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Chapter 7

             I woke up the next morning and before I opened my eyes, I just lay there, still and quiet, wondering if it had all been a dream. "But it seemed so real." It was then that I realized I was alone in my bed. "Maybe it was a dream ..." I heard a noise coming from the bathroom. I got out of bed and walked into the hall. "Nope, definitely not a dream." There he was, brushing his teeth, in his boxers and the same t-shirt he had on last night. I wondered when he had taken his jeans off "it must have been during the night" I looked down and realized that I was still wearing my ‘casual but still cute outfit' of yoga pants and flowy tank top. "Hey you're awake!" he said mid-brush "I hope you don't mind, I found this toothbrush under the sink." "No, no, that's what it's there for," I replied "Go nuts!" He bent over to spit and I walked over to the mirror by the door. "My hair!!" It was a disaster. I quickly flattened it out and threw it up in a ponytail with the elastic I had around my wrist. I turned around and Nick was walking towards me. "Sooo ..." I said "Do you have to go or should I make us some coffee?" "I think I could stick around for coffee." He smiled.

            "I don't have much in the way of food" I said as I started to make the coffee, "but there's some cereal on top of the fridge." "That's cool" he said and pulled a box down. When I had finished making the coffee, I hopped up and sat on the counter across from him. He was leaning against the opposite counter, eating the cereal right out of the box. I looked at him, "He seems so comfortable, how does he do that? Is it just me? Is it weird that I'm not? Or maybe I'm just imagining things. Maybe that isn't a look of comfort. Maybe it's a look of boredom." "Can I ask you something?" Nick said, interrupting my thoughts. "Ok" I replied. He put the box of cereal down and moved closer to me, in between my legs that I had been absent-mindedly kicking. He grabbed a hold of them so I couldn't kick them anymore. "Why did you take off yesterday morning?" "Ummm, I dunno" I lied. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to know the truth or not. He looked at me, head kind of cocked to the side and said "Come on. Yes you do. Just tell me. How bad can it be?" "It's not bad" I answered "it's just ... I guess I was kind of embarrassed and I didn't want you to think I was some kind of groupie or something." Even though I was staring at the ground, I could tell Nick still had his eyes on me, as if he was staring right through me. "Well" he finally said "it's too late for that." He was laughing. I tried to kick him but he had a hold of my legs and he pulled himself closer, his hands now holding on to my thighs. "Listen" he said "I can kind of understand why you feel that way. But it's not like you were naked in my tour bus or something. We actually talked a lot that night and I get that it's not "normal" behaviour for you, but I think we both really just needed to be with someone. I promise I don't think any less of you. Believe it or not, I'm not really a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy either. But if you had stuck around yesterday, you would already know that." I continued to stare at the ground, I didn't know what to say, I felt so stupid, he had been nothing but sweet to me this whole time and I was acting like a jerk, or at least like a crazy person. "I'm sorry" I eventually said "I tend to get caught up in my own head and I can get a little nuts sometimes." "A LITTLE nuts?" Nick replied with a laugh. I pushed him away playfully. "Oh ok" he said "that's how it's gonna be huh?" Then he picked up the box of cereal, took a piece out and threw it at me. I gave him my best "shocked/how dare you?" look and he responded by throwing yet another piece of cereal at me while trying to hide his smirk. I picked up a near by dish towel and smacked him with it. The next thing I knew handfuls of cereal were being thrown at me as I continued to try and smack Nick with the dish towel, giggling all the while. That was until I leaned too far off the counter. I felt myself starting to fall so I grabbed a hold of Nick and somehow, we both ended up on the kitchen floor. We lay there in shock for a few seconds, and then just burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

            I was still trying to catch my breath from laughing when I noticed Nick had pulled himself right up beside me. He put his hand on my chin and leaned in. A phone started to ring. "Is that yours?" I asked. "Yea" he said with a sigh. He pushed himself up a little and kind of hung his head, but he didn't get up. Then he looked back at me. "Fuck it" he said "I'll call them back" and then he kissed me.