The Story of Us (Book 1 of "The Story of Us" Series) [Completed]

Chapter 3 - Truth or Dare

Harley danced with Nick for almost a solid hour before they finally walked over to a table to sit down. Then there was silence. Nothing was said. Nothing at all. They both wanted to say something. They would move their mouths a little to say something but the music was so loud they didn't feel like yelling.

Harley liked being around Nick and Nick liked being around Harley. The music was just too fucking loud.

"You wanna go grab something to eat?" Nick finally said over the music. Harley smiled and nodded, following Nick's lead as he stood up from the table. He took her hand, leading her out of the party that was being held in Mandalay Bay hotel. As they walked through the lobby of the hotel, they both paused, seeing the photographers and media that were still outside on the party's red carpet. "Shit."

"There's no way we can go outside with them out there," Harley said, looking over at Nick. "I'm sure they have some kind of bar or restaurant or game room around here..."

"Probably media staked out in there too..."

"Guess its back to the party..."

"I'm staying here," he said, looking at her. "I mean, this is where we're staying so I have a room. We can call and get room service." Harley looked at him questionably and he laughed, holding his hands in the air. "I promise, no hanky panky."

"Damn right no hanky panky," Harley smiled, following him to the elevator.

As they stepped onto the elevator, she listened to Nick talk about the first time he had came to Las Vegas. He was busted in a casino trying to play a slot machine. She laughed slightly, playing with a ring on her finger.

She was a little nervous. She'd never been to a guy's hotel room before. Hell, she never went to her ex-boyfriend's bedroom. They had only went on dates and hung out with her old group of friends except for the prom. She wasn't sure how to act or what to say. Should she take her shoes off and pull her hair in a ponytail? Should she ask for a jacket or something to put on since her dress was a little revealing and it was a little cold?

"Harley?" Nick asked as he held the elevator door open. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she smiled. "I was just thinking that it's been such a long day."

Nick smiled, walking down the hall beside her until he reached his room. He slid his key card in the door and held it open for Harley.

He was nervous bringing her back to his room. Sure, they were both single, as far as he knew and nothing was going to happen. It just freaked him out a little that she was under eighteen and he would be turning nineteen in less than a month.

Fuck Kevin Richardson for being all fatherly and freaking him out.

But thank God he had the cleaning people come in and clean up during the show or else he was sure Harley would run right back out, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"They have nice rooms here," Harley said, looking back as Nick shut the door. "A lot cleaner than I thought it would be." Nick smiled, taking his jacket off and tossing it on a chair. God bless the cleaning service at the hotel.

"Here's the menus and stuff," Nick said, handing them to Harley. "I looked at them last night so I kind of know what I want."

"I kind of just want some ice cream," Harley smiled. "Maybe a Sundae or something." Nick watched her as she sat down on the loveseat that was in the room and began taking her heels off. She was undressing. Fine, it was her shoes, but she was undressing.

"I'll have the same then," Nick said, walking over to sit down on the side of the bed.

Harley watched him as he called room service, ordering their sundaes and smiled. Maybe tonight wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Nick sat across from Harley on the loveseat as they both ate their sundaes. He was a little freaked out when she stole the cherries off of his but he didn't care at this point. He just liked the fact that she felt comfortable enough around him to even mess with his food. Normally he wouldn't let anybody bother his food, even to steal a French fry but with Harley, there was no way he was going to yell at her.

"You'll learn that I'm obsessed with ice cream," Harley said, licking her spoon and staring at Nick. He swallowed, setting his empty bowl on the cart without even looking.

"Okay," Nick said, taking the empty bowl from her and placing it on the cart. He went to sit back down and noticed her rubbing her arms. "Are you cold?"

"Yeah, a little," she said as he walked over to his suitcase, pulling a sweatshirt out. He handed it to her and she smiled, putting it on. "Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Thanks."

"My home team," he said, sitting back down across from her on the loveseat. "Why? Who do you like?"

"Falcons or the Cowboys," she said, sitting in Indian style but with her short skirt part of her dress, the sweatshirt was covering her up so that Nick couldn't see anything even if he tried. "Love Troy Aikman."

"He's okay," Nick said, watching Harley move her hands inside of the sweatshirt. He thought it was cute how she was getting so comfortable in his sweatshirt. In fact, he thought it was kind of hot. Her hair was all styled and curly and her make-up was still on but her lip gloss had faded away from the kissing that they had done at the party.

"Wanna play a game?" Nick smiled, trying to break the tension. He wanted to laugh as a smile escaped Harley's lips. She nodded and he chuckled. "Truth or dare?"

"I don't know..."

"We'll keep the dares PG-13, okay?" Nick asked as Harley nodded. "You go first."

"Okay," Harley smiled, taking a deep breath. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"If I had let you, would you have fucked me down in that storage room?" she asked as he stared at her. Harley really wanted to know the answer to that question. His answer was going to seal the deal on if she really liked him or not.

"No, I wouldn't have taken it that far down there," he said, staring at her. "I'm smarter than that." Harley smiled, looking down at her hands. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Nick smiled, rubbing his hands together. "Do you write songs about every guy that enchants you?" Harley nodded. "Why?"

"I write about what I know," she smiled. "I felt something with you from the moment I was pushed into you on the red carpet. Then I saw you standing across the room in the party and I knew you would come over to me." Nick chuckled, taking a sip of his Mountain Dew. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"These truths are going to get boring," Harley said as Nick stared at her intently. "Do you have a girlfriend or are you involved with anybody?" Nick's stare went from intent to blank. "Well, do you?"

"We broke up before I came out here," he said, shrugging. Harley stared at him and he smiled. "What? It's the truth. Now truth or dare?"

"I know it's boring but truth."

"When was the last time you kissed someone before tonight?" Nick asked as Harley looked away, blushing. "Oh come on."

"My last and only boyfriend, in April," she said, looking up at him. "He dumped me after his prom. He hated how I went back and forth to Nashville every week and on holidays. Now, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Take off your shirt."

"What?" Nick asked, glaring at her. "My shirt? Why? I thought we were going to keep this PG-13 rated?"

"Why not? It's a dare. Guys are shirtless in PG-13 movies. Are you shy or something?" she asked as he lifted the white t-shirt over his head and crossed his arms across his chest. "This isn't fair. I can't ask you to take yours off. Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Harley said as Nick smiled.

"Come over here and kiss me," Nick said as Harley smiled at him. He pressed his lips together, watching her as she took his sweatshirt off. He started to say something, thinking she was about to leave until he noticed she was sitting up on her knees, crawling into his lap.

He watched her as she straddled him. She stared down at him at first and watched his eyes move from hers and down to her chest.

"Look at me," she whispered as he looked back up at her. She sighed, moving her hands to the side of his face. As her lips met his, Nick's hands moved to her hips. He deepened the kiss, his tongue massaging hers. He didn't want the kiss to end. As Harley backed away, she sucked on his bottom lip and smiled. "It's getting late. I should probably get back to my hotel."

"You sure?"

"It's for the best," she said. She reached past Nick, causing their faces to be so close they could kiss again. Nick watched her as she moved back, holding a hotel notepad and pen in her hand. "This is my personal cellular phone number and my e-mail address."

"Already got a cell phone," Nick smiled. "You're a hot shot now, aren't you?"

"Trying to be," she whispered. Nick watched her as she climbed off of him and put her heels back on. "I had fun tonight, Nick."

"So did I," he said, putting his t-shirt on. "Hey, it's probably cold out there, take this." He handed her the sweatshirt she had on and she smiled. "I'll get it back from you next time."

"So there's going to be a next time?" Harley said, as Nick walked her to the door. Harley smiled, leaning up to kiss his lips gently and nodded.

Nick watched her as she walked out of his hotel room and up to the elevator. As she stood there, putting his sweatshirt on, the elevator door opened and there stood Kevin.

"Excuse me," Harley said as he moved past Kevin who stepped off the elevator. Nick waved goodbye to Harley as the elevator door closed and then looked back at Kevin.

"Please don't tell me..." Kevin started to say as Nick shook his head. "Good. Then what happened?"

"Talked, ate some ice cream I ordered from room service," Nick said, crossing his arms across his chest. "We were going to leave but people were still out on the red carpet so we just came up here."

"She's young," Kevin said as Nick walked into his room and Kevin followed him. Nick looked back at Kevin, seeing the shocked look on his face when he noticed the bed hadn't been touched. "You didn't lie."

"No shit," Nick muttered. "She's seventeen now. Isn't that legal?"

"Depends on what state you're in," Kevin said, putting his hands on his hips. "Does she even know you have a girlfriend back at home?" Nick glared at him. "What?"

"Kind of ended it with her right before we came here," Nick said as he started to smile. "Kev, I'm not stupid. I know she's young, but really, she's not that much younger than me and she's new at this whole fame thing. I like talking to her..."

"And kissing her..."

"How do you know we've even kissed?" Nick asked, glaring at Kevin.

"I could tell when you two came out of that room tonight," he said as Nick looked away. "And your lips are kind of swollen right now so you've been kissing her in here."

"Who gives a fuck," Nick hissed, getting pissed off. "You're not my father, Kev. I like the girl, now get the fuck over it."

Nick watched Kevin as he walked out of the hotel room, shutting the door behind him. It really pissed him off when Kevin acted like it was his job to make sure Nick did everything by the book. For once, Nick was going by the book. Usually the first thing he did with girls was fuck them, then ask them their name. He wasn't doing that this time.

Harley walked out of the bathroom of her hotel room later that night, drying her hair with a towel. She tied the hotel robe around her tighter and looked at herself in the mirror. She had one of the best times of her life that night with Nick. She ran her fingertips over her bottom lip and smiled, thinking about kissing him.

She wished she could be like the other girls he knew in school and probably the type of girls Nick was used to. They slept around and it didn't bother them hooking up with someone. She just didn't look at sex that way. She couldn't just hop into bed, or a box in a storage room, and have sex with someone. She wanted what she read about in romance novels and in the movies. She wanted her own real-life fairy tale. Even if her public persona seemed a bit too sexy to be seventeen years old, that didn't mean that she didn't have any morals.

Harley walked over to the desk where she had booted her laptop up before taking a shower. She was ecstatic when the record label had gotten her one to help with her class work now that she was being tutored. She was even more ecstatic when she found out the hotel had internet access.

She looked into her e-mail account, seeing an e-mail from her mother, her father, her cousin and then someone named "NC."

She clicked on the e-mail and watched as it loaded on her screen.

Hey Harley, you just left my hotel room but I wanted to go ahead and make contact with you so that you don't sit by the phone or computer like the girls do in the movies, waiting for the guy to call. I know you didn't have your phone with you so that's why I'm e-mailing you. I had a great time with you tonight and I'll call you sometime tomorrow. We're heading out of here first thing in the morning so I don't know when we will see each other again. I hope it's soon.

Take care of my sweatshirt. :-D

- Nick

Harley smiled, looking back at the sweatshirt that was lying on her bed. She looked back at her laptop and hit reply.

You have mail

Nick jumped off of his bed and ran to the table where his laptop was set up. He opened his e-mail account and smiled seeing an e-mail from Harley.

Hey Nick,

It's Harley. I just got your e-mail when I got out of the shower and I had a great time too. I had a lot better time hanging out with you than I would have had staying at the party. I have to go visit a few radio stations to do promotion tomorrow and then I'm heading back home and then I have to go to New York. I'm pretty sure we'll see each other soon. Besides, didn't you say you guys were doing a New Years Eve show? In Orlando, right? As of now I don't have any plans. Maybe I can make it down there. Call me whenever, I mean it.