CHAPTER THREE

Nick walked through the doors of the hotel. Its lobby was painted a shade of gold, and the entire room echoed with the sounds of heels on the marble floor. It was gorgeous, but he didn't notice. His attention was drawn to the woman at the check-in desk. Her brown hair cascaded down her back. She stood on her tiptoes to sign a form on the counter. Nick had to fight to suppress the urge to laugh. She'd always had trouble reaching things because of her height. He couldn't count the number of times she'd have him take something down for her.
 
"Damn it! Nick baby, could you come here for a second?" she'd say. Nick shook his head to regain his senses. He walked over to the check-in desk.

"Hey Laur," he said.
 
She tossed her long hair aside to see who was talking to her, even though she already knew. "You're staying here too?" she asked.
 
"Yea. It's a small world, huh?" he said, teasing her.
 
Her eyes narrowed. "Well I'm leaving tomorrow morning, so I won't be here long," she snapped.

"Hey, me too!" he said. He could have kicked himself for it. The way he was going, it looked like he wanted her back. Even if it was the truth, she didn't have to know it.
 
Laurie sighed. "I have to go up to my room now. Bye Nick." She spun around and walked away.

Damn it, did she have to look at him that way? It was enough that she was one of the most popular female singers, and that she was all over TV, but now to be in the same building as her…Nick checked himself in and walked up to his room.
 

 
Laurie slammed her bag on the floor.  He had to be here, in this hotel! She should have just left and found another hotel, but a part of her wanted to stay, just so she'd have a chance of running into him. She threw herself onto the bed, thinking of the reason why they'd fallen apart in the first place.
 
She and Nick had been friends for years, ever since they were young kids. Eventually, things blossomed into something more than friendship. Things finally escalated when she went on tour with the Backstreet Boys. Nick had convinced the group to let her open for them. While she was on the bus with them, her dream of singing became a reality.

And she fell in love with Nick.

Years passed, and they moved in with each other. They'd become inseparable. They'd even talked about getting married someday. But they were only eighteen, and soon came to realize that they weren't ready for such a responsibility. At first, they'd just get into little arguments. One night though, Nick lost his temper. He started throwing things, yelling, and finally got right up into Laurie's face. He said that he was too young to be tied down to any girl, and that if he had it to do again he wouldn't be. It was the closest he ever came to laying his hands on her, and it terrified her.

She ran into the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. When Nick finally came in, she was sitting on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he'd told her. He reached out to touch her and she'd jumped away.
 
"Don't touch me!" she screamed.

Nick jolted back, shocked. He looked into her eyes and saw that she was afraid of him. He walked out of the room, and saw what he'd done. He looked around at pieces of broken dishes, furniture tossed around the room, clothes strewn about the apartment. He was ashamed of what he'd done. They'd tried to put things back together, but Laurie was still afraid of what had happened, and Nick was too ashamed of it.

They finally called it quits.

Laurie rubbed her eyes and realized that a few tears had escaped them. She'd thought she'd be done crying over Nickolas a long time ago. But then again, she'd thought Nickolas was also out of her life.