Nick grabbed his bag from the worn sofa as gently as he could. He opened the door quietly. He was trying to sneak out of the house without letting Christina know. As Nick was opening the door, he didn’t realize a sneaker was right in front of him. Being the big and clumsy blonde he is, he tripped over it causing him to fall over and create a loud crash. Not only Christina could hear the crash, but so could Nick’s neighbors since he opened the front door. Christina was startled by the sudden outburst downstairs. The apartment was as quiet as it could be until Nick’s little accident.
“Must be Nick again.” Christina mumbled as she climbed down the stairs to find Nick getting up from the floor. A bag lay beside him and Christina guessed that he was avoiding her. “You don’t have to avoid me you know.” Christina said quietly feeling tears coming to her brown eyes.
Nick stiffened. He turned around slowly. “I’m not avoiding you.” He said not daring to look at Christina, “I have to go to Brian’s, that’s all.”
“Would you stop avoiding the truth? We have to talk this through, if we don’t, we’re only putting it off till another day.” Christina argued unhappily.
“We won’t have to talk about this tomorrow,” Nick replied as he shut the door, “We won’t.”
* * *
Christina lay uncomfortably on her stomach in her bed, sobbing uncontrollably. “I have always wanted to know what it felt like to be in love. I never thought that it would hurt so much.” Christina managed to sputter out in between sobs. Suddenly, a ring came from downstairs. Christina wiped her tears from her red face with the sleeve of her black Guess? shirt. The bell rang once more and Christina hurried down the stairs and opened the door to reveal Jane and Aaron Carter.
“Have you been crying?” Jane asked worriedly and pushed Christina inside. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened.” Christina replied, her voice quavering.
“Are you okay?” Aaron asked nervously as he sat down beside Jane Carter on the couch.
“I’m fine. Why are you here?” Christina asked although she was sure that they were here to take her away.
“Didn’t Nick tell you?”
“No he didn’t.” Christina thought grimly.
“He’s got a some new dance moves he needs to go over with the other guys. He’s afraid that you’ll be bored so he decided to put you at my place for a while.”
“That’s not true.” Christina murmured softly. She stared out the window. It was starting to rain. “Fit’s my mood.”
“What did you say dear?”
“Nothing.” Christina stood up. “Well, since Nick hasn’t told me about this, then that means that I haven’t packed yet.” Christina didn’t even want to say Nick’s name. The thought of him hurt her.
“Why don’t I help you? Aaron, you stay down here and play Nintendo or something.” Jane said as she stood up from her seat on the couch.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine.” Christina insisted as she wiped away a tear that had spilled from her eyes.
“Are you sure?”
“YES!” Christina shouted angrily and ran up the stairs and sobbed while she packed.