The downtown dance club was packed by the time they arrived later that night. A table had been reserved for their party of ten and they made their way over to it through the sea of dancing bodies. Ashley sat her purse on the table and reached up to adjust the red tube top that she had worn. She looked up and caught Nick’s eye. He had been watching her. She broke her gaze away from his and turned to A.J.’s girlfriend, Amanda who was speaking to her.
“A.J.’s going up to the bar to get drinks; want something?” Amanda said loudly over the music.
“I’ll just have whatever you’re having.”
Amanda raised her eyebrows. It was very rare for Ashley to drink alcohol, “So, fuzzy navel’s okay?”
Ashley nodded and Amanda turned around to tell A.J. who had an identical response as his girlfriend’s.
“Are you all right?” Amanda leaned close to Ashley’s ear.
“Mm hmm. I’m fine. I think I’m going to go to the bathroom though.”
“I’ll go with you,” Kevin’s wife, Kristin offered, “I’ve had to go since we left home.”
Kevin and Kristin had been dating on and off for seven before finally getting married. Ashley didn’t know how Kristin did it. She didn’t know how any of them did it. Kristin, Claudia, Amanda, and Leighanne put up with so much. Ashley just couldn’t force herself to go through that.
The two women stood in front of the mirror washing their hands several minutes later.
“Where’s Preston tonight, Ashley?” Kristin asked, pulling several towels out of the holder.
“Preston?” Ashley had momentarily forgotten about him. She glanced down at the diamond on her finger, “He’s in New York on business.”
“We were all so surprised to hear that you were engaged. When Nick told us you were getting married we just couldn’t believe it,” Kristin admitted, playing with her blonde hair.
“Why’s that?”
“It’ll probably sound crazy to you, but we all always thought that you and Nick would eventually hook up,” Kristin disclosed, an almost sheepish look on her face.
Ashley’s eyes clouded over and Kristin thought that Nick’s best friend might begin to cry, “Ashley?” Kristin reached out and touched her arm, “Are you all right, sweetie?”
Ashley nodded turning her back to Kevin’s wife. She wiped furiously at her eyes before turning back around. The look on Kristin’s face told her that she knew.
“You’re in love with Nick, aren’t you?”
Ashley felt the tears rise again, “I don’t know what it is, Kristin. I keep telling myself that it’s wrong; that I don’t want to be with somebody like Nick. Not that Nick’s a bad person, it’s just I don’t know if I can handle the stress that his career would put on a relationship. How do you do it, Kristin? How do you trust Kevin when he’s gone so much? How do you know that things will still be the same when he comes home?”
Kristin didn’t say anything for a moment, just reached out and hugged Ashley. Then she spoke, “I don’t have any profound advice for you, Ashley. Just that if it’s true love, it works. It finds a way to work. The issue of not trusting him never even crosses my mind. It’s just there. Are you still going to marry Preston?”
Ashley nodded, “I can’t let myself love Nick. I told him that today. I told him that he could never give me what I wanted.”
“So he feels the same way as you?” Kristin asked gently.
“Basically, yes. He just thinks that we could make this work. He doesn’t even see what I see,” Ashley looked in the mirror and wiped her eyes one more time before speaking again, “Please don’t tell anyone we talked about this.”
Kristin squeezed Ashley’s arm gently, “Don’t give up on this, okay?”
“Things are the way they’re meant to be. Let’s go back, all right?” Ashley turned and walked towards the door of the restroom. They returned to the table, where everyone was now seated. A waitress stood distributing the ordered drinks. After Kristin sat down the only empty spot at the table was in between Kevin and Nick. Her drink sat at the place in front of that chair. Nick stood to pull back the chair for her, but Ashley pulled it out before he could, not meeting his eyes. Nick stayed standing until she was seated; ignoring the questioning stares his friends were giving.
Nick gestured to her drink, “That’s kind of strong for you, Brown Eyes.” Ashley took a long drink from the glass before responding, “Compared to what you’re drinking it is, Nick.” A Coke sat in front of him.
Nick shrugged and turned away from her. At that moment, Howie interrupted the conversation that was flowing around the table, “I think I’m going to hit the dance floor. Anybody want to join me?” He glanced at his girlfriend, Claudia and nodded towards the dance floor. She placed her hand in his and stood from the table, making their way out into the club.
“Baby, you wanna get jiggy with me out there?” A.J. wiggled his eyebrows at Amanda.
Amanda rolled her eyes at him, “A.J., the last time we came here you spun me into the D.J. booth.”
“Fine, I don’t need your mockery,” he turned Ashley, “What do you say, Ash? Care to take a spin around the dance floor with me?”
“I would love to, A.J.,” Ashley stood and took his offered arm after swallowing the rest of her drink. She could feel the alcohol hit her empty stomach. As they walked away she called, “Nicky, order another one of those for me, please?”
An hour and a half and seven drinks later, Ashley clutched to the guy she was dancing with as her vision blurred and her feet gave out beneath her. Her dancing partner had provided the last two drinks to her and she didn’t even know what she had drank, let alone who it was she was dancing with. Several times, Brian, Leighanne, Kevin, and Amanda had come over to Ashley and pleaded with her to let them take her home. Each time she had just pushed them away and found someone else to dance with and to buy her another drink.
The young college grad that she had been dancing with pulled her up against him and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “What do you say we go somewhere else, baby?”
Ashley’s first instinct was to say yes, but a picture of Nick flashed through her mind. She willed it to go away and hiccupped, “Whatever.”
Brian, Kevin, Nick, Leighanne, and Kristin watched the scene from their table.
“Nick, go over there and do something,” Leighanne pleaded.
“You can’t let her go home with him. Something like that will destroy her. Especially the state she’s in right now,” Kristin reasoned.
“Why me? She doesn’t want anything to do with me right now,” Nick’s eyes were sad as he watched Ashley across the crowded room.
“You’re the only one she’ll listen to, Nick. Go now before he gets her out of here,” Kevin told him.
They watched as Nick rose from the table and began to weave his way through the crowd.
“Why doesn’t she want anything to do with him?” Brian asked.
“Yeah. What did you mean by the state she’s in right now?” Kevin asked his wife.
“It’s nothing. It’s between Ashley and Nick and it’s none of our business,” Kristin stated.
“They’re realizing their feelings for each other, aren’t they?” Brian asked, a smile forming on his handsome face.
“Now I never said that, okay?” Kristin told him.
“I always knew that this would happen,” Kevin said.
“Let’s just hope that it didn’t happen too late,” Leighanne commented, her gaze still on Nick, who was just now approaching Ashley.
*****
Nick met up with Ashley just as the dark-haired guy began to escort her out the door of the busy club.
“Hey!” Nick shocked himself with the severity of his own voice.
The guy turned around, still keeping a firm grip on Ashley’s arm.
“What the hell do you want?” he asked.
“Go away, Nicky,” Ashley slurred.
Nick grabbed her arm, “We’re leaving, Ashley. Now.”
“Let go of me! I can make my own decisions. You’re such a drag, Nick. You never want to have any fun”
By now people were beginning to stare.
“No,” Nick began, “You’re drunk and we’re leaving.”
The guy that she was with reached out and grabbed Nick’s shoulder to push him away. Hatred and rage flashed through Nick’s eyes and the smaller man instantly backed away.
“Come on, Brown Eyes. Let’s get your purse and head home,” Nick placed his arm across her bare shoulders to lead her back to the table.
“No, Nick. The only thing that I want to do is get another drink and have some fun,” she pressed her body seductively up against his, “Don’t you want to have some fun, Nicky?”
“You’ve had enough. We’re going home,” it took everything inside of Nick to push her away and take her hand in his, “This isn’t fun and normally you would agree with me.”
“Why do you have to ruin everything?!” Her voice was almost at a screaming decibel, “Why don’t you just stay the hell out of my life, Nick? I don’t need you anymore!”
Nick glanced around him to see Brian and A.J. ready to help if Nick needed it. He shook his head at them and in one swift movement, picked Ashley up and swung her over his shoulder. He yelled at his best friend to toss him one of the guys’ sports coats off of the table. Brian obliged and Nick laid it across her short skirt that was riding up and baring her to the whole club. Nick could only pray that no one with a camera was in the club to catch this moment and send it to a tabloid. She beat her fists against his back and screamed at him to put her down.
Nick carried his protesting best friend out of the club and to the valet. He asked for the keys to his Durango and said he would find the car himself. He reasoned that Ashley needed to cool down before they got in the car and it wouldn’t do him any good to put her down now. They walked through the parking lot, Ashley still slung over his shoulder. Her only movement now was the rise and fall of her chest against his back as she tried to calm down.
“How you doing back there, Brown Eyes?” Nick asked quietly.
She didn’t respond for a moment, but weakly called back, “I think I’m going to be sick.” Nick immediately placed her on the ground just in time for her to throw up all over his shoes. He grimaced as Ashley turned away from him and fell to the ground continuing to empty the contents of her stomach. Nick leaned over her and pulled her long hair back from her face with one hand, using the other to gently rub her back.
After a few moments Ashley warily stood, Nick rising along with her. She gripped his arm and leaned heavily against him. Looking up, she whispered, “I’m sorry about your shoes, Nicky.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about. Think you’re done? Can we get in the car?” he stroked her hair softly with his hand.
She nodded and let him lead her over to the Durango. He helped her inside, shutting the door behind her, and walked around to the back of the SUV to toss his soiled shoes in the rear hatch.
Nick got into the drivers’ seat and fastened his seat belt. As he started the car Ashley took off her own belt and lay down across the front of the car, resting her head against his thigh. Nick figured he wouldn’t be able to talk her out of it, so he pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the road.
She was silent for most of the ride, so Nick watched the Christmas lights on all of the different houses as he passed by. Even though he had lived in Florida for most of his life he would never get over Christmas lights on palm trees. Nick thought that she had fallen asleep until they had almost reached her house. He felt the wetness of her tears penetrate his slacks and knew that she was awake.
Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear he tried to lighten the mood, “You’re gonna have one hell of a hang over tomorrow, Brown Eyes.”
“Are you still going to be my friend, Nicky?” she asked, ignoring his comment. Her brain was still incredibly fuzzy from the alcohol.
“I’ll always be your friend,” Nick vowed, taking his eyes off of the road to momentarily glance down at her tear stained face.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Cross your heart?”
Nick made an X over his heart and repeated the innocent phrase, “Cross
my
heart.”
Links to other sites on the Web
Get your own Free Home Page