It didn't take me long to get settled into Nick's townhouse. We even decided… well that's not quite the right word because there was absolutely no discussion about it, but either way we chose to forgo pretenses and moved all of my stuff directly into his bedroom. I don't think it took much effort for him to make room in his closet for my clothes, but we did have to buy a new dresser. That turned out to be the hardest part of the move, adding more furniture to his room. Our biggest problem arose when I insisted, we find a dresser that matched his own so that it would fit in with his décor as seamlessly as possible.
I know most people would find it trivial, but I was moving into HIS home. I didn't want him to feel like he had to change everything for me to feel comfortable. I completely understood that I was homing in on his domain, so I was ready to make concessions to try to make the transition easier on him. Although, most of the time it felt more like I was making demands than concessions because Nick was even more stubborn than me. He wanted me to do whatever I thought was best or whatever was the easiest, which meant he didn't think I had to consult him at every turn. I really wanted his input so that my changes were in line with how he wanted his home to look. In the end, both of us were trying so hard to think about the other person's feelings that more often than not we ended up in an argument over the silliest 'problems'.
Thankfully, Nick was used to dealing with me what I was being hardheaded so we never went to bed angry or let the issues fester too long. Don't ask me why, but the one thing our… err his parents stressed while we were growing up was that once we were married, we should always make sure not to go to bed while still having a conflict with our partner. Yes, you heard that right, when we were MARRIED. So, me living with Nick out of wedlock would open a whole new can of worms that would bring on a cold front from Mom that made our current situation feel like we were on a tropical vacation. Since I had yet to resolve the issues that had arisen with Mom about my name change, I hadn't told them about my most recent change of address. Nick hadn't told them either, but I have the guts to ask him about the rationale for his silence.
Hearing my highlighter hit the floor took me out of my wandering thoughts. Just as we had predicted, getting extensions and make up dates for my finals were easily obtained and completed. But this project I was working on for the internship at the crime lab I would be starting in a couple of weeks was not as easily done. I pushed back from the small kitchen table to pick up my highlighter and almost started to pace. ALMOST. Unfortunately, that was the only habit of mine that started to get on Nick's nerves. When he was at home that is and I can't say that I blamed him. We ran into each other more times than I care to admit, but the last straw for him was when Nick knocked me over and I nearly hit the edge of the table which would have resulted in a spectacular black eye at the very least. So, now I stayed in my seat until I was home alone.
But I had to do something to expel my nervous energy to help me stay on task, so I started chewing gum. It may sound silly, but I did find it helped. Blowing bubbles somehow seemed to have the same effect as pacing did to help me refocus my thoughts. Now instead of starting to pace, I walked over to the cupboard and plucked a new package of Hubba Bubba Original flavor off my shelf. Yep, Nick also made room for my groceries in the kitchen. He really is the best.
I made myself comfortable at the table again as I cracked the package open in the middle of the pack If I could just figure out how to bridge the last few paragraphs of information with the new subject I wanted to introduce, then I could finally get this essay finished.
As I blew up a rather spectacular bubble, if I do say so myself, I was finally able to put my thoughts into order. But that was quickly derailed by a humming Nick popping the bubble with his index finger.
He continued to the refrigerator as if nothing happened, so I pulled the gum off my face and threw it into a napkin with an indignant, "NICK!"
He paused as he poured a glass of orange juice to turn and look at me. A fierce scowl formed on my face as I plucked pieces of gum out of my eyebrows, cause him to ask in an overly innocent tone, "What'd I do?"
"Don't you dare try to puppy dog eyes yourself out of this!"
"Out of what?"
He picked the last remaining bit of bubble off my cheek and then kissed the same spot. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."
"Well next time, please do! This time I had my hair pulled back. I'd really hate for you to have to pay for a new hair cut because you can't resist your childish urges."
Nick dropped down to his knees beside my chair, holding one of my hands in both of his. He held my hand against his chest and very sincerely pleaded, "Please forgive me, Nicco. I promise I will ever give into such playful impulses again."
"Nicky, don't make promises you can't keep."
"I swear, I can and will keep this one."
"That's too bad." I lowered my face so that my lips were hovering over his and whispered in a husky voice, "Because there's a few fun, VERY playful things we can do…" I sat up abruptly before I finished, "When I'm not working or studying, that is."
He sat back on the floor and huffed out a laugh. I continued scribbling out random words and phrases on my notepad to pretend that I wasn't paying attention to him. Since we had been living together for nearly a month and had known each other much longer than that, Nick immediately recognized what I was doing. As such, he stood up and moved the glass of orange juice he had previously been holding closer to my right hand. Close enough that I knew it was intended for me, but not so close that I would knock it over accidentally.
"You know I WILL hold you to that, Miss Radisson." He took a drink from his own glass. "So? How's the paper going?"
I let out a frustrated sigh then answered, "I hate this part. I have all my notes, all of the works I want to cite and… and I just can't put it all together in a cohesive, intelligent narrative no matter how hard I try."
"Well? Why don't you try talking it out? I could go grab my tape recorder for you…" My cheeks instantly turned red, so Nick more hesitantly added, "Or not."
"Sorry, it's just… I tried that while you were sleeping and… well… it turns out that my thoughts run even wilder when they're connected to my mouth."
"Oh really? Care to elaborate, Miss Radisson?"
He reached over to pick up his tape recorder off the table by a pile of my books, so I slammed my hand on top of it. "Not yet, Mr. Stokes. Plus…" I nodded towards the clock on the oven. "You need to get going so you won't be late for your shift."
"Shit," he cursed softly before kissing my cheek. "As always, you're right. Hey, Baby Love, if you're up 'til all hours again tonight… don't try to tell me you weren't last night… why don't you meet me somewhere for my break?"
"Somewhere, Sugar?" I practically purred in a thick Texan accent that I only pulled out to flirt with Nick. "And where would that somewhere be?"
"Mind out of the gutter, Baby Love," he chided without any heat or threat in his tone. "I was thinking at a diner or something similar because I know you'll be as hungry as I am by my break time."
"Alright, now you really need to stop that."
This time there was no teasing, Nick sounded completely earnest when he innocently asked, "What? What'd I do now?"
"We haven't been together… like 'together' together long enough for you to know that kind of shit about me. I sometimes hate how well you know me and my shitty habits."
"And I already told you it's part of why I love you so much. So… you need to get over it."
"You get over it!" I retorted as I threw half of the pack of gum at him.
He caught it with ease and slipped it into his pocket. "Aww… Sending me off to work with a memento to remember you by. That's so sweet, Baby Love." I glared at him as he walked over to my side to place a soft kiss on my lips. "Meet me on my break."
I shivered at the words he whispered against my lips. "Nick…"
"Just say yes," he whispered again over my lips so I could feel his breath with every word.
"Nick," I tried again as I leaned back and away from him. "Nicky… Call me when you know your 62 time and I'll see where I'm at, okay?"
"Okay."
He stood up and pulled on his jacket as he quickly added, "Plus, I know that's the best I'll get from you."
I turned and gaped at him. He gave me a shit-eating grin, deep dimples and all. I then shook my head with a smile on my face as I grumbled, "I hate you so much."
"The lady LOVES me," he replied as he finally allowed himself to chuckle at my behavior.
That prompted me to throw my highlighter at him. It missed him by a mile because he was already moving towards the front door. I shook my head again and couldn't help to laugh at his antics. Everyday I was a huge ball of anxiety because I had just gotten through the final round of the selection process for the internship at the lab. Much to my chagrin that wasn't the end of it. Our pre-orientation included a paper on an assigned topic, presumedly picked by Dr. Grissom, which was now stumping me to the point of pure frustration. But, Nick tried his best to keep it from getting to me too much. He was constantly trying to get me to laugh in order to keep me from overthinking things. He truly did have my best interests at heart, even when I was finding him annoying.
I should be nicer to him, I thought to myself as I picked up my phone.
ME: The lady loves you more than you know. Sorry for being a dickbag.
NICK: You aren't. And I love you to the moon and back.
ME: I was. DON'T argue. I'll see you later. 3
After I sent my last text, I picked up my pen to try to tackle my paper once again. This time when I put pen to paper, the words actually did come to me. The two subjects that I was given looked like they didn't correlate at first glance to the uneducated eye, but I noticed the parallels right away. It didn't take long to find references to back up my thesis. But explaining said correlation in my own words? That had been harder than I had expected. More than once I had inadvertently found myself plagiarizing the words of the authors whose works I would be citing, but finally the right wording came to me.
After finishing the majority of the first draft, I decided to take a break. I still had a week before my paper was due and all I had to do now was to type it all out after I gave it a final once over. That meant I would have it finished by this time tomorrow night.
My latest guilty pleasure during my downtime was watching (and Tivoing) the show 'Veronica Mars'. Nick teased me relentlessly, in a good natured way, about my obsession with the teen drama. But I countered that it was simply a murder mystery… Okay, played out by teenagers. What I wouldn't give to be at the scene of Lily Kane's murder so that I could process it myself. Something was off about the circumstances surrounding her demise and we only had a few episodes left until we found out the truth. IF they told us the truth. They would tell us, wouldn't they?
The sound of the doorbell ringing woke me from my impromptu nap while I was on the couch. I heard the familiar sound of the theme song playing from the show I had been watching and let out a soft groan. I couldn't remember what that episode was about… shit… had I slept through more than one? Either way, I knew that I must have missed a lot, so I was happy that I could go back and rewatch them soon.
The doorbell chiming again finally got me moving. I wiped the small amount of drool that had pooled at the edge of my mouth before I pulled my hair back into a hasty bun and hurried to the front door. Once I arrived there, I paused to check my reflection in the mirror on the wall behind the door.
Great… Why can't I wake up looking like I'm not half dead? I questioned silently before I opened the door.
"Hey Nicco, I'm sorry I had to wake you up."
I shook my head and tried to sound light-hearted as I answered, "I's no problem, Catherine. But…? Umm… Why are you here? Last I heard from Nick he was headed to a job near Flamingo and Koval, so he definitely made it to work. Wait! Does this have something to do with me and Caesar's Palace?"
"No, Nicco your case is firmly closed," Catherine answered with a soft smile. "But there is something I need to discuss with you… about Nicky… down at headquarters."
I swallowed hard then replied, "Oh? Okay."
I started to move towards her, so she quickly caught me by my shoulders to say, "Maybe you want to get your phone? Or keys to lock up? And…? Put on some shoes?"
"Right. Keys… phone… right… Let me grab those."
Once I turned to move into the townhouse towards the kitchen, Catherine silently followed me. I didn't notice her until I bumped into her as I absentmindedly rushed around the kitchen to try to find my phone. Turns out it was on the table. Catherine passing it to me finally ceased my movement so that I could fall to my knees and crumble into a ball while I started to sob hysterically.
