Chapter 3
Illana walked into the store and grabbed a basket. She wanted to hurry up and get out of her work clothes and flop down on the couch. She was walking down each aisle when someone caught her eye. She backed up and looked again. It was him. She walked down and headed over to the guy. "Nick?"
He looked up. "Illana hey. How's it going?"
"Not too bad. Whatcha up to this evening?"
"Not much, just doing a little shopping while I can. Luckily I haven't been noticed too much. I didn't bring a bodyguard with me so I'm on the lookout for a potential dangerous situation." He grinned.
Something in her fluttered at his grin and she shook it off. She looked over at him again, and noticed that he seemed to be distracted. "You ok Nick?"
"Huh? What? Oh yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
He looked around uncomfortably.
"Does this have anything to do with last night and Vanessa?" She asked carefully.
He looked at her worriedly. "I don't wanna talk here. Can I come by this evening?"
Her eyes widened. "That bad?"
"Sorta. Is it ok?"
"Uh, well yeah, sure. That's fine."
"Great. I'll be by at around eight, ok?"
"That's fine."
"See ya then."
And with that, he was gone.
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She poured the chips into a bowl and set them on the table. Nick would be there shortly, he really seemed worried and that bothered her. She hated when Nick and Vanessa fought, it wasn't often but when it did happen, it usually was pretty bad. She had to admit though; it was never so bad that Nick wanted to talk to her alone. The whole thing was just weird. There was a knock at the door and she looked at her watch, he was early. She headed over to the door and opened it, her eyes widening. "Vanessa!"
"Hi, can I come in?"
"Sure." Illana stepped aside and quickly looked outside before shutting the door.
"You expecting someone?" Vanessa asked, pointing to the chips.
Illana figured it wouldn't be a good thing to tell her about Nick. "Nope, just a snack to eat while vegging out in front of the TV. What's up?" She questioned, sitting on the couch. Vanessa came and sat next to her.
"I'm just so worried about Nick. I don't know what to do. He's just so different ya know."
"You keep saying he's different, different how?"
She looked away. "Just...different. Maybe this whole thing just isn't gonna work, my parents tried to tell me about dating someone famous and I just wouldn't listen."
"Come on, that's not fair. You know how your parents are and you know how demanding his job is. You knew what it was gonna be like when you first started dating him. You never had a problem before, you always understood. You'll get through this."
"I just don't know Illana."
"I do, everything will be fine."
"I hope so. Well I can't stay, I'm gonna get going."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna get some rest. I'll talk to ya later." She got up and headed out the door. Illana watched her leave. She was the one acting different, when she'd run into Nick at the store that evening; he seemed fine besides the preoccupation with his relationship. She did notice a change in Illana however. Maybe she'd find out exactly what was going on when Nick got there. She jumped as the doorbell rang, Nick had arrived.
