Death #36:
You’re Mine, Carter.
Only Mine.
By Ritz
Nick
whistled when he saw the dining room was turned into something romantic by
Lauren. White linen was covering the dining table, silverwares and utensils
were properly arranged, a bouquet of peach roses in a vase was at the center of
the table and three blue candles.
Their dinner reservation to an expensive
restaurant was cancelled because Nick was stuck in a meeting for the
promotional tour of his new album. He called Lauren two hours ago to tell her
to just prepare a simple dinner for them, to celebrate their third year of
being together.
“I’m home.” He called out when he didn’t see
Lauren in the living room or the kitchen. He smiled when he saw her standing at
the stairs. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey.”
“Ready for the dinner?”
“I guess so,” She shrugged her shoulders and
walked towards the kitchen
Nick sat on the table rubbing his hands together,
he hasn’t eaten for almost six hours and was looking forward to this dinner. He
licked his lips when Lauren put the steak to his plate.
“Thank you.” He took her hand and squeezed it
lightly before letting it go, Lauren just smiled.
“Nick, we need to talk.” She seriously said when
she sat on the chair opposite to Nick
“What’s up?”
She let out a deep sigh “Aren’t you gonna change
your mind about marriage? I mean, we’ve been together for three years but you
haven’t thought of marriage yet.”
“Baby, we’ve talked about this a lot of times.
Aren’t you happy with me anymore?”
“Of course I am. But we’re not getting any
younger, I heard that getting pregnant when you’re over thirty years old is
kinda dangerous.”
“I know that, sweetheart, but can I finish my
dinner first and we’ll talk about it later?”
“NICKY!” She seemed offended by Nick’s lack of
interest in the subject
“Hey! Don’t call me that, you know how I hate it.”
“But you let Brian, AJ and Howie call you that,”
“Those are my brothers.”
“And I am your girlfriend, damn it!” She stomped
her foot in desperation.
“I know. Look, why did you suddenly bring this
topic up? I thought you were ok with our arrangement.” He looked at his watch
“I was. But I realized we’re not getting any
younger, Nick, do you really plan to marry me someday?” Her eyes were begging
“Lauren, I love you to death but I wanna be a
really solid person if I was going to make that decision.”
“That’s the line you practiced for the Sonia
Benezra interview. I won’t fall for that, Carter.”
“Baby, just let it go. Let’s enjoy this special
moment together, can you believe it’s been three years already.” He looked at
his watch again and whispered something only him could hear.
“Yes and you have no plans of marrying me,” She
pouted
“Let it go.” He said calmly
Lauren stood up and went to the kitchen. Nick’s
gaze followed Lauren while grinning from ear to ear. He put on his serious face
again when Lauren came back from the kitchen. She was holding a plate with a
slice of cheesecake, Nick licked his lips the moment his eyes saw the
cheesecake.
“Are you sure you’re not going to change your mind
about the marriage?” Lauren said in a sad and disappointed voice, looked like
tears was about to fall from her eyes .
“Not in a million years.” He shook his head
“I guess you deserve this.” She put down the cake
in front of him and took two steps backwards
“Baby, I always deserve your cheesecake.” He
smiled
Lauren watched as Nick ate the cheesecake, she was
trying so hard to blink back the tears. She didn’t moved when she saw Nick
reaching out his left hand to her and his right hand was on his neck. His face
color was changing, he was having a hard time breathing.
Lauren smiled triumphantly when Nick’s head fell
to the table, his eyes wide open, and white bubbles forming on his lips.
“You’re mine, Carter, only mine.” She said while
putting the remains of the cheesecake with poison in the sink.
Lauren was deciding what to do with Nick’s
lifeless body when she heard cars pulled up on their driveway. When she opened
the front door she saw Brian with a guitar, AJ, Howie, Leigh, Leighanne and
Rochelle holding a big cake. Even her parents was there, her mother was beaming
with a wide smile on her face. Her father nodded at her with tears on his eyes.
“What’s going on?” She finally said trying to stop
them from entering the house
“Nick,” Brian called out “Sorry, Man, we’re late.”
Brian started strumming his guitar the moment he
was on the living room, Howie and AJ stepped up closer to Brian and the boys
started singing
Forever can never be long enough for me
Feel like I've had long enough with you
Forget the world now, we won't let them see
But there's one thing left to do
Now that the weight has lifted
Love has surely shifted my way
Marry me today and every day
Marry me if I ever get the nerve to say hello in
this cafe
Say you will, say you will
“What
the hell?” Lauren asked then she saw the cake Rochelle and Leighanne were
holding.
Sitting on the top of the cake was a canary yellow
diamond engagement ring. Lauren looked at everyone, some of them was still
smiling and some was wondering where the hell was Nick. He was supposed to come
out now, get the ring and asked Lauren the question she had been wanting to
hear and he had been meaning to ask. That’s where Lauren lost it, she started
crying, cursing and shouting.
Nick was buried in a cemetery and Lauren went to a
psychiatric ward.
***