Nick & Bailey

42. Nick

Pete sighs. "My girlfriend and I are going to a party tonight. Why don't you come with us?"

Nick's eyebrows raise. "You have a girlfriend here? Why haven't I seen her?"

"She wanted to spend the first week apart, focusing on school." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Whatever, dude, it doesn't matter. The point is that we're going out tonight, and she told me to ask you to come. I told her about you, and I think she feels sorry for you."

Nick turns back to his computer, scrolling through his Netflix options. "Well tell her I'm fine. I'm just not in the mood to be around people." Except one.

As Pete leaves, Nick realizes that he may be right. Maybe Nick should go out. Being depressed, obsessing about Bailey, feeling guilty about what happened, is going to make for a very long semester—and life. He knows he deserves every moment of pain he has, but it has to end at some point.

But not tonight. Tonight, he will feel sorry for himself, for what he did. Tomorrow is a new day.

After another week of classes that a are lot harder than Nick had thought they would be, he finds himself back at the student center, with Cam, cleaning up other people's shit--not literal shit though. That's above his pay grade.

He's made a conscious effort this week to get Bailey out of his head, and his constant inflow of homework and twenty hours a week of employment have helped, but she's still there, always.

Cam and he have been debating the chances of the Cubs heading to the playoffs this year when Cam gets an alert on his phone. Nick looks away, throwing a paper cup into a nearby receptacle.

"Nick, dude, my buddy's having a party tonight at his frat. He wants me to invite everyone I see. It'll be huge. You down?"

Nick's first instinct is to say no, but then he decides to go for it. Maybe if he gets hammered, he won't see Bailey's tear stricken face every time he closes his eyes.

Cam spends the rest of their shift texting people about the party. Nick is dumbfounded as to how he can already know so many people here. The semester only started two weeks ago. But then again, if Nick had been actually trying, he might have met some people too.

When Nick arrives at the address that Cam gave him four hours later, accompanied by Pete and Pete's girlfriend, Candace, he immediately knows he has found the right place. A brunette in a barely there outfit is walking down the porch steps, offering Jell-O shots to everyone who's interested.

She approaches Nick's group, and the three of them all take one. As Candace is taking for-fucking-ever to pick which flavor she wants, the girl doesn't stop staring at Nick. He's used to the attention he gets from girls, and in the past, relished in it. But this girl is being so blatantly obvious, it's making him uncomfortable.

"I'm Eva," she yells to Nick above the music that's blaring from inside the house.

He nods in acknowledgement. "Nick."

She smiles, too wide, and begins walking back to the house. Nick notices that her hips are swaying a little more exaggerated than they were earlier. Must be her mating dance.

The thing is, she is actually really attractive. Her hair is long and shiny, and her body is something most guys would kill to have. Nick would too, probably, if he weren't wallowing in so much self-contempt. Girls might as well be another planet from him. The idea of hooking up with someone makes him sick.

Nick, Pete and Candace decide to find Cam inside the house, but it ends up being more difficult than they imagined. Nick pushes his way along, but it is shoulder to shoulder in here. Miraculously, he stumbles upon a keg and gets cups for the three of them. Nick chugs his first one, and second one. As he's filling his cup the third time, he hears a familiar voice. "Aww, you came!"