The next day Leah had called a moving company and hired a truck to go and get her things from the condo that Lisa and Sheena now shared alone. All of her furniture and things that she had left were brought to hers and Nick's house and put in her bedroom. She and Nick spent the entire day setting her room up exactly how she liked it. Leah found out a week later from Sheena's mom that Lisa had moved back to Seattle, breaking her contract with Cosmopolitan, and that Sheena had fled to Vegas with her boyfriend and they had eloped. They were now living in a house in Tampa. She was still modeling with Cosmo, as well as Allure, and a few other well known magazines. Leah was happy for her and her and Nick had gone out together and bought Sheena and her new husband a wedding gift. Sheena called a day after she received it to thank Leah and they had made plans to get together. They had done just that a week later and now went to lunch and a movie every Thursday.
As for Nick and Leah, they had been getting along wonderfully and loved being roommates. It was fun being roommates with a guy, Leah had come to realize, just because they were different from girls and weren't so hormonal ... though Leah couldn't stand the fact that he left the toilet seat up and she had actually resorted to typing up little signs to hang above the toilets: PUT THE SEAT DOWN, YOU IDIOT. WE DON'T ALL GOTTA STAND WHEN WE PISS. Nick had begged her to take all the signs down at first, but after a while he got used to them and now they only made him laugh when he saw them. As for Nick, he also loved living with the opposite sex ... except for the boxes of tampons and pads that he'd find in the bathroom cabinets. But nothing was worse than the used ones that he often found strewn around the house by his dogs. He made Leah clean those up. She only laughed, not embarrassed in the slightest, though Nick's own face had turned slightly red the first time it'd happened.
"Leah!!" Nick yelled up the staircase. It was a Wednesday afternoon and Leah had been living there for two months now. Each day that passed made Nick wonder more and more what would happen if Leah knew how he really felt about her. He was sick of wondering ... he couldn't go on the way that they were -- he couldn't just be best friends with her any longer. He needed her to know that he loved her, that he was in love with her ... she wasn't a sister to him, she was a potential girlfriend ... and a potential wife for later on. He was desperately in love with her, and he couldn't pretend that he wasn't any longer. He'd promised himself, when she had moved in, that once she turned 18 he would tell her. Her birthday was a week ago, and Nick knew that tonight he had to tell her. He had to get it off of his chest.
"Yeah, Nick?" Leah asked as she bounced down the staircase, clad in short jean shorts and a baby pink tank top. She was so girlie sometimes and Nick absolutely loved it. She was adorable.
He grinned at her, "You look cute."
"Thanks," Leah smiled, before kicking him playfully, "So what'd you want, hot stuff?"
Nick laughed, "Well I wanted to know if you wanted to go to dinner with me tonight, actually. I was thinking we could go to the Olive Garden or something, since you love it so much."
"What's the occasion?" Leah smirked.
"Ummmmmm ... Guess there isn't one."
"Okay, well yeah, I'd love to go."
Nick smiled, "Great. Be ready by 5 ... you know how full it gets for dinner."
"Yep ... Meet you down here at 5, on the dot." With that Leah ran up the stairs and into her bathroom to get ready. It was already 3 and she needed to shower and shave her legs, wanting to wear her brand new skirt that she'd bought when she and Sheena had been shopping the week before.
Leah was excited to go to the dinner with Nick, as she jumped into the shower. They did things together a lot but every time was a new experience, because of how goofy they were when together. She knew that like every other night, it would be one to remember.
