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Chapter Thirty-Three

Nick woke up on the couch, where Lauren had banned him after they'd fought the night before about Brian and Emma. He groaned, his back killing him from sleeping in a U-like shape on Brian's tiny two-seater couch. He rolled off onto the floor with a thump.

Baylee appeared at the doorway. "Where is my dad?"

Nick lowered his head and pressed his forehead to the cool floor. He'd drank the remaining beer in Brian's fridge before settling into the U-shape sleeping position and now he had a headache from hell. He closed his eyes and groaned.

"Uncle Nick?" Baylee came into the room and stood in front of Nick's head. Nick stared at Baylee's sneakers, trying to piece together something to say. Anything. "Where's my dad, Nick?"

"Business trip," he gurgled.

"Business trip?" Baylee asked, skepticism rising in his voice. "He didn't say bye or nothing."

Nick rubbed his forehead, "You were already in bed when it was time for him to leave."

Baylee stared down at Nick.

"He didn't want to bug you. It came up unexpectedly."

"He doesn't even work," Baylee argued, "How could it be a business trip?"

Nick hadn't thought of that. He struggled to his feet, yawning in the process, his mind racing for answers for Baylee but, in his half-asleep state, he couldn't think of a single thing to say. He shrugged. "He'll be back and he'll explain when he gets back where he was, okay?"

Baylee scowled. "Great. Now I don't have any parents." He turned and started to storm out of the room.

"Whoa dude, hold up," Nick said, waking up a bit with Baylee's words, "That's not so. He's gonna be back in a couple --" ...days? hours? Nick realized he didn't have a freaking clue when Brian was gonna be back. He shut his mouth. "The point is you still have your dad."

"Not if he's gonna lie to me and sudenly disappear for no reason," Baylee retorted hotly.

Nick wondered if it was physically possible to not get Brian in deep shit about now, no matter what he said about the entire escapade.

"Don't bother," Baylee said, heading for the stairs, "You can't defend him."

Once Baylee's bedroom door slammed, Nick decided the next thing he should do is kiss and make-up with Lauren. He wondered if the making up would involve sex. He decided he needed Advil before he even thought about sex, and waddled into the kitchen to find Molly and Lauren sitting at the table. They stopped talking the moment he walked into the room.

"What's Baylee slamming around about?" Lauren asked, "What did you say to him?"

Nick squinted at the bright sunshine coming in the windows over the sink. He opened the drawer and pulled out the bottle of Advil. He glanced at Molly, then back at Lauren. "What's she doing here?" he asked, his tone similar to Baylee's.

Molly looked up at Nick, "Well somebody's a grouchy-pants," she chided.

He stuck out his tongue at her and turned to Lauren.

"Mature," Lauren commented. She sighed. "We're talking about Brian and Emma, if you must know."

"You mean the matrimony morons?" Nick asked. He pulled the fridge open, popped the lid off a bottle of orange juice, and proceeded to drink right from the bottle. Lauren made a face. Nick belched. Molly raised an eyebrow. "What about'em?" Nick asked.

Molly turned to Lauren, "He's just the epitomy of the males species, isn't he?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nick demanded. He glanced between Molly and Lauren. "What the hell is a pit-to-mee?"

"Why don't you worry about getting Baylee to agree to go to school now that you've pissed him off, rather than butting in?" Lauren asked.

Nick recapped the bottle of juice and slid it back into the fridge. He put his hands on his hips. "You're being kind of a --" he stopped mid-sentence. He'd been about to say bitch but had realized before the actually word slipped out that girls tended to react a bit on the hormonal side when he called them that, and quickly replaced it with, "-- meanie butt."

Molly choked on the water she'd been sipping.

Lauren fought back a laugh when a pained expression. "I'm being a meanie butt because you were an asshole last night," she replied.

Nick, honestly, had no idea what really had happened last night - other than after hanging up with Brian, they'd had a fight, and it had involved some colorful word choices. He wasn't positive, but he may have already called her a bitch in the last 24-hours, even. He rubbed his chin. Despite not being able to remember it, he was still pretty damn sure that he'd been right.

"Well whenever you feel like sayin' sorry to me," he announced and he turned and left the room.

Lauren rubbed her forehead, exasperated.

Molly laughed, "And you're complaining that this man won't propose to you?" she asked Lauren, nodding in the direction Nick had gone.

Lauren rolled her eyes, "I know, I must be out of my frickin' mind to want to spend the rest of my life dealing with him." She laughed and shook her head, "But God do I ever." A smile crossed her face. "Did you feel that way about your husband?"

"Oh yeah," Molly nodded, "Jake was a real jackass when he wanted to be. Still is, really. But you know, they're men. They do stupid crap."

Lauren sighed "You know of all the guys I've ever known the only one that's never done anything really stupid was Brian? I wish Nick would grow up a little bit, like Brian did."

"Oh Brian's done plenty of stupid," Molly laughed.

Lauren's eyes sparkled, "Oh?"

Molly shook her head, "Uh-uh... What happens in high school stays in high school. Besides, Brian knows way more crap about me than I do him, if he ever found out I'm the one that dredged up high school stuff he would so beat me at that game."

Lauren laughed and got up and got pitcher of water out of the fridge to refill their glasses, then took the orange juice container, shook it, declared, "Empty," with an eye roll and threw it out before returning to her seat. She sipped her water. "So," she said, "Do you think they'll do it? Get married, I mean?"

"God I hope so," Molly admitted. "I've been waiting for that fairy tale to come true since the late 1980s."

Lauren smiled. "I'd like to see Brian happy again. Ever since Leighanne died..." she stared down into her water. "He's just been so sad, you know? He's such a good guy, he deserves something good in his life."

"You aren't asking me if I think they'll get married then..." she said, "You're asking me if you think they'll fall back into love."

Lauren nodded.

Molly laughed, "Honey, I don't think they ever fell out of it completely."