Disclaimer: I do not own anything that does not have my name written next to it in pretty pink pen. I only own my own fictional characters, this include my OFC Nicola Andrews and her family. I also do not own any of the songs used to write this story…except on CD.
Reviews etc. are always appreciated and adored.
Summary: "Do you remember that time I fell out your window and you came jumping out after me?" There was a twinge of humour to her husky voice and Leon smiled for her benefit. For three years he let himself believe that he would always save her from everything, until he was the reason she was in that ambulance, a broken back and their baby was gone.
A bit of a playlist for this chapter!
Shook Me All Night Long- AC/DC
Come Around- Sister Hazel
Help I'm Alive- Metric
Tasha and Dani- Thanks for reviewing! Love them!
July 1997- Not the way that I do love you
The words of the song forgotten, Jesse and Nicola stood in the middle of the living room singing AC/DC's "Shook Me All Night Long" at the top of their lungs but the large speakers and people in the house drowned them out. They danced around the room crazily as others ground up against each other, full of alcohol and lust.
Letty had Dom in an armchair in the back corner, heavily making out as Leon and Vince stood nearby, beers in hand as two blondes leaned towards them, flirting. Nicola laughed at the sight and continued to sing with Jesse, running her hands through his blonde hair and messing it up even more.
It was the traditional after-race party on a Friday night. The team had left Letty and Nicola at home telling them they were too young for the races. Both girls had growled at Dom and crawled up the stairs to Lettys room. Once the house was silent they had snuck into Doms room and stolen the bottle of whiskey that was stashed behind the bed then Nicola had managed to navigate her way around the dark basement to Vinces room where she found a bottle of tequila sitting on the bedside table.
"Rookie move, brother." Nicola laughed as she snagged the bottle and made her way up to Lettys room.
A few sessions of lick, sip, suck later Letty and Nicola had been rolling around on the bedroom floor as a crowd of people they didn't know came through the door downstairs. Staggering out of the room they found the party in full swing and the team making their way through the front door.
Too drunk to walk down the stairs the two girls slumped down on the top step and giggled as scantily clad girls soon followed the boys through the door.
At the sound of their giggling Vince and Dom had seen the two girls and realisation had dawned on Vinces face. Nicola had seen him mouth "Bitch" before striding up the stairs and throwing her over his shoulder shrieking and thumping his back.
"You stole my tequila you little rat." He smacked her on the behind as he carried her down the stairs and outside where she stood in her tank and boxer shorts not realising Dom was behind her with Letty.
Dom wrapped a large arm around both girls as Vince loomed on them with the garden hose. Both girls had started screaming, swearing at Vince as he directed his spray at Nicola first and then Letty, strategically missing Dom who still stood between them.
Then they left them, wet and dripping standing outside the house.
As the song drifted to the end Nicola excused herself from Jesse and grabbing a Corona headed towards the backyard. She sat herself up on a chair and put her feet on the table that they used for barbeques and sipped at her beer.
"Nice shirt." A voice in her ear made her jump as Leon came around and pulled out a chair in front of her, not complaining when she rested her legs on his lap.
"Thanks." Nicola replied looking down at the oversized sweater that she'd stolen from Leons room and her denim cut off shorts.
"What're you hiding out here for?" Leon asked, his hands absentmindedly stroking her leg.
"Just needed some air."
"Yeah." Was all Leon said as he took a sip of her Corona and leant back in the chair, his hand still on her bare skin.
Nicola looked down at her feet, wiggling her toes so the black nail polish glinted in the soft light.
"I get my cast off tomorrow." Nicola finally broke the silence and Leon looked over at her then at the bright yellow cast on her arm.
"Are you excited?" His tone was amused as she grinned back at him.
"I'm going straight to the beach and jumping in the surf." Running her fingers through her hair she pushed the strands off her face.
"Ha! That's so typical."
"What? I'm nearly halfway through my summer vacation and I haven't even been surfing." Nicola groaned at Leon as her hair fell in her face. "Stupid hair." She muttered as she tried to push the hair off her face. When it didn't work Leon reached over and tucked the stands behind her ear.
It wasn't out the ordinary for the gesture to come from Leon, what was unusual was the pause that followed, his fingers on her neck.
Nicola couldn't help but lean forward slowly and gently Leons lips touched hers. His fingers curled around the back of her neck. Pulling away Nicolas eyes remained shut not sure it was real, then she felt his lips on hers again, the roughness of his stubble rubbing against her cheek as he kissed her gently.
When they pulled away, Leons hand dropped from her neck and he sat back. At the loss of contact Nicola's eyes fluttered open and she looked over at him shyly.
She opened her mouth to speak but Vinces voice interrupted her.
"Hey! Leon it's your turn on the playstation. And La? Letty's looking for you." The door slammed, signalling Vince's retreat into the house, if he'd seen anything he surely wasn't saying anything.
"Don't stay out here too long." Leon stood up, putting her legs down on his chair and placing a kiss on her head, leaving her to watch after him. Damn that green eyed boy.
Nicola found Letty sitting on the floor in front of the fridge, the door open and her searching through the shelves. She slid down the cupboards beside the fridge and sat on the floor as well looking over at her friend.
"What're you doing Letty?"
"Looking for the Tabasco sauce." Letty continued to search through the shelves and Nicola dropped her head back on the cupboards behind her and closed her eyes.
"I think it's in the door." Nicola replied, lifting her beer to her lips again.
"Oh yeah, look. Where've you been?" Letty asked shutting the door of the fridge and looking across to her friend.
"I was outside talking to Leon. Whatdya need the Tabasco for?' Nicola opened her eyes and dared to glance over at the dark haired girl who was still wearing the tank and jeans she'd been in when they'd been attacked by the hose. Except now there was a large smiley face drawn on the front with permanent marker.
"Flatliners, Chica. They're going to be awesome!" Crawling off the floor Letty held a hand out to Nicola and laughed when the fair skinned girl threw her good hand out to catch Letty's. Letty pulled her up and tried to suppress a giggle at the sight of her friend swaying.
"I think I might go to bed. Not your bed…maybe someones floor...maybe." Nicola waved to Letty before heading towards the basement stairs and walking slowly down them as Letty made her way out into the packed living room.
Nicola knowing her way around in the dark made her way into Leons room, the nights previous events completely erased from her mind as she fell onto the mattress, and wrapped the comforter around her, not getting under it.
A gentle tugging woke Nicola up hours later. She groaned as the tugging continued and then she heard someone chuckling.
"Let me get the blankets out from under you, La." Leons voice said to her in the dark and she rolled off the blanket before it was thrown back over her and she felt weight on the bed and she was pulled into his arms before she dozed back off to sleep.
"Lalalalalala." Someone was singing in Nicola's ear. She could feel arms wrapped around her waist from behind, someones head pressed into her back. But the singing was coming from in front of her. She cracked open an eye to see Jesse looking down at her.
"Jess?" Her voice was croaky as she looked at the hyperactive teenager kneeling on the mattress in front of her.
"Your Dad's on the phone." He held out the cordless phone to her and she placed it against her ear.
"Dad?" She groaned as Jesse ran away.
"Hey, baby. Just checking in. When you weren't at home I figured you'd stayed at Letty's." Nicola stole a glance over her shoulder at the sleeping figure spooning her. That was definitely not Letty.
"Yeah, we were watching a movie and I ended up staying over. She snored all night." Nicola added just for effect.
"That's good. Well I won't be back in for a few more days, maybe a week. But I just wanted to remind you, you have a doctors appointment today." Her father told her.
"I remembered. Well thanks for ringing, Dad." She yawned and tried not to drop the phone.
"Okay, well I'll talk to you later Nic. Say hi to Leon for me- I hope you didn't wake him up." Then the phone clicked and Nicola stared at the phone.
"Motherfucker." She muttered and felt Leon stir behind her.
"What?" his usually husky voice was croaky with grogginess as he moved up so he was snuggling into her neck, making her laugh as he rubbed his stubble against the soft skin.
"Nothing." Nicola replied distracted as she thought back to the hazy night before. Getting drenched by the hose, dancing with Jesse and finally kissing Leon. It made her go silent as she remembered the way it felt to have his lips on hers.
"Lala?" Leons voice was muffled by her hair.
"That was Dad, he's going to be gone a few more days." She said, keeping her eyes staring straight ahead.
"Well lucky because I doubt he would like to witness 'sober Saturday'." He chuckled and Nicola laughed at the realisation that when they went upstairs everyone would be drinking again.
"I thought you'd be up there by now." Nicola said quietly.
"I've got drive you to the hospital remember." He started to sound sleepy again and she could tell she was losing him to sleep.
"Leon."
"Hmm." He replied, seconds away from sleep.
"Nothing." Nicola chickened out and tried to go back to sleep again.
But she couldn't sleep, no matter how many sheep she counted or how many times she tried to relax sleep wouldn't come. Throwing the blankets back she crawled out of Leons arms, making him groan before rolling onto his back and throwing his arm across his eyes.
Making her way up to the house she found the place unusually tidy. Mia had a vacuum cleaner going over the carpet in the living room and looked up, holding a finger to her lips.
"I'm trying to clean up before they come in and make a complete mess." She whispered and Nicola covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"Do you want me to take the rubbish out?" A few minutes later Nicola was picking rubbish off the front lawn and putting it in the garbage bag. A shriek rang out inside the house and she glanced over as Jesse came flying out of the house, an angry looking Vince on his heels. She stepped out of the way as Vince came barrelling down the stairs but Jesse jumped behind her and held her out as human shield.
"Hiding behind Lala will not save you little man." Vince growled and Nicola took in his soaked hair and shirt.
"Before you sacrifice me Jess, what happened?"
"He turned off the hot water system when I was in the shower." Vince stepped to the side, making Jesse step away, taking Nicola with him.
"You were taking forever." Jesse shrugged before pushing Nicola into Vinces arms and making a dash for it. Vince dropped her and she fell to the ground as he stormed after the blonde.
Nicola pulled herself up and dusted herself off before making her way into the house which was now completely awake. Mia rolled her eyes at her as the boys bickered over cereal, until Doms booming voice told them to shut up.
Three hours later Nicola and Leon exited the hospital, Nicola with two free arms.
"Oh it feels so good." She said wriggling all her fingers and following Leon to the Chevy.
"I'm glad you're finally free." Leon gave her a small smile and Nicola raised an eyebrow. He'd been quiet for the last three hours and she wondered if he was just hungover or thinking about the night before.
"Are you okay?" She asked as she pulled open the door and Leon looked up from the drivers side.
"Yeah, fine." Falling into the passenger seat Nicola decided that she was just the one acting weird.
By the time they got home the party was in full swing once again and Nicola realised it had been a lost cause cleaning up the night before.
Mia gave her a hug as they made their way in together, Leon trailing behind.
"What's with him?" Mia asked as she looked back at Leon and Nicola shrugged.
"No idea."
"Oh, I forgot yesterday- there's a letter for you in the kitchen, De-de picked it up yesterday when she dropped the last of Leons stuff around." Nicola nodded before making her way into the kitchen which was surprisingly vacant.
She was searching through the pile of mail on the bench, her hands grasping the large white envelope with the New York Ballet School logo stamped in the corner. She just stared at it for awhile until someone interrupted her thoughts.
"Hey." Looking up Nicola came face to face with a blonde haired boy with dimples that showed up as he smiled down at her. His brown eyes were waiting for her to reply when she finally formed words, being taken off guard.
"Hey yourself." She glanced back at the envelope and considered sneaking off somewhere to open it.
"I'm Tyson." He extended his hand and Nicola put the envelope down and looked up at the good looking guy and sighed.
"Nicola, are you from around here, Tyson?" She leant against the counter as he spoke and found herself liking the guy more and more.
"No way, muscle beats import everytime." Tyson laughed as they argued.
"As if, have you seen a skyline in action?" She quirked an eyebrow and Tyson leaned closer.
"Maybe you'll show me sometime, after dinner?" He asked and Nicola nodded.
"Sure- next Friday night?" Tyson nodded.
"Should I pick you up here?" Nicola thought briefly, she probably would be here and Mia would want to make a big deal of it so she nodded.
"Yeah eight o'clock alright?" He disappeared not long after that and Nicola snatched up the thick white envelope and snuck down to the basement, not wanting to be disturbed.
She pushed open the door to Leons room and silently thanked god when it was empty. Walking in she dropped down on the bed and tore the envelope open, pulling out the thick packet.
Her head snapped up when Leon wandered in, fresh from a shower, a thick blue towel hanging low on his hips. The packet in Nicolas hand was suddenly forgotten as he walked towards her running a hand through her hair and glancing down at the letter.
"The Ballet School?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah, it says I got in with a late enrolment." She said and glanced up at his face which wasn't that far from hers. She swore she saw him grimace but then it was replaced with a small smile.
"Congratulations." He said but didn't make a move to hug her or anything which struck Nicola as weird.
"Is there something on your mind?" she asked and Leon shook his head, realising he may have been giving something away and walked back to the closet.
"Nothing at all." Packing up the envelope Nicola left the room and Leon to get dressed.
A/N: So they finally got together! WOO! Thanks to those people that alerted and reviewed this story and please please review! Thanks x