Ray of Hope

Dirty Secret

A couple of days later, Nick sat at the breakfast bar sipping on a cup of orange juice, grinning like a fool. He found himself smiling at nothing lately, but also sleepy from the long phone calls with Ray.

"Yo Nick..." Howie smiled "I'm back, I heard you were looking for me. What's up?" he took a seat next to him, with his steamy cup of coffee.

"Hey man, I hope you guys don't mind that I have extended my stay."

Howie grinned and shook his head, "Not at all, actually I'm glad to see you grinning like a fool. I heard you needed to talk to me." 

"Well I needed you a while ago...but I guess I can share something with you now. Since AJ just hung up the phone after calling me a couple of his favorite words" he took a deep breathe "I have a girlfriend" he smiled widely.

"Oh well that's good! Different...you're not the girlfriend type of guy." Howie raised an eyebrow.

"Did I hear the 'girlfriend' word coming out of your mouth Nick Carter?" Leah said, walking into the kitchen and giving her husband a good morning kiss.

"Yeah..." he grinned again "And she's perfect...well at least to me." his smile faded, as he remembered AJ's frustration.

"So who is the lucky girl?" Leah poured some coffee and took a seat in front of the two men. "Do we know her?"

Nick cleared his throat "As a matter of fact you do! It's Ray...Raidyn." he chuckled at Leah's stunned face. "Raidyn...Celia's daughter?" Leah questioned, her eyebrows furrowed with concern. 

"Raidyn who?" Howie looked at his wife with a confused look "Celia...the cleaning lady...Celia?" 

"Yeah, the cleaning lady's daughter Raidyn." Nick clarified.

"Well I think she is a great girl, a little on the shy side, but she's very cute. The only thing is what about your dad? He's such a picky man, and he's an ass!" Leah frowned as she looked at Nick and then at Howie. "As his accountant I should know how shallow he is."

"Well what's wrong with her?" Howie questioned, waiting to hear that the girl was a druggie or something worse.

"She's...bigger than the average girl...not that...but...yeah..." Nick fumbled with his words. He didn't understand why he was flushing and stuttering. He had told himself it didn't matter to him.  

Did it really matter to him?

                                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raidyn sniffled as she washed her face "Great, get sick today..." She talked to her twin in the mirror. She sneezed once and again as she made her way back into the bedroom.

Mia sat tying her shoes, the two women hadn't talked much ever since the hospital stay. The silence between the two was frosty. "I'm guessing you're not coming today." Mia finally spoke looking up at Raidyn.

"Uh actually I don't think so, I'm not feeling well." she sneezed again. "I hate sneezing!" 

"Well I'll tell your mother to bring you..." Mia spoke coldly without looking at Raidyn.

 "MY MOTHER? I thought she was yours too?"

Mia finally looked up at Raidyn, she could see that her best friend/sister wasn't feeling well and she rather not bring more distress to her, "Sorry...I meant mom! I'm just tired and very stressed out." she stood up and headed for the door, then turned around. "You could have told me...that you liked him. Instead of going behind my back and becoming his girlfriend."