Miles Away | Nick Mara

Eleven

During the next few days, we acted like nothing happened. I continued to stay at their house, but there was no tension between me and Nick; everything was normal. We fooled and joked around as normal, there were no awkward stares or awkward conversations, there was no mention of what had happened that night on the porch, and nothing was wrong.

Obviously, I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said. Every night, and every time I saw him, it reminded me of what he told me. I couldn't get it out of my head. It became more and more annoying over time.

The rest of my shipment came on Thursday. I could finally move into my apartment with proper furniture. The guys decided to take the day off to help me move in.

We drove to my apartment together. Outside, a truck was already waiting with all my things packed inside. I signed some papers, made the payments, then went back to the guys who were waiting by the elevator. A couple of the guys from the van started to pull out the furniture from the back of the truck as we headed up.

The apartment was beautiful. Sunlight poured in from the walls of windows surrounding the whole place. Golden light streamed into the living room and kitchen. I walked up to the window, gazing in awe at the view. The buildings that once looked tall now stood below me. The sound of cars and construction whispered through the walls; it was a strangely comforting sound.

I could hear the guys yelling and screaming from another room. As I walked into my bedroom, they crashed onto the floor, wrestling each other.

I tried to pull them apart, shouting at them to stop, but I couldn't control my laughter as Zion also pulled me to the ground. A few minutes later, we all lay next to each other on the floor, looking up at the ceiling in silence. It was so quiet I could hear Brandon and Nick breathing from either side of me.

"We should go organize the stuff," I whispered. "I think they're done."

We all got up simultaneously and headed back to the living room. Boxes lay stacked on the floor by the doorway, a big white sofa was placed in the middle of the room, a small bookcase was pushed to the side of the wall and a few chairs sat by the open kitchen.

"This is gonna take a while." Zion groaned.

"You guys can leave if you want to. I can manage this myself."

I turned to Nick.

"Especially you," I smiled. "I heard that you have plans with your parents or something."

"It's okay. I'm not gonna leave you." He said from beside me.

The guys turned to look at us with their eyebrows raised.

Nick cleared his throat before saying: "None of us are gonna leave you, I mean."

"Mmhm," Brandon said sarcastically. "Sure."