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Chapter Two

Alana pulled into the driveway of her ranch style house around 8:00 that evening. She had owned this ranch style house for almost a year. She was 23, freshly out of college, had a good steady job and finally owned her own house. She had gone to college at the University of Tampa and majored in business management and marketing. She received her associates degree in business management and was going to go and get her bachelor’s degree in marketing in the near future. She had decided to work at Wal-Mart for a while to help pay off her college loan, car loan, and mortgage payment.

She parked her car in front of the two car garage and went to unloading her groceries. As she entered the garage, she noticed a familiar vehicle. She smiled at the sight of the 2003 green Dodge Durgano. She hadn’t seen that truck in almost 6 months.

Ohmigod, is he finally home?

Alana dropped her groceries at the door, unlocked it and ran inside. She closed the door quietly, not knowing where her best friend might be. She searched the kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom, computer room, and the extra room. She even checked outside. The one room that she didn’t check was her bedroom. Alana quietly peered into her bedroom. She saw her best friend sleeping under her blue satin sheets and comforter. She smiled, deciding to let him sleep; she went to unload the rest of her groceries.

About an hour later, Alana had put away her groceries, ate some dinner, did the dishes and now was seated on her beige sofa watching television. On the coffee table she noticed a DVD case labeled “For Lana” written in familiar handwriting. Alana picked it up and put it in the DVD player. She watched the DVD. Her best friend had made a DVD for her with clips of the two of them playing and him performing three songs, “Heaven,” “I Got You,” and “I Need You Tonight.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. The last portion of the DVD was of Nick sitting by the Florida coast.

“Lana, I made this video for you to let you know how important you are in my life.” The camera caught the ocean. “Every time that I’m away, I come to the ocean. This is the only other place that I feel like I can be myself, other than with you.” The camera faced him and then the ocean once more before turning off. Alana curled up on the couch and paused the clip of her and Nick sitting in the water. She couldn’t help the tears from falling.

Nick had woken up and quietly walked into the living room. He watched Alana sitting on the couch looking at the miscellaneous clips of the two of them together. He watched the tears fall onto her tan, soft cheeks.

I wish I could stay with her.

Her long light brown hair flowed around her shoulders. He just wanted to hug her and tell her that he wasn’t going anywhere ever again, but that wasn’t the case.

Nick had just returned from a six month tour with his new CD Nick Carter, Now or Never. He finally had a break for about two weeks before he had to go back on the road again, but he didn’t want to break the news to his best friend. Alana’s house was the one place that he could come where no one would bother him.

He quietly crept behind the couch and stood behind where she was sitting. Alana ran her fingers through her hair, getting it out of her eyes. As she did, Nick caught her hand. She turned around and saw him. Her eyes were all red and tear-stained. She looked at him and he gave her one of his famous smiles. The smile that always made her melt. She sank into the couch even further.

“Well hello to you too,” he said sitting next to her. His blond hair was all messy from waking up. His T-shirt and tan pants were wrinkled as well.

“Was my bed comfortable?” She asked.

He laughed. “Yah, actually it was. I see you got new sheets.” He answered.

"I thought you might like them. Considering you don’t even sleep in the other room,” she said.

Nick made himself comfortable on the inside of the sofa. Alana climbed on top of him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He inhaled the scent of her familiar perfume and hugged her back.

“How long are you back?” She asked pulling away from him so that she could look at his eyes. He looked into her green eyes. He didn’t want to tell her. He didn’t want to leave her again. He felt guilty every time he left her, but she knew he would always be back.

“Just tell me Nick,” she said. “I know you don’t like telling me. Do you leave tomorrow?”

He shook his head. “I’m here until the 17th,” he answered. “Then I leave again and don’t come back until November 25th.”

Her eyes lit up. “You’re here for two weeks?” She asked excitedly, but then her expression went into a frown. “I have to go back to work on Monday.”

Nick gave her a disappointed look. “Take two weeks off. Spend them with me,” he said softly.

She looked at him. “I don’t know Nick, I have bills to pay. Not working for two weeks would really hurt me,” she said.

“Don’t you have any vacation time that you could use?” He asked.

Alana sighed. She knew she had twelve weeks of vacation that she had built up since she started two years ago, she just never used them.

“Yes I do,” she answered. “Can’t you use some of that time to spend with me?” He asked smoothing the hair from her face.

She looked at the television screen still with the clip of them together in the water, and then she looked at him. Why does it have to to so hard?

“Lana, Please?” Nick asked stroking her cheek gently.

She sighed heavily. “Fine, you win. You’re lucky that I get paid for my vacation,” she answered.

He grinned and hugged her. “Remember two weeks, just you and me.”
~**********~