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Chapter 26

The picnic at the beach with the chocolate cake and Nick and Chelsea was one of the best nights I’ve had in a while. I think it was a night we all needed badly, and for all different reasons. I felt liberated as I played in the sand with Nick and Chelsea. The weight of everything was off my shoulders for at least a little while and I wanted to it last as long as possible.

“Anyone bring forks?” Chelsea asked as Nick took the cake out of its container. I was officially banned from touching the cake according to Nick and Chelsea because I had swiped half of the frosting off before we even got to the beach.

“Oh shit,” Nick laughed, “I don’t think we did.”

I shrugged, I didn’t need a fork to eat a cake this delicious. I dug my fingers into the cake and stuffed the morsel into my mouth. “Ally!” Chelsea burst into laughter.

Nick did it next and mimicked my shrug. “Tastes even better with your fingers,” he laughed, “good call baby.” Chelsea joined in on the fun and soon enough, half the cake was gone and our fingers were covered in chocolaty goodness. I picked up another piece of the cake but dropped it in the sand. “Party foul!” Nicks mouth was covered in chocolate and he looked ridiculous. “I dare you to eat it still.”

Chelsea laughed with him, “Do it!”

“God Al, when you were a kid, the first time I let you walk on the beach without me holding your hand,” he burst into laughter, “you had to be about three, and you were so excited that you got to run around,” he was still giggling and my eyes narrowed to slits. I didn’t like where this was going. “You ran to a pile of sand and took a huge bite!” Chelsea burst into laughter too. “You started screaming, and the only water around was the sea but I didn’t know what else to do, and once the sand was out of your mouth, I brought you back to the house and,” he burst into laughter again, “oh god, your lips were so cracked because of the salt in the water.” He rubbed my head, “you were so miserable, but you looked so fucking cute. I couldn’t stand it.” They both looked like they enjoyed that story a little too much.

I contemplated the sandy chocolate I held in my hands. Then I smeared it across Nick’s cheek. “Jerk!” I laughed at him as he stared at me, his eyes wide.

“Oh crap,” Chelsea scooted away from the two of us. She knew a war was coming.

“What was that for?”

“For telling that story,” I whined but couldn’t help but giggle. He looked hilarious with chocolate smeared across his mouth because he was a damn mess, and the chocolate that was across his cheek from me.

He picked up a chunk of the cake and started chasing me around the beach. I could hear Chelsea cheering on Nick and I screamed when he grabbed me. He held the cake to my mouth and let out a war cry, “eat it!” He managed to shove the chunk of cake into my mouth but cried out in pain when I bit down on his fingers. “That’s it,” he laughed. He hauled me up over his shoulders and started running towards the water.

“You throw me into the water and you die,” I threatened but really, I was kidding myself. He was going to do it anyways and the only thing I could do was hold my breath. So that’s what I did. I didn’t go without a fight though. I kicked and called Chelsea for help even though all she did was laugh.

“Don’t drink the water Ally! Your lips will crack,” she and Nick burst into another round of laughter at my benefit and when I walked back onto the shore I ran straight for Chelsea. She screamed and tried to run for cover but Nick grabbed her, hauled her up over his shoulder and threw her into the ocean as well. He stood victorious but tumbled down, hilariously I might add, when I pushed him from behind.

The night ended with all of us soaked from the cold water, but happy. On the way back to our house, Nick asked Chelsea what she was doing this weekend, and when she replied "nothing," Nick invited her stay the weekend and see how a Carter truly lives. She raised her eyebrows at me, silently questioning me but I shrugged. I was a Carter and didn’t know how we truly lived. “Why don’t you call your parents and let them know you’re spending the weekend with us.”

But Chelsea shook her head, “they won’t care. It’s fine.” I frowned.

“Are you sure?” Nick was frowning too. But Chelsea just nodded and looked out the window.

Nick’s eyes kept glancing back at her through the rearview mirror. I could tell he was pissed. There was only one parent for me, and Nick showed me more love and support than two of Chelsea’s. It pissed me off too.




Knowing how a Carter truly lived in Nick’s mind meant driving down to Miami for the day. I didn’t think the day needed to start at 6:30am but as soon as Nick said the words Miami to Chelsea and me, we shot right up. Miami meant that I’d get to see Papa Bob today, and it probably meant a shopping spree. Not many of his fans know this, but Nick loves to shop. Not as bad as Alex and you may have to drag him out, but once he’s there, he has a ball, and he doesn’t care what he spends his money on. I used to love back to school shopping because I knew if I’d let him, he’d buy me an entirely new wardrobe.

We had stopped at a McDonald’s and we all loaded up on egg mcmuffins, hash browns and orange juice (coffee for Nick, he said he couldn’t handle a full day of two seventeen-year-olds without an immense amount of caffeine). By the time we had gotten to Papa Bob’s house, it was almost noon. “Papa!” I jumped into his arms and laughed with him.

“It’s been ages since I’ve seen you love, you look stunning,” He kissed my cheek and then hugged Nick. They looked so much alike even though they were decades apart. Nick stepped aside and Papa stepped up to me again, “how are you doing love? You hanging in there?”

I smiled, “I am much better actually. I have the best Dad in the world to help me.” Nick flicked my shoulder and chuckled.

Papa Bob laughed and looked at Nick, “I did good on him huh?”

I laughed, “yeah, you did real good Papa.” I pulled Chelsea up and grinned, “You remember Chelsea!”

Bob smiled and hugged her, “Little Chelsea Caywood, is that you?”

Chelsea laughed, “hard to believe huh?”

“It’s good to see you all, come in; I just need to let the dogs outside before we leave.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’ll spend a few hours on the boat and then head to dinner,” said Papa Bob. I knew we couldn’t get out of Miami without going to Nick’s favorite restaurant. I just had no idea what we were going to do about clothes; his favorite restaurant was more than a little upscale, and Chelsea and I arrived in Miami in bathing suits, and cover ups.

“Ally, I never understand why you only wear one piece suits,” Chelsea frowned at my choice of swimwear.

But I shrugged, “the only people I ever wear a bathing suit around are you and Nick, and he’s my Dad. It’d be weird…”

Chelsea grinned, “Well, Nick’s not my Dad.” I pinched her shoulder. Gross.

“You think after this weekend Nick will spring me loose?”

“He better, we need more weekends like this,” she smiled as we met Nick and Papa Bob at the dock. “This is awesome so far.” I agreed.

“Are you really giving up on boys?”

She shrugged, “Well, people started to notice you after they thought you slept with Brandon,” I could tell by the wince that she thought that they came out wrong, but I knew what she meant. “I know that people only like me because they know I get around, and all the guys think I’ll sleep with them,” she looked ready to cry, “I don’t want that to be the only reason they talk to me though, you know? I don’t want to be labeled a slut, whore or whatever else is written on the wall in the boy’s locker room about me. I don’t want to be that girl anymore…”

“I don’t want you to be either. I miss the old Chelsea.” The mood was getting too serious for such a fun weekend, “although, hearing your stories about your weekends and summers were fun.”

She rested her head on my shoulder, “my mom filed for divorce yesterday.” Then she sniffled, “it was horrible Ally, she told me right as I got home from school and then locked herself in her bedroom with a bottle of Vodka. Then…Nick called and asked if I wanted to come over for dinner and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.” She giggled and wiped her eyes, “I swear he has a sixth sense when it comes this stuff. I was going to go out with Eric, but…I couldn’t say no to your Dad.”

“I wasn’t going to let you say no,” Nick said softly. We both looked up in surprise. I had no idea how long he had been standing there, but judging by his facial expression, he heard the whole story. But then he smiled and held out his hand, “Come here Chels.” She looked at me and I grinned. Nick took her hand and then pulled her into a hug. I couldn’t make out what he whispered to her but when she started to cry, I started crying as well. I hated when Chelsea cried because it didn’t happen often. He held out his other arm for me and I gladly accepted the hug. “Are we done being sad? We’re not allowed to be sad okay?”

“No sadness today,” Chelsea giggled and wiped her eyes.

“Good,” Nick flicked her shoulder. “Cuz tonight we’re going to the best restaurant in the world, and they don’t allow sad people inside.”

I snorted, “We are so not dressed for the best restaurant in the world.”

“That’s why I’m taking you two shopping,” he made a face, “duh!” He squeezed me, “we’ll go to the mall, get some stuff. We’ll probably spend the night here if that’s okay, just head back tomorrow.” He walked over to the railing and looked out at the water, “that you okay with you two?”

“Yeah,” Chelsea smiled and I agreed. I wanted this perfect weekend to last forever.

“Hey Chels, wanna hear about Ally’s first boat ride?”

I laughed; I remembered the story well. Nick had avoided me going on a boat for the first five years of my life because he didn’t want me to fall over the edge. But then he and Papa Bob took me on a boat for the day and I had so much fun. I jumped in the water with Nick, I caught my very first fish, and we even saw dolphins. By the end of the day, I was so worn out that I was, according to Nick, hellish to be around. And when the boat docked, I wrapped my body around the railing and refused to leave, letting them know that I was going to live on the boat for the rest of my life. Nick and Papa disagreed and when Nick pried my body away from the boat, I started screaming. Nick said I eventually cried myself to sleep and when I woke up, I got a lecture that only good girls get to play on the boat.

“…she lived in her bathing suit for a whole week before I finally had to convince her to put on real clothes,” they were both chuckling and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Please,” I rolled my eyes, “you thought I was an adorable child.”

“Yeah,” Nick laughed, “I guess I did.”

My heart was so full right now, I thought it would burst.