She ran through all of the people who she knew and could see, and came up with two who were missing. One was a girl named Laura, and Nicole soon spotted her in a far corner, making out with an unidentifiable guy. The other was Taylor. She scanned the room for a few minutes before coming to her conclusion; Taylor was not in this club.

"Ike!" she shouted over the noise. Isaac, standing beside her, continued moving along to the music. "IKE!!!" she cried, frantically waving her hand in front of his face.

"WHAT?" he yelled back, turning towards her.

"TAY ISN'T HERE!" she yelled.

"WHERE IS HE?" Isaac innocently asked. Nicole rolled her eyes.

"I HAVE NO IDEA," she explained. Isaac's eyes grew faintly larger as he scanned the room. She saw him take a deep breath before searching again.

"UH-OH," he mouthed at her. She pulled him down to her height.

"YOU SEARCH THAT SIDE," she said, gesturing, "AND I'LL SEARCH THIS SIDE. OKAY?"

"'KAY," he agreed. They split up and searched the room. Ten minutes later, Nicole was ready to give up and figure that he had gone back to the hotel.

She saw Laura in the corner, still pressed up against the guy. She decided to tell Laura that they were leaving, so she went up and gently tapped the girl on the shoulder.

"What?" Laura asked, twirling around gracefully. Her hair was a little bit messed up and her lipstick was gone, but that's not what caught Nicole's attention. Her heartbroken gaze was set on the boy with his back against the wall. His clear blue eyes stared back at her with sweet revenge, and his blond hair grazed his shoulders, having been pulled from his ponytail. He wiped a trace of red lipstick from his full, pink lips and smiled smugly at Nicole. Taylor.

"I...we...we're leaving now," Nicole said in a choked gasp. "Leaving. Now." She turned around and made her way clumsily through the moving crowd of the dance floor and back to Isaac.

Isaac. He would never do that to her. He would never spite her, never hurt her. Not like Taylor.

Listen to yourself! she thought. HE hurt YOU? Look at what you did to him. She shook her head, trying to shut up her conscience. You led him on Nicole. And when you finished with him, you went back to Isaac. And you did this TWICE.

She came to the group then, Taylor and Laura trailing behind. Nicole rushed right into Isaac's arms and spun him around.

"LET'S GO," she said. He nodded and led her out. But she could't help but notice the look of sheer approval that passed from Isaac to Taylor as Ike's gaze landed on Taylor's arm, around Laura. With silent tears stinging her eyes, she burst through the large door into the cold night air.

As he lay there in the dark, he rolled over to see the bed beside him. Isaac slept there peacefully. Seeing the happy expression on his brother's face, Taylor let his thoughts drift to Nicole.

He couldn't get the expression on her face tonight out of his mind. The look of pure shock mixed with painful heartache. The same look he had when he saw her kissing Isaac. But somehow it hurt more to see HER with that feeling than it was to actually experience it himself.

Then his thoughts drifted to something that he had seen in her eyes that night, after the shock had faded. As they had entered the main door of the hotel, she had glanced back at him. And he was sure that there was something there that he had never seen before. It was a look of understanding. A look that showed him that she finally understood how he felt when he saw her and Isaac together. But now that she knew, did she share his feelings? Could they actually have a chance? Or would she continue to push him away?

"Well, good morning to you too Nicole," he said. "I guess you never were much of a morning person though."

"Yeah, but I bet Laura is, right?" Nicole snapped.

Taylor sucked in his breath and stepped back as if he had been slapped. Her words stung. "She didn't mean anything to me Nicole," he said through clenched teeth.

"It sure looked like she did last night," she shot back.

"Maybe it meant something to her, but unfortunately for me, we all can't be so lucky. I mean, how can she mean anything at all to me when all my love is being wasted on someone who doesn't give a shit about me?"

Nicole bit her lip, hard. She tasted the metallic blood on her tongue, and raised her finger to her lip, applying pressure. "And unfortunately for me, you're wrong Taylor. I care more about you than you'll ever know. I can't help it that I don't care for you in the same way you care for me though. It just wasn't meant to be."

"Nothing is meant to be Nicole," Taylor said bitterly. "You have to make it happen. And to make it happen, you have to want it. And that's where I was wrong about you. I thought you wanted it; I thought we could make this happen. But you push me away. You ignore my feelings. You hurt me beyond relief, and then you try to take it back. But all you end up doing is hurting me more."

"So what do you want me to do Tay?" Nicole asked sadly.

"You know what I want Nicole," he said. "I want a chance."

"But you know I can't give you that," she said.

"And if you weren't with Isaac?" he wondered aloud.

Her face clouded over. "And if I weren't with Isaac," she said, searching herself for the answer, "I would-"

"NIC!" a voice called. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" Isaac stepped into the small cove of the room where Taylor and Nicole had been standing. "Are you ready to go?"

Nicole looked at Taylor, whose gaze was locked on her, studying her for the answer. But her face remained blank. She couldn't bear to show it. Not here, not now. As she looked from Taylor's longing expression to Isaac's loving, caring smile, she knew exactly what she wanted.