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Author's Chapter Notes:

Alyssa and Sean attend a dinner party at Nick's.

Chapter 14 – Wine Me, Dine Me, 69 Me

“Promise me that you’ll going to be on good behavior?” Alyssa asked Sean for about the millionth time after he parked his truck near Nick and Shayla’s home that Friday night.

“Come on Alyssa… Do you really think that I’m going to make a scene in the middle of his house?” Sean rolled his eyes, sounding insulted. “I know how to act. You don’t have to lecture me like a two year old.”

Alyssa sighed as she opened up the passenger side of the car and hopped down, straightening out her skirt. “Just be nice okay? That’s all I’m asking.”

Sean slung his arm around her waist and pressed his lips against her temple as they walked up the driveway. “I’m always nice.”

She just narrowed her eyes at him, but chose to keep her mouth shut as she reached up to ring the doorbell. A few seconds later the door was thrust open and Alyssa found herself face to face with Shayla. Her hair was hanging in loose blonde curls and she was wearing a simple, sophisticated black cocktail dress. Most surprising was the almost too friendly smile she greeted them with. “Alyssa! Sean! So glad you could make it!”

Aren’t we the merry hostess, Alyssa thought cynically to herself, but then remembered her advice to Sean about being nice. To be impolite would just be hypocritical of her. “Well, thanks for inviting us,” she simply answered as they stepped inside.

“Oh, I didn’t invite you. Nick did,” she pointed out with just a tinge of iciness in her voice. “But thank you anyway. I’m in the middle of heating some stuff up, but everyone else is in the living room. You can head right in.” With that she spun on her black stiletto heels and left the two of them standing there.

“Uhh, is it just me or did the room temperature just drop a good twenty degrees?” Alyssa muttered as they made their way hand in hand towards the living room.

“What happened to being nice?” Sean snickered, clearly amused at the situation.

“Shut up.”

They just reached the living room when Nick spotted them from across the room and came up to them. “Hey, I’m glad the two of you could make it,” he welcomed Sean with a pat on the back and Alyssa with a hug and kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you,” Alyssa told him, reluctantly pulling out of his embrace. Her eyes gazed over the room quickly. “This is some place you have, huh?”

“Yea… It’s not that bad. Anyway I have a few people I want you to meet,” he told her, changing the subject as he led them over to a group of people.

Alyssa tried to be as polite as possible as Nick introduced her to a few people who worked for his label, although she found it nearly impossible to remember all of their names. Finally he approached a tall young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties with thick, curly, medium brown hair and natural looking skin. Even though it was a dinner party and she had assumed the dinner attire was fancy, the woman wore a pair of ripped jeans and a vintage looking t-shirt with a black pin striped vest over it. “And this is our guest of honor for tonight, Kina,” Nick introduced. “Kina, this is a very good friend of mine, Alyssa, and her husband Sean.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Alyssa graciously took her hand and smiled. “Nick has told me so much about you and your music.”

“Uh huh,” Nick agreed. “I think you’d really like some of her stuff Lyss. It’s right up your alley. Sort of bluesy, folkish, pop rock I guess is the best way I can explain it.”

“I’ve been compared vocally with everyone from Alanis Morisette to Amy Winehouse,” Kina chimed in. “With a guitar of course.”

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the guitar. Nick tried to teach me once, but I was pretty much hopeless.” Alyssa couldn’t help, but smile as her mind traveled back to that particular afternoon when he’d attempted to help her learn. How he’d pulled her to sit between his legs, with his arms wrapped around her, guiding her hands and fingers to the correct spots on the guitar. Between the closeness of their bodies, his soft touch, and the feeling of his warm breath against her neck, it probably wasn’t very surprising that she had trouble concentrating on what her fingers were supposed to be doing. As patient as he’d been with her, the guitar lesson hadn’t lasted very long before they’d been distracted by ‘other activities.’

She snuck a glance at Nick wondering if he was thinking back to that same afternoon. Judging from the far away look on his face, Alyssa knew he was. Sean’s voice jarred her back into the present. “Wow… That’s a pretty impressive comparison. I’d love to hear some of your stuff sometime.”

Whoa, hold up a minute and rewind? Did I just hear Sean say that he’d like to hear some of her stuff sometime? Since when is Sean into angsty chick rock? Most of his music collection consisted of hard rock and metal with the occasional mainstream rap CD thrown in. Kina definitely did not sound like an artist that Sean would typically be interested in, at least not for her musical talent. Alyssa gave him a confused look, but if he noticed he just ignored her.

“Yea, if you’re interested I have a music My Space that has a few songs on it and as I record I’m sure that Nick wouldn’t mind if you took a listen.”

Nick just nodded in agreement. “It would be good to get some early feedback from a listener’s point of view.”

“That sounds like a good idea to me.” Sean took his Sidekick out of his back pocket. “Hey, maybe you could show me your My Space, so I can add you as a friend?”

Add her as a friend? Is he really serious here? Alyssa was beginning to suspect that Sean’s interests had little to do with her music, but with her exotic looks instead. He’s completely flirting with her right in front of my face! And he has the nerve to be jealous of me and Nick? Her mouth almost hung open in shock as Kina grinned and took the Sidekick from his hands. “That sounds like a great idea to me. And while I have your phone I’ll just put my number into it, in case you ever want to come into the studio and listen to me jam sometime.”

“That sounds great,” Sean enthusiastically replied, in a tone that almost made Alyssa want to throw up. She turned back towards Nick looking for some kind of support. Maybe he could kindly pull his highly attractive female musical artist away from her husband. But at that moment one of the guys Nick had introduced her to earlier approached them and Nick gave them all an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll be right back. Business calls.” Before she could even get out a response he was being pulled away.

Alyssa sighed once she realized that it was now just her, Sean, and Kina. Her two other companions seemed oblivious to us as they engaged in a conversation about their favorite musical artists and she felt a bit like a third wheel trying to join their conversation. Thankfully enough she looked up and spotted Melanie and Leighanne standing off to the corner. The two women spotted her and waved. Politely excusing herself, Alyssa headed over to the two of them and they exchanged welcoming hugs. “I didn’t know that you were going to be here!”

“We just got here,” Melanie explained. “Apparently Nick invited all of the guys, but Howie was busy checking out reception halls or something and I don’t know what AJ was up to.”

“Where are your husbands?”

“They went off to look for Nick and talk to some other people they know,” Leighanne reported with a wave of her hand. “Are you here by yourself?”

“No, I’m here with Sean,” Alyssa answered, realizing that both women had never met Sean before. The last time she’d seen them at Grace’s birthday party, Sean hadn’t come with her. “He’s actually over there on the couch talking to Kina.” She tried to get that last sentence out without clenching her teeth.

Both women’s eyes traveled to the direction of the couch. “Ouch… I take it you’re not too happy with that?” Melanie asked.

Alyssa shrugged, already embarrassed that the first impression that her friends were getting of her husband was of him being a ladies man, especially when under normal circumstances Sean was anything, but. In fact, his flirting with Kina was pretty uncharacteristic of him, and Alyssa wondered exactly where it was coming from. “They’re just talking music and stuff.” Ignoring the two women’s doubtful looks she skillfully changed the subject. “So, just wondering… Was Shayla cold to the two of you at all when you walked in?”

The two women shrugged. “No more than usual,” Leighanne reported. “You have to admit that she’s a little ice queen, but she seemed cordial. Why do you ask?”

“Well, when I walked in she was really friendly, but then when I thanked her for inviting us, she made a big production of stressing that it wasn’t her that invited me, it was Nick. Isn’t that a little funny? I mean I know I don’t know her very well, but the only two other times I’ve spoken with her she seemed to not have a problem with me. It just struck me odd. Did I do something that I’m unaware of?”

Melanie just rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Shayla is a little funny. I mean I have no problem with her specifically. She’s always been polite to me and Nick seems happy with her, but I will admit that she’s definitely a lot less friendly than you are. She’s not really one to socialize with all the other Backstreet wives and girlfriends. Teri and Tricia think she’s a little bit stuck up, but I just think she likes to keep to herself.”

“Maybe you’re reading too much into it,” Leighanne suggested. “Maybe it just came out wrong the way she said it.” This was a typical Leighanne response; she hated to think the worst of people.

Alyssa thought it over for a moment. Perhaps Leighanne was right. She’d been pretty mixed up about her feelings for Nick. Maybe wishful thinking made her hear that bit of bitchiness in her voice, since Alyssa really had no solid reason to dislike Shayla outside of the fact that she was married to Nick. “You could be right,” she admitted. “I just don’t want any weird feelings between the two of us. I mean Nick said that she handled the paparazzi pictures pretty well after he explained them to her, but still I can’t help, but feel that she doesn’t quite trust me.”

“Maybe you should try to get to know her better. Show her how harmless you really are and make realize that you’re not really a threat. I know for a fact that she’s in that kitchen alone trying to get everything set up for dinner, and there has to be at least twenty of us here.”

She had to admit that she did kind of feel bad for Shayla slaving away in the kitchen. No wonder she’d been snippy. She’d probably just been stressed from all the work. “She’s not doing all that cooking, is she?”

“God no! Does she look the type who knows her way around a kitchen?” Melanie laughed. “She and Nick catered most of it, but there are still some odds and ends that need to be done. Setting tables, heating up food, throwing together a salad…”

Alyssa sighed as she realized what she should do in her position. As much as she didn’t want to, she felt like it was up to her to be the bigger person. Besides, maybe Leighanne was right. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get to know Nick’s wife better. Maybe she actually wasn’t so bad, underneath the designer clothes and perfectly painted on makeup. “I think I’m going to go in the kitchen and ask if she needs any help with anything. That should clear the air between us, right?”

The two women both nodded in agreement, and Alyssa walked back towards the direction of the kitchen. When she entered the room she saw Shayla struggling to set up a sterno pan and cursing under her breath. “Hey…” Alyssa tentatively approached her. “I noticed that you’re in here by yourself trying to get dinner ready, so I was just wondering if maybe you’d like an extra pair of hands or something?”

Shayla looked up, obviously surprised by her offer. She stared at her for a moment not quite sure how to react, but after a moment or two she gave in, knowing that she definitely could use the help. “Sure, if you want to help. You can start by going down to the basement and bringing up a few bottles of wine to have with dinner. We could use some more wine glasses too.”

“Okay,” she agreed, not at all impressed with Shayla’s gratitude or rather lack thereof, but reminding herself that she was trying to be the classier person in the situation; she turned on her heels and headed towards the direction of what she assumed was the basement door. Grateful that she had chosen the correct door, she headed down the stairs and flicked on the light switch at the bottom of the stairs. In the dim lighting provided, she approached the fully stocked bar on the other end of the room. Shayla hadn’t actually specified where the wine bottles were, so she decided to locate the glasses first. She went around to the other side of the bar and on one of the shelves underneath found a variety of different types of glasses. She quickly grabbed a dozen or so extra wine goblets and placed them on top of the counter. How she was going to manage to carry all of this upstairs was a mystery to her. She’d definitely have to make a few trips.

She turned around looking at the wall of alcohol behind her, but none of the bottles behind her resembled wine bottles. She was just about to give up and ask Shayla where she should be looking, when out of the corner of her eye she spotted a wine rack in the corner, on the other side of the bar.

Good grief! I must’ve walked past it at least five times already. Am I blind or just stupid? she asked herself as she bent over, to read the labels on the bottles. She wasn’t sure what everyone would like, so she made sure to select three bottles of red wine and three bottles of white.

She was so engrossed in picking out the wine, that she didn’t even notice the sound of someone else coming down the stairs. Nick had purposely snuck down as quietly as possible already knowing that Alyssa was already down there. He’d popped his head into the kitchen for a moment to see how Shayla was doing and she’d asked if he’d go down and help in bringing up the wine glasses since it would be too much for Alyssa to carry. And as promised there was Alyssa bent over the wine rack, seeming to be deep in thought about which bottle to choose. Nick couldn’t help, but to stop and stare at how great her ass looked in the tight black skirt she was wearing, but quickly sobered up once he realized that he was completely checking out his ex girlfriend. He cleared his throat to announce his presence which caused Alyssa to jump up so fast that she hit her head on the corner of the bar.

“Shit!” she cursed, holding a hand up to her head. “Next time can you warn me instead of sneaking up on me like that?”

“I’m sorry,” Nick apologized, looking concerned as he took a step closer to her. “Are you okay?”

“I think I’ll live with hopefully nothing more than a little bump,” she muttered, finally letting go of her head. “Thanks for scaring the daylights out of me.”

“I didn’t mean to,” he insisted. “Shayla thought that you could use some help bring up all the wine glasses and stuff. Did you find everything all right?”

“Yea… I pulled some wine glasses and set them on the corner of the bar over there. That should be enough, right? And I figured I’d get a few bottles of red and few bottles of white, so everyone is satisfied.” She didn’t even realize that she was beginning to ramble at first, but it was just easier for her keep the conversation focused on a relatively safe impersonal topic. With her feelings the way they were, she preferred to avoid any conversation that could lead her into dangerous territory.

“I think that should be fine.”

“I just didn’t know if there was a certain type of wine everyone wanted. I’m not exactly a wine connoisseur, so I guess I’ll leave that task up to you,” she continued.

Nick just grinned as he pulled a few bottles off the rack. “You never really were.” They were silent for a moment as they began to gather up some of the glasses until Nick spoke once again looking at her with a serious expression on his face. “So, how are you doing Alyssa? Truthfully.”

Alyssa was thrown for a loop at his question as she set her wine glasses back down again. “I’m fine. What do you mean by truthfully?”

He looked uncomfortable. “Last time we talked you were pretty upset about the whole baby thing and I know your relationship with Sean isn’t the same lately. I can tell that although you’re trying to be strong, it’s really killing you that you’re not pregnant yet. It’s wedging a gap between you and Sean isn’t it?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” she curtly replied. “I’m doing fine. I’m okay, and Sean and I are doing okay, and I’m just taking everything one day at a time.”

“That’s why Sean’s up there talking to Kina right now, right?” He could tell just by the way her back automatically stiffened that he had struck a nerve.

“Last time I checked you and Shayla weren’t exactly prom king and queen either.”

She had him there. “Touché. But I was asking about you. Is it wrong for me to be worried about you? I mean the last time we talked you practically broke down in front of me, so I thought that maybe you could use someone to talk to.”

Alyssa sighed, trying her best to sound as convincing as possible. There was no way in hell that she could confide in Nick. He was part of the problem in the first place. “For the last time, Sean and I are fine. Yes, we’re definitely in the midst of some rough times right now, but every couple goes through these things. I appreciate you trying to help, but there’s nothing you can do, so just drop it already, okay?” She grabbed a handful of glasses and began to walk away.

Nick was shocked by the way that she’d just snapped at him. That alone told him that she most definitely was not okay, but he knew Alyssa well enough not to press the issue much more. He couldn’t just let her walk away like this, especially when he’d planned this talk with her with an agenda in mind. “Wait, Alyssa.” He grabbed her arm to stop her. “Don’t go yet. Just hear me out for another minute, okay?”

Alyssa looked puzzled, but stopped and set her glasses back down on top of the bar again. “Fine. I’m listening, but this better be good Carter.”

He took in a deep breath. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going at home between you and Sean and I’m not going to pretend that I do. I just have a feeling that as much as you try to deny it to me, things aren’t as peachy as you want me to believe they are.” Alyssa opened her mouth as if to defend herself, but he quickly cut her off. “You don’t have to admit to anything, but I know you’re having problems right now. And sometimes when times are rough you just need to get away for a while. So, I was thinking…” He paused for a moment and dug his hand into his pocket. “Do you remember that condo I bought for you to live in when you moved out to LA, a few years back? Well, I still have it. I never sold it. I just didn’t have the heart to I guess. Anyway sometimes like after when Shayla and I have a fight or something, I go there just to cool down, and it helps.”

Alyssa drew in a deep breath as he took her hand in his. “I wanted to let you know that if you ever feel like you need to disappear for a night or something, the condo is always available to you. And I want you to have this.” She felt a small metal object being pressed into the palm of her hand. She gasped as she looked down and realized that it was a key. A key to the condo.

Her fingers clasped around it. “Nick… I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. You don’t even have to use it unless you really want to. I just wanted to give you the option.”

Alyssa just shakily nodded not sure how to react. She knew that Nick probably meant it with the most innocent of intentions, but it still felt extremely forbidden for her to even accept the key. Still though, she thanked him and tucked the key into her bra as inconspicuously as possible, since she had nowhere else to put it. She blushed a little feeling Nick’s eyes on her. “No pockets,” she tried to explain.

“That’s quite all right,” he told her with a little smirk. And for the first time Alyssa realized just how close they were standing together. She wondered if Nick even realized that her hand was still on her arm. Looking up into his eyes, she knew that she’d just made a big mistake. The familiar pair of clear blue eyes that stared back at her seemed to be nearly piercing, and then there were those lips… He had amazing lips, which what was probably what made him such a great kisser. And she couldn’t help but notice that the distance between those lips and her own was growing smaller each second. Her mind completely shut down as all rational thought slipped out of her head. She wasn’t thinking about Sean, or how wrong this all us, or even where it might lead to. She was acting on pure impulse. Her eyes closed, and her body took over, as their lips softly met.

The kiss was soft at first, but the electric feeling that traveled throughout all her nerves was undeniable. It started out almost too controlled, as if both of them were afraid of what might happen if they truly let go, but as it slowly intensified it almost felt as if a dam had broken between the two of them. Alyssa’s hands flew up around the base of his neck, her fingertips playing with the ends of his hair as it deepened. A moan escaped the back of her throat the moment she felt his tongue push aggressively into her mouth. She welcomed the sensation and continued kissing him just as passionately, leaning her back up against the edge of the bar for support. As corny as it sounded, her knees were already beginning to feel weak.

She nibbled against his lip, very well aware of his fingertips on her waist, stroking a sliver of bare skin from where the hem of her shirt that rode up just slightly over her skirt. She almost shrieked in surprise when she felt herself being lifted up and placed onto the top of the bar, all the time not once breaking contact with him. She was so into the moment that she completely forgot about the wine glasses besides her, and as she set one hand down on the bar to steady herself, she sent one of then knocking to the ground where it shattered in a million pieces underneath them.

The sound of the glass breaking was enough to bring both of them reeling back into the present. They pulled apart from each other breathlessly, both not being able to do much more than to stare at each other in disbelief over what had just happened for almost a full minute. Finally Alyssa broke the silence. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry!” she cried as she slid down from her position on the bar and began to pick up some of the larger pieces of glass from the floor. “I can’t believe I did that! God, I’m clumsy!”

“It’s okay Alyssa,” he assured her. “It’s just a glass. Don’t touch it. I don’t want you to cut yourself. I’ll get a broom or something to clean this up.”

He disappeared out of sight for a moment leaving Alyssa standing there fighting to control the shaky feeling that she was still trying to overcome. That kiss had just been incredible. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d felt anything even remotely close to the feeling. And if I feel this way just after a few kisses, imagine… No, she stopped herself. She refused to let her mind complete the thought. The intensity of the moment scared her big time. There was no denying that now she was even more tempted than ever.

Nick returned a few minutes later with a dust pan and a broom and began to sweep up the broken glass on the floor around them. Alyssa could do nothing more than watch. Neither one of them mentioned what had just happened and she knew that it was an unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t talk about it, at least not tonight. Not until they had time to properly sort out their feelings.

“We should head back upstairs. Shayla will probably send a search party for us any minute now,” he announced once he was done.

“You’re right,” Alyssa agreed. In a frenzied hurry, she grabbed a bottle of wine and some glasses and headed back up the stairs with Nick right behind her. She hoped that the guilt on her face wasn’t completely obvious.

When they reached the foot of the stairs, Shayla was waiting for them, tapping her foot impatiently. “What the hell took you two so long down there? I’ve been waiting for that wine for almost twenty minutes now.”

“I’m sorry,” Alyssa jumped to apologize. “I was having trouble finding everything, so Nick had to help me out.”

“And then you know me. Being as clumsy as I am, I dropped a wine glass and it broke, so we had to clean it up,” Nick continued for her.

Shayla looked suspicious for a moment, but didn’t say anything, instead she chose to rant about the wine goblet some more. “I can’t believe you broke one of our wine glasses Nick! Those were a wedding gift from my Aunt and Uncle. They weren’t freaking cheap!”

“We still have the whole set babe. We’re just one short,” he pointed out, trying to console her.

“Whatever,” she sighed, before storming off in the direction of the kitchen. Alyssa raised her eyebrows and exchanged a look with Nick as if to say, What crawled up her ass?

Nick ignored her glance and headed back downstairs to bring up some more glasses and wine bottles. Silently, Alyssa followed him. They continued the rest of their trips up and down the stairs wordlessly, not at all mentioning what had just happened between them.

When she was finished, Alyssa popped her head back into the kitchen. “Anything else you want me to do?” she asked Shayla.

Shayla didn’t answer right away. She just thrust a baking sheet full of dinner rolls in her direction. “Put these into the basket over there on the counter.”

“Sure,” Alyssa answered. She grabbed a potholder from the counter and quickly got to work. Once she was finished she handed the empty baking sheet over to Shayla. “Here you go. Again I apologize for taking so long with the wine I-“

Shayla just stared at her quizzically, appearing almost bored with her words. Not seeming to care that Alyssa was already talking, Shayla grabbed a napkin from the table and handed it to Alyssa, interrupting her mid sentence. “Your lipstick is smeared… You may want to fix that.” Without waiting for a response she turned her back leaving Alyssa standing there gaping.

Cursing under her breath, Alyssa headed in the direction of the bathroom and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. Shayla was right. Her lipstick was smeared. Not horribly, but enough to confirm a suspicion that she’d recently been making out with someone. Fuck, she cursed as she did her best to fix the mess. Was Shayla just calling her bluff? Or did she know more than she let on?




The rest of the evening was all, but ruined for Alyssa. Dinner had been a tense affair, with Shayla practically shooting daggers at her with her eyes, and her and Nick barely able to look at each other period. The tension in the room was getting to her and after the meal she’d whispered into Sean’s ear something about a headache and wanting to head home early.

“You don’t even want to stay for dessert?” he asked, sounding concerned. “Kina’s supposed to play a few songs for us after dinner too, out on the deck.”

At the mention of Kina’s name, Alyssa had just gotten up from the table and grabbed her purse, which had sent Sean with no choice, but to follow after her. Now they were on their way home, and they hadn’t sent a word to each other since they’d entered the car. Finally Sean broke the tense silence.

“What the fuck was that all about, back there? The moment I said Kina’s name you were practically out the door?” he angrily asked. “Seems like you were in a real hurry to leave, which is strange because you were the one who wanted to come in the first place.”

“Please Sean… I don’t want to fight right now,” she honestly told him. She had enough drama on her plate at the moment, and to be completely honest in a way she almost wished Sean really was attracted to Kina. Then at least she’d have a way of justifying kissing Nick tonight to herself.

But Sean wasn’t quite ready to let go so easily. “That’s the excuse that you use every time you know you know you’re wrong in a situation and I’m sick of it! God forbid, I get the tiniest bit concerned over your friendship with Nick and you flip out on me, but the moment you get jealous of me just talking to another woman, you all of a sudden ‘don’t want to talk about it?’ Well, guess what? It doesn’t work that way!”

As soon as he brought up Nick, Alyssa began to lose her cool and all of her sudden her wish to not fight with him tonight was completely forgotten. “Fine! You want to talk about Kina? Let’s talk about Kina! You have absolutely no interest in her type of music, so why were you pretending? Obviously because you found her hot! Which is fine. You’re entitled to your opinions, but then to openly flirt with her in front of me? What the fuck was up with that? You’re not that type of guy Sean and you never were, so why the big show tonight? Was it just to piss me off?”

“Maybe,” he sullenly replied. “Looks like it worked.”

“Why would you flirt with another woman just to get me angry?” she asked, sounding thoroughly confused. “That makes no sense.”

“To show you how it feels,” he countered back. “You know its fine for you to go fawning over Nick right in front of my face! I’m supposed to just sit back and totally be okay with the fact that you’re so chummy with your ex boyfriend, right Alyssa?”

“Oh, my fucking God… I thought we’ve been over this Sean! Nick and I are friends! I don’t know what you’re talking about that I ‘fawn’ over him.”

“And maybe Kina and I want to be friends! You’re not the only one who is allowed to have friends of the opposite sex. And please, you don’t fawn over him?” Sean did his best to imitate Alyssa’s high pitched voice. “Ohh, Nick… Remember that time you taught me to play the guitar and I really sucked at it?” He glared at her, returning to his normal voice. “That’s not fawning?”

“No, it’s not! God, I cannot fucking believe how immature you are, to flirt with a girl just to make me jealous. That’s so high school!”

Thankfully enough they pulled into their driveway at just that moment. Alyssa threw her door open and stormed into the house, not even bothering to wait for Sean. By the time Sean arrived into the house and up the stairs, Alyssa was trudging past him, dragging a pillow and blanket behind her.

“Where the hell are you going?” he asked her, sounding confused.

“I’m sleeping in the guest room tonight,” she firmly replied as she brushed right past him. Behind her she could hear Sean muttering and cursing, but she just tuned him out as she slammed the door behind her.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she sank her back against the door and all her emotions from that night came spilling out of her in a pool of tears. When she’d finally calmed herself down, she began to unbuttoning her shirt and getting ready for bed. While getting undressed, she’d almost forgotten the key that Nick had given her, until she removed her bra and found it laying in one of the cups. She pulled it out and held it in her hands for a moment. Nick only just gave it to me and I already had to almost use it tonight, she thought with a sad smile. She examined the key closer and slowly her lips curled up into she was almost laughing.

Ironically enough the house number written on the front of the key with a small silver disk was 69. How fucking appropriate, she thought with a smirk as she set the key down on the dresser and climbed in between the sheets.