I woke up from the light coming out of the window. I stretched or tried since a weight on my waist wouldn't let me move. I looked down to find a hand pulling me towards warmth. A hand attached to a strong harm that was itself attached to a hot body. My eyes widened in realization: Nick Belisario was spooning me.
Heat flushed through my body. Part of me wanted to get up and run, but another wanted me to stay and be enveloped by his warmth, cuddled by his arms. But then I would have to face him when he woke up. How would that play out? Certainly not like what happens in those romantic books and movies. So, I made up my mind.
I slowly freed myself from his grasp to make sure he wouldn't wake up. I wanted to avoid that at all costs. I succeeded and got up, glancing back at his peaceful, sweet, sleeping face before stepping out of the room.
I walked down the stairs to get my bag from the car. Once I was back, I walked through the maze of rooms until I found a bathroom. I took a warm long shower, that felt cold compared to Nick's body. Maybe I should actually take a cold shower.
Rummaging through my bag for underwear I found the bottle that held my sleeping pills. It completely slipped my mind last night. Still, I had been able to have a long, good night of sleep, free of nightmares. I thought for a moment that maybe I didn't need them anymore, but remembered last week when I had to take two doses. It always gets worse as the anniversary gets closer. So, I would rather believe it had been the alcohol in my system than admit it had been because Nick held me.
I shouldn't go there, I couldn't. Nick was a friend, and I was just being infatuated by his looks. That's it. It wasn't a crush, it wasn't love, it was simply hormones. So, I thought that if I slept through the night once I could do it again and decided to try it again today. If it didn't work, I'd have Sunday to recover.
Once I was dressed, I went looking for my other friends. Micah was plastered on the big modern grey couch in the living room. I explored the house -- or at least the rooms whose doors were open -- taking in all its beauty. It was decorated in a very simplistic way –- a statement piece, an abstract painting, a sculpture here and there –- very harmonized. The high walls married the dark-shinny wooden floor perfectly, flowing from a room to another like a calm river.
I found Tyler sitting on the kitchen's isle, drinking water. He stopped and smiled when he spotted me. He looked tired.
"Hungover?" I asked.
"Nah, I'm good. I know when to stop."
"It sure didn't look like it, you couldn't even help Nick out of the car. I had to pretty much carry all of his dead weight to his room." I exaggerated a bit, It hadn't been that hard since Nick had recovered a bit.
"Oh I could, but if I did I wouldn't have this," he said, showing me his phone.
I got closer to see what he could possibly mean and felt my face flush once I realized what I was looking at. In Tyler's phone was a picture of me and Nick sleeping together, cuddling. And from what I could tell the picture had been taken at night. I tried to snatch the phone from his hand, but he was too quick.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." He waved his finger in front of me. "This is mine. My precious," he added, trying to imitate Gollum from the Lord of the Rings.
Why would he do that? I really hoped he would keep that picture for himself. I didn't want to deal with Noah's and Micah's mockeries. But Tyler knew how to mess up with me, so when everyone was up, he started having fun.
We were all splattered around the living room. We were eating pizza, talking about how Noah couldn't handle his alcohol, when Tyler turned to Nick, "Hey man, look at this picture!" He basically shoved his phone at Nick's face. I stopped eating to look at Nick wide-eyed. Shit.
I almost choked in my own saliva when Nick irritably pushed the phone away. "I told you I'm not getting a dog!" A wave of relief washed over me. I glared at Tyler who was already staring at me with that stupid grin on his face. He was loving every moment of it.
Tyler kept playing with my nerves until we called it a day. Nick drove us back home and I had to tell my mom all about the party. I did, leaving the alcohol parts out, even though she probably suspected there was some of that involved. "I had a good time," I said. "It was fun." And she beamed. That's my mom ladies and gents, the only mother who is glad her teenage daughter goes to parties with guys and potentially drinks alcohol. That says much about the social issues she thinks I have.
Monday came by and I was happy to see that Tyler lost interest in tormenting me with his so-called compromising picture. Nick either didn't remember anything that happened at his house, or acted like it, either way, I was thankful for it. One less awkward situation to deal with.
We were having lunch; I was teasing Noah after Laura stopped by our table to talk to him, making the tip of his ears red. Apparently, his dance moves at the party impressed her. We were having a good time when, out of nowhere, a brunette with pretty blue sapphire eyes sat next to Nick. My eyes widened then I frowned in confusion, looking at Tyler for answers, only to see him grimace at the sight next to him.
"Hi Nick," the girl's sweet voice sang, but Nick ignored her.
"Hi there Lucifer, came back for the Armageddon?" Tyler spoke, bitterly. Very differently than the usual carefree Tyler would.
"Tyler. I see you didn't change a bit."
"At least I never tried to seem something I'm not," he bit back.
She sighed, turning back to Nick. "Can we talk?"
"No." A simple, direct answer from the guy whom if looks could kill he would probably be in prison already. I didn't like that. I balled my fists under the table, trying to control my protective instincts.
"Come on babe," she pleaded, and I couldn't help but grimace at the word.
"I have nothing to say to you. Leave!" I've been so wrong about Nick. All those times I thought he was mad at me I've been completely, utterly wrong. This, the Nick in front of me, was the real angry Nick. His jaw kept clenching and his fist closed around his fork as if it could snap it in half, in a matter of seconds.
"Is she the ghost?" I quickly texted. Tyler read the text almost instantly and simply nodded at me, his expression full of pain and disgust.
The girl looked down at the table before turning to us, "Oh I'm sorry, how rude of me. I'm Leslie." None of us said anything knowing that whoever she was, she was the enemy of our friend and therefore our enemy too.
Her lips pressed together in a fine line and she turned to me. "I heard you dated Manson Wilde, is that true?"
My lips twitched and I sneered at her. "I did." Who the hell did she think she was, bringing up bad memories like that?
"Did he manipulated you as he manipulated me?" The question took me by surprise, but I quickly connected the dots. She was that girlfriend, the one who left Nick for Manson. Was she the one who abandoned Nick? Was she the one who left him so destroyed that he had a hard time trusting us? Trusting me?
"He did manipulate me," I conceded, embarrassed of it. "But unlike you, he would never manipulate me into cheating on my boyfriend. I have values." I snapped and she recoiled at the venom in my words. Tyler smirked next to her and winked at me in approval. Yep, I wasn't going to let her barge in and mess with us. Mess with Nick.
She looked at me full of disgust, as if she despised me, as if I had broken some sort of girl's code. I guess she didn't get the memo that I was a bro, and that was my code. She turned back to Nick once again. She rubbed his arm and made cute puppy eyes. "Come on babe, let me just talk to you. It won't take long. Don't you remember our conversations?" she asked once again, ogling at him. "Our kisses?" she whispered.
Nick shook off her hand and for the first time looked at her in the eyes. Anger fuming from him. "I said no!"
This time it was her jaw that clenched. "Fine, but I won't give up on you."
"You're too late for it now Lucy," Tyler said. "Now, go back to hell and never come back."
"My name is Rebeca!" She let out a frustrated grunt and got up. Spinning on her heels she left our table in peace.
"You're okay man?"
"Fine." But he wasn't fine, everyone could see that. He was on edge. I looked at Tyler and made a silent promise to distract Nick and take his mind out of this girl who had clearly done more damage than I could've imagined.