Chapter 1

Isabelle moaned softly as Nick made love to her. She raked her nails up his back as he began whispering words into her ear.

"Mmm, yeah you feel so good, baby. You know you wanna cum," he said.

"Oooh, Nick! Fuck me harder...ugh! I'm gonna...oooh!"

"Oooh shit!" Nick cried as he came inside of her.

Isabelle gripped harder onto Nick and drew in a deep breath as Nick pumped harder. 	"Ooh, keep going, Nick! I'm almost there," she said with a gasp. "Oooh! Oooh! Oooh!" she cried as she finished.

Nick collapsed onto Isabelle and breathed hard onto her chest. Isabelle ran her fingers through Nick's sweat soaked hair and sighed of relief. Nick was always so good in bed. He rolled off of her and kissed her on the lips.
	"I love you," he said.
	Isabelle smiled and kissed him back. "I love you too."
	"So, what now?" he asked as he put his arms around her.
	"Mmmm, sleep," she mumbled as she settled herself in his arms.
	"Sleep? Already? It's only..." Nick looked at the alarm clock. "Two in the morning. The night is still young," he said with a laugh.
	Isabelle laughed. "Nick, we already did it five times tonight and I'm wore out. If you wanna fuck again, then fuck yourself."
	"I can't."
	"Why not?"
	"Because my dick isn't long enough. And besides, that's gross," he joked.
	Isabelle laughed and threw one of the extra pillows at his face. "You're so weird. Good night," she said then closed her eyes.
	Morning came and Isabelle woke up to the sun shining in through the window. She opened her eyes and looked around for Nick. It was unusual for him to be up before her. Isabelle glanced at the alarm clock and noticed that it was nearly one in the afternoon. She had nearly slept the entire day away. She couldn't believe Nick had let her sleep that long. Isabelle got out of bed and put her pajamas on, then walked downstairs. Nick was sitting in the living room with Howie.
	"Good morning, Sunshine," Howie joked.
	Isabelle laughed. "Shut up, Howie. Nick, why did you let me sleep so long?"
	"Well, it's a Saturday and you looked really tired. I thought I'd let you sleep in."
	She smiled and sat down next to Nick. "Thanks," she said then kissed him.
	"Oh, please. Don't do that stuff around me. That's so high schoolish," Howie teased.
	Isabelle snickered and walked over to Howie. "So, how was your cruise?" she asked as she hugged him.
	"It was a lot of fun. We raised a ton of money for the Lupus fund."
	"That's awesome!" Isabelle praised.
	"Yeah, it was a good turn out. I'm not gonna complain."
	"That's cool, man," Nick said as he got up. "Baby, I've gotta get going. I need to meet with my manager about my album."
	"Okay, hon. I'll see you when you get home."
	"Okay," he said then kissed her. "Bye, Howie," he said.
	"See ya, Nick," Howie replied as Nick left the house. He looked over at Isabelle. "So, what are your plans for the day?"
	"Well...nothing," she said sheepishly.
	Howie laughed. "Well, why don't we go hang out for a little while? Nick's meeting will probably take a couple of hours. What do you say?"
	"Umm...."
	"Aw, come on, Issie! I'm your best friend and you can't make time for me anymore?"
	"Okay, I'll go with you. Let me get cleaned up first."
	"Great, but be quick about it."
	"I'll make sure it takes a really long time," she joked then made her way upstairs.
	After Isabelle got ready, she and Howie went out to eat at Rio Bravo. It was her favorite place to eat with him. They had been eating there ever since they became friends back in high school. It had been a long time since they had eaten there together, and she was glad that they had the chance to do so.
	"So, how are you Nick doing?" Howie asked.
	"Mmm, we're doing good," Isabelle said as she licked the salsa off her hand that had dripped from her tortilla chip.
	"That's good. You know, I was a little worried about you dating him," he continued.
	"Why? I mean, Nick's a great guy."
	"I know, and I'm not dissing him. He just can be fickle about girls sometimes."
	"Like you aren't? Please! Howie, you switch girls more than any guy I know...including A.J."
	Howie laughed. "I don't mean for it to be that way. They just don't interest me after a while. It's like I get bored with them or something."
	"Well, that wouldn't happen if you weren't so busy looking at their boobs and their asses and pay attention to their personality. You see, you ask for a broken heart. That's why I have no sympathy for you."
	Howie grinned and shook his head. "Man, I missed you."
	Isabelle smiled. "I missed you too, Howie."
	"Really?" 
	"Yeah, I mean who else can I pick on and get away with it? Certainly not Nick."
	"True," he agreed.
	After they ate, they decided to hang out back at Nick's house. They laughed and joked like old times while they baked cookies. Isabelle felt so happy around him. The feelings she had with Nick weren't exactly opposite, they just weren't as comfortable as they were with Howie. She assumed it was the bond of friendship that her relationship with Nick had not blossomed into.
	"Hey, do you remember the time when I beat you up?" she asked as she spooned up some cookie dough.
	"No," Howie denied.
	Isabelle smacked Howie with a clean spatula. "Liar!"
	"Ow! No, it's true! I don't remember that."
	"How could you not? You went home black and blue...ha ha," she said when she realized the pun.
	"Very funny. Are you talking about the time we got into that fight over the sandbox?"
	"Yup, that's the one," she said as she started putting dough onto the cookie sheet.
	Howie laughed. "Oh, no. That was so embarrassing. You beat the shit out of me."
	"Indeed, I did," she said with a wide smile. "Here, eat the leftover dough," she said as she handed him the empty bowl.
	Howie dipped his finger in the bowl and licked the dough off his finger. "Mmm, sweet!" he said as he scrunched up his nose. That's like all sugar."
	Isabelle laughed. "Nick likes them sweet. Sorry about that."
	"It's okay," he said as he put the bowl down. "I should get going anyway. I promised my mom I'd go visit her."
	"Okay," Isabelle said as she walked Howie to the door. "Come over again some time. I had fun."
	"Yeah...me too," he said softly.
	For a moment, their eyes locked and neither of them said a word. Before she knew it, Howie leaned over and kissed her full on the lips. Isabelle was shocked, but she didn't pull back. There was a spark there that she had never noticed before in any of Nick's kisses. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and she moved closer to him. They would've gone further, but they were interrupted by the phone. They quickly pulled apart.
	"I should go," Howie said. "Bye."
	"Bye," Isabelle said softly and shut the door behind him. She stood there in a daze for a moment until she heard Nick's voice over the answering machine.
	"Baby, are you there? Pick up the phone."
	Isabelle snapped out of her trance and ran over to the phone. "Nick?" she said.
	"Hey! Where were you?"
	"In the bathroom," she lied. "So, what's up?"
	"Nothing, I just wanted to let you know that I am on my way home. Do we have any food at the house? I'm starving."
	"Umm...not really. We need to go grocery shopping."
	"Okay, I'll pick up something. Do you want anything?"
	"No, I went out to eat with Howie and I'm stuffed. I'm baking cookies for you right now anyway."
	"Mmmm, the double chocolate chips ones?"
	"Yup," she replied.
	"Yummy! Save me some!"
	Isabelle laughed. "I will."
	"God, I love you."
	Isabelle's smile faded. She couldn't tell him that she loved him. Her emotions were unsure of who she loved. Isabelle couldn't think of anything to do but to hang up.
	When Nick got home, he found her in the kitchen putting the fresh cookies on a plate. He smiled and snuck up behind her.
	"Mmmm, I missed you," he said as he kissed her neck.
	Isabelle moved her neck away from him and finished putting the cookies on the plate. Nick looked at her in confusion.
	"What's wrong?"
	"Nothing," Isabelle said as she walked away from him.
	"No, something's wrong," Nick said as he walked up to her and put his arms around her waist.
	Isabelle let her shoulder sink and she looked down at the ground. She sighed softly and shook her head. Nick lifted her head with his middle and index finger under her chin.
	"What's wrong, baby?" he said gently.
	Isabelle couldn't help herself. The tears filled up in her eyes and poured down her cheeks. Nick hugged her close to his chest and stroked her hair.
	"Baby, what's wrong? Why are you crying? You sounded fine on the phone earlier. Did you get into a fight with Howie or something?"
	Isabelle sobbed harder and pushed herself away from Nick. "I don't wanna talk about it right now. I'm going out for a little bit. Don't wait up for me," she said as she grabbed her keys and left the house.
	Isabelle sped down the highway toward Howie's house. She didn't know where else to go. When she arrived to his place, she hastily knocked on the door and prayed that he was home. Howie answered the door and smiled when he saw her.
	"Hey!" he said.
	"Hi," she said softly.
	"What's wrong?" he asked as he let her inside.
	"I don't know...I'm so confused!" she said as she fell into his arms while crying.
	"Confused about what? Tell me what's going on, Issi."
	"Howie, I'm beginning to think that I don't love Nick anymore...or maybe I never did at all."
	"What happened to make you think this? I'm not sure if I understand."
	Isabelle sat on the couch and looked at Howie. "Howie, when you kissed me earlier today...I felt something."
	"What do you mean you felt something? Issi, you're not making any sense here," Howie said with a frustrated sigh. "Can you be more specific?"
	Isabelle wiped the tears off her face and looked back at Howie. "My feelings for Nick aren't the same anymore. I think I'm in love with someone else...and maybe I'd been in love with him all this time and just didn't know it."
	"Who are you talking about?" Howie asked, half way knowing what her answer would be.
	Isabelle looked down at her hands and sighed. "You, Howie," she said softly. She lifted her head back up. "I'm in love with you. I don't know how this happened...or when this feeling came along. All I know is that I felt something so deep in that kiss we had today...and I realized that I don't love Nick anymore. I'm not even sure if I ever did. You know as well as I do that we have never been all that connected."
	"I know, but do you really think you're in love with me? I mean, we only had one kiss. Maybe you're just confused."
	Isabelle stared Howie in the eyes. "I am not confused...and you know you're in love with me too."
	Howie hesitated for a moment and sighed silently. “Issi, I don’t know if this is something we should be talking about. Maybe we should forget about the kiss.”
	Isabelle took Howie’s hand in hers. “You’re as scared about this as I am.”
	Howie looked away from her and fiddled with a button on his shirt. “Maybe.”
	“You felt something, didn’t you?”
	Howie drew his glance back into her eyes. “I felt something I’d been wanting to feel for a long time.”
	“So, what should we do?”
	“I don’t know,” Howie said softly. “I just don’t know.”