Always & Forever (Nick & Bailey #2)

23. Bailey

My first chance to talk to him alone isn't for a few hours later. Abby, Derek, Missy and I got some Chinese takeout and a case of beer before returning to our hotel.

We all want to celebrate. We did something fearless and wild, and something that most people aren't brave enough to do. I was proud of all of us, and I'm glad we did it together. Living with them next year is going to be fun.

Having stuffed my face with enough dumplings to feed a small army, I sit alone on the metal chair on our balcony. I call Nick. I know I said I would call him tomorrow, but that feels so far away. I want to hear his voice now.

"Hello?" He says when he answers. Even with only one word, I can hear his tone. He's still upset.

"Hi baby!" I say cheerfully, desperate to change the mood. "I did it! I jumped."

"I assumed you would." He could not sound more disinterested if he tried. I ignore it.

"Nick, when you're up there, it puts things in perspective. Life shouldn't be about overthinking or over analyzing, we need to live in the moment. I think you'd get a lot out of doing it."

"Are you saying I'm irrational?"

"What? No, Nick. I didn't say that."

"I just overthink and over analyze everything?"

"Don't put words in my mouth!"

"So you don't think I over analyze?"

"You do. Definitely," I respond honestly, no longer caring if it will bring an argument. "But that's not what I was trying to say."

"What were you trying to say?"

"That I had a wonderful experience today! And that I missed you, and that I think you and I should do it together sometime. But forget it, Nick, you wanted to fight from the moment you said 'hello' and weren't going to be satisfied until you got me yelling or crying. Well congratulations! You succeeded!"

"That's not what I wanted..." he pauses. "I just don't know what you want from me, Bailey. I just got home from a shift where I got yelled at by a drunken asshole and made almost no tips. Im trying to think of how to tell Cam that I'm not doing this 'easy' bartending job again. I'm not in the mood to hear about a fucking life changing experience."

"I'm sorry."

He sighs. "Don't be sorry. Just call me tomorrow." He hangs up on me for the second time today.

I take a drink from the beer bottle that I brought out here with me but find it difficult to swallow past the lump in my throat. I hear the sliding glass door open behind me and wipe the wetness from my cheeks with my palm.

"Hey," Abby says. She pretends not see my tears and sits down in the chair opposite me. "We heard you yelling. Is everything alright?"

"Yes."

"Please talk to me, B. I'm not asking for details, and I'm not going to tell you what I think you should do. So I'm just going to tell you that, as your friend, I hate seeing you like this. You don't seem happy."

"Right now, I'm not." I take a long drink. "Things have been pretty tense with Nick for the last week, and I just called him to tell him about today, and all he wanted to do was argue. I mean, I should have known not to call him, with the way things have been lately."