Chapter Seven
“Oh, just whatever. I just thought since we were supposed to know each other since we’ve been born that we should make up for all that time missed.” Replied Nick, sitting next to her.
“Yeah, you’re right. I wonder why my parents haven’t mentioned you guys before. That’s kind of weird.”
“Yeah that is. Anyways, so what’s it like here in Colorado? I haven’t really been up here much and when we do, we don’t stay too long.”
“Oh it’s great! I love it here. I wouldn’t want to live any other place. Well, except Australia but I think I would stay here. The weather is perfect all year round. The winters are cold and snowy, the summers are clear and hot, the springs are warm and sunny and the falls are cool and gorgeous. It’s the perfect place to live.” She was beaming.
“Yeah, it looks beautiful.”
“Oh yeah. I become a little girl again when it starts to snow. I love to go outside and just play around as it falls. When I was younger when we lived in our old house, my bedroom window led to our roof so sometimes when it started to snow, I would climb out of my window and just sit or stand on the roof and watch the snow fall. It was gorgeous cause I had the perfect view of downtown if it wasn’t completely cloudy or foggy. It was the best. That’s what I miss about that house.”
“Man, it sounds great. See, living in Florida, you don’t get much snow. It’s hot and humid all year round. Once in awhile it would hit the fifties but it won’t get like this. I always wanted to spend my winters in a place like this. You know, I actually have this fantasy, I guess you could say, of spending Christmas in a log cabin with someone special. You know, go out, cut your own wood, start a fire in the fireplace and sit down with a blanket wrapped around both of us, listening to soft music, watching the snow fall and with mugs of hot cocoa in our hands. I think that would be the best Christmas in the world.” He told her. Arlet smiled at him. “I’m sorry. There I go on about my fantasies. I bet you could careless about my fantasies.”
She smiled bigger. “No! I love to hear other people’s dreams and fantasies. To tell you the truth, your fantasy sounds really close to one of my Christmas fantasies.” She confessed.
“Really?”
“Yeah. The only difference is that well, I would be up there spending it with my husband and my two children. My husband and I would be sitting on the couch, watching our kids running around on Christmas Eve, with the beautifully decorated tree behind them. They would be getting ready for bed so Santa would come early and then when they go to bed, then your fantasy kicks in. After awhile then, we go and put the gifts underneath the tree then head to bed. That’s mine.”
“That sounds nice.” Nick told her, grinning. “Would your husband have been Derek?”
“Yeah. But obviously it won’t be happening with him. So that version of the fantasy is thrown out the window. Oh well. I guess I haven’t found my Prince Charming yet.”
“In your letter, you said he took a break again. What does that mean exactly?”
She sighed. “Well, Derek and I met when I was a freshman in High School and he was a Sophomore. That was about six or seven years ago. Anyways, we started to go out that year and we’ve had been going out since then. I mean, the first break we had was when I graduated and I went to college out of state. And I understood why we decided to take a break then because we both had our own careers we wanted to pursue and you know how that saying goes, ‘Distance makes the heart grow fonder’ or something like that. When we got back together, I thought this was it. I was so ready to get married but then he said he needed another break. And I agreed with him reluctantly. I was so completely blind cause I was so in love with him that I would do anything to make him happy so he kept asking for breaks and kept asking to take him back. We’d been on about ten breaks including this official break-up.”
“Wow. Man, talk about being scared of commitment.” Nick commented.
“Tell me about it.” Arlet slightly chuckled. “After awhile I just got sick and tired being with someone who wasn’t sure of themselves. He actually came over to my house last night and asked to come back and that he was ready to settle down. I told him I didn’t want to be with him anymore. And to tell you the truth, I’m okay with it. I’m neither sad nor angry about it. I’m relieved and happy.”
“That’s good. It’s his fault. He had something so good right in front of him and just didn’t see it. I’m sure you’ll find the right one for you soon.” He said sincerely.
“Really?” Arlet blushed.
“Oh yeah. I’m mean, you’re beautiful, funny, intelligent, caring and extremely talented in tae kwon do and as a musician.” Arlet blushed. “Even though I’ve just read about you in your letter, I just had this feeling you would be all those things. And being here and talking with you today and sitting here getting to know you, all my feelings are confirmed. Who wouldn’t want to spend the rest of their lives with you?”
Arlet smiled at him, gratefully. “Thank you. That’s the nicest thing any one has ever said to me. That’s really sweet of you.”
“No, you don’t need to thank me. I’m just telling you the truth.”
She smiled bigger. “So, what about you? You got any special someone back in Florida?”
“No actually. My last relationship wasn’t really anything. She was gorgeous but that was the only good thing about her. Not very smart and but very possessive and got jealous easily. Many fans didn’t like her. Same thing about my family and my friends. The guys absolutely hated her and my siblings would call me everyday to dumped her. I finally I did. It wasn’t serious so it wasn’t bad at all. I’ve decided that I would just stop relationships for awhile. I’m just way too busy to be in a real committed relationship and I’m a young guy.”
“Yeah. I was just thinking about doing that myself. You know, since we just got the record deal recently.”
He nodded at her. The two sat on Arlet’s bed in silence for awhile. Laughter was heard from downstairs as the two families shared personal stories about each other.
Nick looked around at the lavish room. Even though no one had probably slept in there for a long time, Arlet’s parents seemed to keep the room in great shape. There was no dust on the furniture and trophies in the room. The bed seemed to have been made and undisturbed until they sat on it. The side table’s cloth that covered it looked new and washed. The mirrors on the closet doors and the window doors leading to the balcony seemed to be spotless and streak-free and the carpet looked to be vacuumed as well. A small crept up on his lips and turned to looked at her again. His smile disappeared when he noticed her wiping away a tear that ran down her cheeks.
Arlet couldn’t stop thinking about what Sarah told her right before Nick arrived. She didn’t know how to react when she told her but now fear covered her all over. She trembled and started to cry softly. She didn’t want Nick to see her like that cause she didn’t know him and he would ask why she was crying. And she certainly didn’t want to tell him the whole story. Especially since she has only told one person about it. That person being Sarah. She couldn’t get up the nerve to tell her own family. It would hurt them too much and would let them down. She didn’t want to let her family down so she kept it to herself and Sarah. They never talked about it until now. Arlet’s heart started to beat faster and her breathing became rugged.
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked concerned.
She quickly wiped away another tear. “Nothing.” She answered too quickly. “Nothing, I’m fine. I’m just overwhelmed being back here.”
“No, that’s not it. I know it’s not. Why are you crying?”
“What do you know?” She snapped back. “You don’t know anything about me!” He didn’t say anything. “You don’t know how I feel and what I think about. You don’t know what I cry about and what I laugh about. What gives you the right to question my reason for crying?”
“I’m sorry.” He told her quietly. “I guess I better go.” He got up without looking at her and started towards the door.
Arlet sat on her bed, watching him. Guilt washed over her like a tsunami wave. She looked down at her hands. They were trembling like crazy and were sweaty. She closed her eyes and inhaled.
“Nick,” She started. “Wait.” He turned around. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”
“It’s OK.”
“I just don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“I understand. Will you promise to tell me though?”
“Sure. Maybe tomorrow. Right now, I don’t want to talk about it.”
He nodded. “Well, it’s late. I guess I better head to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yeah, I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”
“Yeah, good night. It was nice talking to you. Hopefully we can do more of it while I’m here.”
She smiled. “I’d like that.”
He returned her smile and walked out of the room. He closed the door and headed down the hall to his room where he and Aaron shared.
When she heard the click of the door closing, she buried her head into her pillow and started to cry. So many thoughts ran through her head that she didn’t want. She didn’t know what was going to happen and she feared the worst. She started to cry harder. She cried so hard that she exhausted herself out and fell asleep.
Chapter Six
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