Chapter Twenty-One: Should've Could've Would've
I hate girls.
No, no. Let me rephrase that. I hate the mindgames that girls play. And I hate the way they can be so mad one minute, and so perfectly happy, lovey dovey kissyface the next.
I can't believe I actually said "lovey dovey kissyface" without being ironic. But moving on...
She just had to go and do that didn't she? Danica really is starting to earn her reputation of being a drama queen in my eyes. What was she thinking, kissing me in front of Brian like that? Why doesn't she ever think anything through? Not that I really care about this whole 'quality time' evening with the fellas, but I think after that little intermission it's safe to say that's been thrown out the window. Oh, and wait a minute what was causing us to have this 'quality time' in the first place? Oh yeah, that's right. Danica and her God damn plan. I swear if I ever hear the word "plan" again in my life I'll run away screaming.
So why had I told her we were good? I mean... I guess she and I were good. Everything strictly concerning Nick and Dani was fine. Great even. (Hell if I played my cards right I might even get laid again tonight. Or tomorrow. That'd be nice. I deserved that after all this drama.) Except that everything didn't just concern Dani and I. I also had Brian to worry about, and that was going to be a tough one, seeing as he was sitting directly behind me when Dani decided to attack me with her lips.
Yeah, that was going to be a fun one to explain.
"You know what, guys? I think that was enough quality time for one day." Kevin said, getting up and switching off the TV. Oh, thank God for Kevin sometimes. He could tell shit was about to go down.
But I knew I wasn't going to get out of this so easily. I had to talk to Brian, there was no escaping it. And it was going to be awkward and painful and -
"Night." Brian said before ducking out of the room. What? Could I really be getting off that easily? There was no way.
AJ and Howie both left in a rush too, of course not without a little roll of the eyes from AJ.
I might be blonde, but I wasn't stupid. Maybe I wasn't going to get a lecture from Kevin. I stretched my arms and stood up. "Well, guess it's time - "
"Sit your ass down, Carter."
Damn. I should give myself more credit. There was no way I was going to get out of this without a lecture. Still, I couldn't decide what was worse. A lecture from Kevin, or a heartfelt chat with Brian. Maybe that was something I could think about while Kevin droned on. I usually tuned him out anyways.
"Did you want to discuss the movie?" I asked him innocently. I was just digging for more trouble at that point.
Kevin sighed. That was never good. "No, Nick. But I do need to talk to you about this whole Danica situation."
I didn't say anything. When getting a lecture from Kevin, that's usually your best option. Just let him keep talking and saying what he needs to say to 'get his message across'.
Of course, he continued. "It's starting to get out of hand. Do you really know what you're getting yourself into?"
Okay, Kevin. It wasn't just 'starting' to get out of hand. The hand was empty by this point. "I've had girlfriends before, Kev."
He shook his head. He didn't even yell. This was the worst kind of Kevin. See, angry Kevin is mostly just funny because you can laugh at his nostrils flaring and his serious eyebrows. Disappointed Kevin wasn't that bad, because you know he did stupid things in his past too. But Kevin full of advice just makes you feel guilty and self reflective. I hate being self reflective.
"You know what I mean Nick. You really should have some serious conversations before you go any further with this Danica thing."
I knew that already. "I promise I'll talk to Brian. And I'm sure AJ will get over it.
"You do need to talk to Brian, you also need to talk to Danica." He said, nodding his head a bit. I must have looked confused, because he explained. "You and Danica have been friends for a long time. You should talk to her and make sure you guys are on the same page so you don't risk your friendship with her."
Yeah, ok. I guess that made sense. I hated having serious talks though. I really was no good at them. Why do you think I was dreading talking to Brian so much? "And Brian?"
Kevin made a face I couldn't read. Was it actually possible he was having a hard time figuring this out too? "Brian knows you didn't mean to hurt him. You just need to tell him that. He'll be okay."
Well, I had to hand it to him. For once he actually managed to make me feel better. Who knew there was actually a helpful Kevin?
I stood up to leave and gave him a weak smile. "Thanks, Kev."
The walk to my hotel room felt longer than it should have. What was I supposed to say to Dani? I didn't really know what I wanted out of my relationship with her, so how could I know if we were on the same page or not? I mean, I definitely knew I didn't like her kissing other guys. But I was also only nineteen years old. I didn't know if I wanted some big serious relationship either. This was going to be a tough one.
Either way all I knew was I had to get up early, and I was just looking forward to some sleep. Of course, as luck would have it there was no comforter on my bed. What the hell? Did the maids forget to put it on there when they made up the room? Did they even make up the room, it still looked like a mess.
I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. The lazy maids were not the issue here. The issue was that I seemed to remember someone walking out of my room in a big angry huff with my comforter draped around her. Which meant I was going to have to now retrieve that comforter and thus have that stupid talk with her. Because as much as I hated to admit it Kevin was right. Before things could progress with Danica I did have to talk to her. And if I went to her room things definitely would progress.
So much for sleep.
Another deep breath and I was knocking on Dani's hotel room door. What I wasn't expecting was for Brian to open the door.
"Uh. Hey." I said awkwardly. "Is Dani here?" What a stupid question, considering it was her room.
"Yeah. She's here." Brian said. "I was just on my way out anyway." He turned back to look at her before sneaking past me and leaving the room. What was all that about?
"Dani?" I said quietly as I walked into the room. She had her head in her hands and didn't exactly look happy. I touched her wrist and she moved her hands away from her face, wiping her eyes a bit. "Did he do something to you?" That was another stupid question. I knew Brian well enough to know the answer to that. I guess I was just sort of looking to not have to face reality.
"No." She choked out. "He didn't. We did something to him though." She started to cry again, and threw her arms around my neck. You'd think I'd be used to crying girls by now, but I really didn't know how to deal with this.
I tried my best though. "It's okay Dani. He'll get over it."
She pulled out of our embrace and kissed me forcefully. Before I could realize what was happening I was kissing her back and - hey! This was progressing! I couldn't progress with Dani before we talked about things! God dammit.
"Dani." I tried to talk but she just kept kissing me. And now she was trying to take off my shirt. "Dani." I said again, moving her hands away from me. "We need to talk."
She looked shocked and heartbroken. I probably could have used better words than I did. Oops. "No!" I quickly corrected myself. "Not like that. I mean, we just...should talk..."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm so sick of talking, Nick." And she started kissing me again. "I can't do anymore talking."
I couldn't really argue with that logic.
