My head was pounding. And something was falling on the tent. I peeled my eyes open and looked around. It was still fairly dark outside. The sound was rain. And my head felt the way it did because of…ah shit, the Mamba. Damn alcohol. I wiped the beads of sweat off my forehead as I felt as though I was about to throw up. I knew I was in the tent with Nick (thanks to the blonde hair peeking out from underneath his sleeping bag and the snoring coming from his end) and I really didn’t feel like throwing up in front of him. I quickly unzipped the tent and ran to the lake, the rain pounding against my back.
After a few minutes of heaving, I felt a hand on my lower back. “You okay?” I turned to see Nick squinting through the rain, his hair plastered against his forehead. All he had on was a pair of boxers.
After getting sick, I’m not one to have enough strength to smile, continue conversation and walk back to my bed. So instead, I collapsed against him, my chest heaving with every gasp I took in. “God, I feel like shit.”
He chuckled and kissed the top of my head comfortingly. “I’ve never seen you so drunk so fast before. Whatever was in that drink was incredibly toxic.” Nick joked. “You wanna go back?”
“Actually, I think the rain is good for me right now. You can go back, though,” I sighed. I didn’t feel like sitting down in the mud, but I would if I had to. I was still in my clothes from the night before.
“Nah, its fine. I’ll stay out here with you,” he smirked. He continued to hold me and I continued to not care. It wasn’t until a few moments later that I realized his arms were wrapped tightly around me. A small smirk was able to form over my lips, only to be thrown away by another rush of nausea. As I turned quickly in Nick’s arms, he held my waist as I bent over so I wouldn’t tumble into the lake.
“Damn, please remind me never to drink again,” I shuddered. Nick chuckled and continued to help me get through this horrible excretion of the alcohol. After about twenty minutes had passed, Nick swept me off my feet (literally) and carried me back to the tent. I was completely out of it. All I could make sense of was Nick stripping me of my clothes. “What the hell are you doing?” I tried to scramble away from him. “I’ve never known you to take advantage of wasted girls before.”
Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Would you just shut up and cooperate? I’m not trying to rape you,” he laughed as I calmed down. I was putty in his fucking hands. Dammit. “I’m trying to put you in more comfortable, warm clothes. You’re physically shaking, Sar.”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled, realizing there were goose bumps on my arms and legs. “Maybe a little chilly…” He laughed at my stubborn nature and decided to dress me anyway. I felt tired…but I couldn’t seem to fall asleep. “Nick?” I whispered after a few minutes had passed, the rain still coming down hard on the top of our tent.
“Yeah?” He frowned. I had remembered what he had told me earlier in the night…every word, to be exact. He had admitted that he loved me too. Part of me wanted to bring that up, but the other part of me took over and I changed my mind.
“This tent is waterproof, right?” I smirked. Nick laughed and nodded. “Good, ‘cause that would really suck if I woke up drenched.” Nick frowned as if he didn’t believe that was really what I wanted to ask him, but he let it go anyway. After a few moments of silence, I chirped up again. “What made you ask her?” Even though it was fairly vague to any outsider listening in, Nick knew exactly what I was talking about.
“Aren’t you exhausted yet?” He laughed, trying to throw out the question.
“Answer the question,” I rolled over on my side and studied his face. He seemed so perfect. His face was much thinner than it used to be, only making him that more attractive. I had noticed him losing the weight before I left, but he had really pulled through these last few months.
“I don’t know…” he mumbled and played with a thread from his sleeping bag. “Just go to sleep. You’re going to wish you slept through the night in a few hours when we wake up to go on that hike…” he winked. He rolled over as if to physically end the conversation, but I wasn’t done. Whenever I was drunk I was usually very outgoing. During my hangovers I tended to be just plain obnoxious.
“Do you love her?” I asked softly. I wasn’t sure why, but I could feel tears forming in my eyes.
“Why all the fucking questions?” He began to get angry and rolled over to face me. “Yes, I love her. I asked her to marry me because I love her, okay? She means the world to me.” Those last six words about did me in. Didn’t I mean the world to him?
“Oh…” I nodded and rolled over to my side, away from Nick. “Okay.” I whispered as a few tears rolled down my face. Luckily it was dark and Nick couldn’t see, but he knew he had upset me. He sighed heavily and scooted closer.
“Listen to me,” he whispered. I didn’t want to.
“Don’t worry about it, Nick. I shouldn’t have pressured you, whatever,” I shrugged and tried to close my eyes. Part of me wished this was all just a bad dream.
“Of course I’m going to worry about it,” he sighed once more. “You mean a lot to me, too.”
“But not the world,” I emphasized, my speech still slightly slurred from the alcohol. He tried to stifle the chuckle. It wasn’t funny. Maybe it sounded funny, but it wasn’t meant to be funny.
“Sarah, listen to yourself,” he mumbled. After I stayed silent for a little while, he continued. “Listen, I don’t know what I want right now, okay?”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Author's Chapter Notes:
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