When Angels Fall (Fallen Angels) (52 page)

“You seriously are not really thinking about doing this?” Nick asked her.

“I don’t know, Nicholas. It is extra money,” Chloe said to him.

“Hey, Mom, Chloe is thinking about posing nude for an art class to get some extra money,” Nick informed her as she came into the kitchen.

Chloe hit him.

“No amount of money in the world is worth it. As my adopted daughter, I will never allow it,” Gina told her as she put her hands on Chloe’s shoulders.

“I was only kidding. He did ask, but I turned him down.” Chloe punched Nick in the arm again.

“What did you need extra money for?” Gina asked her.

“She won’t go to the prom with me because she said she can’t afford a dress or anything else,” Nick answered for her.

Chloe gave him the evil eye. “Now, I won’t go because you’re being a jerk.”

“How much do I owe you for helping my son graduate?” Gina was not going to let her out of this. Chloe had worked hard to get Kevin’s grades up and she didn’t take anything for it. Now she’d found a way to repay her.

“I already told you, nothing. I don’t charge,” Chloe explained to her.

“Fine, when you see a prom dress you like, call me and I will get it for you. These are your last two years of school. You don’t have to go with Nicholas, but you are going.” Gina patted her cheek.

Nick bit his lip and snickered.

“Did you not hear her? I don’t have to go with you. With how you’re acting, I may not go with you now. I may go with Kevin,” Chloe teased.

“Yeah, I don’t think that would happen. He’s my brother and would never do that,” Nick replied, playing with her.

“The hell I wouldn’t. Chloe,
Baby
, what time should I pick you up?” Kevin piped in.

“Fine, go with Kevin. I hope you have a rotten time, and when it’s over and you want to head down the shore, have fun finding a ride,” Nick said and left the table.

Kevin laughed and looked over at Chloe. “You know there’s no way I’m going to take you, right?”

“There’s no way I would go with you. You’re my older brother for God sake. That would make me look really desperate.” She laughed, and then went to find Nick.

He was sitting on the wall in the back, looking over their yard. When he saw her come out, he turned away from her.

“If I sit down, are you going to leave?” She slowly approached him.

“Depends, are you going to the prom with Kevin or me?” he questioned her.

She threw her arms in the air and rolled her eyes. “You deserved that. That was so unfair to ambush me like that in front of your family.” Chloe sat next to him and he took her hand.

“You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?” He didn’t think she would, but it was something Kelly would have done.

“What? Go with Kevin? No!” She laughed.

He looked at her seriously. “No posing for Roger. I really don’t care how much money he offered you; I would be more than a little upset if you did.”

“Nicholas, I go to Catholic school, I wear a purity ring, go to confession weekly, and teach Sunday school. I even say my prayers every night. Don’t you think I value my body too much to do something like that? Besides, I would never do that to you.”

He shook his head. “We talked about this last night. It hasn’t been twenty-four hours and again, you are making me feel bad. If you keep this up, we will wait until we get married.”

“You don’t want to make love to me now because I’m a good, little Catholic schoolgirl? Are you going to take everything I say to heart?” Her expression was full of disbelief.

“Maybe, because I was thinking that after the prom, we could head down the shore. I was going to look into a bed and breakfast to spend the night,” he suggested, testing to see what she thought.

“That sounds so nice. Can you find one on the beach?” She looked a little excited

“I can try, but that wasn’t why I was thinking about it.” He pulled her over to him and stood up to look her in the eyes. “I was thinking it would be a perfect place for us, for the first time.”

She laughed at that. “How cliché, you want to wait for prom night.”

He let go of her hands and started to leave in a huff. “Okay, forget it. Go with Kevin and forget I ever said anything!”

Chloe grabbed his arm. “Nicholas, stop being such a baby.” She put her arms around his neck.

He looked at her in shock. “You just said it was cliché to have our first time to be on prom night. Not me. I was trying to be romantic for you.” Reluctantly, he put his arms around her.

She smiled at him, running her finger close to his forehead. “I think it would be really romantic for prom night to be the first time we make love. It is kinda like a wedding night, if you think about it. I’ll be in a gown; you’ll be in a tux. You’ll give me flowers and I will give you me.”

“I never said anything about flowers,” he teased.

“Oh, yeah, Buddy, I want a rose wrist corsage, and since you have so much money, as Shelly puts it, I want a limo. I’m not going in your
’stang
.”

“But you said I looked sexy in it,” he protested.

“You do, that’s why you have to wait to drive it for when we go down the shore,” she teased him back and went inside.

*
   
*
   
*
   
*

The next day, Mark came down the steps and paced the room.

Kevin and Nick watched him and wondered what his problem was.

“Okay, we’re going to the mall,” he said to them.

“Why is that, brother Dear?” Kevin laughed, getting up.

“Yeah, the girls are at the mall with Mom and I was told to stay far away from there. What? Is it bad luck to see her prom dress?” Nick still couldn’t understand why he had to stay home. He wanted to see what she picked out.

“Trust me, you don’t want to get sucked into the whole color drama. ‘This shade of pink or that shade?’ It was the same damn color— pink!” Kevin ranted as though he’d been through it before.

“We’re not going to look for the girls. I need your help with something.” Mark was short with them, acting nervously.

“Mark, no matter how badly you want to be cool, it’s not going to happen. Nick and I can’t help you. You’re lost,” Kevin joked.

“You know what, Kevin? Stay here. Nick, let’s go.” Mark grabbed his keys.

“Okay, sorry I can’t joke with you. What the hell is your problem?” Kevin ran to get into his car.

Mark got in and sat back to take a deep breath. “Okay, I’m going to tell you, but not one word to Mom, Dad or Claire, and not one joke!”

Nick could see he was stressing over something. “Mark, Dude, what’s wrong with you? You’re sweating,” he said, putting his hand on Mark’s shoulder.

Mark took another deep breath. “I want you two to help me find a ring.”

Both of them stared at him.

“Mark, what kind of ring?” Kevin asked while looking worried.

“What are you thinking?” Nick added.

“I know Claire is it. She’s the one. I mean, why else would we break up and get back together so much? Things are so much better this time and I really don’t want to lose her again,” Mark explained.

His brothers sat in their seats, speechless.

“Okay, say something,” Mark stated.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kevin acted like he was still hoping this was a joke.

“Dumb ass, he wouldn’t have said it if he wasn’t,” Nick shot at him. “Are you sure about this?”

“This is really big step,” Kevin added.

“I know that, but it just seems like the thing to do now. Kevin, I know you could never understand that, but Nick should.” Mark stared at both of them.

“Do you honestly believe I could never understand how you two feel about your girls? Christ, Nick is so hooked on Chloe that he can’t see straight half the time, and you and Claire, well, never mind, but I understand,” Kevin defended.

“So, you are sure about this? You really want to ask her to marry you?” Nick asked him, really surprised he was going to go through with it.

“Yeah, I think I am. I could use some support from you two.” Mark sighed heavily.

Nick shook his head and looked back at Kevin. “Okay, Mark. Let’s go help you find a ring.”

“Yeah, Man, let do this,” Kevin added as he tapped Mark’s shoulder.

“Okay, let’s go,” Mark replied and they drove off.

*
   
*
   
*
   
*

Gina brought out one more dress for Chloe to try. “I found it by chance behind some other dresses, but when I saw it, I knew this was the one for you.”

 
Claire had been back in the fitting room, helping her, and came out. “I told her to wait while I find something. Oh my God, Gina, she looks amazing. She doesn’t even need that much to go with it,” Claire exclaimed sounding excited.

“There isn’t another one like it.” Gina smiled, seeing the dress on Chloe now.

“Hey, Mom, does this dress make my butt look big?” Kevin asked, holding up a little black dress.

Mark just covered his eyes.

“You really can’t give me one day of peace?” she scolded them.

“Yeah, what are you guys doing here? Nick isn’t allowed to see her in the dress until prom night. You know that Mark!” Claire yelled at him.

Kevin looked at him. “Are you really sure about that thing you told us about?”

“Shut up, Kevin,” Mark said through clenched teeth. He turned to Claire and said, “I tried to tell him that, baby, but he insisted.”

Nick just looked at him, wondering where that came from. He was the one who saw Claire and wanted to come in. “So, how many has she tried on and how does she look?” Nick sat next to his mom.

“You will have to wait and see. Now get lost,” Gina said, dismissing him with a smile.

Chloe came to the curtain and called to Claire. “You’re right, it doesn’t need anything.” She stopped and Mark covered Nick’s eyes.

“Oh, my God! Get him out of here!” Claire yelled and stood in front of Chloe.

Kevin stood there with his mouth hanging open.

“Hey, Dummy, let’s go,” Mark said as he pulled Nick out of the store.

As they walked to the jewelry store, Nick questioned Kevin as he hit his arm. “So?”

Kevin put his hand on Nick’s shoulder and shook him. “All I can say is you are so lucky. I should have asked her out when I had the chance.”

Mark laughed at that. “You never had the chance. Nick was hot for her since the carnival and don’t try to say you weren’t.”

“Maybe, but I won’t admit it,” Nick joked.

They walked into the store and Mark started looking. Nick noticed amethyst jewelry and decided to look at what they had. He saw this one ring that was a teardrop-shaped stone with two smaller diamonds beside it. It was set in white gold and the ring band was twisted. He turned to look and saw that Kevin was hanging out with Mark, so they didn’t need him yet. He stared at the ring and thought about what they were planning for prom night.