Chapter Thirty - Nine

“Yeah, that’s where I know you from,” Elisabeth said as she looked at him, “I did a news piece on you like three weeks ago,” she said as she started to laugh and looked down at her hands in her lap, “I knew you looked familiar but I wouldn’t say anything,”

“I was scared to say anything too. I didn’t even notice it until I sat down,” Joshua said as she started to laugh a little, “What are you doing on a Sunday afternoon here alone?” he asked as Elisabeth looked over at him smiling and then looked away. She sat there wondering what to say but then she started to wonder why she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Just got back from Daytona really late last night because I was there hosting a Spring Break special with Rascal Flatts. I was supposed to come back today but decided to come back last night instead and just felt like coming here. I usually just come right here almost everyday before I go to work and watch people,” Elisabeth said as she looked back at him, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on your show tomorrow,” Joshua said as he laughed, “I was all up in New York doing promotion because I got kicked off the show and I’ve gotten some offers so I’m here checking them out,” he said as he looked down a little at his bag and looked back at her.

“Well that’s cool,” Elisabeth said as she looked at him and smiled, looking away. Why did she keep smiling at him?, “Good offers?”

“Oh yeah,” Joshua said as Elisabeth smiled again. Dammit stop that, “So what are you doing tonight?” he asked as Elisabeth froze. What did he just ask? Wasn’t he married with a kid or was that the little dorky guy that looked like the Keebler Elf?

“Nothing,” Elisabeth said as she looked back at him. Why did she say that? She was sort of engaged, then again her fiancée liked getting blow jobs from his ex-girlfriends too, “But aren’t you married or was that the other guy?”

“No, it was me,” Joshua said as he fakely smiled and looked back, “Doesn’t stop me from going out to eat with someone who’s show I enjoy and I’ll be on the show tomorrow, does it?” he asked as Elisabeth looked at him. She took a deep breath and looked away and then down at her right hand again to see the ring.

“No, it doesn’t,” Elisabeth said as she looked back at Joshua and smiled. He smiled back and she looked down at her shopping bags, wondering what the hell she was getting herself into.

Nick sat there on the sofa in the living room of Elisabeth’s apartment, looking at the TV. He saw the time on the TV and it was now a little after six. Elisabeth had been gone all day and he hadn’t even seen her or talked to her. He had already called Brian and confessed all his sins. Brian hung up on him and told him he had lost the best thing that had ever happened to him, besides the group that is.

Nick knew he was right but just didn’t want to think that he had actually lost her. He wanted to think that he could win her back. He did it once but then again he never cheated on her. That’s exactly what he had just did and he felt like shit about it. He felt horrible and just wanted to crawl up and die but that meant that he would have to live without her and he didn’t want to.

He looked over at the phone, debating on whether he should call her and ask was she coming home for dinner or not.

“No, my favorite Garth performance was during the concert in Central Park where he performed ‘The River’ and he started body surfing in the crowd,” Joshua said as him and Elisabeth sat there at a small restaurant across town. They had walked around the mall once or twice talking and decided to go and grab a bite to eat together.

“My favorite Garth performance was, probably ‘The Thunder Rolls’ on the ‘This Is Garth Brooks Too’ NBC Special where he added the extra verse,” Elisabeth said as Joshua took a sip of his drink and nodded his head agreeing with her, “I love him. I’ve never had the chance to meet him but I saw him in concert once when I was younger. That was awesome,”

“I’ve never been to a concert,” Joshua said as Elisabeth looked at him, “I swear to God. I want to see Rascal Flatts in concert. I love their music,” he said as Elisabeth smiled at him, “They’re new album, I love it,”

“They’re my favorite group,” Elisabeth said as Joshua smiled and looked down at his plate, “What’s your favorite song?’ she asked as she took a sip of her drink and put both of her hands on the table, looking at him.

“It’s Not Just Me,” Joshua said as Elisabeth looked at him in shock, “On their first album. I love that song,”

“That’s my favorite song too,” Elisabeth said as Joshua smiled. She smiled back and then looked back down at her plate that was almost empty. She looked back up at him into his eyes and smiled again when her cell phone rung. She looked around, telling Joshua to hold on and reached into her purse, taking it out and turned it on, “Hello?”

“Hey,” Nick said as Elisabeth rolled her eyes, and looked away, “I was just wondering if you were coming home for dinner because if not then I’m just going to order me something,” he said as Elisabeth looked at Josh who took his cell phone out to see if he had any messages.

“No, I’m not. Talk to you later,” Elisabeth said as she hung up her cell phone and sat it on the table, “I hate nosey people,” she said as she smiled at him, “So why isn’t your wife with you?” she asked as Josh raised his eyebrow at her, “I mean, okay so now I’m being nosey,”

“We had a fight,” Josh said as he looked down at his plate, “It’s a long story,” he said as he looked back up at her and smiled, “So do you have a boyfriend?” Elisabeth took a deep breath. She really didn’t know how to answer that. Should she just say it? Then again it’s just someone she’s talking to. Why would she worry about what she told him anyway?

“Two days ago I became engaged but now, I think it’s over,” Elisabeth said as she looked down, holding her right hand up, showing him the ring. He just looked at it and then back at her, “I know, it’s kind of fancy.”

“Who the hell are or were you engaged to for them to buy you a ring like that?” Joshua asked as Elisabeth started to laugh, “He’s a singer?”

“Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys,” Elisabeth said as Joshua sat back in the chair, looking at her, “Yeah, it’s a long story. We met when I interned at MTV during college and dated, then became best friends, he came back a few weeks ago told me he was still in love with me and asked me to marry him and I told him I would Friday night -”

“What happened?” Joshua asked as Elisabeth started to laugh a little and looked away, trying not to cry, “Did he cheat on you?”

“Yeah,” Elisabeth said as she took a deep breath, “He came to Daytona with me to film the Rascal Flatts special and ran into his old girlfriend and he was drunk. She’s a bitch and god only knows what happened but he admits something happened,”

“I’m sorry,” Joshua said as Elisabeth shrugged her shoulders, looking down, “Not all guys are assholes you know and do that kind of stuff,”

“Then why are you here with me when you’re married?” Elisabeth asked as Joshua looked down and then back up at her, “I’m sure your wife wouldn’t like the fact that you’re having dinner and have spent the majority of the day with another woman,”

“True,” Joshua said as he leaned back in the chair looking at her, “Maybe I saw you and felt this weird connection,” he said as Elisabeth looked up at him, looking him in the eyes, “I don’t know. I saw you in the mall when I was walking around and our eyes locked and I don’t know,” Joshua said as he shrugged his shoulders, “Felt this connection, what can I say? I wanted to check it out.”

“And?” Elisabeth asked, looking at him.

“I like the connection so far,” Joshua said as Elisabeth smiled at him, looking down at her plate and blushed a little, “Wanna get out of here?” he asked as Elisabeth looked up at him, “I mean we’re done eating and people are waiting to be seated,”

“Yeah,” Elisabeth said as she smiled, “Wanna go back to my place?” she asked as Joshua looked at her, “We can watch TV or something. I mean Nick will probably be there but he’ll be so pissy that I brought a guy home that he’ll go hide in his room. I have a huge Garth Brooks DVD collection,” she said as Joshua started to laugh.

“Sure,” Josh said as they both stood up from the table and Elisabeth put her cell phone back in her purse, “Go on to the car and let me take care of the bill,” he said as Elisabeth smiled, taking her keys out of her purse and started walking through the restaurant. She walked out of the doors, smiling to herself wondering what the hell she was doing? Inviting a guy she barely knew back to her apartment.

She opened the door to her car and sat down, shutting it back. She looked out the window to see Joshua walking out of the restaurant and smiled. She liked him. He was right, she felt some weird little connection too. He was her age and they had a lot in common - way more than her and Nick had in common. She put the key in the ignition and smiled, cranking the car up.

“Well,” Nick said as he stood there in the living room of the apartment, looking around, “I’m not just going to sit here while she’s out doing whatever she wants. I want some god damn McDonald’s and I’m going to go get some,” Nick said as he walked over to the kitchen cabinet, looking for a post it. He grabbed a pen, writing down ‘Be Back Later’ on it, and tossed the pen back down on the counter.

He took a deep breath and walked over to the door, opening it up and stepped outside of it. He closed it and turned the knob to make sure that it was locked and stuck the post it up on the door. He looked at it, making sure he spelled everything right.

“Good,” Nick said as he nodded his head and put his hands in his pocket, walking down the hallway. He wasn’t going to feed her ego and make her think that he was sitting around waiting on her all day, although that’s exactly what he had been doing.

“You live in a really nice building,” Joshua said as him and Elisabeth walked up the stairs to her apartment, “I don’t even want to begin to think how much this is a month for rent,” Elisabeth just laughed at him.

“It’s a nice little penny,” Elisabeth said as she reached the floor and stopped looking back at him, “When I first moved here, I lived in a total dump. It was horrible,” He smiled at her and she smiled back at him, “But now I’m able to have something nicer,”

“Good, you’re independent,” Joshua said as Elisabeth nodded her head, motioning for him to follow her down the hallway, “So you live by yourself?”

“Me and my cat. Nick’s been staying here while he’s visiting,” she said as she saw the post it on the door and ripped it off, “But he’s not here tonight,” she said as she smiled at him, “Must have left,”

“Cool,” Joshua said as Elisabeth unlocked the door and opened it up, looking back at him and smiling as she walked in. He walked in, following her and she turned around, locking the door back. She stood there for a minute thinking until she turned around to see Joshua looking her in the eyes.

Elisabeth stood there, searching into his eyes as he did the same thing to her. She had no idea why she was doing it but she felt something weird when she looking into his eyes, and it was nothing like she felt when she looked into Nick’s, but it was almost as good, if not better.

Finally Joshua made a little move, stepping up closer to her and Elisabeth continued to look into his eyes, until they began to move, leaning in to kiss each other slowly. Elisabeth opened her eyes during the kiss, wondering what she was doing until she realized it felt so good that she began to kiss him back more deeply. She dropped her bag onto the floor with her keys as he began to kiss her more intensely.

He moved his hands around her waist and Elisabeth moved her hands up to his t-shirt, moving them under it. Wait. What the hell was she doing? She didn’t even know him really. She just couldn’t stop herself. She began moving his t-shirt up his body until he broke away from the kiss and pulled his t-shirt off, throwing it over on the floor.

They looked back at each other and Elisabeth smiled, causing Joshua to smile back and she reached down, pulling her shirt up, and over her head, tossing it onto the floor. They both leaned in, kissing each other again, until Elisabeth reached down, taking both of his hands, leading him over to the staircase, and they began to walk up it, kissing each other.