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Later That Night at Brian's House

Brian's View

"Hey you," I heard Nicole's sweet voice whisper in my ear. I twirled around and smiled down at her.

"Hey there," I said. After the dinner party, I took Nicole back to her apartment so she could change into some comfortable clothes, then we came back to my house to watch some movies and hang out.

"Come with me, I want to show you something," she said slipping her hand into mine and pulling me out of the kitchen where I was preparing us some drinks.

"Where are we going?" I asked as she pulled me toward the doors that led out to the porch. She looked back at me and smiled, "Just come."

"OK, question!" I said as I was being pulled out the doors and onto the porch. I watched as she grabbed a ladder and set it against the house. She grabbed a hold and began to climb up.

"Hmm?" Nicole finally stopped and turned to me after getting onto the roof.

"Why are we going on the roof?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Because this is where I want to show you..." she smiled. Her smile just makes you want to melt every time she does it, and believe me, she does it all the time.

"You aren't going to kill me are you?" I joked.

"Ha Ha Ha, that's funny."

"You know it," I said as I began to climb up the ladder. "Where did you get this ladder anyway?"

"I found it in your garage," she said. I got to my feet and asked with a small smirk on my face, "What were you doing in my garage?"

"Trying to find a ladder. Duh," she said with a small smile.

"Oh, of course, to find a ladder," I said, jokingly smacking the side of my head. She rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, "Just come on."

"What did you want to show me?" I asked.

She pulled me over to the other end of the roof.

"Look," she said linking her arm with mine and holding my hand. I looked around and shrugged, "At what?"

"What do you see?" she asked looking up at me. I wanted to laugh at all of this, but I could tell by her eyes that she was being serious.

"Well, I..." I stopped talking and looked around me again. "I see trees, flowers, houses, cars, lights. Why, what do you see?"

"Brian, look straight ahead of you and tell me what you see," she said squeezing my hand. I frowned in puzzlement. What was she getting at?

I looked ahead and saw the city and all the sparkling lights coming from it. The neighborhood I lived in was by the beach, but was also pretty near downtown, but still a little ways away.

"I see a city," I finally said.

"And what's in the city?"

"People," I stated. "Where are you getting with this?"

"I was just thinking the other night about this when Maddy and I went on the roof to just look at the stars and everything. We were laying down and I sat up, and I was looking at the lights and everything, and Maddy brought up about how weird it was to think of how many people are living there."

"There is a lot of people..." I nodded.

"And then I got to thinking about how all of those people have their own lives, and have things happening in them that a lot of people don't know about. Everyone has secrets you know? Imagine how many secrets are out there that people are keeping to themselves. Some may be good secrets, and some may be bad. Some may be making the person happy and some, well some might be hurting the person even more," her voice became quiet near the end. What she said last made my heart flutter.

"Am I making sense?" she asked looking up at me with hopeful eyes. I looked into her eyes and nodded slowly, "Yeah, you are."

"I mean, think about it, we normally would think about all these people being happy and all, right? We don't normally think right off the bat that a lot of them aren't happy, but if you think about it, more than 3/4 of the people in that city are unhappy. I bet you that all those people that are unhappy have a lot of problems they aren't telling people, that they won't talk to anyone about it, or trust anyone to tell. I bet you that a lot of those people are unhappy and are covering it up. I bet you that more than half of those people will never tell anyone why they are unhappy and end up living their lives miserably...or not living their lives at all."

Her words were hitting me like a ton of bricks. I stood there staring out at the city and the sparkling lights, letting her words sink in. What she was talking about was true and very real. Her words hit home. Now that I think about it, I was one of those people. She was talking about me.

"I find it really sad how people have to live like that, live unhappy. I hear all the time how you should live your life to the fullest and I would have to totally agree. Life isn't that long if you think about it. It's gone before you know it. People should live their lives happy before it's too late, you know? A lot of those people out there are going to die unhappy, a lot of those people aren't enjoying life when they should. Problems can be fixed, but a lot of them don't know that. They think their problems will go away in time or that they'll just forget about them when in reality, problems don't go away until you make them go away. You know what I'm talking about?"

I nodded my head and looked down at her.

"I mean, a lot of those people are keeping things to themselves and they think that they're helping themselves and the people around them by doing so when, in fact, they're hurting themselves and the people they love more. To think how many of those people would be so much happier if they just talked to someone about what's bothering them, about what's making them unhappy. To think how many of those people's lives would be saved by opening up. Opening up isn't hard, as long as you trust the person. A lot of them are afraid of opening up, fearing that it'll cause even more problems, and maybe that's true and more problems do arise...but then you gotta think that maybe they opened up to the wrong person, a person they didn't trust."

I nodded my head slowly and softly said, "I know what you're talking about."

She looked up at me and asked, "You trust people right?"

"Not many," I said.

"Who do you trust?" she asked looking intently at me.

"The guys, my parents, and..." I looked into her eyes and knew, just knew, that I could trust her too.

"You," I said quietly. She formed a small smile and squeezed my hand.

"I'm sorry, I kind of went off into my own little world," she apologized.

"Nah, it's OK, I agree with you totally on that. I never really thought about it, but now that you mention it, everything you said is true."

"Yeah, I just wish things were different," she said. Yeah, so do I, more than she knows.

I smiled down at her and said, "Nicole..."

"Yeah?" she asked looking up at me.

"Thank you."

"For what?" she asked.

"For what you just said, I took it more to heart than you think," I said quietly. She looked at me grateful and said, "I'm glad my words mean something to you."

I unlinked my arm from hers and wrapped her in a hug. She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly.

I closed my eyes firmly and pursed my lips together as I hugged her. I was trying to decide if I should tell her what I was keeping to myself, what I was covering up.

"Nicole?" the word just slipped out of my mouth.

"Yeah?" her sweet voice echoed through my ears.

"I have a secret I want to tell you..." I softly said. She pulled away and looked up into my eyes, "What is it?"

I sighed and looked down, "I..."

I sighed once more and took a deep breath, "I..."

She smiled lightly and said, "Don't go any further. Tell me when you're ready to OK?"

I nodded and smiled down at her, "Thank you. You are awesome you know that?"

"And why is that?" she asked.

"You're just so understanding. it's hard trying to find people like you," I said. She smiled and said, "That's so sweet."

"Yeah, well I'm sweet so what can I say?" I grinned. She slapped my arm playfully and laughed.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked. She nodded her head and said, "Shoot."

"Well, first off, this is a very serious question so I want you to treat it seriously OK?"

"OK, got it."

I leaned forward, my arms wrapped around her waist, and stopped a couple of inches away from her mouth. I looked up into her eyes and formed a smile on my face, "Can I kiss you?"

I could tell by her eyes that she had a big smile on her face. She nodded and said, "Only if you want to."

I smiled and leaned in. My lips brushed up against hers and at that moment, I had feelings bursting through me that I haven't had since I was with Leighanne. It kind of scared me, but at the same time excited me.

Nicole's arms wrapped around my neck, her fingers running through my hair as we kissed. Her touch sent tingles down my spine.

We finally pulled away and to my surprise, I was a little out of breath.

"Can I ask you another question?" I asked. She kissed my lips lightly, "Mmhmm."

"How does my bedroom sound right about now?" I asked softly. She smiled widely and nodded, "It sounds pretty damn good."

That night, Nicole and I made love, not once, but multiple times throughout the night. She wasn't just some random girl that meant nothing. I got lost in her and I loved it. She made me feel wanted, she made me feel loved. Nothing was rushed or uncomfortable in any way, and that seemed to mean something in itself. I loved her soft kisses and the way she felt. I loved her small smiles and her soft whispers in my ear. I loved it all. It made me smile to think that Nicole could make me feel this way. What should shock you is that Leighanne had never, I mean never, made me feel this way when making love to one another. When we made love, it was just like doing it to get it over with, but with Nicole, it actually meant something. I never thought I could love again after Leighanne, but after that night, I knew I had thought wrong.