Your Love Will Be Safe With Me

I woke up the next morning, still tired. When we got home the night before, I immediately passed out still in my clothes. I was drained emotionally and really only wanted to go home and crawl under my blanket and sleep all day. As I sat there, checking my messages on my phone, I absentmindedly began scratching my legs through my tights. Nick was still asleep next to me which made me extremely jealous.

Throwing my phone off to the side, I used both of my hands to scratch the itch that would not let up. “What the hell?” I muttered to myself. The itching only got worse. I quickly got out of bed and stripped out of the tights and began scratching some more. Nothing was working. I groaned loudly.

“Well, I could get used to waking up to this every morning.” I heard Nick say groggily from the bed. I shot him a death glare. “Whoa, what did I do?” He asked defensively.

I groaned again, “My legs won’t stop itching.” I whined and began scratching again.

“Damn, Sawyer, they’re really red and blotchy.” He said as his eyes focused in on my legs.

I looked down at my legs, just noticing the red blotches on my usually pale skin. “What the fuck?!” I said through another groan.

Nick sat up with his legs dangling over the side of the bed, “When did this happen?” He asked.

“Well, they were kind of itchy last night at dinner, but I didn’t think anything of it.” I explained as I sat down next to him and kept scratching.

“It looks like a rash.”

“Why would I have a rash?” I asked incredulously.

“I don’t know! Maybe it’s chicken pox.” He suggested and I quickly shook my head.

“Can’t; I had them as an infant.”

“Are you allergic to the material of the tights?” He asked and I looked at him as if he were dumb.

“No! I wear tights all the time! The only things I’m allergic to are grass and Tide.” It was as If a light bulb went off in my head. Slowly, I turned and looked at him. “Did you wash my clothes in Tide yesterday?” I asked slowly, starting to get pissed off.

His eyes widened, “uh, I might have.” He said.

“What do you mean “might?!”” I yelled. “You either did or you didn’t.”

“I did!” He seemed scared.

I groaned, “Great. Why do you think I use Cheer at my house?”

“I don’t know! I never really noticed.” I fell back onto the bed and whimpered. “I’m sorry.” He said sincerely. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

I looked at him pathetically, “Can you get me some kind of rash cream or something?”

He nodded, “What kind?”

“I don’t know! I’ve never had this happen before. Ask your mom?”

He nodded again then got up from the bed, “I’ll be right back.” He said then walked out of the room while yelling “Mom.” I chuckled as I continued to lie there.
---
Diana had advised me to not put any clothing on my legs until the rash was gone for a faster healing time. The day I was meeting all of Nick’s family and I’d have huge red blotches across my legs. Wonderful.

I was helping Nick pack most of his clothes into both of our suitcases as I tried not to scratch my legs. “How many pairs of boots do you own, Nick, honestly?” I asked as I went through his shoes.

He looked over his shoulder at me and got defensive, “How many pairs of boots do you own?” He questioned accusingly. My mouth dropped open as I was at a loss for words. He smirked at my reaction.

“Okay, that’s completely different!”

He rolled his eyes, “How?”

“Well!” I wracked my brain for something to say, “I’m a girl and girls have a lot of shoes.” The look on his face made me sigh and give up, “Yeah whatever.” I said as I threw a pair of boots across the hardwood at him. “I seriously think you have more than me.” I said as I looked at the pile.

We had discussed the previous day that we would bring over the clothes he needed to California while the things he didn’t need would stay in his room. Before Warped Tour, we’d come back to get his car and his instruments and computer.

As two PM quickly approached, I began to stress out more and more. “Nick, your family Is going to think I have some kind of skin disease.” I said feeling completely self conscious.

He looked at me from the computer chair., “Sawyer, stop being stop being so paranoid.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “This is your fault.”

He scoffed and twirled the chair around so he could face my direction, “How is this my fault?”

This time, I scoffed, “Because you washed my clothes in Tide when I’m allergic to it!”

He rolled his eyes, “How was I supposed to know?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know, maybe because I’m your wife?” I said as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet.

“You never told me!” He cried.

“Well it’s not like you asked if I was allergic to anything!” I yelled back.

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but Michelle cut him off, “Hey! Stop fighting! The guests are beginning to get here and they can hear you.” She scowled at us while I glared over at Nick. “This party is supposed to announce your marriage not your divorce.”

My hard glare dropped to one of remorse as I made my way over to Nick and sat in his lap, “I’m sorry.” I apologized.

He shook his head, “No, I’m sorry. I should have known.” I buried my face in his neck and placed a kiss on his jaw.

“Okay, get a room.” Michelle said with a look of disgust.

“Technically, you’re standing in it, so get out.” He smirked.

“Ew.” She shuddered then walked away.

I laughed sending my breath to hit Nick’s neck and he squirmed, “You’re tickling me.” He whined.
---
The first people I met were his grandparents Ellie and Ray, which we his mother’s parents. Ellie had the greenest eyes I’d ever seen, greener than Nick’s. It was now obvious where he’d gotten his eye color from. Nonetheless, they were both really nice and greeted me with a hug.

Next were a couple of his cousins. Two guys and a girl. Matthew, Patrick, and Rebecca. They were all nice as well and were aged between twenty-five and twenty-nine.

His aunts and uncles all trickled in at different times. Aunt Bobbie was first. She was loud and chatty with a brow pixie cut hair do. Next was Uncle Joe. He was balding, but what was left of his hair was light colored. He had a beer belly, but he pulled it off with his lumberjack flannel. Aunt Karen was after, towing along thirteen year old Ryan. She was Bernie’s youngest sister and had a full head of blonde hair. I liked her the most.

So many faces came and went. He had a very big family, but I knew I had a bigger one back in California.

By the time dinner was served, I was overwhelmed. My stomach was still in knots from the news we were going to deliver to the 20+ people in the backyard.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice.” Diana said as everyone finished up their meals. “The reason we called everyone here today is, well, because Nick and Sawyer have some news for everyone.” She said and just like that, all eyes were on us. I felt like I was going to vomit.

Nick looked at me then slowly rose from his seat and I followed suit even though I desperately just wanted to crawl in a hole. “Well, I don’t really know how to say this, so I guess I’ll just be blunt about it.” He started then looked at me with a smile, “Sawyer and I got married.” He said as he gently took my hand.

It was quiet. I swear I heard rickets chirping despite how early in the evening it was.

“Did you say you’re getting married or you got married?” Uncle Joe asked from the other side of the patio.

“We already got married. In January actually.” Nick said. I shifted uncomfortably under everyone’s scrutinizing gazes.

“Why are we just hearing about it?” Cousin Rebecca asked.

“Uh, well, because we weren’t telling anyone.” He explained.

I felt myself shrinking into myself.

“Didn’t you say you met her in January when you were in LA?” Aunt Bobbie asked.

“Yes, but we love each other very much.” To show that this was true, he laced his fingers with mine then leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

I few murmurs broke out amongst everything. All of a sudden, people were getting up and others were going through their pockets. “Where’s my purse?” I heard someone call out. Were they leaving? My eyes widened as I looked up at Nick. He looked down at me in confusion.

Aunt Karen walked up to us with a wad of money marking my eyes widen even more, “Congratulations, you two!” She pulled us both into a hug and gave us each a kiss on the cheek. “Sawyer, you’re just a doll. I’m so happy you guys found each other.” She smiled then placed the money in my hands. “Oh, is that your ring?” I nodded slowly, somewhat in a daze. “Oh my, that is one beautiful rock.”

Shaking my head, I cleared my mind, “Uh, thank you.” I smiled and she smiled back then waked away. Once she was out of sight, I looked down and my eyes widened once more. Sitting in my hand was eight hundred dollars. I gaped at Nick, “Aunt Karen’s kind of rich.” Nick shrugged.

By the end of the night we had close to five thousand dollars and everyone was extremely happy for us. I guessed they liked me enough.