“Hey, Bone, can I talk to you?” The door opened and Nick walked into AJ’s room, accidentally leaving the door open just a crack.
“Sure, Kaos, what’s up?” AJ asked, switching the television off.
“I’m having some Ally trouble.” He hesitated. “I want to have sex, and she doesn’t.”
“Why not?”
“She said she’s not ready, but she’s not even a virgin! She’s so difficult! Why can’t she just suck it up and forget about her morals for a few hours?” Nick muttered. He looked at his friend for advice.
“You’ll just have to be patient, Frack,” AJ answered him. “She’s been through a lot in the past few months, and this is a big thing for her. You can’t rush her into it.”
“We’ve been together for over a month. She obviously wasn’t so careful with Craig. Every time I make a move on her, she stops me. God! It’s just sex!” His voice was full of frustration and impatience.
“If you’re upset with her for this, you have to consider what kind of attraction you have toward her. Are you actually in love with her, or do you just want to get into her pants?”
“Of course I’m in love with her! I just wish I could physically show her that.”
“You show her every day by hugging her and kissing her and holding her, and you tell her all the time.”
“Okay, so part of it is for my enjoyment,” Nick admitted. “But I do love her, and I would never hurt her.”
AJ sighed. “The best advice I can offer is that if she’s not ready, then don’t pressure her into it. It will mess things up later because she’ll regret it, and that isn’t something you want her to regret.”
“Thanks, Bone. I’m going to grab something to eat and then go back to my room,” he said. He stood up and went downstairs to the restaurant.
When Nick got back to his room, he found Ally asleep in bed. Her hair was matted to her face and her cheeks were slightly blotchy. Had she been crying? He sat down next to her and lovingly brushed her hair out of her face, accidentally awakening her. Her eyelids fluttered open. “Nick?”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up. Go back to sleep,” he whispered. He kissed her cheek and stood up to go watch TV, but decided to ask. “Is anything wrong, baby?”
“No,” she lied. “I’m just tired.”
“Were you crying?”
“A little before. I, um, stubbed my toe,” she said uncomfortably.
Though it was just slightly questionable, he accepted her excuse and, closing his eyes, he leaned down to kiss her softly on the mouth. Her hands reached down and pulled at his shirt. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m sucking it up and forgetting about my morals for a few hours,” she replied sarcastically.
His eyes shot open. “What are you talking about?” he exclaimed.
“What? Like you told AJ, it’s just sex,” she stated. She angrily slid past him and locked herself in the bathroom to cry again.
Frustrated, he pounded on the door and shouted for her to come out. “Ally, what are you doing? Will you please talk to me? Why are you so mad at me?”
“Why am I so mad at you?” she repeated in disbelief. “You really are dumb, aren’t you?”
He let out a sigh or irritation. “You’re certainly making me feel like it! Will you at least tell me what I did wrong?”
“If you don’t know, then I’m not about to tell you. Figure it out on your own!” she cried, signaling that the conversation was over.
He stomped out of the room and slammed the door. Why were girls always like that? When you supposedly did something wrong, they could never tell you what you did. Maybe they just needed an excuse to get mad and they couldn’t think of a valid one. What had he done wrong? She had obviously overheard him talking with AJ, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t made it clear that he loved her. He had said he wanted to have sex, well, partly because of that. Did she just not like the fact that he told someone outside of their relationship about it before - that was it. She was angry because he went to someone else before he talked to her about it.
He dashed back to his room and opened the door to find Ally sitting on the sofa, watching TV. “You’re mad because I told AJ something instead of telling you,” he stated.
“Hmm, that’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that. Still, you’re wrong,” she grumbled.
“I don’t know, Alexandra! Are you mad because I didn’t go to you first? Are you mad because I told AJ about your personal life? Are you mad because I want to love you physically as well as emotionally? You’re going to have to tell me because I’m drawing a blank here!”
Ally let out a cry of frustration. “I’m mad because you can’t accept the fact that I’m not ready to have sex yet! At least, not with you.”
“That’s what this is about?” Nick muttered. “I don’t understand why that’s such a big deal.”
“Sex is a special thing, Nick. It’s not something you do with just anyone. I love you, but I’m not quite ready to make that big of a commitment. I jumped into it with Craig, and it just didn’t work.” She paused. “And now that you mention it, you didn’t even tell me you had this problem, but instead, you went to AJ about it. I want you to be able to talk to me. If you can’t talk to me about something that involves me in this big of a way, then how can you talk to me about anything else? You’ll end up shutting me out, Nick, and I don’t want that. I don’t think I can deal with that.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to shut you out, Ally. I didn’t go to you about it because I was worried you’d get all sensitive and then this would happen.”
“How were you worried about it before when you couldn’t even figure out what I was mad about?”
“I was worried that something bad would come out of it because you’re too damned sensitive and you’d take something personally and I’d end up in trouble in one way or another.”
“So I’m too damned sensitive now?”
“Okay, so that wasn’t quite what I was trying to say.”
“Then what WERE you trying to say, Nick? Maybe it’s just guy language, but I’m having a little trouble figuring it out.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. After a few moments, he threw his hands up in disgust, spun on his heel, and walked out of the room.
Shannon opened the door to find Ally standing outside her room. “Hey, Ally, is everything okay?” she greeted. Her friend looked like hell. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, her hair was stringy and clumped, and her cheeks were blotchy.
“Guys are so stupid, Shannon. I don’t think I can even look at Nick right now. Can I stay in here tonight?” Ally asked. She was on the verge of tears again.
Shannon opened the door farther and allowed her Ally to step in. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Nick can’t deal with the fact that I’m not ready to have sex with him, and he went and talked to AJ about it instead of me. I wouldn’t have even cared so much if he hadn’t talked to someone else before telling me how he felt, but if he’s going to keep me in the dark about something that matters that much to him, what else is he going to keep me in the dark about? Eventually, he’s going to shut me out entirely.” She took a deep breath. “Do you have any alcohol, Shannon? Please, tell me you do.”
“Oh, honey. Yeah, I do. Go sit down.” Shannon opened her small refrigerator and pulled out two wine coolers. “Just have a few…several of these and forget about him for the night. You need to take a break.”
“That sounds great, Shannon. Thanks.” Ally took a huge gulp from the bottle and collapsed on the bed.