“So, how many brothers and sisters do you have?” Nick asked. Isabelle and Nick had already spent about an hour in the cathedral. In that hour, Nick had found out Isabelle’s favorite color was orange, her favorite movie was “10 Things I hate about you” and her favorite place in the entire world was Disney World.
“I have an older brother, Caden. He’s twenty-nine. Then I have another older brother, Noah, who’s twenty-seven. Then there’s me,” she giggled. Nick laughed at how silly their conversation had turned. He liked how she could be herself in front of him. “Then I have a younger sister, Ainsley. She’s twenty-three.” She explained.
“Wow, there’s two years in between all of you?” Nick asked and Isabelle nodded. “Your parents really planned that one out.” He chuckled and she nodded with a roll of her eyes.
“Yeah. They also really planned out our love lives,” Isabelle sighed. “Caden was married to his wife, Hailey, by his twenty-third birthday. They couldn’t convince Noah to marry off just yet. But my sister is about to get married to this guy, Cole. She just turned twenty-three. I can’t tell you how disappointed they were that I wasn’t seeing anyone when I was twenty-three,” she tried to laugh it off. Nick could tell she was frustrated with the situation.
“That’s shitty,” Nick mumbled. He glanced up with a frown when he felt Isabelle slap at his hand.
“Nick! We’re in a cathedral!” She whispered with a giggle. He laughed when he saw how wide her brown eyes had gotten. She was too cute. He wasn’t sure how Brady found her, but he wanted her.
“Sorry,” he chuckled and placed his hand over his lips.
“Anyway,” she rolled her eyes. “What about you? What’s your family like?” She asked as she turned her body to face him. She saw his expression change drastically from light and funny to dark and miserable. “Uh oh. Wrong question?” She winced. She didn’t want to bring anything touchy up.
“No, no,” he shook his head and made eye contact. “You should know. I mean, we’re getting to know each other here.” He tried to smile through the painful choice of conversation. “Let’s see. My mom and dad had me first – well, my dad had a daughter from a previous marriage. But I was the first of their kids. Then they had my sister Bobbie Jean, or BJ two years after me. Then they had my sister, Leslie, four years later. Then a year after that, they had my brother and sister. They’re twins – Angel and Aaron. Aaron sings, too,” he explained. “Let’s see. The problems started up during all that mess. My parents got a divorce. I wasn’t really at home to begin with because by the time Aaron and Angel were born, I was already seven years old. I joined the Backstreet Boys when I was twelve. I didn’t have much time at home. It basically began this fight between my parents – making my siblings and I choose between them. My mom’s pretty much psychotic. I don’t even know how to deal with her anymore…” Nick rambled on. He glanced down at his hands. He had told his story countless times, but this time was different. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on and on about my dysfunctional family.”
Isabelle lifted Nick’s chin with her index finger. Her eyes were sorrowful and full of sympathy. “Don’t apologize.” She shook her head. “Thanks for sharing it. Nick, every family has their own bit of insanity.” She sighed. “Look at mine! My parents want to marry me off to someone that doesn’t even love me! He doesn’t even know me.” She shook her head. “That’s pretty insane.” She added with a grin to try and get him to smile.
Nick chuckled. She was right. And she was trying to make him happy. “That’s true.” He winked. He held onto her hand that was folded across her knee. He played with her fingers and smiled up at her. “You wanna get out of here?” He asked her softly. She bit her bottom lip and smiled.
“Absolutely,” she nodded her head as he stood up, pulling her along behind him. “I think you might just know more about me than Brady does.” She laughed, completely serious. They walked along the sidewalk until Nick spotted a taxi.
“That’s ridiculous,” Nick shook his head. “Brady’s never taken the time to sit down with you and just…get to know you like that?” He frowned as he hailed the cab. Isabelle shook her head ‘no’. As they moved into the cab, Nick rattled off the address to the cab driver, hoping he’d understand what he was saying. “Izzie, I really like you…a lot.” He sighed as the driver took off in the direction of the hotel.
“I know,” she nodded with a soft sigh escaping her lips. “I really like you too, Nick. I just don’t know how to handle the situation I’m in. I mean, I’ve only known you for a week but I feel like I’ve known you a hell of a lot longer than I’ve known Brady.”
“Well, it’s your decision. No one can make it for you,” Nick seemed disappointed and Isabelle could tell.
“Nick,” she sighed. “I just don’t want to make the wrong decision. When it comes down to finding the person I’m supposed to be with for the rest of my life, it’s one of those things where I really need to think about it.”
Rest of her life? Nick wasn’t sure he wanted to be married at this point. He had never wanted to be married before. He was having way too much fun being a bachelor. But in the amount of time he had known Isabelle, he hadn’t wanted to go out and sleep around with other women anymore. He wanted her. He wanted Izzie.
“I-I understand,” Nick nodded and licked his lips. As the taxi stopped in front of the hotel, the two slid out and Nick paid the cab driver.
“So, um…” Isabelle trailed off, not really sure where any of this was headed. She and Nick had discussed some pretty serious things…she wasn’t sure if he was still interested after she had mentioned that she wasn’t sure where she wanted to take this relationship – even if there wasn’t one there.
“You wanna come hang out in my room?” Nick asked seductively, whether he meant to or not. It just kind of…came out. Isabelle smirked and nodded slightly. She was nervous. She hadn’t been intimate with Brady yet. They hadn’t had the time, out of all honesty. She wasn’t a virgin, but sex was a big step for her.
Nick took her hand as they entered the lobby and headed for the elevator. The doors opened with a ding and the two waited for the person behind the doors to get off. Only, they were shocked to see Brady was the person standing there.
“H-Hey…” he muttered, completely confused as he glanced down at their adjoining hands. “Um, I was just headed out…I don’t have that great service in the room…” he explained. “Um, what’s going on?” He stared at Isabelle intently and then shot a glare in Nick’s direction. Isabelle quickly shook off Nick’s grasp.
“U-Uh,” she stuttered. She felt hot tears burning her eyes. She wasn’t this kind of girl. She wasn’t the girl that snuck around her boyfriend’s back. She glanced at Nick and then back at Brady. “Can we talk about this in the room?” For once, she was shocked when Brady turned off his phone and nodded. Nick decided to wait for the next elevator. Talk about one hell of an awkward ride.
Brady and Isabelle walked into their room and Brady closed the door behind them. “What the hell is going on here, Isabelle?!” He yelled, completely infuriated with her. Isabelle couldn’t help the first tear that fell from her eye.
“I’m not sure,” she muttered and folded her arms across her chest. Of course she knew what was going on. She was falling for Nick.
“Are you sleeping with him or something?” Brady swallowed the lump in his throat and turned towards her as he poured himself a scotch.
“No!” She quickly responded, feeling guilty that she probably would have if she hadn’t run into Brady on the elevator. “We kissed, okay? A couple of times…” she mumbled and sat down on the edge of the bed with a heavy sigh.
“How do you feel about him?” Brady asked, a bit more calmly now. Isabelle shrugged. She really liked him, but she also felt like she should be with Brady. She didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings…but she knew she would hurt someone in this situation. “Well, you need to figure it out.” He mumbled and slammed the bathroom door.
“I’m taking a walk,” she called as she tried to stop the tears from falling. She made her way out of the room and to the elevator. She really needed some air. She needed to think this over and figure out who she wanted to be with. Brady didn’t even put up a fight. Then again, Nick hadn’t either. As she walked into the lobby to go outside, she ran into Nick. His eyes were a bit red and he looked pretty stressed.
“I’m really, really sorry,” he sighed as he took her hands in his. She tried to say something but he cut her off. “No, you know what? I’m not sorry, Iz. I’m not sorry for completely falling for you.” He swallowed hard and pulled her outside in front of the hotel to try and get away from the few lone souls walking around the lobby at this hour. “I’ve really started to fall for you, okay? And I know your family would probably hate me and I’m not the puzzle piece boyfriend your mom’s been looking for. But I know a couple of other things,” he licked his lips and glanced down at their joined hands, then back into her big brown eyes overflowing with tears. “I know your favorite color’s orange and you hate it when anyone calls you Beautiful. I know you love it when I call you Izzie. I know that I can literally see through you when I look into your eyes. And I know you kiss with so much passion…God, it’s fucking incredible,” he smirked, which made her smirk as well. “I know you’ve changed me…so much. I never even considered seeing someone long enough to plan out a future before…but with you, everything’s different. Everything’s new – everything’s a surprise. Izzie, I’ve been to Cologne so many times…” he whispered softly, a tear escaping the corner of his eye. “But with you, I feel like I’m seeing it for the first time.”
Izzie choked back a sob and glanced down at their hands, trying to figure out something to say. As she stood there, completely speechless, Nick pulled her forward and kissed her tenderly one last time.
“Please say something,” he muttered and took his hand away to sloppily wipe underneath his nose.
“That was a damn good fight,” she giggled through her tears, wiping at her eyes hastily. Nick frowned, wondering what that meant. “I want you, Nick. I feel free around you. And I want to feel free forever.” And with that, she kissed him deeply, completely satisfied with her decision.
Author's Chapter Notes:
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