Heartbreak Warfare

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face as the events from the night before played through my mind. Things may not have gone according to plan but I was content with that. I finally felt as if Nick and I could fix our relationship. I was even hoping we could become a couple again. As much as I told myself I hated him, I knew I was lying to myself.

In all honesty, I never stopped loving Nicholas Santino.

Nick wasn’t in the bed and I figured he had already awakened and headed out to the kitchen to get some food. I quickly threw on my underwear and an oversized t-shirt of Nick’s and made my way out of the bedroom.

I was in the hallway when I suddenly stopped. Nick was on the phone with someone. Even though I couldn’t tell for sure who he was on the phone with it sounded as if he were talking to a girl based on the conversation.

“I’ll pick you up at 7 tonight, ok? Sounds good. Bye.” I heard Nick say.

I walked out to where Nick was and he smiled when he saw me but I wasn’t going to make the mistake of believing him again.

“Who were you talking to?” I asked.

Nick took a few steps towards me as he said, “Oh, it’s not important. So, I’m really glad last night happened. I want to work things…”

“It is important, Nick. Who were you on the phone with?” I interrupted.

“Her name’s Claire but just listen for a second….”

I tuned Nick out as everything began to click. Justin had told me Nick was on a date the night we had met at the bar and then later Halvo had mentioned that Nick had started officially dating someone. I was assuming Claire was his girlfriend.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this.” I said as I began to feel sick to my stomach.

“Annabelle, please.” Nick pleaded.

“No! You have a girlfriend, Nick. A fucking girlfriend! And you slept with me last night. You cheated on your girlfriend with me. You made me into the other woman.” I exploded as I turned around and started back towards Nick’s bedroom.

I began grabbing my clothes and put them on as fast as I could. I wanted out of his house as soon as possible.

Nick followed me into the bedroom and grabbed my arm as his said, “Annie, just let me explain.”

I turned around and slapped Nick across the face. “Don’t touch me! This was your plan the whole time, wasn’t? You wanted to make me become the other woman. You knew how much I hated my father when he cheated on my mother. How much I hated the woman who was his mistress. Now you’ve made me a homewrecker. You knew this would be the one thing that would hurt me the most. I can’t believe you’ve turned me into the one thing I despise.”

“Annabelle, that was never my plan. Yes, I’m dating Claire but I asked her out on a date tonight so I could break-up with her. It’s you I want to be with.”

“You’re such a fucking liar. I should have listened to Peter when he warned me about you.” I said mentioning Rocket’s manager.

“Wait, what? Peter, our manager? What did he say to you? Is that why you left me without a single word?”

“It’s doesn’t matter anymore. Don’t ever try to talk to me again. This is the worst thing you could have ever done to me. I don’t care if you write a hundred more songs about more. Nothing will be worse than this. You’re dead to me, Nicholas Santino.” I spat out and made my way to the front door.

“Annie, please just wait.” Nick yelled after me but I just kept walking, never once looking back much like I did six months ago.
_______________________________________________________________________________

“Hey sweetheart, would you like me to fix some pancakes?” I asked as I rolled over and kissed Nick on the cheek.

Rocket was leaving for tour in a week so I had been staying over at Nick’s a lot. I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could before he left because I knew I would miss him like crazy. Sure, Rocket had gone on a few tours here and there during the year that Nick and I had been going out but they had just lasted a few weeks since Rocket was just starting out. This tour was going to be a little over two months long. I didn’t know how I was going to survive that long without Nick. He was not only my boyfriend, but also one of my best friends.

“Mmhmm.” Nick mumbled and I laughed.

“I’m assuming that means yes?”

I went into the kitchen and began making pancakes for Nick and me. I decided to make extra because Halvo, Justin, and Andrew were likely to show up at any time. They were really bad at knocking and would just walk straight into Nick’s house which made for a few very awkward moments.

“Hey, Nick we have a few more things to go over before…oh, sorry A.J. I didn’t realize you were here.” Peter, the boys’ manager said as he walked into the kitchen.

For some reason Peter didn’t seem to like me. I had no clue why though.

“Hi Peter. Nick’s still sleeping. I can go get him though if you want.” I smiled.

“No that’s fine. So you and Nick have been spending a lot of time together lately.”

“Yeah…we’ve been dating for a year.” I said with a weird look on my face.

“You guys are going to break-up before the tour though, right?” Peter asked.

“No.”

“Oh, so Nick’s going to pull another Dakota.”

“What are you talking about?”

Peter gave me a look filled with pity. “Well you have to know that Nick’s a bit of a player, right? He always hooks up with girls when Rocket goes on tour. If he has a girlfriend back home he usually breaks up with her before going on tour. He stayed with Dakota though but cheated on her. I’m guessing he’s planning on doing the same to you.”

“I…uhh…I thought Dakota cheated on him.”

“Nick’s still telling that lie? No, he cheated on her.”

I was speechless. I felt as if Nick had been lying to me during our entire relationship. He definitely had a way with words and I had believed him.

“Listen A.J., I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this. I’m just warning you because I don’t want you to be hurt by Nick like Dakota was.” Peter said.

“Thanks.” I managed to say.

I finished the pancakes and managed to act normal for the rest of the day. After that day though, I didn’t talk to Nick anymore. The day Rocket was leaving I got a text from him saying, “Hey, I haven’t heard from you in a couple days. I miss you. I really want to see you before we leave.”

I threw my phone down and ignored the text as I made the decision to leave Nick’s life.