She was sitting quietly at the table while all the other contestants were talking loudly. Her silence worried the young man sitting next to her. He delicately put his hand on her knee and caressed it, trying to get a smile or a word out of her. But nothing, she seemed to be in another place and time.
Scotty and Lauren were sitting with the rest of the group in a restaurant at their hotel in Salt Lake City. The next day was their first show on the Idol tour and they were all very exited. They were all discussing costumes, songs and lighting with enthusiasm. Actually, all of them except for the tall blonde at the end of the table. Pia and Haley were whispering at the other end trying to figure what was going on with Lauren when she suddenly stood up and walked away. They all looked at her chocked as she made her way to the elevator. Eleven heads slowly turned in Scotty's direction. "Why is it always me who has to deal with emotional girls?" he asked, referring back to elimination nights in the Idol mansion. "I think you're the only one who can take care of this issue" Haley stated. He breathed loudly and walked towards the elevator.
The ride up seemed to take forever for Scotty who couldn't stop thinking about Haley's words. Lauren's attitude had to do with their relationship he figured out. He had to admit that it was full of ups and downs, complicated and often frustrating for both of them. Himself wasn't sure exactly how to describe it and how to classify it. He slowly made his way to her room, thinking about what he would say to her. The thought that he could loose her came to his mind and it scared him to death. The young boy also knew she was probably crying and he tried to prepare for it, even though it always broke his heart to see her like that. He made it to her room and lightly knocked on the door. "It's open" he heard a broken voice say. The young country singer took a deep breath and walked in.
Lauren was lying on her side facing the window and Scotty couldn't see her face, but he could hear her sniffling. He decided to lay down next to her and wrapped his arm around her. She didn't push him away so he gained confidence and kissed the back of her bare shoulder. He felt the shivers go trough her body and the same happened to him. "Lauren please look at me." he begged her after a moment. "No, I look like crap" she answered. He sighed, "I thought I had already made it clear! There's not a minutes that goes by that I don't think you're the most beautiful women out there." She couldn't help but smile, she loved it when he called her a women and even more when he called her beautiful. She slowly turned to her other side. She was now facing him and he was looking straight into her eyes. It took everything in him not to kiss her right there, but he knew it would be a very bad idea. He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and asked her very nicely to tell him what was going on.
She sat on the side of the bed and stayed silent for a minute. Scotty took place next to her, ready to listen. "What is going on is that I can't take this anymore. I'm tired of the 'We're like brother and sister', the 'She's a character isn't she?', the 'We've known each other since day one of Hollywood week'." Lauren let out while tears ran down her cheeks. "These words hurt me every time I hear you say them. But you want to know what hurt the most?" she asked him as she stood up and walked back in forth in front of him. He nodded in silence when she stopped and looked at him trough her tears. "It's the little kisses stolen here and there, it's when I sit on your laps and you caress my back, it's when you hug me and play with my hair. It's so painful because I don't know what they mean and I don't know when I could loose it all." she said in a soft voice that made the young boy's heart break in thousands of pieces. He wanted to say something, to tell her he would never let her go, to tell her everything would be alright, but she wasn't finished and he wasn't expecting what she had to say next. "Scotty I didn't want to get to this point, but this situation is over. I'm sorry, but you only have two choices right now, I won't accept a 'maybe' or a 'we'll see later'." She sat next to him again and looked straight at him. "Either we're making this official and we go public with it, no matter what our PR said, no matter what any everyone else has to say. Either this is the end of us, the end of whatever this was, the end of our friendship and the end of 'McLaina'."
Scotty was in chock, inside him he knew it would come down to this at some point, but he didn't know it would come so fast. "Lauren, I don't know what to say…We've known each other for only a few months, it's only the beginning of our careers…"
Before Scotty was finished talking, Lauren stormed to the bathroom, locked herself in and started sobbing. "Lauren!" he shouted. He stood up and leaned against the door that separated him from the girl he loved with everything in him. He knew there was only one way to calm her down. He let Tim McGraw's words invade his soul and sang to her.
Let me take you to a place like no where else
Show you the things you never felt
Oh oh let me love you.
Oh I want to taste your kiss
Be the reason for your smile
Touch the magic on your skin
Be the one that drives you wild.
Oh if you could read my mind
You'd know you're everything I need
You'd see yourself through my eyes
You may understand what I'm going through
Just how much I want you.
Show me what its like to lose control
Free the desire in your soul
Oh oh let me love you.
By the end of the song, the beautiful blond had stopped crying and Scotty heard her unlock the door. He slowly opened it and wrapped Lauren in his arms. "What I was trying to say is that no matter how long I've known you and no matter the consequences on my career, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Lauren Alaina. I want to make us work and I'm ready to tell the whole world about my feelings if it means I get to be with you."
She looked up and kissed his bottom lip softly. He reacted immediately and kissed her like never before. For one last night it would be their secret love.
