Hollywood Heights! Leddie must go on

chapter 8

Loren sat in the passenger seat looking at the familiar surroundings of her neighborhood as Eddie drove. Their weekend together was amazing. Everything had changed . . . for the better. They were going to be a duo and record an album together. Even though they had already planned on touring together, this took it to another level. Eddie wanted to do what he loved, making music, with her. They would forever be joined by their mutual love of music for the world to see.

"So do you want to talk to Nora alone, or do you want me for backup?" Eddie asked.

The stalker. So much had happened this weekend that Loren had almost forgotten that a mysterious stalker had found out where she and Eddie were spending the weekend and had delivered a bizarre bouquet of roses to her. She fought the fear that began to creep into her mind.

"Baby, I'm sorry," Eddie said as he grabbed her hand and placed a kiss to the back of it. "I didn't mean to scare you and remove that beautiful smile from your face."

"It wasn't you," Loren said with a smile. "We'll get through this. We always do."

They walked into the house and found Nora and Max sitting at the kitchen table deep in conversation.

"Hey you two," Nora said as she walked over to give Loren and Eddie a hug.

"How was the house?" Max asked.

"Gorgeous," Loren simply said. She took her bag and walked back to her bedroom leaving Max and Nora perplexed.

"Is something wrong?" Max asked Eddie.

"I'll wait for her to get back out here," Eddie said. "But, how was New York?"

"Nice," Nora said. "We had a great time."

Eddie sensed Nora holding back on something, and looked at Max for confirmation. Max gave Eddie a look that didn't reveal much. Eddie was about to say something when Loren walked back into the living room.

"Well, Eddie and I have made a decision about our albums," Loren announced.

"Really?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, we're gonna record one together," Loren said as she grabbed Eddie's hand.

Max turned to Eddie, "Does Jake know about this?"
"Not yet, but he will tomorrow morning," Eddie smiled. "Look, I know it might ruffle a few feathers, but it's what we want to do."

"But I thought you wanted to do your own music," Nora said to Loren.

"I will," Loren insisted. "A few of the songs I've written by myself, and I'll record them with just me singing. Some will be duets, and some will be just Eddie. We want to do this together; I thought that you'd be happy for us."

"Sweetie, I am," Nora said as she hugged Loren. "I just want to make sure this is what you truly want."

"Mom, it is," Loren said.

"Apparently all the buzz is working because you already have a huge fan base," Max said trying to change the subject.

"I do?" Loren asked. She noticed for the first time the bags of letters sitting on the couch.

"Kelly brought most of these over from the office, but a few arrived here."

"What? Really?" Eddie said as he brushed past Loren and looked through the bags of mail. "Any packages?"

"Yeah there was one," Nora said as she reached over and looked at the padded envelopes. "This one came Saturday."

"Eddie," Loren said with a worried edge to her voice.