Nick Oswald

––––––––

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING on, man? You look like shit.”

“Thanks, Abel. Just what I was looking to hear.”

“Jeez, Abel,” Caroline interjected in disapproving tones, “way to broach the topic subtly.”

“The topic?” Nick asked, “There’s a topic? You kind of make it sound like the two of you have been sitting around and talking about me.”

"I don't know what to tell you, man," Abel squirmed on his couch. He looked uncomfortable. His eyes kept shifting back to Caroline's face like he was waiting for her to take over, or at the very least tell him what to do. Nick didn't blame him. He and Abel had always been stereotypical dudes when it came to all the emotional bullshit. If they were trying to have some kind of a heart to heart with him right now, it was definitely going to need to follow Caroline's lead. Nick turned his eyes to her, waiting to see what the hell all of this was about. She had the decency to color a little bit, but she didn't show any signs of backing down. Whatever the hell that meant.

“Look, it’s been a week. I’ve been watching to see if you would snap out of it–”

“There’s nothing to snap out of.”

“Except that there is. I know what happened between you and Olivia.”

“Shit,” Nick said disgustedly, “of course you do. Chicks talk about everything, don’t they?”

“I guess we do. That’s not the point, though.”

“Excellent. So then what is the point?”

“What’s your deal with her?”

“Please tell me this isn’t one of those ‘what are your intentions’ kinds of conversations. Because in case you missed it when you had your chat with your girl, she’s the one who isn’t interested.”

“So you’re telling me that you actually are? Interested, I mean.”

"Seriously. What is this?" Nick stood and started pacing back and forth in front of the television. If he'd been dealing with anybody other than Abel and his new wife, he would have gotten the hell out of there already. He didn't want to talk about this shit. It had been almost two weeks since he had finally had Olivia and he didn't feel any differently than he had when he had stormed out of her apartment. He had worked hard to feel differently. He had made it a second job to find somebody to take his mind off of everything Olivia. It hadn't worked. It didn't matter what he did and who he did it with. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her. Everything he touched reminded him of the feel of her supple skin. Her curves ruled his thoughts whether he wanted them to or not. He'd never been with a woman who looked like her, a woman with such a perfect hourglass figure and wit that he knew he would never grow bored of. At this point, he almost resented her for being everything that she was. Before he had realized who she really was and what she actually had to offer, he'd been content with the girls he's picked up in bars. Now, it wasn't enough. He wanted her, and he wanted her more than just the once. She was the kind of woman he could fall in love with. More specifically, she was the woman he was already falling in love with.

“This is crazy,” he muttered under his breath. He was hardly aware of where he was anymore. His head was pounding with thoughts he most definitely did not want to have.

“What’s crazy?”

“All of this shit. There’s no point in talking about any of this. She made herself very clear. She’s not interested.”

“Come on, man,” Abel said genially, “you can’t say that for sure. She was interested enough, wasn’t she?”

“She was trying something on for size, and it wasn’t anything permanent. I don’t know. She probably knows me too well. She knows what I’m good for and it’s never been relationships. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking.”

“I don’t think so, Nick.”

There was something in the tone of Caroline's voice that made him stop pacing. When he looked at her, he saw that Abel had the same curiosity he did, which was funny since the two of them told each other just about everything. She wouldn't make eye contact with either of them, either. He was about to ask her what the fuck was going on here when he heard the doorknob begin to turn.

“Hello? Lovebirds? Anyone home?”

Nick was somewhere between resuming his pacing and plopping back down on the couch. He hadn’t quite decided when he heard her voice coming down the front hall. His eyes darted back towards Caroline and saw that she was smiling. He couldn’t figure out what she could be smiling about. The last thing he wanted was to see Olivia now. He would have been happy if he could have gone the rest of his life without seeing her again. It was too much to ask, given her relationship to Abel and Caroline, but he would have settled for waiting until he had her worked out of his system. To see her like this, though? Not his idea of a good time.

“Are we playing some kind of adult hide and seek game right now? Because if that’s the–oh! Shit!”

Olivia hurried into the room with her arms full of precariously balanced bags. She was smiling, but when she saw Nick standing there, she was so startled that she dropped them both. Two bottles of wine hit the floor and miraculously failed to break. She bent to pick them up, and Nick rushed forward. He reached for one of the bottles at the same time as Olivia and they came very close to hitting their foreheads together. When his hand touched the bottle closest to him, his fingers closed over hers. He pulled his hand away with an unconscious gasp. The electricity of her body meeting his took his mind straight back to being on her bed. He could still taste her if he wanted to. He could still see the way her body had writhed in the dim blue light filtering through into her bedroom. 

“Nick,” she stammered, getting unsteadily to her feet, “I’m–I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would be here.”

“No. I–um, I didn’t expect to see you here, either.”

He glanced at Caroline, who shrugged at him and grinned. She looked at Olivia pointedly and mouthed something that looked a lot like "talk to her." The minute he saw that, his pulse started thrumming wildly in his throat. He had come here to see his friends and maybe have a beer or five with his best buddy. It hadn't occurred to him that he would be walking into a setup. From the look on Olivia's face, she hadn't known, either. He looked at Caroline one more time and saw something on her face he couldn't figure out right away. It was hope. He thought it was hope for him, maybe, and he wondered what exactly had gone on during whatever girl talk the two of them had had. While he was trying to figure it out, Caroline jumped up off of the couch and motioned aggressively for Abel to do the same. Olivia looked at them with something very close to panic.

“What are you doing, guys?”

“Nothing. I just remembered that I need Abel to help me get something out of the car. We’ll be right back.”

The two of them hurried out of the apartment so quickly that Olivia couldn't offer the protest she was so clearly wanting to make. It left Nick alone with her, standing very close, and her breathing fast. Her shirt was low, and he could see her breasts heaving. Without thinking, he stepped closer to her. He half expected her to move away, but she stood her ground, lifting her chin defiantly.

“I think they might have done it on purpose,” Nick said as casually as he could manage. “What about you?”

“I guess I would have to agree. Subtlety has never been Caroline’s strong point.”

“No, not Abel’s either.”

“Did you–?”

“Did I what?”

“God, nothing,” she shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other and hugged herself in a way that made her breasts look out of this world, “never mind.”

“No, it’s okay. What do you want to ask?”

“Did you have something to do with this?”

"Are you kidding me?" he asked, feeling a flare-up of anger.

“No, I guess I’m not.”

"No, Olivia. I had nothing to do with it. Don't worry; I know how to bow out when I'm not wanted."

“What are you talking about? What do you mean, not wanted? You’re the one who stormed out of my place.”

“Because you weren’t interested.”

“I told you I was! What do you think friends with benefits means?”

“Bullshit!” Nick shouted, “It means bullshit to me. I’ve done that already. Plenty of it.”

“So then what?” she shouted right back at him, “What do you want?”

“You. I want you. Not some of the time. Not for the occasional benefit. I want us to be together. I think I’m really falling for you. I think...I think I might be falling in love with you.”

“You shouldn’t say that.” She whispered it, almost like she didn’t want him to hear her. He took her face in his hands and tears spilled over the rims of her eyes.

“Why? Tell me that.”

“You shouldn’t say things like that. They’re dangerous. You shouldn’t say things that aren’t true.”

“And what if they are?”

His eyes were locked on hers. He could see her wanting to pull away. He could feel that this was the moment. Whatever she said next, he would either have her or he wouldn't.  He had gotten almost everything in his life that he had ever wanted but none of it had come close to this. Now that the words were out of his mouth, he knew how true they were. He loved her, and all he wanted was a chance.

“If we do this...”

“Yes? If we do it then what?”

“If we do this, I have a feeling you’re going to drive me batshit crazy.”

He stared at her in disbelief and then she was laughing while the tears continued to fall down her face. He could taste their salt when he kissed her. It was the best thing he had ever tasted in his life.