Lessons In Life4

Chapter Four

All of a sudden the front door burst open.

"REEE!!!" three women screamed simultaneously.

"OH MY GOD!" Arianna yelled as she ran towards her sisters and grabbed all three of them in a huge hug.

"Arianna Colby Brooks, don't you ever scare us like this again!" 27 year old Jacinda, the oldest of the four girls scolded her youngest sister. Polished and sophisticated, Jacinda was the care taker and resident snob of the Brooks family.

"Cin, I'm so sorry. But you know that I can only handle you, Lyssie, and Kari dissing Nick for so long before I just have to get out."

"Baby, I think that maybe we might want to go sit in the living room," Nick said, coming up behind them. "Alyssa, Jacinda, Karinna, nice to see you again. I'm so sorry about Jaden."

"Thank you Nick,"Alyssa said. "And I agree with you. We should go inside, sit down, and talk about this." Alyssa was always the peacemaker, the voice of reason. She and Arianna were only 2 years apart and were closer than the other two. As they all piled into the house, AJ came up from behind, closing the door as he went through it. As the six of them shuffled into the living room, Arianna looked at her sisters and wondered what had possessed them to fly all the way down to Orlando to come after her. And she voiced that thought while it was still fresh on her mind.

"What in the hell do the three of you think you are doing, flying all the way down here, intruding in Nick's house, and basically showing up uninvited?" she asked.

"Umm...sweetie..." Nick mumbled. "They're not uninvited. I called them yesterday, and had Howie stick around after we left tonight to let them in. I wanted them here so you could tell them in person what we've been doing."

"And I'm glad he did Ree, cuz we've been worried about you. His actions also made us wake up and realize that we haven't been thinking about how this has hurt you and him both. Even though Nick isn't part of our family, he and Jaden were good friends, and he misses him too. We understand now why he couldn't be there. And personally, I'm glad he wasn't. The last thing any of us would have wanted was a buttload of press there just because a Backstreet Boy was at Jaden's memorial service," said Karinna, the sensitive one. At 25 and the second oldest, she was always concerned with how everyone else was doing. Must be why she was a therapist. And then of course there was Arianna, the 21 year old spitfire of the family. She was always getting into a fight, whether it was for her, or someone else. Typically, she was champion of the underdog, and would go to bat for anyone who she felt was being treated unfairly. At that point in time, she felt that Nick had been the underdog and had risked her sisters' wrath in order to protect him.

"I'm glad ya'll are here too. I really want to tell you why we were gone tonight, and what we have been doing. I think we all need to sit down," Arianna told her sisters.

"Ree, it can't be that serious. What in the world do you have to tell us?" Alyssa asked with trepidation.

"Okay then, here it is. Jaden might be alive."

Arianna watched as one by one her sisters dropped into seats, and their jaws hung slack from their mouths, their eyes as wide as saucers.

"Oh God Arianna, I hope you are playing a really sick and tasteless joke on us, because I don't know if I can dare to hope that he may be alive," Jacinda sighed.

"Think about it Cin, they never found a body, there wasn't really anything in his apartment to make us think he was killed, and we know that he has a few enemies. AJ found me a good private detective. His name is Josh Barnes, and he comes highly recommended. I told him everything I knew about Jaden, and if you three could also see him, and tell him what you can remember, I would really appreciate it. There might be something I missed that you guys would remember."

"Of course we'll do whatever we can hon, but do you really think he might be alive? I mean, I really don't want any of us to get our hopes up," Karinna said. "It would be devastating to all of us. I've just gotten to the point where I've accepted the fact that he's gone. I don't want to have false hopes that he isn't."

"No Kari, if he's really gone, I've accepted that. I've already resigned myself to the fact that my only brother is gone. But you have to ask yourself honestly, if Jaden were out there somewhere, wouldn't you do anything you could to find him and bring him back home?" Tears were rolling down Arianna's face, and Nick pulled her close to him in an effort to comfort her. His strong hands patted her hair as she finally let herself go, and sobbed into his chest.

"Ladies, I'll be the first to admit that the chances of ever finding Jaden are going to be very small," AJ interjected with his lulling voice. "But it's worth the heartache, on that small chance that he really is. There are such things as miracles, and if ever anyone deserved one, you lovely girls do."

Alyssa grasped AJ's hands into her small trembling ones, giving him a look of gratitude. A small tear formed in the corner of her eye, and AJ reached up to brush it away.

"Thank you AJ, that's sweet of you to say," Jacinda said quietly, with a half smile on her face. "I will talk to this Josh Barnes of yours. Do you have some sort of card I may have to get in touch with him in the morning? I am really quite tired, and would like to go to sleep. This has been a most stressful evening."

"Yeah Jacinda, we have a card. I'll make sure I give it to you in the morning," Arianna said. "And I'm sure there are plenty of guest rooms for the three of you. This house is huge."

"Yes Ree, we know. When we got here, Howie was nice enough to show us to our own guest room. He was a really sweet guy," Karinna said shyly.

'Somebody's got a crush on Howie,' Arianna thought to herself. 'I've got to see if I can get those two together.'

"So anyways, I'm going to go up and take a shower, then go to bed. Jacinda, I'll walk up with you," Karinna said as she got up from her chair.

"Nick, is it ok with you if I call my husband?" Jacinda said. "I want to let him know about everything that's going on."

"Sure, Jacinda, it's fine with me. As long as the three of you are here, just make yourselves at home. Even though I'm not a part of it, I feel as if you all are my family. I just want you to be comfortable as long as you're here," Nick smiled.

"Well, I'm not really all that tired, and the three of you look like you're fine too, so can we watch a movie? I'd really like to take my mind off this for a little while," Alyssa said.

"Yeah, Lyssie, what do you want to see? Nick has just about everything."

"Well, actually, I want to watch Urban Legends. I saw the sequel is coming out soon, and I never saw the first one. Do you guys have it?"

"Wide screen or regular?" Nick asked with a grin.

Alyssa laughed and said she didn't care as she, AJ, Nick, and Arianna all settled around the tv to get their minds off the events of the evening