Okay, hi, hello! So, here's the idea with this fic: it'll follow Nick's life over the course of the year, and so I'm hoping to post a chapter once a month. Each chapter will cover a month of the year (the first chapter is January, second will be February, etc) and my plan is to post each chapter within the first week or two of the month. Also, this is very much Niff. Jeff just won't show up for a bit. But trust me, this is very Niff.
One last thing: in case you somehow managed to have not seen Frozen yet but you want to, this chapter does have some (fairly vague) spoilers for it.
When Nick gets old and wrinkly, he'll probably look back on his life. He'll probably look back and the details will be fuzzy but the most important things will still be there, clear as day. That was his hope, anyways. That was the way it went every time he looked back on his year at the start of a new one.
At any rate, when he is old and his hair has gone grey and he might maybe be struggling to remember a few things that happened when he was younger, he's sure that he'll be able to say one thing for sure: 2014 was one of the biggest, most important years of his life.
2014 was the year that he (among other things) got into a car wreck for the first time, got engaged (twice), broke up, fell in love, stole a baby goat, dropped out of college, pulled an all-nighter for the first time, got a tattoo, and traveled outside the United States.
Of course, he knew none of this as he slumped on the couch on December 31st, 2013, watching Anderson Cooper's New Year's Eve countdown show.
"Jesus Christ, Nick, it's not even eleven yet," he heard his sister say next to him, and he opened his eyes to look at her.
"Sorry, Lace, I'm tired," he replied, stretching his arms out over his head.
"Tired?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows at him. She moved down the couch over to him, practically flinging herself into his lap and gripping his shoulders. Shaking him by his shoulders, she went on, "Tired? I repeat, it's not even eleven."
Nick chuckled softly, shoving her off of him. "And I repeat, I'm tired."
"I don't understand," she said, flopping back against the couch. "You went off to college and you got way more boring. That makes literally no sense."
"Sorry," Nick said, shrugging. "If it helps, I go to parties sometimes. But I'm on break right now, so I need the time to recuperate."
"I wish that I believed that, I really do," she said. She got to her feet, going to the kitchen. When she returned, she had a grin on her lips and a bottle of 1800 and two shot glasses in her hands.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting you drunk," she said.
He shook his head. "As delightful as that sounds, that actually sounds like a horrible idea."
"You're never any fun," she said with a groan. His objection didn't slow her down any, as she plopped herself down on the couch beside him and started to pour them both shots anyways.
"I'm not going to drink that," he told her as she handed him his shot.
Lacey raised an eyebrow at him, looking pointedly down at the shot glass, which he had taken without argument. "Aren't you?"
"No," he replied.
She let out a (frankly unbelievably loud) sigh, slumping back against the back of the couch. "Fine, make me drink alone," she mumbled before knocking back her shot.
He watched her for a moment, rolling his eyes as she leaned forward again and made it clear that her intention was to pour herself another shot. "You're not going to keep drinking that much if I don't drink at all," he said.
"I might," she said.
"You won't."
Lacey sighed, shaking her head slowly and frowning at him. "I just don't understand why you don't want to drink," she said.
"Did you know that the earlier you start drinking, the more likely you are to become an alcoholic?" he said.
"You're not going to become an alcoholic, and neither am I," she said, shaking her head. "Now stop making excuses." She reached towards him and grabbed his wrist in an attempt to lift the glass up to his lips.
Nick rolled his eyes at her before doing as she wanted, drinking the tequila. "I'm not going to drink any more of this, though," he told her.
"My baby brother really is no fun," Lacey pouted, closing the bottle without drinking any more of it. "You could've drank with me, it would've been fun."
"I don't think that it would've been, actually," he said, shaking his head.
"Oh, Nicholas," Lacey said and shook her head slowly. She stroked his hair as she continued, "You are just so, so sad and boring, and it hurts me to know that I am related to such a stick in the mud and thus might actually be partially responsible for it."
He rolled her eyes at her and gave her a light shove. "I'm not a stick in the mud."
"Yes, yes you are, you poor, hopeless soul," she said, shaking her head. "When is the last thing you've done something exciting or spontaneous?"
"All the time," he answered quickly. "I mean, it might depend on your definition of the words exciting and spontaneous, but still. I am an interesting person."
Lacey just looked at him for a moment, the look on her face something like a predator sizing up its prey. She then got to her feet, clearly ready to take another swing at getting him to do what she wanted him to. "What time is it now?"
He glanced at the clock, wondering in the back of his mind why she couldn't look herself. "It's about eleven."
"Okay," she said as she nodded slowly, her eyes narrowed. "Okay, yeah, I think that's about enough time."
"Enough time for what?" he asked.
"A Duval decathlon." Nick groaned at the words, shaking his head slightly. Before he could protest, though, she said, "Stick in the mud."
"It's not a decathlon and it never has been, do you even know what 'deca' even-"
"Wow, Ted Mosby, you are literally boring me to sleep," she said, waving off his words. "It's alliterative, it's staying. Anyways, I think we're going to have a cookoff."
"Exciting and spontaneous," he repeated dubiously.
She sighed, shaking her head slowly as she looked at him. "You are an extreme disappointment," she said. "Anyways, the rules are, we're making fudge, any kind of fudge, but you can't use any ingredients that are already in the house."
Nick stopped her then, frowning at her words. "No ingredients in the house," he echoed. "Then what am I supposed to use to make the fudge?"
"If you'd let me finish," Lacey said, shaking her head at him. "I would have told you that you have to run to the store up the street and buy anything you need."
"That sounds like a horrible idea," he said. "Besides, shouldn't they have closed early because of the-"
"For your sass, the rule now is that you're not allowed to use your car. You will have to literally run," she said, shaking her head in disapproval. Getting to her feet, she said, "Don't worry, they're open, I keep tabs on that shit. The challenge starts now, good luck." And with that, she was leaving the room.
Reluctantly, he got to his feet and went to put on a jacket and shoes, knowing that if he didn't at least try then Lacey would never let him hear the end of it.
"She's twenty-three years old, and yet a complete and utter child," he mumbled to himself as he stepped out into the cold night air.
Never before in his life had he been so grateful that his family's house was so close to a grocery store. The path between his home and the store was such a simple, short one that he didn't understand how Lacey could have possibly gotten ahead of him, but he knew better by now than to question it anything she did.
He got to the store and got everything he needed as quickly as possible, in part because he just wanted to be able to go home already and be done with it.
"Your sister just had a similar purchase," the cashier, a man whose hair was entirely white and whose smile was entirely warm and welcoming, said to him as he started to ring up the items. "I'm guessing she's made up another competition for you?"
"Yeah, Frank, she has," he replied, letting out a soft laugh and shaking his head slowly.
"I figured," he said with a laugh. "That sister of yours... A real piece of work." His voice held a fondness, the kind that only came from years of familiarity and a little bit of exasperation. It came from living in a small town where everyone knows everyone and you come out of retirement to work as a cashier at the grocery store just to keep up with the latest gossip.
"Yeah, she is," he said, shaking his head slightly as he pulled out his card to pay. In spite of himself, though, he couldn't help but smile as he rolled his eyes. "That's definitely a way of putting it."
Frank chuckled softly, taking the card and swiping it for him. "Let me know who wins, alright?"
"Will do," Nick affirmed with a small nod, giving him a smile.
"I won't keep you any longer, you've got a bakeoff to win, clearly," he said with a wink, handing him his bag and gesturing for him to go to the door.
Nick headed back out of the store, heading back for home. He felt a bit ridiculous practically running (it was that awkward half-walk, half-run of the self-conscious, really) from the store to home, but he told himself that 1) it was cold out, so it would be good to get home quickly, and 2) it certainly wasn't the weirdest thing anyone had ever looked out their windows to see.
When he got back to the house, Lacey was already entirely set up in the kitchen.
"Hello, sunshine," she called out, turning her head to look back at him. "I got our judge."
Sitting cross-legged on the counter was their brother (older than Nick but younger than Lacey), Charlie, who frankly looked like he had very little interest in being there.
"Promise you'll be impartial?" Nick asked him as he walked into the kitchen, chuckling softly.
"Impartial just like you were the last time Lace gave me a challenge?" Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
Nick let out a laugh as he started to unpack his purchases and set to work. "In my defense, she totally did win. And also you were being annoying earlier that day," he said with a laugh.
"Which is why I threw down the gauntlet to begin with," she said with a laugh.
"I was so not being annoying," Charlie protested, shaking his head quickly.
"You definitely were," she replied. "It's just the curse of being a little brother."
"Then why isn't Nick annoying?" he asked, frowning at her.
Lacey chuckled softly, glancing over at the boy in question. "Oh, he is," she assured him. "Some days more than others. You seem to have more off days than he does, so."
Nick let out a laugh at that, grinning as he looked back and saw that Charlie was pouting at the both of them. He dipped his finger into the tub of cocoa powder that he had and then walked over to his older brother. He ran his cocoa-covered thumb across Charlie's forehead a la Rafiki, and then as an afterthought said, "Simba."
"Oh my god, why?" Charlie groaned, turning to the sink and turning it on, wiping the brown powder off of his face.
Lacey let out a loud laugh, turning to face Nick and giving him a high five. "That was great, Nicholas, thank you so much."
And that was how things went for the next while. They bantered and messed with each other in the no-harm-meant way that siblings did, and they finished up the fudge right about in time for the ball to drop.
They all piled onto the couch, legs and arms laying over each other i a disorganized huddle.
"Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three.. Two... One! Happy New Year!"
Lacey lifted her hands up and put her index fingers on her cheeks, looking at her brothers. "Happy New Year, boys," she said, chuckling.
A bit begrudgingly, both of the Duval brothers shifted over in order to kiss her cheeks.
"Thank you," she said with a laugh. They sat there for a while longer, just watching the now almost entirely pointless coverage go on and then end, mostly not paying too much attention to what was on the screen anyways. Eventually, Lacey nudged both of them off of her and got to her feet, saying, "I think that the fudge should be ready to at least sort of cut now. It can be tasted, anyways."
They both followed after her, going into the kitchen and watching her pull the two trays of fudge out. She handed Nick's to him and got him a knife, then pulled out a knife for herself as well. They both cut off a piece of their fudge blocks, then handed them to Charlie one at a time.
"You know, I'm pretty sure that it would've been better for you to have me do this anonymously," he pointed out, looking at the two pieces of fudge in his hands.
"But then it wouldn't have been as much fun," Nick said, frowning at him.
Lacey nodded in agreement, pouting. "And I wouldn't have been able to ring in 2014 with my two favorite boys," she said.
"We're not even your favorite boys," Charlie said, shaking his head. "Don't you have a boyfriend?"
"Not right now, long story, didn't I tell you?" she asked, then shook her head. "Anyways, stop distracting me. Taste the damn fudge."
He chuckled softly, rolling his eyes at her. He then took a bite of one of the pieces of fudge, chewing it and swallowing before tasting the other. One he finished both pieces of fudge, he gestured to Nick. "Alright, he wins."
Nick grinned widely at Charlie's words, lifting his hand up to give him a high five. He turned to Lacey with a grin. "Sorry, sis, I guess I'm just better at fudging than you."
"You are just so, so mean," she said as she sighed. "And I think you must've cheated. Maybe you paid off Charlie."
Rolling his eyes at them, Charlie gestured vaguely in the direction of his room. "If you two don't mind, I think I'm going to go to bed."
Lacey pulled him in again quickly, giving him a quick hug. "I love you anyways," she said before giving him a light shove.
"Love you too, you insane, insane girl," he said before turning and going to his room.
"Goodnight," Nick called after him as he picked up the trays of fudge and set them on the kitchen table. He and Lacey got onto the table and sat facing each other with the fudge in between them. They cut off chunks of the other's fudge, sitting in near silence for a bit and just eating for a bit.
"So," Lacey said finally, "any New Year's resolutions?"
Nick chuckled softly. "Sort of?"
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, that's the attitude that will lead to you giving up in a week."
"I hope not."
"So, spill, what is it? Is it something embarrassing?" she asked. Grinning, she continued, "Oh my god, is it something sexual? Limiting your masturbation? Increasing your masturbation?"
"Jesus, Lace, shut up," he said, shaking his head and laughing softly in spite of himself. "It's not sexual."
"Spill," she repeated.
"I... I don't know if this counts as a resolution, but it's something that I want to do and I'm going to do," he said. "So, I, um... I have this girlfriend."
"You said it wasn't sexual," she interrupted him. "Also, why haven't you mentioned her before? Is there something wrong with her?"
Nick chose to ignore her, pretending that she hadn't said anything. "I'm going to ask her to marry me."
Lacey stayed silent for about a full minute, just staring at him, which was quite a feat for her. Finally, she spoke again, saying just, "Seriously?"
"Yeah, seriously," he said, a small smile crossing his lips. "I love her."
"Oh god, Nick," she said, shaking her head slowly. "How long have you been dating?"
"We met in August, the night I moved into the dorm," he said. "We've kind of been going out since."
"So you've been dating her for less than half a year," she said slowly.
"Yeah, that's true," he said. "But I think that that's enough time. know everything I need to know."
"Like hell you do," she said, and it looked like it literally pained her to have to legitimately talk down to him. "There's no way that you know enough about her to be ready to marry her."
"But I do," he protested, shaking his head. "You just don't understand, because you and your boyfriend have been on and off since, well, the dawn of time."
"That's not a fair comparison," she said, shaking her head. "We were dating for over a year before we broke up the first time, and not once did either of us even consider marriage."
"You were in high school when you started dating," he pointed out.
"And you're barely out of high school now!" Lacey protested. "I get the fact that your love life was kind of shit in high school, but that's no reason to just throw yourself completely into the first girl to be nice to you in college."
"That makes it sound like I'm a child," he said.
"You're acting like one," she replied.
Nick let out a long breath. He looked at her, shaking his head slowly. "Look, just... Can we not talk about this right now?" he asked. "Can we just go to bed or something?"
She frowned at him, looking like she wanted to pursue the subject further. After a moment of internal battling, she nodded slightly in acquiescence. "Fine. But we're not done talking about it forever."
Nick nodded, knowing better than to expect her to just let it go just like that. "Alright," he said as he got off of the table. He looked back at Lacey, sighing softly. "If you want to look her up, because I'm sure you do, her name is Natalie. Natalie Colette. She's beautiful and I love her more than anything in the world."
He just stood there for a moment longer, looking at Lacey as if expecting her to say something else. She didn't, although her face told him that she might feel at least a bit bad about being so completely dismissive of his feelings.
That said, he turned around and left the room when he saw that the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere else from there. He went up the stairs and into his room, letting out a long breath as he slumped into his bed.
As promised, the topic was revisited, though Lacey gave it a bit more time than he had actually been expecting. Three days into the new year, sitting at their kitchen table eating breakfast, she let out a long breath before speaking.
"You've been dating her for, like, and this is being generous, half a year. There's no way you can marry her."
Nick shrugged, bringing his spoonful of Lucky Charms to his mouth. "Half a year is long enough. I know we belong together," he said after swallowing.
"Ugh, no," she groaned, shaking her head. "No, you don't know that."
"I might!" he said. "I know that I love her."
Lacey leaned forward, reached across the table, and gave him a smack. "That's for being an idiot."
"I'm not being an idiot," he said. "You just don't understand, because you haven't met her yet—"
"And that's another thing," Lacey cut him off with a frown, stabbing her spoon into her bowl of Cheerios. "I haven't met her, Charlie hasn't met her, Mom and Dad haven't met her. You can't get engaged to a girl that nobody in the family has met, Nicky."
Nick just shrugged slightly. "You'll meet her. Just, you know, after we get engaged."
She let out a long breath, shaking her head at him. "You should still at least introduce her before you get engaged. What if the rest of the family hates her?"
"All of you will love her," he said firmly. "She's sweet."
"Mhm, of course she is," Lacey said.
"You just don't get it, she's perfect."
"Oh my god, Nick, I thought you were better than this," she said with a frown. "I mean, shit, sunshine, you're nineteen. Barely nineteen. You're supposed to be out getting drunk at parties—"
"You're encouraging me to break the law," he pointed out.
"Everyone does in college," she said, her hand lifting and making a motion as if to literally wave off his words. "Point is, you're supposed to be living it up at college right now. You know, partying and hooking up with random chicks and hoping you don't get any of them pregnant. You're not supposed to be, what, planning a wedding? Oh dear god, no."
"Lacey, I get that you're trying to help here, but I know what I'm doing," he said.
"I'm just not sure that you do."
"Well, I am. And I am going to do it, whether or not you approve."
"Nick," Lacey got to her feet and moved in closer to him. She cupped his face in her hands, rubbing her thumbs over his cheekbones. "You poor, poor idiot. You're so lucky you're my baby brother and I have to love you."
"If you really loved me, you'd be happy for me," he said, shaking his head and pouting just slightly.
She sighed, standing back up and grabbing her bowl. She put it in the sink before turning back to face him. "Fine. Do it. Just remember this when I have to pick up the pieces after you break up or get divorced or whatever."
"We're not going to break up or get divorced," he protested. "Or whatever."
"Sure," she said, turning and leaving him by himself in the room.
He stayed where he was for a bit, his gaze resting on the doorway she had disappeared through. He knew, logically, that Lacey did in fact have a point. But still, he didn't want to admit to that, especially not with how she expressed so little faith in his relationship and judgment.
Nick woke up a few mornings later to the weight of another body landing on top of his. Half asleep, he shoved at it and mumbled, "Nat, off. Ten minutes."
"Oh, gross," Lacey's voice groaned from above him, followed by the sound and slight sting of her smacking his back lightly. She shifted to settle on top of him more, saying, "Wake up, Nick."
Nick groaned, opening his eyes and turning his head to look up at Lacey. He rolled over, dislodging her and sending her rolling onto the mattress beside him. "What do you want?"
"With that attitude, maybe I'll just take back my offer and go invite Charles instead of you," she said, shaking her head. "And you know I don't want to have to do that."
"You like Charlie, and whatever it is, you're probably going to invite him, regardless," he said as he shifted to get into a position to look at her better.
"I already invited him," she admitted.
"To what, exactly?"
"We're going to go see Frozen," she said excitedly, grinning at him.
"Frozen?" he echoed. "Like, the Disney movie? With the ice?"
"Yes, that's why it's called Frozen. Ice. It's frozen."
Nick let out a long breath and shook his head slowly at her. "Honestly, Lace, this is why some people don't like being around you," he said.
She chuckled softly, grabbing at his hands and pulling him so that he was sitting up in his bed. "Just get dressed, I'm not taking no for an answer," she said.
"You do remember that I am neither five years old nor a girl, right?" he asked.
"I do remember that," Lacey replied with a heavy sigh, shaking her head at him as if in disappointment. "But it's a good movie. I've already seen it three times."
"You—three times?" he asked loudly, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
"It's true," he heard Charlie's voice through the wall. "This will be my third time."
Nick paused for a moment, just looking at his sister. "You're literally insane," he told her.
"No, I'm not," she said, waving off his words. "It's just a really good movie."
"It is," Charlie interjected.
Nick rolled his eyes at his siblings. "You guys are both children," he said.
"And proud," Lacey said with a nod. She grabbed at his hands again, trying to pull him up.
He rolled his eyes at her actions but (reluctantly) did as she wanted him to, getting to his feet slowly. He gestured for her to get out of the room so that he could get dressed, and he did so slowly, as if he thought that 1) going to the movies was the sort of event that required a well-thought-out ensemble, or maybe 2) if he took long enough, Lacey and Charlie might just give up and go to the theater without him.
Neither really happened, if Nick was to be honest with you. He ended up just putting on pants and a shirt that might have been dirty, and grabbing a jacket as he walked out into the hallway, where his brother joined him and ushered him towards the front door.
"It really feels like you're rushing me right now," he said.
"I am," Charlie affirmed with a nod, leaning back against the wall and watching him as he put on his shoes.
"Why?"
"It's a good movie."
Nick raised an eyebrow at him. "Is it really that good of a movie?"
"Of course it is," Lacey replied with a shrug.
"Is that why we're going to go see it before noon?" he asked.
"Well, yeah," she said. "And also because the theater is starting to phase it out, you know, get new movies in. And I would be a horrible sister if I didn't make sure that you saw this."
Nick let out a long breath, but he decided not to fight it anymore. It was moot at this point, really, and it wasn't even like he was that opposed to going to go see the movie, anyways. His opposition, at the end of the day, was probably more the idea of being woken up for such a thing than anything else.
And so Nick found himself sitting in a dark theater, sandwiched between two people who had seen the movie before and were, of course, the sort of people who liked to sing along.
(Lacey wasn't a bad singer, and had in fact been a part of the school's choir for a couple of years until she realized that she absolutely hated it; Charlie, on the other hand, was probably the most tone deaf, painfully bad singer Nick had ever heard in his life.)
It wasn't a bad movie. It really wasn't. In fact, it was a really good movie. He would probably (especially knowing his siblings) watch it again, and might recommend it to others to watch. While he would always tell you that he wasn't a big fan of recent movies by Disney, he'd also admit that Frozen was not at all what he was expecting it to be and that that was refreshing.
What was not refreshing, however, was the look Lacey gave him as they were walking out to go back to their car.
At first he thought that it was just her looking at him and trying to be sure by the look on his face that he enjoyed the movie as much as she felt that he should have. But then he remembered what some of the plot of the movie had revolved around, and it was no surprise when she opened her mouth and said, "I genuinely didn't take you to go see that movie to teach you anything or show you an example or anything, but since I did… Natalie could be Hans."
"You don't know Natalie," he said, shaking her head.
"Neither did Elsa," Charlie pointed out brightly.
He turned to look at Charlie, glaring slightly. "She told you?"
"Of course she did," he said with a nod. "You're going to ask a girl to marry you and you expect Lacey, Lacey of all people not to say anything?"
"Alright, fine, you have a point there," he said with a sigh. "But still, I'm not making a mistake."
"That's what Anna thought!" Lacey said quickly. "And look how that turned out."
"I didn't just meet Natalie today," he pointed out.
"Well, sure, but you also haven't been completely hermitted for the past several years, so, you know, you have to give her a little leeway there," she said. "And she at least had the decency to bring the potential fiancé around."
"They were engaged before Elsa met Hans," Nick said.
Charlie sighed, shaking his head slowly. "But Anna didn't know Hans would propose. You know you're going to propose. Introducing us beforehand is the least you can do."
"Look, you guys will meet her," Nick said, shaking his head slightly. "Just not yet. And as soon as you meet her, you'll feel silly for ever having doubted me on this."
"I somehow doubt that," Lacey said with a small frown.
"How do you know that Natalie is the one? She's your first real girlfriend," Charlie pointed out. "For the point of this conversation, she was Hans. But she might not be evil. Maybe. Who knows?" He paused for a moment before remembering what the point he'd been trying to make was. "Anyways, what I'm trying to get at here is, maybe she is your Hans, and your Kristoff is still out there, waiting for you."
"A crazy guy with a reindeer and trolls for family?"
Lacey's frown deepened at those words. "Wow, you really watched that movie all wrong. Kristoff is, like, the greatest. He's so sweet," she said.
"Well, be that as it may, I think I'll take my chances with Natalie," he said. "Because I'm sure that she isn't just my Hans."
There was a moment of silence in the car as the three of them let the words they'd all just said sink in.
And then, "Wait, if Nick is, in theory, Anna, then who is Elsa? Me or Lacey? And what does that make the other?"
From there the conversation took a nosedive into who would make a better Elsa, an argument that seemed to have no real valid points contributing to it (besides Lacey's insistence that her rendition of Let It Go was "godly") as well as a complete and utter lack of winning on either side.
It gave Nick an opportunity to take a breath; this was normal, this he could handle. He wasn't used to Lacey or Charlie being serious about anything, especially not both of them at the same time (not to mention the source of their seriousness being Nick's actions). This was easier.
As much as Nick loved being at home with his family, there was still definitely something to be said for heading back to school.
An hour and a half before he arrived back on campus, his phone went off:
From Nat :
Hey you. You're coming back today, right?
He smiled to himself as he read the message, then hit the Call button and put it on speaker.
"Already on the road?" Natalie's voice came from the phone, and it felt to Nick like it filled the car with warmth.
"Yeah, I am," he said, glancing at the phone with a smile as if she would be able to see it. "I'll be at my dorm in probably about an hour or two. I can give you a more specific time frame as I get closer."
"Think I should stop by?"
"Of course," he said, chuckling softly. "I've missed you."
"Mhm," she hummed, and it made him ache. "I've missed you too."
"I can't wait to see you," he said.
"Same here," her voice was a little bit sad, or at least he thought her heard some sadness in there. "But hey, we've got the whole weekend to spend together."
Nick smiled at the thought, nodding. "Yeah, we do," he said, chuckling softly. "Can't wait."
Natalie laughed softly. "I'll bet you can't," she said. He could practically hear her rolling her eyes at him.
"I'm just being honest," he said with a chuckle. "In a totally innocent way, I promise you."
"I'll believe that when I see it," she replied. A moment passed before either of them said anything else, and then Natalie said, "Well, anyways, I'm going to let you go, okay? I need to go shower. You focus on driving, and I'll see you soon."
Nick nodded slowly, letting out a soft sigh. "Alright, see you soon," he said.
"Love you, Nick," she said.
"I love you too, Nat."
His phone beeped in his hand, telling him that she had hung up. He set the phone down, a grin on his face. Any doubt about what he was planning on doing that Lacey and Charlie had put into his mind was now going away and being replaced by the pleasant happiness settling in his stomach at the reminder of how good it felt to talk to Natalie. They had texted quite a bit over the course of their winter break, but between her busy schedule and his (lovingly) overbearing siblings, they hadn't really had an opportunity to talk on the phone, Skype, or anything along those lines since they had parted ways. But absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.
The drive was long. Or at least it felt like it was. This was the third time that Nick had made the drive from home back to university, but this was the first time that he was going with such a big goal in mind. Something about that made the drive feel simultaneously shorter and longer, even though he knew it wasn't like he was about to just get out of the car and get down on one knee. It was just the thought of it, the conviction he was now approaching the situation with.
That thought was also strong enough for him to sit in his car for about ten minutes after he got back to campus, sitting with his fingers still curled around his steering wheel.
You're not about to propose, he reminded himself. Not yet, anyways. You have nothing to worry about right now. She has no idea you're going to do this. Nothing you say will make her think you're going to do this.
He was startled out of his internal pep talk by the sound of his phone going off with a new message.
From Nat :
You here yet? I'm in your dorm, your roommate let me in.
And then, a moment later:
From Nat :
He left, by the way. I'm not sure that he likes me.
From Nat :
Wait, sorry, if you're driving, you shouldn't be reading my texts.
Nick chuckled to himself as he looked at the messages which came in all within a minute or two of each other. The easy way she talked to him in the texts put his mind at ease again, reminding him that this was Natalie and thus far Natalie had been nothing but an entirely positive force in his life.
So he decided to just get out of the car, ending both her misery and his. He stepped into the cold air, quickly pulling out his dorm keys and heading inside.
Almost as soon as he was opening up the door to go into his room, he had an armful of tiny blonde girl thrown at him.
"Hi," Natalie greeted brightly as she wrapped her arms around him.
Nick smiled softly, enveloping her in his arms and giving her a squeeze. "Hi."
"I missed you," she said, nuzzling her face into his shoulder.
"I missed you too," he murmured.
"Good," she said. "You better have."
"I did, I did," he assured her as he pressed his nose into her hair, taking in a deep breath. She smelled like fruity shampoo and his mother's old makeup box.
Natalie hummed softly in reply, taking a few steps backwards and pulling him towards his bed. She pulled him down onto the bed with her and they curled up against each other.
"I love you," he said softly, pressing a kiss to her lips, which quirked up in the corners in response.
"I love you too," she said, tilting her head up slightly and kissing his nose. She shifted to pull the blanket over them, letting out a soft breath. There were a few minutes of silence in which they just looked at each other and shared a few kisses, before Natalie mumbled, "We're having reunion sex later. Not right now. Not that you're not hot, but sex sounds like a lot of work."
Nick let out a soft laugh, nodding slightly. "That's fine," he said, kissing her again softly. "I can work with that."
And he did. It was for the best, too, he thought, since he had spent the earlier part of the day in his car and right then he was honestly just feeling a bit tired. Laying there with his girlfriend gave him the opportunity to just sit and listen to her voice as she told him all about what she had done over the break. It didn't much matter that he already knew most of it from text messages and what she had told him she was planning to do before they'd even left for break. All that mattered to him then was the ebb and flow of her voice soft in his ear (and less soft when she got to a topic she was particularly excited about, but that was cute too because she was a little sick and when the pitch of her voice went higher it broke a little bit) and how soft her hair was as he ran his fingers through it.
He wasn't even sure, really, when or how he started to drift off. Well, maybe he did know how—it was damn near impossible not to be completely relaxed when you're snuggled up with a warm, pretty girl who had a voice that, in his opinion, belonged to an angel or maybe that was what it would sound like if songbirds could speak.
"…and I didn't even end up going back for, like, five hours, since… Nick?" she said softly, her voice trailing off and getting softer as she looked at him and saw that his eyes were closed.
Nick made a soft noise to acknowledge her, but didn't open his eyes again.
She chuckled softly, brushing her lips against his forehead. "I love you, you silly boy."
He smiled at her words, his voice slurred with sleep as he returned the sentiment. And just like that, he fell asleep, completely happy for that moment.