The Things We Do For Love

I slid into the limo and squinted. The light was dim, and I couldn't see anything.

"You there Dallas?" I asked, feeling the person beside me. I jumped back when I felt abs and pectoral muscles. "What are you?"

"A human male." The person answered. "And you?"

"A human female." I retorted back. "But seriously, why are you sitting there and not Dallas?"

"See for yourself."

My eyes grew accustomed to the light and I saw that we were all squished into the two long limo seats that faced each other. Dallas was across from me, with a boy on the left of her, Demi on the left of him, and another boy on the left of him. On my right was the sassy boy, and on his right was Selena.

"Oh." Dallas smiled apologetically at me and I glared at her. "I see how it is. I get ditched with the kid I don't even know. Nice, D." She shrugged and I turned to the boy next to me.

He was talking to Selena now, but I didn't care. Dallas was talking to the dude next to her and I wasn't going to talk to Demi, so I would have to talk to him. Plus, I wanted to figure out all of the boys names before the ride ended so I wouldn't be totally confused later.

"Hey." I said, poking his side.

He turned and looked at me with an angry look. I curled into the side of the car and clutched my stomach reflexively, not wanting him to hurt me or my growing baby.

"What?" He asked, clearly irritated.

"Just wanted to know your name." I asked meekly, still curled into the side of the limo. Selena glared at me for getting his attention and turned to talk to Demi and the other boy across from her.

He sighed and reached out his hand to me. I flinched, thinking he was going to hit me, but relaxed when I realized he was uncurling me from my ball. Then he took my hand in his and shook it.

"My name's Nick. What's yours?"

"Eleanor or Samantha." I told him. His eyebrows furrowed in cofusion, so I explained like I had to with everyone else. "Eleanor's the first and Samantha's the middle. You can call me nickname's for either."

"Oh." His face unfurrowed and was smooth again. He was actually quite beautiful. "May I call you Ellie?"

"Sure." I smiled and sat up straighter, fixing my dress. "And the other two boys names are…?"

"Kevin." He said pointing to the boy talking to Dallas. "And Joe." He said, pointing to the boy talking to Selena and Demi. Both boys turned at the sound of their names and looked at Nick and I.

"Yes?" Joe asked.

"I was just telling Ellie your names." Nick told him.

"I thought your name was Sammy?" Kevin asked. He turned to Demi. "At least that's what Demi said."

Demi and I locked eyes, and there was an awkward silence. I looked away first, wanting to hear the apology in her eyes and not just see it.

"That's what Dems and Madison call me." I told him, looking at my feet. "But my first name is Eleanor. Samantha is my middle name."

"Well, they're both beautiful names." Nick said quickly. He was obviously trying to make me feel better.

"Thanks, Nick." I smiled at him, and Selena glared at me. I turned to Joe and Kevin. "Nice to meet you guys."

"You too." They both said, smiling.

Conversation started up again, and I was left sitting in the corner alone and silent. I didn't want to talk to these people that I didn't know, and without Demi it was even harder to fit in. Demi would always effortlessly include me, but this time I was all on my own.

----------------------------------------------------

When we finally got to the dinner I was almost dead from boredom. I had convinced the limo driver to let me roll down the window and play sweet and sour, but after a half hour of sweet and sour by yourself it starts to get old.

Everyone got out before me, so I was left to go last again. I stepped out of the limo and was immediately blinded by all of the flashing lights. Paparazzi were yelling at me, and I couldn't see a thing.

They yelled things like. "Who are you?" "Are you a new girlfriend of the Jonas Brothers?" "What are you doing here?" "Are you the next Disney child?"

All of the noise was disorienting me, and I stepped forward only to fall onto my knees when the heel of my shoe hit the curb. I stayed there in embarrassment and fear, not wanting to get up and face the flashing lights again. Suddenly a warm hand grabbed my shoulder, and I was pulled up to my feet. Someone pushed sunglasses onto my eyes and I looked into the stony face of Nick.

He ignored all of the questions the reporters and paprazzi fired at us and walked down the red carpet with his arm linked in mine. He passed everyone we were in the limo with, not stopping for a photo once, and only stopped once we were inside of the building the dinner was supposed to be in. He sat me down in a chair at the table we were supposed to be at and sat in the chair next to me.

"Are you okay?" His voice cracked at the end, and his eyes bore into mine as he held my shoulders in his hands.

"Yeah." I gulped in a breath. "Yeah. I'm fine." I started to cry and he pulled me close to him, shielding me from the watching eyes of other celebrities. "Everything's falling apart." I sobbed into his shoulder. "I don't know what to do."

"Don't do anything." He told me. "Just cry it out and talk to me when you're done."

I cried for a few moments and then sat up. Nick gave me a quick smile and handed me a tissue from his tux pocket.

"Thanks." I sniffled, and wiped my puffy face. "Is my face really bad?"

Nick examined my face and leaned forward. "You look beautiful." He whispered in my ear. "Absolutely gorgeous."