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Chapter 12
"Alright, now, let's take it from the beginning," the officer who had introduced himself as 'Ben King' told me for the hundredth time. Ben, the other officer who's name was Steven, and I were in this small room, surrounding a table with a small black tape recorder, relaying all the things that had happened that night.
I let out a small groan, because this would be the 10th time I explained what had happened. And I was getting rather sick of repeating myself.
I went on to explain every detail and after that was over I had to fill out some paperwork, and then I was allowed to leave. They brought the paperwork, I briefly looked over it, not really caring, signed my name, and then got up to leave.
"Thanks for being so cooperative, Rebecca," Steven said with a smile "we really appreciate you taking the time to do this. And don't worry, that asshole won't ever bother you again, he's going to be locked up and have the key thrown away."
"Good," I said relieved. "I don't need him chasing after me."
They both nodded their heads then escorted me out to the waiting room where all of my friends were waiting for me so we could all leave.
I strode into the room clutching onto my purse and greeted my friends. The officers left to go back on duty, and we were all allowed to leave.
As we were walking out they all began to question me.
"What did they ask?" Howie asked intrigued.
"Why were you in there so long?" Kevin asked looking down at his watch.
"Were they sympathetic?" Leighanne asked.
"How did you handle it all?" Nick said with concern in his voice.
"To answer all of your questions," I said smiling "they just wanted to know exactly what had happened, I was in there for so long because they made me repeat the damn story 10 times, yes they were sympathetic, and I handled it just fine, Nick. I think I'll be alright. I've gotten over the initial shock."
"Well, that's good," Nick said.
We had reached the cars and we all stood around trying to figure out what we were going to do next. While everyone talked amongst themselves Nick draped his jacket on my shoulders and said "You must be freezing!" He began to warm me up by rubbing his hands up and down my arms. After awhile I began to feel much better.
My mind began to wander, and I didn't even hear everyone speaking to me, or staring at me for an answer. I was staring off into space, not even acknowledging anyone's presence. I was off in my own little world, thinking my own little thoughts.
"Rebecca!! Hello!?!" Brian yelled into my ear.
I jumped back startled and in the process I stepped on Nick's feet.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed in pain.
"Oh god, I'm sorry!" I said looking down at his feet, and then at his face which was wincing from the pain. Afterall, I was wearing about 3' platform heels.
I'm sure that must have hurt!
"It's alright, I'll be OK!" he said biting his lip.
"Your such a baby!" AJ said punching his arm. "Take the pain like a man!"
Nick just rolled his eyes, and turned his body to face me.
"It's alright, Becc. Not a big deal." He kissed my head to assure me that he was fine.
"Anyways, what I wanted to ask you Becca," Brian said "was what you wanted to do tonight since it's your last night with us and all."
"Well, it's kinda been ruined, don't you think?" I asked.
"Not at all! I mean, sure what happened tonight was pretty scary, but I don't think that should allow our night to be cut short. Anyone have any ideas of what we can do?"
"I do!" I said happily. "How about we go hang at the beach. I know it's not the most original idea, but it's relaxing, romantic, and--"
"Say no more!" Nick said with even more enthusiasm "I'm there!"
Everyone laughed at him, and agreed that it sounded like a good idea.
"Let's stop by the hotel, before we go though," AJ stated.
"Why?" Kevin asked confused.
"Cause I want to get something."
Kevin seemed to understand and said "Oh! That something.."
"Yes, that something, and something else."
Everyone other than me smiled at what he was talking about. I was clueless, but just shrugged it off thinking it was no big deal, because this was AJ we were talking about. He always had some big secret. Once again we piled into the cars and headed for the hotel, then the beach.
"Is this a good spot?" Amanda asked surveying the area.
"Looks good," Brian said throwing the stuff on the floor.
"Brian! Not so rough!" Leighanne warned.
From the hotel we had grabbed towels for us to sit on, some junk food, and drinks.
"Set all the food over there," Howie instructed to Brian.
"You do it, D I'm already too comfortable," Brian said barely above a whisper. He was sprawled out on a towel that he had brought for Leighanne and him to share. There was hardly enough room for poor Leighanne.
"Here's an extra towel," I said handing it to her. "I brought a few extras thinking that this was going to happen."
"Thanks. I should have thought of it," she said "Brian always manages to take up all the room. Whether it be the bed, the sofa, whatever!" Leighanne kicked Brian on the leg, and he just sat there motionless, not even wincing at the pain like Nick had.
Finally, after a few minutes everyone had situated themselves on the towels in the sand. Amanda and AJ were sharing one, Kevin and Howie had their own, so did Leighanne and Brian and I was sharing one with Nick. Nick had laid down following his best friends lead, while rubbing my back with one of his hands with his eyes closed and I was sitting straight up with my legs out in front of me looking out at the big blue sea.
All conversation seized after awhile, and everyone seemed to be drifting off to sleep. Even Nick. I think I was the only one who was left awake. I looked at all of my friend's sleeping faces, and thought about how lucky I was to have such a close-knit group of friends that I could trust. It was the greatest feeling in the world. I know that I had only known them for a short amount of time, but in a way, I felt like I had known them for ages. This was the first time in my life that I had made friends so easily. With my other friends at school it had taken me awhile to open up to them, and trust them, but with my new group of friends I had felt welcome, and at home so quickly. I think it was probably because I had Nick there right by my side every step of the way.
"Is everyone asleep?" Leighanne asked sitting up.
"Yeah, pretty much. Or almost asleep."
I then heard Howie begin to snore, and I added "Actually, I think they ARE asleep."
Leighanne laughed, and then she suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I have an idea."
"And that would be..."
Leighanne tossed a coke can at me, and she grabbed one for herself.
"What are these for?" I asked confused.
"Come here, I'll show you."
Leighanne walked over to the water, and I walked up next to her. She opened the can and began to pour the coke onto the sand.
"Do what I am doing," she instructed.
I did as I was told, but still was very confused as to why we were wasting the drinks. She filled her can with the salty water, and I finally understood what she was getting at. I laughed at how stupid I had been for not knowing, but followed her lead and filled water into my can also.
"Shhh..." she whispered. "Don't make a sound."
We walked back over to our sleeping friends. She stood over Brian, and I stood over Nick getting ready to pour the cold water all over him.
She began to count. "One, two, three.. POUR!"
"AHHHHH!!!!" Nick and Brian yelled at the same time waking up from their slumber.
"What the hell!?" Brian yelled shooting up from his towel. "Leighanne!!"
By that time everyone else had awoken, due to their loud voices, and looked over at the drenched Nick and Brian laughing and pointing at them.
Nick just laughed continuously. He couldn't stop laughing, and Brian, and everyone else joined in.
"Your gonna get it, Rebecca!!!" Nick yelled getting up from his seat on the towel.
"Not if I can help it!" I yelled running away from him.
Leighanne began running by my side and Brian and Nick began to chase after us with everyone else just laughing at the sight.
"I swear, Rebecca, I'm gonna catch you!" he shouted closing in on me.
"I never told you this, but I was on my cross country team, so I'm pretty fast!" I picked up the pace a couple notches, and soon I was so far down the beach that I had lost sight of everyone including Leighanne, Brian, and Nick.
I took a seat on a rock, and just waited for him to find me. A couple seconds later Nick appeared all out of breath, panting, sweating, and grabbing his sides in pain.
"Man, your fast! Damn girl! But now that I've finally reached you, you ain't going nowhere!"
"Wanna bet!?" I jumped up from the rock, and tried to run past him, but he put his arm out, and grabbed me into a big hug flinging me over his shoulder, and beginning to walk me over to where everyone else was.
"Nick, put me down!"
"Can't."
"Please?"
"Nope."
We reached our 'campground' and Nick stopped not letting me off of his shoulder.
"Now, guys.." he said "what should I do with her? Should I do this?" he asked pretending to throw me in.
"No, please! I'm gonna get an ammonia!"
"Should I?" he asked again.
"Yeah, throw her in!" Kevin shouted.
"Yeah, come on, Frack, do it!" Brian agreed.
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" everyone chanted at the same time.
One minute I was dry, and on Nick's shoulder, and the next, everyone's voices were drowned out because with one quick throw I was in the water, and freezing my ass off.
"Nick!" I whined from the water.
"Sorry, that's what you get!"
I jumped out of the water, and tried pulling him in. "Leighanne help me!"
Leighanne rushed to my side and began to push him in. Nick had his feet
planted into the sand, and he wouldn't budge. Amanda came to our aid, and began to tug on his arm trying with all of her might to pull him in. All three of us put together had enough strength to finally, after a few minutes of pulling, pushing and grunting, throw him in.
"Here's a couple of towels," Howie said handing us the extra towels that AJ had brought along just in case something like was to happen. And to no one's surprise, other than mine, it did.
Everyone bundled up, and huddled together while AJ, and Kevin gathered some firewood to light a fire. AJ whipped a lighter out of his pocket, and lit the wood. It blew up into red and orange flames, making crackling sounds along the way.
"Since when do you carry a lighter around?" Amanda asked him.
"Since I began to smoke again," AJ said taking a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket and putting one in his mouth, lighting it in the process, then taking a big breath, inhaling, and then exhaling with a look of happiness on his face.
"AJ! You started smoking again? Didn't we make an agreement that you would stop?"
"No.. Amanda, you made the agreement that I would stop. You never asked me what I wanted."
Amanda just gave him this look in disapproval and turned her back towards him.
"So now your mad at me? Come on, it's my life, and my decision," AJ retorted.
"Yeah, but I'm a part of your life, and it should be my decision also. I'm the one that has to kiss you and smell your nasty breath."
"Amanda, let's talk about this later, alright? We don't need to talk about it in front of everyone."
We turned away, starting to whistle, and we dug our feet into the sand uncomfortably. Acting like we weren't even paying attention to their conversation, although both AJ and Amanda knew that we had heard every word.
"I'll talk about it later if you put that filthy thing out."
AJ reluctantly put it out not wanting to get into more of a fight than they already were in.
Kevin spoke up. "So, AJ, do you have it?"
"Have what?" he asked bewildered.
"Do you have it?" Kevin repeated again stressing the 'it.'
"Oh yeah! Yeah, sorry. Of course I have it." He reached into his jacket once more and pulled a small black box out.
"Give it to her," Nick instructed.
I was totally confused as to what they were talking about, what the box was for, and who it was for.
"Here," AJ said handing me the box, "this is from myself and all the gang. It's a going away gift, and a hopefully coming back soon gift." He smiled, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and handed it to me.
I smiled back, and looked around at everyone's smiling faces. Actually, let me correct myself. Everyone's smiling faces other than Amanda's. Amanda was still angry at AJ for smoking, and I don't think that she would become happy anytime soon.
"Open it," Nick said in a hushed whisper. He was resting his head above my right shoulder, watching in anticipation for me to open my gift.
I opened the tiny, velvet box, and inside was a silver locket on a silver chain. I took it out of the box, and held it in my hands feeling small tears forming in my eyes. I lifted the latch up, and inside was a picture of all of us: AJ, Brian, Leighanne, Howie, Kevin, Nick, and of course myself. The picture was taken on the tour bus, before Nick and I had hooked up. We were all in the game room sitting on the couches piled on top of each other in order to fit in the picture.
"Turn it around," Nick instructed.
I turned the locket around, and I read the engraved inscription. It was a simple note, but it made me feel so good inside. It read:
~We love you, Becc! Come back to us real soon.~
*****The Gang*****
"You guys, this is sooo sweet," I said now in tears.
I gave everyone a hug, and thanked them for their thoughtfulness. I kind of felt bad because Amanda was being left out. She wasn't really part of 'the gang' and she wasn't even in the picture. Although this was the case, I still gave her a hug anyways, for being so nice to me.
"Do you really like it?" Brian questioned.
"Oh yeah! I love it! I really appreciate it, and as a matter of fact, I'll wear it right now. Nick, can you help me out?"
He nodded. I lifted my hair, and he put the necklace on.
"It looks great, Becc," Leighanne complimented.
"Thanks Leigh."
"No prob. Like I said earlier, I only give compliments when they are deserved."
"Don't I get one?" Brian whined, pouting.
"Nope!"
"Why not?"
"Cause it's not deserved!"
We all laughed, and Brian just looked hurt.
"Don't worry, you still have me!" I gave him a comforting hug, while still laughing.
"Well, thanks! At least someone appreciates me!" Brian whined once more.
Leighanne rolled her eyes, and gave Brian a kiss.
"All better?" Leighanne asked looking into his eyes.
"No..."
She kissed him once more, and repeated, "All better?"
"Oh yeah! ALL better!"
"Does anyone know what time the bus leaves tomorrow?" Kevin asked.
"That was random!" Nick said.
"I know it was. I'm just curious."
"I asked the driver," AJ answered, "and he said 12:00."
"Why that early?" I complained.
"I'm assuming because he wants to get a head start. It takes seven hours to get back, so don't worry, we'll have all day tomorrow also," Brian comforted.
I looked down at the sand and sadly nodded my head.
"Do you think we should leave?" Howie asked.
Nick looked at his watch and said "It's still early!"
"Nick, it's freakin' 3:30 in the morning! You call that early?" Howie asked appalled.
"Well, yeah..."
"Then, how about we leave, and you and Becca stay here. Come back to
the hotel when you want," Leighanne said, while giving me a mishcievious grin.
"Do you want to stay?" Nick asked me.
"Sure, I don't mind. I like it a lot here."
"Alright, then it's settled. We'll bring all this crap back."
"OK, see you tomorrow morning," AJ said grabbing his jacket and helping Amanda up.
Everyone said their good-bye's leaving Nick and myself behind on the white sandy beach.
"Are you warm enough?" Nick asked me worriedly. "I don't want you coming home with a cold. Your dad would probably think we didn't take care of you."
I laughed lightly, and just looked out towards the sea, thinking to myself.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
I looked at him, and just simply stated, "Nothing."
"What's wrong, Becc? You were fine before.."
"Yeah, I know. I've just been thinking."
"About what?"
I looked at him once more, wondering if I should tell him what was really on my mind. It would probably come as a complete shock to him.
"Come on, please tell me.." Nick begged.
"You really want to know?"
"Yes, I do. Really."
I took a deep breath, looking him right in the eye and said "I want you."
"Huh? I'm confused..."
"Nick, I want you."
"But you already have me."
"No, not like that. I want you."
"Oh!" he said blushing. "I thought you said that you weren't ready."
"I thought I wasn't ready. I've been thinking about it ever since we came here to the beach, and I realized that I was just scared. I don't want to be taken advantage of, or taken for granted."
"You know I would never do that to you," Nick interrupted.
"I know you wouldn't. I just realized that. That's why I feel ready."
"Are you sure?" Nick asked.
"Yes, I'm totally and completely sure. I wasn't earlier, but now, I know I am."
"But we don't have any--"
"Yes, we do," I interrupted. "When we went back to the hotel to grab towels, drinks, and food, I went to my room and got some."
"Where did you find them? Did you buy them?" Nick questioned.
"I had some."
"You had some?" Nick laughed.
"Actually, the whole truth is that before the trip my friends played a joke on me, and stuck a box of condoms in my shopping bag. When I packed for the weekend I found them, and just brought them along in case I needed them."
"And your sure you want to do this?" Nick asked once more.
"Positive," I said pulling myself closer to him.
He wrapped me up in his arms, and began to kiss me on my neck, laying me down on the towel, and once again lowering my dress. The same thing was happening as before, but this time I had a different feeling. This time I was ready for him. I wanted and yearned for his body on top of mine. I don't know why I had questioned going all the way with him before. I mean, afterall, I did love this man, and now I knew he loved me. When I finally realized this, I knew I was ready for his touch.
He kissed me on the lips, and gradually moved down sending shivers through my whole body with every step he took, and every kiss he gave me. I knew I wouldn't regret what I was doing, so I felt completely confident, and relaxed throughout the entire thing. Let me just tell you this. Nick knew all the right things to do to make a girl fall in love with him. I'm just happy I finally realized that I was the girl that was meant to be with him.
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