Blast from the Past, Chapter 3
Ashley sighed as she rubbed her forehead, reading over the work she had just completed. After grabbing a soda from the fridge, she plopped down on the top stair of the porch, watching her smoke dissipate into the cool night air. She'd gotten used to the weather here, and was really starting to enjoy it. This time of year it was impossible to sit on the porch back home. Either the mosquitoes would eat you alive or you'd dehydrate in two minutes from the humidity, but Vegas was nice. Dry air, cool evenings, and very few if any creepy crawlers hunting you.
She just sat there for a while, taking in the distant lights of the city, smiling to herself. Meg and Jimmy had picked out the perfect place – out in the "country," as they called it, for lack of a better term. There was no country in Clark County anymore, some said. The city was growing up onto the mountains slowly, pushing away any country that might have been left. Still, it was peaceful for such a large city, and Ashley was starting to like it here.
Jimmy was going out with friends tonight, Megan had told her, and Megan had to work, so Ashley had the house all to herself for once. Not like she didn't enjoy having her host and hostess around – she'd missed them terribly. It was just nice to have some time to herself; something she hadn't had since she got off the plane a month ago. And damn if that apartment fell through. Now she had to go out looking herself, wasting precious time when she had a deadline on her current paper for the Philosophy journal she wrote for. The past few weeks had been filled with home shopping during the day and frantic writing early into the mornings. And it was starting to wear down on her, not to mention just knowing that the man she'd loved for more than half her life was in the same city and she couldn't bring herself to find him because she just knew he wouldn't want to see her.
***
Nick stared at the ceiling. He knew Jimmy would be over in a few moments and he should probably change out of his towel, but he just couldn't find the energy. For some reason, he hadn't been sleeping well this past month. Actually, ever since Jimmy dropped the bomb that Ashley was in town and wasn't interested in seeing him. He sighed and shook his head, a pained expression darkening his handsome features.
"Fuck," he muttered, upon hearing the doorbell. He swore again for emphasis and stood, pulling a pair of jeans on, buttoning and zipping as he headed toward the front door. He pulled it open with a small smile, watching as Jimmy entered his house and plopped on the couch.
"Well, Nick, you might want to put a shirt on. I think restaurants nowadays have shirt and shoes requirements," Jimmy teased, nodding at Nick's bare feet.
"Yeah, yeah," Nick muttered, disappearing down the hallway. Jimmy smiled and shook his head.
"What's with you lately?" Nick heard Jimmy ask from the other room. Nick's breath caught in his throat.
"Nothing, man," he lied. "Just stressed with work and stuff. I mean, we've been overloaded lately."
"Is that why you've been avoiding me?" Jimmy snickered. Nick laughed slightly.
"No, I've been avoiding you because you're the antichrist, Jimmy," he retorted.
Well, at least he still has his sense of humor, Jimmy thought as he scratched his chin. Nick emerged a few seconds later, shirt and shoes in place, and nodded at Jimmy as he grabbed his keys.
"Your car or mine?" he asked.
"Yours is cooler," Jimmy said with a smug grin. Nick smiled widely and nodded, pulling the door open and following Jimmy out to lock up behind him.
***
"I told you I don't want to talk about it anymore, Jimmy," Nick said firmly, his eyes flashing angrily. "Just let it go for once."
"Nick something's been wrong with you for a month now. Ever since I told you Ashley was in town. You've just been –" he paused, looking across the table at Nick. "I don't know. Not yourself."
"Okay, then, smart guy," Nick chided. "Who have I been?" Jimmy stared at him again for a moment before taking a deep breath.
"The Nick I knew three days before he left Texas." That statement knocked all the wind out of Nick's sails, and he slumped his shoulders a bit. Jimmy was right. Just knowing that Ashley was in town made Nick revert back to being sheltered, quiet, and angry. Even Warrick and Greg had said something about that. Truth was, something was wrong. Nick just didn't want to admit it to anyone, especially Jimmy. So he sighed and shook his head.
"I'm just bogged down at work and getting really stressed about it," he said. It wasn't a lie – he was bogged down and stressed, but he could handle that.
"That's it?" Jimmy asked. Nick nodded, and Jimmy snickered. "You had a hard time admitting that you're busy and stressed?" Nick nodded again. "That's a shitty cover-up, man." Nick's eyes snapped up to Jimmy's, narrowing a smidge.
"If I wanted to talk about what's really bothering me, I would. Since I haven't, I think it's a pretty safe assumption that I don't want to talk about what's really bothering me, so just fucking drop it already, okay?" Jimmy held up his hands in surrender. "Thanks."
"What're you doing for the Superbowl?" Jimmy asked, smart to change the subject.
"Don't know yet. Why?"
"I was thinking about throwing a little party. Chips, dip, keg, the whole nine." Nick smiled slightly. Jimmy was just the type of person to get a keg for a party. Just like in college.
"Where do you plan to hide the keg from Megan?"
"She actually gave the okay. We've got an extra fridge in the garage, so we'll move everything in the fridge now out there and put the keg in the one in the kitchen. She's making the dip. Good stuff." Jimmy saluted with his beer before taking a drink, and Nick laughed. "You in?"
"We'll see," Nick said with a slight shrug. "I don't know whether or not I'll have to work yet, but I'll let you know." Jimmy nodded, taking a sip from his frosty glass. Nick took a breath, as if he were going to say something, but changed his mind and let it out in the form of a light sigh. Jimmy's eyebrow rose, and Nick sent him a look.
"I know, I know," Jimmy said quickly. "If you wanted to talk about it, you would but since you haven't, it's obvious you don't want to." Nick nodded in satisfaction. "You do know you can trust me, though, right?"
"Of course," Nick said, a little taken aback. "I just—" he sighed, shaking his head. "I just don't know what I'm thinking. I mean, yeah, something's been bothering me, but I don't really know. I haven't got it all figured out yet. I don't even know if I have all the pieces to put together yet, so I'm just gonna do some thinking for a while."
"But you do know I'm here. Whenever you need to talk. Right?" Nick answered with a small nod. Jimmy really was a great friend, no matter what had happened in the past. "I mean, I totally understand. Old flame flies into town unannounced after ten years of wondering if you did the right thing. It's gonna bring up some questions." Nick avoided his eyes. "Feel guilty about things you said, all the 'what if's floating around." Jimmy knew he was out on a limb, but damn if the alcohol didn't block his judgment.
"Jimmy—"
"Yeah, I know," Jimmy recovered. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it."