I woke up at ten in the morning on Saturday in my bed. Last night, I was sure I had fallen asleep on the couch watching movies with Nick. Had he brought me here?
The previous night, Nick and I strangely managed to be together all day without fighting or him getting angry. He wasn’t bad company; in fact, I had a good time. He wasn’t as overbearing as I thought he would be.
Today, we were supposed to go to Winchester. In the end, I couldn’t say no. He was being nice to me the rest of the day, so I assumed there wouldn’t be anything weird between us this time.
I showered, brushed my teeth, looked for something to wear, and then called Martin. He still hadn’t answered, and it was driving me crazy. Had we broken up? No, we couldn’t have. We said we would try. Would he give up so easily? I tried to push it out of my mind and headed out of my room.
I entered the kitchen and found Nick cooking… He turned to look at me.
“I’m preparing lunch for us to take out. I recommend you grab a coat,” he glanced at my cleavage shamelessly, and I’m sure my face must have turned red. But it’s no problem for me.
He winked at me. What did that mean?
I hurriedly left and changed. I put on white shorts and changed the V-neck blouse for a loose T-shirt and simple sneakers. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. He was acting strangely, as if he wasn’t convinced of what he said or did himself. It seemed like he had eaten a rainbow for breakfast.
I realized he was trying to be nice to me. For a second, I thought he wanted our relationship to work, that was the only thing that occurred to me at that moment.
Twenty minutes later, I went down to the kitchen, and Nick was sitting on the counter waiting for me. When he saw me, he smiled and picked up the basket next to him.
“Ready?” he asked, grabbing his keys and walking towards me.
“Have you seen Olivia?” I turned my head to look at the door of her office. It had been two days since I saw her.
“She’s in her office. I already told her we were going out, don’t worry,” he placed his hand on my shoulder, and it made me feel strangely good in my stomach.
“Alright, shall we go?” I walked quickly towards the door. Not feeling his hands felt empty, but feeling them was agonizing. As if I wanted him to touch me just a little more. And then more. And more.
“Of course. But this time, we’re going in a bigger car.” He smiled slightly and went to a door at the back of the house. There were three cars there, and my mouth fell open.
“Do you have three cars?!” I yelled. Normally when I get angry or surprised, I use that stupid voice.
“They belong to my dad and Olivia, and don’t yell,”
“But Olivia always gets picked up. I’ve never seen her drive, except when she picked me up at the airport.”
“Well, yes, but they’re hers. I use them occasionally, but they’re not mine.”
“But technically, they’re yours,” I argued, looking at the cars; they must be worth a fortune.
Nick got into a blue Toyota, motioning for me to get in too. I sat in the passenger seat and fastened my seatbelt.
“Where did you say we were going? To a park?”
“You’ll see.”
The journey was quite long, and we didn’t talk much. We just turned on the music and listened to Oasis. He had good taste in music. After forty-five minutes, we arrived at a large, beautiful field full of bushes and trees.
“We’ve arrived,” he said, raising his hands towards the landscape. It was a somewhat forced gesture; you could tell Nick wasn’t comfortable with half the things he said, as if they weren’t his own, as if he was trying too hard to win my sympathy.
“It’s beautiful,” I said without taking my eyes off the place; it really was magnificent…
“I knew you’d like it,” he said with a smile, and my heart skipped a beat.
“Yes, it’s very nice. I used to come here often when I was a kid, and many more times as I grew up. Back then, it was my second favorite place in the world. I used to come here just to get lost for a while,” Nick confessed with a smile that seemed like a child’s. My heart ached.
“And what was the first?” I asked curiously. I knew everything about Nick when he was little. It hurt to know that sometimes he hid the need to escape, and I didn’t know.
“That’s a secret,” he winked at me, and I blushed.
How could he have that stupid effect on me?
“Stop winking at me; it looks like you have a tic.”
“Stop wrinkling your nose; you look like a rabbit,” he smiled smugly. I was happy, very happy.
Wrinkling my nose was a habit of mine; I had been doing it since I was little, and he remembered, he called me rabbit all the time.
“I raised my voice and tried to put on the sweetest expression possible.
“That face is more frightening than endearing.”
God, not even Nick lets me get away with it. I slapped him on the arm in reprimand.
Nick ran his hand where my hand had hit him a few seconds ago. He pretended to be hurt. I knew I hadn’t hurt him. “Ow! That hurt,” he lied.
“Don’t be a baby.”
He left the basket with all the lunch on the grass.
“What did you say?” he asked, moving slowly behind me. He had heard me; he was challenging me to see if I could repeat it out loud.
“What was I going to do? Throw myself into the river?”
Saying that, he lifted me over his shoulder. Or not.
I started kicking him. “Nick! Nick! Let me go, seriously!”
He walked towards the riverbank.
“What did you say?” he encouraged me to repeat it.
“All right! It’s okay. I’m sorry. Now, please, put me down.” He debated whether to let me down or not. Actually, I didn’t mind his arm holding tight to my thighs, or my stomach touching his back. After a few seconds, he put me down on the ground.
“Now, who’s the baby?”
I was still trembling from his damn touch, and it was driving me crazy. I hated not being able to control my own body; I never had problems keeping my emotions in check. When Martin wanted to have sex with me a few nights ago, I refused. No matter how much he kissed me or touched me, I didn’t let myself feel good about it. What’s the problem now? Why do I want Nick to be even closer when he’s near? Why does he react in a new way to me when our bodies touch?
“Asshole,” I murmured, half laughing and half serious. I was still excited.
It seemed like Nick heard me because he turned around, lifted me up, and threw me into the river.
The water was freezing.
“You’re an idiot,” I yelled, almost freezing to death. He was laughing out loud. The damn bastard was rolling with laughter. “Nick, will you help me?”
I raised my hand for him to grab and lift me. When he finally stopped laughing, he took my hand, and I pushed him into the water. I started laughing as he did a few seconds ago.
“It’s freaking cold!” Nick shouted.
“That didn’t stop you with me,” I commented, almost whispering. I couldn’t stop laughing.
When I felt my head sink into the water for a couple of hands, my anger grew. I declared war. We started trying to drown each other until it went from revenge to pretty brutal fun. We didn’t care about not hurting ourselves, which made it even more enjoyable.
Nick submerged himself deeper; I couldn’t see where he was, but when I felt a pair of arms around my legs… I knew it was that damn bastard.
He pulled me down with him and wrapped his arm around my waist. My mother had forbidden me since I was a child to open my eyes underwater; if I did, they would turn red. With that in mind, I didn’t open them; I just listened to my mother’s voice repeating it over and over again.
Nick touched my cheek. I knew it hadn’t been five seconds since we were underwater, but it felt like an eternity when I felt completely pressed against Nick’s chest, with one hand on my back and the other on my cheek. I knew he was encouraging me to open my eyes.
I wasn’t very sure if that was what I really should do.
But I did it anyway.
Nick was very close to my face, looking at me intently. My heart skipped a beat.
His face was still as beautiful underwater, and his eyes were something I couldn’t help but look at like two precious jewels.
When the tip of his nose brushed mine, a feeling of anguish invaded me. He wanted to kiss me. And I wanted to cry.