"I agree with the handsome stranger."
Lacey was laying on Nick's bed, draped over him like a sloth and moving about as fast as one. Even miles and miles away from home and in a suite big enough that they both had beds bigger than any person should ever sleep in alone, Nick still couldn't get away from his sister's habit of encroaching on his personal space.
"I never said that he was handsome," he replied, shaking his head. "I don't know where you got that idea."
"Handsome, charming. Beautiful," she said, shrugging. "Something like that."
"I repeat, Lace, I don't know where you got that," he said.
She chuckled, shifting so that she could press a kiss to his forehead. "Oh, goob," she said. "He's a stranger who appeared to you in your time of need. If that's not charming enough, there's just something about the way you told the story."
"There is nothing special about the way I told the story. He was just some guy who was a bit nosy," Nick replied.
"Yeah, no, you were charmed by him." She had her arms crossed and she was giving him a look that told him it was pointless to try and convince her otherwise.
"Okay, he was a nice guy, sure. And maybe he's right-"
"He is absolutely right," she said. "This Jeff guy is totally right, and he doesn't even know the full story about Natalie, does he?"
Nick shook his head. "No, we barely talked," he said.
"You should have. A friendly, wise Californian with a pretty smile?"
"You have no idea if his smile is pretty," he pointed out. He didn't let himself think about the wide, easy smile that Jeff had looked at him with, the one that made him feel like he could say anything to this man he had just met, the one that made him feel like this man he had just met was anything but a man he had just met. Still, though, even if he was thinking about that, he wasn't sure that he would call the smile "pretty."
"He just seems the type," Lacey explained with a small shrug. "And besides, he's from California. That means that he's automatically about five times hotter than any guy around home."
"Ah, right, okay," he said with a soft laugh, rolling his eyes. "Handsome stranger. Alright."
Lacey grinned at him and gave his forehead another kiss before rolling off of him, laying on her side looking at him. There was a moment of comfortable silence between them before she opened her mouth again; her voice this time much softer and gentler, more sincere. "What're you going to do about Natalie?"
"I don't know," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. He let his hands linger over his face, the thought of looking at anything but the darkness of under his palms suddenly sounding like far too much to handle. "I mean... What if she is pregnant, and it is mine?"
"Even if it is yours, you won't be able to know for a while," she pointed out, shrugging. "And she cheated on you. You have no obligation to put your life on hold just to run back there to take care of her or anything like that."
"But she's still my-"
"I don't care what she is, Nicholas," she cut him off, giving him that hard look again. "She broke your heart. You don't owe her shit."
"Part of me will always love her," he said, shaking his head. "I know that that's not what you want to hear, but it's just the truth."
Lacey let out a heavy sigh, smoothing back his hair. "Okay," she said after a moment. "If you decide that you want to, like, go be with her and try to win her back or something, I can't stop you." She paused for a moment, but before Nick had a chance to say anything else to her, she continued speaking. "But please... wait for a bit. I don't know what exactly you should wait for. Maybe set a time limit to see if you still want it, or wait for more solid proof that she's even pregnant? Something. I don't want you to skip out on this and then regret it."
He stayed silent for a bit, knowing that reasonably, she did have a good point. This wasn't something that he should just drop everything for; he needed to learn to let his head take the reins from his heart every once in a while, and his head was telling him that he should not throw away this vacation (or whatever he was supposed to call it – a walkabout?) just because of something that, again, he had no ability to help at this point. He had to remind himself of that fact: he was powerless right now, and regardless of where he was, there would be nothing he could do either way.
"Okay," he said with a nod. "I'll stay here with you, unless something changes."
A wide grin broke out across his sister's face, and he was wrapped up in a tight hug. "Thank you, Nicky!" she said brightly, all but flailing on top of him
He laughed softly and let her hold onto him for a bit before he gave her a nudge and she rolled over, continuing to do so until she dramatically fell to the floor with a thud. She sat up and peeked back up at him on the bed, still laughing and grinning.
"Now, c'mon," she said, leaning over and grabbing his hands and tugging on them as she got to her feet. "We, oh brother mine, are going out to dinner, my treat. Put on something nice."
Nick didn't bother to point out the fact that almost this entire trip had been wholly her treat as she turned and left the room with a bounce in her step, just going to his bags to find something to throw on.
A few days later found Nick walking through Arlington Garden. He wasn't sure what exactly it was that drew him to the place, but the webpage looked inviting enough and he wasn't too manly to say that he wouldn't find walking through a garden pleasant.
And he was right, it was pleasant. It wasn't too crowded, and just being able to be walking out in the open air and literally stopping to smell the roses was exactly the sort of peaceful escape that he was needing. What with the call from Natalie and still no updates from her since, he could feel his stress level building almost palpably.
When he made the decision to visit Arlington Garden, he had invited Lacey to come along with him, but she told him that it sounded too "slow-paced" for her liking, and that she would meet back up with him later. He couldn't find it in him to be too upset about it, though, because he had spent the better part of the past few days with her practically attached to his hip. He was touched by it, he was, because he knew his sister and he knew that it was hard for her to take things seriously sometimes but she was dead serious when it came to those she loved, but still he didn't mind having a bit of room to breathe.
He didn't mind being alone.
But that wasn't the case for long, because as fate would have it, he found company shortly after arriving.
"Well, I'll be damned."
Looking over his shoulder, Nick was suddenly faced with blond hair and a bright smile In his head, he started trying to figure out just how large of a city Pasadena was, and how likely (or, more accurately, unlikely) it was that both he and Jeff just so happened to be in the same place at the same time.
"I'm sory, this probably feels pretty creepy to you," Jeff said, his nervous laughter telling Nick that not only was he painfully aware of how it might appear that he suddenly showed up like this, but also that being a stalker or something was entirely beyond the near stranger's capabilities. "But I honestly just showed up here. To sight see. I'm a tourist."
That fact gave Nick pause. "You are?" he asked.
"Yeah," he nodded, the tension that had appeared on his face starting to relax a bit. "I mean, I still am only, like... Okay, actually, I am a while from home, but yeah, I still live in the same state. Just, well, not Pasadena. So I don't know it that counts."
"It counts," Nick offered with a nod. "Also, I'm not from here, either."
"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow, his eyes flitting from a vibrant pink flower in front of him back to Nick. "Where are you from, then?"
"Well, that's kind of a hard question to answer."
"Is it?" he asked, a soft laugh falling off his lips.
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "My family moves around a lot."
"Military?"
"Nope," he said with a chuckle. "My dad could never live that life. No, we're just kind of... nomadic."
"Ah," Jeff said, nodding slowly. "My uncle is making a career out of it, so I tend to assume sometimes. So, where have you lived, oh wonderful world traveler?"
"I wouldn't say world traveler," he laughed, shaking his head. "I've never been out of the states. But, ah, let's see... I was born in Delaware, then we went down to North Carolina, then we were in New York for a bit, but not the cool part. Then we were in Maine, but we stayed in Ohio the entire time I was in high school. And now my family is in Pennsylvania, but I think they want to go back to Maine."
Jeff let out an impressed whistle. "Wow, that is a lot of moving. I'm still in the same house I lived in when I was a baby."
"Yeah, I don't know, that's just sort of always how it's been," he said. "I've gotten to know cardboard boxes and airport gates pretty well."
"I like that," he said, just looking at him for a moment in a way that made Nick feel like he was being judged and the rest of their relationship (oh, shut up, Duval, this guy is a stranger, you have no relationship with him) rested on the impression he was getting right now. After a few seconds, the smile returned to his lips. "So, I couldn't help but notice that your list is pretty east coast dominated. And yet, here you are, far, far away from the Atlantic."
Nick nodded. "Yeah, I just… needed to get away," he said. "So my sister took me here."
"I see," he said, nodding slowly. "The cheating, pregnant ex?"
His complete lack of hesitance to bring that up made Nick want to either turn and walk away from him or stay and hug him tightly for not tiptoeing around it, for not holding punches.
Well, he certainly didn't walk away.
"Pretty much," he said with a small shrug. "I mean, as much as I'd like to tell myself that it was something other than that…"
"I get it," Jeff offered. "I mean, as much as I can. I've never really had to worry about any pregnancy scares, but still."
He looked over at Jeff again, a question and the phrase the only one hundred percent effective way to prevent pregnancy is abstinence that he'd had pounded into his head in school on the tip of his tongue before the blond gave him a grin that told him he knew exactly what he was about to say.
"I'm gay," Jeff said for clarification anyways, a small grin on his lips. For a moment, Nick is struck by the fact that he really is from California, that the admission of his sexual orientation has probably never been a source of worry for him like it was for some of Nick's old acquaintances in school.
"Ah, okay," he said with a small nod, giving him a smile to assure him that it isn't an issue for him, he was totally tolerant and accepting.
"But still, I've been cheated on," he said with a soft laugh. "I mean, I know it's not a fair comparison, because I'm really not sure that I've ever been in love and I know for a fact that I've never been engaged, but…"
"It's no big deal," he said, shrugging. "And honestly, I don't need to talk about it anymore."
"Okay, I can respect that," he said. He nodded and gave Nick a small smile, that same one that made him feel like this stranger genuinely cared, more than he should. "I imagine that a lot of people want to talk about it?"
"Yeah, ever since I walked into my fiancée's bedroom and saw some guy balls deep in her, people seem to be really into hearing about my feelings," he said flatly.
Jeff just laughed, nodding. "Wow, fun."
"Absolutely," he said, starting to walk again but giving Jeff a look to tell him nonverbally that he wanted him to continue walking with him.
They didn't talk much for a bit after that, and for a few minutes Nick kept giving glances in the other boy's direction, trying to figure out if he had said too much or sounded too bitter and scared him off and he was just walking with him out of a sense of obligation, and if so, what could Nick say to fix it? He told himself to calm down, to stop letting his mind become a confusing, zigzagging mess and sort it out.
Before he had the chance to say anything, though, Jeff reached across the gap between them and slid his hand into Nick's. There was a moment when part of Nick wanted to pull his hand back, his mind catching a snag on the fact that this other man had told him he was gay just minutes before. But he told himself that he was overreacting, it was nothing more than an innocent, friendly touch, and maybe Jeff just was a touchy feely person.
"Kind of funny how we ran into each other again in such a, well, weird place," the blond said with a soft laugh, swinging their hands in between them and glancing back over at him again.
"Yeah," Nick said with a small nod, unsure of what else to say to that.
Jeff didn't say anything in reply, but Nick felt relieved at how it didn't seem like an awkward silence, just… Maybe sort of companionate. He looked over at the other boy, who was lifting up his free hand and leaning forward to touch the prick on one of the cacti. "Huh, that's not what I imagined it like," he said. Laughing as he turned back to face Nick again, he added, "Granted, I don't really have much experience with cactuses. Mostly just in, you know, Looney Tunes."
Nick chuckled softly, nodding. "I haven't really encountered many of them either," he said.
"Good, good," he said. "I wouldn't want you to have a leg up on me in that."
"I kind of figured you would have this one on me, to be honest. I figure there are more cactuses here than there are anywhere on the east coast," he pointed out.
"I'm not exactly an outdoorsy person," Jeff said, shaking his head.
"Really? You look like you might be," he said.
"Is it the shirt? I've been told that it's an outdoorsy-looking shirt," he said, pulling at the fabric. It was just an average v-neck, olive green in color, and Nick wasn't entirely sure whether he was joking or not.
"It's absolutely the shirt," he said anyways, nodding.
"Of course," he said with a nod, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "That and the fact that we've never seen each other indoors. So, by the way, you seem like the outdoorsy type."
Nick couldn't help himself but to laugh at that. "I actually am," he said. "As in reality. You probably can't tell from my shirt."
He laughed, looking at his shirt and seeming to be giving him an appraising look. "Yeah, no, I don't think I would've guessed it based on your shirt. You should probably invest in some different shirts," he teased.
It was easy, talking with Jeff. It was natural and conversation flowed without a moment of it feeling forced or full of thinly-veiled pity like most of his recent interactions with people outside of his family had been.
Or at least, he thought that it was going well, until Jeff dropped his hand (wow, was he really still holding onto it for that long and Nick had forgotten?) and turned to face him completely. The goofy smile and dimples that had been on his face almost the entire time they'd been walking together was gone, replaced by a serious look that almost felt out of place.
"Nick," he said, his voice taking on that same sober note.
"Yes...?" he replied slowly, feeling a bit hesitant to hear what Jeff was going to say next.
"You came a long, long way from Pennsylvania to be here," he said, at which point Nick nodded in agreement but said nothing else. "A long way away from all your friends, and maybe more notably, a long way from the girl who shall not be named."
"What about it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Call me crazy, tell me I'm reading too much into this, but I feel like you're here searching for something. Something that you don't think that you can find back at home," he said.
Nick shrugged. "I guess, maybe."
"So, what is it? What do you want to find in Pasadena, in your heart of hearts?"
Nick didn't say anything immediately, pausing to think about it. There was a long silence that stretched out between them, filling the air but still not quite uncomfortably. "Beauty," he answered finally. "I want to see something truly beautiful."
"Beauty," Jeff echoed, a small smile on his lips. "I like it."
"I think that I've been missing out on that," he said. "I just... for a long time now, I think, I've been defining beauty incorrectly. I looked at her, and I thought, 'Yeah, that's it.' But now I just need to... reconsider that."
"I get it," he said with a nod, offering him a smile before starting to walk again. "I've spent a lot of time waxing romantic about what exactly beauty is, and what it means for something to be beautiful. So I totally get it."
"So, what is your definition of beautiful, then?" Nick asked him, looking over at him and raising an eyebrow.
It was Jeff's turn to fall silent, looking over at Nick and then glancing around them at their surroundings. "Definitely something deeper than just the way something looks. Something closer to how something is," he said. "But I think there's something I could show you that means beauty to me more than I could ever say in words."
"What's that, then?" Nick asked him.
"It's... It's in LA," he said. "I could take you. Like, right now. If that's alright." He looked a bit nervous again, like he did earlier when he was trying to clarify that he had not been stalking Nick.
For a moment, he thought that he should maybe say no, or at least call Lacey up and let her know what his plan was and to give her at least an idea of where to look for him if he didn't come back to their hotel room that night, but he decided against it. It probably wouldn't help that much if he did contact her, and despite what he had grown up being told, he couldn't help but trust this stranger. It wasn't like Jeff was tempting him into a van with candy.
"Okay, yeah, let's go," he said, nodding.
Jeff gave him a smile, reaching over and taking his hand again before he started to head for the exit.
As promised, Jeff made the short drive from Pasadena to Los Angeles with Nick in tow.
Looking away from the window over at him, Nick commented, "You know, I'm not actually too sure about this whole concept. From what I understand, LA is one of the fakest places there is, and you're taking me here to find beauty."
"That's a good point." Those words and a soft laugh are the only answer that Nick got, but he still couldn't find it in himself to be too concerned about it. If what Jeff wanted him to see ended up being a flop, well, that was that. If nothing else, he'd probably have fun anyways, because he was fairly certain that his newfound friend (was that still a stretch? Was ally a better word?) wouldn't bring him somewhere for no reason, and he seemed like he had fairly good judgment.
Part of Nick thought that maybe the intention was to see the ocean, or maybe to see somewhere where people were still putting in honest effort to try and get noticed because of their talent. Something that was probably cliché but also probably at least somewhat life affirming. What he didn't expect at all was to skip past all of the glitz and glamor and instead roll up and see a large white building that looked like some sort of museum or a gigantic church from a textbook.
As Jeff parked the car and got out, he looked over at him with a raised eyebrow, looking for an explanation of where they were.
"Griffith Observatory," he said with a bright grin, swinging his arm out to gesture grandly at the building.
"Oh," Nick said with a small nod. "An observatory." He could vaguely recall going to one on a field trip when he was in elementary school. The only thing that he really remembered about it was that some kid in his class had taken out a camera in the middle of the planetarium show and tried to take a flash photo of the projected stars. Unsurprisingly, that hadn't worked out well for him.
"Yeah," Jeff said, a wide grin on his face as he walked up to the doors. "I don't know if you find astronomy… No, astrology… No, I was right the first time, wasn't I? Anyways, I don't know if you find stars and planets and everything as cool as I do, but I just think it's… Really neat." He chuckled softly in a kind of nervous way, bringing his hand up to rub at the back of his neck.
"No, yeah, I love stargazing," he assured him quickly, giving him a smile.
"Okay," Jeff said with a nod, smiling back at him. "Good." He looked more relaxed with that affirmation, walking into the building and looking around with a soft hum. He insisted on paying for the both of them to get into a planetarium show, citing that he had dragged Nick out here in the first place, and it was inexpensive enough that it wasn't a problem and he wasn't willing to fight with him about it.
The show was a lot like the one that Nick had gone to as a kid, from what little of it he could still remember.
He and Jeff sat side by side in the dark room as stars and constellations were projected onto the domed ceiling above them.
They leaned in closer to each other, Jeff's head practically resting on his shoulder as they stared up at the ceiling. He could see that the other man really did find the swirling stars above them, just slightly reminiscent of the ceiling in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, to be truly beautiful; every so often, Nick would hear an excited little intake of air as something particularly striking happened.
As the speaker pointed out Orion and an outline of the hunter appeared over the stars that made up the constellation, Jeff reached over again and slipped their hands together.
"I love things like this," Jeff whispered, letting out a soft sigh. Glancing over at Nick, he added, "I'm not going to lie, I seized an opportunity here. I was going to come here anyways, and I was just lucky enough to stumble upon you to come with me and keep me company."
Nick chuckled softly, earning him a dirty look and a shush from a mother in the row in front of them. "That's alright," he whispered, shifting in closer to Jeff to make sure he could be quiet but still be sure he heard him. "I definitely don't mind having some company, too."
"That's good," Jeff said with a smile, squeezing his hand before laying his head back down on Nick's shoulder and looking up at the projected stars.
They sat in silence through the rest of the show, listening to their guide tell them about all of the constellations and fun facts about the stars that made all of them up. For a bit, Nick forgot that he was inside of a building, and he had to look down to remind himself that this wasn't really the night sky that he was looking at. Hell, it was still daytime.
Speaking of daytime, walking out after it was over was a bit disorienting. Jeff looked over and watched him as he blinked several times to try to readjust his eyes, laughing softly at him.
"Shut up," Nick said to him with a laugh.
"I didn't say anything," he said, holding his hands up in a show of his innocence.
"Your laugh said it all for you," he replied.
"Well, I can't help having joy," he said with a grin. "Now, c'mon."
"Where are we going?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as Jeff grabbed his arm and started walking.
"Gift shop," Jeff replied, grinning brightly.
"The gift shop?" he echoed, laughing.
He nodded, looking over his shoulder to smile at him. "Of course," he said. "What's the point in coming here if you're not going to get a souvenir?"
"Alright, I guess I'll accept that," he said, chuckling softly as they reached the gift shop entrance and went inside.
Almost like a child (because if he truly was a child, he would've found a stuffed plushie or some other toy), Jeff headed straight for the keychains. "N-I-C-K, right?" he asked, bending to look at the rings with names on them.
"Yeah," he said with a nod. He saw one that had Jeff's name on it and grabbed it, showing it to him and getting a grin and a thumbs up in response.
"Great!" Jeff said, humming as he picked up a keychain with Nick's name. He looked back at the shelf, asking, "What's your sister's name?"
Nick paused in surprise at the question, raising an eyebrow. "My sister?" he echoed.
"Yeah," he replied with a nod, looking up at him. "You said that you came to California with your sister, didn't you?" He waited for a moment for an affirmation, continuing once Nick nodded. "So you should get her something from here, too. It's only fair. What's her name?"
"Lacey," he answered. He smiled to himself at Jeff's logic, chuckling softly. It was cute, it really was, and for a moment Nick thought to himself that he would probably be good with kids. Maybe a kindergarten teacher or something.
"Lacey," Jeff echoed with a quick nod, going back to scanning over the keychains to find her name. "Nick and Lacey. I like it."
"I also have a brother named Charlie," he said.
"Interesting," he said, and something about his voice made it sound like he really did find it interesting, like he wasn't just saying it because it would be impolite to not say anything. "He should probably get a keychain, too."
"If you say so," he said, chuckling.
"I do," Jeff said, nodding as he pulled a keychain for Lacey off of the shelf. "Why didn't he come along with you two?"
"He has a job that he can't abandon to go across the country like we can."
"Ah," he said. "Well, then, he definitely deserves a keychain."
Nick rolled his eyes fondly as he reached out to grab another keychain for Charlie. "Okay, so I think we're covered," he said. "Unless you've got anybody you need to get a keychain for."
There was a moment's pause as Jeff considered it, then he nodded. "Oh, yeah, I do," he said. "My kid sister. She was really upset when I told her she couldn't come with me down to Pasadena." He turned the shelf, finding one that had the name Olivia on it before standing up completely. He looked down at the number of keychains in his hands, chuckling softly before going over to the register. Again, despite Nick's protests, he insisted on paying for all of them.
Once they were purchased and the two of them were walking out of the gift shop, Jeff turned to Nick again. "Do you..." he paused, sighing. "Do you have anywhere that you need to be tonight?"
Nick hesitated for a second, unsure of how to answer. Part of him told him that it was a totally innocent question, that Jeff probably just wanted to hang out more, since they were getting along well and everything; another part of him nagged that maybe he was giving out the wrong signals, that maybe Jeff thought that this was a date or wanted to have a date—but he knew that Nick was straight, didn't he? He knew that Nick possibly got a girl pregnant? Reassuring himself that there was no miscommunication that he needed to clear up, he shrugged and answered, "No, not really."
"Okay, good, great, because it's going to get dark soon, and there's another thing I'd like to do," he said, flashing him a grin.
After a quick stop at a store that Jeff told Nick to wait in the car during, he put whatever he had purchased in the trunk of the car before getting back in.
"I cannot emphasize to you enough how much I am not kidnapping you," he assured Nick as he started the car up again. "Even if it feels like I am, I am not."
Nick chuckled softly, nodding. "Okay," he said. "That's alright."
It became apparent soon enough why Jeff felt the need to say that, as they drove away from Los Angeles and the bright lights of the city. Eventually, the sky turned from blue to red to dark navy, a blanket of night dotted with stars just like the ceiling earlier that day. The longer Jeff drove, the more stars there were visible in the sky. Eventually, he pulled off the road and put the car in park.
"Okay, I think this is good enough," he said as he got out of the car. Nick followed him, watching as he went to the trunk and pulled the shopping bag out again. As he pulled the plastic away from the box inside, he explained, "I wanted to get as far away from the city lights as possible."
Nick was about to ask why when he saw what it was that he had gotten earlier: a telescope.
"They have public telescopes at Griffith, apparently, but I just… I kind of thought that this might be nicer," he said as he started to open the box up to set up the telescope, glancing over at Nick with a small smile.
"Yeah, this is cool," he said.
A little bit later, the two of them were sitting on top of Jeff's car, the telescope set up on its feet between them, pointed up at the sky. They took turns looking through the telescope up at the stars, laughing and joking on each other as they occasionally mistook planes for stars.
"There's Orion again," Jeff pointed out. "I won't lie to you, Nick. That's the only constellation I can ever pick out, because of the belt."
"Yeah, same here," Nick said with a soft laugh. "I actually have these three freckles that line up like Orion's belt."
"Oh really?" Jeff asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's pretty awesome."
"Thanks," he said with a small smile, self-consciously rubbing over the spot on his chest where said freckles were hiding under his shirt.
Jeff leaned over and looked through the telescope again, humming softly. He stayed there for a bit, moving the telescope around to look at more of the stars around them. It was so calm and peaceful for a bit that when he spoke again, Nick jumped slightly, though thankfully he didn't seem to notice. "I don't know if you find this as beautiful as I do," he said, sitting back and looking over at Nick. "But doing this, looking up at the stars… It reminds me of how much there is out there, and just how… How so very, very small I am.
"It makes me feel safe, you know, all protected in this one little corner of this massive, massive universe," he said. "Does that make any sense?"
"Yeah, it does," Nick said with a small nod. He tipped his head up, looking at the spray of stars overhead with his bare eyes. "You're right. It's beautiful."
Jeff smiled softly, looking up at the sky along with him. "I'm glad you think so," he said.
"Of course I think so," he replied.
There was no reply for a bit, both of them too busy just looking up at the sky. "I think that I'm looking for some beauty, myself," Jeff said gently, his voice practically a whisper.
"I hope you find it," he said.
"I'm looking for it. I'm going to get even farther from here, looking for it," he said. "I know I'll know it when I see it."
Nick looked over at him. This time, he was the one that reached across the gap and brought their hands together. "I'm sure you will," he murmured.
There was another stretch of silence on the blond's end, him just rubbing his thumb along the soft skin on Nick's hand. "I wish that I could take you with me."
"What?"
"We're both looking for similar things here," he said. "And I like you. We get along. And… I've spent my whole life in California; I know what it has to offer. And I just think that maybe you won't find it here."
"I don't know," Nick admitted with a shrug.
Jeff chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Sorry," he said. "It's a pretty dumb thought."
"It's not," he said.
Abruptly, Jeff shifted and moved to get off of the car. "We should probably head out," he said, grabbing the telescope to put it back in the car. "It'll take a while to get back to Pasadena, and it's getting late."
When Nick handed Lacey her keychain and told her about the day he had had, her face broke out in a wide grin.
"That is just so cute!" she said, going to get her purse and pulling her car keys out. She put the new keychain on the loop, holding it up and grinning.
"I don't know that I'd say cute," he said with a soft laugh.
But she wasn't listening, her hand going back into her purse to pull out her phone. Still grinning, she started to tap at the screen then brought it up to her ear.
"Who are you calling?" he asked her.
"Charlie!" she said, grinning at him. She turned around as Nick assumed their brother picked up the phone, starting to pace as she spoke. "I am pretty sure I'm in love with this nice gay boy Nick met on the street."