Chapter Sixteen
Nick spent the better part of Sunday morning pacing around his house and trying to figure out what to do. He’d called Camille a few more times, and she had yet to pick up her phone. Nick was fairly certain that she was ignoring him, and he didn’t quite appreciate that much. It bothered him a lot that she would end things in such a cut and dry way.
He could only wonder what was going through her head when she’d sent that e-mail. As far as he’d seen, she’d wanted to be in the relationship with him just as badly as he’d wanted to be with her. It didn’t make much sense to him and the whole thing seemed really sudden. Nick though that they had solved any problems they’d had before he’d left. Yes, she’d been fairly mute the morning his flight took off, but he’d chalked that up to a lack of sleep.
And possibly, the lack of goodbye sex.
Nick kicked himself for not giving in to her advances that night. But that couldn’t have been what had caused this. She hadn’t mentioned anything about it in her message. Though, he knew that girls usually liked to dance around the real subject.
Nick really just had no clue as to what had prompted her to send that to him. And after continually pacing around his house without a clue as to what to do, brilliance finally struck him.
He’d send her an e-mail back! Of course, that way she’d have to read it. She’d be too curious not to, and he could send it with a receipt which told him if she’d opened it or not. Nick grinned to himself and sat down at his computer as the thoughts rushed through his head.
Cam –
That… was kind of unexpected. I don’t really even understand what’s going on. Like it’s very not like you at all. I miss you a lot and I really would like you to phone me. I’m not sure what went wrong because I thought that things were fine between us and then all of a sudden you dropped this bomb on me…
I don’t know what you were talking about when you said I hadn’t called you in a while. I did call you last Saturday but Chris said that you were busy and would call me back so I was kinda pissed that you never phoned me back so I never phoned you. I guess it seems a bit immature but yeah… I’m phoning you now, aren’t I? It’d be nice if you would pick up so we could talk about this…
I don’t really know what else I can say… hopefully you’ll phone me and we can get this fixed… Love Nick…
Nick read the message over a few times before he sent it to her. He wasn’t really sure what he could say to her, because as far as he was concerned, there wasn’t really anything wrong. Okay, so maybe he’d been a little rash in not phoning her again, but he was annoyed that she hadn’t called him back when Chris had said she would! Still, it probably would have been better to call and ask her what was going on than to just ignore her completely. Nick sighed, relationships confused him so much.
Camille had spent the better part of the night tossing and turning. She hadn’t been able to get to sleep and couldn’t stop thinking about Nick.
At the time she’d sent the e-mail, she’d been positive she was making the right decision. Now, she wasn’t so sure. He mind kept drifting to happier times with him, and she had to fight every urge she had to pick up the phone and call him back.
Those happy times are gone now, she’d reminded herself. Nick didn’t shower her with love like he once had. When they’d first gotten together he’d been nothing but sweet and now, well now it seemed like he really couldn’t care less. She was sure the only reason Nick was calling her was because he couldn’t stand the fact that he was the one being dumped, instead of the other way around.
She shook her head, he really did have too much pride. That was one thing about him that had always annoyed her, his inability to accept that perhaps he’d made a mistake. No, Nick Carter was much to perfect and stubborn to think that anything might be his fault.
Still, once she’d fallen asleep she’d dreamt that she and Nick were back with each other and happy once more. It made her sad to wake up and realize that it simply wasn’t true. Things like that just didn’t happen, and she and Nick simply weren’t meant to be.
Finally, she’d forced herself to get out of her room and go have some breakfast. She was greeted by the smell of Chris cooking breakfast.
“Good morning, sunshine.” Chris said, as Camille sat down at the kitchen table.
Camille shot him a look. She felt like anything but a ray of sunshine. “Morning.” She replied glumly, picking up the newspaper off the table and absentmindedly flipping through it.
“Are you hungry?” Chris asked her. “I’m making egg McMuffins.”
Camille shook her head. “Not really. And isn’t it technically not a ‘McMuffin’ is you’re the one making it?” She asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
Chris only laughed. “I guess not, but it’s the same idea.”
Camille didn’t answer him. Not finding anything interesting in the paper, she made her way over to the computer and decided to check her e-mail. She wasn’t exactly shocked by what she found, considering that Nick had been phoning her non-stop the night before.
Well, he’d only phoned six times, but judging by the amount of times he’d called her before she’d decided to break up with her, that had to be some kind of record.
She didn’t know if she should open it or not. As with his phone calls, she knew she was weak and that once she read his words she would go crawling back into his arms.
Biting her lip, she glanced behind her. “Chris?” She called. “Nick e-mailed me back…”
Chris looked over at Camille. Nick had already caused her far too much drama, and he knew that whatever Nick had said were probably just empty words. Sure, things would be better for a week or so, but he knew Nick well, and he knew that he would just fall back in to his old habits once he got Camille back.
Which is exactly what he told her.
And Camille agreed with him. That thought process sounded exactly like Nick. He wouldn’t learn from his mistakes, he would only learn that if he begged hard enough he would get what he wanted. Camille wasn’t about to let him win. If he wanted her he would have to fight harder and prove to her he really wanted to be with her. That was going to take a lot more than a few phone calls and a simple e-mail.
Not caring to read his empty words, Camille quickly deleted the message and emptied her recycle bin to avoid further temptation.
Later that afternoon, Nick sat lazily in front of his computer. He’d given up on trying to phone Camille, he figured that his e-mail would be enough. The ball was in her court now to contact him.
Though, that didn’t stop him from going on AIM and hoping that she might sign in. She didn’t, but about an hour later the next best thing happened.
Chris signed in.
As far as Nick was concerned, this was a good thing. After all, Chris was living with Camille, and he could get information from him, as well as ask him to relay a message to her. Of course, Nick didn’t realize that Chris’s intentions were less than sincere.
BeachBoy1980: Hey dude, what’s up?
Chris looked at the screen as Nick messaged him. He didn’t really feel any remorse for his friend, especially since he was seeing first hand what Camille was going through with him.
ChrisG: Nothin…
BeachBoy1980: Hey, is Camille around? I haven’t talked to her in a while….
ChrisG: She’s not here… I think she went out with one of her friends…
That made Nick somewhat irritated. Here he was, doing his best to try and save their relationship, and Camille was hanging out with her friends? Was she not even upset that things were over between them?
BeachBoy1980: I see… well, when she gets home can you tell her to call me? It’s kinda important.
Chris shook his head. Nick would never learn.
ChrisG: Sure thing… she hasn’t been phoning you?
Nick wasn’t sure what to make of that. Did Chris not know what was going on with him and Camille? He found that rather odd, Camille talked to Chris about everything.
BeachBoy1980: Nope.
Feeling rather annoyed with the fact that Nick was trying to go through him to get information about Camille, Chris decided it was best for him to just sign off and not deal with it anymore. After all, their relationship was over, and the last thing Camille needed was for Nick to cause more trouble. Especially when she was trying to get over him and move on.
ChrisG: I gotta go… I’ll talk to you later.
Nick stared at his computer screen dumbfounded. Something wasn’t adding up. Chris was usually chattier with him and regardless of the fact that they were talking online, he could tell that something wasn’t right. Chris’s favourite topic of conversation was Nick and Camille’s relationship, and he was always trying to get them to sort things out whenever they had problems.
There was a missing piece of the puzzle, and Nick intended to find out what it was.
