"I have an idea." I walk into the bedroom.
"Oh great" Nikki rolled his eyes as he searched through the channels on the TV.
"I think you and I should bring all the idiots up to the lake for the fourth of July!" I said, settling into my bed.
"I didn't know you wanted that house completely destroyed" he replied, getting under the covers with me.
"It seems that you have already moved in with me here, don't see how much more damage there can be if we just brought them on a vacation for a week or two." I shrugged
"I mean, it sounds fun but doesn't say I didn't warn you" he put his arm over my shoulder.
"Oh come on" I whined. "How bad can they be?"
Nikki shot me a very confident look that it will indeed be very bad. I shook it off and continued watching the program on TV. It didn't take me long to fall asleep, it never does when he's in my arms.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"Ari, come on. You're really going to treat me like this when I haven't even done anything wrong?"
"You tricked me into going into that closet with you when you knew I was there with somebody else!"
"Tricked you? You voluntarily left with me- don't you DARE try to put the blame on me!"
"I AM PUTTING THE BLAME ON YOU! I WAS A VIRGIN AND YOU TRICKED ME!"
"That's not my god damn problem- and maybe it's true about what they're all saying about you too."
"Who? Whos saying what about me?"
"Everyone! Everyone here knows you're a fucking slut! Except for your precious boyfriend. So why don't we tell him right now? Hey Nikki!"
"No Vince- STOP!"
"What the hell is going on? Why are you two yelling?"
"Hey man- I didn't want to be the one to tell you but since your "girlfriend" is too much of pussy to do it, so I have to!"
"Aria, what the hell is he talking about?"
"Nikki, don't listen to a word he says-"
"Your girlfriend is a whore, Nik!"
"What? Aria! Aria!.."
"Aria!"
"What! What!" I rubbed my eyes.
"You were having a nightmare or something... you were shaking me awake" Nikki explained.
"Um-" I cleared my throat. "Could you go get me a bottle of water please?"
"Sure hunny.." he kissed my forehead and left the bed. I fell back into my pillow, massaging my temples. That could not have been any worse. I sighed. It was only just a dream. I know this has been eating me up but I can't tell him... not like that. I can't stop thinking about Vince... Thinking about me.. Thinking about us- who am I kidding? There is no us. There's me and Nikki. That's "us." One problem at a time, please! "Here you go, Ari" Nikki handed me the bottle.
"I should have told you to go get a bottle of vodka instead" I took it from him.
"What was your dream about?" He sat down and began to graze his hand over my back.
I shook my head "I- I don't remember... It was something like I was being chased or whatever" I lied.
"Did you watch a scary movie lately?" he laughed.
I laugh in a nervous response "Nope, don't think so."
Nikki didn't want to fall back asleep until I did, but I couldn't, so we stayed listening to the background noise of the TV. I was stuck staring out the window, at the moonlight and the only two stars you could see in the sky due to the city's light reflecting this far. Nikki played with my hair as he watched the late-night programming.
"Hey Nikki?" I said with a low voice.
"Yeah babe?" he responded in an alike manner.
"Can you tell me a story?"
"Like what?" he asked.
"From when you were a kid... you haven't really told me a lot and I want to know what little Nikki was like" I shift my laying position so that I can see his face.
"Uhh" he scoffs with a slight smile. "Well, it's kind of a long story."
"Then tell me a short one"
"Let's see if I can think of a not-so-depressing story... ha- I'll tell you about the time I discovered Kiss."
"I hate Kiss." I cringe.
Nikki cringed back at me but continued on. "This was around the time that I started listening to Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, I was doing something in my room and my Nona called out to me and said "That guy you like, Peter Cooper. He's on TV." I knew what she meant. I didn't have any Alice Cooper albums, but I was becoming interested in Alice Cooper, so I ran right out, down the hall, and into the room where our TV set was and The Merv Griffin Show was on. That's when I got my first glimpse of Gene Simmons from Kiss- definitely was not Alice Cooper but he was cool too. He was dressed up in full makeup, big boots, devil horns coming up from his shoulders, just going for full-on shock. I didn't love Kiss's look but I didn't hate it. I never became obsessed, the way some of my other friends did. Everyone liked them the same way they still do today with tattoos and t-shirt kind of shit but I paid more attention to their songwriting more than anything else, and it's funny: Oh Ari you are going to kill me for this."
"Why?" I laughed.
"Not long ago when we were co-headlining with Kiss, and I was playing ["Ten Seconds to Love-"]"
"Yeah my favorite song..." I narrowed my eyes.
"And it's ironic that you hate Kiss so much because I was just balls-deep in the song, the crowd was going wild, and suddenly I realized: "Whoa! I totally ripped this song off of 'Calling Doctor Love'!""
"WHAT!" I screamed.
"Shhhh you're going to wake your parents." he put his finger over my lips.
I then screamed in a whisper "What!? Nikki, I am so breaking up with you after that!"
"Oh come on- it's not that bad" he whined.
"Yes. Yes it is... I do not like Kiss what-so-ever and now I find out that the only half-decent song you have is a fucking Kiss rip-off?"
"Are you kidding? "Only half-decent?" You are so full of shit" he laughed.
I chuckled at Nikki's playful protest. "Okay, okay, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. But seriously, a Kiss rip-off? I expected better from my so-called "rockstar" boyfriend."
Nikki gave me a mischievous grin. "Well, darling, sometimes inspiration comes from unexpected places. Besides, it's not like we're the only ones who've borrowed a riff or two in the music world."
I rolled my eyes playfully. "Fine, I'll let it slide this time. But you owe me a non-Kiss-inspired masterpiece."
He leaned in closer, his voice turning serious. "Deal. And I promise, it'll be a song that's just for you."
I smiled with a sense of pride "Alright, I'll hold you to that. Now, tell me more about your younger days. I want to know everything about little Nikki."
Nikki settled back, his fingers tracing patterns on my back as he began to reminisce. "Well, aside from discovering rock music, I was a bit of a troublemaker, I have to admit. My friends and I used to pull pranks on the neighbors, harmless stuff like toilet papering trees and ringing doorbells. Oh, and there was this time we tried to build a homemade rocket out of firecrackers... Let's just say it didn't end well."
"You were a handful, weren't you?"
Nikki shrugged, a playful glint in his eyes. "Hey, what's life without a little chaos, right?"
Later, when I started to doze off, Nikki whispered softly, "You know, no matter how crazy things get, no nightmares or doubts can change how much I care about you."
I turned to look at him, a warm feeling spreading through me, I kissed him. "I know, Nikki."
—————————————————————