Lexa woke up to an empty house at 10 am. Her mom and dad had already left for work and her sister still had school for another month. Most of the boxes in her room had been emptied the day before, except for a box or two of sweaters and winter coats. She decided to take advantage of the beautiful day outside and take a walk on the beach. She put on her black windpants and white tank top. She decided against shoes and stepped out onto her back porch. Their yard ran right up to the beach, with a fence being the only thing keeping the beach from being her backyard. The only thing that confused was what was the purpose of a pool when you were so close to the ocean, but she wasn't about to complain.
She walked until she could no longer she her house, before turning back. She looked at her watch and realized she had been walking for a good half an hour. As she got closer to the house, Lexa saw a figure sitting on the sand. As she got closer, she realized that figure was Nick. He looked deep in thought, so Lexa figured she would just walk by him without him noticing her. However, the closer she got the more she realized she couldn't just leave him be. She was drawn to him, and he looked as though he might need a friend to talk to. Even though she was now standing not even 3 feet from him, Nick still hadn't made a move to acknowledge her presence.
"Penny for your thoughts," Lexa said sitting down next to Nick, who jumped a little at the sound of her voice.
"Oh, Lexa its you. You scared me there. What are you doing out here?"
"Just taking a walk. How about you?"
"I come here to think sometimes. My home is on the water, but it lacks the beach area. I come here when I need to be alone."
Lexa took his last comment to mean her didn't want her there and she was admittedly hurt. "Well, I'll leave you alone then." Lexa got up to leave and made her way towards the house. Nick called out to her without getting up from his place on the sand.
"Lexa, I didn't mean that you had to leave. In fact I kind of wanna take you up on that offer of being a good listener."
Lexa let a smile cross her lips before looking up at the sky. The bright sky had been replaced by gray clouds and rain looked eminent. "Well how about we go inside then cause its looking like rain."
Nick nodded and got up to brush the sand from his pants. Lexa waited for him by the gate that led into their backyard. When he caught up to her, she led him in through the back door and into the living room. "Just give me a few minutes to change and I'll be back down."
Nick nodded and Lexa went up the stairs. He walked over to the entertainment stand and looked at the various pictures. There were a few of Lexa's sister and other family members. He noticed the few pictures of Lexa as a child, and also that she used to have brown hair. Next to it was a picture from Lexa's graduation. He picked up the frame to get a closer look when Lexa came downstairs. Nick quickly replaced the frame and turned around.
"You know you can look at those, I don't mind." Lexa said smiling.
Nick's face turned red before averting his eyes back to the picture. "Is that from your graduation?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, from last summer. I swear it had to be at least a hundred degrees. I thought I was going to die."
"At least you got a graduation, I never did."
"It's not all it's cracked up to be. Its just a piece of paper, it doesn't really matter how you get it."
"Yeah I guess."
"C'mon, I'll go make us some lunch." Lexa said walking towards the kitchen. "What do you want?"
"Um, I don't know. What do you have?"
"Let's see," Lexa said opening the fridge. We have ham, turkey, and as always PB&J or peanut butter and fluff."
"Peanut butter and fluff. Haven't had that in a while. I'll take a peanut butter and fluff sandwich ma'am." Nick said smiling.
Lexa smiled backed and went to making the sandwiches. "Here you go." Lexa said giving Nick his plate and taking a seat across from Nick. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Lexa began to talk. "So you've been here for about 20 minutes and you still haven't told me what was on your mind out on the beach."
"Oh," Nick said, not really wanting to discuss his situation quite yet. However it appeared that Lexa wasn't going to back off until he told her. "Well, I just recently broke up with my girlfriend. That's basically all I was thinking about."
"I'm sorry. Were you with her a long time?"
"Yeah, about three years. We actually lived together for about six months. I thought she was the one."
"Why did you break up?"
"Trust me it wasn't mutual. She just moved all her stuff out while I was on tour. She could get a little jealous from time to time, but I could deal with her."
"Maybe that was the problem. You shouldn't have to deal. It shouldn't be so hard if she was the one."
"I'm just worried that I'll never find anyone else. She was with me before the Backstreet Boys. Now I always have to wonder why someone is with me. Do they like me or the guy on the cover of Teen People."
"I see where you are coming from but maybe you need to be a little more trustworthy and not have so many walls. I realize you are scared of being hurt again, but there's always a chance that not everyone is after you for money or fame. I'm sure you'll find someone who will love you for you."
Nick just looked at her. She was right and he knew it. He looked at his watch. "Thanks for the advice, but I have to go to a meeting in a half an hour. Thanks for listening too."
"No problem. If you need to talk some more, you know where I am. Just think about what I said, okay." She touched his arm lightly, and Nick got knots in his stomach he hadn't felt for a while.
"Bye."
"See you around."
"Oh definitely. What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Nothing, I think. Why?"
"Well it's supposed to beautiful out, and I was thinking of taking my boat out. Do you wanna come along?"
"Sure why not. Just give me a call about an hour before you are ready to go."
"Alright. See you then."
He smiled back at her and left through the back door.
Chapter 5