<p><b>Chapter Eighteen</b>

<p>Elisabeth unlocked her apartment door, and pushed it open slowly and peeked inside to see that it was dark downstairs. She smiled a little, walking inside and sitting her bag down with her clothes that she wore shopping down, and her messenger bag.  She bit down on her bottom lip, looking around, but saw something. She turned her head a little, seeing a light coming from upstairs.

<p>Then she smiled.

<p>She walked over to the stairs, walking up them slowly, to see even more light. By the time she reached the top step, she saw her bedroom, lit with candles all over the room. She heard Shania Twain’s “Forever And For Always” playing lightly on her stereo. It was all nice and romantic, but she didn’t see Nick.

<p>”Nick?” Elisabeth called out as she looked around, seeing a post it stuck to her mirror above her sink. She walked over, taking it off to see a message written on it.

<p><center><I>Come to the roof.</I></center>

<p>Elisabeth smiled, putting the post it back on the mirror and walked over, opening the door to go out on her patio. She shut the door back before the wind blew the candles out in her room and looked up, at the small stairs she had to climb. She just didn’t know if she could do it in those heels or not. It was worth the shot, so she began climbing up the stairs, holding onto the railing until she reached the top , walking onto the roof and looked over to see him.

<p>Nick was standing there in a black suit with, surprisingly enough a blue silky shirt that almost matched her dress, and a matching blue tie. He had his hair all spiky just how she liked it and he was standing beside a small table, with some wine, and two glasses. Elisabeth stood there, smiling at him. She was afraid to move or say anything. Nick stood there, looking at her until finally she began walking closer to him.

<p>”Hi,” Elisabeth whispered as she walked up closer to him, looking down at what he had on, “You look… you look gorgeous,” she said as Nick cracked up laughing, making a weird face, “What?”

<p>”I knew you’d like the suit,” Nick said as he smiled, straightening his tie slightly and then looked down at her, “You, you look -”

<p>”Made over?”

<p>”Beautiful,” Nick whispered as he looked down, and back up at her, “Are you cold? I didn’t expect it to be this cold.” Elisabeth laughed a little, and unbuttoned her jacket, slipping it off and showing him her dress, “Oh wow,”

<p>”You like it?” Elisabeth asked as she held her jacket, and twirled around showing. Nick just nodded his head in return, “My mom picked it out.”

<p>”God bless the woman,” Nick muttered as Elisabeth laughed, putting her jacket back on, “Yeah better put that back on for right now,” he said, reaching over to help her, “You really look beautiful Elisabeth.”

<p>”Thank you,” Elisabeth said as she smiled and looked around, “So the roof huh?” Nick just laughed in return, “Nice candles in my bedroom,” she said as Nick reached over, picking up the bottle of wine out of the ice and poured a little in both glasses. Elisabeth watched him and he put the wine back down, reaching over, picking up a glass for her, and for himself, “Red wine. My favorite.”

<p>”I know,” Nick said as he smiled at her, and looked down at his glass of wine, “This is our night okay?” he said as Elisabeth nodded her head light, “I’m going to prove to you tonight, just how much I love you and how much I want to spend the rest of my life with you, although seeing you in this dress,” he said as she looked down at her, biting his bottom lip, “It’s taking everything I have to not just attack you.”

<p>And with that Elisabeth started to laugh.

<p>”I knew you would,” Elisabeth said as she smiled at him, holding her glass up, “To us?”

<p>”No, to you. And how much I love you,” Nick said as they clicked their glasses together, and then lift them up to their mouths, taking a sip, “I wasn’t really planning on it being this cold outside so we’re not staying out here very long.”

<p>”Okay,” Elisabeth said as she finished drinking her glass of wine and sat the glass back down on the table, “What are we doing out here,”

<p>”Let’s dance,” Nick said as he clapped his hands, and a slow song began to play. Elisabeth looked around, almost cracking up laughing as Nick walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Elisabeth wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at him, “Did you have a nice time with your mom? Did you find out what she wanted to talk about?”

<p>”Uh huh,” Elisabeth said as she started to laugh a little, “She’s pregnant.”

<p>”No shit.”

<p>”By my father.”

<p>”Do what, what?” Nick asked as Elisabeth cracked up laughing. Nick stood there in shock, wrapping his arms around her tight, “Your parents are divorced yet, they’re having another kid together?”

<p>”Yeah,” Elisabeth said as she moved her head up against his, looking in his eyes, “But baby, I don’t really want to talk about her right now.” Nick smiled in return. He had <I>NO</I> problem with that. No sir, none at all, “I want you to know that you look so good in this suit, that I could seriously just rip it off of you -”

<p>”I don’t have a problem with that,” Nick whispered as Elisabeth started to giggle a little. She moved her head over, laying it on his shoulder as they moved slowly to the music. She sniffed a little, smelling him wearing her favorite cologne and smiled even more, “Remember the first time we kissed Nick?”

<p>”Uh huh,” Nick said as he smiled, resting his chin on her shoulder, smiling, “I stayed in New York with you for Thanksgiving instead of going home to my parents or back to Orlando with A.J. after we had just met. My parents thought I was crazy staying with a complete stranger for Thanksgiving but I did it anyway,”

<p>”And you kissed me in the kitchen of the hotel suite with flower all over our face,” Elisabeth whispered as Nick started to laugh, “We couldn’t cook for crap. Then I stayed over night, because I didn’t want to go back to the dorm.”

<p>”I so wanted to stay in there kissing you that night,” Nick whispered as they both moved their heads, looking each other in the eyes, “I knew that night that you were special. Well I knew the first time I met you, but I really realized it then.”

<p>”Can I ask you a question?” Elisabeth asked, moving her fingers lightly through his hair on the back of his neck. Nick nodded his head lightly and she smiled back at him, “Last night you said that you knew I was your ‘one’. How did you know?”

<p>”I can’t tell you yet,” Nick whispered as Elisabeth looked at him, “No not yet. Trust me. You’ll find out tonight.” He said as he leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips. Elisabeth wrapped her arms around his neck a little more tightly, kissing him back deeply when suddenly fireworks started to explode above them. They both jumped, looking up at the sky and Elisabeth looked back at Nick who was smiling at her.

<p>”Fireworks?” Elisabeth as she turned around, crossing her arms, looking at them. Her favorite Holiday was the Fourth of July and only because of the fireworks. Nick walked up behind her, putting his arms around her and she leaned up against him a little, watching as the fireworks continued to shoot into the sky, “You did this didn’t you?”

<p>”Maybe,” Nick whispered as Elisabeth turned her head, looking at him and smiling, “What do you think?”

<p>”I think I love you,” Elisabeth said as Nick smiled at her, “Now what am I so afraid of? I’m afraid that I’m not sure of, a love there is no cure for,” she said, reciting the lyrics from the old David Cassidy / The Partridge Family hit song. Nick just laughed in return as Elisabeth looked back up at the sky, watching the fireworks.

<p>”That was so cheesy,” Nick whispered as he held his face down, looking at her before looking back up at the sky.  They stood there, continuing to watch the fireworks shoot in the sky. Nick held his arms around her even tighter and Elisabeth wrapped her arms around his, which were holding onto her. Suddenly the fireworks began to die down and Nick leaned over, kissing her on her neck softly, “I guess they’re over.”

<p>”That was great,” Elisabeth said as she turned around, putting her arms around his neck, “Is that all that is going to be outside?”

<p>”Uh huh,” Nick whispered as Elisabeth looked at him, “Let’s go in. I’m freezing,” he said as he grabbed the wine bottle and their two glasses. Elisabeth laughed, walking back over to the edge and began to climb down the steps to reach her balcony. She reached up, taking the glasses from Nick as he finished climbing down the stairs, “Thank you,”

<p>”No problem,” Elisabeth said as Nick walked over, opening the door that went back into her bedroom so that Elisabeth could walk in. He walked in behind her and shut it back, locking it as Elisabeth sat the glasses down on a table that Nick had set up in her bedroom. Nick walked over, sitting the wine down, and then grabbed her hand, pulling her up to him, “Well damn, Hi,”

<p>”Hi,” Nick said as he wrapped his arms around her and Elisabeth pushed him away lightly, “Uh oh what?” he asked as she backed up, unbuttoning her jacket and walked over, laying it over the back of her dresser chair, “Oh,”

<p>”Yeah, it’s warm in here,” Elisabeth said as she walked back up to him, smiling, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Nick looked down at her, from her feet all the way up to the top of her head, back and forth, “What?”

<p>”I can’t believe how good you look,” Nick said as Elisabeth started to laugh, “Not that you never look good, but you know what I mean, this dress -”

<p>”It’s really pretty,”

<p>”It would look even better on the floor in the morning,” Nick muttered as Elisabeth looked in shock and started to laugh at him, “I can’t help it,” he said as Elisabeth leaned up, kissing him lightly on his lips, sucking on them a little. She backed away, looking at Nick as he stood there with a huge smile on his face.

<p>”You’re crazy,” Elisabeth said as Nick smiled at her, “You’re really crazy.”

<p>”I know that,” Nick whispered back as he leaned over, kissing her passionately. Elisabeth kissed him back the same exact way, but kept thinking about what he was going to do next. He seemed a little nervous and she had <I>no</I> idea what he was thinking, because really, that could be a <I>really</I> scary thing, “Elisabeth?”

<p>”Yeah?” Elisabeth whispered, resting her head against his, breathing heavily because the kiss seriously took her breath away, “What is it Nick?”

<p>”I had this all planned out, but now I’m scared to do anything,” Nick said as he walked away from her, walking over to the door, looking out over her balcony, “I just don’t want to push you away or anything,”

<p>”You’re not going to push me away,” Elisabeth said as she walked up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, resting her head on the back of his shoulder.

<p>”You sure?” Nick asked as he turned around, looking at her, “Because that’s really the last thing that I want to do, for you to think I’m making you do something that you don’t want to do, and for you to hate me in return,”

<p>”I’m not going to hate you,” Elisabeth said as she took his hands, leaning him back in the middle of the room as “It’s Your Love” by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill came over the speakers of the stereo. She smiled, realizing that her favorite song had just came on, and wrapped her arms around Nick’s neck again, “You planned this date, now do what you planned,”

<p>”I’m scared,” Nick muttered as Elisabeth started to laugh, “It’s not funny, I’m terrified,”

<p>”Do you want to make love to me tonight?” Elisabeth asked as Nick cut his eyes up to hers, looking her in the eyes, “Is that what it is?”

<p>”It’s not that,” Nick said as he walked over to the table, pouring them both a glass of wine. Elisabeth just stared at him blankly, “I mean, yeah I would love that,” he said as he walked back over, handing her a glass of wine, “But that wasn’t exactly it.”

<p>”What is it?” Elisabeth asked, looking him in the eyes, wanting to know. She didn’t know exactly what he was talking about, but she really wanted to know.

<p>”I’m not telling you,” Nick said as he drunk every single little ounce of wine from the glass and tossed it over on the other side of the room. He took Elisabeth’s and finished drinking hers, tossing it over with his glass. He started to take his jacket off, and tossing it over on the chair with hers and loosened up his tie slightly, smiling at her, “I’m more comfortable now.”

<p>”I knew you were uncomfortable,” Elisabeth said as she smiled lightly, wrapping her arms around his neck lightly, resting her head on his shoulder. Nick wrapped his arms around her, as they stood there, and continued to dance to the music.