Nick held the cold cloth he requested close to forehead attempting to ease the pain flaring inside his head. Despite Nick’s earlier barking command to close the shades, sun continued to stream into the room through the slits. The other man in the room attempted to read the papers that lay out before him using a dim desk lamp. The books that lined the walls would be of no help, the man could find no mistake written in these papers, it was a concrete contract. The man could not believe a clause like this could exist; it was something right out of the movies.
“I’m sorry Mr. Carter; I cannot find any way out of this contract.” He sat back in his chair and took his glasses off rubbing his tired eyes.
“Look again,” Nick said forcefully but making sure not to move his head as he spoke. The pain was now shooting from the back of his neck to right behind his eyes. He could feel his lunch starting to churn in his stomach.
“Sir, I’ve already been over the paperwork three times. Looking for a fourth time will not force any changes or loopholes I did not see before.” He pushed the paperwork towards his client and stood from behind his desk.
Nick sat in his chair furious with himself and his impulsive nature when he was merely sixteen years old. His mother still held some respect from him and so he trusted her. Who would believe their own mother would make their son sign a contract that would force him to hand over the money he made before he turned thirty unless he was married. Not only did he have to have a wife, but the contract also stated that he needed to have at least one child through wedlock by midnight on his thirtieth birthday to retain his funds. A pure nightmare as far as he was concerned, marriage was something Nick never wanted to embark on since he saw the hell his parents went through during and after their own marriage.
“What do you suggest?” He asked his lawyer taking the towel from his eyes and looking at the older man standing behind the desk.
“The only thing I can see for you to do is spend all your money before you turn thirty, or get married and have a child.”
Nick grunted in disgust. “Why am I paying you for these suggestions?” He asked the other man rhetorically.
“Mr. Carter, I really don’t see any other way out of this contract with your mother. Moreover, if you believe she is as ruthless as you keep letting on, she will take you to court to make you uphold this contract. It is valid, you signed and as your guardian she signed as well as the lawyer that drew up the paperwork.”
“My thirtieth birthday is less then two years away. How can I find a girl, get married and have a child in that time?” The lawyer did not answer his question and Nick was glad he did not. He knew an easy way, he still had fans that would be willing to marry him and have his child even if he did not love them completely in return. “I can’t believe my life has turned into one of those damn chick flick movies about marriage by a certain date or you lose everything.” He sighed and rubbed his temples, the pounding in his head was getting more and more intense by the second.
His lawyer continued to stand behind his desk looking as helpless as Nick was feeling. He leaned forward and grabbed the paperwork in front of him getting up quicker then he should have. The pain in his head was now a full-fledged migraine, the pain was so intense it caused him to fall back into the chair he just vacated. “Call me a car, please.” Nick quietly asked the older man.
Quickly Nick’s lawyer picked up the phone and dialed the car service that his firm provided to their clients. He spoke quietly giving the orders to the person on the other end of the line. Nick focused on attempting to make the pain go away by trying to stop thinking about anything in general. Unfortunately, his thoughts continued to swim around the news his lawyer tried to break to him gently. What made him clean out his paperwork today? What made him go through those particular folders containing important documents? Even though he gave himself more time to the deadline, he couldn’t help but feel pissed off that he was caught up in this circumstance.
“Mr. Carter your car should be here shortly. Would you like some assistance out?” Nick did not respond to the man and did not accept his offer to help. He stood and made his way down the elevator and into the main lobby. A short time later, a man wearing a suit came inside and called out his name. His thoughts completely on this new issue at hand, Nick followed the man and climbed into the backseat of the car he was lead to by the other man.
“How am I going to do this?” He questioned himself aloud. He was dating girls casually all the time, but he was not, and did not want to be serious with any of them. They were all flighty girls that were good to party with and sleep with, but that’s all they were good for in his opinion. How was he going to meet a woman he could see himself making the commitment of marriage with, not to mention having a child to connect them for life even if they were to divorce after the marriage.
“Do what, sir?” The driver asked him from his own seat in the front. Nick rolled his eyes and did not even bother to deign a response. The car pulled in front of his house a few minutes later and he climbed out, without waiting for the door to be opened for him. He headed straight inside, thankful that he still saw the cleaning van parked in the driveway, he would not have to fish his key out of his pocket.
Keeping his head down, he did not want to answer any questions about if he wanted the fireplace scrubbed, or fresh flowers in his vases today, he quickly walked up the stairs to his bedroom making sure to secure the door tightly behind him. Sighing he moved towards his bed and lay down, closing his eyes tightly hoping, willing sleep to overtake him. Maybe after a good night’s sleep his headache would be gone and he would have a fresh outlook on how to handle this new situation.

The next day, Nick made sure to sleep in well past noon; Nick rose and took a long hot shower, letting the water roll down his body relieving some of the stress from the prior day. As he toweled himself off, Nick thought about his next step, he knew he did not want to give all his money to his parents, nor spend it all so he was broke; his only option was to find a girl to marry. With the towel wrapped around his waist, Nick moved towards his address book and flipped it open to the first page.

“Staci, Jane, Elizabeth, Claire, Marie and Sasha, which one should I try first?” Nick sat down on the bed and stared at the names in front of him. They were all girls he hung around when he went to the clubs, all girls he’d slept with at least once, he would never imagine marrying one of these girls, but he did not have time to find a new girl, a previous fling was going to have to work. He stared at the first number, Staci, and picked up the phone. Holding the phone in his hand, his eyes stared at the numbers, his head willing his hand to dial the number. Soon the dial tone disappeared and the computerized voice asking him to hang up and try again snapped Nick out of his haze. Hanging up the phone quickly, he threw his phone book across the room and threw himself on his bed.

Nick heard a soft knock on his door, but willed it away. Ten minutes passed before he heard the soft knock again, again he ignored it, hoping that whoever was on the other side would just go away. This time it did not work, the door creaked open. The girl’s voice calling hello caught his attention, he quickly grabbed his towel that had fallen open in the front and attempted to close it quickly. He sat on the bed and looked at the woman who just walked in on him, she was standing in the doorway, frozen, staring at him with the look of a deer in headlights. The brown hairs that had fallen across her eyes from working could not cover her embarrassment.

“What are you doing in here?” He yelled at the woman.

“I…I…” he watched as her face turned bright crimson before she turned and ran out of the room.

“Who are you?” Nick yelled after the girl. He sprang from his bed and followed the girl. The last thing he needed was some fan having made his way into his room; he had to find out how she even got into the house.

“Mr. Carter?” A voice across the hall called out to him. “I think you are missing your clothes.” Nick turned towards the other voice and sighed with relief that it was only Rose, his daily housekeeper.

“There was a girl Rose, she was in my bedroom. Did you see her?”

“Oh yes Mr. Carter, I saw her, she is my niece, Roma, who sometimes helps me clean the houses.” Rose smiled. “I told her to wait until after one to clean your room and bathroom, we did not expect you to be here Mr. Carter.”

Nick sheepishly ran his hands through his hair. “She caught me pretty much just out of the shower.”

“Ooooh, I suppose she got a peek? Rose’s voice trilled with a hint of teasing.

“I think her “peek” scared her.” Nick chuckled at the predicament, relieved that the security of his house had not been breached. “When you see her, will you apologize for me?” Rose nodded in response and turned to go back towards the room she was in prior.

“And don’t worry about cleaning my room today.” He called after her. He heard her faint “okay, okay” reply as she walked away from him.

Nick turned and wandered back into his room, shutting the door and turning the lock this time. He did not want to give that poor girl a fright again. Throwing the towel on his bed, Nick opened the top drawer of his dresser and began to pull out a pair of underwear. He began to pull them on when he heard someone attempting to open his bedroom door, he smiled to himself thankful he locked the door and pulled his underwear on the rest of the way. The pulling at the door became more frantic and Nick realized the noise was not from outside his door. He whirled around and stood facing the same deer in headlights gaze he received earlier from Rose’s niece.

He started to chuckle to himself, the situation was funny. The girl must have walked past the room, noticed it was empty, and thought she would attempt to clean the room not realizing that Nick would be back and still wasn’t going to be dressed. “I’m sorry; I’m not laughing at you.”

He watched as the young woman’s faced turned a shade of bright crimson, again. Her face was not the young face he thought it was when she first caught him. She was easily Nick’s age. “Roma?” He questioned her, her response a simple nod in agreement. “The door is locked, I was trying to keep this,” he motioned downwards indicating her catching him in a state of undress, “from happening again.” Again, she merely nodded in response. Nick moved towards her and reached behind her to unlock the door, doing so; he caught the scent of her shampoo. He stood over her for a minute before he realized how awkward the girl probably felt with him standing in front of her wearing nothing but underwear, smelling her hair. He backed away quickly; it was his turn for a crimson shade to cover his face.

“Sorry,” He mumbled again. Her response was so muddled that Nick wasn’t sure of what she said, but he watched as she ran out of the room for the second time that day. He quickly grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and threw them on so it would not happen for a third time. Nick flung himself back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling; smiling at the look Roma’s face showed both times, she caught a glimpse of his naked body.

The phone ringing broke his thoughts. He flipped over to answer it, “Hello?”

“Nick, how did your meeting with the lawyer go?” A.J.’s voice brought him rushing back to the problems the thoughts of Roma had set aside.

“I have to get married,” Nick grouched over the phone. “That’s not ‘so’ bad.” Nick could tell that A.J. was trying to stay upbeat.

“Oh but wait, I have to have a child too.” Nick could hear A.J. trying to contain a burst of laughter. His friends and even he would joke about what a lousy father he would probably be since he still played with toys and games like a child. “All by the time I turn thirty.”

“Seriously?” A.J.’s voice rang back in pure disbelief. “Why did you sign that?”

Nick growled to himself, angry that A.J. asked that question but even angrier that he was stupid enough to sign the papers to begin with.

“So what are you going to do?”

“I have a few names of girls I am going to call up and ask out and go from there. Nothing else I can do if I want to keep my money.” Nick sighed and said his good-byes to A.J. so he could start calling the girls on his list.

After staring at the names for another ten minutes, he decided on a number and dialed. “Hello Elizabeth?” Nick questioned the female voice on the other end.

“Nick? Is that you? You want to go out and party?” Elizabeth’s voice was upbeat; it was possible she was already ‘partying’ before going out.

“Well I was thinking we could go somewhere quieter to talk.” Nick noticed he was playing with the sheets on his bed, he was nervous, why was he so nervous?

“Like a date?” Elizabeth asked but before Nick could answer. “Sure, I could use a good meal.”

The two decided on Le Cafe, a cute little French restaurant Elizabeth had been dying to give a try. Nick hung up the phone and groaned, should he make dates with the other girls or wait until he knew for sure Elizabeth wasn’t going to work? Nick’s head started to throb again, so he put the phone down and decided to wait. He was meeting Elizabeth for dinner in four hours; he needed to show up without a headache. Laying down on his bed and burying his face with his pillow, Nick closed his eyes and took a nap.

Nick arrived at Le Café in a dark blue polo shirt with black dress slacks. His hair finally cooperated and it now appeared to have the structured just out of bed look he liked so much.  He sat at the table the maitre’d showed him to ten minutes earlier sipping his water and waiting. He could feel the sweat start to build up on his hands, he noticed the maitre’d leading Elizabeth to the table; he quickly wiped his hands as he stood up and moved over to hug her and kiss her cheek.  

“Have you been waiting long?” She asked while taking her seat opposite the table from where Nick was sitting.  He watched as she started to straighten the tablecloth, noticing that she was nervous too.  

“I haven’t been here long.” He picked up his glass of water and gulped it down.  The two sat in silence for another twenty minutes as they looked over the menus and ordered their food. After the waiter left they both sat up and looked at each other, apparent that neither one of them knew where to start the conversation.  

“You missed a great party last night,” Elizabeth spoke, finally breaking the silence between them. “Where were you, we all tried calling you at least once, Adam tried probably ten times.”  

“I had a migraine and needed to sleep it off.” It wasn’t a lie, but she didn’t need to know why his head was pounding, causing him to feel incredibly sick. 

 “That’s too bad.” Elizabeth continued, “The music was sick. They had this new DJ who knew exactly what to play and when to keep the party going. Me and the girls were non-stop dancing…” Elizabeth continued to explain the evening to Nick, he phased in and out of listening to the girl ramble on.  He stared off to the street outside watching the cars race by and the pedestrians going about their daily routines unaware of anyone else’s troubles, they all had their own problems to deal with, Nick knew that but he felt that they should all stop and pity him at least for a few minutes before continuing on. How many of those people have a problem that involves being forced into marriage.   

“Nick?” Elizabeth’s voice brought him back into the moment. “You look a thousand miles away, where did you go?”  

“Sorry, I am just kind of hungry. Please continue.” He told her, not sure why, he wasn’t exactly interested in hearing all about how drunk people got the night before. In the last few minutes, something inside him clicked. The reality of the situation dawned on him and he knew it was time to grow up. No more all night partying and clubs until four a.m.

“Elizabeth, where do you work again?” He was sure that he was told at one point when they first met, but the discussion of their employment was never what they got together to discuss before.

“I wait tables at Antoinette’s down on Versailles.” Elizabeth replied before taking a sip of her coke the waiter had placed on the table in front of her.  “The tips are good and it lets me get some rest in the mornings with plenty of time to go clubbing afterwards.”
Elizabeth beamed at Nick waiting for him to respond about how smart she was to maneuver her schedule that way.  

“Nice,” was the only reply he could come up with, he could see her face drop upset he didn’t have more to say. Thankfully, he was rescued with the arrival of the food.  Nick ate in silence as Elizabeth continued to ramble on about all the clubs and parties she’d attended in the last couple of weeks, every now and then, he would nod or add an “oooh” to let her know that he wasn’t completely ignoring her.  Nick didn’t think it would have mattered in the end she would have discussed spit on the side of the road, it was more and more apparent that the girl liked the sound of her own voice.  

Dinner ended and Nick paid the bill thankful for the date to be over. He helped Elizabeth with her chair and walked with her through the exit. “Thank you for meeting me,” Nick leaned forward and kissed Elizabeth’s cheek.  

“Thanks for dinner. I had a blast. Next time let’s go clubbing.” She hugged Nick tight and walked off towards her car. Nick said a small “Thank goodness” when he realized she was walking the opposite way from his own car.  

He drove back to his house in silence, his thoughts playing on which girl he was going to ask out next. He needed to remember more about them, try to think which girl would make better match with him versus which girl he had more fun with when they went out, someone who would care about more than just herself and a good time.  He stopped at a light turning red and looked down at his lap remembering a time he slipped on a spilled beverage, a drink spilled by Elizabeth now that he thought about it, Staci had been the one to help him up, she also opted out of dancing so she could sit with him, making sure he wasn’t seriously injured.   

They talked for the remainder of the night, joking and laughing, it was one of the few times he recalled Staci being with him and his other friends, so he knew that she did more then just party. Staci would be his next choice.  

Nick pulled into his driveway and made his way to his bedroom, checking his room and the bathroom to make sure he wouldn’t startle Roma yet again before pulling off his shirt and shorts and falling onto his bed. It would be too late to call Staci; he would call her tomorrow morning to set up a date with her. He hoped their date would go better then his date with Elizabeth, time was ticking.