitement anymore. We try to find something new we’ve never seen every time we travel, and we usually do. Especially now that we take my son with us a lot, that really opens his eyes up to new things, too. And that’s cool for us.” He beamed.
“Aw,” Isabelle grinned. She loved the fact that all these guys were so passionate about something in their lives. Howie was completely passionate about his future wife. He really seemed to care about her and Isabelle could tell when he lit up when he would talk about her. Then there was AJ. AJ was harder for Isabelle to read, for he seemed so mysterious. But there was something about him – this burning passion for his fans. He was first to make eye contact with the girls screaming his name at the concerts, more so than any of the other guys. Brian seemed to be so passionate about his family – his wife and son. The way he spoke so highly of them made Isabelle want a family of her own one day.
Ah, and Nick. Nick seemed passionate about a lot of “stuff”, but the one thing that came to mind when Isabelle thought about him was his music. She didn’t know him well enough to form her own opinion of him and the way he was with women. She had heard rumors over and over again, but she felt it was important she create her own feelings about him. She thought it was only fair.
“Yeah, hopefully you’ll get to meet them soon,” Brian beamed and played with his fork in his mess of salad just thinking about his loved ones back home.
“At the wedding!” Howie chimed in with a bright smile on his face. “They’ll all meet at the wedding.”
“That’s right,” Brian nodded with a grin. “Leighanne and Baylee will both be at the wedding.” He smiled back up at Isabelle and glanced over at Brady. “What about you two?” He asked them. “How long have you been together?”
Isabelle was shocked Brady was allowing her to answer. He nodded at her to continue. “About two months.” She tried to smile. She could see the awkward stare Nick shot her way. He looked back and forth between her and Brady.
“Aw,” AJ, Brian and Howie all chimed in mockingly just to be annoying. Isabelle laughed and rolled her eyes. “That’s cute that you decided to come along on tour.” Brian added.
“Yeah, it just seemed to work out well. We didn’t really want to spend time apart since we had only been together for a short time. We figured we could work on our relationship while we were out here,” Isabelle explained. She couldn’t believe how wrong she had been when she had thought they’d be able to work on their relationship. It seemed as if every free moment Brady had, he was off spending it in overtime working with Johnny or someone.
“I think it worked out perfectly, too. Don’t you, Beautiful?” He leaned over and kissed her cheek sloppily. He had already had too much wine and Isabelle could tell.
“Y-Yeah,” she mumbled in agreement, not wanting to start any kind of confrontation. She watched Nick’s eyes dart back and forth between her and Brady. She didn’t know how to handle the situation. She could never be rude to Brady and she didn’t want to hurt him. She was beginning to feel deep down that she didn’t love him, but it was too hard to tell him that.
“I was thinking about taking you out after this…to kind of roam the city,” Brady shrugged with a sigh. “But I have a lot of work I need to do tomorrow morning, so I’m not sure I’m going to be able to. You understand, don’t you?” He kissed her hand gently.
She wanted so badly to say no, that she didn’t understand. How was she supposed to just understand all the time? Did he not realize how disappointed she was every time he excluded her? “Of course,” she mumbled obediently.
“I was actually gonna head out and tour the city a little bit tonight,” Nick cleared his throat from across the table. Brady took a bite of his meat and glanced up. “She could join me...” Nick glanced at Isabelle cautiously. He knew and Isabelle knew exactly what was in store. They just hoped no one else could figure it out. “If you’d like.” He offered.
“That’d be really nice, Nick,” Isabelle smiled. “I’d like that. It’s not every day we get to travel to a foreign country.” She explained, hoping silently that Brady wouldn’t have a problem with it.
“Thanks, Nick,” Brady winked with a smile, completely oblivious to the flirtatious behavior going on across the table. “I owe you one.”
After dinner was over, everyone went to pile back into the van. Brady was in deep conversation with AJ about something that wasn’t important. Nick caught Isabelle’s arm as they walked towards the sidewalk. “Uh, I think Izzie and I will meet you guys back at the hotel. I wanna show her a bunch of stuff downtown here anyway. We’ll catch a cab.” Nick explained. Brady and AJ paused their conversation for a second.
“Oh, okay,” Brady nodded. “Have fun, Beautiful.” He winked and turned back to AJ to continue talking. AJ raised his eyebrows in Isabelle and Nick’s direction, but turned back towards the van anyway.
“Part of me thinks that was a little too easy,” Nick chuckled as the pair turned to walk down the sidewalk. Izzie laughed softly and buried her hands deep inside her pockets to try and find some warmth. “Cold?” He laughed as he watched her shiver. She nodded with a grin.
“I never thought it’d be this cold in Germany. Brady didn’t do too good of a job warning me,” she mumbled and licked her lips with a smile. “So, where are we headed Mr. Navigator?” She grinned up at Nick, changing the subject. Nick’s deep blue eyes got lost inside her. He felt like he could see deep down in her as they walked a little farther.
“Anywhere,” he shrugged softly. “I’ve been here a few times before. All I know is that there are beautiful castle-looking buildings around downtown.” He chuckled and pointed at a few different buildings.
“Aw, they look like cathedrals!” Isabelle laughed, smacking him in the side playfully. “You’re such a dork. Castle-like buildings? How old are you, twelve?” She joked and rolled her eyes.
“Hey, the last time I was here I was probably only like, sixteen or something,” he tried to defend himself as they walked up to a building. “Besides, I’ve never been sight-seeing here. Usually we perform, go out for food and then hit the hotel without thinking. I just offered to go so I could…” he stopped short. Did he really want to give into this girl and admit he’d do pretty much anything just to spend time with her?
“So you could spend time with me?” She grinned up at him. He blushed and shrugged, causing Isabelle to giggle. “That’s really cute, Nick. I’m glad you offered.” She winked. She carefully slipped her arm through his and into his coat pocket, joining his hand. He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead as the couple approached, in Nick’s words, a big castle-like building. “Oh wow.” Isabelle sucked in a deep breath as she glanced over the plaque outside the cathedral. “This must be the Cologne cathedral.” She looked up at how tall it was.
“It’s really pretty,” Nick nodded and looked around. A bunch of lights were lit up all over it and the doors were open. “Let’s go inside.” He shrugged and walked towards the door.
“Nick,” Isabelle looked around nervously. “It’s late…I don’t think we should go in there.” She said hesitantly.
Nick laughed and shrugged, opening the big door anyway. “Why not? It’s cold out here, it’s warm in there.” He tried to entice her. “Besides, it’s a church. It’s open all the time.” He rolled his eyes as she hurried to follow him inside. Isabelle was fascinated with all the ancient artwork that decorated the inside of the cathedral. It was absolutely breathtaking. “Wow.” Nick breathed as he glanced around. He plopped down on one of the pews to get a better look.
“My mother would love to rent out this place and marry me off here,” Isabelle muttered softly as she glanced around once more. “And the sad thing is, Brady would probably pay to get married somewhere like here.” She sighed. “Looks like I’ll be having a beautiful wedding.”
“A beautiful wedding for a beautiful bride,” Nick couldn’t help himself. He knew the whole ‘beautiful’ reference would bug Isabelle.
Isabelle shot him a dirty look. “Don’t start with me, Carter.” She slapped him playfully across the shoulder, causing him to laugh.
“Fine, fine,” he rolled his eyes as his laughter subsided. “Besides, who said you’re marrying Brady?” He asked her seriously. He wanted to know what she saw for her future at this point. He was interested in her, and he was pretty sure she was interested in him. But the way she spoke of Brady so highly, he wasn’t sure she was willing to branch out and try something new.
She shrugged and looked at him intently. She wondered if he really would make a good boyfriend, someone she could possibly want to marry in the future. It was too soon to tell. “I hardly know you. I’ve known Brady for two months. I’ve known you for only a week.”
Nick shrugged and leaned back in the pew, crossing his arms over his chest. “We have all tour. Get to know me.”
She grinned and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He was serious. He was interested in her getting to know him and vice versa. He wanted to have a conversation with her. He was treating her like a person, unlike Brady who always treated her like a pet. Isabelle liked this new interaction…she could get used to it.
Author's Chapter Notes:
So, I'm feeling generous =] This chapter isn't AS exciting as a few of the others...but I'm almost done writing chapter 9, actually =] So, the more reviews, the more updates!! Thanks for reviewing =]
