"Hey Frack, how ya doin'?"
"OK, I guess. Nervous." Nick bounced his leg nervously as he chewed on his fingernail.
Brian smacked his leg to get him to stop bouncing it. "Stop that already, Nick. You have no reason to be nervous."
"Everyone keeps telling me that, but they're not the ones that have to be 'up against' Kevin." Just then Jenn came back to the living room. Nick looked at her anxiously.
"Chill out, she's almost ready. You look nice, by the way," Jenn said, smiling at Nick. "What are the plans tonight that you're all dressed up?"
"We're going to that new Italian restaurant that opened up, Victoria's." Brian and Jenn smiled at each other, looks of shock on their faces. Nick got paranoid. "What? You don't think she's gonna like it? I knew it... I might as well just go home now and forget--"
"No, NO, Nick, it's not that. We're just surprised that you're going all out like that. I think she'll love it!" Jenn said, smiling. "You gotta just calm down. Remember, this is happening because she likes you too, not just Kevin. Just be yourself and things will be fine." Jenn heard Laura coming down the hall.
All eyes in the room turned to look at Laura as she entered the room. She had on a black strapless dress, her hair piled on top of her head with curls coming down, her makeup done elegantly. Brian and Jenn smiled when they saw her. Laura always looked nice, even in a T-shirt and jeans, but even Jenn had to admit, she hadn't seen Laura look that great in a long time. "She looks amazing," Brian whispered to Jenn, as they both looked to Nick for his reaction.
Nick stood up and approached Laura. He had never seen someone so beautiful as her. Laura smiled at him. "Well, what do you think?" she asked, as she turned around slowly. Nick's eyes drunk her in.
"Wow, Laura... you look astounding. I've never seen someone look so incredible." Nick spoke, but he's not sure how. He was definitely tongue-tied at the sight of her.
Laura blushed. "Thank you, Nickolas." Her eyes moved up and down him. Her breath caught like a lump in her throat. "You look pretty amazing yourself," she said, rubbing her hand down his arm, stopping to take his hand. "Shall we?" she asked, never breaking eye contact with Nick.
"Let's go!" Nick said, leading Laura to the door. Opening it for her, she exited and Nick followed.
"Mmmmm," Misty said, AJ kissing her neck. "So much for going to the beach today," she chuckled breathlessly.
"Well, I think the beach will be there tomorrow, I don't think it's going anywhere," AJ mumbled between kisses.
Misty smiled. "That's fine with me, I'd much rather do this then work on my tan anytime!"
"Ohh, baby, you got that one right!" AJ said with a low growl as his kisses moved lower.
"Dinner was wonderful, Nick, thank you so much!" Laura said, smiling at Nick. He smiled back, still intoxicated by her.
"You're welcome, Laura. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Nick said, putting his arm around her as they walked to AJ's door. He could smell her perfume as he held her close. "But the night is not over. AJ said we could come over and watch a movie or something in his theater, so that's why we're here."
Nick unlocked AJ's door and opened it for Laura. She entered, and stopped dead in her tracks. Nick stopped too as he came in and saw the sight before him. "Hello, AJ," Nick said, amused and embarrassed at the same time. AJ and Misty sat up, scrambling for the blanket that was over the back of the couch.
"Wh-what are you guys doing here already?!" Misty asked, obviously shocked. "Didn't you guys go to dinner??"
AJ looked at the clock. "Uhh, Misty, they're right on time."
Laura chuckled at seeing Misty in such a predicament. "Looks like you guys were too, ummm, 'occupied' to notice that it was almost 8:30 already."
"Yeah, uhh, we're just gonna, ummm, move this upstairs.... uhhh, yeah, so ummm, have a good night," AJ said, as he and Misty hurried themselves up the stairs and left Nick and Laura alone. Once they were, they both burst out laughing.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Laura," Nick said, trying hard not to laugh. "I'm so embarrassed. Maybe we should have called first. But he told me that if we came over between 8 and 8:30 that--"
Laura smiled. "Shh, it's ok Nick. No big deal, really," she said, assuring Nick. He sighed a sigh of relief.
"Great, I'm glad." Nick stopped speaking as he looked at Laura again. "I mean it, Laura, I've never seen someone look so beautiful. I mean, you're beautiful anyway, but you really look great tonight." Laura blushed and looked down. Nick tilted her head up with his hand under her chin and looked into her eyes. "So beautiful," he said again, kissing her softly. Breaking away slowly, he smiled at her and she at him. Nick spoke softly, "Well, AJ said he'd have a movie ready for us, so should we go and watch?"
Laura was almost unable to speak. "Uhh, yeah, let's go," she said, continuing to look into Nick's eyes. They walked arm in arm down to AJ's theater.
"I hope they had a good time tonight," Misty said, as AJ passed her his cigarette.
"Proabably not as good of time as we did," AJ said, winking at Misty before taking his cigarette back.
"Considering their clothes were still on, I'd say, 'no' to that one," Misty chuckled, kissing AJ.
"As for us, we still have our clothes OFF," AJ said, raising his eyebrow. Misty, taking the hint, ducked under the bedcovers...
"Good movie, eh?" Nick asked, shutting it off.
"Yeah, really good. Although I have to admit, it was hard to concentrate on the movie," Laura said, smiling widely. "I was too busy checkin' you out!" She said, blushing.
Nick blushed also. "Well then I don't feel so bad, because I was doing the same thing... checking you out, that is," he chuckled, taking the disc out of the DVD player. He noticed that AJ had his Playstation set up in there also.
"Want to play?" Laura said, noticing that Nick was eyeing up the game console. She smiled assuringly at him. "I've not played in a long time, so you could easily kick my ass," she said with a giggle. Nick smiled as he set up a game. They sat down in the front row seat. "OK, now remember, I'm a girl, so be gentle," she joked, as they started playing the game.
Misty tiptoed down to the theater to peek in on Nick and Laura. She opened the door slightly and looked in the crack. She saw Laura and Nick were sleeping, Nick's arms wrapped around Laura, her head on his chest and her hair hanging over his shoulder. She smiled as she let the door close and tiptoed back up the stairs.
