Who found love?

Not me, not you

Nicole's P.O.V.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Drake asked. "I ain't calling you a truther." Josh replied. I sat on the couch watching old re-runs of Drake and Josh. That show was always funny. Then I heard someone open the door. I turned around and saw that it was Valerie. "Hi," She said quietly. "Are we talking?" I wondered. "I sure hope so. Just a few hours of not speaking to you was way too long." I laughed and got up to hug her. "I need to apologize for over reacting. I know you can't help the way you feel about Austin. And sadly, neither can I." Val admitted. That was the whole problem. We couldn't both like the same guy. "So what are we going to do?" I asked. "It seams like the only smart option is..." "Neither of us can be with him." We said in sync. I looked down at my red sparkly toe nails. I knew it was going to be a difficult task. But I was willing to do it to keep my friendship with Val. -------------------------------------------------

I answered the door after I heard a knock and it was Austin. Even thought things were a little different between us, seeing his face still made me smile. "Hey." He said with his calm deep voice. "Hi Austin." I said shyly. "I wanted to check up on you. How are things with Valerie?" He questioned. "They're totally back to normal. We sorted out some stuff and ya we're good." I beamed. "That's great to hear. You know I really can't stand to see you two fight." I felt the same way about fighting with Val. It just wasn't right. "So are we ok?" When I heard him say the word 'we' I became worried. I wasn't sure if he meant the friendly 'we' or the more than friends 'we'. If such a thing existed between us. So I just played it safe and chose the first kind of 'we'. "Yep we're great. I'm sorry about earlier. I was just upset and confused." I said. "About what?" He looked lost. "It's hard to explain, but you don't need to worry about it. Just girl stuff." I lied. It was girl stuff, but definitely way more than just that. When I looked at Austin closely, I knew he knew something was going on. I felt bad that he was out of the loop, but if he knew everything, it would be so chaotic. 

   "So, do you and Val want to come ice skating with all of us crazy guys?" Austin asked me. I was so terrible at ice skating. But what girl would not want to hang out with those boys? "Hold on, lemme ask my sidekick." I figured it would be smart to talk to her before planning anything. I left Austin waiting at the door and walked over to the bedroom. Valerie was lying on the bed upside down and braiding her hair. She was clearly very bored. "Val, Austin came over to ask if we wanted to go ice skating. What do you think?" I wasn't really sure if it was the best idea. "It sounds fun. I'm so bored, so we should go. But we need to be careful." I knew exactly what she meant. "Ok, so no flirting with him." I agreed. "Yes. And if he flirts with either of us, which could happen. then we just ignore it." I nodded. "Maybe if we feel like we are in the danger zone, we can have a signal." We both decided that we would say yee, Austin's favorite slang word, if we wanted out of the situation.    -----------------------------------

     When we climbed into Dave's van, I made sure to be next to Val. Alex and Austin sat next to each other and of course Tyler and Robert were together. It only took 10 minutes for us to get to the ice rink. We all walked to the window where we could rent skates. I asked for a size 8 and Val got a size 6. "I can take those from you?" Austin asked me. "Um, no thanks. I got it." He looked away like he was hurt, making me feel sad. But I was cabable of carrying my own skates and so was Valerie.

     I put on my skates and hobbled over to the ice. Then I took Valerie's hand and struggled at keeping my balance. I was sure that people were watching me and laughing. As we went around in circles I almost ran into a group of little boys who were pros. "I am so bad at this!" I shouted over the loud music. "Want some help?" I flipped around to see Austin, but then I lost my balance and fell on him. "I am so sorry." I looked into his eyes which were glistening. "Don't worry about it." Val helped me up and then I pulled Austin off of the ground. "I guess I didn't exactly help you." I laughed. "I'm not the easiest person to help." I admitted. "Do you mind if I take her from you?" He looked at Val. I cast my glance at her and she nodded her approval.

     Austin took my small hand in his. I got the chills just from touching his hand. I wasn't sure if it was such a good idea for me to skate with him. "Use longer strides, it won't take you as long." I tried what he said and it was so much easier. It was weird, I trusted him more than I trusted Val. "I don't wanna stay away, for another second baby. Baby let me say everything, you're the only one worth fighting for. And I won't throw my promises away. I don't wanna stay away. I don't want nobody but you." Me and Austin both sang along to Can't Stay Away. I looked over at him and realized it was like he was singing to me. I knew I was in the danger zone. "I like that song, how about you?" I waited until Val was close to me. "Yee!" I yelled. He gave me an awkward smile. Then Val came up and pulled me away. "Sorry Austin, we'll be right back."

      We exited the rink and headed to the bathroom. "What happened?" She seamed really concerned. "Well we were both singing along to Can't Stay Away and I feel dumb saying this. But he made it seam like he was singing to me." Her face went pale. "Oh." Was all that she said. "Valerie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen." She didn't meet my gaze. "It's ok. It's not your fault he likes you." I stared at her. I didn't really think he liked me. "We don't know that he likes me for sure." I said. "Ya well just be cautious around him."

     We entered the ice rink and went over to the guys. "Wanna skate Nick?" Alex asked. "Sure." I saw Val grab Robert's hand. They were pretty cute together. But I know she only had eyes for Austin. "How's everything?" Alex looked over at me. "Great!" I wasn't exactly telling the truth. But I didn't want to be negative. We skated in silence for a while. "So, I was wondering. Are things between us ok?" I sure hoped he meant the friendly 'us'. So that's what I took it as. "Ya, they're great!" I said. "Ok, good." He replied. I had to find away out of the situation, so I made an excuse. "My feet are a little sore. I'm gonna go take a break." I stumbled over to a bench and nearly ran into an old man.                       

      "Is everything alright?" Valerie came and sat with me. "Not really. Alex just asked if things were ok with 'us'." I used air quotes. Val's mouth hung open. "You just get all the guys don't you?" She joked. "But I don't want all of them! I thought I wanted one of them, but I don't anymore." She looked at me. "Look, Nicki. I'm not asking you to ignore your feelings. I just don't want our friendship to end." I gave her a hug. "You do not have to worry about that!"

 ------------------------------------ I want to thank Bookoholic15 for giving me ideas for my story. She's been so helpful!