Yvette and Aaron cruised down the mall looking for a present for Aaron. Finally, he decided on buying an excessive amount of clothes with Yvette's credit card. He was actually happy that she was there with him. She had been his best friend for a long time and his shoulder to cry on a million other times.
"So, ready to head back home after you left me broke?" Yvette asked.
Aaron laughed. "Actually, I wanted to go to the Mercedes' shop to look at some of the convertibles"
"Fuck you, Aaron" Yvette said narrowing her eyes and grinning at him.
"Let's go home"
A couple of hours later, everyone started arriving to the party set at Aaron's house. Yvette finished getting ready and came downstairs surprisingly greeted by AJ and Kevin. "Hey you guys!" she said giving a hug to each one of them.
"Hey you! You look gorgeous" AJ said, kissing her on the top of her hand.
"Aw, thanks Aje… you never change" she said with a grin.
"So, where's Nick?" Kevin asked.
Yvette got serious all of a sudden and lowered her head.
"Is something wrong?" Kevin said, lifting her chin up and looking deep into her green eyes.
"He's in California doing promotion for the new album"
"Already?!? I mean, you guys were married almost three weeks ago!" AJ said.
"I know… but he had to go, or so he said" Yvette shrugged.
"Aw, sweetie I'm sorry… I mean, you gotta understand where he's coming from too" AJ replied.
"I know… I know… it's just hard sometimes"
"It's going to be hard… but trust me… you'll get on with it"
Yvette smiled and threw her arm around AJ's shoulders. "I know…"
"C'mon… let's go dance" he said, taking her hand.
Minutes later, Yvette felt her cell phone vibrating on her side. She had put it there in case Nick called.
"Gimme a sec, AJ" she said, getting away from his grip and going upstairs to take the call.
"Hey, baby" she said, sitting on the bed in her room.
"Hey, you" Nick said, gripping his phone tighter and smiling.
"How are you?" she said with a smile.
"I'm pretty good… God, baby I miss you so much"
"I miss you too Nick"
"Is Aaron okay?"
"Yeah… he is"
"Okay then… I didn't have time to call him earlier" Yvette sighed remembering Aaron's words earlier.
"I was really expecting him for the birthday. He promised me that he was going to be here and I really wanted to spend today with him and you, and of course Hillary… but that's besides the point…It's really fucked up…"
"Sweetie… you should call him and tell him" Yvette said, playing with the hem of her skirt.
"I'll call him tomorrow… he'll understand"
"Okay" she whispered.
There was a long silence on the line. After a while, Nick decided to talk.
"Yve?"
"Yeah?"
"I need to tell you something" he said, worrying about how was she going to take what he was about to tell her.
"I know"
"You know what?" he said, surprised at her comment.
"I know that you have to tell me something… you always stay silent when you want to tell me something, and usually something that is not good"
"Baby, I'm going to be here for two months"
Yvette sighed softly and her back fell on the bed.
"I guess I understand Nick… it's your job isn't it?"
"Yeah… I'm sorry okay?"
"Yeah… I know… I mean, I would be there with you if nobody knew that we were married, or together actually"
Nick had kept their whole relationship a secret. Since Yvette didn't travel with him or live with him when they were first dating, the media didn't suspect anything.
"I know… after the album, I promise we'll tell the world"
"I don't want the world to know… I just want to be near you… whatever that means" she said as tear welled up in her eyes.
"Sweetie, come with me here… stay here with me"
"No Nick… it would ruin everything… your job, your image, your promotion… everything"
"I don't care, Yvette…I don't care anymore"
"Yes, you do, Nick"
He stood silent.
"I know you care" Yvette said "Look, just do your work there and we'll see each other in two months… we've been away from each other for a longer time"
"Yeah, but we were not married"
"That doesn't matter, Nick… just go and promote that album" Yvette encouraged him. "You'll be here soon enough"
"I love you baby" Nick whispered over the phone.
"I love you too and I trust you… Call me sometime, okay?"
"Alright then, bye"
"Te amo" Yvette whispered.
"Me too, bye" he said, hanging up the phone and getting out of bed. He went and knocked on Ashley's room.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" she said, letting him in.
"I miss her so much Ash…" Nick whispered as he sat down on the bed.
"I know Nick… but this is your job too… She knew what she was getting into when she first started dating you"
Nick nodded and looked at her. "Yeah… can't I go there like in two weeks to see her and then come back?"
"No, Nick, you know you can't" Ashley smiled. She loved his smile too much.
"Damn… what about when I go on tour… how's that going to be?"
"Hell for you, I guess" Ashley said, messing up his blond hair.
"Yeah" he said standing up. As he was about to go out the door, he stopped and turned around, looking at Ashley. "Why isn't she my tour manager? Or stage manager? Or whatever… I mean, she can be near me and we… we can be together! What do you think?"
"We'll talk about that later… now let me go to sleep"
"Okay, but think about it" he said as he got out the room with a smile on his face.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A week later, Nick was already beat from all the work that he had to do. "I need to have a day off" he thought to himself. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.
"What do you want, Nickolas?"
"I need a fucking break, Ashley"
"Nick, it's been two days… get over it"
"It's been a week with nonstop promotion… I haven't had time to sleep"
Ashley sighed.
"Please?" Nick begged.
"Okay, okay… Tomorrow you don't have anything planned… so go ahead and do whatever"
"I'm going to take you to dinner for being the best manager in the world!"
"Nick, no"
"Ash… come on… We're going as friends… nothing bad is going to happen… I'm happily married"
"No"
"Oh come on. It's not like I'm going to rape you or anything… come on, you know I'm not going to do anything"
Ashley sighed. "Okay" she agreed. After she hung up, she ran her hands through her hair. "I'm not afraid that you will do something… I'm afraid that I will…" she thought as she went to the bathroom and got a cold shower.