Chapter Eleven

Elisabeth sat there at her desk that afternoon in her office, with her elbows propped up on it, and holding her hands together up under her nose. She’d been like that most of the day, scared of what Nick was going to do that night. He had called her once at the office, but she was in a production meeting, and he left a message saying he was just checking on her and to see what was up, but that he would see her that night.

She never called him back. She didn’t really have time. If she wasn’t thinking about that night, she was too busy going over things for the Tim McGraw special the next day, or the show that night, which there was a rumor that there was going to be a surprise guest. She was so deep into thought that she failed to notice someone standing at her door for the past five minutes, until all of a sudden, she snapped out of it and looked up, jumping a little.

Faith Hill.

“Elisabeth?” Faith asked as she walked into the room and Elisabeth just sat there in surprise, “I was just talking with Lance and he told me to come down here and introduce myself, I’m Faith.”

“Oh, I know,” Elisabeth said as she stood up, walking over to shake her hand, “I’m a really big fan.” Elisabeth just stood there in shock, almost as if she was in another galaxy. Usually when she has to meet someone, she’s prepared and she’s in control of her self, but considering she had never met Faith before and she was one of her all-time favorite singers, she was a little taken back. Sort of like that time Joey McIntyre came to TRL unannounced, “Are you the um, rumored guest for tonight?”

“Yep, I sure am. Lance told me to come let you know because he didn’t want you to be too surprised tonight,” Faith said as she started to laugh a little, “You look like you were sitting there daydreaming about something. I’m sorry if I interrupted something,”

“Oh no, it’s fine,” Elisabeth said as she crossed her arms, “Just weird things are going on with me lately,” she said as her phone rung and she looked over at it, and back at Faith, “Can you give me one second?”

“Sure,” Faith said as Elisabeth smiled, practically leaping over to her phone, answering it, “Hello?”

“Hey, back in your office?” Nick asked as Elisabeth rolled her eyes and looked back at Faith.

“Nick, um, can I call you back later? I’ve got someone in my office.”

“Oh a boy?”

“No, actually a girl. I’ll call you back.”

“Well I was going to give you hints about tonight…”

“Nick,” Elisabeth said as she started to whisper in the phone, “Please. I’ll call you back soon. I promise.”

“Okay, okay. Call me back woman,” Nick said as Elisabeth sighed, hanging up the phone and looked back over at Faith, while walking back around her desk.

“Sorry about that,” Elisabeth said as she started to laugh nervously, “Sometimes boys are impatient.”

“Oh, your boyfriend?” Faith asked as Elisabeth stood there, confused for a moment. She didn’t know whether to say yes, no, or try to explain the whole situation. Besides not knowing what the hell to say, she was standing here talking about it with Faith Hill of all people.

“Um, well,” Elisabeth said as she crossed her arms a little and looked around. She took a deep breath and decided to just let it go. Faith was married to the person she was meant to be with, it wouldn’t hurt, “It’s my ex-boyfriend, but he’s my best friend. We only went together for six months and we kind of grew apart and were totally best friends. And now, he’s came to Nashville and says he’s not leaving until we’re back together and he’s so adamant about it and he asked me to marry him the other night.”

There, that wasn’t so bad.

“Do you love him?” Faith asked as Elisabeth made a weird face and looked down.

“Yes. He’s the only guy that I’ve ever loved and I still love him, more than anything. It’s just kind of complicated in a bunch of stupid ways,” Elisabeth said as she looked up at her. Faith looked confused. That couldn’t be a good thing.

“What’s so complicated about it?” Faith asked as she reached over, shutting the door. Elisabeth stood there kind of confused, wondering how in the hell did they go from talking about Faith being the surprised guest to talking about her love life, “There sit down, let’s talk about this. You seem confused about it.”

“Well,” Elisabeth said as she walked around the desk, sitting behind it as Faith sat down in a chair in front of the desk, straightening her skirt and looked back at Elisabeth, “I don’t talk about this with many people.”

“Well you can trust me, I won’t tell anybody. You seem like you need to talk to someone about it.” Faith said as Elisabeth nodded her head a little and looked down. She had a point. She wasn’t going to get pissed if Faith Hill was right. Nick on the other hand was a whole different story.

“I’m 23 years old and I’m a virgin. I’ve had boyfriends and I’ve dated a lot, but I refuse to sleep with anybody unless I know it’s the right person. The right person meaning, my soul mate, you know, the person that I’m meant to be with. My ‘one’.” Elisabeth said as she picked up a paper clip, playing with it, “And Nick understands that, and I think that he is my one but I’m just not sure.”

“And you said that you love him?”

“Yes, more than anything.”

“How did you meet him?” Faith asked as Elisabeth looked up at her and back down at her paperclip, “I’m originally from Georgia and I went to school at NYU for television and radio, and I interned at MTV, helping Carson Daly with TRL and some other shows and I met him there. We instantly clicked and dated for six month,” she said as she dropped the paperclip and looked back up at Faith, “And then our romance just kind of drifted away, and we agreed to just be best friends.”

“Tim and I are best friends, we became that after we became a item,” Faith said as Elisabeth looked at her and then looked over at a picture of her and Nick on her desk, “So you don’t know if he’s your ‘one’?”

“I think he is but I just want to be sure,” Elisabeth said as she propped her elbows up on her desk and placed her chin in the palms of her hands, “How did you know if Tim was your ‘one’?”

“Well,” Faith said as she started to smile a little, “We were backstage on our tour back in ‘96. He was doing his meet and greet and there was this little girl. He kneeled down to her level, talking to her and taking time with her. He was so sweet and I knew right then that he was going to be the father of my children.”

“I wish something like that happened with us and I knew,” Elisabeth said as she sighed, “He’s great with kids because he’s from a big family but still.”

“Well the thing that makes you realize he’s the right person for you may not be taking time with a little girl that was scared and nervous. It might be something totally different.” Faith said as Elisabeth nodded her head agreeing, “Why don’t you two come to dinner tonight and I can meet him. That way maybe I can get some ideas of how to realize it.”

“Dinner?” Elisabeth asked, confused, but shocked at the same time. Dinner with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw? Was Garth severing desert? Oh better yet, Kenny Chesney. Ooohh.

“Sure,” Faith said, “That way you can go ahead and meet Tim and you’ll comfortable with him for the big special tomorrow. Lance told me that you were really nervous.”

Elisabeth made a mental note: Kick Lance in the ass for having a big mouth.

“That sounds really nice.” Elisabeth said, “I guess I could call him and see.”

“Okay,” Faith said as she stood up and Elisabeth followed her, standing up herself, “I need to go back down the hall for a moment, so why don’t you call him and find out. And just come on down to the producer’s office and let me know and I can give you the directions.”

“Okay, thanks,” Elisabeth said as she smiled and Faith opened the door and walked out, shutting it behind her. Elisabeth put her hands over her mouth, falling back in her chair. She couldn’t really believe what had just happened to her. First talking about her love life to Faith Hill and then she invites her to dinner. Wait. She invited Nick to dinner too.

Nick.

Elisabeth picked up the phone, dialing the number in a hurry and listened to it ringing. And it continued to ring. Elisabeth put her hands over her face, wishing that he would just hurry up and answer the damn phone!

“Hello?”

“Nick,” Elisabeth said as she started to laugh, “Um, do you want to go to dinner at Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s tonight?”

“No, because we have plans,” Nick said as Elisabeth’s mouth opened in shock. She forgot about their date, “Unless your forgot.” Shit.

“No, no I didn’t forget baby,” Elisabeth said smiling a little. Using the word ‘baby’ might possibly help her get out of this situation so that he would change nights on the date and come with her to Faith and Tim’s for dinner, “But baby, this is a really big deal. Faith is going to be the special guest tonight on the show and she invited me and you to dinner.”

“Me?”

“Well, yeah, my boy guy who is a friend but close to being a boyfriend, Nick,” Elisabeth said, closing her eyes, hoping Nick would just agree to it, “Nick please. This would mean so much to me. Please, for me. I’ll do whatever you want.”

She could feel the smirk he had on his face through the phone.

“Not that.”

“What about -”

“Not that either,” Elisabeth said as Nick laughed a little, “Nick, please. I beg you.”

“Okay,” Nick said as he sighed, “I’ll go with you to their house tonight. But, you have to make it up to me. Really because I have to cancel things for tonight.”

Cancel things?

“Cancel things?” Elisabeth asked as she stood up from her desk, “I thought that we were staying home?”

“We are,” Nick said, “But I’ll cancel it for you since this is that important to you and I know how you are about them. You love them. Plus, Faith is hot.”

“Thank you so much,” Elisabeth said as she smiled in the phone, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I’ll talk to you soon,”

“Okay,bye.” Nick said as Elisabeth smiled, hanging up the phone. She walked around her desk and out the door to see Faith coming out of the producer’s office and Elisabeth waved at her.

“He said he would go. He was planning something, but I convinced him,” Elisabeth said as she smiled, “So what time should we be there?”

“Well, I’m leaving the show early. I’ll be on in the beginning, so come on. I’ll give you directions and we’ll discuss it,” Faith said as Elisabeth smiled and they walked back into her office.

“Well Bunny,” Nick said as he looked over at the cat, sitting on the opposite edge of the sofa, looking at him, “Guess it’s off for tonight. I guess I’ll just have to call and cancel and plan for another night.”

Nick stood up off of the sofa, holding the phone in his hand and walked over to the window on the opposite side of the apartment, looking out the window. He lifted his arm up, looking down at the streets below, and held the phone up, under his chin, smiling as he looked up at his reflection in the glass.