"Adam..." I say quickly.
"Yeah, I don't want to do that either... I want to take you on a proper date. I know I asked you out months ago and we were in a whole different place back then... But I want us to see how we go. I'd even be willing to consider this whole you and Adam having a kid thing... because I get it. I get you, I get him... You guys are a packaged deal!"
I laugh at his response, throwing him a little off guard. "We're not exactly a package deal," I say. "We can still have our own separate relationships." My voice falters and all of a sudden, I remember that I am only dressed in my robe.
Luis leans back up against the dark grey sofa. He is clearly lost in thought. He just told me that he isn't going to leave.
Now would be the perfect time to make my move. His hair is free from its usual ponytail and is sitting just past his shoulders. I could totally run my fingers through it.
Do it, Nicky! Do it now! Before you lose your chance!
"Nicky... We never talk about the first time that we actually met," he says out of the blue as he looks back at me.
You lost your chance, Nicky! Dammit!
"I'm sorry, what?" I ask.
"I'm talking about the moment we met when we were at school... When you thought my name was Parker."
Not a good subject. Why is he bringing that up now? Total moment killer!
I look curiously at him, "why do we need to talk about this now?"
Damn, he's so clueless! I was just so close to jumping his bones!
"I want to talk about it because that was the moment that you saved me."
"What do you mean?" I ask. "How did I save you? I just stood up to those guys. They were pricks. That was such a long time ago."
Luis is studying me. There is a serious look on his face and he takes me by the hand, which confuses me. "Nicky, if it weren't for you... I don't think that I would be alive today."
Uh oh! This doesn't sound good!
"What do you mean you wouldn't be alive?"
"I was going through a rough time with my parents. I was going through a rough time at school and I just wasn't coping very well. I felt as if I had nobody. I had been collecting my mother's sleeping pills over time and that was going to be the night that I was going to do something. I was going to have the house to myself that weekend so nobody would have known until the Monday when I never turned up to school."
I can barely speak. That just doesn't make any sense at all. "Luis... I... All I did was stand up for you. We barely ever spoke after that. How could I have such an effect on you?"
"You inspired me. I remembered seeing you and AJ fighting in that cafeteria. I heard rumors that you went through therapy and seeing what it turned you into... Well, you inspired me to get my shit together. It's what I needed."
I am speechless. I really don't know what to say.
"You didn't need a hero... you actually getting help... you were your own hero, Luis," I manage to say.
He brings his arm around my shoulders and hugs me close. "Yeah, but sometimes we need another hero to bring out the hero in ourselves."
Lady boner has officially been killed right now.
Him saying all of that instantly reminds me of just how screwed up I am. I am anything but a hero. If anything he should run far, far away from me!
Chapter Twenty-Three: Together at last... or is it?
Start from the beginning
