Chapter Three

“Champagne?” Elisabeth asked as she shut and locked the door back, turning around to see Nick take his jacket off and sit down on the sofa, kicking his feet up, “Make yourself at home.”

“Well,” Nick said as he looked at her with a seductive smile on his face, “I thought you may need it after that kiss tonight.”

Ugh, he knew what to do to push her buttons.

“Yeah well, I didn’t really appreciate the kiss. He knew it and I let it be known,” Elisabeth said as she opened up the champagne bottle and grabbed two glasses. She walked into the living room and sat down beside him, handing him a glass and the bottle.

“Well,” Nick said as he reached over, pouring some champagne into Elisabeth’s glass and looked her in the eyes, “You did look like you enjoyed it at the time.”

Whatever.

“Yeah well, it was a surprise. I didn’t like it. I was working on world wide television,” Elisabeth said as she took a sip of the champagne and watched Nick as he poured some into his glass and sat the bottle down on the coffee table. She looked up at him, watching him drink every ounce of champagne that he poured into the glass and looked back at her, “Did you find any songs that you liked?”

“One or two,” Nick said as he crossed his leg and leaned back on the sofa, “The writers here in Nashville are some of the best.”

“Yeah,” Elisabeth said as she took a sip of champagne and Nick looked back over at her.

Elisabeth sat there looking at the champagne glass not saying anything. Nick just sat there looking at her, not saying anything until finally she looked up at him.

“So, what are you doing here?” Elisabeth asked as Nick smiled, looking over at the huge windows, seeing the skyline of Nashville outside of it.

“You really wanna hear the truth?” Nick asked as he got up, taking the bottle of champagne and walked over to the windows, looking out of them.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t really know why I’m here,” Nick said as Elisabeth looked over at his back, watching him look out the window, “I felt lost and I knew I could come here and use work as an excuse and see you,” he said as he looked over his shoulder at her, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Elisabeth said as she stood up from the sofa and walked across the living room to the windows where Nick was standing, “But, I don’t think that’s everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“I feel like you’re wanting to tell me something and you’re scared,” Elisabeth said as Nick looked at her with that same smirk that always drove her crazy, “Just say it.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately,” Nick said lightly as he looked down at the bottle of champagne.

“And what?”, Elisabeth asked as she looked at him. He reached his hand up and started rubbing his forehead and sighed at the same time. That wasn’t a good sign. He always did that when he was stressed out about something, “What is it Nick?”

“You’ve been there for me a lot, you know that right?” Nick asked as he continued to stare down at the champagne bottle. Elisabeth just stared at him with a blank response, “Right?”, he asked as he looked over at her.

“Yeah,”

“When AJ went into rehab, you were there for me. When the tour ended and I stayed at home drinking all of the time, you flew down and kicked me in the ass, bringing me back to New York with you so I wouldn’t drink myself to death and get in the same shape AJ was in -”

“Yeah,”

“And you were there with me when I first went solo, my first performance without the guys,” Nick said as he looked out the window and started to laugh. He sounded like he had already lost his mind.

“Yeah Nick, what’s the point?” Elisabeth said as she looked at him questionably. She hated when Nick was like this because it took so damn long for him to spit out the whole point of the situation. He talked slower than Kevin in these situations.

“You bring me stability in my life,” Nick said as he looked over at her, “I need that more often now.”

“Buy a new dog,” Elisabeth said as she looked around weirdly and walked away from the window, drinking what was left in her champagne glass.

“I don’t need a new dog Beth, I need you,” Nick said as he turned back around and looked at her, with her back to him. Elisabeth just moved her eyes around, holding the champagne glass down by her side wondering what the hell he was getting at, “You’re the one girl that has ever been in my life that actually cared about me, and not what I have -”

“That doesn’t mean you need me,” Elisabeth said as she looked over her shoulder at him and then back in front of her. She took a deep breath and looked up, moving her eyes around so that she wouldn’t cry. She knew if she started to cry that Nick was going to come over close to her and hug her like he always did and she really didn’t want that at the moment.

“Why doesn’t it?”

“Because,” Elisabeth said as she turned around and faced him, “I’m not the only person in the world that likes you for who you are or how you act or the way you care about your friends and family. There’s someone else out there that feels the same way that I do.”

“Well,” Nick said as he pressed his lips together and looked down. He licked his lips lightly and took a deep breath before looking back up at her, “Maybe I don’t want them. I want you.”

Elisabeth groaned in response as she turned around and walked through the living room and went into the kitchen to put the champagne glass in the sink and looked back at Nick. She put her hands on the kitchen counter, taking a few deep breaths and then walked slowly out of the kitchen, looking at him as he looked back at her.

“Just say what you want and stop beating around the bush,” Elisabeth whispered as Nick looked away and put his hands on top of his head, closing his eyes tightly. Elisabeth looked away in response to that duet to the fact that he was so freaking cute when he did it, scrunching his nose up and his eyes shut so tightly.

Elisabeth looked down at her blue carpet and then looked back up to see Nick standing directly in front of her. The boy always moved in the blink of an eye and it scared her sometimes, making her think he was Superman or something. He reached down in his pocket, pulling out a small ring case and kneeled down on his left knee. Elisabeth opened her mouth in shock as he opened the ring case to see a huge, diamond princess cut engagement ring.

“Will you marry me?”

“Are you out of your mind?” Elisabeth asked as she backed up a little and looked at him, “Nick!”

Nick stood up, with a confused look on his face, looking down at the ring and back at her.

“Well that’s not typically the response I was looking for the first time I asked someone to marry me,” Nick said as he looked around, and back at Elisabeth, “What?”

“Nick we aren’t even together,” Elisabeth said as she looked at him, “We haven’t been together in a year and a half. That part of our relationship is over, remember? God, I can’t even believe this.”

Elisabeth walked away, to the other side of the living room and just looked at him.

“Maybe I made a mistake coming here. You’ve obviously have moved on,” Nick said as he walked over to pick up his jacket and Elisabeth looked at him.

“No, you coming here wasn’t a mistake,” Elisabeth said as Nick looked up at her, “Just, I don’t get it.”

“Want me to explain it?” Nick asked as Elisabeth stood behind the sofa and Nick climbed up on the sofa, on his knees, and held her hand. He looked down at her hand and then back up at her, searching into her eyes.

Elisabeth looked back, searching into his eyes, but had a more confused look on her face.

“Remember the first time we met?” Nick asked as Elisabeth nodded her head yes, “The day that Black & Blue came out. I was so tired from being on that 100 hour tour that I just wanted to die, but then you walked into the room with Carson to greet us and it’s like, well,” he said as she looked down at her hand again, “it was like all of that disappeared.”

“I remember,” Elisabeth said as Nick looked up at her smiling.

“Like love at first sight.”

“No. There is no love at first sight,” Elisabeth said as Nick tilted his head a little looking at her, “There’s no such thing. There’s lust at first sight, but there’s never love at first sight. That’s just in movies and romance novels.”

“You’re so anti-love it’s pathetic,” Nick said as he dropped her hand and turned around on the sofa, sitting the right way. Elisabeth opened her mouth in shock and walked around the sofa, looking at him, “That’s right. I said it.”

“I’m not anti-love,” Elisabeth said as she put her hand on her chest, “I believe in love. What do you think I do everyday before I go to work? I go to the mall and watch people who are in love with each other. They walk by holding hands and I wish that I could have that, but can I? No.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Because.”

“Because why?” Nick asked as he stood up, looking at her while crossing his arms over his chest, “I just asked you to marry me for god’s sake. Why can’t you have that?”

“We’re 23 years old Nick and we don’t even know what marriage is,” Elisabeth said as Nick rolled his eyes at her. Elisabeth rolled hers in response of him, “If we had been in a relationship, a romantic relationship this whole time, and things were perfect, then you know, I may have said yes. But Nick, we haven’t. For fuck’s sake, you just broke up with that whore you dated twice as long as you dated me.”

“That’s right. ‘That whore’.” Nick said, “You’re not a whore.”

“So what? Planning on being Elvis and you go around and sleep with anything that doesn’t have a penis, but yet you want to marry the innocent virgin who can wear white on her wedding day?” Elisabeth said as Nick looked away, “Because let me tell you, you can be Elvis all that you want, but I’m not Priscilla.”

“You play the virgin card way too much,” Nick said as he looked at her, “Why do you think I really broke up with Samantha? Because she spent my money too much?”

Elisabeth just looked away in response.

“No, that’s not why,” Nick said as he walked up closer to her, putting his hand on the side of her face so that she would look at him, “I don’t care about the money. I just got tired of the fact that she wasn’t you. I can sit and talk to you for hours and hours about nothing, but then I get off the phone with you and she’s there. And she’s dull and not very smart and entertaining. I got tired of it.”

She just stood there not saying anything. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea and then she didn’t want him to take what she said the wrong way - so she stayed quiet.

“You know we have this connection. You felt it the first day we met and every time we see each other we feel it again. I felt it today at the mall when I showed up. You don’t have to marry me, but at least don’t act so hateful and mean toward me. You know that you still love me, you can’t deny it can you?”

“Of course I love you,” Elisabeth said as she looked down and walked away from him slowly, crossing her arms, “Just I can’t marry you. That doesn’t mean that I can’t marry you in the future, but I can’t just go from being friends to being engaged to you. You know how I am. I can’t just jump from being friends who make fun of Lance Bass going into space to planning our wedding.”

“You’re right,” Nick said as he closed his eyes, pressing his lips together. Elisabeth just sighed in response and looked away, “But I’m not leaving until we’re back together.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not leaving Nashville until we are back together and engaged,” Nick said as Elisabeth started to laugh and then looked at him, “I’m serious.”