In the family room. Karen and Dawn were still talking, they were getting to know each other. 'Karen ain't that bad!' Dawn thought to herself. "So how have you been doing?" asked Dawn. "Have the guys been treating you well?"
"I'm doing great. The guys have been treating me like we have known each other for years or something. I couldn't have been better." Karen said enthusiastically. "I really do owe them a lot though."
Theresa tried to stay as far away from their conversation as she could but when Theresa heard Karen say this and she turned around. "You sure do, you've ruined their lives completely. I don't know how long they could put up with pretending to be your friend. Why don't you just leave them alone already? They are only being kind to you because they feel pity for you. A whore like you!" Theresa said rudely.
"Theresa," Dawn warned. "DON'T!"
"God, Karen who do you think you are waltzing into people's lives and thinking you belong when you really don't. You are the most pathetic bitch I've ever seen..." Theresa continued ignoring Dawn.
By this time, everyone was in the room was sitting there looking at the outrageous Theresa, her voice had gotten louder as her anger arose. All their jaws hanging open at what they saw. Karen just sat there taking in all she had to say. Her happiness had turned into complete sadness. 'Is it true?' she thought to herself as she looked around the room. 'Am I really in their way? Why didn't they tell me?'
"Theresa," Travis said. "Calm down."
"No, Travis you don't get it." Theresa said angrily. "This girl thinks she has the right to walk into other peoples lives and make it miserable for them."
"Theresa, you know that's not true." Dawn said.
"Dawn, I thought you were my best friend your suppose to back me up on this." Theresa snapped at her.
"But.."
Karen's face was heating up with embarassment and anger. "You know what?" Karen finally got up to say. "I'm sorry for being in the way!" she yelled. "I didn't mean to intrude in anyone's lives."
"No, that's not true," Kevin said.
"No, don't lie to me, all my life I've been lied to and I'm not going to be lied to again!" she cried. "I'll be out of your face in no time!"
"No, we like having you here." Howie said.
"Karen, Theresa doesn't know what she's talking about." Dawn tried to calm her down. Dawn looked over at the grinning Theresa. 'What got into her?' she thought about her friend.
"All I ever wanted was a nice group of friends to treat me for me! I tried my hardest to fit in and make the right group of friends and I thought I found them...." she looked around at all the eyes looking at her. Not only was she angry but she was also embarassed. She didn't know what else to do but to keep yelling out of anger. "...But everyone is the same! Rude, selfish and judgemental. I'm better off alone!" she continued. "And you!" she pointed at Theresa. "I don't know who the hell you think you are. You don't even KNOW me, you don't have the right to call me a whore or a bitch." she said furious. "I haven't done ANYTHING to you..."
Theresa just looked at her without saying a word.
"....I didn't say anything to harm you or make you judge me in any way. I haven't even said a word to you and you think you know me?" Karen yelled. "God, look at whose the bitch, you're ruthless! Judging me when you don't know me at all."
Theresa was now angry, she got up to face Karen. "I know you well enough to know what a conniving little bitch you are. You don't have the right to say anything to me. You're the one who needs the pity, you're the one who has to work for friends, you're the one who needs a life." she said not knowing wat she way saying at all. She was so angry that she was making no sense at all because she just said things that came out from the top of her head.
"Theresa, shut up!" Dawn tried to stop.
"AND I'M THE BITCH!!! You didn't even call to let these people know how you were doing. You let them worry about you.. you didn't care.. what makes you think that the care so much about you now...you know what? You're worthless, and on top of that you're from the streets who knows what kind of disease you carry. Only God knows what a huge SLUT you are."
"Theresa, STOP!!!" Dawn yelled.
"Theresa, please calm down," the peace maker Howie spoke up.
"No, you know what? She's right! I'm sorry I'm ruining your lives, I'm sorry for ever meeting you all!" and Karen stormed out of the room and up to her own room.
Theresa, with a huge grin on her face, pleased with what she just did, looked over at the door and there was Nick standing there, he had saw the whole thing and her grin slowly disappeared. He looked at Theresa in shock. He decided to speak up, "I don't know what got into you Theresa but you had NO RIGHT to blow up like that at her, she didn't do ANYTHING to you." Without another word, he went up the stairs to go find Karen. Seeing this Theresa fell back onto the couch.
As Nick said this, Brian and Leigh Anne ran into the room, "What was all the commotion about?" Brian asked.
"Yeah we heard yelling," Leigh Anne said.
They recieved no response from the people sitting in the room. Brian looked around the room and he didn't see Karen and right away he knew something was wrong with her.
"Where's Karen?" he asked.
Still no response.
"Where's Karen?" he asked again, but this time more forcefully. "God guys where the hell is Karen?"
"Brian calm down." Leigh Anne said surprised at his voice.
"B, calm down she's upstairs." A.J. finally said. "Nick's up there with her."
"Gee, was that such a hard answer." Brian sighed. "Now what happened in here. There was yelling." he asked as humble as he could. Still no answer. "Come on guys fill me in here, I want to know what's going on." he said annoyed.
Kevin sitting there watching his cousin get angry. He had never seen Brian so mad before. He sat there amazed, 'My cousin really is a caring person. He's helped this girl out more than any of us, he deserves to know.' He looked up around the room, all the people were hanging their heads at what they had just saw. Even A.J. and Amanda were quiet. "Brian, to make the story short. What happened was Karen and Theresa got into an arguement."
"Arguement?" Brian asked. "What kind of arguement?"
"Honestly cuz, I don't know." he said as everyone listened in. Even Theresa who sat there speechless and furious, as he continued to explain. "...and the next thing you know it Karen stormed out and went upstairs and Nick went up after her."
Brian looked at Theresa. He hardly knew her but he didn't like what she did. He left the room ready to go upstairs when he was stopped by Leigh Anne.
"Leigh Anne, let me go, I have to go see if she's alright?" he said.
"No, Brian, she's up there with Nick. I think she's fine." Leigh Anne said.
"But you don't understand."
"Brian I see that you really care for this girl... but I think she needs time to calm down." Leigh Anne said. "Plus she has Nick, I'm sure he could calm her down."
Brian stood there quietly, "Yeah I'm sure she's alright. She's in good hands." he said. "Let's go back into the family room and give everyone the bad news...."
"Brian.." she said. "I think we should wait until everyone is there.." she said meaning Nick. "And I don't think right now is the right time to do it."
"You're right... We should wait to see what happens from all this." he agreed.
Meanwhile up in Karen's room, she grabbed a bag and started packing her clothes. She was moving as fast as she could because she wanted to leave as quickly as she could. She couldn't stand to be in a place where she's not wanted any longer. All her life she had been lied too and shut out from the rest of the world. She truly thought she had found people who loved her, people who truly were friends.
Nick knocked on her door, but there was no response, he knocked again and still recieved no response. He was scared that she had left without a word and that he would never see her again. Worried and troubled, he barged in without having second thoughts.
Karen stood there and looked at Nick, who had stumbled into her room in distraught. Nick looked at her with caring eyes. "Hey..." he said quietly.
"Hi.." she replied with sobbing eyes.
"Karen, what happened down there..."
Karen interrupted him, "I don't want to talk about it."
"...it wasn't your fault." he said. He walked over to where she was standing. "I saw the whole thing..."
"No, she was right, I am in the way. Don't worry I'm going to leave so you can get back to your regular lives." she told him.
"No... I won't let you."
"Please, I can't stay here any longer knowing that the people I cared about think of me as a burden on their lives." she started crying harder, "Just like my parents..."
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" his voice raised scaring Karen. "Look, I'm sorry, but you can't keep running away from every single problem that arises in your life. You have to learn how to deal with them. These people are here to help you. Brian, Kevin and Howie accepted you into this house because they cared and they wanted to get to know you better. Theresa had no right saying what she said because she hardly knows us, we just met her at the beginning of the summer for god sake. She has no right on saying anything to you either because she doesn't know who you are, she doesn't know how kind and how sweet you are...Please Karen, I care about you and if you leave you're going to be taking a huge piece of my heart away with you." he said looking to the ground.
Karen stood there listening to every word Nick had to say. He sure was a sweet guy and said what he had to say to her where every word had such meaning.
"Karen, you can't leave, I'll be sad to see you go and so will the rest of the guys, I can vouch you on that." Nick continued. "There's no way anyone is going to let you leave this house. You have no where to go, plus you're one of us now..." he said as a tear rolled down his cheek.
Without saying a word, Karen walked up to Nick and gave him a hug. "Thank you Nick."
"For what?" he asked returning her embrace.
"For everything. You and the rest of the guys. You guys are the only reason why I'm still alive!!!" she said and she looked at him with even more tears in her eyes. This time with tears of happiness.
"No, don't say that. And I want to thank you..." he said. "For being a part of my life and for allowing me to be a part of yours." With that, Nick lifted up her chin and gave her a sweet, yet gentle kiss.
Karen was in heaven when he said this. 'He's... he's so sweet..' and she began to cry harder.
"Why are you still crying?" he asked.
"Because..." she said as she sat down on her bed. "Because I've finally found someone that likes me for me and knowing the lifestyle I had before, you've treated me like a queen."
Nick went to join her on her bed, facing the emotional girl in front of him. Karen reached out and caressed his cheek. He couldn't help but to just look at her. Slowly, their heads moved closer and closer... they kept looking into each other's eyes as their lips touched. Kissing each other passionately Nick lead Karen's head down to her pillow as slowly and as gently as possible. He held her in his arms stroking her back, back and forth, as they continued to deepen the kiss. He laid in her bed next to her feeling her fingers run through his hair. He slowly slipped his tongue into her mouth and they explored each other's mouths as the moment began to heat up. 'I have to stop, I can't go any further, she's at a stage of vulnerability right now and if I don't stop, my hormones are going to go out of whack.' he told himself. He pulled himself away as quickly and as forcefully as he could. "I can't... Karen I can't do this."
"I'm sorry, I... " she turned away.
"No, I just can't continue on because I'm afraid I'm going to make you feel uncomfortable and do things I might regret later on." he tried to explain.
"I understand." she said.
"Umm.. I think we should go downstairs, they're going to wonder what happened to us."
"You can go downstairs if you like, I'm not in the mood to go anywhere right now. I think I'm going to get some shut-eye." she said.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "You gotta eat something."
"I'm not hungry, I'll come down if I need anything."
"Promise you won't run away."
"I promise." she said honestly.
"Okay, cause I'm starved, I'm going to go get some grub and I'll come back to see how you're doing alright?"
"Okay." she said as he turned to leave. "Nick wait, can you stay here with me until I fall asleep, I just want to know your here for me..."
"Sure." He went and sat down by her.
"Thanks."
"Not a problem." he said as he put his arm around her. She laid in his arms as she felt the security and warmth he offered, she embraced him returning the affection. The feeling of love and knowing that someone cares put her to sleep in a matter of minutes. Nick looked down at the sleeping girl and decided to stay for a little while longer. But he too fell asleep.
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