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CHAPTER 16

Nick Narrating

We were sitting there watching TV, well she was watching it. I was pretty much staring at her. Sometimes I found myself doing that. Just staring at her when she didn’t know it. Then when I realized I was doing it, it scared the living shit out of me. I’d never felt that way so soon before. What was so different now?

“I can’t believe I have to leave tomorrow.” I said.

“I know.”

“I’m gonna miss you.” I said.

“I’ll miss you too.”

“What if, well,”

“What?”

“Never mind. It’s stupid.”

“Tell me. I don’t care if it is stupid.”

“Do you want to come with me?” There I said it. It seemed to take her a really long time to answer. So I did what I always do when I can’t think of anything to say. I kissed her.

“I have to work.” Dammit. I kissed her again. “And I have friends.” I kissed her again. “And I don’t have a ticket.” I kissed her again. That seemed to be the pattern in this relationship. She talked, I kissed. I could live with that. “I’m making up problems.”

“Good.” I said. “Then come with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

“Because what?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to stay the whole time. Just come out for a few days.” Please come.

“Okay. But I don’t have a ticket.”

“I’ll get you one.”

“Okay. I better go pack.”

Haley Narrating

I can’t believe I just agreed to go to California with him. Why had I done that? Oh yeah because I was totally into him. Maybe that was part of it. I guess I had to tell someone so they didn’t think I just disappeared. I called Melissa as soon as I found my phone.

“Mel? You can’t freak out when I tell you this okay? You have to promise.”

“Are you pregnant?”

“NO!”

“Okay. Then I promise.”

“Nick asked me to go to California with him tomorrow and I said yes.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ll see when I get there. But I know they’re there for like ten days, and then they’re in Boston.”

“Okay. I’ll miss you. And be careful.”

“I will.”

“And I don’t mean just with California.”

“I know. And I will.” I hung up the phone and Nick walked in.

“I thought you might need some help packing.” He said.

“Have you packed?”

“Packed what?”

“Clothes. A toothbrush? I can’t promise that they’ll have flowery lavender toothbrushes in California.”

“Yeah. I haven’t packed yet.”

“You might wanna do that.”

“I want to do something else first.”

Nick Narrating

I walked over to her, and take a wild freaking guess what I did. Yep. I kissed her. I kept kissing her too until she forgot about packing. Sure I got the ‘but we have to pack’ between kisses, but other than that she had forgotten about packing.




We arrived at the airport a little earlier than we expected so our car wasn’t here yet. I dialed Brian’s number to tell him we were here and everything. They still didn’t really trust me to get where I needed to be on time. Hell the only reason I was here was because Haley made me come otherwise I’d probably still be at her apartment. So maybe it was good they didn’t trust me.

Brian Narrating

“Brian?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s Nick. I was just calling to tell you we got here and everything.”

“Who’s we?” I had a pretty good idea, I just figured I’d let him tell me.

“I decided to bring Haley.” What a surprise. Then I thought I heard some yelling.

“You didn’t tell him I was coming?”

“No. I didn’t think it would matter.”

“How would you feel if Howie showed up with some girl and didn’t tell anyone?”

“But that would never happen. Howie doesn’t get any girls.”

I kind of doubted that was the point she was trying to make, but I didn’t tell him that.

“Brian, you’re lucky she’s here, because she can get me where I need to be on time.”

“I know. Maybe I won’t have to come drag you out of bed every morning.”

“Oh, yeah. You might not want to do that while she’s here. You might not like what you see when I come out from under the sheets.”

“So I guess Haley’s not right next to you anymore if you said that.”

“No. She went to get the luggage.”

“You let a lady get the luggage? That’s not very gentlemanly Nicky.” I teased.

“Shit. You’re right. I gotta go.” I hadn’t been serious about that. Besides Nick usually didn’t care whether he was gentlemanly enough or not.



“Is he at least in the same state as us?” Kevin asked me.

“Yeah. He just got in. He just called me and Haley’s with him.”

“He brought Haley?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he tell you he was bringing her?”

“No, but I did hear her yelling at him when she found out he hadn’t told us yet. And he says that since she’s there she’ll get him where he needs to be on time, and I think she’s the only reason he’s here. I’m pretty sure she made him come because if it were up to him he’d still be at her place.”

“Maybe I’m going to like this girl. She seems to keep him in line.”

“Yeah.”

“I couldn’t tell that much from dinner since Baylee got sick and we had to cut it short.”

“Yeah. About that. He wasn’t sick. I figured I should tell you this before you found out some other way. The reason we left is because Paris came in a few minutes after we sat down.”

“What? Why was she in Pennsylvania?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“I didn’t even see her. How did you know she was there?”

“Haley called me from the bathroom to tell us to get out of there before you killed her.”

“Well, then we can thank Haley for keeping me out of prison.”

Nick Narrating

We both started unpacking our suitcases when we got to the room. I did try to get her to do something else first, but she didn’t go for it. That had sucked a little bit. But you know what was more surprising? I had actually brought more shit than she did. I mean as I unpacked I realized I had a lot of shit. And that’s exactly what it was too. Shit. Not stuff. It was all useless shit that I would never need. Like I had some of the takeout menus from Haley’s house. Now what could I possibly do with those? Seriously?

After I finished packing I asked Haley, “How did I get so much shit?”

“I don’t know. Maybe that’s like your guilty pleasure.”

“Trust me. That’s not my guilty pleasure.”

“Really? Then what is?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yeah.”

“You.”



The next day Haley woke me up at the ungodly hour of seven am. I mean it was just cruel to make anybody get up that early. She shoved me into the bathroom to take a shower and ordered breakfast from room service. Was it bad that I needed someone to take care of me like this? Oh well. That was just who I was. Why deny it?

“Haley? Do you want to join me in the shower?”

“Shut up and get ready!”

“Okay.” Wait, what was I going to today? “What am I getting ready for?”

“The taping for Regis and Kelly.”

“Oh yeah. I don’t want to do that.”

“You’ll be in Disneyland. You can play on all the little rides.”

“Ooooh. Yay!” Now that really did sound fun. I hadn’t done that in years.

Haley Narrating

He really was a five year old in a man’s body wasn’t he? How did I fall for him again? When he acted like he was five years old all the time?

He came out of the bathroom about forty minutes after I had shoved him into the shower.

“I thought you’d drowned in there.” I said.

“Well, since you wouldn’t come with me I had to do my own thing.” I never heard that sentence used in such a literal way.

“You have no self control do you?”

“Nope. None whatsoever.”

“That might not be the best thing you know?”

“I know. But I tried controlling myself years ago, and the thing was, it hadn’t worked.”

“So you gave up and never tried again?”

“Yeah. That pretty much sums it up.”

Kevin Narrating

So, the surprising part of the whole day was that Nick was actually on time. We had to meet at 8:45, but he was actually there at 8:44. That is the earliest Nick has ever been for anything. He wasn’t event he last one. Brian walked in at 8:46. I thought Nick was going to keep giving him shit for that for the rest of his life. I must say we usually do give him a pretty hard time for being late.

Howie Narrating

This morning I decided Haley might not be that bad for Nick. I mean she did remind him to do regular everyday things that he normally forgot to do. Like eat. Or take a shower. And she got him where he needed to be on time. It was a freaking miracle. He even didn’t miss his plane out to California. Now, I know Haley had something to do with that because he wouldn’t have even left her apartment until an hour before the flight if he left at all unless she made him.

AJ Narrating

I was truly surprised when Nick was actually on time. We could have actually told him the real time we needed to meet instead of fifteen minutes early like we’d been doing since he was thirteen. Maybe Haley really was the reason he was on time. I’d say it was because he was getting laid, but that happens anyway so…

Brian Narrating

Usually it wasn’t a big deal when one of us showed up a full forty-five seconds late because Nick doesn’t show up on time. Ever. Except today. So of course he made me feel like an asshole for being late. To tell you the truth I was just glad he was actually on time for a change.

I tried to think of what would have made a difference, but I couldn’t think of anything. He was just always late. Wait. There was one difference. Haley.