Nick’s eyes shot open to the sound of the door slamming shut. He looked up to see Ally stumble into the room. “Well, hello. Have you forgiven me yet?” he asked.
“Why the hell would I forgive you?” she muttered. “I just didn’t feel like imposing on Shannon anymore.”
Nick sighed. “Look. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you into anything, and I was wrong. And I’m not going to shut you out. I love you too much to do that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Do you even know what you did wrong?”
“Yes, I do! I was frustrated with you for the wrong reasons and I didn’t even tell you how I felt. I’m an asshole, Ally. I realize that, and I’m sorry.” She didn’t reply. “Why do you have to make this more difficult than it should be? Look at me. You know I’m sorry. You know I love you. You know the last thing I want to do is hurt you.”
Ally obligingly looked up at him and searched his eyes. There was definitely sincerity in his expression. “You aren’t going to get mad at me for something like this or try to push me into anything or keep anything from me again?” she whispered.
He gently places his hands on her waist. “Of course not. Do you forgive me?” Instead of replying, she caught his lips in a passionate kiss and tugged at his shirt. “Whoa, I thought you weren’t ready for this, Ally,” he whispered.
“You’re special, Nick. I know that, and I want to do this,” she replied. “I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.”
Nick brushed a strand of loose hair out of Ally’s face and watched as she slept peacefully. She was truly the most wonderful woman he had ever met, both prettier and sweeter than Britney Spears and Jennifer Love Hewitt and even Christina Ricci… Sure, they all had their charm, but Ally was so much better. How did he end up with someone like her? He didn’t deserve her. She was too good for him.
Her eyelids fluttered open and she smiled. “Hey.”
He leaned down and kissed her softly. “Hey. How are you?”
“I’m great. You’re…you’re amazing, Nick,” she whispered shyly as she sat up, holding the covers over her bare chest.
“I’m nothing, compared to you,” he replied. He laid down beside her again and pulled her into his arms. “I love you, babe.”
“I love you, too,” she sighed. She looked up to kiss him but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Nick stood up and pulled on his boxers. “I’ll get it.” He walked over to the door and opened it to see Brian standing outside. “Hey, what’s up?”
“We have a bit of a problem,” Brian replied. “Well, actually, it’s more of an nuisance to everyone else, but for you and maybe Ally, it might be a problem.”
“Okay,” Nick replied, confused. He stepped out of the room and closed the door. “What are we talking about?”
“Kelli’s here. She just showed up out of nowhere,” Brian answered. His friend just stared at him. “As in Kelli, your ex-girlfriend, the one that broke up with you and then decided she wanted you back and won’t accept the fact that it’s over and has been trying to convince you that you’re still together, the one that you were still very attracted to and had major trouble saying no to, but did, thank God, the one that you may or may not have told Ally about.”
“I know, I know. Shit! What am I gonna do? She’s gonna be all over me if she sees me. When is she leaving?”
“She’s leaving as soon as our two-day break is over. She doesn’t know anything about Ally,” Brian said.
“Man, I can’t stay in our room for two days straight! And if I see Kelli, she’ll be all over me, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to turn her down. Dammit! And Ally doesn’t know about her! If I tell her about Kelli now, she’ll be mad that I didn’t tell her before!”
“My advice would be to lay low and stay in your room as much as possible until break is over. The last thing you need is to run into her.”
“I guess you’re right. That’s really all I can do.” He looked away. “Okay, thanks, man. See you later.”
“No problem. Later,” Brian said as Nick stepped into his room.
“Who was that?” Ally asked.
“It was Brian. He just wanted to, uh, tell me something that Kevin said before. Nothing important,” Nick lied. His conscience was killing him, especially since the day before, he promised he wouldn’t keep anything from her. Ugh, this would have to be an exception.
She seemed to believe his excuse and rolled out of bed. “Okay, I’m going to get some food. Wanna come with?”
“No thanks. I’m gonna relax and stay in here for most of the time we’re off. I need a break.”
“All right. I can bring you something back if you’re hungry,” she offered.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll call room service later. Bye, baby,” he said as she left the room. When the door closed, he buried his head in his hands and sighed. This was not going to be fun.
As Nick flipped through the channels, there was a knock on the door. ‘Ally must have forgotten her key again,’ he thought as he opened it. Surprise hit him when he saw the tall, thin, gorgeous blonde standing before him. “Kelli?”
“Hey, baby,” she said, her voice dripping with sugar. She pushed past him into the room.
He took a deep breath and closed both his eyes and the door. “I’m not your baby anymore, Kelli. What are you doing here? How did you find my room?”
Her eyes met his, clearly hurt. “What do you mean? I love you, Nick. You love me. And I pulled some strings at the front desk to find your room.”
“Kelli, it’s over. It’s been over for a year now. I don’t love you anymore. You know what? I never did love you,” he said calmly. “I have a girlfriend now, and I love her very much.”
“What are you talking about? We’re meant to be, Nick. You can’t deny that.”
“Kelli, for the love of God, will you leave me alone?” he exclaimed, losing his patience.
“Then kiss me. If we’re not meant to be, then you won’t feel anything, but if we are, we’ll both know,” she said. “If you decide there’s nothing, I’ll leave you alone for good.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Nick laughed. Actually, he was afraid there would be something there, and the laugh was to cover that up, but she saw right past it. Either that, or she had a lucky guess with one of her deranged comments.
“Who are you trying to convince – me or yourself?”
“Fine!” he exclaimed, annoyed. He nervously stepped up to her and places his lips on hers. His eyes remained open for a moment, but squeezed shut as her arms wrapped around his neck and her tongue found its way into his mouth. He buried his hands in her hair and admitted to himself that she was a better kisser than Ally, but he still didn’t care about her. He tried to listen to his heart and pull away, but his body was enjoying it too much – too much to even hear his girlfriend come in.