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Kid walked into the café, instantly surveying the customers. The place wasn’t packed at all. There were just a few college students and a few businessmen reading newspapers sitting around and sipping coffee.

She spotted Nick sitting at a table near the corner, almost hidden from view. She walked towards him and sat down across from him. Nick grinned when he saw her.

“Hey, Kid. What’s it been now? Seven months?”

“Yep, pretty much.”

“That’s my bodyguard,” Nick said, gesturing towards a guy who was sitting a few tables away. “Hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

The bodyguard wasn’t built huge like most of the others she had encountered. This one was pretty wiry, really. Before, Kid had thought that he was just an average customer.

“So, what’s up?” she asked Nick.

“Y’know just wanted to catch up.”

“You came all the way to New York just to catch up?” She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

“Yeah. Can’t a guy catch up with his best bud?”

Before she could answer, a waiter arrived and took their orders. Things must be really slow here. She ordered an ice blended since she hated coffee. Nick ordered an espresso.

After their drinks arrived, they made small talk, simply catching up with each other. Kid knew there was an agenda behind all this and was dying to know what it was. But she knew Nick. He wouldn’t tell her until he wanted to.

After coffee, they walked around New York. Nick informed her that they were here for a performance or another. He loved New York but it was the beginning of winter and it was pretty cold. Good thing she was wearing a turtleneck and the coat Max had given her before she left for Julliard. It was a nice coat, very big and comfortable. It kept out the cold nicely.

Kid realized her brain was rambling. She didn’t know why but she had stopped questioning the workings of her brain years ago. It was way too cracked up.

They bought some hot dogs and sat in a bench in Central Park. Nick declared that they were having a picnic. Kid corrected him by saying that it was only a mini-picnic. Earlier, Nick had managed to persuade Johnny to pull off the bodyguard until the end of the day.

They had fun walking around the usual tourist haunts, making fun of tourists and guessing where they came from.

Nick was bracing his backs against a railing and Kid had settled herself on top of it and the two of them were talking when Nick nudged her side with her elbow. When she glanced at him, he let his eyes travel slightly to a German tourist that was walking on the boardwalk. Their eyes met again and he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“Feel like making any declarations of love right now? I dare ya.”

This was an old game the two had played back in Florida. And Kid never backed down from a challenge.

Confidently, she strode towards the tourist. He was brown-haired and blue-eyed and was very cute. She had heard him ask directions before in halting English so she supposed their trick would work.

When she got close enough, she threw herself into the guy’s arm. “Oh Sammy! Don’t leave me! I’ll do anything. Please! I love you!”

The poor guy looked as startled as hell. He was still holding her, not quite sure what to do.

“Jorgen?” a snippy voice came from beside them.

She lifted her head and saw a very angry lady glaring at her. Uh-oh. Tourist guy looked as if he had a girlfriend. She felt someone grab her arm and began to drag her away. She flashed both of them a smile before split out running alongside Nick. They were both laughing, stomachs cramping and tears rolling out of their eyes.

Finally, they stopped at an intersection to catch their breath. They were still howling like wild animals and it was a good thing this was New York since people here usually ignored other crazy people who were doubled over from laughing as they walked past them.

After that, they had dinner at a burger place, which served the best hamburgers Kid had ever tasted. It also suddenly occurred to her she had only eaten a hotdog since noon. She scarfed the whole thing in less than five minutes. Nick managed to do it in three.

After the hamburgers and shakes, it was already 9. A whole day had just flown by. As they walked back to her building, she had the strangest vibe coming from Nick. He had been guffawing a moment ago and now he was looking down at the pavement, frowning as if it held secrets that he needed to decipher.

“What’s up?”

“Huh?” he looked up, startled. “Oh, nothing. Just, y’know, thinking.”

Kid didn’t make any wisecracks to that. She felt as if this wasn’t exactly the appropriate time, though she didn’t know why.

When they arrived in front of her building, they both stood there for a moment. Kid didn’t exactly know what she was waiting for. She had the same feeling she had felt after a first dates. You know, when both of them don’t know what to do to end the night.

But that was just ridiculous. This was Nick they were talking about here.

“So, I guess I’ll see you… whenever.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly.

Just as she reached the door, Nick called out.

“Wait.”

Puzzled, she turned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.”

He sounded so dismal. She walked down the steps slowly to join him again. She knew the only way for him to voice the problem was for her to wait it out.

“Kid. I need to tell you something.”

Kid frowned. She wasn’t one to jump to conclusions, but this sounded serious. Had something happened with his family?

“Okay.”

“Okay,” he repeated after her. It sounded like he was readying himself for something. Something big.

“Alright. Um…”

Kid was getting nervous and impatient at the same time. The two didn’t make a very good combination.

“I love you.”

She blinked.

That seemed like the only thing she could do right now. Every part of her body was just paralyzed, even her brain.

“Um, Kid?”

Suddenly, she grinned. “Nicky boy, you got me there. I wasn’t expecting that at all. Man, I thought the expression on that Jorgen guy was a laugh. My face must have been a thousand times better, huh?”

Nick, who had been scared shitless about declaring that in front of her earlier, felt an overwhelming need to explain things to her right now. He had to make her see. This wasn’t a joke. He would never kid around about something like this. Unfortunately, his mouth couldn’t seem to catch up with his brain.

“Kid. Wait… it’s not… it’s not like that okay… I meant it… I… I really… I meant what I said…”

Kid laughed.

“Don’t get your boxers in a bunch. You don’t have to apologize. It was a good joke. I totally fell for it. Call me tomorrow, okay? You can gloat about it then.”

Nick was getting frustrated. She was about to leave. He had to do something.

“Wait!”

Kid froze. Nick winced. He supposed didn’t have to say it that loudly.

“Kid,” he said more softly. He reached out and grabbed her hand, afraid that she would get away. He pulled her closer towards him.

“Listen. I meant what I said. The, y’know ‘I love you’ thing. I really did.”

He didn’t know what to do now. He had heard about guys declaring their love to their significant other and somehow, none of them reacted like Kid had. She was frozen. If he hadn’t been holding her hands in his, he would’ve sworn that she had turned into an icicle or something.

“Y’know Nick, you really got to stop this clowning around. It’s getting cold out here.”

Nick fought to control his temper.

“Kid, I am not clowning around, okay. I’m deadly serious here.”

He stared into her eyes, trying to send the message to her. He had run out of words now. There was nothing else he could’ve said.

He had planned this earlier in his hotel room. He had planned to let her take him around the city and have fun, just to show her how right they were with each other. He had planned for them to talk and laugh together. Then, he had planned to tell her. This was where his planning came to an end. It all came down to her reaction.

In the best-case scenario he had envisioned, she would laugh like always and declared that she loved him, too. Then they would embrace and kiss and have a happily ever after.

In the worst-case scenario, she would be sad that she couldn’t repay his affections and their friendship would be lost forever.

None of these happened. What she did was totally unexpected.

She blazed. Seriously, she did. Her eyes that before had been smoldering gray turned into snapping silver fire. Her jaw began twitching which meant she was gritting her teeth or she was trying not to spew angry comments at him. In this case, it was probably both. Her fist clenched.

Nick took that as a bad sign.

“You fucking prick!” she shouted. “Where do you get off, telling me things like that? Do you realize what you’ve done? You’ve practically ruined us! I’m not going to be your safety net. If you think I’m the easy way out, think again, Carter!” she spat out before going up the stairs again.

At the top of the stairs, she paused and turned. “Oh, and about the calling thing? Do not EVER contact me again.”