When Angels Fall (Fallen Angels) (41 page)

“Chloe, she’s one of my only friends whom I’ve had since I was a kid. I did have a life before you. You can’t expect me to just drop people.”

“I know you had a life before me and I can even accept your friends. But she has been purposely trying to keep your attention since we got here today. You promised me this was our time. I’m sorry, but I’m not spending
our time
with her!” Chloe yelled at him and looked at the boathouse where Taylor was watching everything.

“Kinda like how I felt about you and Josh, except she’s my friend. If I wanted her, I would be here with her. I love you and she knows that!” he yelled back.

“Really? She has a funny way of showing it. Ask your brothers and Claire. They all see what’s going on. Like I said before, if you can pull yourself away from her tomorrow and really spend time with me, let me know,” she said and stormed off to go inside.

*
   
*
   
*
   
*

The next morning, Nick sat at the table spinning his ring and waiting for Chloe to come down. He was still in a fog about what happened the night before. And after talking with Taylor, he could see that Chloe was really jealous of his relationship with her.

“Hi, Nick!” Max exclaimed as he sat next to him. He kneeled up, reached for the box of cereal, and poured it to overflowing into the bowl in front of him.

“Hey, little Dude, having a good time?” Nick helped him put most of it back and then poured the milk, so that didn’t go everywhere.

“Yep, me and Collin are going tubing today. Do you want to come? I can share my tube with you,” Max offered, shoveling a spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

Nick laughed at that. It was so funny the way he always tried to get them to do things with him. In reality, they all had been busy with other things to pay much attention to him anymore.

Kevin sat down and Nick looked at him. “Max, how about, if we do a bro day, you, me, Kevin, and Mark?” Nick suggested.

Kevin was shaking his head no.

“Really? Like you three do? Just us four?” Max asked, excited.

“Just us four what?” Mark asked as he, too, joined them.

“Nick just told Max we would do a bro day with the four of us,” Kevin filled him in, looking pissed that he was now stuck with their little brother for the day.

“You know what, Max, why not? You want to hang with your big bros? You got it. I will ditch Claire for you.” Mark smiled and poured him and Claire a cup of coffee.

“Fine, I have nothing better to do anyway.” Kevin rolled his eyes.

“I guess I can ditch Chloe, considering she isn’t talking to me,” Nick added.

Mark hit him in the head.

“Ouch!” Nick exclaimed.

“What did you do now? Really, Nick, do you not listen to the brotherly advice I give you?” Mark shook his head.

“I didn’t do anything! Stop hitting me!” Nick yelled at him and punched him back.

“If you’re talking about Chloe, I think she’s still asleep. I just went to check on her and she didn’t answer,” Claire said, joining the conversation.

“I better go check on her,” Nick said, getting up. He didn’t want this to keep happening. This was the second night they had fought and it had to stop.

“Nick, you can’t back out on Max. It was your idea,” Kevin reminded him.

“I’m not, little Dude. I just want to see if Chlo is okay. Talk to Mark and Kev about what you want to do,” Nick told him and went up the steps.

He knocked on the door and waited for her to answer. When she didn’t, he went in. Quietly, he walked over to her and touched her arm. “Can we please talk about last night?” he asked her.

“Nick, I’m really tired. I just want to sleep a little more,” she answered softly and rolled away from him.

He was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. “Okay, go back to sleep. You’re on your own today. I’m going out with my brothers. I’ll see you when I get back,” he said and got up. Putting his hand on the door, he turned and added, “When you’re ready to let me explain and talk about how Taylor isn’t a threat, let me know. If this is the way you’re going to be this week, it’s going to be a long one.” When he got outside the door, he thought he heard her scream into her pillow, and then he heard something hit the door.

Nick went back into the kitchen and looked at Max. “Okay, buddy, what do you want to do first?”

Mark looked concerned. “She’s still pissed at you, isn’t she?”

“No, I’m pissed at her. It doesn’t matter.” He glanced from Mark back to Max. “It’s your day, Max. What do you want to do?” Nick ignored their disapproving expressions as he
 
asked again.

“Do you want me to talk to her?” Claire asked.

“No, she just needs to work it out herself,” he answered.

Kevin looked at him. “Max, go get your stuff, so we can get going.” He waited for Max to leave.

“What happened last night when you left the van?” Mark asked.

“Nothing, just things went too far and she got mad and ran away,” Nick answered, sat down, and started playing with a napkin on the table.

“What kind of things? Where the hell did you two go?” Kevin pressed him.

“Don’t worry about it. I am just tired of taking the blame, when this time she’s in the wrong,” he answered, throwing the napkin down.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Mark asked.

“You know what? No, because I don’t need your brotherly advice on this one. She needs to get over being jealous of any girl who’s in my life. Let’s just go get Max and get the hell out of here,” Nick answered and went to get ready.

They‘d been gone most of the day and twilight was just starting to set in when they got back. It had been a long day and he really missed her and wanted to get this over with. Nick went to her room and saw the there was no one there. On her bed, he found her sketch book. He’d never asked her if he could see it, but every once in a while, he caught a glimpse of the ones she’d worked on in class.

 
He started looking through it, feeling, in a way, he had invaded her privacy, but the more he looked, the more he found that he couldn’t put it down. He knew she was good, but never realized she was this good. There was a sketch of Millie sleeping from over the summer. Chloe’s attention to detail was amazing. She had every crease of the blanket and every line in Millie’s hands.

In an off sketch, she went into detail of her fingers and hand. Even the freckles were there. He knew now why the art schools had wanted her. He found one of himself that looked like he was trying to stay awake or sleeping. It was dated around the start of school. It had to be from history, because Mr. Green always put him to sleep. It looked as if she had traced his name over and over again on the paper. He had to laugh at that.
Had she thought about him then?

There were countless others, and as he got to the end of the book, he found one that really caught his attention. She ‘d drawn a picture of Shelly and her father. In Shelly’s lap was a baby, and behind her father was a lightly sketched image of herself. There was no detail in her image, it was transparent. This was how she had seen herself with her father. As nothing. Somehow, Nick knew he would have to try and make that up to her. His family had embraced her as one of their own, but she was still that little girl who’s wondering where her father was at Christmastime.

Nick found Chloe on the dock, staring out at the frozen lake, her long hair blowing in the breeze. He walked up behind her and put his arms around her. By the look on her face, he could see she had been crying. “Chloe, we need to talk about last night,” He hoped she would listen now.

“What about exactly? How you would rather spend time with Taylor or that I’m a bitch who a few months ago who you wanted to tell off? Were you punishing me today by leaving me here to think about my actions, like they do?” she replied harshly.

“Chloe, this has to stop. I’m not punishing you. We can’t keep fighting like this. Taylor and I talked last night and I realize now that you are threatened by and maybe a little jealous of her because of our friendship. But it’s you I want to be with. She even asked me where you were today. She’s really trying. I wish you could see that,” he explained.

Chloe’s face went red. “She was with you today? I had to stay here and she was with you? My God, it is like my father all over again. Just leave me alone. Find a way for me to go home and leave me alone,” she said and started to walk away from him.

“Are you breaking up with me? If that is what you want, Chloe, fine! I can’t believe you’re this upset over someone who is a really good friend to me!” he yelled at her.

“Yeah, she’s such a good friend. Why don’t you go and ask her sister and your brothers what they’re seeing right now, since you’re so blind? Oh, wait, here she comes, again. Talk to her about it, and while you’re at it, tell her you’re free. I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to take care of that for you,” Chloe said and ran back up to the house.

“What was all that about?” Taylor laughed, seeing Chloe in tears.

“I think we just broke up.” Nick turned and looked at the lake. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He had to talk to her. When he went to walk away, Taylor stopped him.

“Maybe this is how things are supposed to be. Nick, she isn’t like you. You need someone who is stable, and from what I have heard, she is pretty messed up.” Taylor placed her hand on his arm.

“Who have you heard that from?” He’d never said anything about Chloe or her past in front of Taylor, and this concerned him.

“I overheard your mom and my mom talking. Listen, you and I need to talk. I realized so much when I was away at school.” She took his hand in hers.

He was confused suddenly. She said he was just like her father. “Ta, I can’t talk now,” he said and went to head inside.

“No, wait. You have to hear this. Nicky, for the past few years we‘ve been really close. I realized at school I’ve been in love with the wrong brother all this time. You were the one who has always been here for me. Think about it. You don’t want to be with her. She has no clue how to make you happy or make you smile like I do. Why would we make all those promises to each other if we didn’t have feelings for each other? Christ, we were each other’s first kiss. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” she asked him honestly.

Everything Chloe had said was true. Damn it, he was wrong again. “Taylor, you are a special person in my life because we‘ve shared so much of our childhood together. But I really don’t think of you that way. As hard as it may seem, I really am in love with her. And I just screwed it up. I would love to sit here and really try to explain to you how much your friendship means to me, but somehow, I have to fix what just happened.” He felt bad, but Chloe was who he needed to talk to, not her. She‘d been right and he hoped she would forgive him.

As he started to head in, Taylor screamed at him that she hated him.

 
He wanted to yell back to join the club.

Mark, Claire, and Kevin were in the kitchen when Nick walked in. “Did you see where Chloe went?” he asked them.

“She went upstairs. She looked really upset. What happened?” Claire asked him as she leaned on the counter.

“I’m an idiot. I really screwed things up this time.” Nick took off his coat.

Mark covered Kevin’s mouth before he could say anything. “Tell me, you honestly didn’t notice she was making passes at you.”

“You know what? Instead of making me feel worse, how about that older brotherly advice you like to dish out so much?” Nick sat down and waited for the lecture he was going to get.

“You don’t need advice, Sweetie. You need a lesson in groveling, which your older brother is also good at.” Claire smiled and took his hand.