A/N: Not much to say really. Haha! This is one of my favorite chapters (this story is just so fun to write) and I think this is where it really starts to change from the old version in terms of Lori as a character and the storyline. :)

And well! I can’t believe it’s already been over a month. Thanks for dropping by, and you know what, my pictures from Mexico, Europe, and Singapore are up on my profile! Check those out later! Thanks to my friend, Kenny, for sending me this song because it helped me write this chapter. Listen to it on my profile!

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A SIMPLE SONG FOR LORI

NOTHING CHANGES AROUND HERE
(by The Thrills)

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For the longest time Lori just stared at him, her jaw slack with her fist around the doorknob.

Of course, the first thought that came to her mind was, Damn. He looks so good in that checkered shirt and jeans. But she deemed it inappropriate so she didn’t bother to say that out loud.

Nicholas cleared his throat. “I’m guessing you were having chips?”

She blinked at him in confusion before her eyes widened, then her hand quickly shot up to cover her mouth as she closed it. She set her hand back at her side and swallowed. “What are you doing here?” she hissed.

Nicholas opened his mouth to answer, but all of a sudden he was pushed to the side as someone slipped inside the apartment.

“Excuuuse me, coming through, coming through.”

Speedy appeared from around the corner of the hallway to squeeze his way between Nicholas and the doorframe and into their apartment. He was carrying two brown paper bags and made his way to their kitchen without looking back. His back was facing them as he started unloading all the products onto the island counter, so he had no clue who was standing at their door.

“So the store ran out of tampons, so I got you and Dawn some sanitary napkins,” he said as he took out a jar of apricots from the paper bags. He then pulled out a colorful pack of Kotex and held it over his shoulder. “Winged, too!”

Lori’s cheeks flushed. When she turned around to face Nicholas, she noticed him staring at Speedy with an inquiring look in his blue eyes. When he turned to face her, he raised an eyebrow. “Is that your – “

“Room mate,” she whispered, wincing slightly as Speedy started going on about some of the cheese samples in the supermarket and how he almost got a girl’s number because he ‘accidentally’ crashed his cart into hers.

The vague look in Nicholas’ eyes eased at Lori’s answer, but it didn’t eliminate the questioning tone in his low voice when he asked, “You live with a guy?”

She waved a hand at him. “Oh, he’s harmless,” she explained quietly, easily shrugging the matter off. “He cried at the end of Babe.”

“And oh yeah,” Speedy continued, as he stopped unloading the groceries. He pulled something else out of the bag. It looked like a CD case. “So I was listening to that Nicholas Arden guy’s songs last night, and I wasn’t expecting much, but you know what? You should listen to more of them ‘cause they’re all pretty good – “

Nicholas didn’t say anything, but Lori noticed the smug curl of his lips as he leaned closer to her. “He’s got good taste,” he whispered, to which she rolled her eyes at him.

“So I stopped by the record shop and bought his CD and – “

That was when Speedy turned around and noticed who was standing at the doorway. He stared at Nicholas for a couple of seconds, then looked down at the CD in his hand, then narrowed his eyes back up at Nicholas. Lori was at a loss for words, her head flicking between Speedy, then Nicholas, then back to Speedy. Meanwhile, Nicholas just looked pretty amused at the whole thing.

Speedy clucked his tongue and looked down at the CD. “Hmm… you know what, you look just like – “

Lori threw her hands up in the air. “Speedy, it’s him.”

His eyes widened. “Oh, I knew it!” he exclaimed, setting the CD down and practically skipping around the island counter to head toward Nicholas. He grabbed Nicholas’ hand and started shaking it excitedly. “Hey, I’m Speedy, big fan as of last night.”

“Hey,” Nicholas said, a small grin creeping up on his lips as he shook Speedy’s hand and glanced at Lori.

“Okay, okay,” Lori said, prying Speedy off of Nicholas before he could start salivating. “Well, now that you two know each other – “

“So, how do you guys know each other?” Speedy asked as Lori pulled his hands back to his sides. “I mean, Lori told me you guys were lab partners but were you guys close?” he asked, at the same time holding his two index fingers up in the air and keeping them an inch apart. “Or were you close close?” he finished, at the same time intertwining his two fingers together as he waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Lori gave him a hard smack on the shoulder. “We were just lab partners!”

“Yeah, that’s really it,” Nicholas added.

“And it’s not like we were best friends or anything,” Lori continued, crossing her arms over her chest. “I mean, besides science class, we never actually hung out and stuff.”

Nicholas glanced at her before nodding in agreement. “Yeah.”

“So why are you here?” Speedy asked all of a sudden, setting his hands in the pockets of his trousers and successfully transitioning from an excited fanboy to a concerned/curious room mate. “Looking around the neighborhood? Catching up with friends? Came to declare your undying love Lori that you couldn’t admit to her in high school so you had to write it in a song that you probably didn’t know would end up playing all over the airwaves?”

To say the thought hadn’t crossed Lori’s mind would have been a lie, but never did it cross her mind to say it out loud! Besides, it was inevitable for her to think of that possibility seeing that she was in his song. A love song at that – and hell, her name was in the title. But it was a fleeting thought; one of those millisecond ones that zoom by and are quickly put in the back of the mind, stored with the rest of the insane, crazy, impossible thoughts and ideas like finding out a way to eat an entire box of original glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts without having to gain the thirty pounds that came with it.

Lori’s jaw fell. “SPEEDY!”

To make matters worse, Nicholas nodded. “You know what? I came to do just that.”

She glared at the both of them – okay, really only at Speedy because she couldn’t quite look at Nicholas in the eye after that, so she only glared at Nicholas’ nose. “Would you two quit it!?”

Speedy fell silent, his eyes meekly switching from Lori to Nicholas until he raised a finger in the air. “You know what,” he said, stepping back as he spoke. “I’m going… to my room.”

Lori sighed as Speedy made his way to his room. He even made sure to give her a wink and a supportive thumbs up before closing his door. Now that she was alone with Nicholas, she stared up at him. “Um… want to come in?” she asked, stepping back as she held the door open.

“Thanks,” Nicholas said, looking around the place before closing the door behind him.

“Um… want some Doritos?” Lori quickly asked, swiping the bag from the coffee table.

Nicholas shook his head. “No, I’m alright.”

Instead of just standing there holding a bag of chips, Lori moved to the kitchen and opened the fridge. “We’ve got um… a pint of Dreyers cookies ‘n cream,” Lori mumbled, popping the lid off and seeing its near empty contents. She quickly closed it and set it back inside the freezer. “Okay, probably one eighth of a pint. I think Dawn had one of her drama crying sprees last night.”

“It’s okay, I’m not hungry.”

“Leftover pizza?”

“Really, I’m fine – “

“Um, we have – “

“Loretta,” Nicholas said. She turned around and was surprised to see he was already standing by their kitchenette, his hands set in his pockets. “You don’t have to prepare anything. I’m fine.”

Slightly embarrassed, Lori leaned against the fridge, her hands folded behind her back. She could feel the fridge magnets pressed against her back and she laughed weakly as she looked down at her shoes. “I… I just realized I was totally acting like Hugh Grant, you know, in Notting Hill, when Julia Roberts is in his place and he starts offering her all these random stuff to eat ‘cause she’s a celebrity and all but she’s always saying no.” When Nicholas didn’t laugh with her, she cleared her throat and looked away. “Um, yeah, never mind.”

Nicholas crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t have to act differently, you know,” he said slowly.

“Differently?” Lori repeated, forcing a laugh. “Why would I act differently?”

He gave her a pointed look.

“Oh, your whole celebrity thing,” she said, nodding slowly as she looked away. For the longest time they didn’t say anything until Lori crumpled under his gaze. “Oh, come on, cut me some slack here, Nicholas! I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

“You’re not the only one.” Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Also, you’re being dramatic.”

She gaped at him, then narrowed her eyes. “No, I’m not!”

“Loretta, you were about to offer me everything in your fridge,” he pointed out as he leaned against the island counter. He picked up an apple from the fruits basket and set it back as looked up at her. “One time I stayed in your house for a project and you didn’t even offer me any dinner until I nearly fainted of starvation.”

She remembered that project. It was Junior year, when they had to make a Fluorine hydrogen bond model for chemistry using styrofoam balls. She also remembered Nicholas falling asleep/passing out on the living room floor, nearly burning himself and their carpet with the glue gun. Although whenever Lori used to bring the topic up, Nicholas had always flatly denied it had ever happened and that he falling asleep was just a figment of her own imagination due to starvation.

“Hey! We went out to McDonalds after! And I was starving too, you know, but I wanted to finish the project right away because it was due the next day.” She turned to him and hardened her glare. “We wouldn’t have been cramming all our projects if you didn’t have swimming practice every day! You always made projects hard to do because we had to wait till your practices were over!”

Nicholas scoffed. “Right, I’m not going to deny my practices made things complicated, but I still ended up doing most of the work.”

“Hey!” Lori glared at him, like her embarrassing Hugh Grant charade had never happened. “That’s – what the – gah! Why are you here again?” she asked, reverting to her high school self, during those rare times when she used to get short with him.

Before he got to answer, Nicholas was interrupted one more time at the sound of Lori’s apartment door opening. He raised an eyebrow. “Do you have an attendance list you need to check?” he asked her.

Both Lori and Nicholas turned around to see Dawn stepping into their apartment, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she muttered something about her Biology class. She hobbled inside and leaned against her crutches as she closed the door.

“Hey, Lori, do you still have some Panoxyl?” she hollered. “I’ve got a zit on my forehead that’s the size of AUSTRALIA – “

When she turned around, Dawn froze when she saw who was standing in their kitchenette. Silently, one hand went up to her face to brush her hair over her apparently continental sized zit. “What the…” she trailed off and cleared her throat as she erased the surprise from her face. “You’re already here?!”

Lori turned to Nicholas and he just shrugged. “She’s the one who told me you guys lived here,” he answered simply. Oh, right. He and Dawn used to be classmates, so he must have still had her number… but why hadn’t he asked her? Nicholas turned back to Dawn and took her arm to lead her to the counter. “What happened to you this time, Dawn? Another sprained ankle?”

“God, you’re fast,” Dawn muttered, ignoring his question as she set her crutches against the counter. “I didn’t think you’d come so soon.”

Lori glanced between the both of them while Nicholas turned his face to the side. “I had some free time,” he said, scratching the back of his head.

“Right,” Dawn said, reaching over for the bag of chips Lori had set on the counter. Just as she was about to pop some chips into her mouth, she stopped, her eyes flicking from Nicholas, then to Lori. Then as if nothing had ever happened, she popped the chips into her mouth and reached for her crutches. “Okay, so I’m gonna go to Speedy’s room and we’re gonna watch some stuff on his laptop.”

“Um, okay,” Lori said, watching her hobble to Speedy’s room.

Dawn turned around to face Nicholas. “Oh, are you staying for dinner?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got to get to the concert hall by six.”

Lori bit her lip to control her smile. It was actually kind of cool and funny how all of them were fully aware of Nicholas’ new celebrity status yet no one was actually bringing it up. They skirted by the topic, but never really addressed the matter of the song… maybe so things wouldn’t be so awkward.

That was until Nicholas clasped his hands together and said, “So that leaves me some time to talk to Loretta about that song.”

Lori flinched. Of course. They had to get to it eventually.

When Dawn finally stepped inside Speedy’s room, Nicholas turned his head toward Lori. But before he could say anything, she held a hand up. “Let’s make this as least awkward as possible, okay?” she asked.

The corner of Nicholas’ lips curved upward. “Sure.”

Lori set her hand down and fixed her arms over her chest. She bit her lip. “If you’re wondering, I only heard the song three days ago. So the shock still hasn’t worn off.”

He chuckled. “Really? It was released months ago.”

“I don’t really keep up with the whole music thing,” Lori muttered.

“Ah, seemed like it,” he said, nodding slowly. He stepped toward their couch and sat down on the armrest. He looked up at her, his blue eyes flashing amusement. “Well, let me bring you up to speed. I’m currently the biggest act there is in the music scene.”

She almost wanted to say he was exaggerating, but she had a feeling he wasn’t. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I’ve gotten less than four hours of sleep this entire week.”

Lori winced. “Yikes.”

He waved a hand at her. “But that isn’t why I’m here,” he reminded.

Nicholas paused, his lips pressing into a thin line, as if he was trying to find the right words for what he was going to say. As he thought, he crossed one ankle over the other and all Lori could do was stare at his scuffed up, red Chuck Taylors until he spoke again.

“Well, I came to tell you that… well, don’t take the song to heart, okay?”

She looked up at him. “Uh…?”

He straightened his back and cleared his throat. “I never… intended for that song to be in the album,” he said slowly. “The producer saw it scribbled in some of my notes, and, well, since I was one song short in the album, he told me I might as well finish it and add it in.”

Nicholas looked up at her, his blue eyes prodding for some sort of reaction. When she still hadn’t said anything, he cleared his throat. “But I won’t deny that I had part of the song written since high school.”

Lori swallowed. “Really?”

“Yeah, and if there’s something to be sorry for, I’m sorry that I used your name in it,” he continued, giving her an apologetic shrug. “I mean, I wrote it during one of our science classes – and well, you were right beside me. It was originally meant to be…” He paused for a long time. “A comedic song, you know, a compilation of all the crazy shit that happened during our classes. It was only when my producer saw it… when he told me to add some ‘love’ angle to it.”

That got Lori to chuckle a bit. “Wow, and I used to think that all you did during science classes was pay attention,” she said, cracking a small smile. “You used to get annoyed at me for falling asleep… pffft, you were writing your songs.”

It was Nicholas’ turn to crack a small smile. “But hey, don’t feel bad, okay? I mean, it’s not like it’s out of the realm of possibility for someone to write a song for you,” he said, pushing himself off the couch to step toward her.

Lori rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, you know. You don’t have to lie to make me feel better.”

“I’m not lying,” he said, giving her a small smile as he stopped in front of her. “I mean, you’re a nice girl and someone’s going to notice that – once they get past the whole falling asleep in class thing, how you snore just a bit, and that strange tendency of yours to get food stuck between your teeth – especially during junior year, when we had science right after lunch.”

She gaped at him, horrified. “What the hell!” she yelled, giving her the same punch she gave Speedy. “You never told me!”

“What fun would that have been?” he asked, chuckling as he rubbed his shoulder.

Lori smiled and turned her head away from Nicholas. Despite the fact she had asked to keep things from being awkward, she couldn’t help but feel the tension. Lori… well, she didn’t know what to feel. It wasn’t like she was disappointed… While she did wonder if Nicholas had actually harbored a secret crush on her during high school, she wasn’t actually expecting it to be true. To be honest with herself, she was actually kind of… relieved that it wasn’t true.

It was all quite strange for her. She was fully aware that most girls, if they were put in her position, would have already pounced on Nicholas by now. Most girls would have wished and hoped and prayed that there were true emotions behind his song… but she didn’t feel that way. There was no doubt she had always found Nicholas pretty hot, especially with the ‘DON’T BOTHER ME’ look he used to have in class, and he actually was kinda cute when he used to stress over projects – but she knew she wasn’t in love with him.

It wasn’t like she had Independent Women as her life’s theme song, but maybe she was just… emotionally stunted? Or maybe she had commitment issues she just didn’t know about. She had found a ton of guys in her high school cute, but she never actually wanted to be their girlfriend. She was just fine with looking and no touching. She had gone through high school with the main goal of passing and getting into a good university and having fun – and maybe she was different from most girls in her year because she felt just fine being single.

She sneaked a small glance at Nicholas.

But then again, she thought. Nicholas is actually a pretty nice guy, and he looks really –

WOAH, MIND. STOP RIGHT THERE.

She shook her head, stopping her thoughts from going into dangerous territory. She didn’t want to go into cliché territory, but she knew – logically, rationally, realistically, and common-sense-ically – that her and Nicholas getting together had as good of a chance as... well, someone losing weight on a McDonalds diet.

Zero, zilch, nada.

She thought that maybe it was because she had resigned herself to the fact he was gay. That was probably why any sort of attraction she had ever felt for him came along with a nagging, ‘Uhhh, this wrong.’ feeling. Now that she knew he wasn’t gay, she thought her emotions would be getting the go signal – but apparently, she was still having a hard time accepting the fact that it was not okay anymore to ask Nicholas which member of ‘N SYNC was his favorite...

It was then that Lori realized she had unknowingly brainwashed herself.

Nice one, she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Nicholas cleared his throat. She looked up to find him peering down at her with an amused curve of his lips. “So, are we okay?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. “You sort of just… zoned out.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” she said, gathering her thoughts. She raised two thumbs up. “We’re good, we’re good.”

Nicholas didn’t say anything else until he looked down at his watch and sighed. “Damn. I’ve got to go,” he murmured. “I’ve already missed half of rehearsals.”

“Oh, yikes,” Lori said, side stepping away from Nicholas quickly making her way to the door. She grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open. “Hey, you gotta go!”

Nicholas watched her, and for a moment he stayed where he was until he stepped toward the door. He gave her a soft smile, his blue eyes different in their emotion. “Already in a hurry to get me out of the apartment?” he asked softly as he stopped beside her.

She flushed as she realized her actions may have made it seem that way. “N-no,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just… well, I know a bunch of people who paid a ton of money to watch that concert of yours… we, uh, we wouldn’t want you to be late.”

“Ah,” Nicholas said, stepping out of the apartment. He turned around and faced her one last time, his hands sliding back into the pockets of his jeans. “I’d offer you tickets, but we’re really sold out on this one. Sorry.”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

For the longest time, Nicholas just stood where he was, not really making any attempt to leave when he said himself that he was already late for rehearsals. Lori tried her best to keep his gaze but she eventually looked down at the carpet, uncomfortable with the way Nicholas was watching her, his blue eyes studying.

She was just about to remind him about his rehearsals when he spoke, his voice soft. “Lori…”

She looked up. “Yeah?”

He stepped forward, but something flashed in his eyes that made him take his foot back to where it was. He offered her one last smile. “Well, it was nice seeing you.”

Lori swallowed. “Y-yeah.”

Finally, Nicholas turned around and headed down the hall. When he turned the corner and she couldn’t see him anymore, Lori closed the door and found herself breathless. She pressed her back against the door and looked up at the ceiling. Of course, her moment of peace was interrupted when Speedy’s door swung open and her room mates (who probably had their ears pressed against the door the entire time) barreled back into the living room.

“How was it? What did you guys talk about?” Dawn asked, a good dose of curiosity and concern in her voice.

Speedy groaned as he looked around the place. “Oh man! He left already? I didn’t get his signature!”

Lori smiled at the both of them. “I’ll fill you in later, Dawn,” she said, pushing herself off the door. “Right now, I’m starved.”

“Oh, me too,” Speedy said, turning around. “What’s for dinner? Not oatmeal again, please.“

“Hmm,” Dawn mused, giving Lori a supportive pat on the back. “I was thinking of – “

Just as the three of them were making their way to the kitchenette, they were interrupted by someone knocking on the door. Confused, Lori made her way to the door and when she opened it, she found a slightly breathless Nicholas on the other side.

“What – “

“So it looks like I’m not leaving just yet,” he said, the grin on his face making it seem like he wasn’t all that sad about missing practice. He looked up and acknowledged Dawn and Speedy with a small wave. “Hey again.”

“Did you forget something?” Dawn asked.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “But… getting out of this building is not an option for me right now.”

Lori was just about to ask what he was talking about when Speedy interrupted her. He was standing by their window, one hand pushing the blue curtains to the side. “Guys… I think you should come over here.”

A nervous feeling twisted in Lori’s gut as she made her way to Speedy. She knew that you only heard people say stuff like that when something very, very bad was waiting outside, waiting to strike fear and terror on everyone and everything.

Like Godzilla.

“Holy crap.”

Standing right outside their apartment building was a crowd of people, all holding large, black video cameras and bright studio lights. Others were holding mics on the end of a pole and someone would have been blinded by the number of flashing cameras there were. They were all yelling and scrambling to find some hidden entrance to the building that wasn’t being blocked by the building’s doormen.

In silence, Dawn, Speedy, and Lori turned to Nicholas, who was still standing by the door.

He grinned. “What’s for dinner?”

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A/N: I put a bit of myself into Lori here, with the whole no rush to get a boyfriend thing – but funny enough, I met my boyfriend in high school. But then again, we weren't in the same high school so maybe we're different. Haha!

Amarena: After Singapore, it was Japan, then Brazil, then Adu Dhabi. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to any of the last three because of... well, school. Damn. But my dad went to the Abu Dhabi one and he said it was amazing. Sadly, no, I haven't been to Malaysia or Indonesia yet. :(

qwerty: I'll think about it! Thanks! :)

Writing-wise, if you noticed, my characters look/glance at each other a lot. Whenever I watch television or movies I always I feel that eye movement is such an important part in understanding the emotions, the characters, etc. in a particular scene. Like… even if a character doesn’t say much, his eyes say a lot. You know what I mean? And since this is all in text, I’m trying to add that into all my stories. :)

Whaddya think? And on a totally unrelated note...

HOLY ‘EFFIN GOD ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS JUST FLEW IN FROM AUSTRALIA AND SHOWED UP AT MY HOUSE WITHOUT EVEN TELLING ME.

You have a very happy author right now. You could make me happier if you leave a comment! ;)