Ally awoke the next morning to rain slapping on the balcony outside. The shower was running, and she tried to recall where she was. The events of the previous night came flooding back, and she brought her hand to her pounding head. Man, she was never going to get that drunk again.
The bathroom door creaked open, and Nick stepped out with a towel around his waist. When he saw that she was awake, he blushed and stepped back into the bathroom. “Good morning, sunshine!” he called out.
“Good and morning do not belong in the same sentence, especially when you have a hangover,” she groaned, rolling over and closing her eyes again.
“Our flight back to Florida was cancelled, so we’re stuck here until tomorrow afternoon. You can go back to sleep if you want,” he informed her.
“We’re staying until tomorrow?” she said. “Okay, I guess. I was kind of looking forward to home.”
Now fully dressed, he stepped back into the room and sat down next to her. “I know this probably isn’t a good time to bring this up, but where are you planning to stay when you get home? I think yours and Craig’s place is out, so are you going to find an apartment or something?”
“Dammit, I hadn’t thought of that,” she muttered. “Thanks for reminding me.”
“Sorry,” he said guiltily. “I probably should have left that alone at least until we got back.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s something I had to think of sooner or later. I forgot I lived with him. I wonder if he went through any of my stuff.” The last part was more to herself than Nick. “I’ll have to see if I can find somewhere else to stay. I’ll talk to Shannon and see if she has any space at her house,” she said. With that, she closed her eyes again and sighed. “I’m going back to sleep. Good night.”
Nick tapped on Shannon’s door, knowing Ally had just left. He had a plan, but he needed a bit of assistance. Hopefully, Shannon didn’t hate him. The door opened, and she stood before him in her bathrobe, with some weird green cream smeared all over her face. She smiled and stepped aside to let him in. “Hey. What do you need?” she asked kindly. Okay, she wasn’t acting like she hated him.
“I wanted to talk to you about Ally,” he said, looking at her strangely. “This isn’t a bad time, is it?”
“Oh, no. I do this once a week. It’s a facial masque. Want to try it?” she offered. “It cleans your pores.”
“No, that’s okay. I’m normal. Can I sit down?” he asked. She nodded and led him to the sofa.
She sat down next to him. “Okay, so what’s up? What about Ally?” she wondered.
“Well, first things first. Do you hate me for what I did to her?”
“No, I don’t. If you did that to me, I would forgive you. It wasn’t your fault. However, I can’t speak for Ally, and I don’t blame her for being mad at you. She’s had such an unstable past, and if I were her, I would be upset, too.”
“Wait, you’re confusing me. You just said you’d forgive me, but then you said you’d be upset.”
“No. If you did that to ME, as in me, Shannon, I would forgive you, but if I were Ally, I’d be upset. She’s been through so much with Craig, and no offense, but she doesn’t need any more shit.”
“Oh, okay. It’s different from every woman’s perspective.”
“Yeah. So where is this going? What does this have to do with her?”
“When we get back to Florida, she has nowhere to go because she lived with Craig and now they’re broken up. Has she asked you if she can move in with you?”
“No. Has she talked to you?”
“I brought it up this morning. She said she didn’t know what she was going to do, but she was going to talk to you and see if you had an extra room or something. I want her to stay with me until she finds a place.”
“I get it. You want her back, and if she’s living with you, that provides the perfect opportunity.”
He nodded. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“So you want me to lie to her and say that I don’t have space?” Shannon asked skeptically.
“I wouldn’t ask you to do that if it didn’t mean so much to me, Shannon. Please? I’m never going to get her back unless you do this for me.”
“Are you so sure about that?”
“What do you mean?”
She looked at the door, and then back at Nick. “I didn’t tell you this, but she’s really upset about the break-up, and it’s taking everything in her to not go back,” she whispered. “She’s trying really hard to act tough, but she’s having a hard time. She loves you.”
“Really?”
“No, I’m lying,” she said sarcastically. “Yes, really. It’ll just take a little bit more.”
“What should I do, then?”
“You did a really good job last night.”
“What did I do?”
“You comforted her when she told you what happened. You were patient with her when she came in. You didn’t get mad or annoyed that she wandered into your room.”
“Just stuff like that is all I have to do to get her back?” Nick said incredulously.
“Well, it’ll take a little more than that, but that will help. I think you need to sit down with her and have a long talk. Tell her exactly what happened with…what’s her name…Kelli, and tell her how you feel about her.”
“How I feel about who? Ally or Kelli?”
“Ally. Well, Kelli, too, but mainly Ally. She’s insecure. She doesn’t think you love her. If you assure her that you love her and not Kelli, then you might just convince her you belong together.”
“What do you think, Shannon?”
“About what?”
“Do you think we belong together?”
She smiled. “Definitely. You two are ten times better together than you are apart. You don’t get much better than that.”
“Thank you, Shannon,” Nick said. He stood up to leave, but stopped. “One more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“How do I get her to talk to me? I don’t think she really wants to be alone with me.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Shannon looked over at her friend. Ally had that sad, faraway look in her eye, and it was obvious who she was thinking of. Still, she was a stubborn person. Shannon promised Nick she would try to get Ally to talk to him, but it was not going to be easy. Well, there was no problem getting her to small talk with him. In fact, she’d talk to him about anything but getting back together. Finally, Shannon worked up her courage and broke the silence. “I think you should talk to him.”
“What? Talk to who?”
“You know who you should talk to. He’s been on your mind this whole time, Ally. Just talk to him.”
Ally looked away as tears gathered in her eyes. “Don’t do this to me, Shannon. I can’t even look at him without picturing his tongue down that girl’s throat.”
“But he loves you, not her!” Shannon exclaimed, becoming frustrated. “I have no question in my mind that you two are meant to be together. You love him and he loves you. At least let him tell the whole story of what happened with Kelli. You never let him do that.”
“Fine, I will,” Ally sighed. “Do I have to do it now?”
“As soon as possible. You might as well get it out of the way,” Shannon stated.
Chapter 43 --- End of Part One
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