Someone sat down on the bed next to her and stroked her hair gently. It was a guy; she could feel it by how much pressure he put on the mattress. “Liz, are you all right?” Nick’s soothing voice asked.
“Not really.”
“Do you want to talk?”
“Not really,” she repeated.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I don’t know.”
He sighed heavily. “You’re not being very cooperative.”
“What am I supposed to do, Nick? Am I just supposed to come right out and say it? I’m pregnant! Happy?” she snapped.
His jaw dropped, and he tried unsuccessfully to form a coherent sentence. “Uh – um – huh – come again?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I’m pregnant with your kid. I cheated on my boyfriend, whom I love very much, without even realizing it, and now our relationship is gonna go down the drain because I’m pregnant with a mistake.”
He wordlessly pulled her into a hug.
“What am I gonna do?” she sobbed.
“I don’t know. Andrea isn’t gonna be very happy with me either.”
She looked up and met his eyes. “Do you ever wish you could just run away, Nick? Just get away from it all and go to, like, a deserted island somewhere, where no one is there and no one knows you’re there and you can just escape from everyone and everything? Do you know how I feel?”
“To be honest, I don’t think I’d want to escape from everyone. Call me crazy, but I would want you to be there with me,” he confessed.
“Why me? I’m just your pregnant friend, the future mother of your baby, I guess. I’m just a lousy reporter.”
“I don’t think so. I think you’re much more than that.”
“Then what am I?”
“You’re…everything.” His eyes burned into hers, and the world seemed to stand still. He kissed her forehead gently, then the tip of her nose, and finally brushed against her lips. Nothing else existed for her but the feel of his lips on hers, his tongue feverishly exploring her mouth, his hands entangling themselves in her hair.
They pulled apart after what seemed like an eternity. “What are we doing?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m liking it a lot.” He leaned in for another kiss, but she pulled away.
“Nick, neither of us are single. We can’t do this,” she rationalized.
He met her eyes again. “Tell me the truth, Liz. Do you really want to stop?”
“I…I…” she trailed off. “No, I guess not.”
“There’s something here, Liz, something really strong, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t just ignore it.”
“What about Andrea?”
“She’s just a cheap substitute for you. I’ve known that from the beginning. I just didn’t realize it before.” He paused. “In fact, I’ll go break it off right now.”
“Are you…are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” he stated, standing up. He walked to the door and left.