CHAPTER EIGHT

They arrived at the club and right away AJ went out to see if he could find himself a girl to dance with. Kevin asked Svetlana to dance and the others went out to get a table. They stopped at an empty table in the middle of the crowded place, but Nick wanted to spend some time alone with Elana so he took
her hand and with a smile to the rest, he led her to a table in a dark corner.

They sat down and looked at each other for a few minutes then Nick spoke. "I like what you did with your hair. Anything else different?" he asked.

She stuck her tongue out at him showing off her new tongue ring. "Aww, he said, "you got your tongue pierced."

She nodded. "Yeah and a couple of tattoos."

He smiled at her. "Gosh I missed you so much." He finally added.

She cast her eyes down. "Yeah Nick. I missed you too. It was really hard for me, and then after we lost touch..." she trailed off looking at the dance floor.

"I guess that would be mostly my fault," Nick said feeling guilty.

She looked back at him. "Oh no Nick, it wasn't all your fault. You had your music, I had my gymnastics touring." She glanced away from him.

Nick frowned. "What's wrong? he asked, but before she could answer him, his worst nightmare came. He felt a tap on his
shoulder and turned around. His eyes grew wide as he came face to face with his ex girlfriend Mandy. After losing Elana, Nick had made the mistake of dating Mandy to try to get his mind off of Elana. He sighed deeply. "Hello Mandy," he encored.

"Hello Nicky." she purred in her soft, husky voice.

"Is there something you need?" he asked.

"Just you out on the dance floor with me," she requested.

Nick sighed again. He was about to tell her no when he heard the sound of a chair being thrown back. He turned around quickly just as Elana jumped up and ran away from him. Not even bothering to say anything to Mandy, he took off after her. There was no way he was going to let her get away from
him. He looked all around when Aleksei ran up to him.

"If you are looking for Elana," he told him, "she ran out the door."

Nick thanked him and took off after her. He threw open the door and was hit with a blast of cold air. He looked each way and chose to go to the left. He ran around the corner and saw her leaning agaisnt the wall crying. "Elana," he whispered as he slowly walked to her. He took her into his arms and hugged her as she cried. He didn't say anything, but after a moment, he led her for a short walk in the park near by. When they got there, he led her over to a tree and sat down with her. He
took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

For a moment, he smiled at her, seeing how it was practically 10 sizes too big for her. Then he lifted her chin so she was looking at him. "We need to talk ok?" he asked.

She nodded and he began his story about him and Mandy.  The story took a little over half an hour and by the time he finished, they were both in tears. She looked up at him.

"I'm so sorry Nick. I had no idea that was what happened. That she did that to you. How can anyone be so heartless?"

 He looked at her. "That doesn't matter. All that does is that you are back in my life and we are together again."

She smiled at him. "Together again."

"This time I don't plan on ever letting you go for anything."

She hugged him tighter. "I don't plan on it either."

They held each other and gazed off at the starry sky.