Title: Beautiful
Disclaimer: Do you take some sort of twisted pleasure in my pain? It's not mine…
satisfied?
Rated: For two words
Summary: A day off lead Nick to reflect: what were people like in high school?
A/N: I didn't know this at the time I wrote this, but the writers of CSI already did a "what people were like" kind of scene in the episode "Bully for You". So lets just pretend for the next 10 minutes (or however long it takes you to read this) that they didn't, 'kay? Cool. Hope you guys like it.
Also, I'll try to update soon, but from now on, weekends are probably going to be the only time I'll get a chance to post new stuff. Just started my second semester of schools, which means new classes, which means I'll actually have homework I need to do this time. :D
Days off were always appreciated around the lab; the precious few days when crime could wait because there was shopping to be done and restaurants to be visited and chores to be done.
Having a day off was like having one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets, and it was even better when someone else had the same night off as you. Because then there were supervisors to gossip about and co-workers to wonder about, and (in Nick and Warrick's case) football games to be watched in Warrick's living room on his new television.
Warrick cheered, pumping his arms in the air as his team scored another touchdown. Nick just shot him a sour look, grabbing some chips from the bowl on the table in front of him as the TV announcer decided to rub salt in Nick's wounds: "Another touchdown for the Rams, making the score 24 to 3 as we come up on halftime. Dallas is really taking a beating today, folks…"
A deafening mix of both cheers and boos erupted from the crowd at the comment, and the game cut to commercial. Warrick took a swig of the beer he'd been drinking since the start of the game, draining what little was left. He swished the bottle around, as if it would suddenly refill, before pushing himself off the couch. He grabbed Nick's empty bottle, rolling his eyes as he heard the Texan mutter something about a "luck play or two". Warrick shoot his head and headed for the kitchen.
"You want anther beer, man?" Warrick called out from the kitchen, grabbing a bottle for himself and one for Nick, anticipating his co-worker's answer.
"Yeah, thanks 'Rick" came the reply.
Warrick sauntered back into his living room, tossing Nick one of the bottles before collapsing on his couch. Seeing the commercial break had not yet ended, he decided to goad Nick about his team's awful showing.
"No problem" Warrick grinned smugly, taking a drink before continuing, "I know that I for one wouldn't want to be sober if I had to witness my team getting their asses handed to 'em…"
Nick protested defensively, "Hey, hey, even the best teams have an off game now and then!"
"More like an off season" Warrick chuckled.
"They haven't been doing that badly…" Nick countered, grabbing another handful of chips.
"Whatever, man. We both know football's just a sore spot with you because you didn't make the team back in high school" Warrick teased.
"Hey, I'll have you know in my school, baseball was the cool sport, and you're looking at All-State pitcher three years in a row" Nick informed his friend, puffing his chest out a bit in pride.
Warrick nodded knowingly, "So Catherine was right: you were a jock."
"What?" asked a confused Nick. "You two were talking about what I was like in high school?"
"Well, someone's got a healthy ego" Warrick laughed smugly before explaining. "We had time to kill" he shrugged, "And decided to amuse ourselves by guessing what people were like in high school. We got through Ecklie and Doc Robbins, when we got to you. Catherine bet you were a jock, and before I could get my two cents in, Greg paged us with our results."
"Alright man, then what about you? Who were you back in the day?" Nick challenged, munching contentedly on his chips.
"Big trouble" Warrick revealed, grinning. "Popular enough, I guess but… my Grandma always used to call me her work in progress."
"Impressive" teased Nick.
All pretense of watching the football game, including riding Nick about the abysmal state of his team, were forgotten as the two now turned their discussion towards their co-workers.
"I bet Catherine was the popular girl" Nick mused aloud, "Social butterfly."
"Sounds like her" Warrick agreed. "I bet she was the one who always gave advice to anyone and everyone."
Nick nodded, before thinking aloud, "I wonder what Greg was."
"Probably the only nerd on the chess team to listen to heavy metal" Warrick guessed, laughing good-naturedly as the image of a young Greg Sanders, sporting braces, thick glasses, and plaid pants rocked out to Metallica flooded his mind.
"Archie's easy: AV geek" Nick offered thoughtfully. "David was probably the real quiet kid. What about Grissom?"
"Probably the kid always chasing after bugs and spouting off cryptic phrases" Warrick supplied with a smile.
"Yeah, I could see that" admitted Nick, grinning.
The room quieted for a moment, Warrick's eyes flitting to the TV and Nick taking a large gulp of his beer. It wasn't until a few minutes later, when Warrick's team easily intercepted a long pass, Nick spoke;
"What about Sara?"
Warrick stifled a smug chuckle; it had always been fairly obvious to everyone, besides, of course, Nick and Sara, that the Texan had been carrying a torch for her for quite some time. The aforementioned pair was also equally oblivious to the fact that, when Nick was near, Sara's smile was just a bit bigger than normal, her attitude a bit more flirtatious.
So naturally, Warrick, along with the rest of the lab, was curious as to when the usually observant CSIs would figure it out. With this thought in his mind, Warrick decided to put the ball back in Nick's court:
"I don't know…she's kind of tough to peg. What do you think?"
Nick stiffened as Warrick turned the question back at him. He thought of Sara being so many different things' how could he explain to Warrick? And as he though of exactly what to say, images of Sara came unbidden to his mind.
He'd always found her stunningly attractive; she was different than all of the girls he dated back in Texas. She wasn't afraid to have smudges of grease decorate her face and cheeks after dissecting a car. She was tough and assertive and sarcastic, and Nick just couldn't help himself from striking up a flirty banter with her. Though she always responded positively, Nick was always left with mixed emotions. Elation; they'd flirted shamelessly, she'd smiled at him in a way she'd never smiled at anyone else. Crushing defeat; (he thought) there could never be more.
To him, Sara would always be that one person who could reduce him to a bumbling, awkward teenage boy; a bumbling, awkward hormone-ridden teenage boy, plagued by butterflies and weak knees whenever she was around. He bet she'd been that girl that everyone loved, but the girl that everyone had been too intimidated by to actually ask her out.
To him, she still was.
Nick blinked his eyes deliberately, pulling himself out of his silent musings to find an amused looking Warrick, still waiting for an answer.
Nick coughed, feeling his face redden. "I bet…" he started, "I bet she was…"
And when Nick completed that sentence with just one word and an embarrassed expression, Warrick clapped him on the back, chuckling, "Damn, bro, you've got it bad."
A/N: One more chapter to go… tell me what you think or you'll never hear from me again! Ok, so I'm kidding, but reviews do make me giggly with delight:D