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Left and Leaving
Chapter Three

When Nick awoke the next morning, he noticed Camille sleeping soundly beside him. He smiled a little to himself, feeling happier than he had in quite a while with regards to her. This was of course due to the fact that she'd finally accepted his advances the night before.

Still he felt uncertain. Camille was not going to be happy when she realized that she was going to have to move. Nick was dreading telling her, but he had to let her know. It definitely wouldn't be fair to let her know at the last minute. The deadline was fast approaching, and Nick was procrastinating. He'd avoided telling her for the past two days. Hell, he'd even told Chris.

Truthfully, Nick was surprised Chris hadn't said anything to Camille about it. Though he'd probably figured that she already knew. Still, it wouldn't have been out of character for Chris to ask Camille how she was feeling about the whole situation. He seemed to always be quite interested in the specifics of the relationship. Not that Nick minded really, he figured it was good for Camille to have someone to talk to. Someone who was neutral, and friends with the both of them.

Either way, Nick knew he was going to have to tell her. And when he told her, she was going to flip out. He sighed, and his thought drifted to a much simpler time...

“Nick!” Camille said, clinging to his chest. “It's cold.” The two of them were standing outside in the snow, with nothing around them but the cool night air.

“You're the one that said they wanted to spend New Years at a ski resort.” He laughed, putting his arm around her.

“I know, but that doesn't mean I'm not cold!” She protested. “How are we going to know when it's midnight?”

“I brought a radio.” Nick said, fumbling with the dials and trying to find a station. “Maybe they'll have a countdown or something.”

After a few minutes, Camille giggled. “Why don't you just check your watch?”

Nick cringed as he checked the time. “It's twelve ten.”

Camille laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “So we missed it?”

“I guess we did.” He laughed. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She grinned, amused by the fact that they'd actually managed to miss midnight.

Nick snuggled up to Camille, holding her tightly against him. He tried to catch another few minutes of sleep before he had to talk to her. Camille woke up slightly as she felt Nick's arm around her, but quickly fell asleep once again.

That is, until the phone rang.

“It's your cell.” Nick muttered as the loud ring tone pulled him out of his slumber.

Camille groaned and got out of bed, running to the living room to answer her ringing phone. Looking at the call display, she noticed that her friend Brittany was the one that was trying to get a hold of her.

“Hey, Britt.”

Nick could faintly hear Camille talking on the phone in the other room. Whenever Brittany called, it was never a good sign. Either she had some sort of problem going on, or she phoned to brag about something. That, and she wasn't exactly a fan of Nick's so that made things even more uncomfortable for him. His ears perked up a little as he heard her talk to her friend.

“Oh...wow!” Camille said, sounding somewhat shocked. “Congratulations.”

Camille walked into the bedroom holding her cell phone to her ear. Nick closed his eyes and pretended as though he was still asleep.

“So, how did he ask you? Yeah, that is weird considering we were just talking about this stuff just the other day.” She said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, beside Nick.

Nick groaned inwardly. From the sounds of it, Brittany had just gotten engaged. He was definitely not looking forward to the impending discussion that was sure to follow. So, he just continued to pretend to be asleep as Camille talked on the phone with Brittany.

When Camille hung up with Brittany, she sighed to herself. Brittany's boyfriend had been having the same issues as Nick, not ever wanting to get married. However, it sounded as though he'd changed his mind. Why couldn't Nick do that? “So... Brittany got engaged.” Camille said, looking over at Nick.

Nick continued to keep his eyes closed.

Camille rolled her eyes. “Nickolas, I know you're awake.”

Nick still didn't move. Maybe she wouldn't press the issue if she figured he didn't want to be bothered.

However, Nick's attempt at ignoring the situation didn't exactly work. She fiddled with her hands, trying to find the right words to say to him to get him to understand. “Nick, I just want-”

Taking a deep breath, Nick opened his eyes. It appeared as though Camille wasn't going to give him a break. “I know you want you want.” He said, still lying down. “We already talked about this.”

Camille grew frustrated. She'd known that was the answer she was going to hear, so what had even been the point in bringing it up? Nick wasn't going to change his opinion on the matter anytime soon. Still, it bothered her that she felt as though she had to go along with it. “It doesn't make any sense though.”

“It makes perfect sense.” Nick mumbled, closing his eyes once again, willing the entire fight to go away. “I'm not a marriage kind of guy.”

“Why not?!” She asked, still not understanding his reasons in the least.

Nick suddenly sat up, causing Camille to jump off the bed. “Because! I told you I don't believe in marriage. Why is that so difficult for you to understand?”

Camille rolled her eyes and stood with her hands on her hips. “Oh I don't know. Maybe I pictured myself having a future with you.” She said sarcastically. With that, she walked over to the closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

“I never said we couldn't have a future.” Nick replied irritably. “I just don't want to have to sign something that says I have to be with you for all time!”

Camille shook her head as she pulled on her clothes. She didn't really know why she was making such a big deal out of the whole situation. She had Nick had only been dating for roughly a year, it was hardly a decision she wanted to make any time soon. Still, she found herself rather annoyed with the fact that he had the attitude that it would never be a possibility. All it did was make Camille feel as though she was wasting her time.

“I'm going out.” She said, grabbing her purse off her desk and walking out of the room. She didn't quite feel like talking to Nick any more at that moment.

Nick flopped back down on to the bed. So much for telling her.


“So she just stormed out?” Chris asked that evening. Camille had left in such a hurry, and Nick had no idea where she'd gone to. He figured she'd gone over to Brittany's house, so when Chris had called him he'd been more than willing to have him over. Chris always seemed to get through to Camille, maybe he could talk to her about the whole situation.

“Yup.” Nick replied, staring blankly at the TV.

Chris shrugged. This whole marriage issue seemed to be causing a multitude of problems for Camille and Nick. Before she'd mentioned anything about it to him, they'd seemed to have a perfectly fine relationship. As far as Chris could tell, at least. “You guys seemed fine.”

“I know!” Nick exclaimed. If it hadn't been for Brittany and Camille gushing over weddings and such, and then her bringing up the issue to Nick, only to have him promptly shoot it down, they probably would have been okay. Instead it had escalated into a huge drama. “And I haven't told her we're moving yet.”

“Wait.” Chris said, turning to face Nick. “She doesn't know you're going to LA?”

“No.”

Chris sighed. “But you're going to take her with you?”

Nick shrugged. He really did want to take her with him, but only if they were able to solve the impending issue at hand. “Yeah. I guess. If she wants.”

Chris nodded, though he figured things were going to get much worse before they started to get better. “Do you want to go get some food?”

Nick considered that for a second, and then quickly shut off the TV. “Sure, let's go.”

Camille had spent the entire day at Brittany's house, generally complaining about Nick and whatnot. Though she suspected Brittany wasn't listening to her very much and was instead wrapped up in her own thoughts about her upcoming wedding. After a while she'd become bored and had eventually decided to go back home. Perhaps in time she'd get over the whole issue.

As she walked down the street she looked up and noticed Chris and Nick walking towards her. She sighed to herself, knowing that Chris was probably going to make her and Nick talk to each other. So, as she walked towards them, she tried to nonchalantly move past them unnoticed.

It didn't quite work. Chris put his arm out to stop her from getting past him. “We're going for dinner. Come with us.” He said.

“I don't want to.” Camille replied, annoyance in her voice.

“Well that's too bad.” Chris chuckled, putting his arm around her and nearly forcing her to accompany them. Camille glared at him, but she ended up walking with them the short distance to the restaurant.

It was delightfully awkward. Chris and Nick chatted a little about nothing in particular. Camille silently sipped on a glass of Coke, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

“Look, you guys need to talk.” Chris finally said, once the table was filled with silence. “There's no reason to throw this away because you had a disagreement.”

“It's not just a disagreement.” Camille said under her breath. “It's kind of a big thing.”

Chris nodded, trying to understand where both of his friends were coming from. “Yeah, it is. But why can't you just enjoy your time together now, and not worry about the future?” He asked, directing the question more towards Camille than Nick.

“Because.” She simply said.

“Because what?” Nick pressed, and Camille glared at him. Apparently she didn't feel as though he was a part of the conversation.

“Because.” She continued, looking at Chris. “I don't want to be in a relationship that's not going to go anywhere.”

“But I love you.” Nick tried once again, and this time Camille looked at him with sadness instead of anger. “Isn't that enough?”

“I don't know.” She whispered. She didn't really know what she wanted anymore. She hated the fact that this was ripping them apart when a little over a month ago things had been perfectly okay between the two of them.

Chris sighed and looked at Camille and Nick. The two of them were just staring at each other, neither one really knew what to say. If they couldn't make it past this issue, how were they going to fare when nick eventually brought up the subject of moving?