And now it’s time for another exciting round of...15 minutes to kill. Lauren thought to herself, staring at the clock and wishing it would just move a little faster. She had been ready for her big date for 2 hours, decked out in a short green dress with a flowy skirt. Everybody had always told her that it looked beautiful with her brown eyes.
She heard a light rapping on her door. “Lauren? Are you in there?” Rocky, her roomate, called. They were friends since the 10th grade and had been sharing an apartment for the past 2 years. She was basically the only one who would put up with his pasttime of body-building, and besides...she liked having a male perspective on things.
“Yeah, come on in, Rocky.” she said from her spot on the bed, gazing out the huge window.
“I brought you this,” he said, a Powerbar in one hand and a tiny gray box in the other. He came and sat next to her on the edge of the bed.
Lauren sat up. “Let me guess...the Powerbar is mine and that little gray jewelry box is for Tina?” she joked, referring to one of Rocky’s ex-girlfriends from Hell.
“Ugh!” he scoffed. “No way. Here...open it.” he said, handing it to her. She could feel his breath on her shoulder as she accepted it from him and slowly opened the top. “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, a hand flying to cover her mouth. “It’s beautiful!” The box contained a small golden band with intricate designs engraved around the edges.
“Well...I knew you had a big night tonight so I wanted you to have something special from me.” he explained. “As a token of my friendship.”
Friendship??? Rocky thought to himself. Man, what were you thinking? Ya gotta tell her how you feel. He cleared his throat. “And I also wanted to tell you that I---” His sentence was cut off by the sound of the doorbell.
“Oh, I bet it’s Nick,” Lauren said excitedly, jumping up and quickly slipping the ring onto her left hand, her only free finger. She grabbed her purse and once again checked herself out in the mirror.
“You stay put, I’ll go get the door.” Rocky said. He left the room and sauntered over to the door, taking extra time to slide open the deadbolt and crane it open. A tall but lanky young man dressed in a suit, with shiny blond hair and cool blue eyes, stood before him nervously holding a bouquet of daisies.
“Yes?” Rocky asked expectedly, giving him the stare-down.
“Uh...I-I’m here for Lauren,” he said, intimidated by the dynamo standing before him.
“So you must be Nick,” Rocky said, not breaking a smile. He held a bulging arm to shake Nick’s hand. “I’m Rocky. I live with Lauren.”
Lauren walked up, the heels of her shoes clicking on the marble tile of her entry, and squeezed her way between Rocky and the doorframe.
“Hi Nick,” she said with a warm smile. “Um, I guess you’ve met Rocky. He’s my roomate.”
Nick stared at Lauren, seemingly confused about something.
“Um...I don’t think you understand, miss. I’m here for Lauren. Does Lauren Jennings live here?”
Lauren shot him an evil look. “I AM Lauren, you dufus!” she exclaimed, giving him a playful punch in the shoulders. “Who did you think I was, the maid?!?”
“Lauren?? It’s just that I-- I mean, you-- oh, forget it.” he stuttered. He held out the daisies. “These are for you.”
Lauren’s eyes sprung to life. “They’re absolutely gorgeous, Nick! Thank you!”
Rocky looked on as Lauren grinned at Nick like a school girl. He couldn’t take very much of this obvious flirting going on between them. When I gave her that ring, all I got was a dull “It’s beautiful.”. And now some dipshit gives her a cheap bouquet of daisies and they’re “absolutely gorgeous”??? I’ll never understand women... Rocky ducked back inside the apartment and to his room, where he shut the door and turned on ESPN to drown out the sound of Lauren and Nick’s mushy talk.
Lauren gave an odd look as Rocky walked away, but turned back to Nick. “I guess we should be going,” she said.
“If I don’t have you back by midnight, will the wicked step-father turn me into a pumpkin?” he joked, nodding in the direction of Rocky’s room.
“Rocky? Nah, he’s harmless. He looks a lot bigger than he really is.” Lauren explained.
“Well okay, then let’s go!” Nick exclaimed, offering her his arm. He led her down the stairs of her apartment building back into the parking lot where a white stretch limosuine was parked out front.
Lauren gasped. “Is that for--” she pointed at the limo, unable to finish the sentence in her shock. A man in a tuxedo opened the door and helped her in. “I can’t believe this,” she said to Nick excitedly. “I’ve never been in a limo before!”
He climbed in and got situated in the seat next to her. “Yeah well...it’s been sitting around in my garage for a while, I thought I’d take it for a spin tonight.” He removed his jacket and spread it out on the empty seat near the front.
“-- ‘Sitting in your garage for a while?’” a stocky man from the front seat interrupted through the glass partition. “Come on, Nick. You know that you n’ yo homeboys be jeepin’ round town in this thing.”
Nick blushed. “Okay Theo, you got me. So can we just leave already?” he asked anxiously.
“Sure thang, pops.” Theo replied, as the glass partition raised up to give privacy for the back passengers. The limo began to roll out of the parking lot.
Lauren grinned nervously and racked her brain to think of something to say. “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of meeting...uh...Theo,” she said.
“Oh, he’s just my bodyguard.” Nick said quietly, seeming a little embarrased. He looked up from his lap. “We all have personal bodyguards, just in case ya know? Sometimes it can be dangerous when thousands of screaming teenage girls are trying to rip a piece off your shirt.” he commented. “Theo’s just here to bail me out.” Nick paused for a second. “He’s also introduced me to the wonderful world of ebonics.”
Lauren laughed. “Well I would ask for a sample of your ebonics...but on second thought, NO! But hey- I have something to ask you,” she said, changing the subject.
Nick let out a deep breath of air. “I made 12 million dollars off my last record contract, I’m only home for about 3 weeks a year, while I actually spend about 3 MONTHS a year preparing for new albums, tours, etc. And YES, I DO have a girlfriend.” he said, all in one breath. “That’s gotta answer any question you may have had.”
The feeling in Lauren’s heart that felt taller than the Empire State Building plummeted below sea level faster than she could say Mandy. She tried not to let it show. “Oh.” she said disappointedly. “I was just wondering...how come you didn’t recognize me at the door?” Lauren attempted to smile. “I mean, I know you meet a lot of fans and all, but I at least thought that you would remember me from yesterday!”
Nick was caught off guard. After openly admitting to her that he was taken, he found it hard to tell her that she took his breath away. He just didn’t remember her being that beautiful. “Uh...” he tried to stall for time. “You just look different, that’s all.” Good choice of words there, Nick: different. He mentally congratulated himself.
“Different??” Lauren blurted out, laughing. “Is that a good different or a bad different? Wait...don’t answer that.”
Okay, then I won’t. Nick said to himself. He slouched down in the comfortable leather seats of the limosuine and yawned. “We should be there pretty soon,” he said, checking his watch.
“So what are the rest of our plans for the evening?” Lauren asked curiously.
“Basically we all sit around a big round table in one of the back private rooms and eat dinner, while Theo and the rest of the crew try to maintain our anonymity. I hear they’re locking the outside doors to customers at 8, and that’s when we can go hit the ballroom if ya wanna dance a little or talk or whatever. The limo will definately have you back home by 10. Guess this means that I won’t be turning into a pumpkin,” he joked.
The limo halted at a stop light and Lauren gazed out her dark tinted window. Hey!” she exclaimed, pointing at a building.
“It’s John’s Mattress Blow-Out! I know where that is! That’s where I parked yesterday, the lot at the rec center was completely full.”
“Oh really?” Nick asked, with a tone of Who could care less? in his voice. The limo moved again, and pulled up right across the street from John’s Mattress Blow-Out into an expensively paved valet lane for the Forster’s Club restaurant. “Looks like we’re here,” he commented, grabbing his jacket off the seat and slipping it back on. “How’s the bow tie?” he asked, turning to face Lauren and awkwardly fidgeting with it.
“Just a little crooked,” she said, grinning. “But don’t you dare change it. It looks too cute for words.”
“Too cute for words, eh?” Nick said suggestively as the chaufer opened the door for him and Lauren to step out. Nick climbed out first, then ducked his head back in to grab Lauren’s hand and pull her out. Theo hovered beside them, speaking muffled words into a walkie-talkie.
“Okay, let’s go.” Theo said, placing a hand on Lauren’s back as if to push her forward. The three-inch heals of her shoes clicked along the pavement as they tried to sneak into the restaurant with a low profile.
This is going great, Nick thought to himself. Lauren and I are really hitting it off. Too bad Mandy can’t be more like her... he grimaced at the thought of his so-called girlfriend.
