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Chapter Thirty Seven

As much as I loved girl time with Kay, I figured Noah deserved to have some time alone with her. It was still so weird to think that the annoying brother who was wrestling with me just a few hours ago was the same guy that was going to be a dad.

I was worried.

After I dropped Noah off, I went and did a little more last-minute Christmas shopping. I spent the bulk of my time figuring out what to get Jasper. I settled on a cool, black beaded chain. I stopped at UPS, overnighted it, and headed back over to the Littrells' to pick up my lil' bro.

When I pulled up, Kay and Noah were standing in the doorway. Kay wrapped her arms around Noah's neck and kissed him softly. She was wearing a Santa hat, perched to the side. She looked happy; there really was something to that whole pregnancy glow thing.

Noah went in for about a thousand more kisses. I figured he had done quite enough PDA, so I rolled down the passenger window.

"HEY KAY!"

They pulled away from each other; she looked over at me and smiled.

"Hey!"

I made a finger motion. "NoNo, get your butt in here! It's cold!"

Noah made a face and muttered something that made Kay laugh. I gave him a dirty look as he headed towards the car and then turned my attention back to Kayleigh.

"Did you like my presents?" I called out. I had gone a little crazy making a baby basket full of goodies. It was way to easy to spend money on cute little clothes, and booties, and blankies...

"I loved them!" Kay said. At the same time, Noah pressed my face back with his hand. I swatted him away and scooted back over to the driver's seat.

"I'll call you after Christmas!" I shouted. Noah mimed me.

"Grow up!" I complained. He stuck out his tongue.

"You grow up!"

"I am grown up. Which one of us can drive, hmm?"

Noah pretended to choke himself. I cranked the engine and took off towards home.

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Around midnight, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. After Noah and I got home, I had gone up to my room to wrap presents. Dad had brought me some hot chocolate and we had talked until I had almost fallen asleep with my nose in the cup.

But now I was wide awake.

I got out of bed and headed downstairs. The house in the middle of the night was so different than the daytime. I could hear every little creak that the house made. I grabbed some juice out of the refrigerator and snagged a muffin. I always gained my 'Freshman 15' whenever I came home. I stuffed the muffin in my mouth and walked to the front window.

At first I didn't realize anything was different. As I took a bite out of the muffin and caught it in my hand, my eyes drifted down the driveway.

Mom's car...dad's car...the big Carter-mobile van...

My car was gone.

I totally forgot it was the middle of the night. I whirled around and pointed my body towards the stairs.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

In hindsight, I should have calmly gone up to mom and dad's room and woke him. Screaming for him only set off a chain of events that had everyone awake ten minutes later.

Dad had mistakenly thought mom had gone into some kind of really early labor. He was half dressed and holding an empty suitcase. Landon thought there was a fire and was doing the stop, drop, and roll thing. Peyton couldn't sleep through all the noise. She was currently finishing my muffin.

Mom was the only sane one.

"What's wrong honey?" she asked. She flipped on the kitchen light. I squinted in the brightness.

"My car is gone," I explained. "Someone stole my car."

Mom turned to dad. He was looking at her in shock.

"Nick, put the suitcase down."

"I was dreaming...babies...and then the scream...and..."

He put the suitcase down and walked over to the window.

"Brooke's car is gone," he confirmed.

Mom and I rolled our eyes. She looked around.

"Landon stop rolling, you're getting doghair all over your PJ's. Pey, you want some juice? Nick, go check Noah's room.

Mom was like a machine. Landon stopped rolling; mom poured another glass of juice and I heard dad's footsteps on the stairs.

As I looked around, I realized that the only person not downstairs was my stupid brother. But he wouldn't...

"He's not up here!"

Mom didn't look surprised. "I have a feeling I know who stole your car. If I'm wrong, we'll call the police right away."

"And if you're right..." dad said, coming down the stairs. "He's a dead man."

I grabbed another muffin. I was upset about the car, but I really wanted to see Noah get yelled at. It didn't happen nearly often enough.

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My car pulled back up the drive around three in the morning. Landon and Peyton had gone back to bed. Dad and I had played video games to pass the time. Mom had stationed herself by the window.

"Nick, he's climbing the lattice," mom said calmly. Dad put down the controller and headed up the stairs.

I could just picture Noah's face when he crawled through his window and saw dad sitting on the bed. Ha!

I strained my ears to hear what I could. I heard a thump; a loud, quick exclamation, and then nothing for a long time. Minutes later they were both coming down the stairs.

"It wasn't a big deal. It's not like there's traffic on the road or anything," Noah argued. His hair was a mess and his clothes looked rumpled. I so did not want to think about what he was doing...in my car!

"That's beside the point. You don't have a license which means you're not insured. Anything could have happened," dad said.

"And, there's no where that a fifteen-year-old boy needs to be in the middle of the night," mom added.

Noah looked down at the ground. He always tucked tail whenever mom yelled at him. He was such a momma's boy.

"Where were you?" she asked.

Noah shrugged. That got him a smack in the back of the head from dad. It wasn't a hard smack, but it held enough warning that he needed to start talking.

"I went to see Kayleigh," Noah admitted.

I made a face. That accounted for the hair...and the clothes.

Mom sighed. "Noah, do you realize how completely irresponsible you're being? This is how you and Kayleigh got into this situation in the first place.

Noah looked up. "But it's Christmas."

"I don't care if Jesus himself is making a one-day only appearance, you don't steal your sister's car and go do whatever you damn-well please," dad said.

Noah looked over at me. I tried my hardest not to smile.

"You owe Brooke an apology," mom said.

"Sorry," Noah muttered.

"Not good enough," dad said.

Noah stood up straighter. He looked me right in the eye. "I'm sorry Brooklyn Nichole Carter, oh wise and great one, that I stole your car and returned it without a scratch on it. Will you ever forgive me?"

Before I could say anything, dad nudged Noah's shoulder.

"Up to your room smartass. We're not done."

Noah scowled and marched up to his room. Mom and dad shared a look.

"Brooke, honey, why don't you go to bed?" mom said.

"Are you going to kill him?" I asked.

"We'll see," dad said seriously. Mom smacked his shoulder.

I headed up the stairs while mom and dad had a talk. I loved that they always decided on a course of action together. Of course, that made it so much harder to find a way around any type of punishment. I knew from experience.

Noah's door was closed as I walked to my room. I thought about going in and giving him a piece of my mind, but I decided against it.

I was sure he was going to be paying for this mistake BIG-TIME.

All I knew was that I was going to wake up early and disinfect my car.

Just in case.