Nick & Bailey

45. Nick

Candace stops walking. "Nick, you need to talk to someone. You're getting ready to start spiraling again. I know that look on your face."

She's right. He was just getting ready to tell her that he wasn't hungry before rushing to his room and hiding under the covers. Fuck it. He does need to tell someone.

"Okay, so basically, there's this girl..."

"I knew it! I knew this moody, self-loathing attitude had to be about a girl!"

Nick nods and begins walking again, Candace close behind. "Yeah. Well, long story short, I've been completely obsessed with her since I was a kid. I found out that she likes me too over the summer, and I fucked it up. Now she won't even talk to me."

"Have you tried?"

Nick shakes his head. They are approaching the dining hall.

"What does this have to do with your friend on the phone?"

Nick swings open the door and Candace slides in before him. "It's his sister."

She turns around, eyebrows raised. "I think you're going to need to tell me the entire story."

Nick and her fill their trays with food and find where Pete is sitting. Candace sits next to him without ceremony. Nick is grateful that they are not a really affectionate couple, kissing every time they see each other, or saying "I love you" fifty times a day. They've been together for years and just know.

Candace turns towards Pete now to fill him in. "Nick is in love with someone, but she supposedly hates him. I find it hard to believe. It's also his best friend's sister. He's about to tell us everything."

Nick has to laugh at her simple explanation. Pete doesn't seemed phased. He looks at Nick expectantly without saying a word, waiting for the story.

Nick attempts to keep the story to just the basics, but Candace sees through that, asking questions along the way. He ends up talking through their meal, and well after. Telling them everything, and ending with the morning after the blackout.

"Oh, Nick..." Candace looks sad. "Do you know what I think?"

Nick shrugs. He's not sure how he feels right now. It was overwhelming telling the story, but he does feel better that he let it out.

"It's her birthday, right?" Candace asks. Nick nods.

"I think you should text her."

"Excuse me? Did you not hear what I said? What I said to her?"

She sighs. "Yes, Nick. But you would be surprised what time apart can do. Just say, 'Happy birthday'. Keep it simple. Oh! Put her name on the end. I love it when Pete does that."

Pete looks up at her, and it is painfully obvious that he has no idea what she's talking about. She laughs.

"You really think I should? What if she responds saying she hates me or something? Or what if she doesn't respond at all?"

"Then you will know, one way or the other. Right now, you're just speculating. Right, Pete?"

He speaks for the first time since the three of them sat down. "Yeah. I say go for it."

Nick takes a deep breath and grabs his phone.

Me: Happy birthday, Bailey

He hits send before he can change his mind.

They all stand up, clear their trays and walk back to the boys' dorm room. Bailey still has not responded. Nick writes a report for class, showers, and returns to the room. Bailey still has not responded.

Pete and Candace are both working on homework. "Have you guys ever heard of Tinder?"

Their heads shoot up simultaneously and look at him. Pete looks shocked. Candace looks sad.

"Nick, she may still respond," she says, sympathetically.

"It's been two hours. She hates me and obviously does not want me contacting her." He needs to get rid of this desperate feeling. He needs a warm body.

Pete can see his desperation and turns to his girlfriend. "Candy, maybe let's just let Nick live his own life, okay?"

Candace still looks upset but must agree with him. She turns back to Nick. "If you want a Tinder account, I'm going to assume that you'll need some help setting it up."

Nick nods and hands her his phone, and she works on it for a half hour, asking him some questions about what he was looking for, and about himself. He didn't see her take a picture of him until she had already done it, but he doesn't care. She hands the phone back and explains how to swipe left and right, how to contact people and on and on. Nick must look confused.

"How do you survive with so minimal knowledge of technology?" She asks, laughing.

"This stuff just doesn't interest me, I guess."

She shakes her head in astonishment. "Next lesson, I'm going to teach you what a GIF is."

Pete has been focused on his computer this entire time, but he laughs now. "Yeah it's life changing," he says, sarcastically.

Nick begins looking through some of the pictures on the app. He swipes right on anyone who appears to be remotely near his age. It feels wrong to be judging people based solely on looks, and he doesn't want to make anyone feel bad.

After only a few minutes, he gets an alert that he has a match. With Candace's help, he learns that the girl is in the dorm building right next to his and wants to meet, now.

"Holy shit, man. You've had the app for like ten minutes!" Pete says.

"It's because of my picture," Candace says. "I have a talent."

Pete stands up. "We can go to Candace's, give you some privacy."

Candace looks worried. "Nick, are you sure about this?"

"Definitely."

The two of them gather what they need to sleep at Candace's, and Pete wiggles his eyebrows at Nick as he walks out of the door.

Ugh...could have done without that.

The girl knocks on his door five minutes later. He looks around the room for the first time. Maybe he should have cleaned, but too late now.

He opens the door, and the girl smiles. Her name was on her profile, but Candace told him that a lot people put fake names on there. The fact that he doesn't know her name actually works for him, though. It's even less personal.

They go through the motions. They kiss for a minute, undress, Nick puts a condom on, he keeps his eyes open just long enough to climb on top of her, and then closes them until he gets off, imaging Bailey.

The girl thanks him, and he thanks her, and she gets dressed and leaves. No muss, no fuss, a simple business transaction. Nick could really get used to this. He feels dazed and unfeeling. It's perfect.

As the door shuts behind the girl, Nick gets an alert on his phone. It's probably Pete or Candace checking on him.

Bailey: Thank you, Nick

Fuck. There goes his high.