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Written for "What's The Score" challenge. Here's the song to go with it - Glad You Came by The Wanted http://youtu.be/2ggzxInyzVE

Two Years Later

Oh my god, this can’t be happening to me, what the hell is he doing here?

“Lauren...are you OK? You look as if you’ve just seen a ghost” Josie asked me from across the table in the Italian restaurant we were at.

“I think I might have” I muttered to myself, my voice shaking, and barely above a whisper.

Of all the places in the world, he had to choose here and now. Nick ‘fucking’ Carter. I’d not seen him in two years. Two long years. He looked better than ever, the bastard. I slouched down slightly in my seat, hoping he wouldn’t notice me, I really didn’t want to have to talk to him, what would there be to say after all this time and after everything that had happened between us?

You see, two years ago almost to the day, Nick and I had the biggest argument ever and he walked out on me. It was like my world ended when he left and it took a very long time to put the pieces of my broken heart back together again.

~*~

“This one’s for Lauren” he called from the stage at one of his sell out shows one evening, and began singing the most beautiful song I’d ever heard. He wasn’t usually one for big public displays of affection, but occasionally he surprised me. I cried tears of happiness and mouthed the words “I love you” to him from where I was sat watching him. He blew me a kiss and my body tingled; I loved him so much.

Time passed and we moved in together. When he toured with the band, I tried to be there as much as I could, but it wasn’t always possible, I had my own career to think of and refused to be one of those girls who relied on her boyfriend to take care of her. It wasn’t me. I was no gold digger!

Obviously, being in the entertainment industry wasn’t all fun and games and I had to put up with a fair amount of verbal and online abuse from some of the more – how shall I put it – crazy fans, but I stood by my man through everything. There were even rumours suggesting he’d cheated, but he assured me that I was the only woman for him, and that these rumours were just nonsense, that no one compared to me. I believed him.

When the band were taking a break after one of their tours, we took a nice long vacation together to the Seychelles. It was sheer bliss. Two weeks away from it all, just Nick and me and how we used to be, no media distractions. We spent lazy days at the beach together, frolicking in the ocean and then stretching out on the sand, soaking up the sun. We made love when and where we wanted, on a couple of occasions we even stayed in bed until well into the afternoon, calling for room service because we couldn’t bear to leave the bedroom or get dressed. It was paradise.

“I love you Lauren” he would say over and over with so much sincerity.

We even talked of marriage. It was something he’d never believed in previously, but after a couple of years together, we knew how we felt about each other. We were in no rush though.

After the vacation, Nick went back to work with the band on a new album and I went back to working on my own business ventures. Things were really taking off for me and we were often in different states.

“I’m sorry Laur, I won’t be home this weekend…work stuff” he said apologetically over the phone one evening when I’d got back from a successful work trip.

“Aw, my poor baby, is Howie working you all too hard?” I asked jokingly. I knew how much of a hard taskmaster Howie could be when he wanted, but it paid off as the band were regaining the success they’d had before Kevin left. Howie was a natural business man.

“I’ll make it up to you next weekend babe” he said “listen, I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you tomorrow OK”

 

“OK…love you” I said and made kissy noises into the phone.

“Love you too” he said and then we hung up.

I didn’t hear from him all weekend, which was unusual, but I wasn’t worried. I knew he’d call when he got the chance; they often got so caught up with writing and recording that the time just seemed to have no meaning to them.

My friends had all asked if I fancied going out that weekend, but to be honest, I didn’t feel like it at all, I felt quite lethargic and a bit sickly. I put it down to all the travelling and eating out. Instead, I curled up with a DVD and our holiday photos from the Seychelles.

The following week passed by quickly and then Friday night arrived and so did Nick. He seemed a little awkward and hesitated in kissing me, which wasn’t like him at all. Usually by now, we’d be ripping each other’s clothes off after being apart for nearly two weeks.

“Nick, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“OK” he sighed and hung his head “I don’t know how to say this Lauren” he began but I cut him off.

“Whatever it is, just say it, you know we never keep anything from each other” I said and took hold of his hand in mine. I tried to tilt his face to meet my eyes but he turned away.

“Laur, last weekend…” he began “oh god Lauren…I don’t know how to say this. Last weekend, I…I slept with someone else”

“YOU WHAT?” I asked louder than I intended. Was I hearing things?

“I never meant to hurt you, it just happened and I couldn’t control myself” he said and still couldn’t look me in the eye.

“How did it just happen Nick? Things don’t just happen, you have to make them happen. You can’t tell me that your clothes just happened to fall off and she landed on your dick!” I shouted. “Don’t treat me like a total idiot”

“I’m sorry OK, I was at this party with the guys and we had a little too much to drink…”

I cut him off “spare me the details Nick, I think I can work out the rest”

We stood in silence for a few minutes, neither of us looking at the other, it was painful.

“Look Lauren, I don’t know what made me do it” he said and shook his head “I’ve fucked up and I’m no good; I know it”

“Too right you fucked up” I shouted, my blood was beginning to boil. I thought back to the rumours whilst he’d been on tour; were they true? I had to find out. I had to know whether the man I loved had been making a fool of me all this time. “How many others Nick?”

“What? There are no others…it was a one off!” he replied. “I’m sorry”

The thought of him with another woman made me see red. We argued until objects started getting thrown around the room. It wasn’t pretty.

“Argh” he banged his fist against the wall after I’d smashed his precious laptop on the floor. “If you want me gone…then fucking fine Lauren, I’m gone” he said and turned and left.

I didn’t see him again after that night. He sent someone else round to collect his things a few days later. I moved out not long after that.

~*~

 

 

So here I was, two years later and in the same place as Nick for the first time since that awful night.

“Tell me Lauren, what’s wrong?” asked Josie again.

“My ex” I said “he’s sitting over there. I have to get out of here before he sees me; I can’t let him see me”

“Calm down, you’re starting to hyperventilate” she said and raised her eyes to look across the restaurant at the man who’d broke my heart.

“Don’t make it obvious” I said and looked over at the exact moment that he looked up. Shit.

He looked at me for a few moments before standing up from his chair, pushing it back harshly, making it scrape across the floor. He moved away from the table and I drank in the sight of him, my god, he was gorgeous. He was wearing jeans with a check shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his tanned arms. He looked sexy as hell with a couple of days’ worth of stubble; he’d only gotten better looking with age. He began walking towards me and I panicked, trying to get up from the table before he could get to me. I couldn’t do this, not here, not now.

I ran from the restaurant leaving Josie still sitting there bewildered, but not caring. I just had to get away from him.

“Lauren, wait” he called out. I carried on running. Damn these fucking high heels!

I didn’t get very far before he caught up with me and spun me around to face him. He was even more gorgeous up close than I remembered.

“What Nick?” I said “what do you want from me?”

“Please, can we talk?” he asked as he held on to my hand, running his thumb softly over the back of my hand in gentle circles.

“I’m busy; I have a meeting I need to get to” I looked at my watch “which starts in ten minutes”. I was lying, but he didn’t need to know that.

“What about later? Please Lauren” he practically begged. I felt my resolve wavering.

“I suppose I could meet you tonight for a drink” I sighed. A drink in a public place would be harmless enough. In the two years we’d been apart, I hadn’t really stopped loving him. There had been other men in my life, but none of them had compared to Nick and none of them had lasted very long. He didn’t need to know that though.

“Oceana at eight?” he asked.

“Sure” I replied “see you later Nick”

I had butterflies in my stomach for the rest of the afternoon. What was I doing agreeing to meet him? And more importantly…why did he want to talk to me? When he’d left me that night, it was like I didn’t exist for him anymore. Not even a single text or phone call.

At exactly eight, I walked into the bar and saw him waiting for me.

“Lauren” he looked surprised “I’m glad you came”

“Yeah, well…curiosity got the better of me” I shrugged nonchalantly.

“Let’s get out of here and take a walk. There’s a park over there, we can be alone” he said and took my hand and began leading the way. My hand stayed in his and I enjoyed the warmth of it.

We sat down on a bench and I waited for him to talk as I was unsure what to say and didn’t trust myself to say anything sensible. I wanted to slap him, kiss him, punch him and rip his clothes off…in that order! I had so many mixed emotions running through me.

“I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for letting you slip through my fingers” he began.

“Erm, if I remember correctly, you walked out on me after cheating on me” I stated.

“I know, and it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made” he said and looked into my eyes. I saw that he meant it, I knew Nick, even after all this time, and I knew when he was telling the truth. “I was an asshole, and I have no excuse for what I did. That night when I came home to you, I’ve never felt so guilty. I lost sight of what mattered to me and blew it”

“I’m not going to pretend I was alright, because I wasn’t. I was a mess when you left. I was heartbroken and destroyed for a long time. But I got over it” I told him.

“I still love you Lauren” he said “I never stopped”

“I love you too Nick” I said honestly “but I don’t know…”

“Please, just give me another chance. We can take things as slow as you want, just please let me back into your life. I’ve wanted to get in touch with you for so long; I even came back once…”

“Wait, you came back? When?” I asked

“Over a year ago. I saw you but you didn’t see me; you were with someone else and you looked happy. I didn’t want to ruin it by coming over to talk to you” he said.

“Oh Nick, I wish you had…” I murmured and he pulled me closer to him.

“I know I’ve been a prick, but please, I’ll do anything to make it up to you” he exclaimed.

“Well, there is something you can do” I smiled “you could start with a kiss”

He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer and ever so slowly, he brought his mouth down to mine, kissing me like it was the first time.

The sun went down, the stars came out and I knew then that my universe would never be the same…I was glad I came.