Tuesday - January 28, 2003 (10:45pm) - Vaughn Center Hallways
Trudging up the stairs slowly, Nick listened to make sure Alec wasn�t roaming somewhere around the fourth floor before entering the hallway, happy to find it empty and mostly quiet besides the group of girls watching Friends on the big screen in the commons room and someone�s radio playing quietly through a half opened door. Letting out a deep breath, he nodded towards one of the girls in the common room who�d turned to look at him before he started down the hall towards his room, his bed screaming at him to crawl in and forget about his aching muscles and the interrogation he�d gotten tonight from every female of his family.
Sitting in the study room, Skye had nervously glanced up every time someone walked past the door on their way to one of the dorms further down the hall, a small part of her wishing it were Nick every time she looked up from her copy of �Wurthering Heights.� By nine o�clock, she�d become so tired from her whirlwind day and the cold medicine she�d taken after dinner that she�d retrieved her portable CD player and decided to blare Fuel through her headphones, keeping the book in front of her face just as a way to keep people from bothering her. Instead of paying any attention to the Bronte classic, she kept finding herself dwelling on imagines of Nick, a button down shirt hanging off his shoulders and his hair slicked back away from his forehead after taking a hot shower that had turned his skin slightly pink.
On the verge of just giving in to her heavy eyelids, she glanced up one last time to find a tall blonde walk by the doorway, his head down and his hands running through his hair in what seemed to be nervous frustration.
�Nick!� she exclaimed a moment later, pulling off her headphones and jumping from her chair.
Hearing his name being called by a female voice he couldn�t really place, Nick stopped hesitantly and turned around, not really wanting to deal with anyone else besides maybe Robert until he could get some sleep. When Skye stepped out of a side room, her hair pulled up into a messy bun and dressed in what he assumed to be her pajamas, he quickly changed his mind and decided he could deal with one other person that night. Especially now that he�d heard her actually use his name.
�Skye,� he replied, trying to hide his surprise as he slipped his hands into his pants pockets.
Pushing a loose strand of her light brown hair out of her face, she looked at him and smiled. �I just wanted to tell you happy birthday. Shane told me during lunch, but... I haven�t really had the chance to talk to you today.�
Not fighting the grin that tugged at the corners of his lips, Nick felt his cheeks burn slightly. �Thanks.�
Looking a little awkward, Skye scrunched up her nose and guessed, �Dinner with your family didn�t go so well?� The strange look that crossed his face made her smile. �Alec told me. He came by earlier tonight to see if you�d already left.�
He tried not to stare as he thought up something to say, but for some reason he couldn�t help himself. �Uh... well, it was... dinner with my family. And Alec. I think my mom likes him more than me sometimes.�
Her nose scrunched up again, but this time in disbelief. �You don�t seriously think that, do you? I don�t think anyone�s parents could like Alec more than their own children... unless their children were in prison or something.� She paused for a second and closed her eyes when she felt a sneeze coming on. When the urge passed, she continued. �And you don�t appear to have ever been in prison... though I could be mistaken.�
Laughing, Nick shook his head, wondering why he was still standing halfway down the hall instead of near her. �No, haven�t been in prison... yet.�
�You play along nicely,� she commented. �But it appears as if your family has left you empty handed. That�s no good.�
Biting into his lip, Nick hesitated, not feeling comfortable talking about his family�s money issues with someone he barely knew, no matter how sweet and kind her eyes made her appear. �Nah, I told them not to get me anything.�
Nodding her understanding, Skye sneezed twice, making the same high pitched squeaking noise he�d heard before he had left earlier that evening. �Bless you,� he said automatically. �You�re getting sick?�
�No, I�m not. I can�t. I won�t let myself,� she replied, rubbing at her eye with her left hand. �It�s just a little cold. I�ll be done with it in a few days.�
�I hope so. I wouldn�t want you to feel bad when you�re arguing with Jamison. I�d feel bad for finding it entertaining if you didn�t feel well.� He paused as it dawned on him that he was actually having a conversation with the mysterious Skye Masterson. �You look tired,� he commented just loud enough for her to hear.
�Yeah, I sorta am. I was actually about to go to bed when you passed. Waiting to get to the end of the chapter...� she trailed off and he swore he saw her face go red as she glanced into the commons room. �I should let you get to bed too. I hope you had a good birthday, Nick.�
He had to suppress a chill the moment she said his name as she smiled at him, pieces of her hair falling back into her face. �Yeah, it wasn�t bad. I�ll probably celebrate for real this weekend with some of the guys. You should come with us.� He hesitated before adding, �If you want to, of course.�
Butterflies found their way into Skye�s stomach at the invitation, pushing it out of her mind that he might just be extending it to her in order to be polite. �I�d love to.�
Any doubts she might have had disappeared when Nick�s face lit up and he grinned. �Then I�ll tell you what�s going on whenever I decide.� He glanced down at his watch, groaning to see that it was already past eleven o�clock. �We should get to sleep. Early class in the morning.�
�Yeah, you�re right,� she replied, backing slowly into the doorway. �Good night, Nick.�
�Good night, Skye,� he replied softly, urging his legs to turn him around and move his body down the hallway before she had the chance to come back out and find him in the exact same spot she�d left him in. Opening his door, he found Robert sitting in front of his computer, rock music playing quietly in the background.
��Sup, man? How did the family thing go?� he asked.
�Really good,� Nick replied distractedly as he kicked off his shoes and unbuttoned his shirt.
In the study room, Skye had flopped back into her chair and stared at the blank wall across the room. I think I might have a crush on him...
Shaking the thought out of her head, she collected her things and stood up, feeling light headed for a moment before she flipped off the lights and left for her room, finally ready to collapse into bed and fall straight to sleep.
_________
To: [email protected] (Alex Mclean)
From: [email protected] (N. Carter)
Date: January 28, 2003 23:52est
Subject: my sisters are evil and she knows my name!
Hey AJ,
Just got back from my �family dinner� (which magically included Alec without my prior knowledge) and thought I might email you or something. I need to complain about some things, but don�t want them in my journal because BJ will start going on about how I�m in love with a girl I barely know and all that shit that�s been pissing me off all day.
I woke up after a few hours of sleep to find all of them outside my door. At nine this morning. Wanting to �hang out with me� so they didn�t have to go to school (well, Aaron, Angel and Leslie at least). The girls all decided that it was the perfect time to rag on me about this entire Skye thing all of you idiots have stuck in your head, and it probably didn�t help that she happened to drop by right after the four of them showed up at the door. Came by to ask Rob something. I didn�t even *say* anything to her, and they started going off on how I�m in love with her and shit. I don�t know where the hell they come up with this stuff!
Showed the rugrats around campus, was completely mortified by my sisters� shameless flirting with Shane (although I learned he�s only 18 even though he�s a junior... didn�t have a clue about that. -another baseball player btw-), and then BJ decided to try and put me in a situation where the five of us would go out to lunch with Skye. I avoided disaster... or at least I thought I had. Shane informed me that, while he and Skye were at lunch, my lovely siblings dropped by and acted like the idiots they are.
But all this is beside the point. Why are my sisters evil? They told my *mom* about Skye. *I* don�t even know anything about Skye, and they�re going off telling my mom that I�m �madly in love with the girl who lives across the hall.� Of course this is brought up at dinner the moment Alec arrives, and he starts telling them about her but mainly focuses on how I become �a complete love-sick idiot� whenever she�s around (I do not!!), and of course mom believes him because he�s an angel and would never over-exaggerate to make my life hell. No, of course not.
That�s what I had to live through for over two hours. Then I drove around Tampa so I wouldn�t get back to campus the same time as my supposed best friend and finally decided to head back when I was about to fall asleep at the wheel.
That�s when my day got a whole lot better.
I had a conversation with her. Finally. She might have even been waiting for me to come back... she seemed really tired, but she was in one of the �quiet� rooms that we�re supposed to study in when I got back around eleven. She told me happy birthday. She said my name. A lot. She smiled at me. A lot.
I might have invited her to come party with us this weekend. She might have just been pretending to be polite when she said, �I�d love to.�
She�s sweet, man. You�ll really like her, I think. If you didn�t already know, you couldn�t tell she�s the nerdy, brainy type when she�s outside of school. She doesn�t fit into that little mold of pocket protectors and black rimmed glasses... even though I don�t think she�d look all that bad if she sported the glasses anyways...
Now, I must get some sleep before class in the morning. Get back to me whenever, especially if you come up with any ideas as to what we can all do this weekend.
-Nick
To: [email protected] (Nicky)
From: [email protected] (AJ Mclean)
Date: January 29, 2003 16:32est
Subject: *rolls eyes* just admit you want this girl...
And we can all move on in our happy little lives.
I�m sorry your sisters are evil little nosey... teenage girls.
I�m sorry your parents like Alec more than you. It�s because he kisses your mom�s ass.
I�m sorry you�re so blind that you don�t realize that you�re walking around with a permanent boner because of this Skye girl.
I�m sorry that I�m going to have to meet her this weekend and steal her from you.
But you don�t care because you don�t have a thing for her.
I�m glad you found out she knows your name. You�re easily pleased. I�m gonna tell her your full name so you have a fucking orgasm the next time you see her.
I want to be there �cause that�d be fuckin� funny to watch.
Skye: �Hey, Nickolas Gene Carter.�
Nick: **freaks out and loses it**
Skye: **looks scared and runs away**
It�d be fun!
And now that I think about it, if Skye was waiting for you... maybe she was just waiting for you to invite her back to your room so she could give you a birthday �present�. *nudge nudge wink wink*
When *was* the last time you received a blowjob?
That was too long ago, my friend.
Happy birthday, man. If she doesn�t come around, I�m buying you a prostitute as a late birthday present.
-Mack Daddy AJ
PS. Ybor is always a good choice.