Chapter 15
Gazing up from his downward focus Nick shook his head, "Oh no," he mumbled watching Chelsea enter into the room with John Mayer close behind her. "You brought him with you?!" he stood up, hands cuffed in front of him.
"Oh Nick, you're welcome. No problem!" Chelsea retorted sarcastically. "Wow, and to think we could have just left you in here all by yourself."
"Hi Nick," John smirked behind Chelsea's shoulder as Nick rolled his eyes. It was one thing for him to even be there but to blatantly gloat about his position was beyond 'you need your ass beat' behavior.
Silencing the group was an officer stepping up to Nick, he unhooked his hand cuffs, releasing him to both his ex-girlfriend and latest nemisis. "You're free to go Mr. Carter." Free to go, but to go where? In a car with the two of them? Less then ideal. "Try not to piss off airport security again."
"Will do," Nick nodded, slightly flushed at the situation at hand. As the officer left the room he looked over at John, "Do you mind giving us a minute here?"
"No problem," he turned on his heals.
"So," Chelsea turned to Nick with an undeniable smile on her face. "What exactly did you do to get in here?"
"Long story," he rolled his eyes. "I was sat next to a young fan and all she could talk about was how great our five hour flight was going to be...So I decided to get off the plane and just charter a private jet on my own. But then this bitch lady wouldn't let me get off the plane so I ended up darting out of there, sorta without permission, and then security chased me down. They had to evacuate the plane and everything because they thought I was a security threat. Me! A security threat!"
Nick was stopped by Chelsea's uncontrollable laughter, "You idiot! Oh my god," she bent over with her arm against her stomach to control herself, "Oh my god Nick, I swear. You are such a dumbass sometimes."
"You didn't see the girl!" he protested. "You would've ran too!"
"And you called me? I guess Scott didn't answer?"
"Scott?"
"Yea genius! You're lawyer! The same one that served me those papers earlier today..."
"Right," he nodded understanding that he could have called his attourney. "Sorry, I just wanted to get out of there and you were the first number that came to mind. Except..." he looked behind her at John waiting impatiently outside, "I didn't expect you to bring him with you."
"He was with me when you called and offered to come with me."
"I bet," Nick sneered. Gathering his jacket and belongings he pushed past Chelsea and headed towards the door. "Thanks for coming but I think I'm going to go."
"Wait a minute!" she grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "You dragged me all the way down here for no reason?"
"It was a mistake. Sorry." Walking away from her and outside of security he couldn't shake the picture of John and Chelsea laughing together in her apartment. He couldn't shake the picture of them driving down here together to get them. He couldn't shake the picture of them doing anything together.
It was over. He'd made the mistake of calling her but it was over. There was a reason she didn't try to stop him from moving. There was a reason. Knowing the truth he walked outside to hail a cab, letting the doors slide tightly behind him not only on the airport but also on what was and what will never be.
1 Month Later:
It was a well documented love affair: "John Mayer's new love! A tour of two love birds!" Chelsea's face was blazened across the covers of gossip magazines wearing a huge smile, and there was no show of common decency when comparing her relationship with John to that of her old one with Nick. All this attention, all this mockery inspired the succinct reaction of Nick, "Fuck!"
"Excuse me?" AJ asked, looking up from his guitar.
"This is all Bullshit!" Nick exclaimed, throwing down the latest copy of US magazine which featured pictures of the happy couple at an amusement park, riding a rollercoaster amusingly, but there was nothing amusing about it. "I get that she doesn't want to get back together but do I have to see every aspect of her happiness?"
"Sure you do," AJ confirmed. "Karma's a bitch."
"No, she is," he sneered. "She's laughing at me."
"No," AJ leaned over to see the pictures, "She's laughing at whatever lame joke that bonehead said."
"Funny," Nick stood up, impatiently pacing around the room. It had been three months since the incident at the airport and he'd fully expected Chelsea to come to her sense and appear at his doorstep. He assumed she'd figure out what seemed so obvious. Yet, she never showed. In fact, she was out on tour with John Mayer, something she would absolutely never do for Nick and that fact alone proved the severity of their relationship. Nick had lost and the swooning John had somehow managed to win. "He plays in LA next week. Maybe I should go."
"Come on, when's enough enough? AJ argued, noteably agitated at his friends ignorance.
"Not till I find out if this crap in the magazines is real, because it's not. You may know the technicalities of my relationship with Chels, but you don't know what's actually there. Love doesn't die!"
"Right, just as energy isn't destroyed. It's merely transferred, and it's been transferred!"
"No, it's still here."
There was no logical explanation for the way he felt, but when it comes to love is there ever any logic? Nick knew what no one else even believed in: millionth chances work. And yes, through everything he believed that millionth chance would eventually come for him and Chelsea, that no cardboard boxes could ever pack it up and take it away...
* * * *
Turns out he didn't have to go searching for Chelsea, as fate would have it they found each other. At the corner shell station, pumping gas in their prospective SUVs. "Fancy seeing you here," Nick greeted Chelsea who was struggling with the gas cap.
Pushing hair back from her face she looked up at him, "Shhh," she hushed him. "There are paparazzi all over the place today. They won't leave me alone."
It was a fact of life that when dating an A-list celebrity you'll be hounded by photographers and reporters. Realizing their focus on Chelsea though brough out a protective side of Nick. "How are you handling it?"
"Hey! Where's Mr. Mayer?! You stupid slut!! Meeting ex-boyfriends at the shell station...playing with hoses! How's that for ironic?!"
As the paparazzi continued to yell profanities at her, to get a reaction, all Chelsea could do was shrug and answer, "Is there any good way to handle it?"
Grabbing her arm Nick put her in his truck, "I'll lose them for you. Buckle up!" Speeding out of the parking lot they cruised through downtown LA running red lights and making sharp turns. Chelsea was thrown around the passenger seat gripping onto hair door handle for stability.
Nick swerved in and out of the heavy Los Angeles traffic, never taking his eyes off the road. "They still there?" he asked Chelsea, who was no sitting with her eyes closed and clenching her jaw.
Peering through her eyes she looked for the verocious paparazzi. "Yea, but I think we're losing them."
"Alright, hold on!" Nick ordered, pressing down the accelerator. The divider was clear ahead and he knew if he did it just right he could make a U-turn through the median and lose them. Fastly approaching he jerked the wheel to the left, not even flinching at the squeal of the tires. Flying through the grass he turned smoothly back on the interstate in the opposite direction of the photographers.
"Wow," Chelsea gulped, grasping her chest. "Do you do this often?"
"Yea," he chuckled. "It's sorta fun if you think about it."
"Right," she passively agreed as she fought to catch her breath. "Well, thank you. I was just about losing my mind with them following me everywhere."
"Shouldn't John be with you to help?" he asked, frustrated that Chelsea was left to fend off harassing photographers by herself. She was strong-willed, but definitely incapable of handling a crowd of paparazzi screaming at her and shoving cameras in her face.
"He's at some radio interview now, we can't spend all our time together."
Nodding Nick turned into a gated community, "Then he should at least set you up with security. You're not used to this living in Florida, it's not as bad there. Out here in LA, it's insanity...you could really get hurt."
"Where are we going?"
"My house," he answered, pulling into a driveway. "Unless you want me to take you back to the gas station, I can turn around if you want..."
"No, this is fine."
Once inside his gorgeous Spanish style home, Chelsea was amazed at how easily his life had come together in California. She'd always imagined him living in total pig-stye so to speak, the ultimate bachelor pad. Instead, his home was beautifully decorated with no sign of molded pizza boxes anywhere or a cascade of Play Station Two game controllers lying on the floor.
"I'm impressed," she complimented him, turning around to take in the whole house. "It's nice, and clean! Much better then I'd have guessed."
"Yea, well...living with you did teach me a thing or two," he politely took her right hand and led her through the house. It was admittedly strange to be giving a tour of his new home to Chelsea. Then again, nothing ever went as planned with them. But then he saw it, there boldly on her left ring finger, one huge diamond ring. "John gave you that?"
"What?" she smiled, shaking her head out of confusion until she noticed Nick's gaze on her finger, "Oh, I see."
"Yea, I see too," he trailed off as he turned his back to her. It wasn't that he'd expected her to completely forget John, Nick knew he made her happy. But he certainly didn't expect them to be engaged. "Are you ready to go back to your car now?"
"Don't do that," Chelsea pleaded.
"Do what?"
"Push me out, just because of a stupid ring."
"It's not the ring, it's what it represents. You're marrying him--"
"Yea, so maybe I am. What does that have to do with me and you?"
"It has everything to do with me and you, with us. I guess," he ran his hand through his hair nervously. "I knew you were trying hard to move on Chels, I just didn't realize you'd take it this far."
"How far? Engaged? You don't think I want to marry him?"
"No! I don't, and I expected more from you."
"More then what?" she retorted.
"More than you getting married for the sake of getting married. Look, I'm sorry," he paused. "But he's the wrong guy. You're marrying the wrong guy and if you don't see that...then, well...I'm glad to be the one to tell you."
The sincerity behind Nick's voice startled Chelsea, as she hadn't known him in a long time to really hold back for her sake and she could sense that he was. The engagement truly bothered him but for the wrong reasons.
"Alright," Chelsea sighed, looking into Nick's eyes. "I hear what you're saying Nick, but you need to know that you're wrong. I'm not marrying John to run away from the past, or not even because he asked me-- I'm marrying John because I want to, because I do really love him."
The words struck through Nick like lightning. She loved him? How could she love someone else so easily?
"I know that's not what you want to here..." she sighed.
"No," he shook his head. "It's not. But it's what I need to hear. Chelsea," he paced around her, "I want you to be happy. If John," he paused to swallow, "John Mayer makes you happy then...I won't stand in your way."
"Thank you," she smiled. "You know, I never thought we'd be having this conversation. I always though it'd be you and me---"
"Way to add salt to the wounds!"
"I'm not finished Nick," she yelled and grabbed his hand. "What I'm trying to tell you is you'll find happiness and love too Nick. You will," she smiled sweetly, as she gently touched his cheek, "When you least expect it there she'll be. Love. I promise."
As much as he hated to hear what she was saying, Nick couldn't help but believe she was right. That her engagement to John was real and not the end of the world. There was something in her eyes when talking about him, and he finally understood that the engagement wasn't a farse. That Chelsea had managed to find happiness with someone else, and that opened up Nick to the possibility that there was someone else out there for him. It was all just a matter of finding her...
Chapter 16
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