Chapter Thirteen

Elisabeth sat there, staring Nick in the eyes as he looked back and forth from her, Faith, and Tim and continued to talk about her. She was just pretty much speechless; she didn’t know what to say. So she didn’t say anything. She moved her hand under the table, onto his leg, rubbing it lightly. Nick stopped talking for a minute and then looked over at her, smiling.

“He gets a little carried away,” Elisabeth said as she looked at Faith and Tim who laughed in response.

“I’m proud of you,” Nick said as Elisabeth looked back at him, watching him sit back in the chair, “I can’t help it.” Elisabeth looked over at Faith who winked at her and Elisabeth just smiled back, “Well since she’s tired of me talking about her, dinner was great.”

“Well I think it’s sweet of you to talk about your best friend like that,” Faith said, “There’s not many guys that are like that.” Nick just beamed in response to that. Elisabeth moved her hand off of his leg, putting it back in her lap, wanting to laugh as they all decided to get up from the table. Nick and Tim walked back into the living room while Elisabeth began to help Faith put things back into the kitchen.

“Elisabeth?” Faith said as her and Elisabeth walked into the kitchen, carrying plates and glasses, “What is wrong with you?” Elisabeth just stared at her blankly. Partly because she was confused and then because she was scared as hell, “That boy is crazy about you. The way he talked about you was so sweet, it almost gave me a toothache.”

“I know,” Elisabeth said as she sat the dishes down on the cabinet and looked over at Faith, “It’s things like that, that make me think he is my ‘one’. But I just don’t know.”

“I think you’re just scared,” Faith said as Elisabeth looked away, “You can tell how much he loves you by the way he looks at you. He looks at you like Tim looks at me. I watched him through out dinner. Maybe you won’t have some little thing happen to you where you know that he’s your person, maybe you’re just supposed to know automatically and you already know, but you’re just too afraid to admit it.”

“She’s scared,” Tim said a she pointed at Nick while sitting back in the living room, “You’ve just got to show her that you really mean it man. Do things that are important to her. She’s going to have to eventually back down.”

“I know,” Nick said as he took a deep breath, and was about to say something else when Faith and Elisabeth walked back into the room, “Oh, well that was quick.” They both smiled back at him, “Oh you’re both smiling. What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Elisabeth said, smiling even more, “Well, it’s getting late and I have a long day at work tomorrow, thanks to you,” she said as she pointed at Tim who laughed.

“Hey I have to be there at 11 a.m. to do sound check I think, so don’t feel too bad,” Tim said as him and Nick stood up, “Nick it was nice seeing you again,” he said as they shook hands.

“You too man. I think I’m going to work with Elisabeth tomorrow so I’ll see ya there and we can talk about what we were discussing earlier,” Nick said as Faith and Elisabeth both looked at them, wondering what they were talking about.

“Elisabeth, it was nice to finally meet you,” Tim said as they both shook hands and he kissed her on the cheek. That alone almost made her giggle, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there bright and early,” Elisabeth said as she looked over to see Faith and Nick talking, “Faith thanks for everything.”

“Oh you’re welcome,” Faith said as she hugged her goodbye and they started to walk over to the door, “How far do you have to drive back into Nashville?”

“Oh about 30 minutes,” Elisabeth said as she started to laugh a little, as they walked outside of the door, “About 4 miles from the CMT buildings.”

“Well don’t let Nick drive back because that boy is crazy,” Tim said as Elisabeth cracked up laughing and Nick looked around confused, “I’m joking man.”

“I’ll get you back,” Nick said as he pointed at him, “See you tomorrow.” And with that they said they’re final goodbyes. Elisabeth and Nick walked back to her car quietly, opening their doors and getting inside.

They didn’t say anything at first. Elisabeth cranked up the car and turned around, driving out of the driveway. Elisabeth cut her eyes over at Nick as soon as they hit the highway and he looked over at her, but still nothing was said. She was kind of scared to actually say anything, after what Faith told her. Plus she was too busy worrying, wondering exactly what Tim and Nick had talked about earlier that was so secretive.

“So did you have fun?” Nick asked as Elisabeth nodded her head a little, looking over at him, smiling, “Tim is a really cool guy outside of the spotlight and award shows because that’s the only place I ever get to see him.”

“You’re coming to work with me tomorrow?” Elisabeth asked as she looked over at him. Nick smiled in return, looking over to his right, out of the window, “Well?” She hated when he did that, acting as if it was all a secret.

“Yeah, if I can, I want to. It’s going to be a big day for you and I have nothing to do but sit around the apartment. Because I’ve already got everything set up again for Saturday night.” Nick said as Elisabeth looked back in front of her, at the road and smiled, “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you tonight by talking about you but, just, I’m proud of you.”

“I know you are,” Elisabeth whispered as she looked at him and then back at the road, “That meant a lot to me, really. For you to talk that way in front of them about me, that meant so much to me.”

“Well I meant every word of it,” Nick said as he smiled at her and looked back out the window again, putting his hand up to his mouth.

Dinner with two of your idols is very interesting. I mean it was great. It’s something that not everybody gets to do. Just it was so interesting, being there and just having a conversation because they are so normal. They’re like a normal married couple. I knew they were, but it’s like seeing it with your own eyes.

To be honest, the dinner didn’t even live up to the fact of what all Nick said about me. I don’t know why but that got to me so much. He was so sweet and adamant about it, telling them how hard I worked to get to where I am and how proud he is of me. I hope he didn’t get the wrong idea of me rubbing his leg when he was saying that.

Then again, Faith was completely right with what she said tonight. He’s crazy about me. He’s so in love with me and I’m so stupid not to just give that love back to him. I don’t mean sleeping with him. I know he’s my ‘one’, I’m pretty sure of that fact. I guess I’m just scared to actually admit it to myself. Maybe the longer I wait to let him ‘win’ me back, the longer he’ll stay. I do love having him here with me.

I’m about 90% sure that he’s the one. I just have to finalize the other 10% as stupid as that sounds. I just want to be sure. I want what that older couple that walks around the mall every morning has. In 65 years, I want to be able to walk around a mall, holding his hand. That is if we’re able to walk. Wow, we’d be like 88 then. I guess we’re not getting any younger huh?

“Man, it’s late,” Nick said as him and Elisabeth walked into the apartment. Elisabeth looked at the clock to see that it was almost 11:45. She took her jacket off, tossing it on the sofa and looked back at Nick to see him kick his shoes off. She stood there for a minute, grossing her arms, not knowing exactly what to do, “You okay Beth?”

“Yeah,” Elisabeth said as she smiled, turning around to look at him. He smiled back at her and she lifted her right hand up, using her finger, motioning for him to come closer. Nick started to unbutton his shirt as he walked closer to her. Elisabeth moved up closer to him, leaning up, to kiss him slowly on his lips.

She moved her hands up to his shoulders as Nick began to kiss her back and she parted her lips, taking his mouth into hers. He moved his hands down to her hips, pushing her closer to him as he began to kiss her back more deeply. Elisabeth continued to kiss him, even though she wanted to stop. She just couldn’t bring herself to push away from him. But then again, she didn’t have to. Nick did. He moved his lips away from hers slowly, sucking on them lightly and looked at her as she opened her eyes, looking into his.

“Thank you for tonight,” Elisabeth whispered as her and Nick held their heads together, with their arms wrapped around each other, “I know I had to make you cancel our plans tonight, but it meant so much to me.”

“Well, it was Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.” Nick whispered as Elisabeth smiled at him, shaking her head no a little, “What?”

“It wasn’t even about that,” she whispered as Nick looked at her questionably, “It’s how you treated me, and talked about me, and how proud you are of me.” Nick smiled back at her, leaning over to kiss her lightly on the lips.

“I told you that I meant every word of it,” Nick said as Elisabeth smiled at him, “You don’t have to thank me. You’re going to be thanking me Saturday night. Not tomorrow night, but the next night. You’re going to be thanking me.”

Elisabeth tilted her head, looking at him as he smiled, and leaned in, hugging her. She wrapped her arms around him tighter, resting her head on his shoulder. She didn’t have a damn clue what he had planned. She didn’t have a clue. All she knew is that she was scared. But she couldn’t deny that she was curious as to what he was planning. She was about to say something to him but then the phone began to ring.

“Let it ring,” Elisabeth whispered, with her head still on his shoulder. Nick kissed her neck lightly, hugging her back tightly as the phone continued to ring. Then the answering machine came on with Elisabeth’s usual message, telling the caller to leave a message.

Elisabeth, it’s mom. You never called me back. I saw the show tonight with Faith. You did so good honey. Call me back.

Nick laughed in response to her mom calling. Elisabeth smiled, and they broke away from the hug, looking at each other again. Elisabeth moved her fingers across his forehead, making his hair stick up a little and Nick laughed again.

“Better call your mom back,” Nick said as Elisabeth nodded her head, telling him no, “Better.”

“Nah,” Elisabeth whispered as she smiled back at him, “I’ll talk to her tomorrow, it’s late. I need to go shower.”

“Me too,” Nick whispered as he leaned over, kissing her on the cheek. Elisabeth kissed him back quickly on the lips and turned around, walking over to the stairs. Nick stood there watching her as she began to walk upstairs. She smiled, pressing and rubbing his lips together as he backed up, walking over to the guestroom to get ready for bed.

Nick walked out of the guestroom, running his fingers through his wet hair and looked at the clock. It was 12:15. He sighed, walking over to the stairs and began to walk up them slowly. He stopped once, to look down at his knee to see that his carpet burn was getting better. He laughed at himself lightly, thinking it was probably only because Elisabeth took care of him.

He shook his head lightly, and continued walking upstairs, reaching the top to see Elisabeth lying there on bed, with a towel wrapped around her from taking a shower. She was probably so tired from not sleeping the night before and getting a early start to the day that she passed out after getting out of the shower. Then of course, Bunny was lying there, next to her stomach, curled up into a ball purring so loudly that he’s surprised that it didn’t wake her up.

He walked into the room, and kneeled down on the floor beside the bed, resting his arms on it, and petted Bunny who meowed lightly in response. She loved that cat. She told him once the story of how she got him. She was in 10th grade and her best friend Casi, from high school gave him to her from a litter of cats that her cat had gave birth to. It was her birthday present from her. Two days after her birthday, Casi and her older brother had gotten into a car wreck and Casi died. So Bunny was the last thing that Elisabeth got from her best friend and it was the one thing that she had to remember her by, except for her memories.

Nick moved his eyes from Bunny and looked up at Elisabeth, asleep with her head resting on her pillow. She had a smile on her face. He knew she was coming around. He actually didn’t think it would take this long. But then again he would probably wait forever if he actually had to.

He smiled, thinking about their ‘date’ Saturday night. It was going to be perfect. He had been planning it for years really, or he at least has wanted to do it for years. Not have sex or anything like that. It was more intimate and more romantic. He never had a chance to actually do it before.

He stood up off of the floor, leaning over to kiss Elisabeth lightly on the cheek. He backed up, looking at her and Bunny, lying there asleep and turned around, and walking back down the stairs. He needed to get some sleep too. After all, there was going to be another surprise for her tomorrow.