Nick arrived at his hotel after another show in Germany. There were some fans outside and he stopped there for a couple minutes to talk to them and to take some pictures.

As soon as he opened the door to his room, his phone rang.

“Hello, baby! I’m so glad you called. I miss you so much!” He spoke all at once not giving Alice the time to say anything.

“Hi, baby. I’m glad you answered too. I really need to talk to you…”

“What happened, Alice? You sound…” he was looking for the right words, “…worried.”

“I’m sorry, Nick. I didn’t mean to scare you, but there’s something. When are you coming back? I really need to talk to you.” She tried to soothe him with not much success.

“I’ll be home only on Monday, I guess. But now I can’t wait that long. What’s going on?” Alice could hear despair in his voice.

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing, just something I wanted to talk to you about.” She paused for a moment, “but I prefer to talk personally if you don’t mind.”

“Baby, what happened? I’m worried now! Are you ok?” Nick rambled on a lot of questions. On the other end, Alice tried to remain calm and keep the tears from falling off her eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I just miss you too much.”

Nick could sense something odd in her voice, something like she’s been crying. But he knew better than asking her, she would certainly deny it. Instead, he said he would try to manage his coming back as soon as he could.

He hung up the phone and immediately went to check his tour schedule. He still had one show and some radio interviews until Monday morning. That meant he would only arrive home on Tuesday afternoon. He couldn’t wait that long. He knew something was wrong and he needed to be with Alice. The next morning, he convinced his tour manager to let him go home earlier and he would do the radio interviews through the phone.

On Monday morning, Nick opened the door to his house and found the house messier than usual. There were clothes scattered all around, piles of dirty dishes in the kitchen and no sign of Alice. He left his bag by the couch and went upstairs hoping he would find her there, but she wasn’t home.

He planned on making a surprise so he decided not to call. Instead he started tidying the house.

When Alice came home she had a shock. The house was clean and Nick was asleep on the couch. She felt all the guilt growing bigger inside her. She closed the door as silently as she could and made her way upstairs. She didn’t want to wake him up. But as if sensing her fear, Nick woke up.

“Hey baby! You’re home! I was waiting for you! Where have you been?” Nick sat down and reached out a hand to her.

“Hey you! I didn’t mean to wake you up. Sorry. I was out with my sister.”

“Is she ok?

“Yes, she is.” Alice was quiet for a moment and Nick pulled her into his arms. He kissed her gently but he could feel her a bit distant.

“What’s up, Ali? I came as soon as I could. What happened?

Alice felt uncomfortable and sat across from Nick. “Nothing really. I just think you should know…” she bit her bottom lip.

“Baby, I’m scared! Just tell me.”

She lowered her head and remembered the talk she had with her sister. Kimberly had told her to keep it to herself, Nick didn’t need to know. It would only hurt him. But Alice argued and said she’d rather tell him the truth. She couldn’t lie to him.

“Alice, please,” Nick touched her chin and raised her face, “whatever it is, just tell me.”

“Oh Nick…” Tears started rolling down her face. “I love you so much. I just… it just…” she was sobbing now.

Nick pulled her closer. “Baby, what’s wrong? I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.” But the gurl could only cry.

“I just need to be near you and I know everything is gonna be okay.”

Nick didn’t understand very well what she meant but decided it was better to let it go and wait for her to calm down.