Chapter 40 Impatiently Hannah stood outside Nick’s front door after ringing the doorbell five times in a row. In a robe drying his hair with a towel he finally answered the door. “Hey sweets, didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” he opened the door for her letting her in.

“Oh my god Nick! I…the…I…she…ahhh!!”

“Whoa, slow down there babe, what’s got you so excited?” After she continued to stutter and frantically waive her hands in the air Nick suggested they go into the living room. “Now, tell me what’s going on?”

“Phew, ok,” she took a deep breath and prepared to start from the beginning. “So, I went home this morning and talked with my mom, all that nonsense right,” her body shook as she talked a mile a minute. “Then I’m downstairs in the kitchen doing dishes and the phone rang. I thought it was you, but boy was I wrong. It was Melissa Wolfe!!” Nick looked at her completely confused. “Melissa Wolfe? From People magazine! I met her earlier this summer when we went to look at UCLA.”

“Oh yea, the woman that said you could an intern in the fall, yea…what about her?” Nick leaned back watching Hannah pace around the living room.

“One of their summer interns has to quit for something so they have an opening, and guess who they want to fill in?!” Nick stared blankly at her, “Me!! They want me to be their intern! Can you believe it?! I start next Monday! Next Monday Nick! That’s so soon!! They even got me an apartment and everything, it’s like a total dream. Oh my god! This woman, Melissa, she is so nice. I’ll probably fly out there Sunday or something and they’ll have a car for me at the airport, someone to pick me and my bags up and take me to my beautiful apartment which is supposed to be in a fabulous location. Isn’t this awesome?! Me…an intern for like the biggest magazine in the country! AH!! I think I’m gonna faint,” she squealed jumping up and down smiling from ear to ear. She looked at Nick who was just sitting there completely silent and sullen. He looked as though he had just lost a video game, his boat broke down, or he lost to Brian playing basketball. “Wha…what’s the matter? You don’t look happy? Aren’t you happy for me?”

He looked up at her and ran his hands through his hair, “Uh, of course I’m happy for you Hannah…that’s really, really great. Congratulations.” Awkwardly he stood up and walked into the kitchen and started to make lunch.

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be more excited? Nick! This is my dream!! Why aren’t you jumping up and down with me?” she walked up to him and stopped him as he piled chips into a bowl.

“It’s just, I thought…I thought we were going to spend the summer together.”

“We can, you can come with me,” she wrapped her arms around his waist but he pulled them apart.

“No, no we can’t. I’m recording my next album this summer remember? You and I were supposed to go to Sweden to record my album. There were no plans of you going to California.”

Astonished she dropped her hands to her side, “What are you talking about, Sweden?! You never mentioned anything about me going to Sweden with you.”

“Well I just assumed…”

“You assumed what? That I’d just fall into line and fly across the ocean with you to record an album? Without so much as asking me first? When, exactly when were you going to run this by me? When are WE supposed to be flying off to Sweden?”

“Friday,” he said matter of factly and resumed preparing his sandwich.

“Friday! Nick, that’s four days away! You figured I’d just leave my mother for an entire summer in a minute’s notice?”

“Well, it’s not like you had anything else planned. I knew you were going to college in the fall, and I figured that meant you and I would spend the summer together.”

“Well I’m not going. I said yes to this internship, it’s a done deal. My mom’s making the flight arrangements as we speak. I can’t go with you to Sweden.”

“Yes you can! You just don’t want to, you refuse to make a small sacrifice for me. You’re being selfish!” he yelled at her spewing spit in her face.

“What the hell are you talking about?! This is my dream here! I’ve made it very clear to you from the start that my career is very important to me, I’m trying to get my life on track. This fabulous opportunity comes my way and you think I’m being selfish? Are you totally thick-headed? I’m supposed to give up this internship so I can record an album with you? Like hell am I going to do that. We’ll do different things, it’ll be ok. It’ll be ok.” Hannah assured herself pacing around the kitchen.

“No, I don’t think it will be ok,” he said putting mayonnaise on a piece of bread. “If you decide to go to California we’ll have to break up.”

Those few words made her stop short, Hannah spun around, “Excuse me?”

Placing the knife on the counter Nick approached her, “Long distance relationships never work, believe me…I’m talking from experience here. And well, California and Sweden, that’s about as far as we can possibly get from each other.”

“But wait, you love me…and I love you, that’s enough to keep us together.”

“Yes, I love you. I love you more than life itself Hannah, but it’s just too hard to work through distance. Believe me I’ve been there before, it’s just too much work.”

“Then work harder damn it! You don’t just give up on our relationship because there’s this one small bump in the road.”

“It’s not a small bump Hannah! It’s a road block…a dead end! No matter what it’s gonna end in disaster.”

“Ok, what about this fall then huh? You knew that I was going to college this fall, what were you going to do then? HUH?!”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about this fall…I figured by then we’d have something figured out. But this, this is next week Han!”

Dropping her head into her hands and began to shake as tears poured out of her eyes. She looked back up at him, her face completely red and soaked with tears. “You are being so unfair! You career is obviously a lot more important to you than mine. Nevermind what I want as long as it falls into your big plan right? Well Nick, I am not going to go along with what you want…and I am not going to give up on us either. We are going to make this work! You and I, we are NOT breaking up. I don’t care how high the phone bills are, how many spare plane trips we have to make, how many emails we have to write…this is not over! This is just the beginning of us!”

“I know it hurts sweetie, it hurts me too…but going to California is not an option for me. So if you decide to go your way, I’ll be going mine. And we won’t meet up. It's just going to tear us apart. If you’ve made up your mind, it’s better that we end this now.”

“Fuck you! You’re giving me this ultimatum. It’s you or my career! Why do I have to make a choice Nick?! Why can you have both your career and me yet I can only have one?!”

“I have four other guys and millions of fans to think of.”

“Bullshit! You are not thinking of them, this is all about you and what you want.” Nick walked over to her and tried to hug her, “Get your hands off me you ass hole! You are nothing like I thought you were. Just last night you were practically reciting sonnets to me and now you’re telling me that unless I give up my career we’re breaking up. There are two of us here and you, just one person, are calling all the shots! This is my life you’re fucking with, my heart!”

“Look, I’m sorry you’re so upset…this is killing me too.”

“Wait, wait, wait a minute! Maybe you never loved me to begin with! Maybe all that “you’re wonderful…you’re perfect” crap was only to get me in bed!”

“Now, you know that’s not true…”

“Isn’t it though Nick? Last night was our first time, and here we are breaking up! What else am I supposed to think? All this time together, that was just one big scheme of yours to fuck me! Well guess what buddy, you did! You fucked me Nick! In more ways than one. I hope your happy now! Enjoy your pathetic existence as a singer, I’m not going to stand here and let you cut me down anymore.” Hannah pushed passed him and stormed to the front door.

“No! You are not walking out that door! Not until we settle this!”

“It’s settled Nick! Here!” she ripped off her gold bracelet, “Count that as a down payment for all the time and money you spent on me. I’ll be sure to reimburse you for every dime.” Grabbing her keys from her purse she ran to the car with tears pouring from her eyes and quickly drove away blaring the radio to drown out the sound of her crying and his shouting after her.

Chapter 41
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