"You ain't never gonna guess what Hugh Walters just showed me."
I was grocery shopping, Nick was off contracting a new producer with Hugh Walters for the song they were working on. "This is huge," he added.
I smirked. "I didn't know you swayed that way, Carter."
"What?" he paused, mind caught up with where I'd just gone, and yelled, "DUDE! No! Gross! You're sick as fuck. No, wait. Lemme text you a picture. Hold on." He hung up.
I snorted at his reaction and walked down the aisle, grabbing a box of cereal and tucking it into the cart. It took Nick a couple moments to send the picture. I sighed and grabbed the stuff for pancakes and stuck that in the cart, too, and was turning the corner onto the juice and cookie aisle when my phone finally vibed. I pulled open the picture and nearly screamed right there in the dead center of the grocery store.
Addison's single cover. The text read. And under it was... well, Addison. Kind of.
I stared at it.
My phone vibed again, this time Nick calling me. I answered it numbly, thankful to be able to stop staring at it. "What do you think?" Nick asked.
"She's naked," I choked.
"It's hot as hell but, damn," Nick muttered.
"She's naked," I repeated.
"It's the last song Z produced. They wanna get it out while he's still hot in the news, for publicity, you know?"
"Yeah I understand that," I said, "But... Nick... and I stress this. She's NAKED."
"Is she? I didn't notice," he joked.
"Nick! She's literally got nothing on her body except fake fire!" I squeaked.
Nick laughed, "Sam, I know... I mean, she's a stripper, right? She's comfy with it so why not I guess... Rhianna and Christina did it..."
"They're Rhianna and Christina," I said, "This is Addison, Nick! I grew up with her, I remember taking baths with her when we were like three years old."
"So you've seen her naked before, this shouldn't be such a big shock," he teased.
"NICK!" I shrieked. Several people looked up from various products they were looking at.
"Okay, okay," he said. He took a deep breath. "I understand why you're concerned. I didn't have anything to do with it, though, so I mean... I can't really... change it, you know?"
"I know," I said.
"If it was Brian and he was na--" Nick paused. "Y'know, that analogy isn't gonna work 'cos if Brian posed naked on a CD cover I'd need to find out whassup and where the real Brian is 'cos he wouldn't ever do that. Okay so if AJ was naked on a CD cover --" he paused again. "No, no, I wouldn't question that at all, 'cos he's AJ and I can actually picture him doing that." Nick paused. "Yanno what my friends are fucked up. But I understand where you're coming from worrying about her."
I laughed in spite of myself. Then I took a deep breath, "Nick, what in hell could Cora have said to Addison to change her so quickly? I mean... It was instant."
"Who in fuck knows," Nick replied.
"I mean we fought about -- well, about you, and --"
"Babe? Hugh's calling me, I gotta get back in the studio before he has a fit. I'm really sorry I'm cutting you off. Remember what you're saying, we'll talk about it tonight. I'll stop and get us dinner. Do you like sushi? See ya tonight." He hung up.
I sighed and grabbed a couple boxes of granola bars and slid my phone into my pocket. I actually didn't care for sushi - like at all - but that's okay. My mind swiveled around the various things that had gone down in that first fight with Addison... She'd been happily telling me about Cora and the song and how Z had beat boxed and Hugh had said he'd be amazing... Then I'd blurted out that Cora would be staying with Hugh because Nick and I had hooked up and Addison had gone through the roof.
It was as though in the Nick versus Cora face-off we'd each gained custody of one of the two of them and that had been our fuel for fighting.
Then the next time I'd seen her she'd been angry and all she'd said was Cora and I did some talkin'.
I got the groceries home and unloaded them into the cupboards before Nick called asking if sushi sounded good and I said no and he decided he'd grab a pizza. I cleaned the dishes up and wiped down the dining room table and when Nick's headlights lit up the driveway, I opened the door to find him struggling to get out of the Escalade with a pizza box and also a large-ish flat screen TV box.
"What the hell...?" I gasped, stepping out onto the porch.
Nick looked up, "Oh good. C'mere and carry the pizza and the DVD player in."
I walked across the driveway barefoot, staring at him incredulously, "What in hell is this?" I asked, taking the boxes he was holding out to me.
"I'm sick of no TV," he replied, "So tomorrow cable's being installed here and we'll get this party started." He held up a handful of DVDs, which he piled on top of the boxes he'd already handed to me. There were three action movies, a couple horror flicks, The Goonies, and a porno.
I cleared my throat and held up the porno.
He grinned. "In case we get frisky?" I hit his shoulder with the DVD and he laughed, "Okay no porn, got it." He unloaded the TV and slammed the Escalade door and we walked inside.
He was faster setting the TV up than I was getting napkins and cups and the milk from the kitchen and by the time I got back from out there he'd already loaded up The Goonies. "I figured every TV should be inaugerated with this one," he grinned.
"I've never actually watched this all the way through," I confessed.
Nick stared at me. "I gotta go," he joked. I grabbed him by the wrist and he laughed and came back in the room. "I can't believe you've never seen this..." he shook his head, "It's a classic."
"I never liked the Coreys," I said.
"Me either -- well I mean this and Stand By Me - Feldman was insanely awesome in both - but generally not really," he shrugged, "But still, it's the mother-fucking Goonies, man."
I shrugged. "I just never got to see it."
"Well you're in for a treat then. Wait 'til you see the WHERE'S THE BEEF?! lady." He laughed.
"Throw momma from a train?"
"Yes!" He hooted.
I laughed as the DVD menu came up and Nick flipped the pizza box open. He grabbed a slice and flung himself backwards onto the couch, kicking off his sneakers. His socks were dirty. I grabbed a piece, too, and we sat there in silence watching as the movie began with the various shots of the guys in the prison and then all the kids around town and stuff.
That's when something occurred to me.
"Your Journey shirt." I looked over at him.
Nick looked up from his pizza. "Excuse me?"
"The night you came over and we went for the drive and you kissed me... You had on an old, worn out Journey tour shirt," I explained, "I remember thinking it was an awesome shirt and I was kinda jealous you had it."
"Okay?" he looked confused. "Are you asking me to give you my shirt?" he asked.
"No but Cora had it," I said.
"What?"
"That video of Z, when he was talking about Addison and how great her voice was and everything outside the studio, before he died? Cora had the shirt on in the background. She was wearing it when she came here that night. There was something about the video that was driving me crazy and I couldn't figure out what it was, and that was it. She had your shirt on."
Nick blinked. He stared at me. "What...?" he laughed.
"I just realized --"
"Out of no where? You just thought of that out of no where?"
"Yeah," I nodded.
Nick laughed, "Damn. You really are Monk-like." He paused. "We have the same shirt. We ordered them at the same time on the internet."
"Oh."
He nodded. "So it doesn't mean anything that she had it on."
"I didn't really think it meant anything," I said, "I was just -- noticing, I guess. Well I mean it would've been weird, like how did she get your shirt but if she owns the same one then I mean it's not even your shirt, it's just a shirt and --"
Nick was staring at me, one eyebrow raised.
"I'm rambling."
He nodded.
"Sorry," I said.
Nick laughed, "It's all good. I think it's cute." He hit play on the DVD again, and we watched the Goonies find buried treasure. Nick pulled me into his chest and ran his hands across my arms, his cheek resting on my forehead and I sighed contentedly, just glad that he thought my crazy rambling was cute.
