When Angels Fall (Fallen Angels)

by Jo Cattell

  “I hope so, for your sake. I want to talk to you this week about maybe doing an internship at one of my offices. It should help with school and leave you an opening when you graduate. But we can talk about that later,” his uncle suggested.

  “Mark!” A girl called as she ran down the steps and jumped into his arms. This was the Claire who Chloe had heard so much about. The one Nick and Kevin cringed at when Mark had said they were back together.

  Claire was as obviously happy to see Mark as he was her. She was about Chloe’s height, with long, wavy, auburn hair. She had a pale completion and a hint of an Irish accent. And by the way she looked at Mark, Chloe could tell that there was a history there and they just seemed perfect for each other.

  Their uncle then looked at Kevin.

  “Uncle Robb, I think I have $50 stuck behind my ear,” Kevin hinted as he pulled at his ear.

  “Maybe you should wash better, because I can’t get it unstuck. My God, Boy, you sound more and more like me every day. How’s the arm? I can almost bet who caused it,” their uncle said and winked at Nick.

  “It’s still a little tight, but I have to have therapy to work it out. And he so totally did cause it. So, it’s my last year to play ball, are you going to make any of the games?” Kevin asked.

  “Kevin, when have I ever let you down about your games? Someone has to keep the sports in the Allen family. Your dad couldn’t. At least you boys have.” It was a definite jab at their father.

  “Sorry, Robb, I’m just not that athlete you are, but I have carried on the family name, at least four times,” he shot back. It was like watching Kevin and Nick go at it.

  Their uncle then turned to Nick. “Nicholas, how are you, son? Glad to see your brother hasn’t killed you yet.”

  “He hasn’t yet, but it isn’t for lack of trying.” Nick laughed and hugged his uncle.

  “Wait until we hit the pool,” Kevin said and smirked.

  “Kevin? No blood in the pool this year. I’m still trying to figure out how Nick is still alive after last time. That was a lot of blood. I thought you murdered him,” Uncle Robb stated.

  “I’ll keep them in line,” Mark added.

  “So, Nick, how was Christmas? Was it the one you talked about since you were ten?” Uncle Robb said and winked.

  “It’s sweet, Uncle Robb. I wanted to drive up here, but Mom wants me to get used to it first. Thanks for remembering.” Nick was beaming.

  Their uncle then looked at Chloe and smiled. “Is this the lovely young girl I’ve heard so much about from your mother?”

  “Uncle Robb, this is—” Nick started to introduce her but his uncle took over.

  “Miss Chloe Gardner, the girl who has stolen my nephew’s heart. I can see why. You have very good taste, Nicholas.” His uncle winked as he took her hand.

  There was just such a warmth about him and Chloe smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Allen. Nick talks about you all the time.”

  “Don’t believe a word he says. “ He raised a brow. “Unless it is good. And, please, you can call me Uncle Robb, like the boys. Mr. Allen is my brother and he’s sooo much older than I am. Welcome to our humble home. Please make yourself at home, and if you need anything, just ask.” He smiled at her, then turned to Nick’s parents, “Mark, Gina, we have seven o’clock reservations. So, I’m going to let you get settled and go back to going over the plans for New Year’s. Have fun, Kids.”

  “Go unload the van and get settled,” Gina said. “If you plan on going out tonight, don’t make it too late. And for the love of God, please stay out of trouble. Kevin! I’m looking right at you.”

  “You know Mark and Nick get into as much trouble as I do. Why do you always assume I’m the one who’s the problem?” Kevin protested.

  “Because you are,” Nick stated.

  “Yeah, Bro, it’s a fact. Nick and I just don’t get caught. You would think with Nick being younger than you, he would, but somehow, he always gets out of it,” Mark added.

  “I’m just that good.” Nick laughed and started for the door.

  “Stop picking on your brother. Kevin, I know you’re a good kid,” Claire jumped in and hugged him playfully.

  “Nice try, Claire. I know your deal. You did the same thing last year. You stick up for me and then beg me to take Taylor to New Year’s. Not happening,” Kevin informed her as he pushed her away.

  “Oh, you’re taking her this year. She has really changed. She got contacts and the braces are off. She is turning into a real hottie.” Claire put her hands on her hips as she tried to entice him.

  “Well, since you put it that way, umm, no.” Kevin went to follow Nick.

  “Is it because when you were twelve, she spilled that soda on you when you were talking to Melanie Shane? She only did it because she heard Melanie tell Sara you had bad breath.” Claire laughed at him.

  “No, she did it because she was mad I told Ronny she still sucked her thumb,” Kevin went back at her.

  “I thought you were mad at her for walking in on you in the pool house?” Nick asked, confused.

  Kevin hit him in the head. “That never happened.”

  “Oh, yes, it did. She told me the whole story and, well—I told Mark,” Claire countered and laughed.

  “Oh, yeah, and I told Nick,” Mark added as he put his arm around Claire.

  “And when I asked you about it, you got red, like you are now, and went storming off,” Nick continued and Kevin went out to the car.

  “Like he just did,” Mark snickered and fell into Nick as they both laughed loudly.

  “You two are horrible.” Chloe laughed a little, seeing Kevin get a taste of his own medicine.

  “Oh, this is nothing. I don’t know what they’re like at home, but up here, they are completely rotten to each other. Hi, you must be Chloe. Mark has told me about you,” Claire said, introducing herself.

  “Don’t tell her anything about Nick. We like her and want her to stick around for a while,” Mark added and put Nick into a head lock.

  “Oh, so we can’t tell her about—”

  “No, defiantly not about that,” Mark teased as Nick tried to break free.

  “Nice try, but maybe I should tell Claire about that thing you said on the way up here,” Nick groused, finally getting loose.

  “Come on, slackers, get moving,” Kevin said, bringing in his stuff.

  “Nick, why don’t you bring in Chloe’s things and put them in the guest room next to ours? I can take Chloe and show her around,” Claire suggested as she hooked her arm around Chloe’s.

  “Okay, but like Mark said, we like her, and we want her to stick around, so keep the stories about me to a minimum.” Nick kissed Chloe’s cheek, and went out to the van with Mark.

  Claire waited for them to leave, and then smiled at Chloe. “It’s going to be nice to have another girl here to torment them. It is so hard when it’s two on three. They can be pretty tricky.” She smiled and started the tour.

  “Yeah, Gina made the mistake of telling them she adopted me and they’ve been really getting on Nick about that one,” Chloe informed her.

  “Yeah, they usually do. Poor Nicky always gets picked on because he was the youngest for so long. So come on, let me show you this amazing house. And like Uncle Robb said, whatever you need, all you have to do is ask and please don’t be afraid to. Robb goes out of his way to make sure everyone is happy.” Claire smiled and showed Chloe the amazing house.

  From the outside, you could never tell what actually was in the house. From the inside, you could see all four stories from the entrance area. Claire showed her all around the spacious mansion from the huge kitchen, and dining room to the indoor/outdoor pool and pool room, a teen bar and adult bar.. There were five suites, four bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, along with a game room and media room. The best part was the elevator. Claire had just shown it to her when they stopped on the first floor and Claire screamed, “Taylor!” She jumped out and hugged her sister. “You weren’t supposed to be
here until late tonight.”

  “You can thank Gram for that. She drove Mom crazy and we left this morning. I missed you!” Taylor hugged her older sister.

  “I’m so sorry. Taylor, this is Chloe, Nick’s—” Claire started but Taylor interrupted her.

  “Oh, my God, are they here yet? I have to see Nicky. I’m so mad at him. I haven’t heard from him since right after school started and I wanted to see if he put that bitch from the carnival in her place yet,” Taylor said and dragged Claire out into the foyer to their parents.

  Chloe followed them out, and as they reached the foyer, Nick and his brothers came down the steps. Taylor screamed his name and jumped into his arms.

  Chloe watched him hug her, and then she kissed his cheek.

  “Wow, Taylor, you look amazing. It’s like you grew up over the fall,” Nick exclaimed as he looked her over.

  “Boarding school has done me wonders. And look at you, Hottie. What the hell happened? No emails after school started. Please tell me you put that girl in her place.” Taylor threw her head back and laughed.

  Nick looked over at Chloe. “Hey, I want you to meet someone.” He took her arm and led her over to where Chloe was standing. He put his arm around Chloe, and then smiled at Taylor. “This is the Taylor I have been telling you about. She’s one of my oldest friends.”

  “Yeah, my sister introduced us. Who are you, Kevin’s girlfriend?” Taylor asked.

  This was the first time Chloe got a good look at her. She was a little shorter than her sister, pale with darker hair and hazel eyes. She had that Irish complexion that Claire had as well, but she was pretty. She didn’t seem like that meek girl Kevin and Nick had both described. “No, actually, I’m Nick’s girlfriend,” Chloe said softly, suddenly feeling like a third wheel.

  “Not the girl from that carnival? Oh God, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to call you a bitch. God, Nicky, I really put my foot in my mouth this time. Well, it is really nice to meet you. Listen, I was wondering if I could steal him away for a little while. I wanted to catch up with him since he’s so bad at emailing me and telling me things.” Taylor laughed as she held onto Nick’s arm.

  “Taylor, I was going to—” Nick started but she interrupted him.

  “Nicky, I’m sure she understands. You probably want to go unpack and all,” Taylor suggested to Chloe.

  “Taylor, I think he wanted to show her around more,” Claire broke in, looking surprised at her sister’s actions.

  “Oh, he can do that later. Come on, we have loads to catch up on. See ya,” Taylor yelled, taking Nick by the arm and heading outside.

  Chloe stood there, not sure what had just happened. He hadn’t protested or insisted he stay; he just went with her.

  “Wow, Claire, you’re right. She has changed. She got mean. Still not taking her,” Kevin said, shocked at the normally sweet girl who was gone now.

  “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want you to. Chloe, I’m so sorry she said that to you. She had no business acting that way. I really don’t know what came over her,” Claire said, trying to make up for her sisters actions.

  “It’s fine. She’s right. They needed to catch up and I do want to unpack. Someone just come and get me when it’s time to leave,” Chloe answered and watched the two of them as they walked outside. She shook it off and went up to her room without a second glance.

  * * * *

  Taylor had not stopped talking since they had gotten outside. The more she talked, the more he realized Mark and Claire had been right: she had changed. She’d never been this talkative.

  She turned and looked at him with a smile. “Okay, so what is the deal? Are you going to burn her New Year’s Eve?” Taylor asked him excitedly.

  “Burn who? Chloe? Why would you think that?” He was confused at a lot of the things she’d said so far, but this was the strangest.

  “She was the girl from the carnival, the one who drove you crazy. Why would you bring her here if you didn’t want to get back at her? I mean, come on, Nicky, she really isn’t your type. You said she was artsy, and kinda snobbish. What changed?” Taylor sat down on the picnic table and looked at him.

  “I kinda like artsy and the group she hangs with is snobbish. I don’t know. She’s just really different. She is like you in a way. She talks to me, and doesn’t go out of her way to impress me. She isn’t a fake, like the others were. And with everything she‘s been through, it’s like I can relate to it in a way. I know you’re going to like her.” He smiled, thinking about Chloe now.

  “Yeah, I bet. So, what happened to you? You seem different. And you stopped emailing me. What gives? I thought we were closer than that.”

  Nick sat next to her and leaned down with his arms on him thighs. “I got busy with school and my mom put us in youth group. I did get your emails. I just never had a chance to get back to you. Don’t be mad. So, boarding school did wonders for you. You really look great Ta. I’m sure Kevin was shocked.”

  “I really don’t care if he is or not. I am so over your brother. He lost his chance. I’m not mad; I’m just hurt you forgot about me.” She pushed his shoulder.

  “I didn’t forget about you. I could never do that. I wanted to tell you about Chloe, too. I just haven’t really had the chance. She means a lot to me Ta. I’m in love with her. After all that crap with Kelly, I didn’t want to even think about this stuff. When I met her at that carnival, I really tried to not find anything about her I liked. Then, when school started, we got paired up because she had a lot of my classes and I started to get to know her.” He smiled, thinking about Chloe, and then felt guilty. “Hey, can we do this later? I think I need to go and talk to her. I kinda left her to fend for herself and that wasn’t fair.” He got up and started to head back in.

  “Sure, why not push me off again? You’re starting to sound like Kevin!” she called to him.

  “I’m better looking than Kevin!” Nick laughed and went in.

  He took the steps two by two, and then went to the room at the end of the hall, the one that was inches from his. He knocked on it and waited for her to answer. She opened the door and looked at him. “Can I come in?” He reached for her hand.

  “I don’t know. Don’t you need to catch up with Taylor? I think she really would be upset to know you were here talking to the bitch from the carnival,” Chloe shot at him.

  “I never called you a bitch. That was all her. To me, you were the rude girl who butted in front of us. Baby, please let me in. I’m sorry.” He felt bad for what Taylor had said to her.

  “Come on, we are heading to dinner,” Mark informed them as he came out of their room.

  “We can talk about it later.” Chloe opened the door and walked past him.

  Nick grabbed her hand and pulled her back. “After dinner, when we get back, we’ll go for a walk and talk. I want you two to be friends. She didn’t mean it when she called you a bitch. I’ll talk to her about it.” He didn’t want to fight with her. He wanted to have a good time and spend some time together.

  “Just you and me?” she asked hopefully.

  He hugged her tightly and then kissed her. “Yeah, just you and me. I thought we could take a walk out to the boathouse and light the fire in there and just spend some time together.”

  She started playing with his dog tag necklace, and then looked up at him. “That sounds really nice. I kind of thought we could make up for last night.” She smiled shyly.

  He laughed at that. “That was what I was thinking, too.” He was about to say something else when they heard Taylor call up to him to hurry up. Nick rolled his eyes, and then taking her hand, they went out to the van.

  * * * *

  To Chloe, it seemed like Taylor had other plans for Nick. It started with her jumping into the seat with him, and then talking to him all the way to the restaurant, and then when they were seated, she made it so Chloe couldn’t sit with him. For the most part, Chloe sat and listened to them talk about summers and holidays past.

  She f
elt stupid being a little jealous, because she knew he had a life before her and there were people he was friends with. But Taylor was making it hard to like her. She kept touching him and talking around her. At one point, Nick winked at her, and when Chloe smiled, Taylor spilled a glass of water on her.

  She had noticed the way Kevin had looked at her after it happened, waiting for Chloe to say something. But that wasn’t like her. She just got up and excused herself to the bathroom.

  Once Chloe got to the bathroom, she didn’t know if she wanted to scream or cry. She hit the dryer and held her shirt under it, hoping it would dry a little.

  Claire came in and put her purse down. “I’m so sorry. Mark is signing the bill and we’re going to head home. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with her.” She tried to help Chloe dry her shirt.

  Chloe just shook it off and faked a smile. “It’s fine. It was an accident.”

  Claire hit the dryer again and looked at Chloe. “Are you kidding? She did it on purpose. I watched her. She didn’t like that Nick looked at you. I know she’s my sister, but she is being a real bitch right now. The question is? Are you going to continue to let her dish it out? Last time I checked, Nick is your boyfriend and she hasn’t let him near you.”

  “They’re friends and they haven’t seen each other since the summer. They’re catching up and she—can’t keep her hands off him. I don’t think he even realizes it,” Chloe finally confessed.

  “Guys are dumb. They never do. Well, Mark picked up on it, though, which really surprised me. Like I said, she’s my sister, but in this case, I got your back. I will talk to her later about her actions. But you have to show her that he’s yours and you’re not going to put up with her shit anymore. Or this is going to be a very long week for you and you two may not be together when you go home,” Claire explained as she fixed her hair in the mirror.

  “So, what should I do?” Chloe liked her. She couldn’t understand why the boys didn’t like her. Claire was very down to earth and sweet.