Catching You (15 page)

“Are you ready to go?” he asked. I nodded, smiling. I’d been
looking forward to this trip for a long time, but now I was getting a little
nervous. A lot of things had changed since we first started talking about the
trip freshmen year.

From what Nick had told me about his parents place it
sounded absolutely beautiful. It was built in the 1930’s and it sat on 2.5
acres of land. It also had eight bedrooms and six bathrooms, a music room, library,
countless sitting rooms, and an in ground pool.

I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders after
my conversation with Derrick the other day.

****

I stood at his front door, hand posed to ring the bell,
when I started to turn away. What am I doing here? I thought to myself, it’s not
as if he’s going to tell me that Bryn planned the accident or something. I’d
already asked him three separate times. What would make this time any
different? I thought to myself. I waited a few minutes and then rang the bell.
I heard scuffling inside and then Derrick’s nephew answered the door.

“Hi, I’m Lauren, your uncle’s friend, is he home?” I
asked. His nephew, I remembered at the last moment, was named Anthony. He
looked up at me with the biggest brown eyes you would ever see.

“My mommy told me to never open the door to strangers.”
And he started to close the door, a few seconds later the door was opened and I
was ushered inside.

“Hi Lauren.” She smiled, “I’m teaching Anthony not to
open the door to strangers.” She turned to him, “What did you forget to do when
Lauren came to the door?” she asked sternly. He now had his head down, “Ask who
it was first, sorry, Mommy.” He ran off to play. She turned back to me.

“Derrick’s in his room if you want to go upstairs.” I
thanked her, climbing the stairs two at a time. I didn’t know what room was
his, so I just started looking around hoping I’d find him on my own. A few
minutes later, I heard a door open and he walked out,

“Oh hey, Lauren, I didn’t know you were here. Is
everything okay? You do know that this is the third time you have been to my
house in the last month. I think that’s more than you’d been in our entire four
years of high school.”

I blushed, suddenly embarrassed. “I’m sorry, it’s just
that…”I trailed off.

“It’s all right, I was just teasing you. I was just about
to go downstairs to get something to drink, would you like something?” he
asked.

“Sure. I wouldn’t mind a Coke.” He nodded and headed
downstairs. I walked towards the room he came out of, which turned out to be
his bedroom. It had definitely changed since the last time. I walked over to
his CD collection, shuffling through a few CD’s when he came back in the room.

“Here you go.” He said, handing me a can of Coke.

“Thanks,” I said, grateful for something to hold onto. I
was suddenly very nervous. What if he told me to leave as soon as I began
asking questions? I thought to myself.

I took a deep breath. “I know.” I said. The only way that
I could think of to get him to talk to me was to make him think I knew
everything about the accident.

“You know what?” he asked suspiciously.

I licked my lips. “I know.”

He blushed. “ I wasn’t sure how to tell you since you’re
with Nick right now, but I’ve had these feelings for a while now and I couldn’t
keep my mouth shut any longer.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said.

“But, you said you knew. What were you talking about
then?” he asked.

I know the truth about the accident. Bryn told me
everything.”

His eyes got wide as I said those words, “Bryn told you
about the accident? I never thought that she would ever come clean. I mean, it
was Nick’s idea at first, but he was kidding. Or, at least I thought he was.”He
continued talking,

“Bryn must have heard us talking because the next day she
stopped me in the hall and asked if Nick was really going to do it. I pretended
to not know what she was talking about hoping she would get the hint and leave,
but she didn’t. I told her to forget she ever heard anything because it was not
going to happen. And she didn’t talk to me after that day. I thought that she
had forgotten about it until I heard about the accident. I was afraid to come
forward though. I didn’t want to go to jail.” I smiled over at him. He looked
scared; his face had paled considerably when he had been talking.

“You said that you knew everything, you tricked me.” He
bit his lip nervously. “Man, I’m going to be in lots of trouble for this.” He
started breathing heavily, looking like he was going to pass out.

“No, you won’t. I promise you that everything will be
fine.’ I patted his arm, smiling. “I didn’t believe Bryn when she first told me
that Nick had killed Ryan. It seemed ridiculous to me. I mean, you guys were
his best friends, why would you kill him?” I asked

He shrugged, “I’ve never pretended to know why Nick acts
the way he does. Maybe he didn't think that you would go out with him unless
Ryan wasn’t around? He knew how in love you were with him.” I leaned over to
give Derrick a hug.

“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard! I knew
that I wasn’t really friends with Nick for some reason and now I remember what
that is. He’s an idiot! I hate to run like this, but I’ve got to go home.
Nick’s picking me up for a date tonight.”

“You don’t like the guy, but you’re dating him. I‘ll
never understand women,” Derrick joked.

“You know why I’m doing this.” I said, smiling at him.

“I know. I just don’t want you to get hurt. I really care
about you, Lauren.” He said.

“You’ve been quiet, what’s on your mind?” Nick’s words
jolted me out of my thoughts.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” He glanced over, eyebrows
scrunched as if he didn’t believe me. “I promise it’s nothing.” He turned back
to the road and I closed my eyes. I must have fallen asleep because the next
thing I knew, Nick was shaking me awake.

“Lauren, babe, we’re here.” I squinted, the sun streaming
through the window. I’d forgotten to get my sunglasses out of my bag before
going to sleep. My eyes went wide, and my mouth dropped when I realized where
we were.

“This isn’t a cabin. It’s a freaking mansion,” I said when I
could find my voice. He nodded. I couldn’t believe it. I knew that Nick’s parents
had money, but when he said his parents had a place up north, I was expecting
something a little smaller. It was huge!

“Come on, let’s go,” Nick said, waving me towards the house.
He had my duffel bag over one shoulder while carrying his in the other hand. I
walked up the steps, pushed open the front door, and could not believe what I
saw. The rooms seemed to go on forever. I didn’t know where to start exploring.
Nick came up behind me, “Do you like it?” He asked, whispering in my ear. I
shook my head up and down.

“This is absolutely amazing. I knew your parents had money,
but I didn’t expect anything like this.” I turned around in circles trying to
take in everything.

“Just wait until I give you a tour of the place, you’ll love
it.” He grinned. Right as he set the bags down on the wood floor, a man came
out of the kitchen. He was wearing jeans and a polo shirt just like Nick.

“Mr. Nicholas, your father told me you would be coming down
to visit. Can I take your bags for you?” he asked. I was shocked. Nick hadn’t
told me that he had a butler. I nudged him, “You didn’t tell me you had a
butler. I thought they were supposed to wear a uniform?”Jameson wore jeans and
a polo shirt, his hair was the color of salt and pepper. His eyes coal black. My
eyes wide, still glancing around.

Nick chuckled. “That’s Jameson; he’s been working for my
family as long as I can remember. He’s not a butler, he’s family.” I watched
Jameson’s face as Nick said that and he had a smile that went straight to his
eyes.

“Thank you, Nicholas. Should I take your bags to your
rooms?” he asked.

“No, that’s all right, Jameson, I’ll get them myself. I want
to show Lauren around first.”

“Very well, I’ll be in the kitchen.” He headed off in the
direction of the kitchen. I leaned over to grab my bag and Nick took it out of
my hand and set it on the ground.

“We can leave those for a few minutes I want to show you
around before Elisabeth, Bryn, and Derrick get here.” I grinned. I still couldn’t
believe that Nick hadn’t told me about this place before. It was beautiful.

He led me through a doorway into the kitchen. It had a
center island, double ovens, and the appliances all were stainless steel. I let
go of his hand, walked over to the coffee maker, and just looked in awe. I
would be afraid to touch it in fear of breaking something. It had buttons that
I wasn’t even sure what they did.

“I’d love to have one of these.” I said in amazement. Nick’s
arms slipped around my waist, “Well, I know how much you enjoy your coffee in
the morning.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“What’s this button?” I asked, staring at a button on the
wall above the intercom.

“That’s the butler button.” he explained.

“That sounds fancy. Now I want to see the rest of the place,”
I said excitedly, but was distracted at the sound of voices in the front hall.
Nick grabbed my hand and headed to the foyer.

The front door was still open, Elisabeth and Bryn standing
by it. Elisabeth was wearing a white tank top with shorts that came to her
thighs. I could see her bra straps peeking out of it. They were black. She had
even changed the tips of her hair to neon pink instead of the blue that she had
at 4
^th
of July. I thought that she being slutty. Bryn looked cute in
a yellow sundress that cinched at the waist. I peeked out and saw Derrick
grabbing bags out of his car. I guess they had all come together.

“Hey, you guys have to come and see this place.” I grinned.
Bryn and Elisabeth were whispering to each other and hadn’t acknowledged I’d
come in the room.

“I’ll go.” said Derrick. He set the bags down on the floor
and closed the door behind him. The door closing got Bryn’s attention.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t hear you guys come in.” She smiled over
at Nick, “Hi Nick, Lauren, I’m starving.”

“Well, let’s go pick out bedrooms and then I’ll have Steven
make us something to eat.” Nick said.

“Who’s Steven?” Bryn asked.

“He’s the chef,” Nick explained calmly, as if it was no big
deal. She nodded her head up and down.

“There are eight bedrooms total and you guys can pick
whatever one you want.” He grabbed the bags and nudged Elisabeth towards the
stairs. She was just standing there, as I had been earlier.

As we walked upstairs I noticed the stairs were slippery
because my flip flop kept almost falling off my foot.

“What kind of stairs are these Nick?” I asked holding onto
the black iron rod railing.

“Ceramic tile, I think. Why?” He glanced back at me.

“No reason,” I said, making my way upstairs, careful not to
fall. I could imagine falling down these stairs and I didn’t like the picture I
got in my head.

Elisabeth was walking ahead of me and I heard her tell Bryn,
“Lauren must be happy that Ryan’s gone now, she gets all of this.” I didn’t
hear Bryn’s reaction. I just gritted my teeth and kept walking. I was not going
acknowledge her. I was here to have fun and that is what I planned to do.

“Here’s the room Lauren and I will be staying in,” Nick
stopped at the master bedroom and I followed him in the room. He set our bags
on the floor and I looked around. It had a king size bed that was so high it
had stools to get into. It had a fireplace, television, and a little sitting
room for relaxing. I walked into the bathroom and found two sinks, a Jacuzzi
tub, a shower, and a separate room for the toilet. I walked into the bedroom
and found only Nick.

“Why didn’t I get my own bedroom? Don’t get me wrong I love
this room, but what made you think that I’d want to share one with you?” I asked.

“I just thought that we’d be able to spend more time together.
Maybe even take whatever’s going on here to the next level.”

“Wait, we’ve been hanging out all summer, but you never
asked me to be your girlfriend or anything. You just assumed and now you think
I’m going to sleep with you. I’m not Elisabeth,” I argued.

“I just thought that this trip would change that.” He
nuzzled my neck. “Are you sure I can’t change your mind?”

“Not right now. We can talk about it later. I want to spend
time with our friends. I thought that’s why you invited all of us up here.” I explained.
Nick’s face fell.

“Darn, I was hoping you’d say yes.” I laughed and pushed him
towards the door. I began unpacking my bags, hanging up clothes that might
wrinkle in the closet, and put the rest of the clothes in the dresser.

 I really wanted to check out Bryn's bedroom to see if she'd
left any evidence lying around. I was sure that she would have written all
about it in her journal. I went off to find her room.

The first room that I walked into had boys’ clothes on the
floor already, so I knew that it was Derrick’s room right off. I closed the
door and began checking the other two. I found Bryn’s room on the second try.

She had chosen the room with the biggest bed. There was a
king size bed in the middle of the room and the television sat against the wall
on a wooden end stand. A hardback chair was in the left corner facing the wall
of windows. She also had a beautiful view of the front yard, but if I knew Bryn,
she would probably find a way to block out the sun with a bunch of pillows
because she enjoyed her sleep. She was a night owl and usually ended up staying
awake until one or two in the morning and slept until noon every single day.