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Chapter Six
Colleen was having the nicest dream. She was in a huge ballroom and she was dressed up for a masquerade, it seemed. Her long auburn hair was twisted into tons of curls on the top of her head and she was a wearing a jet-black velvet gown. But it was the stranger dancing with Colleen that was making it exciting. Dressed in black evening clothes and a black mask covering his face, all she could see were his warm dark green eyes, staring at her from behind the mask. The music stopped suddenly as the clock struck twelve, signaling midnight and time to unmask. Her hand slowly reached out to pull his mask off when the whole ballroom shook.
“What the?” Colleen woke up drowsily as she realized it was her bed shaking and that the ball had been a dream. She turned over to see who was bouncing on her bed and came face to face with blonde hair, blue eyes and a big smile.
“Wake up, sleepyhead.” Nick Carter was kneeling on her bed, his arms on either side of her head as he leaned over her. “Time to get up and be lucky enough to hang with some cute celebrities.” He grinned.
“Oh, are there some here? It wouldn’t happen to be Ben Affleck or Roy Dupuis or anyone like that would it?” Colleen asked sleepily as she sat up and swung her feet over the side of the bed to the floor. She looked out of the wall of windows that was letting sunlight stream in and saw that it was a gorgeous day. She felt like swimming.
“Oh, come on. I was speaking of yours truly,” Nick said as he got off the bed. He put on a hurt puppy dog face and pretended to be sad.
“Oh, then all I have to say is, have you looked in a mirror recently? Or have they all broken when you tried,” Colleen said with a grin.
“That’s it.” Nick grabbed Colleen and swung her over his shoulder, carrying her out of the room and into the kitchen where Ryan and the rest of the guys were, smells of freshly brewed coffee wafting through the air. The guys looked up as they saw Nick come in with a screaming bundle over his shoulder.
“Nick Carter, let me down or you will be sorry.” Nick just grinned.
“Why would I be sorry?” he asked.
Ryan turned and answered for Colleen. “I think she is referring to the fact that she is the breakfast maker around here. Colleen makes great breakfast food, so if you don’t let her down, you’re not getting any.”
Colleen, who hadn’t meant anything of the kind just decided to go long with it and hit Nick on the back. “Yeah, what she said.”
Nick had a look of horror on his face. “No breakfast?” He quickly put Colleen down and then pulled a chair out for her. “Would you like to sit down? Some coffee perhaps?”
Colleen shook her head. “Would you do anything for food?”
Brian, who came over and set a cup of coffee that he had prepared for her while Nick was waking her up in front of her, replied.
“Pretty much. Frack has be known to eat enough food for all of us before,” he said grinning. Nick just shoved him.
Colleen laughed and looked over to where Kevin was standing. He was dressed in big jeans and a tank top with a blue shirt over it. Oh my god, he looks good in the morning, Colleen thought as she watched him sip his coffee.
She took her own cup in her hand and took a sip. “Hey, isn’t this my Kahlua vanilla blend?” she asked looking at Ryan. Ryan nodded.
“Hey, this is special stuff. Why are we wasting it on these guys?” Colleen asked as she went over to the island where the stove was and started to get a frying pan down from the pots and pans hanging from racks over the island.
Ryan put a puzzled look on her face. “I don’t know.” Brian came up behind her and started tickling her.
“You better say something nice,” he said while tickling her.
“Um, because they’re cute?” Ryan managed to say while trying to get Brian to stop tickling her.
Brian stopped and pondered whether that was a good enough answer. “Okay that will do, but you’re warned, I have tickle fingers and I’m not afraid to use them.” Ryan looked horrified, “Not tickle fingers?” He nodded. “Yeah, tickle fingers.”
Colleen shook her head. “Ryan, stop playing with Mr. Goofball and get me some eggs, skim milk, those fresh blueberries, butter, and the pancake mix from the cupboard.” Ryan started to collect the ingredients.
“What are you making?” asked Kevin coming to stand besides Colleen. Colleen looked over at him, once again thinking how good he looked when she realized that she had no makeup on, her hair was hastily put up in a scrunchie, and she was wearing pajamas.
“Um, blueberry pancakes with scrambled eggs and fresh squeezed orange juice,” she said while smoothing her hair, self consciously. I must look horrible, she thought.
Nick’s ears perked up and he walked over to the island. “Did you say blueberry pancakes?” he asked eagerly.
“Yeah, did you want something else?”
Nick shook his head. “No, that sounds great. Need any help?” he asked.
Colleen thought. “Well you could squeeze the orange juice” she said as she got the juicer out and went and took a bowl of oranges off the counter and put them in a clear area of counter for Nick to work in. He nodded and went to work squeezing oranges. Colleen went back to the gas stove and lit one of the burners and took a sip of her coffee. Kevin was still standing there.
“You know, I feel at a disadvantage, I mean the rest of you are all showered and dressed and I just woke up and must look horrible,” she said as she started to mix the pancake batter. Kevin sat on one of the stools sitting at the island and shook his head.
“No, you have that natural look. I like girls who are natural,” he said softly, looking down at the mug of coffee in his hands. Colleen smiled and just continued making breakfast. Pretty soon, she called everyone in to sit at the kitchen table. A.J. and Howie sat on one bench and Brian, Ryan, and Nick sat on the other. Kevin sat at the chair at one end of the table while Colleen sat at the head of the table. They all started eating, talking of things that they could do that day.
“Well, when I was rudely awakened by a certain someone, I won’t mention any names,” Colleen said looking at Nick. He didn’t see the look because he was too busy inhaling as many blueberry pancakes as possible. “I was thinking today’s a great day for a pool party,” she said. Ryan grinned.
“Yeah, let’s go swimming in the pool.” She stopped and then smiled again. “We can have a barbecue.” She looked at Colleen. “Who else could we invite?”
Colleen thought for a minute. “Well other than the guys, and us, Ashleigh will be at the restaurant. We could invite Zack, Jeremy, Colin, Dade, Connor, and Chris.” Ryan nodded.
“Zack, Chris, Connor? Don’t you girls have any girl friends?” asked A.J. wanting to meet some chicks. Kevin and Brian were thinking the same thing but for other reasons. Who were all these guys?
“Well, yeah. We can invite Stacy, Jenny, Simone, Sarah, and Rachel,” Ryan said while she added those names to the list she had started to make. Colleen nodded. “Yeah, it will be great to see them again.” With the guest list made, Colleen and Ryan quickly made up a grocery list for the food they needed and Ryan and Brian agreed to go get the food. They left and Colleen cleaned up the kitchen, turning down the guys offer to help. The guys went to sit in the living room while Colleen was cleaning as she had threatened to hurt them if they didn’t stop trying to help. After cleaning the kitchen, she made the phone calls to the gang and everyone was coming. She then went out to the pool and with the net, took all the leaves out of it. She finished up and walked in the living room.
“Okay, I’m going to take a shower and get ready for the party. Did you guys bring your suits?” They all nodded. When Brian had called Ryan that morning and she had invited them over for breakfast, she had mentioned her pool and they had all come prepared. She turned to leave, when she stopped as she remembered something.
“Oh and Nick?” Nick turned his attention to Colleen.
“There’s something you might like,” Colleen said as she walked over to a small hope chest resting in the corner by the movie wardrobe. She opened the lid and motioned for Nick to come over.
“ALL RIGHT!” Nick yelled as he saw the Sega and Nintendo systems and a stack of games.
“I remember reading somewhere that you are a Nintendo junkie,” Colleen said with a smile. Nick nodded and he quickly set up the Nintendo and was involved in a game of MarioKart.
“Okay, I’m in the shower,” Colleen said and she left the room.
She took a quick shower, and jumped out, putting her wet hair up in a scrunchie and taking her bathing suit out of her suitcase. It was a two piece, shiny black swimsuit with boy-cut shorts and a halter top with a red Chinese dragon on it. She tied the strings and walked out of the bedroom into the living room. Kevin had picked up one of the many Patricia Cornwell murder mysteries lying around the house and was reading it when he saw Colleen walk into the living room in her bathing suit. God, she’s gorgeous, he thought. A.J. whistled.
“So Colleen, did it hurt?” A.J. asked with a grin.
Colleen looked confused. “Did what hurt?”
“When you fell from heaven,” A.J. said, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
“I don’t know, A.J. Did you hurt?” Colleen asked with a grin.
It was A.J’s turn to look confused. “What?”
“When God threw you from heaven?” Colleen asked laughing.
Nick and Kevin started cracking up and A.J. pouted. Colleen grinned and blew him a kiss. A.J. caught it and grinned and turned his attention back to the TV as he had been sucked into playing Nintendo with Nick.
Colleen turned to Kevin. “Are Ryan and Brian back yet?” she asked as she went around the living room, straightening up. She then flopped down on the couch beside Kevin.
“Nope,” Kevin shook his head. They both sat there watching Nick kick A.J.’s butt at MarioKart. Pretty soon they heard the sounds of the front door opening as Brian and Ryan came back.
“Brian and Ryan are here,” Colleen said as she got up. She stopped and smiled. “Brian and Ryan, sounds like a car dealership.”
Kevin laughed. He got up and followed Colleen into the kitchen where Brian and Ryan were unloading the groceries.
“Hey, I called the gang, and all of them are coming,” Colleen said as she grabbed the steaks, hot dogs, and hamburgers. “They’ll be here in about twenty minutes.” Ryan nodded and handed Colleen the lighter to light the grill with.
Colleen went out and started the grill, throwing a couple of the steaks on. “Hey Ryan,” Colleen yelled.
“What?” Ryan poked her head out. “We need to set up the stereo out here,” Colleen said as she flipped the steaks.
“All right,got it.” Ryan nodded and went to get the guys' help in carrying the stereo out onto the porch. Kevin and Brian carried out the stereo and speakers and Ryan had just plugged it in and put on the new Hole CD when the doorbell rang.
Colleen wiped her hands and put aside the big plate of hamburgers, hot dogs, and steaks that she just finished. “I’ll answer the door.”
She walked to the door and opened it. There stood Dade, Colin, and Connor. “Ahhhh!” Colleen ran and jumped into Connor’s arms. “I haven’t seen you guys in so long,” she said as she gave big hugs to Dade and Colin.
“Same here, Pirate,” said Dade with a grin. She just stood there and smiled at them. “Oh, come on in,” she said shaking herself.
“This is going to be a great party.” She took the guys out to the pool where Ryan had just finished setting up the picnic table with all the food. Besides the barbecue, there was the usual food, corn on the cob, potato salad, fruit salad, hot dog and hamburger buns, and different condiments.
The doorbell rang again and Colleen went to answer it. This went on for a little while until the only person not there was Zach. Just then the doorbell rang and Colleen opened it up. Zach was standing there with another person. Colleen groaned silently. Great, he brings the slut queen, Lynn. Colleen forced a smile on her face.
“Zach, it’s so great to see you,” she said as she hugged the twenty-five year old. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too, shorty,” he said as he ruffled her hair. Colleen laughed. He was 6’0 and when she wore heels she was taller than him, so he would call her shorty jokingly. Just then Lynn cleared her throat loudly.
“Oh hi, Lynn,” Colleen said as she turned towards her. “I haven’t seen you in a long time either.” Yeah, and it was great, Colleen thought. “So come on in.”
They all walked out to the pool where the party was going on at full force. The music was blaring, a game of water volleyball was going on, and people were in the hot tub or just laying out in the sun. Colleen looked around and saw Kevin talking to Colin. She smiled. Colin had his own swing band so they could both talk music, she thought. Kevin’s head came up and they made eye contact and smiled at each other. Man, he looks good, she thought. Kevin was just wearing black swim trunks. He’s got a great body, she mused. She saw his eyes focus on something behind her and she turned around to see what it was. Lynn had taken off her clothes and was wearing the tiniest of string bikinis. Ugh, Colleen thought. How trashy can you get? But she noticed Kevin’s eyes taking in all of Lynn in her slutty glory. Men. Colleen forced it out of her mind and walked down to the pool.
She looked around for Ryan and saw her cousin laying in her blue two piece on one of the lounge chairs talking to Brian who was wearing a pair of blue swim trunks. Every once in while Brian would smooth a piece of Ryan’s hair back or Ryan would gently punch Brian’s arm in response to something he said.
That is so cute, Colleen thought. I just wish it was me. She saw A.J and Howie flirting with Simone and Rachel and grinned as she watched the guys try to be smooth. Nick was involved in the water volleyball game and look liked he was having fun.
Colleen turned around to walk over to where Kevin and Colin sat talking but she noticed that there was an addition to that conversation. Lynn had just sat down right next to Kevin and was hanging all over him. He didn’t seem to be resisting her efforts either. Colleen just stood there in shock, then she shook herself. It’s not like we’re involved or anything, she thought to herself. We went dancing and flirted. That didn’t constitute commitment, geesh. She desperately tried to convince her heart this but the pain wouldn’t go away.
Well, if he isn’t interested, I’ll find a guy who is, Colleen thought, her pride hurting.
She walked determinedly to where Zach, Connor, and Dade were sitting. She sat down and started talking to them.
Kevin was sitting there trying to hold what had been an interesting conversation with Colin until, what was the girl’s name, Lynn, had come up and practically glued herself to him. He moved her arm off his leg for what seemed the umpteenth time and tried to scoot further away from her. But like before, she just scooted closer. He looked around for Colleen, wondering where she was. He had wanted to talk to her all day but she had been busy with the party. He finally noticed her sitting in the middle of a group of guys, laughing and talking like she was have the time of her life. He saw her start rubbing one of the guy’s back and rest her legs on one of the other guy’s laps. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. What was going on? he thought. I thought she liked me. Wait, all we did was dance together and flirt, it’s not like we even went on a date, he thought to himself. There is no commitment. But despite all of his arguments, he still hurt inside. He excused himself and went to get a drink. All of a sudden he heard screaming, and he turned and saw the group of guys pick Colleen up and walk over to the pool.
“No, don’t you guys dare throw me in!” Colleen yelled. The guys just grinned. and dumped her in the deep end. She went down and a few minutes later came up sputtering. “Oh, you guys are the worst.”
The rest of the party just laughed and Colleen pulled herself out of the pool and walked over to get a drink. She slowed when she saw Kevin standing at the table but just squared her shoulders and continued walking.
“Hey Kev, so you enjoying yourself?” Colleen said. I’m sure you are with Lynn practically sitting in your lap, she thought.
“Yeah, it’s a great party. It’s cool to just hang with people not freaking because you’re a Backstreet Boy.” Colleen and Ryan had introduced the guys to everyone at the beginning of the party and while everyone had thought it cool the guys were there, they were just treating them like normal people.
“Yeah, the gang is pretty cool like that, except for throwing their friends in the pool,” she said, laughing as she fixed herself a soda.
“Yeah, your friend Lynn’s really nice,” Kevin blurted out.
Then he shook his head. what the heck did I just say? He looked for some sort of reaction from Colleen. But Colleen just nodded stiffly.
“Yeah, I’m sure you like her, what with her boobs in your face and everything,” Colleen said as she took a sip of her drink casually while she was burning up on the inside.
Hope rose inside of Kevin at what sounded like jealousy but then he got mad. What right did she have to judge with the way she had acted, he thought. “Oh, I like it about as much as the guys you were hanging with did. I just wish I could get her sitting in my lap like you were sitting in Zach’s,” he said as he turned around to look at her. Her eyes flared with anger.
“Oh, I’m sure if you but asked Lynn to, she would strip naked and do a little dance for you,” Colleen said loudly. A couple of the people at the party looked up at the sound of shouting.
“Yeah, well, that was what you were practically doing over there,” he said, shouting right back at her.
“Yeah, well why don’t I go and put on a couple of pieces of dental floss. Maybe then I could get your attention.”
“It didn’t look like you wanted it, what with giving back rubs to any guy who had a back. You had plenty of attention over where you were,” Kevin yelled.
Everyone by now was listening to them yell at each other. Colleen opened her mouth to reply when Ryan came up beside her and put her hand over Colleen’s mouth.
“You guys, go inside and cool down. I don’t want your arguing to ruin my party,” she said as she pushed the both of them through the sliding doors into the living room. She turned and after walking outside again, closed the doors.
Kevin and Colleen watched the door close and then turned and stared at each other.
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