Nick looked over the blue tuxedo for approval. He nodded his head, took the tux from Howie and packed it with his other things into the suitcase.
Just then, there was a knock on the door of the hotel room. As Nick continued to carelessly shove a couple of clean shirts into his suitcase, Howie rolled his eyes and got up to answer it.
“You ready?” Brian asked standing cautiously in the hallway looking over his shoulder. “The plane leaves in two hours?”
“This is Florida,” Nick called from inside the room. “If the plane is scheduled to leave in two hours, we can get there in four and still be on time.”
“Yeah, and allow you to miss your first movie premiere…I don’t think so.” Brian said. “Get moving.”
Nick rolled his eyes a little and zipped up the suitcase. By the time the three of them had left the hotel room, it was 8:30 in the morning. Nick had exactly 10 hours before he would have to be in New York city to premiere Sometimes Love Stumbles
“What about these?” Ally joked to Angela, holding up a pair of rediculous looking sunglasses. “Don’t you think that these are all-the-rage?” she laughed.
“Right Al, be serious, you don’t even have a dress.”
“I’ll find something,” Ally said, searching over hundreds of dresses on hangers. She paused. “What do you think?”
Angela looked up from another rack of dresses. Her eyes scanned pleasingly over the beautiful, delicate black dress. “I think that’s perfect,” Angela declared. “Do you think that we can find shoes, a purse, nail and hair salon, and a makeup artist in less than five hours?” she asked.
“Hope so,” Ally laughed. “This is New York.”
Nick stepped out on the curb in front of 14 Jasmine St. from inside of the limousine that he had rented for the night. “This is it,” he said to himself as he re-checked the slip of paper with Ally’s address on it. He looked at his watch. “6:15,” he mentally noted. Sighing, Nick walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. This would be the first time in a month that he would see Ally again. He honestly couldn’t wait. The door opened and a girl who appeared to be in her early teens stared at Nick in awe.
“Hi,” he greeted. “Is Ally here?”
The girl was grasping for words. Seconds later, Ally appeared in the doorway. She immediately jumped into Nick’s open arms for a hug and kiss. After a few moments, Ally turned to her sister who was still waiting in the doorway. “Lisa, this is Nick.”
Lisa was still in a type of shock but somehow managed to squeak out a “hello” before Ally led Nick by the hand into the house. As Nick was being introduced to Ally’s family, he couldn’t help staring at the way Ally looked. Everything about her was amazing and even her smile was more radiant than he had ever seen it before.
Additionally, Ally couldn’t help but steal glances at Nick. “No wonder millions of girls would gladly throw themselves in front of this guy,” she said to herself.
Half an hour later, both Nick and Ally were on their way out the door to the movie premiere.
“You scared?” Nick asked as he helped Ally into the limousine.
Ally paused a little before answering. “Kinda. The idea of my face being magnified 100 times and shown around the country makes me a little nervous. How do you handle this?” she laughed a little.
Nick stepped in and shut the door behind him. “I honestly don’t know,” he said.
The limousine jolted forward and the couple was on their way. “Any advice?” Ally asked.
“Well,” Nick started. “When you step out of the limo, be prepared to be blinded. The paparazzi stop at nothing until they have your picture. Walk slowly. Don’t forget to wave and smile…oh yeah, and just be beautiful like you always are.”
Ally blushed. “Shut up Carter…” she said through clinched teeth. “You’re embarrassing me.”
“You deserve it,” he stated. “Oh yeah, and one more thing…” Nick added.
“What?” Ally said sarcastically. “That whole fake kissing thing?”
“Not really,” Nick started. “I’m talking more along the lines of what you are wearing.” Ally could feel herself turning red with embarrassment. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing,” Ally worried to herself.
Nick, obviously sensing this, quickly finished his sentence. “Wear this,” he said taking out a rectangular shaped box from behind his back.
Ally gasped a little. “Oh no,” she said. “Nick, you didn’t have to buy anything for me. You know that right?”
“Of course...open it,” he urged.
Ally smiled at Nick and slowly opened the box. Her mouth dropped wide open when she saw its contents. “Oh my God Nick,” she said. “It’s beautiful.” She extracted the charm bracelet from its container and held it up a little to get a better look.
“It’s got something for everything,” he said scooting closer to Ally. “Look at this one, it’s a microphone from that time when we went…”
“Karaokeeing,” Ally finished as she continued to look over the charms. She smiled. “A fish, I should have known that one would come up.” Ally remembered back to the time when Nick had just gotten bashed on TV by a local talk show host. In hopes of cheering him up, Ally have gone out and bought Nick two beautiful goldfish. Once she had them all set up in her room, she called Nick in to surprise him but by the time he reached her room, one of the fish was missing. Seconds after Ally realized this, the fish flopped out from behind the bowl and was saved. She and Nick laughed about that for hours. “And these lips would mean what exactly…” Ally inquired.
“Hmm…I’m not sure,” Nick said slyly.
Ally looked up and gazed into Nick’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said and she leaned over towards Nick and the two shared a passionate kiss.
Ally drew in a breath.
“Are you ready?” Nick asked her.
“Maybe…” Ally said laughing. “You?”
“Not a chance,” he said as he pushed open the door and stepped out on the red carpet. Moments later, he was helping Ally out of the limo, and hand in hand, the two made their way slowly down the red carpet. Flash photography blinded them and some of the screams from fans were nearly deafening but Ally knew that it was all worth it. This is what she had dreamt for all her life and she was finally here, and not to mention with the guy of her dreams.
Nick and Ally entered the theater and were re-united with the rest of the cast that they had been away from for more than a month and a half. None of them were surprised that Nick and Ally had decided to start dating.
“About time,” Matt said as he hugged Ally. “I was started to get sick of seeing you two flirt.”
Ally blushed and playfully punched Matt. “Thanks Matt…I guess.”
Nick and Ally greeted everyone else on their way down the isle. Suddenly, Ally felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around to see Sophie standing in front of her. “Sophie!” Ally exclaimed. “How are you?”
Sophie returned the hug. “Pretty good. I heard about Ryan. Thank God for that.”
Ally was quiet for a second. “I feel the same way,” she agreed. “Anyway, who is this?” Ally motioned over to a tall, dark haired man that was standing shyly behind Sophie. Sophie introduced him as her boyfriend.
Ten minutes later, the entire cast, crew, invited guests, etc. were seated awaiting the picture that they had all worked so hard on. Two hours and 30 minutes later, the house lights went back up and everyone was amazed at how the movie turned out. “That was us?” Ally asked Nick astonishedly. “Can you believe that?”
Nick was still in a little shock. “I know what you mean,” he said slowly. On their way out, the couple bumped into Mike (the director) and congratulated him on a wonderful movie.
“You two did amazing,” Mike said. “I’ll see you at the Oscars?”
“Funny funny,” Ally laughed. “Thank you for everything Mike.”
Chapter Twenty-Six: Last Chapter
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