Nick and Sarah walked hand-in-hand into the Hollywood mansion, where a party was being held.
"I don't want to stay too late," Nick said, looking down at the ground as they walked through the large double doors of the entrance to the house.
"You can leave early if you like," Sarah said, scanning the scene hoping to see photographers. "But I wanna stay all night,". She loved any excuse to party and hoped to have plenty of photos taken of her.
The party was being thrown by Sarah's new friends in the cast to celebrate her nineteenth birthday. People turned heads as Sarah and Nick walked in; she soaked up the attention with a huge smile on her face. Nick wasn't so happy about the attention, he didn't like being in the spotlight all the time.
"Sarah, Sarah!" photographs called, cameras flashing.
Nick turned away and covered his face as Sarah posed.
"Nick! Can you tell us..."
"Nick give us an interv...".
Nick ignored the reporters, he was sick of them bugging him over quitting the band. It had been going on for almost a month now and it was annoying him.
Sarah's friend Amanda greeted her and gave Sarah some presents. She squealed with delight as she opened them. Nick followed her around feeling out of place. He wanted to celebrate Sarah's birthday privately, just the two of them. But she had forced him to go to the party.
Nick looked around hoping to see a friendly face but the only people he knew were people in the cast, none of which he was very close to. In fact, the only people he had been close to recently were Stuart and Lucinda, and they had not been invited.
Sarah was involved in a girly conversation with Amanda and Catherine, so Nick slipped away from her. Sarah didn't even notice.
Nick went outside to the huge yard where there was a large landscaped pool and a food area. He took some pizza and got a glass of wine. He wandered around, bored. It was a beautiful sunny evening and happy dance music played, but Nick still felt sad. He had no-one to talk to. He found a quiet spot by a rosebush and sat on the grass to eat his pizza.
Meanwhile indoors, Sarah and her friends were having a crazy time. They showered her with gifts and danced with lots of guys.
Sarah spotted a sexy guy eying her up and smiled back at him. "Who's he?" she whispered to Amanda.
"That's Andy," Amanda informed her. "He's my brother's friend. I dated him once,".
"Lucky girl!" Sarah said, her heart racing as she gazed at Andy. he was incredibly sexy looking and had a dangerous, exciting edge to him. "Can you introduce us?".
Amanda called Andy over. "Andy, this is my friend Sarah Hunter. Sarah, this is...".
Andy took her hand and kissed it. "Hey baby, I'm Andy," he finished, gazing at Sarah's scantily dressed body with his cool blue eyes.
Sarah gave him a flirty smile. "Hey, pleased to meet you,".
"You're dating that pansy ex-Backstreet Boy, yeah?" he asked, scowling.
"Yeah," Sarah said casually. "But he isn't much fun. Wanna show he how to have a good time?".
Andy raised an eyebrow, making Sarah melt even more. "OK, wanna come and see my motor bike?". He led Sarah outside to where his bike was parked.
"Cool," she said. "Can I have a ride on it?".
Andy got on. "Sure, come on get on,".
Sarah loved the thrill of zooming along the street going over the limits. It gave her such a buzz. "That was awesome!" she exclaimed as they got off again.
"Any time," he said in his gruff voice. "Now let's go find somewhere cozy to be alone,".
They crept inside and went upstairs to find an empty room. Sarah drew the curtains and locked the door so no-one would come in. She didn't want Nick to find out she was cheating on him...
Nick was totally bored and couldn't find Sarah anywhere. He felt real left out, since no one was talking to him except for the occasional reporter bugging him.
He spotted Amanda. "Where's Sarah?" he asked.
Amanda knew well that Sarah was off having fun with Andy but she knew she shouldn't tell Nick that. "Um, she's with friends somewhere. I'll tell her you were looking for her...".
"Don't bother," Nick said impatiently, turning to walk away. "Tell her I've gone home,".
He walked out of the house and jumped into his car, slamming the door. He sped down the road muttering to himself, wanting to get home as soon as possible so he could get into bed.
He soon arrived back at the beautiful beach house he had recently bought for himself and Sarah. The house felt cold and empty as he entered, even though the air was still hot and humid. It didn't feel right. He undressed and threw himself into bed.
Nick couldn't remember the last time he felt so lonely like this. Every day he sat on the set of the movie, watching Sarah act. He had no-one to talk to, only Stuart and Lucinda- but they had to work most of the time. He wished he could call someone up for a talk, but there was no-one. he had lost all his friends when he had quit the group. He couldn't call his family since falling out with them. There was only Sarah but she was too busy with her new friends.
Nick didn't like the fact that she went out with them every night. He went with them on some occasions but when he did he didn't feel like he was welcome. So he mainly just moped around at home.
He lay in bed waiting for Sarah, hoping she would come home soon. He felt so alone. Gradually he felt sleepier and sleepier, until he eventually fell asleep.
"Thanks for the wild night," Sarah said, jumping off Andy's bike.
"Any time, sweetie. I'll drop in and see you in the studios soon," Andy replied.
"See ya soon,". She bent over and gave him a goodbye kiss. She was falling for Andy in a big way. He was so exciting and dangerous, the type of guy she craved for.
Andy waved then zoomed off noisily. Sarah walked up the path and let herself in, still smiling from her wonderful evening with Andy. After a couple of hours in the bedroom, they had gone to a bar his friend owned and hung out there, drinking, then he had driven her around the streets. It was now early morning and she had to go to the studios in a few hours.
Sarah crept into the house, her head spinning from all the drinks she had had.
She threw off her dress and got into bed beside Nick. He woke up and looked at her. "What's the time?" he asked sleepily.
"It doesn't matter," Sarah said trying to avoid the subject. Nick wouldn't be pleased to know how late she was coming home.
Nick sat up and looked at the clock. "Five in the morning!" he exclaimed. "Where the hell have you been?".
Sarah pulled the covers over her head. "With my friends at the party. It was my birthday after all,".
"Oh yeah. I'm sorry,". He rested his head on the pillow and tried to relax.
Sarah went to sleep quickly but Nick couldn't. He felt ever so left out. It seemed like everyone was having fun except for him. He got out of bed and went downstairs for a drink of water. He almost tripped on something; he looked down to see what.
Nick's frown came back when he saw the newspaper which had just been delivered by the paper boy. It had another headline about himself, this time more tales of his departure from an insider. On the front was a picture of him and Sarah, her grinning for the camera and him covering his face. Another picture showed the guys in a group pose, looking sad as a four.
Nick slammed the paper down on the table, tears spilling from his eyes. He was starting to regret leaving the group.
Coming back to him was a pain he hadn't felt since the days when he was touring alone. He walked outside without thinking and went to the water's edge, where the ocean lay.
Nick looked down at his reflection dancing in the clear blue water. He closed his eyes, not liking to even look at himself. He sat on the bank and cried. I should jump in, he thought to himself. No-one would care, plus it would give the newspapers more to talk about. His heart raced as he imagined throwing himself in the water. he pictured the world laughing about him drowning and everyone saying how they were glad he was gone. This made him cry even more.
He sat watching the sun rise, plucking up the courage to jump. His eyelids became heavy and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.
Nick woke to full daylight. He was confused. What am I doing here?! he thought. Then he remembered. "I'm glad I didn't do anything stupid," he said to himself, walking back to the house. Despite feeling sad, he didn't really want to die.
Indoors, he found Sarah had already gone to the studios. Nick fixed himself breakfast and ate it alone, a glum look on his face.
He was disturbed by a knock at the door. He went to answer it, praying it would not be reporters.
Luckily it wasn't. "Hi!" Nick said, cheering up as he saw his friends from the set, Lucinda and Stuart.
"Sarah sent up to fetch some things she needs today," Stuart informed Nick. "She's acting weird today- I think she had too much to drink last night by the way, but she looks happy about something".
Lucinda followed her brother inside, not saying a word. She saw how pale Nick looked; she thought he looked ill. Something was up. This worried her.
Stuart went to get Sarah's stuff and Lucinda sat at the table as Nick finished his breakfast. Lucinda didn't know what to say, she still got shy around Nick. "Ummm, nice house," she said, trying to break the ice.
"Thanks," Nick said. His eyes were downcast and his cheeks pale.
"Nick are you sick?" Lucinda asked quickly, before she lost her nerve to say something.
Nick looked up, a little shocked. "Um, no..." he trailed off.
"You don't look well at all," she said, putting her hand on his forehead. "Are you sure? You're burning up,".
Nick sighed. He was grateful that somebody cared so he opened up to her. "I'm feeling down," he told her, looking into her kindly aquamarine eyes.
"What do you mean?" Lucinda pressed on.
"I'm so alone. Sarah doesn't give me any time and I have no-one else. I feel like I wanna die...". Tears came to his eyes again.
Lucinda gave him a hug. "I wish there was something I could do to help..." she said quietly. "Don't cry!".
She stroked his hair as Nick sobbed into her shoulder. Lucinda felt so bad for Nick, she couldn't imagine how he felt. He had been through some terrible times. Treated badly by his girlfriend, falling out with family, quitting the band, being hounded by the press...
"Me and Stu are here for you," she said softly. "We'll help you. You know where we are,".
Nick looked at her and tried to smile. "Thanks," he whispered.
"You're welcome," she replied, returning the awkward smile.
Stuart returned holding some of Sarah's belongings. "Ready to go, Lu?".
"Yeah," she said, standing up. "I have to get back to work, you coming?" she said to Nick.
He stood up. "Yeah, I'll just shower and get changed first. See you there later,".
"OK, see ya,".
"And thank you," he added, giving her a grateful look.
Lucinda and Stuart left, leaving Nick alone. He felt a little better now, Lucinda's kindness had helped. Now he knew he had someone to turn to.
"She's shy, but ever so nice," he said to himself, a small smile curling on his lips.