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Chapter 18

"Nick, pay attention."

"What?"

"Pay attention. You're daydreaming."

"Sorry." He straightened himself up and paid closely attention to what the other guys were saying, but he still couldn't get his mind off of what happend with Emma last night and this morning.

"Okay, so here are your schedules... we will be heading over to the Europe in about a week in time for the release of Unbreakable."

"Europe?" Nick spoke up.

"Yeah... Problems?"

"Uh, no. I just... didn't think we were... going over there so fast."

"Nick, you knew about this already when we talked about it with management."

"Yeah, yeah but... I just... nevermind."

Brian was the first one to look at Nick with a weird look on his face and then AJ. They knew that something was up with him, but they both weren't sure if they should ask him what was wrong.

"You know everyone out there lov..."

I blocked out everything everyone was saying. I couldn't focus on anything at the moment. I was too busy thinking about Emma and everything that happend in the span of the last 24 hours. The words that she had just kept playing over and over in my head.

"I have to go..."

"I need to know if this is real..."

It was real. We both know that. How many more ways can I actually prove it to her?

"NICK!"

"What?"

"You're not paying attention... again." Brian whispered angrily.

"Sorry, look Brian... I gotta go."

"Something's wrong?"

"Yeah... everything." Nick said, standing up and storming out of the room.

"Whoa Nick, wait up." Brian said catching up with Nick at the end of the hall.

"Brian... I have to go."

"You can't just bail out like that on a meeting."

"I know and I'm sorry I just... I can't be here today."

"What's going on?"

"Just alot... I need to clear my head about a few things first."

"Nick, this can't keep going on. You need to get it together."

"I know, I know. I just..." He trailed off, looking away.

"You just what?"

"There's alot of things I need to fix right now."

"We're leaving in about a week."

"A WEEK?"

"Yeah... if you'd pay attention today, you'd know."

"Brian..."

"Look Nick, I understand what you're going through... I do, but this is it for us. We can't constantly let people get in between things like this."

"You know Brian," Nick said turning around to face Brian, "that's easy for you to say since you actually have a wife and kid who follow you around."

"All I'm saying is we're leaving in a week, Nick."

"I get it."

"And just so you know, they don't follow me around like lost puppies. They're MY family. If I want to bring them with me everywhere I go, I'll do that."

"Brian I didn't mean it like that..."

"It's fine Nick. I get it. I'm going back now. Just... take the day off. I'll keep you informed and fax over anything else we need and let the guys know."

"Thanks man... I'm sorry again. I just can't focus today. Tomorrow, I promise."

"It's fine. Now go fix it before it's too late." He smiled, knowing exactly what was going on with Nick.

"Thanks Bri. I'll call you later!" He shouted, practically running to his car.

The whole car ride home all he kept thinking about was Emma and wondering if she was still at his house.

 

* * *

Emma slowly walked out of Nick's bathroom a few minutes later after he had left. She still couldn't believe everything that happend. She didn't regret anything. She knew that sooner or later, things... unexplainable things... were going to happen between them. She wasn't afraid to admit that she liked it. Infact, she loved it. She realized that being with Nick, even if it wasn't just in a intimate way, made her feel wanted, loved, needed and most of all, safe. She knew Nick loved her no matter what and she loved him too. She was just afraid to fall back into that routine again with him.

She wiped her tears and walked back into Nick's master bedroom and stopped when she saw all their clothes on the floor. The room was a total disaster from their previous nights activities. She shook her head, trying not to think back to what happend and started cleaning up and putting everything back into place. This is so fucking stupid, she thought to herself. She finished putting everything back into place and sat on the bed to write Nick a letter before she left.

* * *

Nick pulled up to his driveway and practically jumped out of his car leaving his keys and everything in there. He ran up the steps and into the house.

"Emma!?"

Silence.

"Emma?" Nick walked into the living room and then into the dining room. Still nothing. Shit... maybe she's downstairs? He thought to himself and walked down to his studio. "Em?" Silence.

"What the hell?"

Then he remembered earlier in the morning when he left Emma in the bathroom, crying. He slowly walked up the stairs, realizing that all he heard was silence. He stopped to listen. Nothing. He walked up a few more steps and headed towards the bathroom. As he approached the bathroom, he knocked softly, "Emma?"

More silence.

He soon realized that Emma was no longer there, waiting for him. As he walked into his bedroom, he noticed that everything was put back into place. He closed his eyes, remembering what happend the night before and sighed. He can still smell her scent. As he opened his eyes, he looked towards his bed and saw a letter sitting on his pillow with his name on it, written in Emma's handwriting. He walked towards his bed and sat down. He took the letter, opened it and sat down to read it. As he was reading it, he could clearly hear Emma's voice in his head.


Nick -

I don't even know how or where to start this... or I'll start by saying that I'm sorry. You're probably tired of hearing me say this, but it's true. I'm sorry for everything that happend. You're a great guy and you don't deserve that. I'm sorry if you feel like I just used you last night. It wasn't my intention. I enjoyed and loved every single part of it. I'm scared to admit this, but... you make me feel safe... and... I love you for that. I don't want to keep doing this with you. I'm tired of running away from you. I'm tried of acting like a scared little girl. I'm tried of fighting with you. I just want us to be able to start over again. Start new, start fresh. I forgive you Nick. For everything. I just hope that you forgive me too.... I keep rambling on... and I don't know what else to say. I just... I'm sorry.

With all my love,


Emma

P.S - The ring? It was beautiful and I loved it. Thank you. You're right though... maybe one day you could actually give it to me like you always wanted.

I love you.


When he finished reading the letter, he felt a lump in his throat and swallowed it hard. He pulled out his cell phone, scrolled down to Emma's name and clicked the "Call" button.

One ring. Two rings. On the third ring, her heard her voice.

"Hey, it's m--" It was just her voicemail instead. He sighed and ended the call without leaving her a message. He highlighted her name again and decided to send her a text.

* * *

As Emma was pulling up to her own driveway, she felt her phone vibrating, indicating that she had a text message. She grabbed her phone and slid it open. She was surprised when she saw Nick's name on the screen. She opened the message.

Dinner tonight? 7pm? Please say yes. We need to talk...

She thought about it for a few minutes and then hit reply. Yeah, sure. 7pm is fine. See you soon then. She ended it with a smily face and hit sent.

Nick's phone vibrated again. He knew it was from Emma. He opened it and read it with a smile on his face. He then hit reply once more.

Thanks. See you soon then. :)