The Way We Almost Were ✓

34| in another life

Bree bit her lip and cast her eyes away, scratching her forehead as she took a step back. "Is there, um, anything you needed?"

"Does there need to be?" he asked quietly, and Bree's eyes found him once again, but he was no longer looking at her. Nick had his head tilted down to the side, one hand still in his pocket and Bree watched his other one move towards the table on which Bree's own hand rested. Nick's index finger traced the edge of the table until it stopped near Bree's palm, and then he was slowly trailing the tip of that finger over her hand, dragging it up her arm, his eyes following suit. "Couldn't I just want to see you?" he murmured, slowly lifting his chin to meet Bree's gaze.

"I thought you'd still be mad about Chase," she muttered, tearing her eyes away when the stare became too heavy. "You refused to listen to a single word I'd tried to say."

"Because there will be nothing you can say to change my mind," Nick told her, lifting one shoulder into a shrug. "What you did was insane. And stupid. And I will forever think so." Before Bree could respond, however, he stepped closer, and took a hold of her chin, their chests brushing together. He waited till she met his eyes. "But I also know that all my anger and frustration will never change your mind either," he mumbled, rubbing the skin beneath her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. "And that you'll continue thinking you did what was the only way out of the whole mess."

Bree blinked first, then smiled up at him, feeling touched at his acceptance of how their minds ran on completely separate tracks. "So we'll just agree to disagree?"

"Something like that," Nick sighed, his eyes completely engrossed with her lips, his burning stare never leaving her mouth as he spoke.

Bree wondered, for a moment, if he was going to kiss her again. She'd like that, maybe. Not maybe. Definitely.

But Nick didn't. He shut his eyes with a small sigh, opened them, offered her a tight smile and then dropped his hand, releasing her chin.

"You sleepy?" He asked her, sliding his hands back into the pockets.

She shook her head, "not anymore."

"Sure?" He asked, his tone firmer this time. "I'm one person you should feel free to be selfish around."

A smile played across Bree's lips as she ran her eyes over Nick's face. "You have no idea how selfish I actually am when it comes to you," she told him, in a voice that held both sincerity and amusement. "Let's hope it never comes to the point where you get to see it."

Nick let out a short chuckle and stepped back, lifting an eyebrow. "Sounds serious, Blondie."

"You don't know the half of it, Grumpy-Pants."

Nick's eyes widened, alarm flashing through them. "Grum-- what?!" His mouth opened and shut repeatedly, taken aback with the remark. "Hell no." He shook his head with a scowl, "I'm not even grumpy!"

"No, no, of course not," Bree grinned, "just mean and moody."

"I am not mean and moody," Nick scowled harder. And then, as an afterthought, he added: "though Dale might agree with you."

Bree smiled to herself at the thought and pulled out a chair from the table she'd been cleaning before Nick had interrupted her. "So," she said, seating herself down, "how's Dale?"

"Good," Nick muttered, shifting on his feet, and lingering by the table, not moving to take a seat. "He's good."

There was an awkward pause that hung in the air between them, one that made Bree rub the back of her neck as she propped an elbow on the table.