It had been a long night for Laura. After the concert, the band and crew had boarded their busses, ready to make the latenight drive from Raleigh to Atlanta. Derek wouldn't let her out of his sight all night, and it was driving her batty. She was thankful that they were riding with the group rather than by themselves. Arriving in Atlanta at about 5 am, everyone checked into the hotel to catch a couple more hours of sleep in a nice warm bed rather than a cot on a bus. Wake-up call was 7:30, and the Boys and their girlfriends, and Laura and Derek were all having breakfast together.
"So, Derek," Cherie asked as they all sat over breakfast. "Laura tells us that you just graduated from law school."
Derek smiled proudly. "Yes, top of my class." He put his arm around Laura as she took a sip of her juice. "Following in the family footsteps. In fact, I just joined up at my father's firm. You guys need any representation for any reason, you just let me know. I'll take care of you." Nick looked across the table to Brian and rolled his eyes, and Brian was trying to hide an amused smile.
Kevin smiled. "Thanks, but our management firm has their own team of lawyers so we're all pretty set as far as that goes. But you never know, we'll keep you in mind."
"Well, I sure appreciate that." Derek smiled as he rubbed his hand up Laura's back and to her shoulder, pulling her close to him. "So what do you guys think about my Lauralee? She's a gem, isn't she?"
Laura's face turned sour as she heard him call her Lauralee. "Honey," she said through clenched teeth, "you know how I feel about being called 'Lauralee.'" She smiled at him sweetly, not letting on that she was angry, but of course, Derek knew she was.
"Aww, isn't she cute when she's mad??" Derek said, kissing her on her forehead. Laura huffed.
"Yeah, uh, sure she is," Howie agreed, attempting to keep the peace at the table, but seeing that Laura was obviously annoyed by the way Derek was treating her. Howie wasn't the only one who noticed.
Why is she letting him treat her like that?? Christ, if I'D did something like that, she'd have my head on a damn platter, Nick thought, watching again as Derek kissed her, on the cheek this time. Laura pursed her lips together as if she was preventing herself from bursting. Nick now knew there was more to this than she was letting on. Then again, I'D never treat her like that.
"I have to admit," Derek said, pausing to take a bite of his food, "that I was a bit worried about Laura when she decided to go to cosmetology school. She's such a smart girl, and wasting all of that brain on being just a hairstylist, well I just thought she was selling herself short." Laura shifted in her chair as Derek continued. "But I'm so proud of her. Obviously these past 9 months have been good, or she wouldn't still be with you, and I suppose she is good at what she does." No one at the table could believe the way Derek was belittling Laura. And even more so, that Laura was putting up with it.
Laura had taken about as much as she could. She stood up, as did Derek, and everyone braced themselves for hearing Laura blow her top at him, but she didn't. She calmly put her napkin on her plate. "Excuse me, I've lost my appetite for some reason," she muttered almost inaudibly, and walked out of the room quietly. Nick's eyes followed her as she walked out the door. He wanted so badly to go talk to her, to, first and foremost, find out why she had never mentioned having a boyfriend, muchless a fiancé, and second, why she was letting him treat her the way he was. He wanted to take her in his arms, tell her everything was OK, like he did for her last night when she was crying to him. Instead he resisted and sat there, sneering at Derek, who was blatantly oblivious to the fact that Laura was less than pleased about the way he spoke of her.
Derek seated himself again and smiled warmly. "Aww, she just hates it when I brag about how proud I am of her. She thinks I dote on her too much," he said, followed by a low throaty laugh. "That woman's way too independent for her own good sometimes." Misty, Cherie and Leighanne all looked at each other across the table and stood up almost simultaneously, all three women making their way to the door as well. Derek stood up also, curious as to where they were going. He stated matter-of-factly, "Oh, don't bother going to talk to her. She'll be fine. She just gets embarrassed. She's OK." They ignored him as they walked out the door. "Ah, hell, they're wasting their time, but oh well, let them. Laura's sure a stubborn one, that's for sure. She'll mope for an hour or two, then she'll be fine," he finished as he looked at his watch. "Damn, it's almost 9 o'clock. I have to make some business calls soon, so if you'll excuse me also." Derek walked away from the table, leaving the rest at the table still speechless by his insensitive display. "See you later," he said, walking out of the door.
MUCH later, Nick thought to himself as sighed heavily, crossing his arms angrily.
Everyone sat in silence as they finished their breakfast, or attempted to, anyway. The silence was broken as Nick pounded his fist on the table, shaking the plates and silverware. He stood up, and walked out of the room, storming up to his hotel room, cranking up the volume on his CD player.
Misty, Cherie and Leighanne approached Laura's room. Hearing music blaring from her room, they looked at each other. "Better knock hard," Leigh said, as Misty rose her hand to the door. Knocking a few times, she heard the music volume go down.
"Who is it?" Laura yelled, her voice muffled.
"It's us, Laura. C'mon, let us in, we're worried about you," Cherie pleaded. The girls waited, but heard nothing more. Just as Cherie was going to ask her again to let them in, they heard the doorlock click. Misty turned the knob, and they entered, finding Laura sitting in the middle of her floor, sitting with her legs crossed Indian-style, her elbows resting on her knees and her head buried in her hands. Seeing that was enough to make Leighanne's eyes water, and the other 2 girls weren't far behind.
Leighanne managed to choke out a few words. "We were going to ask you why you never told us about Derek, but now we can totally see why you didn't."
Laura looked up at her, then promptly buried her face in her hands again. "I don't know why the fuck he came here. I didn't ask him to come."
Misty was curious. "Then why is he--"
"He wants to move up our wedding date. I kept postponing it, and he keeps wanting to move it back up. The closer he wants it, the farther I moved it."
Cherie handed Laura a tissue and she blotted her eyes. All three of them were sitting on the floor by her, and Misty was rubbing Laura's back, trying to get her to calm down. "When is the wedding?" Cherie asked curiously.
"That's just it. I told him over our break that the wedding is off. I even gave him back his ring, which I hadn't even been wearing anyway." Laura sighed as she continued, sobbing. "Obviously he enjoys making my life a living hell."
"So you guys aren't even together?" Leighanne asked, taking Laura's hand and squeezing it gently as an attempt to calm her down.
"No, I broke it off with him in January, for good. I've been attempting to do that for so long," Laura explained, then went on to tell the girls of how she and Derek met. They met in and dated all through high school, and Derek was the most attentive, sweet guy she had ever known. She really thought that she and Derek were meant to be. But once they were out of high school, and Derek went to college, his attitude had totally changed, a night-and-day difference, she had said. Derek was hard on her for not going onto school immediately after graduation, and his family had made her out to be a gold digger, that she was only with him because he was going to be a lawyer and would be able to support her for life. He assured him that this was not the case, but after she did go on to school, and to "just cosmetology school" at that, Derek felt that maybe they were right. But he loved her, and knew he couldn't live without her, so he proposed marriage. Confused and scared to be alone, Laura accepted his proposal, regretting it every minute since then.
"OK, so obviously you've moved on. You moved to Florida, for one. Second, you did become successful and being 'just a hairstylist,'" Misty said, making a face as she said it. "Why on earth doesn't he understand that you just don't want to be with him?"
"I don't know. But I'm scared, you guys... I'm terrified. All night he talked to me as if my breaking up with him had never happened. I've known him for so long, and I can't believe I'm even saying this, but I really think he's got a few screws loose upstairs."
"A few?!" Leighanne said sarcastically. "Man need a total brain overhaul!"
Laura giggled, and the girls smiled that they were able to see even a slight smile out of her, even if it was brief. Laura's face once again was downtrodden, and Leighanne leaned over and hugged her. "So, just get a restraining order. He's a lawyer, I'm sure his superior mentality can understand THAT."
Laura sighed heavily. "It's not that simple. A year ago, six months ago... hell, even three months ago, yes, it would have been, but now everything's changed."
Misty, Leighanne and Cherie all exchanged confused glances. "Why has everything changed?" Cherie said, asking the question that was on all of their minds.
Laura looked up through glassy eyes and took a deep breath. Blinking hard to fight back her tears, she answered them.
"Because... I'm pregnant."
