"Can you just stop irritating me, Nick!" I whip his hand away from my ear.
"Not until you say we're friends again." He protests. I sigh and I turn to his smirking face.
"We're not friends. You know where I stand with you. Besides me giving you a ride to campus is me just being nice. Nothing else." He rolls his eyes and pierces his lips together.
"Look who's trying to act all cool with her leather jacket and this attempt to be a 'badass' is just-."
"Excuse me, sir, the man sitting behind you is asking if you can please stop moving around so much." The air hostess interrupts Nick and his face immediately changes ice cold.
"You can tell the man behind me that he has a mouth and can speak to me directly if he has a problem," Nick says, making sure the man behind him can hear what he's saying. My eyes widen a bit and so does the air hostesses. How rude.
"That's unnecessary," I say to him as the air hostess quickly walks away. He rolls his eyes, puts his earphones in his ears and I do the same. I cannot believe he got the seat next to me which he claims was a last-minute cancellation. That definitely is a lie as the flights back to Princeton are usually completely full, and the university is starting again tomorrow so it doesn't make sense. But, here we are, he's being annoying as usual and all I want to do is punch him in the face. I stare at my watch, great, two more hours left. I sigh as I know the responsible thing to do, is to study since my first exam is tomorrow but in order to get my books I need Nick to get up and to move out of the way first. I envy the man sitting next to me by the window, I feel like I'm too squashed and getting too claustrophobic. I turn to quickly stare at Nick, who's leaning on the back of his chair with his eyes closed, earphones in, jaw clenched, lips pierced and his fingers intertwined. I wonder what's going through his dark and twisted head. My eyes gaze down to his legs and yeap, his muscled, toned, and sexy legs are definitely too long for me to pass by without him having to get up or even feel me trying to pass by. My escape can be the bathroom. Perfect. I glance back up at him again and he seems so peaceful though. I lightly poke his arm and nothing happens. I poke him again, this time a bit harder.
"Can you not do that." He retorts and he lifts his head up and stares into my eyes.
"I need to go to the bathroom."
"Are you okay?" He frowns, studying my face.
"I just need to pee." I roll my eyes as I take my seatbelt off.
"Sorry for caring." He gets up, slides out of his chair, and motions for me to walk past him.
"Stop caring so much, Nick. I can take care of myself." I straighten up, glance at him, and walk to the bathroom. Man, I hate airplane bathrooms, they are so small and I don't even need to pee. I stare at the mirror for a minute, it's ridiculous how I have to use going to the bathroom as an excuse because if I tell him I'm too claustrophobic he'll switch seats with me and he'll constantly ask if I'm okay and quite frankly I don't need that from him. I take in a deep breath, girl you got this, I tell myself and I walk back. When I reach our row, Nick is on his phone and the other man is sleeping. I look at the overhead compartment opposite our chairs and as I reach up to the clip, I fall backward onto Nick's lap. Damn turbulence. I remain in the same position for a second trying to calm myself down, the universe truly hates me. I stare into his grass-green eyes whilst his hands are around my waist and he has a slight smirk on his face. His eyes travel down to my lips and then back up.
"You okay?" He whispers, I stare at him for a minute longer and I get to my feet again.
"Yeah sorry." I apologize and he gets up, grabs my laptop bag, and hands it to me. Before I can sit he takes the seat in the middle and motions me to sit in his aisle seat.
"Thank you." I give him a small smile, place my earphones in and attempt to go through the notes I've made on my iPad which is, of course, is impossible because Nick's eyes are fixated on me.
"Nick, what do you want? I'm trying to study!" I rip my earphones out and he smirks.
"I'm surprised your mom even bought you an iPad." He shrugs.
"Why?"
"You don't remember?" He sounds shocked.
"Remember what?" My eyes narrow.
"Remember those boards where you can draw on with that plastic pen thing and you just pull a handle to the other side and it erases everything?" He looks amused.
"Briefly." I pause, "What about it?"
"You honestly don't remember?" He looks quite shocked.
"Clearly I don't so just tell me." I roll my eyes.
"You literally broke it, piece by piece, to try and see where the supposed ink comes from, and the more we told you it's a plastic pen the more frustrated you got." He laughs a little and I tilt my head.
"Actually, Nick." I smirk, "That was you." His face instantly drops.
"No, it wasn't. You even almost threw the thing at your broth-." He pauses for a brief second.
"Oh wait, that was me, you're right." He sinks back into his chair and I giggle a bit.
"That was the same day my mom went to rehab for the first time." He looks so bleak.
"Yeah," I reply and we sit in silence for a minute. All our childhood memories briefly appear in my head, when did it all get so screwed up and complicated?
"Nick?" I softly say.
"Hm?" He opens his eyes again and he has a slight smile on his face.
"I need my best friend back," I mumble and his entire face lights up.
"I need my best friend back too." He says softly. I rest my head on his shoulder and we stay like that for the rest of the flight home. I feel safe again. I hope I don't regret this.
"I'll get a trolley." Nick walks off and I head to the conveyor belt that has our bags on. I briefly stare across from me and the dean of the law faculty is standing on the opposite side. Should I greet him or shouldn't I? If I don't I might seem rude and he is quite a respected guy around here. Maybe I should.
"Hi, Sir." I shake his hand and he gives me a warm smile.
"Ah, Olivia. How was your holiday? Are you ready for your exams?"
"It was great thanks sir and yes I am," I assure him and he nods.
"Great. Good luck, I'll try to mark them as quick as possible." He grabs one of his bags and places it on his trolley.
"I appreciate that sir." I smile and Nick clears his throat.
"Ah sir this is Nick Rhodes, he also studies at Princeton." Nick's face is stone cold and so is the Dean's. Their handshake is firm and long and they both just keep staring at each other.
"Nick, your bag." I clear my throat and he releases his grip from the Dean's hand and grabs his bag. The Dean gives me a brief smile.
"Sorry. He's in a bad mood." I apologize and he grabs his bag, greets me again, and walks off. I stare at Nick who's waiting for the other bags and his jaw is still clenched.
"That was rude."
"He's rude." He states and continues staring at the moving bags.
"Well okay then." He grabs the last bag and we head to the exit. His entire mood just changed. Maybe he's hangry.
"Want some lunch Liv?" He asks, I smile and I love how in sync we are. We grab some MacDonalds and his mood instantly changes as he bites into his Big Mac. After lunch, we walk to my car and we head off to the university.
"So does our friendship mean I get to know whether or not you and Brad have slept together?" He's arrogant, cocky tone appears again.
"My relationship with Brad is a topic we are not discussing Nick." I frown and out of the corner of my eye, I can see his jaw clenching again.
"Well, I won't go there with him if I was you." He shrugs and I am fuming right now.
I stop my car on the side of the highway, "Get out." I say unlocking the doors. He looks at me in disbelief and I glance back at the road in front of me and he remains seated.
"Get out Nick." I repeat and he refuses to move. I try counting to ten in my head just to calm myself down.
"You and I both know, you sleeping with him will be a big mistake Liv."
"Wow. Quite frankly Nick, you have no right to even speak to me about who I can and can't sleep with. You of all people shouldn't even bring that topic up nor dictate my life for me, Nick. Congratulation, this so-called friendship lasted approximately 3 hours, now get the fuck out of my car." I shrug. I don't think I've ever felt so calm in a situation where I actually just want to hit the person over the head with a frying pan. I knew I would regret trying to be his friend again.
"Are you serious?" His tone is dangerous and he is really shocked.
"Get. Out." I calmly say again and he gets out and slams the door. I jump at the sound of the door slamming and I drive again, flowing into the traffic. I do feel bad but I honestly do not care anymore. I have officially lost any respect I had left for Nick Rhodes. Call me immature, call me crazy, but I don't care anymore. As I park my car, I take a deep breath in, how dare he? I walk up to my apartment, and it's so great to be home. I take a much-needed shower, I cannot believe Nick, how ridiculous is this. So demanding and thinks I'll do anything and everything he says.
"What the fuck Liv!" My studying gets interrupted as Nick storms into my apartment. I knew he was going to come here.
"Here are my keys. Go get your bags, bring my keys up, and leave." I chuck the keys at him and he looks at me in disbelief.
"What?" I raise my eyebrow and he walks closer to me and the room is quiet.
"You literally left me on the side of the road Liv." He says softly and he burrows his eyebrows together. When he says that I kind of wanna smile a bit, I really just did do that. His tall body is right in front of me and I glance up at him and he's already staring at me.
"I do owe you an apology for what I said. It was wrong of me." He says softly and my eyes widen. Did Nick Rhodes really just sincerely apologized for something? When will this back and forth ever end?
"Yeah, it's fine. Please go and get your bags, I need to study." I take a step back and he tugs me by my waist.
"Baby." He says softly and it makes my heart melt when he says that. I place my hands on his chest as he hugs me and we stand like this for a few minutes.
"I'm seeing Brad and you're seeing Kim, Nick. Please just don't make this any more complicated. Our friendship isn't going to work like this. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Please get your stuff and leave, I need to study." I walk him to the door and he looks sad. I can't do this anymore. My mental health won't allow it. He runs downstairs and ten minutes later, he hangs the keys on their hook, glances at me, and shuts the door. Parting ways like this is better I think.