"Cora?" Melissa asked softly. She stared up the tree. Cora had to be sitting twenty feet up, just sitting there.
"Cora?" Melissa asked again, a little louder. "Alison's packed your bags for you. She told me what you said to her." Melissa glanced up the tree. Cora showed no response. "Alison also told me what you said to her, about leaving the group . . ." She glanced up - again, no response. Melissa rolled her eyes. "I KNOW you can hear me Cora. Stop being such a baby and get down here!" Cora made no motion to move. "Fine!" Melissa snapped.
Cora gave a soft sigh of relief. ‘Good, she's leaving . . .' She thought thankfully. Suddenly she heard a rustle, a grunt and a scratching sort of noise. A few minutes later, Melissa plopped down beside her on the branch with a thump.
"Now at least I can see your face," Melissa smiled, she glanced at the ground warily. "Although I hadn't realized that my climbing skills have turned to mush . . ." She paused, then glanced at her friend's face, which remained blank. "Cora, you need your friends right now. Shutting me out won't do you any good. I heard about what happened . . . with Nick and about what you said to Alison. I know your very upset because Grace is leaving-"
"Has left," Cora interjected. She looked away quickly, tossing her hair. "She left around 5:45 this morning." Cora hung her head. "I'm tired. I've been up all night. Alison's mad at me. And," Cora's eyes filled with tears. "And how am I ever going to talk to Nick again? I mean - after last night . . . Oh God, how could I be so stupid?" She leaned into Melissa and her friend wrapped her in a hug.
"I'm so sorry . . ." Melissa murmured. She patted Cora's curly blond hair. "Cora, what happened last night? What happened between you and Nick that was so terrible - he didn't . . . " her voice trailed off. She hugged her friend close. "Did he?"
Cora swallowed and pulled away. "No . . ." She shook her head. "But . . ." She stared off into space. "It was too soon for me. It was my first time . . . and I mean, I knew it wasn't his - it's just that -" She shook her head. "I don't know."
Melissa eyebrows creased in worry. "What is it? It's alright Cora . . ." Melissa put a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"It hurt," Cora said finally. "It hurt a lot." Her voice carried a resigned tone. "It was hot and sweaty and fast . . . and it hurt. Before we actually," She glanced at her friend, who gave her a supportive nod. Cora continued. "Before we actually, had sex- it was alright. In fact, it was good, I liked it." Cora sighed. "And then everything just happened at once. I didn't realized it was going to hurt so much! No one ever told me that . . . And afterwards I just felt sick . . . So I waited until Nick fell asleep and . . . and then I left." She rested her head on another branch. "How can I face him again?"
Melissa's face was clouded with concern. "Oh Cora," She murmured. "Come here." Melissa hugged her friend. "I'm so sorry that your first sexual experience was a bad one. Sex usually isn't painful . . . usually making love is a wonderful, wonderful experience. Oh honey . . ." She smoothed her friend's hair with her hand. "I think you need to talk to Nick about this . . . He's probably a lot less experienced with love than he'd like to admit. In fact, he's probably only fucked models because he could . . ."
Upon those words Cora burst out laughing. She wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"Now tell me Cora . . ." Mel started, her eyes twinkling. "We both know that men are just like dogs, right?" Cora nodded. "And why do dogs lick themselves?"
They both smiled. "Because they can!"
Cora shook her head. "I don't think Nick is like that . . ."
"All men are like that!" Mel laughed. "And that's why you two need to talk about this . . . together . . . without fighting . . . without leaving the group . . ."
"I've decided not to leave the group," Cora replied. "I can't let my love life affect my relationship with my friends, or with my career."
"Good," Melissa nodded. "So let's come down from the trees and go ride a bus!"
Cora smiled.
"We're not leaving without them!" Nick insisted as Lou boarded the bus.
Lou looked a bit startled at the suggestion. "Of course we won't leave without Cora or Melissa, I just saw them a few minutes ago and they'll be here momentarily. Howie on the other hand has left to catch Jive's private jet to San Francisco which will pick him up in time for him to warm up for the show-"
"But we have interviews!" Nick interrupted.
"Which unfortunately he has insisted upon missing . . ." Lou replied grimly. "But there's nothing I can do about that . . . besides . . . I love Grace too." Lou paused. "Alison will also not be performing tonight. She has left the three to go on alone while she flies to her home in Toronto. An immediate family member had died, I can hardly deny her the right to go to the funeral."
"What?" Lara gasped. Everyone on the bus looked up. "What did you just say?" She continued, getting out of her seat to pace towards Lou.
"An immediate family member has died so of course she won't be performing tonight," Lou explained.
"That's impossible," Lara cried.
Lou looked confused. "She was crying too hard for me to find out who it was. I believe her though. And I can understand why she would-"
"No," Lara closed her eyes. "You don't understand . . . It's impossible because Alison does not have any immediate family."
Just then Cora and Melissa walked on to the bus. Cora pushed past Lou and sat down in the second seat from the front.
"Where have you been?" Nick asked, slightly exasperated. Cora ignored him and stared pointedly out the window, as if punishing him. Nick looked a little taken aback, then he turned on his heal and headed for the back of the bus.
Lou's eyes widened at Lara. "What did you say?" He gritted his teeth.
"Nothing," Lara replied quickly. "I'm sure she was telling the truth. She's a very faithful person." "I know that," Lou returned evenly, "but sometimes faith has nothing to do with it."
Lara paused and bit her lip. "No," She said softly. She turned slowly. "It has everything to do with it."
"This isn't doing either of you any good," Melissa told Cora brashly. "You need to talk to him."
Cora sighed, she wanted to bite Melissa's head off, but at some level, she knew her friend was right. "I know." Cora looked at her fingers. "But I don't know what I can possibly . . ." Her voice trailed off.
"Just tell him how you feel," Melissa told her.
Cora shook her head softly. Her watering eyes glanced up at the ceiling of the bus. "What do I feel?" she murmured. She shook it off. "Okay, you're right." Cora pushed past Melissa and walked to the back of the bus.
Nick lay back on his bunk and shut his eyes. He couldn't understand why she was acting this way. He'd thought their night together was great. It had been fun. Now she wouldn't even look at him. Then he heard a quiet voice. "Nick?"
He sat up sharply. "What?" He snapped, looking down at her.
"I think we need to talk," Cora said firmly.
Nick nodded. "Alright." Cora climbed up and sat beside him. "So talk," Nick requested, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Cora's cool exterior cracked and she let out a shaky sigh. "Nick, what happened last night . . ." Cora tried to collect herself, but Nick cut her off harshly.
"Look Cora," Nick started. "I don't see why you have to make such a big deal about this. We slept together. Woo hoo." He rolled his eyes. "And it was fun-"
"Yeah for you," Cora interrupted.
"Oh and I'm sure you had a terrible time, Cora," Nick continued sarcastically. "That's what all the moaning was about . . ." Cora was silent. "Look, we slept together, it was fun - that's all, Cora. That's all it has to be."
"That's all?" Cora cried in exasperation. Her voice was filled with hurt. "Fine." She said quietly. "Nick, I don't think we should see each other anymore."
"That's gonna be kinda hard considering we both work together, at least on this tour," Nick commented smugly.
"That's not what I meant and you know it," Cora spat. Something about the way he had said that made her shiver. She resumed her calm demeanor. "It's over between us. We obviously don't want the same things. We can't be anything to each other anymore . . ." She sighed.
"Who said we ever were . .?" Nick replied. Cora looked up at him in shock. Without a word she jumped down from his bunk and headed back to her seat. Then something stopped her, something pulled her back.
Cora turned on her heal and marched back to his bed. "You did Nick!" Cora told him loudly. Nick sat up quickly.
"What?"
"You said we were something. All that shit you said last night, all that moaning and groaning you did last night Nick? You said we were something. And now we are not-and if you don't want to acknowledge that then screw yourself because I am out of this fucked up life you live. You hurt me you asshole, and you hurt yourself. So fuck yourself because there are plenty of other people I can associate with on this tour that are not creeps like you! Fuck it, I'm out!"
Nick's face was blank as Cora's outburst subsided. He seemed slightly shocked, but was mostly unreadable. He opened his mouth to say something but Cora turned on her heal and walked away before he could try and save face. The bus was quiet.
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