“No, I swear Nick and I are friends. Can you just call up to him and let him know that Sophie Kent is here to see him?” Sophie asked the woman at the front desk for the third time now. The woman sighed and stuck her nose up in the air as if she was something big and mighty.
“That’s completely against rules and regulations. Mr. Carter has asked us not to bother him with anything at all, whatsoever,” she said. Sophie glared at the woman and stared down at her nametag.
“Well, Amelia, I happen to be a very good friend of Mr. Carter’s and when he finds out how you’ve been treating me he’s gonna be pissed,” she folded her arms over her chest, completely frustrated by this woman. “Listen lady,” she leaned forward across the counter to get in the woman’s face. The woman’s eyes grew wide, not expecting Sophie to become so forward. “It’s Christmas! Why can’t you just call up and see if he answers? If he answers and you tell him I’m here and he has no idea who you’re talking about, I swear to you I’ll live immediately.” She calmed down a bit. There wasn’t any reason for this woman to turn her away now.
The woman sighed and glanced around behind the counter. “Fine, but if something goes wrong and I get fired for this…” she trailed off, not wanting to say anything rude or inappropriate.
“I swear, nothing will go wrong,” Sophie promised. She chewed on the inside of her lip anxiously. Why was she here again? And why was she practically fighting the attendant at the front desk to see Nick? She sighed and tugged at her gloves that were on her cold hands, and then shoved them into her pockets.
“Hi, Mr. Carter? This is Amelia from the front desk,” the woman said. A sigh of relief escaped Sophie’s lips; he was home. But then she became anxious again, practically dreading seeing Nick. “There’s a woman downstairs for you. She says her name is Sophie Kent…” the woman muttered with disgust dripping from every word. She still didn’t believe Sophie knew Nick. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes got really big and her face turned a shade of crimson. “O-Oh. Alright.” She quickly sputtered and put the phone down. “I apologize, Miss Kent. Mr. Carter asked that I send you right up. He’s in room 815 on the 8th floor. The elevator is behind us and then around the corner.” The woman quickly rambled off.
Sophie stuck up her nose with a satisfied grin. “Thank you.” She spat and walked towards the elevators. After her happiness from her victory wore off, she began to worry again about seeing Nick. She had seen pictures of him in magazines and on TV. He looked amazing – he had continued to lose about 50 pounds total. She was proud of him, but she also hoped he had lost all that weight for him. Not for the fans, not for the tabloids…especially not for her. She tried not to think too much about the situation as she pressed the button to go up the elevator. She had changed quite a bit herself.
She was no longer outgoing, uninhibited Sophie Kent. Breaking up with Nick had changed her. She wondered if it was because Nick was always so confident in her – always pulling her up. A day didn’t go by that he didn’t tell her she was beautiful, or call her ‘baby’. Those little things made her confident in herself. By the end of their relationship, though, it had all become so routine. Plus, Nick began traveling more for the Backstreet Boys and she began to lose confidence in herself. She had gained a bit of weight – not making her chubby, rather curvy – yet she wasn’t willing to show off her curves. With Nick she could wear whatever; but now she resorted to sweats or business attire.
She jumped back when the elevator door opened and sucked in a deep breath. “You can do this.” She muttered to herself as she stepped onto the elevator and closed the door, pressing the button for the 8th floor. Again, she allowed her mind to take her back to her days with Nick. She glanced down at what she was wearing now and immediately felt uncomfortable – she had on her heavy pea coat, but underneath she was wearing that red lace top that was a bit more revealing than what she was used to, and those pants hugged every curve rather nicely, especially her ass. She sighed and waited for the elevator to get to the 8th floor. As soon as the doors opened, she stepped off and headed towards Nick’s room. Before she brought her fist up to knock lightly on his door, she sucked in another deep breath to try and fill her with courage.
Nick was quick to answer, obviously expecting her. As he opened the door, Sophie thought her knees might give in. Gad damn him for looking so sexy. He was wearing a black button down shirt and khaki pant, apparently ready to go out. Neither of them could believe it had been so long since they’d seen each other. Nick couldn’t get over how different, yet beautiful, Sophie looked. Sophie felt the same way about him.
“H-Hi,” she stumbled over her words and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know we said we’d just see each other another time, but I felt horrible having you spend Christmas by yourself…besides, I don’t really know Elise, the girl that invited me over, that well. I just work with her…so it’s not a big deal about me canceling.” Sophie rambled.
Nick grinned and opened the door wider. “Thanks for coming over.” He said. She stepped into the room and stood in front of him awkwardly. Nick took the initiative and wrapped his arms around her in another uncomfortable moment.
“Wow, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Sophie laughed nervously as she pulled away. She couldn’t get over how great he smelled and felt with his arms wrapped around her.
“Yeah,” Nick nodded and closed the hotel room door behind them. “Here, come on in. We can order room service or go out…looks like you’re ready for either.” He motioned to her body, making her feel very self conscious. Sophie hated the way she looked after she and Nick had broken up. She had put on a few pounds and to her, it was a few pounds too many.
“It doesn’t matter to me…” she trailed off and glanced around the empty hotel room. She desperately wanted to go out. She didn’t think being cooped up with Nick in this small hotel room would be good for either of them. “Um, we could go out?”
“Is any place open?” Nick asked and went over to his bed to pull a phone book out of the drawer to look for any restaurants nearby.
That’s when Sophie remembered it was Christmas day. He was right; there probably wouldn’t be any place open. Most places would be closed for the holiday. “Oh, right. Um, well, we can just order in then. I don’t know anywhere that’d be open on Christmas day.” Sophie chewed at the inside of her lip. Why had she decided to come again?
“Okay, I’ll order room service,” Nick smiled and picked up the phone to dial out.
“While you do that, I’m gonna use the restroom really quick,” she smirked and hurried to the bathroom. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. She had become such a different person without Nick, but now that she was back around him, she felt more like herself. It was frustrating to her and she didn’t understand. She didn’t understand why she was feeling the way she did.
As soon as she was done fixing her eye make-up and running her fingers through her hair, she opened the door and headed back out into the bedroom. “I wasn’t really sure what to get, so I just ordered the Christmas special.” Nick shrugged, looking down at the menu in his hands. “I think it’s like, ham, veggies and some desserts or something.”
“Sounds yummy,” Sophie smiled and sat down on the sofa across from him. This looked like it would be an interesting night.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you SO much for all the reviews!! I managed to squeeze in a moment or two to update really quickly before settling down with my family and enjoying Christmas movies, hot chocolate and a few presents. Happy Holidays everyone!!
