Nick had a restless night full of dreams, some good some not so good. His mind kept replaying and twisting the events of the prior few days. He woke around 9a.m. to find he was clinging tightly to Bree and he, himself was shaking from some dream he couldn’t remember. Not wanting to wake her, Nick decided to get up and check on Mike and Tony. Still asleep, too.
After showering to wash away the worries from the night he decided to run out and pick up some breakfast for everyone. When he returned he found his three houseguests sitting in the living room talking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened the night before.
“Nick, man is that fresh Cuban Bread I smell?” Tony asked as he walked to the kitchen to check things out.
“Yup. And it seems someone started coffee here. Perfect timing. How long you guys been up?” He was looking from Tony to Bree kind of nervously not knowing exactly what if anything they had said to each other about last night.
Bree was smiling at the obvious question in Nick’s eyes, but it was Tony who spoke. “Man, everything’s cool. Right Brianna?”
“Everything’s fine, Nick. Tony felt bad for embarrassing me but I told him it was okay. It was just something that you and I have to work out for ourselves, that’s all.” Bree was setting out plates as she was talking and Mike had started to pour cups of coffee.
“Yeah, I was kinda nervous when she came down this mornin’. Tony and I were sittin’ here talking about it and what to do when we saw her.” Mike added setting the cups on the table.
“Well, I’m glad to see everyone’s cool with each other. I hope you guys are hungry?”
“Dude, does the sun rise in the East? I’m starved!” Everyone laughed at Tony’s statement.
The next few days were spent just hanging out, resting, watching TV, and talking. Tony and Mike stopped by for a little while each day, but mostly it was just Nick and Brianna. They didn’t talk much about the problems of the group or how Nick felt about them. Nick was concentrating on planning a new schedule and just enjoying having some down time.
Saturday came around and Nick decided he did want to go out for a while, dance or something. He was tired of being in the house and sittin’ around. As much as he loved down time it seemed after only a few days he always found himself wondering just what to do with his time. Sunday Brianna would drive back to Gainesville and he had a flight up to Boston to have his hand checked.
At the Club
“So, mister I have free time now, do you think you’ll be able to squeeze some time in to see me?” Bree asked once they sat back down from dancing. They were out of breath and thirsty and were just waiting on their drinks. Mike had joined them for the night and several other people who knew Nick were around and asking how things were going.
“I’m sure I can. But, I’ll also be back down here periodically, so maybe when I am you’ll be able to visit too.” Nick and Bree had fallen back into their comfortable routine. They weren’t ignoring the changes between them; it was just that neither was willing to really push things at the moment. If and when things happened, then they’d deal with it at that time. The only real change was that their nighttime snuggle routine now had an added element, a more than friendly good-night kiss.
“As long as it’s on the weekends, I’m gonna have to play catch up from here on out. And don’t give me that look. You know there is no way that I would have not come.” She gave him a gentle shove on the shoulder.
“Yeah, well, still, I hate the fact that you missed a whole week of classes because of me.” Nick put his arm around her and gave her a little hug before taking a sip of his drink.
“You two are sittin’?” It was another of Nick’s friends who had been dancing with them earlier. “C’mon, get up and dance already.” He was already grabbing at Bree’s hand to pull her out of the booth.
She quickly finished her drink and grabbed Nick with her free hand. “If I go, you go.” She laughed at him as he tried to down his before being dragged back onto the dance floor and into the crowd of friends.
When the club closed Nick invited several people back to his house to hang out for a few more hours. Bree was so glad to see him just having a good time. Some of the people that he knew she only met that night, and she wasn’t even sure how well Nick knew them. But they were all friendly and had been genuinely concerned for how Nick had been doing.
At some point Bree found herself away from the main group of people talking with some guy named Greg. At first everything seemed okay. The guy was funny and was asking her about college, how she knew Nick, and just general talk. Slowly, Bree began picking up on changes in the guy’s behavior. He kept touching her, her arm, her cheek, her hair, some place, and it was making her uncomfortable. She tried to look over and get Nick’s attention but he was engrossed in a conversation of his own, with several girls. Where did Mike go to any way? Turning her attention back to Greg she realized he had stepped even closer.
“You know, Bree” she cut him off.
“It’s Brianna, please.” She tried to smile a little so not to seem so snotty about it.
“Oh, I just, I thought I heard Nick calling you.” Again she cut him off.
“He does, but he’s the only one who can get away with it.”
“Oh, well, then,” Greg stepped in even closer. “You are very pretty, you know that?”
“Thanks.” She tried looking around him to Nick but he was standing too much in her way to get a clear view. Besides, Nick still wasn’t looking her way.
“Do you come down here to visit often?” He was playing with a strand of her hair and she had to fight the urge to pull it out of his hand.
“Umm, not often, no. Only when Nick is here, which you should know, isn’t all that often.” Nick, please save me.
“Well, I guess after tonight it’ll probably be a while before I see you again.” And that is a good thing. Trying to think about how to get away from him, Brianna was completely startled when she felt him try and kiss her. But when she tried to pull away he just grabbed her face and held her still. “Ahh, don’t fight, sugar.” He said before roughly kissing her again and forcing his tongue into her mouth. As soon as he did that Brianna bit down on his tongue causing him to release her and let out a loud string of obscenities. “You stupid bitch! What’d you do that for?”
As she was walking away from him she threw back over her shoulder, “That should teach you next time when a girl pushes you away that means NO.” Walking behind the couch she noticed Nick giving her a strange look. She just smiled sweetly before walking out the back and down onto the beach. Laughing she realized that both she and Nick immediately sought out the company of the beach whenever they were upset by something.
“Excuse me a second.” Nick said as he tried to stand, but he felt someone put her hand on his arm.
“She’ll be okay. Greg’s a jerk, but a relatively harmless jerk. You know that.” The girl on his left was saying.
“Yeah, I know, but I wanna check on her just the same. I’ll be right back.” He continued to stand and followed Brianna out to the beach leaving the three girls he was talking to just staring at his back.
“What is up with those two?” The first one asked.
“Don’t know. They both have always said they are just friends, but I dunno.” Another one, named Susan said. Susan actually knew Brianna a little.
“You know she’s been here all week, like sleeping in the same house with him.” The first one spoke again.
The last girl finally spoke up, “I know, and did you see them dancing back there at the club? You don’t think…” She let her voice trail off looking at the other two.
Susan spoke up, “Oh, listen to us. I know Nick and I know Brianna, if they say they are just friends then that is all there is to it. She’s been like a little sister to him that’s why he got upset just now. How would you like some jerk messin’ with YOUR little sister.” And all three laughed and agreed that that was most likely the case. Around them the rest of the party continued on, no else even really noticing that anything had happened in the first place.
<~ Chapter 31 or Chapter 33 ~>
In the End
Karina 2003