Forever Yours (Nick and Wilson's Story)

Chapter One

"Wilson?" I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped that my mind was playing a trick on me.

But it wasn't. I looked at Nick's face and he knew as well as I did who it was. Nick decided to have his pizza after all. Shay kissed me on my cheek. What made the friendship between me and Nick worked so well was that we didn't hide anything from each other and I knew about his feelings. Another big part of what made our friendship work so well was that we put our feelings aside and put our friendship first. I felt ashamed that I didn't want her to kiss me because I didn't want to hurt Nick. I felt ashamed that she was my girlfriend and I felt that way.

"Hey, Nick," Shay said.

Nick looked up, smiling politely even though she had sounded stiff and strained greeting him. "What's up?" That was the end of the conversation for them. I glanced at Nick ever so often to see how he was holding up. They were civil with each other.

Nick wanted and needed to set his mind free, I knew that because I knew him. And now I couldn't be there for him because Shay manipulated me. A simple conversation of her asking what I was up to and me telling her exactly what I was up to led to her showing up here, and that fast. Things had been going great and we were heading into a bad place. I hoped Nick didn't think things were changing between him and me. I've tried really hard not to let my relationships get between our friendship. I didn't want to become one of those people.

"No, I'm not going to release an album," I heard Nick said. I perked up at that. One of my biggest pet peeves was when I introduced people to Nick and they asked him questions about his career or way too personal question.

"Don't ask him that stuff," I said to her.

She looked at me, her eyes crinkling in the corners and her lips drawn back. "He doesn't mind."

"He does, actually," I said as calmly as I could. "He's just too nice to be nasty about it."

She said nothing. Nick continued to eat his pizza and awkward was written all over his face. It was quiet between us for too long. I sensed that Nick wanted to leave.

"How was your quiz?" Nick asked, his body angled towards me, as was his mind.

"It was hard."

"You studied. It'll pay off."

"Hopefully."

"Hey, if it doesn't, you tried. You shouldn't feel like shit about that."

He was always good at making me feel better in any circumstances, even when it made it uncomfortable as he was now under Shay's scrutiny, or times when I had fucked up with her or any of my other relationships and he helped me to fix it. Fuck. Sometimes I thought I didn't deserve him.

Nick's phone vibrated again for the second time. He looked at the screen then put it back on the table. I looked at mine, too, just in case. Suddenly Nick was pissed off, chair feet scraping on the floor, empty plate and cup in his hand.

"I'll see you guys later."

"What? Where are you going? I thought we were spending the day together?"

Nick didn't bat an eyelash. "I'll come by your house later or something," he said and walked away.

"Nicky!" I called. He turned and waved goodbye. I looked back at Shay just in time to see a look of contempt on her face slowly turn into a smile.

"I'll see you guys later."

And I had just about had it with her. It wasn't just Nick she tried to push out my life. I couldn't hug my friends or kiss their cheeks like I used to do before she came along. It was always something, and when it came to Nick...anyone would think I was cheating on her with him.

Following Nick's cue, I grabbed my phone and the empty plastics while pushing my chair back with the back of my knees.

"Where are you going?"

I really looked at her. I felt so many things, mostly just a deep sadness.

"Keep this up and we're through. I'm not going to mistreat my friends, especially Nick, to make you happy. That's sick. The next time you feel like acting like a jealous brat, remember that I'm with you because I want to be with you, not because I have to be with you."

"You can't leave me here. I need a ride home."

Of course my life wouldn't be that easy. Why would she have something more humane to say?

"How'd you get here?" I asked, and left.