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*Chapter 22*

I wake up to the smell of food, and I open my eyes to see Nick rolling in a cart with tons of food piled on it.

“Someone’s hungry this morning.” I say, propping myself up on my elbows.

“Ha ha very funny. I wasn’t sure what you wanted.”

He stops the cart at the end of the bed and we both pile food onto our plates.

“So why are you up so early?” I ask in between bites.

“We have a long day.”

“Oh we do, do we. What are we doing?”

“Baby, we’re touring Rome!”

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After 45 minutes of getting ready, Anna and I make our way down to the lobby of the hotel to meet the rest of the group. We all load onto a bus that drives us around Rome.

All day we drive through the city, occasionally getting out to explore. We got to see so many things that I never even paid attention to in the previous times I had been here. We saw St. Peter’s Basilica (the largest church in the world), the Coliseum, and the Sistine Chapel.

I found myself just watching Anna. She seemed so excited about being here and so interested in all of the history.

Having her here is really great, I mean I love her and I have missed her while I’ve been on tour, but something’s been bothering me.

When I’m around her, I find myself trying to act differently; trying to clean up my act I guess you could call it. Everyone knows that I’m a party boy. I’ll even admit it, and I know I shouldn’t be like that. It’s hard knowing that I have this great girl at home, but I still want to go out and do my own thing. It’s even worse that she doesn’t want me going out and drinking, because then I know I’m hurting her. I just can’t drop this whole part of my life. I’m not ready too.

The last place we decide to visit is the Trevi Fountain. It’s said to be the most beautiful fountain in Rome.

We all get out of the bus and walk over to the edge of the fountain. She wraps her arms around me and says, “Nick thanks you for today. It was really wonderful. And look at this fountain!”

“You know what they say about it right?”

“That if you toss a coin over your shoulder with your back to it, you will return to Rome?”

“Thanks for stealing my smart comment of the day.”

“Sorry babe. So do you have a coin I could throw.” She says smiling at me.

I rustle through my pockets and hand her a quarter. I watch her as she turns around so her back is to the fountain and throws the coin over her shoulder.

________________________________________________________________________________

*Later that Night*

After couple hours of shopping with Kristin following our tour, I struggle through the suite door with my bags.

I walk into the bedroom and set them all on the bed, just as Nick comes out of the bathroom.

“Hey you look nice.” I say to him.

“Oh, uh thanks.”

“So what are our plans for the night?” I ask sitting down on the bed.

“Well actually, I have plans.”

“Oh.” I say somewhat shocked. He has plans. Without me.

“Yeah.”

“Where are you going?”

“Just out with a couple of people I met a few nights ago.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Right now. So I’ll see you later k?”

“Uh yeah ok.”

Nick grabs his wallet off the table and then walks out the door.

I sit here on the bed feeling depressed. He made plans, knowing I would be here, and left me by myself. I came here to see him, not to stare at the bedroom wall waiting for him to come back.

I decide anything is better than sitting here alone all night, so I walk down the hall to Brian and Leighanne’s room.

I knock on the door and within seconds Leighanne opens it, wearing a slinky black dress and a sparkling diamond necklace.

“Oh hey Anna come in.” She says.

“You guys going somwhere?” I ask her.

“Yeah Brian’s taking me out.”

“O la la sounds fun. Well I guess I’ll just go then…” I say turning around and heading for the door.

“Stop right there. I know something’s wrong and you better tell me what it is.”

“It’s nothing. Nick just went out for the night with ‘some people’ and left me here by myself so…”

“Oh honey I’m so sorry. What a….”

“Don’t say it! Baby coming through!” Shouts Brian as he walks into the room with Baylee in his arms.

“Yeah so anyways...what are you two gonna do with Baylee while you’re out?”

“Actually we were gonna see if you could watch him.” Brian says.

“Sure. I’d love to.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to, we can ask Howie or AJ…”

“No don’t ask the boys. I want to.” I say as Brian hands Baylee over to me

“Ok well you have both of our cell numbers and feel free to stay in here or you guys can go to your room.”

“Got it covered.” I reassure them.

“Ok thanks so much Anna! Call if you need us.” Leighanne says as the two of them walk out.

I look at the little boy I’m holding in my arms and say, “So little man, will you be my date for the night?”

“Sure!” he says in his little high pitched voice.

“Ok then.” I say laughing.

The two of us went back to my suite and after a night of watching Finding Nemo two and a half times and eating as much candy as we could, Baylee and I are passed out on the couch, his little head resting on my chest.

The slam of a door wakes me from my sleep. I turn my head to look at the clock. I can’t make out the numbers at first because they’re too fuzzy, but when my eyes focus, I see that it’s one o’clock.

I gently lift Baylee up and lay him down on the other side of the couch. I walk out of the living room and into the bedroom where I can see light shining from under the bathroom door.

“Nick?” I say knocking.

The door suddenly opens and Nick is standing there.

“Hey baby.” He says with a goofy grin on his face.

“Did you just get home?”

“Yup.” He says walking past me and falling onto the bed.

“Well where did you go?”

“I donno a few bars and then some clubs. Come lay with me.” He says slurring his words.

“No that’s ok.”

“Come on baby just come over here.”

“Nick you’re drunk. I said no.”

“I said come over here.” His voice gets louder and angrier as he gets up off the bed.

“Stop it! Baylee is in the other room!”

“I don’t care!” He yells

“Please Nick, you’re scaring me.”

He walks closer and when he’s within reaching distance he grabs me by the arms and slams his lips against mine.

I push him away and quickly walk into the other room.

When I get to the couch I lightly wake Baylee.

“Come here honey, it’s time to go.”

He rubs his eyes then extends his arms. I lift him up, still wrapped in his blanket, and hurry to the door.

Just before I shut it, I hear Nick calling from inside. “Hey, Anna! Come back here!”

I ignore him, and trying to hold back my tears, I make my way down the hall to Leighanne and Brian’s room.

I knock on the door, hoping they would be home, and sure enough, Brian answers the door. It looks like they just got home.

“Hey. Looks like you guys had fun.” He says looking at his son.

“Yeah we did. Here you go.” I say handing Baylee over.

Leighanne appears behind Brian in the doorway, and once again, notices something’s wrong.

“Anna what’s wrong? You look like you’re about to cry.”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow ok, I gotta go.”

“Alright.” She says

“Feel better, and thank you!” Brian says as I walk away.

I pause, realizing I don’t want to go back to the room. I don’t want to be around him when he’s this way.

I back up against the wall and slide down until I’m sitting on the ground. I put my head in my hands and just start crying.

I’m sure I look pathetic, but at the moment I could care less. I feel like this has been building up inside of me, and as sad as I am, it just feels good to cry.

After I calm down, I get up off the ground and walk back down the hall, in the opposite direction of my room.

When I arrive at the door I was looking for, I wipe the tears from my face with the end of my sleeve, and then knock on the door.

After knocking again, the door finally opens.

AJ stands there half naked, his eyes squinting from the light in the hall. Before I could even say hello, he realizes that I have been crying.

“Hey what’s wrong.” He says in a soft voice.

“It’s Nick, but I don’t really want to talk about it. Do you think I could sleep here tonight?”

“Sure. Of course you can stay here. Come in.”

I follow him into the darkened room and when we enter the living room he flicks on a light.

“I’ll just sleep on the couch.” I tell him.

“Are you sure? I can kick Howie out of the other bed.” He says pointing to the bedroom where I can see Howie in one of the beds snoring as he sleeps.

“No no, don’t do that.” I say with a small smile.

“Ok then. Lemme get you some blankets.”

As he walks out of the room, I take my sweatshirt and shoes off and sit down on the couch.

“Here ya go.” He says carrying two blankets and a pillow.

He puts the pillow down and I lay my head on it. He unfolds the blankets and helps me spread them on top of me.

When I’m all situated he asks, “Do you need anything else?”

“No thanks I’m good. Hey I really appreciate this. It means a lot.”

“Don’t worry about it. Goodnight sweetie. Oh, and if his snoring is bothering you, feel free to punch him.” He says laughing.

“Ha thanks.” I say, and after 10 minutes I am asleep.