They had just got rid of the girls five minutes before Sydney arrived, Tommy telling them Nick was needed in the studio in a couple of hours and needed to get some rest beforehand. There a knock on the door and Nick shook his head when Tommy went to open it,
"I got it man." He smiled when he saw her standing before him,
"Hi Nick." He pulled her into his arms,
"Hey Syd, good to see you again." He stepped aside and she walked in, immdeiately walking over to Tommy,
"Hi, Tommy right?" He nodded,
"Yeah, Sydney." She nodded and giggled when Nick pulled her by the hand over to the couch,
"So, what have you been up to?" She shrugged,
"Working my butt off." Tommy nodded,
"I've seen you." She smiled and sighed dramatically,
"They work me hard but I love it." Nick laughed,
"Come on, it's ESPN. How hard could it be?" She rolled her eyes,
"About as hard as being a popstar." He nodded,
"Yeah, yeah. So what are you going to be doing during the Western Conference Finals?" She kicked off her shoes and it didn't go undeteced by Nick, he hoped that meant she was planning to stay for a while,
"Sideline reporting, a couple of features on a couple of the players. I had meetings all day today and I'm do at the arena at three o'clock." He loved watching her talk about anything sports-related, she got all excited,
"So, you tell me what it's like to have a year off to do nothing?" He shook his head and groaned,
"It's boring as hell. I always complained about taking some time off and now..." She nodded,
"And now you'd give anything to have that hectic schedule again." He nodded,
"Yep." That was something that she did well, knew what he was thinking.
"Why don't you do something? Isn't there something you've always wanted to do? Like travel the world? Why not go back and visit all those places you went to but never got to see? That would be cool Nick, no one would really know where you were." He knew right off the bat that was something he didn't want to do, maybe a country or two, but travel the world? That was an awful lot of flying,
"I don't know, we'll see."
They talked until she yawned one last time. Nick looked at the clock,
"Oh man, its one am. You should just stay here, you're sleepy you can't drive." She nodded her head,
"Yeah, I can. I'll be fine." Nick frowned,
"How far do you live from here?" She bit her lip as she calculated in her head,
"About thirty minutes." He shook his head immediately,
"No way. I'll get you a T-shirt and some shorts and you're staying here." She opened her mouth and he held up his hand,
"No arguing." She smiled,
"I wasn't going to argue, I was going to say thanks." He was a little surprised by that but more than anything he was happy,
"Ok, cool." She stood up,
"I'm going to take a shower." He nodded as he walked towards the bedroom,
"I guess this means she and I got the bed and you got the pullout bed huh?" He turned and frowned at Tommy,
"In your dreams boy. I'll see you in the morning man." He walked into the bedroom and pulled out something for Sydney and knocked on the bathroom door. She cracked the door open and stood behind it as she stretched her arm out to take the clothes,
"Thanks Nick." He smiled,
"No problem." It was definitely no problem as far as he was concerned.
When she walked into the bedroom she took his breath away, her hair had grown since the last time he saw her and it was wet hanging down her back. She slid underneath the blanket and snuggled next to him,
"Ooh, it's cold." She wrapped her arms around him and he sighed as he smelled her freshly washed hair. He pulled her closer and ran his hands up and down her damp cool skin. So many times he had thought about her in his bed, their bodies touching but this wasn't the way he wanted. He didn't want them like this as friends, he wanted more much more and it hurt like hell to know that she didn't want the same.
"So, you have a boyfriend yet?" She grunted then answered,
"No." He laughed,
"When are you going to give someone a chance?" More like when are you going to give me a chance he thought.
"These California flakes are too much." He smiled,
"Well, we can't all be from Kansas." She slapped him lightly on the chest,
"I'm from Tennessee and you know it." He always gave her a hard time about where she was from, he would name a different state everytime. He repositioned himself so he was now laying on his side and they were face to face. She smiled,
"So, last time I saw you things were a little uncomfortable between us. Are they ok now? Are we ok?" No, they weren't ok he wanted to say but he knew that wasn't what she wanted to hear. Neither was the fact that he still thought about her in a romantic way, that he thought they could have something good together,
"Yeah, we're cool." Her smile brightened,
"Good, you're one of my closest friends and I don't want anything to mess that up. I want us to always be ok." She didn't mean anything by it and he knew it but it was like a stab in the heart. Why was it that being more with him would mess things up? Why couldn't it makes things better?
"I want us to be ok too." He wanted to be more than ok. He wanted to be more than her friend, one of her closest friends. He wanted to be her best friend, her lover her everything and she couldn't see him as that and it made him feel bad. Made him feel like he wasn't capable of making her happy. If she thought he could be the one to make her happy she would be with him, but it was obvious she didn't see that in him.
"Get some sleep. You got a big day ahead of you tomorrow." She giggled,
"I'm excited." He nodded,
"I know but try to get some sleep anyway." He turned off the lamp and rolled over, his back to her. It killed him when she snuggled up next to him and wrapped her arm around him and lay it on his chest. He felt her kiss him on his back,
"Good night Nick." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly,
"Good night Sydney." She was clueless and he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He didn't know how long he could handle her not knowing how he felt. He didn't know how long he could remain silent. How was he supposed to be around her and not wrap her up in his arms and kiss her. He couldn't, he knew he couldn't. Sooner or later he knew he was going to make his feelings for her known. The only questions were when and how was she going to respond.
