Miles Away | Nick Mara

Forty Three

We stayed in the pool for another hour, floating around. Nick played some songs on a speaker beside us on the side of the pool, occasionally dancing along to music and singing along to the words. Later on, his brothers joined us, messing around and targeting Nick. We laughed around for a while as the sky began to darken and the breeze became colder.

I pulled myself outside of the pool, sitting on the edge and watching them shove each other around. Eventually, Nick ran out of the water, out of breath. I laughed, watching as he collapsed onto a chair. I walked towards him, grabbing my dress in the process, ready to go back inside.

"It's still wet." I complained, throwing the dress at Nick.

He laughed and shrugged. "That's tough."

But when he saw my slight frown, he walked towards me, with his shirt in his hand. He handed it to me with a smile. I couldn't help smiling back, and put the shirt on. We went up to his room, drying off as we walked up the stairs.

"I'm taking a shower." I said, heading towards the bathroom.

"Can I join?"

I turned around, squinting.

"I'm kidding." He laughed.

"Very funny." I gave a fake laugh.

He walked to his closet, pulled out a hoodie, and tossed it to me, telling me to wear it instead of the shirt. I took it and walked to the bathroom, making sure to lock the door.

I was done in 20 minutes. I walked out, my hair still wet. I pulled the hoodie on over my now-dry underwear with a pair of shorts that I'd found and sat on the bed. Nick sat beside me, wearing a headset with a controller in his hand. He talked through the mic, intently watching the screen.

"Yo, Z," He complained. "What the heck bro."

I laughed, listening to his commentary while scrolling through Instagram on my phone.

"Come here." He held out his arm.

Snuggling into his chest, I lay in his arms, still going through my phone. He wrapped his arm around my waist, still managing to carry on with his game. I sighed, setting my phone down and closing my eyes. Nick's occasional yells would wake me up, but I fell back asleep in a few seconds.

I was woken up by one of Nick's brothers knocking on the door. He walked in, telling us that my dad was planning to leave. I stood up, rubbing my eyes, and we walked downstairs. My dad stood in the doorway, still talking with Nick's parents. He looked at me and smiled, scanning my clothes. I went to put on my shoes, but Nick's mom stopped me.

"Do you want to stay?" She asked with a smile.

I glanced at my dad. He was smiling with a nod, encouraging me to say yes. I hesitated. If I stayed, he'd have to be home by himself.

"I'm okay." He said. "You should stay if you want to."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded with a warm smile, a hand on my shoulder. He kissed my forehead and pulled on his shoes.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow." He waved goodbye, thanked Nick's parents, hugged them both, then left.

I could hear the car starting outside. Before I could run out and change my mind, Nick came up behind me and picked me up, spinning me around and carrying me back to his room.

"I'll call you down when dinner's ready later!" His mom yelled after us.

Nick shouted back an 'okay' and closed the door, throwing me gently onto the bed. He climbed on top of me with a kiss, his body resting between my legs. I wrapped my arms around his neck with a smile. He ran his fingers through my hair, his eyes fixed on mine.

"Guess what we're doing tonight?" He grinned.

"I'm keeping my clothes on." I laughed.

He shrugged. "I was gonna say we should binge movies or something, but that sounds pretty good too."

I slapped his arm gently. He laughed, kissing my forehead and whispering an 'I love you' gently into my ear.