"Hey, stranger!" I hear as soon as I step in the hallway.
I turn around and see Abby. I wait for her to catch up. "Hey. Sorry. I've been a little busy." I swallow nervously. "Nick's here."
Everyone—but especially Abby—was shocked when I returned from Christmas break without a boyfriend. None of them could understand why I broke up with Evan, and I didn't want to tell them about Nick. I wanted to keep that to myself.
When I started spending more and more time on the phone with him, I know she figured it out. I knew that she knew. She knew that I knew she knew. But we didn't talk about it. I think she kept waiting for me to bring it up, and I wasn't ready for her to scold me for putting myself in this situation...again.
She elbows me. "Yeah, I know. Derek told me. Why do you think I left you alone all weekend?"
"So you don't care?"
"Why would I care? Bailey, I want you to be happy. I'll only have a problem if he makes you unhappy again."
I nod. I've had the same thoughts. The last two days have been heaven. But how long will this last? "I am happy."
"So are you guys together now?"
"No." I answer simply.
"Well how long is he staying?"
"I don't know." We haven't discussed it.
"Ooookay. Well I'm confused," Abby laughs. "Do you want to meet for lunch?"
"I told Nick I would bring him something to eat in the room."
"Bailey, you two need to leave that room. When am I ever going to meet him and be able to form my own opinion?"
"I know. You're right. I'm just...nervous. Right now, we're like in our own world.We're going to become more vulnerable when we enter the real world, and I don't know how Nick will react to that."
"Is that really how you want to live your life? Afraid of how he will react?"
"No." I think. "I'm definitely going to the party on Friday, so if Nick is still here, you'll meet him there."
"Okay, but you should do something before that. Go on a date or something."
Nick? On a date? I can't even picture it. But I guess there's a first time for everything.
When I return to the room three hours later, Nick is sitting in bed, reading Gone With the Wind. I chuckle. "Fan of the classics?"
Nick sets the book face down on his lap. "My options were limited with your selection." He says, pointing to my shelves, filled to excess with books of all shapes and sizes.
"What are you talking about? I have tons of options."
"Yeah but I'm not going to read about a fucking vampire love triangle."
I laugh, setting the pizza box on my desk. "Oh whatever. You are totally Team Jacob."
He rolls his eyes and reaches over to the food, grabbing a slice as I do the same. We sit in silence for a few minutes while we eat. I'm sitting on my chair while Nick is still on my bed sideways, feet on the floor. It's only a few feet, but it feels too far. I move to sit next to him.
I see a hint of a smile that he tries to hide as I lay my head on his shoulder. "I missed you," I admit. Every time I felt the throbbing soreness between my legs, I wished I was back in this room.
He wraps his arm around my shoulder. I expect him to give me shit—I've only been gone a few hours—but he doesn't. "I missed you, too."
"I thought you'd go back to sleep after I left since you had nothing to do."
"I tried. But, I don't know. I think I've had the best sleep of my life the last few nights. I'm not tired."
I tilt my head up and kiss him. "Me neither."
He pulls me on to his lap. "How much time do you have?" His voice has become deeper, and I feel an instant wetness forming in my panties.
I look up quickly at my clock. "Twenty minutes."
"Plenty of time."
I help him take his shirt off and pause when I see the red mark still on his shoulder. It's beginning to bruise and swell. I run the back of my fingers over it gently. "I don't know what came over me."
"Me neither. But fuck, I loved it."
He brings my hand to him before placing my middle finger into his mouth. He sucks gently, massaging it with his tongue. It feels so soft and smooth. I find myself biting the inside of my cheek, trying to keep my composure.
When he removes my hand, he looks at the clock. "Fifteen minutes."
I stand up and remove my jeans, bending over to get them past my ankles. When I look back up, Nick has removed his pants as well. As I straddle him he says, "You know I like to take my time usually, but we don't have much of that."
I bring my finger to his lips. "Shh. You don't need to make excuses with me."
I lower myself on to him, and he nods. I bring my mouth to his, kissing him as I continue rocking my hips, earning a moan.
I break the kiss. "I forgot I needed to ask you something."
He buries his face into my neck and wraps his arms around my back. "Yeah?"
"You have to promise to say yes."
He lifts his head up, and I see his eyebrows creased together. Before he can question me, I begin moving in circles around him. His breathing accelerates even more. "Okay, I promise."
"Go on a date with me tomorrow."
He can't speak as I speed up my pace, and he releases himself into me. I quickly follow, forgetting my question completely. "Fuck, Bailey. That was evil."
I slide off of him and love the sight of his dick, still hard and wet because of me. I break my gaze and look for my pants. "I knew you wouldn't agree if I didn't make you promise."
I hear him stand as I redress. After my jeans are buttoned, he places his hand on the side of my face. "What makes you think I would have said no?"
His eyes are making me not want to go to class after all, but I try to keep my cool. "Because you don't date, remember?"
"The rules don't count when it's you," he says before bringing his mouth to mine.
Since neither of us have much extra money to spend, I decide to spend the date outdoors the next day, taking advantage of the warm weather. I only had one class this morning, so we have plenty of time. There are various trails through the woods around campus, and Nick and I leisurely walk through them.
I wish I wouldn't have called it a date. That adds an extra pressure to it that makes me feel nervous at first. At some point, though, Nick grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers, and all my nerves vanish.
We come across the campus lake and I see a couple of student workers renting out paddle boats for a dollar an hour. I look at Nick, hopefully, "Let's do it."
He pats his pockets. "I didn't bring any cash."
"I did." And it's settled.
Once we are away from the dock, we float and I stretch my arms out, soaking up the sun. It's the first nice day we've had this spring, and I need some Vitamin D.
I glance at Nick behind my sunglasses and see that he looks distraught, looking down at the water. "What's up?" I ask him.
"Nothing," he says without looking up.
I sit up straight and grab hold of his shirt, pulling him to me. I kiss him with an open mouth slowly, deliberately. "Tell me."
He sits back in his seat. "I don't know. I just hate the fact that you had to pay. That should be my job, right? I know I've never been on a real date before, but I'm pretty sure that's how it's suppose to work."
"Nick, it was one dollar."
"I know. But it's the principle."
I shake my head. "You're being ridiculous. You know that, right?"
I see a small smile forming on his lips. "We'll see how ridiculous I am when I throw you overboard."
"I'd like to see you try."
And just like that, we're us again.
"Do you remember when we went to the Ozarks?" I ask, reminiscing.
Nick laughs. "Yeah. What were we? Fourteen?"
"Probably. I just remember that afternoon that my parents rented us those paddle boats and you and Ian attacked Mandy and I with water balloons."
The boat starts shaking with Nick's chuckling. He wipes his eyes like he's crying. "Yeah. Jesus Christ, I'd forgotten all about that. You were so pissed. You stood up to yell at us and fell in the water!"
His laughter is contagious. "Yeah, well, we were completely unarmed! We had no way of blocking you!"
He's nodding, unable to speak, still wiping his eyes.
"Who's idea was that, anyway? Ian swore he thought of it."
He takes a deep breath, starting to calm himself. "It was mine. I even bought the balloons the day before we left."
I punch him on the shoulder. "Oh yeah, because you had such a big crush on me. Isn't that Ian's theory?" I tease.
His smile starts to dissolve. "Yeah. Something like that."
Fuck. Why did I have to bring up Ian? We haven't discussed my family since Nick got here. I've actually been making it a point to not discuss them. I don't want to ruin this time we've had.
This visit has been so nice, especially today. It's giving me a glimpse of what we could have, if Nick would just let us. We could be a real couple. I know we could.
I still don't even know when he's leaving. I want him to stay as long as he wants to, but bringing it up would be acknowledging that a world outside of the two of us actually exists. If I do that, what if he shuts down again? I've worked too hard to get him this far.