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Before: Last Chance Before


Nick

YO GABBA GABBA! MUNO! YO RIGHT! HE'S TALL AND FRIENDLY!! FOOFA!! SHE'S PINK AND HAPPY! BROBEE!! WHOAAA! THE LITTLE GREE---

"Ava no! Uncle Nick is trying to sleep, shhh."

"GABBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"SHHH!"

"GAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

I groaned.

I opened my eyes. Rochelle was running out of the room, Ava's legs and arms swinging around her violently, the shrill shriek of a kid being pulled away from a muted TV echoing off the walls and splitting my head in about forty-seven pieces. On the TV a furry green thing was doing cartwheels and a bunch of other furry things were clapping and there was a robot and... Jesus, whoever wrote that show was more fucked in the head than I felt.

I groaned as I sat up. There was a trash can next to me. It had a rank vomit smell coming out of it and I had a feeling I'd used it a few times during the night. My throat still felt raw. There was drool on the cushion where my head had been.

AJ tip toed in the room and hit the power button on the TV before he realized I was awake. "Shit," he said, "Did she wake you up? I'm sorry man."

"Gabba," I muttered.

"Yeah, she loves her Gabba," he said. He stood there awkwardly, hands in his pockets.

"What the fuck happened?" I asked.

"How much do you remember?"

"Uhh.. Howie's biceps."

"Yeah he looked ridiculous," AJ agreed. "Well, Chris laid you out good man. Me and Howie had a helluva time dragging you back here. You're damn heavy when you're nothin' but dead weight, man."

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. "What time is it?" I asked.

"Half past eleven," AJ answered.

"Shit. I'm supposed to be at the Vineyard at noon," I said. I struggled to get to my feet.

"You're gonna have to be late. Trust me, you're gonna want to shower. You got puke all in your hair in the cab."

"Fuck." I couldn't stay standing up anyway. I fell back onto the couch. "I blew it. I've lost her."

AJ's voice was sharp, "No. No giving up. That's not allowed. No sitting back down. Get your ass up." He came over and tugged on my arm, trying to make me stand up. I gave in reluctantly. "You're gonna go upstairs, shower, do whatever shit you do to your hair to make it look like a duck ass and get dressed. You're going up to that vineyard, you're gonna get Ashley alone, and you're gonna tell her you love her and fuck her brains out just to seal it in there real good, then you're gonna beat the ever loving shit out of Chris. Knock out a couple of his teeth or something."

"AJ..."

"Nick, I'm fucking serious, that guy is an asshole. You need to save her from him."

"He loves her."

"You love her, and I'm on Team Nick, dude. You need to get your ass going before you let me down."

I looked up at AJ.

"Dude, I'm telling you... You love her like I love Rochelle. If any pansy-assed jerkoff like Chris had fought me for her I wouldn't have let him have her. You and Ashley are meant to be together, don't let that get taken away from you. You'll reget it if you do. You'll regret it everyday. And so won't she. She just doesn't know it yet."

I nodded.

"GO SHOWER," AJ snapped, "Hurry. We got a vineyard to get your ass to."




Ashley

I looked at my watch. It was almost one. Nick had texted and said he'd be a little late. I had almost the entire dinner room looking perfect, directing Chris and a couple of his friends who had shown up on time where to put stuff. They'd smirked when I said Nick would be late, and said that Nick had drank too much the night before at the party and that he was probably on his knees kissing the toilet by their guesses. It was so like the "old Nick" to pull some shit like this. I'd thought he'd changed, but I guess, like his tattoo declared, old habits die hard.

He finally scampered into the room around one. He looked a little green around the gills, but he was upright.

"About time," I said.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"Not as young as you once were, ey Nick?" Chris yelled across the room.

I crossed my arms.

Nick frowned at Chris, then turned back to me. "We need to talk," he said, "Alone."

"Okay." I looked around, "We'll be right back, guys," I called. I grabbed Nick's hand and dragged him out of the room. We went down the hallway and I stopped about midway down, let go of his hand and crossed my arms again, staring at him. "Well?" I said, tapping my foot on the carpet.

Nick looked sick. He took a deep breath, "Okay so like I was in the plane crash and that was like whoa and then you were like all in my head you know and I saw you in my head and I was just so -- and I wanted to talk to you and I called you and it was the last thing I thought I was gonna hear and that was like what! you know? And I got all thinking and I realized that I been feeling like that a long time and I wanted to tell you and it's been like one thing after another, and this year is just --"

"Babe, where do you want me to put the tickets for the honeymoon?" Chris was suddenly in the hall and jogging towards us.

Nick glowered.

"Chris, just put them in my suitcase, okay? I'm trying to talk to Nick," I said.

Chris nodded, "Okay. I'll put them in your suitcase." He looked at Nick. "Oh hey, by the way, man, good talk we had last night." He grinned at Nick, then kissed me on the cheek, and jogged back off down the hallway.

I watched him go.

I looked at Nick, "I can't believe I'm getting married tomorrow," I said. "Honeymoon. Wow." I grinned.

Nick looked dumbfounded.

"We're going to the Galopogos, you know," I said, grinning. "There's a hotel there we're gonna be staying at that says in the morning you can see wild penguins roosting on the rocks by the ocean out back." I love penguins. "Isn't that awesome?"

"Awesome," Nick echoed.

"You know I love penguins."

Nick was staring at me.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded.

"We should get back out there, everyone's gonna be here soon and the room isn't even half finished..." I tilted my head, "Can we talk later?"

Nick nodded dumbly.

"Okay. C'mon. Let's go." I started walking down the hallway, but a couple steps later, I realized Nick wasn't following me. "Nick?" I said.

He turned and looked at me. "Do you love Chris?"

I stared at him. "Yes," I said.

Nick swallowed. "Does he treat you right?"

I laughed, "Yes of course, Nick."

Nick took a deep breath, "And you wouldn't rather be with anyone else in the entire world?"

I studied him. I wondered where this was coming from. "Of course not," I said finally. Silently, staring at Nick, I thought at least not anyone that wants to be with me, that is.