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“Are you sure about this?” Michele asked, holding Nick’s hand.
Nick took a while to respond. He sighed, “Yeah. It’s for the best.”
“You’re right,” Michele agreed reluctantly, giving Nick a smile as she wiped a tear away with the back of her hand. Nick leaned forward and hugged her. She clung to him tightly and he reciprocated her actions.
Michele breathed in and could smell Nick’s cologne, Eternity for Men, on him. She closed her eyes and tried to freeze frame that moment so she could remember it forever.
Nick held her, his two hands on either side of her face and he looked deep into her brown eyes. Without thinking, he began to tilt his head down to her’s and Michele almost returned the kiss before she stopped Nick. “I’m sorry Nick... but if we’ve made a decision on this... and, well, we’ve gotta keep it up. I... I don’t want to kiss you knowing that we’ll never be anything more. Because I know if I let you kiss me, I won’t want you to stop and that would just bring us back to square one.”
Nick nodded his head slowly, feeling defeated. He caught Michele’s gaze and smiled. “You know I’ll still love you... even if I don’t outright say or show it...”
Michele put her index finger to his lips and shook her head. “Please don’t finish that... it will just make this harder...”
They sat for a little while longer before Nick decided he should head home. She hugged him one last time before she walked him to the door. Nick was halfway to his car before Michele called out after him, “Nick!” He turned to face her. “I love you too,” she told him, a little quieter. Nick smiled and winked as he got into his car. Michele waved to him as he drove off. She stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. She looked at it curiously and realized it was James’ phone number. She held onto it as she closed her front door and locked up.
***************
“Yo Kev! Where’s my blue shirt?” A.J. called out down the hall. The guys were getting dressed to attend the going away party that their girlfriends had planned for them.
Nick got out of the shower and towelled off. He couldn’t believe it had already been 2 months since he and Michele had called it quits. He hadn’t even seen her since then. They had been busy with tour rehearsals. Nick gelled his hair and styled it nicely. The way Michele liked it. He was excited because he knew she was going to be there tonight.
He was anxious to see her again, after all this time. They had convinced everyone that they didn’t have anything going on. All they admitted to was becoming friends. To their luck, everyone believed them, after a lot of convincing, persuasion and good acting. He sprayed some of his favourite cologne and gave himself one last look in the mirror.
The limo was waiting at the front of their house and the guys were to meet the girlfriends at the party. Brian rushed everyone out to the limo and they headed on their way to the gala being thrown in their honour.
The girls greeted them at the door when they arrived and the guys could see that all their friends were there. Nick scanned the crowd subtly, trying to find Michele. It wasn’t until the festivities and dancing began that Nick finally caught sight of Michele. She was on the arm of another guy, who Nick recognized as the guy at the restaurant all those months ago. He excused himself from Jen’s company and told her he was going to say hello to some friends. She smiled and said, “Don’t be long...”
Nick made his way through the crowd, being stopped every now and then to be wished good luck on their tour. For a moment, he lost sight of Michele. Nick looked over the crowd, which was easy being over 6 feet tall.
“Hey!” came a voice behind him. Nick spun around to see Michele smiling back at him.
He gave her a hug. “It’s good to see you here... I haven’t seen you in SO long...”
“It HAS been a long time...” agreed Michele. She pulled away gently from his embrace and introduced him to her date. “Nick, this is my boyfriend James.”
At the sound of his name, Nick finally recognized Michele’s boyfriend. “Oh right! Marsden! Hey, I love your movies man...”
James smiled and said, “Oh! Thanks!” Michele looked up at James, smiled and squeezed his hand. She really liked him and was glad that it wasn’t awkward between her past and present loves.
“How are things with you and Jen?” Michele asked, as she spotted Jen in the crowd.
“Great! We’ve worked through everything...” he replied, putting emphasis on the last word. Michele looked into his eyes and could see that there was some spark still there.
“Michele!” came an excited squeal from across the room and that had broke their gaze. Nick and Michele looked away from each other sheepishly and James was relieved to see the interruption.
Michele turned towards the voice and saw Kaitlyn approaching. She said goodbye to Nick and James said “Nice to meet you,” as Nick shook his hand.
“Kaitlyn! Did you just get here?”
“Yup!” she replied, and paused. She wanted to talk to Michele privately and James caught her hint and went to get some drinks for himself and Michele. The two girls smiled gratefully at James. “So, have you talked to Nick yet?” Katilyn asked, obviously not seeing her talk with him just before she came by.
“Yeah... it was weird... there was something still there... but, I mean, I’m happy with James now and him and Jen are okay.” Michele paused, reminiscing. James returned with their drinks and Kaitlyn went off to mingle with the other guests.
A.J. and Jamie were heating up the dance floor with their dancing while Orianne and Brian chatted with the guests. The girls all received numerous praises for organizing such a great party.
Howie tried to calm Melissa down because she wanted everything to turn perfectly. “Just enjoy the night, buttercup,” he said, using his nickname for her.
That made Melissa smile and relax a bit. “You’re right. I should enjoy tonight... it’s your going away party...”
“That’s the Melissa I know...” winked Howie as he gave her a kiss.
Kevin and Alexandra enjoyed the festivities and halfway through, Kevin sneaked off. He looked back at his girlfriend and smiled. She eyed him curiously. ‘What was he up to?’ she thought.
Deception