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Chapter 11
Nick ran a hand through his hair, and pulled his hand down when he didn't feel his usual longer locks. That's right; he had cut his hair. He had to get used to that. Remembering why he was on the boardwalk, his eyes sought out Promise once again. She was standing three yards away, talking to a younger guy, who looked to be about 17-years old. He was gazing at her with fascination, and Nick bit back a laugh.
"Nick!" Promise called suddenly. He walked towards her quickly.
"Hey, Promise," he greeted.
"How are you?" she asked. "This is Jason."
"Hi, Jason," Nick said. "I'm great, Promise."
"What's up?" Jason asked. Nick shook his head.
"Have you talked to Brian since Faith's outburst last night?" Promise asked Nick. He shook his head, frowning.
"I'm still confused. What was up with that?"
"You didn't know?" she asked, surprised. He shook his head again. "Brian is Faith's dream man. She's in love with him, and she wrote him this letter. That's all I really know, but they've been like acting really weird, supposedly."
"Well, I'm lost, so I'm gonna go," Jason spoke up. "See ya, Promise, Nick."
Nick nodded at him, and Promise grinned and kissed Jason's cheek. Jason smiled, dazed, and walked away.
"That's news to me," Nick said, still watching Jason walk away. "Brian never said anything about a letter. And he's my best friend."
"Maybe he didn't want to tell anyone," Promise suggested as they walked down the boardwalk.
"His best friend?" Nick said skeptically.
"You never know," she said, shrugging. "I know that Grace has kept some secrets from me, and I have secrets from her, too."
"But it's kind of hard to keep a secret from Brian, and vice versa. We're always around each other."
"Do you not like that?" she questioned.
"I personally love it," he replied. "I grew up with him, and the rest of them, too. Brian's the best. I was only a teenager; 13; when we started out, and Brian was like, 18. He taught me how to drive. It was so funny."
"Brian did?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, I took the tests and everything…but I barely had any time to take the classes, so Brian and I went driving a lot," he said. "I ran a stop light, and all he did was laugh. I'll probably never do it again, though, because he was like, 'when you're on the test, your instructor won't laugh.' He was real cool about it."
He paused. "I wish he wasn't so bummed."
"He'll be fine," she assured him.
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"Faith?" Grace asked outside the door. "Are you going to come out? You can't stay in there for two months."
"I think I might," Faith responded. "If you'll be with AJ, and Kevin will be with Hope, and Howie and Destiny, then Brian will be forced to join them. I can't stand that."
"Stop that," Grace said. "Come out, now, or I'm calling Brian, and he'll stand outside your door all day instead."
"I'm sure he'd want to," Faith said sarcastically.
"Stop being like that, please," Grace begged. "He heard what you said last night before you slammed the door on us all, and he looked really hurt."
"It's not my fault," Faith said. "He's only hurting himself."
"How?"
Faith was silent.
"That's what I thought," Grace said. "Now come out."
Faith sighed and opened her door. Grace hugged her, and Faith managed a small smile.
"C'mon downstairs," Grace said. "I have breakfast. Yummy breakfast."
"I'm not really hungry, but oh well."
Faith followed her down the stairs, but she stopped short when she saw what 'breakfast' really was. Brian stood in the kitchen looking around, and when he heard them enter, he looked up hopefully.
"'Yummy breakfast'?" Faith asked Grace. Grace ducked her head sheepishly.
"Hey, Faith," Brian said.
"Why won't you leave me alone?" she sighed, plopping into a stool at the island in the middle of the large kitchen.
"Don't get me started on that," he answered. "There's only a million reasons."
Grace left the room quietly, and Brian sat in the stool next to Faith's.
"You're being really hypocritical," he began. Faith opened her mouth to snap at him, but he put a finger to her lips. "Let me finish, okay?" She nodded, and he lowered his hand unwillingly. "You write me this letter, right? I get it the day of the Grammy Awards. You blew my mind, Faith. I never knew someone who had never even met me could feel that way about me."
She listened, staring at the counter. She had no clue where he was going with this. Either he went one way or the other.
"I really don't want to marry Leighanne, I don't care if you believe me or not," he added. "I know how I feel, and I don't feel like not being your friend."
He was taking the 'let's be friends' path.
"My friend," she repeated. He nodded and put his hand over hers.
"I understand how you feel. Can I please have a chance to get to know you?"
"Yes," she said simply. He opened his mouth to argue, but he shut it when she answered so quickly.
"I feel something," he said honestly. "I have since I read your letter. I wanted to meet you. I wanted to talk to you, hear what you had to say. I cared about you, just like you cared about me without meeting me. How can you expect me to believe you that you love me so much, if you won't believe me that I feel the same way? You contradict yourself."
Faith gasped. "You never said you felt the same way, though, Brian."
"Now I am."
She turned slowly to look at him, and her heart melted when she saw the puppy-dog face he was shooting her way. She felt a tear slide down her cheek, and his eyes immediately turned down at the corners with sympathy.
"I didn't mean to make you cry," he apologized. "Was it something I said?"
"Yeah," she replied in a whisper. "You have no idea, Brian." It was overwhelming to hear her feelings for him reciprocated. She needed to breathe.
"Can we go outside?" she asked, standing up quickly. He nodded and followed her out the door.
As they walked, Brian just stared at her. He couldn't get over how incredibly beautiful she looked every day. She was wearing a plain white spaghetti strap tank top, and drawstring khaki shorts. She had brown leather sandals on, and half of her long auburn hair was pulled back in a large white claw-clip. Several strands framed her face, while the rest in the back hung straight down her back, blowing gently in the wind. Her sunglasses had purple lenses, so he could easily see her big, brown eyes, taking in everything as they walked.
"I feel like a problem," she said, turning to him and grinning. He smiled.
To see her smile was pleasure on his part.
"Why?" he questioned.
"I'm not a depressed girl, as you may think. In fact, until you opened the door of your condo yesterday, I was just fine. But seeing you so close made me realize even more how much I feel for you, and that I couldn't have you, no matter what, and it hit me like a punch in the stomach. You can ask any of the girls, Brian. Usually I'm always happy, and I joke around all the time," she explained.
"I don't think of you as anything but," he said softly.
"I meant every word in that letter. I don't know if you remember when I said I have bad days-"
"'Yet not a bad life'," he quoted. She turned shocked eyes on him.
Sheepishly, he pulled the letter out of his back pocket.
"You memorized it?" she asked, astounded.
"I think I did," he admitted. She burst out laughing.
"You're pathetic!" she cried. "I thought I was bad!"
"Stop laughing at me," he whined.
"No way," she said, gasping. "Wait until the girls hear this."
Brian groaned, but he was grinning. It was fun to joke around with her and laugh. He found himself comparing her to Leighanne in everything she did. He noticed how Faith didn't seem to care that men everywhere looked twice at her as they walked by. Leighanne got the same thing, but she would smile and soak it up. Almost like she was conceited. Faith waved at children walking by, and smiled friendly at old couples. His fiancée would pose with fans to be nice, but it was almost like they always approached her. Faith, on the other hand, was the first to smile at someone walking by. He was taken by her.
"Here, try one of these," Faith said, and he had to tear his eyes away to look down at where they were standing.
"What are they?" he asked suspiciously.
"I can't remember what they're called. Every year I forget. But they're delicious. They have like, every single fruit blended together in them, and they add whip cream on top…" she paused, closing her eyes and taking a sip. "I just remembered. Smoothies. That's what they are. Aren't they great?"
He took a sip, never taking his eyes off of her. "Delicious," he echoed, not even thinking about the drink.
"Let's keep walking," she said, snapping out of it. He hurried after her.
"Faith…" he began.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"You want to come to the beach with me tomorrow?" he asked in one big breath.
"Sure," she said easily.
He smiled and reached out to brush a strand on the side of her face away. At first she smiled, then she shook her head.
"My promise, Brian," she reminded him. He gaped at her.
"Are you still on that?" he asked. She didn't say anything.
"I touched you, Faith."
She still was silent.
"As bad as I feel for saying this," he began. "It's not that hard to disband your promises."
"Yeah, I know," she sighed. She kept her gaze on the walkway in front of her, and it was some time before she spoke again. "I don't know how long it might take, though."
"I'm a patient guy," he said.
"I know."
He didn't know why that surprised him, it just did. He had forgotten for
a minute that she knew him a lot more than he knew her. I'll get to know
her, he decided. It can't take that long.
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