For the first time in years, Kristen was thankful Shane was
gone. She
needed time to think, to process what he had told her. He was in love with
her. When did that happen? How could it have happened without her
noticing?
Kristen also needed to time to deal with the Nicky situation.
How could he
have become such a monster? "Ring-ring," the phone in Kristen's
flat went
off. She grabbed it, hoping it wasn't Shane. "Hello?"
"Kristen I have the best news!" It was Lara,
Kristen's older sister.
"What's up Lara?" Kristen could only imagine
what Lara was all excited
about this time. The last time she had called this excited, she had just
gotten her nails done "and they were the most fabulous looking nails!"
"Eric asked me to marry him!" Eric was Lara's
boyfriend of three years.
It was inevitable that they would get married someday, just no one knew
when.
"Oh my God, Lara, did you say yes?"
"Of course. The wedding is in November and you
have to be my maid-of-honor
Kristy."
"Anything for my big sister," Kristen answered.
She was so happy for Lara.
"But why is the wedding in November?"
"Because Eric is getting transferred to New York at the
beginning of the
year and we wanted to avoid a Christmas wedding."
"I'm so glad you're happy Lara," Kristen said, with
a hint of sadness in
her voice.
Lara could hear it. "What's going on Kristen?
Is something wrong?"
"No," Kristen lied.
"Kristy, I'm your sister, you can tell me."
"It's too complicated."
"I've got all night." Kristen had always
listened to all of Lara's
problems when they were growing up, so Lara figured she could return the
favor.
Kristen sighed. "Well, you know how I have always
had that stupid crush on
Nicky?"
"It's not stupid Kristy."
"Yes it is Lara, it's not like we could ever be
together."
"Why couldn't you? If you say it is because of
Georgina..."
"They broke up," Kristen interrupted.
"They did?" Lara was quite surprised. The two
of them had been inseparable
for as long as Kristen had known Westlife.
"Yeah, just this weekend. I was supposed to go to
Sligo with Shane, but I
stayed in Dublin to comfort Nicky and something happened." Kristen
wasn't
sure if she could tell Lara what had happened.
But she didn't need to. "You slept with him,
didn't you Kristy?" Lara
knew her sister like the back of her hand.
"He was drunk and I...I..."
"You wanted it for so long that when the opportunity
presented itself you
took it. And now you regret it."
"How did you know Lara?"
"Because I know how you are Kristen. So, what
happened then?"
"He told me he didn't mean anything he'd said to be the
night before and
that if he could he would change what happened. So, I ran to Shane,"
"So he could console your broken heart?"
"Yeah," Kristen took a deep breath then told Lara,
"A few days later, Shane
confessed that he loved me."
"He does? Since when?" Lara hadn't seen that
one coming.
"I guess since we first met. I'm so confused Lara.
What am I supposed to
do? I don't love Shane that way, but I don't want to hurt him. And I
thought I loved Nicky, but he's not the man I thought he was. I am so
confused, and I can't think when they are around."
"Why don't you come home to LA Kristen? Just for a
few months. You can
help me plan the wedding and maybe sort things in your life out."
Kristen smiled at the thought. She missed home; it had
been so long since
she'd been there for a decent amount of time. "Maybe that is what I
need,
some time away."
"Think about it Kristen, then let me know what you
decide. But no matter
what, I'll support you."
"Thanks Lara. You're the best big sister a girl
could ask for."
"I know," she replied sarcastically.
"And you're my favorite little
sister."
"I'm your only little sister Lara!"
"I know, that's why you're my fav. Hey, I have to
go now, Eric's here and
we have an appointment with the florist. I'll talk to you soon, and think
about coming home."
"I will Lara. Tell Eric I said
congratulations."
"Will do, bye sis."
"Bye." Kristen hung up the phone and sighed.
LA, home. She missed it so
much, the sunshine, the beach, and the excitement. Then she glanced at the
calendar. Maybe she should spend a few months back home. It couldn't
hurt
her situation any. And who knows maybe the answers she sought lied in
California.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shane wouldn't speak to Nicky; he wouldn't even look at him.
It still
repulsed him to think of what Nicky had done to Kristen. How could he hurt
her like that? She'd done nothing but be kind to Nicky from the moment she
met him.
Nicky blamed Shane for his current situation. If he
hadn't been around,
Nicky could have smoothed things over with Kristen, he knew he could have.
Why did it always seem like you had to lose something to realize what you
had? Well, what you could have had. Nicky knew that he could have
had
Kristen, but he screwed that up. If only he could make her see how sorry
he
was, and how much he did care about her.
One night, after a long day of interviews and photo shoots,
the lads were
sitting around discussing song ideas. Nicky sat away from everyone else,
since they all blamed him for what had happened.
Shane pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.
"I have this idea, but
I've only got the chorus." He cleared his throat and then sang the
lines he
had. "If I'm not the one you want, then who's he? Take your
time to figure
out, and you'll see. If I'm not the one you want, then maybe I'll be the
one you need."
The other lads all looked at Shane. They knew the song
was about Kristen.
But it came as a total surprise when Nicky said, "Leading into the chorus
you should say, 'Lately, feels like I'm going crazy and baby, come and lay
down beside me'."
Shane turned around and actually looked at Nicky.
"That's a good idea, I
like that."
Brian leaned over to Kian. "Did what just happen,
happen?"
"What do you mean?" Kian asked.
"Did Shane just speak to Nicky?"
"Yeah, it's about damn time. They went from best
mates to hated rivals."
Nicky walked over and sat beside Shane. "I think I
have an idea for the
verses too," he said and explained to Shane. Leave it to the power of
music
to bring to enemies together.