What the hell had happened last night? This time Alex was asking that question fully understanding what had happened the previous night. She had started to fall for Nick Carter. That couldn’t happen. He was her subject. She sat in front of her laptop with her hands folded neatly in front of her. She had spoken to Mr. Reynolds and he agreed that they wouldn’t be able to get away with using Nick’s name…it was too risky and they were sure they would be thrown a law suit. So, instead, she had to use a false name and place him in a pretend band. Even though she didn’t have to mention Nick’s name, she had to create the moments they shared together.
As she typed out the opening to her story, a smile curved upon her lips at the thought of meeting him in the men’s restroom. She still couldn’t get over the fact that they had initially met up in the freaking bathroom. She shook her head and continued on with her story.
“Damn you, Alex,” Kerstin mumbled as she sipped her coffee and entered the kitchen area.
“What the hell climbed up your ass and died?” Alex frowned and glanced up from her computer only for a second to see the look on her friend’s face.
“Well, for one, you weren’t supposed to be here…” Kerstin mumbled. “I figured you and Carter would have gotten into a heavy make-out session on the way home and he would have taken you to his hotel or something.” She plopped down in a chair and ran her hand through her red locks.
“He’s not a pompous asshole, Kerstin,” Alex sighed and shook her head as she continued reminiscing through her story.
“Well that sucks for your story,” Kerstin took another long drink from her coffee. “What time did you get home last night, anyway? I didn’t hear you come in.”
“One-ish?” Alex guessed with a frown. “Why are you home? Weren’t you meeting with Parker last night?” She asked. She loved Kerstin and Parker to death, but anyone that knew the couple also could tell they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Alex liked to refer to them as “the rabbits”.
Kerstin sighed and let her French manicured finger run over the mug with her warm coffee in it. “Parker and I aren’t working, Alex.” She mumbled. She had called Parker the night before and he had walked her home. They couldn’t stop arguing, so he left almost immediately. “We decided to take a break…”
“Kerst, I’m so sorry,” Alex finally pushed the laptop out of the way and went to the opposite side of the table to console Kerstin. “I had no idea. Do you want to go out for ice cream and rent a few movies? We can come home and just have a girl’s day.”
“No,” Kerstin shook her head and dabbed her eyes dry. “I have to go to work in a few hours, anyway. I need to get out. Besides, what I really want for you to do is call lover boy and make plans.”
“Ah, not today,” Alex shook her head. “I have got to work on this novel. Tomorrow’s Friday and I definitely don’t even have a start to this thing.” She sighed. She wanted so badly to tell Kerstin the details from the previous night. She was so excited she finally had details. Kerstin was always the one that would rush home to share her romantic escapades night after night. But Alex could already feel an attachment to Nick growing deep inside her and that was very, very bad. Nick was just a character in her novel. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn’t want there to be an attachment.
“Oh, okay,” Kerstin nodded. She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she was wrong…maybe her friend wasn’t romantically interested in Nick Carter. The glances the two kept giving each other the night before had seemed flirtatious, but maybe she was reading too much into it.
“But listen, if you need me at all during the day, I’ll have my phone on, okay? And maybe tonight we can do something…go out, or something,” Alex suggested. She really did feel bad for Kerstin. Kerstin and Parker had been dating for years and it had been fairly serious.
“Thanks, Allie,” Kerstin smiled appreciatively and rubbed her friend’s hand. “I’m gonna go take a shower and get ready.”
Alex nodded and continued typing furiously on her computer. She didn’t know how things would turn out just yet. She could only hope it would work out in her favor. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the ringing phone. “Hello?” Alex answered angrily. She thought it would be Parker.
“Um, is Alex there?” She heard the male voice on the other end.
“Speaking,” she frowned, completely oblivious as to who was on the other end.
“Hey Alex…this is Nick,” Nick said. Alex smiled and blushed, embarrassed that she hadn’t been able to distinguish his voice from the moment she answered the phone.
“Oh, hey, Nick. Sorry about that. My roommate, Kerstin, broke up with her boyfriend last night because he was an ass and...” she caught herself and laughed uncomfortably as she realized she was going into too much detail. “Sorry…I got carried away. Too much information.”
“No! It’s okay,” Nick chuckled as well, pleasantly surprised she felt comfortable enough with him to open up like that. “Is your roommate okay?” He sounded genuinely concerned.
“I think so,” Alex sighed. “I offered to just hang out with her all day and do girl stuff but she really wants to go to work and get out of the house…” she explained as she saved the document on her computer, feeling a long conversation coming over her. “But enough about us…what’s up?”
“Well, I was actually wondering if you would want to do something today…but I completely understand if you want to hang around your place incase Kerstin needs you or something,” Nick explained. Alex bit her bottom lip and looked at the nearly blank document in front of her. She really needed to work on this story. Then again, what better way to work on it by living it out some more? She needed more story ideas, anyway.
“I think Kerstin will be okay at work. I definitely want to be here when she gets home tonight, but for now she’s okay,” she glanced at her watch. 10:00 AM. Kerstin’s medical hours were insane. Alex assumed her shift would be from one o’clock in the afternoon until ten o’clock tonight. Kerstin usually put in extra hours whenever she worked. “Plus, her shift tonight doesn’t end until nine. So, I’m free for the day.”
“Great,” Nick smiled. “I was thinking I could drive back into Syracuse for the day and we could get ice cream or something?”
“Drive into Syracuse?” Alex frowned. “You were in Syracuse last night…where are you now?”
“Our hotel is in downtown…it would only be about a four hour drive or so…”
“Four hour drive?! Nick, that’s crazy,” Alex stood up from her seat in the kitchen. “Do you want to meet half way or something? I mean, for you to drive four hours is kinda insane…”
“It really isn’t. I have a driver and a car that isn’t mine…and I’m kind of already on my way,” he chuckled. Alex shook her head and laughed. “I guess it would have been bad if you weren’t home, huh?”
Author's Chapter Notes:
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